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CNN Sunday Morning
Snow Storm Hits Eastern Seaboard; U.S. Senate Plans Overnight Session
Aired December 20, 2009 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. It is December 20th, a cold one out there for many of you. Good morning. Thanks for watching. I'm Betty Nguyen.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rob Marciano, in today for T.J. Holmes. It's 8:00 a.m. Eastern, 5:00 west coast. Thanks for starting your day with us.
Well, that mass of snow storm...
NGUYEN: Yes.
MARCIANO: ... rolling up the east coast this morning. We got some pictures for you from Burlington, Massachusetts, Providence, Rhode Island, eastern part of New England is getting slammed right now. The D.C. area yesterday got hit the hardest.
One runway at Dulles is open this morning, and one is expected to open in the next few hours at Reagan National.
NGUYEN: Well, we invite you to watch at the bottom of the screen for all of the travel delays. We're going to have the latest on the weather in just a few minutes.
But first, let's get you some of top stories today.
Some U.S. senators probably are sleeping in this morning.
MARCIANO: Yes, they're going to...
NGUYEN: They are going to need it.
MARCIANO: Yes. They're going to need to rest for today and actually for the night ahead.
NGUYEN: Yes. It's going to be a long day and a long night, in fact. Democrats locked down their 60 votes on the health care reform yesterday. But the work does continue when the Senate reconvene today at 1:00 p.m. Eastern.
MARCIANO: Twelve hours later, the first in the series of votes on the bill is scheduled at 1:00 a.m. The final vote is expected later in the week, probably Thursday.
President Obama says he's happy with the Senate's efforts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Under this bill, family will save on their premiums. Businesses that will see their cost rise if we don't act will save money now and in the future. This bill will strengthen Medicare and extend the life of the program. Because it's paid for and gets rid of waste and inefficiency in our health care system, this will be the largest deficit reduction plan in over a decade.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: All right. Let's take you live now to Capitol Hill. Our congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar is standing by.
And, Brianna, even before this key vote in the Senate, some House Democrats are threatening to vote against the health reform bill. What is this all about?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Again, Betty, it all comes down to abortion. And, you know, this is the really sticky issue that has been difficult for Democrats in trying to move health care reform forward.
In this particular case, what, as you know, Senate Democrats were able to essentially bargain with one of their own, a socially conservative Democrat who is against abortion rights, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, and they were able to bring him onboard by restricting health care coverage of abortion.
Well, now, what you have is a key House Democrat who is also anti-abortion, Bart Stupak, he is the one who successfully led the charge to really make the language in the House bill even stricter, and he is saying that this agreement that was brokered with Senator Nelson is really just not enough for him. Here's what he said in a statement.
He said, "While I appreciate the efforts of all the parties involved, especially Senator Ben Nelson, the Senate abortion language is not acceptable. A review of the Senate language indicate a dramatic shift in federal policy that would allow the federal government to subsidize insurance policies with abortion coverage."
Now, let's look at the other side, because they are not happy with this at all. Two congresswomen who chair the self-labeled Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus said in a statement, "We have serious reservations about the abortion provision included in the U.S. Senate's health care bill. This provision is not only offensive to people who believe in choice, but it is also possibly unconstitutional."
So, Betty, what this tells you is that even though we're talking about this key hurdle that is expected to be crossed very late tonight when this vote goes through in the Senate, this has a whole other gauntlet to run when the House and the Senate have to hash out the differences that are in their bills. And the differences are huge, not only on abortion but also on that government-run insurance program, the public option. It's in the House bill. It is not in the Senate bill that's expected to pass later tonight, Betty.
NGUYEN: Yes, you're talking about these key issues that are up for debate. Here's something that maybe not a key issue, but it's interesting that it's actually in this bill. You know what I'm getting to, right?
KEILAR: Yes.
NGUYEN: The tax on indoor tanning. What in the world is that about? And can that really make that much of a difference?
KEILAR: Well, so, if this holds, what's in the Senate bill, it is a 10 -- if it holds, it's a 10 percent sales tax on tanning services. So if it holds, then going to the tanning salon has just gotten a little more expensive. Democrats put this in, citing skin cancer concerns, that, you know, tanning is obviously not good for your skin, and there is the cost associated with that. And over 10 years, this actually -- the estimates say it would bring $2.7 billion in tax revenue.
NGUYEN: Billion with a B? Really?
KEILAR: Billion with a B. Now, kind of a drop in the bucket...
NGUYEN: Really?
KEILAR: ... when you consider that this bill costs about $900 billion.
NGUYEN: Right.
KEILAR: But, you know, well, it's still a little chunk of change. So, what's really interesting about this, Betty, is that it actually replaced a tax, a proposed tax on elective cosmetic surgery, and we were calling it the Botox up here on Capitol Hill. And so, that appears to have gone away and now you have this tanning tax.
NGUYEN: So, you can go and get your cosmetic surgery.
KEILAR: Yes.
NGUYEN: Don't worry about the extra taxes on there, but hey, if you head to the tanning booth, you may get hit with a tax.
KEILAR: Exactly.
NGUYEN: So interesting, all these details in the bills that they are trying to hash out.
All right. Brianna Keilar, thanks for bringing it -- breaking it down for us. We appreciate it.
KEILAR: You bet. NGUYEN: All right. So, after all this back and fourth, what's actually in the bill, well, you heard a little bit of it here.
