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President Biden Argues for $15 Minimum Wage During Town Hall; President Biden Says He Will Not Eliminate $50,000 in Student Debt as President; President Biden Says He No Longer Wants to Talk about Former President Trump During Town Hall; Nearly 3 Million Customers Still Without Power in Texas. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired February 17, 2021 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And there are big questions this morning about why the Texas electrical grid failed so badly. The weather is also impacting vaccine distribution, appointments being canceled, and shipments getting delayed.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Joining us now, CNN White House correspondent John Harwood and CNN political analyst Rachael Bade. She's also a political reporter and co-author of the "Politico Playbook." John, to you. This town hall last night, it was the first for President Biden as president. It was his first trip outside Washington, really, as president, his first time talking to voters. What do you think the main takeaway was?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think the main takeaway is Joe Biden's attempt to present himself as you guys described him in the open, as the opposite of what the nation's gotten for the last four years. He was trying to convey humility, attention to detail, hard work, faithfulness, the references to God in the clip that you played, and attempting to get on top without inspiring bitterness or divisiveness, get on top of this COVID pandemic, do it with a COVID relief bill which he's been pushing, which appears to be on track to passage, which is polling very well.

Obviously, the test is not simply going to be whether he can pass this bill, but whether it works. That's the ultimate issue. But at the beginning of the administration, this is an optimum time. He didn't have to do battle with any political opponent. He tried to shunt aside talk of Trump. It wasn't a debate where he had to attack anyone, although those are the kind of things that tend to be polarizing. He was trying to present a unifying face to the country in that swing state and generate some momentum as the House takes up that package, which it's going to do next week.

CAMEROTA: So Rachael, before the town hall, we were wondering if he would be in sales mode. He still has to win over even some Democrats, a couple of Democrats, Sinema and Manchin, for some of the numbers in the $1.9 trillion. So last night he gave his rationale. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There are studies that show that by increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour, it could have an impact on a number of businesses but it would de minimum, et cetera. Here's the deal. It's about doing it gradually. We're at $7.25 an hour. No one should work 40 hours a week and live in poverty. No one should work 40 hours a week and live in poverty.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: I do support a $15 minimum wage. I think there is equally as much if not more evidence to dictate that it would grow the economy in the long run and medium run, benefit small businesses as well as large businesses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK, so Rachael, do you think he moved the needle last night with getting those senators, et cetera, on board?

RACHAEL BADE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: He's got a little more work to do with some Senate Democrats. Clearly, he's making a sales pitch. I also was wondering, was that proposal of the minimum wage increase just something he threw out there in terms of making inroads with activists, or was it something he's really willing to fight for?

And we saw he truly cares about it last night. He rebuffed the Congressional Budget Office, which is this nonpartisan policy think tank that says that they believe the minimum wage increase could mean the loss of something like 1.5 million jobs. He said, look, there are studies that show otherwise. And he refuted that he even believes that.

But in terms of getting this actually passed, he's going to have to call a bunch of Senate Democrats who are skeptical. By a bunch, I mean two in particular, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. And both of these Senate Democrats have shown that they're skeptical of this. He can't lose a single Senate Democrat to get this bill passed. And so he's going to be having to work behind the scenes in terms of whether it's more of a sweeter approach or rather twisting arms. I'm not sure. But clearly, he cares about it and he still has got some work to do if he wants that actually passed.

BERMAN: It may just be about showing that he's doing the work and trying because getting past Manchin and Sinema may be impossible given exactly how they've laid out where they stand on that.

John Harwood, we talked about how he wants to return to normalcy, a sense of moderation. And by that, I mean little "m" moderation. But he also seemed to really lean into the idea of political moderation, like a capital "M" as if moderate was a political party. Specifically I'm going to play an exchange here having to do with what some progressives want, which is to, basically, by stroke of a pen erase up to $50,000 of student loan debt. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need student loan forgiveness beyond the potential $10,000 your administration has proposed. We need at least a $50,000 minimum. What will you do to make that happen?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will not make that happen. It depends on whether or not you go to a private university or public university. Here's what I think. I think everyone, and I've been proposing this for four years, everyone should be able to go to community college for free. For free.

(APPLAUSE)

[08:05:07]

BIDEN: That costs $9 billion. And we should pay for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Now, look, John, there were moments over this town hall where he gave some long, rambling answers. A couple of things where he wasn't rambling was when he said, no, I'm not going to erase all of your student debt with one stroke of the pen. No, I'm not in favor of defunding police. And without necessarily delving into those specific policies, I do think the message he was trying to send is where he sits exactly politically.

