the bank bailout czar released an interesting report yesterday and today he's answering questions on capitol hill. i'm heidi collins. cnn "newsroom" continues with tony harris. >> stories driving the headlines today in the cnn newsroom. neil barofsky billions of your, your tax dollars. the man tracking the government's $700 billion bailout program testifying right now. plus the search for private first class bowe bergdahl. president obama intensifying his fight for health care reform. the president speaks next hour. our white house correspondent suzanne malveaux joining us live. good morning, everyone. i'm tony harrises and you're in

the "cnn newsroom." you know, it is your money and you certainly have a right to know if it is being wasted. we're talking about the $700 billion aimed at prompting banks, wall street firms and auto companies. on the top cop in charge of tracking all that dough says he can't get a straight answer about whether or how it is being spent. can that be true? live pictures now with the hearing going on right now on capitol hill. neil barofsky, that is not neil, giving the house oversight panel an earful. brianna keilar is on capitol hill and christine romans is in new york. brianna, let's start with you. what is neil barofsky saying to lawmakers today? >> he is telling them he's not only worried some of the $700 billion might be wasted and we might never know because there

aren't these mechanisms in place, but he also said something a little more alarming. he said some of it could be scammed from the government and he thinks there needs to be some fire walls in place to prevent things like insider trading. now, also, he was questioned, tony, about that huge number that made news overnight. that $27.3 trillion. that is a number, you see him right there now. he said this is the total amount of money that has been out there for the federal rescue of the financial system. so every federal dollar that has gone towards this, it is a number that department of treasury officials hit back on saying it was inflated and barofsky responded to that just a short time ago. >> if the numbers weren't inflated, it was us who inflated them. as far as the suggestion that we're trying to shock and awe

with this number, again, i think we made very clear in this report in black and white what this number means. we explain that this number involves programs that have, yes, terminated. we explain that some of these numbers are clatteralized. all that set forth in black and white. one thing that is very clear, the number is basically just the accumulation of what these 50 separate programs are and what the total amount of financial support that the government has committed to. >> barofsky said the department of treasury should be getting a lot of information from all these banks that are getting bailout funds, your taxpayer dollars and some players like aig and citigroup who have gotten a whole lot of government money and they have had to be accountable for it. he says every bank that is getting bailout funds should be accountable and further more just being a special investigator that he, or special inspector general, rather, that his people asked these banks for information and without having

any real power to get this information he said they got it. no reason why treasury shouldn't be able to get this information. >> brianna, stand by, i have a couple other questions and you just made an interesting point of the powers of barofsky. he has broad powers here. but, christine romans, this $23.7 trillion, can you, can you help us figure this out? >> sure, we've been saying for months, tony, the efforts under way here are trillions of dollars. the $700 billion bailout is the money for the banking system. beyond that, you have the fdic guarantee of debt that these financial companies are issuing. you have lots of different other programs out there from top to bottom, it's $23.7 trillion. now, some of those as barofsky pointed ow, are back in. we got all that money back with

$4 million in interest. taxpayers have had $6 billion in dividend payments and $70 billion sent back from the treasury relief program. 23.7 is how you measure it all up, but all of that money isn't at risk at the very same moment. that's a way to look at it. >> such an easy number to polites is and i think you will agree with that, christine. let's think for a moment about the fdic. every friday we get a notice about banks that are closing. what we often don't report is that in many cases those banks, the assets of those banks are then sold off in some cases to hedge funds and other groups. that's part of the equation here, as well, right? >> that's part of the equation and so many moving parts. i mean, tony, our viewers have got to know that the financial system, the banking system is big and complicated and important, boring but important,

i always say. the banking system. in some cases not so boring. not just borrowing money and taking in deposits and lending it out. it is very, very dynamic. one thing about this, as well. borofsky's team asked 364 banks what they're doing with the money and 84% of the banks said the bank bailout money had allowed them to lend money to customers. 80%, among other things they did with the money. the banks have long said, many told me, as well. they said in congressional testimony, we are lending money, we're just not lending as much as we used to because we don't have as many credit worthy borrowers. >> brianna, has anyone asked the question, i'm assuming that they have, okay, you're not, treasury is not being forthcoming with what they know, what it knows about the way these banks -- do we know from barofsky's

institutions how these financial institutions are spending the money? >> he said, we'll get into that, tony, as we go through that. you mention that he has these broad powers. but what he was saying is that if treasury were to have in place, hey, we're giving you money you need to do this and dot your is and cross your ts, the treasury could have a lot of power to do this and just in his institution he found these to be pretty forthcoming. we'll get more into that, tony. but he's saying the treasury wouldn't have difficulty doing that and that's not really an excuse. >> well, christine, two questions. it seems to me, first of all, do we know what these banks are doing with this money and why on earth wouldn't treasury be asking? >> we know what cig and bank of america are doing with that money because they're looking at every penny coming in and out because treasury is very involved in those banks. we don't know line for line what is happening at those other banks and, tony, good point

here. in congress in the law that it passed, didn't put these strings on there. remember last fall how chaotic it was. ever since then treasury was trying to get a hold of how much transparency and how much they should be asking for and congress has been asking for more and more accountability but congress didn't give it to them in the first place. >> ladies, appreciate it so much. christine y think we're talking to you again next hour. appreciate it. this discussion of where the money is going is certainly not over. the top cop over t.a.r.p. is talking tough to the obama administration and josh levs has that in the next half hour. positive predictions from the federal xhe from ben bernanke. he is updating the financial committee. bernanke says the fed will be able to reel in. he is also pledging to keep the

key bank lending rate at a record low for an extended period. economists predict rates will stay near zero through the rest of this year. the nation's leading lender to small businesses says it may still have to file for bankruptcy, that's despite a deal cit group reached just yesterday. they agreed to give cit a $3 billion loan so the company would have time to restructure its existing debts but cit says the money might not be enough because it neetds to pay off $7 billion in debt maturing over the next year. the health care fight heats up. and he is pushing democrats to move the legislation forward. mr. obama meets with key house democrats today and he is expected to make brief remarks on health care. next hour, yesterday he accused republicans of putting politics ahead of policy. >> just the other day, one republican senator said and i'm quoting him now, if we're able

to stop obama on this, it will be his waterloo. it will break him. think about that. this isn't about me. this isn't about politics. this is about a health care system that is breaking america's families. breaking america's businesses and breaking america's economy. >> house republicans say the bill under consideration now just doesn't cut it. >> what we're seeing currently is a bipartisan majority has formed against the current proposa proposal. there's no question, we are at a crossroads as far as health care reform is concerned in this congress. >> that means we're getting close here to something, maybe nothing. all right, white house correspondent suzanne malveaux joining us live. the president still has a tough sell and yesterday we were talking about the discussion about whether he's too out in front on this but looks like all

his chips are in on this. >> think about it, we'll see the president again today in the rose garden in about an hour or so. a daily occurrence of trying to cover president bush. that didn't work for him when the daily drum beat whether he was out on these town hall meetings or at the white house trying to push this. still uncertain if this is going to work but white house aides believe get him out there, get him out there every day very publicly to put more pressure on members of congress and bring more attention to members of congress that this is a very important issue. he had an interview on "today" show and he was asked about the fact, yes, is this a political thing? he said, no, it's not politics. this is not some sort of washington sport. he's very much invested in this. he did acknowledge that the nonpartisan group what they said about the plans that are on the table. that they do not lower the cost of health care and they actually

will contribute to the federal deficit. what do you do about these plans? he was asked to address that. he said, yes, i know what the cbo is talking about. we still have a ways to go. i want you to take a listen. >> i know exactly what they're saying and what they're saying is that the cost savings that are in those bills right now, some of them may actually work, but they're not enough to offset the additional costs of bringing in 46 million new people. >> so, tony, they're not yet there. they're still negotiating. the president acknowledging they're not yet there. one of the ideas at least on the house side they're talking about is consider a surtax and those who make 280 thoum$280,000 a ye plus. anyone making $280,000 or less does not want to see them taxed.

