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President Biden Tackles Economic Crisis With New Exec Orders; Fight Over Filibuster Stalls Power-Sharing Agreement in Senate. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired January 22, 2021 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:34]

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Things are going to continue to get worse before they get better.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We're going to be building on things. We're not going to be destroying it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: CDC has this really shocking predictions that the U.K. variant could become the dominate variant in the U.S. by March. We don't have a lot of time to get a lot of people vaccinated.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I'll be talking with the managers as to when the Senate will be ready for the trial.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Republicans believe the ex-president should be afforded a full day in court.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think Democrats will be open to considering a delay if we are making progress on confirming the team that President Joe Biden has nominated to serve in his cabinet.

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to NEW DAY. It is Friday, January 22nd. It is 5:00 in the East.

And breaking news: two new executive orders just released seconds ago by the Biden White House, including one to push the federal government towards a $15 minimum wage for federal workers.

Today, the new administration wants to highlight its focus on the struggling economy. The real work, the real struggle is behind the scenes with Congress. The president wants a $1.9 trillion economic relief package and the president wants it to be a bipartisan demonstration of the message of unity provided in his inaugural address. He wants that.

I want a pony.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: You deserve one.

BERMAN: It's unclear either of us will get what we want. The big unanswered question in Washington this morning is whether President Biden can get any Republicans to work with him on economic relief. As of this moment, the Senate can't even agree who's in charge and how to organize.

CAMEROTA: And developing overnight, the CDC's updating its guidelines about how long you can wait to get a second dose of the coronavirus vaccine and the possibility of mixing vaccines from different manufacturers.

Frankly, it's a bit confusing, so we will get answers directly from Dr. Fauci in the next hour. Maybe he can also help with this new study that finds that six in ten Americans do not know where or when to get their vaccine.

As of this morning, only 4.5 percent of the U.S. population has gotten the first dose of the vaccine and less than 1 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated. So, how will President Biden's new wartime strategy to ramp up vaccine distribution address these issues? That's another question for Dr. Anthony Fauci.

But we begin with CNN's Jeremy Diamond. He is live at the White House with our top story -- Jeremy.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, as we know, President Biden came into office with multiple crises. Yesterday, on his full day in office, we saw the president focused on the health crisis, the coronavirus pandemic, signing nearly a dozen executive actions to address the crisis. Today, the president, more executive actions coming from him, this time focused on the economic crisis facing the country.

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DIAMOND (voice-over): After unveiling a national strategy to combat the pandemic, today, President Biden turning to the economic crisis it has brought. Biden will sign two more executive orders today, one to help people who are unemployed or struggling to buy food, the second to protect federal workers and contractors.

This will set into motion a future executive order, which will require federal contractors to pay a $15 minimum wage and provide emergency paid leave, mirroring the nationwide minimum wage increase Biden is seeking as part of his $1.9 trillion relief package.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: His preference and priority is a bipartisan package and working with members of both parties to come to agreement. This crisis is dire and it requires immediate action and we hope and expect members of both parties to work together to do that.

DIAMOND: Few congressional Republicans have signed on to Biden's proposal. House Democrats say they want to pass the president's bill as quickly as possible.

PELOSI: It's what the people need. It's what the country needs to crush the virus. Put money in the pockets of the people and honor our heroes.

DIAMOND: Biden used his first full day in office Thursday to unveil a national strategy to get the pandemic under control.

BIDEN: We didn't get into this mess overnight. It's going to take months for us to turn things around, but let me be equally clear, we will get through this.

DIAMOND: Releasing a nearly 200-page plan and signing 10 executive actions.

[05:05:05]

Among them, using the Defense Production Act to increase supplies for vaccines and testing, ramp up production of PPE and extending mass requirements for interstate travel, on buses, planes and trains.

BIDEN: Our national plan launches a full-scale wartime effort to address the supply shortages by ramping up production and protective equipment, syringes, needles, you name it. And I when I say wartime, people kind of look at me like wartime? Well, as I said last night, 400,000 Americans have died.

