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American Morning
Vote on Boehner Debt Plan Delayed; Is August 2nd Really D-Day?; Updates on Recent Trials; Servers Crashing, Switchboards Jamming; Flight from the Dollar; Boehner Debt Plan Vote Delayed; State Dept. Travel Warning; Ciudad Juarez "Under Control"
Aired July 27, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: At least someone can still laugh about it. AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Ali. I'm Christine Romans.
With less than a week left it's back to the drawing board for House Speaker John Boehner. Crucial vote to solve the debt ceiling crisis now postponed after they ran the numbers.
We're live in Washington with breaking developments.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry.
On main street frustration is boiling over. Congressional phones ringing nonstop, even Web sites are crashing as Americans give lawmakers a piece of their mind.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Ali Velshi.
Is August 2nd really D-day? Why Congress may have some breathing room when it comes to raising the debt ceiling on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ROMANS: And good morning, everyone. It is Wednesday, July 27th. This is AMERICAN MORNING. A lot going on today. Let's get right to it.
CHETRY: It does feel a little bit like dueling banjoes, doesn't it?
VELSHI: It does.
ROMANS: That was so funny.
CHETRY: When you hear both sides of the debate they're dug in.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: But they insist that they're right. And --
VELSHI: And a growing number of Americans want them not to be.
CHETRY: Absolutely. ROMANS: In the end they're all saying God bless America.
VELSHI: That's right.
ROMANS: But how we get there is the question.
CHETRY: Yes, and with time running out, there are two major developments in the debt crisis, we're following developments minute by minute here. Just six days now until the deadline and House Speaker John Boehner's plan is coming under fire from members of his own party. He's going back to the drawing board now because the numbers just don't add up.
So today's vote has been postponed and in just a few hours, House Republicans will meet again as John Boehner says that they are looking for more cuts and deeper cuts.
VELSHI: And this is the plan. I've got it here.
ROMANS: Yes.
VELSHI: It's 57 pages. What happens when you come up with a plan like this it has to actually be scored. They have to say, will it achieve what -- you know what's the cost of it? When the Congressional Budget Office got a look at it, they said doesn't add up.
Let's get straight to Washington. That's where Joe Johns is standing by live for us.
Joe, what's going on? What's the latest?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Pesky Congressional Budget Office. You know?
(LAUGHTER)
JOHNS: It could be viewed as an embarrassment for the speaker but for the fact that the whole debt ceiling controversy is a much larger embarrassment for the U.S. government than a procedural hang-up on Capitol Hill.
The speaker had to, according to sources, postponed a vote on his proposal to resolve the debt ceiling crisis because the CBO -- these are the folks who that crunch the budget numbers -- said the Boehner plan would not create the savings he was looking for. He said the plan would add up to more than $1 trillion in savings but CBO said it would get to about $850 billion or so.
Now this is not all bad news for Boehner, because having an excuse to postpone that vote that was scheduled for today actually buys him some time to round up support from Republican colleagues. And he still has quite a bit of work to do, apparently.
Republicans -- some Republicans have been saying it won't pass and they won't vote for it. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JIM JORDAN (R), OHIO: If you look at this it's about a $7 billion in reduction in spending from what we're currently at. We advocated something much, much more in the cut, cap and balance plan. We advocated something much more in the budget plan that the House passed.
We also have real concerns about the commission, the idea that -- the 12-member commission, six Democrats and one Republican, decided they want to raise taxes, you can't keep that off the floor, comes to the floor.
And then there's a potential tax increase. So we think there are real problems with this plan.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Democrats for their part are trashing the bill, too. The Senate majority leader said it's DOA even if it clears the House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: The Senate plan is a reasonable middle ground. Democrats support it because it protects middle class. It prevents damaging cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Republicans should support it because it contains the two things they've asked for all along. It does not contain revenues and the amount of cut meets the amount of the debt ceiling increase.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: OK. So this has got to be confusing to people and what's the takeaway? There are actually a couple ways of looking at this. The obvious point is that the Congress and the president are no closer to a deal, but on the other hand if you read between the lines, the leaders, at least, both in the Democratic and Republican side, seem to be moving closer toward something workable.
For one thing, the Boehner plan does not include a demand that both Houses of Congress pass a balanced budget amendment which never looked like it was going to happen, at least in the short term, and Reid's plan, which is also a work in progress, does not include a demand for tax increases, which a lot of people said was just never going to get past the House. No question.
CHETRY: Joe, let me just ask you a quick question because even though -- OK, so Boehner can take this off the floor, which he's doing, and make the additional cuts, it's still not going to get out of that Senate. So explain to us how that's progress either way?
JOHNS: Yes, well, the fact of the matter is, nobody is going to get everything that they want and in all likelihood, you know, what happens when you're down to the wire on something like this, you end up with a synthesis of ideas that people can go for, at least in the short term.
So they'll have to be some of this and some of that in all likelihood in the hope that the president can sign off on it, too.
ROMANS: All right. Joe Johns, thanks.
