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White House National Economic Council Director Brian Deese Interviewed on Passage of American Rescue Plan in Congress; Some Economists State U.S. Economy Set to Rebound from Coronavirus Pandemic Slump; Highly-Contagious Variants Pose Threat As Vaccinations Ramp Up; Prince William Insists Royal Family is Not Racist, Has Not Talked to Harry Yet. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired March 11, 2021 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: The support of any Republicans in Congress.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Joining me now is Brian Deese. He's the White House National Economic Council Director. Director, welcome to NEW DAY. Thank you so much for being with us this morning. When will American feel first impact of this bill?

BRIAN DEESE, DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: Well, I think they're already feeling it now in the sense that they can rest a little easier knowing that they're going to get some money in their pockets and things like unemployment insurance that more than 10 million Americans are relying on now won't run out at the end of this week.

But in terms of the major provisions, we're now laser focused on the question of how to implement this bill quickly and effectively so that the resources get out to those Americans who need it, including those direct payments which will start going out in direct deposit for those who have filed their tax returns with direct deposits, and we expect those direct deposit checks will start going out this month.

BERMAN: This month. OK, "The Washington Post" notes this morning that the messaging around this law has changed a little bit from COVID relief to an anti-poverty measure. Ro Khanna, Democratic Congressman from California, calls it an ideological revolution on behalf of justice. So which is this? Is this COVID relief, or some epic anti- poverty measure?

DEESE: When we announced the American Rescue Plan, we had a set of very specific goals. One to provide the resources to get shots in people's arms and support a national vaccination campaign, provide the resources to get schools open so we get parents back to work, and provide families and businesses with the relief they need to make it to the other side of this crisis.

And if you look at the legislation that the president will sign tomorrow, it does all three of those things in a very direct and a very aggressive way. We are going to be able to now accelerate the national vaccination campaign. We're going to be able to provide the resources finally so schools can accelerate the reopening. And we targeted the relief in this package to those who need it most. And the people who need it most are people who are working families who are struggling to make ends meet.

BERMAN: The question, though, is it more than just COVID relief? Is it more than just getting to the other side?

DEESE: Well, a big part of this bill has always been, how can we direct relief to families? And if you look at the provisions of this bill, the direct payments go to 85 percent of households. The expansion of the child tax credit is a historic step to try to target relief to families with children. The earned income tax credit goes to workers without children, many of whom are the essential workers who have been out, grocery store workers, truck drivers, people who have been out providing services during this past year, this challenging year for our country.

And those are measures that we think make a lot of sense as a way of directing emergency relief, and are also going to achieve historic things. This bill will cut child poverty in half this year, and we think that that's an important goal that we can achieve, while also pulling our economy out of this crisis.

BERMAN: Part of the bill got unexpected support and praise from Republican Senator from Mississippi Roger Wicker overnight, who wrote "Independent restaurant operators have $28.6 billion worth of targeted relief. This funding will ensure small business can survive the pandemic." Not a single Republican, including Roger Wicker from Mississippi, voted for this. So what does that feel like for you in the trenches inside the White House to hear something like that from someone who voted against it?

DEESE: Throughout this process we have been looking for good ideas to try to improve this piece of legislation, to try to make it targeted to those who need it most. This is a great example of that. We worked with Senator Sinema, Senator Wicker, others in Congress to design an approach that would target restaurants and hospitality and businesses and the hospitality industry, who are really hurting right now. There are dozens of other examples inside this legislation trying to target homeless kids and --

BERMAN: You're dancing around hypocrisy, though, of what he said. Are you going to let that slide?

DEESE: Well, look, we are -- we are always hopeful that we're going to get as much support for legislative efforts that we try to put forward. And we mean what we say. We are looking for ideas wherever we can find them. It's unfortunate that we didn't have Republicans vote for this bill, but I think it underscores the fact that there are nonpartisan, bipartisan ideas embedded in this bill, and I think you see that in the support among the American people.

BERMAN: I would like to do some rapid-fire macroeconomic questions which matter here, if I can. Goldman Sachs projects nearly seven percent growth this year due to this bill, largely. What does the White House think you'll get in terms of growth?

DEESE: You've seen a number of independent forecasters increase their projected growth for 2021. The OECD earlier this week doubled its growth rate to about 6.6 percent. So we are certainly hopeful that we'll see strong and robust growth this year, which is what we need to actually get back to full employment quicker and get out of what we still have a very serious jobs hole that we are in.

