good morning. it's thursday, september 17th. here are the faces of the stories behind the headlines today. senator max baucus hard selling his plans to colleague over lunch today. president barack obama holding a hrally for health car overhaul. raymond clark iii arrested in the murder of annie le. good morning. i'm tony harris. you're in the "cnn newsroom."

let's quickly get you caught up on the day's headlines and then take the time to break down big issues to find out why they really matter today. leading the way, the president last hour announced an upgraded missile defense shield for eastern europe. the idea originated in the bush administration to guard against iran's missile threat but it called for interceptors in poland and radar in the czech republic. that irritated the russians. the president and defense secretary robert gates says the plan will work better and is more cost effective and will get interceptors out of russia's backyard. >> we have now the opportunity to deploy new sensors and interceptors in northern and southern europe that near term can provide missile defense coverage against more immediate threats from iran or others.

>> our new missile defense architecture in europe will provide stronger and swifter defenses of america's forces and allies. it's more comprehensive than the previous program and deploys programs that are cost effect and proven and assistansustains commitment. >> president obama makes a new pitch to the nation's young adults millions of whom are without health insurance. looking at live pictures from the university of maryland. i believe this is the comcast center. students gathering to hear the president speak. his address to begin in 45 minutes from now. we'll bring you live coverage. from person of interest to murder suspect, just this morning police in connecticut charged 24-year-old lab technician raymond clark with killing grad student annie le. le was strangled and her body found sunday stuffed in basement

wall of an offcampus medical research building. >> i think it's important to know this is not about urban crime. it's not about university crime. it's not about domestic crime. an issue of workplace violence, which is becoming a growing concern around the country. >> we have a correspondent in new haven and we'll take you there live in just a couple of minutes. in indonesia, police are celebrating the death of that country's most wanted terrorist. the terror network was blamed for every major terror attack in indonesia over the last decade. the attacks killed more than 200 people and injured hundreds. there were ties to al qaeda and he was killed there in overnight raid in central java. let's go in depth in the "cnn newsroom." the senate's health care sales pitch begins. max baucus walking colleaguing

through a new proposal for overhauling the health care system. let's go live to brianna keilar on capitol hill. a lot of hard work ahead for chairman baucus. >> reporter: right now he's talking with the democrats and the republicans on the senate finance committee one day after unveiling his very detailed draft of a bill. let's talk about some of the issues and concerns that democrats have because they're not all on board and there are a lot of criticisms that they are leveling at senator baucus' plan. the big one that we're hearing over and over this morning from senators as they go into this meeting is this issue of affordability. not only making sure that this plan allows health care -- they call it bending the cost curve. the cost of health care skyrocketing. they want to make sure that they can sort of bring that back to earth. and then the other question of this on affordability is the federal government providing enough assistance to low income

americans so that they really can afford health insurance. either by expanding medicaid and covering more low income americans or through this idea of a tax break for other low income americans essentially a coupon that will help them pay for health insurance. it's not just the concern of democrats i should tell you. it's also the concern of senator olympia snow seen as democrats best shot for getting a republican on board. this is what she said just minutes ago. >> i honestly think it's important to achieve affordability. at the end of the day the objective is to ensure that americans have access to a more affordable health care than they currently do. secondly is recognizing that there's something seriously wrong with our current system that health care costs rise at two and three times the rate of inflation putting it more and more out of reach for more and more americans so that will continue to be true given the escalation of these costs. >> reporter: now, back to democrats. in addition to this concern over affordability, because keep in

mind this plan is the senator baucus' plan is much smaller. definitely smaller than some of the plans we've seen m coucomin of the house. the other concern is over this public option. senator jay rockefeller of west virginia on the senate finance committee being involved in this gang of six bipartisan talks say they want a public option. senator rockefeller said he couldn't vote for senator baucus' plan in the current form. these are areas that democrats are going to -- democratic leaders will have to chip away to bring their own democrats onboard. >> now, for someone like senator rockefeller, bring me up to speed here. he made statements yesterday. then essentially there was a meeting with the president and did he back away from that very firm line at all? >> reporter: he softened his stance certainly, tony. what we heard him say was he sort of backed up president

obama saying that president obama is committed to making sure there's competition. you heard him come out as soon as senator baucus revealed his plan and say i could not vote for this. and then we heard him soften it. >> brianna keilar on capitol hill for us. a little explainer now on those cooperatives proposed by senator max baucus. i got answers from cnn's senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen about how co-ops are and how they work. here's a bit of that conversation. >> reporter: there are a couple health co-ops in the country most notably seattle and minneapolis. they are nonprofit organizations which are different from health insurance companies. the patients select the governing board. different from your basic united. you need to have tens of thousands of members at least to make it work in order to get that purchasing power that you need. someone to say you need hundreds

of thousands of people to make it work. >> tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, we're talking about 46 million people by some estimates who don't have insurance. does this idea of a co-op get those people covered? >> that's a big problem. 46 million uninsured americans is what reform will try to help. will co-op solve that? no. that's according to two folks that run co-ops. one in seattle and one in minneapolis who i was on the phone with earlier. will this help? they said no. we're not charities. you have to spend money. you have to pay premiums to join our co-ops and we don't take everyone. we do say no to some people with pre-existing conditions. now, one of them said our prices are middle of the road. we're average price for premiums about what other people's premiums are. >> what's the point? >> according to these co-ops, the point is that co-ops create good competition. the co-ops manage to deliver high quality health care at a

lower price because they don't have to make huge profits and put money back into the company. what one person told me is, look, we bring down the price of health care in general so more people can afford it. for example, in seattle where they have a prominent co-op, health care is less expensive and more efficient than in other parts of the country and some would say a big reason why is because they have that co-op there. it changes the landscape. it still doesn't ensure all of the uninsured. there are uninsured people in seattle and minneapolis. those two places have co-ops. >> my point. how much does it cost to get a co-op system started because my understanding is from you that there is a pretty significant upfront cost. >> there are some significant startup costs. you have to have money to get started. get your executives going. get deals with doctors and that kind of thing. it's estimated that it would cost between $4 billion and $10 billion to get co-ops going in this country and that's what

some people hope will happen with health care reform is the government will provide that money. >> will it solve the problem of 46 million people we have a lot of work to do on the baucus plan. i want you to know that we are on it. elizabeth will join me after the president's speech to show which health plan might be better for students or those so-called young invincibles. let's take you to maryland. president obama should address students in college park in about 30 minutes or so. we'll bring you the president's remarks live. it will have a campaign rally feel to be sure. later, our senior business correspondent christine romans looks at the cost of plans and fines you may pay for not getting health insurance. walmart checks other stores' prices

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you're looking at flooding coming into us just outside of little rock yesterday. torrential downpours flooding the state park there. a number of issues around arkansas. at one point half of the counties were under a flash flood warning. still similar issues today. not quite as bad. they weren't the only spot. check out this i-report off the website here. erica myers right outside of cnn center phillips arena, a cascading waterfalls off the stairs there. i've never seen it rain in atlanta like it did yesterday. we're seeing similar amounts of rain in spots today. area of low pressure backed up into texas but the expanse of the precip zone across a good chunk of the south including parts of tennessee and much of western tennessee under flash

flood warning right now. columbia about to get hit hard. when it does rain it will rain a whole bunch in a short amount of time in some cases very saturated ground. we move this system slightly to the east tomorrow but really we start to weaken it. that will be the saves grace. as far as temperatures, held down in spots that have rain. dallas and atlanta. temperatures across the northeast, another cool day low to mid 60s. feeling a bit like fall there. traveling through atlanta, some delays because of weather. 30 minutes there. san francisco, seeing delays. baltimore, houston, and also minneapolis. that's a quick check on weather. "cnn newsroom" with tony harris coming right back. or 100 pringles. both cost the same, but only the pringles superstack can makes everything pop! ♪ hey [ male announcer ] same cost but a lot more fun.

