Transcripts For CNNW The Lead With Jake Tapper 20201229 : vi

Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell will go along with the president s demands and allow an up or down vote on the house bill which would increase stimulus checks for millions of americans from 600 to 2,000. Mcconnell did promise a vote tomorrow on overriding the president s veto of the National Defense authorization act, which mcconnell urged the senate to pass. Both issues, of course, put republicans in the precarious position of potentially having to cross President Trump. Cnns Phil Mattingly joins us live from capitol hill. Phil, lets start with the stimulus checks. Why is this such a tough call for mcconnell . You have not only President Trump but other republican senators including josh hawley plus the two republican senators in the runoff all coming out in favor of 2,000. Why not just put it on the floor for a vote . Reporter because five republican senators who support the 2,000 means theres 27 senators who are conspicuously quiet. A vast majority is opposed to this policy. When you track back to the debate of what became the covid relief package was in play, a vast majority of the senators made it clear they were opposed to any stimulus payments, the 600 level or above. If you look at the house vote yesterday, 132 republicans voted against the 2,000. When it comes to Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell, a good way to gauge where he is and how hes operating is does it allow him to protect his conference, the majority of his conference, which at this point in time is not supportive of that policy. The wild card, jake, you mentioned it. Its the two georgia senators in a crucial runoff one week from today both backing the proposal. Im told right now its not clear that any proposal to extend the payments up to 2,000 will never reach the senate floor in a substantive way, but if those two senators join President Trump and demand that action given whats at stake, and that would be the majority leadership for Mitch Mcconnell, that changes things, jake. What do the democrats plan to do . Chuck schumer already went to the floor today, tried to get the house bill passed by unanimous consent. They knew that was a long shot. They knew any of the 100 senators could oppose that, but they wanted to keep bringing attention to this, and that included Bernie Sanders as well. He was crucial along with senator josh hawley in pushing for those 2,000 checks, getting the president on board with this issue. He says hes going to delay that vote on the National Defense act until he gets the vote on those checks. He can only wait so long. The vote is coming, its just a matter of when. And the republicans are trying to override the president s veto on the defense bill today. What do you know about that . Reporter Mitch Mcconnell has kept his words tight when it comes to p critiqk critiquing t president in the last four years. But one area he splits with him on is Foreign Policy. 59 consecutive years this bill has been signed into law, always with bipartisan margins. This year wide bipartisan margins. 184 of the senate has voted for it. Mitch mcconnell has set up the process to override this veto. He did it a week ago. He was always planning to. Expect a rebuke on this specific issue from the president , but the republicans at least now willing to split with the president who wont be in office in just a couple weeks, jake. Phil mattingly on capitol hill, thanks so much. Right after President Trump left the golf course this afternoon in florida, he went back to tweeting, including that rather threatening death wish tweet over the 2,000 stimulus checks. Boris johnson who covers President Trump is in florida. Boris, has President Trump made any attempt to speak to mcconnell about this today . He could be doing a lot more than tweeting. The business of legislation tends to be a little bit more complicated than that. Reporter and you would expect as much from someone who fancies himself a deal maker, right . So far weve got no indication that President Trump is personally trying to lobby Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell or other republican senators to come around to this idea of 2,000 stimulus checks for americans. Instead our cameras actually capture the president for another consecutive day while hes here in florida on the golf course, despite the fact that the press office for the white house continues to insist that the president is working tirelessly on behalf of americans. At this point, jake, this is kind of a theme of the trump presidency, a signature. This entire legislative process hes contradicted his negotiators, hes opted to attack lawmakers on twitter, to dictate via twitter instead of actually sitting down and personally having conversations about what kind of deals could be made to get republicans, in this case, over to his side. We saw this in a 2018 shutdown on the border wall. Other major legislative issues. But these tweets really stand out. Hes calling Republican Leaders weak, ineffective, essentially saying there needs to be new leadership among the republican party. But the thing i found most notable about all of this, none of these tweets actually mention Mitch Mcconnell by name, jake. Interesting. And the outgoing president is still obviously putting his energy toward contesting the results of the election that he lost more than seven weeks ago, decisively, and hes lost it since then in courts and the Electoral College as well . Ye reporter yeah. Again, the president tweeting out some falsehoods about election fraud. It amounts to nonsense yet again. This is what i think is at the core of this rift between trump and republicans. If you watch his tweets closely, the president started making statements about the Republican Leadership soon after Mitch Mcconnell came out and essentially admitted that joe biden is the president elect after the Electoral College certified his win. I suspect that were going to continue to see more of this from the president , because we should point out, hes not only making these false claims, hes also fundraising, getting donations from supporters who believe that he may still have a chance of somehow overturning the election result, jake. Hundreds of millions of dollars most of which he can spend almost any way emts. Boris sanchez, thank you so much. Later this hour, president elect joe biden is expected to come forward and speak and criticize the Trump Administration for the slower than expected rollout of the coronavirus vaccine. According to a biden transition official, president elect biden will lay out his plan for speeding up the administering of those shots. Speaking of shots, Vice President elect Kamala Harris got her first dose of the vaccine live on television today. Her husband, doug emhoff, was also vaccinated with the convenience. Cnns joe johns is live for us in wilmington, delaware, covering the biden transition team. Joe biden, like harris, had a clear message for people, especially in the black community, but she was skeptical a few months ago. Reporter absolutely, thats very true, something of a skeptic, but now shes all about it. The fact of the matter is, first and foremost, the shot is a continuity of government issue for Kamala Harris. But its more than that. Its, if you will, a very big moment, a pass the torch moment for both her and joe biden who has already gotten the shot. The two of them on january 20th are going to end up inheriting the push that tried to get people all over the country vaccinated. Kamala