Transcripts For CNN Inside Politics 20240711

Charge of the recovery act, and it was hard as hell to get the votes to begin with, and then it was hard as hell to get the numbers we got. One thing we learned is we cant do too much here. We can do too little an and sputter. The speech youll hear follows the jobs report this morning. Yes, the Employment Rate is down, but only 40 million jobs was added to the American Economy. That makes it clear that the impacted American Economy is still very much in trouble. The Senate Meeting ended early this morning with the Senate Passing a budget resolution. This morning the house will take up that resolution and it will clear the runway for democrats most likely to go it alone with a covid relief bill that is very much on top of the wish list. Theyre meeting with the president this morning at the white house, and the Committee Chairs said they will start Writing Details of the budget plan next week. With us to share their reporting and insights, phil mattingly, Christine Romans and sun moon kim from the washington post. Christine, the argument the president made today, this time with fresh jobs numbers. Unemployment down a little bit. Two months ago, we lost jobs last month, 49 million. Were down 49 million jobs since the pandemic began, and when you try to claw out of that hole anymore, its like a square root recovery. Its just stalled here for jobs. Thats a real, real problem, because you have 40 of people who have been out of work for at least six months. Thats a real danger signal in the economy. That can show permanent scarring for those workers and the jobs market. You dont want to be in a situation where it takes nine years to get out of this like it did after the Great Recession. Historically there is really no precedent for what we have here right now, either. 5 million women dropped out of the labor market over the past year. Thats one of the reasons why the jobless rate fell. It fell for a bad reason. The jobless rate fell because people are leaving the economy, leaving the job market. They cant find a job or they cant look for a job because theyre home taking care of family in the covid environment. You see the president now, he had a meeting with the senators the other day. Yes, his first meeting was a bipartisan meeting, but it seems clear. Go with the repudemocratic vote and if the republicans come along in the end, that would be fine. The house will pass a resolution today, but the hard part comes next week when you have to put the details together. Right, and with key democrats this morning, it was similar to the objective we had when President Biden met with Key Senate Democratic leaders earlier this week, is to show that the democratic party, despite President Bidens overtures to americans that the democrats are united with the Relief Package and is ready to go at it alone, biden, no matter what his inclinations are to be bipartisan and negotiate acknowledges a right again this morning, and perhaps in his economic speech in a few minutes, that his plan is the right one for this time, that there is a full need for that 1. 9 trillion Relief Package that he wants. And there are only certain things hes willing to compromise on, whether its targeting those stimulus checks so they dont go to very wealthy individuals and households and perhaps a few other places. But the democrats are really going Full Throttle ahead. It does seem like republicans, those ten republican senators who have been communicating with the administrations are getting left behind a little bit. They sent a response late yesterday to the white house continuing those conversations, but it does seem like no matter what they try to offer to the administration or what the administration offers them that democrats are going to go it alone on pretty much the entire 1. 9 trillion package. Unless the republicans are willing to move up dramatically, and there is no evidence of that, phil mattingly, at the moment. Its interesting to read the body language. When nancy pelosi would go to the white house in the trump days, there was always combat and insults, to be honest. She walked out today saying it was a joy, saying the president s Knowledge Base was intelligent and strategic. She does it well from a communications standpoint, but to some, democratic discipline, she has only four votes to spare in the house. Vice president harris having to break the tie at 5 00 this morning to pass that resolution. Some changes were made, right, To The Point Seung Min was making about targeting Stimulus Money to lower and middle income, not to affluent people. You make the point there is no room for error. Theyre operating without a net in terms of votes if they are going to go democratic only. Youre right, there is no chance the republicans will get on board given where they are. There are a couple things you need to look at. Obviously, the targeting of the checks that President Biden has made clear hes willing to negotiate on. Democrats are working on a proposal to drop down the thresholds for who qualifies for the highest checks. Joe manchin is very uncomfortable with the 15 minimum wage. I think there is some belief that senate rules will basically render it not possible for this package to begin with. I think thats kind of where the white house is on this even though its in their proposal. What it kind of underscores here, and you saw it in the vote last night, the minimum wage piece is probably not going to end up in there, despite Bernie Sanders being a key proponent of it, but it also underscores that joe biden is the end all, be all right now. While there might be changes over what they put out in the next couple weeks as house and senate craft their package, all eyes will be on joe manchin, on crystal cinema. If joe manchin says Out Of The Blue 1. 