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the taste nature intended. let's get details on the arrest of that yale university worker for killing a grad student. mary snow in new haven, connecticut, outside of the police station. mary, raymond clark, the suspect in this case, has he made his first court appearance yet? >> reporter: he has. fast moving. raymond clark appeared at an arraignment a short time ago in new haven. he did not enter a plea. he was arrested this morning being charged with murder. he's being held on a $3 million bond. police have him under surveillance and overnight they were staked out outside a motel where raymond clark had been staying after released from police custody. he was taken into custody for

dna samples and other evidence but then released. and police are saying this arrest warrant because it is sealed, they are not giving out details about the arrest or the potential motive. the police chief did say yesterday that an arrest really hinged on a dna match. he wouldn't say today that there was a dna match but he indicated that was really at the core of this investigation. also, the new haven police chief talked a little bit about the workplace. he knew that annie le, the graduate student killed last week, and raymond clark had worked in the same building. he would not elaborate. he did say this. take a listen. >> i think it's important to note this is not about urban crime. this is not about university crime. it's not about domestic crime. an issue of workplace violence, which is becoming a growing concern around the country. >> reporter: again, officials

not expanding on any kind of had history before the murder. yale's president did release a statement today saying that raymond clark was employed as a lab technician here at yale since 2004 and he says his supervisor reports there was nothing in his job history and years here at yale to raise red flags. we'll be hearing more from richard levin at the bottom of the hour. he's going to be making a statement and so many questions have been raised about security. mr. levin in his statement said this says more about the dark side of a human soul than it does about security measures but he says nonetheless they are going to be taking suggestions from the community about how to improve security. >> that's good, mary. i got to tell you this idea of a news conference that this was workplace violence certainly snapped the heads of just about everyone here in the "newsroom" wanting more details on that and what actually happened here.

it is an issue so many places. mary, did you want to comment on that further? >> reporter: you know, officials have been so tight lipped. it was worth noting that an fbi agent who spoke briefly did thank the behavioral assistance unit at the fbi and the polygraph unit. we do know those two units were involved in this investigation. no details about the history of what happened in the workplace. >> certainly would like to learn more about that. a teaching moment there for everyone in workplaces all around the country. all right. appreciate it. thank you. let's get to josh levs now. if you would, give us a look at the yale campus and this particular lab building. >> this is something you and i were talk about this morning painting a picture if a wild story. this whole thing beginning to end. we'll go to google earth and start in the sky and zoom in. i want to paint the picture of

this community and what it looks like and how we get to it. yale is a big name but it's not a big school. a tight knit community. total undergrad about 5,000 and total all students together just 6,000. a small community as far as universities go. a chance like this would affect an entire community. you're looking at a shot of the building where this happened. we have it on google earth for you. let's come back to this screen. some people in the yale community, a lot are not surprised by what we're hearing that we've been getting a sense for days from inside this community that they believe it had to be someone with special access to this building. you can't just get in. this is the lab four stories. the basement is where this happened. at all entrances and exits they have video cameras. there is security to get in but security within the building. a lot of the people who work in this building couldn't access the basement.

in order to get into different parts of this building to do anything, one would have to have special access. it gives context for what we're hearing. >> do we have a time line? there's such intense interest in this case. i know folks at cnn.com are working on a number of different features including a time line. >> we'll show you quickly. this is cnn.com main story. it's been nine days. we trace you through each step of what we've been hearing over several days and pictures inside the lab as well. really helps paint the picture for what the steps have been so far. obviously there is still a while to go here to find out what happened. >> josh, thank you. let's get to our top stories now. president obama taking his health care reform pitch to the nation's young adults. the ones who would pay for a big chunk of his plan. live pictures of a campaign style rally about to begin at the university of maryland. the president's speech starts minutes from now. watch it here live. they start clapping on cue or

something. the massachusetts legislature in session today to consider the late ted kennedy's final wish. a bill allowing the seat to be filled temporarily until a special election held in january. republicans say they plan to fight the bill. investigators in california have found bones on property owned by kidnapping suspects phillip and nancy garrido. testing to determine if the bones are human or animal. garridos are charged with the 1991 abduction of jaycee dugard. the bones were found by investigators looking for connections to other kidnapping cases. there are more positive signs on the economy today. we will check in with susan lisovicz at the new york stock exchange in just a couple minutes. we have all this energy here in the u.s. we have wind. we have solar, obviously. we have lots of oil. i think natural gas is part of the energy mix of the future. i think we have the can-do. we have the capability. we have the technology. the solutions are here. we just need to find them here.

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let's get to business news. there have been lots of stories, upbeat signs on the housing front lately. some analyst are going so far as to say the housing market will actually lead the economic recovery? what do today's numbers tell us? susan lisovicz is at the new york stock exchange with details. i want to hear this good news. good to see you. >> reporter: good to see you, tony. home construction rose last month. that's encouraging. and what's also encouraging is that the level is the highest we've seen in nine months. now, it was mostly due to a surge in apartment building where single family home building fell. that's considered a more important and more stable sector but the outlook no question is improving. home builder confidence rose yesterday and building permits

jumped nearly 3%. i kind of look at the housing sector repairing like repairing your home. it can cost more, take longer, it can be messy. there are still some problems. it's slow. it's uneven. it would be fitting that we would see improvement here because that's after all where it all started. >> hold on a second. you have been reporting a good chunk of sales to first-time home buyers getting and taking advantage of this credit that's available. that's ending soon. what happens to the housing market then? >> reporter: that's a big question. not unlike the cash for clunkers which drove auto sales. the white house is considering extending that credit. there's a bill working through the senate that would extend it through all of next year with double the credit to $15,000. remove restrictions that prohibit people who already own

homes. >> that could be huge. think about that. that could be huge. >> yes. and that's why realtors, bankers, home builders are lobbying for it. as it stands now, this tax credit expires at the end of november. what does that mean? it's the winter season when the housing market even in better times is dead. we know that the housing market has a ways to come back yet. no question about it. the national association of realtors says this has been used to buy more than 1 million homes. if you want to know if there are obstacles, well, let's look at one. a budget deficit of more than $1.5 trillion. >> wow. trying to figure out -- it looks like we'll try to grow our way out of this. that's what it looks like is in the offing here. >> well, i mean, you know, you really -- i think that the campaign to extend this is operating under the premise that you don't want to kill the early

recovery we see in this very big and important market. >> here's what we'll do tomorrow. we'll ramp up our nancy wilson. we'll talk about all of the good financial news we've been receiving this week. are you with they on that? >> reporter: i'm with you on that and also what stocks are doing today. this is the fourth day of gains. highs for the year. and the dow is less than 200 points from 10,000. >> can you believe that? >> reporter: some people are accusing me of jinxing that when i say that. i'm going to say it. we're at 9828. >> i'll jump on the limb with you. appreciate it. see you next hour. cnn tonight a year after the failure of lehman brothers and the world wide economic collapse, a cnn money summit special. money and main street tonight at 11:00 p.m. eastern only on cnn. live pictures now.