But here's another little tidbit that you want to know. It's supposed to cost $871 billion through 2019, almost $400 billion of that is supposed to come from new taxes or new limits on existing tax benefits. Among the final changes announced yesterday, a payroll Medicare tax add-on of 0.9 percent. Now, that would only be paid by people earning more than $200,000 or couples earning more than $250,000.
Senate leaders dropped, as we talked about, a proposed tax on cosmetic surgeries but they, indeed, did add a new 10 percent tax on indoor tanning. Sorry to hear that, huh?
MARCIANO: That's going to cost me a fortune.
NGUYEN: I'm going to say, Rob, I knew you're pretty upset about that -- not.
Well, CNN's Tom Foreman will anchor tonight's coverage of the Senate vote. It begins to hit midnight Eastern.
MARCIANO: Clearly, the indoor tanning lobbyists need to wrap up their effort on...
(CROSSTALK)
NGUYEN: Clearly, right? And, you know, this is a perfect time for it with all that snow outside.
MARCIANO: Yes. You know, if you do tan your toes in New England, don't go out wearing flip-flops to show them off. That's for sure.
NGUYEN: That's true.
MARCIANO: The first major snow storm of the season is still in play. Three storm-related deaths, unfortunately, are reported in Virginia. State troopers have responded to 3,000 accidents since Friday. So, that's impressive for sure. There are about 1,000 National Guardsmen involved in efforts to help with the response.
And in D.C., one run way has reopened at Dulles Airport. Officials at Reagan National expect to open a runway at about 10:00 Eastern.
State of emergency declarations are in effect for Boston, Virginia and Washington, still. The bad weather is also messing with the NFL schedule. Two games pushed back today from 1:00 to 4:00 in Baltimore, for Baltimore, at least. It's a fairly important game. They need to win a couple to get into the playoffs.
NGUYEN: Well, I kind of think you got the better end of the deal here. You're inside this warm studio, while your counterpart there, Reynolds Wolf... MARCIANO: Look, it's sunny out there.
NGUYEN: Oh, yes.
MARCIANO: Reynolds is catching a tan for free.
NGUYEN: But there is snow on the ground.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Guys, it is -- it is -- I'll tell you, it is sunshine and lollipops here, no question about it.
(LAUGHTER)
WOLF: But, I mean, where we stand, just an awful winter storm that came through there.
NGUYEN: Yes.
WOLF: For here, though, the storm is gone. I mean, there's no question. You can see behind me, we are at a rest area here along I- 95, and then, over that, you, of course, can see the blue skies. It is a beautiful morning here. And we still have plenty of snowfall on the ground, about 15 inches or so in and around the Fredericksburg area.
I'll tell you, although the snow is not longer falling from the sky, it doesn't mean pose danger to people. I mean, take a look at this, for example. You look down here on the ground, you got some places where it's kind of slushy, but then if you walk over to areas like this, you can't tell, our photojournalist needs to hop here, you're probably in the areas where you have this kind of ice like that. And, man, let me tell you, that stuff is awfully slippery.
And this is on an area that's actually been treated a little bit. If you have to get back on some of those roads, the back roads, it's going to be just really treacherous for you. There are a lot of (INAUDIBLE) stuck up.
Rob, you mention that over 30,000 or I'm sorry, 3,000 accidents in the Commonwealth of Virginia alone, probably more than that up and down the eastern seaboard.
And I'll tell you, the back roads are pretty bad. The freeways, though, for the time being are looking pretty good.
We're going to go to a different camera we have on top our live truck, it's going to show you a shot along I-95, you could see all lanes are looking pretty, both going both north and south. Still, though, as I mentioned there, Rob, there are those icy patches people have to watch out for. If you prop up and when you're zooming along and, say, 60 miles an hour, it can scare you pretty bad.
Let's send it back to you.
MARCIANO: How do those people treat you as they kind of woke up? I know there were some stranded motorists earlier in the morning, sleeping in their cars? They're amped up. No problems now?
WOLF: We've seen a few people that actually just had long nights and they just kind of stopped, you know, tried to get a little bit of shut eye. But there were some people, we actually spoke with one lady earlier, who's coming in from parts of New York and she was trying to drive her way down to Florida, and she actually got stuck in the snow bank, gone out and had one of those ice-scraping tools. She had a big large Excursion vehicle, and actually had to whittle the snow away from the tires before she did get out.
There have been people that have a lot of headaches, no question. But as time goes on and temperatures go up, it should get easier.
MARCIANO: All right. Thanks, Reynolds. Reynolds Wolf for us live in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
WOLF: You bet.
MARCIANO: One of the places that got over a foot snow, some places got more than that.
Let's check out some of the bigger cities, Philadelphia is seeing 22.9 inches of snow. My goodness, that's a doozy. And Annapolis, Maryland, is seeing 20.8 inches. Washington, D.C. proper, 16 inches; Central Park is seeing 9.9, but they are still getting some snow there. So, that will probably reach upwards of a foot.
We are starting to see some planes in the air, but if this was any other day, this time of day, we would see a lot more planes on our flight explorer map. So, as we begin to see the runways open in D.C. and then in New York, we'll start to see more of that action.
All right. We're seeing a lot of action in the form of this storm which has actually intensified quite a bit. And now, Boston, eastern Rhode Island, seeing a lot of heavy, heavy snowfall at this hour and not only heavy snow but seeing a decent amount of wind. Wind gusts in Nantucket, the last couple of hours have been over 60 miles an hour. In Barnstable, they reported a wind gust of 62 miles an hour.
