bill cassidy, and democratic senator chris murphy. then -- >> all adult americans will be eligible to get a vaccine, no later than may 1. chris: we'll talk with dr. anthony fauci, the white house chief medical advisor, about what the country has been through this past year and the president's timeline for a return to normal. plus the calls for new york governor andrew cuomo to resign near a tipping point. we'll ask our sunday panel whether he has lost his ability to govern. our power player of the week. >> i didn't think i would get as famous as i have become. chris: the face of shriners hospitals for children grows up, all right now. "fox news sunday." chris: hello again from fox news in washington. the pressing of $1400 direct payments has begun with the first deposits hitting bank accounts this weekend that stimulus, part of president biden's $1.9 trillion rescue package aimed at getting the country back on its feet one year into the covid pandemic but republicans call the plan a liberal, even socialist agenda. in a moment we'll speak with senators from both sides, republican bill cassidy of louisiana, and democrat chris murphy of connecticut. let's bring in david spunt with the president this weekend in wilmington, delaware. david? >> reporter: after weeks of trying to sell the plan to republican members of congress the president will begin some heavy lifting as he heads out on the road to try to sell it to a divided america. >> help is here and we will not stop working for you. >> reporter: from the white house to the american people president biden will make multiple trips this week to tout his plan that pumps billions into vaccine research, small business relief and education. on tuesday he will visit the swing state of pennsylvania. on friday, he will join the vice president in georgia where two democratic victories in the january runoffs helped seal the deal for covid relief. >> you have faith that congress would pass this plan simply because it is the best thing for the american people. and you put in the work to make it happen. >> reporter: despite hopes for bipartisanship, not a single republican voted for the package. insisting large portions have nothing to do with pandemic relief. >> i think this is actually one of the worst pieces of legislation i've seen pass here in a time i've been in the senate. >> reporter: those same republicans united against the relief plan are standing by for the president's other priorities most notably infrastructure and immigration reform. >> we must address this crisis at the border, this spiraling out of control. >> reporter: leader mccarthy is vision iting the border tomorrow there are no plans publicly for the president to do so, though calls are proking for him to do so from both sides of the aisle. chris. chris: david spunt from delaware, thank you. joining us now republican senator bill cassidy. senator welcome back to "fox news sunday." >> thank you for having me. chris: you voted along with all of your republican colleagues in the senate against the democrat's $1.9 trillion bill. according to the white house, well, you tweeted this -- less than 10% of president biden's spending package is actually related to covid relief. senator, what's your basis for saying that, less than 10% of the bill? >> if you look at that which is related to the covid -- by the way, i have to dispute a little bit david's presentation. the white house never reached out seriously into republicans. we had no input what actually transpired. if you look into the package, 130 billion for education. it is great. cbo says the money already allocated for education is so much it can't be spent this year. the money for education will be spent in the out years. that is not related to covid, if everybody is vaccinated by june it is clearly not related to covid. there is $350 billion for state and local government. california is getting $41 billion and california has had record tax receipts, record tax receipts. that 41 billion is not related to covid. it is related to kind of helping a blue state. those. chris: let's talk about other aspects of the package. as you well know the pandemic is not just a public health crisis it is also a economic crisis. according to the white house stimulus payments will go to 91% of the adults in your state of louisiana and 93% of the children and the child tax credit will go to the families of one million kids in louisiana. senator, are you saying the people of your state don't need that money? >> first, let me say republicans offered an alternative which included that sort of money for the people who needed it. yes, economic help was needed for families and businesses. we're on board for that. you would have had bipartisan support for that. you know what it also includes? includes 1.9 million to give stimulus checks for inmates. inmates are paid for by the taxpayer. they can't stimulate the economy unless they're purchasing contra ban. 1.9 billion in stimulus checks going to inmates. i put up an amendment to strike that, it was unanimously imposed by democrats. that is the sort of thing that should not be included. chris: you would agree hundreds of billions of dollars go to economic stimulus to people and businesses hit hard by this pandemic? >> yes. i agree with that. now let's put that in perspective. the paycheck protection program plan money put into the december bill is adequate for the time-being. the additional money is for now but for going further out except there are some groups they specifically target those which are politically favored. so the dollars are there now for the need which is there now. a lot of this economy is actually for the out-period. let me say one more thing, the economy is recovering. it is estimated by cbo that our economy will grow at 4.2% this year without this latest package. and that the stimulus additional stimulus by this package may ignite inflation. there is a danger that this same middle income family evaporates because this inflation is turned on. that is not me. larry summers and jason furman. chris: i will ask senator murphy exactly about that in the next segment. let me come at this one last way. president biden is traveling around the country the next few weeks saying things like this. >> it provides food and nutrition, keeps families in their homes and cut child poverty in this country in half. chris: he and other democrats are going to say, look, back in 2017 republicans and president trump passed big tax cuts to benefit corporations and the wealthy. we, the democrats he is going to say are taking care of working-class people. >> so