hey there, everybody. from the cnn center. this is "cnn sunday morning" good to see you. i'm t.j. holmes. >> we're going to see a vote on the the landmark health care legislation. house democrats are still trying to get the votes they need.

republicans vowing to fight it. we are tracking all of it. >> also, 6:00 a.m. here at atlanta. 5:00 a.m. in fargo, north dakota, where they are nervously waiting for the red river to crest. a live update coming up on the conditions in just a moment. of course, the big story will be the historic showdown on capitol hill. the u.s. house is debating the $875 billion senate health care reform legislation that passed the senate back on christmas eve. the house convenes at 1:00 today to start considering the measure. there are going to be three votes today. one is going to be on the terms of that debate. another on the compromise changes to the bill, the so-called reconciliation bill, and then finally the senate bill itself. it's going to take 216 votes to pass or kill the nsh. >> iraq's prime minister is calling for a manual recount in response to demands by some of iraq's other political groups.

there are concerns if those demands are not meant there could be an uptick in violence. at this point a secular block leads with the most votes in the overall total, but the prime minister's coalition has @ support of several provinces. a teenager charged with harassment and biased intimidation for allegedly getting on a walmart p.a. system and telling all black people to leave the store. this happened last week, you may remember, at a new jersey walmart. the 16-year-old was arrested on friday. he has now been released into the custody of his parents. now getting back to our top story, the passage of the health care reform bill would lead to the largest expansion of federal health care guarantees in four decades. all the republicans in the democratically controlled house plan to vote against the legislation. it will take 38 democrats voting no to kill the bill. 33 democrats plan to vote no. what an interesting day we saw on capitol hill yesterday. the so-called demon pass, that's

dead. all of this going on leading up to today. cnn's senior congressional correspondent # dana bash has details. >> reporter: democrats worked late into the night counting the votes, hoping for victory tonight on health care. they got a personal push from the man who has the most at stake politically. the president came in confident. >> we are going to get this done. >> reporter: and used his final pep rally for house democrats to cast the moment in historic terms. >> is this the single most important step that we have taken on health care since medicare? absolutely. >> reporter: he acknowledged political reality. >> i know this is a tough vote. >> reporter: but insisted at the end of the day voting yes to health care will be a political plus for democrats. >> i am actually confident. i talked to some of you originally, that it will end up being the smart thing to do

politically. because i believe good policy is good politics. >> reporter: yet, even before the president's hard sell, democratic leaders for the fwirs time said they had secured the votes to pass health care. >> clearly we believe we have the votes. >> reporter: that prediction of a frenzied saturday of last-minute meetings to count the votes and con mixed. >> they banned to pass it with a controversial procedure, demon pass. that would have let house democrats avoid a direct vote on the senate health care bill many don't like. but the maneuver became explosive and backfired. >> i don't support that and won't support a rule that does it that way. >> reporter: democratic leaders racked up nine votes by resolving a regional issue. >> i think this was crucial to

getting them to a yes on this legislation. >> reporter: yet as momentum appeared to build, so did the opposition. >> kill the bill! kill the bill! >> reporter: protesters descended on the capitol. >> abortion is not health care. vote no. >> yelling for lawmakers to kill the bill as they walked outside on a sunny saturday. and cheering at the sight of the house republican leader. >> kill the bill. >> reporter: the protest also turned personal and ugly. >> kill the bill! >> reporter: inside this office building a cnn producer overheard protesters yelling the word faggot at openly gay congressman barney frank, and john lewis, a civil rights icon who marched in selma, alabama, told cnn protesters hurled racial slurs at him repeatedly yelling the "n" word. the turbulent and intense day include more wrangling on the

emotional issue of abortion, but the house speaker insisted she will not give in to demands by anti-abortion democrats for a new vote on taxpayer funding for abortion becoming more restrictive. t.j.? >> all right. thanks to dana bash. she showed us some of the protests against the health care reform. this is a rally in support of reform. cnn i-reporter lisa kelly sent this to us. lucy is olding a sign that says health care reform cuts the deficit, ensures millions. madison plans to vote against the bill. >> of course cnn is counting the votes. follow our special coverage as the decision comes down to the wire. all day today right here on cnn. there's been some pretty crazy weather across the country this weekend. it's supposed to be spring, of course, but some people are digging out of snow. i hate getting out the shovels.

