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New York City Vaccine Mandate; Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Texas Abortion Ban; Big Week For Biden Agenda. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired November 01, 2021 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: "Irresponsible, bogus sick lead by some of our members is creating a danger for New Yorkers and their fellow firefighters. They need to return to work," the commissioner says, "or risk the consequences of their actions."

The city's vaccine mandate took effect Friday at 5:00 p.m.

Thanks for your time today on INSIDE POLITICS. Hope to see you back here this time tomorrow, Election Day.

Bianna Golodryga picks up our coverage right now.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Bianna Golodryga in New York. Ana Cabrera is off.

President Biden right now facing a pressure cooker on two continents. Today, he's in Scotland trying to prove to America's allies if the U.S. is back in the climate fight and more serious about it than ever, signaling a clear break from his predecessor's stance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I guess I shouldn't apologize, but I do apologize for the fact the United States in the last administration pulled out of the Paris accords and put us sort of behind the eight ball.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: A key piece of the fight, the hundreds of billions of dollars dedicated to fighting climate change in Biden's two signature legislative packages back home.

Those bills are far from finalized, but a potential breakthrough is creating new optimism. House progressives signaled that they would support the latest framework for the Build Back Better package. And while there are still a number of sticking points, an agreement could free up the smaller bipartisan infrastructure bill for a House vote potentially even this week.

So let's go right to Phil Mattingly live in Scotland and Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill. Phil, few people doubt the president's personal dedication to the summit. It is quite a change from his predecessor's. But in terms of tangible results, what has he been able to commit to in front of his international counterparts without that passed legislation?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think, Bianna, when you talk to White House officials, they make clear there's really two pieces of this right now.

There is the leadership piece, which you heard the president in very candid remarks apologizing for the last administration pulling out of the Paris climate accord, putting kind of the U.S. and the world behind the eight ball, but also just the way the pendulum has swung over the course of the last three decades between American administrations kind of testing the resolve in terms of how world leaders view what the United States is willing to do.

Now, the president has been made very clear he wants the U.S. to be net zero emissions by 2050. He believes that they can cut in half, between 50 and 52 percent of 2005 emissions, by 2030. Those are goals that he's laid out, and the way that he plans to reach those goals, there's been a series of executive actions, regulatory actions as well.

But the crux of it is, as you were noting, that legislative agenda that he's got still stalled on Capitol Hill. However, when you listen to the president talk about that agenda, you recognize how critical it was that he released that framework before he left that $1.75 trillion framework.

No, it did not unlock a vote. No, it did not unlock a final agreement. But it put in black and white the $555 billion in that proposal directed towards climate, tax incentives, taxing credits -- tax credits, things that would without question be the largest U.S. investment on the issue in the history of the country.

The president continues to talk about that, refer to that, show that two world leaders to underscore that not only is this a very different time from the last administration. This is a clear step by the United States to rally other leaders to try and have more ambitious goals coming out of this.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And it's notable that we didn't hear from China and Russia, two of the world's current biggest greenhouse gas emitters, right, because their plans that they have submitted are not as large and not as expensive as the one that President Biden has laid out.

And, Lauren Fox, this brings me to you. The progressives seem to think that Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin are finally on board with that larger spending bill, but neither has publicly said where they stand. But I do hear that we're going to be hearing from Manchin at some point today.

Hopefully, that will clear things up. That's what he is alluding to. What is the latest on that? LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, on his way into

his office this morning, he told us that his plan is to clarify where things stand later today.

I have been outside his office for about the last hour-and-a-half. He hasn't emerged yet. But the hope is that he might be able to provide some sense of where the Democratic negotiations all right now. It's not clear whether or not he's going to come out in support of the entire Biden framework or whether he's going to come out and announce key issues that he has with that framework.

We know, behind the scenes, he has concerns about expanding Medicare at all, because he argues that the whole program isn't solvent to begin with as it's structured, therefore expanding it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. That's been his argument.

Progressives did move over the weekend, saying that they do plan, if Pelosi brings both the bipartisan infrastructure bill and that larger social safety net bill to the floor, that they would support en masse that infrastructure bill. That is a departure from where they were just a couple of days ago, when the president made that forceful push off on Capitol Hill.

