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U.S. House of Representatives and Senate Pass Government Funding Bill to Avert Federal Government Shutdown; President-Elect Trump Disappointed No Debt Ceiling Increase Included in Funding Bill; Record Number of Holiday Travelers Expected to Hit Roads and Airports in U.S.; Five People Killed in Christmas Market Attack in German City of Magdeburg; Missile Strike from Iran-Backed Houthi Rebels in Yemen Hits Residential Park in Southern Tel Aviv, Israel; U.S. Delegation Meets with New De Facto Leader of Syria in Damascus; Retail Businesses Big Lots and Party City Announce They are Going Out of Business; Union Workers at Amazon and Starbucks Go on Strike; College Football Playoff Seasons Kick Off at Campuses Around U.S. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired December 21, 2024 - 10:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:00:38]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

An early Christmas present. Federal workers will be getting their paychecks after a late-night vote in the U.S. Senate averting a U.S. government shutdown. Just moments after the deadline passed at midnight, the Senate approved a bill to keep the government funded through mid-March. The House had approved the bill just hours earlier, ending a week of last-minute wrangling between Republicans, Democrats, and President-elect Donald Trump. President Biden is expected to sign the bill at any moment.

CNN's Betsy Klein is at the White House. Betsy, good morning to you. So, all right, what do people have to say from the White House to Capitol Hill about this late night save?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Well, Fredricka, I think what's a holiday season without a little bit of holiday spending drama on Capitol Hill? But a shutdown has been averted as the House voted overwhelmingly just a few hours before that midnight deadline to fund the government, and the Senate following suit just a few hours later. It now goes to President Biden's desk, where we do expect him to sign that any moment now. But it really came after a lot of drama and handwringing on the Hill after President-elect Trump said he did not support the bill and, frankly, threatened Republicans who voted for it with primary challenges.

But let's talk about what's in it. It has funding. It's what's called a stopgap funding through March. That means that lawmakers under Trump's watch will have to do this all over again in just a few short months. It has $100 billion in funding for disaster relief for those still recovering from those devastating storms and wildfires across the country. It also includes $10 billion in aid for American farmers.

But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle feel like they have taken a victory lap, and it's also -- what's important is what's not in it. And that's what got Democrats to say yes. And that is a debt ceiling suspension. That was something Trump had called for but did not come through in the final iteration of this bill. Trump telling one GOP lawmaker he is frustrated but resigned to that outcome, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, and then is there anything that has really been learned about how all of this kind of unfolded?

KLEIN: Yes, I think this has been a very instructive episode for how it is going to be in the next Congress with President Trump as they try to govern with these very razor thin margins with Republicans. And it also is setting up a leadership test for House Speaker Mike Johnson, who just a couple of weeks from now is going to face a leadership reelection, and he's going to have to do a lot of work to consolidate his conference before that January 3rd vote. So we'll be watching that quite carefully.

But looking at the big picture, Fredricka, so much averted by this government funding deal, including those shutdown related holiday delays at airports across the country that were expected. Museums and national parks will stay open. And so, critically, for the 1.4 million federal workers who were expected to work without pay, so many of them living and working across the country far from Washington's drama, will have a little bit of a reprieve and get their paychecks, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: A big relief there for so many. Betsy Klein at the White House, thank you so much.

All right, just a day ago, President-elect Trump had suggested lawmakers let the government shut down. CNN's Steve Contorno is live for us in West Palm Beach, Florida, near Trump's Mar-a-Lago home. So, Steve, how is the president elect reacting now?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Well, behind the scenes, Fred, he was really frustrated with how this entire process went down. And he was telling lawmakers that he really wanted them to fight for getting the debt ceiling extension part of this package. He wanted to see, in fact, the debt ceiling go away entirely and had encouraged Democrats to get on board with that idea. And in fact, Republicans, and it was his own Republican Party that wouldn't go along with it. And ultimately, 38 Republicans voted on Thursday against a bill that would have extended the debt ceiling through 2027.

So Trump, frustrated by the process, but ultimately came to the conclusion yesterday when talking with advisers and allies on Capitol Hill that a shutdown would have been inevitable if he would have really put his foot down for this and forced Republicans and Congress to get behind this plan, and ultimately went along with what passed yesterday.

