Shutdown Ripple Effects; Child Drowns on Cruise Ship
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I keep hearing over and over is I never thought I'd need a food pantry, but here I am.</s>ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN ANCHOR: A deal to end the government shutdown said to be near this morning, but not coming soon enough for these furloughed workers feeling all of the pain.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I actually helped prop his body up in the proper position so they could perform the CPR.</s>JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This is such a sad story. A heartbreak on a Carnival cruise ship, a child drowning on his family vacation. This morning, questions of safety on board. Could this have all been prevented?</s>ALEXIS WESLEY, DONATED KIDNEY: Saving your kidney for a rainy day is like saving a fire extinguisher while watching your neighbor's house burn.</s>SAMBOLIN: Wow. A couple giving the gift of life and donating a kidney to complete strangers. The story behind their generosity.</s>BERMAN: It's a moving picture seeing both of them.</s>SAMBOLIN: Isn't it incredible?</s>BERMAN: All right. Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.</s>SAMBOLIN: And I'm Zoraida Sambolin. Thirty-one minutes past the hour. And this morning, we actually have good news to report from Washington. I guess it's good news. The leaders of the Senate, Democrat Harry Reid and Republican Mitch McConnell, say they are close to a deal to end the standoff that paralyze the capital, raising the debt ceiling and also reopening the government. But they aren't there yet and have two days to work out the details and get the House on board before a potential default.</s>SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: I'm very optimistic and we will reach an agreement that's reasonable in nature this week, to reopen the government and pay the nation's bills and begin long term negotiations and put our country on sound fiscal footing.</s>SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MINORITY LEADER: Those discussions continue, and I share his optimism that we are going to get a result that will be acceptable to both sides.</s>SAMBOLIN: So, the current framework outlined to CNN includes funding the government through mid-January and extending the debt ceiling until early February. Some changes to the Obamacare law would also be considered, including requiring income verifications for health care subsidies. Senate Republicans will sit down to discuss this potential compromise later this morning, but it could face an uphill battle in the House where Republicans yet to indicate how thee fell about striking any sort of deal that does not defund or delay the health care overhaul.</s>BERMAN: Yes, I don't want to be Debbie Downer, but it still has to get through the House and it could be very hard. And the timing of it is very dicey. It could be Thursday, Thursday when we're on that day where we hit the debt ceiling when they have the vote in the House, if they have a vote or it could drift past that. So, this is still going to be a very turbulent, volatile week.</s>SAMBOLIN: But even when you look at the details, they are just kicking the can, right? February is a new deadline.</s>BERMAN: Budget talks in December. Government shut down or government, you know, stop being funded into January, debt ceiling in February. All we really do is kick the can down the road. The question is it six months, a year, two years? There's always more discussions further on. Be just good to get out of this crisis one way or another.</s>SAMBOLIN: It's like another one is looming.</s>BERMAN: It's hurting real people as they are sitting and talking, no matter if they find a solution or not, the ripple effects are really being felt from coast-to-coast. The people feeling them, the furloughed government workers and it's really hurting them right where they live. CNN's Rene Marsh has that part of the story.</s>DEE ALEXANDER, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE: I'm not essential.</s>RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The day before the government shutdown, CNN met Dee Alexander, a secretary at the Department of Agriculture.</s>ALEXANDER: You never really know what might happen because you don't know how long it's going to last.</s>MARSH: Two weeks later, the shutdown is still in effect and Alexander has stopped paying her car loan.</s>ALEXANDER: Do you decide that I'm going to have somewhere to live at or do you decide that I'm going to pay my car note? And then you also have to figure out, what about food?</s>MARSH: On Saturday, she received the last paycheck she will get until the government reopens, $600 less than usual. Some of furloughed have turn to food banks for help, like this one in Maryland.