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Senate GOP Threaten To Block Infrastructure Vote As Deal Teeters; Fox Host Claims It's Not The Government's Job To Protect People; Data Shows Political Divide Is Killing Americans. Aired 7:30- 8a ET

Aired July 20, 2021 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

SEN. GARY PETERS (D-MI): Still some disagreement on some of the terms. So that group is still working through that. But I think the important thing for us right now is that we need to proceed. And that's why Leader Schumer wants to put this on the floor tomorrow, a motion to proceed to go forward so that we can come together as a Senate and deal with infrastructure, physical infrastructure, this is something that we need to do.

This should be bipartisan. It's about investing in roads and bridges, expanding the high speed internet to folks all across the country, in rural areas, urban areas. This is something that needs to be done. Hopefully, it can be done in a bipartisan way. And it's certainly not unusual to have this type of vote now, even though we don't have final bill text. We did it just recently, with the Innovation and Competitive Act. We got to over 40 Republicans joined Democrats in advancing that legislation, even though we didn't have full text at the time.

But we did have different pieces. I was part of one of those pieces as Chairman of Homeland Security Committee. We did a number of cyber bills and by American bills that were eventually in that bill. The same thing really exists right now. We have energy has done legislation. We've had legislation come out of Commerce Committee in a bipartisan way.

So this is an attempt to move this ball forward. It's time to stop talking. It's time to take action. Our infrastructure needs it, and we should be able to do it in a bipartisan way.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: So you agree with, it sounds like Schumer's decision to have this vote, which is controversial, Senate GOP leadership right now threatening to block the vote tomorrow, unless negotiators strike a deal on it. Is this possibly going to die, is this imperiled?

PETERS: Well, I hope not because it's too important. It's too important for us to make these kinds of investments. In fact, you know, if you look at folks who look at the infrastructure of countries around the world, we ranked number 13 in terms of the quality of our physical infrastructure, 13th in the United States of America. We shouldn't be 13th in any category, particularly something as important as infrastructure.

We should come together in a bipartisan way, just like we did in the Competitive Act, where we came together. We said, let's move this forward, let's have a motion to proceed. Again, when nearly 40 Republicans joined us, even though we didn't have bill text, there were amendments that were put forward. There were 22 roll call votes, and that had passed with a wide -- in a wide bipartisan way.

So we just did this just recently, we can do it again. But I think this will be a test. Are the Republicans really serious about coming together and dealing with infrastructure in this country? If they're serious, they will vote to proceed and let the Senate come together and work together as a body to move this critical legislation forward. If they're not serious and walk away, that would certainly be too bad. And I think it'd be terrible for the country.

And if they walk away as Democrats, we still have to make sure we're making investments in infrastructure in this country, to make sure we can continue to grow our economy, and create good paying jobs. That's what this is all about. This is about good paying jobs. We need to come together.

KEILAR: You chaired the first committee to investigate the Capitol insurrection. It was on a very limited scope. We've had you on the show to talk about that before. But I do wonder as you're watching what's going on in the House here, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, appointing five people to this House Select Committee investigating the insurrection, and he chose three people who voted against certifying the results of the 2020 election. What do you think of that?

PETERS: Well, it's certainly not an indication that he's looking at this in a good faith way. And I think that's just so disappointing for the country. We had an insurrection on the Capitol. We have to have an understanding of what actually happened, what motivated this action. We have to understand what the facts are. The American people deserve nothing less than having a full accounting and all of the facts associated with that horrific event.

And I would hope that they would have come together in a good faith way to examine those facts. It certainly doesn't look like that based on these choices that he has made and it's disappointing for the country.

KEILAR: Later today, Senator Peters, you will be announcing an investigation into cryptocurrency and to cybercrimes as well. Tell us about this. What should we expect?

PETERS: Well, we are launching investigation into cyber currencies dealing with our overall move to deal with cyberattacks in this country. In fact, we'll be putting out legislation shortly dealing with the ransomware attacks that we have seen recently. In fact, there have been 150 percent increase in ransomware attacks just in this year and certainly big ones like pipelines, meatpacking plants over the Fourth of July, several 100 small businesses. So we're hit with ransomware attacks.

And what we find is that cryptocurrencies are the medium of choice by these folks to use cryptocurrencies. In fact, probably well over $400 million have been paid in ransoms in this last year from cryptocurrencies. We think it may be a much larger number because we still have to get a better handle on how widespread these attacks are.

And we want to make sure we're dealing with cryptocurrency and understand why is it the choice by these folks. And how can we disrupt that choice. How can we make cryptocurrencies, not the medium of choice but actually disrupt the use of cryptocurrency.