harris speaks to a very important demographic, africanamericans who are also skeptical about it. The research shows, number one, that Something Like 4 in 10 africanamericans have said theyre going to get the vaccine. Number two, africanamericans are very hard hit by covid19. So Kamala Harris today, all about it. Listen. We have hospitals and medical centers and clinics like this all over the country who are sacked by people who live in the community, come to the community and have administered all year long trusted health care. I want to remind you that right in your community is where you can take the vaccine, where you will receive the vaccine by folks you may know. Reporter the current surgeon general, as you know, has also been pushing messages of the same sort and also trying to push back against concerns about things like the Tuskegee Syphilis study which created a lot of skepticism in the africanamerican community. Understandably so. Joe, president elect biden is going to speak in wilmington in a few minutes. Well bring that to our viewers live. Besides criticizing the Trump Administration to roll out the screen as quickly as possible, what else are we expecting to hear from him . Reporter probably most importantly, were expecting him to roll out his own plan for speeding up the process. And hes talked about getting 100 Million People vaccinated in the first 100 days. Of course, it is a real logistical challenge. Were also expecting, for the most part, some type of pandemic update, if you will, from the president elect. Joe johns in wilmington, delaware, thank you so much for that report. Appreciate it. Will enough republican senators push Mitch Mcconnell to hold a vote on those 2,000 stimulus checks . Well talk to republican senator pat toomey about that. Plus, what the first lady did in maralago that upset President Trump. Stay with us. In our politics lead today, Mitch Mcconnell is embracing uncertainty today as they try to navigate a tricky vote that could make them cross donald trump. Senator pat toomey joins me now. Thank you for joining us. They must approve the 2,000 payments asap, 600 is not enough, according to the president. What is your response . There are five republican senators that have come out in favor of increasing the payment from 600 to 2,000. Thats five republican senators. Youre among the 47 republican senators that have not. Thats right, jake, and im not going to because i think its a very bad idea. Lets be clear about what were talking about here. Were talking about sending checks, the vast majority of which will be going to people who have had no loss of income whatsoever. Thats just a fact. How and why does that make any sense at all . Oh, and by the way, when you bring this direct payment up to 2,000, the total cost is almost twothirds of a trillion dollars. Its over 600 billion, most of which i mean, the vast majority of which will go to people who had no lost income whatsoever. This makes no sense. We are in a very different place today than we were back in march. And it was a dubious merit back in march, but at least you could make the case that we actually had no economy. We had so completely shut down the economy that we were looking to send money as a substitute for the economy. Now weve got a very different situation. The economy grew at 33 last quarter. Weve got very acute problems within certain employment groups, right, people who work for restaurants and hotels and travel and entertainment devastated. But we do not have a global macroeconomic depression underway at all. So it makes no sense to be sending this out to everybody who has a pulse. Oh, by the way, you actually dont need a pulse. Anyone who died this year, dead people are going to get the checks, too. I wonder if its enough stimulus for them. Thats howry di ridiculous this. I guess i have a couple questions for you, one on the policy and one on the procedure. On the policy level, you would agree there are still millions of americans suffering, people who have lost their jobs, who have lost income who do need help. What would be a better way to help those people . I mean, youve seen the lines at the food banks all over pennsylvania, im sure. So, jake, thats where we should be targeting. A lot of the bill that we voted for overwhelmingly does, in fact, target those very people. Its ppp loans, right, which are really grants to Small Businesses provided that they keep their work force employed. So people would continue to have a job because of that money who would otherwise not have a job. There is a plus up on Unemployment Benefits for people who are unemployed. There is an expansion of eligibility to include the selfemployed and gig workers who have otherwise not qualified. We can have a debate and discussion about whether we should do even more for those things, but when youre talking about the twoincome couple who lets say they both happen to work for the federal government among the 2 Million People who do . Theyve never even had an interruption in their income, theyve had no lost income at all, and if theyve got two kids, were going to send them 8 8,000 of money we dont have . That doesnt make sense. Thats the policy question. The procedure question, do you think Mitch Mcconnell should offer a clean up and down vote on this issue from 600 to 2,000. I think he would think of other ways to kill it, because i think he agrees with you, such as adding the provision to get rid of section 230 which provides immunity to social Media Companies to posts that other people put on their sites. Wouldnt a clean up and down vote be a better way to at least legislate this, even if you vote no . I dont think so, jake, and the reason is because i think it makes much, much more sense, and there would be much broader support if this was actually targeted to people who need it. As i say, we dont have this money lying on the shelf. Were either going to print this money or borrow it from overseas, and either way, we ought to think long and hard about how were doing this. When you know for a fact that the vast majority of it will go to people who had no loss of income, i think thats indefensible. If there is a will to do more, then we ought to talk about that about how you do that in a sensible fashion where the money goes to people who actually need it, and were not going to figure that out on an up or down vote that gets jammed in sometime this week. President trump says your position is a death wish and the wrong thing to do. He also has been lashing out at Republican Leaders for the vote to override the defense bill, calling house Republican Leadership weak and tired. Now a senior republican told cnn that these rants are, quote, the rantings of a deceased king. How do you see these rants on republicans . He doesnt like that prospect, i understand that. But i think the Defense Authorization bill, which we have passed for 59 consecutive years, i dont think anyone ever considers it perfect. It is the result of a legislative process, which, by the way, this administration was involved in, and the president s big objection seemed to be the provision that is going to require renaming of military facilities that are named after confederates. Look, i think that amendment probably goes too far in the dynamic, but i dont have a problem with renaming military bases against people who cannot commit treason and take up arms against the United States. So i dont object to that idea. To the idea that section 230 should be repealed, thats not a bad idea, but that bill that we granted to Internet