the comcast center in maryland. we're about 20 minutes away from the president's speech to college students. they're gathering at the university of maryland. we'll look at the cost of the senate committee's health care plan next for you right here in the "cnn newsroom." over $1 a person. just one breakfast a week saves a family of four over $800 a year. save money. live better. walmart. - hello! - ha! why don't you try a home cooked meal... with yummy hamburger helper? oh! tada! fantastically tasty, huh? ummm, it's good. what would you guys like? hamburger helper. what?! one pound... one pan... one tasty meal!

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no doubt what you want to know is how the new health care plan might impact your bottom line. for answers, let's go live to christine romans in new york. we're going to talk about the options available and what happens if you don't get some kind of coverage here? >> let's talk about the outright winners. outright winners. anyone with a pre-existing condition who can't get insurance right now, this baucus bill is what we're talking about. the most current look at the different plans to get people insured. people who are uninsured, americans and legal residents uninsured will have an option to get into the market here. now, they want to try to require almost everyone to have coverage and the way they're going to do that is they'll penalize people who don't. they'll subsidize your premiums, help you get this insurance and they'll penalize if you don't.

this is what penalties would look like. for a family making above $66,000 a year, that would be a fine of $3,800. for an individual above that the fine is more. for a family below $66,000 would be fined up to $1,500 a year. for individual, $750 a year. the idea is that you want to go to state exchanges or go straight to the insurance companies and by your insurance. they'll also as you can see from that brief one-second screen, they'll expand medicaid coverage. medicaid eligibility. that's a current government run plan and expand that eligibility for families up to $30,000 and individuals with an income of $14,400. a lot of different things at play. i can tell you that it will change and as legislative process is not pretty but this particular plan, they want to get as many people to be covered

as possible to get them to those state exchanges and there would be penalties for families who didn't go and do that. there are also big subsidies. the way i read it, subsidies for premiums and out-of-pocket expenses up the income chain to families making $88,000 a year. it's a sliding scale for what those premiums are but the idea is to get people covered. the big winners, the big winners, anybody with a pre-existing condition in their family. that's the real clear winner i can see here. >> all right. appreciate it. thank you. cnn tonight a year after the failure of lehman brothers and the worldwide economic collapse. anderson cooper and ali velshi tell you how to take control of your economic future. a cnn money summit special tonight 11:00 p.m. eastern only on cnn. joe biden on his third trip to iraq as vice president. he told prime minister if iraq wants u.s. troops to leave before the end of 2011, the u.s.

will comply. biden spoke to cnn pentagon correspondent chris lawrence. the topic turned to afghanistan. >> do you think that more troops are needed to win? >> i think that's premature. the president made a decision back in march said he clearly said what our goal was to defeat al qaeda in that region and made a significant deployment of resources, civilian and military. and they're not all fully in place and deployed. >> president obama gives the medal of honor to the family of jared monti. ed henry has their story. >> reporter: a crisp new england morning in a small town outside boston. paul monti wrapping up his daily

ritual that ends in the garden he built to remember his son. >> this is where i have my solitude. >> reporter: sergeant jare jared monti killed in afghanistan three years ago. i walk an hour and a half to two hours every morning. that's nice. there's a sign that the town dedicated to jared. i walk up to the sign and talk to him and complete a big loop. >> reporter: what do you say three years later? >> i tell him what's going on. what went on the day before. >> reporter: the father wears his son's dog tags as a shrine in the living room and now he's accepting his son's medal of honor from president obama. >> i would give all of it up to have my son back. everything. there's nothing i wouldn't give even my own life to get my son back. >> reporter: according to a pentagon account and cnn interviews with soldiers who were there, sergeant monti was

leading a small patrol ambushed by dozens of taliban fighters. a young soldier was unable to move. >> he was going to be the one to get him back. >> reporter: with bullets flying, monti had to take cover. the enemy fire got more intense so he stopped and yelled for help. then he ran out a third time. >> we all heard him scream. >> reporter: sergeant monti knew he was dying and his family was in his final thoughts. >> he said "the lord's prayer" and he said "tell my family i love them." and that's about the most meaningful thing that there is. >> reporter: inspired, his squadron beat back the enemy but then a terrible twist. a u.s. helicopter lowered a medic to grab bradbury. the young private monti tried to

save. a cable snapped. the two plunged to their deaths. >> it didn't matter the end result because that was him. he just did what the soldiers creed says. you never leave a soldier behind. >> reporter: i asked paul monti what advice he would give the president on a way ahead in afghanistan. he says send more troops even if it's difficult to sell to the american people. paul monti saying after eight years, it's time to finally get the mission right. ed henry, cnn, the white house. >> let's get you to our top stories right now. we're awaiting president obama to speak. he's set to address students at the university of maryland any minute now. the president pitching health care reform to young adults who would pay for a big chunk of his plan. live pictures of the campus. the comcast center. go terps.

you can watch the president's speech live in the "cnn newsroom." an ax and knife attack at a school in germany 90 miles northwest of munich. nine students were injured before police shot the attacker and took him into custody. we want to take you to new haven, connecticut. the president of yale university is speaking. he's about to speak. his name is richard levin. he's expected to make a statement on the investigation and the arrest of raymond clark. there he is. let's go to new haven. >> good morning. i wrote earlier this morning to the community to inform everyone about the arrest of raymond clark. we're relieved and encouraged by this progress in the investigation, but it is important to resist the temptation to rush to judgment until a full and fair

prosecution of this case means a just resolution. as with every development in this tragic story, we think first of annie le's family, her fiance, and his family, and her friends. and our hearts go out to them. mr. clark has been a lab technician at yale since december 2004. his supervisor reports that nothing in the history of his employment here gave any indication that his involvement in such a crime might be possible. it is very disturbing to think that a university employee might have committed this terrible crime. as i reminded our community, we must not let this incident shatter our trust in one another. the work of the university requires us to engage with each

other in the classroom to collaborate in the laboratory and to trust one another in the workplace all across our campus. i want to emphasize our campus and our city are safe places. both are thriving communities made more so by the strong partnership between the city of new haven and the university. what happened here could have happened anywhere. it says more about the dark side of the human soul than it does about anything else. we're all deeply indebted to the men and women of the fbi, the connecticut state police, the new haven police, the yale police, and yale security. they have truly worked tirelessly and cooperatively

since annie le's disappearance last tuesday. we are a very close community with deeply shared values. monday night's candle light vigil gave testimony to the caring and compassion of this place. we will offer comfort and consolation to annie's family and friends and to all of the people that work here and we'll honor annie's memory by rededicating ourselves to the highest and best values of this institution. thank you. now, i would like to ask my colleague colleague, laura smith, to come to the podium. she, of course, represents those 3,400 cleric cal and technical workers -- >> listening to richard levin,

yale's president. expressed his pleasure with the pace of the investigation encouraged by the pace of the investigation. he detailed a little bit of raymond clark. the suspect in this case. his employment history at yale. he's been employed there since december of 2004 and in conversations with clark's supervisor, yale's president said there was nothing in clark's employment history to suggest that he might be capable of something like this. the president also reiterating that yale is a safe place. saying that pretty flatly that yale is a safe place. we'll follow the twist and turns of the ongoing investigation into the murder of annie le. any new information we get, you'll get it as soon as we have it. welcome to the now network. population: 49 million.

