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American Morning
Vote on House Debt Ceiling Plan Delayed; Markets Around the World Falter; Police Stop Potential Killing Spree; Fort Hood Terror Plot Foiled; Tropical Storm Don Moving Toward Texas; Republicans Not Sold on Boehner's Plan; Plan B If No Debt Deal; North Korea and U.S. Talking
Aired July 29, 2011 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. It's Friday, July 29th. You're looking -- you are looking live outside our studios in New York City. That's what it says. That's not what you're looking at. An end to a very busy week in the news. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. A lot happening this morning so let's get right to it.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: A lot and so little at the same time.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Meaning it's one topic, one huge struggle, but it continues this morning. And we're talking about, of course, the efforts in Washington to try to end the debt crisis before next Tuesday's deadline.
Here's a live look at the capitol this morning where overnight infighting among Republicans forced house speaker John Boehner to yank his debt deal. There is hope he can get it out there again today on the floor and pass it. In just four hours the speaker will sit down with Republicans and again try to entice a handful of hardline fiscal conservatives to fall in line.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R) HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: The bill is not perfect. I never said it was perfect. Nobody in my caucus believes it's perfect. But what this Bill reflects is a sincere, honest effort to end this crisis in a bipartisan way to send it to the Senate where it can receive action.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: The speaker's bill would cut $900 billion from the budget over 10 years in exchange for a short, six-month extension of the debt ceiling. So yeah, we can do this again in six months. Conservatives are angry. They say the cuts -- angry the cuts don't go deeper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOE WALSH, (R) ILLINOIS: We want to make sure we never get here again. I want to support something that makes sure we never get here again.
REP. CONNIE MACK, (R) FLORIDA: The deal that is on the table, makes the hole deeper. So don't -- you shouldn't expect people who believe we should balance the budget to vote for a deal that makes the hole deeper.
REP. TREY GOWDY, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: I can't support this plan. I would love to be able to support Speaker Boehner, Leader Cantor. I have to have something that transcends election cycles. I can't support it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Senate majority leader Harry Reid is blaming the Tea Party to the gridlock which is quickly bringing the government to the edge of a disastrous default in which case the treasury won't be able to pay all of its bills, or the other way around. The treasury wouldn't pay its bills and could trigger a default.
ROMANS: That's right. The White House is warning even if the speaker's Bill does make it through the house it's expected to die in the Senate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Spending hour after hour here waiting for the Republicans to twist arms for a vote that is essentially irrelevant, because as soon as they pass it, if they are able to, the Senate will vote it down and we have to get back to the table and get something done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: All right, this morning as the nation's debt continues to mount so, too, does the anger across the nation. You are paying the price for what has become an ugly partisan battle. Over the past five consecutive days, the Dow has dropped a total of 484 points. And there are serious concerns from all quarters this morning that you're beginning to see signs of stress in the global markets because of this indecision.
VELSHI: I'm curious. Let's go to Washington where Joe Johns is standing by. Joe, does that message get through, that there are serious concerns? The world's financial markets, which are relevant because they buy America's bonds, are very, very worried about this and how it's playing out?
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think it gets through, but I got to tell you, in talking to some of these members of Congress who have been on the fence or been opposed, and also listening to them, you know, in just the feeds that come back and forth, I got to tell you, there are some members of Congress who are not so sure that this August 2nd deadline is a real thing.
They don't trust this administration. They think the administration is holding out and that cash receipts or something else will give them a little bit of extra time, a little bit of extra breathing room to do what they got to do. So, it gets through, but there's a lot of skepticism, particularly upon the Republicans who don't trust the president, Ali.
ROMANS: If their IRA or 401(k) takes a hit, the Credit Suisse says a 30 percent hit to stocks over the next six months if there is a default, maybe they have to -- see it for themselves.
CHETRY: The other problem with this, Joe, even if this Bill, we're talking about all of this wrangling behind the scenes by Speaker Boehner to get his conservative contingents in line in the house, even if that happens, it doesn't make it through the Senate. What realistically happens next? How does a deal get done?
JOHNS: Well, they can change this bill a little bit in order to appease the conservatives who are concerned about it and try to pass it on out. They can leave its same. They can forget about it and let the Senate do it or try to do it.
But, you know, the bottom line is, this thing will be useful to the Congress because it could serve pretty much as a template, if you will, something they just sort of put their own words into for a finished product. This debate also sort of shows you the limitations on speaker of the House. It's clear there's only so much he can do. And that message is also being conveyed to the people over the Senate and White House. So this is the useful exercise.
