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Stimulus Gives Long-Term Benefits For Low-Income Families; Ron Johnson's Shocking Statement On Capitol Attack; Soon: Texas Governor Press Conference On Election Integrity Legislation. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired March 15, 2021 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:31:55]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: It's time for CNN Business Now.

The one-time stimulus payments started hitting bank accounts over the weekend, but the $1.9 trillion relief package also includes longer- term benefits for low-income Americans.

Chief business correspondent Christine Romans here with that -- Romans.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT, ANCHOR, "EARLY START": Good morning, John.

You know, it's now the law of the land -- a legacy-defining rescue of working families and low-income Americans. The biggest federal effort to cut poverty in the last half-century, potentially reducing poverty by about a third and child poverty by more than half.

Yes, there are those stimulus checks landing for millions but most important here, the enhanced child tax credit. It gives parents with children six and under $3,600 per child for a year and $3,000 per child age seven to 18. Key here, John, direct monthly payments. Essentially, a guaranteed income for these families for the year. Regular direct deposits from the government instead of a lump sum at tax time.

Now, these measures mean thousands of dollars for families. There's more generous food stamps through September. That's about $100 per month for a family of four.

There's also an extra $300 a week in jobless benefits -- that's also through the fall -- and the first $10,200 of that is tax-free. It amounts to a massive tax cut for low-income and working Americans.

There's one catch here, though. The benefits are all temporary, John. President Biden and some Democrats already trying to make several of these measures permanent, so watch this space.

BERMAN: So I can't help but notice the stock market has been going up again a lot and the Dow is set for another record high today. Is this a short-term surge or is this due to the stimulus or the idea of a recovery?

ROMANS: You know, it's both, really. Unlike Main Street, Wall Street has the luxury of looking into the future.

For example, the stock market has surged to record highs following the crash last year. The job market is still in that deep hole -- look at that split-screen -- down 9.5 million jobs.

Wall Street has the luxury to bet that President Biden's historic stimulus will supercharge this economy. In fact, Goldman Sachs is now forecasting the largest U.S. expansion in generations, John -- eight percent economic growth this year. A huge turnaround from the pandemic. That growth, along with vaccine progress and reopenings -- that's got investors hoping consumers are going to spend some money and travel again more freely.

There's still some concern the economy could run too hot and that would spark inflation. That's hurting those high-flyers in the tech sector. They're seen as vulnerable when inflation worries emerge and bond yields rise. We saw the 10-year Treasury yield hit its highest level in more than a year on Friday.

But, John -- I mean, the risk of inflation -- hypothetical down the road -- not as great as the risk of not doing this right, not spending enough, and hurting American families. So really focusing on the now.

BERMAN: I'm still -- I'm still shaking my head over that eight percent growth --

ROMANS: Can you believe it?

BERMAN: -- forecast you just put up on the screen there.

ROMANS: The Biden boom, some are calling it, you know. In a couple of years you're going to -- it's a fire hose of money being sprayed at the U.S. economy to try to rescue us from COVID.

BERMAN: All right, Christine Romans. Thank you very much.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. air travel hitting a pandemic high over the weekend, topping the Christmas and New Year's holiday numbers. Now that's, of course, despite the CDC continuing to advise against travel. It also coincides, as you likely know at home, with spring break kicking off.

[07:35:01]

CNN's Pete Muntean is live at Dulles International Airport this morning. A lot of people getting on planes, Pete.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Erica. You know, this new pandemic record though is still only about half of what flying was like a year ago, but these numbers are going up.

The TSA says it screened 1.3 million people at airports across the country on Friday. That is the highest number we have seen in the last year and airlines hope it's the start of a real recovery, especially since they just got $40 billion in that new stimulus.

This is what the new normal looks like, at least for right now. You know, the CDC is recommending that people get tested before and after every trip, and this is a new coronavirus testing facility opening up here at Dulles International Airport today. It is pre-security.

The CDC did stop short of saying that vaccinated people can travel freely without risk. And, Dr. Anthony Fauci says guidance like that would just be too premature right now.

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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: They really would like to get the data that would allow them to go to the next step. They just want to make sure that they get it right. Now, some people think that's a little bit too slow, but they're going to get there and they'll get there soon.

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MUNTEAN: Industry groups say people just want to get out right now. All Disney World parks are sold out this week.

United Airlines says it's adding flights to sunny and skiing destinations starting next month. But the head of the industry's largest group, Airlines for America, tells me a recovery right now is just a shoo-in. People are only booking tickets a couple of weeks out -- Erica.

