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CNN Saturday Morning News
Northeast Hit by Major Snowstorm; Climate Change Deal; Trouble with Tiger; Possible Health Care Deal
Aired December 19, 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, SATURDAY MORNING: Hello, everybody, from the CNN center. This is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It is December 19th, the last Saturday before Christmas, a lot of you shopping today. We're going to get you the latest on the weather outside. You may want to shop online. Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN ANCHOR, SATURDAY MORNING: Quite a snowstorm out there across parts of the northeast. I'm Rob Marciano in for TJ and happy about it, not only to be with you guys but also this big old storm, it's a meteorologist's dream and Reynolds Wolf is out in it. We're going to check in with him, but folks in Baltimore, DC, Virginia, they're waking up to a major snowstorm this morning. You are looking at live shots from Baltimore and it's coming down hard and in some cases side ways.
NGUYEN: We also have the latest travel information at the bottom of the screen there so you want to check that out. Also, Virgin America Airlines has already canceled all incoming and out going flights to Washington Dulles airport. Flight arrivals at Philadelphia international, that has been delayed an average of six hours. We have team coverage on this storm coming up.
Also in DC this morning, a live look inside the Senate chambers. There it is right there. Senators brave the wintry weather to show up on Capitol Hill. And they just passed the $636 billion defense spending bill, the vote, 63-35. Legislation includes money for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan plus, a military pay raise.
All right. First up, let's get to the top stories this morning. The U.S. helped Yemeni forces this week in the fight against al Qaeda according to an official familiar with the operation. "The New York Times" reports that the request of the Yemeni government, the U.S. provided firepower and intelligence for strikes on suspected al Qaeda hideouts and training sites. Yemeni officials say at least 34 militants were killed.
And if you're coming down with a cold and have a child in the house, here's a warning for you. About 700,000 packs of Vicks Dayquil cold medicine are being recalled. Now there's nothing wrong with the medicine. It's only the packaging. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says it's not childproof. The recall affects Vicks Dayquil cold and flu, 24 count bonus pack liquid caps. If you don't have a child in the house, no worries. The medicine is still good.
NGUYEN: President Obama returned from that global climate change summit just a few hours ago. The president left the conference in Copenhagen with what he calls, quote, meaningful and unprecedented climate change deal with China and other key nations. The UN secretary general says this is just the beginning of the process to rein in greenhouse gas emissions. And you can see here, the president arrived just in time for that big snowstorm hitting the capital and some of that snow is blowing almost sideways.
MARCIANO: Blizzard conditions in some spots. So a lot of people not quite as lucky as the president as far as getting around smoothly. We've been showing you pictures all morning long as major cities try to deal with the first big storm of the season. In Tennessee, an unending line of cars stuck in traffic, North Carolina, people forced to abandon their cars. Some had to sit in traffic until their cars ran out of gas so long. And if it wasn't that bad enough, the floods across parts of South Carolina and Miami, over a foot of rain across southern Florida. We've got it all covered, everything you need to know. CNN crews are in place right now with the latest.
Well, a number of winter storm warnings have been issued for the eastern coastline, including New England all the way down to parts of Kentucky, even some blizzard warnings up right now. So it's a problem for travelers, no doubt about that. Flights for the airports in Philly and DC averaging in some cases four to six hours behind schedule. Motorists obviously having a problem. We've had reports of folks stranded across parts of Virginia.
So, let's get to Virginia where meteorologist Reynolds Wolf is. He's live in Fredericksburg where it's been snowing all morning long. You just look cold, my friend. How are you doing?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It has been certainly a cold warning. Hard to believe that winter officially starts in about two days. But to our viewers who are tuning in from home, if you're watching your TV sets, let's hope that you are, you can you see the snowflakes dropping from top to bottom, at times left to right across your screen. And the roads, they're getting stacked up with snow. These guys are doing what they can. You can see the snowplows here out and about to keep these roads relatively clear. And I'll tell you, for the most part, in the downtown area things have been pretty good here. But still, what the mayor would like people to do in the town, what people would like for you to do in the county, the state, even the region is to stay off the roads if at all possible.
In fact, parts of I-81 just treacherous, just since last night to present time we've had hundreds of people stranded on the roadways. It has been tremendous mess. We can anticipate those problems really to continue as long as the snow continues to fall and it should remain falling for quite a while. Up and down the street you can see as far as the camera will take you, you've got snow just dropping. You see the cars covered up with it. The roads here have been in pretty good shape. They've been out in full force trying to keep the roads salted. They've been trying to use the snowplows. Still, it's going to be mother nature that really going to keep the snow coming down. Over the next minute, we're going to show you why.
In fact, let's go to radar right now and as we do to radar, everything you see that's popping up happens to be greenish and then going to some of your pinks and even some of your whites on radar on the weather maps, we're going to show you, that's where your heaviest precipitation can be, forms of the frozen precipitation. Here we go. You see that as this low marches its way to the north, that's more of the mechanisms. You need something else. You got to have moisture. Look on the right-hand side of your screen. You've got the Atlantic Ocean, plenty of that. And then back out towards the west, you've got that cold air coming in. So it's like a giant atmosphere of mixing bowl that's giving us this winter precipitation.
Now what we can expect this to continue for you that happened to be tuning in say from Raleigh, things are getting better for you. Meanwhile, Washington, DC, you still have serious issues no, doubt, from this storm. Speaking of Washington, DC, we've got Kate Bolduan. She's with us to give us the latest of what's happening at the nation's capital and I'm sure that the situation is there pretty similar, Kate.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pretty similar, exactly Reynolds, stay safe down there and we'll do the same up here. The winds are actually really starting to pick up. A lot of snow has continued to fall all this morning. You can see this beautiful shot of the capitol building and a little bit of freezing on the reflecting pools. The sea gulls trying to figure out exactly what to do with themselves at this point. In DC they have declared a snow emergency here. That means that many of the city services there are trying to continue as usual.
DC's mayor says that the metro rail system, the subway system, it will continue to run, but if there are about eight inches of snow, eight to 10 inches of snow, they say that they will start pulling back those services, especially on the above ground rail systems. The bus system, the public bus system they say are continuing to run right now but with some significant delays. You probably guessed exactly why, because of the snow and because of the roadways. We've been told by the mayor's office that about 30 car accidents, nothing major at this point. People going too fast in these types of conditions. But really by and large, DC mayor says it's a very simple piece of advice, a very important piece of advice, many local and state officials across the northeast are saying the same thing, he says best advice, stay home. Listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ADRIAN FENTY, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: We also want you to stay off the roads, especially, especially all day Saturday and Sunday. If you need to complete an errand, try and get it done tonight because, again, we don't know exactly how much snow will fall, but it will be a large enough accumulation that it will be almost impossible to get around in any sense of normalcy and we need the roads free so that the trucks can get around and pick up the snow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: And those trucks, those crews have been out since late last night. We've seen them all this morning. We are seeing more cars picking up. But it seems that these plows at least have an uphill battle against them that they're going to be fighting as the snow continues to fall, very beautiful snow, may start doing a little bit of snowball fighting in our spare time in a little bit. But we're definitely starting to feel a little bit like singing "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas," don't you think, guys?
NGUYEN: Not only look like it, but feel like it, too.
MARCIANO: If you want to break out in a tune Kate, that could be ratings gold right there. So feel free.
