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Pandemic Leads To Worst Year Of Economic Growth Since 1946; Nancy Pelosi Prepared To Pass COVID-19 Relief With Only Democratic Votes; CNN: Biden Willing To Pare Down Size Of COVID Bill, Will Have More Calls With Lawmakers; McCarthy Praises Trump, Says He Listened To Voters Other Ignored; Sources: McCarthy Tells Republicans To Stop Attacking Each Other. Aired 12-12.30p ET

Aired January 28, 2021 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But that wasn't near enough to make up for the disastrous performance at the start of the pandemic with the economy decreasing by 3.5 percent during 2020 as a whole. That was the worst decline since 1946 in the wake of World War II. Wow! Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Kate Bolduan. John King picks it up from here.

JOHN KING, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Hello everybody and welcome to "Inside Politics." I'm John King in Washington. Thank you for sharing this busy news day with us. Health care is today's White House focus as President Biden pushes his aggressive plan to quickly make sharp policy turns away from the Trump agenda.

And proof, all the proof you need this hour, you can stop listening to anyone who suggests that leading Republicans are serious about a clean break from Donald Trump. The top Republican in the house is at Mar-a- Lago to patch up his relationship with the former president.

We hear from the current president next hour. He will sign an order opening the healthcare.gov insurance exchange for a new special enrollment period. President Biden also will reverse a Trump Administration ban on tax dollars going to organizations that provide abortion services.

The Coronavirus is the top Biden healthcare challenge, the top Biden economic challenge and the focus of the first Biden big legislative push. A new number this morning makes the urgency of that effort all the more clear. The United States economy shrank 3.5 percent last year in 2020. That's the worst decline since 1946.

There is apparently some conflict inside the administration over just how to move forward. A source say the president is opening to narrowing his ask and wants a package that can garner 60 votes in the Senate. But the White House Press Secretary this morning says any talk the president is open to splitting that package into smaller pieces is just not accurate.

And democratic leaders on Capitol Hill signaling today they believe it is time to get moving. Just last hour, the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she is prepared next week to start the process to pass Coronavirus relief legislation with only democratic votes if that is what it will take.

Let's get straight to the White House and CNN Senior White House Correspondent Phil Mattingly. Phil, you could hear the impatience both from the Speaker and the Senate Majority Leader, the new Majority Leader Chuck Schumer today. And is there conflict inside the White House or just somebody speaking out of school?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: So, I think two things can be true at the same time that the president does want a bipartisan deal, does want to see if his team can figure out a way to 60 votes. And is willing to go beneath the $1.9 trillion top line, and yet still may come nowhere near in actual agreement with Republicans because he's not willing to drop to where Republicans want that top line to be.

I think that's the reality of this moment. I think that's why you see the impatience from Democrats on Capitol Hill and such as on the leadership level you can go rank and file in both chambers.

And later today when National Economic Council Director, Brian Dease who's really running point for the White House on this briefs Senate Democrats in a private phone call, I would be willing to say of the 50 Democrats on that call probably 47, 48 of them are ready to go now and ready to go big, exactly what Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the floor as well.

So while you continue to hear Joe Biden specifically talk about bipartisan deal, while his team will talk about trying to reach a bipartisan deal. They are still reaching out to Republicans as well, still trying to get them information about the $1.9 trillion proposal.

I think reality is setting in and the reason why Democrats are in this position right now and Democrats inside the White House too, particularly in the economic team is John, they look at the numbers. Obviously GDP today, jobless claims over the course of the last several weeks and they also remember.

They remember 2009, they remember their stimulus efforts in 2009 that they blamed for the recession dragging on even longer than it should have that they undershot that they didn't overshoot there they went too low.

And they also remember the Affordable Care Act and how long that debate dragged on with no resolution on a bipartisan basis. That's driving Democrats desire to move forward now to move forward quickly.

And while the president has made clear and is still trying to reach some type of bipartisan agreement the reality both on Capitol Hill and in the White House is that Democrat only partisan legislation is probably the path forward right now unless something dramatic shifts over the course of the next several days.

KING: Phil Mattingly grateful for that live reporting from the White House. Keep us posted if changed throughout the day. And with us to share the reporting now and their insights CNN's Dana Bash, CNN's MJ Lee and Alex Burns of "The New York Times."

Let's start with that conversation Dana, the stimulus conversation because of the impatience you can see both from Senator Schumer and Speaker Pelosi and then I do want to come back to some of the healthcare stuff the president is doing today.