Right now, sustained winds at about 30 or so back across the Cape, 33 degrees or 33-mile-an-hour wind gusts up there in Providence, Rhode Island.
All right. Still, blizzard warning in effect on the blue-shaded counties, from eastern Long Island back through southern Rhode Island and northeastern parts of Massachusetts. And before the day is done here, some spots could see, well, you know, 20 to 30 inches, I think, especially eastern Rhode Island, because Boston has already seen 20 inches and it's still snowing heavily there.
And so, Betty, this -- in many spots, record-breaking snow. Certainly in the D.C. area, it's record-breaking. I think if New York City proper gets over a foot, it may very well break a record for today, and it ain't done there in eastern Long Island and eastern Massachusetts. NGUYEN: Still see that blizzard up there on the map, and once that's the case, you know, they are not out of the woods just yet.
OK. Thank you, Rob.
MARCIANO: You bet.
NGUYEN: You know, a reminder for you: you can keep track of flight delays and weather conditions with updates on the bottom of the screen. We got that bar up for you. And Reynolds Wolf will, in fact, be back in just a few minutes with the latest forecast.
Also ahead, the lie of the year. Whose whopper carried the most weight with the public?
And tough times are taking a toll on charities, even a favorite like Toys for Tots. A look at how the marines are fighting even harder to bring Christmas to kids in need.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
NGUYEN: A Johnny Mathis for you this morning.
MARCIANO: Yes, you know, we haven't heard that this weekend.
NGUYEN: No. Look at the weather, though, in Providence, Rhode Island. The snow is just falling. It makes for a beautiful picture but not a very good one to be out in if you're having to travel.
MARCIANO: That's a lot of Christmas.
NGUYEN: Yes.
MARCIANO: And you need a little shovel, and that's for sure.
NGUYEN: A lot Christmas, all at once it seems.
Well, today's "Giving in Focus," we're taking a look at the Toys for Tots program. You know, it's one that's put a lot of happy smiles on children's faces during Christmastime.
MARCIANO: Yes, but last year, the program was actually in dire straits, running desperately short on gifts. So, the holidays fast approaching, so photojournalist Bob Crowley takes a look at how the Toys for Tots program is doing this year.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SGT. CLINT SCHRIBNER, BOSTON TOYS FOR TOTS: The Marine Corps mission for Toys for Tots is to collect and distribute toys for needy children in our local areas.
We have approximately 700 total campaigns.
We are fighting battles but in a different way. And we're fighting the poverty battle here in the United States.
KAY CARPENTER, TOYS FOR TOTS VOLUNTEER: We have a lot of toys. We use them up rapidly. We are filling orders like crazy. They are delivering on the 18th of December, and will be here between 10:00 and 11:00 in the morning.
They go out as fast as we have come in. We run out of some toys, but overall, we are doing better than last year.
BETTY WHALEN, TOYS FOR TOTS VOLUNTEER: Can you leave that one there?
As soon as we sort this, we'll start making up orders and it will be gone.
And he can pull this out first.
Ideally, they would be fool of toys that we would just pick from to fill the orders. But they're not. They're not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a problem every year, running out of toys at this time of the year. But, eventually, we get the orders out.
WHALEN: Yes, down to the wire, usually.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
WHALEN: It's been tough the last couple years. It's tough for everybody with the economic climate the way it is, you know, home losses, job losses, lack of funds.
CARPETER: It's very important to keep boxes full because we can't get orders out to people and organizations who need them in time for Christmas. You can keep donating. Even one small toy is wonderful. But everybody needs to get involved in doing it so our boxes are not empty.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: Well, you've heard of a Person of the Year, and Sportsman of the Year.
NGUYEN: Yes, but up next: the Lie of the Year.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
NGUYEN: I'm loving all of this holiday music over the shots of cities just snow covered, like the capital there.
MARCIANO: Snow-covered. And it looks also pure and innocent.
NGUYEN: Well, let's talk about politics, shall we? Something that some may say is not. And specifically this: a competition in U.S. politics that nobody wants to win. Yes, we are talking about who had the biggest "lie of the year."
MARCIANO: And the results are in.
NGUYEN: Yes.
MARCIANO: Josh Levs here with that answer.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You guys got your own drum roll going up there.
NGUYEN: Trying, I was trying that. So, the biggest lie of the year, that's not something anybody wants to hold the title to.
LEVS: Yes, a dubious distinction. And you know where it comes, it comes from PolitiFact.com, it's that reality-checking from "The St. Petersburg Times." It gives rulings on what politicians say, and they are constantly looking at new assertion, that goes from true to half- true, all the way down to "pants on fire." They're friends of our show here.
They pulled out some of what they called the biggest lies of the year. So, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to show a couple candidates and then the winner. One of the candidates was this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: The reforms -- the reforms I am proposing would not apply to those who are here illegal.
REP. JOE WILSON (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: You lie!
(BOOING)
OBAMA: Not true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Representative Joe Wilson famously yelled "You lie" at that moment. PolitiFact said that while there has been a debate, there is a debate over how illegal immigrants would be impacted by health care legislation, there was not enough to make the case that President Obama had lie. So, they made Wilson's accusation a candidate for Lie of the Year.