[13:05:01]

He came up here making a show before he went abroad that he wanted both of his legislative priorities to pass. Progressives in a different place today, but is Manchin in a different place? That is a question that we still just don't have the answer to at this hour, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, I do want to quote Manchin. He said: "I think I will clear up a lot of things sometime today." That is what he told our Manu Raju.

A lot of people have been waiting with bated breath to hear what he will be clearing up

Phil Mattingly, Lauren Fox, thank you so much for the latest there.

And we want to turn now to Virginia. It's election eve in a crucial proxy war between the president and his predecessor. Democratic candidate for Governor Terry McAuliffe has linked himself to the Biden agenda, while his Republican opponent, Glenn Youngkin, has carefully courted the Trump wing of the GOP while trying to keep Trump himself at arm's length.

But, apparently, the former president didn't get the memo. Just this morning, he again gave his full-throated support to Youngkin, saying that the two -- quote -- "get along very well together and strongly believe in many of the same policies."

So here to discuss this tight race, CNN chief national affairs correspondent Jeff Zeleny and CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger.

Jeff, let's begin with you.

So, Terry McAuliffe really was banking on Congress passing those two major Biden bills. Instead, what we see from him now is he's doubling down on his attacks against Trump and really playing defense on social issues like education. Does he think that's a winning strategy at this point?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, it's the best thing he has, because the reality is that Terry McAuliffe and his campaign have been doing one thing above all, looking for those Biden voters.

A year ago, Joe Biden won the Commonwealth of Virginia by 10 percentage points. So there are millions of Joe Biden voters out there. Yes, they may not be as enthusiastic. Yes, they may not like what they're seeing, all of them, in Washington with this Democratic divide. But that is what Terry McAuliffe has been trying to do to make his opponent a Trump-like clone.

But that has proven to be much more difficult than any Democrat expected. That's because Glenn Youngkin, he's never run for office before. And people well know Donald Trump. He's defined himself again and again, and Glenn Youngkin simply does not act like Donald Trump.

But at the end of the day here, it's long too late for Democrats to pass this agenda. There's more than a million early votes already cast there. So what they are trying to do now is simply fire up Democrats, those Democrats who voted for Joe Biden, and pull them into the polls tomorrow.

Again, 1.1 million people have voted early, but they're expecting potentially up to three million people. That would be the outside of the expectation. So, tomorrow, most of the vote is still going to come in.

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

And, look, Gloria, one can understand why so much attention is focused on this election. But it does beg the question of whether this is a bellwether election that should worry Democrats, just given the current momentum that Youngkin is experiencing, or is this to be expected in an off-year election where voter turnout for the opposing party candidate may traditionally be more energized?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, I think both of those things can be true.

I think the Democrats should be very worried about this. This is a state that Joe Biden won by 10 points. His popularity now is somewhere in the low 40s. The Democrats, voters in Virginia believe, have not delivered for them. And as Jeff was saying, you have got to keep the independent voters out there, those suburban women out there.

You don't want them to be disappointed. And Youngkin has been clever in this campaign. He has managed to walk a fine line, which is to say, for example, that he believes in so-called election integrity, but he's not out there shouting, stop the steal.

So he's managed to -- and it may be because he's not a politician, hasn't run for office, et cetera. So it may be that he's able to do this better than other candidates. So he's been able to distance himself from Donald Trump, as much as Terry McAuliffe wanted to portray him as a clone.

He's managed to distance himself and yet, hopefully, he believes, kind of attract the Trump voters also, because he's not a Democrat, and they hate Joe Biden.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Well, and that is the big question, Jeff, because given that he's gone out of his way not to offend Trump, but not necessarily aligned himself with him, what does that say about what turnout is going to look like?

I mean, do you think that a lot of Trump supporters will nevertheless turn out to vote for him?

ZELENY: Well, that's exactly why the former president is going to be calling into a telephone rally. That's what -- we know that Donald Trump loves his rallies perhaps more than most anything else, but he has been left to be heard and not seen.

But he is going to be calling into a rally this evening with one point overall, trying to energize his voters, those Trump voters in rural parts of Virginia, even in the suburbs.

[13:10:03]

So it has been a tightrope that Glenn Youngkin has been walking, no question, up until now fairly successfully. But we will see how many of those Trump base voters actually come out and vote.

But the biggest question overall is, how many Joe Biden/Glenn Youngkin voters are out there? How many people are out there, particularly in the suburbs of Washington and in Northern Virginia, who voted against Donald Trump because they did not like him, but they're trying to take a chance on Glenn Youngkin?

