Governor Blagojevich Impeached by Illinois House of Representatives; Unemployment Numbers; Intelligence Matters; 14th Deadly Day
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: History being made in Illinois. Within the past half-hour, the State House of Representatives voted to impeach Governor Rod Blagojevich. The second-term Democrat staunchly denies accusations he tried to sell or trade Barack Obama's Senate seat.CNN's Susan Roesgen joins us now from Chicago. And Susan, where do the proceedings go from here?</s>SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They now go to the state Senate, Tony, where the state Senate will have what they call a trial. They'll have a series of hearings, take testimony from people, though it's nothing criminal. And then they will decide whether or not the governor should actually be removed from office. Now, Tony, if you'll bear with us, the governor went jogging about an hour or so ago. And so we're looking down the street now because we think he's going to come back any second. When he does, we'll certainly run up to him and see if he'll give us a comment. He said earlier, Tony, that he would have something to say at 2:00 local time, in some sort of news conference. So we'll be there for that. Tony, once again, the House did vote to impeach him. It doesn't mean that he loses any of his powers, but it makes it much more serious, and he's one step closer to being removed from office.</s>HARRIS: OK, Susan. Appreciate it. Thank you. New evidence today the economy is sinking deeper and deeper into recession. The December unemployment report is out today, and it is grim. The woman nominated to run the Labor Department begins the confirmation process today. And I will talk live with the woman who is following the money from the $700 billion financial industry bailout. Let's begin with the new jobless numbers and the CNN money team. Senior Correspondent Allan Chernoff is at the business desk in New York covering that story. And later in the hour, Personal Finance Editor -- there she is -- Gerri Willis will join us. But first, the Labor Department says the jobless rate rocketed to 7.2 percent in December. President-elect Obama says the dismal report shows Congress needs to act quickly on his stimulus package.</s>BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENT-ELECT: Five hundred and twenty-four thousand jobs were lost in December across nearly all major American industries. That means that our economy lost jobs in all 12 months of 2008 and that nearly 2.6 million jobs lost last year amount to the single worst year of job loss since World War II. The unemployment rate is now well over 7 percent. In addition, we have 3.4 million people who want full-time work but are only able to get part-time work. Clearly, the situation is dire. It is deteriorating and it demands urgent and immediate action.</s>HARRIS: All right. Senior Correspondent Allan Chernoff in New York for us. And Allan, if you would, run through the numbers and explain what they mean.</s>ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Well, President-elect Obama had those numbers right on. And there's no doubt that, indeed, the situation is dismal right now -- 7.2 percent is the new unemployment rate for December. That is up .4 of one percent from the prior month. And you'd have to go all the way back to January of 1993 to have a higher rate. That's when Bill Clinton stepped into the White House. He said jobs lost, 524,000 during December, but that's not the full story, because the Bureau of Labor Statistics looked back, revised the numbers for October and November. Add it all up, you're talking from September through December, a loss of 1.9 million jobs. That is a staggering, staggering rate. The number for the whole year, 2.6 million. The job situation is deteriorating across the economy. Construction, manufacturing, retail, ,services, you name it, almost every single industry is losing jobs except for health care. A small increase there and education. The government also adding just a few thousand jobs last month. But it is a very grim situation. Good news? Well, we can at least say that the average hourly earnings were up, up by five cents an hour -- Tony.</s>HARRIS: And Allan, what is the White House saying about this report?</s>CHERNOFF: The White House is saying that you have to have faith. Americans have to have faith that things are going to turn around this year, that they are going to improve. The White House is also saying, hey, it takes time to see some improvement.</s>HARRIS: All right.</s>CHERNOFF: They're confident that later this year we will see that, and hopefully we will.</s>HARRIS: Yes, fingers crossed, that's for sure. Allan, appreciate it. Thank you. So let's button this up with a map. The states in red you're about to see here are running a jobless rate well above the national average. You can see the Midwest, South and West Coast are getting clobbered the hardest here. The information here is from November, the most recent available state-by-state data. The grim unemployment picture posing a challenge for the next labor secretary. Live pictures now. A confirmation hearing is under way right now for Hilda Solis, Barack Obama's choice for the position. And these pictures from just moments. Solis is a four-term congresswoman from California. She is expected to win easy confirmation and promises to improve opportunities for working families. Solis earns high marks from organized labor. She supports legislation opposed by conservatives designed to make it easier for unions to organize. Are you looking for a job? Are you wondering what you need to do to get employment in this dismal economy? E-mail us your job questions. Here's the address: cnnnewsroom@cnn.com. Now, starting in the 1:00 p.m. Eastern hour with Kyra Phillips, a career coach will answer your questions. Let's take a look now at the Big Board, New York Stock Exchange right now. As you can see, the Dow, which has been in negative territory throughout the day, is still negative, down 77 points. We will check the numbers throughout the day for you, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. President-elect Barack Obama officially announcing key members of his intelligence team. The one that's raising the most questions, former White House chief of staff Leon Panetta for CIA director.</s>OBAMA: Let me be clear, in Leon Panetta, the agency will have a director who has my complete trust and substantial clout. He will be a strong manager and a strong advocate for the CIA. He knows how to focus resources where they are needed, and he has a proven track record of building consensus and working on a bipartisan basis with Congress.</s>HARRIS: And CNN's Jessica Yellin live from Washington. Jessica, good to see you. A strong endorsement there from the president-elect. And still, there are questions about Leon Panetta's qualifications. Those questions aside, is he expected to be confirmed?</s>JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, in a word. He is. Leon Panetta, the pick raised a tiny bit of controversy because -- well, two reasons. One, is Panetta is not a trained intelligence professional, he hasn't spent his career studying how to do espionage, doing it himself, vetting information. So he -- but he has been a consumer of this information as the former chief of staff to former President Clinton. And secondly, the other reason it stirred some interest is because the Obama transition team failed to notify the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee about the pick of Panetta before it leaked to the press. So there was a protocol breach there. That raised some eyebrows, but she has already now come around and said she supports Panetta. Even the current director of national intelligence has said he's met with Panetta on this and is impressed with him, and thinks he will be committed to the people of the CIA and to learning about their processes of espionage and information-gathering.</s>HARRIS: OK. And Jessica, what about the other picks announced today? Admiral Blair and Mr. Brennan?</s>YELLIN: Well, there's always something you can dig up to create a little bit of a stir in a confirmation hearing, and they both have elements in their background that will lead to some questions. But both of them are expected to be confirmed. On Blair, he was commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. And in that time, he had engaged with the Indonesian army in a way that upset some people. That will come up. Also, he has not been involved in intelligence since 9/11. So he was a pre-9/11 military man, and there will be some catching up to do. But again, expected confirmation there. And on Brennan, there are questions about past statements he's made about enhanced interrogation. He'll no doubt be questioned. Those come up, but he's not going through Senate confirmation, so he doesn't have to take those questions.</s>HARRIS: I see. OK. Jessica Yellin for us. Jessica, good to see you. Thank you. Does the $700 billion bailout package need tweaking? The way the money has been handled is being criticized in a new report by a newly- formed congressional oversight committee. Here's how the White House defended it today.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Treasury has been using the TARP funds in the best way possible to stabilize the financial situation. The program is working.</s>HARRIS: The person to talk to about this is Elizabeth Warren, chairman of the Congressional Oversight Panel, and she is talking with us next.