But another candidate was this from President Obama, saying why insurance companies should be required to cover preventive care.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Because there's no reason we shouldn't be catching diseases like breast cancer and colon cancer before they get worse. That makes sense. It saves money and it saves lives.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP) LEVS: Preventive care does help save lives, and it's important. But PolitiFact says it actually does not save the country money. Congressional Budget Office says that it adds to overall costs.
All right. So, those were a couple of the other examples, but in the end, the Lie of the Year, by far, according to PolitiFact.com...
(DRUM ROLL)
LEVS: There's that drum roll -- was this: it was from former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin saying, "Seniors and the disabled will have to stand in front of Obama's death panel so his bureaucrats can decide whether they are worthy of health care."
PolitiFact said the health care she was talking about did not establish anything like that. So, the editors of the PolitiFact chose it for their Lie of the Year.
And they held a poll on their Web site in which people could vote. They got 5,000 votes. And 61 percent named it top lie of the year.
And to be fair, PolitiFact points out that she stands by this. Last month, she told this to "The National Review," a conservative publication. She said the terms should not be taken literally.
She called it "a lot like when President Reagan used to refer to the Soviet Union was the evil empire. He got his point across. He got people thinking and researching what he was talking about. It was quite effective," she says. "Same thing with death panels, I would characterize them like that again in a heartbeat."
What do you think? Here's how you can weigh in. We are talking about that today on the blog. Also Facebook and Twitter, JoshLevsCNN, the blog is CNN.com/Josh.
Tell us what you think. Was it the biggest lie of the year? Did it have the biggest impact? Do you view it as a lie? What do you think about all this?
So, there you, Betty and Rob, PolitiFact's choice and the viewers' choice on their Web site for the Lie of the Year.
NGUYEN: Yes. You know, it's going to be interesting to see what people think about that.
LEVS: Yes.
NGUYEN: And specifically, the question that you ask, do you view it as a lie? Because Sarah Palin says, well, it shouldn't be taken literally.
LEVS: Yes.
NGUYEN: She didn't mean it like that. So, was that really a lie? LEVS: Right. She got away of construing it, you know? And this is often, too, about a lot of these political assertions, right, if you come back and give it a whole new view.
But a lot of people are screaming up and they're saying straight up it was a lie.
NGUYEN: Right.
(CROSSTALK)
NGUYEN: Yes, you know, that's what it says. It will be interesting to see what people have to say about that.
All right. Let us know. Thank you, Josh.
LEVS: Thanks, guys.
MARCIANO: Thank you, Josh.
I might use that as a fallback, you know...
NGUYEN: Yes?
MARCIANO: ... if I am caught in a lie of some sort. A horrible lie, you know, I didn't say, I didn't mean that, I was just...
NGUYEN: Don't take it literally.
MARCIANO: Don't take it literally.
NGUYEN: All right.
MARCIANO: All right. When we come back, we're going to check of the morning's headlines, the top stories, including outrage over the overnight Senate session.
NGUYEN: And the Las Vegas hits the jobs jackpot, thanks to the man who fought really hard to bring thousands, 12,000, in fact, jobs to the city. We will show you that story.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, checking out our top story right now.
The nation's senators have a long day ahead of them. They convene at 1:00 this afternoon to work on that health care reform measure pushed by Democrats, and then they'll meet again tonight at 11:00, adjourn for an hour, and then crank back up at 1:00 a.m. The first series of the votes on the bill is set for an hour later, I think at 1:00 a.m., and the final vote is expected later this week, likely on Thursday.
The timing, though, on all of this has Republicans upset. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MINORITY LEADER: I think the important thing here is for the American people to understand that they are being jammed as an effort here to deceive them, to try to pass this bill on a purely partisan basis at a time when their hope is, because of preoccupation with the Christmas holidays, that nobody will notice. Well, I don't think that's going to work. This issue is pretty darn big.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: CNN's Tom Foreman will anchor tonight's coverage of the Senate vote. It begins at midnight Eastern.
And coming up right here on CNN, "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JOHN KING."
MARCIANO: Yes, with the Senate in session this weekend, there's a lot going on in politics. So, here is the man to tell us all about it in his upcoming show.
John, it's going to be a busy afternoon -- I guess, and overnight. What do you expect to see?
JOHN KING, "STATE OF THE UNION" HOST: Well, we expect at around 1:00 a.m. for the Senate Democrats to prove they actually have those 60 votes. They negotiated now with conservative Democrat Ben Nelson. Remember last week, it was the independent Democrat Joe Lieberman.
Harry Reid, the leader, now thinks he has 60 votes. There are tough rules in the Senate. There's a long arcane process that plays out.
So, to begin the debate now, to try to have the final vote on the bill -- get confused at home. Here you go. First, you need 60 votes at 1:00 a.m. this morning. That allows them to bring the bill to the floor and start the debate and then they'll have, by Christmas Eve, they hope, another vote to end the debate and then final passage of the legislation.
So, Senate Democrats finally believe, after months and months of tough negotiations, they will pass a health care bill, most likely on Christmas Eve, when most families are gathering to get ready around the holiday tree and around the table maybe for some dinner, the Senate will pass the health care bill.
But remember, this is just one step. The president wanted to sign the whole deal by the end of the year. That won't happen. The House and the Senate won't get together until early in the New Year. So, who knows if the president will actually get a final bill, and, of course, when.
NGUYEN: And he's waiting on that. Let me ask you this, though, how much political capital has the president and the Senate majority leader really used to get this thing on track for them to go ahead and vote on it on Christmas Eve? And what if it falls apart? What happens then?
