Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Biden to Address World Leaders; Economic Bills in Congress; Historic Week for Domestic Legislative Agenda; New York to Send Home Unvaccinated City Employees Today; Dr. Andi Shane is Interviewed about Vaccines. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired November 01, 2021 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Later he's playing for the team. Imagine what a thrill that must have been for him.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Must have been. Going back home.

BERMAN: All right, a lot going on with the president in Scotland for a key climate summit.

CNN's coverage continues right now.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: A very good Monday morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Erica Hill.

Happening right now, President Biden's climate goals, both at home and abroad, being put to the test. The president set to address world leaders at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, kicking off two weeks of talks. Now the goal it to limit global warming and decarbonize the planet. Experts calling this meeting the world's last best chance to address the climate crisis.

SCIUTTO: All of this comes on the heels of an unsettling report from the World Meteorological Association. That report says that climate change has propelled earth into, quote, uncharted territory. New data shows that the past seven years are on track to be the warmest on record, the warmest ever, while this year alone the global sea left rise has accelerated to a new high. It's happening before our eyes.

Ahead of this summit, the White House announced a plan to get the U.S. to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. It's an ambitious goal.

Let's begin this morning with CNN chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins. She's following all of this from Edinburgh.

And, Katelin, President Biden, he's going to speak shortly. I wonder, reality check here, what are the genuine expectations as to what the U.S. and world leaders leave Edinburgh with, hard commitments?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the big question. And it doesn't seem like there are hard commitments yet. But the overall message that the White House is trying to have President Biden portrayed to these other world leaders while he's here is that now the United States is serious about confronting climate change. And, of course, that has been a struggle given what his predecessor did when he was in office, exiting the Paris Climate Accords.

And so President Biden is trying to send this message that they are serious about it and that he is making a personal commitment for the United States to combat climate change with these goals that, of course, you've seen the White House lay out, you've seen the president's climate envoy, John Kerry, traveling around the world, meeting with other world leaders and their deputies to talk about this. And so that is going to be essentially the overarching message of this speech that you're going to hear from President Biden coming up.

But, of course, part of this has to do with not just what the United States is doing, but also a global effort. And that is going to be something that you've heard the White House say over the last few hours, Jim, is that they have been incredibly critical of China, given, of course, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping is not here. They are the world's biggest polluter, in addition to Russia, who is also not here. Vladimir Putin, instead, delivering a pre-recorded message.

And so the White House is saying that the Chinese are being outliers here when it comes to this and saying that they need to step up their commitments. So you could also see President Biden trying to take advantage of the fact that the Chinese aren't here to take that leadership role.

Essentially, though, of course, we know the president is coming into this with a bit of a weakened hand than what he initially had hoped he'd be entering this climate summit with, and that, of course, is his agenda back at home, given we've seen how it has been scaled back significantly from where it was initially because of opposition from Senator Joe Manchin and a few others, but primarily Senator Manchin, though the president will come in and say, you know, we have got this agreement that he believes, Jim, is going to get passed this week that has hundreds of billions of dollars in it to fight climate change. Incredibly significant still even though it's far from what the president had initially hoped to be walking in here with.

Though, of course, as the president himself acknowledge last night, that is a deal that has not passed through Congress yet, but he is hoping to send that message to World Leaders, that the United States is headed in the right direction and that he's prepared to lead on this.

SCIUTTO: If they do get it, it would be the biggest ever, right? And credit where credit is due, although not quite ready to deliver that credit given where negotiations stand.

Kaitlan Collins in Edinburgh, so good to have you there.

Now to Capitol Hill, where CNN has learned that in a virtual meeting among progressives on Sunday, most -- most of them signal they are likely to back both the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the social safety net bill when they come up for a vote likely now sometime after Tuesday.

HILL: And that, of course, is an important development since one of the major sticking points for many progressives has been, among other things, that signoff from moderate Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who have yet to publicly endorse the framework on the social spending package.

CNN congressional correspondent Lauren Fox is on Capitol Hill this morning.

So we know one of the things that progressives are still working on is to get drug pricing reform, potentially some further Medicare expansion, into that spending package. This morning, where are we in terms of those negotiations, Lauren?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the most significant development over the weekend, like you pointed out, progressives arguing that they are ready to move ahead with both a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill and that larger social safety net package. That is significant because over the course of the last several weeks, that has been one of the key drivers for why Biden didn't have something to deliver when he went abroad.

