>> time for "newsroom" with carol costello. take it away. >> i will gladly. kate hudson, there's a hot chick for you. "newsroom" starts now. good morning. i'm carol costello. thank you for being with me. right now as we speak on capitol hill, lawmakers are getting their first chance to grill the developers of obama care's botched website. the companies will be pressed to explain the crippling problems that plagued the enrollment process and overshadowed the role of obama's signature health care reform. expect it to ricochet in all different distribution. jim acosta is at the white house to start our coverage. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. health and human services secretary katrihleen sebelius wl not be at the white house. that will be next week. the private contractors that

helped build the website will be and they'll be on the hot seat. we're told some of the top health insurers knew about the problems before the site fully launched. the same source tells cnn administration officials did not fully disclose to the white house what was wrong with the site. with the obama care finger pointing shifting into high gear, the private contractors that built the troubled dot.gov website are still saying, don't blame us. they're still overing conflicting stories of what went wrong and prepared testimony at today's house energy and commerce committee. one executive is expect to say the site passed eight technical reviews prior to going live on october 1st, another contractor says, a late decision requiring consumers to register for an account before they could browse for insurance products is behind some of the problems. not only do house republicans -- >> it is our job to hold them accountable. when it comes to obama care,

clearly there's an awful lot that needs to be held accountable. >> reporter: some of president obama's fellow democrats want these roll. >> well, it's inexcusable. somebody ought to get fired. >> kathleen sebelius? >> no. they should wait and get the thing up and running and then determine and let somebody be accountable. >> reporter: a health insurance insider tells cnn contractors and officials at department of health and human services knew about the site's problem but gave a far rosier picture to the white house. that insider says no one wanted to go to the white house and say to the president that your signature legislative achievement may not go so well. but white house officials insist the president wasn't intentionally kept in the dark. >> we did not know until the problems manifested themselves after the launch that they would be as significant as they have turned out to be. >> reporter: hhs secretary kathleen sebelius told cnn the president did not know about the problems until after the site was fully launched. >> well, i think it became clear

fairly early on, the first couple of days -- >> reporter: all the more reason, republicans say, for the president to hold somebody accountable. >> i mean, the president himself seems embarrassed by it. and if he's not going to resign over this mess, why, he ought to decide who should. >> reporter: later today the administration is going to try something new. they're going to try holding regular briefings on the progress being made to fix the obama care website. we should also point out the department of health and human services is trying to clear up some confusion on the deadline for americans to buy insurance so they don't have to pay a penalty to the irs. hhs now says that the deadline is definitely march 31 st. carol, circumstance that will date on your calendar, march 31st. >> i will circumstance it will. jim acosta, i know you'll stand by with more as needed. thank you very much. jim acosta live from the white house. as lawmakers pepper contractors with questions. two main questions, who bungled

the website, implementation failures didn't know or didn't disclose. joe johns is in our washington bureau. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. >> won't this hearing be more about pointing fingers than fixing what's wrong? >> we'll probably hear a little bit of everything, carol. we're expecting to hear from contractors who were brought in to help with the health care.gov website. we have an idea of what they're expected to say thanks to advanced testimony of the hearing. the oversight committee, the testimony today is going to be before the energy and commerce committee. one of the contractors for the website, a company called optum qqsi says the problems might be traced back to a late decision, essentially a last-minute change apparently by the government requiring consumers to register for an account before they could browse for insurance. it put a lot of pressure on the

site's registration function and that kind of demand was unexpected. qqsi also said they were involved in testing the website and actually identified error in code and they say they did report these errors to the center for medicaid and medicare services. another contractor cgi is expected to say there was a bottle neck in site security. interestingly, one of the contractors, equifax is expected to say it tested its system and didn't have any issues. and it was actually able to process massive involves of data, up to 120,000 verification requests within an hour without any problem. so, carol, just a full range of testimony, an opportunity for these contractors to get on the record about what they did and didn't do. >> just a thought about these contractors. let's say, you know, contractor is not going to sit there and say, you know what, my company is to blame.

it is our fault that these exchanges are not working. a company is -- is probably not going to admit that because then that company would have to absorb all of the costs of fixing, it right? >> right. it's definitely not in their interest to come out and say, we messed this thing up. however, we are expecting to get a little bit more of an idea of who the other guy says messed this thing up. so, there could be a certain amount of finger-pointing between and among the contractors without naming names, if you will. >> oh, i bet there will be lots of finger pointing. joe johns, stick around. thank you so much. an anonymous source says federal officials did not allow testing for healthcare.gov until four to six days before the big launch but a system that big needs four to six months of testing. technology correspondent lori seigal joins us. the blame game officially begins today. from your perspective, a tech

person, how might it go? >> absolutely. what you said, this kind of technology takes a long time to test. to put a website like healthcare.gov that's out there and not test it before, silicon valley is shaking their heads. in order to do this kind of thing, you have to go in and break your servers. today we'll probably hear quite a bit about why it wasn't properly tested ahead of time. you have cheryl campbell, saying you can never really anticipate what a website's going to be like when it goes live. let's take a step back. you might not be able to anticipate that, carol, but can you go in and you can actually -- essentially break your servers. you can say, hey, we're probably going to get a lot of traffic. this is a very popular agaenda, we need to make sure we have enough server capacity. that's not necessarily what happened here today. today we might hear why that didn't happen. >> i was just paying attention to representative fred upton,

chairman of the committee on energy and commerce. he's making his opening statement, that will take ten minutes, and then the democrat, ranking member of this committee, henry waxman will make a ten-minute opening statement and then the testimony will begin. i want to ask you one more question, at least in the next couple of minutes. we hear a lot of differing accounts on how to fix this thing. some say the whole system needs to be scrapped and we need to start over. what are you hearing? >> you know, what i'm hearing is, look, that might be ideal t idealistic, right? you can't just scrap it. what they're doing now is specifying part by part what exactly what went wrong. if you look on hhs, if you look on their site they're committed to saying, this is what went wrong, this is how we're fixing it. the servers weren't working, we added more servers. added virtual -- we changed virtual technology into hardware.

i mean, that's what we're going to be hearing about now. and what joe johns mentioned earlier about going in and realizing, you know, maybe they made last-minute decisions that made it very difficult. you know, last minute decisions where you have a complex website and you can't code a last-minute decision under a deadline. that's what we're going to be looking at now. are they going to extend this deadline? how many engineers are they bringing in and what exactly are they doing to fix these underlying problems now that we're hearing more about what these problems are. of course, i can imagine we'll see a lot of finger pointing as well at this point. >> oh, i bet you're right. laurie, you stick around. we'll continue to monitor this hearing when testify begins, of course, we'll take it live. >> want to check our other top stories. president obama tells german chancellor angela merkel the united states does not monitor her phone calls. merkel had called the president after the german government said her calls might have been monitored. germany and other nations had already expressed concerns about possible u.s. spying based on classified information leaked by

former nsa contractor edward snowden. we have breaking news off the western coast of africa. just minutes ago we learned pirates have attacked a u.s. flagship and abducted the captain and chief engineer. both are believed to be u.s. citizens. according to ake, that attack took place off the southernmost coast of nigeria, not far from cameroon. the cousin of kennedy jr. could soon be released on bond. michael skakel was convicted of killing his neighbor, martha moxley. a judge ruled the defense was inadequate. state prosecutors plan to appeal the ruling. hundreds of passengers are stranded at ft. lauderdale airport at spirit airways is doing a proactive check on engines after one failed last

week, but that's causing significant delays. >> very frustrating. i'm tired, sleep y hungry. just want to lay down. >> it's maintenance problems. that's what i've been hearing from spirit employees and other passengers. >> spirit told cnn it plans to finish all necessary checks this morning. from the "newsroom" -- no pot of gold under the golden arches. >> can i help you? >> hi. i wanted more information about some help that i need. >> mcdonald's calls it resource line, helping their workers get food stamp and heating assistance. >> do have you kids? >> yes, yes. two kids. >> yeah. you would most likely be eligible for snap benefits. >> why not just pay their workers more? "newsroom's" back after a break. is this the bacon and cheese diet?

