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Soon: House to Take Final Vote on Biden's $1.9 Trillion Relief Bill; Texas Ends Mask Mandate; Buckingham Palace: Harry & Meghan's Race Claims are 'Concerning'. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired March 10, 2021 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The American Rescue Plan is transformative.

[05:59:33]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a left-wing giveaway. It is a left-wing social agenda.

REP. TIM RYAN (D-OH): 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 masks isn't right, in my opinion.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The British royal family is now speaking out.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR AND ROYAL 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, March 10, 6 a.m. here in New York.

And this morning, the House of Representatives is poised to take President Biden's massive rescue plan over the finish line. In just a few hours, lawmakers will debate and hold a final vote on the $1.9 trillion relief package.

It will deliver the largest ever direct payments to Americans, bringing help to millions who are struggling. This will be a major legislative victory on President Biden's 50th day in office. The president plans to sign it ahead of a prime-time address to the nation tomorrow night. That's one year after the pandemic plunged the country into shutdown.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So he doesn't really have much selling to do when it comes to this legislation, because how popular is the plan around the country? The answer, really popular. We have a brand-new CNN poll releasing now, just then. It just released.

CAMEROTA: Wow, I like how you did that.

BERMAN: It shows that 61 percent of Americans support the bill overall. There's even more support when you break down the elements of what's inside it.

Still, not a single Republican member of Congress is expected to vote for the relief plan. We're going to take you inside those numbers in just a moment. But first, let's go live to Capitol Hill.

Lauren Fox is there. Lauren, when will this historic vote happen?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, in just a couple of hours, you can expect the House of Representatives to begin debate, and then shortly after that, they will have their vote.

And this is the last stop on Capitol Hill before this gets sent to the president's desk for a signature. We expect him to sign it in the next few days.

It's also important to remember that those unemployment benefits begin to run out across the country over the weekend. So this is all happening before that critical deadline the Democrats had really tried to carve out over the last couple of weeks, as they've pushed forward to pass this legislation.

Now, looking forward, Democrats are going to be trying to sell this bill to the American people. Like you noted, it is very popular already. But they want to keep informing Americans about how this legislation affects their day-to-day lives. And that's in a few ways.

Of course, those $1,400 direct stimulus checks to Americans making $75,000 or less. There's also an expansion of the child tax credit. More money for vaccines. More money to get kids back to school. More money for small businesses so they can continue reopening in a safe way.

So all of that is coming to Americans across the country. Democrats want to make it clear, they're the ones who did that. Because like you noted, Republicans not expected to support this bill in the House. They didn't support it in the Senate. And that is a very big distinction that Democrats want to make sure is clear to the American people.

So, in just a couple of hours, that final vote will take place on Capitol Hill. This really showing, this entire process, how difficult it may be for Democrats moving forward to navigate with these very narrow majorities. They got this across the finish line, but it wasn't without some heartburn. It wasn't without some Democrats arguing that there were provisions in this bill they didn't like. If you remember, just a couple of days ago, you had Joe Manchin giving

his colleagues a little bit of heartburn over the fact that he held open a vote, potentially, for 12 hours as they were trying to work out how to make him happy.

So, yes, a huge victory for the president. But also just making it clear that everything going into the future is going to be tough for Democrats to keep -- keep accomplishing things that the president wants to accomplish, whether that's infrastructure, immigration, given those narrow majorities.

BERMAN: Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill, keep us posted over the next several hours.

So moments ago, I unilaterally and single-handedly released CNN's new national poll that shows pretty serious support for the pandemic relief bill.

CNN political director David Chalian here to look inside the numbers -- David.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Good morning, John.

It is pretty substantial support. Sixty-one percent, as you just noted, favor, overall, this economic relief bill.

Take a look, when I break it down by party in our brand-new poll. And you'll see that it's got support in all areas. Ninety-four percent of Democrats, obviously; 58 percent of independents sport this bill. John, a quarter, 26 percent of Republicans, in this poll support this bill. That looks nothing like the zero Republicans who are going to be voting for it.

And the news gets better for the bill proponents when you look at individual pieces of it. Eighty-five percent support for the larger tax credits. Seventy-seven percent support for the money that's in the bill to help schools reopen. Seventy-six percent support for those $1,400 stimulus checks. And 59 percent support for aid to state and local governments.

Now, look at that by party, and I think this may be one of the most interesting findings in the poll. Look at the right-hand column there of Republican support for these measures. Seventy-three percent of Republicans support the larger tax credits here. Fifty-five percent of Republicans, a majority of Republicans, support the money for the classroom. Fifty-five percent for the stimulus checks. And 28 percent support that aid to local government.