a late winter storm dumped more than seven inches across kansas city, missouri, yesterday. meanwhile, further north, the big problem there, flooding. one million sandbags are all that stands between parts of minnesota and north dakota and the rising red river, of course. >> it's expected to crest, that river today. our meteorologismeteorologist, reynolds wolf is out there. it keeps inching up and inching up. where is it now? >> reporter: little by little. the the latest we have is 36.93 inches again is where it is right now. expected to top out around 37. that's certainly significant. it is well beyond major flood stage. still not quite as high as the 40.8 that we had just last year. you know, it's funny just last year some of the homes behind me were really suffering from some of the floodwaters. now this one house we have the blue one, it's got the red river all the way around it, in fact. you'll notice at the bottom of

the house you can see a wall of sandbags that is really holding back the river. this is one of the fellows who lives here in the oak grove neighborhood, a suburb of fargo. basically the home is an island for the time being. chris davis had the opportunity to go over there just yesterday and take a look around. take a look at the video that we have from just yesterday. really, it is a fort. a fort holding back the waters of the red river that as we mention continue to rise, should top around 37 feet some time later today before beginning to fall back next week. and again, just an amazing thing. putting up the sandbags with the help of neighbors. certainly with the help of the nearby school. the oak grove lutheran school, which as we come back to me for just a moment, speaking of that school, we're right on the school campus. you can see this earth and dam that we have on one side and then basically the school right here. show america this wall right here. that's basically the the line that you have. and just last year the waters were actually inside part of this building. it flooded it out. and this is just one of the

things that they have been dealing with. it seems like, gosh, four times out of the last decade they've been dealing with these floodwaters. there is good news. there's not been thankfully, they haven't suffered the flooding they had last year. certainly not the same magnitude. clean up efforts in some places. sandbags being dismantled. they're very confident. but at the seem time vigilant. they know any time some of the dams could break. it's going to cause more problems for more people. coming up we'll speak to dennis walker, the mayor of fargo to see how he's doing with it and what he expects to happen in if days to come. also we'll get a chance to speak to the foal low who lives right here in this home. for now let's send it back to you. let's send it back to you. >> looks like he's up already. he is probably expecting you. hopefully not just knocking on the door this morning.

we'll talk to you here in a bit. of course. the flooding there at the red river. we're talking about that. but also people in the other parts of the u.s. dealing with a spring snowstorm. >> right. meteorologist karen maginnis is here. she'll have the details next. thousands are getting ready for a major rally in washington. no, not on the issue you're thinking. the story coming up. now in new sun crystals, the only 100% natural sweetener made with pure cane sugar and stevia. with just 5 calories a packet. new sun crystals all-natural sweetener.

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here with karen maginnis. you're telling me it's spring, and i'm not believing you. >> just a couple days ago we saw record high temperatures. i have some record high temperatures. where are my record highs? >> this is your spring evidence, huh. >> this was yesterday. it was 74 in new york city. >> oh, yes. >> it was. and that was a record. but -- >> but what? >> kansas city.

kansas city saw seven inches. this from patricia smith. this is our i-report from yesterday. out of oklahoma city. she was headed to a wedding, and well things didn't go so well. roads very hazardous driving conditions all across oklahoma. but in particular that central portion of oklahoma. let's go ahead and take a look at what's happening at the wall here. want to show you right now just to the north of dallas right around oklahoma city extending up towards missouri. this is the ground zero as far as very messy weather is concerned. what do i mean by that? >> well, on the backside of this area of low pressure that's where we have the snowfall. but there's that transition zone where it changes over to ice. that's what we're looking at in the northwestern corner of arkansas extending up towards missouri. is it ending? well, this system is not winding down any time soon. it's just going to make its way right across extreme northern sections of arkansas. so that means missouri,

arkansas, into kansas, i' photographed some wildlife. extending up towards missouri, icy rain and snow mix. let's go ahead and talk a little bit about the flooding situation. reynolds wolf is out there. he's been tout there for days. this is the situation where the water rises, but it doesn't drop back down. like t.j. and abbi, like we see in the south or southeast, the water rises and drops. but halong the rivers they rise and stay for a while. floods expected up there. >> just holding on. it could turn disastrous at any moment. >> just want to mention one thing, they crest probably in the next hour, right around 37 feet. and that's at fargo. >> so if we in the next hour or so can hold, we may be in decent

shape. >> it's still going to be really high for the next seven days or so. it's just not going to drop very quickly. it rises and then over the next seven days gradually falls off. >> good to hear it won't keep going up at least. something to watch in the next hour. thank you so much, karen. talk to you again shortly. you've probably gotten your census form in the mail. i know i have, even though it's sitting on my kitchen counter somewhere. do you know what it's all about? josh levs is tracking down a few census myths for us this weekend. >> got to get that off the counter in about a week. you have a little bit of time. what can the government do with the information you provide and what happens to a census worker who spills the beans about your life? we have the answers coming right up. my eyes water. but with new zyrtec® liquid gels, i get allergy relief at liquid speed. that's the fast, powerful relief of zyrtec®, now in a liquid gel. zyrtec® is the fastest 24-hour allergy medicine. it works on my worst symptoms so i'm ready by the time we get to the first hole.

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scott picked out the whitney houston music this morning. >> why? >> i'm not really sure. he's a big fan. >> who isn't, right? >> we're talking about this. if you haven't got it in the mail yet, you're going to get it soon. it's census time. there's a lot of myths squaring people away from filling out that census form. >> and josh levs is here with the facts. break it down. what are the big myths?