Early in his report he used the word embarrassment twice and I think that is such a -- there's the Democratic process and then there's an embarrassment of process.
VELSHI: Right. If we well crossed into the --
ROMANS: I think we have. And, you know, it's interesting because this morning, you know, we're trying to assess just when the government's not going to be able to pay its bills. Congress could get a little more breathing room to negotiate a deal that would raise the nation's debt ceiling.
According to "The New York Times," an analysis from the "Times," a slightly higher than expected incoming taxes could allow the Treasury Department to push back the deadline to August 2nd deadline, perhaps as late as maybe August 10th, though the Obama administration maintains that August 2nd is, quote, "a hard deadline."
Here's White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer speaking on "JOHN KING USA."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN PFEIFFER, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Spoke to the Treasury secretary before I came over here who said to me that we're still planning for August 2nd being the day. And the fact is that there's no reason we have to get to August 1st.
Congress has to do its job. We need to stop with these sort of political statements that we're dealing in the House right now. We need to get in a room, compromise and move on. That's what the American people want. That's why they're filling up phone lines and fax machines and bringing down Web sites right now.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Over at Treasury, they're doing everything they can, you know. I'm not surprised that they're trying to find more time and more space --
VELSHI: Right. Right.
ROMANS: -- because they're doing everything they can (INAUDIBLE) the Treasury to make sure that they -- that they can push it and do it as much as they can.
VELSHI: Well, some -- and some say that that means, you know, some have accused the Treasury secretary of lying, saying --
ROMANS: No. (CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: But I think it's because it's tangible.
CHETRY: Perhaps.
ROMANS: We have the debt ceiling.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Right.
CHETRY: And White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer did have some choice words for Congress as well. Angry voters jamming the switchboards, crashing servers on Capitol Hill, demanding that lawmakers try to solve this debt ceiling crisis.
Here's a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning, Speaker Boehner's office. How may I help you?
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The phones in White House Speaker John Boehner's office were twice as busy as usual with hundreds of callers waiting on hold for nearly an hour yesterday just to leave a message.
CNN surveyed the Web sites of 279 members of Congress and found 104 of them either crashed or were spotty, and there were reports that the White House switchboard was so overwhelmed with calls that it actually had to shut down during parts of the day yesterday.
VELSHI: Trying to direct people to the constituency offices as opposed to the congressional office.
And for all the posturing and tough talk and the apparent deadlock, there is common ground in the debt ceiling talks. Listen to what President Obama's senior adviser David Plouffe told Wolf Blitzer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID PLOUFFE, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISOR: The truth is the Boehner and Reid proposals have quite a bit of similarities, so we ought to be able to do something that reduces spending, that sets up a process so we can do more deficit reduction in the months ahead, and make sure that what's hanging over the economy isn't a debt -- it's clear this debt ceiling drama has not been good for the economy or the country. Why would we want to have it again in five or six months kind of defies logic.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Plouffe says there's one similarity, both proposals have a congressional committee that will be charged with trying to identify additional deficit reductions.
CHETRY: Meantime California is taking out a temporary $5 billion loan to help pay its bills in case Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling. Eight major institutions including Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo put up the money. That money will only be used if the federal government delays payments for state services like health care and transportation.
VELSHI: Republican Senator Pat Toomey introducing a blueprint for how the government should spend its money in case the debt ceiling is not raised by August 2nd. The bill would make debt payments, Social Security and paychecks to troops a priority. Everything else would be covered if possible with cash on hand or put off until the U.S. can take on more debt.
And coming up in the next hour at 7:10 a.m. Eastern we'll talk to Senator Pat Toomey about his payment plan if there's no debt deal.
CHETRY: And at 7:30 Eastern we'll talk to Republican Rick Scott -- Republican Governor Rick Scott. He is making headlines for saying that if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling it will have almost no effect on the financial markets. So we'll hear from the Florida governor's point of view coming a little later.
ROMANS: Clearly a minority view because most members of Congress say that we need to raise the debt ceiling. It's how we do it.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: Under what conditions that's so important. He says you don't need to.
So as we've seen Americans are not with the lawmakers, flooding Washington with phone calls, e-mails, that brings us to our question of the day. Hey, what would you like to tell your elected representative? Keep it clean, everyone.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: But what would you like to tell him or her.
VELSHI: Send us an e-mail, a tweet, let us know on Facebook. We're going to read some of your comments later on.
ROMANS: The latest now on the Norway massacre. Police detonated a cache of explosives that was found on a farm rented by suspect Anders Breivik about 100 miles north of Oslo. That's where police say he built the fertilizer bomb used in Friday's attacks.
We're also getting a glimpse inside the mind of Breivik courtesy of his lawyer. He said his client is surprised he succeeded pulling off this massacre. That he considers himself, quote, "in a war," and insists he was working with terror cells in Norway and abroad, although he wouldn't provide details.