[08:05:01]

BERMAN: So the jobs hole, you worked the great recession, you worked the stimulus in getting out of that. It took six years to get jobs back from that. How long do you think it will take to get all the jobs back this time?

DEESE: It's a really important question, and it's a lot of the motivation behind this rescue plan. If you look at forecasts before passing this bill, one of the most harrowing elements of them was just how long it was going to take to get back to pre-pandemic employment, to 2024, 2025 or beyond. Most independent estimates suggest that with this piece of legislation, we can increase that by at least a year, get back to full employment at least a year earlier, and that has enormous impacts for American families, and in particular those workers who struggle the most to get into the labor market, including people of color, often structurally excluded. Getting back to full employment is one of the most important ways to get people who are struggling the most back into jobs and back in labor market.

BERMAN: "The wall street journal projected that at some point this year we're going to hit 2.8 percent inflation. How high is too high?

DEESE: This is a risk, like many, that we are going to constantly monitor and keep our eye on. Certainly, as we look at the economic situation right now, we still have enormous slack in the economy, as we said, 10 million jobs. So our focus is on implementing this plan, driving a fast and equitable recovery, and its' something that we'll keep our eye on.

BERMAN: Brian Deese, thanks so much for being with us. Please come back to NEW DAY. We appreciate your time.

DEESE: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Joining us now is CNN White House correspondent John Harwood. So John, you just heard the administration's argument. Let's just talk about the other side's argument. Senator Mitch McConnell has said whatever happens basically next with the economy, you can't credit this big COVID relief bill because the economy is already -- it sounds like he's saying -- about to take off. Restaurants are already reopening and rehiring. They don't need this big cash infusion. Is there truth to that?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Sure, there is truth to it. The economy is poised to take off. And the fact that vaccines are bringing us much closer to the end of this pandemic is a principle reason. However, the passage of the rescue plan, all this money put into the

economy, is going to accelerate that process. So it will take an improving economic situation and improve it a little bit more, with the question being the one that John was just discussing with Brian, that Larry Summers, the Democratic economist has raised. Is it too much? Does it overheat the economy? This plan didn't have to be $1.9 trillion. Nevertheless, it achieves a bunch of goals that Democrats wanted to. And they're going to do what they can to surf the back of those improving conditions and take credit for it.

I do think one of the really significant things in that interview that John just did was Brian Deese not dunking on Roger Wicker, the senator from Mississippi, but instead using Wicker's praise for that restaurant provision as an opportunity to say, see, we were bipartisan, we did incorporate Republican views into that. That was an interesting strategic choice by the White House.

BERMAN: He resisted the bait twice. And I am curious, John, as a former journal guy, how I did with the financial interview, because I did a lot of homework for that, first of all.

There is an interesting political angle and difference to what happened in 2009 and right now, which is we're in a different place in this. In 2009 with the stimulus bill, things were still getting worse. And whether or not that was enough, it was designed to stop things from falling through the floor. Things have turned around a little bit, and in a way, it may be more politically advantageous to pass something like this because people are going to feel the effects. They're already starting to feel some of the effects of this, John.

HARWOOD: Absolutely that is true. And one of the things that any White House likes to do is say, well, we're doing x because we're avoiding the y mistake our predecessors made. So the Biden team, which, of course, much of it was there, including Brian, was there during the Obama recovery effort, is saying, well, President Obama, and President Biden said this himself, President Biden didn't take credit for the stimulus, and we're going to go sell this package. Pretty hard to take credit for stimulus enacted in February 2009 when you have got a financial crisis you're trying to dig out of it, unemployment kept rising until it peaked at 10 percent that October. Not too easy to take credit in that environment.

This is a completely different situation. The economy was switched off by the pandemic. It is now in the process of being switched on. Much easier recovery in that way, much more -- it has not been a V recovery, but it's closer to that than what you get after a financial crisis. And so as we get the American public vaccinated, as states begin to reopen, there is a whole lot of wind at the back of this economy that the rescue plan is going to accelerate, and Joe Biden is going to be the beneficiary of that.

[08:10:08]

BERMAN: Tomorrow, we talk about bond yields. John Harwood, thank you so much for being with us this morning. I appreciate it. So new coronavirus cases is on the decline. Is there reason for hope

for what will happen? Will the variants take things in another direction? That's next.