BOLDUAN: Exactly, exactly. I'm going to get warmed up for the next hour.
NGUYEN: All right. Stay warm, if you can, any way you can.
We'll continue our weather coverage throughout the morning, so keep your eyes on the bottom portion of the screen for the latest travel information.
MARCIANO: It could be an early Christmas gift, we're not talking about the snow, we're talking about health care. A plan could push health care reform legislation through the Senate before Christmas. We're doing to have the latest from Capitol Hill.
NGUYEN: And first, making a way out of no way. Our Josh Levs explains this one. You're going to make a way out of no way.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's interesting. The way they got you to me, I like that. I'll tell you what the deal here is. It is the nightmare that most working Americans share, losing their jobs in this economy. We're about to show you how one man lost his job and made his dream come true using free tools online.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Hello, everybody. If you're convinced that nothing ever gets done in Washington, it may satisfy you to know that the U.S. Senate was probably up before you were this Saturday morning. And the end of its health care debate, well, that could be in sight. Our congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar is live on Capitol Hill right now. She joins us. So, Brianna, why are they up so early on a Saturday while it is snowing like none other out there?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, they're actually dealing with some votes that have to do with the defense spending bill. This is the bill that keeps basically the lights on at the Pentagon, funds the wars for Iraq and Afghanistan, but make no mistake about it, Betty, this actually has everything to do with health care. And that is because, you know, Republicans were opposed to the Democratic health care bill even the other night they basically voted against -- in a key vote they voted against this defense bill when normally they would vote for it because they didn't want to move quickly on to the health care bill. This is a big issue between Democrats and Republicans. Just listen to what President Obama said in his weekly radio address and what Senator John McCain said in response. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For the first time there is a clear majority in the Senate that's willing to stand up to the insurance lobby and embrace lasting health insurance reforms that have alluded us for generations. The question is whether the minority that opposes these reforms will continue to use parliamentary maneuvers to try and stop the Senate from voting on it. Whatever their position on health insurance reform, senators ought to allow an up or down vote. Let's bring this long and vigorous debate to an end.
SEN. JOHN McCAIN (R) ARIZONA: The hour is late but there's still time to stop Congress from making this terrible mistake. Contact your senators and representatives today and urge them in the White House not to make our health care problems worse, but to start working with committed members of both parties to make the best quality health care in the world more affordable and accessible to the people who elected us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Now, the real issue for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid isn't Republicans so much as it is a singular Democrat, a socially conservative Democrat from Nebraska, Ben Nelson, who has some serious issues with the health care reform bill. He's concerned that some taxpayer dollars could go to fund abortions and he really wants to tighten up the language and it's really hard for Democrats to strike a deal between him and liberal Democrats. So this is just a really interesting situation and it's going to get even more interesting. I think we're going to see some dramatics here today as well, Betty. Actually Republicans are saying if you want to introduce this bill, this update all of these changes you're making to the Senate health care reform bill, we're going to make you read it on the floor. We're talking, as we understand it, 500 pages. This could take about 10 hours to read today. So if they move forward with these changes today, that could be what we're watching on the Senate floor.
NGUYEN: Yeah, the operative word, if they move forward, especially after those 10 hours of reading that. Let me ask you this. Any chance that we're going to see this updated, finalized version of the bill?
KEILAR: We are told that we will be seeing this today, that we will see the actual updated changes to the bill and this is what we want to see because this is the actual version of what the Senate will vote on. We're also hearing that we may get the price tag on the bill. This is also very important because most senators say they want to see what the price tag is before they go ahead and sign on to it. What's really interesting today and we should get all of that information, if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid goes ahead and basically starts the countdown to a key test vote on health care reform, it's called filing cloture and what happens is once he sets this in motion it cannot stop. It will go ahead, the health care reform bill, for a vote once he gets started early Monday morning. And you can't pull back from that. That's why it's so key that he gets his 60 votes. And if he can't get them, you know, he would be facing a major setback on Monday morning, Betty.
NGUYEN: A lot going on today. Brianna Keilar is there for us. Thank you so much for that, Brianna. Rob?
MARCIANO: Betty, I want to makes a correction on something we reported on as far as what's going down in the Senate this morning. Earlier this morning we said that they passed the defense spending bill of $626 billion. They actually were just voting on something else that was procedural. We're told now is when they're actually voting on a defense spending bill which is by the way expected to pass. But officially it has yet to do so. You are looking at live pictures inside. You've also been looking at live pictures outside the capitol where it's coming down. And winter storm warnings are up and we're going to continue to follow this story as well when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: I haven't heard that Christmas tune.
NGUYEN: In a long time.
MARCIANO: I like it.
NGUYEN: Makes use kind of want to hang out for the morning and just relax and not get out there in that snow. But a lot of people unfortunately having to relax a little extra long, the unemployed. You might find out about this. How about the day after Christmas. That's an awful time to figure out you've lost your job.
MARCIANO: No, it doesn't exactly sound like a blessing but Josh Levs tracked down a small business owner whose story is not only inspiring, he has some advice that just may help you find your dream. Josh?
LEVS: Hey, guys. It really is a good time of year to hear that. We're going to start with an introduction. I'd like you to meet Forrest Graves.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FORREST GRAVES, ECONOMIC SURVIVOR: Well, the day after Christmas '08 I was laid off from my multi-national company. And to be honest, you know, it's kind of a shock. It wasn't apparent at the time but everything that I had prepared for in my life was defined at that moment. My wife and I had basically a kitchen table meeting to discern whether or not -- what we were going to do. We decided to use our savings and open a small business, do what we always wanted to do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We made up the tea (INAUDIBLE)
GRAVES: The dream started in 1997 really. My wife and I, we really tried to find the perfect cup of coffee. On vacations, we'd drink coffee in Mexico and (INAUDIBLE) in different places. We tried all kinds of coffee shops and we never really found the perfect cup only really what we could make. And then we decided, well, the way to really get to the perfect cup is to roast the beans. We found a roaster that had actually caught on fire. I totally disassembled it that night. We stayed up until 4:00 in the morning, took it completely apart to figure out how it worked. This was my first roast out of the coffee roaster and this roast actually, we figured later that we calculated it cost us around $600. So that was the beginning of Jumping Goat coffee roasters. It was very hard at first, very hard at first. The savings was not much at all. It was hope and a prayer, you know. But the alternatives were a lot bleaker.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: He made it work. He made it work. And now his dream has come through true, which is why he's joining us today for us. (INAUDIBLE) for joining us
GRAVES: Thank you for having me.
LEVS: Look, most working Americans have this exact same fear, that they're going to lose their job. You had two daughters that you had to support. What was your secret to taking that situation and turning it into a dream come true?
GRAVES: Well, Josh, I think one of the biggest secrets was to embrace technology. Technology has been my friend. We've had great success in terms of how technology has benefited our business, namely twitter, facebook (INAUDIBLE) those kinds of --
LEVS: You embraced all these. You have a small -- you started brewing coffee in your basement. You embraced all these. You had this coffee shop in Helen, Georgia, and now you're selling to a bunch of countries, half the states in the country right because you harnessed this technology. Tell us about it. What did you use?
GRAVES: We're primarily roasters. We don't really, we're coffee roasters. Yeah. Exactly right. We just kind of embraced the technology. We have, for instance, an online guest book in our shop, in Helen, one of our retail locations. And when guests come in to register, we try to tie back to them with, you know, various coupons and use media, a social media to really kind of, as a conduit to our customers.
