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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
House Set To Vote On $1.9 Trillion COVID Rescue Package; Texas Rescinds Statewide Mask Mandate And Reopens Businesses; Sister of Uyghur Believed To Be Detained In China Speaks Out. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired March 10, 2021 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[05:30:37]
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, I'm Christine Romans. Exactly 30 minutes past the hour this Wednesday morning.
And this could be one of the most consequential days of the American recovery, folks. It comes nearly one year to the day since the pandemic officially became known as the pandemic.
On one hand, you have the president's $1.9 trillion rescue package nearing the finish line in Congress. On the other, one of the most crowded states in the nation is putting recovery at risk by defying health experts and dropping public health measures.
JARRETT: As for the recovery package, this is truly landmark legislation that could transform the economy as we know it. And poll after poll shows broad public support but the measure has no Republican backing in the House or Senate.
Daniella Diaz is live on Capitol Hill with the very latest. Daniella, this is coming just in the nick of time as employment benefits are set to expire in just four days.
DANIELLA DIAZ, CNN REPORTER: That's right, Laura. The House is set to vote on this landmark legislation -- this massive $1.9 trillion COVID- 19 relief package today, marking the last step before it ends up on Biden's desk where he will sign this legislation into law.
This legislation is a major achievement for the Biden administration. They wanted to help Americans directly -- to put cash into the hands of working and -- working-class and poor families devastated by this pandemic.
And Biden had to navigate very tricky relationships in Congress with moderate Democrats and progressive Democrats to be able to have them both sign on to this legislation. And as you noted, there is absolutely no Republican support on this legislation. And we're only expecting Democrats to sign on to this legislation today -- again, for the second House vote before it ends up on Biden's desk.
And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dismissed any notion that there will be any drama with House progressives today who are upset that this $15.00 minimum wage increase was removed from the legislation after the Senate parliamentarian ruled it could not be included.
And some Democrats are upset that there is no Republican support. In fact, a passionate Tim Ryan took to the House floor to scold Republicans for not supporting this legislation, and here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. TIM RYAN (D-OH): Heaven forbid we pass something that's going to help the damn workers in the United States of America. Heaven forbid we tilt the balance that has been going in the wrong direction for 50 years.
We talk about pensions, you complain. We talk about the minimum wage increase, you complain. We talk about giving them the right to organize, you complain. But if we were passing a tax cut here you'd be all getting in line to vote yes for it.
Now, stop talking about Dr. Seuss and start working with us on behalf of the American workers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DIAZ: So as you heard there from Tim Ryan, he's very upset, as well as other Democrats are very upset that no Republicans have signed on to support this legislation.
But that's not stopping Biden from speaking to all Americans on this issue. He will have a prime time address tomorrow night to mark the one-year anniversary of this COVID-19 shutdown.
He's also jumping on Air Force One and going to travel across the country to meet with Americans directly to convince them that even despite this large price tag on this legislation it will help Americans.
He's also going to address a joint Congress next month to lay out the next legislative priorities for his administration. We're expecting him to talk about a large infrastructure package -- Laura.
JARRETT: That was interesting he's not putting his name on the checks this time despite his predecessor doing so.
Daniella, while we have you, I also want to talk about vaccines. Johnson & Johnson has been a little bit slow out of the gate on theirs even though it's one dose. That's the subtext for a meeting at the White House today. Tell us what's going on there.
DIAZ: That's exactly right. The CEOs of Merck and Johnson & Johnson will meet with Biden today to discuss the vaccine distribution. Biden is putting a lot of importance on this specific Johnson & Johnson vaccine because as you noted, it is one dose and it doesn't need the ultra-cold temperatures that the other vaccines need to be stored, making it a much easier vaccine to distribute.
But we've learned that only 400,000 doses of this vaccine will be distributed next week. And Biden is eager to get more vaccines out there -- more shots for Americans -- and that is why he's putting so much importance into this single-dose vaccine and why he's meeting with these CEOs today.
[05:35:01]
JARRETT: All right, Daniella. Always great to have you up bright and early. Thank you.
ROMANS: The Treasury Department will have to make sure relief gets to states and people quickly once the COVID relief bill is passed. Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen promising to get it done soon.
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JANET YELLEN, TREASURY SECRETARY: If we do our job, I'm confident that Americans will make it to the other side of this pandemic and be met there with a measure of prosperity. By the end of the year, I expect your city economies will resemble 2019 much more than 2020. That's going to be a part of this bill's legacy, helping Americans endure the final months of this crisis.