>> it's all about counting. i got so much feedback from people saying they realize a lot of these things. some people still believe these mitts. there's a bunch of government websites putting out myths of lists. there's a good one in seattle. from seattle.gov. the myth that it's okay not to fill out your reform. you're required by u.s. code to fill it out. you could face a penalty. and they can send people to your house up to six times to get you to do it. next only for u.s. citizens. it's not. it's for everyone living inside the united states at the time. another they call it a myth it won't help you. filling out the census means they get a better determination of how many people are there, which distributes congressional seats to various states. it makes decisions about community services, it helps the feds distribute $400 billion in funds to state and local

government. two more myths. the idea that the information can go to the immigration services or to your landlord, it can't. no other government agency can see your information for 72 years. finally the form being long. the best way to combat that. here's an interactive form that shows the ten questions. take a look in the time you want. census.gov. how many people are living in your house and how old they are. if any census worker spills the beans about your information, they can go to jail, and they face a massive, massive penalty. they have major incentive not to ever do that. >> there you go, folks.

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former president bill clinton has been working the phones trying to convince house democrats to vote yes on the health care reform bill. the house is set to convene today at 1:00 p.m. eastern. of course, we will be covering all of this all day long on cnn down to the full-time vote. in georgia a hit and run committed right in front of a police officer and it was all caught on tape. caught on his dash cam. look at this here, boom. you see that. you see the offer's car. you see the vantage point. then this jeep comes out of nowhere, crashes into this woman, now the officer actually

stopped, didn't pursue the suspect because wanted to help the victim. her injuries are not considered life threatening. but right now she's not able to walk. >> i just remember crossing the street and i saw a police car waiting for the light as i crossed. it just came out of nowhere. i can't get up. my knee is swollen so bad. >> police have released this video and are asking for the public's help in finding the driver described as a white woman in that black jeep grand ch cherokee. google may have had it with china. they may report plans to shut down operations by april 10th. but there's been speculation over whether or not the internet giant will pull out from china. m on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to work with kids.

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>> i like this song better. >> you like the story? >> i don't know. the video creeps me out. >> i was excited.

then i saw the video. the poor little guy looks dead. i don't know. >> he's fine. >> i know he's fine. >> that's a cute cuddly little skunk. he was actually -- he had his head stuck in a jar of peanut butter. look at him. ungrateful, just runs off. doesn't stick around to say thank you. he was sitting in the middle of a four-lane road for hours with that jar of peanut butder stuck on his head. >> why for hours? >> it might have been a skunk. >> what was that pole? you don't want to get too close. >> that's the key. to stay away from the skunk. >> luckily it was peanut butter. it slid right off. >> that's helpful. you see a little peanut butter residue around his head. he ran into somebody's backyard. those animal control officers, you can't pick which animals you help save and rescue. you help them all. that's not so bad. >> he looks okay. the red river, we've been

talking about this weekend, reynolds is keeping an eye on it. it's still inching up a bit, but expected to crest soon. that doesn't mean the danger is over. >> absolutely not. the water is still rising as we speak. the spirits remain relatively high. we're going to talk to people coming up in a few moments including the mayor of fargo, that's just moments away. but again for the time being, so far so good. we'll have more coming up. you're watching "cnn sunday morning." the insurance institute for highway safety calls it a 2010 top safety pick. with automatic crash response from onstar that can call for help, even when you can't. we call it peace of mind. a consumers digest best buy two years in a row, chevy malibu.

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good morning again. welcome back to this "cnn sunday morning." i'm t.j. holmes. >> i'm abbie boudreau. decision day arrives for a landmark in what some are calling a historic health care measure. democrats working up to the last minute trying to round up the 216 votes needed to pass the legislation. the house is going to convene at 1:00 eastern time today. they're going to have three votes. one of them is just going to be on the terms, the rules of the debate. another will be on the compromise changes to this the bill. the reconciliation package. then finally they'll vote on the health care bill itself. they need 216 votes to pass the

measure. iraq's prime minister is calling for a manual recount, it comes in response to other political groups. there are concerns if the demands not meant there could be an uptick in violence. at this point a secular block leads in the overall total. a teenager charged with harassment and bias intimidation for allegedly betting on a walmart p.a. system and telling all black people to leave the store. this, you may remember, happened last week at a new jersey walmart. he's been released into the custody of his parents. quick break here on "cnn sunday morning." for all the moments that make every day special.