ROMANS: Joe -- go ahead.
VELSHI: Go ahead.
ROMANS: I want to know, does John Boehner have control of his party?
JOHNS: No. Well, I mean, it's pretty clear -- here's what's clear. It's clear that when you look at this and you ask all these questions about well, is he going to survive, is he going to survive this? Bills have been pulled from the floor of the House before because it can get very chaotic when you have sort of close relationship between the majority and minority in terms of numbers.
So, I mean, that's the bottom line here. What he and his leadership are guilty of at the very least is not being very good vote counters, because normally you take a bill to the floor only when you know what's going to happen. They apparently took it out there and they were not so sure about what happened, or maybe they just totally miscalculated and people lied to them, which becomes a question of arm twisting. But we do know they didn't know what the numbers were when they went to the floor, and that's their problem. They're going to try to fix that today.
CHETRY: All right, Joe Johns for us, thanks so much.
VELSHI: The question I was going to ask was a similar question about the president. You can say these two gentlemen are in the same position. The president hasn't been able to fully rally his party and John Boehner hasn't been able to fully rally his.
ROMANS: And the elephant in the room the TARP vote. A lot of these guys, a cynic would say, looking back to people who signed the last on to the TARP think they lost their jobs got booted out. And new Republicans saying we're not going to do -- this isn't TARP it's different. Totally different -- this is not the TARP
VELSHI: If someone said what the elephant is in the room I'm not sure I would have gone for the TARP vote.
ROMANS: Are you telling me I'm a nerd?
VELSHI: No, I'm telling you it's excellent journalism.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: Coming up in less than 20 minutes could we solve this debt ceiling crisis with just two $1 trillion coins? Mary Snow takes a look at a possible plan b.
And in less than 30 minutes, we're going to talk to Republican congressman trey Trey Gowdy. Right now he is one of the Republicans against the speaker's debt plan. We'll find out why and if there's anything the speaker can do to get the congressman to change his mind.
ROMANS: If Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling we cannot emphasize how big it could be. Our Nina Dos Santos is live in London. Nina, how are world markets reacting this morning as just this chronic unease continues?
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I've got one word for you to answer that question, Christine, nervously at the moment. Everybody is watching to see what will happen in the United States over the course of the weekend. Volumes are very light. All of the markets are currently trading in the red. We had Asia ending the week on a downbeat note for a fifth day in a row for in some of those markets we saw losses and Europe is still losing as we speak.
Christine, you were just mentioning some of the largest investment banks like, for instance, Credit Suisse saying we could see a significant double-digit percentage decline in the markets if we don't get a deal on the U.S. debt ceiling.
And we should also mention that in the eye of the storm is the euro zone debt crisis yet again. When you think it's gone away it comes right back. Moody's investment services has put the eye on Spain. It's earmarked six of its regions for a potential downgrade. That again has markets worried, Christine.
ROMANS: Thank you so much, Nina Dos Santos in London.
CHETRY: Talking about weather right now, Texas has been in the grip of one of the worst droughts that the state has seen. The state is, though, about to get some relief. However this could be a double-edge sword. It's in the form of tropical storm Don expected to reach the Texas gulf coast by tonight bringing with it plenty of rain, but also some of the damage and devastation that comes with tropical storm force winds.
(WEATHER BREAK) VELSHI: They're reliving a nightmare this morning at the Ft. Hood army base in Texas. Another plot to kill soldiers has been uncovered by Texas police and it was foiled just in time.
ROMANS: An AWOL Muslim-American army private is in custody this morning. By all accounts he was close to pulling off a massacre at a military base, a base that's still reeling from the 2009 attack that took 13 lives.
Ed Lavandera live in Killeen, Texas, this morning. Ed, the similarities between the 2009 tragedy at Ft. Hood Major Nidal Hasan and this plot are striking.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this bringing back terrible memories for the people here at Ft. Hood army post. But what is interesting is Private First Class Naser Abdo had been going through the process of getting conscientious objector status. He said as a Muslim soldier he couldn't kill other Muslims. But if authorities here and other authorities are correct, he didn't mind attempting, perhaps, to kill other American soldiers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREG EBERT, GUNS GALORE SALESMAN: It's Springfield XV.
LAVANDERA: From the moment Greg Ebert set eyes on Naser Abdo, he said something didn't seem right.