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CAMEROTA: One year ago today, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic. Today there are encouraging signs. New cases and hospitalizations are on the decline. Nearly 20 percent of Americans have received at least one dose of the vaccine. And 10 percent of Americans are now fully vaccinated.

Still, there is reason to stay vigilant. Health officials in New York City say two new variants account for half of all of their new cases. Joining us now is Michael Osterholm, he's the director for the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. Also with us, CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Great to see both of you.

Professor Osterholm, as you know, I always like to take your pulse, so to speak, as soon as we begin these segments because we are now at 56,000 new cases on average a day.

[08:15:14]

And I know that you have warned us that mid-March could be an inflexion point, where the variants take hold and we start to see the surge. Are you sticking with that?

MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECOTR, CENTER FOR INFECTOUIS DISEASE RESEARCH & POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: I am. Unfortunately, Alisyn, yesterday was one of those important dates. Over 50 percent now of all the viruses coming from Florida, Texas, and Georgia, in fact, are this B.1.1.7 variant. That compares to 1 percent to 2 percent of all the viruses I talked about on the show in January and raised the concern about what might happen with B.1.1.7.

We're seeing around the country this emergence. The city of Houston actually issued a warning two days ago because in their sewage system sampling where they're sampling the sewage system in there, you can actually look for the virus and they have found that now it has become the predominant virus of the COVID-19 viruses we see.

Finally, here in Minnesota, we have an outbreak right now of B.1.1.7 that is very dynamic. It started in kids, in sporting activity, now spreading through multiple counties. And transmission unlike I've seen any at all since this pandemic began.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So it is growing in terms of the percentage of cases that it occupies. We also have new research from yesterday saying that, you know, it is definitively deadlier and more transmissible. The flip side of that, Sanjay, you showed us research and this is South Africa, which is a different variant, but there is some evidence that even with the rise of perhaps more dangerous variants, that they can be beaten back, explain what this graph shows us. DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. So, you

know, first of all, preface by saying in South Africa, you know, around 1 percent or so of the country has been vaccinated. You see that downward slope, that's not because of vaccine, they just haven't vaccinated enough yet. What this shows, I think, more than anything, is the same public health measures that, you know, we have all been talking about for a year now, can work regardless of whether it is the more wild type virus that we have been talking about, a lot, or these variants. I mean, the South Africa variant is a variant of great concern, why I find that graphic we just saw somewhat soothing.

I think the big question, you know, and I think Professor Osterholm talks about this all the time, we're going to -- we may get more cases or at least a stop declining the number of cases but is that going to translate into hospitalizations, more hospitalizations and more deaths or at least proportionally the same hospitalizations and deaths that we have seen in the past. Hopefully not, because we're vaccinating and also, we're increasingly vaccinating the right people, about a third I think of people over the age of 60 have now received a full -- are fully vaccinated. Seventy percent of people in long-term care facilities are fully vaccinated. Hopefully that helps dampen the effect, even if there is increased spread.

CAMEROTA: Professor Osterholm, what makes this more transmissible, this B.1.1.7 variant? Does it linger in the air longer? Does it stay on surfaces longer? Why is it?

OSTERHOLM: You know, Alisyn, we don't actually know. Either why it is more transmissible or causes more severe illness. We know however it does both. There is several hypothesis that you actually are infectious longer, there may be higher virus levels in your throat that you're actually expelling more virus into the air.

But the bottom line is study after study shows that it is more transmissible and, remember, this is coming at us at the same time we're opening up America as if there is nothing else happening.

In Europe, which has struggled with this B.1.1.7 for the last two months, it is notable that England, for example, just opened their schools this past week for the first time in two months. They still have all the bars and restaurants, most of the shops closed, and many of the countries of Europe just to try to help contain this.

What are we doing, we're inviting the virus to go wherever it may want owe over the course of the next week. This is the challenge we have. This is all kind of a perfect storm moment. Will this increase transmissibility, will this more serious illness with us opening up, at the same time doing more vaccination, how will this all play out? And I think the dynamics of the virus right now, I'm afraid are going to be beat us at the vaccination game.

BERMAN: Part of this, maybe all of it is up to us, the decisions we make, how we choose to behave, how quickly we all get the vaccines and there is this new public messaging, Sanjay, that I think we have from the former presidents minus one of the United States promoting messaging. Let's see that, promoting vaccinations. Let's take a look at that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT: We've lost enough people and we've suffered enough damage.