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our meteorologist reynolds wolf is keeping an eye on things. same issues for the folks there all along the red river. explain the situation here, what we're keeping an eye on with the red river. just because it's crested doesn't mean we're done. >> reporter: that's true. these dams that people have made, there's always a chance one may break. you may find a crack in there. it will test the fortitude of the things, we could see problems. let me give you and the rest of america an idea of what's happening. i'm at oak grove lutheran school. this is the gymnasium. over here you have a wall. on the other side of the wall you have the red river right tlchlt you have a couple homes. one to the right of me. directly ahead of us, this beautiful blue powder house surrounded by an island. luckily we have a guest with us. mr. ed schmidt, you call that

home. how have things been? when did you start preparing? >> we started a few weeks ago with snow removal and chipping the ice out to get a solid base for the sandbags. >> reporter: you've done a good job. any leaks? >> sandbags leak, yes they do. we are cautiously optimistic. >> you have power. you have television. you're able to function. >> that's right. plumbing is up. electricity is up. we need that to run the pumps that we have going. >> reporter: this happened to you how many years in a row? >> well, this is the second year in a row. last time before that was 2006. >> and you've been in fargo your whole life? >> yes, correct. >> i'm sure some people are tuning in. they look at your situation, you've been dealing with this two years in a row. you live in a beautiful home. you have a great neighborhood. people may say, why don't you move? >> i understand that. you know. it's something we've looked at.

there's sures with moving on, i guess. but it will happen. it's just a matter of time. it hasn't happened yet. >> reporter: flooding a negative thing. there are positives. your neighbors are amazing people. the community has really helped you, haven't they? >> especially oak grove. they often rake your leaves in the fall. they're always offering to come to the school for visits. they're just terrific people to work with. >> i'll tell you, you've done a terrific job on your house, obviously and with the sandbags around it. we wish you the best of luck. the river expected to crest at 37 feet and slide down later on today and next week. best of luck to you. >> thank you, get the water off the sandbags, that's what we need. >> thanks again. >> reporter: folks, that's what we're dealing with here.

the attitude is similar to most people. they're taking it in stride. they've been up against a big force of nature. two years in a row with major floods. there are the hods that yes, it could happen again. you have heavy snowfall and melting. these things happen. the people are certainly up to the task, as we've been saying all morning long. very optimistic. the river expected to rise again. not as high as last year. they're keeping a sharp eye and doing so with a bit of a smile and certainly with good wishes. back to you guys in the studio. >> they have done this. they have handles this. they hold up better than the rest of us sitting around worrying about them. >> very true. >> think you just took a boat over to go talk to reynolds. he didn't like swim through that. >> not this morning, no. >> sorry. anyway. so there's weather all over the country that we're talking about. not just in fargo. not just in minnesota. but all over the place.

meteorologist karen maginnis is here with us. she's going to tell us what's going on. >> yeah, abbie, just want to take another look at the red river. we have this green shaded area that essentially follows interstate 29. we have a number of bridges and roads that have been closed because of the severe flooding. it was mentioned about 30 minutes ago. this is not the kind of flooding where the waters rise like they do in the south, maybe a few hours and a day or so later they drop. these rivers stay high fairly long. we're talking about a week or so. this is not at record setting flood stage, the red river. by the way, this river flows north. i think it will be in the next 24 to 36 hours we'll see the red river crest there. but this is a flood situation that remains for the next seven to ten days. because of the volume of snowfall they did see, and just generally speaking, the rivers

run high during the springtime months. we'll tell you more about that right after this. 

>> now getting back to our top story. the passage of the health care reform bill would lead to the largest expansion of federal health care guarantees in four decades. all of the republicans in the democratically controlled house plan to vote against the legislation. it will take 38 democrats voting no to kill the bill. by cnn's last count 33 democrats plan to vote no. >> several directions we can go with the house today. the lawmakers are in different categories. people come out saying they're going to vote yes, you have those who are going to vote no. you have some saying they're undeclared. some are saying undecided. undeclared means they're not saying right now. undecided mines they haven't made up their minds yet. they don't know. texas blue dog democrat, he was with us yesterday, he was in the

category of undecided when i spoke with him during our show yesterday. within the past 12 hours he has joined the yes crowd. why? it was something he hit on yesterday when we spoke. the majority of people in his district can't afford health care. >> i got a district that's in the top ten most uninsured districts in the whole country. i want to look at what sort of impact it will have on the country. the numbers that came out are promising. reducing the deficit in the first ten years. $1.2 trillion in the next ten years, that's very promising. the issue of the cost. the issue of, of course, providing access. >> i have fought long and hard for single payer. that's not in the bill. i fought for public option. couldn't get it in the bill. tried to protect the right of states to pursue single payers.