EBERT: He shows up here in a taxicab. How many people go shopping at gun stores in a taxicab?
LAVANDERA: The army private spent about 20 minutes inside the Guns Galore gun shop in Killeen, Texas. Ebert says Private Abdo acted very guarded and asked odd questions.
EBERT: He selects these six canisters, brings them to the counter, sets them down, and that's when he asks, what is smokeless powder? Hello. Why are you buying this if you don't know what it is?
LAVANDERA: Ebert says Abdo then spent almost $250 on a handgun magazine, three boxes of shotgun shells, and six pounds of smokeless gun powder.
EBERT: I rang it up, he paid cash, took his bag and left without the receipt or his change.
LAVANDERA (on camera): Left without his change?
EBERT: Yes. It wasn't much, like 18 cents, 20 cents.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Ebert is a retired 20-year law enforcement veteran. It was that old cop's hunch that convinced him to report the suspicious customer to local police. Within 24 hours officers hunted him down and say they unraveled Abdo's horrifying and deadly plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DENNIS BALDWIN, KILLEEN POLICE CHIEF: We have interviewed him and we have the information as a result of that interview as well as other leads that we're following up on that gives us --
(INAUDIBLE)
BALDWIN: Let me finish my statement. That leads us to believe that military target -0 personnel was targeted.
LAVANDERA: But police say this attack wouldn't have occurred inside Ft. Hood like the deadly massacre in 2009 where major Nidal Hasan, allegedly gunned down 13 soldiers. Instead, authorities say Abdo planned on attacking soldiers in popular gathering spots around Killeen, just outside Ft. Hood.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How close was he to pulling this off?
BALDWIN: That's a good question, and I can tell you that we would probably be here today giving a different briefing had he not been stopped.
LAVANDERA: Law enforcement sources tell CNN bomb-making materials were found in Abdo's room inside this Killeen, Texas, hotel. Another source says Islamic extremist literature was found in his backpack. Ft. Hood is still hurting from the deadly massacre two years ago, and Greg Ebert can't help but think about what might have happened this time if he had not called police.
EBERT: I would be devastated, especially considering I might have played some role in someone being injured, seriously injured or killed. That would be very unsettling.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: Now this morning, Private Abdo is still being held here at the Killeen police department. But we do expect federal charges to be filed at some point and that could happen as soon as today. Back to you guys.
ROMANS: Thanks, Ed.
CHETRY: Still to come this morning, hundreds of grieving relatives remembering the victims of last week's bombing and massacre at an Oslo memorial service this morning. We'll tell you why police are rushing to question Anders Breivik again.
VELSHI: And seniors depend on Social Security and now worried about the cuts because of the debt crisis. What's the government saying this morning? We'll tell you. It's not all that comforting.
ROMANS: And an F-16 fighter jet skids office the runway and crashes in Wisconsin. You'll hear from a witness who watched it happened. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. It's 15 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: "Minding Your Business" this morning. Right now, U.S. stock futures are trading lower ahead of the opening bell. It's a big day on Wall Street today. Investors sorting through lots of economic data, earnings report, watching for news on the debt ceiling debate in Washington. The Treasury Department officials are telling CNN that executives from 20 major banks will meet with Treasury officials today at the New York Federal Reserve building here in Manhattan. And topping their agenda, the debt ceiling and potential fallout if a deal is not reached in time.
Wall Street executives getting very vocal on the debt debate in Washington. A report from Credit Suisse says U.S. stocks could tumble 30 percent over the next six months to a year if the debt ceiling is not raised in time and the U.S. defaults. They did say the chances of that are very, very low, but it would be serious.
Several of Wall Street's top CEOs sent a letter to President Obama and Congress yesterday urging swift action this week on the nation's debt ceiling talks.
Later this morning, the world's third most profitable company, oil giant Chevron, is expected to report its second-quarter earnings before the opening bell. Just a few minutes ago, big health care company Merck reported it plans to cut 12 percent to 13 percent of its work force over the next four years. The company also announced its quarterly earnings were in line with Wall Street's expectation.
And the big business story today, a major economic indicator. Second- quarter GDP comes out in about an hour from now at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. Economists surveyed by CNNmoney.com forecast that the economy grew at a rate of 1.8 percent, slowing slightly from the previous quarter.
Also later today, the Obama administration expected to announce a new round of tougher fuel economy standards for cars and trucks. The new rules will require vehicles sold in 2025 to average about 55 miles an gallon. That is double current levels.
