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American Morning
Washington Reaches a Deal; Egypt Air Cockpit Fire; HSBC to Cut Thousands Of Jobs; Historians Discuss Presidential Leadership; Plaxico Burress to Play for Jets; Father-Son Bonding Experience; MTV Turns 30
Aired August 01, 2011 - 07:58 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A last-minute debt deal.
Good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello.
Just hours from now, the first of two tea (ph) votes scheduled to take place on a deal that will keep America from its first ever default. But, will both parties sign off on the deal?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And where's Celina Cass? There's a massive search underway for the missing 11-year-old New Hampshire girl. Celina Cass was last seen in her room at her computer last week. Then her parents say she mysteriously vanished.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Well, two U.S. hikers have been jailed on espionage charges in Iran for two years, could be coming home soon. Their trial is over and the verdict could come at any time on this AMERICAN MORNING.
COSTELLO: And good morning to you. It is Monday, August 1st. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.
After weeks of wrangling a deal to pull the U.S. back from a brink from a financial catastrophe, last night President Obama announced that after intense negotiations, an agreement to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for massive spending cuts.
VELSHI: Here is more of what the deal looks like. It increases the debt ceiling up to $2.4 trillion, which is enough to get us through 2012. It also includes $917 billion in immediate spending cuts.
ROMANS: It also preserves the Republican's bottom line -- no tax increases. The agreement also requires the new Bipartisan Congressional Committee to recommend additional cuts by the end of the deal. In announcing the plan, the president made clear that it was the growing outrage in this country that finally moved Washington. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Ultimately, the leaders of both parties have found their way toward compromise. And I want to thank them for that. Most of all, I want to thank the American people. It's been your voices, your letters, your e-mails, your tweets, your phone calls that have compelled Washington to act in the final days. And the American people's voice is a very powerful thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: A deal may be in place but now comes the hard part, selling it to lawmakers before tomorrow's deadline. There are, of course, many things in this deal that many people are not happy about. And, yesterday, Republican Senator Mike Lee told our Wolf Blitzer he's threatening to filibuster today's vote.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MIKE LEE (R), UTAH: I haven't seen the legislation yet. I haven't had an opportunity to read it yet. Based on the summary that I've received so far, I'm not inclined to support it. What I've said since before I was even sworn into office, Wolf, is that I cannot support any effort to raise the debt limit that isn't accompanied by immediate and permanent structural spending reform.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: We hear a lot about process and Washington, the way Washington works. But there's no doubt how this plays out will affect how you live your life. And when you're talking about this committee that goes forward, we're talking about a potential mortgage interest deduction. I mean, who knows what kind of things could eventually be in this deficit cutting move that will affect how you live your life.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: But some positives here, because we're not slipping into default, interest rates won't go up on things like mortgages and your 401(k).
ROMANS: That's right.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Because of this, they may still go up anyway. But not because of this.
COSTELLO: Not because of this.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: All right. Joining us now from Capitol Hill, Athena Jones.
Athena, good morning.
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Well, as you know, the plan here to do is to have the vote on both houses on this bill. But it's anyone's guess to how it's really going to play out. That sound bite we just heard from Senator Lee lets you know that there are still some big hurdles to jump over. We know that there are people on each side of the aisle we're going to have problems with this bill.
On the Democratic side, we know that they wanted to see tax increases immediately. And so, they're disappointed that those are not part of this bill.
On the Republican side, you've got these conservative Republicans, members of the Tea Party, who don't want to see the debt ceiling raised at all. And so, one of the first things we're going to see this morning is that folks on both sides of the aisle, both parties, are going to be meeting with their members to further explain this deal, to do some cajoling, most likely.
And so, with ideas that the Senate will go first on voting, that by midday, around noon or 2:00 p.m., they'll begin debate on the bill, hoping to vote in the late afternoon. If it passes there, then it goes on in the House. But we really just have to see how it plays out. It's certainly not a done deal yet.
COSTELLO: What is the bottom line deadline? When do they have to wrap this whole thing up and send it to the president?
JONES: Well, we know that Tuesday, tomorrow, is the big day. And so, the hope is that this gets done quickly. Of course, if the vote is late at night, it isn't as though the president is going to say, no, I'm going to sleep. Certainly, the White House is standing by and it's going to be ready to act as soon as that bill comes to their desk.
The real question is just, you have a lot of members of Congress who have said they don't want to commit yet. They want to look at the deal. They want to read the deal.
This is not unusual. I had a member tell me late last night after that phone call that Speaker Boehner had with Republicans, explaining the deal. He said he thinks it's going to get passed but wants to read it first before he reads it. And so, we're going to have a lot of that going on today. And we'll see how it plays out.
COSTELLO: OK. So, 11:59 tomorrow. Athena, many thanks.
VELSHI: You know, people have been asking me, what part of Tuesday is the deadline? And I said think, about it as my birthday. It's all day.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Just so it gets done, we know.
VELSHI: Yes.
COSTELLO: With global markets rallying and millions of Americans exhaling, all that remains to end the debt crisis for now is what we were just talking about, voting on Capitol Hill. Though with no revenue enhancing tax increases in the deal, can Democrats get on board? Early on AMERICAN MORNING, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin told me he believes they will -- even though he admitted Democrats caved to the demands of the Tea Party.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: The alternative was to let the economy crater. That's what the Tea Party said they were willing to accept. You have some of these Republican presidential candidates praying for a default.
