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Interview with Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY); COVID-19 Takes Greater Toll on Health Care Workers; Pressure on Joe Biden to Increase Minority Appointees Grows. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired December 02, 2020 - 10:30   ET

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

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And you know what, the scary part about that too is that Dr. Barbara Farrer, when she was talking about these numbers that we're seeing here in L.A. County. She says this is the worst day that we've seen in L.A. County, but it's likely not going -- probably to be the worst that we'll see throughout the pandemic.

And that is scary, because yesterday L.A. County posted 7,500 -- almost 7,600 new cases yesterday, that is a record. The previous record by the way was set just last week, at over 6,100. So the virus spreading more quickly now than any other point.

Yesterday's positivity rate that they reported in that one day, 12 percent nearly, it's almost 12 percent. Just by comparison, one week ago, it was about seven percent.

And you take a look at the hospitalizations, a new record set there, more than 2,300 people in the hospital. The previous record for hospitalizations was during that summer surge, so this shows you that things are going in the wrong way. On November 1st, there were just about 800 people in the hospital. So you see that almost every single day since then, we've had our hospitalizations increase here in Los Angeles County.

And when you look at the state as a whole, yesterday, California adding more than 12,000 cases and the positivity rate for the seven- day period there, seven percent. For the 14-day period, about 6.5 percent there.

Also noting that one more county in California moving into the purple tier, which is the most restrictive tier of what we see here, and that now means that 52 or 58 counties are in the purple tier and 99.2 percent of the state is underneath these restrictions as they're trying to control this virus so it is not as deadly as it is continuing to be right now -- Jim.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, seeing it in so many states around the country. Stephanie Elam, thanks very much.

Well this morning, a dire deadline facing millions of Americans, perhaps some of you, edging closer to a so-called benefits cliff, that with unemployment payments set to expire and listen to this, the day after Christmas. This if Congress fails to act again. Student loan payment deferrals and a federal moratorium on evictions, also set to run out just days afterwards.

On Tuesday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers proposed a $908 billion coronavirus aid plan, a compromise to extend help to those hardest hit by the pandemic. Joining me now are two congressmen pushing for this new relief bill, Democrat Representative Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey and Representative Tom Reed, a Republican from New York. They are co- chairs of the Congressional Problem Solvers Caucus.

Gentlemen, thanks for taking the time this morning. This nation needs problem-solvers, I don't have to tell you that. But we know the political reality here.

So Congressman Reed, perhaps I could begin with you. Mitch McConnell, he's floating his own plan about half the size you guys are talking about, $500 million package, viewed by some on the Hill as a rejection of this compromise effort. I just wonder, without his support, are your efforts dead in the water?

TEXT: Senator Mitch McConnell's Stimulus Proposal Includes: $332 billion in small business assistance; Broad liability protections; Extension of unemployment benefits; $105 billion for school funding; Funding for testing and vaccines

REP. TOM REED (R-NY): Absolutely I do not believe they're dead in the water. And you know, the actual proposal I've heard about from Mitch McConnell here recently is somewhere estimated to be $550 to $700 billion, is what I -- my understanding is what's being put on the table, so that's inching closer to the $908 billion that we identified in a bipartisan, bicameral meeting. We stood with nine senators yesterday that support this proposal that we put together.

And remember, the Problem Solvers Caucus represents 50 members of Congress because we got our official endorsement to support this legislation, so we're getting closer. But to your point, Christmas is right around the corner, it's time to listen to the American people and deliver this Christmas need ASAP.

SCIUTTO: Congressman Gottheimer, I wonder because Nancy Pelosi, the speaker, and Chuck Schumer, of course Senate minority leader, they're making their offer and they were reluctant to go below a $2 trillion figure before the election. Do they have buy-in to this bipartisan proposal?

REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-NJ): You know, what we've offered up is a very short-term emergency-focused package to get us through into the new year, into a new administration. Honestly, it's a down payment, we'll probably have to do more after the new year.

But the bottom line is -- and Tom is right here -- you know, both sides in leadership are going to offer their proposals. What we've put out there is something where we think they can land, it's a compromise position.

TEXT: $908 Billion Bipartisan Stimulus Proposal Includes: $160 billion state, local, tribal government funding; $288 billion support for small businesses including PPP; $16 billion vaccine development, distribution, testing, tracing; $180 billion additional pandemic emergency unemployment plan; $121 billion support for education, student loans, housing assistance, child care; Short-term federal protection from coronavirus related lawsuits, gives states time to develop their own response

GOTTHEIMER: It does all the things that are critically important, as you talked about earlier, helping students and with eviction issues but also extends unemployment resources to families, which are so critical this time of year. PPP, another round of small business loans.

A third of small businesses in New Jersey have gone out already, our small businesses need help. This will give them extra help. It's for food and nutrition right now because so many people -- 40 percent -- are getting food support for the first time in their lives.

