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Biden Hopeful For Gun Reform; Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller Is Interviewed About Uvalde; E.U. To Ban Russian Oil; Commuting Costs Strain Americans. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired May 31, 2022 - 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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[09:31:50]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: A bipartisan group of senators will meet remotely today trying to reach a compromise on gun reform. A gun reform Zoom call, Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: When President Biden was in Uvalde, Texas, on Sunday, he told grieving families something would be done to address gun violence in this country. And he said he's optimistic that lawmakers will, this time, make it happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Second Amendment was never absolute. I think things have gotten so bad that everybody's getting more rational about it. At least that's my hope and prayer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: That's his hope and prayer.

What's actually going to happen? Our congressional correspondent, Lauren Fox, joins us from Capitol Hill.

Lauren, good morning.

What are you hearing? Should he be hopeful?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this meeting today is going to be significant, Poppy, in part because it's occurring when lawmakers are not even in Washington. They view this issue as so important, so imminent that they need to take action now. So, this Zoom call taking place today among a bipartisan group of senators.

And Senator John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, addressed his plans for this call yesterday when he was back in the states saying that his hope is that members will lean toward the middle., and he said he plans to do the same, to find some kind of resolution on something like an expanded background check bill, or legislation to give greater access to mental healthcare in this country.

Now, Cornyn did address that there may be other steps that other states want to take that go beyond those measures. He said that that is going to be action that states should be addressing in their own legislatures, with their own governors, because, obviously, what would work in one state like New Jersey or New York is going to be very different than what lawmakers in Texas might be willing to accept.

But, obviously, this is an important first step. The hope is that lawmakers could find some middle ground before they get back to Washington next week so they could move much more quickly when they return.

Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives, Democrats are not pausing, taking immediate action. The House Judiciary Committee announcing that they will hold an emergency hearing to vote and advance gun legislation on a series of items. One of them, raising the age at which you can purchase a gun like an AR-15 from 18 to 21 nationally. There's also going to be legislation to bar people from buying high capacity magazines, as well as legislation to encourage people to use safe storage practices in their homes for the firearms that they already have.

So, a series of bills that the House Judiciary Committee is going to be marking up. Of course, whether those bills would pass in the Senate is a very, very high bar, Poppy. But it's important that both chambers taking their own actions hoping to get something, anything, across the finish line.

SCIUTTO: I mean it's for show, unless they can get votes in the Senate. And they've done this before on a whole host of things. So we'll see where it goes.

Lauren Fox, on The Hill, thank you.

It's been a week, one week, since the gunman stormed into Robb Elementary School. Today there will be two funerals for victims Amerie Jo Garza, a little girl, and Maite Rodriguez, a little girl, both 10 years old. Twenty-one crosses, one for each of the 19 children and two teachers, now stand outside the Sacred Heart Catholic Church.

[09:35:05]

There will be funerals for 12 of the victims at that church.

Each cross -- and, boy, have we seen this before in so many places around the country -- will be a reminder of lives lost a week ago today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All -- all of those kids that have crosses there, those are all my friends. They - they all died. And I just feel really bad because my friend, you know, it might -- it broke my heart into a million pieces.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Those are all my friends, she said. Joining me now is Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller. He's head of the

Diocese of San Antonio, which Uvalde is part.

Archbishop, we appreciate you coming on this morning.

ARCHBISHOP GUSTAVO GARCIA-SILLER, SAN ANTONIO: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: So, I can see it in your face, and we were talking in the break, you've had a lot of difficult conversations and you have a difficult, almost impossible message, I imagine, for the families of the children and others who are grieving right now.

I'm curious, what do you say to them?

GARCIA-SILLER: Well, I don't say much to the families, but I show through gestures, expressions of care, and in some way to convey that it is a community and many people throughout the world who are thinking of them and that they are suffering with them.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

GARCIA-SILLER: It's to - it's how to be one. And being a spiritual leader is at a level of the soul, a level of the heart. And that is different ways how to get there. But they are not a common ways. You know, it's not the speeches. It is love, tenderness, compassion.

