Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Solyndra Stimulus Loan Investigated; Battle for Libya; Libya: New Hot Spot for Terrorists?; Negotiating Jailed U.S. Hikers Release; Rogue Trader Costs UBS $2 Billion; Tacoma Teachers Strike; Hero Marine to Receive Medal of Honor; Cruise Liner Catches Fire; Perry and The Donald Dine; Rick Perry on a Roll; Congress Taking a Pay Cut?; "It's Been a Rocky Flight"; Interview with Senator Sherrod Brown
Aired September 15, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ali Velshi. The Obama administration is trying to defend its decision to award stimulus money to Solyndra, a solar power company that just went bankrupt. Taxpayers are on the hook for more than half a billion dollars.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Christine Romans. U.S. officials concerned about terrorist groups establishing a long-term residence in post-Gadhafi Libya. We're live at the Pentagon this morning.
COSTELLO: And is Congress ready for a pay cut? I'm Carol Costello. With more Americans forced to cut back, should our lawmakers do the same? We will talk to one senator who says yes on this AMERICAN MORNING.
VELSHI: Good morning. Good morning. It is Thursday, September the 15. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. Good to be back with you guys.
ROMANS: Nice to have you back.
VELSHI: I haven't been in the same place for a long time.
ROMANS: A lot of good news this morning. You're going to love it. Up first, taxpayer, you are on the hook this morning for more than a half a billion dollars. Here is why.
Solyndra, we've told you about this company, a solar panel company in California, that has declared bankruptcy after receiving $535 million in federal stimulus money from your tax dollars. The White House is trying to defend its decision to award this loan only providing frankly more political fodder for Republicans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. STEVE SCALISE (R), LOUISIANA: Solyndra alone was touted to create 3,000 jobs. The president touted that. It will be a great success story. Of course, we have seen the failure there. A lot of us are questioning this kind of double down son of stimulus approach where they are going to come back and do more of this kind of same failed policy of just spending money we don't have.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: There you go. Dan Lothian live at the White House. Son of stimulus, this is why we shouldn't do it again. A lot of questions being raised right now about how this loan went down and Republicans using it to say the president shouldn't be allowed to spend any more money.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right and the White House is pushing back on criticism and these mounting questions even though in that hearing, there were these e-mails that suggest there was a rush to get this deal done in order to meet a timeline.
One e-mail from a White House staffer read in part, quote, "I would prefer that this announcement be postponed. This is the first loan guarantee and we should have full review with all hands-on deck to make sure we get it right."
Another e-mail from the Department of Energy staffer saying in part, quote, "the model runs out of cash in September 2011." In an off- camera briefing yesterday with reporters, White House Spokesman Jay Carney said the only thing that these e-mails show is that there was a decision about a scheduling matter.
He offered another defense in another briefing more than a week ago suggesting that in business, not everything works.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There are no guarantees in the business world about success and failure. That's just the way business works. Everyone recognizes that. That's why, you know, there are over 40 companies, as I understand it, 40 guarantees involved in this program that they are looking at. There's no individual -- you cannot measure the success based on one company or the other.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LOTHIAN: Carney said yesterday there's no evidence that the administration did anything wrong. He pointed out that the program through which this loan guarantee came through was set out by the former administration.
But bottom line here is that this money came from federal stimulus dollars and now there are a lot of questions about how that money was spent.
ROMANS: Yes, and according to "The Wall Street Journal," the former administration while it was setup through there, they declined to go ahead with loan guarantees for this company because they just didn't have enough information or didn't have enough confidence about it.
You know, it is interesting a bunch of venture capitalists writing in "Politico" this morning saying, you know, sometimes you win some and sometimes you lose some. That's the way capitalism goes. But clearly this has become a political story as much as an economic story. Dan Lothian. Thanks, Dan. VELSHI: In Libya, residents are fleeing the Gadhafi loyalist stronghold of Bani Walid ahead of an anticipated showdown with rebel fighters. The rebel leadership gave people 48 hours notice to leave the city before a deadline tonight.
Meantime, U.S. officials are concerned the fall of ousted Libyan Leader Moammar Gadhafi could lead to a rise in terrorism. CNN's Barbara Starr is following that side of the story. She is live at the Pentagon. Good morning, Barbara. What do we know?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, good morning to you. You know, during Gadhafi's regime everything was kept under tight control. Now U.S. intelligence officials say they are concerned that terrorist groups may be taking hold in the current confusion if you will that is Libya.