Let me tell you: that would have been totally irresponsible. "The New York Times" and other papers wouldn't like to see that either.
Of course, it is. It's political extortion. And if you say that you're prepared to call somebody's bluff using other people's chips, that's what we're down to. A lot of innocent people would have suffered if we would have, in fact, gone into this default.
We avoided that and that was something that we had to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: We also heard from Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona a few minutes ago. Here are his thoughts on the debt deal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I think that this agreement we reached is very -- is pretty much a success. But it's also compromise. But the fact we're not going to hike taxes, the fact that cuts in spending are going to be larger than the increase in the spending that we will not be -- we will have a committee that I think will be credible.
But I have to tell you, I am worried about the size of defense cuts that may be contemplated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: All right. I know we're talking about serious stuff, but did you notice --
ROMANS: We're sleep deprived.
COSTELLO: We're all sleep deprived, and so, we think this is funny. But Senators Durbin and McCain have the same shirt on. I mean, it's not just the same --
VELSHI: It's not like a white shirt or blue shirt. It's like sea foam or something. I think it's fascinating that they both had the same shirt and they decided to pick it up this morning, unless they've been so busy that this is the laundry day shirt.
(LAUGHTER) ROMANS: All right. Anyway, just some sleep deprivation fun for you.
COSTELLO: We'll move along though.
ROMANS: And stay with us, in just a few minutes, we're going to bring down the winners and losers in the deal. We're going to talk with Norman Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and Stephen Moore, a senior economics writer for "The Wall Street Journal" editorial page.
VELSHI: Five bucks if they have the same shirt on.
ROMANS: I can't wait to hear what they think about, you know, he hostage taking that has been derided us in Congress.
We're also going to take a look at the Washington of yesterday to get a brighter idea of what's going on today. Presidential historian Nick Ragone and Doris Kearns Goodwin join us at 8:30 Eastern Time.
COSTELLO: Still no sign of 11-year-old Celina Cass this morning. Police say the New Hampshire girl was last seen in her room at her computer last Monday night. Her parents say when they went to wake her up the next morning, she was just gone. Federal, state and local investigators spent the weekend conducting searches by air, by land and water.
The girl's father making this plea for his daughter to come home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We all wonder where my daughter is. And we're hoping the best for her safety. I would appreciate if we get her back very soon. If she hears me now, tell her daddy's OK now. I'm getting much better and I'm recovering from the hospital. So, whenever you're ready to come home, Celina, daddy will be here, waiting for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: It is not clear why Celina's father was hospitalized. The FBI is offering a $25,000 reward.
VELSHI: More reports of gunfire this morning in Hama, Syria, following a very bloody weekend. Government attacks rolled into the city. Look at this video, killing at least 71 people, and injuring more than 100 others. President Obama is calling the attacks horrifying.
ROMANS: Two American hikers jailed in Iran on espionage charges for two years now could be coming home soon. A verdict and sentence are expected this week in the case against Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal. Their attorney says he hopes they'll be sentenced to time served and sent home as a goodwill gesture at the start of Ramadan.
COSTELLO: And coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING: President Obama, House Speaker John Boehner, the Tea Party -- who really came out on top when it comes to the debt ceiling deal?
It's seven minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: This could be the beginning of the end when it comes to the current debt ceiling crisis. Last night, President Obama announcing a deal to raise the nation's spending limit, in exchange for deep spending cuts. But the president also admitted the agreement is far from perfect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Was this the deal I would have preferred? No. I believe that we could have made the tough choices required on entitlement reform and tax reform right now rather than through a special congressional committee process.
But this compromise does make a serious down payment on the deficit reduction we need and gives each party a strong incentive to get a balanced plan done before the end of the year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Joining me live from Washington, Norman Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and Stephen Moore, senior economics writer for "The Wall Street Journal" editorial page.
Stephen, well, let me start you. I mean -- so, now that you've got tax cuts in place -- tax cuts were not -- or hikes, rather, were not part of any of this and you've got spending cuts, starting to pay down the deficit, so the job creation should come right away, right?
STEPHEN MOORE, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": Well, Christine and Ali, I'm a happy guy this morning, I have to say.
I think this was a big deal. I think that Republicans and Tea Party candidates were really the big winners here, especially when you consider how far the president has moved from -- remember, originally, he wanted a clean debt bill and then he wanted a tax increase.
Republicans, for the most part, got what they wanted. They got the trillion dollars of cuts up front, and then the promise of -- as much as a $1.5 trillion coming later. So, this is a victory for Republicans.
But I'll say this, Christine -- and Norm Ornstein and I were talking about this. It will be very tough to get this through the House.
ROMANS: You do?
MOORE: It's not a slam dunk that they get this through the House.
ROMANS: You think, Norm, it's going to be difficult?
NORM ORNSTEIN, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: I think a lot of selling needs to be done, especially by the leaders in the House. You know, for Boehner, this is a very different dynamic than it was when he finally limped to the finish line in getting his first package through the House that required him to hold off for a couple of days and then sell out even more.
Now, he's got to do something that's going to be different, that's going to require almost as many Democrats as Republicans.
MOORE: Right.
ORNSTEIN: And getting those Democratic votes is not going to be an easy thing to do, because, as they see it, there's nothing to jump- start the economy now -- nothing on revenues at all. Although, I think the president can make a case that he's in pretty good -- has some pretty good leverage down the road, and a lot of cuts in areas that they don't like.
