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Senate Parliamentarian Rules Against Including Minimum Wage In COVID Relief Bill; U.S. Carries Out Airstrikes In Syria Targeting Iranian-Backed Militias; Lawmakers Vent Anger Over Leadership Failures In Capitol Riot. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired February 26, 2021 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00]

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: The president's coronavirus relief bill -- but it will not include one of the most polarizing issues, the minimum wage hike.

CNN's Daniella Diaz is live for us on Capitol Hill. Daniella, this may not be what progressives had wanted. But in reality, it is likely to make the bill easier to pass.

DANIELLA DIAZ, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: That's exactly right. The Senate parliamentarian ruled last night that this $15.00 minimum wage increase wouldn't be included in this legislation. She actually was appointed by a Democrat in 2012, so she made the decision based on policy.

This is bad news for progressive Democrats who really wanted this $15.00 minimum wage increase included in the legislation. But good news for moderate Democrats such as Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Biden Manchin, who didn't want to support this legislation if it included this $15.00 minimum wage increase.

So what happens now? Well, the House will vote on this package today and it is likely to pass. Then the Senate will vote on this next week -- or in the next month, excuse me. And then it will likely end up in -- on Biden's desk before millions of Americans are going to lose their unemployment benefits in mid-March.

But progressive Democrats are already talking behind the scenes about introducing separate legislation to try to increase the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour. They're not stopping just because this is not included in this legislation. So we'll just have to wait and see how this plays out on this issue.

JARRETT: Yes, that separate legislation, though, still going to run into the same hurdle that they're facing here. If they can't use reconciliation and use just that bare minimum of 51 votes they're going to have trouble.

Daniella, thank you.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All right. So that minimum wage, of course, is too low. I mean, everyone agrees to that. It's been stuck at $7.25 an hour for a decade. Adjusted for inflation, the working person has not had a pay raise since about 1968, even as productivity has soared.

What does that mean? Well, it means business owners are getting more and workers are getting less from that hour of work at $7.25.

Now the proposal of $15.00 an hour -- so what is that? That's about $31,200 a year. That is still below virtually every metro area's living wage. In no state or metropolitan area have we looked in the country, currently does the federal minimum wage match the living wage.

In Missouri, for example, a single adult without children would need to make more than $19.00 an hour by the year 2025 to cover things like rent, food, transportation -- just the basic living costs. In Fort Worth, it's just over $20.00 an hour you would need to squeak by. In New York City, of course, it's $29.00. You can see it's different around the country.

The minimum wage is meant to be the bare minimum federal standard -- the moral standard in this country. Beyond that, there's a lot of differences in states and localities. That's where you see wages change there.

Now, the minimum wage worker, by the way, is not a teenager. A majority of them are women who have gone to some college, who have children. Only one in 10, the minimum wage worker is a teenager.

This isn't the first step on the rung of the American job market. People are making a living with one or two of these jobs.

Now, businesses have been stepping in to raise the wage themselves. Costco raising its starting rate for workers to $16.00 an hour. That's higher than rivals Amazon, Best Buy, and Target.

Amazon raised its starting wage to $15.00 in 2018. Best Buy and Target bumped up theirs last year. Last week, Walmart said it will raise pay for a quarter of its employees to at least $13.00 an hour.

So, Laura, I guess there's an argument there that the free market is at work here because these big companies with deep pockets can't afford to lose their workers to rivals. They want to retain -- attract and retain workers.

The question is for small business.

JARRETT: Yes.

ROMANS: For them, with maybe less efficiency -- you know, they don't have the deep pockets. For them, raising the minimum wage is a real problem. And it seems like they are the ones who have captivated politicians' minds at the moment, not necessarily --

JARRETT: Yes.

ROMANS: -- struggling working Americans.

JARRETT: It's so important to focus on the facts that the average worker does not look like who you might think it is.

ROMANS: Right.

JARRETT: It is not a teenager. It is a working mom.

ROMANS: Yes.

JARRETT: Well -- and this is why this debate is raging on. The president has been focused on selling his relief plan outside of Washington, including to the National Governors Association yesterday.

A majority of Americans support a minimum wage increase -- 61 percent, according to a recent Quinnipiac poll.

Jasmine Wright is live for us at the White House. Jasmine, talk to me here. The official line from Ron Klain is disappointment. He says he's not going to overrule the Senate parliamentarian even though, by my understanding, senators could.

Behind the scenes -- really, White House officials had been counting on this minimum wage hike being stripped out of the bill. It makes it easier to pass.

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right. Look, President Biden is disappointed. That is the public line delivered from White House press secretary Jen Psaki yesterday in a statement reacting to this decision.

