at 8:00 p.m. eastern. see you back in the situation room tomorrow, 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. eastern. i'm wolf blitzer in the situation room. up next, campbell brown. we are beginning tonight with the staggering task of rebuilding in haiti. the government is putting the number of haiti's homeless at 1 million, the capital of port-au-prince virtually in ruins. you've of course seen the pictures over and over again. christiane, i know you spoke to the prime minister. give us a sense of the plans at this stage. do they have any? >> well, the plans are sort of in the initial stages. it wasn't the prime minister i spoke to today but actually the former prime minister who was saying one of the key things that needs to happen is to deal with how to rebuild, where to rebuild, not to rebuild the same kind of shacks that we've seen that have collapsed in many, many parts but also to give people jobs, not just short-term, but long term recovery. government officials here have said they may try to move hundreds of thousands of those homeless people out of the city, but the question is where. as of yet, they have no shelter for them, they don't have the big sites identified or prepared, nor the huge number of real heavy industrial-strength tents to bring and put up to shelter people with also sanitation, water and all the kinds of things you would require in a temporary home. and it's particularly urgent because of the upcoming rainy season, and by the summer, the hurricane season. in terms of the long-time building, though, that is still being discussed because there is also fears of another earthquake, and so they do not want to build up in places which are prone to more earthquakes. campbell? >> and christiane, give us your take. we know how many different international organizations are there now or operating or trying to help. is there coordination between them and our government and the haitian government, obviously, to try to develop a plan where everybody is at least working in sync and towards the same goal? >> well, look, they're trying, but there is this whole idea of the haitian government, of course, having sovereignty. the haitian government is in charge certainly nominally, certainly everybody paying the right kind of sensitive lip service to that notion. the truth of the matter is the haitian government itself is saying that it needs all the help that it can get, it's be barely constituted. it has so many losses, so this is a really difficult task. the united nations has tried this so-called cluster system where the international organizations are putting, for instance, food or shelter or medical, various different types of needs in various different bundles. but there is some conflict, some competition as there always is between nations, between military and civilian, between ngo and the u.n. and other people who come here to help. that's quite common. here it's having the effect of showing a little bit of lack of coordination at the moment and it's slowing down the delivery of vital necessities, even right after the earthquake, to people who need it most. >> christian amanpour for us tonight in port-au-prince. christiane, thank you very much. although the rescue mission is primarily over, the recovery phase is only beginning now as workers struggle to identify, to track the thousands of people killed in the quake. and anderson cooper is joining us with that part of the story in port-au-prince. anderson, there is more than 4,000 missing americans, and i know you spent part of the day at the hotel montana. tell us what you found there. >> the estimate is 4500 to 5 thoer -- 5,000 americans are missing in haiti right now. i believe 50 to 60 people who are still, they believe, in the rubble. they believe there may be as many as 17 americans still in the rubble. it is difficult to convey what that scene is like up there. the searchers are taking it very carefully, very respectfully. it is really hal lowed ground to them. they have brought in heavy equipment and bulldozers to move the larger pieces of debris. the rescuers who are sort of pinpoint rescuers, they are over the army corps of engineers and the defense department because there was so much -- it's a big hotel, it is completely destroyed and there is no sides to it. it's on a mountaintop so it's an extremely difficult situation for the workers who are there. they are hoping to recover as many people as possible, and that's in star contrast to the scene elsewhere in port-au-prince where many americans, frankly, are just going to more than likely just disappear, crushed under rubble, and their bodies will most likely never be found or just discarded. >> and, anderson, i know you fouch found one case, one particular case, that really illustrates what a huge challenge identifying the victims is. tell us a little bit about that. >> well, 13 days ago when we arrived here, the day after the earthquake, we had people showing us a passport of an american citizen, a woman, who they said was dead in the rubble. they pointed out the building. we, of course, told the state department about that information in the days after the earthquake, expecting that they would try to bring her remains out. in fact, they told us days later she had actually been buried in a coffin in a cemetary. that turned out not to be true at all. we went out to the site with her husband today who said he found her body in the rubble, pulled her body out, and when he went to go get a coffin, people came, pulled money off her body and then her body was taken by a haitian dealer and taken to mass graves. we asked the state department, the embassy here, why we were given that misinformation. they said it was very confusing, those were early days. they now have a system in place and they're trying to track as many remains as possible. but i went to the massive graves today. it's amazing what they're doing. there are still bodies just being dumped on the ground. it could be any nationality. a majority of them are haitian, and the haitian government dumped them there. they're not even burying them. they're not even going to the trouble of burying their own people. they're just dumped in the ground. it's heartbreaking and unconscionable. >> anderson, thank you very much. in the meantime, relief teams struggling to feed thousands of displaced haitians, and take a look at some of these pictures. we're talking about starving people really trying to surge through the gates of a distribution point. look at the people here. the world food bank has already given out 10 million ready-to-eat