What they are telling us is that it is not like there are thousands of terrorists. It is in the like al Qaeda has set up shop. But they do believe that dozens of potential fighters have moved in and they are concerned that terrorists, including al Qaeda, are getting ready to set up a long-term presence in Libya.
That they are taking advantage of this current situation when maybe nobody is watching the borders too carefully and that they are moving in setting up networks and setting up their influence and, of course, one of the concerns is that weapons control inside Libya is minimal if at all.
We know that there are thousands of surface-to-air missiles believed to be there, hundreds of thousands of small arms. Who is getting their hands on all that stuff? That's the concern right now.
VELSHI: Of course, Libya, there's always international concern about Libya's official ties to terrorism and what the government had to do with it. What about terrorists possibly working inside what we are calling the rebel government, the National Transitional Council?
STARR: Right. Well, U.S. intelligence officials say they do have some concerns about that. Again, they don't see official links. They don't see, you know, here is the terrorist member of the TNC.
But they do believe that there are people within that organization with those types of sympathies and something to watch very carefully. It's tough to get a handle on it at all at least right now. Ali --
VELSHI: All right, Barbara, thanks very much. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.
COSTELLO: A potential good sign this morning for these American hikers jailed in Iran on spying charges. A lawyer for the two men says all necessary paperwork has been filed for them to be released on bail.
But he does not expect judges there to act on it before Saturday. Yesterday the Iranian judiciary says it was only considering a request to set bail contradicting the Iranian president's earlier statement that the men could be freed in a couple of days.
ROMANS: A rogue traitor may have caused Swiss banking giant UBS $2 billion. According to the bank, unauthorized trading could result in UBS reporting a loss for the third quarter of this year. It could potentially be among the largest cost to bank in rogue trading.
UBS says the incident is still under investigation. No customer money was affected. CNN is also learning that a 31-year-old man was arrested in London on suspicion of fraud by position of - abuse of position.
That's what the charges -- that was late last night. But officials will not confirm if this case is linked to UBS although everyone is saying that they are pretty sure this is the guy they are looking for.
VELSHI: Striking teachers in Tacoma, Washington, are ordered back to work. A judge suspended the strike and ordered schools to reopen today for some 28,000 students. The teachers walked off the job Monday after negotiations broke down. The judge also ordered new hearings on the legality of the strike and on the stalled contract talks.
COSTELLO: Dakota Meyer receives a Medal of Honor from President Obama today. The 23-year-old former Marine from Kentucky cited for charging through heavy gunfire five separate times to rescue other soldiers during an ambush in Afghanistan in 2009.
He is credited with saving 36 people. Meyer and the president have already met actually. The White House releasing this photo of the two men talking over a couple of beers last night on a patio outside of the oval office should become like the beer garden of the White House.
ROMANS: He is 23 years old. If you do this in 2009, he was a 21- year-old young man in Afghanistan, away from home, serving this country. It's just amazing what these guys are doing.
COSTELLO: He's so tough and down to earth because he wanted to have a beer with the president. What I really want is I want to have a beer with the president.
VELSHI: When you are that much of a hero that's what you get to call that in. Good for the two of them. I have to say, it didn't look like the most comfortable place for a beer.
COSTELLO: The White House photographer is certainly, it's not exactly like your normal --
VELSHI: Sitting back.
COSTELLO: Maybe they got up later and pounded a few. Who knows?
ROMANS: Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, Rick Perry, he's not having a few beers. He is dining with the Donald pulling away in the polls.
COSTELLO: Fine wine.
ROMANS: Yes, I think so, but is the Texas governor getting overconfident? Jim Acosta is going to have that excellent report.
VELSHI: And did you see this? The latest on strange light in the sky. We are getting a lot of reports of this spotted over parts of the west coast last night. Check that out. We will tell you what it is when we come back.
COSTELLO: Tom Brady has some advice for fans when it comes out of "Animal House." The comment that has the New England Patriots in damage control mode.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: We do have this bit of breaking news to share with you. A cruise liner carrying more than 200 people caught fire of Norway's western coast. At least three people have been taken to the hospital. We are told the fire was in the ship's engine room. Of course, we will continue to follow the story and bring you the latest information as we get it.
VELSHI: All right, turning to politics now. Presidential hopeful Rick Perry and Donald Trump having a little pow wow in the big Apple last night.
The Texas governor spent an hour with the Donald at Trump Hotel before hopping into a limo for dinner at the highly acclaimed restaurant Jean George. No chicken fried steak on the menu there.
ROMANS: No.