but he seemed to open the door, the possibility of those making more than that that they would be taxed in some sort of way because they haven't found the savings that they need to compensate for those people who they say are going to get health care insurance. so, obviously, still a lot of rangling going on behind the scenes and, of course, that public relations campaign very public, very consistent. we'll see him in about an hour, tony. >> if you can put the politics aside, i know it's difficult. it sounds like we're really now starting to get to the core of this thing. how you pay for it and the possible options. suzanne, appreciate it. see you next hour. we expect to hear from the president on health care in a little over an hour and scheduled to make brief remarks around 12:15 eastern time. live coverage right here in the cnn newsroom and president obama holds a news conference tomorrow night. tune in at 7:00 eastern for moment of truth, countdown to "black in america 2" and

followed by primetime president's news conference at 8:00 and "black in america 2" at 9:00 p.m. eastern time. reforming the health care system, we can all agree, will require changes. here are the questions for you today. what are you willing to give up? what are you willing to give up to help the millions of underinsured? are you willing to pay higher taxes? switch to a government-sponsored plan? have less generous coverage? what are you willing to give up? we want to hear from you. go to our oblog, cnn.com/tony and leave us a comment. an american soldier captured by the taliban. what the military is doing to find him.

good morning, i'm rob marciano. you're looking at a picture out of fenix. good morning west coast. little movement for you in the heart of the monsoon season, meaning when we talk about heat there, not always a dry heat. they get a little bit of moisture and gets a little bit steamy. dew point in the lower 70s and light rain and get up to 100 degrees and definitely get the steam bath going. right now the radaron the phoenix side showing action already. that will get into higher gear this afternoon and see flash flooding in spots and certainly there threat for the dust storms

outside of those thunderstorms always, always a threat. showers and thunderstorms moving through the little rock area and back just south of dallas and these are rough earlier and starting to calm down, but definitely some damage done and probably some colorado and kansas last night as that system moved through. meanwhile, more tranquill, cool rains across the northeast again as the spring doesn't want to end with temperatures well below average, but i think things will change. the pattern will shift and get this high off shore and that will allow more warm and humid air in the places that typically see it and that will feel more like the end of july as opposed to the end of may. that's a quick check of weather.

. so an all-out search is under way right now in afghanistan for an american soldier. cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr has the latest. >> reporter: private first class bowe bergdahl held captive by the taliban for three weeks clearly feared missing. >> i miss them every day that

i'm gone. i miss them and i'm afraid that i might never see them again. >> our commanders are sparing no effort to find this young soldier. and i always would say my personal reaction was one of disgust at the exploitation of this young man. >> reporter: hundreds of troops have fanned out across afghanistan's eastern province since he was captured june 30th. u.s. military officials will confirm few details of the urgent hunt, but have acknowledged they have coordened off areas, conducted searches and are using drones to watch overhead for any signs of the 23-year-old soldier being moved. the u.s. intelligence community also continues to monitor cell phone traffic in the region, according to officials. admiral mike mullein, chairman of the joint chief of staff just returned from the region. >> having been with the forces, in fact, who are conducting the operations to recover lim or to

find him is -- they are extensive, vast, on it 24/7. >> reporter: the u.s. has been distributing these pamphlets in the region seeking information. one reading, if you do not release the u.s. soldier, then you will be hunted. but the biggest clues may come from this 28-minute tape. >> we teach soldiers that if they can get on video, they should. because it gives the united states proof of life. >> reporter: the u.s. military is now analyzing each frame for clues about who is holding bergdahl and where he is being held. >> barbara starr live at the pentagon with us now. barbara, i'm curious, what kind of training do soldiers get in order to prepare for something like this? >> different levels of training, depending on what your job is. if you are a pilot and if you are a member of special operation team, commando teams,

you get very intensive training. it is just like the movies. they teach you to evade capture. how to survive, if you are tortured. how to really handle yourself in captivity because those kinds of troops are at very high risk. the regular infantry guys really aren't at that high of risk. they all work together in the field and in large groups and not expected, really, that any of them would be taken into captivity. their training, very basic. how to conduct yourself and how to avoid the code of conduct and how to not say anything to put your fellow soldiers at risk and how to keep your eye open if there is an opportunity to escape. >> barbara starr at the pentagon, thank you. >> sure. this is the deadliest month for u.s. forces in afghanistan. yesterday a roadside bomb killed four more american troops sending the death toll to a record. already this month 30 americans have died fighting the war in afghanistan. a georgia community honors one

of its own killed in afghanistan with the death of sergeant brock. the war hit home for the community as it has in towns and cities across america. hundreds turned out for his funeral this past weekend in statesboro, georgia. these are from the "statesboro herald." our entire show team was moved by these photos. family, friends and complete strangers packed the church, lined the streets to honor the fallen soldier. many just wanted to show their appreciation for a young man who made the ultimate sacrifice for his community and his country. gecko vo: you see, it's not just telling people geico could save 'em hundreds on car insurance. it's actually doing it.

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california has a tentative, tentative budget deal and it doesn't raise taxes? really. okay, dan simon in is san francisco. dan, how do you close a $20 billion plus budget deficit without raising taxes. are all the state offices closing? >> well, good question, tony, but, you know, this is being characterized as a significant retooling of state government. as you said, they're not going to raise taxes with this new budget. they are making substantial cuts. we're talking about $15 billion in cuts. obviously, a lot of people are going to be affected by this. who is going to be affected the most? when you look at the system, you're dotalking about the education system. they're going to lose $9 billion, $6 billion from public education and $3 billion from the university system. it's really unclear how they're

going to manage that shortfall, fewer classes or smaller classes or less faculty, that really remains to be seen. the devil is always in the details. another program taking a huge hit is medical. california's medicaid program, provides coverage to 6 million californians, families, the elderly and disabled. $1.3 billion cut to medical. no doubt some people will lose their health coverage. this deal was struck yesterday evening and governor schwarzenegger came out with his fellow lawmakers and tried to put his best face on. let's listen to what the governor had to say. >> this is a budget that will have no tax increases. a budget that is cutting spendi spending. we deal with the entire $26 billion deficit, around $50 billion in cuts that we're making. very happy about protecting

education and education can be fully refunded and also very happy that in this budget we make government more efishant and also we're cutting the waste, fraud and abuse in some of the programs. and, so, all around, i think this is really, really great accomplishment. >> yeah, the governor says he's happy that he is saving education. what he is referring to is eventually when the state economy rebounds, the education cuts will go back to where they were, tony. $9 billion will be refunded to education. not sure if you can call this good news, but schwarzenegger at one point had a proposed total cutting off the state's welfare program, it will remain largely in tact and also there have been a lot of speculation and a lot of concern that many state parks would close, but most of those will remain open, tony. >> we had a lot of fun with the ious, not fun if you're receiving one out there in california. what is the status of those

ious? >> a lot of vendors getting ious and a lot of people getting tax refunds. if you look at the numbers here, $153,000 ious went out worth $182 million. for the time being the ious will continue. the state controller will evaluate it. the other thing we're waiting to see what will happen with all the furlough that state workers take three furlough days each month. those furlough will continue for the foreseeable future and state workers not happy about that at all. >> dan simon, good to see you. let's talk about the t.a.r.p. and the watchdog over t.a.r.p. neil barofsky is looking at it and josh is looking through the report. you have it, josh? 260 pages. and the question is, you know, why hasn't treasury been more forthcoming with information

about how the money is being spent? >> that's what it gets to. we could drop all our stories today and i could read the 260 pages. basically takes a team, right, to beat through this. this is what we're doing and i want you to see some of the key parts to it. i pulled out a quote here that summarizes what we're talking about here. taxpayers are not being told what most of the t.a.r.p. recipients are doing with their money, have still not been told how much their substantial investments are worth and will not be told the full details of how their money is being invested. he's saying, tony, the very credibility of t.a.r.p. will depend on whether treasury will commit to t.a.r.p. he goes on to say, look, i've given a bunch of recommendations saying, you should provide all this information and he feels the treasury just not doing it. one of his recommendations which is pretty much the main one that gets to it.