meals, but the people of haiti desperate for meals and desperate for nourishment. they had to use pepper spray just to try to keep order. you can see images of that there. we are going to try to go back to haiti this hour. that's when dr. sanjay gupta will join us from port-au-prince with more on the story as well. coming up, though, we're going to go more in depth and take a look as we have all this week on all of our programs how the government is spending your money. we are breaking down the government's massive stichl lmu plan, and today the price tag just went way up. also tonight, the irs bust aid scheme to tap the office phones of a democraticone of sp well-known activist with a penchant for busting people. we'll be back. re, but do we spe? yes, we do. and we can say 700 miles on a single tank and epa estimated 41 mpg city and all the words stick because they're true. we speak the most fuel-efficient midsize sedan in america. we speak the 2010 ford fusion hybrid. get in... and drive one. ♪ ♪ ♪ when it comes to protecting the things you care about... ...leave nothing to chance. travelers. insurance for auto, home, and business. travelers. host: could switching to geico 15% or more on car insurance? host: does charlie daniels play a mean fiddle? ♪ fiddle music charlie:hat's how you do it son. vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. checking at the office phone, the reception desk. they claim they have to do some repairs. one thing leads to the next, the building staff asks for credentials, a total of four guys end up getting charnged. a pretty amazing story, campbell. >> one guy caused such a stir when he dressed up last year as a pimp and secretly went to the acorn office, right? >> right, the guy allegedly doing the taping with the camera phone is named george okeefe, and he is believed to be the same one that his videos hurt when he dressed as a pimp and asked for advice. we aren't able to get ahold of okeefe and said the truth will set me free. the other suspect is said to be an acting state prosecutor in shreveport. >> okay. and what are we talking about in terms of punishment for these guys potential snl. >> -- these guys could get ten years for phone tampering, but they called it poor judgment. he said there wasn't any intent to commit a crime. truth is, it does not sound like they got too far with this before they got into trouble. >> you got to wonder what they were up to, what they were allegedly up to. okay. we're going to hear a lot more on this, i'm sure, in the coming days. president obama's first state of the union speech just over 24 hours from now. the economy, political turmoil. nobody said it was going to be easy. what will our president say? there is a bit of a preview on the speech coming up next. ♪ it has the agility to avoid the unexpected... ♪ ...the power to take on any mission, and the space to accommodate precious cargo, because every great action hero needs a vehicle. ♪ . president obama will deliver his first state of the union address tomorrow night. cnn's live coverage starts 8:00 p.m. eastern time. no doubt the president had hoped to celebrate or be celebrating the passage of health care reform or an economic turnaround with that speech. well, no such luck. so what will he talk about now? for that we're going to turn to cnn political correspondent candy corley who has been talk to go a lot of folks about the speech and has a few details. candy, let me ask you, because things have slowly been leaking out about things he intends to hit on and the latest is the president is going to announce he's freezing the salaries of all his top aides. what are you hearing about that? >> that it's true, but probably more important than the fact of the matter are a couple things. first of all, when the president came in to office, top white house aides had their salaries frozen at the last year of the bush administration for the same position. so in a lot of ways bwhen you look at yesterday's rollout of the spending freeze, that the president wants to talk about what's going to happen with executive salaries and keeping those frieseez frozen at a cert. what you're hearing is what the president is going to be talking about tomorrow night, and that is the deficit. he has heard that message that a lot of people think way too much money is being spent here in washington, so it is not happenstance that these two things have been leaked out by a couple of people, many people, who have knowledge of what the president wants to propose, because that is the message, and it's not good enough just to do it for one night. if you can do it for two days ahead of time and sort of roll the audience into the idea that the president is looking at the deficit, so much the better. >> but what emphasis does he give, or how much of the speech gets devoted to health care? i mean, this has been, you know, everything in terms of emphasis over the last few months, certainly. >> but what the white house has heard, what the president has heard, and i think with his sort of preview speeches you've seen since the end of last week and one yesterday is that they understand that it's the economy the american people want to hear about. they understand that within the economy, it's about the deficit and it's about jobs. so it is not as though the administration doesn't want health care reform. clearly it does, and there will be mention of it in this speech. but the fact of the matter is that health care reform right now is stuck in the process level. that is, how is the democratically controlled house and senate going to get this bill out? what can they get out because, of course, the senate has lost that 60th vote. the election in massachusetts has changed that dynamic. the president can cheerlead for health care important. it is a part of reducing the cost in this country, it is a part of reducing the deficit and we must have it. but as for specifics about health care and how to get it passed, that's really on capitol hill right now. sdplz c >> candy corley for us tonight. thank you, candy. let's bring in david gergan, author of wingnuts, john avlon, a and. david, let me ask you first, candy says he feels the pain of average americans, but if you're honest about it, this is all coming off a little bit gimmicky. these are not all that dramatic, are they? >> you're absolutely right, campbell. the freeze for executive positions in the white house is not very meaningful to most americans and it is a continuation. but more importantly, on this freeze of spending within the federal government, it's important to remember that this