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New Day Saturday

Out Of Control Rocket To Reenter Earth's Atmosphere This Weekend; Vaccine Makers Tweaking Formulas As CDC Monitors New Variants; Stefanik Signals She Would Only Serve In Leadership Through 2022; Biden Urges Passage Of Economic Proposals In Wake Of Jobs Report; Chamber Of Commerce Urges Congress To End $300 Extra Unemployment Benefit In Wake Of Dismal Jobs Report; Restaurants Offer Signing Bonuses, Incentives To Attract New Hires; At Least 27 Killed In Violent Demonstrations Across Colombia. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired May 08, 2021 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Part of culture. I thought that Johnny Carson came with the T.V. set.

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: A close look at a legend on the story of late-night tomorrow night at 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN. The next hour of NEW DAY starts right now.

Good morning and welcome to your NEW DAY. I'm Boris Sanchez.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Boris. I'm Christi Paul. And we are talking this morning about this 22-ton used Chinese rockets hurtling towards Earth. It's expected to crash land in a matter of hours as we understand. The big question is, where?

SANCHEZ: Plus, 111 million and counting. That's how many Americans are fully vaccinated against coronavirus. The new developments that health experts hope can push that number even higher.

PAUL: And it's a House divide, Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney likely to be ousted from her leadership position as soon as next week. All for not going along with the big lie.

SANCHEZ: And help wanted with pandemic restrictions easing restaurants are filling up with customers, the problem though, is finding enough workers to keep the doors open.

Good morning and welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Saturday, May 8th, we are thrilled that you are with.

PAUL: Always. So, happening right now, there is part of a Chinese rocket about 100 feet long weighing more than 20 tons barreling towards Earth at 81,000 miles an hour. No one knows exactly where it's going to land. SANCHEZ: Yes, this is kind of nuts. We do know that its part of the long March 5-B rocket that China launched last week and it might re- enter Earth's atmosphere at some point today in a matter of hours. The Pentagon says they are tracking it, but they are not planning on shooting it down. One expert says there is no reason to worry there's a very small risk that it's going to wind up causing damage though, there is a risk.

PAUL: Yes, there is. CNN's David Culver is following all of it. I know this is one of the largest pieces of space junk to ever fall towards Earth. But when we talk about how fast it's going and what the real plausible risk is, I feel like there's really no good calculation for that yet.

DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And Christi, a bit unnerving to think of all the question marks surrounding this, right? It is large, it's the size of a Greyhound bus. It's moving really fast, 18,000 miles per hour. And so, that makes the trajectory all that more difficult to predict. What's interesting here is if you kind of try to absorb some of the media that's been put out around this story, you're not going to find too much. And perhaps that's because it's a bit embarrassing for Chinese officials to put out too much on this out of control rocket as U.S. officials have described it.

Usually, when they're launching these, they're very proud, and they'll put that on all sorts of different platforms to make sure people see it. Here, they're a bit more restrained, and that is continuing even with the official rhetoric that we're hearing. From the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for example, they say the chance of this really doing much impact is extremely low.

They're downplaying it significantly. I'll read a little bit as to what they're saying, this is really the only comment officially they're putting out there, "As far as I know," the spokesperson said on Friday, "this type of rocket adopts a special technical design, most of the components will be destroyed in the re-entry process and that probability of causing harm to aviation activities and the ground is extremely low."

Now, state media also putting out articles saying that this is a double standard on parts of western governments in saying that space debris that's just Chinese is going to cause issues. They say space debris in the past has likewise reentered and caused damage. And they're right in saying that, however, one expert describes here, why this rocket in particular stands out take a listen.

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JONATHAN MCDOWELL, ASTROPHYSICIST: The Chinese have this new type of rocket called the Long March 5B. And unlike other big rockets, it litters space by leaving its big 20-ton core stage in orbit after it's delivered at satellite. American rockets, Russian rockets European rockets don't do that, they dispose of their core stage during launch in a safe location.

