Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

FDA Panel To Review Moderna Vaccine Tomorrow; Joe Biden Picks Pete Buttigieg As Transportation Secretary; Joe Biden: Better Transportation Will Build More Climate-Resilient Communities; Joe Biden: Will Get Vaccinated Publicly, But Won't Jump Ahead Of Line. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired December 16, 2020 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: We are closely following development surrounding two desperately needed forms of COVID relief this hour vaccines and economic stimulus and we have encouraging news on both fronts. First, after months of a bitter stalemate in congress, we're told that leaders could announce a stimulus deal as early as today.

In plain English, help could finally be on the way. They are said to be looking at a package close to $900 billion that would provide relief so many Americans have eagerly been awaiting relief, that in many cases could put a roof over your head or food on your table. Meanwhile, vaccinations are rolling out seemingly without a hitch.

This video was taken in Boston this morning. It is unclear just how many Americans have been vaccinated so far but Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar says he will have the numbers in the coming days. And assures us that they are being tracked but we need many, many more doses of this vaccine that are currently being shipped out and thankfully, that could soon happen.

The FDA's advisory panel is set to meet tomorrow to discuss authorizing modern's vaccine. Testing Czar Admiral Brett Giroir gave a promising prediction about that process this morning along with an important warning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADMIRAL BRETT GIROIR, MD, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH, HHS: I am very confident that this vaccine will receive authorization and will add tens of millions of doses to the American public within a very short period of time. What people need to know is, we are still at a dangerous and critical part of this pandemic and tens of thousands of American lives are at stake really every week and we can flatten the curve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Let's begin here in Washington with talks over that much needed COVID relief. CNN's Senior Congressional Correspondent, Manu Raju is on Capitol Hill getting all of the latest details. Manu, what are you hearing about this possible deal?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it could be announced today, but there are still a lot of details they need to sort out. I'm told that congressional leaders have been exchanging proposals trying to iron out some of those final details here in the hours and there is not much time because they need to get something done, they hope to get something done by Friday to tie it a bill to keep the government open. Otherwise the government will shut down.

They don't pass that funding bill. So time is of the essence here. It will take a lot of cooperation to get it through quickly. And what this bill entails is, rough $900 billion is about twice as much as what the Republicans and the Senate - wanted, it's less than half of what House Democrats have been pushing for.

But we do expect to include a new round of stimulus checks. Not as not as much as what some Democrats have wanted, some Republicans have wanted. We expect it to be around $600, maybe even $700. $1200 stimulus checks have went out through the first round of relief that occurred this spring.

So obviously quite a bit less than that but also we expect jobless benefits to be extended as well. So many Americans are seeing their jobless benefits expire before the end of the month. Now we expect an additional $300 a week in jobless benefits. The $600 a week jobless benefits went away--

BASH: Sorry Manu to interrupt. We're going to go now to President- Elect Biden announcing his Transportation Secretary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: --announcing nominees to our cabinet. There are people of the highest character, varied experiences and backgrounds, they're going to help us beat this pandemic, keep us safe and secure and build our economy back better than it ever was. That includes long time colleagues and new faces and new voices that include people who share my views and those who have different views.

And it includes people who supported my campaign from its earliest days and people who ran against me that expert in policy, leaders tested by crises. And by the end of this process, this cabinet will be the most representative of any cabinet in American history.

We'll have more of people to color than any cabinet ever; we'll have more women than any cabinet ever. We'll have a cabinet a barrier breaker a cabinet of first. I know how proud presidents are when they are able to achieve a first in their cabinet. I remember when President Clinton named the first ever woman to be Secretary of State.

I was there when President Obama named the first ever Black Attorney General. But compared to my predecessors, the Harris/Biden cabinet is first among cabinets of all the firsts it represents. The first ever woman, the first black woman, the first woman of South Asian decent as Vice President behind me on the screen, the first ever black secretary defense. The first ever Latino head of the DHS, and the first ever Latino head of HHS.