Libyan state TV broadcasting footage of the Lockerbie bomber at a pro-Gadhafi rally in Tripoli yesterday. Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was the only person convicted for the 1988 bombing of the Pan Am 103 Flight over Lockerbie, Scotland. Then he was released from prison two years ago on the grounds he had cancer and only a few months to live. Al-Megrahi looking frail and in a wheelchair was introduced at the rally as a victim of a conspiracy.
A 21-year-old man from Uzbekistan is charged with threatening to kill President Obama. The Justice Department says the suspect was arrested in Alabama earlier this month after obtaining a machine gun and grenades from undercover agents. Officials say he was in the U.S. illegally after his student visa was revoked. He was indicted yesterday on four counts of threatening to kill the president.
CHETRY: Oregon Congressman David Wu says he's stepping down after allegations he made unwanted sexual advances toward a fundraiser's 18-year-old daughter. Wu has been in Congress since 1998. He was the first Chinese American to serve in the House. He plans to leave after the debt ceiling crisis is resolved.
Wu's resignation follows New York Congressman Anthony Weiner's fall from grace as well.
Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich claims he was unfairly convicted on corruption charges and that he deserves a new trial. His lawyers have filed a motion alleging judicial bias as well trial errors. It says that Blagojevich, quote, "never stood a chance at a fair trial."
Jurors found Blagojevich guilty on 17 of 20 corruption counts including attempted extortion for trying to sell or trade Barack Obama's vacated Illinois Senate seat.
VELSHI: Well, fans are ready, the players are getting there, the world championship Green Bay Packers arriving at Lambeau Field after the NFL players and owners agreed to 10 years of labor peace.
Michael Vick was in the house for the Eagles. Training camp opens for 10 NFL teams today, including Philadelphia. The first preseason games will be played on August 11th.
Well, I got to tell you, as a guy who spends a lot of weekends in Philadelphia I'm glad football is back because --
CHETRY: Me, too.
VELSHI: I don't know what we would have done with all those Eagle fans if they didn't have games to go to.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: It's true.
CHETRY: Exactly.
VELSHI: Driving around in Philly without traffic jams, a lot of people dressed up. CHETRY: Yes. You have to watch replays of the Phillies games.
VELSHI: Eagle fans, like they're -- I mean this is in the most loving way -- crazy.
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: You don't have to tell me. I'm married to one.
VELSHI: Yes. Crazy.
CHETRY: I had to renounce the Redskins as part of the marriage agreement.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: It was in the vows actually for Kiran.
All right, the Seattle Mariners have now lost 17 -- whoa, 17 games in a row. They extended that losing streak last night at Yankee Stadium. They struck out, wow, 18 times. Mariners are now six games away from the Major League record of 23 consecutive losses set by the --
VELSHI: Which was set by -- I know, the Philadelphia Phillies.
ROMANS: The Phillies 50 years ago.
CHETRY: Hey, that was half a century ago.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: Well, listen --
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: They have been on fire this year.
VELSHI: Winners you can't talk about this but they were the losingest (ph) team of any professional sport, am I right about that, guys? The Phillies were the losingest team in history of any --
CHETRY: They don't know. They're all Yankee fans.
ROMANS: Really?
CHETRY: Well, here's a --
VELSHI: I got to tell, if I'm wrong on that one, I'm just never going to be able to go home.
CHETRY: Yes, so --
VELSHI: But I don't think I'm wrong.
CHETRY: Good call saying it. Here's a catch that the NFL would never allow. This is Australian rules of football.
VELSHI: Right.
CHETRY: Aussie rules, totally different. Andrew Walker of the Carlton football club uses the defender pretty much as a stepladder. There you go. Look at that. And makes the mark.
VELSHI: Wow.
CHETRY: It's not called a catch. It's called a mark in Aussie rules --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: And the defender doesn't seem to be troubled by this. He's sure just taking it all in stride.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: Wow.
CHETRY: That's pretty amazing. And no helmets.
VELSHI: All right. That was good.
All right. Coming up next, the sexual assault case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn. CNN has learned that there is a big meeting this morning at the Manhattan DA's office. Are the charges against the former IMF chief about to be thrown out?
ROMANS: And the media demanding to know the identity of every juror in the Casey Anthony trial. By law the judge has to comply. So why don't we have their names?
CHETRY: Also, can we get a little help here? How the guy got stuck head first in a sewer?
Fourteen minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Seventeen minutes past the hour.
We may now know soon whether sexual assault charges against former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn will be dropped. CNN has learned that there is a meeting scheduled this morning at the Manhattan District Attorney's office. DSK's accuser, the hotel maid, Nafi Diallo, is expected to be there with her lawyer. This is a video, by the way, from an interview that Diallo gave to ABC this week.
Whether the criminal case goes forward or not, CNN has also learned that Diallo is planning to file a civil lawsuit against Strauss-Kahn set to be filed with the courts in the next few weeks. And even though the law says he has to do it, the judge in the Casey Anthony trial is refusing to release the names of jurors in the case, at least for now. Many of those jurors have received threats since finding Casey Anthony not guilty. Chief Judge Belvin Perry says that he will wait for a cooling off period to expire before he turns over the names to the media after October 25th.