first let's look at the trump economy if you will, there was record, record employment for those without a high school education, for high school dropouts for the disabled, for veterans, african-americans, hispanics, women, fill in the blank, record employment. now that was a sort of economy that resulted from, from the trump tax cuts. indeed the last time i was on with you had somebody from president biden's economic council saying they wanted to return to the economy pre-covid. he kind of caught himself. that was the republican senate and the trump economy. now they're trying to do it by just pumping dollars in. it may work or may ignite inflation which pulls down somebody into a vortex of losing their savings. we'll see. is it better to let people keep their own money or take it from them and give it back? that is the difference between the two parties. chris: meanwhile there is another crisis, immigration crisis on our southern border. last month the largest number of unaccompanied minors was apprehended at the border, 9400, since may of 2019. that was 171% increase february of 2021 over february of 2020. how much responsibility, senator, do you think president biden and his change in policies in the first 50 days, how much responsibility does he bear for the surge at the border? >> empirically it is entirely. you can't help but notice that the administration changes and there is a surge. i saw one of the his advisors said in spanish,. [speaking spanish] which means, the border is not closed. then in english he said, she misspoke, it is. the spanish version is being heard. not the english. that is being reported in national newspapers as well. when people think they can get in, they begin sending their unaccompanied child on a train ride across mexico where she may be quid napped and trafficked -- kidnapped and trafficked on the hope they make it through the border. this policy is leading to this surge. that is unmistakable. chris: the headlines this morning are that the biden administration is going to send fema officials to the border to help with the handling of the unaccompanied minors? will that make a difference? and what does the biden administration need to do to get a handle on this situation? >> first the fact they're sending fema tells us that the 170% they anticipate growing to 350% or even a higher number. they're sending fema as reinforcements, not for today, not for tomorrow, but for three weeks from now and what is clear, there can be no equivocation when sending people in a caravan to say our border is closed. you can't say one thing in spanish, in english for the other, one for consumption in america and the other for domestic consumption. they need to be the same message. they're not doing that. chris: senator cassidy, thank you for your time, sir. always good to talk to you. >> thank you, chris. chris: up next the response from democrats. we'll ask senator chris murphy about concerns that the relief package will overheat the economy and spur a wave of four, five, turn, kick. we got chased by these wild coyotes! they were following her because she had beef jerky in her pocket. (laughing) (trumpet playing) someone behind me, come on. pick that up, pick that up, right there, right there. as long as you keep making the internet an amazing place to be, we'll keep bringing you a faster, more secure, and more amazing internet. xfinity. the future of awesome. ♪. chris: at least in the short term democrats legislative victory this week is likely to be politically popular but what if the economy overheats and some of the massive new spending doesn't stand up to scrutiny? joining us now, democratic senator chris murphy of connecticut. senator, i just heard, as i'm sure you heard what, discussing some of the positives of the plan with senator cassidy. i want to you about some of the concerns he raised. here is senate republican leader mitch mcconnell this week on the $1.9 trillion plan. >> this wasn't a bill to finish off the pandemic. it was a milt at this trillion dollar trojan horse full of bad, old, liberal ideas. president biden's own staff keep calling this legislation, quote, the most progressive bill in american history. chris: the morn partisan con aggressional budget office, $700 billion, more than a third of all the funding won't be spent until next year or later. so, senator murphy, how does that qualify as covid relief? >> well, as you mentioned this bill is wildly popular amongst the american public. 75% of americans support it because they know this is the moment to go big. 80% of people out there don't have enough money to pay their monthly bills. that why you need to put an unprecedented amount of money into the hands of low, middle income americans. i love the argument from republican this is is some progressive wish-list. almost everything in this bill is simply an extension of the programs that republicans were wildly enthusiastic about back when they were in charge of the white house and the senate. in fact they were cheering some of these programs at the end of last year, like the 1400-dollar stimulus payments. your question is specific. what about the performs of the spending that made eligible past 2021? let me tell you the crisis in america's schools will last beyond this year. the amount of catchup kids are going to have to do, the amount of work we'll have to do on the trauma inflicted on kids who have been out of school for so long is significant. yes, some of this money will be able to be spent in the next school year as well because we know we have a herculean endeavor ahead of us to try to make sure kids and families are made whole but the bill is popular putting money right now into the hands of families who desperately need it. chris: then there is the concern that i discussed with senator cassidy that is just plain too much money. the non-partisan congressional budget office says the economy is down about 6 to $700 billion because of the pandemic, not $1.9 trillion. here's former treasury secretary larry summers, a democrat on this subject. >> there is a real possibility that within the year we're going to be dealing with the most serious, insipient inflation problem that we have faced in the last 40 years. chris: so, are larry summers and the cbo wrong? >> well, they are. we're not going to face and inflation problem. we're going to be sitting on a economy that is going to grow twice as fast as it would have without this bill. that is also what economists have told us. listen, republicans didn't think this exact amount of money was too big last march when they supported the cares act. by