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President Biden to Deliver First Prime-Time Address Tonight; Biden Border Strategy Faces Big Test Amid Surge in Migrant Children; Texas A.G. Threatens to Sue Austin Mayor from Enforcing Mask Mandate; Austin Mayor Steve Adler (D) is Interviewed about Mask Mandate. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired March 11, 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 House passing the sweeping $1.9 trillion COVID relief plan. Biden planning to sign it into law on Friday.

[05:59:05]

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Help is on the way. You will receive $1,400 checks by the end of March.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): We're doing damage to the future of this country by spending dramatically more money than we obviously need.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Health officials are urging caution as more than a dozen states are easing restrictions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The White House recruited some former presidents and first ladies to encourage Americans to get vaccinated.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Thursday, March 11, 6 a.m. here in New York.

And new details coming into CNN just now as to what President Biden will say tonight in his first White House prime-time address to the nation. It comes as he readies to sign the $1.9 trillion relief bill into law.

This contains the largest relief payments to the American people in history. It funds extended unemployment benefits, increased child tax credits, additional money for vaccines, reopening schools, farms, healthcare. And the list goes on.

Now, this measure is already reaping benefits. American Airlines is crediting the bill with saving 27,000 jobs. Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker brags independent restaurant operators have won $28.6 billion worth of targeted relief. This funding will ensure small businesses can survive the pandemic.

Now, you would be correct in noting Senator Wicker is a Republican. You would also be correct in noting he was a Republican who voted against the bill. They all did. You would be correct in noting Senator Wicker is taking a kind of credit for help that he voted against providing. And you would be correct in including, that's pretty messed up.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: So the president's first prime-time address comes as the pandemic crosses the one-year mark. More than 10 percent of Americans are now fully vaccinated, and nearly 20 percent of Americans have received their first shot.

Meanwhile, the situation at the border demands a solution. The Biden administration is scrambling to find housing for a surge of unaccompanied migrant children. The White House even considering a vacant NASA site in northern California. We'll have much more on that in a moment.

But we begin with CNN's Jeremy Diamond. He is live at the White House on the president's address tonight -- Jeremy.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

Today marks 50 days since President Biden came into office. And now he has this $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package headed to his desk. The president expected to sign that tomorrow.

But tonight marking not only his first 50 days in office, but also this one-year anniversary since the country began to shut down in the face of the coronavirus.

President Biden reflecting on the last year of struggles, but he will also look forward. One White House official telling me that the president is expected to offer a hopeful vision for what's to come.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIAMOND (voice-over): Tonight, President Biden delivering his first prime-time speech, marking one year since the country began to shut down in the face of coronavirus. Now, Biden can tell millions of pandemic-weary Americans that help is on the horizon and recovery in sight.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm going to talk about what comes next. I'm going to launch the next phase of the COVID response and explain what we will do as a government and what we will ask of the American people.

DIAMOND: Biden will honor the nearly 530,000 American lives lost to COVID-19 and note how life has changed forever for millions. The president expected to outline the next steps he will take to get the pandemic under control and offer hope for a return to normal.

Biden also plans to call the fight against the pandemic the greatest operational challenge the U.S. has faced and outline what his administration has done to expedite vaccine production and delivery.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): The motion is adopted.

DIAMOND: After House Democrats passed Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus package on Wednesday, Biden will sign the landmark American Rescue Plan into law tomorrow.

PELOSI: On this day, we celebrate, because we are honoring a promise made by our president as we join with him in promising that help is on the way.

DIAMOND: Millions of Americans will now receive up to $1,400 stimulus checks and other assistance, including extended federal unemployment benefits, tax credit payments, and an enhanced child tax credit.

Biden is taking his relief message on the road. His first stop: Pennsylvania next week, to promote the COVID-19 relief plan in the places that need it the most.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: His focus now is on the details, the details, the details. When do people get their checks? When do schools get funding? How do people know if they want -- if they need more unemployment insurance? This is the really important piece now, is the implementation.