9 is not enough, then it wont be 1. 9. He also says he wants it targeted. Everyone is paying close attention to what he says, but we spent a lot of time on the bipartisan piece on this. Its going democrats only, and if its democrats only, those are the individuals you need to watch. They will work this out beforehand. He doesnt want to vote no, made that clear. The administration cleared up a few things with his leadership. Christine, when you go into the latest jobs report, you heard the president saying the mistake would be going too small. If we go too big, we go too big, but thats the way to go, too big. When you look at the report, Larry Summers, democratic administration, wrote an oped piece saying he thinks it is too big where it is. It is clear the current secretary disagrees, its clear the president disagrees. When you look at the jobs report, its not just about the monthtomonth tumult in the country. We focused on the first time unemployment filing, but there are a boatload of people on persistent longterm unemployment that tells you the economy is in a ditch. Yeah. Every month i get more concerned about the internals of all these monthly numbers and the high frequently numbers, to be honest. It just doesnt look good. You have millions of americans who are not working and dont have a job. You have almost 18 million americans who are surviving on some sort of jobless benefit, so there are whole industries that have been sidelined, and thats something the secretary janet yellen pointed out. Weve never been through this. The economists are saying this has to do with the vaccine and the virus right now. This isnt as much about shutdowns as it is about vaccines and the virus and getting people on the other side of this, and thats going to take more help. The back and forth between summers and then some of the people close to the president , the president s economic advisers, its been interesting to watch. I cant imagine they thought that was helpful for him to weigh in on financial stability, inflational pressures and the value of the dollar when you have millions of americans who are hungry. Some of that might be what Larry Summers believes, some of that is a little ego competition stuff between some at play. Ill leave it at that because thats a washington conversation. The president seems confident, not only that he has the democrats with him, but that he has, despite maybe not republican votes in congress, enough support out in the country that he can call this bipartisan, that americans need this. No matter whether youre a d or r, red or blue, americans need this. Exactly. You see that Talking Point and the argument emerge from key legislation, ron klain, and you see democrats echo this as well as they point to the fact that Republican Voters do support the broad contours of this package, and you heard janet yellen say as well its not just democrats who want widespread vaccine distribution, its not just democrats on unemployment right now, and its not just democrats who want money so schools can reopen safely. Thats their definition of by part bipartisanship right now. Its not just getting the votes in congress, because i think they understand the overtures President Biden is making because its highly unlikely youll see republican votes at the end of the day with the process thats going. When it comes to a crisis, voters are looking for direct, tangible benefits in their Bank Accounts and at home. We talk a lot here In Washington about process, but im not sure voters care about the process by which they get their benefits, especially if they are suffering through the economic and Health Pandemic right now. I think thats a calculation that the Biden Administration and democrats are making as well. As we make that calculation, what is the timetable there . Their main point is midmarch because thats when existing programs expire. Is there any possibility they get it done sooner, or is that the comfortable thought for them . The reality is they need to. While midmarch might be the socalled cliff, especially on unemployment benefits, the states actually distribute the unemployment benefits. If you let them expire, you get too close to that deadline, it will take states some time to get it back in line. Nancy pelosi said they want it done in two weeks. The senate will try to move quickly to pass it as well. Probably end of february is the deadline, but one thing to keep in mind here, the easy part is the budget resolution. The difficult part is putting together the actual in the weeds, nuts and bolts, 9. 1 trillion package, and they know their votes carry a lot of power. Its going to be hard but they want to move as fast as possible. The first test of these three pieces. All democratic but different interests. Its going to be fascinating to watch. Appreciate it, phil, seung min and christine. Well hear the president with his take on all this. Marjorie Taylor Greene stripped of her House Committees. She said this morning she feels empowered and she said she is a proud member of the party of trump. As we go to break, we mention the allnighter in the senate last night. What a votearama looks like. We will begin the votearama. The senator has two seconds. Vote for this amendment. You keep handing us new sheets, and thats okay, but lets see the total amount of amendments, then we can try to move the time as quickly as possible. Senator, your time has expired. I have two minutes, dont i . One minute. I was told two. Anyway stay in your seats. Were not holding the vote open. Not exactly, says gary. But close enough. Mr. Brown, no. Mr. Blumenthal, no. We now come to the end of a debate that has gone on for over 14 hours. The ayes are 50, the nays are foo, the senate being equally divided. The Vice President votes in at firm active and the current resolution is adopted. Only Tylenol Rapid release gels have laserdrilled holes. They release Medicine Fast for fast pain relief. 