[10:05:08] And we also saw a bit of face saving from one of the other co-allies in forcing this drama, Elon Musk. If you look back to what he posted on social media on Wednesday, he said no bills should be passed by Congress until January 20th when Donald Trump takes office. Well, on Friday, as this unfolded and the House was inching closer to a vote to fund the government through March, Musk posted, quote, "The Speaker did a good job here given the circumstances. It went from a bill that weighed pounds to a bill that weighed ounces. The bill should now be in the Democrats' court." So clearly attempting to put a positive spin on an otherwise episode where Donald Trump and Elon Musk threw a real big wrench in this process that had been buttoned up for several weeks now.

WHITFIELD: And I wonder, Steve, does this episode say anything about how Trump is now reviewing or looking at what many thought was a mandate with his election.

CONTORNO: it's a fair question, Fred, because this is not the first time we have seen Trump rebuffed by the Republicans in Congress. Already You look at who they chose as the Senate majority leader, John Thune. Donald Trump's allies were really rallying people behind Florida Senator Rick Scott. You look at, as well, Matt Gaetz losing his -- stepping away from his nomination for attorney general. That was a major blow to Trump, who views the leader of the Justice Department as his most important pick in the cabinet. And now he will be forced to turn to a fallback.

And even just this last week, Donald Trump appeared to abandon an effort to get his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, appointed to the U.S. Senate to replace Marco Rubio in Florida. Well, the governor there was quietly telling him behind the scenes that he wasn't going to go along with that plan, sources told CNN, and therefore, he had to back away from it.

So just little signs already that it might be a little bit more difficult to govern for Donald Trump, even in a united Republican Party than perhaps he envisioned after that decisive win last month.

WHITFIELD: All right, Steve Contorno, thank you so much. We'll check back with you throughout the day.

All right, let's talk more about all of this. Let's bring in "Axios" senior contributor Margaret Talev. She is also the director at the Institute for Democracy, Journalism, and Citizenship at Syracuse University. Should I call you professor, Margaret?

MARGARET TALEV, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR, "AXIOS": Sure, just Doctor would be fine.

WHITFIELD: OK. OK, Doctor. Dr. Margaret, very good. Happy holidays to you. Thank you so much.

TALEV: Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: OK, so let's talk about kind of the machinations here. Biden was in the shadows during this latest kerfuffle with the Plan A not going through, Plan B not going through, and now this Plan C passing. And soon it will be on his desk, and he will be signing it. But reportedly he was involved in the discussions of that original bipartisan bill. And I wonder, what does this influence of Trump and Musk say about the process in what is a lame duck presidency in the final 30 days or so of the sitting president, but what does this perhaps portray about what is to come in how negotiations from Capitol Hill to the White House will be like?

TALEV: Yes, I do think it's a bit of a preview of what we're going to see starting in January with the new Congress and with the new administration at the White House. And President Biden has been pretty removed from the whole debate. I mean, President-elect Trump really inserted himself as the president or presidential figure that he expected Congress to be dealing with. And Biden and his team were much more focused on trying to get the maximum number of judges confirmed. They were able to do that as everyone else's attention was towards this. Yesterday, 235 judges, topping Trump's number by one, a record number of female judges and judges of color. And I think Biden is much more in legacy mode these days, and Trump is picking up the mantle of the sort of day-to-day fight to move agendas through in Congress, and he's not been inaugurated yet.

So what are we looking at next year? Well, again, we're applauding everyone for coming up with a short term patch that lets us do this all again in March. And so, this is all going to be relitigated again early in the new president's administration. Speaker Mike Johnson's fight is going to come even sooner, because when the new Congress gets started in early January, he's going to have to fight to keep his job again.

[10:10:02]

He has a margin of approximately one, and he may have lost it in the in the fight of this yesterday. So he is going to need more than ever President-elect Trump's support to keep him in the speakership.

And then for Trump, his big ask, the thing that he wanted to get done, which was either to raise or eliminate the debt ceiling, that didn't happen. His problem is 38 members of his own party and, actually, a lot of Democrats who want to lift the debt ceiling, but I don't think they're going to do it for Trump. And there are things he wants to do. His tax proposals range somewhere between $1.5 trillion and $10 trillion, depending on all the various tax cuts that he wants to give away. Tax cuts aren't free. They've got to come from somewhere. And if they don't come from offsetting cuts, you have to go into further debt to finance them.

So you've got a $31.5 trillion debt right now. The point of the debt ceiling is supposed to be to contain or control the growth of that. And if you do $8 trillion of tax cuts, you're going to explode the debt ceiling. And so all of this is going to mean that his plans and proposals and campaign promises are going to meet the reality of Capitol Hill and financing and the U.S. Treasury and debt to China and all of those things.

