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Biden Wants Bipartisan Relief Bill; Biden Tackles Economic Crisis; Capitol Policeman Honored. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired January 22, 2021 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:30:00]

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Deal that also gives -- would give him more flexibility if they simply want to add this package to the deficit, which is their approach at the moment, it is easier to do that if you pass through ordinary legislation because the special procedural protections that would let you do it with Democratic votes alone would require you to limit the amount that you add to the deficit. They don't want to do that.

So I think there's a push and pull there. They're going to wait and see how Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell figure out how to get this power sharing agreement in the Senate and what the rules for the impeachment trial are going to be. But I think we're in a period of some weeks where they try to make this attempt to get 60 votes and get this done.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Natasha, now Republicans want to be deficit hawks? Now they think we don't remember three weeks ago when under Donald Trump's watch the deficit or debt ran up by $7 trillion? I mean, now, when Americans are struggling? And, look, yes, $1.9 trillion, that is a dizzying amount. Yes, I like to pay my credit card every month. I believe in that. But now they've decided to draw a line in the sand after everything that the U.S. has spent money on for the past four years?

NATASHA ALFORD, VP, DIGITAL CONTENT AND SENIOR CORRESPONDENT, THE GRIO: Yes, it feels a little bit unfair. As if, you know, the rules are for you and the rules are not for me, right? We talk about unity and accountability and it seems like these things are crashing up against each other.

Democrats are in a tricky situation. They're walking a tight rope because they know that they only have a narrow majority in the Senate. And they still need GOP support in many ways. And I think that President Biden, he promised that he would be a person who could bring both parties together and could get things done. So it's almost as if he's trying to stay out of it. He's trying to say that bipartisanship is still possible and holding out hope. We know that a bipartisan group of 16 senators is supposed to speak with an aide from the White House at some point this weekend about coronavirus relief. So there are these slivers of hope.

But, again, the GOP -- so many members of the GOP gave their congratulations at the inauguration and then it was back to business as usual. And I think that Americans who are suffering right now, who cannot pay rent, who don't have enough food to eat, this is not what they want to hear. They want to hear that things are getting done, whether it's from the executive branch or from Congress.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: You know, there was a saying that Bill Clinton used to like to say, and Hillary Clinton talked about it in the State Department also, John, it's that he's willing to get caught trying to do something like this. Being seen as trying to do it is an end in and of itself. Why?

HARWOOD: Well, because the message that Biden wants to communicate, as reflected in his inaugural address, is we can work together. Obviously the country is bitterly divided along partisan lines. Obviously there's going to be the partisan clashes that we have come to expect for decades on almost every major piece of legislation. But in this unique moment, the national crisis over COVID, the economic crisis that is generated by COVID, Joe Biden thinks the combination of his personal qualities, his relationships, spent a quarter century in the Senate with Mitch McConnell, served with one-fourth of the Republican -- current Republican caucus in the Senate. He believes that he can do this, believes that the circumstances of the moment make that possible, which is why I think he's going to try, not for months but for weeks.

CAMEROTA: And that leads us, Natasha, to the upcoming Senate trial for former President Donald Trump. And every single day new information comes out about how bad that insurrection was, what happened inside. Every day we see new video. We just played one this morning of a Capitol Police officer being hit with a hockey stick. That guy was arrested, we're happy to report. And so the investigation continues.

But, at the same time, it sounds like some of the Republicans who felt very strongly that there should be justice right after that insurrection may be singing a different tune. Here are Senators Lindsey Graham and Kevin McCarthy, congressman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): The president bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters.

QUESTION: Do you believe that president -- former President Trump provoked it (ph)?

MCCARTHY: I don't believe he provoked it if you listen to what he said at the rally.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): But today, first thing you'll see, all I can say is, count me out, enough is enough.

The people who defiled the Capitol, they did that, not me, not Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Just amazing what happens over the course of two weeks, Natasha.

[08:35:03]

ALFORD: Yes, there's a lot of power in spin. And these particular members of the GOP, it's almost as if they're counting on Americans to have both a short attention span and a lot of amnesia, right? So we go from this call for healing, people being pressured to finally acknowledge that they've allowed Donald Trump to run amok, right, and to challenge every aspect of our democracy, to now that we've had an inauguration and, you know, we've had fireworks, we can suddenly just move forward and let bygones be bygones.

But I think that Nancy Pelosi, you know, her life was at risk, along with so many members of Congress. I don't think that they're going to let this be forgotten. So perhaps there may be a delay and people are starting to change their tune, but they feel they have a very strong case. And the evidence was recorded on camera. We watched it. We witnessed it. So it's a matter of getting to this trial while also again just walking this tightrope, understanding that they're still trying to figure out power in the Senate.

But the trial is going to happen, and they're hoping that they can hold Donald Trump accountable.

BERMAN: Natasha Alford, John Harwood, thanks to both of you.

ALFORD: Thank you.