Don't forget, for the latest news about your money, check out the all- new CNNmoney.com. AMERICAN MORNING back right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Right now, Norway's prime minister is joing hundreds of grieving relatives at a memorial service in central Oslo. They're remembering lost loved ones from last week's bombing and massacre that killed 76 people. The service was organized by the youth movement of the Norwegian Labor Party. Sixty-eight of their friends were slaughtered one week ago at the group's summer camp outside Oslo.
The suspect in those attacks, Anders Breivik, will face a second round of questioning by police today. He'll also be evaluated by psychiatrists. Breivik's been in solitary confinement since Monday. Police say they've uncovered a lot of new leads in the last few days and want to make sure there's no further threat. CHETRY: All right. Let's bring in our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson. He's been covering this. He's live from Oslo this morning where this memorial service is going on right now. I know this is a nation really in turmoil and mourning because of this situation. What's it like today?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you really get that sense that everyone here is coming together and supporting unity for all the victims.
And we are just outside the center of Oslo, just about an hour's drive from that national memorial service at the first funeral here for one of those young victims shot down on the island. An 18-year-old girl, Bano Rafeed (ph). She's of Kurdish-Iraqi descent and she was an aspiring politician. Only in the last few weeks, she had published her thesis on democracy. She really was all about the youth movement of the labor party, the ruling party here.
So many people have gathered at this joint Muslim and Christian service, that they're overflowing from the church here. It really is - and you can see it by the people, a repudiation of Breivik's hatred of multiculturalism. A joint Muslim-Christian service. But for some of the survivors on the island, they are still traumatized by everything they went through.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADRIAN PRACON, UTOEYA SURVIVOR: I want to go back. I want to go back as soon as possible, actually, just to see how it's like there now. I will also see Utoeya for what it's like and how I remember it. From the beautiful place, probably the most beautiful place on earth, where young people gathered around and to discuss, to change society to make it a better place for all of us.
And I want to see the places where I have been and where I tried to escape. I want to make peace with the island again and let go of what happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: And for so many of those young people, we've seen them coming here today. This is a week now since the horrible events took place. It is a nation still in shock, but this, perhaps, perhaps the beginning of some of the healing.
CHETRY: Nic Robertson for us this morning. Solemn morning for sure there, thank you.
VELSHI: All right. Still to come, the scramble to come up with a plan B for the nation as the debt ceiling approaches on Tuesday. One of the ideas involves the minting of one $1 trillion coins. How is that going to work? Mary Snow will tell us. It's 26 minutes after the hour. And you are watching AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Hey, 29 minutes after the hour. Time now for your top stories this morning.
As we just mentioned, this morning on Capitol Hill, House speaker John Boehner is again going to try to muster enough Republican support to pass his debt plan. Last night the vote was called off. It was supposed to be yesterday afternoon. They delayed it. Supposed to be last night. It was called off after the speaker was unable to convince enough hard-line fiscal conservatives to back the plan.
CHETRY: And police uncovering a terror plot targeting soldiers at Fort Hood in Texas. Naser Abdo, an AWOL Muslim-American private was arrested. Police say he planned to kill soldiers outside the base. Army major Nadal Hassan, you may remember, is accused of killing 13 fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, just two years ago.
VELSHI: And Tropical Storm Don is expected to hit the Texas Gulf Coast around midnight tonight. Heavy rain is going to be welcome in Texas where the entire state is dealing with a severe drought.
So some people are hoping that it works well, but I got to tell you, it's hard to balance wanting rain, but not wanting the damage that comes with a tropical storm.
ROMANS: Back to our top story this morning, House Speaker John Boehner will try to entice a few conservative holdouts to support his debt ceiling plan, a plan he hopes to plan sometime today.
Joining me now from Capitol Hill is one of those Republican holdouts, Congressman from South Carolina. Good morning, Congressman. Thank you for joining us this morning. What do you need to see from the House speaker and from his plan to get you on board?
REPRESENTATIVE TREY GOWDY, DOES NOT SUPPORT SPEAKER BOEHNER'S BILL: I think Speaker Boehner has done a masterful job. I would not want his job for quadruple the salary. But for me it has to be a remedy that is transformative, that transcends election cycles.
It has to be a remedy that ensures the 75th time we raise the debt ceiling is the last time we raise the debt ceiling. I think we made progress last night. That's not the narrative that I watched when I got in at midnight, but I actually think last night was very productive.
