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Biden Addresses Pandemic's Devastating Economic Impact; Biden Says We're Going to Need More Bipartisanship to Save Economy; Biden Says Very Bleak Without Another COVID Relief Package. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired December 04, 2020 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENT-ELECT: By acting now even with deficit financing, we can add to growth in the near future. In fact, economic research shows that with conditions like the crisis today, especially with such low interest rates, not taking action, the action I'm proposing, will hurt the economy, scar the work force, reduce growth and add to the national debt.

Look, I know times are tough. The challenges are daunting. But I know we can do this. We can create an economic recovery for all, for everybody. We can move from crisis to recovery and to resurgence. For lord's sake, this is the United States of America. We've done it before and we can do it again. We will, I promise you.

So I thank the bipartisan group that's trying to put something together right now. We're going to need more bipartisanship as we move on. God bless you guys and women that are doing this, God bless our country, and may God protect our troops. I'll stop there and I'm happy to take some questions.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Mr. President-elect, one of the biggest tasks that you will have when you enter office is distributing a vaccine. Your team has started to meet with the Trump administration to learn of their plans as you are set to inherit this task. Are you satisfied with the current plans that are underway for distributing that vaccine? Do you feel that the federal government is doing enough at this point, and what steps do you think need to be taken between now and when those first vaccines go out?

BIDEN: Well, there's a lot more that has to be done. They've clued us in on their planning on how they plan to distribute the actual vaccine to the various states. But there is no detailed plan that we've seen, anyway, as to how you get the vaccine out of a container into an injection syringe, into somebody's arm.

And it's going to be very difficult for that to be done and it's a very expensive proposition. For example, you know, we agree with their priorities that they've laid out so far. I do, at least. My team is looking at it, of dealing with first responders and those in nursing homes and in home care. The first people on the list.

But we also have to realize that we're in a situation where there has to be some equity in the way this is distributed, and that requires, for example, right now we're in a situation where you have, you know, the leading cause of death for all Americans this week is COVID-19. Blacks and Latinos are three times as likely to die if they get COVID- 19.

And so the communities of color, it's a mass casualty event. So we've got to figure out how to make sure we get the vaccine to those communities. Delivering large amounts of the vaccine to the Walmarts and other major drug chains does not get you into a lot of these neighborhoods, and it doesn't guarantee that it gets around.

So we got a lot of work to do, and there has to be -- the equity side of this has to be an important part of distribution. In addition to that, the cost of actually getting the serum into an injection, into a needle into somebody's arm costs a lot of money. It takes a lot of people. It takes a lot of folks to be able to get that done, and we have to have a much better way than we've seen thus far as to how it's distributed.

In some states, like the governor of Utah said, just deliver to the capital, I can take care of it, in our conversation. Well, that could be true, but in a large states like California, Texas, Illinois, Florida et cetera, it's not that easy. There has to be an overall plan.

That's what we're working on right now, and that's why I asked Dr. Fauci to stay on and to be my chief adviser on this issue, but also to be part of the COVID team.

SAENZ: And on your cabinet, you are facing a lot of pressure to add more diversity to your administration. You have civil rights groups and lawmakers pushing you to do this, to make sure that you make good on your promise. And you look at your cabinet announcements so far and they have included some diverse figures. But I specifically want to hone in on those big four. And so far, when it comes to Secretary of State and Treasury, you have nominated a white man and white woman.

[15:35:03]

So looking at Attorney General and the Department of Defense, would you commit hiring a person of color in those positions?

BIDEN: Look, it's each one of these group's jobs to push their leaders to make sure there's greater diversity. What I can promise you, is when this is all is said and done, you'll see everyone that I've announced and it's going to be in the next several weeks. We'll have it all out there.

You're going to see significant diversity. I'm not going to tell you now exactly what I'm doing in any department, but I promise you, it will be the single most diverse cabinet based on race, color, based on gender that's ever existed in the United States of America.

SAENZ: So no commitment on those spots?

BIDEN: A commitment of what I just said, it will be the most diverse cabinet and the main spots in both White House as well as the cabinet positions.