BERMAN: President Biden will unveil his economic relief plans today. What's inside? What's in it for you? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:40:23]

BERMAN: This morning, the Biden administration releasing details of two executive orders that the president will sign today. One that tries to push the administration toward ultimately raising the minimum wage to $15 for federal workers. The other expands assistance to Americans in need. Food assistance.

Joining me now, CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans and CNN International business anchor and correspondent Julia Chatterley.

Romans, what's the basic message and goal of what the White House is doing today?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The idea is to get money a get help to people who might have been left behind here. And in this White House document that was released to reporters, they use the word inequity or inequality at least a dozen times. The idea here is that not everybody is suffering the same, and there is a lot of suffering in the coronavirus epidemic and they want to help families with children. They want to get more money for kids who are out of school, who are missing meals because they were getting their calories at school, want to get more money for them. Eight million Americans still need their stimulus checks. Want to go

to the Department of -- the Treasury Department and figure out how they can fix whatever problems are holding those checks back from people who desperately need them. Change some rules over at the VA so that you're not trying to get overpayments paid back from people who are veterans who have bills to pay, trying to expand how many people can get extra SNAP benefits, an extra $100 a week for families with two or three kids, $100 every couple of weeks for families with two or three kids. Just getting the government to work better to get the aid into the hands of the people who need it.

CAMEROTA: So what's the problem, Julia, with getting this passed?

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: This is a president basically that's acting like he's inherited an economic catastrophe. He's right. That's exactly what he's got here. And I think the whole of Congress need to understand that.

The easy part here, as Christine has pointed out, is the executive orders. The harder part is getting Congress to accept that we remain in an economic catastrophe and acting to provide more stimulus. And we're already hearing pushback.

You know, I think one of the best examples of what we're seeing here, and I always say this, forget the average numbers, forget the fact that the unemployment rate has come right down from some of the peaks, it's now at around 6.7 percent. For the lowest quarter of earners in America, the unemployment rate is still above 20 percent. We've got 30 million Americans that are saying they can't put enough food on the table. These are the things that Congress needs to remember and needs to act on. The question is, will they? This is the holdback.

Moody's Analytics has said that if we can only agree this $1.9 trillion worth of stimulus, we could recover 7.5 million of the jobs that we're still down. Remember, we're still down 10 million from the beginning of the pandemic this year alone.

Guys, I don't know what to say. Every reason for doing this spending is there. And Congress needs to step up and do it. Add to what they've already done.

BERMAN: And, Romans, to be clear, when the new jobs numbers came in yesterday, one of the thing you said that really hit was that Joe Biden is inheriting the worst job market of any modern president.

ROMANS: Yes. And it's three crises, right. There was a political crises, this crisis of, you know, the division that's in our country. There's a health care crisis and then there's a jobs crisis. And there are three different things happening at once here. I can't remember in modern memory a president having to come in to such a shock.

And, remember, this is a vice president, when he took the oath of office, the economy was falling apart then, too, and we learned a lesson from that. And I really hope Congress learned this lesson, that if you don't act robustly and you don't spend enough, you will have a slow recovery. It will hold back the recovery for everyone. We know that. That happened. Already you're hearing these whispers

from deficit hawks and it's just so hypocritical.

CAMEROTA: Julia, I mean now they're going to be deficit hawks?

CHATTERLEY: Well, I mean, to be fair, some of them have been whinging (ph) all the way along, quite frankly.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CHATTERLEY: It is a crazy level of spending. Let's be clear. I mean I came into this crisis as a relatively conservative economist. And, Christine, I remember vividly you and I saying we think it's going to take $4 trillion to $5 trillion to fill the gap that's being created by this crisis. And if we get this $1.9 trillion, it will be around $5 trillion even more that they spent. It's crazy.

Get over it. COVID is crazy. We've never seen anything like this. And we have to act accordingly.

And, quite frankly, the bill will be huge. We have to figure that out later. For now, we have to tackle the crisis, the depression that for many Americans is still the case in this country. That's the only thing we have to focus on right now.

BERMAN: Julia Chatterley, Christine Romans, thank you.

[08:45:02]

CAMEROTA: Here's what else to watch today.

ON SCREEN TEXT: 12:30 p.m. ET, White House press briefing.

2:45 p.m. ET, President Biden speaks about economy.

4:30 p.m. ET, Dr. Fauci and Dr. Murthy speak about COVID.

CAMEROTA: What's so funny, John? Don't we all need a little calm?

Meanwhile, that U.S. Capitol police officer who defended lawmakers from that violent mob is being hailed as a hero. How he went "Beyond the Call of Duty," next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:50:5]

BERMAN: U.S. Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman has been hailed as a hero for leading the insurrectionists that stormed the U.S. Capitol away from the Senate chamber.

CNN's Suzanne Malveaux tells us how he went "Beyond the Call of Duty."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The acting deputy Senate sergeant at arms, United States Capitol Police Officer, Private First Class Eugene O. Goodman.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): U.S. Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, honored at the inauguration of President Joe Biden with the announcement of a new promotion, receiving rapturous applause and earlier the coveted role of escorting the new vice president, Kamala Harris, to the U.S. Capitol platform for her swearing in.