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ROMANS: This is legacy-building legislation as families can expect thousands of dollars in relief -- first, with stimulus checks, then with the expanded child tax credit. The key here is direct monthly payments for families instead of a lump sum at tax time.
There's also an extra $300 a week in jobless benefits through the fall. The first $10,200 is tax-free for eligible households.
There are tax breaks for childcare, elderly care, incentives for paid sick leave, money to keep people in their homes. Millions of people will benefit whenever this hits the president's desk, Laura.
JARRETT: Well, life for 29 million people in the Lone Star State returning to normal today, ready or not. A statewide mask mandate in Texas now lifted and businesses can open to full capacity, all despite warnings from public health officials who say these new highly- contagious variants -- well, they make full reopening dangerous.
Some Texas cities are keeping their own mask requirements, now likely putting small business owners in the line for potential conflict.
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CHIEF ART ACEVEDO, HOUSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT: We're hopeful that most Americans and most Texans are people that are good people -- good- hearted people who care about their neighbors, care about their friends -- and the majority will actually follow the rules. But unfortunately, we're going to have some folks that won't and I can -- I can see the conflict coming and the cops will be stuck in the middle just like we always are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Overnight, Alaska announced plans to widen its vaccine eligibility. It's now the first state to make COVID-19 vaccines available to everyone 16 or older.
Nearly one in 10 people in the U.S. now fully vaccinated. About 60 percent of people age 65 and older have received at least one dose.
The CDC says it may update travel guidelines for those people who are fully vaccinated when the science is clearer. The White House says developing a vaccine passport for American travelers is not on the table yet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Right now, our focus as the U.S. government is on getting more people vaccinated. And we'll think about how people can demonstrate they are vaccinated as we get more people vaccinated. But that's where we're putting our energy and resources.
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JARRETT: Maryland plans to remove all COVID restrictions on restaurants and other businesses. It's also lifting its quarantine requirements for out-of-state travelers, but it is keeping its mask mandate in place.
Forty-seven states and the District of Columbia are now allowing teachers and school staff to receive vaccines. Missouri, New Hampshire, and New Jersey are set to join them in the coming days.
And this morning there is growing concern for so-called long-haulers. These are people suffering from COVID effects months after fighting off the virus. New research shows originally, they may have had no symptoms at all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: We did not appreciate the effects for people -- the large number of people who got infected and recovered -- didn't die, thankfully, but had substantial chronic debilitating symptoms.
So we are going to find a large number of Americans with substantial disability from this virus -- from this infection. And the -- and the cost of that, human and financial, is going to be long-term and we're going to have to manage that as a country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Meanwhile, around 300,000 people are expected at a Florida motorcycle rally in the middle of a pandemic. Back in August, the Sturgis motorcycle rally in South Dakota was linked to dozens of COVID cases in neighboring Minnesota alone.
The University of California Davis is offering students an incentive. The school will award 500 applicants $75,000 to spend during the break in the area to prevent travel and to put money, instead, into local businesses.
JARRETT: Text messages show a Florida county commissioner and a wealthy developer discussing how a vaccine drive in a ritzy zip code could give Gov. Ron DeSantis positive exposure.
Now, CNN obtained these texts through a public records request. They talk about how 2022 is right around the corner and plan to make a big deal out of the vaccination site because it could be, quote, "huge" for the governor.
Asked about the texts, DeSantis said the vaccine drive was to help older residents and claimed that the media was demonizing the drives because they didn't want to, quote -- they didn't want people, quote, "being vaccinated who disagree with them politically."
ROMANS: All right.
[05:40:00]
Day two of jury selection in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, accused of murder in the death of George Floyd. Prosecutors and defense lawyers questioned nine potential jurors Tuesday. At the end of the day, three were seated. Two are white; the other is a person of color.
The judge has scheduled the trial's opening statements for March 29th.
JARRETT: Well, a reporter who was arrested while covering a George Floyd protest last year taking the stand in her own defense. "Des Moines Register" reporter Andrea Sahouri was pepper-sprayed by police and arrested along with her boyfriend during a protest that turned chaotic. She says she complied with every police command.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREA SAHOURI, REPORTER, DES MOINES REGISTER, ARRESTED AT GEORGE FLOYD PROTEST: I didn't think it was a good idea to run from officers. I wasn't doing anything wrong.
