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McConnell Slams Manchin's Proposed Changes To Voting Bill; CDC Dir.: Delta Variant Will Probably Become Dominant Strain In U.S.; Historic Drought Batters Parts Of Western U.S. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired June 18, 2021 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:30:12]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back right now. Democratic Senator Joe Manchin is trying to find 10 Republicans to support his proposed compromise of an election overhaul bill, SB1. His proposals include making Election Day, a national holiday also mandating voter I.D. requirement in every state. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is vowing still to block it.

Lauren Fox is live on Capitol Hill. Jeremy Diamond is at the White House. Good morning to you both. Lauren. Let's begin with you with this Republican pushback on Manchin's proposal. What are the chances that he can get the 10 because it's not just enough to get him on board?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think the chances right now, Poppy, are virtually zero, that Manchin could convince 10 Republicans to vote with Democrats to advance a voting rights proposal. Now, next week, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer plans to bring the bill to the floor. They're going to have a procedural vote on Tuesday. Of course, that'll be a key vote just to see whether or not Democrats can be united on this issue of voting rights.

As you know, Manchin had concerns about a previous version of the voting rights bill that Democrats had put together. Every single Democrat in the Senate had signed on as a cosponsor except Joe Manchin. So earlier this week, he made it clear that he wanted some changes, you named a couple of them. One of them would be requiring voter I.D. with some exceptions, that if you didn't have an I.D., you would be able to use a utility bill or some kind of other confirmation of who you were.

But those are big changes. And Democrats had a closed door lunch yesterday to try to discuss this, to try to make their voices clear, to try to get a sense of exactly what Manchin wanted, to get a sense of what some of the chairman and sponsors of that bill wanted to do to keep it intact. So this procedural vote next week will be key. But I don't think people back home should be thinking that there's any chance that there would be 10 Republicans willing to advance this, Poppy.

HARLOW: OK, so there's that the important vote side. What about at the White House, Jeremy? I mean, what are the options that the Biden administration is considering as clearly the more progressive wing of the party is becoming tired of what they, some of them view as a hopeless continued bid for bipartisanship?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, the White House has really been pretty hands off in a lot of these negotiations on Capitol Hill, as it relates to this voting rights bill.

They are letting Democrats kind of work out what they want to put forward and then seeing if those proposals like this one from Senator Manchin can garner any Republican support. Everybody here at the White House is pretty clear eyed about when Senator McConnell comes out and says there's not a single Republican that's going to vote for this, it's a pretty good bet that that's going to stick.

HARLOW: Yes.

DIAMOND: Now what the White House can do and what they are doing, we're seeing the Justice Department's, for example, stepping up enforcement of voting rights and announcement from the Attorney General Merrick Garland last week on that front. And then we also know that ultimately, this is a political fight as well. And that's part of the reason why you're seeing Vice President Kamala Harris take the lead on this voting rights platform.

Now, she made clear to me a couple weeks ago in Mexico, as she was on her foreign trip, that she believes that legislation at the federal level is central to this fight for voting rights. So they're certainly not giving up on that. But at the same time, they also know that this is a galvanizing political issue, and one that's going to be important going into these midterms.

And so I think you can expect to see the Vice President and other members of the administration increasingly out on the road, especially as we get closer to the midterms, talking about this fight for voting rights, talking about what Republican state legislatures are doing across the country, and if they can't get legislation at the federal level, at least using this as an issue to get their voters out to the polls.

HARLOW: OK, Jeremy, thank you at the White House, Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill. Appreciate it.

[09:33:46]

The Biden administration's push to vaccinate more Americans as quickly as possible as gaining a new sense of urgency, why this new more contagious variant threatens to become the dominant strain in the U.S. according to the CDC Director, much more than that ahead.

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HARLOW: New this morning, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky says the Delta COVID variant, first identified in India will probably become the dominant COVID strain in the United States. Listen.

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DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, DIRECTOR, CDC: It's more transmissible than the Alpha variant or the U.K. variant that we have here. We saw that quickly become a dominant strain in a period of one or two months. And I anticipate that is going to be what happens with the Delta strain here.

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HARLOW: Well, that variant is especially a threat to the millions of Americans who remain unvaccinated. Experts are warning that now is the time to get it, get the vaccine if you have not.

Joining me now is Michael Osterholm, Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, Professor at the University of Minnesota. Good morning to you. And thank you --

MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: Good morning.

HARLOW: -- for being here on the Delta variant specifically given Dr. Walensky's comments just this morning, do you agree with that assessment that this is what is going to dominate in the United States? And if you do, what does it mean for the country?

OSTERHOLM: Well, I do agree with Dr. Walensky. I think that this variant will be the dominant one within just a matter of weeks. This has real significant implications for increased transmission in our communities. We've been able to show that this virus is 50 to 60 percent, more infectious than was the B.1.1.7 or Alpha variant, the one we were worried about before, which was much more infectious in the previous strains.

