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House Passes Defense Bill Containing Controversial GOP Amendments; Actors Join Writers On Strike, Shutting Down Hollywood; Putin: Wagner Group "Simply Does Not Exist". Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired July 14, 2023 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:00:34]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Stars on strike Hollywood of the standstill, 160,000 actors join writers on the picket lines of joint strike we haven't seen in more than half a century. The ripple effects of the strike reaching straight into your home.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Big moments happening as we speak on Capitol Hill. Voting has just been underway. The fight over the money and the military is now reaching a fever pitch. We have the very latest developments on the stalled what has been the stalled defense bill in the House of Representatives. I'm Kate Bolduan with Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

All right, let's start with the breaking news. The House has just voted and final passage of that big defense policy bill and the bill has passed with those changes, those controversial changes from hard right far right Republican members of the House. Let's get over to CNN's Manu Raju for this breaking news. Manu, what's the final vote count? What are you hearing? What happens now?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this bill passed after days of wrangling behind the scenes of House Republican leaders trying to get their conference in line but barely getting this major defense bill through the House that one that would authorize programs, national security programs, defense programs, typically one that is done on a bipartisan basis.

But because of the changes that were made as part of this bill, this moved along mostly party lines. We're getting the vote count right now that just came down. The vote is -- was 219 to 210, 218 votes is what is necessary to get a majority of the House. So 219 to 210 was the final vote the gaveled just came down.

Four Democrats voted for it, that includes Congressman Jared Golden, he's from Maine. He represents a swing district for Maine, as well as some of the other ones one Washington State member as well as voted for it as well. There were four Republicans who voted against it. That included Ken Buck of Colorado, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Andy Biggs of Arizona, and Eli Crane, also of Arizona. But that was even with the -- because of the Democratic defections that essentially helped get this bill over the finish line because most Democrats had initially planned to vote for this bill. But they ultimately decided not too because of some significant changes that were made dealing with social policy issues that were added to this bill through the amendment process, one of which would mix the Pentagon's policy to providing reimbursements for abortion services for military service members or their family who go out of state in a state where the procedure is banned.

Also other issues such as targeting transgender rights, namely transgender health care for veterans that will be eliminated as part of this bill. Also, it would eliminate diversity and equity training programs as part of the Pentagon and also no longer allow the Pentagon to have a deal Defense Department schools to have so called gender ideology books.

Those are all pushed by members of the far right. That cost Democratic support. But in just speaking to some members about this, one member of Congressman Tim Burchett just spoke to defended these changes, including the ones going after transgender rights. Listen.

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REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): When you have a man in a dress that's recruiting or promoting the military, that doesn't fly in East Tennessee. He doesn't fly anywhere most, most places in America. When we get away from what traditional America believes, traditional America will not -- it's not going to play ball.

REP. PAT RYAN (D-NY): I am a proud combat veteran. This is an insult to all who serve particularly women in uniform, nearly 20 percent of our active duty force, risking their life right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And that last comment comes from a Democrat who would have planned to have voted for this bill but ultimately decided to vote against it because of those changes. It was also unclear what Congressman Burchett was referring to. I asked him what references to a man dress recruiting on a military base or for people to serve in the military. He didn't say specifically, but those are the issues that essentially won over folks on the far right people who typically would have voted against his plan but they like some of the social issues in there.

[11:04:59]

They believe the Pentagon is violating federal law by reimbursing people for getting abortion services that's why they're voted for it and recall that same issue is why Tommy Tuberville in the Senate has held up more than 250 nominees in the military trying to nix that Pentagon policy.

So Kate, where does this go from here? The Senate has its own bill that does not have the social policy issues in it. This is going to be a big fight between the Senate in the House in the months ahead. And this is such a significant bill, one that passes year after year setting military policy, can they reconcile between the two chambers? Can they get the White House to sign into law? All big questions, you're seeing the way that the Speaker of the House deals with his very narrow majority work with his members, work with his far right members, even if it costs him Democratic support.