[06:05:13]

That's the one place where you don't see a majority of Republicans coming onboard with Democrats, overwhelmingly supporting this, in the poll.

Again, zero votes in the Congress. And then, finally, we asked folks, how do you think this bill is going

to impact the economy if it becomes law? Add those top two numbers together. Twenty-eight percent say a lot, 38 percent say some. Sixty- six percent, two-thirds of Americans, in this poll say they think this economic relief bill is actually going to help the economy.

BERMAN: That's a big number right there. And again, zero percent support with Republicans in Congress, which is notable.

We mentioned, President Biden is going to hit the road to sell the plan. The plan doesn't need much selling, but what about President Biden? We have some new numbers on him, as well.

CHALIAN: Yes, as you noted, it is the 50th day of his presidency, so this halfway mark to those first hundred days, and we have a new approval rating for President Biden, majority support.

Fifty-one percent approve of the overall job that President Biden is doing in this poll; 41 percent disapprove. If you break this out by party, you see he's got the support, 92 percent of Democrats give him an approval rating there. Forty-eight percent of independents approve of the job he's doing. Only 8 percent of Republicans, again, showing we still live if a pretty polarized universe. All the more impressive that he's broken through with this COVID relief bill.

Look at where Joe Biden falls on history at this point in the presidency. You see he's down there second to last, above Donald Trump and below Bill Clinton is where he's residing at this sort of mid- March mark in a -- in the first year of a presidency.

And then take a look at the issues overall, John, that we tested here. Coronavirus, the handling of coronavirus is by far and away his most popular issue, his best issue. Sixty percent approval on how he's handling the coronavirus, well above his overall approval.

But then it drops. Fifty percent approval on the environment. Fifty percent approval on helping the middle class. Forty-nine percent on the economy, 47 percent on dealing with racial injustice. Forty-four percent on foreign affairs.

And the lowest issue we tested, 43 percent approval on immigration. As you know, that's a coming crisis that the administration is dealing with here, as well, John.

BERMAN: David Chalian, do not go far. We require more of you in just a second -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Also new this morning, the mask mandate in the state of Texas is over, despite health experts warning that it is too soon to relax restrictions. Some cities and businesses say they plan to keep masks in place despite the governor's order.

CNN's Dan Simon is live in Houston with more. What's the situation, Dan?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Alisyn. As of midnight, the Texas economy is fully reopened, that mask mandate

is gone, but most businesses still requiring them, and that has led to some pushback, as one restaurant owner tells us.

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SIMON (voice-over): Texas is fully reopened this morning and its mask requirement expired. Despite the state restrictions being lifted here in Houston and elsewhere --

ARNALDO RICHARDS, CO-OWNER, PICOS RESTAURANT: We decided to keep the status quo. I mean, we are going to continue to wear the masks. We are continuing to have the social distancing.

SIMON: Restaurants like this one, called Picos, aren't changing a thing. The owner says most people have been following its requirements.

But a few people took to social media, threatening to call immigration to check on the green cards of restaurant staffers. "Y'all deserve ICE," read one message.

RICHARDS: Why attack us like that? I mean, had I been a steakhouse, do think that that comment would have been made? No. We're following what is sensible, what is logical. And that's what everybody needs to do.

SIMON: As some states loosen restrictions, the director of the CDC warns --

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: Now is certainly not the time to relax restrictions. March and April are going to be pivotal times.

SIMON: Following a year of virtual learning, public school students in Los Angeles may return to in-person classes in mid-April. This after the district reaching an agreement with the teachers' union.

Starting Monday, the final three states will allow teachers to get vaccinated. And in Rhode Island, officials are hoping to get all of its teachers at least a first dose of vaccine by the end of the month.

GOV. DAN MCKEE (D-RI): We're going to do everything that we possibly can to make sure that we salvage some of this school year.

SIMON: With three coronavirus vaccines at hand, nearly 13 percent of the U.S. adult population is fully vaccinated. Alaska making the vaccine available to all residents over 16.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to put this behind us as soon as possible.

SIMON: As more Americans become fully vaccinated, the CDC recommending they hold off from traveling for now. This cautious guidance as health experts fear new variants could become a problem, even with the rate of coronavirus-related deaths and hospitalizations falling across the U.S. MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH

AND POLICY: The vaccine is a great answer to it, but we don't have nearly enough, fast enough, to dramatically impact on it.

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[06:10:05]

SIMON: Well, sources tell CNN the CDC considered revising those travel recommendations for those that are fully vaccinated, but then opted against it. Health experts suggest that that could change as more Americans continue to get vaccinated.