[12:05:00]

The first woman I should say of South Asian American descent to lead OMB, the first woman and Asian American to lead Unites States trade - as our lead United States trade representative the first black woman to chair the president's council on economic advisories the first ever woman to hold Alexander Hamilton's position as Treasury Secretary.

Our cabinet doesn't just have one first or just two of these first, but eight precedence busting appointments. And today the ninth, the first ever openly gay nominee to lead a cabinet department and one of the youngest cabinet members ever. The Biden/Harris cabinet will be a historic cabinet, a cabinet that looks like America, a cabinet that taps into the best of America.

A cabinet that is opening doors and breaking down barriers and accessing the full range of talent we have so much of it, the full range of talent in this nation. A cabinet that is up to the immediate crises we face and we face several and the long term challenge this nation faces in the future are in this cabinet's hands, that's a cabinet that's battle tested, qualified, experienced, creative innovative and forward looking.

And, yes, representative and today, I'm proud to nominate its newest member. For Secretary of Transportation, I nominate Mayor Pete Buttigieg. I got to know Pete on the campaign trail. He is one of the smartest people you will ever meet and one of the most humble.

A mayor from the heartland, a management expert, a policy wonk with a big heart, a veteran, Lieutenant of the United States Navy Reserve and Intelligence Officer deployed to Afghanistan while he was Mayor. A new voice with new ideas, determined to move past old politics, the son of professors.

Husband - his husband is an educator, always, always; a mark of good character is the way I look at it. And by the way, Jill and I have always enjoyed seeing Pete and Christine, and Chasten I should say together on the trail. Chasten has become a close friend to Jill and mine.

And what I admire about Pete is he's always clear about who he is, what he believes, and how he wants to bring people in, not excluding them. He's able to walk in any room, lead people inspired with his ability to describe an America that's best for all of us, an America that's hopeful, bold, creative, inclusive, an American that can do literally anything.

The Department of Transportation serves us as a critical mission with critical responsibilities, particularly in this administration. We need someone who knows how to work with state, local and federal agencies? For example, right now one in five miles of our highways are still in "Poor condition."

According to the society of American engineers, tens and tens of thousands of bridges are in disrepair some on the verge of collapse presenting a clear and present danger to people's lives. We're the world's richest nation but we rank tenth in overall quality of our infrastructure according to the world economic forum.

But there is so much we can do. When I think of climate change, I think about jobs, good paying union jobs, jobs that put Americans to work, making their air cleaner for our kids to breathe restoring our crumbling roads, bridges and ports, making it faster, cheaper, cleaner to transport American made goods across the country and around the world.

I know that when you were Mayor, Pete, when people would come in to try to decide where they going to build something, they would say where is the nearest railroad ahead, what about the water access, what about and so on? This is going to attract businesses.

Jobs that lay the lines for the second great railroad revolution which is not only will slash pollution, will slash commute times, open up investments in areas connected to metropolitan areas for the first time. You know, we selected Pete for Transportation Department, because the intersection of some of the most ambitious plans to build back better.

When President Obama put me in charge of implementing the Recovery Act, which is over $800 billion to take us from crisis to recovery to resurgence, modernizing our transportation infrastructure, our roads, bridges and ports were some of the most critical investments.

We invested more in infrastructure than any time since President Eisenhower in interstate highway projects. Now the projects that traditionally receive bipartisan support, that forge public and private partnership, when we do those public and private partnerships, and we invest federal money, we pull billions of dollars or private investment for every dollar we put in federal dollar.

[12:10:00]

And they put millions of Americans to work strengthening our economy, our economic competitiveness and rebuilding our communities for the future. Pete's got a great perspective of a mayor that solves problems and brings people together. He's got a vision of a next generation leader and with the experience and the temperament to lead change today, today, to dig us out of this economic crisis.

For example, helping cities and states to keep transport systems running for frontline and essential workers and then helping to modernize their airports, their ports, their railways, to attract and retain businesses and workers, to advance racial equity as we build back better and include everyone, so zip code doesn't determine your access to a good job, a good school, a good education and health care.