VELSHI: Quite a month for Rick Perry. He's quickly established himself as the early front runner in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Unless he stumbles all the other candidates can do is watch Rick roll. Here is Jim Acosta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The great governor of Texas, Rick Perry.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: What primaries? Rick Perry is already running in Virginia. A state that's much more crucial to the general election than it is to the Republican nomination.
GOV. RICK PERRY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I know it is time for a change in this country. What I'm talking about change, I'm not talking about the rhetoric of change. I'm talking about a record of change. I have that record.
ACOSTA: Perry gave two speeches in Virginia, one to Christian conservative students at Liberty University and another to Republicans in Richmond. At both events, Perry barely mentioned his competition.
(on camera): It seems as if you are already looking past the primaries into the general election. Aren't you being a tad overconfident?
PERRY: I understand who the opposition is in this election cycle. There are seven other individuals on that stage who are quite capable.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Michele Bachmann is trying to change the game hitting the Texas governor on his order requiring vaccinations for school girls against the sexually transmitted HPV virus that may cause cervical cancer. But the attack blew up in Bachmann's face after she mistakenly claimed that the vaccine can cause major health problems.
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She told me that her little daughter took that vaccine, that injection, and she suffered from mental retardation thereafter. It can have very dangerous side effects.
ACOSTA: The American Academy of Pediatrics slammed Bachmann's comments saying there is absolutely no scientific validity to the statement.
(on camera): Do you think that was irresponsible of her?
PERRY: I think that was a statement there was no truth and no basis in fact. And, look, I hate cancer. And that's what's this has always been about for me.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Perry's evangelical appeal is a winner with young Christian conservatives in this state.
(on camera): It's possible you walked away with the candidate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's possible I walked away with a candidate.
ACOSTA (voice-over): But Perry also wants to walk away with some endorsements like that of Virginia's popular governor, who's starting to hint at a decision.
GOV. BOB MCDONELL, VIRGINIA: Because I think governors because of their decisiveness and know how to balance the budgets and being fiscally responsible that they can be the best candidate (ph). But there's a couple of governors addressed (ph).
ACOSTA (on camera): All right.
(voice-over): How about a Perry-McDonnell ticket? Too soon?
PERRY: That is thinking too far ahead.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: The Bachmann campaign released their sharply worded statement accusing Governor Perry of abusing his power of the Executive Order and imposing mandatory vaccines on 12-year-old girls. The statement is a sign this fight is far from finished.
Jim Acosta, CNN, Richmond, Virginia.
ROMANS: All right.
Today, Republicans will offer up their ideas for getting the economy back on track. House Speaker John Boehner will deliver the GOP plan called Liberating America's Economy.
Meantime, President Obama continues to pressure Congress to pass his jobs bill after stops this week in three key battleground states. The president, you know, he was still pitching last night at a Congressional Hispanic Caucus event in Washington. He accused Republicans who opposed the bill of playing politics and of not listening to the voice of the people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: If we are being honest, we know the real problem isn't the members of Congress in this room. It is the members of Congress who put party before country because they believe the only way to resolve our differences is to wait 14 months until the next election. And I've got news for them. The American people don't have the luxury of waiting 14 months.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: According to the White House, the president's jobs bill will include tax breaks that will help 25 million Hispanic workers.
COSTELLO: Now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning, what would it say to you if Congress took a pay cut?
Don't laugh. Stop it. A nonpartisan group called the Taxpayers Protection Alliance sent this letter to lawmakers urging them to cut their extravagant salaries of $174,000 a year by 10 percent. They say it would save taxpayers $100 million over 10 years.
Before you say fat chance, Democratic Congressman Sherrod Brown has introduced legislation calling on lawmakers to wait until the age of 66 before receiving a pension. Right now, lawmakers can retire as early as age 50 with a full pension depending on years of service.
You're still laughing, aren't you? I know why. Because we've have heard it all before. Last February, as Americans faced the possibility of a government shutdown, Senator Barbara Boxer had a dandy idea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: If the government is forced to shut down, members of Congress and the president should be treated the same way as all other federal employees. We should not be paid.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Well, the government didn't shut down, so I guess Congress got a pass on that one. But seriously, if lawmakers did take a pay cut or raised their retirement age, dare I say it, would that be patriotic, responsible, moral? We would like to hear it from you.
So our "Talkback" question this morning, what would it say to you if Congress took a pay cut? Facebook.com/AmericanMorning, Facebook.com/AmericanMorning. I'll read your comments later this hour.
ROMANS: Wow. $100 million over 10 years, that's like - when you talk about money they are trying to save that would be easy. Come on. Just do it.