LEVS: Let's talk about this because I know that you've reached so many people around the world and you've made your business so much bigger than it would be just going to customers locally because you harnessed the web. We have some video of your twitter pages, your facebook pages, your blog page. To people out there who know about these and would love to harness them themselves but don't know what to do because there are people like that. What's your advice? You have a background in technology. How do they best use social media to take a small business and make it huge?
GRAVES: I think the secret, Josh, is just to begin. Start someplace. Just embrace the technology. Start with a facebook page, start with just going on and getting a twitter count. You know they're free and what better way to market and promote your products and services. LEVS: They're free, you grab them, you make it work. You did them. You are a sign that this kind of success that people dream of. And now you tell me you're happier than if you had had your job. Are you actually glad you got unemployed?
GRAVES: We can't always predict the series of events that happen to us in life. But I fundamentally believe that, you know, it's how we handle those things that define us.
LEVS: Listen. I want to show we posted a link to your blog. It's on cnn.com/josh, also (INAUDIBLE) at facebook and twitter, joshlevscnn. You'll be able to see it all day, learn more about his success and how he harnessed the web to take unemployment and turn it into a small business dream come true. Forrest Graves, thank you so much.
GRAVES: Thank you Josh.
LEVS: A great story.
NGUYEN: I always love those success stories. Thank you.
MARCIANO: All right. Time for a look at our top stories. First up, a major storm is ripping its way across the northeast, nor'easter of gigantic proportions. It's so bad right now in Virginia the governor has declared a state of emergency. The town of Roanoke got about a foot of snow so far. They've been the hardest hit. And officials say roads in Virginia got slushy, so they had to deal with over 300 accidents. We just learned the national guard is now assisting stranded drivers.
NGUYEN: The Senate considering a defense spending bill right now, but after that, it is right back to the debate over health care reform. The Democrats may now have the 60 votes they need to pass their bill. This after some late night bargaining with Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson over abortion funding in the bill. Majority Leader Harry Reid is set to unveil the final changes today.
MARCIANO: U.S. border agents detain rapper Lil Wayne in Texas after drug dogs supposedly found marijuana on two of his tour buses. Authorities did release the rapper and of course, his entourage early this morning. No charges but there will be a fine to pay. Next year Lil Wayne begins a prison sentence on gun charges.
NGUYEN: And coming up, we continue to follow severe weather all across the country. We're seeing it rain, snow, even ice over in many places. Stick with us for the latest on the severe weather.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Beautiful shots. Is that Reynolds? Trying to stay warm as best he can. We'll be checking in with him in just a second. We are also getting some shots of the nation's capital. He hears us. Hey there, Reynolds, just a beautiful day though very cold and the roadways a bit of a mess in the northeast. But it's not quite the forecast people were hoping for in picturesque Asheville, North Carolina. MARCIANO: That's where America's largest privately owned home is located. About a quarter million people actually visit the Biltmore estate this time of year to see the spectacular holiday display. This morning you don't have to go anywhere because Reynolds is not only live in the storm but he's going to be your tour guide.
NGUYEN: A two for one.
MARCIANO: Being your tour guide for the Biltmore estate. Nice robot, there pal.
WOLF: To tell you the truth I promise you I really didn't -- I'm actually walking out to try to stay warm, no joking. You saw the camera on the side (INAUDIBLE) . It happens. I'll tell you guys, the roads out there as you mentioned are just treacherous for the time being. Things are really rough. So people trying to just get from point A to point B. If you don't have to get out on the roads, don't. I know this probably going to hamper the ability to enjoy the great holiday lights. But fear not, we've got that covered for you. We've got a great story for you about Biltmore estate as you mentioned in Ashville, North Carolina. They for over a century have been putting on an incredible holiday display.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF: Fifty eight trees, miles of garland and thousands of twinkling lights. Christmas celebrations at Biltmore estate in Asheville, North Carolina, date back to 1895. Christmas eve 114 years ago George Vanderbilt opened his American castle to friends for the very first time. A 30-foot tall real Fraser fir decorated the home's grand banquet hall which is a tradition which continues today. Cathy Barnhardt has worked on the display for 32 years but she doesn't do it alone.
CATHY BARNHARDT, BILTMORE FLORAL DISPLAYS MANAGER: We got it down to a real art and science. It takes about 35 men to hoist that tree in place. It's all done by manpower and it's steered on the floor with other ropes to go around chandeliers and moose heads and flags and things like that.
WOLF: I think just about anyone who's tuning in can handle something on the bottom, but way up here, shoot, you need oxygen tanks up here to survive.
BARNHARDT: And scaffolding.
WOLF: And scaffolding. How much water does that thing drink?
BARNHARDT: It's hard to water a tree that size, a tree over about 15 or 16 feet doesn't really draw water very well. This tree is 34 feet. So we don't try to put it in water.
WOLF: Instead, halfway through the Christmas season, her team brings in a new tree and they decorate it all over again. George Vanderbilt wouldn't have had it any other way and the 1800 people on staff at the estate agree including Bill Alexander, Biltmore's landscape and florist historian.
So essentially stepping on to this property is stepping through those doors is like stepping back in time.
BILL ALEXANDER, BILTMORE'S LANDSCAPE AND FOREST HISTORIAN: Stepping back a century in time.
WOLF: Don't we know it.
ALEXANDER: Absolutely.
WOLF: What better way to celebrate Christmas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF: The amazing sights and sound of the holiday season can be enjoyed at Biltmore all the way into early January and then they clean up. And to be honest with you I cannot imagine the incredible headaches they have cleaning up that huge tree, all the garland, all the lights. It's a beautiful thing, but man, the work, insane.
Let's send it back to you, guys.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I'm surprised that halfway through they take the tree out and put in another one and redecorate all over again. That's a lot of work but it sure is beautiful.
Thank you, Reynolds. We'll be checking with you.
WOLF: Yes, they have it down to a science.
You got it guys. See you later.
NGUYEN: Yes, they've been doing it for years apparently. All right. Thanks Reynolds. We'll let you try to get some kind of warmth. Go back to the live truck where they have the heat on.
Well, much of the country though, waking up to the severe weather that you just saw Reynolds out in.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Yes, it's been unbelievable. Feet of rain and now feet of snow, flooding in Miami. That was yesterday. And now it's all turned to snow across the metropolitan areas of D.C. to Philly to New York. We've got the storm covered. And we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: Well, a big storm out there with, you know, giving Rudolph and Santa a run for its money. But we've got our own digital Santa to save the day, Mario Armstrong.
NGUYEN: Yes, lucky day, he is so tech savvy because the studio in Baltimore, snowed in. He had to drive the D.C. right now.
MARIO ARMSTRONG, TECHTECHBOOM.COM: Yes. NGUYEN: Well, that's out of the question. So he's coming to us via Skype.
MARCIANO: Yes, ok.
NGUYEN: He also has a list of tech gifts for Christmas. Mario, what kind of shirt do you have on right there? What is that thing?
ARMSTRONG: Come on Betty, hey Rob, you know what I have on. And I can't just have on any regular t-shirt so I actually have on an interactive fully playable electric guitar on my shirt. Do you want to hear it?
NGUYEN: Yes.
MARCIANO: Yes, play a tune.