couldn't get it in the bill. i was looking at a decision whether to kill the bill or enable to keep breathing with the hopes that will be part of a larger discussion for comprehensive health care reform. >> this is a bad bill. it's been a bad bill because the premise of it has been faulty from the start. we would like for those who know that this is a bad bill to stay firm on their belief that it's not good for the american people. not good for the hm sk in general. >> right now the house con seens at 1:00 eastern. expect it to have three votes. if the house votes to change the bill's language in any way, if they want to change it up at all, that means it's going to get kicked back to the senate and the senate would then have to approve it all over again. you request follow the health care vote today. thousands are expected to

march in the nation's capitol demanding change. not for health reform, but immigration reform, and finding a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants. >> reporter: honduran immigrant holds onto a few photos of her 19-year-old son brian gonzalez. he is the youngest of her six kids. [ speaking spanish ] >> translator: he's the type of person who loves to get involved and get in there. >> reporter: he moved from virginia to honduras four years ago, her son quickly fell in love with the uniform. >> translator: his dream was actually to go to iraq. [ speaking spanish ] >> translator: it was like a dream for him to serve his country in that way. >> reporter: he was active in rotc at school and wanted to become a pilot in the air force. but here's the catch.

gonzalez was in the country illegally. and would never be able to serve in the u.s. military. and in june his mother says police stopped her son, discovered his status, and authorities eventually deported him. >> i still haven't recovered from it. >> translator: my son is the most special thing to me. >> reporter: gonzalez's mother is one of thousands expected to organize and rally. immigration advocates have been gearing up for months to take their message to congress. they're urging lawmakers to create pa pathway to citizenship for the roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in the country. but the conservative leaning senter for immigration studies says there's no easy solution to reign in illegal immigration. >> it seems unlikely that the people who have broken the law is going to discourage future

law breaking. it is true that people argue, hey, we'll promise to enforce the law from now on. but, again, there's enormous credibility there. >> reporter: as for reyes, she wants congress and president obama to act for her son's sake. >> i'm asking that we have solutions to this. and no more promises. >> reporter: there seems to be some home that congress will take up the issue this year. @ balm supports immigration reform and harry reid said if it can be worked out it will be put on the legislative agenda. right now congress has a lot on its plate and bigger issues to work out first. sandra endo, cnn, washington. the health care vote is coming down to the wire. so who are the congress members still undeclared? josh levs takes a closer look. >> we have a list that you can keep up with throughout the day. coming up the key player who is

have the future of health care in their hands. what are they looking for.

see the lights on at the white house? does that mean the president is up and working? i don't know. only hours left and the

president is projecting confidence. but does he have the vote? a handful of congressmen could make or break today's health care vote. who are they? josh levs is here with that. josh, how many people are we talking about? >> i'm sure they're up at the white house. >> i think they are. >> did you see the sunrise? that was beautiful. >> it's looking nice. look at that. that is really nice. >> it was nice yesterday. >> when we get karen back in here, she can explain how the beautiful sunsets work. today is the big vote. as you sate the president is projecting a lot of confidence. i want you to understand why we're looking at it this way. why are we looking at "no" votes? the number of "yes" votes has changed a lot. what has stayed relatively the

same is the number of "no" votes throughout the process. it changes less often. so what we have now, the total number of democratic no votes needed to kill the bill. the number that they have to kill the bill, the number of democratic no votes is 33. so five people could really swing it one way or the other. i have specific examples. we've been following brian baird. he's been undecided for quite a while. we're following him today to see if he changes where he's standing. jim cooper from tennessee. another undeclared example. he also has been waiting that he's waiting to see the final language. a lot of representatives wanted to see the report from the congressional budget office about money. they also wanted to spend time. it's a massive bill that the house is looking at here.

they wanted to piece through it for specific language. representative from pennsylvania. kathy dahlkemper. she identifies with the pro-life camp. she want ad careful eye on the language. she was waiting to see the language in the amendment and how some of that would shake out. she's one of the key votes people are looking at today. i have one more for you here. representative jerry mcnerny. a democrat from california. he has concerns about deal making. there were deal makings to get the votes so far in the stage. he wanted to check on the number of people that would ultimately be covered. you can see a full list that we are updating every two minutes throughout the day. you want to see how this is shaking out. i linked that at my page. it's also at cnn.com/josh.

let us know what you think. weigh in there. we'll keep an eye on all the players throughout the day. this is the day that could make or break, potentially at the end of a very long process the health care vote. >> it's been updated every two minutes? >> every two minutes. every time they get new information it's out there. do you know how your representative of congress is going to vote on health care? go to cnn.com/politics for a list of the votes. do you know how your representative is voting? do you agree or disagree? we asked the question yesterday. also asked another one this morning that's starting to get attention that you all are starting to answer. simply, do you think this thing is going to pass at all? so we're going to be sharing all the comments. i'm going to share a if you have. we can go -- not sure which board the twitter page is on. mark says "no matter what

happens the dems will walk the plank in november for sure." another says i think it will pass. it's not perfect. you have to start somewhere. one more says yes, i think it will pass by just one vote. but this is just one battle in a four-year war. someone else on facebook. a comment that came in from olivia says i believe it will pass. the next great hurdle is the senate. a recent uninsured college graduate, i want universal health care for all. that's what people have on the line. we appreciate you sending those into us. e-mail us. send it to us at facebook.com, twitter.com and cnn.com/tj. it represents a big step in the process in iraq. now a call for a recount. he cadc laurel sales event. featuring the acclaimed cts sports sedan. a car & driver 10best for the third year in a row.