[07:35:21]

So this will be an investigation into why it's being used, how we can disrupt it. We certainly know the FBI was actually able to track this transaction related to the pipeline, that is a disincentive. What sort of resources are necessary for us to do that in a more aggressive way to let the cyber criminals know, they're not going to get away with their ransom.

We will track them down. We will get that ransom back. We will also hold them accountable. And they will be punished. In addition to putting stronger locks on our doors, we have to also make sure that we're dealing with these other aspects as well.

KEILAR: Yes, we're all starting to realize how these cybercrimes are affecting us for sure. Senator Peters, thanks for being with us.

PETERS: Thank you.

KEILAR: Well, some hosts at Fox's propaganda headquarters are pushing anti-vaccine rhetoric. Others seemed to be more livid that the government wants to battle vaccine disinformation pushed by said propaganda headquarters by educating Americans on the benefits in the safety of the coronavirus vaccine, including one member of the Sunrise Trio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN KILMEADE, FOX NEWS HOST: If you didn't get a vaccination, that's your choice. And if you did, like I did, and they did, and maybe you did, then you should not wear a mask. And if you didn't, if you want to go cliff diving this weekend, you don't have to check with me. It seems a little dangerous, but I'm not going to judge you.

And if you go ahead and put yourself in danger, if you feel as though this is not something for you, don't do it but don't affect my life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ninety-nine percent of the people who are dying from COVID are unvaccinated.

KILMEADE: That their choice. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't want to die. So they are -- the administration and the government is saying we need the mask mandate to protect the unvaccinated.

KILMEADE: That is not -- that's not their job. It's not their job to protect anybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN AVLON, CNN ANCHOR: Here's the thing. It's literally the job of government to protect people. Check out the preamble of the Constitution, quote, we the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. Catch up, provide for the defense of the people and promote the general welfare of the people.

So fast forward to modern society and nearly every sector of the government and every law that Congress makes is designed however and perfectly to serve and protect its people.

KEILAR: Many examples, the government protects your food. You've heard of the FDA of course. The government protects your medicine. They make sure that it's safe to consume. They protect your health by fighting and studying diseases at the CDC and NIH.

AVLON: Protects your travel with the FAA regulating the skies and the planes in which you ride. It protects the highways, setting speed limits and putting stop signs at intersection, uses crash test dummies to improve the safety of your car. Firefighters protect you from flames. Police protect you from crimes. EMTs could save your life or get you quickly to someone who can.

KEILAR: The government protects your personal safety like the time this "Fox" host wanted a democratic governor to show more appreciation for the government when it protected her against the kidnapping plot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: The Justice Department found them arrested them and they were stopped in their tracks. Governor Whitmer not grateful but focused on the President.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: But Kilmeade's previous arguments against his current argument don't stop there. Like the time you push for teachers employed by the government to protect students.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: I love with Florida's doing allowing teachers to get trained in shooting in schools to shoot back at the shooters before they get to the schools.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Or the time that Kilmeade wanted the government to retaliate against Russian cyberattacks to protect Americans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: The only thing that Russians would understand is strength. And if you, we have the same cyber technology that they do, I believe it's better, a lot better. We have to blink their lights. That's the only thing they understand. We're pretending we're living in a civilized world. Next thing is going to be the Hoover Dam. You think the pipelines where it stops. This is where it starts. We have to send a strong message back and thrown out a few diplomats does not work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: Or all the time that Kilmeade supported government funded manpower to protect the border.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: You know what I want and I think we all want, there is a five alarm fire on our southern border right now. And the men and women every day need some help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Or the time the Kilmeade said correctly that it's the President's job the head of the federal government to protect the country, even called it leadership.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[07:40:03]

KILMEADE: The other thing is what the President saying is I will do whatever it takes to secure the country, even if it hurts us economically, because my first job is security. He's that's called leadership. And if Republicans don't vote with it, I get that too. But the President's got a different responsibility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Or the time Kilmeade criticized a withdrawal involving American troops, who are of course funded by the government.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: What he's going to do early is a classic America, pull off your -- pull the foot off the throats early, and it's going to make everyone's -- everyone security more perilous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: But in fairness, let's consider the alternative that Kilmeade was simply arguing for personal responsibility to classic libertarian argument. But Americans can do pretty much whatever they want. The problem is that his cliff diving metaphor doesn't really apply here because being reckless with your health in a pandemic, can directly affect the health of others. That old idea that my right to swing my fist ends at your nose.