ARMSTRONG: All right, here we go. We're going to play a little jam right now. I'm not that good at this.
MARCIANO: Oh you're doing well.
NGUYEN: It sounds pretty good.
ARMSTRONG: So basically, it has its own amplifier and its speaker. And you strike a chord on the guitar shirt and you actually play the electric guitar. The actual sounds are recorded from an electrical guitar and play several different chords, and several different volumes and you can actually plug this into a larger speaker if you wanted to.
So it's only 29 bucks which is why I love it and it comes from one of the geekiest sites out there, for the geeks out there; it's called thinkgeek.com. Thinkgeek.com.
MARCIANO: Guitar is the hero, "Guitar Hero" eat your heart out.
NGUYEN: Yes, exactly...
ARMSTRONG: That's right, exactly Rob. I mean and the good thing is it's actually washable. So you can take off the electric components...
NGUYEN: Really.
ARMSTRONG: ... and actually put it in the washing machine and wash the shirt. So they thought of everything.
MARCIANO: Why wash it?
NGUYEN: Why wash it? After a few sets, you may want to.
MARCIANO: Well, what else do you have...
NGUYEN: All right, what else is on the list?
MARCIANO: ... What else do you have, Mario?
ARMSTRONG: Ok, so what else I have is for the grandparents and for those distant relatives, you want to be able to give them photos and capture their memories so what you do is you hook them up with a picture frame, a photo frame. Now, this just isn't any average photo frame. This particular photo frame you can e-mail the photos to.
It's made by a company called CEBA. And so it's an Internet-connected photo frame but needs no computer. So basically what you do is you send this to your distant relative or grandparents, they plug it into a phone line and a power cord and then all family members can e-mail the picture frame their current photo and they just will automatically update once a night with those new photos on the frame.
NGUYEN: That is cool, that is really neat. You know and a lot of times during the holidays, you know, the folks want to bring out the old tapes of you as a child and this and that. Sometimes it's on VHS. So how do you help them update all of that?
ARMSTRONG: Yes and so there are devices that are built for that now that can convert not only their VHS tapes or your cassettes but also albums. So if you wanted to convert your -- all your classic old school albums, this is a USB turntable. It connects to your computer via USB cord. It's made by a company called ION Audio, i-o-n. And it will make sure that you can have all of your wax go from vinyl to MP3 or to a CD.
NGUYEN: That is neat. And you just kind of do it yourself, right? You put it on there.
ARMSTRONG: Yes, so you just kind of do it yourself there.
NGUYEN: Save it on to the USB drive, I got you. Very cool, all right we're going to...
ARMSTRONG: Yes, well, it goes right on to the computer and then you can just edit the audio or you can put it right to your MP3 player or to CD. There's so many different versions but everyone is trying to back up all their old school classics. Like I brought one for you here, this is an old school classic favorite of mine; Earth, Wind and Fire.
MARCIANO: Oh yes. Bring it, nice.
NGUYEN: Play a little "September" for us this morning, can you play that on your guitar? Yes, I didn't think so.
ARMSTRONG: I'm not that good, I'm not that good.
NGUYEN: Yes, I think of -- all right, well, Mario. Hey, keep practicing. You'll get better.
ARMSTRONG: I'm going to work on it. The last thing I wanted to show you guys is a cell phone watch. I don't know if you can see that. But this actually is a watch that makes phone calls by Hammer Curd Slimmer (ph). It's touch screen. It's about $199 bucks. And it actually works. I've actually made phone calls on this watch.
NGUYEN: It's touch screen, and you've got to have some pretty small fingers.
MARCIANO: Exactly.
NGUYEN: Because that thing is tiny. All right, Mario, very cool. You can send any of those gifts to us. We'll be happy to receive them. Happy holidays.
ARMSTRONG: All right, I'm going to put them in a box and ship it on the way to you and hook you guys later.
NGUYEN: Right, I'm sure you will. All right, thank you.
ARMSTRONG: I'm snowed in. I don't have anything else to do.
MARCIANO: Oh enjoy, man. Get back to playing some music. All right, Mario Armstrong...
NGUYEN: And start practicing.
MARCIANO: Our digital Santa. But the way he says the other geek site is techforless.com...
NGUYEN: TechForLess.com.
MARCIANO: Where you can save a bunch of money on electronic equipment.
NGUYEN: I love it.
MARCIANO: All right, the president arrives home to a snowstorm...
NGUYEN: Yes.
MARCIANO: But it's a time well spent at the climate change summit in Copenhagen that has people wondering if the deal well, will actually go through.
NGUYEN: Yes, also and still to come a Christmas wish for thousands of people, that is a job. I'm going to introduce you to the man who fought so hard to bring 12,000 of those jobs to Las Vegas. And you'll meet the people who he's hired. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Were checking the top stories right now. Just minutes ago the senate approved $636 billion defense spending bill, the vote, 88- 10. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: By a vote 88 ayes and 10 nos, the motion to concur and the House Amendment to the (INAUDIBLE) amendment on defense appropriation is approved. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Leader...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: It is the last of the 12 spending bills funding the government for the fiscal year that began October 1st. The measure also includes a few add-ons like a two-month extension of unemployment benefits. The bill also extends several expiring provisions of the Patriot Act.
MARCIANO: After that, it's right back to the debate over health care reform. Senate Democrats may now have the 60 votes they need to pass their bill; this, after some late night bargaining with Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson over abortion funding in the bill. Majority Leader Harry Reid is set to unveil the final changes today.
And checking on our top stories: A snowstorm slamming much of the northeastern U.S. right now. The nation's capital is under a snow emergency. We have a live shot for you just outside the Capitol.
Virgin Airways has canceled flights into and out of Dulles Airport. In Philadelphia, flights are delayed an average of well, four to six hours. And there are reports of motorists stranded on interstates in Virginia; 20 inches of snow potentially will bury this part of the world.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, it took some hard work but finally there was a deal of sorts on global warming. President Obama calls the deal, quote, "meaningful and unprecedented". But what does that do?
Live now the CNN White House correspondent, Dan Lothian, Dan, this really came down to the wire, it seemed.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It really did. You know, it had been seesawing yesterday. And for the most part of the day it really appeared that there would be no agreement. And in fact, some of the world leaders left early in apparent frustration.
But in the end, the president meeting with the leaders of China, India, Brazil and South Africa, he really pushed them to come up with an agreement. And he called that agreement, as you mentioned, unprecedented and meaningful. The deal calls for countries to really try and cut into the rise in global warming by two degrees Celsius. It's far less than what was the anticipated and that's what's believed that really cut into global warming.
The key here, though, that it is nonbinding. What that means is that there's nothing legally that requires these countries to do anything. And critics are saying that without any real commitments to actually cutting carbon emissions it will be difficult if not impossible to reach any targets.
But the president, he even said that this was far short of what he wanted and he took on his critics. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When I think that some people are going to legitimately ask is, well, if it's not legally binding, what prevents us from ten years from now looking and saying, you know, everybody fell short of these goals and there's no consequences to them.
My response is that, A, that's why I think we should still drive towards something that is more binding than it is, but that was not achievable at this conference. The point -- the second point they would make is that Kyoto was legally binding and everybody still fell short anyway.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LOTHIAN: The president's saying that this really is the first step, that this is the way to get progress going. And again, believing that something that's legally binding would be much stronger, it would have teeth. It would really lead to some big results there.