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two weeks after iraqis cast their ballots in the nation's parliamentary election, the race still too close to call. votes still being counted. winners have not been declared. now the prime minister, nu

nuri al-maliki wants a recount. a lot of people are thinking, wow we've been waiting this long for results. now we're going to recount. why? >> reporter: hello, t.j. today the already very complex iraqi electoral process got more complicated as al-maliki wants a revote in order to preserve the integrity of the electoral process here. you know it's been a very tight race here since the votes were cast on mar 7th. you've seen members coming out and alleging voter fraud and asking for recounts. today besides nuri al-maliki coming out asking for a recount, now there's more. the more calls you're going to

see for recounts. it's getting more complicated. al-maliki is a top political leader. if he's calling for a recount there's no telling how much longer this will take. they expect to issue a statement later on today and respond to this. at this point this just gets messier and messier. >> one more thing if you can quickly, if the results were declared today, no one has so much of a majority that it's clear who is going to govern. >> reporter: that's right. when they get to 100%, none of the parties, none of the coalitions are going to have enough seats in order to try to form a government on their own. all of this is a prelude to when the real bargaining going on. yoil see all the different parties going into prolonged pain staking negotiations to try to form a functioning government here in iraq. it's really going to take a lot longer. >> we've been waiting. going to have to wait more.

our next hour of "cnn sunday mornrning" starts right now. hello to you all. i'm t.j. holmes. glad you can be with us here on this "cnn sunday morning." and i'm abbie boudreau. thanks for being with us. a historic vote expected on capitol hill. a beautiful day that really doesn't give you the whole picture of how ugly it's been in the debate. our reporters are tracking from from capitol hill. also from the white house. you see dan lothian and brianna keilar. republicans vowing to fight to the very last minute. right. plus a one-two punch. severe weather in the midwest and flooding concerning in north dakota and minnesota where the red river will crest next hour.

reynolds wolf is there with stories for the flood zone. our big story, history making story possibly by the end of the day is what's happening on capitol hill. the u.s. house of representatives convening at 1:00 eastern time to take up the $873 billion senate health care legislation. the house is going to take three votes today. one of them will be on the terms of the debate. the rules. the other will be on the compromise package of change, and then finally they will vote on the health care bill itself. it's going to take 216 votes to pass or kill that measure. >> iraq's prime minister is calling for a manual recount. it comes in response to demands by some of iraq's other political groups. there are concerns if the demands are not meant there could be an up tick in violence. at this point a secular block leads. a teenager has been charged

with harassment and bias intimidation for allegedly zb d getting on a walmart p.a. system and telling all black people to leave the store. this happened last week at a new jersey walmart. the 16-year-old was arrested friday. he's now been released into the custody of his parents. what is it? six hours now that we're away from the beginning of what could be a historic vote in the house of representatives. lawmakers vote on the health care reform legislation. brianna keilar is in the rotunda of the capitol, which is a busy place today. this is it, brianna. may not have to lift up the 2,000-page bill anymore. if it is brought to the floor. are you looking for it? >> i have it propped up. i'm not carrying it anymore. >> that's all right. you don't need to. if they take that thing to the floor today, are we talking about this is done, it's over, or not? >> reporter: if they do, and if they can get to those 216 votes

democratic leaders are clearly very confident about this. you really felt that tone yesterday. but, t.j., they're not there at this point. because by cnn's count what we're doing is we're counting the nos. if 38 democrats are to vote no, because all republicans are opposed. if 38 were to vote, that would be it. right now we have 33 democrats saying no. yesterday we saw a rash of democrats come out and say they were going to vote yes. a lot of yes declarations. we know former president bill clinton has been calling some of the ton declared democrats trying to win them over. but, bottom line is president obama said yesterday let's get this done. we're still waiting to see if house dems go ahead and say okay. democratic leaders told us they were going to be working through today to get the votes. they have sort of put a provision in the debate today

that says they could postpone the vote if they need to. but, you know, at this point there's no discussion of that. >> and here we are, all the numbers we get. even at this late hour, on the very day, we're still talking about costs being tweaked. >> reporter: yeah, and this is really a slight tweak. we knew the nonpartisan, the congressional budget auchs said that this package would reduce the budget by $138 billion over ten years. because yesterday they were slight changes filed, it's now at $143 billion. $5 billion isn't nothing to sneeze at, but it's not a huge change. >> a billion here. a billion there. i was surprised, shocked and disturbed when i saw this story come across the wire about just how ugly it kind of turned. i don't want to put this on everybody who was a part of the debate.

a couple individuals here and there with personal insults and racial slurs being hurled about on capitol hill. >> reporter: there have been massive tea party protests around the capitol. it was a show yesterday to see the entire capitol surrounded by protesters. it turned very ugly in the afternoon. we know now at least a couple black members of congress who, you know, at least one protester was yelling the "n" word at him. that includes a civil rights icon, congressman john lewis of georgia. he said that happened to him. he was walking with another member of congress who said, yes, that did happen. there was also a black member of congress who was spat on. then you have barney frank from massachusetts, he's openly gay, one producer witnessed a protesters yelling a derogatory term at him, calling him a "faggot." here's what he had to say to the cameras.