SAENZ: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mr. President-elect. You just said a couple minutes ago that there is no time to waste when it comes to economic stimulus, but Democrats and Republicans have been in the stalemate for several months as they have been negotiating and trying to talk about what kind of stimulus to put together. You were elected by more than 80 million people to try to break that log jam.

Can you talk specifically about what you have done over these past several weeks to actually work with Democrats and Republicans, speaking to Congressional leaders to get them to agree on a stimulus package? And what do you say to people like Senator Sanders on the left flank of your party who have come out against the stimulus program already? They have said this $900 billion deal is not good enough.

BIDEN: Well, it would be kind of stupid for me to tell you what I did, wouldn't it? Because it would be kind of hard to do it again. I told you all that I was confident we'd get a bipartisan agreement on this stuff, and I think we will, not just on this package but I think beyond.

And the last thing I'm going to do is tell you strategically how I go about this. I remember I used to get asked the same thing when I was putting together significant deals between Democrats and Republicans when I was a Senator and Vice President. It's just not a very smart thing. It's like me asking you, tell me how you got your sources, and how did you get those sources you got in order to get that story? It would be ridiculous for you to tell me or your colleagues how you did it.

All I can say is I'm confident. There are a sufficient number of Democrats and Republicans in the United States Senate, along with significant votes coming out of the House of Representatives, to put together a serious package that will keep us from going off the edge here, provide the kind of resources that are needed immediately. It's not going to satisfy everybody, but the option is if you insist on everything, we're likely to get nothing on both sides.

And so I think they're on their way to being able to come up with a package that meets the basic immediate needs that we have, but I've made it real clear, it's just a down payment. This is not the end of the deal.

So I've been relatively good at negotiating over my career because I never, number one, reveal something someone doesn't want me to in the deal, and number two, because I always keep my word.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are a number of progressives, including Senator Sanders, who have criticized this deal in part because it does not include the $1,200 checks that were in the last deal. What do you say about that? They say that the American people who are hurting, maybe not the small businesses, but just the everyday families, they don't have anything in this deal. They're not getting any of the stimulus that's in this $900 billion.

BIDEN: Well, that's not what I understand, but I think it would be a better if they had $1,200. I understand that may be still in play. But I'm not going to comment on the specific details, the whole purpose of this is we got to make sure people aren't thrown out of their apartments, lose their homes, all right but will have

unemployment insurance they can continue to feed their families on as we grow back the economy. Be in a position where we provide for help to localities so they're not continuing to lay off schoolteachers and firefighters, et cetera, first responders.

And to make sure we're in a position that we're able to generate the kind of growth that is a consequence of this by allowing -- it costs a lot of money to keep schools and businesses open on the COVID side of the equation. There are all pieces should be in it. There's much more. If I were writing it, you know, I think the proposal that, quite frankly, the Heroes Act that the House passed, that's what I would support.

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But, you know, this is a democracy, and there are -- you've got to find the sweet spot where you have enough people willing to move in the right direction that gets us a long way down the road but isn't the whole answer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

BIDEN: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Mr. President-elect. You are describing this compromise bill as a down payment, that you'll push Congress to do more once you're in office. But this bill is already more than Republican leaders want to spend. What if this isn't a down payment? What if this bill is it? What are your options, then, to get Americans additional relief?

BIDEN: I never start off thinking that way. I always start off believing we can get it done. We'll get it done.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But it's been more than six months this fight has been going on. Mitch McConnell still hasn't even signed off yet on this compromise bill. What makes you so confident that you' will be able to get Republicans to go big once you're in office?

BIDEN: Well, because the country is going to be in dire, dire, dire straits if they don't.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you reached out to leader McConnell? Have the two of you spoken yet?

BIDEN: We'll be in dire trouble if we don't get cooperation. I believe we will.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Mr. President-elect. You noted today that one in six renters are behind in their rent. Millions of Americans remain unemployed. You say the situation is urgent. When you come into office, do you expect to pass executive orders dealing with those specific issues? And also, do you at all plan to pass trillions of dollars of aid? Is that what you have in mind when you say we need to go big, or are we looking at millions of dollars?

BIDEN: We're looking at hundreds of billions of dollars. And look, again, I've learned after hanging around in this business for a while the last thing you do before you begin negotiations is lay down a drop dead marker. And if it's not this, I'm not going to talk to you.