COSTELLO: Well, in fairness, although many of our lawmakers are millionaires, some are not.
VELSHI: Some are not.
COSTELLO: And they have to keep homes in two different states.
VELSHI: And we - we have to be careful not to eliminate the possibility of those people who are not independently wealthy but maybe really smart? Maybe want to compromise, don't run for office.
COSTELLO: True. We have to keep all of these things in mind.
VELSHI: Yes.
COSTELLO: But, please, we want to hear what you think about this this morning.
VELSHI: But now to sports, the New England Patriots in damage control this morning after quarterback Tom Brady made a huge error of having an honest moment. Telling fans to get sauced. Check it out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM BRADY, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS QUARTERBACK: Yes. They're drinking early. Nice and rowdy, 4:15 game. A lot of time to get lubed up and come out here and cheer for their home team.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: He's so cute.
VELSHI: After that, Patriots Media Relations came out and said he didn't mean drinking alcohol early, he meant water.
ROMANS: Oh, come on.
VELSHI: Stay hydrated.
ROMANS: He'd lubed up on Gatorade like they do when you tailgate (ph).
VELSHI: Yes, that's what I say all the time.
COSTELLO: What a stupid P.R. statement.
ROMANS: Oh, come on.
VELSHI: Yes. Let me give you water, I need to get lubed up.
ROMANS: Come on. That was just an - I think that was just an honest moment from a guy who loves his fans.
VELSHI: It's regional. It's regional. I guess you guy just don't say it up here.
COSTELLO: Rob Marciano -
VELSHI: Rob, don't you say that all the time?
COSTELLO: No, no. I mean -
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely.
COSTELLO: -- it's good to be responsible. But, come on, everybody knows that fans have tailgate parties and they drink before games. That's just a fact of life.
MARCIANO: It is. And nothing gets a crowd more rowdy than funneling water. There's no doubt about that.
All right. Hey, guys. You know, I don't know how if it has anything to do with the somewhat none PC controversial statements of Tom Brady, but the ground is shaking thing morning.
COSTELLO: Yes.
MARCIANO: Well, we had earthquakes in Cuba or just outside of Cuba, in New Zealand, just off the coast of New Zealand, and also Japan. Six-point-oh between Jamaica and Cuba. They definitely felt it. Probably maybe some, you know, some pictures falling off the walls, maybe some slight damage in Southern Cuba, and they felt it in Jamaica.
And a 3.5 quake just like minutes ago across Southern California, right in L.A. So, yes, Tom Brady, maybe you may want to zip it because I don't want to see a 7.0 or 8.0 magnitude quake happening anytime too soon.
Temperatures, here we go, into the fall category, 30s and 40s, even some (INAUDIBLE) 20s in some parts of the Upper Midwest. So here's - here's that front. Very October-like front that's pushing off to the east. We've got some rain ahead and we'll see some thunderstorms as well. So a little bit wet across the Northeast.
And the cool air and some of that moisture is going to make its way down into Texas. Thank goodness. One-oh-four was the high in Waco. Houston, again, 46 days of 100-degree plus temperatures; Dallas has hit 107 days. But now cooler weather is finally making its way there. Maybe a little bit of rainfall here as well.
Further out to the south and west, these pictures in the night sky from Arizona across Southern Nevada and through Southern California as well. Look at that fireball streaking across the night sky last night. Thousands of people saw it and reported it in. They had no idea what it was. Got a little bit nervous, I might say.
But scientists are saying it likely was just a meteor or meteorite. It hopefully splashed into the ocean or somewhere where it was safe to do so.
There you go. Meteors, earthquakes, Tom Brady talking about getting sauced.
COSTELLO: Oh, my gosh. It's the apocalypse. Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: All right, guys.
COSTELLO: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, life in a tent city. Victims of the recession forced to do with a lot less. See what their lives are like and what their hopes are for the future.
VELSHI: And NASA unveiling what will ultimately be the fastest rocket ever built. A look inside the space agency's new program when AMERICAN MORNING continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Twenty-five minutes after the hour. Welcome back. "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Swiss banking giant UBS says it discovered an unauthorized trade that has cost the bank $2 billion. It's a loss so big it could push the bank's balance sheet into the red in the third quarter.
A third day of gains for U.S. stocks yesterday. The Dow gained about 1.3 percent, NASDAQ was up more, 1.6 percent. The S&P 500, the best indicator for stocks in your 401(k) gained about 1.4 percent for the day.