KING: Well, it's a great question, Betty, because the president, start of the year, of course, the new president who won a historic election, the first African-American president. He was up just shy of 80 percent in approval ratings. And if you look now, in most polls, he's fallen just below 50.
Now, the White House says that is capital well spent. They believe they passed the stimulus plan, they're making progress at health care reform, and they insist the president is not worried about his poll numbers in the short term.
As for Harry Reid, I would look at Harry Reid two ways. He is Senate majority leader. He is the leader of all Senate Democrats, and he has to get this bill to the finish line.
Guess what? He's also a vulnerable Democratic senator from the state of Nevada, who right now has some very tough poll numbers back home in his re-election campaign next year. So, he essentially is doing to jobs at once, trying to be the leader of the party, but also trying to protect his own seat as well.
If it falls apart, well then, I think people will say, especially, Democrats, will say, "Wait a minute, we have a president and 80-seat majority in the House and 60 votes in the Senate, and we can't pass something?" That's what will happen if it false apart. But the Democrats insist that won't happen.
MARCIANO: And they simply can't pass -- pass something, excuse me, John, without some severe compromises and sweetheart deals. I mean, Nebraska getting a pretty good deal. Is there going to be some sort of fallout to those -- from the senators that held out so long and got some money in return?
KING: Well, the interesting part of that point, Rob, is, you know, Harry Reid was asked yesterday, you know, "Are you bribing? Are you buying votes to get this?" And he said, "No, that's called compromise." And he said, "Ben Nelson of Nebraska got a good pot of money for Nebraska. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana got a good pot of money for Louisiana."
One of the most interesting things here, the goal here is to bend the cost curve of health care reform, a lot of the other senators are saying privately, "We're going to come back for money down the road, maybe not this year if this passes but two years down the road when Nebraska is getting something that other states aren't, you think the senators from Iowa and Illinois and Nevada and Arizona aren't going to say wait a minute and come back and ask for the same deal.
So there is a risk down the road that all these one-state deals cut now, become precedents for senators down the road saying, I want mine.
NGUYEN: Yes, we're going see a lot more hold outs then and until these deals are compromised.
KING: Horse trading.
NGUYEN: Yes, Horse trading we'll call it that. Well, we are looking forward to the show at the top of the hour.
KING: Thank you guys.
NGUYEN: Thank you John.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Thank you John.
NGUYEN: And "State of the Union" at 9:00 a.m. Eastern, you don't want to miss it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: What a beautiful shot out of Boston this morning. Beautiful from afar if you are having to travel out in that, it could be a little nasty today. We're going to give you the latest on the weather conditions around the nation.
And meantime, though, welcome back everybody. You're watching CNN SUNDAY MORNING. I'm Betty Nguyen.
MARCIANO: And I'm Rob Marciano, in today for T.J. Holmes. You know I want a quick, quick reminder for folks who are buried in the snow, you have elderly neighbors...
NGUYEN: That's true.
MARCIANO: Go check out and make sure everything is ok, and maybe shovel the sidewalk or the driveway.
NGUYEN: Yes, help your neighbor out especially in these times.
I want to get the latest though on some of those flight cancellations, a lot of people need a little help in getting to their destinations because those cancellations and delays that might have ruined a few weekend plans across the east coast.
MARCIANO: Yes let's begin in Washington where the national airports there are slowly returning to normal.
Elaine Quijano joining us live from Reagan National where there were rumors of one runway opening sometime soon. What do you have?
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Sometime soon, they are hoping at around 10:00 this morning to have at least one runway open here Rob, at Reagan National Airport. We're told that over at Dulles nearby in Northern Virginia, they have had already one runway operating since about 6:00 this morning. So that's good news for them.
I can tell you here at Reagan National, there are a lot of passengers who are hoping and praying, really, that this is the case that they will in fact start to get some flights in and out of here. We took a walk through the terminal a short time ago and take a look, just a line as far as the eye can see.
It's the American Airlines ticket counter, it's interesting, it's was a mix of people. Not just folks who have flights scheduled today, but of course, people who have been here at the airport for the last couple of days who are trying now to re-book. They are desperate to get on a flight.
And I can tell you for the most part though the folks that we talked to seemed to be in pretty good spirits. I talked to one man who says, look, it is frustrating but at the same time what are you going to do? I understand that the weather really has wreaked havoc with airline operations.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DENNIS KATOLIN, STRANDED PASSENGER: It's good to keep things in perspective, you know. We're healthy, we're safe, everyone else is safe and anytime you want to feel bad for yourself you realize you're just one of many, many other people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: So as things slowly get back to normal here and the airlines start to work through that backlog of flights and getting passengers whose flights have been canceled back on flights today. It's going to take some time; patience is the watch word of the day.
But to give you a sense of why things are so bad, they broke a record here Betty, as far as snowfall within a 24-hour period.
Yesterday it was more than 13 inches of snow that had fallen here at Reagan National. And they haven't had that kind of snow since 1932 when 11-and-a-half inches fell here at Reagan National. So that is why there is such a delay here in getting things back up and running. But the piles (ph) have been out, the planes are, some of them are their gates right now, they're hoping to get at least one runway open at 10:00 this morning -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Yes, again, patience is the operative word, but it's also a virtue. So it will be interesting to see...
QUIJANO: That's right.