ROMANS: Productive how? I mean, because they had to pull it and now we're looking for something new to come out this morning and you're still hearing that by the time it gets to the Senate it wouldn't make it anyway?
GOWDY: Well, we can't control what happens in the Senate, and thankfully we're not responsible for what happens in the Senate because not a whole lot happens in the Senate.
Our job is to or at least I view my job as the congressman for the fourth congressional district in South Carolina, is to vote the collective conscience of my constituents, which is this -- we have a $14 trillion problem. The notion of giving the president a clean debt increase was never going to happen, so the issue then becomes what's the best thing you can get in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. Many of us who are labeled or vilified or whatever the proper word is as extremists and radicals have already voted twice to raise the debt ceiling. Once in Paul Ryan's budget.
ROMANS: I'll tell you why they're vilified. They're vilified because there are two different things here. There's the debt ceiling which is paying for what Congress has already passed and already agreed on and then there's getting the budget deficit and our debt and deficits under control, which is something else.
And you guys are using the debt ceiling as leverage to work on that bigger long-term unsustainable debt story. You know, you've made a lot of progress. You have got the president on board, even talking about entitlement reforms.
You've got him up to $3 trillion or $4 trillion in cuts and you've got a national conversation about living beyond our means. Isn't that enough?
GOWDY: It's progress in the right direction, but I would respectfully say to you if more Congress has used raising the debt ceiling as a leverage point, then you and I may not be having this conversation.
I think it's instructive that five years ago, the president, the vice president, voted no on raising the debt ceiling. So the notion that it is all of a sudden calamitous or that calamitous sends a different definition because Republicans are running the House is balder dash.
I am happy to raise the debt ceiling. I have voted to do it twice, but I want the 75th time to be the last time.
ROMANS: So you said if you think calamitous is balder dash, I just want to give you a couple, OK, so Credit Suisse says stocks may fall 30 percent if the U.S. defaults, 30 percent for stocks. That means your constituents would see their 401(k)s go down.
You have bank presidents, bank CEOs saying raise the debt ceiling this week, please, or we will suffer grave consequences and you have strains already showing up, sir, in the short-term lending market.
The short-term credit markets, companies pulling out billions of dollars because they want to wait and see what's going to happen next. We're already seeing the strains.
GOWDY: Do this for me, read the quotes of what will happen if our bond rating is downgraded, which is going to happen if we don't bend the spending arc in this country. The dichotomy --
ROMANS: I think we all agree on that. Here's the thing, two things happening --
GOWDY: Let's fix it. ROMANS: Exactly. Fix it in a responsible way. If you don't raise the debt ceiling and suddenly you have a 40 percent cut at government spending, 40 percent slam on the brakes quickly in the economy. That would have calamitous effects on jobs.
I mean, that's not an opinion. That's not editorializing. That is a fact, Congressman. So how do we do it in a responsible way without holding the debt ceiling hostage to it?
GOWDY: Well, here's another fact. The House Republicans voted twice to raise the debt ceiling. One was voted down in the Senate, the other was not even given the luxury of a vote. It was tabled. So we've done it twice.
If the Senate has a plan, they certainly haven't shared it with us. If the president has a plan, he certainly hasn't shared it with us. What we'll do today, I predict it will be done today, is for the third time, send a plan that raises the debt ceiling in a responsible way.
The Senate hasn't done it. The White House hasn't done it. I just respectfully disagree with you. Nobody wants a default. I have not met a soul that wants a default. Nor do we want a downgrade, which is coming if we do not bend the spending arc in this country.
I happen to think we can do both. We can avert a default and bend the spending arc and avoid a downgrade and let's don't kid ourselves, a downgrade is just as insidious as a default over the long term.
ROMANS: Yes. I mean, it absolutely is. We know that the -- our deficits and debts are unsustainable. We know that. But the concern here is, and you must be concerned, that you and your -- and the Tea Party part of your party and your party, could be blamed if this whole thing goes south because there isn't a political solution in Washington.
GOWDY: Well, you know, I'm -- I smile because the Tea Party is blamed for -- some of the guys that were in the room last night have been fiscal conservatives before there ever was a phrase called Tea Party. I know it's convenient to blame the Tea Party for it.
It just happens to be the demonstrably false. If you've been in the room with me, Jeff Blake has been a fiscal conservative since before there was a Tea Party, so has Mike Pence, so has Jeff Hensarling.