But this administration feeling that if they had sat around and waited for something that was legally binding, nothing would have gotten done -- Betty.
NGUYEN: All right. CNN's Dan Lothian joining us live. Thank you, Dan.
MARCIANO: Well, more fallout on the Tiger Woods scandal. We're going to take a look at how leaving the game may affect the wallets not only of him but the reputations and bank accounts of others.
NGUYEN: Oh, yes. And here's a question for you. Do you have the holiday blues? Well, you are not alone. Coming up at the top of the hour, how you can make this holiday a merry one.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: Well, when Tiger Woods crashed his car and ignited a scandal he jeopardized more than just his marriage, his image took another hit yesterday when watchmaker Tag dumped Woods from its American ad campaign.
The fallout threatens to affect the wallets and reputations of others linked to the superstar, recently named AP's "Athlete of the Decade". For more on that we turn to Rick Horrow, our sports business analyst and visiting professor at Harvard Law School.
Good morning, Rick. Good to see you. Hey, listen up. I've always been kind of fascinated by not only Tiger Woods but his caddy. I know these guys typically make 10 percent. Stevie Williams is going to take a little bit of a hit, isn't he?
RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: Hey Rob, you and I go to the bank and we cash a check for 10 percent of an indefinite hiatus, people laugh at us. That's what's going on with Stevie Williams. MARCIANO: So he's not going to -- he's obviously going to bring any -- and he doesn't make any money off of these endorsements although Stevie probably has a couple of his own.
HORROW: We'll see what happens in New Zealand. That's where he's from. But not looking good as far as earning potential for the man right now.
MARCIANO: Ok. Does Tiger have a niece that plays golf as well? Is she on the up and coming ranks, maybe on the LPGA Tour and, if so, how is this going to affect her?
HORROW: Example of collateral fallout, Cheyenne Woods, Earl Woods' daughter, Arizona High School Golfer of the Year, Wake Forest student, on the LPGA off and on. Is she going to be hounded by the ghost of Tiger Woods? Maybe initially, maybe she's left on to play. But the paparazzi is going to camp out with her and may affect her game.
MARCIANO: How about athletes outside of golf? There are so many big money endorsement deals out there. Peyton Manning may go down as the greatest quarterback of all time. He's got a number of endorsement deals. Could this affect him or others outside of golf?
HORROW: Hey, we're not saying there's a skeleton in Peyton Manning's closet. The point is that if Tiger Woods can go down, all athletes are at risk. And contracts, I predict, will be smaller, shorter and easier to terminate as far as those spokesmen. The final issue which I think is really important, Rob, too, is the kids. You know there are 10 million kids, Tiger Woods Foundation, 100 separate charities; Those kids may be at risk for Tiger Woods' dollars in the future as well.
MARCIANO: So what's the -- they say taking a hiatus. But you know, Tiger doesn't play this time of year. He doesn't even typically play until well into February if not March. That's a bit laughable. When is he expected to come back?
HORROW: I'm not (INAUDIBLE). Everybody is saying he will come back at the masters. His favorite tournament is the British Open at St. Andrews this next year. Nobody knows. If it's a small "h" hiatus everything is going to be ok eventually. If it's a big "h" for months and years, nobody knows.
MARCIANO: All right. Rick Horrow, good insight once again. Always great to see you. If I don't see you again have a happy holiday.
We'll be back to you.
HORROW: All right.
NGUYEN: All right. This just in. We are getting some movement on the defense spending bill. Let's take you now live to the capitol and CNN's Brianna Keilar.
Brianna, what have you heard so far on this? BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And this actually has to do with the health care bill that is now -- or really all of the updated changes in the senate health care bill that are now on the floor. This is a really big deal, Betty. Two Democratic aides tell us that the lone holdout, the lone Democratic holdout who would have been the key vote, that 60th vote to help Democrats pass this senate health care reform bill, that he, it appears, that he has struck a deal with senate Democratic leaders.
We've been telling you all about this person. It's Senator Ben Nelson. He is a social conservative from Nebraska. He has had serious issues with this health care reform bill because he has feared that what could happen under it is that taxpayer dollars could pay for abortion and he is anti-abortion.
So he was saying that he was not going to sign on until there could be really proper, restrictive language in this bill that really satisfied his concerns. Well, it appears now, according to two Democratic aides here on Capitol Hill, that an agreement has been reached.
And I should tell you that Senator Nelson actually told CNN, as he was holding a piece of paper in his hand, which was his floor speech, that he was going to the floor, that he was going to make this announcement. What happened was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asked if he could have the time to make this announcement and Republicans actually objected to it.
So right now what we're seeing on the floor, Betty, is the reading of all of the changes to the bill. This is hundreds of pages. This is going to take hours.
So we're waiting to see exactly what Senator Nelson might have said when he did -- when he would have gone to the floor. But this is a really big deal. It appears that Democrats may have gotten to that all important mark of 60 votes. At least an agreement, so that then they can move forward when they do vote in a key test vote Monday morning to pass health care reform before Christmas -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Brianna, I know that Senator Nelson had some real issues with the abortion part of that. And you say some agreement has been made. Any indication as to what that might have been?
KEILAR: That's the thing. We do not know what the specifics are. And furthermore, since we didn't get to hear Senator Nelson speak on the floor because Republicans objected to him having that time and under Senate rules they can say, no, we're not going to allow him that time to speak. We don't know.
What we're actually trying to do right now is to see if Senator Nelson might come to the cameras so he can then explain it.
Because as I said this is going to take hours to read this bill. So if he's waiting to speak on the floor, it could be a very long time before we get this definitive answer from him that, yes, they reached an agreement and perhaps a glimpse into what that agreement was that it really did satisfy these concerns of his -- Betty. NGUYEN: So do you think maybe later, much later this afternoon, we're going to see this finalized version and get the details of what's in that?
KEILAR: Now they are reading it. So actually we have this -- we're starting to get this idea of what the finalized version of the senate bill is going to look like.
You know, there was the senate bill that was introduced quite some time ago. But all of these changes are very important because they're the ones that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid put in place so that he could win over all the liberals and the moderates in his party so he could get to those all-important 60 votes.
That's why we want to see exactly what is in there and this is the moment where we are learning what is in this bill -- Betty.
NGUYEN: It's just going to take us, what, some ten hours to listen and listen very closely...
KEILER: It could.
NGUYEN: ... for those changes.
All right Brianna Keilar. So the news made today, at least right now as we know, is they may have -- the Dems may have that 60 votes that it needed in order to pass this, and Senator Nelson has agreed to, as far as we've been told, to go ahead and go forward with that and support it.
We will continue to follow this story for you and bring you the latest because all of us want to know what those changes are in this finalized bill. So we'll stay on top of this story for you.
You're watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Hello, everybody. From the CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It is December 19th, a cold and snowy one for much of the northeast.
Thanks for joining us this morning. We'll have the latest on the weather in just a second. I'm Betty Nguyen.
MARCIANO: And I'm Rob Marciano in today for T.J. Holmes. Thanks for starting your day with us. A lot of news outside of weather and it's breaking on Capitol Hill right now.
Let's get straight to Brianna Keilar who has been covering the health care reform debate. Brianna, are you there? What can you tell us as far as the outstanding vote that the Dems have been waiting on?