Companies years ago has enabled substantial growth that has done so much for our economy. Is it being abused in some cases . I think it is, actually. But i dont think you just decide one day to throw it all out. I think we have to think through what are the unintended consequences of that, how might we treat this in a more nuanced way than just completely repealing section 230. Before gyou go, sir, a few weeks ago you briefly held up the relegal biief bill about a things you were concerned with about allowing members of congress to sit back and not make tough decisions, let the fed handle it. As a principle, i understand that, and it seems to be a big problem for congress, especially when it comes to sending troops abroad, this idea of congress outsourcing tough decisions to the fed or the pentagon. What do you think . Well, so theres no question in my mind that for decades now congress has been gradually but seemingly systemically transferring the authority of the constitution and the responsibility the constitution assigns to us, transferring that mostly to the executive branch. And i think thats a huge mistake. It diminishes the accountability of these actions and it diminishes the say of the American People. I do think you can make that case that that has happened in the Foreign Policy realm, and with respect to the deployment of our military, but you have to acknowledge that at least you get into a gray area because the president does have significant powers as the commander in chief. Sure. You cant say that about just generic government spending, right . And, in fact, our democratic colleagues wanted to hijack the feds emergency lending program, which was always meant to be temporary, and use it as a way to provide direct bailouts to municipalities and states. If were going to do that, baling out municipalities and states, that absolutely should be a congressional decision, and the American People ought to be able to hold Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> will go along with the president s demands and allow an up or down vote on the house bill which would increase stimulus checks for millions of americans from 600 to 2,000. Mcconnell did promise a vote tomorrow on overriding the president s veto of the National Defense<\/a> authorization act, which mcconnell urged the senate to pass. Both issues, of course, put republicans in the precarious position of potentially having to cross President Trump<\/a>. Cnns Phil Mattingly<\/a> joins us live from capitol hill. Phil, lets start with the stimulus checks. Why is this such a tough call for mcconnell . You have not only President Trump<\/a> but other republican senators including josh hawley plus the two republican senators in the runoff all coming out in favor of 2,000. Why not just put it on the floor for a vote . Reporter because five republican senators who support the 2,000 means theres 27 senators who are conspicuously quiet. A vast majority is opposed to this policy. When you track back to the debate of what became the covid relief package was in play, a vast majority of the senators made it clear they were opposed to any stimulus payments, the 600 level or above. If you look at the house vote yesterday, 132 republicans voted against the 2,000. When it comes to Senate Majority<\/a> leader Mitch Mcconnell<\/a>, a good way to gauge where he is and how hes operating is does it allow him to protect his conference, the majority of his conference, which at this point in time is not supportive of that policy. The wild card, jake, you mentioned it. Its the two georgia senators in a crucial runoff one week from today both backing the proposal. Im told right now its not clear that any proposal to extend the payments up to 2,000 will never reach the senate floor in a substantive way, but if those two senators join President Trump<\/a> and demand that action given whats at stake, and that would be the majority leadership for Mitch Mcconnell<\/a>, that changes things, jake. What do the democrats plan to do . Chuck schumer already went to the floor today, tried to get the house bill passed by unanimous consent. They knew that was a long shot. They knew any of the 100 senators could oppose that, but they wanted to keep bringing attention to this, and that included Bernie Sanders<\/a> as well. He was crucial along with senator josh hawley in pushing for those 2,000 checks, getting the president on board with this issue. He says hes going to delay that vote on the National Defense<\/a> act until he gets the vote on those checks. He can only wait so long. The vote is coming, its just a matter of when. And the republicans are trying to override the president s veto on the defense bill today. What do you know about that . Reporter Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> has kept his words tight when it comes to p critiqk critiquing t president in the last four years. But one area he splits with him on is Foreign Policy<\/a>. 59 consecutive years this bill has been signed into law, always with bipartisan margins. This year wide bipartisan margins. 184 of the senate has voted for it. Mitch mcconnell has set up the process to override this veto. He did it a week ago. He was always planning to. Expect a rebuke on this specific issue from the president , but the republicans at least now willing to split with the president who wont be in office in just a couple weeks, jake. Phil mattingly on capitol hill, thanks so much. Right after President Trump<\/a> left the golf course this afternoon in florida, he went back to tweeting, including that rather threatening death wish tweet over the 2,000 stimulus checks. Boris johnson who covers President Trump<\/a> is in florida. Boris, has President Trump<\/a> made any attempt to speak to mcconnell about this today . He could be doing a lot more than tweeting. The business of legislation tends to be a little bit more complicated than that. Reporter and you would expect as much from someone who fancies himself a deal maker, right . So far weve got no indication that President Trump<\/a> is personally trying to lobby Senate Majority<\/a> leader Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> or other republican senators to come around to this idea of 2,000 stimulus checks for americans. Instead our cameras actually capture the president for another consecutive day while hes here in florida on the golf course, despite the fact that the press office for the white house continues to insist that the president is working tirelessly on behalf of americans. At this point, jake, this is kind of a theme of the trump presidency, a signature. This entire legislative process hes contradicted his negotiators, hes opted to attack lawmakers on twitter, to dictate via twitter instead of actually sitting down and personally having conversations about what kind of deals could be made to get republicans, in this case, over to his side. We saw this in a 2018 shutdown on the border wall. Other major legislative issues. But these tweets really stand out. Hes calling Republican Leaders<\/a> weak, ineffective, essentially saying there needs to be new leadership among the republican party. But the thing i found most notable about all of this, none of these tweets actually mention Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> by name, jake. Interesting. And the outgoing president is still obviously putting his energy toward contesting the results of the election that he lost more than seven weeks ago, decisively, and hes lost it since then in courts and the Electoral College<\/a> as well . Ye