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a large car bombed rocked afghanistan's capital today. 55 people were wounded in the suicide bombing not far from the supreme court building. officials say multinational soldiers were the target as they traveled on an airport road in kabul. six italian troops and ten civilians were killed. afghan president hamid karzai defending the integrity of last month's election results. in a news conference today, karzai said the opposition was responsible for announcing the votes were suspicious. >> it was a negative press coverage from the international

press on the election in afghanistan and the day after. let's not talk about that. let's go to find out exact ly i there was fraud committed as reported in the international press and let's give the election commission and complaints commission their right due to investigate and find out the results. >> okay. this afternoon at 4:00 eastern, cnn wolf blitzer talks with afghan president hamid karzai today in "the situation room" 4:00 eastern on cnn. there is a hunger crisis right in america's backyard. almost half of the children in guatemala can't get enough to

eat among ethnic the number soared to 8 in 10 children. >> reporter: about 200 kilometers from guatemala city, this year alone more than 20 infants have died of malnutrition. the ongoing fogood shortage is affecting people nationwide. >> translator: 40% of children in guatemala are suffering from malnutrition. during these times of upheava l such as now, the numbers escalate. >> reporter: the country has the highest level of chronic malnutrition in latin america and the fourth worst in the world. it's a situation guatemala's president last week and some

relief agencies are pulling out of guatemala due to lack of funding as a result of a lack of funding. one relief group works through churches capitalizing on existing community networks. >> it allows us to be quite efficient because for one it brings the element of local other thansh ownership. >> if you want to help this or other global causes, logon to cnn.com/impact. let's take you now to the comcast center. the university of maryland college park. i guess you can tell from the roars the president is in the room. the president talking to young people -- thanks for turning that up. the president talking to young people there at the university of maryland about health care reform. why don't we do this, let's take you now to the president of the united states.

>> hello, maryland! thank you! thank you! thank you, college park! thank you so much. it is good to be back at the university of maryland! i want to start by wishing the terps good luck this weekend. maybe i'll even rub tostidos

knows before i leave. we have a number of extraordinary elected officials who are here. i just want to just want to int real quick. your governor, martin o'malley, is in the house. the two outstanding senators from maryland, barbara mikulski and ben cardner in the house. one of the finest leaders that we have in congress, steny hoyer, is in the house. lieutenant governor anthony brown is here. prince george's county executive, jack johnson, is here. mayor steven braiman is here.

state senate majority leader, tom miller, is in the house. congresswoman donna edwards is here. congressman elijah cummins. congressman chris van hollen. congressman sarbanes is here. congressman butch rupersburger is here. and to your president, done montey, president of the university of maryland, thank you so much. you know -- who? you know, the last time i was here, it was in the heat of a very long and very tough campaign.

and in that campaign i promised to be a president who -- you guys can sit down, by the way. in that campaign, i promised to be a president who didn't just clean up yesterday's crises, i didn't want to be a president who was just content with standing still. i promised to be a president who would build a better future. who would move this nation forward. who would ensure that this generation, your generation, had the same chances and the same opportunities that our parents gave us. that's what i'm here to do. that's why i ran for president of the united states of america.

i ran for president because of people like rachel. did she not do an outstanding job in the introduction? part of that promise is an economy that leads the world in science and technology and in innovati innovation. part of that promise is a clean energy revolution that protects our planet, protects our security, creates jobs of the future right here in the united states of america. part of it is giving every citizen the skills and the education they need to compete with any worker in the world. just like you're getting right here at the university of maryland. and today we are on the cusp of taking another big step forward

towards fulfilling that promise. a few miles from here, the house of representatives will soon be voting on a plan that would finally make the student loan process simpler and more affordable for millions of young americans. this plan would end the billions upon billions of dollars in unwarranted subsidies that we hand out to banks and financial institutions, money that doesn't do anything to make your loans any cheaper. instead, we're going to use that money to guarantee access to low-cost loans, no matter what the economy looks like. we'll use it to strengthen pell grants and perkins loans, to make college more affordable. we'll shore up our system of community colleges. and we will simplify the

complicated, convoluted financial aid forms so it's easier for you to apply for help and get the financing that you need. now, these are reforms that have been talked about for years. but they're always blocked by special interests and their lobbyists. well, because you voted for change in november, we're going to bring change in the house of representatives today. and then we will take this battle for america's students and america's working families to the senate, and then i intend to sign this bill into law, because that's the change you worked for. that's the change you voted for. that's the change we're going to deliver. but, terps, we can't stop there. there are still those in washington who are resistant to change.

who are more willing to defend the status quo than address the real concerns of the american people. what can i tell you? they're still out there. we're facing the same kind of resistance on another defining struggle of this generation, and that's the issue of health insurance reform. now, let me say, you know, when you're young, i know this isn't always an issue that you have at the top of your mind. you think you're invulnerable. that's how i thought. >> i love you, obama. >> i love you back. i'm sure -- i'm sure some of you wonder why this college required that all new students have health insurance this semester. well, here's why.

here's why. every day the 1 in 3 adults -- 1 in 3 young adults -- who don't have health insurance live one accident or one illness away from bankruptcy. think about what had happened with rachel if she hadn't had health insurance. nearly half of these young people have trouble paying their medical bills. nearly 40% are in debt because of it. i mean, think about adding the debt you already have for college on top of that -- another $10,000 or $20,000 or $30,000, or $50,000 of debt because you get sick. some of these americans don't get insurance because they feel young and healthy. but some work part time or for small businesses where you haven't offered health insurance, and it's just too expensive to buy coverage on your own. and even if you have coverage, insurance companies today, they can drop it or water it down

when you're sick and you need it the most. or they can decide that they won't pay the full cost of your care and make you pay the rest of it out of pocket, even if it's thousands upon thousands of dollars. that's why more than one-third of all young adults, including those with insurance, have had trouble paying their medical bills. that's why one-fourth of all young adults are paying off medical debt, and we've heard some horror stories during the course of this debate. there's the young father i met in colorado. his child was diagnosed with severe hemophilia the day after he was born, and they had insurance. but because there was a cap on their coverage, as one child's medical bills piled up, this father was left frantically to search for another option or face tens of thousands of dollars of debt. another woman -- another woman from texas was about to get a double mastectomy when her insurance company canceled her policy because she forgot to

declare a case of acne. by the time she had her insurance reinstated, her breast cancer -- what's going on, guys? we're doing okay. relax. everybody's all right. we're doing fine. let me talk about -- i want everybody to -- i want everybody to understand this. you had a young woman who was diagnosed with cancer, but because she had a case of acne that the insurance company said hadn't been declared, they decided they wouldn't cover her. by the time her insurance was reinstated, her breast cancer had more than doubled in size. now, these stories are heartbreaking. they are wrong. nobody in america should be treated that way. and we are going to bring about change this year.