the first one that he wants to see require all t.a.r.p. recipients to report on the actual use of t.a.r.p. funds and not what they would be able to do otherwise. him saying, look, there are basics of what is happening with all this money. >> can you give me an audit? can you give me a receipt or something here? >> this is no holds bar. this is powerful stuff. >> it is. it doesn't seem like too much to ask for. any response from the treasury department to the report from barofsky. >> i got off the phone with them. they sent me a crop copy of a l. i want to help everyone understand what treasury is saying. this is their argument here. they're saying it's not possible to save if the vestment of t.a.r.p. dollars resulted in particular, activities by the recipient. show us where the t.a.r.p. money is going doesn't make sense. banks are spending money in lots of different places. how do you know where the

t.a.r.p. money is? let's toss in one more quote from treasury. we will seek to collect and provide useful information that can help determine if we are making progress toward restoring financial stability. >> what am i missing? >> they're saying, look, we do believe it will be good to follow what happens with the money but their argument is banks have other arguments, too. they can't say i'm spending t.a.r.p. money here and other money over here. that's what happened to this t.a.r.p. money. >> does t.a.r.p. money go into a big pot? >> he agrees with you. the inspector general is saying, you know what, i turned to hundreds of banks and they told me, here's where the t.a.r.p. money is going. >> just tell us, come on. all right, josh. >> everyone wants to know. >> show me the money. >> i was waiting for one of us to say it and i knew it wasn't going to be me. the economy is a big concern on wall street this week. the fed chief is talking about it and so is corporate america,

so, where do we stand and what do today's earnings reports show? susan lisovicz is at the new york stock exchange with details. susan, where do you want to start here? with the earnings report or fed chief? >> we have to talk about a corporate earnings because there are a whole lot of them. i would call this wall street's version of super tuesday. dozens of big companies reporting, including 5 of the dow 30 companies. quarlterly earnings, you're comparing the second quarter of '09 to the second quarter of '08. the second quarter of '08 was so much better than what we've seen this year. the unemployment rate was 5.6% compared to 9%. what we're seeing is large declines year over year in sales and oftentimes you're seeing profits driven by things such as cost cutting. but companies prepared us for that, that's why we'll say a lot of companies have beaten the estimates. case in point, caterpillar.

caterpillars make tractors and back hoes and quarterly profits tumbled 66%. better than the street estimated. still made a whole lot of money. c.a.t. raised its outlook for the year. credit markets are improving and starting to see the effects of stimulus around the world. so, think of those shovel-ready projects. >> okay! >> up 8%. >> now, i'm just saying that is glass half full for a change. i like that. all right, so there is a market, obviously, for these tractors, good, good, good, good. the airlines, that is still a troubled sector and, look, the airlines are having a difficult time selling tickets right now, suzen . >> understandably because of that 9.5% unemployment rate. case in point, continental airlines lost over $200 million in the last three months. that was worse than the street expected. it missed the estimates and its plans to make up for it, how? by cutting its workforce. 1,700 jobs and nickel diming us.

those of us who are flying. it will raise the first bag fee from $15 to $20 if you do it at the airport. do it online and you should actually book your fare online because it is raising the phone reservation by another $5. so, and, it will look for more measures, additional measures to sort of boost its revenue. think of other creative ways to nickel and dime us, unfortunately. >> that's just wonderful. if you want us to buy tickets, there's the remedy, raise the price on everything. >> that's right. we're thinking of reclining your chair is going to come at a cost or plugging in your ipod. where are we going with this? >> this is nuts. i have to get a quick market check from you. >> dow is up seventh day in a row and nasdaq giving back a little. >> all right, susan, see you next hour, thank you. >> you're welcome. >> check out our special report, america's money crisis at

cnnmoney.com. we'll take a quick break.

taxing the welty to pay for health care reform.

an idea under fire. senior correspondent dana bash live from capitol hill. dana, before i get to my frustration on all of this, what is going on right now with the health care tax plan? >> well, with regard to negotiations, which are ongoing, they are really reaching kind of a high decibel level and, obviously, going on behind closed doors as we speak inside the senate finance committee. i can tell you that whole idea of a surtax to pay for this costly reform, that will not fly in the senate. that is, really, tony, what they have been gapling with. this group of bipartisan negotiators and last week and the week before it became pretty clear because of opposition from the president and some democrats the key way that they had in their plan to pay for reform and that would have been to tax for the first time, tax employer-based benefits. that is no longer on the table. so, they're actually, we're told, looking at another alternative to that.

kind of interesting. this is a proposal now out there by senator john kerry of massachusetts and his idea would be to instead of tax the employers, employer-based benefits, to tax the insurance companies and the insurance companies, specifically the plans that are the most costly, the so-called cadillac plans. that is something, we're told, that is being discussed as an alternative way, not just to pay for reform, but also to reach that other very important goal of the president, that is to reduce medical costs, tony. >> that's interesting. possibly taxing the insurance companies. >> possibly. >> possibly. a tougher sale is happening in the house where we have some democrats who aren't necessarily on board, is that correct? >> that's correct. not on board, particularly with this issue of a surcharge or a tax on the wealthiest individuals in this country to pay for health reform. it is definitely not flying with conservative democrats and it is causing big problems. i talked to one of those conservative democrats and actually a freshman from the

state of virginia who explained why he thinks it's a bad idea of what his party over in the house is trying to do. >> i think it's premature to be talking about a tax increase when we haven't identified in my opinion every saving to be had and then, secondly, the way the surcharge was described, it would have an impact not only on people over a certain income level, but an impact on a lot of small businesses. at the very least, i want to see that threshold raised. >> impact on small businesses. that is what we're hearing not just from republicans, but that was a democrat there and that's why the house speaker raised the idea of a compromise and that would be to raise the threshold, if you will, and say that nobody, at least no families making less than a million dollars a year would be taxed in order to pay for health benefits. but i can tell you, that's just one camp. there is another camp of blue dog democrats in the president's own party who are basically holding up a vote in a very key

commity and the president will meet with those blue dog conservative democrats today. their big issue is the fact that they don't think their party's plan does enough to reduce medical costs. so they say it's not really worth reforming if we don't do that. >> okay, dana. so many questions, but i think we have a little bit of time to sort through all of it. dana bash on capitol hill, thanks, dana. >> thanks, tony. we expect to hear from president buobama in 30 minutes. live coverage right here on cnn. president obama holds a primetime news conference tomorrow night, tune in to cnn at 7:00 eastern for "moment of truth" countdown to "black in america 2" that is followed by live coverage of the president's news conference at 8:00 p.m. eastern and an all new "black in america 2" beginning at 9:00. reforming the health care system will require change. everyone understands that. we are asking you, what are you

willing to give up to help the millions of un and underinsured. are you willing to pay higher taxes? you willing to switch to a government-sponsored plan and have a less generous plan? we want to hear from you. just go to our blog, cnn.com/tony and leave us a comment. what would you be willing to give up for everyone so that they can be insured? elizabeth cohen takes a look at the possibilities in the next hour of "cnn newsroom. ". plus, these fighter jets right here designed in the 1980s have never flown in iraq or afghanistan? why is the senate considering spending almost $2 billion to buy more? we are watching the fight over the f-22s. palm pre with its revolutionary web os. they're running multiple live applications at the same time. - ( thunder and rain ) - 3 million are using the simply everything plan. each is saving $1200