VELSHI: Federal Appeals Court is reversing itself now saying that accused Tucson shooter Jared Lee Loughner can be forced to take anti-psychotic medication. The court cited Loughner's bizarre and suicidal behavior and going back on its earlier ruling that allowed him to refuse the drugs. Loughner is charged with killing six people and injuring 13 others including Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
ROMANS: Water roaring through the street in the Philippines. A slow moving tropical storm unleashing flash floods and landslides there, killing at least 10 people, leaving at least 11 missing, many of the missing reportedly were fishermen who set out despite the danger.
CHETRY: Police in Ceres, California are trying to figure out how the heck this happened. Do you see that? A man found himself stuck upside down in a sewer over the weekend. Police said it was a drunken accident. How did we know alcohol is going to be involved in this one?
Now, the guy claims, though, that gang members beat him up and threw his cell phone in the storm drain and he said he's angry that police released that picture. Police say that he never mentioned there was any such attack when he was rescued by them.
VELSHI: Yikes.
CHETRY: But I -- but did he get the darn cell phone back?
VELSHI: That's a good question.
ROMANS: That's a good question.
VELSHI: (INAUDIBLE). That's a good question.
Rob Marciano is in the Extreme Weather Center for us. We're going to be getting to him very shortly. It seems -- it feels so cool here in New York this morning. I actually tweeted on my way, like it felt it's just a great walk in.
CHETRY: Breezy. Nice.
VELSHI: But it's not that way in -- in much of the rest of the country.
ROMANS: No.
VELSHI: Still very, very hot. ROMANS: And I want to -- I want to ask Rob Marciano, because, you know, we heard the cicadas and there's this old saying in the Midwest that once you hear the cicadas, you've got six weeks until the first frost. It feels a little early this year.
VELSHI: Oh, that is just nasty.
ROMANS: It feels like it's going to be another crazy turn of weather for this year.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I've never heart that, but -- but I like it. It's encouraging. It gets us thinking about cooler weather at least.
You guys have a little bit of a taste of fall. I guess, well, I mean, let's be real. Temperatures are going to get still into the mid to upper 80s across the New York City area. So I wouldn't quite say fall, but relative to what we've seen, right? It feels pretty good.
A price was paid, though. We've got rough weather last night across the northeast. Check out some of this video from Springfield, Massachusetts. A lot of storm damage there with gusty winds in excess of 60 and 70 miles an hour, taking down a lot of trees, about old growth trees there, and there were some injures because of this and, of course, some power outages.
That front has pushed through the threat for severe weather today is going to be across the Northern Plains and then the heat is building up down across parts of the south. One-oh-five expected in Dallas. That's the actual high temperature forecast there. And again these temperatures don't include humidity and they're measured in the shade. So the streak continues of 100 plus temperature days in Dallas and in Oklahoma City. We've got heat warnings out for those areas, because when you couple the humidity obviously you know the deal.
All right. Let's talk about the tropics. This thing is heading into the Gulf of Mexico and we've got a hurricane hunter aircraft scheduled to arrive in there this afternoon to check it out. Some of our preliminary forecast models, guys, bring it somewhere into Texas or Louisiana Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
If we can keep this thing below hurricane strength, it wouldn't be a bad thing. Because we desperately need rain in Texas, so hopefully we'll get the best of both worlds, but that's not always a guarantee especially with how toasty (ph) the weathers are in the Gulf of Mexico. So it looks like it --
VELSHI: Yes.
MARCIANO: -- could become our next tropical storm. We'll keep you posted, of course.
VELSHI: And those -- we're early and it's too slow to see those great trajectories but they -- they extend all the way from Louisiana into Mexico. MARCIANO: They do. And right now it looks like upward Texas coastline. But once we get a closed circulation, we get some hardcore data from the hurricane aircraft, our models really start to crunch some better numbers and have a better guidance later on this afternoon and tomorrow.
VELSHI: Thanks, Rob.
ROMANS: All right.
CHETRY: Thanks, Rob.
ROMANS: OK. Still ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, the outrage over a controversial decision affecting some of the hero first responders from 9/11. You don't want to miss this.
CHETRY: Also, people don't come around these parts anymore. It's a town that time seems to have forgotten. A big fixer upper, if you will, but it can be yours.
VELSHI: The whole town?
CHETRY: The whole town for the price of -- a home.
VELSHI: Wow.
CHETRY: Twenty-two minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Twenty-five minutes after the hour. "Minding Your Business" right now.
Stock futures trading mixed ahead of the opening bell, pretty flat overall. Investors worldwide are watching Washington today, more stalls in the debt ceiling talks pushing both Asian and European markets lower overnight.
Executives from Standard & Poor's and Moody's, the ratings agencies, will testify on Capitol Hill today about a potential downgrade of America's stellar credit rating. The big buzz on Wall Street today, that a downgrade could happen even if the U.S. avoids default and Congress raises the debt ceiling in time.