I think there's a lot we can get done. And I think people are going to see the overwhelming necessity. What's going to start to happen is a lot of the folks who represent Republican districts are going to find their Republican neighbors are in real trouble as things get worse.

They're going to find that there is an overwhelming need, as these numbers skyrocket. You remember my saying that I believe the experts we had -- at least 250 dead before the end of the year. Everyone went, no, no, no.

Guess what? Look what's happening. It's going to get much worse. It's going to get much worse. And so I believe that there are enough Republicans who will join enough Democrats in the United States Senate to get a majority along with the House to get it done. And but we'll see. We'll see. This is a step at a time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And on executive orders?

BIDEN: Well, I'd issue executive orders that are totally within the purview of an executive. But one of the things I don't like is I don't like people saying that I can, by executive order, do the following things, which there is no basis in the Constitution to suggest it can be done. So there are certain things I can do. I can issue executive orders pulling back some of the executive orders that Trump put forward.

But I can't issue an executive order saying we're going to spend x billion dollars on this issue without getting the Congress appropriates and is responsible for distributing that money.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean quickly on the coronavirus vaccine. You talked about getting the into African-American and vulnerable populations. You said yourself that you're willing to get the vaccine publicly to get people to feel safe.

But there are people already telling, well, President-elect Biden has good health care if there's some complications, he might have better health care than me, African-Americans around the country. What more can you do to convince people that the vaccine is safe for them? And does that mean you'll lean on any existing members of the corona task force, I know that you have committed to keeping Dr. Fauci, but is there Dr. Birx, is there anyone else that you might be leaning on to convince people?

BIDEN: There are a lot of people I am looking to convince people on the task force and the task force will continue to be expanded with really fine people. And look, I think actions of presidents matter.

And I'm going to say something that I think the African-American community and Latino community have known. I've never misrepresented anything to them. And that, if as you all keep pointing out I'm the old oldest President ever elected, although I'm actually only 47 -- but all kidding aside, I think that my taking the vaccine and people seeing me take that vaccine is going to give some confidence.

But, you know, I said early on, you may remember, I think you may have asked me the question. I may be mistaken.

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But I said early on that I think one of the things that bothers me the most is by the wild assertions the administration is making about how this was going to go away, and inject bleach and all those kinds of things, it was diminishing confidence across the board, and the American people overall, but particularly in this administration with the African-American, Latino community, what I hear from my friends in the community not but blocks from here as we stand is that we're not going to be the guinea pigs. We're not going to be the guinea pigs.

Well, the fact of the matter is that they won't be you're going to see tens of millions of Americans taking the vaccine, and you're going to see the President of the United States and three of four living and former Presidents doing it publicly as well.

It's all about -- and look, it's going to take some effort to rebuild confidence in science because it's been so diminished in this administration so far. And by the way, in the meantime I've got to make sure that the vaccine is both free and available, and that any follow-up on the vaccine is free and available that relates to any health complications from it.

So there's ways we can deal with some of these issues, Biden has good health care, therefore but I don't have good health care. That' another thing we're working on from day one, I've been working on it at this moment.

And so my hope is that we can re-instill some confidence and be able to believe the President of the United States when he or she speaks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

BIDEN: Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mr. President-elect. A lot of people are wondering what your inauguration is going to look like considering --

BIDEN: So am I. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- considering that you're still in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. So I would like to hear what you envision for the inauguration? Do you expect a scale-downed event? Are you still planning take the oath on the West front of the Capitol? Will there be a parade? Whether they'll be balls? What do you envision for your inauguration?

BIDEN: Well, first and foremost thing is we're going to follow again the science and recommendation of the experts on keeping people safe. So it is highly unlikely it will be a million people on the mall going all the way down to the Memorial.

I think we'll see we're in discussion with the House leadership and the Senate leadership as to what they plan for the inauguration, particularly those 200,000 spots they control. But I think you're going to see something that's closer to what the convention was like than a typical inauguration.

First and foremost in my objective is to keep America safe but still allow people to celebrate, to celebrate and see one another celebrating. And so we're in consultation. My team is in consultation with folks who helped us put on the convention, as well as with our colleagues Republican and Democratic colleagues in charge of the inauguration.