DIAMOND: Ramping up the U.S. vaccine program is a key part of Biden's bill.

BIDEN: Everything in the American Rescue Plan addresses a real need, including investments to fund our entire vaccination effort. More vaccines, more vaccinators, and more vaccination sites.

DIAMOND: The White House recruited some former presidents and first ladies to help spread the world.

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The science is clear. These vaccines will protect you and those you love from this dangerous and deadly disease.

DIAMOND: Joining together to encourage Americans to get vaccinated in a series of public service announcements.

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We want this pandemic to end as soon as possible.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So we urge you to get vaccinated when it's available to you.

BUSH: To roll up your sleeve and do your part.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is our shot.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DIAMOND: And as President Biden prepares to sign that nearly $2 trillion relief package into law, his attention and the White House is focused now towards selling it. And that is something that is certainly on the minds of White House officials here and the president, all of whom -- many of whom served in the Obama administration.

[06:05:03]

The lessons of the 2009 stimulus bill have really hung over this entire process. And it will now hang over this effort to sell this relief bill.

The president himself has talked about the fact that he felt President Obama didn't do enough to sell that 2009 relief package and so now, he will hit the road beginning next week to do just that -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Jeremy Diamond at the White House, thanks so much.

Joining us now, CNN political commentator Errol Louis. He's the political anchor for Spectrum News.

President Biden was part of the Obama administration, and he has reflected on what he thinks the failures were in messaging. And he did this just last week. Listen, Errol.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Barack was so modest, he didn't want to take, as he said, a victory lap. I kept saying, Tell people what we did.

He said, We don't have time. I'm not going to take a victory lap.

And we paid a price for it, ironically, for that humility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So you get the sense, Errol, that President Biden, now that he's not vice president, isn't going to let that happen again. So what does that mean, do you think?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it means, first and foremost, that they have the plan that they wanted. I think part of the problem -- It wasn't just modesty back in 2009, but that they got about half of what they had sought. That they went into compromises that did not work for them.

I think it also means that President Biden is going to go out there and go from place to place to place and tell people over and over again about the things that he promised; about promises made, promises kept.

He's only halfway through his first hundred days, but he's meeting a lot of the key things that he said he was going to get done. And it's very important to remind people of that.

I mean, in a hyper-politicized environment -- and it is absolutely stunning that no Republicans voted for this package -- he's got to go out and say, Look, if you want to brand this as the Biden plan, you want to brand this as the Democratic plan, we'll take it.

Because it's an astoundingly popular plan, John. It's polling very, very high, all of the different elements. I mean, my goodness. Getting a check for $1,400 in the mail, it should be an easy lift. I cannot believe so many politicians voted against it.

BERMAN: If he doesn't take credit for it, the Republicans will, even though they voted against it.

The thing with Roger Wicker yesterday, Errol, you know, I've been around a while now. And that's just amazing.

Roger Wicker, Republican senator from Mississippi, puts out a tweet bragging about the aid that restaurants and small businesses are going to get as part of this bill, a bill that he voted against. I mean --

LOUIS: Yes.

BERMAN: It's crazy!

LOUIS: Well, it's -- you know, I mean, here's some SAT words for the kids at home. Cynicism, effrontery, gall. These are -- these are what's at play.

I mean, look, there are a number of Republicans, I think, who are maybe going to belatedly realize that they are on the absolutely wrong side of a very popular bill.

This is not like Obamacare, where they had months and months of time to mischaracterize it, and it was kind of a complicated project in the first place, so that they could mischaracterize it.

This is very straightforward. This is money for hungry kids. This is vaccines and other treatment for sick people. This is infrastructure for crumbling roads that people see every day. And most of all, this is a check in the mailbox of people who have been hurting and unemployed for months and months and months.

Roger Wicker is going -- not going to be the last, I think, of Republicans to suddenly turn around and, at the same time say, this is an awful bill, but look what kind of great stuff I got for you.

