dangerous wildfires affecting the area of california. officials concerned that strong winds may start new fires and force more evacuation. the governor there preparing to visit the fire zone in the next few hours. a state of emergency went into effect friday for santa cruz community with the communities of bonny doon and swanson are being threatened. thousands of homes and buildings in danger. so far, no injuries to report. the cause of the fire under investigation. >> let's go to cnn's reynolds wolf to see if there will be any kind of relief weatherwise for the firefighters. some 1,500 are to fight this. only 15% of the fire has been contained. >> you have to remember this area is a very dry type area. you have a lot of shap p pa reld

oak. south of the bay area you have very dry conditions. in santa marie wa county, you wt have much improvement. we will see better chance of scattered showers farther to the west and much farther to the east. we are keeping an eye on tropical storm ana. this is expected to become a strong tropical storm. we have got a lot of concern over it we just mentioned. another area of concern that we have is that second area we are watching, the one a little bit farther out in the atlantic. this next one, which could be named bill in the coming days is one that is going to have us really concerned as we get to the middle of the week, possibly becoming a much stronger storm, maybe even a category 2 hurricane as we get to 8:00 a.m. with winds of 105 miles an hour.

from the atlantic, we are seeing things begin to wake up in terms of the tropics. on the west coast, we have been talking about the fires. a lot of things on both sides of the country could get very active in terms of climate and weather, certainly, something that bears watching. let's send it back to both of you. >> we will be checking in with you. thank you for that, reynolds. >> there is no doubt a make or break month for health care roo he form. we have seen town hall meetings on this topic that have gotten rowdy at times. several more are happening today. democratic pete stark holding three. he can't get enough. he represents those out there in the east bay. grand junction, colorado, president obama is holding his own town hall meeting. >> danny davis, democratic congressman has two in chicago. david scott will in georgia. proponents of the current proposals will hold a rally in atlanta with former congressman

dick armey. the president is in montana doing a bit of sightseeing. he urges americans to lower the volume in the health care fight and listen to one another. >> i know there is plenty of real concern and skepticism out there. i know that in a time of economic upheaval, the idea of change can be unsettling. i know there are some folks who believe that government should have no role at all in solving our problems. these are legitimate differences, worthy of the real discussion that america deserves. >> our senior white house correspondent, ed henry, is traveling with the president. first montana, later today, colorado. why these locations specifically? >> reporter: partially because these are not necessarily democratic areas friendly. president made a point to come to montana, colorado, in the mountain west. the democratic presidential candidates had abandoned

thinking they couldn't win in previous elections. he won some of them. he is trying to translate the health reform debate. when you talk to a white house debate, you say, look, he can have a reasoned debate with people that don't agree with him. he is showing a counterweight with the other town hall meetings. trying to turn the temperature down on things, saying, look, we can have a reason to face a civil debate. he had one here in montana yesterday at the town hall. only one sharp exchange, one or two. one that got a lot of attention, a man pretty blunt, plain spoken, saying all i'm getting from you and democrats is bull. the president repeated his campaign pledge and said, we will have to raise taxes on people raising over $250,000 a year to pay to cover more people uninsured but i am going to keep my promise. if you are making under $250,000

a year, i won't raise your taxes. he is telling people to knock on doors and has democratic groups running tv ads supporting the president. this is almost like back to the future. >> we are seeing some of those different methods that he was using during the campaign being put into play as he goes across the country. ed, thanks so much for that. we'll be checking in with you. represent condition senator, orrin hatch, given the republican weekly address. he says, bigger government is not the answer to health care reform. he also defends the people who have been speaking out at these town halls. >> i am disappointed about the attempts to characterize the behavior of americans expressing their concerns as, quote, unamerican, unquote. although, i strongly encourage the use of respectful debate in these town halls, we should not be stifling these discussions. there is nothing unamerican

about disagreements. in fact, our great nation was founded on speaking our minds. families are voicing their concerns because they feel like they are not being heard in washington. >> as we've seen, emotions running pretty high in some of these town hall meetings today. we will bring you more of those town halls and letting you hear all of the signs in their own words. town hall 2:00 eastern on cnn. if you are looking for more of what you have been seeing here on cnn, check out cnn.com/health care. you can find out the closest town hall meetings to you, the key players and the different plans and controversial sticking points in the plans. >> we are following a developing story out of myanmar. u.s. senator, jim webb,has attained the release of american prisoner, john yettaw, is expected to be deported and leave with senator jim webb tomorrow on sunday. he was sentenced to seven years hard labor for violating the house arrest of prodemocracy