My guess is there probably will not be a gigantic inaugural parade down Pennsylvania Avenue, but my guess is you'll see a lot of virtual activity in states all across America engaging even more people than before. But that's in train now and I'm not in a position to give you an example of exactly, you know, what it will look like.

But I promise you it will be available either virtually or in person for many, and my guess is it will still be some supposed to be a platform ceremony, but I don't know exactly how it's all going to work out.

The key is keeping people safe. I can't do a super version of the President's announcement in the Rose Garden nationwide. It's just going to have to be more imaginative, but I think like I said, I think the convention we put on really opened up avenues that we never thought existed and I doubt whether there will be another Democratic -- at least a Democratic Convention, that it's a straight, like it always has been.

I think we include more people. People want to celebrate, people want to be able to say, we've passed the baton, we're moving on, democracy has functioned. I wish I could tell you more, but as those decisions are made, they'll be announced.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. And I also wanted to ask about your relationship with Senator McConnell.

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I know the two of you have a long history of actually working together on various deals. Have you talked to him since the election? And given the partisan nature of Congress right now, how do you convince him that it's in America's best interest to work with you going forward?

BIDEN: I don't think I have to convince him of that, he knows me. He knows I'm as straight as an arrow when I negotiate. He knows I keep commitments and I never attempt to embarrass the opposition.

There are some things that I think are just ready for the kind of compromise that Democrats and Republicans are prepared to engage in, absent the present President of the United States' attitude on some of these issues -- infrastructure, dealing with health issues, dealing with the fight against cancer, dealing with education.

I think there's a number of things -- as I said before, we have got to take the vitriol out of politics. I know there's a lot of people on both sides who want to continue to go after and punish the opposition, I get that.

I get the fact that an awful lot of Americans are disappointed I was elected President. Fortunately. There's 7 million were happy than disappointed. But I get that.

And there's a lot of Democrats who are angry and want to strike back at Republicans. What I've said from the beginning, I think I've conducted myself this way throughout my career. I learned that early lesson. It's always appropriate to question another man or woman's judgment but never their motive. Once you question their motive, then in fact there's no way to get to go. You are in a pocket of the cement industry. Let's do a deal on highways. No possibility.

And so when I've dealt with Mitchell McConnell in the past as a Vice President or as a Senator, we haven't engaged in that activity. It doesn't mean we can't get to an agreement. I'm not asking anybody to abandon their principles but I do think it makes no sense to engage in vitriol and trying to get a place where I can't believe that a majority of Republicans don't understand we need a new infrastructure in America.

If there was nothing to do with jobs or a green economy, just too many bridges are going to collapse and too many roads in disrepair. Too in Republican states that every time it floods, they flood out their water systems are polluted. These are common problems and I'm confident it's going to be hard but I'm confident we can get to an agreement on a number of things that will be of consequence.

Thank you all so very, very much. Is that it?

Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think the COVID vaccine should be mandatory?

BIDEN: No, I don't think it should be mandatory. I wouldn't demand it be mandatory but I would do everything in my power. Just like I don't think masks have to be mandatory nationwide, I'll do everything in my power as President of the United States to encourage people to do the right thing and when they do it demonstrate that it matters.

That's why I said in my inaugural speech, I'm going to ask people to commit for 100 days to wear a mask. Not because I'm asking it for any reason to punish. This is not a political issue. It's become one.

But if people do it for a hundred days and middle what will still be a raging crisis and the vaccine is able to be distributed, they're going to see deaths drop off the edge, they're going to see hundreds of thousands of people not getting sick, and my hope is that they will be that inclined to say, OK, it's worth -- it's worth the patriotic duty to go ahead and protect other people. Thank you all so very much.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: That is a man who sounds more like a President who cares about Americans, who are struggling than what we have seen and heard from President Trump these last couple of weeks.

I've got Gloria Borger here and Catherine Rampell and MJ Lee and Dr. Davidson, we'll talk to them here in just a minute but Gloria, let me begin with you, you know, when we kept hearing president-elect Biden, you know, just talking about the job loss, the job numbers and saying it's not your fault, we are in a crisis, what did you think of that?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think he was making a plea to the American Congress and to Mitch McConnell with whom -- was very interesting. He wouldn't say --

BALDWIN: Neither time he was asked.