[09:05:01]

Now, one of the other question marks is what is going to be included in this larger spending bill. There are items, of course, that have been left on the table and there are a couple of things that Democrats are still trying to make sure they can negotiate, hoping to put them in the bill. One of them, like you pointed out, is prescription drugs. And I am told that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had a conversation with Arizona moderate Senator Kyrsten Sinema over the weekend to talk about this issue. Negotiations have been unfolding for several weeks on this issue.

Originally, it was not in the president's framework. But Democrats really making a final push to try and include it. That is one of the sticking points.

Another one of the sticking points, of course, Medicare expansion and what exactly would be included. Bernie Sanders, the budget chairman, wants to include both vision as well as hearing. Right now hearing is in the bill but vision is not. That's something he's fighting for.

So, still a few moving pieces. But we should note, that as the president is abroad, this is as close as he's been yet to getting his agenda through Congress. The rules committee, which is the special House committee that sets the parameters of the debate on the floor, they were scheduled to meet today. The expectation is that meeting is going to get pushed as these negotiations continue. But I am told from sources behind the scenes that that should not be taken as a sign that these negotiations aren't progressing because they are getting very close.

Jim and Erica.

SCIUTTO: Very close.

Lauren Fox, thanks so much.

Joining us now to discuss, CNN political analyst Rachael Bade. She is co-author of "Politico Playbook" and CNN political analyst Zolan Kanno-Youngs, he's White House correspondent for "The New York Times."

Perhaps overcome by the emotion here, Rachael of yet another important week. Reality check for us. We have banned the phrase deadline on this broadcast because so many deadlines have been set and broken through these negotiations. Where do they stand and what's the most likely date now for a vote?

RACHAEL BADE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I mean, look, we've heard this before how many times? This is just the reality of the situation, sausage making is messy and oftentimes when lawmakers pass these big bills, there's a lot of false starts, as we've seen.

And so, you know, I'm very skeptical about this week but the reality is they have made a lot of progress. They have a framework now that moderates have signaled that they will support. The fact that progressives are saying they can also swallow this, when their own priorities have been scaled back so much is actually a huge step forward. So now they've got to write these (INAUDIBLE) bills. They've got all those, you know, provisions that we -- you guys were just discussing that they're still working on, on Medicare, prescription drugs, a final push to get paid leave in there. We don't know if that's going to happen.

But, look, they're making progress. They've got to get CBO score, you know, do the numbers sort of add up, how much is this going to cost, is everything paid for? And, look, they need the president back in town probably to get the final votes. Pelosi only has a three-vote margin. She can only lose three Democrats on Build Back Better. And the president is out of town right now, obviously. He's not going to be back until Wednesday at the earliest. You know, will this move through the House? Maybe this week. Probably not. But even then it's still got to go through the Senate. And senators like to make their own changes, too.

So, you know, sit tight. It's going to be a while. We're going to be talking about this for a little bit now.

HILL: Yes, we're not done yet, that's for sure, although I understand how it gets emotional, Jim, because we're happy to have you back here to talk about it.

Zolan, when we look at where we are, you know, the point that Rachael just made, of course, we still have to get through the Senate, there is still not a firm yes from Senators Manchin and Sinema. Is there a sense that when President Biden is back in town he's going to pick up where he left off with them? ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I mean it's tough to say.

You look at the president's comments in recent days. He wants this to be passed. He wants to point to progress being made by the end of the week. He's saying, that what -- he said, you know, he would like to see that at some point.

If we don't see this passed, you'd have to think that, of course, the president, as well as officials from his office of legislative affairs, some of his top officials will be engaged in Congress trying to, you know, rally those moderate Democrats in particular to pretty much buy in and give their sign-off. Just -- it was just a short while ago we also saw him invite Senator Manchin to Delaware as well to talk over some of the final points of this bill.

And as Rachael was saying, there's -- while progress has been made and there are ongoing negotiations over prescription drug pricing, there's still reasons to look at this and still wonder when this is going to be passed. I mean you still have some House Democrats also saying that they want immigration reforms in this bill as well. Whether or not that's going to go in after the parliamentarian ruling will be something to watch.

Senator Sanders as well saying he would like something, a statement from Senator Manchin and Sinema saying that they are supporting this package as well.

So there's still some things to watch here, but you have to think that if the president comes back and this hasn't passed, it's still priority number one at this point.

SCIUTTO: Rachael Bade, just going big picture for a moment, and, yes, the negotiations have been a mess.

[09:10:02]

They've dragged out. The internal divisions among Democrats, very real and very public. If and when they get to that point, and the betting in this town despite everything seems to be there, this is a not insignificant piece of legislation, is it not, when you look at benefits, for instance, on child care, but also how they pay for it. You know, directing their fire in effect at the wealthiest of Americans, which is something that, frankly, you've heard from Republicans and Democrats through the years but has not happened.