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What I keep hearing over and over is, I never thought I would need a food pantry, but here I am.</s>MARSH: The ripple effect of the shutdown also means no more car recalls. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has stopped looking for automobile defects. And the Centers for Disease Control has stopped tracking infectious diseases like the flu, something the agency's former director says could have dire consequences, quote, "I can attest to the very real potential for unnecessary pain, suffering and death when the work of public health officials is curtailed," he wrote in a op-ed. And in South Dakota, ranchers digging out after an unexpected blizzard are dealing with tens of thousands of dead cattle. Call the U.S. Department of Agriculture for disaster assistance, and this is all they hear.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The U.S. Department of Agricultural offices are currently closed due to the lapse in federal government funding. The office will reopen once Congress restores funding.</s>MARSH (on camera): Well, at that one food pantry we showed you in the piece, roughly 200 people. Now, that's on top of the food that same group passed out to the same families last week. Clearly, after receiving that final paycheck, families are now beginning to feel the pinch. Rene Marsh, CNN, Washington.</s>BERMAN: Our thanks to Rene for that story. It's important to remember that real people are affected by this every day.</s>SAMBOLIN: They need to restock those food pantries because they desperately needed them.</s>BERMAN: Important to do. The shutdown is also hitting the White House garden, First Lady Michelle Obama's prime joy. A blogger watching the garden says it's overrun with weeds and produce is rotting on the vine. The reason the shutdown means gardeners maintaining the White House grounds are down to skeleton crew and cannot actually tend to the garden or harvest the crops. White House workers who had been helping can't do it either because of the furloughs.</s>SAMBOLIN: That's awful. An alliance of veteran groups plans to gather this morning at the World War II Memorial to call on Congress to end the shutdown and race the debt ceiling, calling themselves the military coalition. Leaders from 33 veterans organizations including the VFW, American Legion and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America will make the case that the shutdown is hurting veterans, members of the reserves and their families by cutting off access to pay and to benefits.</s>BERMAN: Now to a truly heartbreaking story. A 6-year-old boy is dead after drowning on board a cruise ship. It happened on the carnival victory on last leg of a four-day Caribbean voyage. The young boy was swimming with his 10-year-old brother when a DJ saw him struggling, passengers tried to help but they could not revive the boy.</s>SHAINA SHAW, PASSENGER: Out of nowhere, I heard all of this commotion. I actually lifted the boy up, I actually helped prop his body in proper position so they could perform the CPR. Everyone was crying. The family was distraught. They had to pull the mother away and the father. The father was next to his son pleading and begging his son to stay alive.</s>BERMAN: Drowning on cruise ships do not happen often. Cruise ships are not required to have lifeguards on duty. Parents are responsible for watching their children swim in these cruise ship polls. Carnival issued a statement saying it extends its sympathy and is offering assistance to the boy's family.</s>SAMBOLIN: The Jerry Sandusky sex scandal has cost Penn State more than $50 million so far and that does not include 60 million set aside to settle civil claims from men who said they were sexually abused by the former assistant football coach. The university is also paying off a $60 million fine imposed by the NCAA. Sandusky is serving 30 to 60 years in prison for molesting 10 boys.</s>BERMAN: Affirmative action in college admissions is back before the Supreme Court today. The high court is considering a case for Michigan, challenging the state's voter approved ban on using racial and gender preferences in deciding who gets into college. Just a few months ago, the court said the University of Texas could continue to use racial criteria but made it harder for institutions to justify affirmative action policies.</s>SAMBOLIN: Former President George W. Bush's heart condition apparently far more serious than was first reported. "The National Journal" says it was potentially life threatening. His main artery was 95 percent blocked. The 67-year-old had a stent put in to open that blockage. That was in August. The problem was discovered during his annual physical exam.