So this -- around the holiday time, there's (ph) spiking happening around the country. You just talked about L.A., but it's hundreds of thousands of new cases a day everywhere. We've actually got to give urgent relief now and no more politics, no more delaying.

[10:35:00]

SCIUTTO: Yes. I wonder, Congressman Reed, where the president is in these negotiations. He's tweeting a lot about election fraud, he's talking about vetoing the defense spending bill. Is he involved in these negotiations substantively?

REED: So my understanding -- we've always, in the Problem Solvers Caucus, have a rich legacy of always keeping our leadership -- as well as now the White House, during the prior conversations we've had on a COVID deal -- keeping them informed.

My understanding is we get a deal done before January 1st, the president is interested in signing that legislation because he recognizes that there's a need out there that needs to be addressed. Now if we go past January 1st, then I think we're into the next administration and that is going to be problematic. That means no relief until February, March. And that is why it's unacceptable for us to leave D.C. without getting something done before the holiday.

SCIUTTO: Congressman Gottheimer, should -- do you agree? I mean, should lawmakers of both parties stay in Washington until they have a deal, forget the holiday break?

GOTTHEIMER: Absolutely. I mean, the idea that we would go home without something is, you know, to me completely unconscionable and frankly too many people are hurting right now. We should not leave Washington unless we get something done.

Which is why what was proposed yesterday -- which was bipartisan, as was said (ph), 50 members of Congress, half Democrat half Republican, nine senators standing together. Clearly there's an agreement to be had here that covers all the issues, that helps our state and local governments so we can make sure that our cops and our firefighters and our teachers stay employed, helps people with food, helps our small businesses, right?

I mean, these are the things families need right now and we can't leave here unless we get that done and members of Congress and the Senate are making that clear to leadership, you absolutely can't go home until we get this done.

SCIUTTO: Listen, I hope you do. We speak on this broadcast to Americans who are suffering through this, and I don't have to tell you it's real.

On another topic -- if I can, because this just happened moments ago -- comments from the secretary of state of Georgia, Brad Raffensperger -- of course, Republican, talking about threats against election workers. Have a listen, I want to get your reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRAD RAFFENSPERGER (R), GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE: Even after this office request that President Trump try and quell the violent rhetoric being borne out of his continuing claims of winning the states where he obviously lost, he tweeted out, "Expose the massive voter fraud in Georgia."

This is exactly the kind of language that is at the base of a growing threat environment for election workers who are simply doing their jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Congressman Reed, is it time for the House Republican leadership -- Kevin McCarthy among them -- to acknowledge Biden is president-elect and to stop sharing disinformation that, as Secretary of State Raffensperger has said, has led to threats against him and others?

REED: You know, as a member whose family received a brick and a dead rat at our front step just a matter of weeks ago, and received these threats, I will tell you, this environment is not helpful and it is not something I support. And I've recognized Vice President Biden, and recognized him as president-elect. And we should continue to move forward.

Now, I think we're coming to the conclusion of this process, and I will just defer -- I can only control what I do and I'll defer to the leadership as to what they want to do as we go forward.

SCIUTTO: Congressman Gottheimer, before we go, the significance of the president continuing to share this disinformation even in the face of fellow Republicans, like Congressman Reed but also in Georgia, pushing back?

GOTTHEIMER: Obviously it's unacceptable. I'm glad that you've got officials like those in Georgia pushing back, and the bottom line is my concern is not just for this election -- and obviously the threats happening to families, which as Tom just pointed out is unacceptable -- but the long-term impact on our democracy, on voting on faith in elections, that to me is a huge concern.

And you've got people who are, every day, not just losing faith in this election but the next one. That's what we have to also be very careful about right now, and I'm very concerned about that.

SCIUTTO: Well listen, Congressmen Gottheimer and Reed, thank you for making an effort to work together. I know that a lot of folks who watch this program welcome that effort.

GOTTHEIMER: Thank you.

REED: We'll continue to do it, the American people deserve it.

GOTTHEIMER: Agreed, thanks so much.

SCIUTTO: Please do, please do.

[10:39:21]

Well, coming up still this hour, health care workers are devoted to caring for us in the pandemic -- I'm sure many of you have encountered that. Who though is caring for them? We're going to have some of their stories, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: The surge in the coronavirus is taking a serious toll on frontline health care workers who are seeing the tragic toll in person every day, firsthand. In Colorado, hospitalizations are surging as that state reported its highest number of people hospitalized ever in this pandemic on Tuesday.

CNN's Lucy Kafanov spoke to some of the nurses and doctors in the state who themselves are struggling to cope.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHANNON TAPIA, GERIATRICIAN: We might not show it if we're interacting with you, but it's so hard.

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The words of a Colorado physician who's had enough. Dr. Shannon Tapia is one of thousands of health care workers on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic.

TAPIA: Sleep is on short supply right now.

KAFANOV: A geriatrician and a single mom who works with the elderly, she switched to telehealth to keep her patients and herself safe.