now, at its core -- listen up. at its core that's what this issue's about. health care's about more than the details of a policy. it's about what kind of country you want to be. young people, it's about what kind of country you want to be. we are the only nation on earth that leaves millions of people without health insurance. we spend more than any country on earth, and we're not any healthier for it. so, this is about what kind of country you want your children to grow up in.

a lot of you here today and a lot of young people across the country gave your time and your effort to this campaign because you believed that america can still do great things! you believed -- you believed that in this country we don't fear the future, we shape the future. we don't -- we don't feed on division and anger. we feed on hope. and possibility. that's what america's about. that's what we're called to affirm right now. it has now been nearly a century since teddy roosevelt first called for health care reform. it's been attempted by nearly every president and every congress since, and our failure to get it done, year after year

and decade after decade, has placed a burden on families and on businesses and on taxpayers that we can no longer sustain. so, i may not be the first president to take up the cause of health care reform. i'm determined to be the last, with your help! we will get this done. now, the good news is -- the good news is -- we are now closer to reform than we've ever been. after debating this issue for the better part of a year, there's now agreement in congress on about 80% of what needs to be done, 4 out of 5 committees in congress have completed their work. yesterday the finance committee under the leadership of max baucus put out its own bill. each bill has its strengths.

and there are a lot of similarities between them. and our overall efforts have been supported by an unprecedented coalition of hospitals and seniors' groups, businesses, drug companies even. most importantly, drugs -- doctors and nurses. they are supporting this effort. you have doctors, medical students, right here, in the house. see, i just want to point out. i think it's telling. some of the people who are most enthusiastic about health care reform are the very medical professionals who have firsthand knowledge about how badly this system needs to change. so, don't -- stop paying attention to the folks who are spreading false charges, crazy rumors about our plan. pay attention to the health care experts. the doctors and the nurses who know our system best.

now, i think it's fine that we've been hearing constructive criticism about these issues over the last several months, because this is a big deal. that's how our democracy works. no one has all the right answers. we've all got a stake in getting this right. that's why i've said, i will embrace good ideas, wherever they come from. we already have. but too often during this important debate, we've also seen the same kind of partisan spectacle that has left so many people disappointed by washington. too many engage in scare tactics instead of honest debates. too many use this as an opportunity to score short-term political points, instead of working together to solve a long-term challenge. i've heard a lot of republicans say they want to kill obama-care. some may even raise money off it. but when you ask these folks

what exactly my plan does, they've got it all wrong. when you ask them what their solution is, it amounts to the same old, same old. the same status quo that's given us higher costs and more uninsured and less security than you've ever had. it's more of the same. well, look, i will not accept the status quo as a solution. not this time, not now. the time for bickering is over. the time for games has passed. now is the season for action. now's the time to deliver on health care reform for the american people! so, just -- just to make sure you're clear. here's what you need to know about our plan. for those who have health insurance, you'll have more

security and stability. it will provide insurance to those who don't have insurance. it will slow the growth of health care costs for our families and our businesses and our government. let me say. if you already have health insurance, nothing in this plan will require you to change what you have. what this plan will do is make the insurance you have work better for you. because under this plan, it -- listen up, young people. under my plan, if your parents have health insurance and you're currently on their policy, you will automatically be able to keep your coverage until you're 26 years old. that means you will know that you've got health insurance. if your parents don't have access to health insurance, one of the ideas on the table is to give folks under 25 the chance to buy low-cost insurance that

will protect you from financial ruin if you get seriously ill. now, under this plan it will also be against the law for insurance companies to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing condition. you just -- you just heard rachel's story. she's okay right now. she's thriving. but when she goes into the workforce and their insurance companies start asking, well, have you been sick before, right now she'd have trouble getting insurance. under the bill that we signed, she will still be able to get coverage. when i sign this bill, it will be against the law for insurance companies to drop your coverage when you get sick, water it down when you need it the most. they'll no longer be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given lifetime or a given year. we'll place a limit on how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses. in the united states, nobody

should go broke because they get sick. and insurance companies will be required to cover with no extra charges preventive care, because there's no way we shouldn't be able to catch preventable diseases before they get worse. it makes sense, it saves money, and it saves lives. now, if you don't have health insurance, the second part of this plan will finally afford -- offer you quality, affordable choices. so, if you lose your job or you change jobs, you'll be able to get coverage. if you decide you want to start your own business, you'll still be able to get coverage. we'll do this by creating a new insurance exchange, a marketplace, where individuals and small businesses will be able to shop for an affordable health insurance plan that works for them. that's how large companies and government employees get affordable insurance. that's how i and everyone in

congress gets affordable insurance. you should have the same thing that congress has. now, i've also said that one of the options in the insurance exchange should be a public insurance option. let me be clear. let me be clear. it would only be an option. no one would be forced to choose it. no one with insurance would be affected by it. but what it would do is provide more choice and more competition and put pressure on private insurers to make their policies affordable and treat their customers better. now, think about it. there's some folks who said, well, this is a government

takeover of health care. we've got public universities and private universities. nobody says that we're taking over private colleges. what we're doing is giving students a choice. you should have a choice the same way in your health care. of course, the only way this plan works is if everybody fulfills their responsibility, not just government, not just insurance companies, but employees and individuals. this school should be proud that every student is required to have health insurance. since our plan will make sure that insurance is affordable for everybody, we're going to also say everybody needs to get insurance. because if there are affordable options and people don't sign up, then the rest of us pay for somebody else's expensive emergency room care, and that's not fair. improving our health care system only works if everybody does their part, and i think americans are willing and ready

to take on that responsibility. now, a lot of you may be asking, you know, this plan sounds pretty good, but how you going to pay for it? how do we make sure this doesn't add to the deficit that the next generation is going to have to be paying? so, here's what you need to know. first, i won't sign a bill that adds one dime to our deficit, either now or in the future, period. part of the reason i face a trillion dollar-plus deficit when i walked into the door of the white house is because too many initiatives over the last decade were not paid for, from the iraq war to tax breaks for the wealthy. i won't make the same mistake when it comes to health care. second, we've estimated that

most of this plan can be paid for by finding savings within the existing health care system. there's all kinds of waste and abuse. the doctors and nurses know this. right now too much of the hard-earned savings and tax dollars we spend on health care doesn't make you healthier. that's especially true when it comes to medicare and medicaid. so, without taking any money from the medicare trust fund that gives benefits to your grandparents, they depend on it for their health care, we're going to eliminate hundred of billions of dollars of waste and fraud and subsidies to insurance companies that pad their profits but don't do anything to make seniors healthier. now, some of my republican colleagues have also supported reforming our medical malpractice laws as a way to cut down health care costs. i don't think this is a silver bullet, but i want to explore the idea. so, today i directed my secretary of health and human services to move forward with programs that will help us put patient safety first, while