WHITFIELD: Both sides are claiming victory with this latest funding bill. Just listen to how both party leaders are describing it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON, (R-LA) HOUSE SPEAKER: I was in constant contact with President Trump throughout this process, spoke with him most recently about 45 minutes ago. He knew exactly what we were doing and why. And this is a good outcome for the country. I think he certainly is happy about this outcome as well.

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES, (D-NY) HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: House Democrats have successfully stopped extreme MAGA Republicans from shutting down the government, crashing the economy, and hurting working class Americans all across the land.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So what do we believe the consensus is among Americans? Because, I mean, it was very out loud and kind of in everybody's face that Trump and Musk disrupted, whereas you hear Johnson saying, I mean, he's actually deferring once again to Trump and saying this is victorious as a result of.

TALEV: Well, I mean, I do think that both voices you heard there, both leaders are right, that it is better to not have a government shutdown than have a government shutdown. But, like, that should be the floor, not the ceiling. Or maybe I said that the other way around. I think most Americans are really frustrated with the process. Like, guys, you have one job. It's keeping the government open.

There are so many things that Americans want to see more, actually bipartisan movement on and resolution on everything from climate change issues to A.I. regulation. And when the huge, huge conundrum is, can we find any way to keep the government open over the holidays so that air traffic controllers aren't working unpaid and there aren't problems with the transition of the inauguration, like, that's a pretty low bar.

So I think in this case, the reason that there almost was a shutdown was primarily triggered by the president-elect and some of his external allies like Elon Musk. There's plenty of blame to go around for both parties, but in this case, I think the president-elect is going to have to decide, does he want smooth governance and no drama in Congress so he can focus on his priorities? Or does he want to try to do everything at once with the potential to really blow things up and grind things to a halt?

I think Americans are just like they don't, most Americans don't understand the inner workings of the debt ceiling or the shutdown, and don't think that they should have to. They elect people to Congress to keep things running smoothly. And then every year, right before the holidays, everybody has to watch the spectacle unfold. And then it miraculously gets resolved when everybody realizes that it has to get resolved. And that's what's happened again.

WHITFIELD: All right, journalist, director, professor, Dr. Margaret Talev, thank you so much. (LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: Great to see you. Happy holidays.

All right, still ahead this hour, it is set to be the busiest end of year holiday travel season ever. But the weather could slow you down. What you need to know before you hit the roads and airports this weekend.

And we're learning new details in the deadly Christmas market attack that killed five people and injured more than 200 in Germany. What investigators are learning about the suspect, who is now in custody.

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[10:19:28]

WHITFIELD: An unprecedented number of holiday travelers expected to hit the roads and airports over the next 11 days. AAA predicts more than 119 million people will travel at least 50 miles from home between today and New Year's Day, making it the busiest yearend travel season on record. And with the U.S. government shutdown averted, TSA agents will be getting their paychecks while screening nearly 40 million passengers.

CNN national correspondent Gloria Pazmino is at LaGuardia Airport, which is almost always bustling, I'm sure even more so now. What are the folks telling you?

[10:20:06]

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, I do have to say the government shutdown being averted is certainly very good news, not just for passengers here, but obviously for the many employees here at the airport who would have had to show up to work without being paid during what is one of the most stressful times for travel in the year.

Now, things here at LaGuardia so far have been pretty calm, organized. We've seen no real stressed out travelers just yet. I spoke to someone just a short while ago who told me that all of the stress and sort of the chaos around traveling at this time is worthwhile because he knows at the end he'll be getting home to his family, his grandchildren, who are all excited to see him. So it is worth it to him.

But as you mentioned, this is expected to be a record-breaking year. More than 40 million people are expected to travel from the 19th, so two days ago, all the way through the new year on January 2nd, when people will be heading back to home and back to work. And the majority of those people, Fred, will be driving, at least 107 million of them. That's according to AAA.