Another big day of second quarter earnings. Nissan's are out beating analyst expectations, which were low because of the tsunami and the earthquake in Japan. Boeing and Delta report their earning before the opening bell. Conoco-Phillips expected to report later today. And Visa's earnings come out after the closing bell.
Apple shares closed above $400 a share for the first time yesterday, valuing the company at $374 billion. That makes its world's second largest company in terms of market cap trailing close behind oil giant Exxon Mobil.
Investors also waiting on several economic reports today. Information on durable goods orders in June comes out two hours from now and the Fed's beige book on the economy releases at 2:00 P.M. Eastern this afternoon.
Ford is scrapping CD players in its new models opting to install USB sockets for digital music players. The automaker says all of its new cars will have a computer hub where you can access your music library via the web. Ford is the first automaker to make this move.
AMERICAN MORNING is right back with investors fleeing from the U.S. dollar, amid fears of a default next week. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Thirty minutes past the hour. Time for a look at your top stories.
Six days left until the debt ceiling deadline and it's back to the drawing board for House Speaker John Boehner. He's had to postpone today's vote on his bill because Republicans wanted more spending cuts. That bill will not come to a vote now until Thursday at the earliest.
Also this morning, "The New York Times" is reporting there may be some flexibility on the August 2nd deadline. The paper reports higher than expected incoming taxes could allow the Treasury to push the date back by a few days to buy some more time, perhaps as late as August 10th.
California moving forward with a contingency plan in the event that this debt ceiling is not raised in six days. The state has secured a $5.4 billion loan. That money will cover California in case the federal government delays payments on services such as health care and transportation.
VELSHI: Unusual move to get that money all raised privately. Yes.
CHETRY: As you guys pointed out, the fifth largest economy, they have to make sure they pay their bills.
ROMANS: Right.
VELSHI: All right. If you listen carefully you can hear the sound of servers crashing and switchboards jamming all over Capitol Hill. Lawmakers getting bombarded by e-mails and phone calls, millions of them, from frustrated voters who want the debt ceiling crisis solved.
Here's Brian Todd.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning, Speaker Boehner's office.
How may I help you?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is what an avalanche looks like on Capitol Hill -- phone switchboards are jammed -- staffers inundated at House Speaker John Boehner's communications center.
TOMMY ANDREWS, AIDE TO REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER: We're at 149 right now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On hold?
ANDREWS: On hold.
TODD: On an average day, there are about 20,000 calls an hour to offices of House members. On this day, that's nearly doubled. Out of nearly 300 members' Web sites we sampled, more than a third were inaccessible for at least part of the day because of volume.
Much of can this can be attributed to a few simple words from another part of town.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you want a balanced approach to reducing the deficit, let your member of Congress know.
TODD: That triggered calls from millions of Americans worried about possible default and angry at the political posturing, but also this --
ANDREWS: A lot of this has been, you know, stand strong. You know, we support your plan.
TODD: And this at the office of Democratic Senator Bill Nelson of Florida.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I really need him to support the president on this.
TODD: We pounded it on Capitol Hill, sampling mostly Republican offices. Freshman Republican Frank Guinta of New Hampshire says his voice-mail box was filled when he first got in this morning.
REP. FRANK GUINTA (R), NEW HAMPSHIRE: Generally speaking, people want to see an agreement done, but they don't, at least in New Hampshire, want to see taxes raised. And they don't want to see the debt ceiling raised without some sort of spending reform.
TODD (on camera): But are they expressing frustration at you, at others?
(CROSSTALK)
GUINTA: Well, there is some frustration at the process, this back and forth. You know, we've heard some things about dueling press conferences.
TODD: Coming from Congressional offices on Capitol Hill to a prayer vigil right over here. This is an interfaith service calling for a solution to the budget crisis that does not place a burden on the backs of the poor. But the mood is here not so charitable to politicians on either side.
(voice-over): People here know the clock is ticking and are fed up.
MICHAEL NEUROTH, ATTENDED BUDGET PRAYER VIGIL: I think we're all disappointed that both sides seem so locked into their own narrative.
SHANTHA ALONSO, ATTENDED BUDGET PRAYER VIGIL: There is a sense of anger that I've sensed. There's also a sense of weariness that I've picked up on.
TODD: You want weary? Just glance at young Congressional aides who've been fielding these messages all day.
Congressman Guinta takes a lot of calls himself and seems to thrive on them.
REP. FRANK GUINTA, (R) NEW HAMPSHIRE: Democracy is worth the time and the energy and effort that I and others put into it.
TODD (on camera): Do you think you'll feel that way in a week?
GUINTA: Yes, I will. I will.
TODD: Confident?
GUINTA: Yes, very.
TODD (voice-over): Despite the inundation, it doesn't appear this was a record day. The average rate of calls on this day, still 15,000 fewer an hour than at the peak of the health care debate.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: All right.