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CULVER: Yes, so that's what makes this one set out just a bit different. And as the sun sets behind me here in Beijing, I can tell you officials are looking ahead to what is a very ambitious space program here in China. Boris, they are putting billions of dollars into continuous launches moving forward. And the next few weeks they expect to have a rover land on Mars. Next year, they expect to have construction completed for their International Space Station. Then they hope to have somebody on the moon by the 2030s. They are not slowing down.

SANCHEZ: No and it's happening at an incredible pace. David Culver, thank you so much. Let's bring in CNN's Allison Chinchar. She's tracking the re-entry of this rocket. And Allison, as it's getting closer, we're getting a better idea of where it might land. So, walk us through what you're seeing.

[07:05:09]

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right? Yes. So, the ultimate question is, where is it going to land? And to know the answer to that you have to know where it is right now. So, at this very moment, it is basically in the Southern Indian Ocean, that's that little red dot that you see down there. These yellow lines indicate the estimated flight path, basically, where we anticipate it's going to go over the next several hours.

Here's the thing, the estimated re-entry as of this point is between 20 UTC and 12 UTC, basically from 4:00 pm Eastern Time today, up until sometimes up to 8:00 am Eastern Time, Sunday. So, you've got a pretty wide gap there as to when it may fall, then the next question becomes, where will it fall? And the thing is, there's a lot of options at play here.

Basically, along any one of these yellow or blue lines here indicates where it may end up coming down. Now, this may seem like a lot, basically, what we're saying is, it's either eight hours on the earlier side, or the back side of this. So, you've got eight-hour windows on either side. That seems like a lot, but yesterday at the same time, that was 11 hours on either side, and you have a lot more of these yellow and blue lines.

So, each hour that goes by, we're able to narrow it down a little bit more about when and where it is likely going to go. The good news, the biggest important factor I want you to take home is that it has over 70 percent chance of landing just somewhere in the ocean, just because oceans take up so much more space on earth than land actually does.

In the event, it does actually come down on land, only about 10 percent of that is covered by humans. So again, the odds of a human being actually being impacted by this are very, very low, not zero, but very low.

Another thing that we kind of take a look at here is the actual rocket itself. It's about 20 tons, five meters in diameter, about 32 meters in length. But here's the thing, it's not going to come down all in one piece, it's likely going to break apart as it enters the re-enters the Earth's atmosphere, and a lot of those parts are really going to burn up. So, you're not going to have this entire thing, make it back down in one piece to the ground. So, that's another bit of good news there.

We also have a ton of stuff out in space want to emphasize this is not the only thing that's out there. It is very cluttered space out there a lot of stuff that's floating around in some of these areas. And one thing to note, there's roughly about 6000 satellites orbiting the Earth and 60 percent of those aren't even in use. So again, this is something that's very common, you have a lot of these things that are out there, and they fall back to Earth. A lot of them burn up, they break apart.

Here is a look, this was an actual picture taken by a telescope just over Italy, showing that rocket in the sky. So, the good news is Boris and Christi is that with each hour that goes by, we'll be able to narrow that window a little bit more as we have been able to do, but it may not be until just about several hours before it makes re-entry that we know exactly where it's going to fall.

SANCEHZ: And we know you'll keep watching it for us. We appreciate you crunching those numbers. Allison Chinchar, thanks so much.

PAUL: Yes, that was great. Thank you, Allison. So, let's talk about vaccination efforts in the US because they seem to be paying off. Coronavirus, infection rates are at their lowest in seven months, vaccine hesitancy and the possibility of new, more contagious variants are still the worry of some experts.

BORIS: Yes, for the first time since the beginning of October, the United States has a seven-day average of 45,000 new COVID-19 cases a day. That's actually really good news. Hospitalizations are also falling across the country as well. And it's because of vaccinations. Experts predict 185 million people will be vaccinated in the United States by September but the CDC says it's now monitoring a new coronavirus variant, and vaccine makers are reworking their formulas to combat some of the more troubling strains.