reporter yeah. Again, the president tweeting out some falsehoods about election fraud. It amounts to nonsense yet again. This is what i think is at the core of this rift between trump and republicans. If you watch his tweets closely, the president started making statements about the Republican Leaders<\/a>hip soon after Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> came out and essentially admitted that joe biden is the president elect after the Electoral College<\/a> certified his win. I suspect that were going to continue to see more of this from the president , because we should point out, hes not only making these false claims, hes also fundraising, getting donations from supporters who believe that he may still have a chance of somehow overturning the election result, jake. Hundreds of millions of dollars most of which he can spend almost any way emts. Boris sanchez, thank you so much. Later this hour, president elect joe biden is expected to come forward and speak and criticize the Trump Administration<\/a> for the slower than expected rollout of the coronavirus vaccine. According to a biden transition official, president elect biden will lay out his plan for speeding up the administering of those shots. Speaking of shots, Vice President<\/a> elect Kamala Harris<\/a> got her first dose of the vaccine live on television today. Her husband, doug emhoff, was also vaccinated with the convenience. Cnns joe johns is live for us in wilmington, delaware, covering the biden transition team. Joe biden, like harris, had a clear message for people, especially in the black community, but she was skeptical a few months ago. Reporter absolutely, thats very true, something of a skeptic, but now shes all about it. The fact of the matter is, first and foremost, the shot is a continuity of government issue for Kamala Harris<\/a>. But its more than that. Its, if you will, a very big moment, a pass the torch moment for both her and joe biden who has already gotten the shot. The two of them on january 20th are going to end up inheriting the push that tried to get people all over the country vaccinated. Kamala harris speaks to a very important demographic, africanamericans who are also skeptical about it. The research shows, number one, that Something Like<\/a> 4 in 10 africanamericans have said theyre going to get the vaccine. Number two, africanamericans are very hard hit by covid19. So Kamala Harris<\/a> today, all about it. Listen. We have hospitals and medical centers and clinics like this all over the country who are sacked by people who live in the community, come to the community and have administered all year long trusted health care. I want to remind you that right in your community is where you can take the vaccine, where you will receive the vaccine by folks you may know. Reporter the current surgeon general, as you know, has also been pushing messages of the same sort and also trying to push back against concerns about things like the Tuskegee Syphilis<\/a> study which created a lot of skepticism in the africanamerican community. Understandably so. Joe, president elect biden is going to speak in wilmington in a few minutes. Well bring that to our viewers live. Besides criticizing the Trump Administration<\/a> to roll out the screen as quickly as possible, what else are we expecting to hear from him . Reporter probably most importantly, were expecting him to roll out his own plan for speeding up the process. And hes talked about getting 100 Million People<\/a> vaccinated in the first 100 days. Of course, it is a real logistical challenge. Were also expecting, for the most part, some type of pandemic update, if you will, from the president elect. Joe johns in wilmington, delaware, thank you so much for that report. Appreciate it. Will enough republican senators push Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> to hold a vote on those 2,000 stimulus checks . Well talk to republican senator pat toomey about that. Plus, what the first lady did in maralago that upset President Trump<\/a>. Stay with us. In our politics lead today, Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> is embracing uncertainty today as they try to navigate a tricky vote that could make them cross donald trump. Senator pat toomey joins me now. Thank you for joining us. They must approve the 2,000 payments asap, 600 is not enough, according to the president. What is your response . There are five republican senators that have come out in favor of increasing the payment from 600 to 2,000. Thats five republican senators. Youre among the 47 republican senators that have not. Thats right, jake, and im not going to because i think its a very bad idea. Lets be clear about what were talking about here. Were talking about sending checks, the vast majority of which will be going to people who have had no loss of income whatsoever. Thats just a fact. How and why does that make any sense at all . Oh, and by the way, when you bring this direct payment up to 2,000, the total cost is almost twothirds of a trillion dollars. Its over 600 billion, most of which i mean, the vast majority of which will go to people who had no lost income whatsoever. This makes no sense. We are in a very different place today than we were back in march. And it was a dubious merit back in march, but at least you could make the case that we actually had no economy. We had so completely shut down the economy that we were looking to send money as a substitute for the economy. Now weve got a very different situation. The economy grew at 33 last quarter. Weve got very acute problems within certain employment groups, right, people who work for restaurants and hotels and travel and entertainment devastated. But we do not have a global macroeconomic depression underway at all. So it makes no sense to be sending this out to everybody who has a pulse. Oh, by the way, you actually dont need a pulse. Anyone who died this year, dead people are going to get the checks, too. I wonder if its enough stimulus for them. Thats howry di ridiculous this. I guess i have a couple questions for you, one on the policy and one on the procedure. On the policy level, you would agree there are still millions of americans suffering, people who have lost their jobs, who have lost income who do need help. What would be a better way to help those people . I mean, youve seen the lines at the food banks all over pennsylvania, im sure. So, jake, thats where we should be targeting. A lot of the bill that we voted for overwhelmingly does, in fact, target those very people. Its ppp loans, right, which are really grants to Small Businesses<\/a> provided that they keep their work force employed. So people would continue to have a job because of that money who would otherwise not have a job. There is a plus up on Unemployment Benefits<\/a> for people who are unemployed. There is an expansion of eligibility to include the selfemployed and gig workers who have otherwise not qualified. We can have a debate and discussion about whether we should do even more for those things, but when youre talking about the twoincome couple who lets say they both happen to work for the federal government among the 2 Million People<\/a> who do . Theyve never even had an interruption in their income, theyve had no lost income at all, and if theyve got two kids, were going to send them 8 8,000 of money we dont have . That doesnt make sense. Thats the policy question. The procedure question, do you think Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> should offer a clean up and down vote