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Get a free Delivery Perk on your first order from panera, only on. [group] grubhub [announcer] grub what you love. Is now a good time for a flareup . Enough, crohns for adults with moderate to severe crohns or ulcerative colitis. Stelara® can provide relief and is the only approved medication to reduce inflammation on and below the surface of the intestine in uc. You, getting on that flight . Back off, uc stelara® may increase your risk of infections, some serious, and cancer. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if you have an infection. Flulike symptoms, sores, new skin growths, have had cancer, or if you need a vaccine. Pres, a rare, potentially fatal brain condition, may be possible. Some serious allergic reactions and Lung Inflammation can occur. Lasting remission can start with stelara®. If youve been financially impacted by covid19, janssen may be able to help. Marjorie Taylor Greene last hour. She says she views her break from the House Committees as freedom. I feel free, i do. We have basically a tyrannically controlled government right now, the democrat. 11 republicans, you see them there, joined democrats in stripping greene of her Committee Memberships yesterday. In that Morning Gaggle with reporters, greene expressed some regret but she was also scornful, and she hopes they are held accountable, those 11 who voted against her. She knows she is part of a republican feud now, but she says the Republican Party has one leader. I tell you, Republican Voters support him still. The party is his. It doesnt belong to anybody else. That would be donald j. Trump. Our washington Correspondent Jessica Dean was there for that event and joins us now live from capitol hill. Def defiant, i think, was the part i could listen to, and reading the rest of it was what strikes me the most. Reporter john, very defiant. It was a group of supporters and she gave some remarks off the top there and she talked about how she felt freed by being taken off these committees. She went through what she hopes to achieve here, and i pressed her, i asked her when she started ktaking questions, i asked her if she stood by her comment specifically from 2019 about violence against House Speaker nancy pelosi, and she refused to answer me. And she went back and forth asking if i had watched her speech on the house floor yesterday, which i certainly did, but she didnt talk about specifics on the house floor yesterday. And so she would not answer me specifically on that, if she still stood by those comments. So, john, it was interesting to see her kind of go back and forth between she was trying to kind of be friendly and wanted to talk, but then if pressed on anything she didnt want to talk about, she turned very combative about it. Fascinating to watch this one play out. Jessica dean, appreciate that. Phil mattingly and Seung Min Kim are still with us. Seung, you heard her talking. She now views this ras a war. This is not over, i guess. This will continue to be a problem for the House Republicans. Certainly, because obviously the democrats are very eager to make marjorie Taylor Greene the face of the party, and since House Minority leader Kevin Mccarthy didnt take steps to kind of keep the dirty laundry within his own conference and kind of made his ranks take this tough vote pushed by democrats, it certainly is going to be an issue that faces House Republicans for some time. I would be really interested in the coming weeks and months to see how much her losing her committees really does affect her standing back at home with her voters, which obviously the voters in her districts are the ones who matter the most here. Weve been frequently making the parallel between her and former congressman steve king from iowa who also had been notorious for very racist and offensive remarks. And it was really when he was stripped of his Committee Assignments that his political downfall began, that iowa or Iowa Republicans voted against him and he lost the partys leadership. Right now marjorie Taylor Greene has the support of her partys leadership, mccarthy hasnt kicked her out of the conference or really reprimanded her. It will be interesting to see how much her influence or her voice does rise when, as you said, she is going to have more free time to speak out more. If she had any gratitude, phil, for that republican support, she would just bite her tongue and just say, im sorry, and not talk about other people. Instead shes beating up democrats, raising money off this, and she said there were 11 that voted against me yesterday, meaning republicans. There were 11 that voted against me yesterday and that is something our leader should be very upset about. That is exactly the opposite that Kevin Mccarthy, in quotes, the leader, wants to hear as he stood by her. As one lawmaker put it to me yesterday, were standing by when theyre just trying to get through a series of days and this isnt going away anytime soon. Sorry to interrupt you. We have to take you to the white house, the president of the United States talking about the economy. The house of representatives in the oval went a little longer, but thank you all for being here. Im accompanied by the Vice President and the secretary of treasury, janet yellen, and i want to talk today about our plan. And the january job numbers came out today, and while we are grateful for everyone who found work and is earning a paycheck, its very clear our economy is still in trouble. We added just 6,000 private sector jobs in the country last month. Overall, we added 49,000 jobs. And this at a time when we have more than 10 Million People out of work. 4 Million People have been out of work for six months or longer, and 2. 