ZELENY: I have met a handful of them over the last several weeks reporting in Virginia, but we really don't know how many of those crossover voters there are.

That is going to help decide the race tomorrow.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, it's worth noting that Biden beat Trump last year by 10 points in the state.

BORGER: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: So, Gloria, at the end of the day, tomorrow, if McAuliffe does pull out this win, will that just be a win for win's sake and Democrats walk away relieved? Or will they be looking at any sort of lessons they can learn from this experience?

BORGER: Well, if McAuliffe wins, it's very unlikely that it's going to be by 10 points. So it would be a very narrow victory.

And I think Democrats would have to start asking themselves questions about whether running against Trump is enough, because what Youngkin would have done is to sort of walk that fine line that Jeff and I have both been talking about, agreeing with Trump on some of the social and cultural issues, without being bombastic.

He looks like an establishment Republican, right? And what kind of candidates are Republicans going to start running perhaps in House races, et cetera? And I would be nervous if I were a Democrat with the president at a 40 percent popularity rating right now.

I would go right back to Capitol Hill. And I would pass these measures and I would start talking about them immediately and what they can do for voters out there and how the Democrats have delivered, but in this particular case, unfortunately for Terry McAuliffe, they didn't do it in time.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And instead they're talking about schoolbooks.

BORGER: That's right.

GOLODRYGA: Jeff Zeleny, Gloria Borger, our coverage obviously will continue through tomorrow night. Thank you so much for this. We appreciate it.

Well, the Supreme Court today, you're looking at live photos right now as they're hearing two challenges for the most restrictive abortion laws in the country. And it appears the justices have real concerns over the way the Texas law was drafted.

Plus, more than 2,000 New York Fire Department personnel have called out sick just as the city's vaccine mandate for all city workers goes into effect. We will have details coming up ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:17:01]

GOLODRYGA: Today, the U.S. Supreme Court just heard the latest challenges to the near total ban on abortions in Texas.

Moments ago, justices wrapped up oral arguments on whether federal courts can be used to challenge the controversial law. And what from -- you heard, even from -- conservative justices appear sympathetic to the plaintiffs on procedural grounds.

CNN's Jessica Schneider joins us now.

And, Jessica, twice, the Supreme Court has refused to block this law. So what happened today and what really stood out to you from the justices' line of questioning?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bianna, it was three hours of arguments on two separate, but related cases. And it seems that potentially two conservative justices could be at

play here to possibly side with the abortion providers or the Justice Department on their argument that this Texas law improperly thwarts federal judicial review by the way that the law is structured.

In particular, Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh seemed to have some issues with the way that Texas had structured its law, in particular, Justice Amy Coney Barrett talking about the fact that, when abortion providers are sued, if they go to court, they actually can't bring up the constitutionality of this law as a defense. They can't say that this law is unconstitutional in defense if they're taken to court.

And then there was Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and he brought up the question of, if Texas is allowed to enact this type of law to stop abortions, putting the power with private citizens to sue, rather than state officials to enforce the law practically banning abortions when -- at six weeks, what's to stop other states from enacting similar laws or enacting laws that also thwart constitutional rights, like gun rights?

So the questions from those two justices leaving the possibility that they could step in here, side with the liberal liberals potentially, and allow this lawsuit, these two lawsuits potentially to move forward and allow the DOJ and abortion providers to challenge this law, of course, because this is a law that has ignited debate all over the country, particularly in Texas.

But here at the Supreme Court, we have seen protests. We have seen people come out on both sides of the issue today, the Supreme Court, the nine justices realizing the gravity of this issue. They fast- tracked this case to be able to hear arguments today.

And it's possible, Bianna, that they actually could issue a decision well before the spring, potentially in the next few weeks, that would determine if these lawsuits from the Justice Department and abortion providers can move forward in the lower courts and whether they can again ask those lower courts to block this Texas law that has now been in effect exactly two months -- Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, and the justices will be hearing yet another potential landmark case as soon as next month on abortion rights as well.

SCHNEIDER: They will.

December 1 is when they will really get to the core of the issue of Roe v. Wade. They will be listening to arguments about a Mississippi abortion law that bans abortions at 15 weeks. They will be getting to the heart of the issue there, whether or not Mississippi can pass this sort of law, whether it can stand.