on this issue from 600 to 2,000. I think he would think of other ways to kill it, because i think he agrees with you, such as adding the provision to get rid of section 230 which provides immunity to social Media Companies<\/a> to posts that other people put on their sites. Wouldnt a clean up and down vote be a better way to at least legislate this, even if you vote no . I dont think so, jake, and the reason is because i think it makes much, much more sense, and there would be much broader support if this was actually targeted to people who need it. As i say, we dont have this money lying on the shelf. Were either going to print this money or borrow it from overseas, and either way, we ought to think long and hard about how were doing this. When you know for a fact that the vast majority of it will go to people who had no loss of income, i think thats indefensible. If there is a will to do more, then we ought to talk about that about how you do that in a sensible fashion where the money goes to people who actually need it, and were not going to figure that out on an up or down vote that gets jammed in sometime this week. President trump says your position is a death wish and the wrong thing to do. He also has been lashing out at Republican Leaders<\/a> for the vote to override the defense bill, calling house Republican Leaders<\/a>hip weak and tired. Now a senior republican told cnn that these rants are, quote, the rantings of a deceased king. How do you see these rants on republicans . He doesnt like that prospect, i understand that. But i think the Defense Authorization<\/a> bill, which we have passed for 59 consecutive years, i dont think anyone ever considers it perfect. It is the result of a legislative process, which, by the way, this administration was involved in, and the president s big objection seemed to be the provision that is going to require renaming of military facilities that are named after confederates. Look, i think that amendment probably goes too far in the dynamic, but i dont have a problem with renaming military bases against people who cannot commit treason and take up arms against the United States<\/a>. So i dont object to that idea. To the idea that section 230 should be repealed, thats not a bad idea, but that bill that we granted to Internet Companies<\/a> years ago has enabled substantial growth that has done so much for our economy. Is it being abused in some cases . I think it is, actually. But i dont think you just decide one day to throw it all out. I think we have to think through what are the unintended consequences of that, how might we treat this in a more nuanced way than just completely repealing section 230. Before gyou go, sir, a few weeks ago you briefly held up the relegal biief bill about a things you were concerned with about allowing members of congress to sit back and not make tough decisions, let the fed handle it. As a principle, i understand that, and it seems to be a big problem for congress, especially when it comes to sending troops abroad, this idea of congress outsourcing tough decisions to the fed or the pentagon. What do you think . Well, so theres no question in my mind that for decades now congress has been gradually but seemingly systemically transferring the authority of the constitution and the responsibility the constitution assigns to us, transferring that mostly to the executive branch. And i think thats a huge mistake. It diminishes the accountability of these actions and it diminishes the say of the American People<\/a>. I do think you can make that case that that has happened in the Foreign Policy<\/a> realm, and with respect to the deployment of our military, but you have to acknowledge that at least you get into a gray area because the president does have significant powers as the commander in chief. Sure. You cant say that about just generic government spending, right . And, in fact, our democratic colleagues wanted to hijack the feds emergency lending program, which was always meant to be temporary, and use it as a way to provide direct bailouts to municipalities and states. If were going to do that, baling out municipalities and states, that absolutely should be a congressional decision, and the American People<\/a> ought to be able to hold Congress Accountable<\/a> for whatever decision we make. It does not belong in the realm of the federal reserve. Senator pat toomey, thank you so much for your time. Merry christmas and happy new year. Good to see you, sir. Jake, same to you. Dr. Fauci says things are likely to get worse. Why the problem is not just a matter of adding more hospital beds. Stay with us. And what did you get, mike . I got a bike. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. I open the app, find the store i want to use, start buying and it gets me tons of cash back. I Just Got Paid<\/a> to shop. My favorite thing about rakuten is just getting money back in the mail. I mean, who wouldnt want cash back. Sign up today and get cash back with rakuten. I mto use your vision benefits before the years up. This is us making sure you dont. Use em before you lose em, backed by our 100day guarantee visionworks. See the difference. Little things. Can become your big moment. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not a cream. Its a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. With otezla, 75 clearer skin is achievable. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. It may cause severe diarrhea, nausea or vomiting. Otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. Some people taking otezla reported weight loss. Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. Upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. Tell your doctor about your medicines, and if youre pregnant or planning to be. Otezla. Show more of you. Turning to our health lead now in the dire crisis facing the country as we head to more covid19 hospitalizations are currently at an alltime high, nearly 121,000, with medical experts warning the situation is only going to get worse. While more than 2 million americans have been vaccinated, the rollout is going much slower than promised, as cnns athena jones reports. Reporter as coronavirus spikes, america faces a bleak winter. We just have to assume its going to get worse. We predict all across the country a surge upon a surge upon april surge. Reporter the large numbers driven by holiday gatherings. 1. 1 Million People<\/a> passed through Airport Security<\/a> checks monday, the seventh day out of the last 11, with more than a Million People<\/a> screened. And Health Care Providers<\/a> are already being overwhelmed. At a certain point, you cant open up more beds because there are no personnel to work them. Reporter nationwide the number of covid19 patients hospitalized reaching the highest level in the pandemic monday. And data from the department of health and Human Services<\/a> show coronavirus cases accounted for 40 of icu patients last week compared to just 16 in september. This is the nightmare scenario we worked so hard to prevent because we know thats when the mortality rates absolutely skyrocket. Reporter eight states reporting record hospitalizations, including california where Los Angeles County<\/a> has reported nearly 100,000 new cases in just the past week, about ten new cases a minute. Were hoping that people do understand that this is a crisis and that, you know, were at a critical juncture here of maintaining our staff levels and maintaining bed capacity for our community. Reporter meanwhile, america is missing the mark on vaccine distribution. We certainly are not at the numbers that we wanted to be at the end of december. Reporter just 2. 