BADE: Yes, if they get both of these bills passed, and it does look like they're going to get there. It's a question of when and not if. It's going to be a huge accomplishment for Democrats. I mean this is exactly what they set out to do. They'll have, you know, the pandemic relief bill $2 trillion worth of spending earlier this year. They'll have their $1 trillion infrastructure bill, which is going to rebuild the nation's roads and bridges. That's going to be huge. And then, you know, these sort of family provisions that they wanted to work on for a long time.

So that's a lot of money. It's definitely historic in terms of the changes they're trying to create. But they're not there yet. And I think one of the reasons, you know, we always talk about, is it going to happen this week or not, is -- what deadline is this, deadline number three, deadline number four. One of the reasons they make these sort of self-imposed deadlines is, you know, having covered Congress for over a decade, nothing gets done in Congress unless you create these deadlines.

So, while these deadlines create drama, when they try to get to them and then fail, each time they get to one, they make a little bit of progress. And that's the reason why you have a lot of these sort of failed headlines that they didn't do it but they have to do this in order to get to that big victory at the end. It's just sort of part of the process.

HILL: A frustrating part of the process, right?

BADE: Yes.

HILL: You know, covering it and for the people watching it.

Rachael Bade, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, good to have you both here this morning. Thank you.

Up next, New York City's fire and police departments warning of staffing shortages as a vaccine mandate takes effect. We're live.

SCIUTTO: Plus, the Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments this morning on Texas' extremely restrictive abortion law. How their ruling would have ripple effects across the country, women across the country.

Also ahead, Alec Baldwin breaking his silence over the weekend about the deadly shooting on the set of his film "Rust."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:16:37]

HILL: If New York City workers who haven't been vaccinated against COVID-19 show up for work this morning, they could be sent home today on unpaid leave. Mayor Bill de Blasio's mandate gave them until Friday to show proof of at least one dose of a COVID vaccine.

SCIUTTO: Many city workers, despite the medical data, have protested the mandate while thousands have applied for a special accommodation, like a religious exemption. And New York has scrambled to prepare for possible staffing shortages at fire, police and city departments, other city departments, although the vaccination rate among fire and police has gone up, it's nudged up.

CNN's Polo Sandoval joins us with the latest from outside a fire station there in New York.

I know that the -- the FDNY has not shared publicly the data. But what are they saying this morning about whether they're going to have trouble filling all the slots this morning? POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, Jim and Erica, that's why this

is one of the big takeaways is that this point, as of this morning, it is still too soon to say exactly what extent of any potential impact on the day-to-day operations of the FDNY will be. We know that over the weekend FDNY did announce that they had to temporarily get out of -- remove from operation some individual fire companies. Now, an important distinction, that's not to be confused with actual firehouses. You see you have multiple firehouses throughout the city that have several companies in them. You have the engine and ladder companies. And, at this point, the fire department is assuring the public that they have not closed any firehouses.

But earlier this morning, in that final effort to call on the city to try to hold back on enforcing this mandate, we heard from the FDNY Firefighters Association calling on the city, not just to put this on pause, to essentially reassess the situation here, give some of their senior members an opportunity to potentially retire if they choose to.

You heard them say that there is still a possibility, according to the firefighters union, that we could see some of those operations affected. Here's what they said earlier this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW ANSBRO, PRESIDENT, UNIFORMED FIREFIGHTERS ASSOCIATION: Most firehouses in New York City are an engine and a ladder. So if they close down one company, technically the firehouse is not closed. But if they close the engine, the fire company that's expected to bring the hose to the fire and put the fire out is not there. If they close the ladder, that's the company whose job is to locate the fire and locate the victims and rescue the victims. That service will not be available. So to say the firehouse is closed -- not closed is accurate. To say that fire coverage won't be affected is not true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Over the weekend we did hear from New York's fire commissioner who said that they did notice a sharp increase in the sick leave that was being taken. And according to the commissioner, he believed that some of that was out of anger about the mandate.

But, again, the lingering question is, how much of an impact will this actually have? You can potentially answer that by looking at the latest vaccination figures right now when it comes to New York City first responders. Just check out FDNY alone. There are about 80 percent. That is a sharp increase from a couple of days ago. And then when you look at their partners over at the police department, that's about 84 percent of the force now in compliance with the mandate. So that is a majority of those first responders are now in compliance with that mandate and able to respond. But citywide, you're talking about everybody else, still looking at about 22,000 city employees across the board that have not been vaccinated and could potentially be sent home on unpaid leave today.