ROMANS: So, Norm, how do you sell it to Democrats then? Because, you know, the Monday morning quarterbacking today is that they didn't really get very much out of here. There's no tax increases. You're not going to see job creation in the near term because you're cutting $917 billion out of the economy pretty quick and that the president lost.
ORNSTEIN: Well, actually, I think the president has a case to make. And that case is that, first of all, none of this touches the basic benefits in the entitlement programs. Secondly, there would be absolutely draconian defense cuts if there is no deal in this special commission. And, third, there's lots of openings in this commission to create the kind of deal that we have already seen in the "gang of six" and in the Simpson-Bowles commission with tax reform for more revenues, something that even Steven said that he would support.
And, in the end, if they can't reach that kind of deal, the Bush tax cuts, $3.6 trillion in tax revenue over the 10 that follow, expire before Obama's term does. So, he can get those revenues and basically hold Republicans to account in a way that he wasn't able to do now, where the alternative was economic collapse.
ROMANS: But, Stephen, all this acrimony, when you think about a committee with six Republicans, six Democrats, and you think about potentially trying to decide on more than a trillion dollars of more cuts. You know -- I mean, is there a lot of faith in the system that they're going to be more grown up about it this time?
MOORE: You know, I agree with the president on this. What he just said in that statement you just ran, which is, you know, why -- if they can make an agreement to cut $1.5 trillion, why do they need a committee to do it? Why couldn't they do it now?
And you know what? I'm sick of these committees and select commissions and so on. I think most Americans view this as a gimmick.
ROMANS: But this one has power, doesn't it? This one has power because there are triggers attached to it.
MOORE: Well, that's right. That's why this is a bit of a victory for Republicans because if they don't reach an agreement on those, you know, cuts and entitlements and the tax increases, then, Christine, what you get is a trigger that automatically cuts spending.
So, Republicans -- that gives Republicans additional power, too. They can hold off and say, OK, we'll cut all these other programs if you don't agree to some of these long-term entitlement cuts.
You know, right now, the people who are really grousing about this idea are the liberals. I've been reading a lot of the liberal blogs this morning. They're saying it's a sell-out by President Obama. It's the death of Keynesian economics.
So, I think, you're going to have -- but it's interesting, in the House, what you're going to get, Christine, is you're going to get the far right members voting against this and then the liberals voting against it. The question is, will the middle hold?
ROMANS: And that's been the story all along, hasn't it been? It's been the two extremes of the party. Norm Ornstein, Stephen Moore, thank you so much for joining us, guys.
MOORE: Thank you.
ROMANS: Much more on this debt deal. Ahead, we're going to talk -- take a look at the Washington of yesterday to get a better idea of what's going on today. Leadership guys, Republican -- presidential leadership historians rather Nick Ragone and Doris Kearns Goodwin join us at 8:30 eastern.
VELSHI: Well, investigators say an electrical short caused the fire in the cockpit of an Egypt air flight on Friday. Three hundred passengers had to be rushed off the plain shortly before take-off from Cairo to Saudi Arabia. They all got out safely. Two firefighters were treated for smoke inhalation.
COSTELLO: A few broken bones and bruises, but no fatalities. No deaths after this Caribbean airlines jet slid off a runway and crashed in Georgetown Guyana. the Boeing 737 split in half after crashing through a fence in rainy weather.
ROMANS: All right. Rob Marciano is in the Extreme Weather Center for us this morning. He's telling us that we got tornado warnings in Minnesota. Tell us about that, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I show you the severe thunderstorm watch about an hour ago. Now, we've got a super-cell that's really kind of developed here just a bit northwest of Minneapolis. Not just, but it's in Pope and Douglas County. Look at this cell, really barreling down Interstate 94 toward St. Cloud. There was a funnel cloud that was reported by storm spotters there just north of Lowry. So, pretty serious situation there if you live in that part of the area, right along I-94, just be careful and certainly stay inside until further notice, until that thunderstorm warning or tornado warning subsides. We've got thunderstorms across parts of Florida as well today, and that's going to be one of the spots. That's along with the northeast. We will see some thunderstorms pop. Meanwhile, the heat continues to bake the same spots. Temperatures well up and over 100 today. 109 expected in Dallas.
Similar numbers in Oklahoma City. Same thing for tomorrow going into Wednesday as well. We're 30 days and counting now. Dallas has seen 100 degrees plus, and I think that streak is going to continue. All right. Northeast, you get a little bit of a cool front later on today. That may cause some thunderstorms, which will delay some air travel in the evening. If you're traveling to San Francisco as well, some low clouds and fog in the morning could slow things down, too.
All right. This disturbance just east of Martinique by about 300 miles, we got a hurricane hunter aircraft that's traveling there today. It could be our next tropical storm. If so, its name would be Emily and may very well pose a threat to the U.S. We'll keep a track on that. Plus, a tornado warning to the west-northwest of Minneapolis -- guys.
COSTELLO: You're a busy guy, Rob Marciano, and we appreciate it.
MARCIANO: All right.
COSTELLO: Thank you so much.
MARCIANO: You bet.
COSTELLO: Still to come this morning, one man's dramatic transformation from recruit to soldier. CNN followed him from boot camp right to his first deployment in Afghanistan. Jason Carroll will join us with his incredible story. It's 18 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Twenty-one minutes after the hour. "Minding Your Business" this morning.