So I put up my hands. I said I'm press, I'm press, I'm press. He grabbed me and pepper-sprayed me, and as he was doing so said that's not what I asked.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: She faces misdemeanor charges for allegedly failing to disperse and interfering with police. A verdict could come as soon as today. ROMANS: The House of Representatives moving to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. The landmark measure expired in 2018. Texas Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee introduced this bill on Monday. Only one Republican, Pennsylvania Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick is supporting it, so far.
President Biden co-sponsored the original Violence Against Women Act as a senator back in 1994.
We'll be right back.
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[05:45:30]
ROMANS: Almost five years ago, a young entrepreneur returned to China after attending a prestigious State Department program in the U.S. Then he vanished. His sister believes her brother is one of the roughly two million Uyghurs and other minorities detained by the Chinese government in internment camps.
CNN's Kylie Atwood reports.
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RAYHAN ASAT, UYGHUR HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCATE: He was recently seen in a video.
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rayhan Asat hasn't seen her brother in almost five years after he returned home to China and disappeared. Now, in a rare interview with CNN, the Chinese national living in the United States says recent images of him are shocking. She hasn't seen them herself but says he was described as --
ASAT: Absolutely unrecognizable. He lost tremendous weight. He looks like a bone with a human face, except the face is absolutely unrecognizable.
ATWOOD (voice-over): Ekpar Asat, a successful Chinese entrepreneur, went missing in 2016 after arriving back in China from a State Department program in the U.S.
ASAT: Years have gone by and I'm still looking for answers.
ATWOOD (voice-over): She said the Chinese government, without evidence or a trial, sentenced him to 15 years in prison on charges of incitement of ethnic hatred and ethnic discrimination.
The Harvard Law School graduate says 35-year-old Ekpar never criticized Chinese leadership and believes he is one of up to two million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities detained by the Chinese government and put into internment camps.
ASAT: He spent three years in the concentration camps and only in January 2019 he was transferred to prison. ATWOOD (voice-over): The Chinese government says it's a policy of reeducation. The U.S. government has called it genocide. The Chinese dispute those claims.
WANG YI, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): The claim that there is genocide in Xinjiang couldn't be more preposterous. It is just a rumor fabricated with ulterior motives and a lie through and through.
ATWOOD (voice-over): After years of staying silent, Rayhan has begun speaking out, taking to new social media platforms and speaking with us -- a great risk, she says, to her and her family's lives.
ATWOOD (on camera): What do you think would happen to you if you went back to China?
ASAT: I think I would also disappear into the shadows of these internment camps.
ATWOOD (on camera): Your parents are still in China?
ASAT: They are.
ATWOOD (on camera): Do you fear for their safety?
ASAT: I do. Every time I speak out, I do.
ATWOOD (voice-over): Now, Asat is turning her attention to the new Biden administration, which is facing mounting pressure from human rights advocates to hold China accountable for these camps.
Former detainees tell CNN inmates are subject to rape and forced sterilization, which the Chinese government denies.
President Biden voiced concern about these alleged human rights abuses in China's Xinjiang region during his first phone call with President Xi. Biden publicly claims China will face repercussions. His administration has yet to offer specifics.
NED PRICE, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: I think the question that we are posing to like-minded allies and partners around the world is what, collectively, can we do.
ATWOOD (voice-over): For her part, Rayhan is very clear. She believes the Biden administration must put this genocide above everything else when dealing with China.
ASAT: I would love to have an opportunity to make a case for President Biden and Sec. Blinken that any sort of future engagement with China have to have some form of conditions, and one of which to release my brother.
ATWOOD (voice-over): Kylie Atwood, CNN, the State Department.
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JARRETT: What a story. Kylie, thank you for that report.
Well, Arkansas just passed a near-total ban on abortion. The measure bans the procedure except to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency. Anyone who breaks the law -- well, they could $100,000 fine and up to 10 years in prison.
Opponents are vowing a legal challenge on this. Eleven similar bans have been passed since 2019 but none have taken effect.
ROMANS: All right, let's take a look at markets around the world right now. Asian shares closed mixed. Europe has also closed mixed. But Paris and Frankfurt are slightly higher here.
[05:50:02]
On Wall Street, futures this morning mixed as well. Look, yesterday was a recovery on Wall Street. The Dow closed up slightly but the big story was tech. Tech stocks surged.
The Nasdaq up almost four percent -- a big recovery there. Best day since November. It's now up 64 percent -- the Nasdaq, over the past year.