allowing doctors to focus on practicing medicine instead of defending against lawsuits. so, maryland, this is the plan i'm proposing. it's the plan that incorporates ideas from democrats and republicans. now, i'm going to seek common ground in the weeks ahead. if you come to me with a set of serious proposals, i will be there to listen. my door is always open. but know this -- i will not waste time with those who have made the calculation that it's better to kill health reform than to improve our health care system. i won't stand by while special interests do the same old tricks to keep things exactly the way they are. and i said last week, at the speech of the joint session, if you misrepresent what's in our plan, we'll call you out. we will call you out. now, i said we're closer to

reform than we've ever been, but this is the hard part. this is when the special interests gear up. this is when the folks who want to kill reform fight back with everything they've got. this is when they spread all kinds of rumors to scare and intimidate americans. this is what they always do. that's why i need your help. when i was running for president, i never said change would be easy. change is hard. it's always been hard. civil rights was hard. getting women the right to vote, that was hard. making sure that social security was there for our seniors, that was hard. getting medicare in place, that was hard. i know there are doubts that creep into people's minds. i know there's a tendency during tough times for folks to turn on each other and get mad and get angry.

but our history tells us that each and every time we faced a choice between the easy road that leads to slow decline or the hard road that leads to something better, something higher, we take the higher road. that's how americans are. we refuse to stand still. we always want to move forward. and that journey doesn't take -- that doesn't start in washington, d.c. it begins right here in college park. it begins on campuses like this one. it always has. just like the change that began in our campaign, it starts with people, especially young people, who are determined to take this nation's destiny into their own hands. you know, some of you remember during the campaign, we had a slogan, "fired up, ready to go."

not everybody here knows how this story came about. so, i'm going to tell it again. because it bears on health care reform. this is early in the campaign, when none of you knew how to pronounce my name. i had just announced and i was looking for support. i had to go down to south carolina, the early primary state. i went down to greenville for a -- for a legislative dinner, and i was sitting next to a state representative there. and i wanted her support. i needed some endorsements. nobody supported me at the time. so, i said, madam representative, i need your endorsement. she said, i will give you my endorsement if you come to my hometown, greenwood, south carolina. and i said -- i'd had a glass of wine. i said fine.

i'm coming. come to find out that greenwood is an hour and a half from everyplace else. it's in the middle of nowhere. so, about a month later, i fly back into greenville, and i'm tired, i'm sleepy, you know, i've been campaigning for two weeks straight. i'm dragging my bags to my hotel room, and suddenly i get a tap on my shoulder. it's my staff person. i said what? they said, we got to be in the car at 6:30 tomorrow morning. i said what? 6:30, why? because we've got to go to greenwood like you promised. so, the next morning i wake up, and i feel terrible. dragging out of bed. feel like a college student. i feel -- i feel like i'm back in college and don't want to wake up.

i feel like i've been staying up late doing who knows what. i know, i remember. how you-all are. so, i just feel -- i'm exhausted. i go over to the curtains to try to get some sunlight, make myself up. it's pouring down rain outside. miserable day. i go to get some coffee, open up the newspaper. there's a bad story about me in "the new york times." i go downstairs, and my umbrella busts open. and i get -- i get poured on. so, by the time i'm in the car, i'm wet and i'm sleepy and i'm tired and i'm mad. and we start driving, and we're driving and we're driving. it's an hour and a half and i realize i'm going to have to drive an hour and a half back. and when i -- and finally we get to greenwood -- although you

don't know you're in greenwood right away. but there's a little park district building. we go into this park, fieldhouse. i get a little more wet. get inside, and after this long drive, waking up 6:30, there are only about 20 people there. 20 people. and they're all kind of damp, and they don't look that excited to see me. and they don't really know how to pronounce my name either. but, you know, i'm running for president, so i shake hands, how do you do, nice to meet you. suddenly i hear this voice behind me shout out, "fired up!" and i'm startled, but everybody around me, they just think this is normal. they say "fired up!" and suddenly i hear this voice "ready to go!" everybody goes "ready to go." i look behind me, i see this small woman, 5'2", she's about

50, 60 years old. and she's dressed like she just came from church. she's got a big church hat. and she's looking at me and she smiles and she says, "fired up!" come to find out that this is a city council member from greenwood. she also, by the way, moonlights as a private detective. true story. true. true story. but she's mainly known for her chant. she does this everywhere she goes. everywhere at any event, football game, you know, at a -- at a city council meeting, she says "fired up! "and everybody says fired up. and ready to go. and everybody says ready to go. the next five minutes she says, fired up. fired up. ready to go. ready to go. and i realize i'm being upstaged by this woman. so, i'm looking at my staff, asking, you know, what's going on here? when is this going to stop? and they shrugging their shoulders. they don't know. but here's the thing, maryland,

after about a minute, a couple minutes of this, suddenly i realized i'm feeling kind of fired up. i'm feeling like i'm ready to go. so, i start joining in the chant. and for the rest of the day, wherever we went, whenever i saw my staff, i said, are you fired up? they say, i'm fired up, boss. i say, are you ready to go? they say, i'm ready to go. so, it just goes to show you -- and this is so important for young people -- it goes to show you that one voice can change a room. and if a voice can change a room, it can change a city. and fit can change a city, it can change a state. if it can change a state, it can change a nation. if it can change a nation, it can change the world. we will change the world with your voice!

we need the voices of young people! to transform this nation, to meet up to the meaning of its creed. i need your voice! so, i want to know, are you fired up? ready to go? >> ready to go. >> fired up. >> fired up. >> ready to go. >> ready to go. >> fired up. >> fired up. >> ready to go. >> ready to go. >> let's go change the world. thank you, everybody. >> okay. president obama has just wrapped up his latest pitch for health care reform. this one a campaign-style rally at the university of maryland. the president focusing on young adults. after all, they're the ones who will pay for a big chunk of his plan he calls health care a defining struggle of this generation. roll the tape. >> i heard a lot of republicans

say they want to kill obama-care. some may even raise money off it. but when you ask these folks what exactly my plan does, they've got it all wrong. when you ask them what their solution is, it amounts to the same old, same old. the same status quo that's given us higher cost and more uninsured and less security than you've ever had. >> how fired up and ready to go are senators for health care reform? we will get an update on the baucus plan from our congressional correspondent, brianna keilar, in just a moment.