But listen to the speaker last hour essentially saying look, we'd love a bipartisan bill, but I don't think I'm going to wait that long.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I'll bring a budget - to the floor next week and then we'll send it over to the Senate by the end of the week. We will be finished with the budget resolution, which will be about reconciliation, if needed. I hope we don't need it, but if needed we will have it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: I think in the House, we keep talking about can Joe Biden get Republican votes in the senate, I think it's even less likely he gets many in the House. How does she manage this moment? You were here, I was here, and Phil was here remembering the first days of the Obama Administration in 2009. They thought the stimulus package was too small.

[12:05:00]

KING: They did get bogged down in the long healthcare debate but a lot of her members were not here. And so, part of this challenge is managing the democratic family when you suddenly have a president, have the House majority, even now narrow, and now a Senate majority, incredibly narrow.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's all of those things and a huge difference between now when Joe Biden is President and 12 years ago with he first became Vice President during the Obamacare vote and debate is that the Democrats had a 60-vote majority, so they were negotiating among themselves.

And what she is trying to say and what so many, as Phil was saying, of her rank and file and rank and file Democrats in the Senate are arguing is it doesn't mean that we're going to jam this through with only democratic votes but we want to have the option to do that. And this is the legislative process tool that they can use.

The question is assuming that they're going to go down that path which it sounds like they are, whether the Republicans who are in the middle, who are willing to talk or willing to work are going to use that as either an excuse or genuinely feel that that is a slap in the face to the notion of bipartisanship because they're using this show which is only used in a partisan way.

Republicans used it to try to overturn Obamacare. Remember Donald Trump wanted to use it and did use it; it just failed because they didn't get 51 votes. So it just depends on what people do with it and how it's managed and how it is spun? And you heard Nancy Pelosi try to spin it as just an insurance policy.

KING: Right. And so, to this point, I'm just handed this tweet by Chuck Schumer. We're in the midst of a once in a century crisis that requires a once in a century effort to overcome it. Only big, bold action is called for.

So Alex again you see there, the democratic impatience. Number one, the Democrats say, Joe Biden is proving their point. Democrats and congress say, Joe Biden is proving their point, because by the end of today he will assign 42 executive actions.

They say essentially he's proving the point that even he knows on big questions there is not a lot of Republican support out there, so use executive action as much as you can to turn the page away from the Trump Administration.

And if you needed any more proof, listen this is Mitch McConnell, the now Minority Leader in the Senate on the floor this morning saying, he's watched the first week of the Biden administration. He doesn't like it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): An administration that wanted to pursue unity might observe that 77 percent of Americans including a majority of Democrats, and 85 percent of independents don't want tax pay dollars to fund foreign abortions. And one week you saw more than 30 unilateral actions and working Americans are getting short shrift.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: So what is the proof the president needs? And again I get it. This is Joe Biden's DNA. He wants essentially to try the Republicans, put it on them. I tried to be bipartisan; you wouldn't give me anything, that's why we went all democratic approach. But what's the threshold? What does he have to see to say, OK, never mind.

ALEX BURNS, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: John, I think that is sort of a work in progress, the answer to that question. What is Joe Biden's red line in terms of when the bipartisan approach is clearly not working?

But from the reporting that I have done with folks on the Hill and around the Biden orbit, it's pretty clear that he is also captive to the impatience of his own party in a way where he doesn't necessarily have an unlimited amount of time to try the bipartisan approach.

You alluded earlier to those early months of the Obama Administration in 2009. There was a great sense of urgency at the beginning, that you had to get a stimulus and then it was worth getting a smaller one. It meant that you got it fast and that you got it with Republican support as well, limited Republican acquiescence on the stimulus. I think that when you talk to folks on the Hill today on the

democratic side, there are people who were around 12 years ago who sort of view that episode with regret. And there are a whole lot of younger members or at least newer members who have come in as a new generation of Democrats formed in an atmosphere are feeling like that Obama approach just did not work.

And when you have the tiny margins that Democrats have in both the House and Senate, we talk a lot about the difficulty that Leader Schumer may have with a couple of the more conservative members of his caucus. There are also the more left wing members of his caucus who, they are going to need to corral on board with anything that is bipartisan and thus more centrist.

And so, the pressures are coming at the Biden Administration from every which way within their own party. And I think one of the big questions for Republicans is, are they willing to sort of meet Joe Biden close enough to the middle to make it worth his while to stand up for the left wing of his own party?

