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House of Representative to Vote on $1.9 Trillion COVID Relief Package; Coronavirus Cases Continue to Fall across U.S. as Vaccinations Increase; Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) is Interviewed About the Biden $1.9 Trillion Relief Bill. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired March 10, 2021 - 08:00   ET

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

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mask mandate expires, though businesses can keep their own requirements in place.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Requiring us now to take a side on the mask isn't right.

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The royal family simply don't recognize some of the things that Harry and Meghan told Oprah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is actually a slap in the face, I think.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Morning, everyone. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY.

And this morning, House lawmakers will take their final vote on President Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. It will deliver the largest ever direct payments to Americans, bringing help to millions who are struggling.

BERMAN: This is the president's 50th day in office. He plans to sign this bill ahead of a primetime address to the nation tomorrow night, one year after the pandemic first plunged the country into shutdowns. To sell it, the truth be told, he doesn't seem he has the to do much selling. A brand new CNN polls shows there is strong support, bipartisan support for the bill, 61 percent in favor.

CNN's Lauren Fox live on Capitol Hill. Lauren, what is the timing of the historic vote today?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: In just a little over an hour, we expect the final debate to be begin in the House of Representatives over this $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill. After about two hours of debate, they will hold that final vote, or that is our expectation this morning. Democratic leaders very confident that they have the Democratic votes that they will need to pass this piece of legislation. They don't expect a single Republican vote despite the fact it has more than 60 percent approval in the latest CNN poll of the American people.

Now, this bill includes a lot of things that are going to make life easier for Americans -- $1,400 direct checks for people making $75,000 or less, more money for vaccine distribution, more money for small businesses, more money to get kids back in the classrooms after the year that we have had deal with lockdowns and coronavirus. All of that included as well as an expansion of the child tax credit, something the Democrats are hoping they might be able to make more permanent in the future.

We expect that the president will sign the bill in the next couple of days. We also expect that he's going to be campaigning on exactly what is inside of it. He's going to be making it very clear to the American people what they are getting because he is president. Expect that over the next coming weeks, days, months. That is going to be a key moment for the president, a key moment for Democrats, as they want to make sure the American people understand exactly what the Democratic majority has gotten them. John?

BERMAN: All right, Lauren, thank you very much.

New this morning, the mask mandate in the state of Texas is over. In other words, you don't have to wear masks anymore, despite health officials warning it's too soon to loosen restrictions. Just moments ago on NEW DAY, Dr. Anthony Fauci talked about vaccines and how long it will take to pass the threat of a new surge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Every day that goes by without a surge, at the same time that more and more people get vaccinated, then we're getting closer to being safe from another surge. You never can put your guard down completely, which is the reason why, although everyone wants to get back to normal now, it's a totally understandable, including myself and my family, but the fact is when you look at this virus and what it's done, you have got to be very careful and pull back in a very measured way and not just turn the switch on and off.

But we will know, I think, John, probably as we get into the spring and very early summer, you know we'll have enough vaccine to vaccinate everybody by the end of May. Then we've got the logistic challenge of getting it into the arms of individuals. Once you get a substantial portion of the population vaccinated, that is a very, very strong defense against there being another surge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Joining us now, CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. And Sanjay, my question really was, because we've been so concerned about the rise of the new variants and we've been hearing from people like Michael Osterholm we're two to three weeks away from what could be a surge there. When will we know if we're past that, and is there an answer to that?

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is a very interesting point. We have been in what has been called mitigation mode almost for the entire year this past year, basically, just trying to slow the spread of this. But the phase before mitigation mode from a public health standpoint is what is called containment mode, contain it, feel like you have got your arms and hands around this thing. And that's typically around one in 100,000 people becoming newly infected every day. I'll do the math for you, that's about 3,300 or so people a day. Obviously, we're much higher than that, right now, 20 times higher than that right now.

But the whole point of it is this, that once you get into that containment mode, you basically feel like you can find every newly diagnosed infection in the country. You can isolate that person. You can trace their contacts.

[08:05:10]

We talk a lot about vaccines, but you remember the whole idea of testing and tracing still very, very important. And to your question, ultimately to say, OK, now we feel like we're past this, we're we truly can say, look, this is in the rearview mirror, it's when we get in that containment mode. We've got a ways to go. But we could get to that point, as hard as it may be to believe, by the summer to actually bring infection rates that low if these variants and other things don't really throw a monkey wrench into it.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about that monkey wrench, because I'm on guard every morning. So when I see a slight tick up, I think yesterday it was 58,000 new cases. The day before that, it was 50,000. I never know if that's an anomaly of reporting or if we're starting to see this uptick.