PAUL: Alison Kosik is with us now. So, Alison, there, I know there's so many signs that the worst is behind us. But experts continue to tell us look, we cannot let our guard down. What are you hearing this morning?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're absolutely right, Christi. Good morning to you. Good morning, Boris. And you know, if you look at where we were at the height of the pandemic, to now, it really does feel like we've come a long way with millions of Americans getting vaccinated. And that was possible because the FDA gave emergency use authorization to COVID-19 vaccines.

Pfizer was the first to get that authorization. And now, it's looking for full approval for its COVID-19 vaccine and if it gets it which could happen within a month or two, that could make vaccine mandates from employers more of a possibility.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KOSIK (voice over): Pfizer announced it has begun seeking full

approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of its COVID-19 vaccine for people 16 and older. This is the first COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. to be assessed for full approval from the FDA. Pfizer's two shot vaccine is currently used under emergency use authorization from the FDA. Full approval may help get people who are hesitant to get vaccinated.

[07:10:05]

DR. ASHISH JHA, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: For a lot of people who are on defence who are worried about well, is this an emergency use, should I get vaccinated, he will give them confidence. And then there are a lot of businesses who want to require that their employees be vaccinated for those businesses. It will also make them feel better about moving forward with that.

KOSIK: Nearly 111 million people are fully vaccinated, according to data published Friday by the CDC. More than 33 percent of the U.S. population, and about 45 percent of the U.S. population, or more than 150 million people has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

JEFF ZIENTZ, WHITE HOUSE COVID-19 RESPONSE COORDINATOR: Overall, we will hit two significant milestones in our vaccination program. 150 million Americans with at least their first shot, and 110 million Americans fully vaccinated. Our wartime effort is mobilized to meet the President's goal, and we are in all out implementation and execution mode.

KOSIK: For now, US cases per day are falling. The U.S. average more than 45,109 new cases a day over the last week. It hasn't been that low since October 6th, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The U.S. will likely reach its COVID-19 vaccine goals for the summer, but vaccine hesitancy and variance could still cause a surge in the winter and influential model predicted Thursday. The CDC is preparing for seasonal COVID-19 vaccine boosters in case they are needed. And with more variants spreading around the world, officials are racing to encourage Americans to get vaccinated and help the country reach herd immunity before vaccine resistant variants develop and reach the U.S.

DR. VIVEK MURTHY, SURGEON GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES: We've dedicated $250 million for committee organizations to provide vaccine information helped make appointments and assist with transportation to those appointments and another 100 million will support rural health clinics and their education and outreach efforts in rural communities. On top of this, nearly 250 million will be available to states and other jurisdictions to power the next phase of their outreach efforts.

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KOSIK: And now, there's a new explainer from the CDC about how coronavirus is transmitted the CDC saying you can get it through the air. That is not new news to everybody, I know, but what the CDC is trying to do here is boil it down saying you can either get the Coronavirus by breathing it in by getting through your eyes or your nose or by it settling on a surface and then you go ahead and touch your face. So, the advice is, what the advice has been, keep your keep your hands clean, keep the air clean and try to keep your nose and your eyes and your mouth from being exposed to the coronavirus, Boris and Christi.

SANCHEZ: All good ideas. Alison Kosik. Thanks so much. Still to Come. We'll take you to Capitol Hill where Trump loyalist, Elise Stefanik, will likely replace Liz Cheney and House leadership next week. What the move says about former President Trump's ongoing influence and the future of the Republican Party?

PAUL: And later, the surprising jobs report we've seen as the U.S. economy is struggling to rebound from the COVID pandemic. How President Biden is answering critics who say his COVID relief package may be to blame?

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[07:17:37]

PAUL: Republicans are poised to replace Representative Liz Cheney as chair of the GOP House Conference with Representative Elise Stefanik as soon as next week. It appears now, Stefanik wouldn't keep that role for long.