BOLDUAN: I wanted to ask you, I wanted to ask you about that Manu and just for some context, everyone, what you're saying. Manu is standing outside because after this vote, this is when members are going to be kind of heading for the exits. You see all the cars of there, House members, Manu is going to be able to speak with some of these members about why they voted and what they're going to do now as they're heading off to head back their districts.

But Manu when it comes -- this is -- it is now a question for Kevin McCarthy. It is not going to pass in the Democratic controlled Senate. They will need to work this out. This is a must pass bill. What do you think happens now?

RAJU: Yes. This has really been the challenge and how Kevin McCarthy has dealt with this majority so far. He has tried his best to try to keep all of his members in line, including some of those folks on the far right. Remember, they have the power to vote -- a single vote to essentially call for his ouster.

He agreed to that concession after winning the speakership after 15 ballots. And what he has done time and again, is trying to get something through his chamber that gets all those members, including the far right going people who are not happy with him to get them to support this. He did that with the debt limit. But they also had to come back and compromise with the Senate and with the White House. And folks on the far right, we're not happy.

He's going to have to do that, again, with spending legislation to keep the government open past September 30th. And essentially try to get his conference in line then cut a deal that could also anger the folks on the right. And then here with the defense bill, you also have to cut another deal that could also anger those folks, how he navigates those compromises will be a big question that will go a long way to determine his power in the house and how long he can keep the gavel. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Manu, thanks for being there as always. Manu is going to be catching and speaking to members as they're heading out now. We'll check back in with him. Sara?

SIDNER: Thank you Kate.

All right, Hollywood shuts down for the first time in 63 years. Two major unions are now on strike at the same time. This is some of the world's biggest movie and T.V. stars trade production sets for picket lines. Overnight, Hollywood's largest union comprised of roughly 600,000 actors went on strike after their talks with major studios and streaming services failed. They now join the 11,000 members of the Writers Union that have been on strike since May and the industry halted. Upcoming film releases and T.V. show premieres are no longer coming out soon. They will be delayed. This also means union actors will no longer do any promotional work. The stars of the new movie, Oppenheimer, which includes Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, it's supposed to air on the 21st of July, they actually walked off and left the red carpet at the U.K. premiere of their film last night.

CNN's Chloe Melas joins us now. Chloe, these are all some really well- known actors who we have seen them speaking out in the lead up to this. What are you hearing?

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Well, first of all, Matt Damon, like you said, part of the highly anticipated Oppenheimer movie, he has some strong words to say at the premiere last night before they walked off. Take a listen.

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MATT DAMON, ACTOR: You have to make $26,000 a year to qualify for your health insurance. And there are a lot of people who get across that threshold through their residual payments. And so, you know, we can go long stretches without working and not by choice obviously. And we have to find a way to bridge so that so that those people who are on the bubble are taken care of. And, you know, it's just got to be a fair deal. We got to get what we're worth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELAS: Sara, we're going to see picketing start in just about an hour. We're going to see it happening in Los Angeles, in New York, in front of the big studios. You know what is at stake here? Well, the writers and the actors alike in their respective unions, they want better pay. They want more money when it comes to residuals. They want transparency when it comes to streaming. And they want artificial intelligence to be addressed.

I want to point out what the AMPTP who represents the studios. This is what they have to say. They say that the AMPTP presented a deal that offered historic pay and a groundbreaking AI proposal that protects actors' digital likenesses. The union has regrettably chosen a path that will lead to financial hardship for countless thousands of people across the industry. And Sara, we have to point out, it's not just actors, it's not just writers, it's craft services, it's security, it's the people that keep the lights on and the actual crew of these productions that are all added jobs right now as well.

[11:10:10]

SIDNER: Chloe Melas, thank you so much for your reporting. Kate?