KEILAR: Yes, and actually, Rob, what we understand, we're not actually going to be seeing a vote, this key test vote on the senate health care bill, really the changes that have been made to the bill, until early Monday morning. What we've really been waiting for is all of this action going on behind the scenes because the issue Democrats have had is actually being able to band together and all together be those 60 all-important votes that are needed to clear these key hurdles in order to pass health care reform.
So what we now understand, from two Democratic aides on Capitol Hill, is that they appear to have cleared that hurdle. The hurdle was Senator Ben Nelson, a conservative -- socially conservative Democrat from Nebraska; he is anti-abortion. He had a concern that in this health care reform bill, money could pay for abortions, taxpayer money could pay for abortions.
And for a long time now he's been really dissatisfied, he's been going back and forth with Senate Democratic leaders trying to find something that will make him happy but also keep liberal Democrats for abortion rights on board with this bill. It's been this huge chasm that they've tried to straddle. And it appears that they have been able to do it.
Senator Nelson was actually trying to make a statement on the floor. He was headed to the Senate floor. He told our producer, Ted Barrett that he was going to make his announcement about really how he was falling on this issue.
But Republicans actually objected to him having time to speak.
So now we're waiting to see if he does come out maybe and speak to the cameras. At this point we know Democrats here really, as we speak, are gathering for a caucus to discuss this bill and a few of these Democratic senators, Rob, indicating that a deal has been struck, which, you know, this is huge because this is what would allow Democrats to move forward and get those 60 votes to pass health care reform in the Senate.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, deal or no deal, Brianna, there's probably a lot of Americans sitting at home saying, OK, well, maybe we shouldn't rush to the vote yet. It makes sense to have them read the actual bill. You should read what they're voting on. But this could take hours. I'm curious, is there any way for you to know like how many senators are in there listening to this right now?
KEILAR: You know, I cannot tell you because I am not there watching. And the video feed we get doesn't show it. But I actually imagine that there are many Democrats who are gathering for this meeting. So it's not as if there's a full Senate that is a captive audience. At least that's what I am imagining at this point.
But yes, these are the reason they are reading this entire - it's actually an amendment to the Senate health care reform bill. But what it is, it's all of the changes that they have made, that Democrats have made to get their entire group on board. 800 pages, I believe it is. A lot of changes. These are very important. That's the size of a bill in itself.
And Republicans have said we want this whole thing read. So they're going to go ahead and the floor staff there is reading it out loud. This is going to be, as you can imagine, this is going to take hours.
MARCIANO: All right. You'll be there reporting for us. Let us know if Senator Nelson gets within earshot and so we can get more from you, breaking news this morning from Capitol Hill. Thanks, Brianna.
KEILAR: Yes.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. So if you're heading home for the holidays or you just, you know, plan on finishing your shopping this weekend you might want to brace yourself, especially if you live on the east coast because, boy, is it snowing out there. Some places a blizzard condition.
MARCIANO: That's right. Storm warnings up from North Carolina all the way to the New England, in places like D.C. could see up to 20 inches of snow. Philadelphia, a little bit less than that but still a winter mess. On the phone right now we have Jason Bond, he's with VDOT, Virginia Department of Transportation.
Jason, we're hearing some 400 cars may be stranded right now along interstate 81. What are your comments on that?
VOICE OF JASON BOND, VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION: We have had some interstate blockage overnight on i-81 in Virginia in the Montgomery County area. This section of 81 goes through some mountainous terrain. And last evening with some ice starting to accumulate, there were some tractor trailer accident that occurred through there causing some blockage, causing some pretty serious delays and backups and did result in some folks being stranded overnight on the interstate.
We've made some progress today in getting those folks out. We have our contractor, is out there with us for (INAUDIBLE) among our other equipment, state police, national guard. We are working to get to those people and get them out and get them to a safe place.
NGUYEN: Hey, Jason, you say you've gotten some of them out. How long do you think it's going to take to get everyone because you've got 400 vehicles here.
BOND: We had reports of several hundred vehicles. The state police and the National Guard have been checking with them along that stretch of interstate. I'm not sure how long it is going to take at this point but we are making some progress.
NGUYEN: Are you worried about people being stuck on that roadway for so long without any food, any water, and perhaps some of them may have even run out of gas, which means they may not have any heat.
BOND: Well, again, the state police and the county there have been using some four-wheelers to go out and check on folks in those areas along this stretch of interstate 81. So you know, there are people out there trying to make sure that people are taking care of.
NGUYEN: I understand the National Guard is assisting and some emergency shelters have been set up. Is that correct? BOND: That is correct. There are some emergency shelters. One of them is in I think the Elliston Fire Department there in Montgomery County. There are some other shelters being set up in that region, also.
NGUYEN: All right. Jason Bond with us from the Virginia Department of Transportation. The latest on hundreds of vehicles currently stranded on i-81 right now in Montgomery County, Virginia. It is just a mess in the northeast when it comes to this snowstorm. A lot of people really, you know, seeing the white stuff out there thinking, it's not too bad. I'm going to go ahead and carry on with my holiday travels. Maybe get out there and do a little shopping and then before you know it, the roads are closed and you're stuck.
MARCIANO: And the Appalachians, a treacherous place anytime of year and this obviously being a worst case scenario, scary proposition of being stuck on the roadway with snow piling up on the hood of your car, gas running out, and it sounded like it's not a situation where it's out of control. So we'll check back with Jason and VDOT throughout the morning.
NGUYEN: But no doubt it's a serious one when you bring in the National Guard to help out with that situation, set up emergency shelters. We want to get the latest now from our Reynolds Wolf because he is out in those elements today himself.
Look at that snow just coming down there. Reynolds, you're in a part of the country where a lot of people decided, you know what, I'm not going to do what he's doing, I'm staying inside.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, you know, I think that's really going to be the best method for a lot of people today. If you can avoid getting out there and traveling, the less volume you have on the road is going to be better for everybody. I can tell you that here in Fredericksburg, it's been pretty good in terms of travel. The roads are in pretty good conditions. You see a lot of the people actually walking, using the road as the sidewalk because the sidewalks are in pretty bad shape.
Snow in many spots stacked up to a foot or so, some places a bit less. And we got a lot more to go through for the rest of the day and into the afternoon. But as a picturesque setting here. And remember that's kind of deceiving because although it looks beautiful, it can be dangerous out there. We've been talking about hundreds of accidents that have been occurring along many of the interstates.
And when people are in a hurry, you've got slippery conditions, I mean, it's going to happen. You're going to have the fender bender, it's a dangerous thing. Now, lights here are working. You got electricity in this area but you have to remember there are thousands of people without power in much of the region.
And I would expect that as wind continues to pick up in a few places and that snow continues to come down, you're going to see more power outages and then power crews are going to have a devil of a time getting to certain places trying to restore the power. Here's the reason why. Let's go directly if we can to our weather computer. As we do so you're going to get a bird's-eye view of what really is happening.
Major storm system is roaring on it's way up at the eastern seaboard. On radar, you can see that rotation, everywhere where you happen to see white on the map, well, guess what, that just happens to be some snowfall. But where you see the greens and the blues, that intends to be your lighter precipitation. At least just your rain drops. And as that cold air continues to funnel in you're going to be seeing that snow really stacked up especially in the highest elevations.
