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House Approves $2,000 Stimulus Checks, Measure Heads to Senate; U.S. Again Hits Record Number of Hospitalizations; Source: Biden Considering Cuts to U.S. Nuclear Modernization Program; Biden: Pentagon and White House Putting Up Road Blocks for Transition. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired December 29, 2020 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:25]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Bianna Golodryga in for Poppy and Jim.

Republican loyalty put to the test, pressure building on the GOP-led Senate after the House approves a stimulus check increase for struggling Americans from $600 to $2,000. The Senate has opposed that bump for months, now we watch to see if Senate Republicans pivot under the president's push.

This after a glaring rebuke in the House. House Republicans joining Democrats to override the president's veto of a sweeping Defense bill. Setting up another critical vote in the Senate.

And this morning Dr. Anthony Fauci warning of a brutal month ahead after millions of Americans ignored warnings not to travel over the holidays.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: That in addition to the surge we're going to have an increase superimposed upon that surge which could make January even worse than December. I hope not. I hope that doesn't happen, but it certainly is possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Also today Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and husband Doug Emhoff set to receive the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. It's an important step in growing Americans' confidence in the vaccine itself. Critical as COVID-19 hospitalizations are at an all-time high. So dire in fact that in hard-hit California health experts are warning of rationing nurses and respirators.

But first let's get to CNN's Suzanne Malveaux in Capitol Hill.

What are we going to expect from the Senate today? Any sense on whether Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will take up a vote on the $2,000 stimulus checks after it passed in the House, Suzanne?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And Bianna, all eyes are going to be on Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell in about three hours or so. That is when he will take to the Senate floor. That's when we'll get a sense of which direction he is going. Notably it was the president who said that he's signed on to the $900 billion COVID stimulus package on the condition that McConnell would bring it up on the Senate floor, but it's far from certain whether or not he is actually going to commit to such a thing.

What we do know is that Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer will go ahead and produce and introduce the $2,000 direct payment idea by unanimous consent. That means that all 100 senators cannot object to this in order for a quick passage. We don't expect that that is going to actually be successful. That will fail very likely.

Senator Ron Johnson, Republican from Wisconsin, will object. There are many other Republicans who don't support this big hike in this direct payment. There are some Trump allies, however, who do say that they would sign on. Senator Lindsey Graham and Senator Marco Rubio, but it will take a good deal of the Republican Party to back this if that is going to happen.

What could be an option for McConnell is that he not only introduces this as a stand-alone bill but attaches it to some sort of provision or poison pill, if you will, that the Democrats simply cannot sign off on. So we'll see how all of this is playing out. We do know that McConnell would like to start with a vote on overriding the veto for military funding bill that was done in the House.

That may or may not happen depending on if Senator Bernie Sanders holds true to his threat that he's going to hold up that vote until they deal with this direct stimulus check -- Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Really pitting Republicans against the president himself.

Suzanne, thank you so much.

Well, CNN's Boris Sanchez is in West Palm Beach following the president.

Boris, any reaction from the president following last night's votes?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Bianna. There's no question that President Trump is growing angry with his Republican allies in Congress. This rift between the president and Republicans somewhat sparked by his repeated claims of election fraud and his frustration that the Republican leadership is not pursuing these false claims fully exposed now with this vote, this pending vote to potentially override his Defense spending bill veto.

And the president just moments ago lashing out at the Republican leadership on Twitter. He calls them weak and tired. He writes leadership in quotation marks and he says, quote, "Negotiate a better bill or get better leaders now." Interesting that this is happening at this very time while the

president is clearly closer to Democrats on the issue of these $2,000 stimulus checks.

I want to quickly point to this tweet the president sent at 2:00 a.m., it sort of underscores where things stand right now.

[09:05:03]

The president tweeting out a story about Bernie Sanders' decision to try to filibuster a vote to overturn that Defense spending bill until Mitch McConnell asks for a vote on the $2,000 stimulus checks. Trump writing, quote, "Give the people $2,000 not $600. They have suffered enough."

The president here more closely aligned with Senator Bernie Sanders tweeting out in support of him, a Democratic socialist that he has frequently called crazy. This rift between Republicans and the president obviously growing and on full display on Twitter -- Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: And couldn't come at a worse time for Republicans given the runoff elections for those two Senate seats next week, one week from today to be exact in Georgia.