icon ong sung suu khy. he is considered ill. >> reporter: he is an ill man, he has diabetes and epilepsy, taken to the hospital before the verdict was delivered with seizures. he is a vietnam veteran and has a troubled mind. obviously, one doesn't quite know why he swan this lake. there was reports at the time that he had a vision that she was going to be assassinate and wanted to go warn her. he is a troubled guy and needs help. >> yesterday, he met with leaders at myanmar, the first meeting by a member of congress in more than a decade. however, he is not in the

country on behalf of the state department. some are calling it voter intimidation in afghanistan. it is a few days away from the presidential elections expected to happen there. next week, an attack that has taken place, a suicide bomber that has killed several in afghanistan. at atia abawi is there. what are they hoping to get from this? >> reporter: absolutely right, t.j. it is not the deadliest attack but it did strike in the heart of afghanistan in the capital of kabul. homes rattling, windows shattering and people dying and many, many more injured. this doesn't still appear with the afghan people, particularly when you see it in the capital of afghanistan. an area where we have seen attacks in the past. we have seen very tithe security with the run-up to the elections. when afghan people see that the

capital, itself, isn't secure. many throughout the country will not go out and vote because they know these polling stations are targets. the taliban obviously sending out a very brutal but successful message this morning when we spoke to a 21-year-old girl who had a voter registration card who wanted to go out and vote. she told me today that the suicide bomb made that decision for her. she will not go out and vote. neither will her mother or grandmother. that is three generations that refuse to vote five days from now. t.j.? >> that's just one story. probably a lot more out there like it. one that could affect next week's elections and the future of that country. we appreciate you this morning. for those of you who want to understand what's going on in afghanistan, watch christiane amanpour's documentary tonight. michael vick, philadelphia freedom, amid repentance,

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brotherly love. here is cnn's mary snow. >> reporter: three months after being released from prison, michael vick is looking at a shot of redemption as a player for the philadelphia eagles. he acknowledges that some people will never forgive him for his dogfighting convictions. >> it was cruel and unethical and inhumane. i understand to a certain degree but our country is a country of second chances and, you know, i paid my debt to society. i spent two years in prison. the team's owner says he had to do a lot of soul searching before granting vick a second chance. >> his legend and whether we are giving him a second chance will be successful if he can diminish the level of animal cruelty. that's it. >> if he is not proactive, he won't be on the team. that's part of the agreement.

>> shame on vick read one sign as animal rights supporters protested outside the eagles headquarters. they were unmoved by michael vick's promises that his troubles are behind him and that heel help more dogs than he hurt. >> katherine bordeaux confronted one man that turned out to support michael vick. >> to take that and mutilate it and twist it and pervert it into into this is a killer it's des speckable. it's the vilest thing i can imagine. >> reporter: one pit bull owner turned out to make a different point. >> you have to move on. >> a lot of the dogs don't have fears. >> reporter: clementine was rescued from dogfighting and is now at a pennsylvania society

for the prevention for cruelty to animal shelter. the president says spca rescues 40,000 animals a year. 80% are pit bulls. she says she is shocked and disappointed the eagles signed vick. >> i know what type of people are involved in this heinous support. it remains to be seen if anybody it be rehabilitated. >> reporter: the humane society is embracing him and sending him out as a foot soldier to try to stop dogfighting. >> if michael vick can help reach some of these young men and help get them off that cruel path, that is a good thing that will save animals in the future. >> reporter: vic has made two appearances to talk to kids about dogfighting.

no word as to when heel do it in philadelphia. >> we have been asking you and you have been chiming in telling us what you think about michael vick signing with the eagles. continue to send the comments in. get interactive and get involved in the conversation on line this morning. for the most part, things i've been seeing, most people are willing to give him a second chance. >> a lot of people saying he deserves a second chance. let me take you to my facebook page really quick. doug says, just like i mentioned, mr. vick paid his dues. he is entitled to restore his life. robert says, this guy should not be back in any kind of high-profile job. aren't these players supposed to be something for kids to look up to. you have folks who don't agree with it. many go by the letter of the law and said, look, haes done his time. >> that comes also on the heels of dante stall worworth who hit killed a guy and only spent 23,

24 days in jail and he has been suspended by the league for a full year. who knows if he will get another shot down the road? i don't know if some people will be more forgiving on that. he is not going to get a third and fourth chance. >> that's what he said. i'm not looking for that. this is it. we'll be watching. >> we appreciate you all chiming in. we are going to turn back to health care reform. is there common ground on health care reform. we will look at what's locally to get through congress.