But as you said, CNN has learned that White House officials were counting on it being taken out because this now makes it likely easier for Democrats to pass this bill along party lines because we know there's still no public GOP support for this bill.

[05:35:00]

Listen, this $15.00 minimum wage was divisive even within the Democratic Party. Multiple Democratic senators said that they did not want to support it. So instead of the White House having to negotiate that bill and possibly having this provision taint the bill, it's now off the table. The White House is free to move ahead without the bill and with a more united Democratic caucus because we know that they need that to pass the bill with 50 senators and Vice President Harris making that tiebreaking vote.

Now, whether or not President Biden will support a bill along the lines with just this $15.00 provision we will wait and see, but that's something he said he would be in favor of.

JARRETT: Jasmine, meantime, the president is also heading to Texas today in the aftermath of all those terrible power outages and water shortages. What do we expect to see there? WRIGHT: That's right. Listen, President Biden will survey that damage alongside Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican. This is a part of his effort to provide full resources to the people of Texas who suffered those deadly winter storms from the federal government. President Biden will be looking around and taking briefings with Abbott.

Now, yesterday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that President Biden does not view this as a Republican or Democratic issue, but an issue of -- to help the people of Texas.

But notably, those who will be missing on that plane ride down with President Biden are Republican senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, who the White House said they had no plans at that moment for them to come along because of space limitations.

JARRETT: Yes, I imagine it is because of space limitations and not perhaps any of the other many, many reasons.

All right, Jasmine, thank you.

ROMANS: All right. Breaking overnight, the first known military action under President Biden against Iran-backed militias in Syria. The strike came as the president discussed the Iranian threat in his first call with the king of Saudi Arabia. That's, of course, Iran's bitter rival in the region.

The Secretary of Defense says the strike was a response to rocket attacks on American forces in the region in the past couple of weeks, including in Erbil in Northern Iraq. And that's where CNN's Ben Wedeman is this morning. Ben, what can you tell us?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we understand from the Pentagon is that there were strikes on targets just on the other side of the Syrian-Iraqi border on facilities belonging to groups that were directly involved in these attacks on February 15th at 9:30 in the evening here in Erbil.

More than a dozen rockets fell on the airport where there is an American forces facilities, as well as residential areas in the northern part of the city, killing at least one Pilipino contractor working for the United States and wounding five U.S. troops. And there have been a variety of missile or mortar attacks on the Green Zone in Baghdad where the American embassy is located.

But what's interesting is that American officials made it clear that President Biden was presented with a range of options to respond to these attacks in Iraq, but he chose one of the milder ones. Clearly, he's trying to send a message that the United States will not tolerate these sort of attacks by groups that are affiliated with Iran, although they are Iraqi.

But on the other hand, the Biden administration clearly does not want to burn bridges when it comes to trying to revive the Iran nuclear deal which, of course, his predecessor, President Trump, pulled out of in 2018. So they're walking a fine line trying to send a message that we won't take this anymore -- no more attacks -- but we still want to talk about the possibility of reviving these nuclear talks with Iran.

ROMANS: All right, Ben Wedeman for us in Erbil, Iraq. Thank you so much for that, Ben -- Laura.

JARRETT: They want to blow up the Capitol. That's more gripping testimony Thursday on the deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol.

Security officials say there was intelligence that extremists, that day, planned to be armed. But they say some of the information was contradictory and didn't predict a full-scale assault. Lawmakers say the law enforcement response showed a colossal failure of imagination to prepare for the worst.

CNN's Marshall Cohen is live for us in Washington. Marshall, Trump supporters gathering at a conservative conference this weekend -- CPAC -- pushing that same narrative that inspired this mob. And yet, the threat remains high.

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Laura, the acting chief of the U.S. Capitol Police admitted there were major problems on January sixth. Yogananda Pittman -- she said it took too long to lock down the building and that protocols for emergency response simply were not followed. She said there were communication breakdowns because the commanders who are responsible for relaying information -- they, themselves, were too busy fending off the rioters.

But finally, we got some answers on a key question -- how many rioters participated in the attack. The police chief said that she believed more than 10,000 people were on Capitol grounds that day and about 800 breached the building itself.

[05:40:08]

Now, she also mentioned the continued threats against the Capitol. It's a little scary stuff. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YOGANANDA PITTMAN, ACTING U.S. CAPITOL POLICE CHIEF: Members of the militia groups that were present on January sixth have stated their desires that they want to blow up the Capitol and kill as many members as possible with a direct nexus to the State of the Union.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: Yes, and that's one reason why she wants to keep that new razor-wire fencing that recently went up around the Capitol building, which one lawmaker said yesterday cost taxpayers about $2 million every single week.