Boris Sanchez, thank you so much.

Well, this morning the U.S. hits a new coronavirus record again. 121,000 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19, that's the most since the pandemic started. And health experts warn medical facilities may soon have to ration care. Hospitals in California are so overwhelmed that one hospital is putting patients in the gift shop and a chapel.

CNN's Stephanie Elam joins me now from Los Angeles.

And Stephanie, so much concern about what's transpiring in that state right now. You had Dr. Anthony Fauci referencing it in his own concern this morning.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, for sure. And when you look at these numbers, Bianna, you can see there's a problem. Nationwide you're talking about that 121,000 people who are hospitalized, that record there.

Well, keep in mind that's also the 27th day in a row that we've been over 100,000 hospitalizations in the United States right now, and on top of that you look at December, we know it's the deadliest month by far now of all of the pandemics and you see that number above 66,000 and we see the number of cases in December, it's 5.7 million cases.

That beats the previous record which was just set last November. So all of this showing that things are not going the way that they should be going, especially since people are definitely moving around. We saw the most people traveling the day -- on Sunday out of all of this pandemic according to the TSA that's when they saw the most people go through their checkpoints. All of this is factoring into what we are seeing here. And you look at

the California numbers and it's just not what we want to see. And you say those numbers in California as far as hospitalizations and the fact that some of these hospitals are treating people in places that they should not be, like the chapel and the gift shop, that's specifically happening in two regions it looks like, Southern California and San Joaquin where they're out of ICU beds.

In fact, it's so dire take a listen to what Dr. Anthony Fauci said about the situation here in California.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAUCI: The situation in California, which is very disturbing, you just hate to see that when you have health care providers trying as best as they can, knocking themselves out to take care of people and they're running out of beds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: And it's so bad that some of these patients are being treated in ambulances outside of the hospital. We know hospitals have put back up their tents outside to treat COVID patients as well here in the Southern California region. All of this is leading many to believe that today California will extend the stay-at-home order for Southern California and also San Joaquin Valley where we see that we have already run out of ICU beds at this point in this surge upon a surge, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: A reminder for folks who are thinking about traveling. Just take a look at those numbers, take a look at these headlines coming out of hospitals and as Fauci said as well that he worries January could be even worse than December.

Stephanie Elam, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

Well, President-elect Joe Biden plans to call out the Trump administration for the slower-than-expected pace of coronavirus vaccinations. The CDC says that less than 20 percent of the doses currently in the hands of the states have been administered to people.

CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here.

Elizabeth, why are the numbers so short of those initial expectations?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Bianna, Dr. Anthony Fauci saying on our air very bluntly we are below where we want to be.

Now, Bianna, the number is very likely an underestimate, the number of shots in arms is likely an underestimate. Not all states put in their data, there are reporting lags, it's not necessarily up to the second, it was a holiday weekend.

And so there's a lot of hope that things will surge in January. But I think this really points to something that we've talked about on this show before, that there are two -- these are two different processes, getting the vaccines out, getting FedEx and UPS and trucks to do what they need to do to get the vaccines out, and then to get the vaccines into arms.

Those are two different processes. Getting FedEx and UPS and the trucks to do what they need to do, they do that every day. Hospitals don't vaccinate their entire -- virtually their entire staffs every day. That is an unusual process, it is not something they do all the time. I for one am not surprised that these numbers are what they are.

[09:10:02]

It's not an excuse but it really makes you wonder as prepared as this country was to get those vaccines out, were they as prepared to get those shots into arms? It is a bit of a slog to vaccinate that many people in nursing homes and in hospitals. It is not easy and I think we're seeing that now.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And that's one of the reasons I think President-elect Biden said that he would consider enacting the Defense Production Act to expedite this process as well, far below those estimates of 20 million shots by the end of the year.

Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

COHEN: Thanks.

GOLODRYGA: Well, more transition turmoil. President-elect Biden says his team is not getting the information it needs on key national security issues. The impact this could have on the incoming administration and your safety.