HILL: Polo Sandoval with the latest for us this morning. Polo, thank you. [09:20:00]

Let's take a look at where vaccinations stand not just here in New York City with some of those workers but across the board. The CDC reporting a rise in COVID-19 vaccinations. At least two-thirds of Americans have now received at least one dose. So if you look at the numbers for people who are eligible, right, those ages 12 and up, 58 percent of that population now fully vaccinated. 67 percent at least one dose in.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And keep in mind, this excludes the portion of the population that are not yet approved to get it, including children. The CDC is expected to sign off on Emergency Use Authorization for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children age five to 11 years old soon, of course making many more people eligible.

Joining us now to discuss, Dr. Andi Shane, chief of the division of pediatric infectious disease with Emery University and Children's Health Care of Atlanta.

Thanks so much for joining this morning.

You know, it's interesting to watch those figures because they've been relatively flat in terms of growth and vaccinations, but they've ticked up a bit as these vaccine mandates have gone into effect. And I wonder, you deal with a lot of patients who I'm sure have questions about the vaccine.

From your seat, do you believe the vaccine mandates have helped push some people over the line here?

DR. ANDI SHANE, CHILDREN'S HEALTH CARE OF ATLANTA: Well, thanks, Jim, that's a great question. And, you know, while we really hope that people would opt to receive a vaccine because of their choice, vaccine mandates can be very helpful in making sure that those individuals who may have some hesitancy or may not be quite sure that they want to be vaccinated, requiring a vaccination in (INAUDIBLE) as a condition of employment or to participate in an activity may actually help to increase vaccination rates.

HILL: When we look at the vaccines themselves, so Pfizer authorized for ages 12 and up approved for 16 and up. Moderna we learned over the weekend that the FDA said to Moderna they want some more time to review the vaccine data from Moderna for 12 to 17-year-olds, specifically talking about the risk of heart inflammation. What should we take away from that?

SHANE: So, I think that this is really -- shows us that our safety signals and our observations are really working. This is what happens when we pay very close attention to vaccines and how they are being administered and the adverse effects. So it's not only providing the vaccine, but there's lots of intensive monitoring that occurs and follow-up after a vaccination is available. And what this tells us is really that our vaccine safety signals are working.

So we need to look and pay some attention and understand if this really is something that we need to pay attention to or if it's something that is not -- does not need additional attention.

SCIUTTO: All right, so it looks like we're just days away from approval for the Pfizer vaccine for children age five to 11. What should people take into account as they begin to schedule those first shots and get into the process here, and do you expect them to have a lot of difficulty, right, I mean because when adult vaccinations were approved, you know, the big rush, right, to those centers, hard to get an appointment, do you expect something similar here?

SHANE: So, that's a great question. And, actually, the government and many state health departments have actually been extremely proactive in preparing for this hopeful (ph) authorization by the CDC later on this week and so have begun thinking about operationally how this will be distributed, communicating with pediatrician's offices, health departments.

One of the big challenges is that this dose, for five to 11, is different than the dose that is given to adults and older children. So there will be some operational issues that will have to be taken into consideration. But there's been a tremendous amount of effort in advance, so we're anticipating a very smooth rollout.

HILL: Well, and we look forward to a smooth rollout and rollout in general at this point.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HILL: Dr. Andi Shane, great to have you here this morning. Thank you.

SHANE: Thank you.

HILL: Still ahead this hour, the ban on abortions in Texas heading to the Supreme Court. What justice will hear next hour and how that could impact the rules. That's up next.

SCIUTTO: You'll want to hear that story. Big impacts.

Plus, we are moments away from the opening bell on Wall Street. Futures are higher this morning, starting off a fresh trading month. After a rough September, stocks ended October on a high note. The S&P and Nasdaq both ended the month with record highs yet again, gaining around 7 percent just for the month. That's the best month in the year. Pretty remarkable. Meanwhile, the Dow had its best month since March.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:29:28]

SCIUTTO: Minutes from now, the Texas abortion ban heads to the Supreme Court with enormous implications for the second largest state in the country, but also for the nation as a whole. That extremely restrictive law bans abortions after six weeks with no exceptions, none, for rape or incest. The nine justices will not be discussing, at least for now, if the law violates Roe v. Wade. HILL: That's right. And, instead, the question that they're trying to

answer is whether a state can evade federal court review by delegating enforcement of that abortion ban to private citizens.

Joining us now, University of Texas School of Law Professor Steve Vladeck.

[09:30:03]

So, Steve, good to have you with us this morning.

You say the court, you know, and you point out here, this is, again not about the court deciding.