But people also will be taking to the skies to get to wherever they're going, at least 7.8 million people expected to travel. And actually, that gentleman I spoke to a short while ago told me that he actually opted to fly because he felt there were too many variables when it came to driving, too many, too much potential for error and getting delayed and getting stuck. So he decided to fly. He's only going a short distance from New York to North Carolina, so he figured that was the better way to go. He's doing it today, Saturday, actually much better than Sunday, or, say, next Monday when people will be rushing to make Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

So if you are planning to travel today, it might actually be the best day to do it. Pack your patience. Pack your Christmas joy. And if things continue to look the way they do here at LaGuardia Airport, you actually might have a not a bad day of travel today, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, very nice. Smooth sailing would be great, whether it's in the skies or on the road. Gloria Pazmino, we'll check back with you. Thanks so much.

All right, so, of course, you know, this season can be a gamble when it comes to the weather. And this year is no exception as several winter storms could create challenges for last minute shoppers and travelers. Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking the latest forecast for us. So which areas should we prepare for Mother Nature to change to bring a different kind of holiday spirit to the table?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's one way to look at it, I like that.

Yes, we've got two different systems, one in the east and one in the west that we're keeping an eye on. And you can see the one in the east, this is mostly going to be a snow event. You can see we've still got some snow in portions of Maine, upstate New York, Pennsylvania, areas of Connecticut. Now the heavy snow that was in and around New York has now since started to make its way back out over the water. But we do have a lot of lake effect snow impacting Buffalo, Rochester, even around Binghamton because of the Finger Lakes. So you're likely to see some travel impacts there, especially in the air for places like Cleveland and Syracuse, but also New York, not necessarily for the snow, because that is over, but really the wind. They have sustained winds of 20 to 35 miles per hour, gusting even higher than that. We know it doesn't take much for wind to cause some delays at some of these airports.

Also, look at the snow that's already come down in several of these areas. New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey all looking at at least four to seven inches of snow. Now, I note, I'm very aware people in these states know how to drive in this. Keep in mind, though, you have people traveling from Florida, Texas, other southern states to these areas that do not know how to drive in these conditions, so that in turn could end up causing some travel snafus. So do keep that in mind to give yourself some extra time.

When that snow comes down. It's not going anywhere for a while. New York is going to remain below average for at least the next several days before those temperatures rebound. Other areas may start to see the rebound as early as Monday. But New York, for example, look at this. You're not going to get back to average until the very end of the upcoming week. So a very bitter cold start to the upcoming week.

Out to the west. The opposite. Most of these areas are 10 to 20 degrees above average. So if you are planning to head to, say, southern California, portions of Arizona, you're not only going to get sunshine, you're going to get some nice warm temperatures into the mix. That also means any precipitation that comes in over the next three days is going to be mostly in the form of rain.

WHITFIELD: Oh, boy. All right, well, a mixed bag could. Anything could happen. Thank you, Allison Chinchar.

All right, if you are looking for a fun way, perhaps to spend your New Year's Eve, well, we've got that covered for you as well. The boys are back for the biggest party of the year. Join Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen for New Year's Eve live starting at 8:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

Thousands of workers at Starbucks and Amazon have walked off the job just in time for the holidays. What those companies are saying about the impact on the holiday rush.

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[10:29:03]

WHITFIELD: Right now, investigators are working to learn more about the deadly attack on a crowded Christmas market in the German City of Magdeburg. The death toll is now up to five people. Dozens more are badly hurt after a car plowed through the crowded market Friday night. Video appears to show police arresting the suspected driver at the scene of the incident. Officials say he is a 50-year-old man from Saudi Arabia who is a permanent resident of Germany.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is at the scene of the attack. Fred, I see almost like a memorial set up behind you. There are still a lot of people there paying homage to those who died and injured. But what more are we learning about the investigation as well?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So first of all, you're absolutely right. There is a memorial that is steadily growing here in Magdeburg. It's basically at a church that is across from the Christmas market. I'm going to get out of your way. And so you can see people, a lot of people are actually coming here and laying flowers for the victims. You are seeing a lot of people, quite frankly, burst out into tears because, as you can imagine, this community here, the city of Magdeburg, which is a substantially sized city in the middle of Germany, was deeply shaken by what happened here.

[10:0:12]

Obviously, not just a tragic event, but certainly one that also scared a lot of people late last night when all of this -- when all of this happened. And it's also something that has really shaken Germany to the core as well. So much so that the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, he came here and he also said that right now the entire country needs to be praying for the people who are still fighting for their lives. There are so many people who are so badly injured that the Germans fear that the death toll could continue to rise.

