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Millions Suffering in Texas as Power and Water Crisis Grows; Another Winter Storm Pummels Texas, Tornado Watch in Florida, Georgia; White House Announces Sweeping Immigration Reform Bill. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired February 18, 2021 - 06:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Unlivable conditions in Texas. Flooding homes in bitter temperatures.

[05:59:38]

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The bitter cold has now turned to heated anger over the catastrophic failure of the state's power grid.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every source of power the state of Texas has access to has been compromised.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The awful winter storm crippling much of the nation now threatens to slow down the pace of vaccinations.

NICK WATT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Across the heartland, some vaccine locations are closed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: State leaders now say severe weather is slowing down their expected deliveries of vaccine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's having an impact on distribution and deliveries.

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ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Thursday, February 18, 6 a.m. here in New York. John Berman is off. Jim Sciutto joins me.

Great to have you here.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Always nice to be next to you.

CAMEROTA: It's a really busy news day, because the catastrophic humanitarian crisis is still unfolding in Texas. Overnight, power crews have made major progress in restoring electricity, but nearly a million customers there are still without power. Officials warn that rolling outages are likely again today as Texans struggle to stay warm in these frigid temperatures.

So many people are dealing with burst pipes. You can see what -- I mean, look at the inside of what so many homes look like, Jim, as you know. Many are sleeping in their cars or at warming shelters. Nearly 12 million residents are now facing water disruptions, as well. Residents in Austin and Houston are being told to boil water or only use bottled water. But of course, bottled water is very hard to come by, and food supplies are dwindling.

Officials in Galveston County have requested a refrigerated storage truck. Not for food, but for the fatalities.

SCIUTTO: So many families are suffering. Texas Governor Greg Abbott is offering no clear timeline on when power will be fully restored. It is important to note that Texas runs its electric grid independent from the federal government in order to avoid regulations. They're kind of on their own there.

The governor is falsely blaming renewal -- renewable energy for the issues in his state, which is just not true.

Also developing this morning, the Biden administration announced a sweeping immigration reform bill that would create a path, an eight- year path to citizenship for millions of immigrants already living in the U.S. More on that in just a moment.

But we begin with CNN's Camila Bernal. She is live in Dallas on the crisis in Texas. Is there any progress today, I suppose, is the real question right now. Because the suffering is just -- it's a mess.

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Jim, good morning.

There is some progress, thankfully. I just checked about five minutes ago, and at the moment, about 600,000 households here in Texas are without power. That is significantly lower than what we saw at its peak earlier this week.

But keep in mind: in the early morning hours, we're always seeing those numbers lower because of the low power usage overnight. So we'll have to see what happens throughout the day.

Nonetheless, so many Texans are waking up today cold, angry, demanding answers, and it appears that they're not going to get those answers before they have to deal with, first, another round of wintry weather.

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BERNAL (voice-over): Texas in crisis. Hundreds of thousands of residents still without power and heat after days of brutal cold temperatures.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm nervous. I'm nervous. I don't know what's going to happen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our house is 32 degrees inside. We're worried about the pipes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No!

BERNAL: Residents documenting the damage. Some posting photos on social media of frozen pipes bursting, sending water and ice into their homes.

BRIANNA BLAKE, TEXAS STORM VICTIM: We had no firewood left, and we started using things in the house to keep the fire going. And seeing my two sleeping babies under a bunch of blankets in front of the fireplace that was slowly going out was heartbreaking.

BERNAL: Many are seeking refuge wherever they can, including warming centers or furniture stores.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They said, you know, you could freeze in the middle of the night. So we had to find some place to go.

BERNAL: Some even sleeping in their cars to stay warm.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not like sleeping in your own bed. But we were warm.

BERNAL: Grocery stores running low on food.

Nearly 12 million Texans are experiencing water disruptions, with most of those under a boil water notice. Even hospitals are struggling to maintain water pressure.

In Galveston, most residents have no power or heat. The local medical examiner setting up a refrigerated truck outside its building, anticipating an influx of deaths. The county's judge furious.

JUDGE MARK HENRY, GALVESTON COUNTY, TEXAS: Everyone knew this was coming. We had at least a week's advance notice. So I'm very upset.

BERNAL: The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, also known as ERCOT, under fire for the power outages. The company said on Wednesday it restored power to more than 1 million households.

Texas governor Greg Abbott has called for an investigation and for the company's executives to resign. But Abbott himself is under fire, critics accusing him of deflecting responsibility by placing blame on renewable energy sources.

[06:05:00]

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): This shows how the Green New Deal would be a deadly deal for the United States of America.

BERNAL: Changing his tune just hours later.

ABBOTT: The companies that generate the power, their operations have frozen up or have trip-wired and are nonoperational. That is the lead reason why there is a shortage of power.

BERNAL: Beto O'Rourke disagrees.