5 million women have been driven from the work force. 15 million americans are behind in their rental payments. 24 million adults and 12 million children literally dont have enough food to eat. These arent democrats or republicans, theyre americans. And theyre suffering. Theyre suffering not because of anything they did. Through no fault of their own, theyre suffering. Once in a century virus has decimated our economy, and its still wreaking havoc on our economy today. And so much of it is still about the virus. Were still in the teeth of this pandemic. In fact, january was the single deadliest month of the whole pandemic. We lost nearly 100,000 lives. I know some in congress think weve already done enough to deal with the crisis in the country. Others think that things are Getting Better and we can afford to sit back and either do little or do nothing at all. Thats not what i see. I see enormous pain in this country. A lot of folks out of work. A lot of folks going hungry, staring at the ceiling tonight wondering, what am i going to do tomorrow . A lot of folks trying to figure out how to keep their jobs and take care of their children. A lot of folks reaching the breaking point. Suicides are up, Mental Health needs are increasing, violence against women and children is increasing. A lot of folks are losing hope. And i believe the American People are looking right now to their government for help to do our job, to not let them down. So im going to act, and im going to act fast. Id like to be doing it with the support of republicans. Ive met the republicans. There are some fine people who want to get something done, but theyre just not willing to go as far as i think we have to go. Ive told republicans and democrats, thats my preference, to work together. But if i have to choose between getting help right now to americans who are hurting so badly and getting bogged down in a lengthy negotiation or compromising on a bill thats up to the crisis, thats an easy choice. Im going to help the American People who are hurting now. Thats why im so grateful to the house and the senate for moving so fast on the American Rescue plan. Heres whats in that plan. First, it puts 160 billion into our national covid19 strategy, which includes more money for manufacturing, distribution, and setting up vaccine sites, everything thats needed to get the vaccines into peoples arms. Theres simply nothing more important than us getting the resources we need to vaccinate the people in this country as soon, as quickly as possible. So job number 1 of the American Rescue plan is vaccines, vaccines. The second, the American Rescue plan is going to keep the commitment of 2,000, 600 has already gone out, 1400 checks to people who need it. This is money directly in their pockets. They need it. We need to target that money. So folks making 300,000 dont get any windfall. But if youre a family thats a wage earner, each of the parents, one making 30 grand, one making 40 or 50, maybe thats a little more than yeah, they need the money. And theyre going to get it. And heres what i wont do. Im not cutting the size of the checks. Theyre going to be 1400, period. Thats what the American People were promised. Very quickly, heres the rest of my plan. It has money for food and nutrition so that folks dont go hungry. I think our republican friends are going to support that. It extends unemployment insurance, which is going to run out on march 13th of this year, to the end of september of this year, because were still going to have high unemployment. It helps small businesses, thousands of whom have had to go out of business. It has money to help folks pay their health insurance. It has rental assistance to keep people in their homes rather than be thrown out in the street. Its got money to help us open our schools safely. It has money for child care, for paid leave. It gets needed resources to state and local government to see prevent layoffs of essential personnel, firefighters, nurses, folks who are schoolteachers, sanitation workers. It raises the minimum wage. Its big and its bold, and its a real answer to the crisis were in. And theres one more thing, and i want to say it very clearly on this point. Its better economics. It not only addresses the immediate crisis were in, its better for the longterm Economic Health of our nation and our competitiveness. My plan creates more jobs, creates more economic growth, and does more to make us competitive with the rest of the world than any other plan. Dont take my word for it, just look at what leading economists across the nation have said in the world and across the ocean have said. Wall Street Investments firm moody says if we pass the American Rescue plan, it will lead to 4 million more jobs than otherwise would be created. The nonpartisan Brookings Institution has looked at the American Rescue plan and said the gdp will reach prepandemic projections by 2021, meaning well have recovered by 2021, much sooner, by the way, than if we do nothing. Just this week the Congressional Budget Office projected that if we dont take action, it will take until the year 2025 to return to full employment. There is also a growing chorus of top economists, right, center, left, that say we should be less focused on the deficit and more focused on the investments we make and can make now in jobs, keeping families out of poverty and preventing longterm