HARWOOD: That's right. And that moment was kind of the flipside, John, of the moment that you guys have been talking about earlier in the show with the second grader, where he was showing empathy. I understand your issue. Don't worry, Leila (ph), it's going to be OK. Your mommy is going to be OK. He was comforting that woman. This was a case where he was drawing a line and saying, projecting candor, saying, I'm not going to do the thing that you just asked me to do, trying to set expectations he can meet. He indicated he doesn't think he has the authority to wipe out that debt with the stroke of a pen.

He did a variation of that with the coronavirus markers that he set down, vaccines by the end of July, most K through 8 by the end of the first 100 days, which was a walking back and refuting something that the White House press secretary had said, that it was just going to be one day a week for most of the schools. He said no, no, that's wrong. That was a miscommunication.

So he was trying to set some objectives and goals but be realistic about it so that he doesn't overpromise. And as you guys were talking about with Sanjay earlier, under promising and overdelivering is always the preferred place to be for a politician.

CAMEROTA: How about his body language during that, too. He was like, no, never, how about never. That's basically what he's saying.

Let's move on to what's happening, Rachael, between Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump. They are playing out this battle royal in public through their statements. So Mitch McConnell didn't mince any words about how he thinks that President Trump is responsible for the insurrection on the capitol. President Trump then put out a statement saying that "Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again." Herein lies the very question for the Republican Party. Who are people -- who are Republicans going to align with, the Mitch wing or the Donald Trump wing? Who is going to win this battle?

BADE: Yes, it's going to be a fascinating dynamic to watch play out. We know the base is behind Donald Trump. McConnell's numbers just don't come anywhere near what President Trump's does in terms of favorability ratings with the base.

But the question is going to be what about the Republican political establishment, right? Senators in particular, Senate Republicans, are they going to stay and stick by McConnell? Or are they going to start to agitate because Trump is agitating? And I think that's what we saw a little bit yesterday with Senator Lindsey Graham, a McConnell ally and a Trump ally. He was going on Sean Hannity's show and basically saying that McConnell needed to change his tune, and that if they want to have any prayer at taking back the Senate in 2022, that they have got to have a friendly relationship with Trump.

And this is the sort of tact that Kevin McCarthy has taken in the House. Mitch McConnell has indicated that he wants nothing to do with that, that he wants to put that separation. And so it's going to potentially cause some conflict there.

I do think it will be interesting to watch, though, the president -- the former president is threatening that he could go around and support certain primary candidates that go against Mitch McConnell's primary candidates in Senate races. But the president -- the former president might actually have legal jeopardy that he is dealing with. And so if he's trying to spread himself too thin, will he even be able to really participate? I think it's too early to tell how big of an influence he will be in terms of primaries in 2022 because he's going to have his own drama to deal with. And honestly, that might help Mitch McConnell stay focused and keep control.

BERMAN: We can actually tie this all the way back to the President Biden town hall, because it happened toward the end of the town hall last night. But again, the president, who was rambling at times, had what was clearly a soundbite about what he thinks and how he thinks the focus should be going forward in terms of the former president. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Before the Senate voted to acquit the former president in the impeachment trial, you said you were anxious to see if Republican senators would stand up. Only seven did. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the rest cowards. Do you agree with her?

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not going to call names out. Look, I -- for four years, all that's been in the news is Trump.

[08:10:04]

The next four years, I want to make sure all the news is the American people. I'm tired of talking about Trump. It's done.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Do you believe it, John?

HARWOOD: Look, I think he is certainly making the attempt. I thought that was a very significant moment. Again, the president is trying to drain as much venom as is possible out of the political conversation at the moment. Obviously, not easy to do. Highly polarized country. But what he's trying to do is appeal to Republicans as broadly as possible in the country, and one way to do that is to sidestep any conversation about President Trump. He is trying to get Republican votes for his package. It doesn't look like he's going to be able to do that. But even if he doesn't, by setting the calmest kind of tone that he can that is constructive going forward as he tries to get their votes on other issues as well.