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did i see kyra there? is that kyra in the newsroom? "cnn newsroom" with kyra phillips at 1:00 eastern time. no votes on supreme court nomin nominee sonia sotomayor. it is pushed to next tuesday. democrats hoped for a quick vote following last week's confirmation hearings and a vote

is still expected before congress goes on recess next month. rob marciano. >> hey, man. >> you're back! >> what's up? >> how you doing? >> i'm doing great. i had a vacation. i haven't had a long one of those in a long time. >> i don't know how to spell that thing. >> i put the blackberry down. >> did you unplug? >> i didn't have service and i certainly wasn't going to pay extra for it. >> i would tell you i missed you, but you'd blog it or something. good to see you. >> just because i got the post-vacation blues kind of reaching celesteerally here. what you're looking at is an image from the nasa telescope. this is jupiter, i know you don't see the colors that you normally see, but this guy right here is a disruption in the atmosphere and they have a lot of atmosphere in jupiter, biggest one in the solar system. they thought a comet or

something hit that. we have a total solar eclipse, solar eclipse of the sun and because in july the sun is so far away and moon pretty close, longer than what we'd see in 100 years. this is the place where you're going to see it where it goes from yell tee black. you may notice this is no where near the u.s. >> yeah. >> that's the unfortunate part of it. maybe a little sliver of it. but folks will see, millions of people going to see this thing. in shanghai, weather may not cooperate. that may be the down part. good to see you, tony. >> stick around a while. glad you got rested and unplugging. unplugging is the key to this deal. fewer black men are getting married. it seems the trend is to just live together. what one community is doing to get more black men to say i do.

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a marriage in the black community is on a 40-year downward spiral. many say the trend is seriously weakening black america, both socially and economically. that has prompted one woman to take on this crisis head-on. her fight, becoming a national crusade. cnn special correspondent, soledad o'brien, reports. >> we want the children to see the power and devotion of marriage. >> reporter: joyful,

celebrations of love. >> thank you. praise. >> reporter: leaps of faith and vows of commitment renewed. scenes all too rare in the black community. >> i'm going to ask all of our married couples to please stand. >> reporter: that's exactly why she created national black marriage day, which promotes the benefits of saying "i do. "very >> when two interlocking forces. are joined together, they cannot be separated. >> reporter: why do you think marriage has become such a big problem in the black community? >> i think it's really become a problem because a lot of people have bought into the hype that marriage doesn't matter, that marriage is just a piece of paper, that you can get the same thing, the same benefits, or privileges bly just living together, because living together is becoming more popular and i think that's a false perception. >> reporter: nisa's wedded bliss foundation has been dedicated to saving black marriages across the country since 2006. in that time, nisa says she's

helped more than 1,500 couples in crisis, and she boasts a success rate of nearly 90%. remarkable, when you consider marriages have been in free-fall in the black community for decades. in 1963, more than 60% of black households were headed by married couples. today, it's less than half that. >> we have the lowest marriage rates, the highest out-of-wedlock childbirth rates, when white america has a cold, black america has a pneumonia. >> reporter: it's an epidemic that she is battling with her marriage boot camp. she and teaching partner host an eight-week course called basic training for couples. >> a lot of us have grown up seeing bad marriages or negative marriages, and you can see, well, i really don't want my marriage to be like that, i want to it be different.

but a lot of our kids grow up today and they don't see any marriages. >> reporter: it's free and open to any struggling couple. those considering marriage, those brand new to marriage. and those close to divorce, like tina and james barnes. they've turned to nisa as their last resort. >> it's gotten to the point where i've just thrown my hands up. if things don't change, i can't continue to be in this environment. >> it would be hard to say this a month ago, but i can honestly say it now, that i'm not willing to settle for a husband that i know loves me but is afraid to show it or can't talk to me. >> reporter: for tina and james, it's a last chance, and the beginning of a long and uncertain journey. >> don't miss the premiere of the first of two nights of an jewel new black in, in event, "black in america 2" starting tomorrow night on cnn. man: it seems, only a minute ago, we were kids

with little responsibility, zero accountability. our parents telling us what to do... how to behave. now, all of a sudden, we're there, in that role, at that time in our lives where everyone and everything is depending on us. it's a scary feeling, but it's also a good one. especially when i'm confident someone's there for me.

president obama pushing back against critics and pushing democrats to act on health care reform. the president is speaking out again today as the fight over health care heats up. we will have live coverage of his remarks expected shortly. white house correspondent, suzanne malveaux, joining us now. suzanne, what is the strategy of niece health care events as we

set the stage for another one coming up from the rose garden in a couple minutes? >> reporter: another one, tony, another one. the strategy, obviously to put the president out there front and center. there's a two-pronged strategy, arm twisting going with members of his own party. some house democrats will be here later in the afternoon as well as trying to cajole some republicans. but then there's the very public campaign, and that is what we're going to see in the rose garden, the president coming out. i talked to white house aides, they will not say much different than what we heard yesterday or saturday or much of last week or moving forward here. he's still just going to maintain this very consistent message, trying to push pressure on members of congress to come up with something, some sort of way, of being able to create health care reform, to have more people be insured. and at the same time to -- not to add to the federal deficit. this is a tough one for him, tony, because even he

acknowledged this morning on the "today" show, the congressional budget office, nonpartner, said they have not come up with yet a way of actually increasing health care coverage and reducing health care costs at the same time. and so the president said earlier this morning, he said, we still have a ways to go. we've got to come up with a way to save more money in order to make this thing happen, so, this is the constant drumbeat, and the timing of this, all very important, too, because he's going to have the prime-time press conference tomorrow. he wants to be able to announce, make some sort of announcement, that there is progress. >> yeah. >> reporter: he may not be able to make any kind of announcements that decisions are made, but certainly the incremental steps that are going towards the goal, hopefully the goal here, getting something by august, if not by august, the end of the year. >> i'm fun with the idea that the president doing these appearances again and again and again. as we were saying yesterday and again last hour, you know, the president really wants this and he really is all-in on this, but

i'm curious. has he given any indication of what he may be open to by way of compromise? >> reporter: sure. there's one of these plans that the house democrats have come up with, the idea that if you make $280,000 a year, there should be a surtax that you would actually be contributing to paying for some of the health care costs, the increases that they would see, to save some money here. he is not ruled that out. he said people who are making $250,000 and below, he doesn't want them to have their taxes raised. but there's a formulation, dms not yet worked out, wealthier people picking up the burden and paying for this. he doesn't consider it punishing the rich, but, rather, being parlt of a community. he wants to squeeze, figuring out ways to cut cost when it comes to delivery of health care. >> right. >> reporter: hospitals, doctors,

all of them being more efficient, that those are some ways of generating some money. >> yeah. the problem with that, at least to this point, the cbo, hasn't really been scoring that, and that's a bit of the problem in closing the gap here. at the white house, suzanne malveaux, and maybe we'll get a chance to talk to you after the president's comments which might be more like 12:30 as opposed to 12:15. of course, we will have the president's remarks, more like 12:30, we're hearing, live here in the "cnn newsroom." president obama holds a prime-time news conference tomorrow night, tune in early, though, 7:00 p.m. eastern, moment of truth, countdown to "black in america 2," that will be followed by the president's press conference at 8:00 and a all-new "black in america 2" at 9:00 p.m. no vote today on sonia sotomayor. republicans succeeded in getting a delay of today's planned vote. it is pushed to next tuesday.