SANCHEZ: Yes, the Republican from New York has signaled to some of her colleagues that she plans to stay in leadership only through 2022. CNN Congressional Reporter Daniella Diaz joins us now. Daniella, Republicans have said that this is all about unity, to find his voting record is far more moderate than Liz Cheney's, this shakeup is much more about Donald Trump than it is about principles, isn't it?

DANIELLA DIAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Boris, it's about who stands with former President Donald Trump and who doesn't in the Republican Party. In the last couple of days, Cheney has lost a lot of support in the Republican conference, because she's been so vocal about her criticism of the former president. You know, she has blasted her colleagues for voting to overturn the election results on January 6th, and she's refusing to spread the big lie, which a lot of her colleagues have that the election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.

So, she is fully comfortable with the fact that she's losing her leadership position as a result of her being vocal about this and has come to terms with her thinking that this is bigger than her. But as you said, a moderate Congresswoman, Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, is now lining up behind her to replace her in this leadership position to be the GOP conference chair, which is the number three House Republican position.

But you know, she has broken with Trump in the past on voting record. In fact, Cheney is actually more conservative than Stefanik. But Stefanik has been clear that she's standing with the former president. That's really what this is all about, is an ally of his, even though she's broken with him in the past on the border wall, on tax cuts on Afghanistan. You know, she reiterated that in a radio interview yesterday that she's standing by the former president, here's what she had to say.

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REP. ELISE STEFANIK (R-NY): We need fighters, President Trump is a fighter on behalf of the American people. And voters want fighters to stand up for them. And that's what I'm committed to doing to unify the message to earn the support of our Republican colleagues and fight for hardworking American families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAZ: So, as you heard there she is standing by the former president. That's really what this is all about. Congresswoman Cheney who does not stand by the president who has been critical of him and Stefanik plans to expand the message of this party. But look, as you say, as you mentioned, she's been signaling to her colleagues, Stefanik has been signaling to her colleagues that she's only planning to have this position for the next two years until the next Congress when she can try to get the top job on the House, Education and Labor Committee. So, we might be having this conversation again in two years, depending on how this plays out next week, Boris and Christi.

SANCHEZ: Yes, notably, Stefanik also criticized Donald Trump back in 2015. Now, but it's politically expedient for her not so much criticism. Daniella Diaz, thank you so much for that.

Let's discuss further. Laura Barron Lopez, White House Correspondent for Politico joins us now. Laura, good morning pleasure to have you as always, the drama on cap -- the drama on Capitol Hill expected to culminate Wednesday, when the vote to boot Liz Cheney is expected to take place. Largely because as Daniela mentioned, she doesn't cower before Donald Trump's nonsense. And Republicans believe that Trump is still their ticket to winning back the majority next year. I want you to listen to what Lindsey Graham said on Fox News.

[07:21:08]

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SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (D-SC): I've always liked Liz Cheney, but she's made a determination that the Republican Party can't, can't grow with President Trump. I've determined we can't grow without him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS: Those sentiments echoed by a lot of other Republicans. Are there any other winning ideas or strategies for the GOP beyond placating the ex-president?

LAURA BARRON LOPEZ, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: It doesn't seem to be right now, Boris, which is what they're very focused on. They're very focused on showing that they are loyal to a former president, because they believe that that is the best way to keep their base united, to rile them up in opposition to Democrats in 2022. But also, what's interesting about what Senator Graham is saying is that he's making the argument that only with Trump in the Republican Party grow, whereas the past two elections would suggest otherwise.

In 2018, with Trump in power, Republicans lost the house. And that was, in part because a lot of suburban voters and middle-class voters drifted away from Republicans and started to vote Democratic. And again, we saw that happen in 2020, where President now President Biden made inroads with into diversifying suburbs with white middle class and voters who previously voted Republican. So, it's difficult to see where tethering themselves to Trump heading into 2022 could help them win back those voters. So far right now, they're struggling to attack President Biden's jobs plan his infrastructure plan and that's why you've seen so much of their attack lines around more social issues around the culture war and that's what they've been focusing on.