BETO O'ROURKE (D), FORMER TEXAS CONGRESSMAN: Our renewable energy portfolio actually outperformed the forecast, regardless of what, you know, Greg Abbott and other Republicans and right-wing media are saying.

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BERNAL: Now, ERCOT does say that these rolling blackouts will likely continue. I spoke to a man in this neighborhood, and he specifically told me that he has power for three hours, and then he's in the dark for eight. So three on, eight off. Three on, eight off. He, of course, says it's difficult but is thankful for those three hours.

ERCOT saying that they're going to try to extend the periods of time when people do have power, but at the moment, Jim, there are no guarantees.

SCIUTTO: Well, the one community not suffering, El Paso, because it's off the ERCOT system. They made changes to respond to something like this.

Camila Bernal, thanks very much.

Overnight, San Antonio and Austin, Texas, sadly, hit with another ice storm. You see the pictures there.

Meanwhile, a tornado watch has now been issued for portions of the Florida Panhandle and southwest Georgia as the winter weather moves east in the region.

CNN meteorologist Chad Myers is tracking it all.

Listen, how big, how long is this going to last, and where -- where is it headed?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, the cold air is in the plains, and it's not leaving any time soon. It's going to moderate. It's going to warm up a little bit. That's some good news.

But there is still another event, a little bit of ice and snow for San Antonio, the hill country, moving into Louisiana for today. And as you talked about, even the potential for some severe weather across Florida and Georgia.

But let's get to Texas. Let's focus on what these people have been dealing with now. Dallas, Texas, you haven't been above freezing for five days. Houston, you finally get to 39 today, but a morning low of 25. And then finally, by Monday and Tuesday, you're approaching normal.

What does that mean? Well, that means that the frozen pipes in those areas are actually going to thaw. Did those pipes crack? Did they split? Will you just have water everywhere? Likely, in many areas.

Dallas, you get to 47 on Saturday. That's some relief, and sunshine. The sunshine is the key. It will warm the homes at least a little bit. And on Wednesday, all the way back up to 70 degrees.

Now forecasting what's going on in the northeast. A snow event will come into New York City. Four to 8 inches for New York. More in the Poconos. More into parts of New Jersey. And an ice event for D.C., all the way down to Richmond. There's Charlottesville, all the way over to Staunton. We will see significant icing, bringing trees, power limbs down -- lines down. And all of a sudden, we have another power event here.

This is what the snow event is going to look like for New York. A lot of the snow is from Philadelphia, westward, all the way up toward Hartford. But like we need more, but here it comes.

At least Texas is at the end of the light. We're going to see the tunnel here at the very least here, I would say, by Friday and Saturday. And then that's the sunshine that will certainly help -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Thank God. Thank God that we're seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

Chad, thank you. We'll check back with you throughout the program.

OK. Joining us now to talk about what's happening in Texas and why is CNN's senior political analyst, John Avlon.

So John, we've talked to some locals there who say, now is no time for finger pointing. Obviously, they're in the middle of a catastrophe. They want to get out of it before they figure out what went wrong. Except that winter's not over, and weather fluctuations are certainly not going anywhere. And so I think we do need to talk about what went wrong here and how to avoid it.

Rick Perry, who as you know, was the longest-serving governor there in Texas, he participated in this blog yesterday, and he said, quote, Texans would be without electricity for longer than three days to keep the federal government out of their business. Try not to let whatever the crisis of the day is. Take your eye off having a resilient grid that keeps America safe personally, economically, and strategically.

I mean, he's talking about how Texas hasn't been part of the national grid and they've prided themselves on that. But is this -- what I don't understand is, is this a fluke, OK? Is this self-reliance just, you know, gone wrong because it's a fluke or is this incompetence?

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It's a combination of the two. What we have is a natural disaster, compounded by a man-made disaster. And one of the many problems with Rick Perry's kind of incoherent statement there is that it's contradictory.

You know, he's a former energy secretary and governor. He should know this. If you want a resilient grid, that's one of the reasons why the rest of the country has an interdependent grids. So you can move energy around as needed when there's a local shortfall.

Texas, because it decided to go it alone back in the 1930s, doesn't have that kind of redundancy.

And here's a state that's incredibly energy rich, OK? I mean, this is -- prides itself as the backbone of America's energy security. But today, that backbone is broken. And the people suffering are in America's fourth largest city, Houston, all throughout the state. Austin. People without power, without heat, without water in many cases.

[06:10:10]

This is a scandal for a state as great as Texas. And Rick Perry and everybody should know that.

SCIUTTO: You hear a lot of folks saying, well, we could not have predicted this. But the fact is, Texas had a similar event ten years ago, the big chill they called it in 2011.

In response to that, El Paso community made changes. They made the grid more responsive. They put on more crews. You know, they took steps, because they learned from that lesson. But the rest of Texas did not. I mean, that's the issue here, as well, John, is it not?