BOLDUAN: So, a strike means so much obviously for the actors and the writers and the studios. But what exactly this does this new strike mean for viewers? Essentially, your viewing options are about to become much slimmer. September usually brings a brand new season of so many shows. But now you really can't count on it this fall with the strike. In place of the scripted shows, you can expect more reality shows to be popping up, more game shows even.

When the writers' strike was looming services -- streaming services like Netflix, they started preparing. The CEO saying back in April this, that we had time, we had to make plans for the worst, we do have a pretty robust slate of releases to take us into a long time. Here's another caveat with all of this. Network productions for daytime soap operas, they can still continue, soap writers are typically not members of the Union and the actors have a different cont -- have a different contract than the one that has expired.

As for movies, any remaining production as we've been discussing, it really has come to a stop. The release of next year's expected blockbusters like the sequels of "Gladiator" and "Mortal Kombat," they could very likely be pushed back in a very big way. The only exception to moviemaking right now could be independent films, if they're not tied to or connected to any major production studio. Live theater also will continue. And actors who are also union members can participate in live theatrical productions. Sara?

SIDNER: Joining us now to talk about this, chief correspondent for Variety, Elizabeth Wagmeister. Thank you so much for joining us. Three weeks before this all happened. The president of SAG-AFTRA, Fran Drescher said, look, things look good, and they were going to reach an agreement. What happened?

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, HOST, PBS "ACTORS ON ACTORS": What happened is that both sides were just not coming to terms whatsoever. We saw Fran Drescher yesterday at a press conference for SAG saying that the actors are the victims saying that they were offended by the deal that was presented to them. Clearly, both of these sides are not on the same page whatsoever.

Then if you look at the studio side, they're saying we have given a historic deal. And obviously, that is not what the actors believe. Now a big component of this, Sara, is AI. Of course, a strike always comes down to money and to fair pay. But in this changing era of the streaming business, where there's really no precedent. This is also about protections from technology. So it's not just about getting a fair share of the streaming success, it's also about protecting your likeness. And that was also a big point of contention that they cannot come to an agreement in that negotiating room.

SIDNER: Can you dig down a little bit on the AI issue? It is not unusual, of course, when these strikes happen, that the money, the pay is always on the table. But AI is a whole different level of things. Can you give us an example of what they're talking about the actors when it comes to why they think AI is going to be such a problem for them and take money away from them?

WAGMEISTER: Absolutely. So we've heard a lot of big actors talking about the strike and supporting their union. This strike really isn't for the big actors. We all know that they're wealthy. We all know that they get big paychecks, and they never have to work again. This strike is really for the working actors known as extras, background actors. While allegedly one of the proposals that is in there from the studio side that pertains to AI is that a background actor could show up onto set, their face is scanned, they're paid a day rate, and then they never show up to work again.

Now the day rate under the union is around $200. So if this is what's in the proposal, this means that a background actor can be paid $200, their faces scanned, they never show up to work again. These sets in Hollywood are full and full of extras. Anytime you watch a movie or a T.V. show and you see people on the sidewalk you see people sitting in a restaurant, AI can essentially take that over. And that's very scary and a very scary possible reality for all of these actors, many of them who can make their entire living annually just off of being a background actor.

SIDNER: Yes, I think it's really important to note that the A-list stars that we all know, this isn't -- this not necessarily going to affect them financially, but there are 160,000 actors and 11,000 writers who rely on this who don't get paid anywhere near that. Let me quickly ask you about the corporations that are like overlooking this and the industry leaders. What are they saying about this?

WAGMEISTER: They are saying that the writers and the actors, they're not being realistic. Obviously we are in a very trying time. We're still feeling the effects of the pandemic. A lot of these studios, a lot of these big media conglomerates they put a ton of money and a ton of resources into their streaming strategy for the past few years and that's not paying off all the time, so they need to recoup. That's what they're saying.

[11:15:12]

But of course, again, when you look at the actors, they're saying you can afford this. You don't have a business without us. We are the creative. If there's not actors, if there's not writers, you have nothing.