1 Million People<\/a> have received the shot, according to the cdc, far below the 20 Million People<\/a> Administration Officials<\/a> said would be inoculated by the end of the month. Thats a problem, says an adviser, to president elect joe biden. Thats a Million People<\/a> a week. At that pace it would take us over a decade to vaccinate all americans. Reporter among those receiving a shot today that was easy. Reporter Vice President<\/a> elect Kamala Harris<\/a>. I urge everyone, when it is your turn, get vaccinated. Reporter and to give people a better sense of why there is so much concern about this moment were in, its based on what weve already seen during this pandemic. One doctor put it this way. We saw spikes in Coronavirus Infections<\/a> after memorial day, after the fourth of july, after labor day and after thanksgiving, and those are all short holidays compared to the combined Christmas New Year<\/a> period where its also hard to gather outdoors in many parts of the country. All that said, the weeks ahead could be the worst period for the pandemic. Joining me now, william h haseltine, hes at health and human hospitals. Thank you for joining us. This month has been the deadliest for the pandemic so far. Do you suspect that hospitals will be dealing with another major surge in roughly two to three weeks following the december highs . How bad do you expect it to get next month . We cant tell how bad, but we can tell its going to be bad, and it will be worse. What weve experienced is maybe a hump and were looking at a mountain. A lot of people are traveling. I tell you, the good news is about half as many people are traveling. The rest are staying home. Thats good but its not enough. Those that are traveling are exposing themselves to infection. I calculate theres about 10,000 people who were capable of spreading the virus on those planes, maybe 20,000 as you travel. Thats a lot of people spreading the virus. And when you go to meet with your relatives, you may carry that virus with you, so its a very serious situation. And hospitals are now at the brink of turning away patients. Health experts warn, as you note there, that this Record Number<\/a> of covid hospitalizations could lead to more widespread rationing. As you know, people are being turned away. There are only so many nurses and respirators and general medical care. What would this actually look like if this starts happening even more, and what would that mean for anyone needing care, not just Covid Patients<\/a> . Well, first of all, for Covid Patients<\/a>, we would move to something called crisis standards of care. Thats basically a judgment of a panel to determine how many years of life you would have if we saved you. And if its not many, like youre old, my age, perhaps, if you have some comorbidity, like you have serious diabetes, theyre not going to consider you as a good prospect. Even if you need lifesaving treatment, theyll send you home without treatment. Thats what crisis standards of care is. We are, in california and some other places, very close to that. Its not because you cant build facilities, its because there is not people to staff them. You cant bring them from other parts of the country because the whole country has a problem. You cant bring them in from abroad because many other countries have problems. Were facing a really critical time, a time i dont think, in my memory weve ever had, and perhaps you would have to go back maybe even to the great pandemic of 1918 or before. Its like a battlefield situation where too many soldiers are wounded to save all that could be saved. Its the death panels we were warned with obamacare, but in reality, not just fantasy. So far 2. 1 million americans have been vaccinated in the u. S. And we just learned 19 million doses have been allocated. The Trump Administration<\/a> said that the goal was for 20 million americans to be vaccinated by the end of the year, which is just in a few days. Was that ever a realistic number, and why do you think were falling so short of that goal . What can be done to speed up the process . Well, first of all, its really the gang that couldnt shoot straight thats running the show in washington. At least out of the administration. We have very good agencies, but theyve been hampered and hamstrung. And why would we expect them to do better than they did with testing, better than they did with rolling out various medications than they have with vaccination . What theyve done is basically punted and said, hey, its not us. Were going to get it to the states and then its up to the states to do everything. Without the money, without the training, without the preparation, how can that be . I was warning and other people were warning that this situation would arise. Its even a little worse than that, jake, because once the vaccines get there, it can really be up to the local community who gets the vaccine. Yes, the government can say this is the group that should get it, but its on the ground and theres some great inequities already being discovered in who is getting it, how theyre getting it and where theyre getting it. Speaking of inequities, members of congress are getting it right now. Thank you for joining me, we appreciate it. Why the fight in stimulus checks is playing a starring role in the georgia runoffs. Who or what is missing from the president s holiday in maralago . Stay with us. University of phoenix is awarding up to one Million Dollars<\/a> in new scholarships through this month, because hope fuels opportunity. See what scholarship you qualify for at phoenix. Edu fighting cancer doesnt start here. Not in tubes or bags. Not in scans or scribbles. Fighting cancer doesnt even start in a lab. The truth is, fighting cancer starts with you. Covid has devastated our funding for lifesaving research. Help us help patients. Donate today. In our politics lead now, all eyes on georgia with two Senate Runoff<\/a> elections just a week ago, and the president s demand for bigger covid relief checks an issue in those races. Just this morning, both senators david perdue and Kelly Loeffler<\/a> revealed their positions after weeks of refusing to take a position, now calling for 2,000 relief checks over the 600 checks currently. It is something their challengers have pushed for before, and President Trump<\/a> threatened to hold up the entire stimulus deal because it didnt include it. Now it is unclear that legislation will get a straight up or down vote. Cnns kyung lah joins us from georgia, and afr weeter weeks o ducking the question, both senators perdue and loeffler are on board with the stimulus. What changed . Reporter two words donald trump. We are at an early vote location. Thats where people are voting for those runoffs that senator loeffler and perdue are both on the ballot for. The u. S. Control of the senate is at hand. As soon as the president started to back these 2,000 stimulus payments, heres what we heard from senator loeffler. I said id support it. I support it. Look, we have to provide relief to americans because democrats have locked our country down, theyve played politics with this moment and refused to pass relief month after month after month. Reporter you know, i should point out that while she was speaking, just a short distance away, people were waving trump flags, someone was chanting four more years so the president is a potent get out the vote force here, jake, and i did ask one