GUPTA: Yes, I think we do have to follow the trends here, because as you know, we've all been covering this for so long, you get so many different testing centers that are reporting differently. Weekends can be different than weekdays. So there's all these different factors. But you start to follow the trends. And the trends, I think, Alisyn, I'm with you. My guard is always up as well. But you follow the trends, and the trends have generally been favorable.

As we've said, though, I think the numbers may plateau in terms of newly diagnosed cases. They may even go up because these variants. But I think aside from containment phase, the other big question is, are those cases leading to more hospitalizations and deaths? And I'm optimistic about this. It's been a tough year, and I haven't had a lot to be optimistic about, but I'm optimistic with these vaccines that they do seem to be protective against these variants pretty well. At least the U.K. variant which is becoming more and more dominant in this country. That's good news. Even if it's a more transmissible virus, even if more people are becoming infected, if the right people have been vaccinated and are less likely to get sick and die, that's good news.

BERMAN: And I had a chance to ask Dr. Fauci about the boosters, the idea of trying to get new protection against the variants that may not be covered by the first dose. And he's suggested there's good news on that front, too. Can you explain?

GUPTA: Yes, this is fascinating science. First of all, what is a booster? A booster can be we gave you the vaccine and we're going to give you more of that same vaccine. We're just creating more antibodies, more protein warriors to help fight the virus, whether it's the wild strain or the variant, whatever, just more soldiers, if you will.

But the other type of booster, and this is the fascinating science, is because they can essentially retool the existing vaccine. These MRNA vaccines. It's almost like computer code. You go and you say, OK, well, the computer code changed a bit. We're going the computer code. We're going to now use that as the vaccine, and that vaccine will be better suit against the slight mutations in these variants. So that can happen within weeks.

We used to talk about vaccines being developed in years. You can get a booster within weeks, which I just think is remarkable and will forever change medicine. But that aside, if you decide the mutations are significant enough you have to have a different sort of vaccine in the form of this booster, you can do it quickly.

CAMEROTA: My gosh, the future is now. It's total science fiction stuff. It's really happening.

Sanjay, I want to ask you about the origin of COVID-19. So as you know, scientists, researchers are still trying to figure out how this started. Was it from nature and a bat? Was it something that went wrong in this Wuhan lab? We had Josh Rogin on, a reporter yesterday, who was talking about the investigations into this, and that's an open question. And so what have you found out?

GUPTA: I've been following this very closely, and I'll just preface by saying I think it's an important question. I don't think this is just intrigue, because if this was something that was an accidental escape from a lab, versus a more wild type event from an animal market, that's important because, as you hear all the time, there's going to be future pandemics, and we have got to understand the origins of this.

Here's how I think -- here are the basics of it. I don't think anyone thinks this was a bio-engineered virus of some sort that was created in a lab. The question has long been, the virus was out there in bats. Had it been isolated and being studied in a lab prior to this pandemic ever being a thing, and did that virus escape in some ways from that lab as opposed to starting in the animal markets. How would you answer that question?

We don't know the answer, but the way that they're approaching it is, first of all, they go to these lab workers and they say, look, was anybody getting sick much earlier within that lab versus in the community of Wuhan? And the answer according to Josh, and I watched that interview yesterday, was, yes, there were people who -- lab workers who were sick. [08:10:05]

OK, well, people do get sick of all sorts of different things. Was there evidence that that sickness was caused by this coronavirus? How would you answer that question? Well, one way is go back and check to see if they have antibodies to the coronavirus. Did they have antibodies earlier than other people?

So where we're sort of left with, and I've talked with people from the WHO about this, is that while there was evidence of illness, there didn't seem to be evidence that they had antibodies. Is it that they did have antibodies in the past, they don't now? That's what they're trying to figure out. And they say by the middle of this month they should have a final report. And hopefully we will have an answer on this. We may not. They may in the end still say there's just not enough evidence to conclude one way or the other.

But this is still -- this is not settled. I thought it was an important interview with Josh yesterday. I know a lot of people have said this is absolutely a nonissue. This came from an animal market. I don't think that that is settled yet.