NGUYEN: ... if patience is running thin there as people have been waiting for hours and hours to get on a flight. Elaine Quijano, thank you.
MARCIANO: Saying farewell to America's pioneer Televangelist. Memorial Services take place tomorrow for Oral Roberts in New Fort Beach, California. The Charismatic Christian leader and founder of Oral Roberts University died Tuesday of complications from pneumonia. He was 91.
Roberts was one of the first Evangelists to bring TV cameras into church services. He said it gave viewers, quote, "a front row seat to miracles."
Pope John Paul II is one step closer to sainthood, the current Pope Benedict XVI has signed a decree recognizing his predecessor's heroic virtues and declaring him Venerable. Pope John Paul must still have two miracles attributed to him before he can officially be canonized. The Vatican says it's too early to say how long that will take.
NGUYEN: Well, we are about a minute away from another check of the snowstorm over in New England.
MARCIANO: And look what turned up in a Christmas donation kettle.
NGUYEN: Wow.
MARCIANO: The story behind this surprise diamond drop, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, the snow is still falling in many parts, sideways and blizzard warnings.
MARCIANO: Yes.
NGUYEN: I mean, man it's still happening out there a lot of severe weather to talk about. Reynolds Wolf has been out in some of it and he joins us now with the latest. It stopped snowing where you are.
MARCIANO: Finally.
NGUYEN: The sun is out. That's nice, that's an improvement.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, yes it's a huge improvement. And the temperatures is what you saw at the freezing point now are expected to go to about 38 degrees or so. So a lot of snow began to trickle out, which is some great news.
However, although we are in the wake of the storm, it has left historic levels of snowfall in its wake. And on so many places well over a foot of snow. We're going to how you exactly who got what coming up. Although things are happening here it's still roaring up in parts of the North East, especially upwards of Boston.
We go right to the weather map says we do so and we're going to give you a good idea of where this thing is headed. You can see everything on the -- actually on the radar here that you happened to see here, it's kind of common sense. Where it's white, that's your heavy snowfall.
And from Portland along 95 Corridor or southward through Boston back into Warwick even in Denver and Connecticut you're getting that snowfall.
But if you look just north of Denver, you don't see much at all, that's some dry air that's kind of sort of filtering in and very cold, granted, but you're not going to have more anymore moisture with it, so it's certainly better news for you.
Meanwhile, let's take a look at some of the snowfall totals that we've had. Again, some of these are just mind-boggling. Take a look at them as they roll out. Philadelphia, over -- oh let's say 22 inches; Annapolis, rather, 20.8 inches; Washington, D.C., 16. Some places in the D.C. area, though, few suburbs had a little bit more and other places a little bit less. Central Park, 9.9.
Let's scroll on through the rest of these it really is amazing and you see some of these stuff here. The major cities getting hit by it certainly and I'll tell you it is going to be something we're going to look back at this blizzard and just be -- and certainly one for the record books, no question about it.
The weather situation here is going to be better. There's no question about that. And also we can expect temperatures to really warm up a little bit by Christmas Day here for the Eastern Seaboard in many spots including here at Fredericksburg back up into the 30s and 40s. So, better times are ahead.
That's the latest we've got for you. Let's send it back to you in the studio.
MARCIANO: All right, Reynolds Wolf live for us where the storm has ended but the cleanup has just begun in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
NGUYEN: Oh yes.
MARCIANO: Great stuff, Reynolds thanks now.
WOLF: You bet.
NGUYEN: Well, you know, diamonds they are a girl's best friend. And now they're one charity's best donations.
MARCIANO: The story behind a ring that's making Christmas extra special when CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: All right, students out there, let's say you work for "Time" magazine and it's time to pick the person of year. Would you necessarily go with Ben Bernanke?
NGUYEN: No, we didn't think so.
MARCIANO: Not if you were a kid, no?
NGUYEN: No, not if you're a kid. Many adults kind of were scratching their head with that too.
But that's why Carl Azuz is joining us from CNN Student News to us their picks for "Person of the year."
MARCIANO: He is famous.
NGUYEN: But first Carl, you had a little recession trivia, too, right?
CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS: We do, we had it coming right out. You know, CNN Student News just wrapped up the school year and for our last show we covered a lot of things from what students found were the most influential stories of the year, to what we felt were some of the biggest stories that we covered this year.
We touched on health care and H1N1, we talked about wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the biggest story on the minds of Americans according to a recent CNN poll by and large, is the economy. And that brings us to today's trivia question; it has to do with the economy. I want to know from you...
MARCIANO: What?
AZUZ: Who officially declares when the recession...
NGUYEN: You're going to give us a quiz?
AZUZ: I am right here now.
NGUYEN: All right, all right.
AZUZ: Who officially declares when a recession begins and ends? The Treasury Department, Better Business Bureau, the National Bureau of Economic Research or the Federal Reserve?
NGUYEN: C.
MARCIANO: I'm going to go with D.
AZUZ: Betty is right.
MARCIANO: Oh.
AZUZ: Betty loves quizzes, she told me earlier.
NGUYEN: I did not.
AZUZ: She's like I love them as long as you give me the answers first, so I hope you're up with the answer.
And while we were on the topic of this, we talked about "Time's" Person of the Year and we asked our student audience, who was your person of year? Was it Ben Bernanke, was it somebody you knew and some of them were saying everyone from the president, they commented on the pope and somebody said Taylor Swift...
NGUYEN: Really?