of those supportssu democrats support this 2,000 payment, and he said thats fine because President Trump<\/a> is not fake. Senator perdue did also fall in line saying he will support whatever the president supports, including these 2,000 payments. When my colleague, d. J. Judd, tried to ask senator perdue to elaborate, was he going to go back to washington to vote, was he going to ask the majority leader Mitch Mcconnell<\/a> to bring a vote to the floor, he just du ducked. He didnt want to say anything further he wanted to do other than the president is suggesting. Jake . Also in our politics lead, President Trump<\/a> has been acting out as he spends his last holiday of his presidency at the winter white house in palm beach, florida. The mood of the president is being described as grumpy, unset with everything melanias new renovations at maralago. Tell me more of what youre hearing. Reporter as you know, this has been a tumultuous week for the president. He is back signing bills. Were seeing him more on the golf course than behind a desk, but when he arrived at maralago, some of the renovations thavt have been goig on the last couple weeks for him and melania to live post white house were not very much to his liking. This is a president who has a very particular aesthetic, a particular taste, and some of the work that was done both in their private quarters and other parts of the club were apparently not up to snuff, according to the president , and he was disappointed about that and sort of set the tone for a very different christmas holiday, his last one at maralago as president. And, kate, in the middle of soaring covid cases and hospitalizations in the u. S. , the president , you say, is planning to hold a new years eve gala at maralago . Tell us about that. As goes the white House Holiday<\/a> party, so goes the maralago holiday parties. Theres been approximately, a source tells me, about 500 reservations already for the annual maralago black tie new years eve party. This is, of course, an event that the president , the first lady and his family have attended. Club members go as well. So, certainly, weve seen in recent weeks the flouting of mask rules there. There was an Election Night<\/a> event, there was another turning point usa conference gala there. So it appears that new years eve may follow the same suit as many of the holiday parties we saw at the white house where its not exactly a wellspaced maskwearing crowd who attends, and thats how its going at maralago. Hes going to need a new place to host his superspreader event as soon as he moves out of the white house. He certainly held a number there. Were seeing the president spend a lot of time golfing actually, president elect biden is he walking out right now . President elect biden is walking out. Well take his remarks right now. Our team of experts. As we end one of the most difficult years as a nation, i remain optimistic about our future. The vaccines have been discovered and developed. Theres more to come, we believe. Give us enormous hope. Our economy is poised to come back and come alive. I can see a return to normalcy in the next year. I also see incredible opportunities for our nation in the years ahead. Job creation, clean energy, racial equality and much more. But we need to be honest. The next few weeks and months are going to be very tough, a very tough period for our nation, maybe the toughest during this entire pandemic. I know its hard to hear, but its the truth. As roosevelt said, i think the American People<\/a> can take whatever we tell them if we tell them straight to the shoulder. We need to steel our spines for whats ahead. We need to follow more closely the recommendations to slow the spread of the virus. And each of us needs to do what we can to protect ourselves, our families and our fellow americans. Were going to get through this. Brighter days are coming. But its going to take all the grit and determination we have as americans to get it done. So today i want to be clear about five things every american should know about our efforts to contain covid19 and where the vaccine stands today. First, things are going to get worse before they get better. In september, we passed a grim milestone, 200,000 deaths. At that time in this very room many remember i warned that we would hit 400,000 deaths before the Trump Administration<\/a> in january. Critics said i was too alarmist and negative. But as ive said all along, i will tell you like it is when it comes to covid. And the reality is it looks like were going to hit that grim milestone. Weve just crossed 330,000 deaths in america. Were averaging daily death rates of nearly 2,200 people which means well lose tens of thousands more lives in the months to come. Hospitals are being stretched beyond capacity. And thats data before we see the impact of the cases coming from the recent holidays and this upcoming holiday of new years eve. People getting infected today dont show up in cases for weeks. And those who persist excuse me, those who perish from the disease die weeks after initial exposure. So we have to anticipate that the infections over the holidays will produce soaring cases counts in january, ensuring death tolls into february. Turning this around is going to take time. We might not see improvement until were well into march as it will take time for our Covid Response<\/a> plan to begin to produce visible progress. The second thing to know, the Trump Administration<\/a>s plan to distribute vaccines is falling far behind. Were grateful to the companies, the doctors, the scientists, the researchers, the Clinical Trial<\/a> participants and operation warp speed for developing the vaccines quickly. But as i long administer the vaccine is not progressing as it should. A few weeks ago, Trump Administration<\/a> suggested that 20 million americans could be vaccinated by the end of december. With only a few days left in december, weve only vaccinated a few million so far. And the pace of the Vaccination Program<\/a> is moving now, if it continues to move as it is now, its going to take years, not months, to vaccinate the American People<\/a>. Which brings me to the third thing every american should know. Biden Harris Administration<\/a> will spare no effort to make sure people get vaccinated. Ive laid out three challenges in our first 100 days. One of them is ensuring that 100 million shots have been administered by the end of the first 100 days. Congress provides the funding, wed be able to meet this incredible goal. It would take ramping up five to six times the current pace to 1 million shots a day. But even with that improvement, even if we boost the speed of vaccinations to 1 million shots a day, it will still take months to have the majority of the United States<\/a> population vaccinated. Ive directed my team to prepare a much more aggressive effort with more federal involvement and leadership to get things back on track. Well find ways to boost the pace of vaccinations, but as dr. Fauci and others have stated, these past few days, this will take more time than anyone would like and more time than the promises from the Trump Administration<\/a> have suggested. This is going to be the greatest operational challenge weve ever faced as a nation, but were going to get it done. But its going to take a vast new effort thats not yet under way. And to get things, you know, and that gets me to the fourth thing that we should know. Im going to move heaven and earth to get us going in the right direction. Im going to use my power under the defense