KEILAR: People who can get vaccinated but choose not to can impact someone who doesn't have the choice of getting vaccinated like someone under 12, who is immunosuppressed and goes to school this fall in one of the states or school districts where officials are banned from requiring mask use or someone who can get vaccinated but chooses not to because they believe the BS that Kilmeade's colleagues dish out nightly, or someone who is vaccinated but still immunosuppressed, who must rely on their fellow citizens to do the right thing to be personally responsible for other people, not just themselves.

AVLON: What a concept.

President Biden is pushing for every American to get vaccinated as the country backslides with COVID cases rising and many people still refusing to get their shots. Conservative propaganda continues to so doubt over the importance of vaccines. And on Monday, the Dow Jones plunged more than 700 points and its biggest drop in the year as alarm over the Delta variant infections, Delta blow to travel stocks.

Jeff Zeleny is live in Cincinnati with more. Jeff, vaccine hesitancy coupled with rising cases is stalling U.S. progress and killing many Americans. So what efforts are being taken now to bridge the gap between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, good morning. There are extensive efforts underway. They really have been for weeks and months to urge people to get vaccinations. There's the Vax-a-Million lottery here in Ohio. There are contest. There are celebrity endorsements. But the health experts we talked to say it's unclear if these have had a real effect or not. But as President Biden marks his six month in office today, the question is anyone listening to this, urgent please.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you're unvaccinated, you are not protected. So please, please get vaccinated. Get vaccinated now.

ZELENY (voice-over): An urgent plea from President Biden imploring Americans to shed their doubts about vaccinations with COVID-19 cases sharply on the rise.

BIDEN: The only way we put it behind us is if more Americans get vaccinated.

ZELENY (voice-over): Dena Cranley and Barbara Lynch agree with the President. But they have a blunt reality check for him.

DENA CRANLEY, CHAIR, CINCINNATI FIRST LADIES FOR HEALTH: I don't think they're listening to the politicians. ZELENY (voice-over): Lynch and Cranley has spent months trying to chip away at vaccine hesitancy through their group First Ladies for Health, which does outreach to communities of color and faith.

BARBARA LYNCH, CHAIR, CINCINNATI FIRST LADIES FOR HEALTH: We've come up against the brick wall and we're trying to figure out what we can do now to induce people to get the vaccine. I have a grandson who is that taking the vaccine and we preach to him and preach to him and preach to him about it, but he's not taking the vaccine.

ZELENY (on camera): Your own grandson?

LYNCH: My own grandson, yes. He believes the stuff that he's seeing on the internet.

ZELENY (voice-over): The Delta variant is rattling nerves from the White House to Wall Street. With a doubt tumbling Monday more than 700 points, the worst one day decline of the year.

BIDEN: We know that our economic recovery hinges on getting the pandemic under control.

ZELENY (voice-over): To America's the vaccinated and the unvaccinated are coming into sharper focus here in Ohio and across the country. Ohio is fully vaccinated 45.9 percent of its population just below the U.S. rate of 48.6 percent. Hamilton County home to Cincinnati is slightly higher at 49 percent.

CRANLEY: Now we're in this stage where the supply is very high and the demand is very low.

ZELENY (voice-over): The long lines at vaccination centers in the winter and spring have slowed to a summertime trickle. Julianne Nesbit is Health Commissioner of Clermont County just outside Cincinnati, where interested in vaccines has dramatically leveled off.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Welcome to the Vax-a-Million giveaway.

ZELENY (voice-over): Despite lotteries, celebrity endorsements and more.

JULIANNE NESBIT, HEALTH COMMISSIONER, CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO: I think most people who have strong beliefs one way or the other, I don't know that that incentive is going to push them one way or the other to be able to do it.

ZELENY (voice-over): The Delta variant has highlighted a new divide in America rooted in far more than politics. Bill Stearns, a lawyer in the conservative suburb of Batavia got his shot early, but knows plenty of people who haven't.

[07:45:05]

BILL STEARNS, OHIO RESIDENT: The primary reason I'm hearing is that it's untested and they don't want to have anything like that in their bodies that they don't control. ZELENY (voice-over): In Cincinnati, 23-year-old Marquise Hughes told us he will not get the vaccination despite pleas from his grandparents and others.

MARQUISE HUGHES, OHIO RESIDENT: I just don't feel like it's safe, you don't know the consequences.

ZELENY (on camera): Who told you it wasn't safe?

HUGHES: Myself, you know, just my research.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY: So it is a sense of disinformation that is out there that really is driving some of this hesitancy but certainly not all of it, but younger Ohioans and of course, younger Americans across the country are a big part of the unvaccinated. Officials believe some of that will change when some colleges resume in the fall. Of course not all of them are going to require vaccinations, including most of the big universities here in Ohio.