And I do think as Rachael said, with respect to President Trump, it's one thing to carry on a fight with another politician like Mitch McConnell when you have the White House and when you have your Twitter feed. But when you are the former president, when you're at Mar-a- Lago, you're not on Twitter, you have got legal and financial issues to deal with, you have got to work a lot harder to get that done. And so the question is, how much does Donald Trump -- how much is he committed to staying engaged, to carrying on this fight, to trying to control the party, or is it just something that he tosses off from time to time to try to throw a little rocket at people who have crossed him? That's something that we have not determined yet. But meanwhile, the guy who succeeded him in the White House is going to try to avoid that topic of Donald Trump as much as he can.

CAMEROTA: John Harwood, Rachael Bade, thank you both very much.

So nearly 3 million customers are waking up without power in Texas this morning, and more snow and freezing rain is falling. We have a live report on what's going to happen there, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:15:43]

BERMAN: A powerful winter storm has killed more than two dozen people and nearly 3 million customers in Texas are still without power.

Yeah, the weather stinks, but this about decisions that had been made about money over the last several years.

CNN's Camila Bernal live in Dallas with more.

The weather not really going to get better either here.

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's not, John. And it is incredible to see Texas at the moment, to see Dallas, what all of this looks like. Being able to show you this, to do this, this is just not normal here

in Texas. But the problem is that people still don't have answers as to when their power is going to return. There is a lot of political finger-pointing, but many Texans are not interested in the back and forth. What they want to know is when the power will be back, how quickly this is going to happen because they are literally freezing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BERNAL (voice-over): Arctic temperatures and rolling blackouts hammering Texas as the country sees record lows throughout the South and Plains States, more than 3 million homes and businesses without power and heat, including more than 1 million residents in the Houston area. City officials slamming the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the private company that runs about 90 percent of Texas' electric grid.

JUDGE LINA HIDALGO (D), HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS: We've been hit hard by nature this week. But we can't deny that some of this is a manmade disaster, as well. And the 5 million residents of this county and really this region and the state will deserve answers from ERCOT and the state once this is over.

BERNAL: ERCOT CEO saying the company is dealing with more outages because of frozen wind turbines and limited natural gas supplies.

BILL MAGNESS, CEO, THE ELECTRIC RELIABILITY COUNCIL OF TEXAS: I think what has happened here is a response that kept the grid from collapsing. That kept us from going into a blackout condition and certainly, we need to look at what has happened here. Once we get everybody back on line, which is the number one priority

BERNAL: Texas Governor Greg Abbott placing the blame squarely on ERCOT and has called for a review of the electricity system in the state.

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R), TEXAS: The power generators froze up and their equipment was incapable of generating power and on top of that, the natural gas that flows into those power generators, that has frozen up also. What ERCOT should have been able to do is have backup systems in place. They have provided zero explanation why they did not have backup systems in place.

BERNAL: The state's water supply is now in jeopardy. In Galveston, Texas, the water supply is critically low. And in Houston, the mayor warning its residents to conserve water.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERNAL (on camera): And low usage overnight did help in bring something power back to people, but the bottom line is that still about 3 million people here in Texas are without power.

So authorities are telling people to be patient and to be careful, especially because of carbon monoxide poisoning. Many people are bringing in their grills, their barbecues and that is causing a lot of uptick in the number of people being treated from carbon monoxide poisoning at the hospitals, including children. Four people died, at least four people died yesterday, and so officials really telling people to be careful.

Even though so many people are desperate, this may seem like common sense for many people, but it is not for many here in Texas who simply want their power back -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Yeah, people are desperate. This is what happens when people are desperate. They run their cars. They bring their outdoor grills inside and it becomes dangerous and deadly.

Camila, thank you very much for all of that reporting.

And joining us now is Judge Lina Hidalgo. She is the highest ranking elected official in Harris County, Texas, which includes Houston.

Judge, we know you have had some rough nights as well. Just to go through it, the nights have been single digits, as Camila just told us, 2.8 million people still without power, more freezing rain today. And you have spent, I think, four nights without power? How are you coping?

HIDALGO: Yeah, that's right. You know, I -- at home, my family, my significant other, all without power, without water. I'm at the emergency operations center.

[08:20:02]

But I'll tell you, a lot of the first responders here, their families are also in the same situation.

We talk about -- we've got over a million households just here in Harris County. That's about half of our households, about over 2.5 million people just here that are going through this nightmare. And they've spent a freezing night, many times their fourth night. Now they're waking up to water issues.

So we're seeing the secondary and further on effects of the power. The pipes, for example, some burst because of the water freezing. Others have low pressure because those generators that support the pressure are out. So many of our cities, we've got 34 cities in Harris County are reporting issues. Our hospitals are reporting issues.