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trilipix. there's more to cholesterol. get the picture. all right. the senate's health care sales pitch begins. max baucus holding a special meeting with his finance committee to walk them through his newly revealed proposal for overhauling the health care system. live now to our cnn congressional correspondent, brianna keilar, on capitol hill. okay, so this is a meeting with the entire committee. we're talking about republicans and democrats. but clearly here, initially, brianna, the chairman has a lot of work to do to shore up support for the plan with his fellow democratic senators. >> reporter: yeah, and actually, right now he's moved on from that meeting with the senate finance committee, which is republicans and democrats, and he's going to be briefing democrats, all democratic senators, on this health care plan, tony. so, yeah, there are certainly a few sticking points for them. let's highlight them. the top one is this issue of

affordability. not only stopping this really steep growth rate of health care, because it is so much steeper than inflation, but also making sure that the assistance the federal government provides to low-income americans is enough so that they can really afford health insurance. and this isn't only the concern of democrats. it's also the concern of the key republican, senator olympia snow of maine, who is really seen as democrats' best bet for getting that one republican vote that they need. here's what she said earlier at that senate finance committee meeting, right before it. >> the objective is to ensure that americans have access to more affordable health care than they currently do. secondly, it's recognizing that there's something seriously wrong with our current system that health care costs are rising at two and three times the rate of inflation, putting it more and more out of reach for more and more americans. >> reporter: now, there's another issue for democrats, and that's the public option. there are still some democrats in the senate who say there

needs to be a public option or they want there to be a public option. senator jay rockefeller of west virginia said he could not vote for the baucus plan as it stands out in, senator jeff bingaman of new mexico, one of the key negotiators in the bipartisan gang of six says he wants a public option, but the sense, tony, and the reason that everyone is paying attention to senator baucus' plan because it is the only one that does not have a public option. >> that's right. >> reporter: that issue obviously still not resolved even though. >> our congressional correspondent, brianna keilar for us. thank you. president obama trying to get young adults fired up about his health care plan. they would likely play a major role in funding the reform. senior medical correspondent, elizabeth cohen, is with us now. good to see you, it's been a while. let's start with this. what's in this plan for young people? >> there are a couple of things in this plan for young people, and so we have brought someone we affectionately call sally, the student. do you remember her? >> absolutely, absolutely. >> that's right. we decided to bring her back. we thought what was the baucus

bill mean, what is baucus going to do for sally? and sally is someone, by the way, she's a college student that doesn't have insurance. >> right. >> she's really in trouble. she needs to get health insurance. one thing the baucus bill will do is it will increase the chances that sally, the student, would qualify for medicaid. now, right now, you have to be relatively poor to qualify for medicaid. this increases the income level that you can have, and also does the same thing for a program called c.h.i.p., the children's health insurance program. >> yeah. >> it makes it more likely that sally would qualify for one of those two programs. >> how about this, what if sally doesn't qualify for either of those two programs? >> if she doesn't qualify for either of those, one of the thing the baucus bill does it creates things called co-ops. you and i have talked about co-ops before, even earlier in this program. a co-op is a health insurance plan, if you will, that's nonprofit and actually run by the patients. so, it's sort of a different model than what most people have in this country.

>> got you. so, let's talk about affordability for a moment here. co-ops aren't free. will sally even be able to afford a co-op? >> right. when you join a co-op, you have to pay premiums and deductibles and all those things just like any health insurance program, and that's a really important point. now, when i asked folks a couple months ago, who run co-ops, hey, would this help people that can't afford insurance? and they said, not really, because it costs money. now that people that run them, say the baucus bill has all sorts of changes that make the environment different and might make co-ops more affordable for someone like sally. for example, the baucus bill says everyone has to have health insurance. when everyone has health insurance, the costs go down. so, with that kind of a change and other changes that the baucus bill would give bonuses to health care systems that deliver quality, cost-efficient care. once you make those kind of changes that really changes the scenery and co-ops maybe could be more helpful. that's what folks are saying. >> that's interesting. so, the landscape has even

changed since the last time we talked about, which wasn't that long ago. >> no, it wasn't that long ago, but the landscape has changed because now a co-op is part of 45 man? changes. >> thank you. >> thank you. there are many young people who want coverage and simply can't give it like 25-year-old caitlin mcclure from atlanta. she recently graduated from graphics design school. that's when her parents' insurance company dropped her from their plan. that's a prop because she has epilepsy and takes hundreds of dollars worth of pills a month to control seizures. now caitlin is having a difficult time finding affordable, private insurance on her own. >> they -- they won't cover my medications, because my epilepsy is a pre-existing condition so, you know, if i were to -- they would bump up my rate because i have this pre-existing condition, and then they won't even cover the medications. >> so, here's the deal. caitlin's parents are paying her bills right now.

in the meantime, she's creating these funky, fun, unusual resumes to find a job with ben it ins at a graphics arts firm. that's a real challenge, because small businesses don't have to cover their employees. don't miss president obama taking questions from cnn's john king on "state of the union" sunday morning, 9:00 eastern, 6:00 pacific. that's going to be great, right here on cnn. changes and plans for a u.s. missile defense program in europe. how to get rich, by america's health insurance companies.

health insurance premiums 4 times faster than wages. million dollars a year. deny payment for 1 out of every 5 treatments doctors prescribe. if the insurance companies win, you lose. tell congress to rewrite the story. we want good health care we can afford with the choice of a public health insurance option.

president obama is realigning a proposed missile defense shield for eastern europe. the bush plan for interceptor missiles in poland with radar locaters in the czech republic

will be scrapped. officials say the new system will be based on ships heading eventually to southern europe and turkey. the shield is supposed to protect europe from an iranian missile strike. >> there's no substitute for iran complying with its international obligations regarding its nuclear program, and we, along with our allies and partners, will continue to pursue strong diplomacy to ensure that iran lives up to these international obligations. but this new ballistic missile defense program will best address the threat posed by iran's ongoing ballistic missile defense program. >> over the last few years, we have made great strides with missile defense, particularly in our ability to counter short- and medium-range missiles. we now have proven cape ats to intercept these ballistic missiles with land- and sea-based interceptors, supported by much-improved sensors. these capabilities offer a variety of options to detect, track, and shoot down enemy

missiles. >> foreign affairs correspondent, jill dougherty, is here. and, jill, a couple questions for you. first of all, why this approach? >> tony, i think you'd have to say, they say the game has changed. that under the bush administration what they were looking at is iran having a long-range missile. now they say iran is behind in that. they don't have one yet, and it's taking them a long time to get one. so, what's the challenge? they have -- iran has -- short-range and medium-range missiles. so, how do you affect against that? the president is making the point to do that you need a different system. you don't need the land-based, let's say, installations -- >> sure. >> -- in poland and the czech republic. what you need is something broader. it could be spread on ships. it could have interceptors all over the place, including, maybe, even in russia sometime. and that would be the best way to defend. so, what the president is saying, or trying to make the case, i am not stepping back. i am not giving up on some type

of missile defense, but it's not going to be that system. it's another, newer system. >> okay. interesting, jill, a lot of, it seems to me, political implications to this. how are other countries respond? >> yes, definitely. poland is not happy, to put it mildly. one of the people that we spoke to, cnn spoke to, from the ministry of defense, said "this is catastrophic for poland." another statement, a formal one, from the czech prime minister, "we expect that the united states will continue cooperating with the czech republic on concluding the relevant agreements on our mutual research and development and military cooperation, including the financing of specific projects." but, listen to this, he says, "president obama assured me that the usa would not change its position on this issue." that sounds like a little bit of a dig saying -- >> yeah. >> -- saying you changed your position on something else. we don't expect you to change it on this. >> got you. all right, jill dougherty for us, jill, thank you. tight times on the economic front, forcing some families to