So, this one really is the king of the pile in terms of transmission issues. Also, it has another component to it that's very concerning. It does have the ability to evade part of the immune protection from either vaccines or previous infections.

If you've only had one dose so the mRNA vaccines either Pfizer or Moderna, the vaccine only works about 30 percent of the time in actually preventing you from getting sick that's come -- in comparison to 70 to 80 percent with one dose with the other strains. You need both to get fully vaccinated, and then you can get better protection. So it's even more of a reason why we want everyone to get vaccinated.

[09:40:29]

HARLOW: How sure are scientists, how sure are you that the leading vaccines in this country that had been administered so Pfizer, Moderna, J&J protect enough against the Delta variant?

OSTERHOLM: Well, the data we have right now was Delta comes from areas that have had widespread transmission, notably England, of course, India, which at that time didn't have the vaccines to study like we do in England. And in England and in Israel, the data surely show that the vaccines

do protect against this variant if you have both doses. But remember, we keep putting up numbers on the board, 70 percent or 55 percent, whatever, that's for single dose. So it's really important that we actually get people vaccinated with both doses as soon as possible.

HARLOW: You've also cautioned that we shouldn't assume and just make the assumption that automatically what has happened in the U.K. because of the Delta variant is going to happen here.

OSTERHOLM: Right. We have to acknowledge that that we were really thrown a curveball in March and April, when we did predict that B.1.1.7 or the Alpha variant would become the dominant variant. And that was the one of course that caused such disruption in many parts of the world, including Europe in January and February.

Well, it got to the United States, and we saw it light up Michigan and Minnesota, but it didn't light up the other states. And we don't have an explanation for that. Why? It did become the dominant variant, but we didn't see the big increase in cases. So I've obviously had a note of caution here with regard to the Delta variant, this new one we're talking about, maybe the same thing will happen, but maybe it won't. And we have to be in our business prepared for the maybe it will happen --

HARLOW: Sure.

OSTERHOLM: Like it did in England.

HARLOW: And all of us need to be prepared for that as well. Before you go, things are opening up not just New York and California, notably this week, but Europe, the E.U. just announcing their decision to lift travel restrictions from 13 other countries for nonessential travel, so for leisure travel would be included now, that includes the United States. What do you think of that? And would you take your family on a plane to the E.U. at this point?

OSTERHOLM: Well, let's make it very clear that in the high income countries like the United States that have had the kind of vaccine programs that have been in place, we're not going to see big national surges, not like we did last January. But we're not done with this virus at all. You know, we have over 100 counties in this country that have had less than 20 percent of their population vaccinated.

HARLOW: Yes.

OSTERHOLM: We have states where we're well below 40 percent with even a single dose of vaccine in people. So we have a lot of susceptible people out there yet that have not been vaccinated, that for example, should this Delta variant take over. We're going to see local and regional surges that are substantial. We're already seeing that in Missouri. We're seeing that in other southern states. We're beginning to see this emerging surge in a given County.

So I think this is all the more reason why we have to know that we're not done with the virus yet. We are surely farther along in this country than other places, but we still need to get people vaccinated. And as you know, things have slowed down dramatically in terms of new people getting vaccinated.

HARLOW: Michael Osterholm, thank you very much.

OSTERHOLM: Thank you.

HARLOW: Have a nice weekend.

OSTERHOLM: Thank you.

[09:43:44]

HARLOW: Millions of Americans expected to see incredibly high temperatures of 100 degrees Fahrenheit or higher over the weekend, that dangerous heat worsening and already historic and devastating drought, that reporting ahead.

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HARLOW: There is a climate crisis unfolding before our eyes in the western United States. Right now, vast swaths of the West are experiencing an historic and unrelenting drought, the worst in the region in at least two decades. Take a look.

This is Lake Mead. At the moment, the nation's largest reservoir is about 143 feet below full capacity, the low levels now threatening the water supply for tens of millions of people. Our Stephanie Elam is there for us. Stephanie, I am so glad you are on this story. What are you seeing, what are you hearing from the people there?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, what I want to do is really make people understand why this is important. And I once had a woman in New York asked me, so California is in a drought, why should we care? Well, now it's more than California that's in the drought. In fact, Utah is completely in a drought as well.

And what I learned by talking to rancher T.J. Atkin, is that if this drought continues, it's going to be our food prices that are going to go up. Take a look.

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ELAM (voice-over): Living in southern Utah, cattle rancher T.J. Atkin is used to dry conditions.

T.J. ATKIN, CATTLE RANCHER: I can't control Mother Nature.

ELAM (voice-over): But the current dryness is more punishing than anything he's ever seen.

(on camera): How long has it been since you've had any meaningful rain here?

ATKIN: In the last 15 months combined, we're still -- we're barely at three inches of pre sip in 15 months. ELAM: And what would you normally see?

ATKIN: In Our annual for 12 months is nine inches.

ELAM (voice-over): For generations, his family has raised cattle on the same 210,000 acres in northwestern Arizona.

ATKIN: So either got to haul water or I've got to -- I'll take them to town and feed him for the next three months.