Pushing markets higher this morning, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are vowing support for the Greece bailout. The two leaders held a conference call with Greece's Prime Minister George Papandreou later yesterday - late yesterday. The three insist that Greece will remain in the Euro zone.
This morning, the European stocks are up. Right now, stock futures for the Dow, NASDAQ, and the S&P 500 are all trading higher ahead of the opening bell. Investors here are keeping their eyes on the initial jobless claims report that comes out in about two hours from now. This weekly report is especially noteworthy as the president tries to sell his jobs plan across the country this week. We'll get you those numbers as soon as they come out.
The United Autoworkers Union temporarily extended labor talks with GM and Chrysler overnight. The contracts for 112,000 workers are on the line. The UAW says it could not reach an agreement with the two automakers by the deadline so the talks will continue today.
AMERICAN MORNING is back right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: It's 30 minutes past the hour. Time for the morning's top stories. The White House trying to defend its decision to award a $535 million stimulus loan to the Solyndra Corporation. The California solar panel company is now bankrupt, with taxpayers on the hook for all that money. The FBI and Energy Department are investigating.
COSTELLO: Breaking story off the coast of Norway. Fire aboard a cruise liner carrying more than 200 people. At least two crew members have now been taken to the hospital. All passengers and crew members now back on dry land. We are told the fire was in the ship's engine room.
VELSHI: An official from Amman is flying to Iran to try to negotiate for the freedom of two American hikers convicted of spying and who are sentenced to eight years in prison. Yesterday, the Iranian judiciary said it was only considering a request to set bail which contradicted the Iranian president's earlier statement the men could be freed in a couple of days. In the meantime, a lawyer for the two hikers says he's filed all the paperwork for them to be released on bail but does not expect the judges to act it before the weekend.
ROMANS: All right. More than 46 million people in the U.S. now live in poverty. That's the highest number in 52 years. Those are just statistics.
And this morning, we want to show you real people behind those numbers, families who had to drop out of society just to survive.
Our Allan Chernoff is live in Lakewood, New Jersey, with an interesting angle on this story.
Allan, good morning.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Right behind me you can see one of the main streets of Lakewood, people actually heading off to work. But let's just take a few steps here into the woods. And it is an entirely different world, because what we have right behind me are dozens and dozens of homeless people who have set up tents, set up huts, and they are basically out here trying to make it on their own.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANGELO VILLANUEVA, TENT CITY RESIDENT: My punching bag, a stress reliever.
CHERNOFF (voice-over): Angelo Villanueva, a man who lost his last job about year ago is among dozens of jobless and homeless Americans who have resorted to this -- trying to make a home here in the woods.
VILANUEVA: You think of a homeless first and you think of some whino out on the corner, but it can happen to anyone -- anyone at any time.
CHERNOFF: Villanueva stays in shape in the gym he built as he hopes for a pickup in the economy to help him get back to work.
MARILYN BERENSZWEIG, TENT CITY RESIDENT: Oh, it's horrible. So depressing.
CHERNOFF: Marilyn Berenszweig is a textile designer who worked in New York just two years ago. She and her husband Michael, a former public radio producer, have been living here for 16 months -- victims of the jobs recession.
BERENSZWEIG: It is very hard for a company to decide to use a 61- year-old trainee. I'm too young for Social Security. So, yes, it is going to be a rough -- a rocky flight. It's been a rocky flight.
CHERNOFF: Five years ago, Reverend Steve Brigham established what he calls tent city where he lives in this converted school bus. He has seen the population nearly double to 70 in the past year.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a community here. They got all their needs met here.
CHERNOFF (on camera): The residents here have come up with some makeshift solutions to some of life's necessities. This portable generator is hooked up to a pump that's actually driving up groundwater to the shower here and to the washing machine. What you see here is a hot water heater working off of a propane tank.
(voice-over): Tent city residents recycle. The township picks up garbage once a week. But that's as much help as local government provides. Lakewood Township is suing Reverend Steve and his tent city residents to get them off of public lands.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The government has a responsibility to be sympathetic to the plight of the poor and homeless. And to push them out is cruel.
CHERNOFF: The township referred CNN's inquiry to its attorney who did not return our calls and e-mails.
As the legal battle drags on, and the economy stagnates, the homeless who have created a home here maintain their hope of returning to society.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF: The community is just waking up this morning. Behind me you may hear some of the roosters here who will wake people up every single morning around here. You see behind me some of the tents.