I want to listen in to some of what the German chancellor had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLAF SCHOLZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR: What's important for me is that when such an appalling event and such an appalling attack takes place, which injures and kills so many people, almost to the day of the anniversary of the Breitscheidplatz terror attack in Berlin. What's important in that context is that we stick together, we come together as a country, and we ensure that hatred does not win the day, rather that we remember that we are a community and we have a common future, and that we can't let those who want to sow hatred win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: That's Olaf Scholz there earlier today. He was at the scene of where this attack took place. I was actually standing very close to him as he was making those remarks. He was obviously also deeply shaken by what happened.

And as we're speaking, Fredricka, there is a press conference going on by the local authorities, by the local police and the city authorities as well. We're getting some updates as to how the investigation is going. The investigators are saying that they believe that the perpetrator, the man that they have in custody, acted alone, a 50- year-old man born in Saudi Arabia, as you correctly stated, who has been in Germany since 2006.

And one of the things that the authorities say they're grappling with right now, or trying to find out, is what exactly this man's motivation could be. The German interior minister came out and said that they were, that he was an Islamophobe. However, so far the authorities have done very little to explain what exactly that means and what exactly the motivations might be. Of course, at this point in time, this man no doubt will be being interrogated.

One of the interesting things that we picked up on is that there was a lot of carnage caused in this ramming incident, but apparently it went down in a very quick period of time. The authorities are saying that the first 911 call that they got was around two minutes past 7:00 p.m., and that they had the man in custody by five minutes past 7:00 p.m. So a very short time to cause a lot of damage, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Thats incredible, because customarily there's been a lot of security around these Christmas markets, right. So they were able to respond so quickly largely because of that.

Fred Pleitgen, thank you so much.

All right, this was the scene in Tel Aviv.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SIRENS)

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: The scene and the sounds. Houthi forces in Yemen striking central Israel with a missile that slipped through air defenses. The Iran-backed group said in a statement that the missile hit it's intended target despite landing in a residential area in Tel Aviv, where CNN's Jeremy Diamond filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We are at the scene of this Houthi missile strike in southern Tel Aviv, and you can see this is where that missile actually made impact. That is the impact crater that's now been covered in by dirt in the middle of this park, with a children's playground in the middle. The buildings all around this area damaged by the force of this blast, windows that have been blown out by the percussive blast.

And this happened in the middle of the night, at quarter to 4:00 in the morning. You can see more of that damage right up here. These windows that have been shattered, the frames of them hanging by a thread now. At least 16 people suffered minor injuries as a result of this blast caused by those glass fragments that exploded, 14 others suffered minor injuries, rushing to shelters.

And while the Houthis say that they struck successfully a military target in Tel Aviv, as you can see, this is not a military target. This is a residential area in southern Tel Aviv.

Now, there are also questions about why the Israeli military failed to intercept this missile. You can see in video from overnight at least two interceptor missiles going up into the sky, attempting to intercept that Houthi missile but failing, obviously. And this is the result instead.

The Israeli military also, just a few days ago, struck the Houthis inside of Yemen with a series of airstrikes. We expect that that tit- for-tat will continue in the days and weeks ahead.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, let's get more on today's attack from Aaron David Miller. He is a former U.S. State Department Middle East negotiator and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Great to see you. So, in your view, is it likely the Houthis got their hypersonic missile from Iran?

[10:35:00]

AARON DAVID MILLER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, they're making some of the component parts and assembling others. But yes, the Iranians, now that the axis of resistance has basically been broken in Hamas and Hezbollah, I think the Iranians will double down on support for the Houthis.

And look, Fred, it's virtually impossible to hermetically seal a country. I don't care how good Israeli air defenses are. Missiles and drones, almost 400 have been launched against the Israelis by the Houthis since the war in Gaza began. And I suspect there's no reason to think that that's going to continue. The Israelis will respond. But look, 2,000 kilometers away, what, 1,300 miles, the Israelis struck the day before yesterday on Yemeni ports, on Houthi military targets, weapons depots. I suspect this is an unfortunate, but a problem that the Israelis are going to have to learn to live with.

WHITFIELD: All right, I want to jump to Syria now. The U.S. is removing a $10 million bounty on the country's new de facto leader, and it came after a U.S. delegation met with him Friday in Damascus. So what kind of assurances do you think this U.S. delegation likely got from him, and the whole temporary government?