BERMAN: I think that's clear in Josh's reporting. Sanjay, when should people start reuniting with their families, their grandparents? How should this process go?

GUPTA: I think it does depend in part on your vaccination status. Ten percent of the country is vaccinated. If your parents are part of that population that's been vaccinated, I think you can probably visit with them. Vaccinated people can come visit, obviously, with other vaccinated people. They can visit with unvaccinated people from a single household as long as that household is not of high risk. My parents got vaccinated. There they are. They were 288 and 289 in a line of 300 for vaccines in the middle of the night, but got their vaccines.

The big question right now, and I think it's a fair question still, is my parents live in a different state. So should they get on a plane and fly here to visit me? I think that that's the big question still. I think that they would be fine. I'm not worried about their health. They are pretty well protected having the vaccine. The question is still, could they be carriers of this? And I think the risk of that is very, very low. My guess is, and I know Dr. Fauci mentioned this to you today. I've been talking to people at the task force. I think the guidance from the CDC will be within the next week or so that, yes, you can fly. What the CDC is telegraphing right now, vaccinated or not vaccinated, we're still in this. Nonessential travel, not a good idea. We've been sort of mingling this together with vaccination status. They're saying those are different issues. Right now, don't travel unless you have to.

CAMEROTA: Sanjay, thank you very much for all the information. Great to see your parents there in that photo again.

(LAUGHTER) CAMEROTA: We want to take some time right now to remember some of the more than 527,000 Americans lost to coronavirus. Tracy (ph) Adams (ph) was a correctional officer in Texas. She had only begun her career two months ago. The department of criminal justice says Tracy (ph) dedicated herself completely to her new job. She was just 45 years old.

James (ph) Rambo (ph) was a retired South Jersey police sergeant. He served on the force for 25 years. His former colleagues say James (ph) set the standard for compassion. He is survived by his wife, two children and four grandchildren. He was 76 years old.

Phillip (ph) Hill (ph) was a youth specialist at juvenile correctional facilities in Ohio for more than 33 years. He's described as being superman to many. He would show up for anybody who needed him. A former co-worker says Phillip's (ph) heart was as big as he was. He is survived by three children. He was just 62 years old.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:17:20]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, House of Representatives is expected to pass President Biden's $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package, giving the president a huge legislative victory on this, his 50th day in office.

Joining us now is Democratic majority whip, Jim Clyburn.

Good morning, Congressman.

REP. JIM CLYBURN (D-SC), MAJORITY WHIP: Good morning. How are you?

CAMEROTA: I'm doing well. Give us the timing of this. Will this be passed by noon, and when will Americans be seeing those direct $1,400 checks?

CLYBURN: Well, thank you so much for having me. You know, it could pass by noon, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the Republicans start some shenanigans on the floor to postpone it beyond noon, but I'm not going to give any time. We'll pass it today. We'll send it to the president, and hopefully, he'll sign it in time to have a ceremony before we leave for the weekend.

CAMEROTA: And do you think that Americans will see those checks next week?

CLYBURN: I don't know. It goes out to various agencies. They're not up to snuff yet, still some holdovers. We don't have all our cabinet people in place. So I don't know who is doing the work and how -- whether or not there's some holdovers from the past administration. They would not be in a hurry to get the checks out, if that's the case. So I think that before the end of the month, people, especially those

with direct deposit, will have money in their bank accounts. Those people who are drawing unemployment checks will start getting that plus $300 a week. So it will all happen in this month.

CAMEROTA: You have heard, of course, the complaints from Republicans about this legislation.

Congressman Liz Cheney says this bill is, quote, a real tragedy because she says if you made it more targeted, you could have had GOP support. What's your response?

CLYBURN: I want to know who she would like to have us target? I look in this legislation, and I see it targeted to children and that's why we're doing something for children that we've been trying to do now for 18 years. We're going to cut the (INAUDIBLE) for children to have. That's targeted to me.

Black farmers -- one report yesterday said this program of doing more for black farmers than anything since the 1964 Civil Rights Act. That's targeted to me.

This legislation targets children who need to get back in school. So they keep saying these general things, targeted. I suspect if we were targeting the welfare, they would be lining up to vote for it.