a lot of disagreement over health care reform. is there anything, something that lawmakers agree on when it comes to the subject? >> some would think, no, but there are some things. josh leaf looked at what's likely to make it through congress. >> hearing this disagreement from washington and echoing across the country. what we want to do now for a couple of minutes is focus in on where many democrats and republicans agree across the aisle on health care. to help us do that, we have two lawmakers joining us. representative marsha blackburn is joining us as well as

representative steve cohen, both from tennessee. thanks for being here. an interesting article that lists some places where there is a lot of agreement. do you agree that there should be government subsidies to help low income americans to buy insurance? >> i think that there its a way that government subsidies can be done. certainly, many of us who have served in state legislatures have looked for ways to voucher people into a private system. >> representative cohen, what about you? do you see government subsidies to help low-income americans buy health insurance? >> we do that now with medicaid. a great program. signed into law 44 years ago. medicare medicaid, referred to as socialism at the time that are as american as apple pie today. >> lawmakers pretty much across the board want to see increased competition, including something like a marketplace in which people would be able to compare and con cratrast different insue

plans? >> there is a concept that newt gingrich has pushed forward like a travel osty type concept where you could go in and compare rights and compare what is offered in insurance plans. that greater transparency will help lead to greater competition. that is something that is badly needed in the health insurance market. >> representative cohen, are you pretty close on that one? >> i think so. the exchange would be an opportunity at the national level for people to compare the different insurance policies and the public plan would keep them honest. >> i think you both agree with this, preventing insurance companies from refusing to cover preexisting conditions. >> what we have to look for is that for those who have pre-existing conditions, as they go into the insurance market, there needs to be some kind of risk pooling that they can move into for a period of time with those pre-existing conditions. >> i agree with congressman

blackburn but if she said for a while, it is a pool. pre-existing conditions are generally with you until your death. it is going to cost more to have people in insurance pools with pre-existing conditions. that's going to cost money wherever it is. if it is in the private sector, there needs to be some counterforce to keep the private sectors from going up too high. >> how far apart honestly do you think your parties really are in many could go to a resolution? >> probably as far apart as the two sides of the grand canyon. >> i think what we have is not so much a partisan divide as a philosophical divide. >> we hope that these places that you do agree on principle can start to serve as a bridge. thank you so much to both of you. very good to have you with us. >> always nice to be congresswoman blackburn. we invite you to send your questions in for our 4:00 p.m. eastern hour. that is dedicated to getting you

answers about the topic of health care. we, of course, listening to your concerns about health care reform during this make or break month. our chief business correspondent, ali velshi has been on the road with the cnn express heading to iowa and stopping along the way. he is in an upper middle class suburb of kansas city talking about health care reform. >> do you think that the proposals that are put forward, and there are many and they are complicated, do you this i that will somehow affect the quality of care your daughter will get today? >> when this change occurs, i think it will affect it. my understanding is that medicare rates is what all physician are paid. i don't think that's a sustainable practice. when you start to talk about cost and reducing cost, the quality will go down with it. >> how about you, what do you think about what you are hearing and how things might change? >> my personal issue is that i think you are pushing too much change on us at once. i think they are trying to pass it too soon.

quit making such a fast-paced decision and try to push it on us all as fast as your trying to do. >> does anybody share that view it is too fast or some think it is overdue? >> i think it is way too fast. >> we are talking about health care. we are talking about what you get when you are sick. i think to rush through this, it is the wrong thing. i know there is something that has to be done. i believe that there is -- >> would you say, if i had asked for a show of hands of those of you who think health care does need to be reformed -- >> absolutely. >> nobody here who thinks it doesn't have to happen? >> no. >> let me put it this way. it may not be a fair question. we are here to flush this out. if you were all in a different position, and i mean unemployed, and uninshird, do you think you would take a different view of this? do you think you would be sitting here and saying, this is more urgent. i am glad the president is

saying it is going to be done in 2009? i don't mean to be unfair. let's think about that for a second. i think we all agree that changes need to p ha happen. if you are going to give me rotten care with rotten doctors, what good am i getting out of it, truly? >> if you are telling me 1% of my paycheck to get a plan that's going to work, i will sign on today. if i see a $10,000 toilet seat on cnn special report, it just turns me off. it's like, they screwed it up again. >> be sure to join ali later today as we look at some of the town hall meetings, bringing this to you in their own words. town hall, 2:00 eastern right here on cnn. desperately seeking health care. a man known for setting up free clinics in remote jungles set up one closer to home. ♪