BORIS: Yes, made up stories about Biden wanting to take away hamburgers and other nonsense. All over the country, we're seeing Republicans who speak the truth having to pay a price, either facing censure, inevitable primaries, poorly written all caps insults on the ex-president's new blog, which isn't generating the kind of attention that he would like, and it's certainly not helping him fundraise like Facebook once did, and it makes it seem like his power is waning, but yet Republicans are still terrified of him. Why?

LOPEZ: It's because that they believe that their political benefit is by sticking with the President. President Trump, even though he is muted on a number of social media platforms, still holds a lot of power in primary elections. We're seeing that right now exactly with Liz Cheney, where she is arguably the underdog in her congressional race.

She went from being a few years ago talked about as a potential future house speaker. And now, she may not win reelection because of the fact that Trump and his forces are mobilizing against her. And so, due to that fear, the fear that if they were to stand up against him that they could potentially lose in primaries is another big reason that they're sticking by him.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Laura, I quickly want to pivot to the economy, and we have the jobs numbers up, it was a poor report. Not only did the numbers come in, in a disappointing fashion, but the numbers for March were also revised. Biden downplayed the idea that stimulus checks from his COVID recovery plan stunted labor supply. But as the White House offered any numbers to dismiss that argument, do they see labor supply the sources that you speak to the White House as an obstacle to growth?

LOPEZ: So far, they're saying that they, they're standing by what the President said in response to the report, which is that he doesn't think it measurably impacted his stimulus checks and the additional money that they're sending to Americans, but they haven't provided any hard numbers on that. One thing that they're going to have to argue as they try to sell the job plan as well as the family is meant to actually extend a lot of the credits that Americans are receiving now is that again, these additional credits, whether they may extend them out for five years, these tax credits or they extend them out permanently. They're going to have to find a way to explain to the American public as well as to Democrats, because there are some Democrats that are skeptical of these permanent extensions, that it's not going to impact the economic upturn.

[07:25:32]

SANCHEZ: All right. Laura Barron Lopez, thanks so much for the expertise. We appreciate it.

PAUL: So, is the economic boom bust? There's an extremely weak jobs report falling short of expectations as we've been talking about, what does it mean as a whole for the U.S. economy? We'll talk about that.

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[07:30:02]

SANCHEZ: Here in Washington, new debate over the economy and the Biden administration's strategy to fix it after a much worse than expected jobs report.

Economists were expecting 1 million new jobs last month, in reality, the U.S. added about a quarter of that; 266,000 jobs in April. The unemployment rate ticking up and the jobs numbers from March had to be revised, they were much lower as well.

President Biden says the rough report is a reminder that the race to recover is a marathon and not a sprint.

I thought we had a sound bite there. Here to discuss just how much more help is needed, CNN economics commentator Catherine Rampell, she's also a columnist for the Washington Post.

Catherine, we appreciate you joining us. And I want to start by talking about the tweet that you sent out, at first, when these numbers were coming out. "WTH". This was an unwelcome surprise. What happened?

CATHERINE RAMPELL, CNN ECONOMICS COMMENTATOR: Yes, all of the forecasts or virtually all of the forecasts had been for a gangbusters report of a million -- may be more than a million jobs being created last month, instead, as you pointed out, we got much less than that. It's curious what's going on.

There are a number of factors that we can identify. So, for example, manufacturing lost jobs. That's probably related to the fact that there are chips -- chip shortages which have caused supply chain issues, elsewhere in the manufacturing ecosystem, right? You can't manufacture a car if you don't have key components to it.

And then, there are other things that were a little puzzling, right? Like, why did the number of couriers go down? But the overall number itself was disheartening, of course. And it has raised concerns or heated up the debate, I should say, about whether the real problem is that maybe employers have jobs on offer, but workers aren't accepting them. And if so, what could be done to mitigate that?

SANCHEZ: Yes, I'm glad you mentioned that because there are a number of things at play. And many on the right are arguing that unemployment benefits have made it more profitable to stay at home than to look for work. Joe Biden says that is malarkey. Is there any evidence to support the claim?