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we are keeping an eye on capitol hill this morning. as you can see, a hearing is now under way. the committee on energy and commerce, part of the house of representatives. the ranking member, the democrat, congressman henry waxman is now making his opening statements. set to testify, contractors responsible for setting up these health care exchanges that have not exactly been working. when that testify begins, of course, we'll dip back in for you. on with the rest of the news. a very touching moment during the world series last night. the red sox honored a teacher killed outside of boston area high school before game one. fenway park held a moment of silence for colleen ritzer. people in the boston area and across the nation are heartbroken, trying to make sense of this brutal killing. also this morning, students are returning to class in most

danvers, massachusetts, high schools -- or schools, rather. the high school is open only for grief counseling. we're also learning more about the 14-year-old boy accused of assaulting and killing that 24-year-old teacher. cnn's pamela brown live in danvers, massachusetts, in morning. good morning. >> reporter: well, good morning to you, carol. this is certainly a grief-stricken community. we spoke to the victim's best friend since childhood as well as one of her long-time teachers, and they both say they're de stated by her loss. they say it just doesn't make any sense. it's still such a mystery why ritzer, a beloved 24-year-old malt teacher, could be killed allegedly at the hands of one of her own students. known for her infectious smile and bubbly personality, this shows colleen ritzer as a tv production student in high school. >> you should smi and the entire

room will light up. >> reporter: jen berger says her best friend since kindergarten was living her dream as a teacher. >> she was teaching junior high and she seemed so enthusiastic. >> reporter: her life cut short. her body left outside the school where she loved to teach. >> i don't know what the world's like without her. it's a scary, scary thought. >> reporter: the loss felt by an entire community. students and colleagues at danvers high school say ritzer's enthusiasm as a teacher was limitless, spilling over dwron her twitter, facebook and her blog. >> she was always the teacher to go the extra mile for her students. >> reporter: why would one of her own students, 14-year-old philip chism, allegedly assault and beat her to death. during his trial, he stayed silent. criticism we chism went missing after school tuesday. ritzer's family reported she

hadn't returned home that night. the teen was noujd a nearby town. the teacher's body discovered some time later in the woods behind her school. >> she's the last person to hurt anybody. obviously, she was defenseless. >> reporter: investigators allege chism incriminated himself in interviews and videos from danvers high school as well as blood in a second-floor bathroom. a source close to the investigation says chism allegedly went to the movie after killing ritzer. students say chism was making strides as a soccer player. >> a quiet, normal kid. >> reporter: ritzer's friend still coming to grips with this traj. >> i she was the type of person who loved her family and friends more than anything in the world. i just hope that she knew how much she was loved by everyone else in her life because she rel had an impact on all of us. my life is so much better because she was my friend.

>> reporter: carol, there really has been an outpouring of love for ritzer. behind me is a memorial for her. there was a vigil held her last night. students, faculty, members of the community came here to pay their respects. also the prosecution says it intends to try chism as an adult, but that decision is ultimately up to a grand jury. we're still waiting to learn more about what the motive was in this story, carol. so many people have so many unanswered questions right now. >> pamela brown reporting live from danvers, massachusetts. thanks so much. we're continuing to monitor things on capitol hill. this is the house hearing. it's looking into problems with obama care, healthcare.gov exchanges. this is tim murphy delivering an opening statement. testimony has not begun just yet. when it does, we'll take it live. we'll take a break and be right back.

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back to capitol hill for just a second. we're continuing to monitor this hearing on obama care and what went wrong. soon we'll hear from the tech experts, people who set up these exchanges and these lawmakers will ask them pointed questions about exactly what went wrong. congressman joe barton of texas is now making his opening statement. previous lawmakers have said during their opening statements, we want an explanation on how this system will be fixed, how much it will cost and how long it will take.

when the testimony begins, we'll go back to capitol hill and take it live for you. let's talk sports now, though. the birds make boo boos and the beards made them pay. red sox beat the cardinals in the opening game of the world series. the cardinals had three errors, including one play where the umpires reversed a call. while mike napoli and david ortiz delivered big, big hits for the sox. >> good morning, carol. you know what, sure looked like the red sox were the better team last night, didn't it? >> it sure did. >> the cardinals, we don't know what it was, the cold weather or those whacky plays but they didn't look like the same team that blew through the national league in the playoffs thus far. boston, what can you say, they've been boston strong all season. they were definitely boston strong early and often last night. they jumped on the cards. as we saw, game started off with a little controversy. let's take another look at that play at second base. the umpires originally called

this an out, as pete kos ma tries to turn the double play. we have instant replay but give it to the umpires this time. they huddled, talked about it and eventually change the call. called the runner safe. carol, what do you know? very next batter will be mike napoli. hits a double into the gap. all three runners come around to score. the night kept snow ball negotiate wrong direction for the cardinals. it was 4 -0 in the second. it could have been much worse. big papi comes to the plate in the second inning with bases loaded and launch this is one deep to right. check out carlos beltran. he makes an amazing catch, robbing him of the grand slam. >> oh, ow! >> that was good news there. the bad news, as can you see, beltran bruised his rib. he leaves the game in the next inning. papi gets revenge in the seventh. he comes out making sure no one will catch that ball. a two-run home run. a little insurance. the red sox won the game easily,

8-1. cardinals definitely need to play better, much better tonight, if they hope to even the series at a game apiece. >> i thought they were machines but they're human, these st. louis cardinals, human. >> bell tron left game one in the third inning. he's day to day. people still expect him to play. he played with broken ribs back in 2005 and i can't imagine he would miss world series because of bruised ribs. >> i'm sure like so many other players, he plays with injuries. major league brabl is now looking into banning one source of injuries. that would be collisionings at home plate. another sign con kugs are not just a concern in football. in fact, the freel family want to know if concussions cost their son ryan to commit suicide. they even donated his brain to boston university to find out. >> he was always very active, very impulsive person. i don't know, why would he be depressed when he basically had

it all? >> reporter: ryan freel did have it all, a career in the majors and fans loved him. his style of play was fearless but it cost him dearly. as many as ten concussions in eight years, something his mother constantly worried about. >> i kept saying to my ryan, why don't you go to the doctor, have -- you know, have some tests done. i'm fine, i'm fine. i'm not sure that ryan thought that his problem was the concussions at all. >> reporter: three years after freel retired, he took a shotgun and killed himself. he was 36 years old. >> if someone has a concussion and it's not recognized because people aren't paying attention to it in a sport like baseball, and then they get another concussion on top of it, that's not just potentially a small problem, but that is a potentially lethal problem. >> reporter: increasingly concussions are sidelining some of baseball's brightest stars. this season alone, 28 major

leaguers suffered concussions. twins' catcher joe mauer, dominick brown and tooilg tigers catcher alex avila among them. other players including san diego's nick hundley now wonder if they'll be healthy in retirement. >> your responsibility is to your family first. if you continue to play through concussions and stuff and you see long-term effects of it, you know, i just had a daughter, you know, that makes it -- puts in perspective a little bit more. >> reporter: major league baseball says it's trying to better protect its players. it implemented a seven-day concussion disabled list separate from the normal 15-day disabled list, to encourage more players to admit they have a problem. >> now that we've started to identify these injuries, we'll start to focus on ways to reduce it. one thing we've done is start to study catcher helmets. >> reporter: mlb is especially concerned about catchers. green also says reinforce the hats are a possibility for pitchers, possibly as soon as next season.