SIDNER: Elizabeth Wagmeister, thank you so much for your reporting. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, Vladimir Putin declaring the Wagner mercenary group doesn't exist. How he is seeking to drive a wedge between the mercenary fighters and their leader now after that failed revolt?

Plus, Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner testifies before a federal grand jury investigating Donald Trump's and his -- and allies efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. What prosecutors want to know think Jared Kushner may know?

And the "Barbie" movie is coming to theaters next week. What the film could mean for slumping Barbie sales. That's ahead.

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[11:20:41] BOLDUAN: In a new interview with a Russian newspaper, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered up new details about the fate of Wagner fighters after their attempted rebellion last month. Putin saying that the private paramilitary group, quote, simply does not exist in the legal sense. Putin also went on to describe what he says happened inside that meeting he held with senior Wagner fighters and their boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin that happened five days after the failed rebellion. And what Putin is apparently now offering to Prigozhin's commanders.

CNN's Alex Marquardt is live in Ukraine for us with more reporting on this. Alex, what do you -- what is Putin saying? What more is Putin saying?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, I mean, remember when this insurrection led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, very abruptly ended, it was understood that Prigozhin was going to go into exile in Belarus, but then he popped back up in Russia. And not only that, he had a face to face meeting at the Kremlin with Vladimir Putin. That is, according to Vladimir Putin. It happened five days after the failed mutiny.

There were some three dozen of these Wagner commanders sitting there in the Kremlin, talking to Putin. And Putin said, essentially, you guys can keep fighting, we'd like you to keep fighting and you can keep fighting under your own direct commander. It's a guy named Sedoy, which is his call sign. It means gray hair.

And apparently, according to this account by Putin to this Russian newspaper, the commanders nodded along. But then from the front row, Yevgeny Prigozhin piped up and he told Putin know, the guys meaning, the commanders, do not agree with this decision. So this account from Putin, putting the divisions between him and --

BOLDUAN: Alex, I got to jump in. I'm so sorry. Thank you for your reporting. I need to take us over to Capitol Hill right now, where House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is speaking after this vote on the massive NDAA, National Defense Authorization Act that just passed in the House, a close vote 219 to 210, I believe. Let's listen to the House Speaker.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: First of all, thank you for coming. I'm sorry to disappoint you that Republicans continue to keep our promises. Then we just again, from all your questions all week long will the NDAA pass this week? Now many of you ever asked me about the policy. So I spent some moment, your first question. Yes, it passed. Now let's actually get through to what we promised the American public what we do.

I first want to start thanking Chairman Rogers and all the members of the Armed Services Committee for the work they did. I'm grateful for their leadership on this important issue. House Republicans have made a commitment to America that we would fight for a nation that is safe. Today, we kept that promise by passing the National Defense Authorization Act. Under this bill, men and women in uniform who make sacrifices for our nation every day, will receive the biggest pay raise in decades. We all know they deserve it. Radical programs that are forced our troops at the expense of readiness are now eliminated, cutting edge technology that is essential for the future of this country. And to keep freedom around the world in the rise of China and Russia will receive more investment than we've watched in the past.

And taxpayers will save more than $40 billion is this bill reach out wasteful spending. The real question that you never asked me that I wish you would, why did the Democrats vote no? Technically, it's a bipartisan vote but four Democrats vote with us. Are the rest of the Democrats against the pay raise for the veterans? Are they against deterring China for a safe future? Are they against rooting out wasteful spending because they all voted against it today?

They can claim a lot of things. But the biggest issue, they claim why they voted against it, they voted for just last year. It's a good thing. The Republicans are in the majority. But it's more important that we keep our promises to America and to our men and women who serve to defend us. And today is exactly what we did. With that, let me call up our leader, Leader Steve Scalise.

REP. STEVE SCALISE (R-LA), MAJORITY LEADER: Oh, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good to see all of you here. Today was it important victory for our men and women in uniform who risked their lives to keep us safe and was also an important victory for every American in this country that wants to see our military focused on our enemies abroad, not on wokeness and all of the indoctrination attempts you're seeing within the Pentagon.