Now, let's fast forward and show you the idea of the watches and warnings that we have out there. I mean, it is lit up like a Christmas tree in terms of areas as we do have the watches and warnings. All red and also in white shaded throughout the area. On that particular image, it's going to tell you the story that we're going to see it not just in parts of Virginia but up to Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, New York and even into Warwick. It's going to be a rough time along the coast, with some heavy surf conditions there, too.
Now, we are going to be seeing a major transition tomorrow as the snow begins to wind down and we're going to be, again, getting better conditions but also still the cold air is going to remain and conditions are going to remain pretty rough on the roadways.
Photo journalist Ken (INAUDIBLE) was able to go out and get some great video for us. We're going to share that with you. That's actually along parts of i-95. you're going to see in a few mere moments - and on 95 although roadways are better there than they are say back towards West Virginia along 77 or even along 81 here in Virginia, it is still going to be dangerous for you out there.
If you happen to be traveling alone, certainly it's a bad idea. If you're traveling with kids you might really want to consider that. Because if you're stuck, say, in your minivan and you happen to get stuck with a couple of young kids, it's going to be just a devil of a time for you.
You see this guy here doing what he can to try to get the snow from around the tires and that's one of the big issues that you have. As soon as some of that snow was scraped away, more piles in. Possibly to the tune of a foot before all is said and done right here in Fredericksburg. That's the story we've got for you here. Let's send it back to you at the news desk.
NGUYEN: All right. Reynolds, thank you. We will be checking in a lot this morning, especially with the conditions being what they are out there. Thank you.
You know, Democrats say that they are, oh, so close to getting that crucial 60th vote. In fact, we've just learned minutes ago that they do have it. Thanks to Senator Ben Nelson.
MARCIANO: Yes, we're going to have more breaking news from Capitol Hill when we come right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Breaking news now. Just a few minutes ago CNN's Brianna Keilar reported that Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson intends to support health care reform in the bill there as the 60th senator and the decisive vote.
MARCIANO: And majority leader Harry Reid plans to unveil final changes to that bill later today.
NGUYEN: And the bill has undergone so many revisions to get that 60th vote. We asked chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta to tell us what's in, what's out, at least for now. And he talked with CNN's Heidi Collins.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So much to talk about when it comes to the current version of the health care bill. And as you listen to all this keep in mind that if this bill passes, it could potentially offer health insurance access to at least 31 million more Americans. But lots of hurdles that have not been crossed. A lot of obstacles that we've been talking about really almost since the campaign, public option being one of them.
As the Senate bill stands now, and again, it's not finalized, there's no public option in this. Also something that we've been hearing about over the past couple of weeks, this idea of expanding Medicare to age 55. Again, as you know, that's not in this bill, either. That was something that was talked about quite a bit even over the last couple of days.
One that you may not have heard about that may have helped lower drug costs, this idea of purchasing drugs from overseas. That's not going to happen. At least not as part of this current version of the Senate bill because of concerns about drug safety on those importations.
Now, there are some things that have happened worth pointing out. And again, part of that larger picture. First of all, a health insurance exchange. This idea of having insurance companies all over the country creating a marketplace to which anyone can buy in and having those insurance companies compete with one another for people who do not have enough money to purchase health care insurance, this would also be where some subsidies would kick in.
Also no lifetime caps on benefits. As things stand now, there's a lot of caps. For example, if a family has significant illness in that family, after a certain amount of money is paid out to cover those health care costs, the money would just stop. It would be capped and the family would be sort of left to fend for themselves. That wouldn't happen anymore.
Also, mandated employee insurance coverage. So meaning that if you work for a large employer you're going to get health care insurance coverage or that employer will be penalized. And finally a big one, a big one that seems to have really drawn some support really on all sides. No denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions. But even that had some trouble in getting through.
There was concern people would buy insurance only when they got sick and cancel it when they got better, "sort of gaming the system." The compromise it seems to have been reached is this idea that people would be penalized for not buying it in the first place. That's sort of the mandate part of this. And then also be penalized if they buy it and then cancel it after they get better.
What may be most surprising to you, Heidi, and to a lot of people is that abortion still remains one of the hot button issues in this entire debate. We've heard about it in weeks past, we'll probably hear about it in the weeks following, this idea that should any government money go to pay for abortions.
If a woman buys into a private insurance program but is also getting government subsidies, should some of that government money possibly pay for abortion? That is still one of those hot button issues that is being worked out even as I talk to you now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: Well, Sanjay Gupta earlier this week with Heidi Collins, with the bill and the amendments to it constantly -
NGUYEN: Changing -
MARCIANO: Efflux (ph) with an evolution in process. And breaking news all morning long, out of Capitol Hill where Brianna Keilar has been updating us and I'm told she has a fresh information. Good morning again, Brianna.
KEILAR: Good morning. Yes, this is fresh information, guys. Because you heard Sanjay Gupta say there that abortion ahs continued to be a hot-button issue. It is a hot-button issue still but it appears that it's not going to be the deal breaker issue that it look like it could be now, for weeks in the Senate.
That is because Senator Ben Nelson, a social conservative from Nebraska, he is anti-abortion rights. He had serious issues with the bill. He was concerned that taxpayer dollars could essentially go to fund abortions and because of that he was withholding his support.
Well, here's the thing. Democrats really need his support because they're not getting any help from Republicans and they need 60 votes to pass this thing. So what we found out today from Democratic sources is that Senator Ben Nelson has worked out an agreement with Senate Democratic leaders.
Now, as we speak behind closed doors, all of the Senate Democrats are meeting and they are going over exactly what this arrangement is. We do know some of the details about it. We know that basically it would allow states to opt out of offering abortion coverage.
Because what's going to happen in this bill is they will establish exchanges, basically marketplaces for insurance. And this will be on a state level. And it will allow states to opt out of covering abortion, having any of those health insurance plans on the exchange cover abortion. We also understand, I'm literally scrolling down because we are just getting details.
This is evolving so quickly that health insurers will not be able to use tax credits. Those are federal subsidies. This is one of the ways of getting insurance for a lot of Americans who can't afford it is to give them a coupon basically, a federal subsidy and say this will help you buy insurance. This says that health insurers cannot use those federal subsidies to pay for abortion coverage.
And also this one is pretty interesting. That they must collect from each enrollee. So from each person who has insurance, a separate payment to go for abortion coverage. This is really all about keeping the money separate. And this is actually language that we are getting from all of these changes that have been added to this bill, Rob and Betty, because it's actually just here in the last few minutes been put online so that we can pore over it and pore over it, we are. Trust me.
MARCIANO: Yes, I mean, isn't the main concern here, Brianna, is that, you know, you take money out of one pile and you put it in another. It could become just, you know, some sort of an accounting deal rather than actually, you know, taking money and removing it completely.
KEILAR: That's what, you know, Ben Nelson has said that he is fearful that it is an accounting gimmick. If you say to someone, here is your federal subsidy to purchase insurance, they would then be able to purchase insurance that has abortion coverage. How do you keep that money separate?
Well, Democrats, a lot of them, their proposal was just to make sure that those insurance companies really did keep the money separate. That the premium with the person spent out of their own pocket is what would have been used to pay for an abortion.
But Senator Nelson said that's just not enough. To me, it just opens up the door for all of this money to co-mingle and then I think a lot of people just have issues with giving someone a federal subsidy to purchase insurance that they couldn't afford before, insurance that covers abortion. I think that just sits very - not very well with a lot of Republicans, as well.