A sigh of relief is basically the line on Wall Street today. Investors feeling bolstered now that U.S. lawmakers have reached a deal to raise the nation's debt ceiling. Right now, U.S. stock futures are trading higher on that news, and world markets may gain overnight.
New this morning, HSBC announcing it's slashing 5,000 jobs in the U.S. and abroad. The company says that about 25,000 more jobs will be cut over the next two years. The bank also saying it sold 195 of its banking branches in the United States to first Niagara as part of its restructuring plan.
107 S&P 500 companies will report their quarterly earnings this week. Allstate out with its earnings already this morning saying profits were affected by a $2.3 billion in catastrophic losses last quarter. That's a record for the company. Earlier this morning, insurance company, Humana, announced that its earnings beat Wall Street expectations.
Also, on investors' mind this week, the big monthly jobs report. Analysts surveyed by briefing.com are forecasting that 78,000 jobs were created in July, only 78,000, but last month, Wall Street got a shock when the government announced only 18,000 new jobs were added in June. And that was way below estimates.
AMERICAN MORNING back after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Good morning, Atlanta. It's 77 right now. That sigh you can hear is Jason Carroll.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: It's 94 degrees later on.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sorry.
COSTELLO: Jason Carroll has a fantastic story to tell us about very shortly, and in fact, it's about a minute. From the Home front to the front lines in Afghanistan, we have followed one man's dramatic transformation from recruit to soldier.
VELSHI: His name is Will McLain, and we've followed his incredible journey to become a combat engineer. That began about two years ago. Jason was with him every step of the way. What a remarkable story. You got to follow this guy and you've seen him developing.
CARROLL: Yes. It's been great that you, guys, have been allowed me to do this, to follow him along, watch him literally grow up in our front of our eyes. You know, Will McLain is no longer the recruit. He's now a soldier, fighting the war in Afghanistan in an area where the pressure is on to eliminate the Taliban.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was the bike I learned to ride first.
CARROLL (voice-over): We first met Will McLain when he was an 18-year-old high school student desperate to escape his small town, Rosamond, California.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm glad to be getting out of this little town, you know, because it gets old, but there's a lot of things you will miss, you know?
CARROLL: That was nearly two years ago. Since then, we've watched McLain's dramatic physical transformation. Following him from recruit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pick up your bag.
(CHANTING) yes, drill sergeant.
CARROLL: Through basic training.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hate this.
CARROLL: To soldier.
Will, how much more weight have you lost? Looks like you've lost even more weight?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About 170, 175 --
CARROLL: 170, 175 pounds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down another 15 from when I was at the states.
CARROLL: McLain is now a combat engineer at Forward Operating Base Lagman in Zabul, Afghanistan. It's his first deployment, his first time in a war zone. We caught up with him minutes after returning from a 40-hour mission.
The training is much different from the reality being here on the ground, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a whole different story. Going from training to here.
CARROLL: Here is a place where searches for roadside bombs routinely kill and injure. McLain and his company of combat engineers specialize in finding those bombs. His captain telling us on their last mission, their convoy got hit by one.
It's very serious out there.
CAPT. TIMOTHY BUTLER, U.S. ARMY: It was. There were several injuries. Everyone was fine. Everyone will fully recover.
CARROLL: Sergeant Herbert Joseph received second-degree burns on his leg.
Is this the first time you've been hit like this.
SGT. HERBERT JOSEPH, U.S. ARMY: The first time.
CARROLL: The first time.
And has been a few more times for Staff Sergeant Robert White.
How many times have you been hit?
STAFF SGT. ROBERT WHITE, U.S. ARMY: Too many. Too many times to count.
CARROLL: It's a constant threat for these combat engineers, and while the bomb didn't hit McLain's vehicle during the mission, the worry is always there.
How do you psychologically sort of move past that and focus on the job at hand?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the big thing is you just got to trust in the person beside you, you know? Like, you know, you got to know how to do your job, do it as well as you can and trust the guy next to you is going to do his.
CARROLL: McLain has come to terms with the reality of what fighting a war really means, though, he has changed much over the two years. He says, even if he could, he wouldn't change anything about his decision to enlist, but he has had a change of heart about Rosamond, California.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, looking back at my hometown, like, I was a lot more harsh towards it.
CARROLL: I remember.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I should have been. And now, I look back, you know, it raised me to be what I am.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL (on-camera): He's grateful for that hometown. You know, again, Will is a combat engineer. He's one of the men who go out and find those roadside bombs and the insurgents who plant them. Tomorrow, we'll show you what that is like when we go out with the soldiers in his unit. That is an incredible experience.
COSTELLO: I know you followed his family, too, back at home in California.
CARROLL: Yes.
COSTELLO: So, how do they think of this two years later?
CARROLL: Well, you know, it's been interesting. His mother, in the very beginning, was not too keen on him signing up. That's why they wanted him to wait until he was 18. But, you know, it's one of those things that, I think, like any parent, they look, they watch when they can, and turn away at times simply because it's just too difficult.
ROMANS: What a remarkable transformation by a young man.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: We're looking forward to tomorrow's installment.
CARROLL: All right. VELSHI: All right. Thirty minutes after the hour. Time for this morning's top stories. Right now, Congressional leaders are trying to sell the debt agreement announced by President Obama last night. Both the House and Senate are expected to vote on the deal today, and while it's expected to pass, it's not a deal till it's done.
ROMANS: That's right.