Plus one week from today critical Senate runoffs in Georgia. The power of the Senate at stake, millions have already voted. Will the president's upcoming visit help or hurt Republicans?

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[09:15:00]

GOLODRYGA: New this morning. President-elect Joe Biden is considering making cuts to the country's nuclear modernization program according to a transition team official. Biden is hoping to shift the U.S. strategy, putting more emphasis on arms control rather than enhancing America's current arsenal. CNN national security correspondent Vivian Salama joins me now. Vivian, good morning. This news comes as the clock ticks down on a critical cold war air and nuclear air agreement with Russia.

VIVIAN SALAMA, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Bianna, that's right. So, sources tell me that President-elect Joe Biden is considering reducing reliance and spending on nuclear weapons. And so, folks at home may hear that and say, oh, it's a dangerous world, why are they thinking of doing that?

But officials tell me that he really wants to place emphasis on arms control and not on developing these weapons and potentially having a threat. It's essentially a do as we do, not as we say. So, the back story of this program is that it actually started under Barack Obama's administration, it's called the nuclear modernization strategy, and it was supposed to be enhancing and modernizing the nuclear arsenal that the United States has.

Under the Trump administration, that ramped up significantly to the point that President Trump has advocated for the development of new modern weapons. He had -- he even went as far as to develop land-based ballistic missile which was very controversial. And that program is due at its current speed -- it's due to cost the United States over the next 30 years over $1 trillion.

And so, President-elect Biden and his advisors saying, listen, we've got to scale this back, obviously, we need a deterrent, we need strong nuclear program, but we can't also just let this become this bloated uncontrolled program. And so, obviously, this is something that's going to get a lot of push back from Congress, a lot of hawks out there believe we need to develop new nuclear weapons, we need to have a strong program.

And especially because as you said in the beginning, 16 days after President-elect Joe Biden takes office, a very critical pact, treaty with Russia expires, a nuclear treaty with Russia. And so, a lot of people looking at that and saying, what are you going to do next? We'll wait and see, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, the new start treaty, and President-elect Biden has suggested that he will extend that treaty, something that Vladimir Putin liked to hear as well and agreed with. Vivian Salama, thank you so much. Well, President-elect Biden is accusing the current administration of putting up road blocks to his presidential transition.

He says political leadership in the budget office and Defense Department are to blame, calling their lack of transparency nothing short of irresponsible. Now, acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller responded, saying, quote, "DOD's efforts already surpass those of recent administrations with over three weeks to go. And we continue to schedule additional meetings for the remainder of the transition and answer any and all requests for information in our purview."

I'm joined now by Rhode Island Democratic Congressman David Cicilline, he also serves on the Foreign Affairs and Judiciary Committees. Congressman, thank you so much for joining us. Let's begin with these transition road blocks that Biden is calling out. What is going on here and how dangerous would it be for the incoming president to be playing catch up as he enters the White House, especially with a suspected Russian hack still ongoing?

REP. DAVID CICILLINE (D-RI): Well, unfortunately, this is a pattern of this president who has in every way obstructed the transition to the new president. He refuses to acknowledge that Joe Biden will be the president of the United States and has won the election, and I think there have been a number of difficulties in terms of the sharing of information. Anything that is not shared that relates to our national security obviously endangers the security and safety of our country.

And so there are real consequences to this. Thankfully, the president- elect has assembled an extraordinary national security team and will of course catch up quickly. But this is just one more example of the sort of reckless, childish behavior of a president who lost an election and is not putting the best interests of the American people first.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, this really stood out, though, because President- elect Biden for the most part has been rather reserved in terms of criticizing the current administration, yet, to hear those words from him yesterday were pretty jarring. Let's move on to the other news yesterday, your chamber passed a measure to increase stimulus checks to $2,000. Do you have any confidence that this measure will make it through to the Senate?

CICILLINE: Well, it should. Look, we did two important things yesterday, we overrode the president's veto of the National Defense Authorization bill to be sure our troops get the pay raise they deserve, that we take care of our veterans, that we protect the defense of our country, and we also passed in a bipartisan way with over two-thirds of vote of the house to raise the survival checks to $2,000.