Investors have been worried about what the recovery could mean for tech stocks. Some analysts say tech would still benefit from online shopping and streaming services even after pandemic restrictions ease.
Investors will also be paying close attention to the consumer price index. That measures inflation and that's out this morning. If that number comes in hot again for February it could give investors another reason to sell.
But again, tech stocks have hit that official correction and bounced back. You look over the year, still a great year for tech.
The Biden administration signaling it will be tougher on tech, leaving -- critics of the -- of the industry are joining the White House here. Tim Wu has been named to a new role on the National Economic Council and Lina Khan is being vetted for a position with the Federal Trade Commission. Both have been outspoken about the dangers of big tech and could represent a major shift in how the administration handles antitrust enforcement. Watch this space, Laura.
JARRETT: Miami Heat player Meyers Leonard apologizing for using an anti-Semitic slur. Andy Scholes has more in this morning's Bleacher Report. So, Andy, this all came out because of a videogame he was playing?
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (via Cisco Webex): Yes, he was playing videogames, Laura, and the Heat announced last night that Meyers Leonard is going to be away from the team indefinitely after using that slur while playing the videogame Call of Duty, and he was livestreaming it all.
Leonard apologized for the incident via Instagram, promising to do better -- adding, "While I didn't know what the word meant at the time, my ignorance about its history and how offensive it is to the Jewish community is absolutely not an excuse, and I was just wrong."
The Heat released a statement last night saying, "The words used by Meyers Leonard were wrong, and we will not tolerate hateful language from anyone associated with our franchise. The Miami Heat will cooperate with the NBA while it conducts its investigation."
Leonard only played in three games for the Heat this season and had season-ending shoulder surgery last month. The team pulled a club (ph) option on his contract for next season.
All right. Top-ranking Zaga is headed to the NCAA Tournament with a perfect 26 and zero record -- but it wasn't easy. The Bulldogs rallied back from their biggest halftime deficit in three years to beat BYU 88-78 in the West Coast Conference Championship game last night.
The win cements Gonzaga's place as the number-one seed in the big dance. It makes them just the fifth team in more than 40 years to enter the tournament with a perfect record.
So far, 11 teams have clinched spots in the NCAA Tournament. The full field of 68 is going to be announced on Sunday.
Gonzaga's women, meanwhile, also WCC champs after beating BYU at the buzzer last night. Down one point, six seconds on the clock, Jill Townsend hits the jumper there. Her teammates rushing the court to celebrate with her. It was Townsend's first two points of the game and they were big ones.
The Bulldogs winning their first conference tournament title in three years in dramatic fashion there.
All right. Finally, a huge honor for University of Texas Rio Grande Valley coach Lew Hill, who tragically passed away on February seventh. He's been named the unanimous choice for the Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.
The school says the cause of Coach Hill's death is unknown but he was battling a rare bone marrow disorder and he'd also recently battled COVID-19. Lew Hill was just 56 years old.
And guys, you know, Lon Kruger and, you know, the coach at Oklahoma -- he worked with Hill for many years and he said the world definitely lost a special person --
ROMANS: Absolutely.
SCHOLES: -- when Hill passed away.
ROMANS: Just too --
SCHOLES: He touched so many young men's lives.
ROMANS: Just too young but such an impact over his career.
All right, thanks so much, Andy.
And then this, this morning. A New York woman just filled a prescription for the best medicine of all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Evelyn Shaw hugging her granddaughter.
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ROMANS: That's a tender, lasting moment for Evelyn Shaw. She is now fully vaccinated and finally able to hug her granddaughter for the first time in a year because of the pandemic. Look at that. Her doctor wrote an actual prescription saying she is allowed to hug her granddaughter.
You have heard from me. I've been waiting a year --
JARRETT: I know.
ROMANS: -- to hug my grandma. News alert at 10:00 when it happens. I can't wait.
JARRETT: I know. I can't wait for her to get her second shot and you can see her.
ROMANS: Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.
JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The American Rescue Plan is transformative.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a left-wing giveaway. It is a left-wing social agenda.
RYAN: Heaven forbid we pass something that's going to help the damn workers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Texas set to reopen the same day its mask mandate expires, though businesses can keep their own requirements in place.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Requiring us now to take a side on the mask isn't right, in my opinion.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The British royal family is now speaking out.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: The royal family simply don't recognize some of the things that Harry and Meghan told Oprah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is actually a slap in the face, I think.
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ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