DIAMOND: And when pressed about whether his goal of 100 million shots in his first 100 days was enough, Biden, giving this answer.

BIDEN: Come on, give me a break, man. Good start, 100 million.

DIAMOND: Dr. Anthony Fauci noting the United States is in a very serious situation. But also, hopeful the new administration will help regain the public's trust.

FAUCI: The idea that you can get up here, and talk about what you know, what the evidence, what the science is, and know that's it. Let the science speak. It is somewhat of a liberating feeling.

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DIAMOND (on camera): And this afternoon, President Biden will receive a briefing from his economic team on the state of the economic recovery. We will then see him delivery remarks on that economic recovery and his plan. And he will, also, sign those executive actions.

But make no mistake, John, the president needs that coronavirus-relief passed through Congress if he really wants to have an impact -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Jeremy, thanks so much. Please, keep us posted.

Joining us now, CNN political commentator, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. He's an epidemiologist, and Detroit's former health director. Also with us, CNN political analyst, Margaret Talev. She's the managing editor at "Axios."

Dr. El-Sayed, Dr. Anthony Fauci, untethered at the White House podium last night, leveled with the American people, and told us there are concerns about these new variants. One, in England. And one, in South Africa. Variants that may, or may not, be resistant in various ways to vaccines.

The concern among many, including Professor Michael Osterholm and others, is that this new variant could lead to a new surge in cases. Yet, a fourth wave.

What are you seeing?

DR. ABDUL EL-SAYED, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, that's right. First, it's great to see Dr. Fauci finally have the space to be able to talk about science, without worrying about whether or not he is going to bother the president of the United States, because, of course, the new president of the United States, Joe Biden, believes in science. And that's -- that's important because, right now, as you mentioned, we are in a race with this virus.

The fact of the matter is that the virus is mutating. We've seen three mutations pop up in what's called conversion evolution in different places, that kind of look the same way, suggesting to us that there is an added benefit to these kinds of mutations. And there is a worry about what that might mean for how fast the virus could spread and, of course, whether or not the virus could become immune or resistant to the vaccines that we are deploying as fast as we can right now.

And the fact that the vaccine has been deployed so slowly sets up this race. And we are -- he is right to be worried. I think all of us should be somewhat worried. But at the same time, knowing that there is going to be science-driven leadership from the very top. And a full-bore effort to get vaccinations into arms is critical right now.

And so, he is speaking to the facts that the past administration has left us to. And the hope is that we can catch up, and do what needs to be done to stop this virus in its tracks.

CAMEROTA: And, also, Margaret, now, we see the untapped levers, you know, that could still be pulled to help try to get our arms around this. So, yesterday, President Biden signed these executive orders, ramp up supplies for the vaccines, testing, and PPE, training more people, boost the developments of therapeutics. That would be helpful for people who have to go to the hospital, obviously, to catch it early.

Create national-testing board, a health-equity task force to make sure, you know, people in communities of color are not left out, enhanced collection, production, sharing of COVID data and analysis. That sounds good. Direct FEMA to reimburse states for emergency supplies. They are hoping to have a hundred vaccinations sites in the next month. Big, you know, stadium-like vaccination sites, issue guidance for the safe reopening and operating of schools.

I mean, you refer to this as the sort of shock-and-awe approach. MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Alisyn. Well, it

is. I mean, this is 200 pages open the up the fire hose and show everybody what the federal government can do. And it is a combination of money. It's a combination of organization. It's a combination of directives, right?

And, look, out of the gate, I think Biden is trying to show, number one, that he understands this is America's priority, across partisan lines. And, number two, like, he's sort of been to this movie, before, as they say.

Last time around, when he was vice president, it was the financial crisis. This is a combination of economic and a massive, public-health crisis.

[05:10:01]

When you are a new administration, sometimes you get one shot out of the gate. They have prioritized this as the shot.

Three, counter-intuitively, this is an opportunity actually to bridge a partisan divide. This is one area, there's some differences between Republicans and Democrats think about it. This is one area where Americans agree people want to contain the virus. People want to have access to the vaccine, increasingly that's true. And people want money, they want stimulus.