And more reports of gunfire in Hama, Syria, following a bloody and violent weekend. Tanks rolled into the city killing 71 people, injured more than 100 others. President Obama described the attacks as "horrifying."
COSTELLO: The FBI is offering a $25,000 reward to anyone with information about a missing New Hampshire girl. Search teams took to the air and water over the weekend looking for 11-year-old Celina Cass. Her parents say she was gone when they went to her room to wake her up last Tuesday morning.
VELSHI: All right, a deal is in place. A vote on the plan is expected to happen sometime today, hopefully. Could the past be any indication of our future? We're going to take a look at the current state of Washington though an historical lens. Nick Ragone is the author of "President Leadership -- 15 decisions that changed the nation." He joins us from our D.C. bureau. And presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin joins us from Newton, Massachusetts. Nick and Doris, thank you for joining us.
Hey, Doris, you know, one of the things I'm always fascinated about when I read your work and when I read Nick's work is we live in this world where we think that everything that's happening to us is happening for the first time when, in fact, most of this has happened before. When you look at the situation that we are in, that the president finds himself in, this lack of compromise, this polarized Congress, this unique, or have you got examples of where this has happened in the past?
DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: You know, I think in my lifetime it does seem like it's the most dysfunctional Congress I've seen. There's a sense of lack of institutional loyalty. There's name calling. There's vitriol.
Now if you go back to days when I was living with Abraham Lincoln, the 1850s were clearly far worse. You didn't have anyone hitting each other over the heads with canes, nearly killing one another, as Congressman Brooks did to Senator Sumner. And you really had at that time two different views of America, ending of course in the Civil War.
But something has happened in the last 30 years. We had Tip O'Neill and Reagan who were able to make deals with each other. We had Everett Dirkson and LBJ who were able to get the Civil Rights Act passed in 1964, Republicans and Democrats, because these legislators knew each other. They played poker together. That sense of camaraderie, I fear, is gone right now. VELSHI: Nick Ragone, what a thing to have as your -- part of your legacy that you want a debt ceiling increase. I mean, is this a turning point for President Obama? If so, is it a good one or bad one?
NICK RAGONE, AUTHOR, "PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP": Well, I don't know that it's a turning point. And he does have other accomplishments to point to, like health care reform.
But I think Doris is right. Civility used to act as a lubricant to allow Washington to function. I think Americans have always enjoyed divided government from the early days since Jefferson and Madison. But I think what Doris talked about is true. It now seems to be dysfunctional, which is a little different.
I mean, in years past Reagan and Tip O'Neill didn't particularly share the same philosophy, but they worked together, as Doris said, many other examples. It seems to be a little different now. I'm not sure that that same civility is providing the lubricant to allow government to work and function.
VELSHI: Doris, you're obviously a presidential historian of note, but you're a specialist, to some degree, in Abraham Lincoln. He went it alone in many cases. He was sort of isolated from Congress in some ways. And it turned out OK for him, at least as history sees it. What's the comparison to President Obama?
GOODWIN: I think one of the difficulties today is that it used to be that presidents, when they gave a speech, that the whole speech would be printed in the newspapers, like it happened with Abraham Lincoln, or when FDR had his radio address, 85 percent of the audiences would be listening to him.
Nowadays, even when Obama tries to lead from the bully pulpit, you have pundits taking it apart before he finishes it. The next breaking crisis is on air the next day so you sort of forget what was said. Our attention span is limited today because of the Internet. So I think it's harder for a president to lead in this modern world than it was, even back in the time of Abe Lincoln and certainly FDR.
VELSHI: And Nick, you write about this in your book. You look at these presidential leaderships and decisions that you focused on. And in many cases, these are presidents who got fully out in front of an issue.
RAGONE: Right.
VELSHI: You're saying President Obama is a little bit different?
RAGONE: It is different. There are different leadership styles. I think if you look at FDR, Kennedy, Reagan, they tended to get out in front of the issues a little bit more. People like Eisenhower, who turned out to be a very effective president, even Lyndon Johnson, who Doris studied closely, and President Clinton, to some extent, were more about compromising and letting others around them help in that process. So it's different leadership styles. But at the end of the day, the presidency is still about big decisions. If you look at recent deals like Clinton, that benefited him. Even Reagan with compromise on Social Security benefited him. It hurt George H.W. Bush because I think people saw that the renege on the no new taxes pledge as a real hindrance. But in general these types of deals tend to help the president because it looks like he's moving to the center and bringing people together. And I think that will be helpful here for President Obama.
VELSHI: Doris, we were very close to a decision. Look, President Obama said he wasn't going to make this decision, but this whole idea of the 14th amendment last couple of weeks ago, President Clinton said if he were in office, he would have raised the debt ceiling on his own. That's the kind of talk that we like to hear from presidents. President Clinton can say things because he's not in office.
Do you think that President Obama was out in front of this thing? Do you think he's sort of been observing and watching and stepping in where need? Do you think he was a little further behind? What's your sense of his -- I'm asking you to write history right now.
GOODWIN: No, I understand. I think timing is such an important thing for presidential leadership. I mean, Lincoln, too, loved consensus, but at the point, too, he said a search for consensus has to stop. I'm issuing the Emancipation Proclamation.
So you wonder if it would be better for President Obama to come out and mobilize the public behind his deal, which included tax revenues as well as sharing and more shared sacrifice rather than just cuts. If the country had gotten mobilized -- they did in the last few days, but by then, it was awfully late and they had to make a deal to get the certainty and get moving on right now. So timing is one of the masteries of leadership that I'm not sure he has down right now.