>> there are leaders in the republican party and elsewhere who egg these people on, not just a simple disagreement with the bill, which is what people should be doing, but denunciation of people's moti s motives. it's really unfortunate. >> frank said that he thinks some of the protests are a proxy for many different sentiments aside from being mad about this health care plan. he said some of those are ugly and racist. right now democratic leaders are condemning what went on yesterday. we're still waiting to hear from republicans, t.j. >> brianna keilar keeping an eye on all things up there. busy long day. maybe a historic day as well. thank you so much, brianna. president obama is trying to rally the troops. he met yesterday with democratic house members in an effort to boost support for the reform legislation. >> we're a day away.

after a year of debate, after every argument has been made by just about everybody, we're 24 hours away. >> our dan lothian joins us from the white house. hi, dan. how you doing today? you're going to be really busy i have a feeling, huh? >> reporter: that's right, a long day. >> do you think the president's final push is enough? >> reporter: well, we'll have to wait to find out. this is a critical moment for the white house. the top domestic initiative for the president. he's been pushing very hard to get health care reform across the finish line. this white house getting help from former president bill clinton. the former president reaching out to an unspecified number of house democrats, sort of show them the way they should vote yes. president obama was very grateful for the help of the former president. as he just pointed out the president went up to capitol

hill to make the final big push with house democrats to lay out and make clear what the is at stake here. >> don't do it for me. don't do it for the democratic party. do it for the american people. they're the ones looking for action right now. >> reporter: we are told by white house aides after the critical vote we are expecting to hear something from the president. it will be low key. there will be no celebration because there's still a lot of work to be done in the senate. >> so no real celebration plans then, huh? >> reporter: not yet. not yet. >> thank you so much, dan. all right. don't forget cnn is counting down to the wire. reaction is poring in after the pope releases a letter apologizing for the catholic church sex scandal. coming up at 8:00 we talk to our

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you would think they would be ready to go around the red river. they stay year after year after year. and they deal with the river. they're going to make it through this one as well. reynolds wolf is in fargo, north dakota, for us this morning. they know how to deal with this, they take it all in stride. it's something to see. . i think you can hear me. we are not hearinging you on the audio. we'll keep an eye on the red river expected to crest, actually, i believe within the next hour.

we have karen maginnis in the weather center as well. i believe her microphone is working. we have about an hour we're saying now to reach its high point. it will be a lock time before it goes back down. >> this is not a flood where the river rises and come back down. this gradually tapers off. they've had so much snow. the snow melt has been so significant, this will not be alleviated easily, so from fargo to grand forks, this will take 24 to 36 hours before there's a crest at grand forks. moderate to major flooding along the river here. you can see also extending towards minneapolis. i looked at some of the conditions there. they have moderate to major flooding taking place there. this is the more immediate danger. yes, there is a crest that should take place this morning

just over 37 feet. still considered a major flood. not at the record setting level. reynolds was there and has been there for several days now, they've been well prepared for this. we have an i-report from oklahoma city. this is from patricia smith. she was getting in her car, getting ready to go to a wedding, but then this happened. the snowfall. take a look at this. she said this is kind of crazy, treacherous to drive on the roads. all right, we don't have that for you. nonetheless, all the way from oklahoma city. they've had a terrible winter. extending up to missouri. they saw about nine inches of snow. while kansas city saw seven inches. those were record setting snowfall totals. also at overland park, nine inches of snowfall reported tlch there. on the backside of the system, very gusty winds. wind gusts close to 35, maybe 40 miles an hour. road conditions are really going

to deteriorate here. where you see the pink shaded area, this is where we're looking at the icy mixture. as the area of low pressure is in this direction, right along where the area of low pressure is, that's where we're looking at rain/snow, or maybe sleet and freezing rain before it changes to all rainfall towards this evening. this is really going to pack a wallop. this is from north of dallas towards kansas city in the red shaded area, winter storm warnings between four and six inches of snowfall. a lot of the areas will not see quite that much, but we'll pick up the rainfall later on today. more news right after this. >> we appreciate it. yes, we're going to get more news right now. >> okay. >> we're going to get it from reynolds. i think we have him back on the line. i believe the microphone is working just fine. let's be sure, though. >> reporter: hi, t.j. i'm just messing with you.