KING: And MJ one of the things the president is trying to do to acknowledge the left of the party, the energy in the parties to say, I'm going to use my executive powers to do some big things that I promised in the campaign.

We've seen it on COVID already, on equity issues, on speeding up some other initiative there. We saw it on climate yesterday in a very big way, the new president changing federal policy, and today we will see it on health care.

[12:10:00]

KING: He's going to reopen the enrollment period, the healthcare.gov website reopen Obamacare enrollment for a couple of months February 15th through the middle of May. Reversing some abortion access restrictions, already you can hear Republicans complaining about that.

And also directing federal agencies to make enrolling in Medicaid and Obamacare easier so again using executive actions try to expand access to healthcare not only for those including those who have lost their coverage during their pandemic but also others.

One of the complaints from the Biden Administration is the Trump Administration, yes, they had the Obamacare enrollment period open, but they didn't really promote it or advertise it, so they're trying to bring more people in.

MJ LEE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right. And keep in mind these really are just the first initial steps that we're seeing President Biden taking on the health care front. And obviously the big promise that he had made on health care as a candidate and during the 2020 campaign was I'm going to improve upon Obamacare.

I'm going to make Obamacare more accessible, so those are the kinds of executive actions that we are seeing. So we shouldn't be surprised but what I am fascinated by and I think this discussion is definitely coming, is what happens at the point where President Biden decides he wants to take on health care in a legislative way, in a bigger way in terms of working with congress and getting something done in a more wholesome way?

Because the point of executive orders is that you can use the power of the presidential pen. But that is very different from what you need to do legislatively in terms of winning over support from Democrats and potentially Republicans as well. And just keep in mind for all of us, we all covered the 2020 presidential campaign and the democratic primary.

Just think back on how overwhelming the issue of health care was? And on the democratic side, it was basically if you are for Medicare for all, then you are, you know, OK in terms of your progressive credentials and if you are not and Joe Biden is not then you fall in the other camp, right?

So we are not just talking about a discussion and debate between Democrats and Republicans, we are really talking about a potential upcoming debate within the Democratic Party. When that discussion comes where Democrats and particularly those on the left really putting the pressure on Joe Biden to do more significant on health care that is going to be a whole different dynamic and political discussion that takes place.

KING: The Supreme Court may force the timing of that one when it settles the Obamacare case held over from the Trump Administration in a couple of months. So we'll wait on that. MJ, Alex and Dana Bash I appreciate the reporting and their insights. To cut the conversation short there to move for this breaking news out to South Carolina.

State of South Carolina now says it has detected the first U.S. cases of that more contagious Coronavirus strain that was first identified in South Africa. This is the variant that just today Dr. Anthony Fauci said "Troubled him". Let's bring in our Senior Medical Correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen for more insights and context. Elizabeth, how big of a deal?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is a big deal, John. It is not surprising when you have the South African variant in dozens of other countries it is inevitable that it is going to come to the United States as well.

As a matter of fact, you might say that other countries spotted it first, not because it was there first, but because their surveillance systems are better than ours the U.S. surveillance system isn't great.

An important point here is that the two folks that South Carolina found who have this South African variant, they had not traveled to South Africa. As a matter of fact, they had no significant travel history at all. So that means that it is just spreading within the United States.

This is a variant that is believed we don't know for sure but it is believed to be more transmissible. There is no evidence yet that it is any more deadly or that it causes people to get any more sick. There is concern and this is what Dr. Fauci was referring to that it might, to some extent evade the vaccine.

In other words, the vaccines that we have now that are 95 percent effective against variants that have been around for a while, the vaccine may not be 95 percent effective against the South African variant. It may be somewhat less effective, but still effective.

So I cannot emphasize enough, just because this variant is here I don't want anyone to think oh, to heck with the vaccine, I don't want to get it now. Don't think that way. The vaccine is still the best defense and it still will do something against this South African variant based on all the science that we know right now. John?

KING: Another reminder just how complicated this is even as the numbers do start to improve somewhat. You have these variants to worry about. Elizabeth Cohen, grateful for the hustle to bring us that breaking news. We'll stay on top of that. And up next for us, the party of conspiracy, the party of insurrection, the party of Trump.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:15:00]

KING: Kevin McCarthy has a clear goal to be Speaker of the House, but he is anything but consistent as he pursues that goal. One week after the Capitol insurrection, the House Republican Leader Mr. McCarthy said President Trump shared blame.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): The president bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: But then weirdly the former president was angry and cursing McCarthy. Power it seems, Trump's principle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCARTHY: We learned in the last four years that President Trump brought forward that he listened to voices that no one else was hearing on either party. Those are the voices we should continue to hear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Today McCarthy is in Florida at Mar-a-Lago to make amends face to face and to make clear that House Republicans still stand with a twice impeached president for two months tried to overturn a free and fair election and then inspired the attack on his own government.