As you were saying about the many funerals that well take place, you know, in Sacred Heart Church, we need to deal with each one of them in a different way because each family is different.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

GARCIA-SILLER: Each child is unique. And so we'll try to do the best we can.

And then to assure them with gestures again that we will be for them in the long run. It's not just this moment. And the means of communication, some people there are concern or afraid to turn on the TV, or social media. This is a time in which people, they need connected. Connected and here, even if it hurts, even if you're a member of the family that hurts, it's a reality in our country. We are in decadence because we have been fostering a culture of death to make the arms sacred. And then with the same arms to kill people. I mean, there is no logic to it. No logic to it.

SCIUTTO: No, there isn't.

Is it consistent --

GARCIA-SILLER: No, and -

SCIUTTO: To be pro-life in terms of abortion, but also pro-gun and against most or all gun regulations, as you discussed this, as a matter of the church?

GARCIA-SILLER: Well, that works for politicians and politics. People, they say they are pro-life, and is so narrow their vision. To be pro- life and what we call in the catholic church respect life has to be consistent, which means from the womb, conception, to natural death, and all in between.

And that means children, the youth, the sick, the drug addicts, the married people, the homeless, the people in death row, we have to be consistent. And for the most part, politicians are not consistent. And they use the pro-life to promote their base. And it's a very narrow picture. To take care of the baby in the womb, and to kill it when he's nine years old, what is the logic there? It's hard to comprehend for everybody. But it's a fact. It's happening.

And the person who doesn't have money, the person who has a different color of his skin, the person, you know, I met with children 9 to 11 years old in one school in that region.

[09:40:04]

It's also -- it happens at a school called Sacred Heart too, not far from Uvalde. And I went and I needed to learn from them. And I was asking them, what was in their hearts. And there were about 50 comments. One of them, one kid said very clearly, he said, we have to pray also for the killer. We have to pray for the family of the killer, somebody else said, because they must be hurting a lot too.

And another girl, the last one who spoke, she was hesitant. And, finally, a teacher, a mother said, this girl wants to talk. I said, sure. Sure. And she said, I know how that feels because I had been in the middle of shootings. My goodness. How we're going to be pro-life, respect life, if we just see with a very short vision what life is. Life, human life has not been placed in the forefront of our conversations. The dignity of everyone. And we don't want to touch reality. And the reality needs to speak to us in order to respond appropriately.

SCIUTTO: Well, I can see your own pain and frustration etched in your face and certainly what you must have heard from those children as well.

Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller, thank you for sharing your emotions here.

GARCIA-SILLER: (INAUDIBLE).

SCIUTTO: We hope to have you back.

GARCIA-SILLER: Yes, we pray - we pray -

SCIUTTO: We hope to have you back.

GARCIA-SILLER: Thank you very much.

And we'll be right back.

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[09:46:35]

SCIUTTO: A top European Union diplomat says a new ban on Russian oil imports to Europe, at least by sea, will cut off the money Vladimir Putin is using to fund his ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

HARLOW: EU leaders agreed yesterday to ban 90 percent of Russian oil imports by the end of the year. This is part of a sixth sanctions package.

Let's get straight to our colleague Anna Stewart. She's live in London.

Anna, good to have you.

There are some caveats here. Jim noted one of them. It's still really significant, though.

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: It's hugely significant, but it has taken a month of negotiations since the EU commission first announced this as a proposal. This is the sixth round of sanctions. It's definitely been the hardest yet. And there are a number of items on the list. I can show you some of those.

It includes removing Russia's biggest bank from SWIFT. That had been left off the previous list. More individuals being targeted. Banning state-owned TV broadcasters, more of them.

But it's that top one, isn't it, banning 90 percent of Russian oil imports by the end of the year. It was 100 percent, though. So, this is where the big concession has been. Essentially it is not including a pipeline that goes to Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia. So they will still be able to get their Russian oil via pipeline for the foreseeable.