To deal with the existential threat of climate change with real jobs, not just $15 in our job which I am going to call for universally but for prevailing wages, union jobs paying $45, $50 an hour and benefits helping cities across the country in red states and blue states red cities and blue cities t build more climate resilient communities to deal with more extreme floods, droughts and super storms. Just look around the country.

What are we faced with? The west is burning. The Midwest is being flooded. The east coast is being pummeled by more tornadoes and storms than it has ever had. We're in a state that is 3 feet above sea level. All of us along the Atlantic Ocean find ourselves in problems in terms of flooding.

Look, working with states, businesses and labor, to install 500,000 charging stations for the next generation of clean vehicles, smart grid system, reducing energy consumption and assuring a clean energy economy all across America. Some of you may remember I met with five leading CEOs in America and five leading unions in America.

And the President of General Motors after our conversation, our joint conversation, picked up the phone I'm called, I'm told California's said they are dropping their suit against California. They are all in on making sure that they are a - we're the first in the world to have switched to and be able to get to a carbon neutral economic way to power automobiles as a consequence of dealing with electric vehicles.

We can own the electric vehicle market and can put with those 500,000 charging stations; we can put a million jobs back in Detroit and in Midwest building cars. Pete can also carry out the department's duty to keep Americans safe on our roads and our highways and on our skies. Pete's going to help build back better with jobs and hope with vision and execution.

And I'm honored he is answering the call to serve his country once again. So please welcome, please welcome the next Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. Pete, it's all yours.

PETE BUTTIGIEG, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY NOMINEE: Mr. President-Elect, Madam Vice President-Elect, thank you so much for entrusting me with this opportunity to serve the American people. I am humbled by your confidence eager to do everything in my power to ensure that this administration succeeds.

My hometown South Bend, Indiana was built by the power of American transportation. From trade along the river whose bend gives our city its name to the rail lines that connected us to the rest of the country back when we were considered the west, to livelihoods created by the good paying union jobs at places like the aeronautical supplier Bendix and the giant auto assembly of Studebaker.

And now climate and infrastructure innovation are helping bring my community into the 21st century. I've had a personal love of transportation, ever since childhood. More than once as a college student, I would convince a friend to travel nearly 1,000 miles back to Indiana with me on Amtrak.

Though I know that in this administration I will at best aspire to be the second biggest train enthusiast around. I spent a spring break in graduate school aboard a cargo ship studying there. Travel in mind is synonymous with growth, with adventure, even love so much so that I propose to my husband Chasten in an airport terminal.

[12:15:00]

Don't let anybody tell you that O'Hare isn't romantic. And I want to take this chance to thank Chasten for everything that he gives and everything that he sacrifices to support me in public service. First time ran for office was on a platform of supporting the Obama/Biden Administration's rescue of the auto industry.

And when I did first take office as Mayor, in a city fighting its way out of the teeth of the great recession, infrastructure was at the heart of our vision. We re-imagined how vehicles and people move through the city, unlocking new economic vibrancy in our urban core.

We built up partnerships from a regional collaboration to improve rail service to public/private partnership that put our city at the cutting edge of bicycle mobility. We developed new forms of support for lower wage workers and their commutes and added electric vehicle charging infrastructure, to help prepare for a more sustainable future.

We also dealt with the challenges created by generations of often inadequate state and federal infrastructure funding with just enough resources to replenish the paving of every lane mile of street in our city, only every 100 years or so. I faced a constant battle with that natural enemy of all mayors, the pothole.

In a community where more than a quarter of our residents lived in poverty, we worked to fill in the gaps that were created when underfunded transit resources left too many cut off from opportunity just because they didn't have the means to own a car. At its best, transportation makes the American dream possible, getting people and goods to where they need to be, directly and indirectly creating good paying jobs.

At its worst, misguided policies and missed opportunities can reinforce racial, economic and environmental injustice, dividing or isolating neighborhoods undermining government's basic role to empower everyone to thrive and now comes a historic opportunity.