Our Chief Political Correspondent, Dana Bash is still with us. I get it. The former president still has sway over the base but to go down, forgive me, to kiss the ring at this moment in time is pretty stunning. [12:20:00]

BASH: And that is what our colleagues on Capitol Hill, that's what their reporting is, that for the most part the goal that Kevin McCarthy has is to make nice with the former president who is still such a force in the party.

The question that I have is whether or not he is also going to use his audience with the president to encourage him to stop the people who are arguing amongst themselves or who are picking fights with fellow Republicans in his name to cut it out because I've talked to so many Republicans who are saying, enough already.

We can't focus on the issues we talked about in the last segment from you know, health care to name your topic when the focus is on an intra-party war, a real war. And so, we'll see if he gets that. I can tell you that I was told that one bit of advice that McCarthy got was not to go because it makes him look weak. He didn't take that advice.

KING: It makes him look weak; I think that would have been sound advice. It's also - it's just a collision of events here. He's at Mar- a-Lago today to make nice with the former president to inspire the rally called his supporters schedule that rally on that day, called his supporters to Washington and then we all know what happened after that.

Just yesterday Kevin McCarthy part of a call in which Marjorie Taylor Greene, the QAnon Congresswoman who has liked social media post saying, we should execute democratic leaders like Nancy Pelosi. We'll play you a video to - for mocking, mocking a school shooting survivor.

She pledged $175,000 to the Republican Party's 20, 22efforts when they are trying to pay fake - for that. She was congratulated, again congratulate the QAnon congresswoman. Let's watch a little bit of this video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): If Scott Pederson, the Resource Officer at Parkland had done his job then Nicolas (ph) pulled anybody in your high school or at least protected them. Why are you supporting red - gun laws that attack our second amendment rights? And why are using kin's to get - as a barrier.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Mocking there a Parkland survivor. She's also called that one of these false flag events, suggesting it was staged and yet she is embraced by Leader McCarthy, by others in the party. We'll show you an example today of the discord in the party. Matt Gates is going to Wyoming because he's mad at Liz Cheney because Liz Cheney supported impeachment of the President of the United States.

And we have two Matt Gates tweets in August. Proud to be in your corner, Marjorie. Today Congressional Republicans listen to our voters remove Cheney. That is the House Republican Party. BASH: Yes, that's exactly right. The juxtaposition of that is so

telling. Why isn't Matt Gates in Marjorie Taylor Greene's district, saying that she needs to go because she went after a kid who was using his first amendment rights to protest because he survived a massacre at his school?

Why is he going to Wyoming to attack somebody who voted her conscience? I talked to somebody who is working with Matt Gates who said Liz Cheney totally miscalculated this. Doesn't she know that Donald Trump won Wyoming by more than any other state? And that I think says so much about, disconnect and discord. She didn't miscalculate.

She was very well aware of the political trauma that she would be exposing herself to, but she did it because she thought it was right. She did it because the notion of a president even a president in her own party inciting the violence that she and her colleagues on both sides of the aisle had to endure is bigger than a party.

And the idea that again going back to Kevin McCarthy, he got on that conference call yesterday and he said, as a leader should, stop going after one another. And yet Matt Gates heard that and then still kept his trip to Wyoming not only kept it alive but is trying to encourage people to go to do a rally to attack Liz Cheney for this.

KING: Because Matt Gates knows the Former President Trump wants recrimination.

BASH: Yes, wants it, and he's not saying anything and the sound of silence is deafening, not just from Matt Gates but from the leadership on down on Marjorie Taylor Greene tells you how the Republican Party is eating its own and not focusing on the issues that conservatives claim and genuinely do believe that they should be focused on in congress instead they're focusing on the personality not the policies and the personality of Trump.

KING: Choices. It's about choices. Dana Bash, appreciate the reporting and insights. We'll see you we get out of Leader McCarthy's meeting in Mar-a-Lago with the former president. Interesting choice there as well.

[12:25:00]

KING: Up next Senate Republicans say no, no to the Biden agenda and no to a Trump impeachment trial.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: A fresh reminder of the Coronavirus economic crunch this morning. More than 800,000 Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week. Now the White House says that is more proof there needs to be a big relief package.