Plus, there is quite a timeline on this. So this embargo is not immediate. It will kick in for crude oil within six months, eight months for refined products. And critics have said this is too long because this gives Russia a long time to find new customers.

That said, it will be hard. The EU is Russia's biggest customer for oil and gas and for oil currently gets $10 billion a month from the EU for that. That will reduce to just $1 billion once the embargo does kick in.

HARLOW: Anna, thanks very much for the reporting for us from London on that front.

Meantime, some commuters forced to rethink where they work because of how expensive gas is. You'll hear from them, next.

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[09:52:52]

SCIUTTO: More Americans are commuting to the office again, just as gas prices are hitting ten-year highs here. HARLOW: Now, people are actually thinking about new jobs, new options

to manage that.

CNN correspondent Gabe Cohen spoke to some of them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It seems twisted that getting to work is financially crushing Liz and Scott Angstadt. Their combined commute more than 500 miles each week through New Jersey, with Scott paying $6.19 a gallon for his diesel-powered pickup. Their monthly gas bill has nearly doubled in a year, now over $1,000.

LIZ ANGSTADT, COMMUTER: We cut back in our groceries in what we eat. We cut back more than half of what we're going to travel this summer. We didn't think that we would be talking about money every single day.

COHEN: While this couple's commute is longer than most, as more workers get called back to the office, millions of feeling this squeeze. With the natural average gas price more than $4.60 a gallon. At some California stations, the price is higher than the federal minimum wage.

PATRICK DE HAAN, GASBUDDY: It's already bad. It could get worse. And it's definitely not going to get much better.

COHEN: The average U.S. commute now costs an extra $35 a month compared to pre-Covid. Far more in cities like L.A., San Francisco, Chicago and New York.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not able to work from home.

COHEN: Spencer Toole (ph) says he's paying an extra $50 a month to get to work in Greensboro, North Carolina.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When is it going to come to an end?

KIERSTEN ASHLEY, ATLANTA RESIDENT: I can't work -

COHEN: In Atlanta, Kiersten Ashley says gas is too pricey for her to take a job.

ASHLEY: It's not worth it almost because I'm getting paid maybe $10, $12 an hour.

COHEN: An international survey conducted last November found 64 percent of workers would consider looking for a new job if forced to return full-time. In Washington state, more than 100 contracted Google Maps workers signed a petition refusing to return to the office.

TYLER BROWN, MAPS OPERATOR, CONGNIZANT: It's a huge additional expense.

COHEN: Tyler Brown would have to drive 74 miles each way.

BROWN: It doesn't make sense for me at the moment for $19 an hour. So, I'm going to have to look for a different job.

PAUL MCDONALD, SENIOR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ROBERT HALF: Workers are looking at it from a standpoint of, can I afford to take that new opportunity, or can I afford to stay if required to go back to the office.

[09:55:05]

COHEN: But some don't have easy options.

SCOTT ANGSTADT, COMMUTER: It's very frustrating, but there's nothing I can do about it.

COHEN: Scott Angstadt is eight years from his pension as a railroad engineer.

S. ANGSTADT: To throw that away, I mean, that's throwing away a lot.

COHEN: So, there's no plan to change direction, even as they pump the brakes on long-term plans.

L. ANGSTADT: That picture has kind of altered. We might not be retiring in eight years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN: Now, surveys show a lot of people are cutting down on summer travel because of gas prices, but the impact on employees returning to work isn't totally clear yet. There was a survey back in April that found only about 40 percent of workers said gas prices are impacting their decision to go to the office. But with the average household expected to pay hundreds of dollars more on gas this year, experts are telling me it's going to become a bigger and bigger factor for employees planning their future.

Jim. Poppy.

SCIUTTO: A lot of job options out there also makes it easier to switch.

Gabe Cohen, thanks so much.

Ahead, there are new questions about whether police could have saved lives if they had acted sooner to stop the gunman in Uvalde, Texas. Goodness, they waited more than an hour. We're going to take you there live as we're hearing new audio from what appears to be a child who was shot, heard as this was all unfolding.

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