you have to have the sound, man. the reason we have to have sound is we have to tell you what's happening up at the red river. we were in moorhead yesterday. the situation the same on both sides of the river. you don't have to live the right near the water to have the water come to you in this part of the world. look over here. part of the oak grove neighborhood. you see a couple houses here. both surrounded by water for the most part. you do see a small ring of porches with sandbags encircling both homes, protecting them from the waters of the red river. if you can get a shot of the light reflecting off the water. the stream flow is significant. this thing is moving on through. the river is fairly shallow body of water. it is like a thin winding ribbon that goes through the landscapes and 550 miles to the north where it empties in canada and parts of the ohio river, even the

mississippi river is broadened. chris is actually standing on one of the reasons why we're seeing the flooding. because of all the snow that we've had. and temperatures a bit above normal. when you have the melt, the melt empties into the floodplain, spreads out, hits the river. goes into these neighborhoods. we've been speaking with people earlier this morning. we spoke with ed schmidt. he lives in that house. it's amazing the spirit these people have that so freely give their time to help neighbor ls. you have people from all over the country here. they converge in the area, they help. they build the sandbags. they do it with smiles on their faces. even though the water will rise a little bit more, possibly leveling out around 37 feet, their spirits remain high also. coming up in just a little bit,

we'll speak to the mayor, dennis walker. the man not sleeping since the whole latest flooding episode has begun. we'll get information from him and share it with the rest of america. that's shortly. >> reynolds, we appreciate it. by now a lot of you have heard just about everything about the health care bill. what are the real facts and figures? >> josh levs has the answers in this morning's reality check. >> hey, guys. so the president said health care reform will save the nation a trillion dollars. is that true? plus we're check a gop claim. time to face the pollen that used to make me sneeze, my eyes water. but with new zyrtec® liquid gels, i get allergy relief at liquid speed. that's the fast, powerful relief of zyrtec®, now in a liquid gel. zyrtec® is the fastest 24-hour allergy medicine. it works on my worst symptoms so i'm ready by the time we get to the first hole. and that's good because the competition's steep today.

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we have something called your weekly motivational minute. not coming from me. i need a pick me up myself. let's listen now. good morning. it's melissa dawn johnson here. as we're shifting into spring, can you believe it's upon us already, i want to talk to you about today, your reinvention intervention plan. change is not always comfortable, but it is a necessity when we're looking to go to the next level in life. as you consider this week your reinvention intervention plan, it's easy. cpr. "c" is for clarity. "p" is a plan of action to make

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got to vote today. both sides expressing a lot of their own opinions. but do they have their facts straight? >> our josh levs does. he's checking the big claims out there. you're starting with something that the president said, right sf. >> yeah, exactly. i have a tricky task. we hear the claims. i need to tell you what the truth is. sometimes the truth is more complicated. i need to boil it down to make as much sense as possible. we'll start off with something the president has been saying. take ha look at this. >> this bill according to the congressional budget office, which is a referee, a scorekeeper for how much things costs, says will save us a trillion dollars. not only can we afford to do this, we can't afford not to do this. >> so the congressional budget office, this nonpartisan group, does it really say it will save the country a trillion dollars? he goes onto say that's over 20

years. the first thing is cononcrete. the health care reform package would save $138 billion over ten years. they are saying it will save the country money. $18 billion. they were then asked to look at the next ten years, what would happen. thaw don't usually do that. they did here. they said it would save a piece of the gdp, the gross domestic product. the next decade around 1.5% of gdp. so many variables. the economy keeps changing. the obama administration took that, they guessed what the gop would be. now they're saying it would save a trillion dollars. now we're looking at this gop claim. take a look at this. >> there's no precedent for what the democrats are doing. we've never written a reconciliation bill to amend a law that does not exist.

>> is it really unprecedented? there's a great website called politifact.com. they check claims from politicians. this is the one they were looking at here. what they gave it is a rating, half true. this is why. i can show you a couple screens here. they talked to experts about the history. experts say there are actually plenty of similar examples of what the democrat are also proposing to do in the case. however, they do go onto say here that he's right. look at the the language here. this is a reminder of how many maneuvers there have been here. this was the first time congress has written a reconciliation bill to eaamend a law that does not exist. there is something new here that the democrats are doing, even though some similar things have happened in the past. weigh in at any time.

cnn.com/josh. we're also following the facts and updating them on cnn.com. keep an eye closely on the website. always finding out new facts. >> thanks, josh. we're hearing ha lot from lawmakers about the health care debate. now we're hearg from you. your responses. - 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!

today the house convenes at 1:00 p.m. eastern. first order of business, setting the ground rules for debating the senate's health care legislation. then comes the debate itself. following the debate the house members will vote. up or down, today's vote will be historic. and we're bringing it to you live. well, we're asking you out there, asking if you agree with how your congressmen or woman is going to vote. also asking, here wither today. this is supposed to be the history making day. do you think it will happen? one from twitter. from professor jones responding saying i think there will be last-hour drama, twists and turns and it will pass. johnny says he hoped it wouldn't be brought to a vote if they couldn't pass it. and then one more. i hope