These are folks who have voted time and time again to raise the debt ceiling, always promise that we're going to have a conversation about a long-term systemic fix, and it never comes. So the 75th time we raise the debt ceiling, let's make sure that's the last. I don't think that's a radical proposition.
ROMANS: Congressman, I'll get you there. Even, you know, Ali and I and others have been reporting for years on the unsustainable debt situation.
Only this time if it comes down to a downgrade, technical default or real default on our bonds and ends up costing us more in the end, when fixing our spending actually costs us more because of the way we've gone about fixing our spending that would just hurt everyone.
Congressman Trey Gowdy, a Republican from South Carolina, thank you so much for joining us today, sir.
GOWDY: Thank you.
VELSHI: Good conversation. Lots of very valid points, but Kiran and my favorite part of it was that you both used the word balder dash.
ROMANS: Balder dash, I know. I have never used the word balder dash.
VELSHI: Both used it well.
CHETRY: So we're invoking hobbits. We're using terms like balder dash. Sometimes as we say you can't make this stuff up.
VELSHI: I would tell that the one difference that I know you were discussing with the congressman is that there's a difference between the downgrade that is probably inevitable at this point, which is from AAA to AA, and the downgrade that you get if you actually default on debt. That's a serious downgrade. That's a very different story. That's a distinction.
ROMANS: Again, this is what kills me about this conversation. We're talking about cutting spending because everyone wants to be if fiscally conservative.
VELSHI: If you get downgraded.
ROMANS: Then it's going to cost you more. It's going to cost you more. So by fixing our spending problem it's going to cost us more.
CHETRY: Well, Washington's still preparing for this August 2nd world where the Treasury would not have enough money to pay all of our bills.
ROMANS: Mary Snow joins us live now with the absurdities of this. Mary, what are the government's options if the debt ceiling isn't raised?
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It really is getting pretty absurd as you're about to hear and there are not many options. One constitutional expert at Yale University scoured the scenarios where the president could bypass Congress. One thing he examined, could the government just print more money. Not unless it only came in the form of coins.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Zippy do da day.
SNOW (voice-over): And just days until the government can no longer borrow money. If Congress doesn't reach an agreement in time could there be a plan B for President Obama to act on his own and raise money? Fitting under the category of desperate times calling for desperate measures, there's actually some talk of issuing two $1 trillion coins. Why coins?
Constitutional law expert Jack Balkin says there's a statutory limit on the amount of paper currency that can be in circulation, but not on coins. It's an idea he calls science fiction.
JACK BALKIN, YALE LAW SCHOOL: I think what it underscores is that people are now trying to investigate different ways of resolving an artificially created financial crisis, fiscal crisis. And I think the problem is, that these solutions have been offered precisely because the situation we've been put in is so absurd.
SNOW: A potential option for the president that's been taken more seriously is the idea of him invoking a clause in the 14th Amendment where he would raise the debt ceiling without congressional authorization. But the president himself has indicated that's not on the table.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I have talked to my lawyers. They don't -- they do not -- they are not persuaded that is a winning argument.
SNOW: One way for the government to raise money is to sell assets. Gold, now at record highs, is one of those assets. But --
JAY POWELL, BIPARTISAN POLICY CENTER: There's no likelihood of that at all. If the United States government were to announce that it was going to sell some gold to pay its bills, one can only imagine what would happen to the price of gold. You wouldn't want to be out of the way of that collapsing price.
SNOW: Jay Powell was under secretary of the Treasury Department under George H.W. Bush. He's been briefing members of Congress saying he's been separating fact from fiction, even getting asked if the government can issue IOUs.
POWELL: If the debt ceiling is not increased, if no deal is made, then people need to understand there's no secret bag of tricks. There's no magic bullet that will allow us to avoid defaulting on our non debt-related payments.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: Bottom line, Jay Powell says, is there's really nothing the executive branch can practically do in the absence of a deal. So the president is really limited here.
ROMANS: so the trillion dollar coin not practical, Mary?
CHETRY: But it just shows how crazy the whole thing is.
SNOW: Totally is. The thought of this constitutional expert at Yale scouring the books to find out what constitutional thing could we do. CHETRY: What is his take on the question about the language in the 14th Amendment that says it's -- that the debt shall not be questioned. I mean, could this -- he believes she could do this, even though it's politically tough.
SNOW: A lot of difference of opinions. Some legal scholars say yes, others say --
VELSHI: The language around that clause, the rest of it sort of does talk about insurrection and rebellion and things like that.