>> he got -- >> reporter: something tigers' ace max scherzer told me he welcomes. >> i'm kind of in a vulnerable spot. a lot of balls come back at me that i react later than most pitchers, so if it's something that's comfortable and something that's practical, i think -- i know personally i would want to wear it. >> reporter: but other players and managers are not sold on the idea. in spite of the danger. but for ryan freel's family, the risks are not worth a life. >> i ask myself just about every day, what have -- what could i have done to save ryan? but you know what, i feel like it -- i did a lot. even the day before he took his life, i went to his house and i remember holding -- he was in bed. i held his hand and i said, son, let's go to a counselor. he already was taking counseling. and he said, don't worry about it, mom. i will monday.

i will start on monday. >> major league baseball is also expected to discuss banning home plate collisions at the upcoming winter meetings at every level below professional levels there are rules in place to provide catchers and runners by providing a clear path to home plate. we'll keep you posted. we'll keep you posted about the hearing on capitol hill. all the lawmakers on the committee are making opening statements. we'll take a break. be back with much more. [ female announcer ] we take away your stuffy nose. you keep the peace. we calm your congestion and pain. [ man ] thank you. thank you. [ female announcer ] you rally the team. you guys were awesome. [ female announcer ] we give you relief from your cough. you give them a case of the giggles. tylenol cold® helps relieve even your worst cold and flu symptoms,

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let's go back to capitol hill. we believe testimony is about to begin. this is the committee on energy and commerce. they're holding this hearing to find out what went wrong with those obama care exchanges. testifying, hopefully directly, are all of the tech companies involved in setting up the software for healthcare.gov. the one we're most interested in is cheryl campbell, vice president of cgi, they developed the software for healthcare.gv, and also wanting to hear from andrew slavitt, executive vice president from optum/qssi, lynn

spellecy, counsel for equifax and john lau, program director for serco. let's dip in. >> imrepusing a government syst security and privacy and the design implementation and management of multimillion transaction health care documents, including californians s-chip, texas eligibility system for medicaid chip and taniff. at this point we'll swear in the witnesses. you are aware the committee is holding an investigative hearing. when doing so has had the practice of taking testimony under oath. do any of you have objection to testifying under oath? the chair then add voois vizs you, then, that under the rules of the house and rules of the committee, you are entitled to

be advised by counsel. do you wish to be advised by counsel during your testimony today? seeing none. in that case, if you would please rise and raise your right hand. i will swear you in. do you swear that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? thank you. you are now under oath and subject to the penalties set forth entitled 18 section 1001 of the u.s. code. you are now able to give a five-minute summary of your written statement and mrs. campbell, we'll start with you. >> chairman upton, ranking member waxman, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear today. my name is cheryl campbell, and i'm a senior vice president at cgi federal. have i responsibility for all of cgi's projects at department of health and human services and

several other federal agencies. i'm here today to reinforce cgi federal's ongoing commitment to the success of the federal exchange on healthcare.gov. let me state unequivocally that cgi federal is fully committed to its partnership with cms. our priority is for americans to have a positive experience in applying, shopping and enrolling on the federal exchange. to this end, we dedicate the very best experts to optimize our portion of the federal exchange. for contacts, let me first describe our role in the federal exchange. the exchange is comprised of six complex systems and involves 55 contractors, including cgi federal, five government agencies, 36 states and more 300 insurers with more than 4500 insurance plans. all coming together in healthcare.gov. cgi was awarded federal exchange

called federally facilitated marketplace or ffm. specifically the ffm provides functionality for eligibility in enrollment and financial management. cms services for performance of the federal exchange. it also is important to understand the complexity of the work on the exchange. it's a sophisticated software that clubs a web portal, transaction processor and business analytics to simultaneously help americans determine their eligibility for insurance, apply for subsidies, shop for health plans and enroll in qualified plans. the technology works in real time with sophisticated analytic systems developed by other contractors, large scale

depositid depositories. in short, the federal exchange, including the ffm, is not a standard consumer website. but, rather, a sophisticated integrated technology platform that for the first time in history combines the processes of selecting and enrolling in insurance and determining eligibility for government subsidies, all in one place and in real time. since awarded september 30, 2011, cgi federal has worked diligently to develop the ffm by following a rigorous process that is customary for large i.t. projects. the ffm passed eight required technical reviews before going live on october 1st. while cgi delivered the ffm functionality required and some consumers were able to enroll on october 1, we acknowledge that issues arising in the federal exchange made the enrollment process difficult for too many american.

consequently, cgi federal's focus shifted immediately to solving consumer access and navigation processes on the exchange. the first set of issues on the exchange concerned another contractor's enterprise of daily management, or eidm function. it allows consumers to create secure accounts and serves as front door to the exchange. consumers must pass through the front door in order to intert ffm application. unfortunately, it created a bottleneck prevents vast majority of consumers from accessing the ffm. since then cms, cgi federal and other contractors have worked closely together to troubleshoot and solve this front door problem. as more consumers are gaining access through if the ffm and the increase number of transactions caused performance problems such as slow response times and data assurance issues. cgi federal is addressing these

problems through tuning, o optimization and application processes. over the past two weeks the federal exchange has steadily improved. we continue to dedicate the resources necessary to shorten wait and transaction times and improve data quality. we have confidence our ability to deliver successfully. why? because the company that i represent here today has successfully delivered some of the most complex i.t. implementations for the u.s. government including federal reporting.gov. we have partnered with cms on transformative projects like medicare.gov which has enabled 50 million beneficiaries to complete health and drug plans annually. we are widely recognized by independent partners for our expertise in i.t. soft aware an have credentials for rigorous

software. we leverage deep resources and expertise of a global workforce. i will end this testify where i began. by reinforcing cgi federal's unwavering commitment to working collaboratively with cms to improve the consumer experience. thank you. >> thank you. mr. slavett. >> chairman upton, ranking member waxman and members of the committee, good morning. my name is andy slavitt and i'm group executive vice president at optum, business unit of united health group. our qqsi, one of the contractors working in the online health care marketplaces. let me begin by saying we understand the frustration many people have felt since healthcare.gov was launched. we have again and remain accountable for the performance of our tools and our work product. i'll start by discussing our work on the data services hub.

a large and complex project that was the subject of much interest in qssi's work for the marketplace prior to the launch. simply put, the data services hub is a pipeline. it transfers data routing queries and responses between the given marketplace and various trusted data sources. specifically, a consumer interested in purchasing health insurance goes to the marketplace's web portal to fill out enrollment forms and select a plan. the consumer provides the marketplace with information, such as citizenship, which must be verified. the data services hub directs queries from the marketplace to various sources such as government databases, that can verify that information and send the information back to the marketplace. as technology pipeline the data services hub does not determine the accuracy of the information it transports, nor does it store any data.