VELSHI: Excellent to talk to both of you. It's an honor to have you on the show. Thanks very much Doris Kearns Goodwin is president historian, Nick Ragone as well, the author of "Presidential Leadership." Thanks to both of you.
RAGONE: Thank you.
ROMANS: New this morning, former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak heading to trial this week on charges of human rights abuse. The trial was recently to a police academy in Cairo for security reasons. The 83 year old ousted leader could face a death sentence if convicted. Mubarak was thrown out of office back in January after three weeks of protests. More than 800 people were killed during that uprising.
COSTELLO: In Mexico the leader of a violent drug cartel who ordered a hit on a U.S. conflict worker, Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez, better known as El Diego, confessed to ordering the murders of 1,500 people. Authorities say he ordered an attack on a pregnant U.S. consulate employee and her husband last year. El Diego is the suspected leader of the L.A. gang, a cartel that smuggles drugs into the United States.
ROMANS: Police in Chicago say so many people are being arrested for possessing small amounts of marijuana. They might start handing out citations instead of booking suspects and putting them behind bars. The jails are getting overcrowded because of all the pot busts, the Chicago police say, and they say many of the cases are thrown out by judges anyway.
VELSHI: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, a swarm of bees takes over a California neighborhood, and they are angry. Not sure how one determines that bees are angry, but we're told they're angry.
COSTELLO: I think it's when they sting you.
VELSHI: Isn't that kind of what they do? We'll find out about this story. Some residents are afraid to leave their homes. We're going to have that story for you.
COSTELLO: And from jail to the Jets -- Plaxico Burress back in the big apple, ready to play with his new NFL team. We'll tell you the details of his deal coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It is shaping up to be a perfect day to vote on the debt ceiling deal in Washington, D.C. because right now it's 85.
VELSHI: You can walk to work.
COSTELLO: But later today, there will be thunderstorms.
VELSHI: Who wants to be outside at 98 and thunderstorms? Stay in the capitol. It's cool.
COSTELLO: Thunderstorms might be taking place inside the capital.
VELSHI: That's right, or at least lightning.
All right, we're telling you about this before the break, a California neighborhood held hostage by honeybees. Check out the swarm in Fair Oaks. These bees are angry, I'm told. Result of an extermination job gone wrong on Friday, thousands of bees unleashed into the neighborhoods, residents now trapped inside their homes. They're afraid they'll get stung.
COSTELLO: No.
VELSHI: Exterminators are working to control the situation, but it could take at least a week.
COSTELLO: If someone sprayed poison in your house, you would be angry, too.
VELSHI: Yes. ROMANS: Police in Miami looking for at least two bandits who broke into this liquor store on Friday morning. The thieves stole thousands of dollars in merchandise.
VELSHI: And they caused over $20,000 in damages. Police say the suspects picked the lock of a vacant shop next door and then punched holes in the walls to get through.
COSTELLO: A second chance for Plaxico Burress, a happy ending to this story. The wide receiver just signed a one-year, $3 million contract with the New York Jets. He's hoping to revive his career with his new inform NFL home after being released from prison. Burress spent 20 months in jail on a gun charge after he shot himself in the leg in a New York nightclub back in 2008.
VELSHI: I must be good to be Peyton Manning right now. The prized quarterback just inked a new deal with the Indianapolis Colts, five years, $90 million. To break that down, that's $18 million a year. It ties the New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady for the highest in NFL history. Well, he's well worth the cash. He's four- time league MVP. Apparently, I'm told, he turned down even more money in order to allow the team to hire more players.
COSTELLO: And it was important that the Indianapolis Colts matched the salary of Tom Brady. They purposefully did that and wanted to pay Peyton Manning more but he said, no, no, no.
VELSHI: Very interesting.
COSTELLO: Please, use it to hire good players.
ROMANS: Nice. But $90 million.
VELSHI: That is nice.
ROMANS: Yes.
Another British royal ties the knot. Zara Phillips is the eldest granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth. Over the weekend she married Mike Tindall, the captain of England's rugby team in Scotland. The couple was first introduced by her cousin, Prince Harry, at a World Cup Celebration back in 2003.
And still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, costs will no longer be a barrier to birth control. The Obama administration will now require insurers to cover contraceptives. We'll explain what this means for health care.
COSTELLO: And talk about a unique bonding experience. Ahead we'll be joined by a father-son team that just visited every major league baseball stadium and NBA arena.
VELSHI: That's great.
COSTELLO: It is my dream.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: We'll hear them talk about it, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It's now 45 minutes past the hour. Here are your morning's headlines.
Today, both the House and the Senate are expected to vote on the breakthrough debt ceiling deal. It includes about $1 trillion in spending cuts over ten years. Today's expected votes come just one day before the government no longer has enough money to pay all of its bills.
The U.S. markets open in just about 45 minutes from now. Stock futures up this morning, trading higher on the good news out of Washington and world markets made gains overnight as well.
Local state and federal investigators stepping up the search for 11-year-old Celina Cass; the New Hampshire girl has been missing since last Tuesday morning when her parents said they went to her room to wake her up and she was gone.
The espionage trial for two jailed U.S. hikers in Iran has ended. And they could be coming home soon. A verdict and sentence are expected at any time this week for Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal.