So he's got the public on his side on this one. So for all these reasons, I think we are seeing him move really swiftly in -- in these initial days. To say this is what I want, and this is how I want to get it.

BERMAN: It's interesting. This is what he wants. And he is showing what the government can do. We will have to see, if they fulfill these promises. Every day, for the next 100 days, you know, we will hold them to account if they do the things they say they are going to do. It can make a huge difference.

To your point, Margaret, it's really interesting, because Steve Scalise, his criticism of the Biden administration of vaccines was 100 million doses in a hundred days is too low. We should be pushing for 200 million doses and if that's the criticism from Steve Scalise, then there may be room for everyone to work together on getting people vaccinated. You are absolutely right about that.

To that point, Dr. El-Sayed, you know, we vaccinated I think more than a million people yesterday. So if we don't get to 100 million in a hundred days, it means there's been backsliding. I mean, at this point, if they don't get there, it'd be shocking and appalling.

EL-SAYED: I'll agree with that. The point here, though, is that you are talking about an extremely tenuous, extremely complex supply chain that you have got to keep moving, at the same time. And one of the frustrations is that the incoming-Biden administration, I will tell you I got a lot of good friends who just came into government. And they were shocked at the lack of plan. I mean, we have all kind of seen it. But what you -- when you look at it up close, and say, well, the reason this was all misfiring is because there was no approach to actually think about how to coordinate it at the same time.

So, right now, yes, we are able to do and hit that million vaccines a day point. But the question becomes, well, are we going to be able to keep the production up? And that's why you saw the president, yesterday, sign executive order to initiate use of defense production act on vaccines.

Are we going to be able to get states and local communities the funding and resources to be able to vaccinate, at scale, and keep it there? Are we going to be able to keep up the demand?

People wanting to be in line to get this vaccine, be able to be part of bringing this virus down. All these things have to stay where they are, or increase, to be able to continue that for a hundred days.

CAMEROTA: Dr. El-Sayed, it would also be helpful just to have this press briefing, just to hear from Dr. Anthony Fauci again, as we did last night. Because people, Americans, have no idea, let's be honest, when they are going to get the vaccine. I mean, the vast majority of Americans, where to go, how it's going to work, who they're supposed to call. You know, we hear about like CVS being flooded with calls.

So, here is the latest poll. This is the Kaiser family foundation. They say that -- I'm surprised this number is as low as it is -- 60 percent of all adults don't know when they will be able to get the vaccine, 55 percent of all adults don't know where they will be able to get it.

I, honestly, would've thought it was at, you know, 80 percent, 85 percent, because there aren't answers, yet.

EL-SAYED: Yeah. And that is really been the most frustrating part here.

I'll tell you what. Stepping all the way back, there are really three ingredients to science. You have to bring skepticism, you have to bring data, and you have to bring transparency. And we haven't had that kind of data and transparency for a long time.

But that's the thing. It's also the hallmark of good operations. You got to bring a skepticism about the process. You have got to bring a focus on the data, and in the outcomes of your process. And then, you got to be transparent about what's working and what's not.

And so, I think the culture shift that we are starting to see within the White House is going to start trickling out. You are going to start seeing a lot more information on the ground to folks as they start to figure out where the holes in the process are. And -- and how they are going to fix them.

BERMAN: All right, friends, stand by for a second. We do want to tell you next hour, we are going to speak with Dr. Anthony Fauci about all the breaking, coronavirus news. And follow up with him on what he meant, last night, about feeling liberated. President Biden has been pushing this message of unity, and

bipartisanship, but this morning, a tense standoff in the 50-50 Senate, and some new information about when the impeachment trial might actually begin. That's next.

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[05:18:42]

CAMEROTA: New, this morning: a fight over the filibuster is stalling some Senate business. As Senate majority leader -- minority leader, excuse me, Mitch McConnell, proposes delaying former President Trump's impeachment trial.