[08:20:06]

CAMEROTA: About those black farmers, as you know, Senator Lindsey Graham isn't pleased with how targeted it is for black farmers, and he has a different word than targeted. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Let me give an example of something that really bothers me. In this bill, if you are a farmer, your loan will be forgiven up to 120 percent of your loan, not 100 percent, but 120 percent, if you're loan if you're socially disadvantaged, if you're African-American, some other minority. But if you're white person, if you're a white woman, no forgiveness, as reparations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: What's your response and is this a form of reparations?

CLYBURN: Lindsey Graham is from South Carolina. He knows South Carolina's history. He knows what the state of South Carolina and this country has done to black farmers in South Carolina.

They didn't do it to white farmers. We're trying to rescue the lives and livelihoods of people. He ought to be ashamed of himself. He knows the history in this country, and he knows what's happened to black farmers, the lawsuit that we've never been able to rectify. We've had so much recalcitrance. Lindsey ought to be ashamed.

CAMEROTA: And what do you say to Lindsey Graham or whomever who says this is a form of reparations?

CLYBURN: Well, I think you ought to go back and maybe go to church. Get in touch with his Christianity.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about what's happening with voting rights. As you know, many state legislatures are passing legislation to restrict voting access of some kind.

For instance, Georgia is repealing no excuse absentee voting. They are also tightening their criteria for absentee ballots. They're creating ID requirements for absentee ballots. They're requiring court orders to extend polling hours.

They're giving the legislature authority to temporarily block any emergency voting rule changes. In Iowa, they are reducing the number of early voting days.

What do you think the upshot of these kinds of legislation will be?

CLYBURN: Well, I think that that's why we've got to do something here at the federal level. This is not unusual. The state of South Carolina has denied my parents the right to vote, (INAUDIBLE) me the opportunity to serve here in this Congress until the federal government stepped in and stopped it.

The federal government may have to step in again. And that's why I have been saying that we have found a way to work around the filibuster for budget matters. We can find a way to work around the filibuster for civil and voting rights. I do believe that we should not subject programs that are beneficial and are to correct past discretions and past arms (ph) to the filibuster.

The filibuster should not be applied to them, and I think we need to do that and do it right away.

CAMEROTA: As you know, President Trump was no fan of mail-in voting, particularly universal mail-in voting. He railed against it. Let me remind you of what he said about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Okay. Interestingly, this week on Tuesday, he used a mail- in ballot. He requested a mail-in ballot for a local Florida election. He mailed it in, and we have received word, they have received it and processed his mail-in ballot.

So how do you explain that one?

CLYBURN: Maybe he cheated.

CAMEROTA: Oh, since he thinks there's widespread cheating with mail- in ballots, that would -- that would logically follow, you're saying.

CLYBURN: Absolutely.

CAMEROTA: On that note, Congressman Jim Clyburn, thank you very much. We always appreciate having you on NEW DAY.

CLYBURN: Thank you very much for having me.

CAMEROTA: Prince Harry told Oprah that he feared history would be repeating itself, or history was repeating itself. Coming up, the many parallels between what his young family faces today and what his mother, Princess Diana, faced.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:28:37]

BERMAN: Buckingham Palace releasing its first statement since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's interview. The Queen vowing to address their claims in private. Prince Harry said he felt his mother, the late Princess Diana's presence, as he and Meghan stepped back from the royal family.

Anna Stewart live in Windsor with much more on this. Anna.

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John.

Yes, and this whole episode has really given the world a sense of deja vu. So many parallels between Meghan's experience and that of Princess Diana's. But throughout the interview, it was clear how big an influence Princess Diana still is on her son.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEWART (voice-over): Prince Harry was only 12 years old when his mother died in a car accident in Paris. The duke of Sussex has in many ways mirrored his mother's public image and embraced similar charitable causes. Nearly two decades after his mother's death, Harry opened up about struggling with grief and seeking counseling.

PRINCE HARRY, DUKE OF SUSSEX: I was a typical sort of 20, 25, you know, 28-year-old running around going, life is -- life is great. Or life is fine. And then a few conversations and all of a sudden, all this grief I'd never processed started to come to the forefront. There was a lot of stuff here I need to deal with.

STEWART: Back in 1995, his mother spoke about her struggles with post-partum depression.

DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES: I was the first person ever to be in this family who ever had a depression or was ever openly tearful. And obviously that was daunting because if you've never seen it before, how do you support it?

STEWART: Harry and his brother Prince William put mental health awareness at the forefront.