the data services hub has performed well since the marketplace's launch. on october 1, the data services hub successfully processed more than 178,000 transactions. and it has processed millions more since. when occasional discreet bugs in the data services hub were identified, we promptly corrected them. in addition to the data services hub, qqsi also developed the eidm. a registration and access management tool used as one part of the federal marketplace's registration system. the edim tool helps the marketplace create user accounts and is being used successfully currently in at least two other cms applications. it's relevant to note that while the eidm tool is important, it is only one piece of the federal marketplace's registration system. registration components developed by other vendors

handle other critical functions, such as user interface, confirmation e-mails to users, the link that users clique on to activate their accounts and the web page users land on. all of these tools must work together seamlessly to ensure smooth registration. after the launch, healthcare dot gov was inundated by more consumers than anticipated. many of these vendors were overwhelmed including the virtual data center environment, software, database system and the hardware and our eidm tool. now, it appears one of the reasons for the high concurrent volume at the registration system was a late decision requiring consumers to register for an account before they could browse for insurance products. this may have driven higher simultaneous usage of the registration system that wouldn't have otherwise occurred if consumers could window shop

anonymously. in the days after the launch qssi worked around the clock to enhance the tool to meet this unexpected demand. as i understand it, this has largely succeeded. by october 8, even at high levels of registration, the eidm tool was processing those volumes at error rates close to displeasure. the eidm tool continues to keep pace with demand and at cms's request we're working with other vendors to plan for higher levels of peak activity. finally, qssi was one of several contractors used. and our testing role we identified errors in code that was provided to us by others. in this function, we reported back the results to cms and the relevant contractor who in tumpb was responsible for fixing coding errors or making any necessary changes. to conclude, the data services hub has performed well.

and after initial scaleability challenges, the eidm tool is now keeping up with demand. resolve any new challenges that may arise. thank you for allowing us the answer qssi's work. i'm happy to answer any questions you may have. >> thank you. ms. spellecy. >> good morning, ranking waxman and members of the committee. in that role i am the primary attorney responsible for day-to-day legal responsibilities. i appreciate the opportunity today to provide an update provided to the income verification that equifax is providing to cms to assist them in their benefit eligibility

determination requirements under the affordable care act. the equifax workforce solutions income verification solution is working as designed. since the exchanges first went live on october 1st, 20 13, we have not experienced any problems or interruptions in the processing of data to cms. we have received and responded to voluntary fiction requests regarding individual applicants from the federally facilitated marketplace as well as from state-based agencies. equifax workforce solutions tested our verification solution before the october 1, 2013 open enrollment start date to ensure that we could transmit data between our servers and the federal data hub. we performed end to end testing with the federal hub and considerable internal stress and volume testing to guarantee that we would be prepared for current and future applicant volumes. now that the federally facilitated marketplace is open, we are monitoring the flow of

verification requests from the hub to our servers and back. equifax workforce solution' role in the federally facilitated marketplace is limited. we receive an income verification request only after an applicant successfully gains access to the federal healthcare.gov or state-based marketplace website, creates a user name and establishes a security profile and then enters an online application process. equifax does not play a role in any of these steps, nor does workforce solutions play a role in identity-proofing and authentication. we are neither involved in nor do we have visibility into the eligibility decision process or downstream display and processing of benefit elections. although the majority of the verification requests to date have come through the federally facilitated marketplace, he can

equifax workforce solution is verifying income for many state-based agencies. the continuing appropriations act for 2014 included new requirements for the department of health marketplaces verify that individuals applying for coverage and seeking profit and cost-sharing reductions are, in fact, he eligible for these subsidies. equifax looks forward to sharing this with hhs as they develop guidance for verification solutions for the federal and state exchanges. since the october 1st, 2013 start date, equifax workforce solutions has exceeded the expectation of its contract to provide income verification services for those seeking insurance under the affordable

health care act. to states and other federal agencies for their eligibility reviews for government subsidies has prepared equifax workforce solutions to successfully serve cms in this new capacity. we will continue to monitor and test our interface with the cms data hub and various state agencies to ensure maximum east of -- effica cy. thank you for allowing me to testi testify. i look forward to your questions. >> can you make sure your mike is set there? >> there we go. >> good morning again, mr. chairman, congressman waxman and other distinguished members of the committee. my name is john lau and i am the contractor for cms contract in connection with the aca. thank you for the opportunity to again appear and discuss cisercs

current status of this program. the current view in the program and the current status of our work. serco's contract is to provide eligibility support services in support of the paper application processing as well as error and issue resolution regardless in the mode in which the consumer submitted them. it's important, i think, to clarify that we have no role in the development of the website. we have no role in the termination of eligibility and we have no role in health plan selection. i think there has been some confusion about that. i would like to make sure that that's clear. our primary role in the early days of this implementation is to key role into this system.

as time goes on, more of our work will entail to clear previously submitted applications for the eligibility determination process. data verification and validation of the self attested data from applicants. these are problems identified through the use of the data hub in the main system and communicated to us. the day serco successfully opened two of its four operation centers. a third will be opening next week in missouri and in about four or five weeks, the final site in oklahoma. we've had no trouble recruiting and hiring competent staff in any of our areas and have received a number of compliments from local officials and community groups about the professionalism of our recruiting efforts and outstanding ways we've onboarded

trained our people. we have instilled a sense of pride in what they're doing and our staff is highly motivated and represent an eager workforce. since the launch of the program on october 1st, we built upon our starting capacity with both staff numbers and processing efficiency. the volume of paper documents has been steadily increasing and even in a short period clearly is trending upward. this buildup has given us the opportunity to make adjustments and improve our processes as the nature of the inbound documents and workload has become clearer. about half of the documents we've received are applications and we've succeeded in keying in about half of those. the remaining half are generally applications that are missing important data and those cannot be entered directly until those problems are resolved.

we expect to be able to complete processing and entering those applications in the near future. our challenges include coping with the performance of the portal, as that is our means of entering data, just as it is for the consumer. with the relatively low volumes of applications we've received thus far, it's not presented a challenge. as i testified september 10th, serco was ready to process on 10-1 and we are processing today. and i very much look forward to your questions. thank you. >> we'll thank each and every one of you. at this point we'll move to questions for members and alternate between republicans and democrats. >> we've got to take a break. we'll be back with much more. we'll talk about what just happened in this congressional hearing and the problems with the obama care exchanges. woman: everyone in the nicu --

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all right. we've been monitoring the hearings on the rollout of the obama care website. so far we've heard cgi, one of the companies responsible for setting up healthcare.gov. cgi says the system has eight technical reviews and then, holy cow, there were problems. qssi testified there was a late add to the system that caused all the problems. we didn't have anything to do with it. equifax testified it had a very limited role in all of this, so it should not be to blame and then serco said we have absolutely no role in this, and then explained the company's primary role, which would be the processing centers. so, okay. now they're facing questions from lawmakers and the first question from congressman upton, was it ever an option to delay things? so far the answer has been no.