ROMANS: So, that brings us to our question of the day this morning. What would you like to tell your elected representative? E- mail us.
VELSHI: We're getting good e-mails already.
ROMANS: I know.
Tweet us, let us know on Facebook @CNNAM, of course, is our Twitter handle. We're going to read some of your thoughts later on the program.
CHETRY: But there's a lot of these lawmakers, when you talk to them, say, I'm just carrying out what my constituents want me to do.
VELSHI: Right.
CHETRY: They want me to do this. They want me to hold the line. Or they want me to fight for this.
VELSHI: Right.
CHETRY: So, it will be interesting to see what people say and whether or not they're listened to.
VELSHI: America's AAA credit rating is just days away possibly from a downgrade and sobering prediction comes from the CEO of the world's biggest bond trader PIMCO. Mohammad El-Erian head is telling CNN a downgrade to AA may happen this week even if lawmakers are able to reach a compromise on the debt ceiling crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMMAD EL-ERIAN, CO-CEO, PIMCO: That is the question mark for us. Not whether the U.S. defaults, we do not expect the U.S. to default, but whether the U.S. does enough to avoid a downgrade of its AAA rating. If S&P sticks to what it said, the U.S. will be downgraded in the next few days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Two "D" words that really matter, you default, even if there's no bond default, you still could have a downgrade that still matters to interest rates and the future of the country.
CHETRY: So, this one individual is influential enough to do that? To --
VELSHI: Well, I mean, he's -- they trade in bonds.
CHETRY: Right.
VELSHI: PIMCO is the largest bond mutual fund company in the world. So, when he speaks and Bill Gross from PIMCO speaks, these are the people to listen to.
CHETRY: Right.
VELSHI: I think everything has to come with the caveat we haven't been through this before.
CHETRY: Who actually decides you know what, I don't think we can have this AAA rating anymore?
VELSHI: That's a good question. The decision is made by S&P and Moody's and Fitch, and then they've already said they'll do it. So, we'll have to see what happens.
Later this morning, we're going to be joined by Paul La Monica. He's the assisting managing editor at CNN Money. We're going to ask him some of these questions about a downgrade and the impact it could have for you and your family.
CHETRY: In the meantime, the almighty U.S. dollar has always been a safe haven. That again is not the case anymore. Investors around the world are looking for more stable currencies right now.
Nina Dos Santos joining us live from London this morning.
We've been looking most notably at the U.S. dollar for the reaction about the uncertainty on the debt ceiling, even if you're not seeing stock markets move wildly, watch it in commodities and, of course, the dollar, right, Nina?
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Christine and Kiran. Obviously, the dollar has been on a downward trajectory for the best part of the last year. It's actually down against the major peers in terms of currencies since June 2010. It's actually fallen about 17 percent.
So, that gives you an idea of how much this once safe currency has now been grabbed by the jitters in the market. And, obviously, as talk of a potential technical default by the United States continues to intensify, what we've got is a lot of people heading for the hills, heading for those safe havens and, of course, the ultimate safe haven is the commodity gold.
Now, this precious metal has been pushing to other records this week. It's now currently trading at $1,624 an ounce.
And what some traders have been telling me here in London is that kind of price is, perhaps, just a little bit too expensive to buy. So, people have been putting their money in other currencies, notably the Swiss franc which hit another record against the green buck yesterday.
And we've also got some surprising spots here on the currency markets because the Aussie dollar has also been gaining significantly. It's up at a 30-year high against the U.S. dollar. Just recently, a lot of that momentum is thanks to concerns about the debt situation in the United States.
I must point out, though, it sounds great, doesn't it, if your currency is appreciating so much. It is also quite dangerous. The major export driven economies and the yen is one of the currencies that's suffering from the back of this, is traditionally being seen as a very strong currency, it strengthened even more as this debt situation in the United States intensifies.
And that is really bad news for some of the major exporters over there in Japan, like, for instance, Nissan and Toyota because every time they sell a car in the United States, and then repatriate the money, exchange it from dollars to yen, of course, they make less money on the international sales.
ROMANS: Nina Dos Santos in London -- thank you, Nina.
CHETRY: Well, if you're in the market for a virtual ghost town, boy, we have a deal for you. This is an entire town for sale in South Dakota. It's town of Scenic. It's a little speck on the map. Forty- six acres and the population under is 10.
VELSHI: You get them?
CHETRY: But you can change that.
VELSHI: You don't get them.
CHETRY: Well, you're the boss of them. You're boss of all ten of them if you own the town.
Almost all of them related to the current owner of the property. This is an elderly woman, by the way, who recently fell ill, why it's listed, $799,000. That's down from $3 million. You'd almost think it was a movie set.
VELSHI: (INAUDIBLE) looks like that.
CHETRY: All that's missing is Clint Eastwood.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: Got a salon covered in cow skulls. I wouldn't ask for whiskey there.
VELSHI: No fun colored mixed drinks.
CHETRY: No. It also has dance hall, a bunk house, train depot and one, quote, "operating jail."