RAMPELL: So, it looks like that could be the case for some workers, right? There are some workers who could potentially be making more on unemployment than they would in their regular job, especially, if they're in some sort of low-paid service job. So, I don't want to dismiss the idea outright that compensation could be a factor.

There are a lot of other factors that workers are weighing too, of course, right? Do they have child care as schools continue to be closed in large parts of the country? Can they get to work because there have been large public transit cuts in various cities around the country? Is it safe to work, right? If there are still infections around you if customers aren't being willing to take safety precautions? Are you going to have major and unpleasant confrontations with customers over their unwillingness to wear masks?

There's a whole host of issues that might factor into whether a worker decides that any particular job opening is right for them. And so, you can talk about the pay issue. And a lot of employers have been raising their pay. We saw that in the numbers yesterday, including in the restaurant and -- or the accommodation and food services industry, which has been complaining loudest about its own inability to find workers, we are seeing pay go up.

But unless you have pay in conjunction with some of those other obstacles tackled, you may see continuing hesitation amongst workers.

There have been some other proposals about ways to financially incentivize workers to go back to work, including, for example, offering some sort of one-time cash re-employment bonus. And you could do that either instead of or in conjunction with more generous unemployment benefits. I think there are some Democrats who are willing to consider it as an addition. Republicans who are saying we should do it instead of.

But again, until you address all of these other constraints on workers, I'm not sure that we should expect the disruption of more generous unemployment benefits alone to actually create a lot more jobs.

SANCHEZ: Yes, Janet Yellen, the treasury secretary saying that there are bottlenecks but she expects full employment next year. Very quickly, Catherine, yes or no, do you?

RAMPELL: It's very hard to say. I very much -- I really hope that employment picks up and that this was a one-time blip. And that, you know, as more people get vaccinated, more people will be willing to return to work because it will be safer to do so.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Agree.

RAMPELL: But, again, a lot of variables. SANCHEZ: A lot of variables. Catherine Rampell, thanks so much for the time.

RAMPELL: Thank you.

PAUL: So, as they're talking, the weather is warming, and more states are lifting their restrictions. There are customers beating down the doors to get into restaurants.

A lot of these businesses, they say, as they were just talking about, they can't find enough help to meet the demand.

[07:35:03]

PAUL: I want to talk to a restaurant owner, Andrew Dawson. He's the manager of the Grainery Restaurant. It's in Plain City, Ohio in the Columbus area.

Andrew, it's good to have you with us. I understand that you're working some just ungodly hours right now because you're picking up so much of the slack that you can't get from people that you need to be hiring. Help us understand what your day today like life is like right now.

ANDREW DAWSON, MANAGER, THE GRAINERY: Currently my day-to-day life is open to close um almost every single day. And so, I'm working six days a week, and luckily, I'm closed that seventh day, so that I can take some time off. And unfortunately, that time was still spent inside of the restaurant doing interviews and trying to conduct interviews, or at least we're scheduling them.

So, past 30 days, I've scheduled 45 interviews and had three applicants show up for those. And so, a lot of day-to-day operation with trying to conduct those interviews or messaging those applicants and just no response on the forefront at all.

PAUL: That number is so striking. You've had 45 interviews scheduled and yet only three showed up. Do you have any reason for that? Do you know why that's happening?

DAWSON: If I were to go ahead and run with my idea of that, it would absolutely be -- I believe here in Ohio, they are talking about going ahead and giving a $50 incentive if you are at least planning on going to an interview.

If you can show proof that you, at one point, were scheduled for an interview, I believe that there is an incentive that they are going to offer if they are not already.

PAUL: Do you think that what Catherine was talking about, these unemployment benefits, maybe more profitable to stay at home and she was trying to decide is there truth to that. Do you believe there is?

DAWSON: Yes. So, absolutely I have multiple of my past servers that are currently actually making more money staying from home. And so, currently, here in Ohio, I believe that it's 60 percent of what you were making, plus an additional $300 that just got extended out until fall.