What do you want people to know about the experience of these frontline health care workers including yourself under COVID?

[10:45:07] TAPIA: We might not talk about it because we know people don't want to hear it. We know everyone is struggling, we know COVID changed everybody's lives. It's just, it's so hard. And I don't want to say it's been harder for us than it has for everybody else, but the truth is it has, it has. It's not the same, it's not the same when you feel responsible for people's -- whether it be their life or their quality of life, because you care.

KAFANOV: Colorado is in the midst of its third pandemic surge, cases and hospitalizations have been breaking records.

GOV. JARED POLIS (D-CO): What matters now is in Colorado, one out of 41 people are contagious, so it could be anywhere.

KAFANOV: More than 14,000 Coloradans have been hospitalized since the pandemic began. Among those facing the brunt? Doctors and nurses like Allison Boerner.

ALLISON BOERNER, CHARGE E.R. NURSE, CENTURA-PARKER ADVENTIST HOSPITAL: As an E.R. nurse, I haven't cried a lot on the job. You hold that back and you, you know, you want to stay tough for the family and stoic.

And there's been a lot of tears shed in E.R. rooms during COVID because we are treating that person dying like our loved one dying because they don't have anyone else and they need that grace and they need that human touch and they need someone to be there when they're taking their last breath.

KAFANOV: Before the pandemic, she said work had never caused her to lose sleep. Now, she regularly has nightmares.

How has the COVID crisis impacted nurses and yourself on a personal level? I mean, you're seeing this day-in and day-out.

BOERNER: Yes, on a personal level it's hard. You know, we lean on each other. It's -- the holidays have been rough for a lot of us, we're not seeing our families. We're doing everything we can to keep the public safe, and so it's extremely frustrating for us when people are not doing that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here on the frontlines,

BOERNER: -- this virus is incredibly real.

KAFANOV: With cases climbing, her employer, CenturaHealth, released this PSA --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please, let's have each other's backs.

KAFANOV: -- a message Dr. Tapia shares. She's seen firsthand the devastating toll on residents of long-term care facilities who account for 40 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the country. Many die alone.

TAPIA: It's so hard on their loved ones and their families because they can't grieve it the way they should be able to. KAFANOV: She's found new ways to cope: a puppy, therapy and

antidepressants. But with the virus raging unabated, she worries how much more she and other frontline workers can take.

TAPIA: I think there's going to be a huge reckoning when things calm down and people get to really process what's happened to them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAFANOV (on-camera): Now, Dr. Shannon Tapia works in hospice care, she's no stranger to death. Same for that E.R. nurse, Allison Boerner. These are people who are trained to help humanity in their darkest moments, but they are completely overwhelmed with the COVID surge, Jim.

You know, there may be a vaccine on the horizon, we've been talking about that. But nearly nine months into this pandemic, there are still people out there who are not taking this virus seriously. These doctors, these nurses have been pushed to their limit. For them, there's no end in sight -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: I mean, I think we often forget how much they're facing on a daily basis. Lucy Kafanov, thanks for bringing us their stories.

[10:48:30]

Well, as President-elect Biden continues to fill out his senior staff, he's now facing some pushback on who he is not picking.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. President-elect Joe Biden continues to fill out his team with less than 50 days until his inauguration. But he's now facing some pressure to appoint more minority nominees to remaining top positions.

With us now from Wilmington, Delaware, CNN's Jessica Dean. So where is the pushback coming from and what posts are we talking about in particular?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, so they still have cabinet nominees to fill, and the Biden transition is hearing from, for example, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, writing them a letter asking them and pushing New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham to be selected for Health and Human Services secretary.

We also know that Congressman Jim Clyburn, who played a pivotal role in Biden winning the primary, has said that he'd like to see more black nominees, more black people filling these key roles.

And we also see in the "Washington Post," they're reporting that seven different civil rights groups have requested meetings with the president-elect, and that they want to put more pressure on him, again, to fill these top posts with African-Americans.

And now, the transition team for its part did give me a statement -- I want to read part of it -- they're saying, "President-elect Biden, his campaign and transition both succeeded in this effort. He has announced several historic and diverse White House appointments and cabinet nominees to this point. And his success in finding diverse voices to develop and implement his policy vision to tackle our nation's toughest challenges will be clear when our full slate of appointees and nominees is complete."

So again, Jim, they really want to acknowledge the fact that they are trying to build a diverse team both in the White House and in these cabinet positions, and that when the full slate is complete, they feel like they will have accomplished that goal -- Jim.

[10:55:00]

SCIUTTO: All right, we'll see how well they satisfy, it's always a battle. Jessica Dean, thanks very much.

And thanks so much to you for joining me today, I'm Jim Sciutto. NEWSROOM with our colleague Kate Bolduan will begin right after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:01]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone, I'm Kate Bolduan. Thank you so much for joining us this hour.