let's bring in our technical expert, laurie segal. >> so many cooks in the kitchen, so much so that you could point your finger anywhere you want to say what went wrong. you hear from cheryl campbell and she says these front door problem that is weren't their fault ended up creating backboar problems that potentially caused ov overwhelming problems for her contractor. we talked about this account registration process. she said because of that, they had issues. because people couldn't register and that this really didn't have anything to do with what they were in charge of. then we heard from andrew slavitt who spoke a little bit about the complexity of the site and what they called the data hub. so, essentially, when you go in and you're putting your information in there, they ping the irs and the irs comes back with your information. that's all the data hub. and he says that was working very well. then he got into what a lot of

folks seem to be talking about, that account registration. even then, carol, he said there

finger pointing right off the bat. the first witness with the contractor known as cgi, that's carol campbell, testifying that there was a problem with a function that serves as the entry portal to the website, but that function was the responsibility of another contractor known as optum qssi. a bottleneck on the site, they testified, might have been the result of a last-minute change of the government, requiring

registration before consumers could brows the site. the other two witnesses with equifax, serco essentially saying they haven't had any problems. now they're really getting into the nuts and bolts as the questions are being asked and answered, carol. >> you mentioned nuts and bolts. let's get right to the nuts and bolts and listen to testimony. the woman who is testifying right now is cheryl campbell, vice president of cgi, mainly responsible for setting up healthcare.gov, being questioned by the ranking member of this committee, henry waxman. let's listen. >> does cgi have to rewrite 5 million lines of code to fix the problems we've seen thus far? >> no, sir. i can tell you that 300 plus employees i have back in the office would -- i think they would all walk out if i told them they had to rewrite that many lines of code. >> do you believe it's going to be necessary to scrap the entire healthcare.gov system and start from scratch? >> i do not, sir.

>> so you think it will be possible for americans who want coverage by next year will be available to them? >> i do. >> why are you so confident that these problems will be fixed in time? >> as i said, we're seeing improvements day by day. we're continuing to run queries against our database, we're reviewing system logs. we're fine tuning our servers. we are analyzing the the code for anomalies. every day we're seeing where we're finding challenges in the system, in making those corrections, as you would with any system that will go live. when a system goes into production, these are the things that you would typically find after production. maybe not to the level of detail that's happened in this experience, but when a system goes live, these are the things that you typically do.

you continue to provide system builds and put performance into fine tuning to the application to make sure it continues to improve time over time. >> mr. slavitt, do you have any reason to believe problems being experienced at this launch will prevent americans from getting insurance for the coming year? >> congressman, i'm confident that the data services hub that qssi developed and the edmi registration tool are working well today and will continue to work well. >> you had problems with your part early on, but you fixed them, didn't you? >> for the first seven days, correct. >> so problems can be fixed? >> we doubled the capacity of that registration tool within seven days. >> miss campbell, did cgi system pass its test before the system went live? >> yes, it did. >> and my understanding is that

you felt the system was ready to go on october 1. is that right? >> that is correct. >> neither you nor anyone else at the table thought or made a recommendation not to go forward on october 1 because you didn't think the system was ready, is that a correct statement? >> that's a correct statement. >> mr. slavitt? >> i refer back to my earlier answer. we did not make a recommendation. we simply made everyone aware of the risks that we saw. >> misspellecy? >> no, we did not make recommendations. >> we did not either. >> thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. >> we recognize the gentlelady from tennessee. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you all for your testimony. i would like each of you to submit in writing for me hoch you have been paid to date and then how much you're being paid on retainer or either to clear up. so, if you will submit that to us for the record, that would be

wonderful. hippa compliance, were you all trained in hipp compliance prior to beginning your contract? i'll just go right down the line. miss campbell? >> yes. >> mr. slavitt? >> yes, we do extensive hippa training. >> misspellecy? >> yes. >> mr. lau? >> yes. >> did your companies meet as a group with hhs before you started the process? anyone? did your companies meet together with hhs to discuss the integration? mr. lau, go ahead. >> yes. the security people from cms and serco and others have coordinated the security. >> okay. all right. let me ask each of you a question. how many people in each of your companies have physical access to the database servers storing the enrolling information? >> zero from cgi.

>> pardon me? >> we have zero access to the database. >> zero, okay. >> i believe zero is also the answer for qssi. >> misspellecy? >> we have no access to the servers. >> about 2,000 people. >> 2,000 people have access to the database? >> through the key entry of the applications. >> okay. under hippa regs, no one is expected to have direct access to that database. under the current technology infrastructure, how many separate servers or virtual servers in the cloud are being used to host and store data for healthcare.gov? miss campbell, mr. slavitt, i think that's primarily to you. >> i don't have the exact number. >> all right. we're going to jump away and sort of analyze what's been going on in this hearing. our tech expert, laurie segall

has been doing a fabulous job with this. we heard cgi, senior vice president say the problems will be fixed and the system will be okay. do you believe her? >> you know, i will say when i'm -- i'm very excited they asked about that 5 million lines of code needing to be rewritten. they asked about that and said do we need 5 million lines of code to be rewritten in order for this to work? it takes about a day to write 100 lines of code for one software engineer. what cheryl campbell said is if i told my 300 employees they had to rewrite that much code, they would walk out. from looking at everybody kind of deflecting a little bit is the disjointed nature of trying to build something that was such a huge political agenda, such a complicated website, but the idea that there were so many cooks in the kitchen that in order to build a very good

technology site, in order to build something that's going to work, a, you have to test it. b, you have to have a lot of folks in-house, on board communicating. what we're seeing here is that there are simple failures of communication to a point where some of these folks are saying, hey, i don't know if we're really ready to go. a lot of folks knew that this wasn't really going to work. yet it was still pushed out. that's why we had so many people saying waekt get in and what's happening, and that's why this has kind of turned into such a big debacle, carol. >> i was looking for these numbers i wrote down while you were talking. you talk about cooks in the kitchen, 55 contractors were involved. five government agencies. 300 different insurers and a dozen states. you're right. lots of cooks in the kitchen. how could that possibly work? >> you know, at this point, we're seeing that it hasn't worked. it's safe to say, as we see folks kind of deflecting a little that it didn't really work. one person was working on one

technology but they weren't communicating with another contractor working on another technology and some people realized that the coding was off. so they told another contractor who was in charge of telling someone else. this is why you -- i mean, from a silicon valley perspective, successful website happens in a successful company -- even google in those beginning phases, when you're in this lean phase, identify it, take it to the top and get it fixed. here it sounds as if that simply didn't happen and now we're seeing the outcome. >> stick around. i have to take another break. we'll be back with much more in the newsroom. thing better for yourself. and better is so easy with benefiber. fiber that's taste-free, grit-free and dissolves completely. so you can feel free to add it to anything. and feel better about doing it. better it with benefiber.