</s>BERMAN: Good thing it was detected. President Obama has made a last-minute campaign video for New Jersey Senate hopeful Cory Booker. Tomorrow is the special election to fill the seat once held by the late Senator Frank Lautenberg. This video comes as Booker's lead against Republican Steve Lonegan has shrunk. It was quite large at one point. The latest poll still has him at 10 points, which is a pretty big lead the day before an election. This comes -- the video from President Obama a few days after former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin campaigned for Lonegan in New Jersey.</s>SAMBOLIN: New York State Republicans are floating a familiar name, Donald Trump, as a possible challenger to incumbent Governor Andrew Cuomo in next year's election. They believe if they can convince Trump to run, he would be a dynamic candidate and he may be the only Republican with the name recognition to pull off beating Cuomo. Right now, Trump says he is not particularly interested.</s>BERMAN: I'm sure he'll run just like every other time that he's run for office that we speculated on it -- oh, wait. Wal-Mart may have to absorb the costs of shopping spree spurred by a computer glitch. The glitch giving shoppers temporarily unlimited balances on government funded gift cards in two stores in Louisiana. You can see it. It happened Saturday. This is amateur video of it right now. The shopping carts were overflowing. Look at that! Shoppers were, obviously, excited. The store shelves were completely wiped out.</s>SAMBOLIN: Computer glitch. All right. Retirement may just be a word for many Americans. A new survey finds at least 82 percent of those 50 and older plan who have jobs plan to keep working into their golden years. One reason, 43 percent said they have less than a hundred thousand dollars to get them through retirement. Wow. The director of the "A.P."/NORC poll says it shows a shift in attitudes and more proof that retirement is no longer a complete exit from the workforce.</s>BERMAN: We shall keep pushing it back. Let's get a sense of what the weather holds today for people who are traveling perhaps. Tom Sater has the weather.</s>SAMBOLIN: I'm nervous about that.</s>TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good Tuesday morning, everyone. A quick look at your weather across the U.S. but, first, travel delays. If we have any, a few trouble spots, strong area of low pressure, moving out of the Central Rockies, into the Upper Midwest. So, Chicago, thunderstorms, Minneapolis as well. Now, down to the South, a lot of moisture that's been moving in toward the state of Texas really from our tropical storm off the coast of Baja, California. So, call ahead if you have flights. Let's say into the Dallas Metroplex. Keep your seat belts fastened and tray tables in the upright locked position, because we are going to have heavy amounts of rain. Maybe two, four, maybe isolated 5-inch totals that will move into Texarkana, maybe in Little Rock, too. Back behind the front where the area of low pressure will be moving across Minnesota, look at the cooler autumnal weather, 45 in Denver area, you got 74 Dallas, slightly behind the front, cooler weather on the way into the plains. Still warm in the Southeast. Look for the low 80s to mid-80s into parts of Florida. Enjoy your Tuesday.</s>BERMAN: Good luck traveling to Chicago today. It's going to go well for you.</s>SAMBOLIN: Don't worry.</s>BERMAN: So, for one San Diego couple, helping others has become a family affair. This is a lovely story. Meet Alexis and Charles Wesley. Last year, he donated his kidney to a stranger and now, she's done the same, giving her kidney to a man in New York. As far as we know, the first husband and wife to give away their kidneys using the National Kidney Registry.</s>ALEXIS WESLEY, DONATED KIDNEY: Saving your kidney for a rainy day is like saving your fire extinguisher while watching your neighbor's house burn.</s>CHARLES WESLEY, DONATED KIDNEY: You gave out maybe three or four weeks of your life in terms of having to go through recovery. But you can extend someone else's life by 10 or 15 years. I really wanted to be the person who is willing to do that.</s>BERMAN: Pretty generous people.</s>SAMBOLIN: Wow.</s>BERMAN: The reason for their generosity? Their own children have a rare joint disorder that has required a lot of surgery. They've gotten so much help over the years they say they felt it was their turn to help others. The donation chain they start is likely to save at least 10 lives.</s>SAMBOLIN: Isn't that just remarkable? The gift of life. Thank you. That is beautiful. Coming up, the Senate nearing a deal to end the government shutdown and avert a predicted economic disaster. Big question, will the House go along with it?</s>BERMAN: Big question.