AVLON: Sure.

SCIUTTO: That this did not come out of nowhere. There were warnings.

AVLON: Well, to be clear, I mean, they had warnings. They didn't act on them. They do not -- their grid and their basic planning right now does not have contingencies for the kind of climate crisis weather we're seeing, these extreme weather events.

This is not typical Texas weather, obviously. And they didn't mitigate appropriately. They didn't anticipate it.

But to your point, when -- when something like this happened a decade ago, El Paso adapted. And the proof is in the pudding in terms of the fact that they've still got power. So -- so that's the lesson to be learned. You've got to take lessons away from this. There is real human suffering that should not be going on in major American cities and states right now, a state as robust and fast-growing as Texas.

But if you don't learn, if you don't adapt, you've got a real problem, and that's part of the problem of why so many Texans are suffering this morning.

CAMEROTA: I mean, that's also part of what -- part of the problem with what Rick Perry said, is like, Texans would be happy to have this happen just to stay, you know, independent. Well, tell that to the 16 people there who have died already. That's one issue.

The other issue is, you know, some people, like the state's governor, are saying this is because they were too dependent upon, like, windmills and green energy. Is that true or not?

AVLON: No, it is absolutely not true. It has been repeated. This has become a right-wing media talking point. It's totally irrelevant to the problem.

To the extent now, though, that because it's been repeated so much, there are a number of fact checks. And we'll have a reality check coming up that deals with it directly.

You know, renewable energy, particularly wind power and solar, is a very small percent of Texas's total energy output. Regardless, the core of it, natural gas, coal, and nuclear, that -- the drop-off from those sources has been twice the drop-off from wind turbines.

So this is a right-wing talking point that reflects an ideological (ph) bent that has absolutely nothing to do with the problem at hand. And that's the problem. We've got to stay focused on solving the problem, not pointing fingers and certainly not pushing political agendas when people are suffering.

SCIUTTO: Never let the facts get in the way of a good political talking point.

AVLON: That's right.

SCIUTTO: That's America today. John Avlon, thanks very much.

AVLON: Thanks, guys.

SCIUTTO: Other big news this morning, President Biden has just announced a sweeping and ambitious, really, immigration bill. We're going to break down the details, next.

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[06:17:06]

SCIUTTO: Developing just overnight, the Biden administration announcing a sweeping, ambitious immigration reform bill that would provide, among other things, a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants already living here in the U.S.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live at the White House this morning. And listen, you know, there's lots of news out there, but the Biden administration moving ahead with an aggressive legislative agenda.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. No doubt, Jim. The -- President Biden today unveiling this sweeping immigration reform bill, aiming to give a path to citizenship, an eight-year path to citizenship for the roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants here in the United States.

The president's allies will introduce that bill officially today in Congress, but with a slim Democratic majority in both houses. This bill has long odds to actually make it to the president's desk.

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DIAMOND (voice-over): President Biden announcing a sweeping immigration reform bill this morning, aiming to give a path to citizenship to the roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States.

The bill proposes an eight-year timeline to become a citizen, with special exemptions for farm workers, those here on humanitarian grounds, and immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally as children, allowing them to immediately apply for a green card.

All immigrants must have entered the U.S. before January 1st of this year.

The president's focus on immigration reform would fulfill a key campaign promise, but he'll face a tough fight from Republicans on Capitol Hill to approve any legislation.

Biden administration officials say it will be up to Congress to decide if they want to pass one comprehensive bill or split it into smaller pieces, a possibility the president hinted he's open to this week.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you had a refugee bill by itself, I'm not suggesting that, but I would -- there's things that I would deal by itself. But not at the expense of saying, I'm never going to do the other. There is a reasonable path to citizenship.

DIAMOND: Biden delaying a tour of a Pfizer manufacturing facility in Michigan due to weather concerns, but in Washington, the president is continuing to make the case for his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan.

BIDEN: I learned based on the polling data they want everything that's in the plan. Not a joke.

It's not about the money. It's about, in order to do everything from open schools, as we should, to make sure that we're generating income for people who are in real trouble.

DIAMOND: Biden has yet to convince a single Republican senator to support his relief package, and his proposal to raise the minimum wage also hitting snags with two Senate Democrats. Most Democrats say it's time to push forward, even without Republican votes.

REP. VAL DEMINGS (D-FL): President Biden made it quite clear, we need to go big or go home. But he is clearly prepared, if we have to go it alone on the Democratic side of the aisle, that we are prepared to do that, to bring much-needed relief to the American people.

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[06:20:06]

SCIUTTO: All right. Jeremy is back with us. Also joining us, Natasha Alford. She's the vice president of digital content and senior correspondent at "The Grio." Good to have you both on.

Natasha, it's hard to impossible to get Republican votes for the easiest thing to do in Washington, which is spend money, right, on this COVID relief package.