economic damage to our nation. The simple truth is, if we make these investments now, with Interest Rates at historic lows, well generate more growth, higher incomes, a stronger economy and our nations finances will be in a stronger position as well. And the payoff wont just be in jobs but in our Global Competitiveness as well. Because well be regaining our economic strength faster. So the way i see it, the biggest risk is not going too big, its if we go too small. Weve been here before. When this nation hit the Great Recession that barack and i inherited in 2009, i was asked to try to get it passed. It was a Relief Package of nearly 800 million. I did everything to get it passed, including getting three republicans to change their votes and vote for it. But it wasnt enough. It wasnt quite big enough. It stemmed the crisis, but the recovery could have been faster and even bigger. Today we need an answer that meets the challenge of this crisis, not one that falls short. And thats the issue facing the country right now. What republicans have proposed is either to do nothing or not enough. All of a sudden, many of them have rediscovered fiscal restraint and the concern for the deficits. But dont kid yourself. This approach will come with a cost. More pain for more people for longer than has to be. Secretary yellen talks about the Scarring Effect that comes with prolonged economic pain. We see that Scarring Effect in economic data, but more important, we can see it in the lives of People Living with longterm unemployment, living in hunger, at which end over how to keep their jobs, take care of their kids. And then she talks about the need to alleviate longterm suffering in the economy. We can do that. We dont have to wait until 2025 to get back to full employment, which would be the case if we dont do this. Again, independent analysis from places like moodys, wall street, Brookings Institution, the American Rescue plan could achieve that, full employment, by the beginning of next year. So to me, this is what this moment comes down to. Are we going to pass a big enough package to vaccinate people, to get people back to work, to alleviate the suffering in this country this year . Thats what i want to do. Or are we going to say to millions of americans who are out of work, many of whom have been out of work for six months or longer, who have been scarred by this economic and Public Health crisis, dont worry, hang on, things are going to get better. Were going to go smaller, so its just going to take us a lot longer. Like until 2025. Thats the republican answer right now. I cant, in good conscience, do that. Too many people in the nation have already suffered for too long through this pandemic and economic crisis. And telling them we dont have the money to alleviate their suffering, to get to full employment sooner, to Vaccinate America after 8 trillion in Deficit Spending over the past four years, much of it having gone to the wealthiest people in the country, its neither true nor necessary. We do have the resources to get to full employment sooner. We do have the tools to reduce a lot of suffering in this country. We just have to choose to use them. So its time to act. We can reduce suffering in this country. We can put people back to work. We can control gain control of this virus. Thats what the American Rescue plan does. And thats what im determined to do. And thats what i hope were going to be able to do in the near term. So may god bless you all, may god protect our troops, and i truly believe real help is on the way. Thank you all so very much. Thank you. The president of the United States, joe biden, thats the State Dining Room at the white house, walking out not answering questions from reporters, making his case for a Covid Recovery plan, a bigger version than any republican in Congress Want to support right now, the president making the case its important to go big. He went through the details and the rest of the politics, but he tried to reach the country saying a lot of folks are reaching the breaking point, a lot of folks losing hope. He said he would love republican support, but hes prepared to do this with just democratic votes if thats the way to get it done and get it done quickly. Still with me, phil mattingly, Christine Romans and Seung Min Kim. Christine, to you first. He said we passed another one in the trump administration, let it take root. Some say we shouldnt do anything to let it take root. Some say, lets do something, but not 1. 9 trillion. People worried about food, people worried about rent. Go big is the biden plan. Im struck by the two different americas happening right now. There is the Wall Street America where the standard of living is just fine, and then theres main street, which has never endured anything like this before. 20 unemployment for some people who are the lowest paid workers in this country, and food insecurity. This is a situation weve never been in, and this is the richest economy in the world. With Interest Rates that are near zero, the political will to cut taxes in boom times for corporations and not worry about Deficit Spending but now worried about Deficit Spending when people are literally hungry. Thats what the president is trying to beat home, right . Hes trying to say this isnt about washington politics, its not about wall street which is doing great, record highs this week in the stock market, this is about how people feel, and they feel pretty awful right now. The president making clear hes willing to talk about the details. Hes emphatic it will be a big package. One thing we know is changing is hes willing to back down from where the white house started originally about who gets a check. Whats the