[13:20:04]

This law has been blocked while the litigation has moved forward. And Mississippi has flat out said they want this court to overturn Roe v. Wade. You have several justices who have voiced opposition to Roe v. Wade. We will see what happens. But that is down the pipeline as well, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: A lot of legal scholars will be following that.

Jessica Schneider in Washington, thank you, as always.

Well, thousands of first responders out sick, as New York City's vaccine mandate goes into effect. What does it mean for emergency services in America's largest city?

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[13:25:32]

GOLODRYGA: New York City's COVID-19 vaccine mandate is now in effect, meaning that, today, if members of the fire department police department or other city workers show up to their jobs and haven't had at least one vaccine dose, they could be sent home without pay.

Moments ago, the FDNY commissioner saying hundreds of FDNY members called out sick this morning, bringing the total number of sick-outs to 2, 300.

CNN's Polo Sandoval joins us now from outside of a fire station.

And, Polo, I guess the concerns, as some protests ensue, is of staffing shortages and what this could mean really for first responders. I know that this is something the mayor recently spoke out about. What did he say?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Will, Bianna, he says that they have the resources, they have the personnel, and, most importantly, they have a contingency plan to make up for the losses in the work force and staffing issues here that they have actually encountered, they have actually started to encounter over the weekend, having to reshuffle some of the resources around to make sure that calls don't go unanswered and to make up for the roughly 2, 300 firefighters that have called in sick for one reason or another.

We heard over the weekend from New York's fire commissioner, who says that many of those absences are directly linked to anger about that mandate. Now, at this very spot, I heard from the one of the firefighters unions earlier this morning, and they insist that that is not the case, this is no organized effort.

But, nonetheless, it's certainly something that we're looking into here. At the same time, you also have about 9,000 city employees -- that's across the board from the various departments -- that, as of this morning, have actually been sent home and placed on unpaid leave, because they do -- they're not adhering to that mandate that requires that all employees be vaccinated already.

Now, when it comes to those resources that they're having to move around, as you mentioned, we heard from Mayor Bill de Blasio earlier today, saying that, yes, they have seen the impact here. They have had about 18 fire companies that have been temporarily been taken out of service.

But for good context here, that's out of 350 citywide. So the mayor saying that this is a department that is massive that has plenty of resources.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL DE BLASIO (D), MAYOR OF NEW YORK: We know right now firehouses are open. No firehouse closed, response times normal with fire, EMS, NYPD.

This mandate was the right thing to do. And the proof is in the pudding. We now see it worked.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Finally, let's take a quick look at some of the latest vaccination numbers in terms -- especially some of those that have to deal with public safety. We talked about the fire department already seeing a significant increase with about 80 percent of their members of the department in compliance of this mandate.

Their partners over the police department, that number at 85 percent right now, according to those numbers that were released not too long ago here by city officials, Bianna. That's 34 out of 35,000 uniformed personnel at the NYPD that are currently on that unpaid leave, and overall, all city departments, 91 percent of them are already vaccinated and in compliance.

So we will certainly have to see if the rest of them can potentially make an impact in terms of any lack of manpower later in the coming days.

GOLODRYGA: Right. And it's so important. Thank you for putting into context, showing that the majority of these workers have indeed been vaccinated or at least received their first dose of vaccine.

Polo Sandoval, thank you so much.

Well, with us now is Dr. William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Dr. Schaffner, always great to have you on.

We note this isn't just impacting cities like New York. Other cities like Chicago are dealing with this as well. And you call mandates like this a reasonable request. So what is your reaction to what you just heard from Polo in his reporting here in New York City?

DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, DEPARTMENT OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE CHAIRMAN, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: Well, Bianna, first of all, I'm very glad that the vast majority of public workers in those cities are being vaccinated.

But you're talking to a doctor here. In our medical center, everyone from the custodian through the C Suite has to be vaccinated. And, of course, we do that because we think it's an ethical and a professional responsibility.

And I would urge firefighters, police officers, municipal workers also to think of this as their professional responsibility. I mean, after all, we're fighting a war against this virus. So far, we have asked for volunteers to roll up their sleeves and fight. And then the virus got reinforced by Delta.

And now our society is asking to draft people in. We're asking people to be obliged to do that. It's a societal contribution. It's ethical. It's professional.