CNN's Lauren Fox is live on Capitol Hill.

What's the latest, Lauren?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Alisyn. That's right.

Look, the Senate is essentially stuck in limbo over how to organize and until they get some kind of resolution to actually organize the senate, Republicans remain in control of the committees. And, of course, that's something the new majority leader, Chuck Schumer, doesn't want to continue.

But there is a standoff over whether or not to promise, upfront, to remain keeping the filibuster. And, of course, that is the 60-vote threshold that really protects minority rights in the Senate. It keeps any party, Republicans or Democrats, from just passing legislation with just a simple majority vote.

Remember, the Senate is tied right now. It's 50-50. But Democrats hold control of the White House, which means they have a tie-breaker in the Vice President Kamala Harris, who can come up to the Senate, anytime, and break that tie.

So, Democrats say they have no intention, upfront, of getting rid of the filibuster. But they don't want to put it in an organizing resolution, in part, because many Democrats argue they don't know what kind of obstruction is going to happen over the next several months of the Biden administration. They want to preserve the right to get rid of the filibuster in the future, if they have to.

[05:20:00]

We should note there are many Democrats on record already saying they wouldn't vote to blow up the rules of the Senate, any time soon. But Democrats don't want to give up power up front, especially because you have a majority leader, Chuck Schumer, who is trying to assert himself as the new leader of the Senate. They don't want to concede too much, too fast.

Now, wrapped up in these discussions are, of course, when the Senate impeachment trial is going to begin. And it's still a big question mark up here on Capitol Hill. You had the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi not saying yesterday when she was going to send articles over. Then, last night, you had Minority Leader Mitch McConnell sending over an argument essentially to delay the start of the trial until mid- February, saying it gives the former president, Donald Trump, some time to get his legal case together for the Senate trial.

Now, there is some incentive for Democrats to wait as well because, remember, they have confirmations that they want to do. They want -- have legislation that they need to get started. So, I am told, from multiple Democratic aides, that they are entertaining this idea. However, there is still a lot of negotiating left to do. And these discussions are all really intertwined.

Meanwhile, you just have a lot of open questions, right now, in the U.S. Capitol on when, exactly, Biden's administration's going to be able to get started on their legislative agenda -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Okay, Lauren, thank you very much for explaining all of that.

Margaret Talev is now back with us. Also, joining us, CNN political analyst Alex Burns. He's a national political correspondent for "The New York Times."

Great to have both of you.

So, you know, on Wednesday, President Biden called on all of us to have this reset. And to attempt, you know, unity. And so, in that spirit, I have tried to cast off my cynical journalism hat for the last 48 hours.

BERMAN: You look at me when you say I'm trying to be unified.

CAMEROTA: I'm sorry, because I thought you're going to call me out and be like, that's over.

So, I am still trying, Alex, despite the gimlet eye that's being cast at me right now.

So, is there a chance that there is going to be bipartisanship? I mean, are you seeing any movement? Are you seeing people, sort of, approaching this in a new way on Capitol Hill?

ALEX BURNS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, I do think that there is a better chance of getting something done on a bipartisan basis, today, than there was six months ago or four years ago, because there is a sense, on the Republican side, that Joe Biden is a guy you can do business with, and because Joe Biden is an incoming president, who continues to believe that bipartisanship is important.

But, Alisyn, it's important that we not grade on too aggressive a curve here in terms of how likely this stuff actually is to happen. Joe Biden may want to do things on a bipartisan basis but his party is desperate to get really big things done, and really fast.

So, I think there is a window here of no more than a couple of months to -- for the president -- for the new president, the new administration, to show that that theory of the case can work. And for Republicans to show that they are actually willing to deal on some pretty big stuff.

I think Lauren's report about the filibuster is absolutely crucial to all of this. And the preference, certainly, among many old-school members of the Senate and every Republican is to keep that procedural block in place. And the question is can it survive the first challenge where the only thing standing between Democrats and doing something they feel is really important and really popular, like, say, a massive coronavirus relief bill.

Does the filibuster survive that test?