ROMANS: Can you imagine the anti-Obama campaign ads if he did that. It would be just be -- didn't Michele Bachmann say he would be a dictator.
VELSHI: She would move to impeach him.
CHETRY: She said it would be, yes, he could be impeached for that. She also said it's not going to happen. There's no way that the White House would do that. The White House isn't saying they're going to do that, but it's just interesting.
VELSHI: Mary, you have a point, that you heard and very similar to Christine's point she was making with the congressman, that if -- we don't know it's going to happen, if there is a default or downgrade and interest rate goes up and if that spreads to everybody else's car loans and mortgages and things like that, then you've basically imposed a tax hike.
CHETRY: Basically a tax on everyday people.
SNOW: On everyday Americans. Just a downgrade of the AAA rating.
ROMANS: I still think they're scared about the quote/unquote "TARP" vote. They saw people vote for the bank bailout. They were told everything would be terrible in the world if you don't and they lost their seats and this might have more self-preservation.
VELSHI: Very easy for everyone to say it didn't work, but the fact is it did save the system.
ROMANS: Thanks, Mary. All right, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, an F-16 fighter jet skids of the runway and crashes in Wisconsin. You'll hear from a witness who said he knew something was wrong before the pilot touched down.
CHETRY: A leader of a polygamous church telling the judge he wants to represent himself at his criminal trial. We're going to find out what Warren Jeffs did next when the judge said fine, represent yourself. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. It's 43 minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. It's 46 minutes past the hour right now. North Korea and the United States are talking to one another. This is actually the first face-to-face meeting that's taken place between representatives from the two countries since talks broke down in 2008. They're discussing nuclear weapons at the U.S. mission to the United Nations and the talks are expected to continue today.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A Texas judge granting polygamous church leader Warren Jeffs' request to defend himself in court. But when it was time to present opening statements yesterday, Jeffs' objected to the trial proceeding and then sat silently. He's charged with two counts of sexual assault on a child and one count of bigamy.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: The Defense Department trying to figure out what caused an F-16 fighter to skid off a runway and crash yesterday after -- as it was landing. It happened -- check this out -- at an airfield in Wisconsin. Rough landing caught on tape and something goes wrong all of a sudden, ends up veering off into the grass, which -- there you go, you can sort of see it there.
Witnesses say they were watching fighter jets coming in for landings all morning. This one looked different as it approached.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED KNUTSON, WITNESS: I saw the one previous taxi through going pretty slow and he came past so fast I thought, oh, no, this is not going to be good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: The pilot was able to walk away from the wreck unhurt.
CHETRY: Thank goodness, but you know how much those are.
VELSHI: Lot of money.
CHETRY: Those are very expensive.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: Still to come this morning, Casey Anthony shopping her story, at least according to her representatives. What the network will have to pay if they want to land an exclusive interview.
ROMANS: And our question of the day, it's getting all of you heartburn out there.
VELSHI: Great answers.
ROMANS: Craziest food combination. This is pegged off a story about a state fair in Syracuse, a hamburger on two donuts.
CHETRY: Donuts!
VELSHI: Donuts, yes. ROMANS: Send us an e-mail. What is your craziest food combination? Tweet, tell us on Facebook, we'll read your comments later in the program.
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ROMANS: Lot going on this morning. Here's what you need to know to start your day.
House Speaker John Boehner's plan to raise the debt ceiling and cut spending could come up for a vote today. Republicans called off the vote last night after it became clear there wasn't enough to support that bill.
Police have uncovered another terror plot targeting soldiers at Ft. Hood in Texas. They've arrested Naser Abdo, an AWOL Muslim-American Army private who allegedly planned to kill fellow soldiers on that base.
A memorial service in Oslo this morning for relatives of the 76 victims of last week's bombing and youth camp massacre. Police acting on new leads questioning suspect Anders Breivik for a second time today to make sure there's no lingering threat.
Ex-Yankee pitcher Hideki Irabu found dead in his suburban Los Angeles homes. Police say the 42-year-old Japanese star committed suicide.
The makers of extra strength Tylenol reducing maximum from eight pills a day to six. It's designed to lower the risk of accidental overdose to acetaminophen. An overdose that could lead to liver failure.
Tropical storm Don is expected to reach the south Texas by tonight. It's packing 50-mile-an-hour winds, bringing lots of rain which is a blessing for the drought-stricken state.