Tennis star Serena Williams is making quite a comeback. She won the title at the Bank of the West Classic Finals at Stanford on Sunday. The 13-time major champ suffered a number of health scares this year, but she's doing just fine now.
You're now caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING back right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: And that is beautiful St. Louis, its 78 degrees right now. And like much of the country, it's going to be 97 degrees later on today.
ROMANS: A historic decision this morning. The U.S. Department of Health says insurers must cover contraceptives. That means women won't have to pay any co-pays at all. Birth control is free. It's part of the decision by government that requires insurers to cover preventive health services. This new guideline will go into effect by August 2012.
VELSHI: Hey, Missouri has introduced a new law that says teachers and students can't be friends on Facebook. A law prohibits private communication between teachers and students on any social network site. It's meant to protect children from sexual misconduct by teachers.
And a box office showdown: "The Smurfs" tied with "Cowboys and Aliens" this weekend. Well, the blue guys raked in more than $36 million.
ROMANS: They are back, those blue guys.
COSTELLO: I know.
VELSHI: I don't think I -- I mean, I don't know. They apparently had some bad reviews.
ROMANS: It didn't matter.
VELSHI: Yes, exactly. Not to be outdone, "Cowboys and Aliens" also topped the box office. Same amount of money, the first time in more than a decade the studios for the number one and number two move up -- well for both number one movies have claimed the same amount -- I think there's a simpler way to say that. It's first time two movies have taken the same amount of money on their opening weekend.
But the sci-fi Western did fall a little short of expectations. They're not on -- either of them are really on my list of things to do.
ROMANS: Oh you'll see it three times and you know it, the "Smurf" movie.
It started out as a fun father/son road trip.
VELSHI: But fast forward it to today and Jeff and Spence Siegel have just completed their mission to visit every Major League baseball stadium and NBA arena together.
COSTELLO: Well, it's like my fantasy.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: That's what I want to do when I retire and I am so envious, it took them a decade to visit over 60 venues. And they were just here this morning to talk about their rather unique bonding experience.
ROMANS: Nice to see you guys.
JEFF SIEGEL, VISITED EVERY NBA ARENA & MLB PARK: Good morning.
COSTELLO: Geez, he was just a twinkle in your eye when you decided this.
J. SIEGEL: Seven years old.
ROMANS: Wow.
COSTELLO: Wow. Why did you decide this?
J. SIEGEL: Well, it began innocently enough as a couple of sports geeks out on the road, just taking in ball games.
VELSHI: Right. J. SIEGEL: And over the years, it morphed into what we've come to call relation trips. And relation trips elevate the common road trip into a family adventure that begins weeks and sometimes months before you ever hit the road and last weeks, sometimes months after you roll back into your driveway.
COSTELLO: So Spence, you don't think this is dorky at all, do you?
SPENCE SIEGEL, VISITED EVERY NBA ARENA & MLB PARK: Well no, I mean, 30 NBA arenas and 30 Major League ballparks is definitely quite the adventure.
VELSHI: Yes. Well, how -- how does this start. When you are planning this, do you -- do you pick the games first, do you pick the cities first? Do you map it out?
J. SIEGEL: Sure.
VELSHI: Did you -- did you do a bunch of them in one trip?
J. SIEGEL: We did them in clusters early on.
VELSHI: Ok, yes.
J. SIEGEL: But really, the relationship begins with identifying a common interest between parents and their kids.
ROMANS: Right.
VELSHI: Yes.
J. SIEGEL: For Spence and me, it was sports.
VELSHI: Sure.
J. SIEGEL: It can be roller coasters, music, historical landmarks, food; really, whatever lights a fire under your kids that you can then begin to build out and explore together.
ROMANS: When you guys started this, did you have any idea you would still be doing it ten years later?
S. SIEGEL: Absolutely not.
J. SIEGEL: No, I don't think so.
ROMANS: It started slow and just sort of a snowballed?
J. SIEGEL: It did. On the third or fourth trip, Spence said hey, what if we went to every NBA arena and every Major League ballpark? And as a single dad, I thought, ok, well that will give us an opportunity to spend some quality time together.
ROMANS: Ok, Spence what do your friends say about it? S. SIEGEL: They think it's really cool. And I mean, obviously, you know, you get to this point and I'm going to go study sports communications in the fall.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Oh wow.
S. SIEGEL: Heading off to college. So I think, obviously, I hope this had something to do with it.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: That's incredible. Isn't it?
COSTELLO: What's your favorite?
What's your favorite -- what's your favorite stadium?
S. SIEGEL: We're somewhat partial to PNC Ballpark in Pittsburgh, PETCO in San Diego and of course, U.S. Cellular back home in Chicago.
COSTELLO: How about yours? Is it the same?
J. SIEGEL: Pretty much. I mean, I like some of the kind of iconic parks like Fenway, as well.
VELSHI: So one of the things we were talking about. It's expensive, and you said you found more economical ways of doing this.
J. SIEGEL: Yes. I like to say, Ali, that the most important currencies, if you will, in a relationship are time --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Yes.
J. SIEGEL: -- and creativity.
VELSHI: Right.
J. SIEGEL: Spending time with your kids.
VELSHI: Sure.
J. SIEGEL: Coming up with ideas to build out the experience together and then, using your creativity and your kids get involved in this as well, to find economic ways in which to --
VELSHI: And what are -- what are they? Because I would love to know what the economic ways are.