AZUZ: But these comments are little more personal and I like them for this segment on "Extra Credit" this morning. Julia wrote in and she said, "Teachers help you in whatever you need to do and care and encourage you to do whatever you believe in. That's who should be people of the year."
And then a student who just gave us his first initial A, he just said, Tim Tebow, a wonderful example...
NGUYEN: Really?
AZUZ: ... for all young men to live up to. Not an Alabama fan, obviously.
NGUYEN: Yes.
AZUZ: And then Mitch wrote in, "My mother has inspired me to be the best I can be. She may not be Obama, the Wright brothers or Einstein, but she sure has the capability to be the Person of the Year."
NGUYEN: That was sweet.
MARCIANO: All valid answers.
NGUYEN: Yes exactly. Did anyone vote for you?
AZUZ: A couple commented...
NGUYEN: Oh really.
AZUZ: So I certainly appreciated that being the Person of the Year for the first time in my life. That's always exciting.
MARCIANO: You might start wearing a sweater vest.
(CROSSTALK)
AZUZ: step it up, Rob. Step it up.
MARCIANO: Very academic -- you always got that look.
NGUYEN: All right and soon you're going to be returning...
AZUZ: January 4th.
NGUYEN: All right very good.
AZUZ: We will be coming back wrapping up what happens over the holidays and kicking off a brand-new year, a calendar year. So thank you for having me.
NGUYEN: All right, so have a good time and get you a sweater vest between now and then.
MARCIANO: Under the tree.
AZUZ: Holidays are coming man. MARCIANO: All right. I'll ask Santa.
NGUYEN: Yes and you are looking good. Carl, thank you so much.
AZUZ: Thank you both very much, I appreciate it.
NGUYEN: We appreciate it. It's always a fun segment for us. You're watching CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Now, that looks like fun.
MARCIANO: We finally got some fun video.
NGUYEN: Where is the coat for the dog? That's what I want to know, right?
MARCIANO: And he's saying get me out of this cold. It's freezing outside.
A lot of people try to do some shopping even during the winter storm and for those who might not have the time or the creativity...
NGUYEN: Online.
MARCIANO: Going online or...
NGUYEN: Is this what you did?
MARCIANO: Yes certainly or a gift card...
NGUYEN: Oh yes...
MARCIANO: ... that's a pretty good option for sure.
There's one Atlanta couple though, who collects unused cards and then gives them to cause.
NGUYEN: Yes, it's a great story.
Our Fredricka Whitfield explains how they've brought good cheer to people in need all around the world in fact over the past three years.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Andre and Jeff Shinabarger have a theory, that there is at least one unused gift card sitting in everyone's wallet or purse. At a wedding they decided to test that theory on complete strangers.
JEFF SHINABARGER, CO-FOUNDER, GIFTCARDGIVER.COM: They got in their wallets and their purses and they started to put them on the table. And I said either you can keep those and hoard them in your wallet or you can give them to us and we guarantee we'll give them to someone in need.
And they kind of looked at each other looked at the gift card and they just tossed them to us. In that first day we walked away with about $50 in unused gift cards.
WHITFIELD: That was three years ago and since then they've given away close to $45,000 in gift cards, spreading their message through their Web site GiftCardGiver.com, Facebook and at BigEvent.
Blake Howard hosted a "Gift Card Giver" house party where each guest was carded at the door.
BLAKE HOWARD, HOSTED, GIFT CARD GIVER: We played card games all night and we ended up raising I think $1,300.
ANDRE SHINABARGER, CO-FOUNDER, GIFTCARDGIVER.COM: Our balance $10 we combine all the 10 cent ones and $1.25 put them in this huge sac and then it becomes $500.
WHITFIELD: A 2007 Consumer Reports survey found that 27 percent of recipients didn't used one or more of their gift cards. The value of those unused cards is $8 billion.
Stories of those in need come in through the Web site and are approved by the charity's leadership board. Gift cards for our supplies stores went to Luo Charities (ph) that funds orphanages in South Africa using art work created by the kids themselves.
LINDSAY TARQUINIO, LUO: As I went and stocked on paint and a ticket for Africa on our last trip and because of that we were able to make 200 new canvasses, which in fact raising $50,000 for us.
WHITFIELD: The Shinabargers use the gift cards to purchase toys and books for the Pride for Parents Christmas store.
J. SHINABARGER: There's this family where the mother had to quit her job, because the child was in a terminally ill situation and they needed to go the children's hospital and drive all the way to Boston -- all these restaurants gift cards and gas cards to basically pay for all of their meals and their trip to drive up there and to come back. Their family wrote the greatest notes to us.
WHITFIELD: The Shinabarger say that despite the down economy, they've never collected so many gift cards.
J. SHINABARGER: We might have given one penny, or we may have given $96 and we have to combine those together.
A. SHINABARGER: And it all makes a difference.
WHITFIELD: Fredricka Whitfield, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: That is such a good program.
MARCIANO: Now, I'm knocking gift cards for being uncreative but that's one creative way to ...
NGUYEN: Yes and it's true, I was just I probably have three or four just sitting in a drawer somewhere.
MARCIANO: Yes.
NGUYEN: All right.
MARCIANO: Yes, let's dig them out.
NGUYEN: (INAUDIBLE)
MARCIANO: All right, sure.
Yes, this is a good one. It's the last place you expect to find a diamond ring, but as far as the folks at the Salvation Army is concerned...