production act when im sworn and order private industry to accelerate making the materials needed for the vaccines as well as protective gear. Vice president harris and i have been speaking to with county officials, mayors, governors, of both parties to speed up the distribution of the vaccines across the nation. Were planning a whole of government effort and were going to work to set up vaccination sites and send mobile units to hard to reach communities. And we also know, theres a Vaccination Hesitancy<\/a> in many community, especially black, latino, native American Communities<\/a> who have not always been treated with the dignity and honesty they deserve with the federal government and the Scientific Community<\/a> throughout our history. Thats why we will launch a Massive Public<\/a> Education Campaign<\/a> to increase vaccine acceptance. Well do everything we can to show the vaccines are safe. And critically important for ones own health and that of their families and the community. Were going to make sure vaccines are distributed equitably, so every person can get one, no matter the color of their skin and where they live. And were going to ensure vaccinations are free of charge. Fifth. While the pandemic rages on and as we increase the supply, distribution and administration of the vaccine, we have to remain vigilant. As part of the 100day challenge, im going to be asking the American People<\/a> to wear a mask for the first 100 days of my administration. Its not a political statement. Its a patriotic duty. Our administration is going to require mask wearing where i have the power to do so, for federal workers and federal facilities, interstate travel like planes and trains. And weve been working directly with county officials, mayors, governors, to implement mask mandates in their cities and towns and states. Masking has been a divisive issue in this country, but covid is a killer in red states and blue states alike. So, i encourage you all to wear a mask. Encourage your family and friends to do the same. Its one of the easiest things we can do that will make a huge difference and to save lives. Another 100day challenge is opening most of our k through eight schools by the end of the first 100 days in the spring. Look, we can only do that if congress provides the necessary funding so we get schools, districts, communities and states the resources they need for so many things that arent already there in a tight budget. They need funding for testing to help reopen schools, for funding for transportation so students can remain social distances on buses. They need it for school buildings, for additional cleaning service, protective equipment, ventilation systems. This is going to require an additional tens of billions of dollars to get this done. And Congress Also<\/a> needs to fund and provide more protective equipment for Front Line Health Workers<\/a> who are still reusing masks and gowns. We need to scale up testing so anyone who needs one can get a test. After ten months of the pandemic, we still dont have enough testing. Its a travesty. All this, vaccinations, testing, protective gear is going to require more funding for congress, more than was just approved. Thats why ill propose a covid action package early next year and challenge congress to act on it quickly. Look. My ability to change the direction of this pandemic starts in three weeks. With thousands dying every day between now and then, let me conclude by discussing what needs to happen now. I congratulate the bipartisan majority on passing the president and the president on signing the covid relief bill. Its a step, an important step, still moves in the right direction. And it will help people in need. And it will pay for some, but not all of what we need to fix the Covid Response<\/a>. Its a down payment. But now, with that done, i hope the president will also clearly promote mask wearing. I give former governor Chris Christie<\/a> credit. He and i have disagreed on a number of things, but im thankful hes now encouraging people to do the right thing and wear a mask for themselves, their loved ones and their country. I hope the president will listen to him. He can do it, too. It would make a huge difference for President Trump<\/a> to say, wear masks. I hope the president will clearly and unambiguously urge all americans to take the vaccine once its available. I took it to instill Public Confidence<\/a> in the vaccine. Vice president elect harris took hers today for the same reason. And when the president s doctors recommend it, President Trump<\/a> should take it and instill the same degree of confidence. Let me also say this to the American People<\/a>. We can save all the experts tell us between 60 and 100,000 lives in the weeks moont s and monthsf we just step up together. Wear a mask, socially distance, wash our hands, avoid large indoor gatherings. I know these are not easy to ask. But im asking you to make a sacrifice. Youre already making tremendous sacrifices every single day. Its hard on your lives and your livelihoods and your kids and your families. Its not small, what were asking of you. But were in this together and actions we take now are going to help us contain the pandemic and get us back to our lives and to our loved ones. So the American People<\/a>, to all of you, i know theres a lot that we have to do but i want you to know, theres also much we can do. Were the United States<\/a> of america. Weve been through hard times before as a nation. And well come through this, as well. I promise you we will. So, please, i wish you a happy new year. May god bless you and may god protect our troops. Wear a mask. Welcome to the lead, im jake tapper. You have been watching president elect joe biden speaking in wilmington, delaware, about the coronavirus pandemic. He called out the Trump Administration<\/a> for falling behind on the distribution and administering of the vaccine. President elect biden saying he wants to raise the number to 1 million shots given per day. Its an effort biden called the greatest operational challenge that the nation has ever faced. He promised to use the defense production act even more so to ramp up production of the vaccines. He said the fact that the u. S. Is still ten months into this, that there isnt enough testing is a travesty. Lets go straight to cnns joe johns, live for us in wilmington. And joe, how does the president elect plan to get all of this done . Well, thats the question. And a lot of people have been asking, because he has floated that idea of 100 million vaccinations in 100 days before. If you talk to the experts, they make it pretty clear that it is at least realistic, i think dr. Fauci has, in fact, said at one time or another that its doa e doable, but its certainly ambitious. So, the question is, how do you do that . Its really in three parts. You have to deal with the g geography of the United States<\/a>, which is enormous. You have to deal with the supply and you have to deal with the demand. The supply, of course, is the big question. If youre going to vaccinate that many people, you have to have enough vaccines. So, the way hes going to solve that, he says, is the defense production act. He also addressed the question of demand, tha","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia801701.us.archive.org\/4\/items\/CNNW_20201229_200000_The_Lead_With_Jake_Tapper\/CNNW_20201229_200000_The_Lead_With_Jake_Tapper.thumbs\/CNNW_20201229_200000_The_Lead_With_Jake_Tapper_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240619T12:35:10+00:00"}