MARCIANO: It is certainly complicated. The devil will certainly be in the fine print details. And thanks for beginning to break it down for us, Brianna Keilar, live from the capitol. Thanks, Brianna.
NGUYEN: As she's looking at that picture right there of the nation's capitol, which we saw just a second ago. It's snowing out there. They're dealing with severe weather. In fact, as snow emergency, here's the D.C. mayor, Adrian Fenty giving a news conference. Let's take a listen.
MAYOR ADRIAN FENTY, WASHINGTON, D.C.: That's something we're going to have to continue to work through. But the goal of this snow team is to reduce the snow on this streets as much as humanly possible so that when it stops, that that complete clean-up effort is going to be as quick as humanly possible.
In addition to the plowing of the streets, there are significant salting going on. The directors have informed me that we have plenty of salt in all of our salt domes. That even if we had a snow happen right after this one, that was the same size, we could handle that one as well.
Obviously we'll replenish after this snowfall is over. There have been car accidents. Please continue to drive safely. We have hundreds of police officers deployed on the street doing everything from traffic deployment to making sure the streets are passable.
As of right now, Armada (ph) is operating on schedule. That's good news for the few people who do have to get around. But again, we urge everyone if you don't have to go anywhere, wait. This snow should end early tomorrow morning with a 24-hour clean-up.
We should have a lot of streets ready to go by rush hour Monday. And hopefully all of those who have had delay their Christmas and holiday shopping, will be able to get it done between Monday and Wednesday.
It's also been announced that some of the airlines have started to close. We expect that problem to continue through the night. And you can get more information. So I'm joined by the director of the Department of Transportation, director of Department of public works, Bill Holland, have them give additional briefings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just to clarify one thing, we're hearing that Metro Rail is operating normally right now. That could change. Metro Bus is only operating on the snow emergency routes, which are the major arterials throughout the city. That could be scaled back as well as if we do get as much snow as expected.
And also our own circulator bus, the very popular Union State through Georgetown route is no longer running up Wisconsin Avenue. I will just encourage people who are going out to check our web site and the Metro website on a regular basis as this may change.
We have hit all of the major arterials. I'd like to say that they're passable at this point, particularly if you have a four-wheel drive vehicle. But if you don't have to go out, please do stay at home. We've got 300 plows out there. And they need room to do their job. And as the mayor said, the bulk of the storm is yet to come, so we'll continue to give people updates if things are changing throughout the day.
And we are out there treating the pretreatment that was done on the major arterials has worked very well. We're continuing to treat with salt throughout the day to avoid any freezing tonight, although some may occur. And as the mayor said, we hope to have everything -
NGUYEN: All right. We have been listening to officials there in the D.C. area talk about the snow emergency that they are dealing with. Right now they are asking people if you don't have to be on the roads please stay at home. The Metro Rail System is running as normal but the Metro Bus system in the D.C. area is only running the emergency snow routes and they are doing the best they can with salts and other methods to try to get some of that snow off the roadways.
MARCIANO: Just in to the CNN severe weather center, also the National Weather Service out of D.C. has just upgraded their storm warning to a blizzard warning. This afternoon they're expecting 30 to 40-mile-an- hour winds. Snow accumulations, 10 to 20 inches. And that will create whiteout conditions and that will make things look even worse than what you're seeing right now.
NGUYEN: So if you don't have to go out, please don't. The mayor was just saying, you know, we all understand, this is the last weekend before the Christmas holiday. He said the best bet for what he foresees is you to be out there finishing that up maybe Monday through Wednesday because it looks like this weekend is just going to be too difficult.
So heed the warnings if you're in the D.C. area as they are preparing for blizzard conditions. You're watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
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MARCIANO: All right. You're looking at live pictures. I believe this is at Fredericksburg, Virginia, west and southwest of D.C. where the National Weather Service had just upped the ante and issued a blizzard warning for the entire Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, which means not so much the accumulation but the conditions that they're going to experience this afternoon, 35-mile-an-hour winds, frequently or sustained over a three-hour period, which will drop the visibilities down close to zero or a quarter mile visibility at times.
That's basically the definition of a blizzard or a blizzard warning. And that has to happen over a three-hour period. So they think that's what's going to shake down here in D.C. in the coming hours with a total accumulation of 10 to 20, in some cases 22, 24 inches of snow in spotty locations. So this is certainly a storm of historic proportions.
Also, some history on the making in Capitol Hill - or on Capitol Hill. CNN sources telling us that Senator Ben Nelson, the lone Democrat holdout, now intends to support the health care reform bill. Nelson had opposed abortion provisions in the measure. He would become the critical 60th vote needed to overcome a Republican filibuster. We'll break that down and update it throughout the morning. We'll be right back.
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NGUYEN: Hello, everybody. We are talking about your health on CNN SATURDAY MORNING. And for a lot of people, the holidays aren't happy. There are mine field of stress, operation, disappointment, in addition, layoffs and foreclosure fears combine to make this an especially blue Christmas for a lot of folks.
For a way to cope and avoid these stress situations, we turn to social worker Rita Grayson, she joins us now. All right. So help us understand, besides all those things that we list, what are some of the other factors that really cause this depression? RITA GRAYSON, THERAPIST: Well, one of the things that can cause depression at this time of year is changes that have happened over the last year, some of which you mentioned, other ones can be personal like the death of a loved one, a divorce, family changes.
And because of the holiday time, we tend to compare this holiday season to last holiday season or previous ones. It makes those changes more prominent. We focus on them a little bit more. And the feelings associated with them can come back during this time.
NGUYEN: We've been calling it depression. But there is indeed a significant difference between depression and the holiday blues. Correct?
GRAYSON: Yes. That is correct. Depression is actually a medical condition. And a person experiencing depression might experience a loss of energy, a lack of motivation, a lack of enjoyment of their life, along with feelings of sadness or anger or irritability. And that is a medical condition that's going to persist or likely to persist beyond the holidays.
The holiday blues is very focused on this time of year and the stresses that are associated with it. And we are expect that to lessen and disappear actually after the holidays and once any post holiday let-down has passed.
NGUYEN: All right. And quickly, help us understand what are some of the coping mechanisms, the best way to get over this.
GRAYSON: Well, because stress at this time is the most prominent reason for holiday blues, I can offer one suggestion, if we would all just stop using the world should for the month of December, that would be great. I should be perfect, I should put on the perfect holiday dinner, my children should get everything that they want, my cranky relatives shouldn't be cranky even though they have been every year that we've gotten together.
NGUYEN: Yes.
GRAYSON: If we can just stop saying all those shoulds in our lives then we don't have to have unrealistic expectations. And we can be open to any surprises and wonderful ways that this holiday season may be different than the last.
NGUYEN: Just take it for what it is and don't make it more than -
GRAYSON: Exactly, right.
NGUYEN: Into something that's just unattainable because a lot of people do feel that way about the holidays. It has to be perfect.
GRAYSON: Yes, we do - that's right. And there is no perfect.
NGUYEN: Exactly. Rita, thanks so much for your input and your insight this morning. We appreciate it.
GRAYSON: You are so welcome.
NGUYEN: "YOUR BOTTOM LINE," with CNN Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis, is next. And you can watch your bottom line as well.
And at the bottom of the screen, I want to let you know, there's some travel information. You definitely want to stay tined to that.
We'll be back at the top of the hour.