VELSHI: Good. You may need to throw someone in the clink.
CHETRY: In a Wild West town, you'll never know.
VELSHI: That's an interesting option.
ROMANS: It is.
All right. Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING: An atheist group suing to prevent a cross from being displayed at the Ground Zero memorial site.
CHETRY: That is -- actually, that is the steel beams --
VELSHI: That's right.
ROMANS: That's right.
CHETRY: -- in the shape of the cross preserved after the towers fell.
VELSHI: And a 70-year-old grandmother comes face to face with the would-be burglar in his birthday suit. We'll explain what happened after the break.
It's 39 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: A U.S. Olympic skier who won a silver medal at the 2010 Games found dead in Utah in an apparent suicide. Police say Jeret "Speedy" Peterson called to tell them where he was before he shot himself to death on Monday night.
The U.S. Olympic Committee saying it was a sad day. His achievement was an inspiration to people all over the world.
Peterson battled alcoholism, was treated for -- arrested, rather, for drunk driving as recently as last Friday. He was just 29 years old.
CHETRY: Awful.
VELSHI: That's sad.
Nine-eleven responders who developed cancer since the terrorist attacks in New York, are now not eligible for benefits. Officials in charge of the health fund say right now, there is not enough evidence to add cancers to the list of diseases covered by the law which provides health care for Ground Zero workers. That could change in 2010. There will be another review but it's got people in the city really riled up.
CHETRY: Yes. Actually, coming up in our 8:00 hour, we're going to talk to somebody who has been a tireless advocate for a people down there. John Feal, who says, you know, these people that are sick, they don't have time to wait, to see --
VELSHI: Yes, to get for another review.
And an atheist group is suing over a cross scheduled to be displayed at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City.
You're looking at it now. That wasn't made. Those are cross beams from the Twin Towers. A cross is two steel girders. It was found jutting out of the rubble at one World Trade Center following the 9/11 attacks.
The group of American Atheists -- they're called American Atheists -- says the cross display is, quote, "impermissible mingling of church and state."
ROMANS: That's really historical artifact from the -- I mean, this is a symbol to many of the people of all religions who were there of the moments after the attacks.
CHETRY: It will be interesting to see how the ruling comes down, if this goes to court. Because this was not made into a cross. That was --
VELSHI: It was what it was.
CHETRY: It was what it was.
VELSHI: Yes, I'm not really fully understanding the church and state part. I guess because it's a memorial they're concerned that's the state part. Interesting to see.
CHETRY: Well, the Congress, as well as the president, giving FBI Director Robert Mueller a new two-year term. The special legislation allows for Mueller to stay on the job until 2013. His current 10-year term expires August 2nd. Something else expires August 2nd.
VELSHI: Yes, that's right.
CHETRY: Well, President Obama will now formally nominate Mueller and his confirmation will be fast-tracked in the Senate.
ROMANS: The school year might be saved, you guys, in Memphis after all. Last week, we told you about the Memphis school board voting to delay the start of the year until the district gets about $55 million, part of what the city owes them. Last night the board voted to start the year as scheduled on August 8th as long as four conditions are met, including payment of a $12 million for the month of August.
VELSHI: All right. This is a rude awakening for a 70-year-old grandmother in New Hampshire who confronted a naked intruder in her home. Police say the man climbed through the kitchen window in the middle of the night, took off his clothes for some reason, maybe because it's hot, and came face to face with her. She told him to leave. He refused. So, she took matters into her own hands.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
"BONNIE", USED BAT TO SCARE AWAY NAKED INTRUDER: I said oh, no you didn't. And then, that's when I grabbed the bat. And it still didn't impress him that I was going to use it. (INAUDIBLE) showing it. So, I hit him with it and beat him out the door. What he was going to do upstairs, I have no idea, but he definitely wasn't going to get beyond me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Wow!
VELSHI: Wow!
ROMANS,: Good for her.
VELSHI: Definitely wasn't getting beyond me. The intruder, by the way, is still at large. Police say nothing was missing from the house. They're not entirely sure what his motive was.
ROMANS: She might be really helpful in the debt ceiling negotiations.
VELSHI: Nothing getting by me.
ROMANS: Let's see if we can maybe get her a ticket to Washington.
VELSHI: Yes. No kidding. No kidding. CHETRY: Quick thinking, though. You know, I mean, I would be rattled. She just grabbed the bat, did what she had to do.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: Right now, it's 46 minutes past the hour. We're going to get a check of the morning's headlines right after a quick break.
ROMANS: And how many congressmen does it take to get a debt deal? It's late night laugh, debt ceiling edition. That's ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Forty-eight minutes past the hour now. A look at your morning headlines.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY (voice-over): Today's key vote on House Speaker John Boehner's debt ceiling plan is being pushed back by at least a day in the House. The bill has been losing conservative support after the Congressional Budget Office says it didn't cut as much as promise.