BORGER: -- he was talking with them and last time he said he hadn't spoken with him. So perhaps you assume that maybe he has?

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But what he did try and do is say, look, we are all in this together. We are in a crisis right now. That's Democrats, that's Republicans. Encourage the Congress to work on this bipartisan measure while making the point that it is just a down payment because he sees more coming after he is inaugurated but just kind of put it all out there and said, you know, this is for the American people. This is not for Republicans or Democrats and didn't try and sugar coat the situation the country is in right now. And made it very clear that we are in a crisis.

BALDWIN: He talked about the -- he was encouraged by the bipartisan effort on the Senate side, the $908 billion stimulus plan. He said, Catherine, it's just a down payment, not the end of the deal. Still a lot of questions about what will or won't exist like that $1,200 check question in that stimulus. What will that do, where will that go?

CATHERINE RAMPELL, OPINION COLUMNIST, "WASHINGTON POST": I think Biden was being very strategically vague about what he expected of Congress versus what he expects to be able to do unilaterally through executive action and I think he is doing that with that a reason, right?

He would prefer to have Congress act. He is a long-term Senate guy. He believes in the power of the legislature. But he is still reserving some weapons of his own in his quiver, arrows in his quiver, to be able to do some things unilaterally, if, in fact, the Senate and Congress do not act. But I think what was interesting here was that you heard him make an

argument for further stimulus basically on two grounds. One is the humanitarian justification, right. That people are suffering, it's not that fault and we shouldn't let them go evicted, we shouldn't let them go hungry.

But the other argument that he was talking was really about long-term economic growth. That there is sort of an investment that we can be making here to prevent long-term scarring in the economy that would come from long-term unemployment, from permanent business closures, from children falling behind in school.

And I think that argument may have been pitched a little bit more towards Republicans who are concerned or at least claim to be concerned about the country's debt issues, long-term debt issues. And he was saying, no, no, no. This may cost us less in the long run because it preserves the country's economic capacity.

BALDWIN: Thank you, Catherine. And Dr. Rod Davidson, here's my question to you because he was asked specifically by our correspondent Arlette about vaccine distribution, are you satisfied with the current plans that are under way? And this is what I jotted down. He said that they have clued us in on the planning to distribute the vaccine to states but there are no detailed plans as to how you get the vaccine out of a container and into a syringe and into someone's arm. Does that concern you?

DR. ROD DAVIDSON, EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIAN, WEST MICHIGAN: Yes. It concerns me greatly. I think Operation Warp Speed to develop a vaccine is great but if you can't get it actually injected into people twice spaced by a month apart, and convince enough people it is the right thing to do, it really doesn't matter how many deep freeze freezers you have and how many doses you have.

Si I'm hoping that the Coronavirus Task Force is listening. I'm hoping working with the transition they can ramp this up, I'm confident in the leaders in our state, particularly in the governor's office working on state-based plans but I worry -- yes, I worry greatly that this might not get there as quickly as it has to.

BALDWIN: Arlette Saenz, I was just talking about you, you asked that great question about vaccine distribution. I was getting Dr. Davidson's reaction to part one of his answer to you, you want to encapsulate what we just heard in the next 60 seconds?

SAENZ: Well, Brooke, you heard the president-elect talking how his team is in contact with the Trump administration but also saying they haven't received full detailed plans about how exactly this vaccine will be executed.

Something else that you heard Biden talk about was his belief that he thinks that this vaccine also needs to be distributed to ensure some of the racial inequities are addressed. Black and Latino populations have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 throughout this pandemic and Biden wants to ensure that those communities will have access and be able to access these vaccines when they are widely distributed.

Another point that I asked Biden about was the diversity in his cabinet and he told me that he can't make an explicit commitment right now to naming a person of color to Attorney General or the Defense Department, but to ensure that he is promising that his cabinet and administration will be diverse.

BALDWIN: Arlette, thank you so much. There's so much more to go through from what we just heard from the President-elect. We'll let Jake take it over from here. I thank you all for sticking around for me. So important this message again, he said if Congress and Trump he says don't act by December, 12 million Americans will lose unemployment benefits. Merry Christmas.

Much more to come on THE LEAD with Jake Tapper. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me.