PAUL: So, that's -- I know causing you to come up with some new ways to try to entice people to actually get back to work with you. What are you offering?

DAWSON: So, currently at the moment, I'm really trying to separate myself. And so, we're offering 25 percent more than what you were making at your previous job. Not only that, anywhere from a $500 to $1,000 sign-on bonus.

Not only that, I am also offering what -- I think I'm going to have to start offering health benefits inside of a restaurant, which it really bleeds us trying to take the small amount of profit that we were able to make because of the pandemic. And going ahead, and I'm going to have to invest that into getting employees inside of my restaurant.

PAUL: I was going to say, you know, Amazon and Walmart are offering $15 minimum wage and benefits. It's hard for you to compete with that.

DAWSON: It honestly isn't. And so, at the moment, we, we are giving bartenders up to $10 an hour. We are -- my kitchen staff is able to make up to $22.50 to $25 an hour given experience. And so, it's not difficult to compete with, and it's difficult because they're making so much money on a daily basis, and we're struggling.

PAUL: Right, right. Andrew Dawson, listen, I -- I'm wish -- we're all wishing you and all of the people that are in this position some sort of turn around here. We want all of you to do well. Thank you so much for taking time to talk to us and helping us understand what it's like from your vantage point.

DAWSON: Thank you very much.

PAUL: Of course.

SANCHEZ: Coming up, violent protests rocking Colombia for a 10th straight day. This, even though the government dropped the controversial proposal that started it all. Why many are still calling for dramatic change.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:43:41]

SANCHEZ: We are 43 minutes past the hour, and violent protests are expected to continue in all cities across Colombia this morning as demonstrators call for the government to address growing economic inequality and police brutality.

PAUL: Yes, the unrest has been deadly. At least 27 people have been killed so far across Colombia. More than 350 are unaccounted for. That's according to the country's attorney general.

CNN's Polo Sandoval is live there in Bogota, Colombia. Polo, what do you seeing this morning? POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning to you Victor and Christi. There's certainly a lot of hope here right now, Boris, that this will hopefully soon come to an end. Especially, there's a lot of hope that their issues will actually be addressed.

This morning and really throughout most of the weekend, there will be multiple stakeholder meetings. Many of those representatives that are representing some of those members of the protests and some of those protest leaders, including meeting with families of those victims of these protests, before a meeting that is scheduled to happen on Monday with Colombian President Ivan Duque, as they hope that their -- those issues and their grievances will be addressed.

On that list is, of course, this feeling among many of the Colombian people here that they're -- many of the parts of the country have been essentially militarized, according to them. That what they describe as this heavy-handed response by Colombian police has resulted in the deaths of Colombians, including these allegations that they have opened fire on unarmed protesters. These are allegations that are being investigated not just here, but also throughout the country -- throughout the world by the international community.

[07:45:09]

SANDOVAL: But also, another pressing issue, and that is this issue of poverty and this growing economic and opportunity right now that people certainly want to address. It's something that is just getting worse almost by the day, especially since the pandemic with over 3 million Colombians just in the last year slipping back into poverty.

So, you get a sense here on the ground, Boris and Christi, that people are frustrated. That they've had enough. That, that tax reform that was introduced by the government about a week ago that was later withdrawn was simply the genie was out of the bottle.

So, even after it was withdrawn, that anger -- that widespread anger is still being felt and the result have been those protests. Yes, many of them I've seen are peaceful, but there are many that have also turned violent and results in the deaths of many.

And then, finally, just it goes to the issue of how far-reaching the implications are here? You have Colombians, even outside of the city that are affected by this, by these (INAUDIBLE), these roadblocks that have been set up as part of the protest, and that's become more than just a traffic headache. That is impeding the movement of goods like food and fuel, and medical supplies into hospitals dealing with COVID patients.

So, there is this call by the government to, at least, secure lines between those major cities. And some of these farms and some of these plants to try to get those crucial supplies in, as this paro nacional or this national strike continues when it's already cost the lives of dozens of Colombians. Boris, Christi?