It was just two weeks ago to the day from the inauguration, Goodman was captured on video confronting an angry mob that breached the U.S. Capitol.

Goodman, the lone African-American police officer, stationed at the Senate side of the U.S. Capitol, approached by a group of mostly white rioters, armed with weapons, confederate flags and chants of overturning the election.

For 85 terrorizing seconds, Goodman solely held back the angry rioters. Overwhelmed by the crowd, retreating up a flight of stairs, but not fleeing. Instead, Goodman luring the mob away from the Senate chambers.

Goodman chose to bait the rioters to follow him in the opposite direction, while calling for backup, all the while exercising restraint by keeping his weapon harnessed.

REP. CHARLIE CRIST (D-FL): Literally kind of made himself bait to take those, you know, terrorists away from where the senators would be.

MALVEAUX: Five people died since the insurrection, two of them fellow officers. Goodman is being hailed for going beyond the call of duty, potentially saving many lives with his quick thinking and courage.

REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): It's just so harrowing the selfless sacrifice that he made, his life entirely on the line.

MALVEAUX: A trio of bipartisan lawmakers introducing legislation to award the native of southeast Washington with a Congressional Gold Medal.

REP. EMANUEL CLEAVER (D-MO): But for him, that mob would have gone another direction and I think the news stories would have been quite different and tragic.

MALVEAUX: A decorated Iraq combat veteran and member of the 101st Airborne Division. Goodman was a hero long before the Capitol Hill siege. Fellow officers tell CNN, Goodman's combat training played a significant role in his actions. Awards include achievement and good conduct, medals for his service in the global war on terror, combat and air assault.

Praise poured in from around the world, including those from the 18th Airborne Corps, who tweeted, Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman is rightfully being hailed as a hero after single handedly holding back rioters from entering the Senate chambers last week. An Iraq combat vet and member of this corps, Eugene was a hero long before last Wednesday.

Hoping to present one of the most distinguished honors a civilian can receive is not the only thank you these lawmakers wish to share with Officer Goodman.

MACE: I would give him a giant hug and thank him because he looked at -- looked after and took care of and protected so many lives that day. He'll never understand, I think, the gratitude that so many of us have for his service.

MALVEAUX: Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: I have thought about him so many times and what he must have experienced when he saw that sea of blood-thirsty, you know, rioters coming towards him and how he didn't back down. I mean how he handled it.

BERMAN: It was remarkable. And the applause you heard on that stage during the inauguration, there was all of a sudden this burst of cheers, and it was for him. And that was nice to see. Amidst all these former presidents and everyone else, I think some of the biggest applause was for him.

CAMEROTA: It has been an historic week to say the least in America for President Joe Biden, for Vice President Kamala Harris and, it turns out, for Senator Bernie Sanders.

Memes of Sanders at the inauguration have gone wild. People commenting on his body language and mittens that seem to suggest he's almost as crusty a New Englander as John Berman.

BERMAN: He's from Vermont.

CAMEROTA: Yes. There you go. He is -- here he is. She's sharing some chocolate with Forrest Gump right there. Then here he is hanging out with the "Breakfast Club." Here he is as E.T.

BERMAN: The truth is, you know, we're all of them. Go ahead.

CAMEROTA: Here he is, "Game of Thrones," John.

BERMAN: Winter is coming. Bernie is coming.

CAMEROTA: Here's one that you haven't -- maybe haven't seen yet. This is the day that you were off. You took a day off and Bernie Sanders actually was my co-anchor that day.

BERMAN: I will tell you, he did a great job. He was compelling.

CAMEROTA: He was great. I mean it is cold in the studio.

BERMAN: The posture a lot better than your normal co-anchor right there.

And you're also laughing at his jokes, which never happens with your normal co-anchor also.

CAMEROTA: I mean --

BERMAN: I mean, come on.

CAMEROTA: No, he was -- he was fantastic. We hope he'll come back again.

BERMAN: You know who got robbed here?

[08:55:00]

Janet Yellen was actually dressed in a very similar way.

CAMEROTA: Was she?

BERMAN: Yes, she --

CAMEROTA: With quite as colorful mittens?

BERMAN: She was wearing this jacket and she was just sitting there all bundled up. I -- and I think she's overshadowed. Maybe it was the mittens.

CAMEROTA: I think it's the mittens.

BERMAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: And there's a story about the mittens, of course, like who made them for him, which constituent in Vermont, and why they're so warming, frankly.

There they are. They're knit, John. They're knit, OK?

Thank you, everyone, for being with us all week.

BERMAN: See, Bernie would have handled that better. If he was sitting here co-anchoring, he would have handled the witty repartee better than I did right there apparently. You're longing for Bernie this morning.

CAMEROTA: Did you say witty repartee --

BERMAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Or woody repartee?

CNN's coverage continues after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:00:02]