These, in fact, are remains of huts that had been up. The town demanded they be taken down. So, you see the remains over here. But the folks here are quite worried as the winter is going to approach because they say they can't survive just in their tents. They'll need some huts to at least keep them a little bit warmer.
And, yes, Christine, people do survive here through the winter. It was a tough one, as you know, last winter.
ROMANS: Wow. And it just underscores the fact there aren't enough jobs. There just aren't enough jobs to put people into and train people for at this point, and so what kind of opportunity can you offer when the big fight, I guess, is with the city or the township about being able to say.
You know, Allan, thank you so much.
COSTELLO: Wow. New this morning -- it's out with the shuttle and in with the new SLS program at NASA. SLS is short for space launch system. NASA unveiling its plans to build the most powerful rocket ever, with its first flight scheduled for the end of 2017. The SLS designed to take astronauts to unprecedented distances in space, perhaps even mars. It will cost $18 billion over the next six years.
VELSHI: Well, coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING: many Americans have seen their pay and benefits cut. So, what about Congress? Should they be forced to make the same sacrifice?
We are going to talk to one senator who says yes.
ROMANS: And the Jacqueline Kennedy tapes released to the public. How the former first lady felt about Martin Luther King and the Cuban missile crisis in her own words. That's ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Welcome back.
It's the story we'll be talking a about a lot this morning. Should members of Congress be forced to make the same financial sacrifices that so many of you have had to make during this recession?
Joining me now is Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown. He recently introduced legislation calling on lawmakers to wait until the age of 66 before receiving a pension. Right now, lawmakers can retire as early as age 50 with a full pension depending on how long they served.
So, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, this nonpartisan group, is asking Congress to take a 10 percent pay cut. In a letter, the president of the group said, "While many other cuts are also needed to have the necessary impact on the national debt, cuts to congressional salaries and benefits will demonstrate to Americans that their elected officials in Washington, D.C., are also making sacrifices in this period of economic uncertainty."
So, Senator Brown, first of all, thank you for joining thus morning. We really appreciate it.
So, you received that letter from this nonpartisan group. You read it, and you thought what?
SEN. SHERROD BROWN (D), OHIO: Well, I think that there are a whole host of things. The reason I introduced my bill a few months ago or a couple of months ago on this shared sacrifice in terms of retirement age, is I hear lots of members of Congress, especially particularly conservative members of Congress, say we should raise the retirement age for Social Security. Yet a member of Congress gets elected at 35 and retires at 55 can draw a pretty good pension at the age of 55 when social beneficiary benefits have to wait until 66.
So, my thought there was that members of Congress should not be able to get their pension no matter how many years of service they had, they should get no pension until any earlier than a Social Security beneficiary should get theirs. Years ago, I made a promise to my campaign I would not accept congressional health care. I don't talk about this much, but until we pass health care for everybody else in the country. I pay may own health insurance for years, because of that.
I'm not going around bragging about it, but I think it's important members of Congress sort of align as much as possible their lives with the people who we represent, so we understand things better and, you know, we still make more money than most people, of course. But, at least, we ought to share some of the sacrifice better than we do.
COSTELLO: So, your bill to raise retirement age for lawmakers to the age of 66, has it gone anywhere?
BROWN: It has not. I think what it did was say to some of my conservative colleagues in Washington, some of the politicians that don't -- must not know very many waitresses and factory workers and construction workers and women or men who clean hotel rooms and can't work until their 70, when I hear these conservative politicians saying raise the retirement age to 70 for Social Security, I introduced that bill because I wanted to send this message to wait a second.
That's, you know, we -- when you dress like this and do what we do for a living, you can work to an older age. But when you clean hotel rooms and work in a diner, your feet all the time, in retail, construction work, manufacturing, your body typically can't work until 68 or 70. I say it's a moral issue.
COSTELLO: Right. Let's go back to the pay cut issue. This nonpartisan group says, hey, take a 10 percent pay cut. Even if lawmakers said, oh, I will take a temporary pay cut just to show -- to give voters a sign that we really do care.
But, honestly, I don't think many Americans think that any lawmaker will say, OK, let's do it. I mean, people don't believe it. Is there any chance at all that lawmakers would take a pay cut?
BROWN: I think some might. I think that -- I would guess probably a bill like that won't pass. But, you know, there are a number of us that when -- every so often, there's been a sort of an automatic cost of living adjustment for members of Congress and in many, many members of Congress have said, no, I'm not going to take it and give to it charity. So, I mean, I know it's easy to say we're for all --
COSTELLO: But they still take it even though it's -- even though it's nice of them to give it to charity, the taxpayer still have to pay it. So --
BROWN: I understand that. I understand that.