Alisyn, we'll send it back to you.

CAMEROTA: OK, Dan, thank you very much.

So coming up in our next hour, we will talk with President Biden's chief medical adviser on the pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Final passage of President Biden's historic relief bill is now hours away. So what does the GOP opposition to this popular legislation say about the challenges going forward?

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CAMEROTA: President Biden is on the verge of a huge legislative victory on his 50th day in office. In just hours, the House is expected to pass his massive $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package.

Back with us, CNN political director David Chalian.

[06:15:02]

David, great to see you. So House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed huge excitement about this. She said in her 33 years in Congress, this is the most consequential piece of legislation that she had seen. Before this was the Affordable Care Act, and she thinks this may have exceeded its impact on poor people.

So give us the significance of what's happening today.

CHALIAN: Well, it is certainly a dramatic transformation in economic approach from what we've seen in the last several decades in -- in U.S. government policy here, because this bill, this $1.9 trillion rescue plan is clearly targeted to middle- and -- middle-income and poor Americans.

And it is the philosophy of trying to build the economy back from the bottom up. That has not been widely the approach that we've seen from presidents and congresses for the last many decades. So it is a dramatic transformation.

Now, here, there are several features of this bill that are not permanent. And I think you're going to see Joe Biden now, over the course of his presidency, and Democrats in Congress argue to make a lot of these very popular measures, as we noted, permanent. And that then could have a generational impact to come.

BERMAN: Democrats have been worried since 2016 they were losing the working-class vote, particularly the white working-class vote. And this type of thing might give Democrats a new rallying cry.

And I think we saw something along those lines yesterday, David, with Tim Ryan, Democrat from Ohio. He was arguing about a different bill that has to do with labor. But I want you to listen to this, because I think this might be the type of argument we her from Democrats in general going forward.

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RYAN: Heaven forbid we pass something that's going to help the damn workers in the United States of America! 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're 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)

BERMAN: With so many workers who will feel a direct impact from the coronavirus relief bill, how fertile is the ground there for Democrats to make that argument?

CHALIAN: I mean, it's potentially quite fertile, right? You don't think Tim Ryan's final point there about Dr. Seuss and sort of the sort of distraction tactics, I think it actually points to something important that we've seen in this debate over the bill, John, which is that Republicans have not been able to get a foothold in making sort of the substantiative argument against this bill.

Partially because they voted for so many of these kinds of components in previous COVID relief bills last year. So there are arguments that now, all of a sudden, while people are still in need, that this is somehow an unthinkable thing to vote for doesn't seem to be holding water with the American public.

CAMEROTA: We -- I just want to pivot for a second to what Donald Trump is up to. And this is important, because Donald Trump successfully used mail-in voting yesterday.

BERMAN: That's impossible! He's so against it!

CAMEROTA: He's so against -- You know, it's rife with election fraud, you know, voting fraud, as he would claim, David. Let me remind you of what, in fact, he said in August about this.

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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is no way you can go through a mail-in vote without massive cheating.

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CAMEROTA: Unless you're me, but he didn't say that part.

So there was a local election in Florida. As you know, he resides at Mar-a-Lago now in Florida. He asked for a mail-in ballot. He received a mail-in ballot. He filled it out. They have received it, as you can see on your screen. So I guess he does like mail-in voting after all.

CHALIAN: Yes. You know, when he said that in August, Jonathan Swann there of Axios, also in August, he voted by mail in the primary in Florida in August.

You may also recall that when -- late in the campaign, when he realized that he was going to need a lot of his voters to vote by mail, since it was going to be a dominant form of voting in the midst of a pandemic, that all of a sudden, there were some states he thought did it really well, Florida being one of them, a state he, of course, won.

But if you're trying to find consistency here, you're not going to find it, right? Donald Trump disparaged this form of voting and said that there's no way to have a legit election with this kind of voting, and yet he continues to participate in exactly this kind of voting.

CAMEROTA: I'm not trying to find hypocrisy, but I'm finding a lot of it right there.

BERMAN: You don't even have to look.

CAMEROTA: Yes, you don't have to look. It just slaps you across the face, right there. David Chalian, thank you very much.

CHALIAN: Thanks, guys.

CAMEROTA: OK. Now to this. Buckingham Palace breaking its silence over Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's claims of racism and more. We have the latest in a live report for you, next.

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[06:24:15]

BERMAN: So this morning, the royal family working to contain the fallout from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Buckingham Palace released this statement on behalf of the queen. It says, "The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan. The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately. Harry, Meghan, and Archie will always be loved by family members."