past year under president obama, the congress twice passed bills that have increased the total spending on discretionary accounts for the government by 20%, and what he's doing is freezing at that new high level. that is not overly impressive to budget hawks who really think we need to make a big dent in the budget. i must say it's been sobering today and i think the president has taken a big hit because of this commission to force retirement ask force a vote that has been so reluctant to take on medicare and medicaid that is going to drive us right into the roof here in the next few years, that effort to form a commission was rejected today by the senate. and that's a setback, i think, for budget hogs and for what the president wants to make part of his agenda in the coming year. >> so, eric, where is the disconnect between the senate and the public? in your view, why has the senate turned against him in this big challenge to fix the economy? he's obviously trying to address what he's been hearing, but it's like it's just around the edges, so whats the bigger issue here? >> i think the bigger issue here is the president says he's going to fix the spending after it's been raised 20%, but the health care stimulus a majority of americans think was wasted. just today ron nabors from the budget office was quoted around capitol hill that liberals should take heart that this doesn't really affect agencies, and by the way, the president is going to continue to pursue health care and a jobs bill that he says will help the deficit, but very view people, in the middle class particularly, feel this way. >> we're going to take a quick break, and i want to hear more about the president's speech this just a moment. upbeat rock ♪ singer:wanted to get myself a new cell phone ♪ ♪ so i could hear myself as a ringtone ♪ ♪ who knew the store would go and check my credit score ♪ ♪ now all they let me have is this dinosaur ♪ ♪ hello hello hello can anybody hear me? ♪ ♪ i know i know i know i shoulda gone to ♪ ♪ free credit report dot com! ♪ that's where i shoulda gone! coulda got my knowledge on! ♪ ♪ vo: free credit score and report with enrollment in triple advantage. you'll find the complete -- and completely affordable -- collection from van heusen at the men's store inside jcpenney and at jcp.com. style, quality and price matter. jcpenney. and we're back with our political talk. john, we're talking about the president's state of the union address. what does he need to say tomorrow night? we're talking about the challenges he's facing going into that state of the union address. it's an uphill climb. what does he need to say? >> i think he needs to discover the obama of '98. dealing with deficit reduction is a step. the problem is the whole first year is sounding a note of overspending. when they started this overspending reduction panel, it's an opportunity to say, look, this is what independents are angry at. it's not just what's going on at the white house, it's a parti n partisanship that continues spending no heamatter what. they had 56 votes, they just couldn't hit the 60 and they had bipartisan support. it's about bringing uniteres and divideres. >> talk about tomorrow night, what he needs to say. the more big picture, what does his tone need to reflect in. >> campbell, i think really effective leaders are listeners and people who show they engage in what warren bettes calls deep listening. i think it's important for the president to show the country that he is lircstening, that he has heard, and give importance to the need for jobs and the budget and everything else, and show that he's listening and here is how he's trying to respond to it. he's going to have a lot of people who are not going to tune in tomorrow night. he's been to the country, he's been to the well a lot of times in prime time. but this is going to be his best opportunity to frame the rest of the year, and it's an extraordinarily important time to make that pivot to a more successful presidency for him. otherwise, he's going to have a very difficult time of it. >> and eric, quickly, what are you going to be listening for? >> i'm going to see if he goes back to the rhetoric of blaming the prior administration. there are a lot of key words the president has used in the past year that have become punchlines on saturday night live. >> they seem to have moved beyond that. that hasn't been a big driving theme of this administration, you don't think, do you? >> i think it has been a big driving theme of the administration, including going back even last week to the scott brown victory where there were people in the white house saying somehow counter intuitively that george bush is to blame for the counter. when he's lost john stewart on the daily show, he's got problems. >> all right. gentlemen, we will be hearing much more from you tomorrow night in our coverage of the president's state of the union address. many thanks david ger dto all o. the vice president's point man on the economy will try to explain where all the money is going right after this. we're shopping for car insurance, and our friends said we should start here. good friends -- we compare our progressive direct rates, apples to apples, against other top companies, to help you get the best price. how do you do that? with a touch of this button. can i try that? [ chuckles ] wow! good luck getting your remote back. it's all right -- i love this channel. shopping less and saving more. now, that's progressive. call or click today. tonight a big revision to the total cost of the stimulus. and until now, you have been hearing the price tag of $787 billion. but now, drum roll, please -- the congressional budget office puts the total cost at 862 billion, a $75 billion increase. a lot of reporting on the stimulus plan has just scratched the surface, a few facts mo, moy opinion. this time cnn has gone beyond what it's done before and really examining the facts. tonight the white house is respond and go i spoke to gerald bernstein, chief economic adviser to vice president biden earlier today. take a look. jerry, let me start with today's news. as you know, they have changed their forecast from what the stimulus is going to cost from 785 billion to 762 billion. you said you need to do take a closer look at the numbers, you had a couple of hours. what do you think now? do you agree with their new projection? >> it's not that i was waiting to agree or disagree, i wanted to wait to see how they did their accounting. we have our own internal accounts here at the white house, the office of management and budget, and we think we'