Income Cutoff there . But what he was emphatic about, President Biden, was lets negotiate the income level, where we cut it off, but im not shrinking the size of the checks. Listen. Heres what i wont do. Im not cutting the size of the checks. Theyre going to be 1400, period. Thats what the American People were promised. One reason theyre adamant about this, but then confident politically, is that that was something that former President Trump supported. It was also something that was key central in the two Georgia Senate races that were conducted after the president ial election and essentially were a National Referendum on this very question. Dont give joe biden the democratic senate. Dont give joe biden the ability to spend that money. Exactly. And just for context, the ten republican senators who had been speaking with the administration have proposed cutting the size of the checks to about 1,000. Thats joe biden saying 1400 is the absolutely lowest hes going to go, and it makes sense that thats not something hes willing to compromise on, because in one sense, according to some on the left, hes already kind of compromising it. There were progressive lawmakers and those on the left who were disappointed that that check amount in the biden plan wasnt actually 2,000, because that was the rhetoric of the campaign from both jon ossoff and Reverend Warnock as they were campaigning for those two georgia seats. That was the promise, 1400 is the absolute minimum he is willing to make, and as we discussed earlier, he is willing to talk about making sure that the very affluent, those perhaps who would save that money, anyway, and wouldnt spend it, wont get those checks. But i think the speech earlier today was the most force fortuforceful he has in going against this idea of compromising republicans and sacrificing his product to get bipartisanship votes on this package. And i think it really shows that not only are house and Senate Democrats preparing to move ahead without republicans, but President Biden really is as well. And thats the interesting point. This is day 17, phil mattingly, so youre watching a new president , youre watching leadership style, youre watching his dna is bipartisanship, but his immediate challenge is go big and do it as soon as possible, and you see him giving up his history, if you will, going through the challenge at the moment. The money he needs to do the vaccine rollout, the money he needs to get schools open, the money he thinks is necessary to help American Families and help the economy. But nancy pelosi says were coming back for more. Ly. This is the biden rescue plan. The next bill will be the recovery plan. Before any of us spoke and the president addressed us, when we sat down, he said to peter, youre next, before anything else. We have the ingredients for what will come next. But we first have to get this done. Peter being chairman defazio. Thats infrastructure. Thats the build back better part. This is more covid relief and covid Public Health infrastructure in terms of vaccines and schools and the like, but this is going to be a remarkable test of his leadership and democratic discipline to come back with another plan on its heels. This plan is building the bridge to the really big plan. Im not trying to make it simplistic, but the reality is what theyre planning next is going to be larger than 1. 9 trillion. Its going to include infrastructure, a lot of Climate Provisions as well. Theyre still working through it right now. But what this underscores and i will acknowledge, i didnt recognize this in the opening days of the administration, given President Bidens willingness to make deals is how different this white house is from the 2009 white house on how they look at economic policy, on how they view the politics of this, and how they view this moment as a convergence of how sharp that difference is. Economically they learned the lessons of 2009. The recession went significantly longer than it was supposed to. A number of top economic al advisers were in the obama administration. They acknowledged they planned that poorly. But they think the economics are drastically different. Spending money now, people want to see relief, people want checks, people want to be able to tap into the unemployment insurance. Tangible benefits are far more important right now to the American Public than deficits given what the American Public has gone through. When you put the policy and the politics together, it underscores, yes, the twohour meeting biden had with republicans was a very good meeting by all accounts, republicans and democrats, but it doesnt change where President Biden or his team are on their overall view of things. And their overall view of things is, as the president laid out, it is far riskier to undershoot that overshoot, particularly where the state of the economy is right now, and by the way, were going big when this is over, and theyre totally comfortable with that at this time. Well see if the senate is there, but thats where they are headed. He believes he has the country with him now. The numbers seem to support that. The question is can he keep them as we go . Phil mattingly and Seung Min Kim, thank you for being here. The administrations new details on how he plans to use the Defense Production Act to help fight the pandemic. Want to save hundreds on your wireless bill . With Xfinity Mobile you can. 