HILL: All right, Pete Muntean with the latest for us. Pete, thank you.

Well, most of Italy effectively under lockdown this morning. This is following a fresh surge of coronavirus cases there. And the tough new restrictions being imposed -- we're going to take a look at those, next.

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[07:41:07]

BERMAN: The military in Myanmar has extended martial law after the deadliest day of protests since the military seized power in a coup last month. Security forces there killed at least 38 people on Sunday. Martial law was declared in parts of the country's largest city.

China is said to be stepping up its involvement in response to the crisis after several Chinese-funded factories were damaged and set on fire over the weekend.

HILL: Italy preparing for another nationwide coronavirus lockdown, already in effect in some areas of the country. Cases are spiking due to the more contagious U.K. variant -- the variant, rather, that was first identified in the U.K., and also a slow vaccine rollout.

CNN has reporters covering the pandemic around the world.

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MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Melissa Bell in Rome.

Just over a year after Italy became the world's first western democracy to go into lockdown and more than 100,000 deaths later, more than half the country's regions and the vast majority of its population enter from this Monday morning a strict lockdown with people only allowed to leave their homes for essential reasons. Seven of Italy's 8.3 million schoolchildren will also be back at home with schools shut. And the restriction is due to last until at least April sixth.

CYRIL VANIER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Cyril Vanier in London.

Ireland and the Netherlands are the latest European member states to pause their rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine following reports of blood clots post-inoculation, including two deaths last week in Denmark and Austria. More than a third of E.U. countries have now fully or partially paused AstraZeneca while acknowledging there is no proof of a connection to the vaccine.

The pharmaceutical giant says its data from more than 17 million vaccine recipients shows no increased risk of blood coagulation. And the European Medicines Agency is maintaining its greenlight for AstraZeneca as it reviews the incidents.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Will Ripley in Hong Kong.

Fears of a possible fifth wave of COVID-19 have the city taking drastic new steps in upscale neighborhoods to stop the spread of the virus, locking down thousands of residents in several apartment buildings here in the heart of Hong Kong Island, a neighborhood where mostly foreign expats live. This latest outbreak traced to a popular fitness center with more than 100 cases tied to that gym so far.

And hundreds of close contacts in mandatory isolation, including young children, sparking concern about the mental health of youngsters forced to sit in quarantine for 14 days.

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BERMAN: Our thanks to our reporters all around the world.

We want to remember some of the nearly 535,000 Americans lost to coronavirus.

Forty-six-year-old James Jeffery Murray grew up in Carrabelle, Florida at his family's oyster business. He was known as the grill master, serving up delicious meals with trademark warmth and wit. He leaves behind a wife and three children. Glenna Fouberg more than earned the nickname "Mrs. Education." For the last 13 years of her nearly four decades as an educator, she ran the alternative learning center in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Her husband says she was called to help students who didn't fit the regular mold.

She was named South Dakota teacher of the year and served 19 years on the state board of education, including four as president.

We'll be right back.

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[07:48:08]

BERMAN: Ron Johnson just committed the full Ron Johnson. He told us I think exactly what he means.

John Avlon here with a reality check -- sir.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey, John. You never go full Ron Johnson.

OK, sometimes we hear racist dog whistles in our politics. Sometimes it's a bullhorn. Other times we see a cell phone that's just perfection. And that's what Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson did the other day, tying together January sixth truthism and fear of Black Lives Matter into a tight little bow.

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SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): I knew those were people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, and would never do anything to break a law, and so I wasn't concerned.

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AVLON: OK, I'm pretty sure the attack on the Capitol and trying to violently overturn a legitimate election is the opposite of loving our country.

And in what universe does respecting law enforcement include beating a police officer with a flagpole, smashing cops with fire extinguishers, or slamming their head in a door? Senator Johnson can't pretend he didn't see these videos because they were played at the impeachment trial even if he might have -- might have missed more recent details, like the alleged rioter who sported a Hitler mustache to work at a Navy base.

So what could be driving this willful blindness?

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JOHNSON: This will get me in trouble. Had the tables been turned and President Trump won the election and those were tens of thousands of Black Lives Matter and Antifa protesters, I might have been a little concerned. (END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: There you have it. And there's a lot to unpack in that epic cell phone (ph).