BERMAN: The SAT would be like, Roger Wicker is to the relief bill as holy crap is to, are you kidding me? That would be -- that would be sort of the SAT analogy there.

There is something interesting when you compare what happened in the beginning of the Obama administration to this. The stimulus bill under Obama was to stop the bleeding. That was something they needed stop the bleeding for an economy that was really in free fall and would continue to slip for some time.

This is to accelerate the healing to an extent that has already begun. There may -- there is already, I think, for some people, a real feel to the improvement here. LOUIS: Yes, I mean, listen. The -- we've had two presidents in a row

who called the battle against the coronavirus a war. We've got one now. The president who is really fighting the battle is Joe Biden. I mean, and he's doing what you do in war. You keep going and you keep going. And you don't stop until you get victory.

So this announcement we're getting this week, that they're going to buy, you know, hundreds of millions more doses of the J&J vaccine. This is, you know, on one level, quote/unquote, "not necessary," but that's not the criteria you use to win a war, to save the lives of millions of people. You keep going, and you keep going, and you spend whatever you have to spend in order to get the victory. That's the kind of war we're in now.

BERMAN: Errol Louis, great to talk to you. Tomorrow, reading comprehension. Appreciate it.

LOUIS: Thanks, John.

CAMEROTA: I'm learning so much.

The Biden administration faces a growing challenge: a surge of unaccompanied minors at the U.S./Mexico border, 3,400 children. The administration now scrambling to find housing for them, even considering a vacant NASA facility as a temporary shelter.

[06:10:04]

CNN immigration reporter Priscilla Alvarez joins us now.

Priscilla, what is the plan for these 3,400 kids?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN IMMIGRATION CORRESPONDENT: So the Biden administration here is tapping federal agencies like NASA to look for space for children. And the reason for that is because the number of children crossing the U.S./Mexico border alone is outpacing shelter availability.

So as you mentioned, we know there are more than 3,400 children in Border Patrol custody. These are facilities for adults, not for children. They have to be there, though, until officials can place them in shelters across the country.

Now, what's happening here and what these numbers tell us is that the administration is simply not keeping up with the number of children coming across the border. To give you a point of comparison, Alisyn, last week we were reporting that there were more than 1,800 children in Border Patrol custody. That number, now more than 3,400.

CAMEROTA: And am I right that they only have something like 500 beds?

ALVAREZ: Now, this is what the Border Patrol looks at. So they try to see that there are 500 beds, to start placing the children. And the short answer is that, yes, that is an indicator of the limited capacity. Remember, over the course of the pandemic, many of these shelters,

which are overseen by the Health and Human Services Department, were operating under limited capacity to comply with health guidelines. So they're already under strain here. And as more children arrive, they are frantically looking for more shelter space. Again, going back to tapping those federal agencies to look for help.

CAMEROTA: Priscilla, what about the parents? I mean, so much was made, rightfully so, during the Trump administration, and their zero tolerance policy of separating children from their parents. And the U.S. is still trying to reunite hundreds of those children. The U.S. Still hasn't found the parents and been able to reunite some of those children.

Where -- what about this? What about these parents? How will the U.S. attempt to reunite them?

ALVAREZ: So, I want to be clear here. These are children who are crossing the U.S./Mexico border alone. They are coming without an adult or without a parent.

So we know that the majority of these children are 13 years old and up. So their parents could be in the United States. Their parents could be back at home. But when they cross the U.S./Mexico border, they are alone.

And that is what makes it so difficult for this administration, because these children have to be placed in shelters where case managers will work with them to relocate them in the United States. But until they reach that point, they're in these Border Patrol facilities where they shouldn't be.

CAMEROTA: Is the problem, one of the problems that they don't have 3,400 case managers? I mean, the manpower is not built for this level of influx.

ALVAREZ: So staff retention is certainly an issue in some of these facilities. I was reading through court filings that say that one of the issues they're facing is that they're having a hard time hiring, because people don't want to work in congregate settings.