And, you know, as the weather clears out, we can send plumbers in. We can work on correcting some of that. But the energy is really at the heart of it, and we don't have an end in sight for when that is going to pass.

CAMEROTA: Judge, who do you blame for this catastrophe?

HIDALGO: Look, right now, my community is interested in getting the power back. So I am focused on working with the state, working with the federal government, with our jurisdictions, first responders to get this done. Afterwards, people are going to demand answers from ERCOT. I mean, they are supposed to be running the grid, and we all knew this weather was coming.

So, we're going to have to figure out what went wrong and how they're going to change it in the future.

CAMEROTA: Yeah.

HIDALGO: But right now, there are some very serious, immediate issues.

CAMEROTA: Understood.

And ERCOT, for everybody listening, is the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. Texas has its own independent electrical grid, unlike the rest of the country. And they've long prided themselves on this. So, they didn't have to rely on the grid of the rest of the country. But here is where we sit today.

And I understand that you think that this isn't the moment for pointing fingers but some elected officials already are trying to figure out what went wrong and who is to blame.

Here is what Congressman Dan Crenshaw of Texas said yesterday, or, yeah, I think that's right, on Twitter. He said: This is what happens when you force the grid to rely in part on wind, as a power source. When weather conditions get bad as they did this week, intermittent renewable energy, like wind, isn't there when you need it.

Is this the fault of windmills?

HIDALGO: No, I mean, it's just such a distraction right now that some folks are trying to insert politics and some of these sort of recent culture wars into millions of people dying, being cold, being -- you know, suffering. All of these impacts that people are feeling.

There is issues of a lack of oversight, a lack of preparation. There is the natural gas issues, as even the governor said, the head of ERCOT has said. There are some issues with wind power. There are issue with nuclear generators. It spans the gamut.

And so I really -- I ask leaders to focus on pressuring ERCOT and the state to get power back instead of spending their time trying to create political division.

CAMEROTA: Well --

HIDALGO: Tell that to the people that are sitting without power, without water. And my fire crews here who are worried about how they're going to put out fires when there's low water pressure.

CAMEROTA: I hear you.

HIDALGO: So, right now, we've got to focus on getting this done, Republicans and Democrats.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely, and I just don't know if ERCOT knows how to do it. I mean, if it's incompetence that you're saying, if it was a multisystem failure, how are they going to fix this right now?

HIDALGO: Well, and that's the thing. Over the past couple of days, we've heard from ERCOT that they are bringing generators back up, but on the ground, fewer and fewer people have had power. So what I've said is give it to us straight, you know?

And I'm telling my community, do not expect the power to come back even after the weather passes. So, you know, right now, we're trying to survive the impacts of the power and getting ready for several days, maybe we don't know how long, without power, and just hoping that the grid sustains itself.

We've never seen the grid fail. We don't know what would happen. And so, right now, that is the thing that we're protecting against.

But ERCOT needs to get its generators back up and I do not trust they're in a place to say we're going to get it back up today, tomorrow. I believe it's going to take some time and that's what I'm explaining to my residents.

CAMEROTA: Judge Lina Hidalgo, thank you for taking the time to talk to us. We're thinking of all of you here and what these next few days are going to look like.

HIDALGO: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: President Joe Biden setting a new timeline for when every American who wants to be vaccinated can get vaccinated. This was at CNN's town hall last night. So, a top White House official is going to join us, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:28:47]

BERMAN: President Joe Biden reflecting on his first month living in the White House at last night's CNN town hall, and revealing something genuinely unexpected. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I had been in the Oval Office a hundred times as vice president, more than that, every morning for the initial meetings. But I had never been up in the residence. And one of the things that I don't know about you all, but I was raised in a way that you didn't look for anybody to wait on you, and it's -- I find myself extremely self-conscious. There are wonderful people work in the White House, but someone, you know, standing there and, you know, making sure -- hands me my suit coat or --

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: You'd never been in the residence of the White House?

BIDEN: I'd only been upstairs in the yellow room. You know, the -- the oval upstairs.

COOPER: I don't know. I've never been there either.

BIDEN: No, but it's -- but, look, the people down there are wonderful and I find that, you know, like my dad, you've heard me say this before. My dad used to say, everybody, everybody is entitled to be treated with respect. And it's interesting how decent and incredible these folks are.

[08:30:00]