JARRETT: Wow.

Marshall, we also -- we heard a lot about how this threat is -- still obviously persists. Homeland Security has said as much as well. So where do things go from here? COHEN: Yes, there's still a lot of unanswered questions. That frustration was on clear display all week on Capitol Hill. Some lawmakers blasted the bureaucratic structure that governs the Capitol Police board and they have slowed down the response.

And they're still even trying to sort of some discrepancies in the timeline from that day of why it took so long to get the National Guard deployed. There was conflicting testimony about that on Tuesday from the former chief of the Capitol Police, Steven Sund, and the former House sergeant at arms, Paul Irving.

Yesterday, the acting chief, Pittman, said that phone records backed up some of Sund's testimony that he called for the National Guard help as early as about 1:00 p.m. during the attack. Irving said he doesn't remember a request until around 2:00 p.m.

It's messy and that might be addressed, hopefully, next week when we'll hear some testimony from top officials at the FBI, the Pentagon, and the Department of Homeland Security -- guys.

JARRETT: Yes, but the timeline on this has been so murky and it seems like it could be cleared up with phone records. So I look forward to seeing what comes out of that hearing next week. I know you'll be following it as well.

Marshall Cohen, thank you so much.

COHEN: Thank you.

JARRETT: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:46:24]

ROMANS: All right, welcome back.

The hunt for a vaccine near you could be getting a little bit easier. The CDC's online "VaccineFinder" gives users a list of approved providers near them, such as pharmacies and health centers, and it indicates whether they have doses on hand. It will expand to include more locations in the coming weeks.

CNN covering this pandemic coast-to-coast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Kyung Lah.

In the state of Texas, seniors who can't get to a vaccination site may soon see the vaccine coming to them. The governor of Texas announced that 1,100 National Guardsmen would be helping to get the vaccine to communities so those communities could vaccinate seniors in the comfort of their own homes. The governor hoping to ramp up this program statewide after a successful pilot program in Corpus Christie. POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Polo Sandoval at a

Brooklyn vaccination site. Authorities here in New York hoping that securing those vaccination appointments may soon become at least a little bit easier. Mayor Bill de Blasio saying yesterday that the arrival of those vaccine doses that were delayed due to weather last week, that's actually created what he described as extra vaccine for this week.

Multiple benefits that New Yorkers can expect, including the addition of overnight shifts at multiple mass vaccination sites. Also, the addition of pop-up sites, including one in Harlem that will hopefully cater towards some of the seniors, and nearly doubling the amount of some of those vaccination appointments as well.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Martin Savidge in Atlanta.

If you live in North Carolina you could be saying is it 5:00 yet a lot today. That's because that's when the modified stay-at-home order is finally lifted. The order had restricted people to stay in their homes. It also had required businesses close between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. But after today, no more.

It also means that bars can serve people indoors, the numbers of people gathering indoors can increase, and more people can go to sporting events and even concerts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: Thanks to our correspondents for those updates.

North Korea's borders are closed due to the pandemic, so how would you go about getting out if you really needed to? Well, a group of diplomats did it the old-fashioned way.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is live for us in Seoul this morning. Paula, how did they manage to get out?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Laura, this story is absolutely astonishing. What they had to do because they were not allowed to have any planes, trains, or automobiles coming to pick them up because of the COVID restrictions, is they had to build themselves a handcar.

So they had a homemade handcar and they put it on the rails. They put all their luggage on there, including their children, and then they went across the border from North Korea into Russia where they had other embassy staff that were waiting for them. But before that, they also had 32 hours on a train and two hours on a bus to even get to that point by the border.

Now, it is remarkable footage but there is a serious message behind this. It shows just how paranoid North Korea is about the coronavirus and allowing a big influx of cases to come in. And, of course, Russia is one of North Korea's friends. They are an ally. So if they are treating Russia like this it just shows how paranoid they are about having any inputs of COVID.

They still claim zero cases. There is a huge amount of skepticism about that, although Russia's ambassador to North Korea had a very candid interview a couple of weeks ago and said that he believed -- he's still in Pyongyang -- that if they did have cases that he would know about it because he would be locked down within the embassy compound itself.

So it's a very interesting one. It is -- you can see they're actually enjoying themselves coming over the border -- Laura.

JARRETT: Yes, just a remarkable image there.

Paula, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

[05:50:02]

Well, Lady Gaga offering a half-a-million-dollar reward for the return of her two dogs after her dog walker was shot and the dogs were stolen in Hollywood. Surveillance video captured the shocking incident Wednesday night. Police say two suspects attacked the dog walker, then fled the scene with the singer's two dogs.

