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Highlights Of U.S. Presidential Annual Message; Opposing Party Response; Reporters Cope With Animal Photobombs. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired April 29, 2021 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: It`s been characterized as a type of political Super Bowl in the United States. The president`s annual message to Congress
and the opposing party`s response, we`re covering both in today`s show.
I`m Carl Azuz. Last night, U.S. President Joe Biden delivered his first annual message to a joint session of Congress. As we mentioned earlier this
week, this wasn`t technically a State of the Union address though it has many of the same elements and traditions. When a president does this for
the first time, the thinking goes is that the leader hasn`t been in office long enough to be an authority on the actual state of the union.
So annual message is the term used to describe this kind of speech. It`s still done in person. It`s traditionally done in front of U.S. Senators and
Representatives and their guests, members of the president`s cabinet, members of the U.S. Supreme Court. The president doesn`t just discuss the
status of where things are, the speech is a chance for the leader to lay out a vision for the country in the year ahead.
It`s televised and shown online. It`s covered in the news for days afterward and all of this has grown out of sentence in the U.S.
Constitution that says quote, "he shall from time to time, give to the Congress information on the state of the union and recommend to their
considerations such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient".
According to the House of Representatives, President Biden`s speech last night was the 98th time a U.S. leader delivered an address like this in
person. We don`t have a word count on it yet though these speeches can average around 5,000 to 6,000.
The shortest was President George Washington`s in 1790. It had fewer than 1,100 words. The longest written speech was President Jimmy Carter`s in
1981. It had more than 33,000 words. So what words did President Biden use to discuss what he judges necessary and expedient. Here are some highlights
from his annual message.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One hundred days since I took oath of office and lifted my hand off our family Bible and inherited a
nation, we all did, that was in crisis. The worst pandemic in a century. Fourth economic crisis since the Great Depression. The worst attack on our
democracy since the Civil War. Now, after just 100 days, I can report to the nation America is on the move again.
American`s Job Plan will add millions of jobs and trillions of dollars to economic growth in the years to come. It is a -- it is a eight-year
program. These are good paying jobs that can`t be outsourced. Nearly 90 percent of the infrastructure jobs created in American Jobs Plan do not
require a college degree.
I`m the first president in 40 years that knows what it means to have a son serving in a war zone. Today we have service members serving in the same
war zones as their parents did. We have service members in Afghanistan who were not yet born on 9/11.
The War in Afghanistan as we remember the debates here, were never meant to be multi-generational undertakings of nation building. We went to
Afghanistan to get terrorists. The terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. My fellow Americans, we have to come together to rebuild trust between law
enforcement and the people they serve.
To root out systemic racism in our criminal justice system and to enact police reform in George Floyd`s name. The very moment our adversaries were
certain we`d pull apart and fail, we came together, we united. With light and hope, we summoned a new strength, new resolve to position us to win the
competition of the 21st century, on our way to a union more perfect, more prosperous and more just, as one people, one nation and one America.
Folks, as I`ve told every world leader I`ve ever met with over the years. It`s never, ever, ever been a good bet to bet against American and it still
isn`t. We`re the United States of America. There`s not a single thing, nothing, nothing beyond our capacity. We can do whatever set our mind to if
we do it together. So let`s begin to get together. God bless you all and may God protect our troops. Thank you for your patience.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: OK. As we mentioned, another event associated with the president`s annual message is the opposing political party`s response. This has been a
tradition since the 1960s` and as President Biden is a Democrat.
Last night`s speaker representing the Republican party is U.S. Senator Tim Scott from South Carolina. The politician and businessman has been serving
in the Senate since 2013. Here are some highlights from the GOP response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): Our president seems like a good man. His speech was full of good words but our nation is starving for more than empty
platitudes. We need policies and progress that brings us closer together. The three months in, the actions of the president and his party are pulling
us further and further apart.
Republicans support everything you think of when you think of infrastructure, roads, bridges, ports, airports, waterways, high-speed
broadband. We`re in for all of that. Less than six percent of the president`s plan goes to roads and bridges. It`s a liberal wish list of big
government waste plus the biggest job killing tax hikes in a generation.
We should be expanding opportunities and options for all families not throwing money at certain issues because Democrats think they know best. No
where do we need common ground more desperately than in our discussions of race. My friends across the aisle seem to want the issue more than they
wanted a solution.
Race is not a political weapon to settle every issue the way one side wants. It`s far too important. I am standing here because my mom has prayed
me through some really tough times. I believe our nation has succeeded the same way because generations of Americans in their own ways have asked for
grace and God has supplied it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. Which of these famous awards was established first? Academy Awards, Pulitzer Prize, Field Medal or Newberry Medal. Dating back
to 1917, the Pulitzer Prize is the oldest award on this list.
The award recognizes outstanding work in the fields of music, drama, literature and journalism but there are some types of work in the
journalism field that may not win reporters a Pulitzer but they`re still outstanding for the way the reporters remain standing when things go wrong.
Take for instance when animals attack a news cast.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Even a certified meteorologist couldn`t forecast this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- screen later in the afternoon -- whoa, whoa, whoa. What is going on?
MOOS: A flapping bird in this Sacramento weather cam couldn`t read (inaudible) unflappable.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: May be dry, mainly rain. Sorry, I`m all mixed up. I`m still thinking about that bird.
MOOS: But this latest bird photo bomb is far from the first.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here over the city, look at this --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s totally checking out the camera Mark (ph).
MOOS: OK. It`s not quite a scene out of "The Birds". But seagulls have been sighted.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An adversary from -- OK. That is a distraction.
MOOS: We`re not just talking birds that are camera hogs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my god. It`s back.
MOOS: And the spiders.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa. Whoa.
MOOS: And even more spiders.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And for our area, so let`s -- oh my gosh. That`s really creepy.
MOOS: At least with the weather cam, the critters are on the other side of the lens.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- garden of bugs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is going on?
MOOS: Or capitulating to bison at the entrance to Yellowstone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my god. Oh -- aggressively huge.
MOOS: Or warding off raccoons on the White House lawn.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get.
MOOS: Heaving a footstool.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Arghh.
MOOS: But that itsy, bitsy, spider doesn`t look so itsy to a meteorologist who`s bugging out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) I`ve got to move.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
AZUZ: Well, the first meteorologist had to weather a "birden". The white bird had a lot or "gall". The bee wouldn`t "buzz" off and the spiders tried
to make a newscast a "webcast". Bison bring a "buffaload" of anxiety and it`s hard to track down raccoons because of their "masks". So the moral of
the story is, whether you are in the field or in the studio.
You risk being "dawged" by visitors. I`m Carl Azuz for CNN 10. South Plainfield High School is in South Plainfield, New Jersey. You get today`s
shout out.
END
