American Morning
Why not to avoid the census
Every ten years the government sets out to count every man, woman and child in America. So why should you not avoid the 2010 census? Our Christine Romans explains.
Obama to get update on terror plot inquiry
After eleven days in Hawaii, the president is back to work at the White House today. He'll be huddling with his homeland security team in the basement of the West Wing this afternoon.
He wants to know how a suspected terrorist managed to board a Detroit-bound plane on Christmas Eve, armed with explosives. And that's just for starters. Our White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux has the report.
Lobbying for Your Health: 'War rooms' push for legislation
Editor's Note: Lobbyists have spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to influence the health care debate in this country. By some counts, there were six health care lobbyists for every member of Congress. In part two of the American Morning original series, "Lobbying for Your Health," Carol Costello is taking a look at a war room built to steer the debate in their favor.
By Bob Ruff and Carol Costello
What's the difference between a getting a president elected and getting a health care reform bill passed? If you're the Service Workers International Union, the SEIU, there isn't any difference.
"Health care has been our candidate," says SEIU's President Andy Stern, "and we've been trying to win the election and we're closer than ever before."
Stern has a "war room" set up in Washington to push health care reform legislation, by the president, now working its way through the Congress. Nationally, there are 400 full time employees making calls to voters, organizing field workers, dispatching lobbyists to congressional offices, and working the media.
On a frigid December morning we found SEIU members chanting outside the Brooklyn, NY field office of Democratic Congressman Michael McMahon, who voted against the House health care bill. For nearly an hour they chanted: "What do we want? Health care! When do we want it? Now!"
In Connecticut, scores of SEIU workers worked the phones urging people to challenge Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to stop blocking health care reform. And in Pittsburgh, SEIU worker Georgeann Koehler, whose brother died without health insurance, went door-to-door urging residents to sign cards supporting health care reform. She's taking those cards "to Washington, DC and as far up on the ladder as I can get, because our congressmen have to know that people in this country need it."
Security experts: People are key to preventing attacks
Editor’s Note: Stephen Flynn served on the National Security Council under President Bill Clinton. He is president of the Center for National Policy and the author of “The Edge of Disaster: Rebuilding a Resilient Nation.” Frances Townsend is a CNN national security contributor and former homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush. She is a partner at the international law firm Baker Botts.
(CNN) – Tougher airport security checks are in place today. Travelers flying into the United States from 14 high-risk countries will now be subject to body scans and pat-downs. Passengers on other incoming international flights will also be subject to more frequent random searches. But what does all that mean and will it really make us safer in the air?
On Monday’s American Morning we dug deeper into the new security measures with homeland security expert Stephen Flynn and CNN National Security Contributor Frances Townsend. Below is an edited transcript of the interview.
Kiran Chetry: Anybody flying into the U.S. faces these random screenings. All passengers coming from those 14 ‘terror-prone’ nations will be patted down and have their carry-on bags searched. How much does that tighten the net? Does it go far enough?
Stephen Flynn: We have a real challenge here. Airline security was viewed as the crown jewel of our post-9/11 homeland security efforts and obviously this latest incident exposed some serious gaps. There are limits though to just what we can do to pat down and screen every bit of our way to security. One of the two key elements that were very essential for preventing this attack was first the report from the father about the terrorist. That's a very important tool that we need to be able to use.
The other piece was of course the actions of the passengers themselves on the plane to obstruct the attack. We need to remember that in the overall layers of security that we embrace that our greatest asset often is everyday people. And to the extent to which some of the prescriptions that are coming out are really centered around technology and just heavily around the inspection process here, we're losing sight of the bigger picture.
New year brings new threats in war on terror
As President Obama returns to Washington today after his Hawaiian vacation, terrorism is at the top of his agenda. The new year brings a new front in the fight against al Qaeda. Our Jim Acosta has the report.
Study finds autism 'clusters' in affluent areas
New research suggests there may be autism "clusters" around the country. But the story is more complicated than you might think. Our Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has the report.
About this Show
Welcome to the American Morning blog where you can get daily news updates from American Morning's reporters and producers. Join us for "the most news in the morning," weekdays from 6-9 a.m. ET, only on CNN.