[09:20:00]

The president says he supports that, he should be pressuring Mitch McConnell to bring that bill to the floor for a vote. I think if Mitch McConnell does that, we will have the support from the Democrats and enough Republicans to make it a reality. Look, people are struggling, they're facing difficulties paying their bills, paying rent or mortgage, putting food on the table.

We're in the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes, the worst pandemic health crisis in a 100 years and a federal government needs to do more to help struggling families. The $2,000, again is a down payment, but I hope the Senate will quickly pass it and give badly needed relief to the American people.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, we have already heard from some Republican senators like Senator Rubio who said that he would be in favor of 2,000 stimulus checks going out as well. On that house vote yesterday to override the president's veto of the national defense bill, let me ask you about that because there seem to have been some road blocks in the sense that you got a curveball from Bernie Sanders of all people who threatened to pull off a vote unless senators voted on the $2,000 stimulus checks. How much does this complicate matters now?

CICILLINE: Well, I think, you know, what Senator Sanders is trying to do is force Mitch McConnell to give the American people an up or down vote on that important bill to raise the amount of survival checks. They should do both things, they should override the veto of the NDAA so we can take care of our troops and they should pass the increased survival checks.

And so, I think what Senator Sanders is trying to do is use a vehicle in the Senate to force a vote. But you know, Mitch McConnell has been the sort of grim reaper of legislation historically. There are hundreds of bills that we've passed out of the house that are sitting on his desk that he refuses to bring to the floor. This is just the most recent example. But I think whatever method they can use to force a vote on both those things is a good idea.

GOLODRYGA: Let me move on to a conversation I had last night with highly decorated retired Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman. As you know, he was a key witness in the president's impeachment trial. He retired this Summer after 21 years in the army, citing political retaliation by the president and his allies. He tells me last night, though, that the military didn't do enough to help and protect him. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Did the top brass in the military do enough to support and protect you?

ALEXANDER VINDMAN, RETIRED LIEUTENANT COLONEL: The bottom line is no, they haven't. At no point did any senior leader, civilian or military attempt to contact me and you know, indicate that I was still in good standing in the military.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Congressman, this happened after Defense Secretary at the time, Mark Esper said that he wouldn't be retaliated against, even though there was a delay, a long unexpected and unusual delay in his promotion prior to Vindman actually stepping down. Is this something that you think merits looking into, and an investigation in and of itself. Because what message does this send to others in the military who want to speak out when they see something wrong and worry that the same thing may happen to them?

CICILLINE: Absolutely. Look, Alexander Vindman is an American hero. The courage he displayed was extraordinary. When he recounted the conversation he had with his dad about America, it broke my heart because we expect the president of the United States and those that are part of his administration to fully support the rule of law and support people who come forward and testify truthfully and honestly about wrongdoing. And this is just one area that I think requires additional review when this president leaves office so that we can be sure that this never happens again, and understand how these things happen.

This is one of many examples of tremendous corruption by this president and this administration, and we have a responsibility obviously to move forward, but also to thoroughly understand how it happened and what we need to do to make certain it never happens again in this country.

GOLODRYGA: Well, we will be following up with you on that indeed to see if you do launch an investigation. Congressman David Cicilline, thank you as always, happy new year to you.

CICILLINE: Happy new year to you. Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Well, the number of people in the hospital battling coronavirus is at the highest point ever. What happens when hospitals have a shortage of medical staff and supplies? Health experts are worried. And we are moments away from the opening bell on Wall Street, futures up this morning after the president signed the stimulus deal into law.

All eyes now on the Senate and whether it will vote on the $2,000 stimulus checks. Also fueling optimism on Wall Street, vaccine rollouts across the country. We are following all the details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:25:00]

GOLODRYGA: COVID-19 vaccinations in the U.S. are not happening nearly as fast as the Trump administration predicted. Of the 11 million coronavirus vaccines sent to states, just over 2 million doses have been administered. This morning on CNN, Dr. Anthony Fauci expects the pace to pick up next month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I believe that as we get into January, we are going to see an increase in the momentum which, Jim, I hope allows us to catch up to the projected pace that we had spoken about a month or two ago when we were talking about the planned rollout of the vaccinations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: I'm joined now by Dr. Paul Sax; clinical director of Infectious Diseases at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.