MILLER: I think they got a lot of nice words, and the leader of HTS is obviously doing many of the right things, assuring minorities and women that he's broken with his Al Qaeda roots and is going to be inclusive. But I think, look, the designation, even though the Barbara Leaf headed the delegation, it doesn't mean that the U.S. cannot engage a group that's designated as FTO, a foreign terrorist organization, if it believes it's in the national interest, and it is very much in our national interest to engage with this conservative Islamist government.

But we have leverage. And I think a certain set of metrics will be set up. And if the new government, governing authority responds positively, I suspect it will be possible not for this administration, but perhaps for the next to remove the designation. Chemical weapons, we need to know where they are. Will the government assist the United States in counterterrorism, confronting ISIS? And will they agree to an inclusive nonsectarian governance? Those are the key metrics, including the search, I might add, for Austin Tice.

WHITFIELD: Right. And I wonder as it pertains to Austin Tice, I mean, he's been there for more than a decade now. What -- hey, whoever that is.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: This is what happens when we're at home and we're also doing TV, so that's OK. But, as it pertains to Austin Tice, he's been there for more than a decade now. I mean, what are the expectations about being able to find information, find people who are willing to share, whether it be with the U.S. delegation or anyone else, any information about his whereabouts?

MILLER: I mean, I think that's the key. There are Syrian officials who probably know what -- if Austin Tice is alive, and the United States government seems to believe that there's no reason to believe he's not. But those are high level security officials. There are probably half-a-dozen of them. Where they are right now and what their fate is going to be is unknown. But again, they're still finding in Syrian intelligence buildings of prisoners, folks who have still not been freed. So I think that search is going to go on.

The longer it takes, however, without finding Austin Tice, I think the greater the chances that he will not be found.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And throughout his family remaining incredibly hopeful. Aaron David Miller, thank you so much, and thank you for all this time, all year long, allowing us to be in your home on the weekends or even on the holiday and allowing us to also share some company with your family as well.

MILLER: Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Taking you away from your family. So thank you so much. You're always the best. Appreciate it.

MILLER: Take care.

WHITFIELD: All right, still ahead, going out of business. Two major retailers are closing their doors for good. Details on what led to the closures.

The largest mega-millions prize also ever offered in the month of December is up for grabs now. Details on the massive haul one lucky winner could take home on Christmas Eve.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:44:09]

WHITFIELD: Some store closures to tell you about. Discount retailer Big Lots says it is going out of business. The discount retailer has already declared bankruptcy. It had hoped to sell its assets to a private equity firm, but that deal has now fallen through, which means the company's remaining 963 locations will now be closed. Big Lots blames it's downfall on the impact of inflation and interest rates on customer behavior, and you can expect to see going out of business sales being launched in the coming days.

And the party is over at Party City. It too is going out of business after 40 years. The company says it is going out of business and closing down all of its stores. Employees learned Friday that the company is winding down operations immediately, and they were actually told they will not receive severance pay.

[10:45:03]

The company emerged from bankruptcy last year, but then it struggled to pay off its debts. CEO Barry Litwin also said the company was unable to contend with inflation and decreased consumer spending.

And thousands of workers at Starbucks and Amazon went on strike in several cities. They walked off the job during the holiday rush, demanding better pay and benefits. Even though Christmas is less than a week away, Amazon claims holiday deliveries will not be affected. Here's CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: The Teamsters, who represent the third-party drivers that contract with Amazon, say they're on strike because Amazon has failed to negotiate with them. But Amazon says they don't have to because they don't believe the workers to be legitimate union members, including those in Staten Island. But workers very much feel they are Amazon employees and are fighting for better wages and conditions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Other companies like UPS, they are doing a lower volume now, and they're getting paid a lot more than were getting paid, and we're getting more volume and less pay. That don't seem fair.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We already came to that conclusion that we were not recognized, even though we are the face of Amazon. We wear the uniform, we drive the trucks. When we pull up to your House, you say, oh, that's Amazon.

YURKEVICH: Amazon says they've invested $660 million into their third-party driver program to help bring wages to an average of $22 an hour. Now, it's unclear how long this strike will last, but Amazon says holiday deliveries won't be disrupted.

But there's another strike underway at Starbucks. Workers striking in three major metro areas Chicago, L.A., and Seattle. The Workers United union says they will expand to more locations by December 24th. There are more than 500 unionized Starbucks stores, and the two sides have been negotiating for months. But the union says they had asked for an agreement by the end of this year, but the company's offer fell short.

Starbucks says the strike has caused small disruptions, and according to a source familiar with the impact, 10 stores out of 10,000 did not open as planned.