democrats had hoped for a quick vote following last week's confirmation hearings. a full senate vote is still expected before congress goes on recess next month. california might be on the brink of saying adios to the iou u.s. lawmakers have reached a budget compromise that won't raise taxes, but as they say, you can't please all the people all the time. lilly kim with cnn san francisco affiliate, kgo, reports. >> obviously, you can see that we're very happy, because we came to a basic agreement, a budget agreement. >> reporter: the plan contains no new taxes. instead, it aims to close california's $26 bl deficit through $15 billion in cuts. democrats insist despite that, they were able to protect much of education and the state's most vulnerable. >> there isn't a whole lot of good news in this budget. we have cut. and we have cut in many areas that matter to real people. but i think we have done so

responsibly. >> we wanted to make sure that during this time of economic recession, when people need services more, that we did not eliminate the -- the safety net for california. >> reporter: trimming the rest of the deficit, about $11 billion of the $25 billion shortfall will come through accelerating the collection of certain taxes and taking gas tax and redevelopment money from local governments. the league of california cities says such a move is illegal and they're going to fight it. >> there's already court decisions that establish precedent that it is illegal, and in spite of those court decisions, the legislature's going to feel it anyway. >> reporter: the big five, however, insist their plan is legal, and they'll be wasting no time persuading their colleagues in the senate and assembly to approve it. >> there will be more work to be done in the coming year. the recession's not over, but this was the right step to take today, and i'm glad to work together with my partners here to make sure that we remain fiscally solvent. >> well, you know, some say this

could help ease some of the budget cuts. a tax on pot! p-o-t, pot! seriously. today, oakland, california, votes on a measure to tax medical marijuana, which is legal in the state. officials estimate it could raise about $300,000, but advocates say if a newly introduced bill to legalize all marijuana were to pass, the money could quadruple. president obama is getting ready to address the issue of health care reform at the white house this hour. on capitol hill, the fight is on over how to pay for it all. i'll get the latest from our correspondents on capitol hill and -- and -- the medical beat. less able to absorb calcium. he recommended citracal. it's a different kind of calcium. calcium citrate. with vitamin d... for unsurpassed absorption, to nourish your bones.

all right. the debate over health care reform is getting down to some really crucial issues now, like how to pay for it. nothing more critical than that, and then what it means for you and for me. lawmakers are battling over a plan to tax the wealthy. joining us to talk about that is senior congressional dana bash on capitol hill and senior medical correspondent, elizabeth cohen, here in the studio with me. dana, let me start with you. i was intrigued, i was intrigued last hour, when you mentioned there is a plan being flopeted by john kerry. senator kerry, that would tax insurance companies, correct? >> reporter: uh-huh. that's right. that is something that we believe is possibly being discussed in this room behind me. i want you to just kind of -- >> where are you? >> reporter: set the scene. let me show you, you see the crowd of reporters over there.

>> right. >> reporter: they are crowded around senator kent conrad, he's one of seven members of this bipartisan negotiating team trying to come up with this plan. i think it's not overstating it to say that kent conrad and other senators meeting behind closed doors, that's senator max bauc baucus' room. they are meeting day and flight. they are going to have marathon is exes all day. our intrepid congressional reporter is meeting with kent conrad to see what they have decided in this morning's meetings. but certainly senator conrad told us yesterday, that this idea, this concept, instead of taxing -- directly taxing people's benefits -- >> right, right. >> reporter: america's benefits, which is not popular with unions and many democrats and it's something that president obama campaigned against, the idea would potentially be to tax insurance companies directly.

not just all insurance companies, but the idea is to the most costly benefit packages, the so-called cadillac packages. >> right. >> reporter: that is something being quietly floated, or at least senator kerry hoped it would be quietly floated. but it's gotten out that is something he's talking about. i've tried to figure out if it is something viable when it comes to the white house. whether this is something the president thinks he can swallow and not break his campaign pledge, we're not sure yet. >> stay there. i have a thought on the gaggle behind you. let's bring in our senior medical correspondent, elizabeth cohen, what are your thoughts behind this, the idea that's being floated, being talked about? >> uh-huh. >> of taxing health care insurance companies? >> it's intriguing, because on the surface, i think many americans would say, sure, the insurance companies -- >> big insurance companies. >> bloated and -- sure, go ahead, be my guest. you have to consider, what happens if they tax insurance companies, i suppose there is a possibility that insurance companies would then say, well,

if you're going to tax us, then we need to pass along that cost to our customers. so, we're going to charge more for the policies we sell or not offer quite as generous benefit packages. so it is possible that people can suffer from that, or at least that's the argument that the insurance companies would make. >> crystal clear at this point where we have reached the point where we're just trying to figure out how to pay for it. someone is going to get taxed. >>'s i like to say, there are no health care reform fairies out there. there have been so many ideas floated out there how to do it. let's run through it. there are various ideas floated. you can tax the rich. you have to define the rich. a lot of people like that idea. you can tax people that drink sodas. tax the sodas. you can tax the benefits that employees get from their employers. >> let's do it differently. the idea of taxing the rich, that's still being talked about, right? >> right. >> we don't know where that will end up. >> correct. >> the soda tax appears to come

off the table. it appears the senate was never in favor of the idea, but the house was more in favor of it. that seems to have come off the table. >> you never know when something is going to go back on the able. i want to add that. >> if you get a health care policy worth $10,000 then maybe some of that would be taxed as if it were income. tax the uninsured, which i know that sounds a little weird. like we're trying to take care of the uninsured, because -- >> can i stop you for a second? >> sure. >> we were talking with senator conrad and working in a bipartisan way trying to get something done here. dana bash has senator conrad, and terrific. >> reporter: unfortunately i had senator conrad, but this shows you how urgent and flurried and furious these talks were, he literally was standing here to talk for a minute, but he had to go away for another meeting. i can tell you this is an idea that you were talking about that is absolutely being discussed behind closed doors. >> yes. >> reporter: but one thing you and elizabeth cohen did mention is a big question mark, which

is, you know, what happens if they do go ahead and tax insurance companies. >> right. >> reporter: how do they guarantee that those insurance companies don't just turn around and pass on that cost to -- >> right, right. >> reporter: -- the consumer. to average, everyday americans. that is obviously something that is going to be discussed. and, again, you know, big picture, what they are trying to do, day in and day out behind these doors here, in this very, very small group of senators, these bipartisan negotiators, what they're trying to do is pay for a trillion dollar price tag. >> hammer it out. can i tell you what i love about this? can i tell you what we love about this? we live in a cable news world, and we know that there is all kind of noise around this, okay? and demint, senator demint talking about waterloo. anyway, what is encouraging about what you're describing here, you are talking about people who are in the room, doing the work. please, i'm going to ask you to keep us focused.

in these two hours at least. keep us focused on the real work being done and not the noise? >> reporter: i will. i think it's also important to mention to our viewers and they realize, it's not just democrats in the room. it's also republicans. republicans and democrats who have been working for months and this pace has been stepped up enormously in the past couple of weeks, even in the past couple of days. >> yeah. >> reporter: to get a bipartisan agreement. that is still going on in that room behind me. >> dana, elizabeth has a question for you. >> hey, dana. >> reporter: okay. >> you know i'm a total outsider to capitol hill, i don't really know much about it. but i'll ask you as an expert. as an outsider, this looks relatively unusual that you have this sort of very small group, republicans and democrats, in a room together, hammering it out privately, saying let's try to make this happen. is it unusual? >> reporter: no, that's a great question. i don't think that people see or hear this, you know, through the noise that you -- that people often hear with, you know, one side entrenched, hitting another side, which is a lot of what we heard yesterday. when you had the political arm

of the republican party, the rnc chairman, coming out and really hitting the president and the president frankly i think delighting in the politics of hitting right back at the republicans. but you're absolutely right. beyond that, particularly in the united states senate, there are a core group of bipartisan senators who have been really since day one of the president's administration, knowing that this is coming down the pike, they have been working very, very hard. it's not so much happening in the house, which is much more partisan atmosphere, but in the senate, "a," because of the desire to get something done that's bipartisan, and, "b," because of the need. because most people realize that there are enough democrats from conservative states who will have a very hard time voting for something that isn't bipartisan, that they know it's not going to happen unless, you know, you have "ds" and "rs" so to speak on the same bill, so that's another reason why you have been seeing this work going on. unclear how long it will last. >> right. >> reporter: let's be clear. unclear how long it will take to

happen, but it is happening. >> you said something very important there, and elizabeth can pick up on the point, the real need that's out there. elizabeth, we're talking about that need with you a little later. you have a portrait of a person who is in a real bind right now, and could really use some health care reform that helped her and her family. >> right. i think sometimes with all this political back-and-forth, we forget, why are we reforming health care? >> yes. >> the reason flick million people lack health insurance, so later in this hour i'm going to bring you the story of a woman who had a great job, got laid off. lost her insurance, a month later she got breast cancer. so, i'll be bringing you her story later in the hour. >> yeah. >> or answering the question -- or asking the question, i should say, how much are we willing to give up in order to help people like her? those of us who have insurance, how much are we willing to give up to help people who don't? >> okay. so, here's what you do, you just go to our blog. that's the question. it is cnnnewsroom/tony. we're doing good work here.