This administration can deliver policies and resources that will create jobs, rise to the climate challenge, and equitably serve all Americans. All while continuing to ensure the safety of travelers and workers alike. America has given this administration a mandate to build back better and step one in building back better literally is to build.

Americans shouldn't settle look for less than our peers in the developed world when it comes to our roads and bridges, our railways and transit systems. The U.S. should lead the way and I know that in this administration we will.

We'll bring together leaders and communities from every corner, labor and business, left, right and center, urban and rural communities of color, tribal nations, mayors, counties, states, everyone who has a stake in American infrastructure to design a better future.

Americans expect us to see to it that the idea of an infrastructure weak is associated with results and never again a media punch line. My view of this opportunity is also shaped by being the youngest member so far named to this cabinet and the first millennial invited to a seat at that table.

Newer generations have a lot at stake in infrastructure policy that by its nature must contemplate both the immediate and the long term. The question of how America will look by the middle of this century, the competitiveness of our economy, the security of our climate, for me this is not academic, it's personal.

I'm also mindful that the eyes of history are on this appointment. Knowing that this is the first time an American President has ever sent an openly LGBTQ cabinet member to the Senate for confirmation. I can remember watching the news 17-years-old, in Indiana, seeing a story about an appointee of President Clinton named to be an Ambassador, attacked and denied a vote in the Senate because he was gay.

Ultimately able to serve only by recess appointment at the time I had no aspirations of being appointed by a president to anything. At that age I was hoping to be an airline pilot and I was a long way from coming out even to myself.

But still I watched that story and I learned something about some of the limits that exists in this country when it comes to who is allowed to belong. But just as important, I saw how those limits could be challenged.

[12:20:00]

So two decades later, I can't help but think of a 17-year-old somewhere who might be watching us right now, somebody who wonders whether and where they belong in the world, or even in their own family.

And I'm thinking about the message that today's announcement is sending to them. So thank you, Mr. President-Elect, thank you honoring your commitment to diversity with this administration of your assembly.

And thank you Madam Vice President-Elect for your trail-blazing leadership, your encouragement and your friendship. There is no greater source of meaning in professional life than the chance to serve others.

I felt that meaning every time I laced up my boots when I was in the military, every time I came to work when I was a mayor. And I feel it here now, joining this historic team with such an important mission, preparing to deliver for all Americans. Thank you.

SEN. KAMAL HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: As President-Elect, Biden and I look ahead to the challenges we will inherit upon walking into the White House, we are focused on containing this pandemic and delivering relief to all who need it. We are focused on faithfully reopening our schools and responsibly reopening our economy. And as we've said many times, we are also focused on building America back better. And doing what is necessary to lift up all Americans no matter where they live, whether it's in big cities, rural areas, or anyplace in between. One of the most important ways we will do that is by creating good union jobs to build, operate and maintain a safe modern and sustainable transportation system.

Transportation systems that will help us grow our economy, tackle our climate crisis, and connect all Americans to jobs and opportunity. We will transform our roads and bridges, transit systems, railways, ports and airports, while powering them with clean energy, spark a renaissance in American passenger rail that will not only connect our country, but unlock job creation and growth across our manufacturing sector.

And we will expand and upgrade our transportation system in a way that is equitable, serving communities of every size, urban and rural, across our country. The choice President-Elect Biden has made to help spearhead this work is simply outstanding. I got to know Pete over the last couple of years; we traveled to the same states, attended the same events and shared a debate stage many times.

We've had long conversations he and I about the future of our country about the need for bipartisanship and about family and faith. And along the way, Pete and his wonderful husband Chasten have become very dear friends of Doug's and mine. Pete is an innovative problem solver. He has a sharp intellect and a deep commitment to uniting people across party lines and meeting our challenges together.

He is a trailblazing leader from the industrial Midwest who understands we need to create opportunity for people of all backgrounds. And he is of course a veteran and a dedicated public servant who represents the very best of our country and the next generation of American leadership.