BERMAN: You know, Margaret, I think the impeachment news is really interesting, as well. Mitch McConnell's going in with this proposal. It's not up to Mitch McConnell, at this point. But what's interesting is he may be proposing something that Democrats are okay with.

You know, take a little break. Get some nominees confirmed. Do some business. And then, we'll sit down and have a trial on Donald Trump.

TALEV: You know, John, it's really interesting. Yesterday, as the news was evolving, I was like, mid-February? And then, realized, wait, that's only like two weeks away, right? I mean, it's just been such whiplash for all of us, it's hard to remember like what is up and what is down. And what day it is, right?

But those couple of weeks, you know, ironically, there is some interest for Democrats in that wait.

One, is, again, confirmation of key folks. You talked about bipartisanship. The Republicans at this point under McConnell are showing they don't really want to fight over people like Tony Blinken or Lloyd Austin.

You know, the defense secretary, state treasury, those kind of key, national-security cabinet positions. Yes, you can have fights over some future nominees but let's put the U.S. in the strong national security posture. So buys them a couple weeks to get that done.

But the second is that there has been the argument that the longer you wait on an impeachment trial, the more the issue subsides and the less likely it is for Republicans on the Senate to convict. But there is, also, a counterargument that says the longer, the more days that pass since January 6th, the more detail we learn about organization of the rioting, funding and financing for the rioting.

[05:25:09]

What -- to what extent former President Trump and anyone in his orbit had knowledge of this, or any members of Congress. And so, there's a sort of the counter-thought on this is that, with the passage of time, it probably doesn't get better for Donald Trump. And that, if there is a group of Republicans that want permission to break away, and join Democrats, that block of 17 that you would need may be the chances for that actually increase over the period of a couple of weeks.

So, we'll see. I mean, I think if Democrats thought they had those 17 votes right now, they would be pushing a lot harder to do this immediately.

CAMEROTA: I mean, the countervailing wisdom, Alex, is that some people seem to be forgetting. I mean, some leaders, minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, who spoke out about president Trump whipping up the crowd to a frenzy, directing them to go to the Capitol, yesterday, seems to have forgotten that. Here he is.

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REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: The president bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters.

REPORTER: Do you believe that president -- former President Trump provoked --

MCCARTHY: I don't believe he provoked, if you listen to what he said at the rally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Okay. So, there's that.

And there is, also, Senator Lindsey Graham, who's had apparently some sort of change of heart. Listen to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): But today, first thing you'll see. All I can say is, count me out, enough is enough.

The people who defiled the Capitol, they did that, not me. Not Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: It's amazing, how two weeks can change people's feelings who saw it clearly, then. They -- they felt. And now, seem to have change of heart, Alex.

BURNS: Well, two weeks and in some cases less than that but especially for Kevin McCarthy. He has just been all over the map, on whether or not President Trump bears responsibility for what happened on January 6th. I can tell you it has been to the consternation of some members of his Republican conference in the House and on both sides of that question. Folks who think the president does bear responsibility, and folks who believe the president is blameless. Both, sort of look at the minority leader as really sort of taking a windsock position in all this, just blowing every-which way.

But, you know, Alisyn, I do think that when you see those guys who, at least, at certain points recently, seemed willing to confront the president's direct hand in the events of January 6th, rowing back to him, the way they have in the last few days. That really does tell you that, you know, for all his obvious, national unpopularity and for all his apparently being defanged in some ways because he's lost his social-media accounts, there is still an enormous segment of the leadership tier of the Republican Party that just believes that they are inseparable, institutionally, from former President Trump.

And that, when they look ahead at their own, political futures, they don't see much in that future, except in a world where they can, somehow, find a way to continue to accommodate him.

CAMEROTA: Really interesting. Alex, Margaret, thank you very much for all of the reporting.

TALEV: Thanks, guys.

CAMEROTA: Back to coronavirus. The vaccine rollout has been, of course, riddled with problems. But could that, somehow, work to President Biden's advantage? We have brand-new reporting, next.

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