First, notice the self-aware side of "this is going to get me in trouble." It makes it sound like he's fighting the P.C. police. But this isn't bravery, it's bias. Second, Johnson acknowledged that Trump lost the election -- baby steps.

But the biggest reveal is the reason why Johnson keeps insisting this wasn't an armed insurrection -- the rioters were mostly white and Republican. Same attack, same destruction, same death toll, totally different reaction. So much for the false flag fiction he was trying to peddle.

[07:50:10]

But this is about race and a textbook example of situational ethics.

So much of the sickness in our politics is related to fear of the other, not objective facts. It's about groupthink and group blame. Violence is and should be condemned wherever it occurs, but that's exactly what Ron Johnson is not doing and it helps explain why BLM remains such a bogeyman for Republicans.

Take Congressman Glenn Grothman, also from Wisconsin, who somehow dragged his fear of BLM into the COVID relief bill debate last week.

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REP. GLENN GROTHMAN (R-WI): I know the strength that Black Lives Matter had in this last election. I know it's a group that doesn't like the old-fashioned family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: Grothman's repeating the bigoted belief that BLM somehow wants to abolish the traditional nuclear family. It doesn't.

Here's what's true. The Black family has sustained unparalleled assault in our country since the days of slavery and the KKK and still survived.

With these two remarks, the curtain has been pulled back a bit on the real reasons for these negative obsessions with Black Lives Matter. Conservatives complain that critics are too quick to call them racists. They should quickly disavow these comments. We'll wait.

Because if you can't clearly condemn an attack on the U.S. Capitol unless it comes from the left, then you are effectively excusing violence when it comes from your tribe, and that's unsustainable for our nation.

And that's your reality check.

HILL: John Avlon, good stuff, as always. Appreciate it, my friend.

Later this morning, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will discuss legislative efforts to ensure what he is calling election integrity. Here's what he said about the voting rights bill that just passed the House.

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GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R), TEXAS: With regard to HR1, they're trying to institutionalize voter fraud in the United States of America. They want to make mail-in ballots permanent. Everyone knows, including Democrats in Texas have said that one of the easiest ways to cheat in elections is through these mail-in ballots. They want to make it harder to require the use of voter I.D. They want to protect ballot harvesting.

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HILL: Joining me now is LaTosha Brown. She's the co-founder of Black Voters Matter Fund. Good to have you with us this morning.

I mean, first, I'd just like to get your thoughts on Gov. Abbott there saying that HR1 would institutionalize voter fraud.

LATOSHA BROWN, CO-FOUNDER, BLACK VOTERS MATTER FUND (via Skype): You know, it's interesting. To hear that is just amazing.

That part of what these people want to do, particularly Republicans -- what they want to do is they actually want to put their racism in policy. And so they're looking at a bill -- a bill that actually expands ballot access. It actually is a pro-Democratic bill. It is a bill that would actually reflect and really support all voters in this country.

And so to literally be able to say that, he knows it's not true. It's part of a dog whistle predicated on a big lie that Trump told.

And essentially, that bill provides and expands access. That is what makes a democracy strong when people are able to participate in those -- in the governance and making those decisions around being able to use their vote on who represents them.

HILL: We know, though, this is likely to hit a major roadblock, of course, in the Senate. So what do you see as the next move at this point?

BROWN: You know, I think that the next move is -- I think when we're looking at what's happening in the Senate right now, we're going to have to end the filibuster.

You know, I just don't anticipate that the Republicans have enough integrity or courage that they will literally stand for voting rights. Matter of fact, they've been quite open about not only their racism but they've been very open about their intention to really be able to shut the process -- to close the process so that all Americans are not participating. And so I think what we're going to have to do is we're going to have

to see the Senate -- they're going to have to end the filibuster so that we can get some sweeping changes made in this country that is going to expand it for all Americans.

HILL: So that's one aspect of it, right? But looking at it on a more local level, what we're seeing in a number of states, obviously, are these bills -- I think it's more than 250 efforts in 43 states at this point being put forth.

And as we look at what's happening, let's take Georgia, for example. And I think we can put up on the screen what we just saw in terms of those bills in Georgia.

Now, the governor hasn't said fully if he's going to sign the bill in its current form into law. As you know, though, the lieutenant governor, also a Republican obviously, Geoff Duncan, is saying there's a lot of solutions in search of a problem, he said over the weekend.

When you look at what's happening in Georgia, if you're looking at more of a state level, I -- as I understand it, you think corporations and calling on big business here could actually be the key. Why?