Phone banks are jammed and web servers are crashing on Capitol Hill. Millions of frustrated voters bombarding lawmakers and the White House with calls and e-mails demanding a solution to the debt ceiling crisis.
Police in Norway detonating explosives that were found on a farm rented by massacre suspect, Anders Breivik. Norwegian officials reaching out to other countries now investigating Breivik's claims that he was working with terror cells abroad.
He says he did nothing wrong, but Oregon Democratic congressman, David Wu, is resigning after allegations of sexual misconduct with an 18-year-old girl. Wu plans to step down when the debt ceiling crisis is resolved.
A landslide in South Korea has killed 32 people and injured two dozen others. About 400 families have also lost their homes. More than 14,000 were left without power.
The judge in the Casey Anthony trial will not release the identities of the jurors, even though, it is required by law. Judge Belvin Perry says everyone needs to cool off, and that he will turn over their names to the press after October 25th.
And baseball's Seattle Mariners have now lost 17 games in a row. They're just six losses away from the major league record which was set by the Philadelphia Phillies 50 years ago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY (on-camera): That goes to show you, fortunes can change in baseball. You're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING is back right after this. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Fifty-one minutes past the hour. A new travel warning for Americans overseas. The state department says al Qaeda and its affiliated organizations continue to plan terror attacks against U.S. interests in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Officials say that the death of Osama Bin Laden has increased the potential for anti-American violence including suicide operations, assassinations, kidnappings, hijackings, and bombings. Americans traveling near the horn of Africa are being told to be especially careful.
ROMANS: Officials in Mexico say federal police will begin pulling out of Ciudad Juarez now that the security situation there is, quote, "under control." Thousand of federal police have been patrolling the violence plagued border city since last April. The mayor of Juarez says they determined that local forces are ready to take control of the security operation there.
VELSHI: And shocking accusations against the United States leveled by Bolivian president, Evo Morales. He says America is planning to plant something on his plane when he arrives for a general assembly meeting at the U.N. today. Morales telling a farmers convention in Bolivia he fears U.S. officials will try to link him to drug traffickers and confiscate his presidential plane. The U.S. embassy in La Paz has declined comment.
CHETRY: Rank and file Americans answered the president's call to let lawmakers know what they thought about the debt ceiling stalemate. In fact, jamming the phone lines, a lot of the Congressional websites as well either crashed or had spotty service because of so many people writing in.
VELSHI: So, in case you couldn't get through, our question of the day is for you, what would you like to tell your elected representatives?
Kelly on Facebook says, "Do your job. Serve the electorate not your party and compromise to get a solution."
ROMANS: Matthew on Facebook says, "America has been made to look incapable and unstable in front of the entire world. Their indecision and lack of commitment to the people is unacceptable."
CHETRY: And Koleby, "Learn to compromise and do what you know is the best thing for the American people. Stop worrying about your next election. Do what we sent you to do.
VELSHI: And we had to put this one on from Edward on Facebook, "You're fired."
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: Keep those comments coming. Send us an e-mail, a tweet, and tell us on Facebook. We're going to read more of your comments a little bit later. And I really wonder if Congress people are getting it, because the outrage seems to be at them as a whole not -- VELSHI: You know, some of the advisors that we've spoken to to get input on this say that they've spoken to Congressional leadership, and they feel that Congressional leadership gets it, but there are a lot of rank and file, particularly, a lot of those who've signed those no tax pledges who are just sticking to their ideological guns.
Hey, don't tell them, by the way, that it's no laughing matter. The boys of late night were laughing all the way to the bank about the debt talks. Listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, CONAN: What are we even doing here having a show? Our country is in serious trouble. We're all here, yes, wooh!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's fine. When China calls for their money, just say that you're your roommate.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what I always did.
O'BRIEN: The president spoke last night. You probably all saw his speech. Good.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: In his speech last night, I don't know if you saw this, President Obama said that compromise has become a dirty word. Yes. Then, he told Republicans to go compromise themselves.
(LAUGHTER)
JON STEWART, HOST, THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART: The president was in full educator in chief mode.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For the last decade, we spent more money than we take in. If we stay on the current path, our growing debt could cost us jobs and do serious damage to the economy.
STEWART: Oh?
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: You know, I think your financial austerity path message may be slightly undercut by the begolden shared red carpet path.
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: You walked down to tell us about it. Isn't there any way to do the tighten the belt speech from a room that doesn't look like the foyer (ph) of the Vatican?
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: Just saying that if really want to address America's (INAUDIBLE) shortage, might have do it from the waterfall room.
(LAUGHTER)
JAY LENO, HOST, THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO: Still no resolution to this stupid debt ceiling crisis thing. You know, Iowa congressman, Steven King, says if President Obama allows the country to default, he could be impeached. Obama could stop that with just three words President Joe Biden. OK. OK. OK. All right. Forget I said anything.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Well, there you go. Late night laughs. The Boehner plan to resolve the debt crisis, though, in some trouble this morning. We're going to be live in Washington after the break. It's 55 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