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bottom of the hour now. what's happening an american sentenced to seven years of hard labor in myanmar. senator jim webb convinced the countries leaders to let john yettaw go. > colonial bank has a new owner. they bought the alabama-based bank. fire officials concerned that strong winds may start new fires. governor schwarzenegger is preparing to visit the fire zone today. let's get more on the fires. we will turn to reynolds wolf. he has been watching the weather. any chance rain could be in the forecast? >> out west, i done think so. it is not the time of the year that you see the scattered showers along the coast. it is usually something you see from december through early march sometime. it is the dry season in

california. these are the times you have these winds. it can fan the blames. that may be the case today and possibly through much of next week. speaking of winds, we are watching the dropics. we have a lot to talk about. we have tropical storm ana. this has been gaining strength. winds at 40 miles an hour gusting to 50 miles an hour. farther to the east, another system. if that tropical depression becomes a named storm, this will be bill. ana and bill. let's get started with ana. show you the projected forecast path. the national hurricane center brings the storm to the west an veers more to the west/northwest as we get into the monday, tuesday, wednesday, and thursday. it also has the storm strengthening to a strong tropical storm in excess of 60 miles an hour, tuesday, right around 70 miles an hour moving north of the dominican republic

and haiti. if this storm does happen to make it through the straight of florida and into the gulf of mexico, it is anybody's ball game. the other system we were talking about is the one that's a little bit farther back towards the east. this storm, this tropical depression three, as we fast forward from sunday, monday, into tuesday, by wednesday, possibly a category 1 storm with winds sustained at 85 miles per hour. into thursday, moving north of the lee ward and winward island. winds of 105 miles an hour. still a category 2 by 8:00 a.m. wednesday. still too early to see if this will affect the united states. this could be the first hurricane to affect the eastern seaboard of the u.s. we are going to keep a sharp eye on it. the season is very early. possibly two named storms in a matter of hours. it is a quick beginning. let's send it back to you guys. >> sounds like you are going to be busy. >> sure looks that way. many say it is evidence of

what's not working with the health care system in this country right now. thousands of underinsured or uninsured lined up in los angeles to get something they can't find. that's medical care that is free. our ted rowlands is there. >> reporter: betty, this 18,000 plus seat stadium has been converted into a treatment center where thousands of people, some of them underinsured, some uninsured, are getting medical, dental and vision care absolutely free. thousands of people spent hours overnight this week waiting outside the englewood forum for free medical care. among them, 37-year-old deon green, who is unemployed and uninsured. the arena floor is a treatment center. it's all completely free. >> it's a beautiful morning. >> reporter: for deon and the thousands of others who are willing to wait. after getting his eyes checked, he gets a new pair of glasses. >> look like a scholar, feel

like a scholar. >> reporter: and waits a few more hours for his turn to see a dentist. deon says, he tried pulling two of his own teeth out because he didn't have insurance or the money to pay for it. >> we are in an era where, do you want to pay insurance or do you want to eat? do you want to pay for health care or put clothes on your back? it becomes a catch 22 where you have to pick your poison. >> reporter: remote area medical or r.a.m. is the organization behind this giveaway. all of the work is done by volunteers, hundreds of doctors, dentists and technicians donating their time. >> it's horrible. it makes you cry. either you cry or you work on a patient. which one you want to pick. organizers say they could have seen more patients if they had more doctors. they wanted to bring more eye doctors to this event in los

angeles, because they didn't have enough volunteers. believe it or not, doctors in this country for the most part cannot cross state line. even if they are donating their time. something r.a.m. creator, stan brock, says he has tried to change for the last 20 years. >> nobody seems to get it. it would not cost the government a sencent. these cvolunteers travel at ther own expense. >> reporter: block, who co-starred in the series, "wild kingdom." prohibiting out-of-state doctors to appear at his event are preventing him from making more of an impact. >> it may not be a solution but, dam it, it would be a quantum leap in the right direction. >> reporter: those two teeth deon tried removing by himself still had roots left.

a dentist took them out, which obviously was painful but it was free. >> man, oh, man. >> reporter: the event here in los angeles runs through tuesday. organizers say by the end, they hope they will be able to treat more than 8,000 people. betty? >> incredible. cnn has comprehensive coverage of the health care debate and town hall meetings at cnn.com/health care. as part of this make or break month for health care reform and our in-focus coverage, we have added several features for you. you can find all of it at the closest town hall meeting to you. you can find out about the key players and the debate and the controversial sticking point to all of these plans. all of that information is right there at your fingertips. cnn.com/health care. actress and author, victoria