if we can just stay focused on the real work that's going on and not all that noise. thanks, elizabeth. >> i think it's interesting that people have been fighting are sitting in a room together. >> sitting in a room together. and thanks to our senior congressional correspondent, dana bash. the obama administration missing its deadline on the policy about terror suspects. one key part lays out the white house plan for shutting gown the guantanamo bay prison. another part deals with interrogation policy. the delay is raising serious questions about whether the president will make good on his promise to close gitmo by january. senior officials insist they are still on track to shut down the facility as planned. and all-out search under way right now in afghanistan for an american soldier captured by the taliban. the american military said it will spare no effort to find private first class bow bergdahl. his parents and folks in idaho are urging them to keep the plans. he was captured in patika

province in southeastern, afghanistan, a couple days ago he showed up in this tam ban video. president obama getting ready to address the issue of health care reform in the white house at about 12:30 p.m. eastern live. we'll bring you his comments live. if we don't act, medical bills will wipe out their savings. if we don't act, she'll be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. and he won't get the chemotherapy he needs. if we don't act, health care costs will rise 70%.

and he'll have to cut benefits for his employees. but we can act. the president and congress have a plan to lower your costs and stop denials for pre-existing conditions. it's time to act.

very quickly we want you to get you to our iran desk. we understand there are some developments out of tehran. our reza sayah is there. and we're getting word of some kind of gathering, a rally? what do we make of it at this point? >> yeah, tony, sources tell the iran desk within the past couple of hours there were people attempting to gather at a major square in downtown tehran, and sources telling us they were met with a huge security force presence. this happening in tehran, one eyewitness saying there was about 300 to 400 security forces gathered there. another one saying 500 to 600 security forces, many with batons and clubs. there were some reports of clashes. we are working to confirm those reports. there was a lot of buzz that there was going to be protests today, because this is the anniversary in 1952.

one of the most dramatic pieces of video that's coming in. let's go ahead and take a look at it if we can. this video appears to be security forces shooting in the direction of protesters. >> oh! >> we don't know the date of this video or where exactly it is in tehran. but you see there. >> yeah. >> what appears to be a security officer with a suit and another one with a uniform. you see some gunshots, and then if we fast-forward to the video, we see people who are shooting this video cheering, because at some point these security officers run away. there you see some people who are shooting it cheering for opposition supporters because the security forces run away. then the camera pans and then you see this. >> oh, man. >> you see what appears to be a protester hurt. we don't know if he's shot. if he is shot, we don't know who

shot him, but there are lots of reports that these security forces are using guns. they deny it. but this piece of video, in to the iran desk today, these corroborate, appears to corroborate some of those claims that security forces have guns and sometimes they do shoot at unarmed protesters. >> right. and then we just don't know the exact date of when that was actually shot, correct? >> yes. we do not. >> hey, can i ask you one more quick question here? i'm trying to understand. something, it feels to me, is bubbling in iran and in tehran. it gets back to the gathering today. what is happening? i know there were -- there were the friday prayers and some statements from former president rafsanjani, seeming to suggest you know what, this really isn't over. the supreme leader, you may want to declare that this is over, but it really isn't over. >> no question. i mean, something's been bubble

for the past few weeks. friday prayers, rafsanjani, the former president, a key figure in the opposition movement, what he said gave this opposition movement -- >> yeah, yeah. >> -- a lot of energy, a lot of momentum. many in the establishment, the hardline clerics, wants rafsanjani to go there and shut the door on the opposition movement. tell everyone to move along. he didn't do that. he was very critical of the leadership there in iran and that gave a boost to the movement. commit looks like the opposition is using any opportunity to come back out in the streets. >> yes. >> there's lots of anniversaries and big dates on the calendar. this was another one, the anniversary of a demonstration back in 1952. they tried to use it again to come out. so far it looks like security forces have shut the door on them today. but, clearly, things are not over. and as you said -- >> absolutely. >> -- a lot of things bubbling in iran right now. >> okay, our reza sayah for it. appreciate it. thanks for keeping us on the mark on this story.

still to come in the "newsroom" -- billions are at stake over the fight of the future of a fighter jet. why is there such disagreement over whether the f-22 is needed?

so what do you think?

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now for a look at the big board. three hours into the trading day. as you can see, the dow is off of session highs. flat. positive, two points. and the nasdaq is -- joe, what was that, down 14? all right, nasdaq is down 10. so, a mixed day for stocks. we're following the numbers throughout the day with susan lisovicz right here in the "newsroom." some positive comments about the economy from federal reserve chairman ben bernanke. he's updating the financial services committee on capitol hill. he has said the economy is showing signs of stabilization, but he cautions the improvement is uncertain and is likely to be gradual. >> the recovery is expected to be gradual in 2010 with some acceleration of activity in 2011. although the unemployment rate is projected to peak at the end of this year, the projected declines in 2010 and 2011 would still leave unemployment well above the participants' views of the longer-run, sustainable

rate. all participants expected inflation will be somewhat lower this year than in recent years. you wonder where all the money goes? we're talking about the $700 billion of your tax dollars earmarked to prop up banks and wall street firms and auto companies. well, the top cop in charge of tracking all that dough tells an oversight committee he can't get a straight answer of how it is being spend. >> if the numbers are unflateed, then it was the government itself that inflated them, not us. secondly, as far as the suggestion that we are trying to shock and awe with this number, again, i think that we've made very clear in this report, in black and white, what this number means. we explain that this number involves programs that, yes, have terminated. we explain that there are collateral -- that some of these numbers are collateralized, that there is collateral. all that is set forth in black and white. but one thing that is very clear -- the number is basically just the accumulation of what these 50 separate programs are and what the total amount of financial

support that the government has committed to. >> christine roams, the idea that you can't find out how the money is being spent, that just feels like this kind of parallel universe stuff. i can't tell you how all this money is being spent. >> well, look, he's talking about the -- the number he's talking about there is $23.7 trillion. he's not talking about the $700 billion bank bailout, he's looking at the whole universe of loans, guarantees, promises, backstops that the government has made over the past seven or eight months and he comes up with this grand total of $23.7 trillion. the treasury has pushed back, saying it's distorted and inflated. some of the programs aren't in existence. some of that money has been paid back with interest, quite frankly. so, there's a little side show on that $23.7 trillion figure. treasury pointing out that they've -- the taxpayers have received $6 billion in dividend

payments and $200 million in interest payments and haven't lost a dime in any of the debt that's been issued and backed by the fdic. so, that's an interesting little thing happening there. >> can i bring you back to the t.a.r.p.? >> sure. let's go back to t.a.r.p. >> $787 billion -- >> no, that's the stimulus! that's the stimulus, $787 billion is the stimulus, $700 billion is the t.a.r.p. you're forgiven. it's crazy, isn't it? >> don't forgive me. flog me for this. the numbers are insane. does the treasury really know how this money is being spent and just doesn't want to say so? >> well, barofsky, the bailout cop that you just showed, he says there's a lot that could go wrong with the bailout. because treasury is not providing the transparens that they'd like to see. there's pretty good transparency on aig, citi, bank of america, they are as one newspaper called it, the walking wounded. they've essentially been taken over by treasury at some point or had big cash infusions, so they had to report exactly what they are doing in terms of