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14 minutes the past the hour. still monitoring this hearing on capitol hill. trying to figure out what went so wrong with healthcare.gov. we want to check some other top stories first. 15 minutes past. president obama tells german chancellor angel merkel that they do not monitor her phone calls. possible u.s. spying based on classified information leaked by former contractor edward snowden. red sox honored a teacher killed outside a boston area high school before game one of the world series, fenway park

held a moment of silence for colleen ritzer. in prison for more than a decade for 1975 killing is getting a new trial and could be released on bond. michael skakel was convicted of killing his neighbor, martha moxley. seventh grade student parents could face charges after their son shot and killed his math teacher and wounded two classmates. the semi automatic handgun could have come from his parents' house. it's actually more common and widespread than you might think. this past may in florida, a fifth grader brought a gun to a special needs class. back in august, a preschooler brought a loaded gun. that gun was in his backpack. also last august a handgun went

off accidentally in a 5-year-old's backpack in a cafeteria in memphis. news reports often don't follow up on how these kids don't get ahold of a gun. though many of those guns come from the child's home. let's talk about that and what should be done. paul cowan is here and also analyst kelly -- i was shocked that so many 4 and 5-year-olds were found with guns in their backpacks. 4 and 5-year-olds getting ahold of guns? >> it's impossible, right, to comprehend? any gun owner, anyone who has guns in their home needs to take responsibility and needs to do everything possible to make sure those guns are not getting in the hands of children. we obviously have, in some states, laws on the books that if the parents knowingly allowed a child to get access to a foor arm, they could be criminally charged. but there's a lot more that some

gun-control advocates say needs to be done to prevent this from happening. 4-year-old, 5-year-old from taking a gun in a backpack. >> kelly said that magic word, knowingly. knowingly is the word. knowingly allowed. should the law be changed? you don't want your 5-year-old ever to get ahold of a gun. so no parent is going to come out and say, yeah, i let him have access to the gun. >> no, but circumstantial evidence could prove that ready access was available. if a child can get his hands on a loaded weapon automatically there's an indication it wasn't be stored in a proper manner, in my view. 27 states have adopted laws in the aftermath of sandy hook tragedy, child act protection laws which specifically require parents to lock down their weapons if children are present in the house. now some of them have pretty mild penalty provisions, but

there seems to be a movement across the united states now to enact more laws in this area. >> and, kelly, i wanted to ask you specifically about this nevada case. the kid was 12, right? >> yeah. >> he committed suicide after killing his math teacher and shooting two other students. his parents are said to be devastated. they had no idea something like this could happen. then you have to ask the question, maybe let's just assume they were irresponsible and the kid got ahold of the gun when he shouldn't have. but you don't know that you're -- often, you don't know your kid could kill. >> exactly, carol. i think that this push, right, to blame the parents, in some ways it makes us feel better, right? okay. it must have been the parents' fault. they didn't do enough. it certainly couldn't happen in our household. lisa belkin of huffington post wrote a powerful column talking about research she did years ago, reading depositions from parents whose children were involved in previous school shootings and she said the

parents did everything right. they kept computer in the open, kept the gun secured, looked in the kid's backpack to look at papers so they knew what was going on and they didn't know what was going on. this push to blame the parents, is it really going to stop future school shootings or is it just going to make us feel better? that's the big question. >> paul, i'll pose that question to you in a different way. there are so many guns in this country, so many guns. a third of the country have guns, own guns. so sometimes kids are going to get ahold of those guns because accidents do happen. so how culpable should parents really be? >> we have these laws which are being passed. even before that happened virtually every state has laws relating to, we call it reckless endangerment in some states. if you allow a child to have access to something that the child can hurt him or herself with or somebody else with, that already can be criminal conduct. but you have to look at what

precisely the storage practices are with the parent. there's lots of laws on the books that can be enforced if the parents are storing guns in an open, unsafe way. a lot of those laws have not been enforced in the past. with all the killing with children in schools it's time to crack down and enforce those laws that are already on the book. >> paul callan, kelly wallace, thank you. appreciate it. >> thank you. we'll be back with me. max and penny kept our bookstore

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hearing, supposed to look into the problems of the obama care health care exchanges. this is congressman palone, democrat of new jersey. he just accused this hearing, basically run by republicans, because republicans control this committee and the house. he just accused the entire committee of holding a monkey court because republicans intimated that health care information would be shared with others when people enter these health care exchanges. i would like you to listen to that exchange. >> yielding. i am trying to tell you that the problem here -- >> protecting american citizens. >> -- pre-existing conditions. >> legitimate concern. >> hippa doesn't apply. you're asked about your address, your date of birth. you're not asked health information. why are we going down this path? because you are trying to scare people so they don't apply and so, therefore, the legislation gets delayed or the affordable care act gets defunded or it's

repealed. that's all it is, hoping people won't apply. there are millions of people out there, over 20 million, that are going on this site. they are going to apply and they are ultimately going to be able to enroll. in fact, many of them already have enrolled. i think my republican colleagues forget that a lot of people are enrolling through state exchanges rather than the federal exchange. and if it wasn't for the fact that many republican governors, including my own from new jersey, had agreed to set up state exchanges, then we wouldn't be putting so much burden on the federal system. but i just want to give you some examples. in new york and washington, 30,000 people have been enrolled in coverage. in oregon over 50,000 people have enrolled. in california, over 100,000 have started -- >> all right. we're going to jump out of this. you can see it's getting a little heated. this hearing will go on for quite some time. we'll continue to monitor this hearing for you. stay with cnn throughout the day. just to remind you, the

president is expected to make some sort of statement at 10:35 eastern time. he will talk about immigration. he certainly will not be talking about obama care and the problems associated with healthcare.gov. the presidential podium is set up and the president will make a statement about immigration reform. jake tapper will be covering that part of the political story today. other stories this morning for you, critics are blasting fast food giant mcdonald's, accusing the company of directing some of its lowest paid employees to agencies like food stamps and medicaid. they go to mcresources. one employee called mcdonald's help line and recorded what happened. >> mcresource line. how can i help you? >> hi. i'm nancy. i wanted more information about the help that i need. >> i can give you a number that will be helpful.

you can ask about things like food pantries. are you on s.n.a.p.? supplemental nutritional assistance, food stamps. do you have kids? are you single? >> yes, yes. >> yeah. you would most likely be eligible for s.n.a.p. benefits. you know, it's a federal program. federal money comes down to the states and the states administer it. >> what about like the doctor and -- >> did you try to get on medicaid? medicaid is a federal program. it's health program for adults and children. let me find the number that you can call in chicago to like find help with all of your questions. >> so, i want to bring in that employee who made the phone call. her name is nancy salgado. she works at mcdonald's in chicago. good morning, nancy. >> good morning. >> when you called that hotline, what were you expecting?

>> i was expecting to get some of the help i needed, you know, with my bills and day-to-day needs, you know. >> in what way? why would mcdonald's be responsible for that? >> it was a hotline that said they could help us. so i was expecting to see what help they provided. i never expected them to redirect me to government assistance. >> what did you expect? >> i expected, you know, a way for them to say, you know, we can provide with this and help you with your needs, you know. but honestly i wasn't expecting to get directed to any government assistance. >> i know you have worked for mcdonald's over ten years and you haven't had a raise in all that time and you have, what, three children? >> i have two kids. >> two kids. and how much do you get paid? >> i get paid $8.25.