NGUYEN: Hey, they'll take it.
MARCIANO: They'll take it.
NGUYEN: A bell ringer is emptying out one of the red kettles in Colorado, well, they were shocked to find a platinum wedding ring gleaming inside. They believe it's worth more than a $1,000, the money will be used to help out a bunch of needy people this holiday.
And coming up, I'm going to take you to the newest casino in Las Vegas, why? Because one, it almost didn't happen, take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give us the money you promised us, we're going to employ these 12,000 people and you're going to make money banks, we're going to make money as an enterprise and we're going to help a community.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Still to come, the man who fought hard to bring -- get this -- 12,000 jobs to Vegas.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, it is a city within a city, a massive 67-acre 18 million square foot web of hotels, spas, a casino and so much more. It's called City Center and this week it officially opened for business on the Vegas trip creating much needed jobs, thousands of them.
I recently caught up with some workers who took a gamble on City Center and won.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOLORES WITHERSPOON, SECURITY GUARD, CITYCENTER: Oh, you're from Australia. Welcome. I mean it, welcome.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks.
NGUYEN: After five years in the making, City Center is now a welcoming site to thousands, not just to tourists but employees like security guard Dolores Witherspoon. She was laid off in February and ended up losing a home.
WITHERSPOON: I needed a job so bad I needed a job like somebody looking for water and they were in the desert. That's how bad I needed it.
NGUYEN: And she wasn't alone. Patrick Fuchs also lost his job and couldn't afford to pay his mortgage.
PATRICK FUCHS, BUSTBOY, CITYCENTER: I lost two homes, I lost my house and my parents' house and both my parents passed away last year and I was stuck with my house and then -- and they passed away and I had their house; so the family home and my home -- both gone.
NGUYEN: That was when he hit rock bottom.
FUCHS: I went into a state of depression and I just shut down and I didn't talk to anybody and I didn't sleep. I was up for like weeks, months. At this point I didn't even need my house, so I was like Howard Hughes and I didn't cut my hair, and I didn't eat anything and I was so depressed.
NGUYEN: It's these stories that make the opening of the newest addition to the Las Vegas trip that much more important to the man behind City Center. But MGM Mirage chairman and CEO Jim Murren faced his own challenges getting the $8.5 billion project funded merely going bankrupt waiting for loans.
JIM MURREN, CEO, MGM MIRAGE: When we went to the banks, we said give us the damn money. You know, we'll finish this. We got our money in and we've got our partner's money in and we'll make sure that you get your money back. We're not asking for a handout. There is no government bailout here, just give us the money you promised us and we're going to employ these 12,000 people. And you're going to make money banks, we're going to make money as an enterprise and we're going to help a community.
NGUYEN: This spring the banks came through and for a community that has a 13 percent unemployment rate and leads the nation in foreclosures, the 12,000 job City Center has created...
WITHERSPOON: Hey, how are you all doing over there?
NGUYEN: Couldn't have come at a better time.
WITHERSPOON: It was like a dream come true. I just feel blessed.
MURREN: Seeing smiles on these employees' faces and seeing the energy, the excitement that they have is the best possible reward. NGUYEN: And for Murren watching his vision finally come to fruition has eased some of the pressure from what's been called a billion-dollar bet.
MURREN: So the pressure level is vastly less than it was earlier this year. When we last met, we were wondering if the -- will the project be finished, can we keep the jobs going? Can we open this project? And of course, we have answered all of those questions.
NGUYEN: Now the question is, can the gamble on City Center create the economic boost that Las Vegas desperately needs?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well, we'll have to see, because the pressure level for that still very much on. Tourism down 6 percent, convention business down a third; and that gives an indication of how many people really needed these jobs. There were 12,000 of them -- that's a whole lot when you think about it right?
Well, consider this: 170,000 people applied for the 12,000 jobs.
MARCIANO: Wow. That's almost a 20 to 1 ratio.
NGUYEN: Yes, you can see why many of them were so thankful to get it when they got those jobs.
MARCIANO: And they're down right now but they're confident that if they build this monstrosity, people are going to fill it.
NGUYEN: They will come? Yes, absolutely. I mean, you have to believe, right.
MARCIANO: Believe.
NGUYEN: A lot of people don't think Vegas is going to go anywhere anytime soon, so eventually the economy is going to turn around and it will be big business again.
MARCIANO: All right. Well, we certainly hope that it passes.
NGUYEN: We'll be watching -- no doubt.
And "STATE OF THE UNION", I want you to watch that too. It's coming up at the top of the hour.
MARCIANO: Yes. Stay safe out there.
A check of the morning headlines is first.
NGUYEN: Yes. Thanks for being with us this week. We appreciate you Rob.
MARCIANO: My pleasure.
NGUYEN: All right. Let's get to those top stories for you. The U.S. Senate convenes in four hours. The senators will work on health care much of the day, and then vote at about 1:00 a.m. eastern which is overnight on ending debate over several amendments. The vote on the full bill is expected this week, possibly as late as Thursday.
And CNN's Tom Foreman will anchor tonight's coverage of that senate vote. Our coverage begins at midnight eastern.
And very quickly, heading early to grandma's house for the holiday maybe a little bit problematic in the Northeast; the storm continues to dump record-amounts of snow. And some people have been stranded on the highways in Virginia. At least 3 deaths are blamed on the blizzard.
Stay tuned because "STATE OF THE UNION" with John king starts right now.