COSTELLO: So, I don't know, you know, we hear these things -- BROWN: You asked me. I don't think that members of Congress will vote to pass that. I don't think that probably that will happen here any more than my idea to raise the retirement age for members of Congress will pass. I think that's not the biggest problem we have.
To me, it was a statement, less about my colleagues on the retirement age and more about how I don't want to see us raise the retirement age for Social Security beneficiaries because so many work with their bodies and their bodies don't hold out until they are 70. And some of the jobs that are very, very physical.
COSTELLO: We are asking a question this morning of our viewers. What would it say to you if lawmakers agreed to take a pay cut?
In your mind, if lawmakers did decide to even take a temporary pay cut, what would that say to the American people?
BROWN: Well, I think that it would be a good thing to say to the American people. I would frankly rather that the Congress instead of talking about ourselves and in this context or any other would actually work on a jobs issue and actually work to create jobs. The president was in my home state at Fort Hayes High School in Columbus a couple of days ago.
We are facing choice here. We can either continue to give tax breaks to the richest people in the country or we can actually invest in school construction and modernization and infrastructure and create jobs. And to me, that's way more important than any of the other things about the process of this institution. And far too many people here are protecting the oil industry and Wall Street hedge fund managers. And those are way more important issues than any of the other things.
COSTELLO: Senator Brown, thank you so much for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.
BROWN: My pleasure, thanks, Carol. Thanks.
COSTELLO: Christine?
ROMANS: All right, Carol.
The morning's top stories straight ahead, including the latest trend in SAT scores across the country.
VELSHI: And twin 8-month-old boys were literally joined at the hip are recovering after successful separation surgery. We'll show you what happened after the break.
It's 48 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: It is 46 minutes after the hour. Here is what you need to know to start your day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI (voice-over): Three crew members are being treated after their cruise ship caught fire off the coast of Norway. It's believed that the fire started in the engine room. Most of the crew and all of the passengers are safely back on shore in the town of Elson this morning.
French president, Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron are in Libya this morning. They're meeting with leaders of Libya's National Transitional Counsel. They're expected to hold a news conference at any moment now. There, you're looking at the podiums. It's their first visit to Tripoli since the fall of Moammar Gadhafi's regime.
The White House defending its decision to award a $535 million stimulus loan to the Solyndra Corporation. The solar panel company is now bankrupt with taxpayers on the hook for all of that money.
Natalee Holloway's father is now asking an Alabama court to declare her dead six years after she vanished in Aruba. Dave Holloway saying in court documents he is seeking closure for the family.
Authorities say an 80-year-old woman who died in a Georgia McDonald's last week was killed by a buildup of carbon dioxide. Investigators found the bleed line on attack used -- on a tank used to carbonate soft drink wasn't properly disconnected.
And the nation's graduating seniors posted lower scores on their SATs according to the College Board. The average combined score was 1,500. That is six points below last year. Perfect score in the SATs these days is 2,400.
Doctors at a hospital in Memphis, Tennessee has successfully separated eight-month-old conjoined twins. The two boys were connected by their pelvis at lower spine. They've recovered in hospital. They're in the intensive care recovering right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI (on-camera): That's the news you need to start your day. AMERICAN MORNING back right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Historians are having a field day with the newly released Jacqueline Kennedy tapes.
COSTELLO: They can see why. Fascinating stuff. An interview with the former first lady recorded four months after the assassination of her husband, John F. Kennedy, has been kept under wraps for nearly 50 years until now.
VELSHI: Deb Feyerick joins us this morning. Deb, these tapes contain personal information, personal comments that we never heard before. Tell us a bit about it.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And in her own voice. That was amazing about it, and that is really what is so fascinating hearing the sound of her voice, how she expresses herself. She is so refined, contrition. Frankly, very, very engaging. You can't help but listen. Also, there's a certain candor, a frankness. This is a woman who had an opinion about people, and at least, in private and presence of someone she considered a friend, the interviewer.
She was not afraid to share them. She talks about her husband's vice president, Lyndon Johnson saying, he had an enormous ego, and that his wife, Lady Bird Johnson, was in her words, quote, "like a trained hunting dog." About the Irish, she says, they sort of have this persecution thing about them.
And a communist (ph) witch-hunt senator, Joseph McCarthy, she says, he smelled of drink and his eyes looked awful. Here's what she had to say about civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACQUELINE KENNEDY, JOHN F. KENNEDY'S WIFE: What an incredible speaker he was during that freedom march thing, and you know, he acknowledged how had made that call during the campaign. And he told me of a tape that the FBI had of Martin Luther King when he was here for the freedom march.