Now, Pete will bring his remarkable talents to bear not just on behalf of the people of South Bend, but on behalf of the people across our nation. In 1966, upon creating the Department of Transportation, President Lyndon Johnson said, America's history is a history of her transportation.

With Pete's leadership, we are ready to write the next great chapter in that history modernizing our infrastructure, creating jobs and opportunity and helping to usher in a clean energy future for the United States of America. Thank you, Mr. President-Elect, and welcome, Pete.

BIDEN: Thank you. By the way, I called the vice president-elect and thanked her for not getting on the highway in the middle of a storm, a storm about to come. She wanted to be here - you know. So thank you all very much.

[12:25:00]

And if you have to travel--

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible)

BIDEN: We're working on that right now. I don't want to get ahead of the line, but I want to make sure that we demonstrate to the American people that it is safe to take. They are working on that plan right now. And when I do it, I'll do it publicly and so you all can actually witness my getting it done.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible)

BIDEN: I'm confident.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible)

BIDEN: The stimulus package is encouraging. It looks like they are very, very close. And it looks like there is going to be direct cash payments. But it's a down payment, an important down payment and let's going to have to be done beginning in the end of January into February but it's very important to get it done. I complement on the bipartisan group on working together to get it done. Thank you all very much. Have a good day.

BASH: That was President-Elect Joe Biden continuing to round out his cabinet formally announcing he intends to nominate Pete Buttigieg his former rival for the democratic nomination for President of the United States as his Transportation Secretary. M.J. Lee is there and joins me now, M.J., so much to discuss.

First, let's just start with the point that Vice President - President-Elect Biden wanted to make at the beginning. Obviously, he talked a lot about Pete Buttigieg and his credentials, but also about what he wants this to be seen as meaning, nominating somebody who is the first - would be the first Senate confirmed openly gay member of the cabinet.

He called it the ninth precedent busting appointment. He said he has done eight so far when you look at the diversity of people he has nominated or appointed so far. What do you make of what you heard?

M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Dana, I was really struck by that riff at the very top of his speech. I lost track of the number of times Biden said the words first ever. He was talking about the diversity of his cabinet but also historically saying that in the past, president-elects have taken a lot of pride every time that they could nominate someone and break a new barrier.

And he said the government that he is putting together has broken more barriers than any other cabinets that have come before this one. And of course he noted that he is doing it again today with the nomination of Pete Buttigieg who as you said would be the first gay LGBTQ member of the cabinet if he is confirmed.

And I thought it was interesting that Buttigieg himself talked about this actually quiet pungently and we have heard back from him during the campaign as well. But today he talked about looking back on sort of himself, a 17-year-old staff when he hadn't even told his family and friends that he was gay. He thought that he wanted to be an airline pilot and to be in this place right now, receding this historic nomination clearly this is a really personally important moment for him and his family.

BASH: Very much so. You are way too young to remember, but I just started covering Capitol Hill when James Hormel was nominated by then President Clinton to be the Ambassador to Luxemburg and it was very controversial and he had to go around congress to do it.

Before I let you go, I got to ask about what he said at the very end. The big question about when he and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris will be getting vaccines. He said I don't want to get to that head of the line. But it's important to demonstrate to the American people effectively that it's safe. And he said he will be doing it on camera.

LEE: Right, I think this is going to be an incredibly significant moment. The Biden team has made clear that this is going to happen in the front of the media, in front of the public. This is a part of their national campaign. They know that the big task that they have ahead of them in terms of the vaccine distribution is about earning the public's trust.

They know very well that there are people across the country that have a lot of misgivings, who might be wary of, who have questions about whether it is actually safe for them to take the vaccine.

And Biden feels like if he can as the president-elect right now show and demonstrate in front of the media, in front of the public, that this is in fact safe to do, that that could go a long way in convincing people that this vaccine is safe. And as experts and doctors on our air have been saying all week long, the key to this vaccine distribution being successful is that a lot of people, the majority of people across the country actually getting the vaccine.