Energy Department Suspending Shipment to Strategic Petroleum Reserve; Obama Fires Back at 'Appeaser' Label; China Quake Death Toll Mounts
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Well, who says America can't cut back on oil? This summer, the U.S. government plans to stop buying 76,000 barrels a day. Economic reality hits the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.</s>DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And politics collides with foreign policy, and Barack Obama says it's appalling. The Democratic presidential front-runner takes offense at President Bush's "appeasement" remarks in Israel. Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live here at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.</s>KEILAR: And I'm Brianna Keilar. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. This is our developing news today in the CNN NEWSROOM. The U.S. Energy Department is suspending oil shipments to the government's strategic reserves beginning in July. And our Senior Business Correspondent Ali Velshi is here to explain why and to -- Ali, when we first saw you in the 1:00 hour, this was just breaking. And we have some more pertinent information.</s>ALI VELSHI, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Let me give you some context on this. President Bush is in Saudi Arabia. He asked the Saudis to increase their output of oil in order to bring it down form the record prices that we are seeing today. Oil passing $127 for the first time in history. The Saudis said they're not interested in doing that right now. Shortly thereafter, the Department of Energy announced that it is halting these shipments, 76,000 barrels of oil a day which are purchased in the market and then deposited into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which are four reserves in Texas and Louisiana, holding -- which can hold about 700 million barrels of oil for emergency use. It's the government's oil, which they will give to -- during Katrina, for instance, they gave it to refineries to keep on producing gasoline. Well, what happened is, just a few days ago, Congress passed a bill asking the president -- or instructing the president -- to stop shipments of oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, saying that those 76,000 barrels would be better served in the market, bringing the price of oil down. The president said he did not agree with that idea. However, the Department of Energy has to agree to six-month contracts to get that reserve filled up. It's 96 percent full now. The Department of Energy's contract ends in June, and they have announced they will not renew it for July. So, pending what the president says about this bill, they are honoring Congress' wishes and not filling up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. I should tell you, Don, there's been no particular response in the oil market. Like a lot of critics have said, this won't -- there's so little oil involved in this that, while it may be useful not to put it into these big vats, these storage vats, the bottom line is it's not enough to actually shake the price of oil, and that's -- for now that's what we're seeing.</s>LEMON: Oh boy. OK. Our senior business correspondent, Ali Velshi. And Ali talked about how it's affecting the markets, and we're going to check in with Susan Lisovicz in just a little bit. Thanks, Ali.</s>VELSHI: OK.</s>KEILAR: Barack Obama is taking on President Bush and presumptive Republican nominee John McCain. Minutes ago in a speech that you may have seen here on CNN, Obama's blasted Mr. Bush for using the word "appeasers" in yesterday's speech to the Israeli parliament. He also ripped into McCain for, in Obama's words, "... suggesting that I wasn't fit to protect this nation that I love." The president used the word "appeasers" to describe leaders who would be willing to meet with leaders of countries such as Iran. It was widely interpreted to be an attack on Obama. And today Obama said the president's comments delivered in a foreign capital were out of line.</s>SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: On a day when we were supposed to be celebrating the anniversary of Israel's independence, he accused me and other Democrats of wanting to negotiate with terrorists and said we were appeasers no different from people who appeased Adolf Hitler. That's what George Bush said in front of the Israeli parliament. Now, that's exactly the kind of appalling attack that's divided our country and that alienates us from the world.</s>KEILAR: Let's bring in CNN's Dan Lothian now. He's in Frankfort, Kentucky, with the CNN Election Express. Let's talk, Dan, about what effect this is having out there on the campaign trail. Fuel, obviously, for Barack Obama.</s>DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is fuel for Barack Obama, and it gives him a chance to show that he can be strong on national security. Those are some of the things that I think he was able to do in that speech today, because he's been criticized not only by those others, but certainly his opponent, Senator Clinton, who says she is the best candidate in terms of national security. She's the one who can best protect this country. And Obama sort of challenged President Bush and also John McCain for their remarks, and saying that he can best protect this country. And he says he can win it -- if he had a debate, he could win that debate.