There is no question the organizers we talk to you say they're going to still go person to person trying to keep encouraging the vaccinations to keep going. But the vaccine hesitancy I can tell you, John and Brianna, is very real here across party lines.

AVLON: You got to follow the facts, not your fears. Jeff Zeleny live in Cincinnati. Thank you.

And a reminder, President Joe Biden joining Don Lemon for an exclusive CNN presidential Town Hall live tomorrow night in Cincinnati at 8:00 Eastern.

KEILAR: And right now Jeff Bezos and his crew are prepping for their first mission to the edge of space. This trip has been six decades in the making for one crew member. We're going to tell you all about her. We're going to talk about Wally Funk.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[07:51:01]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I'm going to off the lab now. It's one small step for men. One giant leap for mankind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: It was 52 years to the day of the Apollo 11 moon landing. A different kind of history will be made in space in a little over an hour from now, a very different kind of history. The richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, about to reach the edge of space. You're looking at live pictures of New Shepard, a suborbital capsule and rocket system built by his space company Blue Origin. Good morning. I'm Anderson Cooper. We are at the launch ground live near Van Horn, Texas of Blue Origin's launch site one, five decades after Neil Armstrong small step for man. Today's journey should be a big step for space tourism and a remarkable step for Blue Origin which was begun by Bezos more than two decades ago.

The Amazon founder will be joined by his brother Mark, two other passengers as well who will be the youngest and oldest people to ever travel to space. Last night, Jeff Bezos delivered dinner to the press in the media center. If he were worried about this morning's flight, he certainly didn't show it in front of the cameras.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you having for breakfast tomorrow?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, is that your last meal? Are you having steak and eggs?

JEFF BEZOS, FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN OF AMAZON: Did somebody said last meal?

(INAUDIBLE)

BEZOS: Let's talk about it in a different way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: More live pictures now of Blue Origin's New Shepard. Bezos and his fellow passengers expected to leave the training center for the launch pad in just minutes at 8:15 a.m. Eastern Time. They'll ascend the tower and get into that capsule. The capsule can see up to six. There are only going to be four people in it today.

Once they get the go order, the hatch should close around 8:36 Eastern Time. Liftoff is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. Eastern time. That flight is just 11 minutes and all the spin about three minutes, a weightless. CNN's Tom Foreman has the details of what's in store for Bezos and his fellow passengers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At Blue Origin's arid testing ground, the 60 foot rocket is slated to take off at 8:00 a.m. Central Time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Command start, two, one.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Just as it has already in more than a dozen test flights like the one seen here, a million horsepower blast from the liquid fueled engine will start the journey. The astronauts will be strapped into a ring of futuristic space seats. About a third of the capsule is made of windows. And the rocket will steadily rotate changing the view. Writing will be their only job.

ARIANE CORNELL, DIRECTOR OF ASTRONAUT AND ORBITAL SALES, BLUE ORIGIN: It's an autonomous vehicle. It's been designed so that the customers, the astronauts themselves can experience the flight.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Over the first two minutes their speed will literally rocket to more than 2,000 miles an hour. G forces will intensify until each person feels as if they weighed three times as much as normal. But that won't last. At two minutes and 45 seconds, the booster engine will fall away 15 seconds later as the capsule arcs toward the highest point in the flight. The passengers will start to feel much lighter. And at four minutes 62 miles up, they will be unbuckled.

CORNELL: You'll get to experience about three to four minutes of weightlessness again to gaze out of those big beautiful windows maybe do a couple of somersaults.

BEZOS: I don't know how it's going to change me. But I know it's going to and I'm excited to find out how.

FOREMAN (voice-over): He'll have to find out fast. Roughly six minutes into the flight they will return to their seats and start falling back to Earth, eventually going so fast they'll break the sound barrier just as they did going up. They won't likely see the booster engine land a couple of miles from the launch pad.

And once they're close enough to Earth, about nine minutes after taking off, parachutes will deploy to slow their descent to 15 miles an hour, then a retro thrust system will fire just before touchdown.

[07:55:13]

CORNELL: Really by the time the capsule lands, it's just about one or two miles an hour.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN: It won't be anything like orbital flight or what truly trained astronauts do, but it should be quite an experience. And considering the going rate is about $2.5 million per minute, it ought to be.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

COOPER: And you're -- we're going to be showing you live pictures now that -- there you see the rocket booster, the capsule sits on top of that, as Jeff Bezos is set to make an 11 minute ride to the edge of space this morning. We'll discuss the risks and rewards of this history making trip.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:00:07]

COOPER: And welcome back.