The holidays are a very profitable time for both Amazon and Starbucks, and the unions know that. So while the companies deny any sizable impact, the strikes may raise awareness among consumers about the issues that these workers are fighting for.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you so much.

All right, perhaps some of you are feeling lucky this holiday season. On Christmas Eve, one lottery ticket holder could be celebrating with a mega-millions jackpot just shy of $1 billion. Boy, that would be a Christmas delight, right? No one won last night, so the grand prize in Tuesday's mega millions drawing ballooned to $944 million. That's the largest prize ever offered in the month of December. But if the winner chooses to take the jackpot all at once, the take home portion won't be as large. It will shrink to a mere $429 million. Good luck anyway.

All right, college football like you've never seen before. Andy Scholes is on the campus of the Ohio State University. Andy?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, it's cold out here, but you can feel the energy in the air as Ohio State is set to host their first ever home playoff game. We'll get you ready for their game against Tennessee, plus, show you what went down in South Bend, Indiana, last night as Notre Dame took down Indiana.

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[10:52:46]

WHITFIELD: All right, in the battle of Indiana, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish dominates their in-state rivals, the Indiana Hoosiers, in the first ever expanded college football playoff game. And there are three more big matchups today, including Tennessee taking on the Ohio State University in a huge game pitting the SEC against the Big Ten. Andy Scholes is in Columbus, Ohio, there in the shadows of my dad's alma mater of Ohio State ahead of tonight's big game. All right, so it's chilly, but the hearts are warm, and people are there in big numbers, right?

SCHOLES: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Tailgating has already started for this game, Fredricka. It's like 20 degrees out here right now, and it's going to be a cold one for the first ever December game here at the Horseshoe. They had similar weather like this yesterday in South Bend as well for that game between Notre Dame and Indiana that kicked off the 12-team playoff. And the Notre Dame players, they sent a message from the start. They went out for warmups not wearing any shirts, saying that those frigid temperatures were not going to bother them one bit.

And despite being less than 200 miles apart, this is actually the first matchup between these two schools since 1991. It was dominated by Notre Dame. The teams traded interceptions early, and then it was Jeremiyah Love, the play of the game, a 98-yard touchdown run just sent the whole stadium into a frenzy. That run tied a school record, and the Irish would end up winning that one easily, 27-17, to get their first ever playoff victory.

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MARCUS FREEMAN, NOTRE DAME HEAD COACH: I've never been a part of an environment like that. It was special. The crowd played a factor. The noise played a factor. It was a special thing to be a part of.

RILEY LEONARD, NOTRE DAME QUARTERBACK: This is special for us. And a lot of us, me being a guy who, my freshman year, I went three and nine and didn't have -- was just begging to make a bowl game. To be to be playing in the Sugar Bowl right now, I've got to kind of go full circle now. And it's really cool.

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SCHOLES: Yes. So Notre Dame now going to move on to take on Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Day. Here, meanwhile, in Columbus it's going to be Ohio State versus Tennessee for the right to play Oregon in the Rose Bowl.

[10:55:00]

And Buckeyes coach Ryan Day, well he's had his team out practicing in the cold getting ready for today. And he says they cannot wait to take the field for their first ever playoff game here on campus.

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RYAN DAY, OHIO STATE HEAD COACH: It's like playing in the playoffs. Talk to him about being in Kansas City or up in Lambeau or Buffalo Bills and the AFC championship game. I mean, that's what it's all about, is playing these types of games, and in December. And our guys are excited about it and excited about being at home. And I think they're excited about the weather, too, because we've been practicing it now for a few weeks.

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SCHOLES: Yes, Ryan Day certainly needs a win here today after four straight losses to Michigan. But the temperature at kickoff here tonight is going to be 25 degrees. It's going to be about the same for Penn State and SMU. And that game is going to be the first playoff game of the day, kicks off at noon eastern. It's going to be followed by Texas hosting Clemson. You can watch both of those games on TNT and stream them as well on Max. And then it's Ohio state and Tennessee here in Columbus for the nightcap, Fredricka. Should be an amazing day. Just a football bonanza.

WHITFIELD: Oh it's incredible. Just right in front of the TV set, or if you're anywhere out there in these cold places, just bundle up. Some incredible balling in these games. Thank you so much, Andy Scholes, appreciate it.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield. I'll see you again here at noon eastern. THE AMANPOUR HOUR is up next.

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