(CROSSTALK)
J. SIEGEL: Well, there's a lot of planning and research that goes into it. In my book, I talk about dozens and dozens of ways pre- relation trip in which to spend time with your kids finding very economical ways to find those values out there on the open road.
COSTELLO: How do you time it though, so that you hit the park when the home team is playing at home?
J. SIEGEL: Well, it was a lot easier way back when, when we had 60 venues we were going to visit. We did them in clusters. Down the homestretch, we had to get a lot more laser focused in pinpointing those that still remain.
ROMANS: Did you always talk about sports or the game at hand when you're at these venues or do you find them when you're filling these hours. This is when you're really bonding with your dad, right?
S. SIEGEL: Absolutely. A lot of it is on the road when you're talking, and you're in the car, you're driving to your destination but then there's also at the actual ballpark. We'll go around on the concourses; we'll look at the food options. We'll see what the entertainment experience is like. It's everything in between along with the game.
VELSHI: You ended up writing a book about this.
J. SIEGEL: I did.
VELSHI: Because is that -- is it a sort of a memoir or is it a book for other people to figure out how to do this?
J. SIEGEL: It's part memoir and part workbook. I started speaking some time ago to parents groups, teaching them how to create relation trips of their own. Out of that presentation came the book, which shares dozens and dozens of ideas that any family can adapt to their own travel to create these adventures.
COSTELLO: It doesn't necessarily have to be ballparks. Right? It could be anything.
J. SIEGEL: Not at all.
VELSHI: Like you said. It could be roller coasters, theme parks.
J. SIEGEL: Yes. It's all about that common interest.
ROMANS: A friend of mine who has five kids, he says, you know, as a parent, the thing to remember as they get older, like your age, he said you just can't leave them alone. It doesn't matter what you fill their time with. Just don't leave them alone and left to their own devices. This is a very creative way not to leave them to their own devices. You get to have fun too.
J. SIEGEL: Thank you.
VELSHI: Do you end up telling -- do you end up talking about things that you may not have talked about if you weren't spending all this time with your dad? S. SIEGEL: I don't know necessarily that I look at it that way. I look at it as once we get back from a road trip, we have weeks and months after that and we reminisce about whatever happened on those trips. Do you remember this moment in Colorado? Do you remember this in California? Something like that. And these memories will last forever.
VELSHI: And I like to say that the open road is a tremendous place in which to connect with your kids. I say that uncomfortable or awkward silences tend to break down right around the 100-mile mark.
COSTELLO: So, Spence, you're going into sports communications, as you say. So pimp your book and then we'll take it out. Nice.
ROMANS: There it is.
COSTELLO: What's it called?
S. SIEGEL: The book is called "Relation Trips". It's available on amazon.com and MyRelationTrips.com is the Web site and Facebook and Twitter@relationtrips.
VELSHI: Very nice.
COSTELLO: Gentlemen. Thank you Jeff and Spence Siegel.
VELSHI: Warning, you're about to feel very old. I did when I heard about this.
30 years ago today, MTV was born. Up next: a look back at the launch of a network that changed the music industry forever.
55 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: All right. 30 years ago today, the music industry changed forever.
That's right. MTV celebrates its 30th birthday today. Wow, on this day in 1981, the first music video aired on the 24-hour music network. It was the Buggles singing "Video Killed the Radio Star". MTV can now be seen in over 600 million houses.
VELSHI: Unbelievable.
ROMANS: It changed its focus in the early days with reality shows now like "Teen Mom" and that fine, critically acclaimed "Jersey Shore".
VELSHI: Hey, hey, hey. Come on. There's attitude, there's tone there. I like "Jersey Shore".
COSTELLO: Did you watch the videos from 30 years ago? ROMANS: They looked so rinky-dink and remember how they changed the world. Look at that. I remember they were hosted by VJs. There was Nina Blackwood (ph), Mark Goodman (ph), Ellen Hunter (ph), Martha Quinn (ph) and JJ Jackson (ph).
VELSHI: I have no recollection. I was too young.
COSTELLO: I know. I lived out in the country. We didn't have cable. So I --
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: What?
VELSHI: Of course, I remember them.
COSTELLO: Martha Quinn was my favorite. But look at them now.
ROMANS: I know. JJ Jackson actually passed away in 2004. So there are four who remain.
VELSHI: All right. Question of the day time, Today the House and Senate are expected to vote on a debt ceiling agreement by President Obama and Congressional leaders. Our question is --
COSTELLO: Our question is, we want to know, debt deal, who won last night? Wall Street, Main Street or someone else?
Here's what you're saying.
This is Scott; he said this on our blog. "I think America lost as a whole. The rest of the world sees our political process as a joke. Those on the far right have no concept of reality and those on the far left are spineless. Bottom line, we haven't seen the end of this chaos."
VELSHI: On Twitter: "The Tea Party is the big winner because they are willing to be the bully on the playground while Democrats keep playing nice."
ROMANS: And also at Twitter, Eddie says, "There were no winner. The extent to which elected officials permitted constituents to be used as pawns in their game caused damage."
COSTELLO: Yes, to everyone who wrote in for this morning, thank you very much; please continue the conversation. Of course, we'll have another probing question of the day tomorrow morning.
VELSHI: That's it for us. We will be back bright and early tomorrow morning at 6:00 am.
Right now, Kyra Phillips takes it over with "CNN NEWSROOM". Good morning -- Kyra.