[09:50:07]

ELAM (voice-over): Atkin drove us out to the rugged era terrain of his ranch with temperatures well above 100 degrees. There were just a few signs of life until some of his cows came into view but just some, because there's not enough water out here to sustain them all.

ATKIN: I've relocated 80 percent already I've sold some of them.

ELAM (voice-over): Atkins water woes aren't his alone. Take a look at this U.S. drought monitor map, the darker the color, the worse the drought. Atkins ranch lies deep within that crimson red,

ATKIN: We have about 200 reservoirs, and every one of them is dry right now.

ELAM (on camera): Like dry.

ATKIN: Dry.

ELAM: Nothing.

ATKIN: We don't have a drought in any one of them. And we've never done that in 85 years never once.

ELAM (voice-over): Atkin's operation is in the Colorado River Basin, which is primarily fed by melting snowpack from the western Rocky Mountains. The river then winds down to the Gulf of California, supplying water to seven states along the way. But the basin is now in its 22nd year of drought. This is clearly evident further down river at the end of the Nevada Arizona border, where the river flows into Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the nation, which 25 million people depend on for water.

(on camera): Has it ever been this low before?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It hasn't not since filling in 1937. So we are anticipating the lower basin to be in the first ever shortage condition in history.

ELAM (voice-over): In fact, Lake Mead is 143 feet below full capacity, and has shed a mind boggling 5.5 trillion gallons of water in the last 20 years. Those low water levels mean power generation at the Hoover Dam is down 25 percent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one can really tell with any certainty. But we can all hope that the future will be wetter.

ELAM (voice-over): For his part, Atkin is hoping for a wet monsoon season this summer to replenish his dry ponds and keep his cattle business afloat.

ATKIN: We could catch more water in one week than we've caught in three years.

ELAM (voice-over): But if not, he predicts the entire country will be impacted by this unprecedented Western drought.

ATKIN: It is such a large area. I mean, it's almost half of the United States now. If this goes one more year, it'll have a huge effect on everyone.

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ELAM: Now, scientists believe that climate change is a huge part of the problem here. They're saying that these higher temperatures lead to drought. And then that drought then leads to higher temperatures which we have seen. In fact, this entire week, I've been traveling through the southwest and it's been over 110 degrees every single day punishing heat. And that makes it very hard for these ranchers, even though their cattle is born and bred to withstand these temperatures and makes it very hard for them at this point.

HARLOW: Stephanie, thank you so much. I know you'll stay on this. That's great reporting out there. I mean, a devastating situation, but great to have the facts. Thank you very much.

[09:53:04]

All right ahead for us, people in Iran heading to the polls today in a controversial presidential election, where voter apathy is really the headline, why are more people not going to the polls there? We will explain ahead.

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HARLOW: Iranians casting their ballots today in a controversial presidential election that is all but decided because most of the most serious contenders were barred from the race of course hanging in the balance on all of this is the future and the fate of the nuclear deal. Let's go to our colleague, Fred Pleitgen. He joins us now in Tehran. Fred, explain why so many of what were considered to be the most serious contenders are not even on the ballot.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You're absolutely right, Poppy. That's exactly what happened here. And that's because there's a body here in Iran called the Guardian Council, which bets all the candidates that want to run for president in this election. And obviously, a lot of them, thousands of people signed up and wanted to run.

But in the end, they actually did disqualify a lot of them, including many of the candidates who really had good chances of winning this election. And in the end, only seven candidates were left and another three of those candidates then dropped out in favor of the man who is now the front runner, it's an ultraconservative, called Ebrahim Raisi. He actually ran in the last presidential election against Hassan Rouhani. And he lost there, but now it seems all but assured that he will win this election.

And one of the things because all that happens is that the authorities here fear is that there could be very low voter turnout, I can look here, you can see there are actually quite a few people who are casting their ballots here. This is one of the main polling stations in central Tehran. But so far, the way things are shaping up it does appear as though the turnout could be fairly low.

Now, you're absolutely right, Poppy, to say that the main issue here is really the country's economy, which of course is suffering under those crippling sanctions that the Trump administration put in place and in that, of course, the nuclear agreement.

But it was interesting because I actually managed to speak to the country's national, the head of the National Security Council here for Iran. And he told me, no matter who becomes president, the negotiations to revive the Iran nuclear agreement are going to remain in place because it's something that the Iran supreme leader has decided.

So that's going to happen in any case. The big issue here for many people again, though, is the economy and a lot of people here have been struggling a great deal especially over the past couple of years, Poppy.

HARLOW: Absolutely. Fred Pleitgen live in Tehran, so important to have you there. Thank you very much.

It is the top of the hour. Good morning, everyone. Happy Friday. Thanks for being with me. Jim is traveling back from that Summit in Geneva. What you are about to see is raw. It is unfiltered and it is real. It is breathtaking video of the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol just released by the Justice Department.

[10:00:02]

It shows the horrifying moments of man armed with the flagpole tackled and beat down an officer trying to protect the Capitol.