lending. but there isn't a means by which that we know exactly what's happening every dollar that's gone in to the t.a.r.p. banks. >> isn't it an odd it? >> that's what barofsky is trying do. he asked 364 t.a.r.p. recipients what are you doing with the money? some 80% of them have said we've used to it help our lending, but he also points out the testimony -- 2 1/2 hours of testimony, by the way, so far, still going on. he pointed out and said one bank said they intended to loan money and one bank called in the line of credit. they couldn't loan the money. they had to pay off the first bank. in some cases where they were intending to loan the money, they couldn't, because they were trying to stay in business and pay off their debts. it shows how complicated it has been for the banks the past few months. >> your mom sends you to the store to buy groceries and you only have $5 and you can't account for $15. explain that to your mom. hello! good to see you, christine, thank you. sorry. a battle over the f-22 fighter jets, the senate armed

services committee voting now on funding for the military aircraft that has not performed a single mission in either war, afghanistan or iraq. live now to our pentagon correspondent, chris lawrence, in washington. chris, what's going on here? what's this fight all about? >> tony, it's sort of a showdown on high noon. they are voting right now. it all comes down to about $2 billion. one side wants to spend that money to build about seven more of these f-22s. they say this employees thousands of workers across the country. and in this economy, how can you even think about putting these people out of work? on the other side, you've got president obama and the pentagon saying, we don't want the money. we don't need any more of these jets, and we don't want to build them. we want to put the money somewhere else. there is a fierce fight going on, and it doesn't break down along normal lines. you've got republicans backing the president. and some democrats lining up to fight him. >> we put that many jobs at risk.

not because the industry is failing. not because it's a bad piece of aircraft. but because the secretary of defense and the administration have decided this program isn't worthy of our support. so, explain to those 90,000 people once they lose their jobs, get laid off -- and they will. >> maybe i ask my colleagues, would you ask yourselves why the f-22 has never flown over iraq or afghanistan? it's been in production for nearly five years. it's never flown over iraq or afghanistan. and i want to emphasize, i think it's an important fighter. we are building 187 of them. the question before this body is whether we continue to build more? >> yeah, some people say there have been more battles over the f-22 than with the f-22. it's just designed more for dogfights, aerial dogfights, not for these kind of missions. but other people will say, you know, we didn't know 30 years ago we'd be fighting the kind of

wars we are now, and these planes take so long to plan and build, that to cut it off now means we may be unprepared for threats we don't know about 15, 20 years from now, tony? >> yeah, you know, chris, what's next? >> well, it all depends on this vote. president obama has said if they put this money in, he will exercise his veto power. it would be the first of his presidency. >> yeah, yeah. >> he says he will not let it go through. if it doesn't, these plants, this plane is built and shipped in -- through about 44 states. >> right, right. >> spread out. you're going to have a lot of people affect ed. we talked to a single mom who said, you know, when they stop building the f-22, she's probably going to lose her job. so, there is going to be a short-term effect there for the next few years. they have another fighter jet, the f-35, which is kind of the new one that they're all kind of staking their claim to, that's coming on. that will ramp up production in a few years, but it will take a few years for it to get to the

point where some of those jobs can, you know, be compensated. >> chris, stay here just a second. joe, what were you telling me? the amendment will pass, not official, but it looks like the amendment will pass. and the money will be taken out. >> yep. >> okay. chris, we'll let you follow that story, and maybe you can pop back up with a quick update for us. >> sure. >> chris lawrence for us at the pentagon. thanks, chris. what would you be willing to give up so your less fortunate neighbor does have health care? and, yeah, we know it's a loaded question. we asked it that way on purpose. we will tackle that question with our senior medical correspondent, elizabeth cohen, in just a moment.

all right. we told you just a moment ago that the senate armed services committee was voting now on funding for a military aircraft. there you see it there, the f-22. to actually -- want an amendment to strip out funding for the f-22 by a vote of 58-40, the amendment passes, stripping that money out of the defense bill for the f-22. again, this is an aircraft that has not flown a single mission in afghanistan or in iraq. you know that the president and the defense secretary did not want the money. and they carried the day by a

vote of 58-40, the amendment passes, and the money comes out of a bigger defense bill for the f-22 fighter jet. what happens in terms of jobs in the 40-plus states where the f-22 is built is still unknown. we will continue to track that story for you. all right, you got good health insurance? well, great. now, are you willing to pay more to help cover those who don't? our senior medical correspondent, elizabeth cohen, is back to talk us through this story. and this is fascinating. we've got a profile, a case study, here to examine. >> that's right. because the big question is how do we insure the 46 million americans who don't have insurance, and who is going to sort of pay for that? >> yes. >> are you and i paying for that? who is paying for that? but first before we talk about who is going to pay for that, let's look at what "that" is. here's the story of a woman, you look at her and think, golly, there for the grace of god go i. she had a great job. she got laid off. and then she got breast cancer.

>> reporter: in early 2008, life was going great for pamela rincech, she had a good job and was about to get married. then in march of 2008, the plant where she had worked for more than 20 years in sair society sa, florida, shut down and she lost her job and with it her employer-paid health insurance. >> i was upset, but i thought it would be all right. >> reporter: but two months later, an even bigger bombshell. >> i found out i had breast cancer. >> reporter: the government stimulus bill helped her pay for c.o.b.r.a., which allows her to keep her employer's insurance, but only for a limited period of time, and that insurance doesn't pay for everything. she is $20,000 in debt because of her medical expenses. one doctor has refused to see her until she pays her bills. when people don't have health insurance, they often end up here, in the emergency room, and that costs all of us. it's one of the major reasons why insurance premiums have

skyrocketed. >> in many respects, we all are paying for the uninsured. those who don't have health insurance are actually impacting those who do. >> reporter: and despite efforts from the president, congress, and others -- >> i think there's no question that it is likely to get worse before it gets better. >> reporter: as for pamela, she's done with her chemotherapy, and for now she's cancer free, but more surgeries lie ahead. >> i just try to keep a positive attitude. >> well, keep a positive attitude. what are we going to have to ultimately do to help a woman like that in her time of real kneeled and desperation? taxes, someone's going to have to pay for this. >> right. it could end up affecting lots of americans in various markets. >> how do we feel about that? >> that's what's interesting. we sort of talked earlier about how, in fact, it may impact all of us in some way, shape, or form. but it's interesting, people seem to be of two minds for

helping people. i think everybody looks at her and says, golly, we've got to help her. we've got to do what we can. and all sorts of polls show that people feel for people like her, but when it comes down to it, polls and studies also show that people are concerned that health care reform is going to affect them in some bad way. for example, this is a cnn poll that was recently done. we asked if obama's health care plan passes, would your family be better off, worse off, or about the same? and it's interesting that more than a third of the people not they would be worse off. and so that makes you think how enthusiastic are people going to be about health care reform if they feel like their family's going to be worse off. how enthusiastic will people be about helping the uninsured if they feel like their own family will suffer? >> just, boy, we are in the heat of this debate now. just interesting point of views from all sides. elizabeth -- >> can i give you another interesting statistic? we've got time for that? >> yeah. >> there was another question in the cnn poll, we also asked if the obama health care plan was

passed the amount you would pay for medical care would increase, decrease, or stay the same. this, i think, is hugely telling. more than half the people said, gosh, if obama's health care plan passes, i'm going to be paying more for my medical care, so, again, it makes you wonder how enthusiastic are people truly about helping the uninsured if they fear that their own medical care is going to cost more? these are sort of the questions that are facing us as we move forward with health care reform. >> terrific, stuff, elizabeth. see you tomorrow. we are continuing our focus on health care reform tomorrow. we are taking a look at how other countries pay for health care. and many of you have responded to our blog question. thank you so much. what, if anything, are you willing to give up to help provide health care coverage for the uninsured? ask carpenter says, yes, willing to pay more taxes. our state just lowered property taxes and now we can't pay teachers, the roads are a mess, and they are cutting medicaid