CNN's Max Foster live in Windsor with much more. I guess we can decode that statement in a second, Max. First, give us an update on anything new you've learned about the palace reaction.

[06:25:02]

FOSTER: Well, it really feels like the calm after the storm here, because both sides seem to be in a form of a truce today. After the statement yesterday, the royal family, the palace people said they won't be saying anything further. The Sussex side aren't saying anything further either.

And just one point from the statement you made there. This is a big push by the queen to turn this into a private family matter, to take it off the airwaves, to try to resolve this behind the scenes.

I'm not sure those discussions are started just yet, so in a way, the ball is in the Sussexes' court on this one. They've said, Let's talk about this, let's resolve these family issues behind the scenes. So we're waiting to see whether or not the Sussexes engage with that.

I think it sounds as though they are. Because they haven't made a comment off the back of the statement, and it depends, really, how those discussions go about whether or not we hear again about this.

I don't think we're going to hear about it from the royal family, but if the Sussexes aren't happy with how discussions progress, then we may hear again from them. For them, you know, there are big issues here about racism and about fairness in mental health, and I think they want to see some resolution there.

CAMEROTA: I mean, basically, what they said, Max, as you know, that they have a different recollection. I mean, that's how they phrase it. That their recollections of these conversations are different.

It would help, of course, if they could give us some details and fill in the blanks of that. If they didn't mean something to be racist, I think that would help, you know, tamp down a lot of the hue and cry about this. If they were offering her mental health help of some kind, that would help tamp it down. But are they never going to clarify those things?

FOSTER: Well, I think you're right. And this is the challenge here, isn't it, when you've got a family business. Because there are family personal relationships here which they need to deal with, but they're inextricably intertwined with the British monarchy and the British democratic system.

And there's a huge amount of divisiveness out there about these issues. And they do look to the queen on these big issues for her to resolve them.

So maybe once they've dealt with the family stuff, they can then come out and talk about those wider issues. I think there is some pressure there on them to do that.

Also earlier on in the statement, they effectively -- the queen effectively says they weren't fully aware of a lot of these concerns that Meghan and Harry had, which does contradict, really, what Meghan and Harry said. Because the basis of what they're saying is they express concerns about really big, worrying issues, and the palace didn't respond.

And the palace is saying, Well, we didn't actually know about all of those issues.

So there's a lot for them to sort out before they go public on the bigger issues.

CAMEROTA: Max, one of the most haunting things about all of this is when Harry said that he saw history repeating itself. His mother felt isolated. His mother struggled with mental health issues. His mother, I think, attempted suicide, she said.

Then here comes his wife, who so soon after their marriage said she's struggling with mental health issues, she has suicidal thoughts. And so it's just kind of eerie. I think it's haunting how these parallels presented.

FOSTER: Yes, and you really see it, actually, Alisyn, when you compare the interviews. Meghan and Harry's recent interview and the one that Diana did with the BBC back in 1995.

And Harry saw what happened to his mother. He was -- became so concerned about it when he saw history repeating itself, in his words.

But he, you know, took his whole family from here, Windsor, over to the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER (voice-over): When they joined the ranks of monarchy through their world-famous marriages, one was a wide-eyed young British girl of 20, born with an aristocratic pedigree, who barely had any worldly experience.

The other, an American biracial divorcee in her 30s. An independent career woman in her own rights, an actress who had already had her fair share of the limelight.

But whilst the journeys that led Diana, Princess of Wales, and Meghan, duchess of Sussex, to give the two most shocking interviews about the royal family are quite different.

Diana already separated from her husband, Prince Charles; Meghan with her husband, Prince Harry, supportively by her side. The sit-down exposes, filmed 26 years apart, are hauntingly similar in describing how their lives changed after becoming part of the firm. Both admitting naivete on the lives they'd chosen.

DIANA SPENCER, FORMER PRINCESS OF WALES: At the age of 19, you always think you're prepared for everything. And you think you have the knowledge of what's coming ahead.

MEGHAN MARKLE, DUCHESS OF SUSSEX: I didn't fully understand what the job was. FOSTER: Both sharing the weight of being the constant focus of tabloid

fodder.

SPENCER: And I seem to be on the front of a newspaper every single day, which is an isolating experience. And how high the media puts you, place you, is the bigger the drop.

MARKLE: I'm everywhere, but I am nowhere. And from that standpoint, I can continue to say to people, I know there's an obsession with how things look, but has anyone talked about how it feels? Because right now, I could not feel lonelier.

FOSTER: The sense of loneliness and isolation leading to a deterioration of their mental health.