>> so you make below the poverty level. >> correct. >> right. and are you fighting for mcdonald's to raise wages for fast food workers across the country? >> yes, i am. >> okay. i just wanted to be transparent so that everybody knows that. and the first question people always ask, when they find out about your endeavor, is why not just get another job? >> i believe that we deserve better paid because we work hard and we multitask. and our jobs now are like $8.25 everywhere you go. and i enjoy my job but i think i should get paid better. >> mcdonald's has responded to this recording and i want to read to you what the company says. this is a quote from the company. the mcresource line is intended to be a free confidential service to help employees and their families to get answers to a variety of questions or provide resources on a variety of topics including housing,

child care, transportation, grief, elder care, education and more. you weren't really asking questions about any of those things. so i guess mcdonald's is saying we did what we could for her. we told her that there are other resources to help. did that comfort you at all? >> it didn't, because my first question was like, you know, i need help with my -- you know how winter is hitting. do you have any kids? can you apply for s.n.a.p. and medicaid. they never went further with any other questions. they just told me, you need government assistance. so they're realizing that they're paying their employees a really low wage, which not fair. >> we wish a lot of luck to you. nancy salgado, thank you for joining me this morning. i appreciate it. >> thank you for having me. right now at white house,

president obama is expected to call for lawmakers to complete measures aimed at strengthening america's borders and offer a pathway to citizenship for the millions who are here illegally. we'll go live to the president as soon as he begins speaking. let's go to washington and jake tapper. good morning, jake. >> good morning, carol, how are you? >> i'm good. it's interesting that we'll be hearing about immigration on the day that the hearings are being held for obama care exchanges. >> are you trying to suggest that they're trying to change the topic? >> of course not. >> reporter: president obama will pick on a group that's held in a pretty dismal view on most americans, those holding up immigration reform. the partial government shutdown. the president will be calling

for bipartisan work. how likely is that post shutdown? >> that's one thing that the president said he would like to get done by the end of the year, passing a sbunlth farm bill and that's comprehensive immigration reform. the thinking inside the white house is that, hey, they passed it out of the senate. that was promising. getting out of the house, that will be the challenge. i talked to administration officials who believe it's really in the republican party's interest to get this passed out of the house. demographics for the gop are not promising, heading into next year's mid term elections and certainly not heading into the presidential elections. they look at the fact that mitt romney was trounced when it comes to latino voters and they feel like it's in the republican party's self interest to get immigration reform passed. not everybody takes the macro view, jake.

a lot of them are looking at what's going on inside their district. there may not be a ground support for passing immigration reform. some of the principles he would like to see passed in immigration reform. one of those is a path to citizenship, which is very much at odds in terms of what they would like to get passed out of the house. darrell issa, republican lawmaker, chairman of the house oversight committee has talked about his own bill that he is going to be putting forward. however, that talks about a path to legal status. a long way to go. >> what's the feeling inside the white house in terms of whether or not the shutdown and the divide that that brought out. versus the tea party. a lot of the same people on either side when it comes to immigration reform that were at odds within the republican

caucus on the fwogovernment shutdown and attempts to -- does the president think that individuals -- that that fight is likely to help matters when it comes to immigration reform or hurt them? >> they certainly think it's going to help in terms of passing a budget. they certainly believe and they point to what statements -- the statements that have been made by top republican congressional leaders like mitch mcconnell, saying there won't be another shutdown. they feel that's a pretty strong indication they can get through this budget process the next several months but that doesn't lend any hope to the immigration process. you know, they sort of point back to these demographic shaiss of the republican party and say if they don't pass reform, how bad will that be for the republican party heading into mid term elections and especially in 2016. there's also pressure for the president as well. latino leaders were pressing for

this in his first term, something he pledged to do when he was running for president in 2008, all those years ago. he still hasn't gotten that done. that's why the president has said he wants to put the pressure on congress to get this done by the end of the year. that is such a daunting task when you look at all the issues with obama care. and then just getting a budget through the process that they said they would like to do in the next several months. not to mention a farm bill, something that is normally passed in congress. no question about it, jake. lots of bad blood. poor relations between the white house and republicans in the house and that does not bode well for immigration reform. to be quite frank, they would like to get it done. i'm not sure how hopeful or optimistic they think it would like to get done at this point. >> while we wait for the president, let's take a look at two new polls gauging american support for immigration reform.

the polls are from sbs news from this week. more than three-quarters of those polled say they favored a path for citizenship if they met certain requirements such as passing criminal background checks, learning english and paying backtaxes. but more americans think securing the nation's border should be a higher priority than the issue of addressing the status of immigrats. let's take a listen to what he said. >> sure. >> my response is that we still -- that we're the architects of this immigration reform want you to pass legislation, house representatives to pass legislation. we can sit down, work this out. 11 million people living in the shadows in this country is not an acceptable situation. we urge you to address this

issue with us together and we respect your views. but to do nothing, i think, is a grave disservice to the american people and sooner or later, we will have to address this issue in a comprehensive fashion. >> gloria, that's president -- i'm sorry. that's former senator, former presidential candidate john mccain, speaking to house republicans, basically pleading with them to pass immigration reform. these are some of the same divisions we have been seeing when it comes to government shutdown. the question is, this struggle with the government shutdown help john boehner and those who want to do something on immigration reform, or hurt? >> i'm going to be a little counterintuitive here. i believe, actually, this may help john boehner get something through the house to a certain degree. senator mccain was responding to a comment by republican labrador who said it would be crazy for

the house to enter into negotiations with the president on immigration. and that's his position. i think, look, the hell no caucus fought a fight that resulted in a decline in popularity for the republican party as a whole. if they want to become a presidential party and not just a congressional majority in the house, they need to do something about hispanic voters. you've talked to mitt romney about it. i've talked to mitt romney about it. one of the things he blames the most for his presidential loss is the fact that the republican party did not reach out to hispanic voters. john mccain suffered that. that same fate as well when he ran for the presidency. so boehner, who tends to be a national republican, who lost this last fight very openly and very blatantly by siding with this one part of his caucus just may decide that he needs to do something for the party as a whole. i'm not saying he's going to

pass a comprehensive bill that was passed in the senate. but i do believe that if you look at these polls, people want border security and an eventual path to citizenship. and i think there's a way to try to get that out of the house. and he may have to go without a majority of his majority. >> gloria, one of the things i hear from republicans on the hill is they look at obama care. and they look at the way president obama has delayed certain provisions, provided waivers for others from obama care and they say how do we know that president obama wouldn't do the same thing when it comes to immigration reform? >> right. >> how do we know that he wouldn't ultimately take less of a provision to secure the border and more seriously provision to a path for citizenship? >> that's a real concern. that's why i believe you should never pass these huge pieces of legislation on a lop-sided vote with just the democratic party

or republican party. the reason there is such skepticism about the president's health care plan is that it was passed by democrats, period. if you're going to do something on immigration reform in which the entire country has an interest and a concern and is a stakeholder in it, what you need to do is look for something that's passed by both parties so that, in fact, everybody has a stake in it. we haven't been able to do that on anything, hardly anything in the last decade or so. i think we really need to kind of look at immigration reform as something that everybody has a stake in. and if the president can't get everything he got in the senate bill, fine. start with border security, which is more important. and then, you know, have a timetable. move on to other things. and make it realistic and make it so that everybody has a buy-in. i think that's so important and

that's what's been missing. >> of course, gloria, as you and i have discussed president obama in the senate when it came to health care reform did make a big effort. ultimately it was futile. >> we're going to take a very quick break. we're watching the white house, waiting for president obama to speak. we'll bring it to you live when it happens and we'll be right back. patient. i spend long hours with her checking her heart rate, administering her medication, and just making her comfortable. one night britta told me about a tradition in denmark, "when a person dies," she said, "someone must open the window so the soul can depart." i smiled and squeezed her hand. "not tonight, britta. not tonight." [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson.