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as cnn continues their

special coverage of "black in america," we will discuss this book, "family affair," one from a familiar face. actress and author, victoria raul. i guests fas it is fair to say are a friend of ours. why did you want to be a part of this? >> i think family has many different faces and colors. i thought i might have something to offer in that respect, because i come from a collective, a quilting of people that raised me. i think i was right. >> your essay was read. i pulled a few things i want to share with our audience. the first one says, and it says, i quote, unifying one's own to bring about change is an offensive, not defensive action. we have moved away interest that mindset in this day and age where everything has to be

flashy and fast. >> we live in a glossy world. i think it is really important for us to get ourselves back as family, get our children back to basics. that we don't have to run out and make something happen. we have it within ourselves, within our own nuke lecleus wit the home. >> this one said, i speak two languages, corporate, white, american english and black american patois. although some call it e-bonn ics, i do not refer to it in this somewhat derogatory manner. our patois emerged from necessity. >> these are conversations that black people have on the scene. >> absolutely. i grew up as a farmer in rural maine.

so when i arrived into roxbury, massachusetts, everyone was looking at me like i had a third eye. i learned a whole different language when i got to roxbury. i feel that african-americans like anyone who comes from a different country is speaking a different language at home. it's just our petois. what we have derived from, i think, the whole journey and where we were not able to retain custom from different tribes from the continent of africa, we have derived from that experience developing our own language. so when we go into the board room, it's going to be something else. where as when we come home, it

is our tongue. there are two tongues. >> do you find that black americans have a different time or using that out in public? some might say it is inappropriate. when you say e-bonnics, it sounds derogatory. >> i think some people refer to it as being phoney. i don't see it as being phoney. i think if you are going to be in the corporate world, whether your tongue may be from indonesia, you are going to speak necessarily the king's english in the board room. i think it is just a necessity if you are going to be a player in corporate america. that's how i look at it. i don't think that it's being false i think it is being professional. >> i'll wrap up here, though, talking about you. a lot of people are curious about you, what you are doing, what you will be up to. we remember when you left. you were here with us on our show right after you left the soap opera. there was still the open possibility of that character

coming back. you fell off a cliff or something? >> this is true. >> we never saw the body. >> never saw the body. >> so is that a possibility? >> always, because soap operas thrive on ghosts, you know. so there is always a possibility of drucilla coming back. there she is, working on that next book about daytime. >> so the book is happening. the other thing finally. a big thing happened in your life not too long ago. you were bouncing around when you walked into the studio here and that is because you were just married a couple of months back. >> yes, to a fabulous man. there we are with my ballet teacher. >> "new york times" picture that we have. you look like a happy lady there and you seem like a happy lady now. >> i am quite happy.

>> congratulations. we are looking forward to the next book. congratulations. you are welcome back here anytime. >> always good to see her. one of our coworkers just about fell out when i told him she is 50. she is proud of it. >> of course she is okay with that. >> sometimes women don't like their age back there. >> he could not believe it when i told him. glad you could be here she is welcome back any time. on this story. he is not a member of the white house press corp but he beat them all to a punch with a one on one in the oval office with you know who? get this. he is only in the sixth grade. , i get a free one. say i spend 2 nights at a big name hotel, 3 at a boutique, and 5 at a beach resort...

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talk about persistence paying off. >> that's what you say, keep at

it, keep at it. an 11-year-old who has been trying to get an interview with the president since the early days of the campaign. >> hi, i'm here at the white house to interview president obama about education. right now, i'm in the room where i am going to interview president obama. right now, i'm waiting for him to arrive so i can interview him. >> so he went through it. >> play by play. >> that's damon there. got his wish. listen to him asking one of the big questions. >> i know that as president, you get bullied a lot. how do you handle it? >> you mean people say mean things about me? well, you know, i think that, you know, when you are president, you are responsible for a lot of things and a lot of people are having a tough time and they are hurting out there and, you know, the main thing i just try to do is stay focused on trying to do a good job. >> damon says he was not nervous about interviewing the president

but, you know, sitting there with the president, that would have been a good time to just throw the president off, sitting across from him and hit him with something hard. >> something really, really hard. he also interviewed vice president joe biden and he said they are homeboys, so he asked president obama, will you be my homeboy? like the president would deny that. >> where does he go now? >> he interviewed wolf blitzer and asked for an internship. wolf said absolutely. he's making inroads very, early. >> contacts very early. he's got a better roll-a-dex than i do. maybe you saw the movie james bond, chasing the bad guy, bouncing off the walls, all this stuff seems impossible. well, our zain verjee tried it out.