BROWN: Oh, absolutely. I think that corporate citizens also have a responsibility in protecting democracy. Quite frankly, democracy is good for business. That when communities and when nations are stable and have stable, strong democratic institutions, those markets also are strong.

[07:55:00]

And so I think that we have to look at companies that are based right here in Georgia. We're talking about UPS, Delta Airlines, the Southern Company, Coca-Cola, all of the -- Home Depot. Those companies -- if you work at those companies and are part of management, we're also voters, we're citizens, and we're consumers.

And so you're looking at what is happening right now -- this anti- democratic racist legislation that is happening -- we expect those corporations -- as a corporation -- it is a call to corporations. I think it's a great opportunity. Those corporations have said that they'll align themselves with social equity. They want to move forward.

And literally, as we want to make this nation stronger and better and protect democracy, this is the perfect time for them to use their political leverage to stand up and say no -- we're not going back to the Jim Crow era.

HILL: So do you see that happening, though?

BROWN: I do see some shifts. You know, I think that recently what we saw is over the weekend, the chamber -- the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, which all of those companies are a part of -- came out with a statement and said that their support -- that they are not supporting bills that suppress the vote. What we want to see is a little more. We want to see those companies also stand up and use their political power and leverage to do a couple of things. One, to stand up against these bills, but also to divest from those sponsors of the bills. There are sponsors of those bills who literally are raising the -- they're predicating their basis on racism and anti-democratic practices.

And we have a strong message that we are a strong democracy and we will not go back to an era that we -- that black people had to actually fight and bleed and die for the right to vote. That part -- what we believe is that all citizens have a -- should have a part in the process of really being able to have their vote protected.

HILL: You bring up a couple of really good points of not only about this bill -- which Stacey Abrams, as we know, said right here on CNN over the weekend it is racist in terms of what's happening in Georgia -- but also your point about this needs to be more than statement, right. There needs to be real action and oftentimes that action comes from following the money.

How much appetite do you think there is in those companies to really move forward with more than just a statement and to --

BROWN: Well, you know --

HILL: Go ahead.

BROWN: So what we've been doing over the weekend and what other organizations -- I think as consumers, we're going to have to use our consumer power to make sure that they have the backbone to stand up for this. That at the end of the day what is really important is that we have a strong, inclusive democracy. And so, those companies do have a responsibility.

We pay tax dollars. When you look at black voters in the state of Georgia, we contribute $106 billion to the economy in that state. We serve on their boards, we work in those companies, and we're also consumers.

And so I think this is the moment that corporate America can make a difference, particularly those in Georgia in saying that we're not going to go back. You know, I think that we have to put pressure, though. I think we have to exert pressure -- you know, power sees much (ph) without a demand.

And so I think we're going to have to exert pressure and let them know to call these companies -- UPS, and Home Depot, and the Southern Company, and Delta Airlines to let them know that we expect them -- that as we support them, we expect them to support the voters of Georgia.

HILL: LaTosha Brown, great to have you here this morning. Thank you.

BROWN: Thank you for having me.

HILL: NEW DAY continues right now. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm going to be traveling the country to speak directly to the American people about how this law's going to make a real difference.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People are going on spring break and letting down their guard as some of these new, more infectious variants are spreading across the country.

FAUCI: By the time we get into the early summer, we really will have a considerable degree of normality. But we don't want to let that escape from our grasp by being too precipitous in pulling back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Unaccompanied minors are showing up at our southern border in record numbers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a broken immigration system and we need a holistic approach.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): This is a humanitarian challenge to all of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

BERMAN: I have to find it. It's like down there on the floor. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY.

Alisyn is off. Erica Hill with me. You knew where the camera was the whole time.

HILL: I did, but I wasn't going to tell you because I thought it would be funny, especially on a Monday.

BERMAN: Oh.

So, shots going into arms in record numbers. More than 11 percent of the country has now been fully vaccinated.

More than three million vaccines reportedly administered Saturday morning. That is an all-time high. That is such an encouraging number. Look at that. The daily average is more than two million right now.

So we have new reporting this morning on how the White House wants to get that number even higher, launching a quarter-billion-dollar ad campaign targeting vaccine hesitancy.

Today, the Biden administration also begins its cross-country push to highlight the benefit of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill.

HILL: The White House is also trying to contain a widening problem at the southern border. More than 4,000 unaccompanied migrant children are now in the custody of border patrol, many being held longer than legally allowed in facilities that are not equipped for children.