[08:20:01]

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT: In order to get rid of this pandemic, it is important for our fellow citizens to get vaccinated.

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT: I'm getting vaccinated because we want this pandemic to end as soon as possible.

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

BUSH: So, roll up your sleeve and do your part.

CLINTON: This is our shot.

CARTER: Now it's up to you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. My first reaction, Sanjay, is George W. Bush has been doing some bicep work. My second reaction there it is nice to see all of them, particularly nice to hear from former President Carter. What do you see there?

GUPTA: Yeah. I mean, vaccine hesitancy is still an issue, you know, and it is important for people -- we have this amazing scientific tool now. If it is not being used, for whatever reason, because of hesitancy, that obviously is a concern.

Also, you know if you look at the demographics of who has been vaccinated, we're looking at this, 67.6 percent of the vaccines have gone to whites, 6.4 percent to blacks, this is -- this is one of those things where we know the vulnerable communities and in that particular situation there is a huge unfortunate disparity there that has to be addressed.

So hopefully these sorts of thing help and there is more data that's coming out on the vaccines. They are very protective as we know against symptomatic illness, new study out of Israel shows that they seem to be very effective against preventing people from becoming infected in the first place as well. So that was a question for a long time, hopefully that helps encourage people to get the vaccine also.

CAMEROTA: Michael Osterholm, Sanjay Gupta, thank you very much.

OSTERHOLM: Thank you.

GUPTA: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: So there is this newly released audio that captures then President Trump trying to pressure yet another Georgia official to overturn the election results. We'll play it next.

And Prince William breaking his silence this morning about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, how he responds to claims of racism in the royal family.

BERMAN: Are you with me? You think that W. is wearing a shirt that was too small intentionally? I mean, that's a trick, you know.

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[08:25:54]

CAMEROTA: So moments ago, Prince William responded for the first time to those claims made by his brother Harry and Meghan Markle about racism in the royal family. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Sir, have you spoken to your brother since the interview?

PRINCE WILLIAM, DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE: I haven't spoken with him yet, but I will do.

REPORTER: Can you let me know is the royal family a racist family, sir?

PRINCE WILLIAM: Very much not a racist family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: I don't know. It is hard to have this play out so publicly and -- as you were saying, we imagined the brothers were close, certainly around the wedding, they were seen together, so heart warming and now the idea they haven't spoken, it's painful.

BERMAN: Yeah, it's hard to believe, they haven't spoken in a week or five days. But I will say, the fact that he responded is very different than what we saw from Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, just Charles, a few days ago, he did an event which was clearly a photo-op and he had questions shouted to him and he walked on as if the questions didn't exist. Questions about race and the interview didn't exist at all.

Prince William, William we saw there, did at least respond, he responded to the fact he hasn't spoken to his brother and he did talk about racism in the royal family, said, no, very much not a racist family. So interesting to hear him choose to weigh in.

CAMEROTA: All right.

BERMAN: We have brand-new unemployment numbers, but first, an NFL hopeful finds a new dream after an accident derails his playing career. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has this week's "Human Factor".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) GUPTA (voice-over): -- at a young age, he was very good at football.

TIMOTHY ALEXANDER, MOTIVATIONAL COACH: I wanted to grow up and play ball. Not just to play, but have a career and do something for myself and for my family.

GUPTA: But in his senior year of high school, an accident changed everything.

ALEXANDER: We swerved, hit first into a telephone pole, the car went down the cliff, which left me paralyzed from the neck down.

GUPTA: Eventually, he did regain the use of his upper body, but depression plagued him.

ALEXANDER: I tried to take my life three times in one week and did not go as planned. I said to myself, it must be a reason why I'm here.

I told the head football coach my dream I was going to be one of the best tight ends that ever came through UAB football, but I probably would never touch the field. And he said, I want to invite you out to a practice.

GUPTA: The honorary player worked out, and did mental reps with the players. The coach was so impressed by his drive, Timothy earned a full football scholarship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, motivating everyone with this positivity.

After getting a masters degree, UAB hired him as director of character development.

ALEXANDER: My job is to remind them why they decided to play this game.

GUPTA: His motivational speaking skills led to bookings by pro-sports teams and Fortune 500 companies.

ALEXANDER: It is our positive response that allows us to be unstoppable.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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