>> reporter: real life superheroes. spinning through the air in style. owning the streets. >> exhilarating! it's just -- it's just the biggest buzz ever. >> reporter: they're not looking for the bad guys, but just looking for a good time. and a good workout. >> i like to keep my mind blank and just focus on something i'd like to achieve and just work on getting there. >> reporter: it's called freerunning. jumping, sliding, flipping, using the city's concrete jungle as their gym. you thought you could never be like spiderman. well, you can. these guys are judged on techal different cullty, execution, and fluidity. pretty amazing, right? telly! come back down. i was up for a lesson. i was a bit nervous. >> being scared is part of what we do.

if you're not scared, you're not human. >> reporter: a simple jump. >> yeah! >> reporter: and a ground roll. well, that was easy, but i know i'm not quite up to their standards, just yet. >> asks do happen. they do happen to professionals, they happen to beginners. >> reporter: the professionals are heading to london to compete. >> there's 27 athletes competing. 16 different nations. we'll have countries as far as australia, mexico, brazil, america. >> reporter: the freerunners say they feel like 21st century adventurers. >> it's all about freerunning, the freedom it gives you. it let's your mind free to the horizon, you can go anywhere you like. >> the way it pushes you to do stuff you wouldn't normally do to get outside your comfort zone. >> reporter: safety is really important. have you to start slow and stay low. all you really need is a pair of

trainers and an open mind. and then the world is your playground. zain verjee, the freerunner, london. >> that zain. >> she gave it a pretty good try. but -- >> see the little bunny hop there at the end. come on, zain. >> right after your show, melissa, how are you doing? you're in for fredricka. >> i am. we have our legal segment. six cases we'll be delving into. a resident of the state of georgia spent 13 months in jail. 13 months in jail for not paying child support. but guess what? he's not a dad. he doesn't have children. and he's paid a lot of money over the years, so we'll find out more about why he's paid all this money, if he has been proven that he's not a father by dna. >> wow.

got to hear your legal guys getting into that one. >> and we continue to talk about health care, health care reform, and ali velshi, at the state fair in iowa, he's been talking to people. we'll be joining him, as he's enjoying fried something. >> deep fried something. >> the twinkies. >> blooming onion? >> oh, that's old stuff. they've moved on. >> oh, sorry. >> corn on the cob. >> frying bacon i thought, too. >> yeah. >> and chocolate on top, is what i meant. >> you're making us hungry now. >> it's your lunch hour. >> we'll see you in a few minutes. the black hole in washington threatens nasa's future mission. the cost of exploring the final frontier.

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when you hear, houston, we have a problem, you think maybe about a techal issue. >> what you know is it's not a good sign. >> this time we're talking about money. there's not enough of it. weeks after marking the 40th anniversary of the lunar moon landing. >> a legendary black hole threatens future missions. inez ferre explains. >> reporter: not enough money, that's the message being sent out, a dark scenario for some scientists. >> there is this perception, and it's not just among the public but also to some degree the

science community that the moon is a been there, done that world. i couldn't disagree more. the moon is a fascinating world and in many ways it's the key to understanding the solar system. one of the big reasons to go back and probe the moon is it tells you what the nature of the primordial earth was like. >> reporter: returning to the moon by 2020 and to mars, the budget to do this falls short by tens of billions of dollars. >> liftoff. we have a liftoff. >> reporter: during the apollo program in nasa's heyday, its budget was 4% of federal spending. today it is less than 1% or $18 billion a year. >> for human space flight, you have about half of that is for human space flight. of that, you know, between $3 billion and $6 billion is for this new exploration program. so there's a choice of prioritization that the administration has to make. they've got to sync up the budget with their goals so everybody agrees on where we're going and how much it takes to get there.

>> reporter: the committee outlined a series of options. one, known as deep space strategy, manned missed to nearby as terroids and nearby orbiting by 2020. the committee suggests extending the life span and involving the private sector to develop the new fleet. ines ferre, cnn, new york. we're going to wrap things up, we'll be back here, bright and early, not bright and early, dark and early. 6 a.m. now to melissa long. i'm in today for fredricka whitfield. we start with the fires in california. thousands have been forced from their homes in the northern part of the state and they may be dealing with even more trouble. officials are concerned that strong winds may start new fires and force even more