Lady Gaga is appealing for the return of her two French bulldogs, Koji and Gustav -- no questions asked.

Her dog walker is in critical condition this morning.

ROMANS: All right, let's take a look at markets around the world on this last trading day of the month.

Asian markets followed U.S. stocks lower. Those are big moves in Asian shares to close for the week. Europe has also opened lower here -- or to a lesser degree. On Wall Street, looking at futures right now, it looks like pretty much non-committal in terms of where we'll open up here.

It was a big down day for the Dow. It fell 560 points on Thursday, a day after a record high. The S&P 500 finished down more than two percent, its worst drop in a month. Worst performance for the Nasdaq since October.

Here's the problem. Bond yields rose, signaling expectations for higher interest rates down the line. Now the Fed chair, of course, has signaled he will keep official rates low while the economy recovers. So watch this space. It is -- it is yields here that seem to be the fly in the ointment for stock market bulls.

More layoffs in retail. Best Buy will lay off 5,000 workers this month and it plans to close more stores this year. Best Buy has been a pandemic winner. Its sales are up as more people worked, played, and cooked at home.

Now, Best Buy says as more people shop online, it needed to change its workforce. Best Buy said it plans to dedicate more space in its existing stores to online order fulfillment. JARRETT: All right.

Tiger Woods has been moved to a new hospital as he recovers from Tuesday's car crash.

Andy Scholes has this morning's "Bleacher Report." Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (via Cisco Webex): Yes, good morning, Laura.

Yes, yesterday, Tiger was transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. It's about 20 miles away from Harbor-UCLA where he was originally treated. And in a statement, Harbor-UCLA said Tiger was moved for continuing orthopedic care and recovery. Cedars-Sinai has a renowned sports medicine institute.

Now, Phil Mickelson, one of Tiger's friends and greatest rivals, speaking with the media yesterday and he said that he's praying for a full and speedy recovery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHIL MICKELSON, 5-TIME MAJOR CHAMPION: I realize, just like all the guys here do, how much he's meant to the game of golf and the growth and getting us off the back page and onto the front page. And so, we've all benefitted from him.

We're just lucky and appreciative that his kids didn't lose their father. So, we all are hoping and praying for a full and speedy recovery, but we're also thankful because that looked awful and we're thankful he's still with us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right, March Madness right around the corner. The NCAA is making contingency plans in case a team has to withdraw because of COVID.

Replacement teams are only going to be allowed into the tournament 48 hours after the brackets are released. The teams will not be receded. No team will be replaced once the tournament begins so their opponent would automatically advance to the next round if there was an outbreak.

The men's tournament bracket will be announced Sunday, March 14th. The women's bracket going to come out the next day.

All right. With little over a month until the start of the baseball season, the Cincinnati Reds are the latest team to reopen to fans. The team announcing yesterday Great American Ballpark will be at 30 percent capacity on opening day, April first. That comes out at about around 12,700 fans.

So far, eight teams say they'll have fans in the stands this season.

In the meantime, Texas A&M is full steam ahead. The school's athletic director saying he wants football games at full capacity for the upcoming season. Kyle Field, there in College Station, can fit almost 103,000 fans.

Laura, you know, football season six months away. You know, we all hope that can be the case.

JARRETT: Yes, full capacity.

SCHOLES: But, you know, 103,000 fans sounds like a lot.

JARRETT: Yes, that's for sure.

Andy, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

SCHOLES: All right.

JARRETT: Well, we end this week with a heartwarming reunion. Nebraska couple Dick and Susan Williams hadn't seen each other in person for eight months. But with COVID numbers improving, Susan's nursing home will allow visitors again. They saw each other for the first time since last July.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK WILLIAMS, REUNITED WITH WIFE AFTER EIGHT MONTHS: It's good. I'm glad we're back together. It's been a long eight months. We're happy and that's what it's all about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: A long eight months, for sure. Temperature checks and masks are, of course, required there but Dick and Susan don't seem to mind.

I love them just holding hands. Don't you, Christine?

ROMANS: I do, too. I can't wait to see my grandma. These stories just really get to me. I have not seen my grandma since January 20th, 2020. I cannot wait to hold her hand.

[05:55:00]

JARRETT: I know. I know you're marking the day.

ROMANS: All right, COVID -- everyone, we're going to get through it.

Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.

JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Senate parliamentarian decided that the minimum wage increase, as part of the COVID relief package, did not meet the standard. RON KLAIN, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: We're going to honor the rules of the Senate and work within that system to get this bill passed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a big setback for lots of Democrats who wanted to see this $15.00 minimum wage.