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Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if you have an infection. Flulike symptoms, sores, new skin growths, have had cancer, or if you need a vaccine. Pres, a rare, potentially fatal brain condition, may be possible. Some serious allergic reactions and Lung Inflammation can occur. Lasting remission can start with stelara®. If youve been financially impacted by covid19, janssen may be able to help. Last hour we heard some important new details from the Biden Administrations Covid Response team. We heard yesterday some guidelines. There are three ways to use the Defense Production Act to get tools the United States says it still needs to fight the pandemic. Our first action gets pfizer more equipment and supplies that are enabling them to ramp up production and deliver more vaccine faster. The second action will deliver more than 60 million home tests by this summer, and thats in addition to the news announced on monday about the new test. The third action will help supply surgical gloves that they all desperately need. Its interesting, sara, day 17 of the Administration Using the Defense Production Act and trying to do everything they can to ramp up vaccine, not only production, but distribution. Yeah, you know, i think there are a lot of questions about why some of this stuff didnt happen under the last administration, particularly things with athome tests and those gloves, but when it comes to distribution, its interesting to see them lay out concrete steps to move pfizer along. I also requested what they will do with the Johnson Johnson vaccine once it gets authorization. Heres what andy slavitt at the white house had to say about that. Youre correct that as is the case with other vaccines, we have not found that the level of manufacturing allows us to have as much vaccine as we think we need coming out of the gate. Every option is on the table to figure out how to accelerate manufacturing in the event that the fda does approve the Johnson Johnson vaccine. Now you see them being a little bit cautious there. Of course, they dont want to get ahead of any announcement before its under contract, but this is a big thing theyre looking at. Were expecting less than 10 million doses of the Johnson Johnson vaccine to be available immediately. The administration would like to see that be a much higher number to get people vaccinated as quickly as possible. The other thing i asked them today is how theyre dealing with this issue of teachers going back to the classroom. We saw the cdc say teachers could essentially go back without getting vaccinated. That caused quite a stir, to say the least. There are a lot of opinions from parents, a lot of opinions from teachers unions, and then theres the white house who said they are going to follow the science on these issues, but also made it clear they want to see schools open, they want to see kids going Back To School sorry, sara, i have to go to the White House Briefing and press secretary jen psaki. My apologies, sara. We have a visit oror today aa guest. The jobs report is disappointing and needs to act swiftly to deliver immediate relief to families. The bottom line is our economy is digging out of a hole worse than the depths of the Great Recession and moving at a crawling pace. Today were joined by a member of the council of economic advisers, gerald bernstein, who will walk through the numbers and how they serve in the emergency of the American Rescue plan. Thank you to jen and the team who helped me be here today. This mornings Unemployment Report revealed a stall in the american Job Creation Machine and underscores how precarious a situation our economy is in. Lack of job growth is a result of our failure to act appropriately in response to this immense dual crisis, and our economy and our families cannot afford to fail to act once again. Strong relief is urgently and quickly needed to control the virus, get Vaccine Shots in arms, and finally launch a robust, equitable, and racially inclusive recovery. Getting to the numbers of the report, the economy added 49,000 jobs in january after losing 227,000 jobs in december. The threemonth trend, i find it useful to smooth out these monthly numbers over a few months, and the threemonth trend is a weak 29,000 jobs per month. Downward revisions to the data in november and december totaled 160,000, so those are negative revisions those months earlier reports, and the economy, as i mentioned, has averaged 29,000 jobs over the past three months. Now, if you compare that to the trend over the prior three months, that trend was closer to 1 million. So you see a really very significant downshift in the pace of job creation. This pace is far below the rate necessary to pull us out of the pandemic jobs deficit. There are about 10 million fewer jobs now relative to february. The Unemployment Rate fell to 6. 3 which still remains all three points above the rate of 2020 of 3. 5 before the pandemic. Over the same period, more than 4 million workers have dropped out of the labor force. If you drop out of the labor force, youre not counted in the Unemployment Rate. Those dropouts have been disproportionately women. In jana uaryjanuary, according Bureau Of Labor Statistics today, 14 million said, quote, they were unable to work because their employer closed or lost business due to the pandemic. This number has been about the same since october after falling in the wake of the implementation of the cares act from may to september. Longterm unemployment has risen. This is a great concern of the administration, reflecting the duration of the economic crisis and the fact that the virus was unconstrained during most of last year. Almost 40 of the unemployed in january had been so for half a year, 27 weeks or more. This 40 is an elevated rate, and it represents a shift from temporary layoffs to permanent unemployment. Workers of color have been more likely to lose their jobs than white workers. In january the Unemployment Rate for black workers was 9. 