the way, last march, there was with 1/3 the number of people dying every day of covid-19 as are dying today. as you mentioned to senator cassidy, republicans certainly didn't think $1.9 trillion too of when they were passing tax cuts for their wealthy friends. last weeks we were passing the american rescue plan republicans proposed to eliminate the estate tax for the tiny fraction of millionaires and billionaires that still pay it. they had no plans to pay for that. once again, when it comes to supporting the richest, wealthiest americans, republicans are very enthusiastic about debt financed tax cuts but when it comes to supporting poor people, or folks in the middle class, all of sudden, it is too hot for their taste. chris: senator, let's turn to the surge of immigration on the border i just went over the numbers with senator cassidy. the highest since may of 2019, especially of unaccompanied minors. president biden suspend ad trump policy that asylum-seekers must remain in mexico for their hearings. he also halted part of title 42 so that unaccompanied minors instead of having to be turned around immediately can stay in the u.s. haven't those changes in policy sent a clear message to migrants, there is a green light at the border? >> well, go a little bit deeper into these numbers. republicans would make you think the crisis began with joe biden became president. that is absolutely not true. in fact the surge at the border began last fall, in the last four months of donald trump's presidency. there was 80% increase in apprehensions and presentations at the border. as you mentioned the 11-year high for crossings without documentation of the border was in the middle of trump's presidency in 2019 when we had the most inhumane policies possible when we were building a wall at the border. so, this idea that it is joe biden's election that has prompted more people to show up is belied by the actual facts. and there are actually been pretty significant changes that the mexican government has made it, that made it impossible some cases to turn these kids around. so listen this, president inherited a mess from donald trump when it comes to immigration. he is trying to fix it in a humane way, and my hope is that congress will provide the resources to restart some of these programs in central america that provides less incentive for people to flee and come to the united states. chris: but, senator, i don't think it is fair to say that this is all donald trump's problem. if it was a problem at the end of the trump presidency, it has gotten worse under joe biden. take a look at these numbers. more than 8500 unaccompanied minors, 8500 are now being held in hhs shelters. 3500 are stuck in border patrol stations. it is bad, it is getting worse as we just reported. fema will go down there to try to help manage the perform. we're not even in the peak migration period of april and may? >> listen, this is a challenge but the point i'm making is that, you had, the 11-year high of presentations at the border in the middle of the trump presidency. so this idea that donald trump -- chris: then it went down after that, sir. it went down and -- >> it started to come back up. chris: more than double what it was a year ago. >> so the point being that the evidence suggests that it isn't the policy of the u.s. administration that drives migration to the united states. it is the desperation of the circumstances of these people are living under. so let's follow joe biden's advice and start putting some money into helping quell the reasons for migration. let's restart the program that allows for kids to apply for asylum in their home country in places like honduras and guatemala instead of waiting until they get here. there are things we can do to solve for this, it is not just simply the policies of any administration that creates these crisis. chris: finally this week the house passed a bill to dramatically increase, expand background checks for gun sales. you proposed similar legislation in the senate but, i don't have to tell you even after the horrors of sandy hook and the ame church in charleston, the senate rejected those. what makes you think it is going to be any different this time, sir? >> well, you know there is very little more popular than america today than universal background checks. 90% of americans support them. the house passed with a bipartisan majority. the question what is different? i think the nra is so much weaker than they used to be, the gun lobby. the anti-gun violence movement is stronger than before. i have gotten a lot of calls from republican senators last two years, those voted against back frowned checks in 2013 are willing to take a fresh look. i think in part because the politics here have changed. nra, a-rated house and members are losing seats in a way they didn't decade ago. we'll bring this bill up for a vote in the united states senate. i understand it will be tough to get to 60. this is one of the few votes you have a chance to save lives. no criminal, no person with serious mental illness should be able to get their hands on a gun. that is something that republicans and democrats should be able to agree on very soon. chris: senator murphy, thank you, thanks for coming in today. please come back, sir. >> thanks a lot. chris: up next, we'll ask dr. anthony fauci about the president's goal of getting life closer to normal by the have you ever seen this before? she's so beautiful. janie, check this out. >come here. >>let me see. (chuckles) she looks...kind of like me. yeah. that's because it's your grandma when she was your age. oh wow. that's... that's amazing. oh and she was on the debate team. yeah, that's probably why you're the debate queen. >i'll take that. >>look at that smile. i have the same dimples as her. (laughter) yeah. >same placements and everything. >>unbelievable. ♪. chris: the head of the cdc says the next two months will be critical in determining the future course of the covid crisis in this country. joining us now dr. anthony fauci, white house chief medical advisor. welcome back to "fox news sunday." >> thank you, chris, good to be with you. chris: i want to start with a pretty impressive number, three million vaccinations administered yesterday, not one million doses in a day, not one million, or two million but three million. how did that happen first of all, and secondly, can we keep up that pace? >> you know, chris i think not only can we keep up the pace, we might even do better because of the implementation of the program of getting vaccines into peoples arms is is being is accelerating greatly.