benefits. there are some things we have to pay for. from charles russo, i am willing to give up saturday mail delivery and put limits on suits against doctors. mary says, i'm willing to give up by big 60-inch tv, escalade, hbo, expensive shoes, cell phone, et cetera. oh, let's see, i don't have any of those things so i can pay for my mortgage, utilities, food, health care, et cetera. join the conversation. just go to our "newsroom" blog, cnn.com/tony. and just a short time ago, prosecutors dropped the charges against a harvard university professor who was involved in an altercation with police. henry louis gates was arrested outside his home in cambridge, massachusetts, last week for disorderly conduct. here's what happened. now, stay with me on this one. police responding to a call from a woman who reported seeing two men trying to wedge their way into the home found gates

inside. when they questioned him, they say he started yelling. on "american morning" today, here's how gates' attorney described the incident. >> but can you characterize the tone of that conversation? did it ever rise to the point where the officer would have felt that the professor was being belligerent and, therefore, would arrest him, or are you saying that the professor was calm, cool, collected all the way along, was just making a rational argument and this police officer overreacted? >> he was very frustrated, no question about it. but belligerent is not the case. never touched the officer. never pointed at the officer. and, in fact, he was trying to enter his house without producing identity. what more do i need to do? this is my house. >> here's the latest. this morning the city of cambridge issued a statement saying that the arrest was regrettable and unfortunate. professor gates joins us live tomorrow night as cnn continues to discuss the most challenging issues facing african-americans

and the search for solutions. join us at 7:00 eastern for the countdown for an all-new "black in america 2," live from to ims square. and then at 8:00 p.m. president obama's news conference followed by the first night of "black in america 2." there's a lot to cover in this special report. cnn.com also has special interactives. and josh is here to walk us through it. take it away, josh. >> take a look at this. it is packed. we'll zoom right in, cnn.com/blackinamerica. a lot of stories and interactives and videos. let me scroll down for a second, every time you see a line of green, it's a different story we're linking to you about the black in america experience. one of the most popular sections is called "journeys." we have a little clip of video. take a look. >> before too long the telling of that story has been what about american society has done to black people. and it's my view that the history of a people can never be simply what other people have done to them. >> you can see more of that

cnn.com/blackinamerica. you can see the address there on your screen. let's come back to the board so you can see more of the interactive features here. one of the more popular ones is also this one. it's about a group of teenagers in brooklyn who are part of journey for change, run by a well-known person. 30 young people to south africa and then a series of trips after that. we have some photos of them, and several of these young people, boys and girls, had cameras with them from cnn. >> terrific. >> captured the little video diaries. we have a clip of one. take a look. ♪ here we go here we go here we go ♪ >> my name's malik and i'm 12 years old and this is my documentary. ♪ >> there you go. he's saying it's a ryano.

they are seeing it. really amazing things you can hear from them down there. a lot from other kids as well. i need one more and we can get going, here's another one. >> josh, we have to go now. the president is in the rose garden talking about health care reform. >> talking about a very important vote that just took place in congress. long before i took this office, i argued that meeting our greatest challenges would require not only changing policies in washington, but changing the way we do business in washington. i also promised that part of that change would be eliminating waste and inefficiency in our defense projects. reform that will better protect our nation, better protect our troops, and save taxpayers tens of billions of dollars. as commander in chief, i will do whatever it takes to defend the american people. which is why we've increased our funding for our military and why we will always give our men and women in uniform the equipment and support that they need to get the job done. but i reject the notion that we have to waste billions of

taxpayer dollars on outdated and unnecessary defense projects to keep this nation secure. that's why i've taken steps to greatly reduce no-bid defense contracts. that's why i've signed overwhelmingly bipartisan legislation to limit cost overruns on weapons systems before they spiral out of control, and that's why i'm grateful that the senate just voted against an additional $1.75 billion to buy f-22 fighter jets that military experts, and members of both parties, say we do not need. at a time when we're fighting two wars and facing a serious deficit, this would have been an inexcusable waste of money. every dollar of waste in our defense budget is a dollar we can't spend to support our troops or prepare for future threats or protect the american people. our budget is a zero-sum game, and if more money goes to f-22s,

it's our citizens and military who lose. i want to thank secretary gates for his outspoken leadership and the members of congress who put politics aside to do what is right for the american military and the american taxpayers and i particularly want to thank senators levin and mccain for helping to make this happen. now, i've also said that health care costs are the biggest drivers of our deficit. nobody disputes that, so i'm looking forward to meeting with several members of congress who are working to pass health insurance reform that will bring down long-term costs, expand coverage, and provide more choice. i know that there are those in this town who openly declare their intention to block reform. it's a familiar washington script. that we've seen many times before. these opponents of reform would rather score political points than offer relief to americans who have seen premiums double and costs grow three times faster than wages. they would maintain a system that works for the insurance and

the drug companies, while becoming increasingly unaffordable for families and for businesses. but there are many others who are working hard to address this growing crisis. i know that there is a tendency in washington to accentuate the differences instead of underscoring common ground. but make no mistake -- we are closer than ever before to the reform that the american people need and we are going to get the job done. i've urged congress to act, and the health care reform bills making their way through the respective committees in the congress and the senate reflect a hard-earned consensus on how to move forward. so, let me just lay out the substantial common ground in the current bills. we've agreed that our health reform bill will extend coverage and include unprecedented insurance protections for the american people. under each of these bills, you won't be denied coverage if you've got a pre-existing medical condition. you won't lose your health care if you change jobs, if you lose

your job, or if you start a business. and you won't lose your insurance if you get sick. we've agreed that our health reform bill will promote choice. america -- americans will be able to compare the price and quality of different plans and pick the plan that they want. if you like your current plan, you will be able to keep it. let me repeat that -- if you like your plan, you'll be able to keep it. and each bill provides for a public option that will keep insurance companies honest, insuring the competition necessary to make coverage affordable. we've agreed that our health reform bill will emphasize prevention and wellness by investing in programs that help americans live healthier lives. we will save money, prevent illness, and increase the competitiveness of our country. we've agreed that our health reform bill will protect american families from financial catastrophe if they get sick. that's why each of these bills

has out-of-pocket limits that will help ensure that families don't go bankrupt because of illness. and we have agreed that our health reform bill will include dramatic measures to cut costs while improving quality. each of these bills improves oversight while cracking down on waste. each will help reduce unwarranted giveaways to insurance companies in medicare. and each of these bills will provide incentives so that patients get the best care, not just the most expensive care. the consensus that we forged is not limited to congress. indeed, we forged a level of consensus on health care that has never been reached in the history of this country. health care providers have agreed to do their part to reduce the rate of growth in health care spending. the pharmaceutical industry has agreed to spend -- to spending reductions that will make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors. hospitals have agreed to bring down costs. the american nurses association and the american medical association, who represent

millions of nurses and doctors, who know our health care system best, have announced their support for reform. we have traveled long and hard to reach this point. i know that we have further to go. but i have to say that the american people are absolutely clear that this went to be easy, but that the road that we have traveled doesn't just stretch back through the six months of my administration. it stretches back year after year, decade after decade, through all the times that washington has failed to tackle this problem. time and again we've heard excuses to delay and defeat reform. time and again, the american people have suffered because people in washington played the politics of the moment, instead of putting the interests of the american people first. that's how we ended up with premiums rising three times faster than wages. that's how we ended up with businesses choosing between shedding benefits and shutting

their doors. that's how we've been burdened with runaway costs and huge gaps in coverage. that's the status quo. that's what we have right now. and the american people understand that the status quo is unacceptable. they don't care who's up or who's down politically in washington. they care about what's going on in their own lives. they don't care about the latest line of political attack. they care about whether their families will be crushed by rising premiums. whether the businesses they work for will have to cut jobs or whether their children are going to be saddled with debt. so, i understand that some will try to delay action until the special interests can kill it, while others will simply focus on scoring political points. we've done that before. and we can choose to follow that playbook again, and then we'll never get over the goal line, and we'll face an even greater crisis in the years to come. that's one path we can travel. or we can come together and insist that this time it will be different.

we can choosac