So it is important for there to be case managers at these shelters, not only to look over the kids but also to work with them to relocate them.

So you're pointing out many of the challenges that the Biden administration is facing here. Not only do they not have enough space for some of these children in these shelters, but they also might not have enough people to care for them.

CAMEROTA: We have Senator Jeff Merkley coming on later in the program, who has devoted so much time to this during the Trump administration and since, so we will ask him if there are any solutions.

Priscilla, thank you very much. I really appreciate all of the reporting there. ALVAREZ: Thank you.

BERMAN: Merrick Garland finally gets his moment. More importantly, the United States gets an attorney general.

This morning, he will be sworn in as attorney general after the Senate confirmed him on Wednesday with bipartisan support.

Garland, of course, was nominated by President Obama to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016, but Republicans denied him any kind of confirmation hearing.

Two other historic nominees confirmed. Marcia Fudge will lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, becoming the first black woman to run the agency in more than four decades. And Michael Regan becomes the first black man to head up the EPA.

So the governor [SIC] of Texas is threatening to sue the mayor of Austin if he doesn't lift the city's mask mandate. Austin's mayor joins us next.

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[06:18:18]

BERMAN: Developing overnight, the attorney general of Texas -- earlier I said it was the governor -- it's the attorney general, is threatening to sue the mayor of Austin if he does not lift the city's mask mandate. CNN's Dan Simon with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A battle over masks playing out in Texas. On Wednesday, the state's mask mandate was officially lifted. But some businesses, counties, and cities including its capital, Austin, keeping their mandates in place, despite the directive from the state government.

MAYOR STEVE ADLER (D), AUSTIN, TEXAS: We're not going to rescind anything. You know, we told our community that we would always be guided by the data and the doctors. And we're going to continue that.

SIMON: The attorney general, Ken Paxton, threatening to sue Austin and surrounding Travis County if they don't rescind mask mandates, tweeting, "City/county leaders must not be thinking clearly. Maybe it's oxygen deprivation from quintuple masking."

Critics say lifting the mask mandate is premature, given the spread of new coronavirus variants.

DR. JOSEPH VARON, CHIEF OF STAFF, UNITED MEMORIAL CENTER, HOUSTON, TEXAS: Texas is at around 8 percent vaccination rate. Our positivity rates are still over 10 percent. I mean, it's probably not the time to tell people, It's OK not to wear a mask.

SIMON: Concerns also rising as spring break arrives. Many universities in Texas are cutting the vacation week short. In California at UC Davis, the university is paying students $75 a day to stay put.

CANDIE AQUINO, STUDENT, UC DAVIS: It's better than nothing. And I think it helps people, maybe, on the fence, of staying or not staying.

SIMON: But in Florida, Walt Disney World is open at a limited capacity and almost completely booked. The CDC is still recommending even fully-vaccinated Americans avoid travel.

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: hat we have seen is that we have surges after people start traveling. We saw it after July Fourth. We saw it after Labor Day. We saw it after the Christmas holidays.

[06:20:08]

SIMON: The Biden administration has eased restrictions on indoor nursing home visits, allowing guests at now that more than 3 million coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered at nursing homes. This all comes as concerns are rising about a coronavirus variant, first identified in New York last month, and an earlier one identified in the U.K.

DR. JAY VARMA, SENIOR ADVISOR FOR PUBLIC HEALTH, NEW YORK CITY: These new variants account for 51 percent of all cases that we have in the city right now. So for the variant of interest, B.1.526, that was reported here first in New York, our preliminary analysis indicates that it is probably more infectious than older strains of the virus.

SIMON: The Biden administration also announcing the purchase of 100 million more doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in an attempt to stockpile vaccines.

BIDEN: I'm doing this because in this wartime effort, we need maximum flexibility. There's always a chance that we'll encounter unexpected challenges. We need to be prepared.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: OK. Joining us now is Austin mayor, Steve Adler.

Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

So last night, if you hadn't changed your mind to go along with the governor and attorney general's thinking, the attorney general said that he was going to sue you. Have you changed your mind this morning and decided not to insist on mask wearing in Austin?

ADLER: No, minds have -- have not changed. And the -- and the rules that we're -- we're seeking and continuing to enforce are not rules of politicians. They're the rules as -- as promulgated by the health authority here in central Texas.

We promised the people in this community a long time ago that we would be driven by the data and the doctors. And we're going to make good on that promise for however long we can. The science and the data very clear, that the single most important thing we can all be doing at this point is wearing masks. CAMEROTA: So is the attorney general now suing you?

ADLER: I would anticipate to be sued today.

CAMEROTA: And do you understand what the governor and attorney general's beef with masks is? I mean, how does wearing a mask hurt the economy in Texas?

ADLER: I don't think it does hurt the economy. And I don't think that there is a data-driven, expert-based, scientific basis for -- for removing a mask mandate.

If we want to be able to open up schools to more and more students in person, if we want to be able to open up businesses and -- and not face risks that we're going to have to pull back. If we want to protect essential workers, all of those things require us to wear masks. And -- and it's not really debatable. This has to be driven just by politics.

CAMEROTA: So it sounds like you're saying that you're trying to keep your community safe. You're on the ground in Austin. You know what it takes. You're trying to keep your community safe. So on what grounds would you be sued for that?

ADLER: Well, the state law, the statutes give cities the ability -- and counties -- the ability to be able to enforce laws in order to -- to protect the public health.

The governor is taking the position that he has emergency powers that enable him to -- to trump laws. And -- and it is debatable, and the courts are currently considering whether his emergency orders take precedent over a city's emergency orders.

But that's not the issue here. These are the orders of the health authority in central Texas that we're seeking to enforce. And we can't find anytime that a state official, a governor or otherwise, an attorney general, has the ability to be able to stop a local health authority from -- from promulgating rules that are enforceable under our state law.

CAMEROTA: Well, the attorney general says that he sued you late last year, because you had a difference about restrictions, and that he won.

ADLER: Well, we -- he didn't win. It's presently in the courts right now. And the issue in the courts is the -- is the relative authority of competing disaster orders, one by the governor, one by -- by the mayor, by a mayor.

But that's a legal different issue than trying to enforce the health orders of a -- of the public health authority. The basis for that comes for an entirely different place in Texas law.

CAMEROTA: Here are the numbers right now of new cases in Texas, as we know them. You can see that they are generally going up. On March 6, 3,700 cases, roughly. Yesterday, 5,500 cases, new cases, in Texas. What's the situation in Austin?

ADLER: We're concerned. I mean, the numbers are -- are better than they have been in the past, but our community has worked really, really hard to push down positivity, to decrease the number of cases. They're beginning to plateau right now. And we're trying to hold on to that.

[06:25:13]

It doesn't -- it's just not the time -- we're so close. It's not the time to take risks. It's not the time to do this two days before spring break starts. It's not the time to do this when we see that there are new variants that are coming into our community. This is just not the time to put at risk the opening of schools and the further opening of businesses in a way that can be sustained.

CAMEROTA: Very quickly, the centers for Medicaid and Medicare have issued new guidance on nursing homes. And they say that "Facilities should allow responsible indoor visitation at all times and for all residents, regardless of vaccination status of the resident, or visitor, unless certain scenarios arise."

Do you disagree with that?

ADLER: You know, I'm going to follow the science and the data. And when the -- when the physicians and the experts at the CDC issue rules, those are the kinds of things that we're going to follow and seek to enforce here.

These are not political choices that are made by -- by political leaders. We should be following the data and the doctors. And that's what we're trying to do in Austin.

CAMEROTA: Mayor Steve Adler, we really appreciate your time. Thank you very much.

ADLER: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Coming up, we'll speak with the first black female member of British Parliament, who says that she knows what relentless racial abuse feels like and that it's no wonder Meghan Markle chose to leave. That's next.

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