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waiting for your wrinkle cream to work? neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair has the fastest retinol formula. to visibly reduce fine lines and wrinkles in just one week. neutrogena®. we're watching the white house east room right now where individuals will be standing behind president obama during his address on immigration reform are slowly starting to file in. when they are set and in their places, president obama will come out and we'll bring you his

comments live. i want to bring in two contributors to ccnn, anna navaro and maria cardona. the promise that president obama made to -- >> that was pretty good, jake. >> it was a broken promise. he did not bring up immigration reform. given the fact that president obama has been making an issue -- we'll come to your answer after. while we're peeking at the door of the east room, we expect president obama to come out any second. ana, why don't you just start and i'll cut you off rudely as soon as he pokes his head out. >> it won't be the first time, my friend. it was certainly a wig issue right before the elections and i'll tell you it's part of what led to president obama doing the --

>> here he is, ana. sorry. hold that thought. here is president obama and vice president joe biden to talk about immigration reform. >> thank you. thank you so much. thank you very much. good morning. and welcome to the white house. today i'm here with leaders from business, from labor, faith communities who are united around one goal, finishing the job of fixing a broken immigration system. this is not just an idea whose time has come, this is an idea that's been around for years now. leaders, like all of you, have worked together with republicans and democrats in this town, in good faith, for years to try to get this done.

and this is the moment when we should be able to finally get the job done. now it's no secret that the american people haven't seen much out of washington that they like these days. the shutdown and the threat of the first default in more than 200 years inflicted real pain on our businesses and on families across the country. and it was a completely unnecessary self-inflicted room with real costs to real people and it can never happen again. but even with the shutdown over and the threat of default eliminated, democrats and republicans still have some really big disagreements. there are some disfundamentally different views about how we should move forward on certain issues. on the other hand, as i said the day after the shutdown ended, that's no reason that we shouldn't be able to work together on the things that we do agree on.

we should be able to work together on a responsible budget that invests in the things that we need to grow our economy and create jobs even as we maintain fiscal discipline. we ought to be able to create a farm bill that helps crops grow. and we should pass immigration reform. pass immigration reform. it's good for our economy. it's good for our national security. it's good for our people and we should do it this year. everybody knows that our current immigration system is broken. across the political spectrum, people understand that. we've known it for years. it's not smart invite some of

the brightest minds from around the world to study here and then not let them start businesses here. we send them back to their home countries to start businesses and invent products some place else. it's not fair to businesses and middle class families who play by the rules when we allow companies that are trying to undercut the rules work in the shadow economy to hire folks at lower wages, with no benefits or no overtime so that somehow they get a competitive edge for breaking the rules. it doesn't make sense. it doesn't make sense to have 11 million people who are in this country illegally, without any incentive or any way for them to come out of the shadows, get right with the law, meet their responsibilities.

and permit their families then to move ahead. it's not smart. it's not fair. it doesn't make sense. we have kicked this particular can down the road for too long. now the good news is this year the senate has already passed an immigration reform bill by a wide, bipartisan majority that addressed only these issues. it's a bill that would continue to strengthen our borders. it would level the playing field if they knowingly hire undocume undocumented workers. legal system so that even as we train those workers for the future, we are attracting those from beyond our borders to. make sure everybody plays by the

rules a pathway to earn citizenship, one that includes passing a background check, learning english, paying taxes, paying a penalty, getting in line behind everyone who is trying to come here the right way. so it had all the component parts. it didn't have everything i wanted. it didn't have everything that anybody wanted. but it addressed the core challenges of how we create an immigration system that is fair, that is just, that is true to our traditions as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants and that's passed through the senate by a bipartisan majority. here's what we also know. independent economists have shown that if the senate bill

became law over the next two decades, our economy would grow by $1.4 trillion more than it would if we don't pass the law. it would reduce our deficits by nearly $1 trillion. so this isn't just the right thing to do. it's the smart thing to do. securing our borders, modernizing our legal immigration system, providing a pathway to earn legalized citizenship, growing our economy, strengthening our middle class, reducing our deficits. that's what common sense immigration reform will do. now, obviously, just because something is smart and fair and good for the economy and fiscally responsible and supported by business and labor and the evangelical community and many republicans, that does not mean that it will actually get done. this is washington, after all. so, everything tends to be

viewed through a political prism. and everybody has been looking at the politics of this. and i know that there are some folks in this town who primed to think if obama is for it, then i'm against it. but, you know, i would remind everybody that my republican predecessor was also for it when he proposed reforms like this almost a decade ago. and i joined with 23 senate republicans back then to support that reform. i would remind you that this reform won more than a dozen republican votes in the senate in june. i'm not running for office again. i just bheev it's the rigree be thing to do. i just believe it's the right thing to do.

they should take a closer look at the polls. the american people support this. it's not something they reject. they support it. everybody wins if we work together to get this done. if there's a good reason not to pass this common sense reform, i haven't heard it. so, anyone still standing in the way of this bipartisan reform should at least have to explain why. a clear majority of the american people think it's the right thing to do. now, how do we move forward? democratic leaders have introduced a bill in the house that is similar to the bipartisan senate bill. so now it's up to republicans in the house to decide whether reform becomes a reality or not. i do know -- and this is good

news -- that many of them agree that we need to fix our broken immigration system across these areas that we just discussed. and what i've said to them -- and i'll repeat today, if house republicans have new and different, additional ideas for how we should move forward, then we want to hear them. i'll be listening. i know that democrats and republicans in the senate, those who voted for immigration reform already, are eager to hear those additional ideas. but what we can't do is just sweep the problem under the rug one more time. leave it for somebody else to solve some time in the future. you know, rather than create problems, let's prove to the american people that washington can actually solve some problems. this reform comes as close to anything we've got to a law that will benefit everybody now and

far into the future. so let's see if we can get this done. and let's see if we can get it done this year. we've got the time to do it. republicans in the house, including the speaker, have said we should act. so, let's not wait. it doesn't get easier to just put it off. let's do it now. let's not delay. let's get this done. let's do it in a bipartisan fashion. those of you who are here today, i want to say just one last thing. and that is thank you. thank you for your persistence. i want to thank you for your activism. i want to thank you for your passion and your heart when it comes to this issue.

and i want to tell you, you have to keep it up. keep putting the pressure on all of us to get this done. there will be moments -- there are always moments like this in big reform where you meet resistance and the press will tl declare something dead. it's not going to happen. but that can be overcome. and i have to say, joe, as i look out at this room, these don't look like people who are easily deterred. >> i don't think so. >> they don't look like folks who are going to give up. you look fired up to make the next push. and whether you're a republican or a democrat or an independent, i want you to keep working and i'm going to be right next to you to make sure we get immigration reform done. it is time! let's go get it done. thank you very much, everybody.

all right. president obama making the case for immigration reform in the east room of the white house, surrounded not only by staffers and vice president biden, but supporters of immigration reform, a coalition across the political spectrum. jim acosta, senior white house correspondent for cnn is on the lawn. jim, i didn't hear anything from the president that was new other than i did hear him reaffirm this new language we're hearing, instead of a pathway to citizenship, a pathway to earn citizenship, new-ish terminology, talking about how those who get in line, this imfwrags reform that was passed in the senate would have to learn english and get in the

back of the line. was this just an attempt to put pressure on the house or is there something more substantive that will come out of the white house today? >> reporter: i don't think anything more substantive. i would expect you have heard him say this before as well. what we did hear from the president is laying out the political case, some of the political arguments we'll hear in the next several months. essentially, he is putting it on house republicans, which sounds like the debate over the shutdown and the potential debt default. it's not really the senate's fault. they passed an immigration bill. they got it out of the senate by a bipartisan -- with wide bipartisan support. it's the house that's the issue here and we heard the president laying that out, talking about it during his remarks. the other thing we heard him say, jake, this is an issue that's been lingering out there for some time. it's