You're caught up on today's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING, back in 60 seconds.
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CHETRY: It's hard to run from the desk here in heels. Christine knows.
ROMANS: I do know.
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Go ahead, Ali.
VELSHI: Good to have you.
CHETRY: Any network that wants to land a first interview with Casey Anthony, by the way, has to be willing to fork over $1.5 million to get it. CNN has confirmed that that's her asking price. Meanwhile, publisher Larry Flynt tells HLN'S Nancy Grace he's already offered Anthony half a million dollars to pose nude in his magazine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LARRY FLYNT, PUBLISHER, HUSTLER MAGAZINE: The offer that we made to Casey through her attorney, $500,000 is only part of it. We are willing to pay 10 percent of the profits. So, if this thing goes viral and it could be as big as everybody thinks it is because of how big the trial is, she could make millions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: It seems like all of the Anthonys are in high demand. TMZ reporting Casey's parents George and Cindy have been offered $250,000 to appear to a syndicated talk show.
VELSHI: Former shuttle astronaut Lisa Nowak has been forced to retire from the Navy. Nowak made headline in 2007 when she drove 900 miles from Houston to Orlando, attempting to kidnap a female Air Force captain. Police say she considered the woman her rival for the affections of a shuttle pilot.
ROMANS: And Sergeant Dustin Williams will have to find another date for the Marine Corp ball in November. Scarlett Johansson just shut him down. Williams offered up the invitation on YouTube. The actress says she has prior commitments but as a way of saying thank you, she's sending along a case of champagne.
VELSHI: Kiran, you have been quiet about this because back when that first invitation by Marine, you had a lot to say about it.
CHETRY: Well, first of all, I said that I didn't think that Mila Kunis was going to go because Justin Timberlake
VELSHI: Right. And Justin (INAUDIBLE) she is going to.
CHETRY: Right, was kind of goading her into it.
Then Justin is asked and he says he is going to go. All I said was, that's great, I just -- I mean, I have to see it to believe it.
VELSHI: You want to see. All right.
CHETRY: Because I don't know. I mean, logistically speaking you say yes, but you're this big Hollywood star, can you really do that and not have to be a security mess or impede on other people that are there at the dance. I was thinking logistics.
VELSHI: All right.
CHETRY: You know, I was like (INAUDIBLE).
All right. We'll talk about your heart attack on a plane. The big kahuna donut burger making its debut --
CHETRY: You say yuck?
ROMANS: I think it looks horrible.
(CROSSTALK) VELSHI: I really don't want a donut on my hamburger.
CHETRY: I think it's fine. It's just -- I mean, people eat croissants, right?
VELSHI: Well, first, so, it's a donut you're looking at. It's a donut with a hamburger in the middle, or a hamburger with a doughnut around the bun.
ROMANS: With cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion. It also has 1,500 little calories that go along with.
So, that brings us to our question of the day. What is your craziest food combination?
On Twitter, happywithmyname says, "Homemade spaghetti flavored ice cream with Captain Crunch on top."
VELSHI: Whoa!
CHETRY: That just odd. OK. Well, "Fried pickles," says C. Dave, "and coffee. Would it make your morning?"
VELSHI: I'm assuming he's having coffee to wash down his fried pickles. Doesn't scare me as much.
Mike on our blog says, "The strangest combo was one I enjoyed at my frat house during hell week: Rice Krispies with 12 ounces of Michelob, snap, crackle and belch. I have never touched Rice Krispies since."
ROMANS: S. Mirra on the blog says, "Ruffles chips with softened chocolate ice cream dip, sweet and salty goodness."
CHETRY: That's not bad.
Exor writes, "There's nothing better than vanilla cream with chocolate covered bacon bits."
VELSHI: And, of course, my favorite comes from UncoverTheNews on Twitter who says, "The craziest is Poutine. Fries topped in gravy and cheese curds."
You would be think I would be getting like paid by the Poutine marketing association the amount of times I mentioned it on TV.
ROMANS: Three times this week.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: Canadian delicacy.
VELSHI: It's a Canadian delicacy. That's right.
ROMANS: All right. Is that an oxymoron? Forget it.
Keep your comments coming. Send us an email, a tweet, tell us on Facebook, we'll read more of your thoughts later in the program.
In the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING, we're going to tell you about the Tea Party who's been blasting the White House with reckless spending while he's been racking up over $65,000 in personal debt himself.
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