[11:25:25]

And there was a massive rebuke of that far left ideology in the push that we've seen under the Biden administration. These aren't things that Barack Obama did when he was president. Joe Biden has tried to change the focus of our military. And what you saw today and over the last week, is Republicans and Democrats coming together to say, let's focus on our enemies all around the world. There are still bad actors out there that want to do us harm.

There are still countries like China, who are investing in a different kind of military that we need to be focused on. And as the Speaker pointed out, Chairman Rogers, and all of the members of the House Armed Services Committee, spent weeks and months putting together a bill that refocuses our military on their core mission, the mission that under the Constitution, we as a Congress have an obligation to go out and fulfill and protect and fund and that's what this NDAA does. It refocuses on the real threats to America, as a free nation and as the leader of the free world and allows us to get back focused on that role.

Yes, it's a shame that Democrats walked away from that. It's a shame that Democrats walked away from a 5 percent pay raise to our men and women in uniform who deserve it, because they wanted to defend a far left woke, indoctrination ideology. That's not the focus of the Department of Defense. I am proud of what our members did coming together in a difficult time to say let's get that focus back where it needs to be on defending America and protecting our friends around the world and standing up to the bad actors, which there are in there getting more and more aggressive.

We need to be more and more focused. That's what today's vote produced. And the gentleman who put together that vote coalition is our whip, Mr. Emmer.

BOLDUAN: All right, we listen to Steve Scalise, House Republican leaders speaking after this vote. It came down to two a very tight vote, 219 to 210. Interesting, though, is many of the provisions that they are touting as successes in this bill are the same provisions that came out of committee on a bipartisan vote that existed in this massive defense policy bill, the NDAA before the very controversial amendments were added overnight.

Still questions remain now of the fate of what happens now with this bill. It is passed the House. The Senate, it is now up to them to take action. Sara?

SIDNER: All right, joining us now to discuss this and other issues like what is happening in Ukraine and Russia, retired Army Major Mike Lyons. First let's talk about this defense bill. I know you don't like to tangle with politicians. You want to stay in your lane. But let me just ask you about what happens when these controversial amendments put in the last minute they have been passed. What happens in the trickle down to the troops on the ground as they're learning about all of this? Does it affect morale?

MAJ. MIKE LYONS (RET.), U.S. ARMY: It does military families and soldiers at the lowest level are still very resilient. But they see the progress of this and they like to see politicians getting along. This is July. A lot of them are out in training right now. The sailors are deployed, Marines with them as well, Army soldiers and foxhole is doing a lot of different training. That happens right now in the summertime.

So when they get this news, when it finally gets to them, they're going to be pretty happy. They saw a big pay raise and all the things that will go with it. So when September comes around, they'll be pretty ecstatic about the politicians were able to figure it out.

SIDNER: You said that you know someone who's been affected by this bill, can you give me an example of how this has affected them as the fighting was still going on? Because the bill is not completely passed. It's only passed by the House, it has to go to the Senate. That's where we expect it to fail.

LYONS: Yes, it all comes down to training and training dollars. And what happens is deployments gets scheduled or get canceled. And I know that entire units, for example, are where they thought they were going on a certain deployment. But now because that money wasn't going to be available, when this bill passes all that money frees up now and so commanders can now start doing planning families can do planning like the soldier and sailor today still endure tremendous hardship, they're separated from their families. And so this bill now will allow a lot of that training now to go forward that was canceled in the past.

SIDNER: And it's the money part of it. There is also the sort of culture war part of it that a lot of people are concerned about, especially with 20 percent of the military being women. I want to move on now to extraordinary news about Vladimir Putin saying that the Wagner group, this mercenary group they fund simply does not exist legally. When you hear those words, what do you hear? What does that term mean to you?

[11:30:05]

LYONS: Yes, a lot of fiction going on Russia these days.