PAUL: Polo Sandoval, we appreciate it so much. Thank you. SANCHEZ: We have a sad update to a story we brought you last weekend. Last Sunday, I spoke with Anuja Vakil. Her father was battling COVID in India and she was trying to manage his care from her home in London, thousands of miles away.

She shared with us yesterday that he'd been in the ICU for two weeks and was likely going to have to be put on a ventilator because his oxygen levels were so low. She ultimately told us that her father passed away.

She shared the unfortunate news with us, writing to us saying that she was able to tell him that she shared his story with all of us at CNN. And she writes, "He was very happy to hear about this interview, and while dying, you also gave him some happiness."

We're grateful that Anuja shared her story with us. It was a privilege to bring it to you, and it's our hope that hearing it might actually lead to action.

So, if you'd like to help the people of India amid the devastating outbreak there, we put a list of resources in ways that you can offer a helping hand on our web site. Just visit cnn.com/impact.

Stay with us. We'll be right back.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[07:52:05]

REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): I'm a March marked man in Congress. I'm a canceled man in some corners of the Internet. I might be a wanted man by the deep state, but I am a Florida man, and it is good to be home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: All righty, the Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz there kicking off his America First National Speaking Tour last night. There's a lot of critic -- criticism even from his own party over this.

SANCHEZ: Yes, it was a joint rally at a retirement community in Florida and he was alongside just as controversial, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.

CNN's Donie O'Sullivan has more on why two of former President Trump's staunchest allies are hitting the road, taking their show to the masses.

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Gaetz and Greene kicked off what they are calling their America First Tour here in The Villages, a retirement community in Florida on Friday night.

We spoke to some folks who are on their way into that event. Here is what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'SULLIVAN: You guys both genuinely believe the election was stolen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

O'SULLIVAN: I mean that's -- you know, if you believe that that's true, that is --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that horrible?

O'SULLIVAN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, that is horrible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know it is. Is that horrible that we would even be in the situation to even think that.

O'SULLIVAN: But it's false.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, it is not. Why would they have all those ballots hidden under tables? Why did that man drive that truck all the way across state lines with ballots?

O'SULLIVAN: But wasn't like that you -- the ballots -- the ballots under table thing with Giuliani and Georgia, that's all been proven to be false.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It has not. I watched it on T.V.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'SULLIVAN: Of course, what they mentioned there are conspiracy theories about the election that have been debunked for many, many months. But it goes to show that the message, the big lie about the election has a very, very receptive audience here in The Villages.

Take a listen to what happened inside the event.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): Did anybody in here vote for Joe Biden?

AMERICAN CROWD: No!

GREENE: Do you guys really think he won?

AMERICAN CROWD: No!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

'SULLIVAN: And while some might look an event like this as a fringe element of the Republican Party, it really isn't. Take a look at these poll numbers from last week. It shows 70 percent of Republicans believe the big lie that Joe Biden didn't really win the election.

The Republican Party continues to grapple with conspiracy theories. Back to you.

[07:54:33]

SANCHEZ: Donie O'Sullivan, from Florida. Thank you so much for that.

Up next, the president's response to a disappointing jobs report. Biden says we're still digging our way out of a very deep hole. The debate over how to do that on the next hour of NEW DAY. It starts after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: So, early in the pandemic, flour and yeast sold out in a lot of locations across the country that's because a lot of us were baking bread while stuck at home.

Well, in today's "FOOD AS FUEL", CNN health reporter Jacqueline Howard has more on the art of baking bread and healthy ways to do it.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Certain breads are healthier than others, the secret is in the flour. A healthy bread starts with a flour that comes from whole grains.

So, think whole wheat, brown rice, oats, rye, or barley. And whole grains are loaded with fiber, B-vitamins, and minerals. That's why it's better for you than processed white flour.

And if you don't like baking, here are some dos and don'ts for buying bread from the store.