</s>OBAMA: They're trying to fool you and trying to scare you. And they're not telling the truth. And the reason is because they can't win a foreign policy debate on the merits. But it's not going to work. And it's not going to work this time. And it's not going to work this year.</s>LOTHIAN: Now, as Senator McCain has been critical of Obama, he came under fire as well for remarks that he supposedly made two years ago about having negotiations with Hamas. This came in an opinion piece in "The Washington Post" today. Jamie Rubin, who is a supporter of Senator Clinton, also was in former President Clinton's administration as well, and he accused McCain of flip-flopping. But the McCain campaign says that's simply not true.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He has always said that there are three specific conditions. One, that they must renounce violence. Two, that they must abandon their goal of eradicating Israel. And three, that they must accept a two-state solution. So we have been incredibly clear. And he has given -- almost unfettered access to the media. So this is ridiculous.</s>LOTHIAN: And Brianna, I should point out, while we're focusing on this controversy, there is a primary that's coming up next week here in the state of Kentucky. Senator Clinton is leading in the polls here, but one Democratic official told me that he believes that Senator Obama can do much better than we're seeing in the polls right now because of that endorsement from John Edwards, because Edwards did appeal to those working-class voters. And those working class voters here in the state of Kentucky are very concerned about the economy. They're concerned about the high gas prices. They're concerned about job losses. And so they could potentially come out and vote for Barack Obama. He's not saying that he could win here, but he thinks that he can do much better than the polls indicate.</s>KEILAR: All right. We will certainly be watching on Tuesday. Dan Lothian for us in Frankfort, Kentucky. Thanks.</s>LEMON: All right. Let's talk more politics now and what Dan and Brianna were talking about in today's Political Ticker. Barack Obama's Democratic rival comes to his defense. Hillary Clinton is criticizing President Bush's comments about appeasers in the fight against terrorism. Clinton says any comparison of Democrats to Nazi appeasers is offensive and outrageous. In a speech in Israel, Mr. Bush didn't mention names, but his remarks have been seen as an attack on Obama's stated willingness to hold talks with Iran.</s>KEILAR: Changes today in the Democratic delegate race. Eight delegates pledged to John Edwards have now switched to Barack Obama. This follows, of course, Edwards' endorsement of Obama. That happened Wednesday night. And now by CNN's count, Obama has 1,899 delegates. Hillary Clinton, 1,719. Obama is 127 short of the total needed to win the nomination -- 189 pledged delegates and 232 superdelegates, they are still up for grabs.</s>LEMON: Well, John Edwards says he was happy to endorse Barack Obama this week, but there's no way he wants to make another run for vice president. Did I hear that right? He said he doesn't want to make another run for vice president. Edwards tells NBC he's not interested in joining the ticket with Obama. Edwards, of course, was John Kerry's running mate in 2004. All the latest campaign news is at your fingertips. Just go to CNNPolitics.com. We also have analysis from the best political team on television. It's all there, CNNPolitics.com.</s>KEILAR: Four and a half days into China's deadliest disaster in decades, and the images from the earthquake zone are heartbreaking. Well, this is footage that we brought in from a Chinese television news program. You can see rescue crews here. They're pulling apart piles of rubble. They're doing it literally brick by brick. And what they do is shout, and then they listen for any response that may come from someone who is trapped in the rubble. Amazingly, they have found some survivors. But as expected, they're certainly finding more bodies. The government's death toll rose again today to 22,000. That is expected to more than double.</s>LEMON: Yes. Unbelievable pictures, but disturbing to some. We want to warn you. And CNN's John Vause is in the heart of the quake zone, where rescuers face a double challenge -- mountains of rubble and a ticking clock.</s>JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this rescue operation here has really picked up the pace in the past 24 hours. There's as many as 10,000 soldiers and volunteers and search and rescue teams operating in this one county alone. This is the collapsed middle school. This was once a five-story building. Beneath this rubble and concrete are students. Now, they're moving the rubble piece by piece. At times with their bare hands. They're using picks and shovels. There is also heavy earth-moving equipment. Now, that's needed, because they're also trying to move these huge pieces of twisted concrete. This is all part of this building which came crashing down when this earthquake rolled through here on Monday.</s>KEILAR: Well, you have seen the faces of the -- you've seen the faces of the victims. You know the odds that they're facing, the rescuers, and now you may be looking for ways to help. You can do that by going to CNN.com/impact, where you can find links to aid groups. These are reputable aid groups. This is a chance for you to impact your world.</s>LEMON: All right. Saving gas, burning calories. More Americans are discovering the benefits of ditching the car and riding a bicycle to work.</s>KEILAR: A teenage girl says she was raped. Getting no satisfaction from the courts, she takes her case to YouTube.