2 and was 8. 6 for hispanic workers compared to 5. 7 for whites and 6. 6 for asian workers. While the Unemployment Rate for men and women is relatively similar, women have left the labor force in numbers that are of great concern to us. The Employment Rate among what we call prime age workers, women 25 to 54, is down four percentage points, 2. 6 million women since february. This larger decrease for women is unusual in recessions and likely reflects both the industries that this pandemic has hit, tourism services, facetoface industries, leisure and hospitality, restaurants, and increased Care Responsibilities that pulled women out of the labor force. As i mentioned, the Unemployment Rate for leisure and hospitality workers is around 16 . The longterm unemployment is especially salient since benefits for these workers will expire soon without senate reaction. Our economy is still climbing out of a hole deeper than that of the Great Recession and needs additional relief to ensure that the pandemic can be brought under control, that families and businesses can stay solvent and make it to the other side of this crisis, and that workers can feed their families and keep a roof over their head. With that im going to be the moderator. Trevor. Reporter so a couple questions related to this. First, as far as the 1400 checks, jared, do you think is there any economic argument for why those shouldnt go to a Broader Group of people . Is there any argument for raising the threshold that you would need to qualify for that . I have a followup as well. I think the key argument there is that there are families throughout not just the lower part of the income scale, but in the middle part of the income scale, that have been suffering and doing everything they can to get through this crisis. The president has been very clear on an important point here, which is that if you look at teachers, if you look at folks who are in blue collar professions, if you look at retail workers, health care workers, if those folks are unemployed, they can get unemployment coverage, and that helps them. But many of those folks have kept their jobs, many of them are essential workers, yet theyve lost hours, theyve lost wages, theyre struggling to make ends meet, they face nutritional constraints, often they face foreclosure or eviction moratoria, which, by the way, forbearance does not mean forgiveness, so these families may have significant debt when they come through. There are three parameters in play here when were talking about the checks. There are the thresholds where they come in, there is the level. The president has been firm on 1400, which 600 gets you to 2,000, and there is the phaseout. Its the phaseout range which i would say is a variable in discussion on variations that are ongoing. There hasnt been a conclusion, but as the president has said, he is open to that discussion. Reporter what is the economic argument for changing those phaseout numbers . Why shouldnt you just go with what you originally propose . I think the argument is one weve heard consistently from some critics which say that those at the very top of the scale, when you get into the realm of, you know, 300,000, i think, has been mentioned, i think its arguable that those folks dont need the checks. I think whats important to the president is that we dont lose sight of people in the middle of the income scale who continue to struggle with both the health and economic fallout from this crisis. And these checks target them effectively and efficiently. By the way, this is an important thing that comes from some work by the group itep, Institute For Taxation and economic policy. If you look at the distribution of who gets the checks, it actually virtually none of it goes to the very top of the scale, and the vast majority goes to the middle and the bottom. Their percentage gains in income from the checks are, you know, double digits compared to those at the top of the scale. So i think that we have to understand that targeting this case means reaching families at the low end, at the middle end, families who have been hit and are struggling with this crisis. Reporter just one more. Do you think that beyond this bill, there needs to be more reform around Automatic Stabilizers, unemployment insurance, so do you need to do more so the next time we get hit like this, we have a solution . The president has on occasion talked about this point and said that if our automatic stabler if our Automatic Stabilizers are keyed to Economic Indicators or health indicators, that is a potentially useful policy advance. I know that treasury secretary yellen has talked about that as well. Right now were kind of past the stage of thinking about right now were really at a point where we have a package that is calibrated to meet the urgency of the moment. And thats the American Rescue plan. So thats what we want to focus on. There are all kinds of interesting Policy Discussions we could and should have, and i think thats one of them. But for now what we need to do is get this package out there and meet the youurgency of the moment. Reporter thank you for being here. I want to ask you about some of the criticism by one of your former colleagues, top economic adviser to president barack obama. He has acknowledged the bailout in 2009 by his own admission didnt go far enough. But he says this 1. 9 trillion proposal is so big that it risks progressive priorities in the future and could potentially undermine the economy next year. Is the Biden Administration going too big . No. I firmly would disagree with that contention. By the way, i wouldnt call the other thing a bailout. That was the recovery act, and i think that also was an effective measure