Does this have a chance of getting the votes necessary to pass, or is this more a kind of start the conversation proposal?

NATASHA ALFORD, VICE PRESIDENT OF DIGITAL CONTENT AND SENIOR CORRESPONDENT, THE GRIO: Well, I think that there's an opportunity here to win support, when you focus on the areas where there is public support around immigration.

So I'm thinking primarily of DREAMers and people who came to the U.S. as children, who had no choice in the matter, who have contributed so much to society. They're going to school. They're paying taxes. They own homes.

And you will see that, with some of these stand-alone bills that have been proposed that are bipartisan, they focus on these stories. Again, humanizing the story of immigrants who are coming to the U.S. And there is public support.

So I think if you focus on the stand-alone parts, which President Biden said he is -- he is open to supporting, if he can't get this full, comprehensive bill through, there is hope there.

But we must remember, we're coming from an era of xenophobia, strong anti-immigrant rhetoric. And so it makes sense that there will be resistance. And with the GOP still in many ways being the party of Donald Trump, you're going to see a lot of Republicans seizing this moment to -- to focus on division. And to say that this really shouldn't be a priority right now.

CAMEROTA: And so Jeremy, isn't that the answer? I mean, everything that Natasha just said, do it incrementally. This -- the big, comprehensive immigration reform is the white whale of every administration.

However, the DREAM Act for the DREAMers, for the people who were brought here as kids through no choice of their own, that one already has bipartisan support.

I mean, Durbin -- Senators Dick Durbin and Lindsey Graham just reintroduced their bill from 2017. That already has bipartisan support. I guess I'm confused about the go big or go home model here. Why not -- why doesn't Biden just start with that narrow one?

DIAMOND: Well, I think the answer, Alisyn, is that, even though they are introducing this big, comprehensive bill, their answer is not go big or go home.

In fact, the president making quite clear this week that he would be open to doing things on more of a piecemeal basis. And administration officials told us last night on a briefing call about this bill that they were also open to that possibility. They certainly were not shutting the door to that.

What the president is doing here is he's making very clear that not only is immigration reform a key priority for him in his -- in his policy in the scope of his policy agenda overall, and he's also setting down the markers for what he would like to see, whether it is in one big sweeping bill or in these different components that we will see moving forward.

But I think Natasha is right as far as the Republican opposition that the president is going to face here. Look, the Republican Party had a choice back in 2016 about what kind of party they were going to be going forward on this issue of immigration reform.

And they picked Donald Trump as their candidate. And from there, you saw a shift that, even among some mainstream Republicans in terms of what they were talking about in terms of the border wall, in terms of immigration reform more broadly. And they had opportunities during Donald Trump's presidency to actually change that, and clearly, they made a choice that is now going to be a thorn in President Biden's side as he tries to move forward and win Republican support, where he needs it, because of that narrowest of narrow majorities that Democrats have in the Senate.

SCIUTTO: Natasha, I wonder if we should not underestimate just the messaging change here, right? The prior administration, in Trump's words, Mexico sends us their rapists, right? From the very beginning, the focus on the border wall that really went nowhere in the end, I mean, you have a change here in the Biden immigration proposal, things like remove "alien" from immigration laws, replace it with "non- citizen." You know, increase diversity visas from 55,000 to 80,000 annually.

But also focus on the border wall technology, which is really what law enforcement has said is -- is the more effective change, right, rather than building some big wall. That's important, is it not? I mean, it's certainly a change from the last administration, regardless of where the legislation goes.

ALFORD: It's a significant change in rhetoric and language and, you know, if you all remember that day that we watched the inauguration, this sigh of relief that -- that we were being spoken to humanely. That there was talk of unity. It was this tone shift that I think was really significant.

And -- and so when it comes to immigration, we no longer will be reading headlines where immigrants are dehumanized and spoken about as if they are the worst of the worst.

[06:25:07]

But we're seeing a president who's emphasizing the contributions, the potential benefits. Also, this is not just a moral issue. This is an economic issue, right?

So we have immigrants who are contributing economically to society. And some of the programs that are part of this proposal would provide opportunities for immigrants who are making that economic investment.

So there is power in words. There's power in the energy that we get from the White House. And so I think that, yes, we cannot underestimate the fact that we're speaking about people in humane terms again, and I think that that will influence public opinion, and hopefully, that can move us forward. SCIUTTO: Yes, I mean, there are power words. I mean, the El Paso

shooter a couple of years ago, covered that shooting, and inspired -- I mean, his comments about, you know, fighting back against this, you know, influx of folks across the border.

Natasha, Jeremy, thanks so much to both of you. We'll be following this going forward.

Coming up this hour, the former president called him an "unsmiling political hack." So what is Mitch McConnell going to do it? We have new reporting on where the political feud is going next. Coming up.

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