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so, let's get to our top stories now. police in connecticut today charge 24-year-old lab technician raymond clark with killing grad student, annie le. police say le was strangled. her body was found sunday stuffed in the basement wall of an off-campus medical research building. yesterday during this hour, we reported what investigators described as a horrific gang rape on the campus of hofstra university on new york's long island. we showed you the mug shots of four young men arrested and charged with five counts each of first-degree rape. well, now the alleged victim has recanted her story, and the men have been released from custody. all charges dropped. the young men are obviously overjoyed to be free. one of the falsely accused, a 20-year-old, kevin tavares, is quoted in "new york's "newsday"" saying it was terrible. i feel like our names were tarnished. but maybe with all the news out,

people will see we're not rapers. prosecutors and investigators are still looking at this case. the woman who made the false statements may face charges. ♪ ♪ puff the magic dragon lived by the sea ♪ >> her voice forever part of the timeless soundtrack of the turbulent '60s. mary travers, one-third of peter, paul & mary, died after a long fight with leukemia. the group's harmonies became anthems for civil rights movements and the anti-war protesters and beat nicks. americans are still losing jobs. in today's "money & main street" segment, allan chernoff introduces us to a family who are finding a way to make 13 weeks of severance pay last a full year. >> reporter: carmen and chris jogging home from an errand instead of driving. it's one of many cost-saving steps they are taking since

carmen, the family breadwinner was laid off in july from her software job at accenture. >> it's instant panic, oh, my gosh, we're going to lose our house and live in a cardboard box. >> reporter: carmen decided to turn her loss into an opportunity to spend more time with the family while taking time to find another job she'd love. so, they plan to stretch carmen's unemployment checks and her 13-week severance to last a full year, determined not to dig into savings. >> how do you do it? i have the rules posted actually at my desk. >> reporter: rules like "live within your means" which they say they've always done. they are also do-it-yourselfers. chris, a stay-at-home dad is a woodworker who builds sons for his son max. >> my dad made it. that's the best. >> reporter: for the first time, carmen set up a budget, to stick to it, the family shops only for absolute necessities. the library is now a frequent stop, as are other free

community resources. >> well, we've had more fun since i lost my jonathan ever! >> reporter: having adopted a frugal lifestyle, they say they now truly appreciate small luxuries. >> if you pick just a couple of luxuries, like hershey bars, you really enjoy them! >> reporter: even as they stretch, they still donate 10% of carmen's unemployment check to their church. living only a few doors away from the neighborhood food pantry, they are often reminded of their blessings. >> so, i don't have a job right now. we've got a house. we've got food. we have nothing to complain about. >> reporter: allan chernoff, cnn. and tonight our anderson cooper and ali velshi will tell you how to take control of your own economic future, on a cnn special, "money & main street," tonight at 11:00 eastern only on cnn. i would say convenience is something

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you know, i'm trying to figure out what's the lead story at cnnmoney.com? i can't read that type. it's too small. but, boy, if you want the latest financial news -- no libraries, no playgrounds, no what, no courts? okay! all right. if you want the latest financial news, and i'm anxious to click on that story to find out what's that all about, maybe some budget cuts or something? cnnmoney.com is the place for the latest, the best financial analysis, the latest numbers. let's get you to wall street now. better than three hours into the trading day, weren't we in positive territory just a couple of hours ago on the strength of new home starts? all right. but we are selling now. the dow down 28 points. the nasdaq is down 9. still to come in the "newsroom" -- a young man who lost his leg in a boating accident takes his very personal fight. for amputee rights to capitol hill. jordan thomas versus the

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fighting for amputee rights. it's another part of the health care battle you may not have heard much about. we first introduced you to this amazing young man, jordan thomas, a few weeks ago. boy, oh, boy, he is a fighter! cnn's brooke baldwin joined him as he headed to capitol hill. >> okay. >> all right, jordan again. good to see you sir. >> good to see you. >> reporter: as the debate over health care reform rages in washington -- >> in charleston let you offer -- >> i did. i had to come up to washington, you know? >> reporter: 20-year-old jordan thomas is fighting for a cause close to home. jordan is a bilateral amputee. he lost his legs in a boating accident when he was just 16. >> my dad jumped into the water immediately and held me afloat. i remember looking at him and saying, "dad, my feet are gone." >> reporter: during his recovery, jordan met children whose parents unlike his couldn't afford expensive

prosthetics. >> my legs are $24,000 and a lot of companies will put caps, $5,000 cap, for example, and you have to pay the rest. >> reporter: so the then-16-year-old started the jordan thomas foundation, raising money to help disadvantaged kids like noah get the prosthetics they need. you like the knee? >> yeah. yeah. >> reporter: how's it work? just like that. >> yeah. and you can do this. watch. >> reporter: taking noah's story to the next level. so, what are you doing? you're pounding down the doors of these congressman? >> trying to get ahold of them s sof, it's not a red state, blue state deal. it's an ethical deal. >> reporter: jordan is taking his hard-hitting questions -- >> what are you doing to making sure that amputees have the access to the best possible people? >> reporter: hoping lawmakers will listen and follow through. >> there's an awareness level

that is hugely raised when someone is like him here. >> reporter: joining jordan, dozens of amputees to the u.s. senate, the same day that senator max baucus released his roadmap for health care reform. >> we want to make sure that amputees across the united states have access to the types of devices that allow them to function every day. >> reporter: there are 2 million amputees nationwide, jordan is simply one of them, taking on congress, step by step >> it's just it's a no-brainer. >> brooke baldwin joining us now. brooke, let me get this straight here. >> yes. >> you lose an arm. you lose a leg because of an illness or an accident. >> uh-huh. >> and you need a prosthetic device. >> correct. >> you've got insurance, so you go to your insurance company, hey, i need this device. and in some cases you're denied, why? >> it's a question 2 million people are asking essentially. and they're saying, you know

what, look, all the people wearing pins on capitol hill, saying, my arms and legs are not a luxury. it's a necessity, if you want to go back to basic economics. the insurance companies are saying we don't want to foot the bull. $24,000 for jordan's leg, below the knee. you're talking tens of thousands more than that. they're basically fighting and saying, hey, we want a prosthetic to be covered like a heart surgery or knee surgery. we pay the $500 deductible and the insurance company can take care of the rest. >> he's a fighter. >> he is! good friend of mine now. >> thank you, brooke. good to see you. >> you're welcome. good to be here. still to come, the ultimate sacrifice. gecko vo: you see, it's not just telling people geico

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boy, in afghanistan army sergeant jared monti gave his life trying to rescue another wounded soldier in afghanistan. monti tried once, twice to pull the soldier to safety. he tried a third time and was killed. next hour, president obama will present the medal of honor, posthumously to the army sergeant. monti's father said it was just like his son to help someone in need. his father described an incident where monti and his roommate had bought some kitchen ware. >> one day the roommate came home and opened the door and looked in, and the kitchen set was missing. they had just bought it a $500 kitchen set. and he was infuriated. and jared came home and