And he said this with no bitterness or anything, how he was calling up all these girls and arranging for a party, men and women, I mean, sort of an orgy in the hotel and everything. At first he said oh, you know -- and I said, oh, Jack, that's so terrible. I mean, that man is (INAUDIBLE) phony man.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: Now, Jacqueline Kennedy was 24 years old when she got married, 31 when she became first lady, and she had the responsibility of hosting presidents and prime ministers and kings. While JFK's affairs are now legendary, listening to her speak and reading through the transcripts, this is a woman who clearly loved her husband. She wanted to be a good wife and mother. And she became excited when she made him proud. Here she is talking about the greatest crisis her husband's presidency, the Cuban missile crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KENNEDY: I remember saying, well, I knew if anything happened, we would all be evacuated to Camp David or something. I don't know if he said anything about that to me, but I said, please, don't send me away to Camp David, you know, me and my children. Please, don't send me anywhere. If anything happens, we're all going to stay right here with you.
And I said, even if there's not room in the bomb shelter in the White House, please, Jack, I just want to be on the lawn if it happens. I just want to be with you. I want to die with you. And the children do, too, and live without you.
(END VIDEO CLIP) FEYERICK: There are just so many interesting personal moments. The gifts her husband gave her. She calls him sweet. The phone calls from the campaign trail. How he would take his 45-minute power naps. He's changing into pajamas, even his vulnerability and his wisdom and compassion. She says she feared that the presidency might ruin her marriage, but, in fact, she says it was the happiest time of her life.
And she really evolves from a wife finding her way, suffering through complicated pregnancies to a great partner and ally. And remember, she was just 34 when he passed away. She gave these interviews about four months later. She also talks about the things that she learned from her husband. And you know, there's one thing she's talking about politics and how complicated it is.
And she says, you know, he would tell her never get in anything so deep you lost chance -- all chance of conciliation. So, she was learning from him and she just -- you know, you really get a sense that there was a connection. Whatever fights they had in their marriage, marriage is complicated. There was a real connection and a real warmth there.
COSTELLO: Caroline Kennedy, you know, she played a big part in this book, right? And she was the one who agreed to release these tapes, and some of the things that Jacqueline Kennedy says are -- embarrassing.
FEYERICK: You know, they're a little bit embarrassing. They're a little bit controversial. But also Jacqueline Kennedy was talking at a time when you didn't have to always be on guard about being so politically correct. There was a frankness. Here she is, a young woman. Would she had said these as she got older? Said this as she got older. No. Probably not. There she was, really giving great responsibility. And it's fascinating to hear because it's what we would say.
ROMANS: She did it for the history books, right? She knew that someday, these would be --
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: These are secret tapes. These are the tapes of her giving her recollections of life in the White House.
FEYERICK: So, think about how frank she was and how honest she was about it. So, kind of interesting.
ROMANS: Carolyn Kennedy said, in the end, she didn't want -- she'd want to edit them. She wanted to have them in her mother's own words.
COSTELLO: It was a great choice.
ROMANS: Yes, I think so, too.
COSTELLO: What a brave choice, really. That's fascinating. Thank you.
ROMANS: Thanks, Deb.
COSTELLO: We asked you to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. We ask you this question, what would you say to Congress if it took a pay cut? And ahead of your responses. Some of them right here.
This from Matt, "I say it's about time. No one in Congress should be making more than the average median income of those in their district. This should only apply to their government pay not side stuff like speaking engagement since those are not paid for with our tax dollars."
This from Jeff, "Instead of a pay cut, can we lay them off like the rest of the workers in America? Then outsource Congress to China? I mean, they basically onus already so why not let them run the country, too, while they're at it."
This from Kimberly, "I would say it's a step in the right direction. if they were paid for services rendered, maybe they would actually do something other than argue. They were hired by the people to do a job, but instead, most just want to make sure the other side doesn't get anything done. If I did my job like that, I'd be fired in a hot minute."
Keep those comments coming. Facebook.com/americanmorning.
ROMANS: OK. Now, the controversy over the solar company that goes dark. Ahead, President Obama, Obama on the road, selling his new jobs plan, but there are concerns about the first stimulus. Did taxpayers get burned by a half of billion dollar loan to a solar company? It's a very unfortunate photo-op at a solar company giving them taxpayer money and then they go bankrupt because of Chinese competition. We're going to have that story right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
