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EARLY START

Biden To Lay Out American Families Plan In Speech To Congress; CDC Eases Outdoor Mask Guidance For Vaccinated Americans; India's Hospitals Overwhelmed As Daily Virus Deaths Hit New High. Aired 5:30- 6a ET

Aired April 28, 2021 - 05:30   ET

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


[05:30:00]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, this is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. Just about 30 minutes past the hour this Wednesday morning.

And this morning, President Biden is preparing to sell his human infrastructure plan to Congress and the American public. The president will use his speech to a joint session of Congress tonight to make the case it is time to tip the scales to workers and their families.

This morning, we have brand-new details of the president's $1.8 trillion American Families Plan. It calls for low and middle-income families to pay no more than seven percent of their income on childcare for children under five. It provides paid family and medical leave.

It would make two years of community college free, and provides $200 billion for universal pre-K. The White House estimates five million children would benefit. The average family would save $13,000 for pre- K for three and 4-year-olds.

The plan would also extend or make permanent several key parts of the Democrats' COVID rescue plan, including the expanded child tax credit, Affordable Care Act subsidies, and the enhanced tax credit for workers without children.

The president wants to finance this by raising taxes on rich people. In an internal memo, a top Biden aide -- a top Biden aide signals the White House is ready to fight for that.

The Republican rebuttal will be given by South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott. He is the only African-American in the Senate and is also busy trying to find a compromise on a policing bill.

Mr. Biden, after his speech, will hit the road to sell his plan directly to the American people.

Fully vaccinated, you can take off the mask outside. The CDC easing guidance. No need to wear a mask outdoors when you're in small groups, when biking or running alone, and when dining outside. But masks are still recommended indoors, in crowded outdoor venues, and in large outdoor gatherings -- think concerts.

Now, some experts say the new guidance is too cautious and it doesn't offer strong enough incentives for Americans still on the fence about getting the shot.

The president says this is progress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The bottom line is clear. If you're vaccinated, you can do more things, more safely, both outdoors as well as indoors. For -- so for those who haven't gotten their vaccination yet, especially if you're younger or think you don't need it, this is another great reason to go get vaccinated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: So what will be the practical effect of this change? Only about half of U.S. states still have a mask mandate in place, so millions of people have been mask-less for a while now.

The U.S. Surgeon General says there's hope for someday ditching masks indoors, too. But for now, almost half of adults are still unvaccinated and there are still too many daily infections.

An experimental pill to treat COVID at the first sign of illness could be available from Pfizer by the end of the year. The company's CEO says it started an early-stage clinical trial last month. Health experts say an oral drug would be huge because new infections could be treated without a trip to the hospital.

Pfizer is also testing its vaccine in kids between six months and 11 years old. A decision is expected soon on whether 12 to 15-year-olds can take the vaccine.

The White House making it easier for college students to get their second vaccine dose in their home state. A new federal pharmacy program rolled out by the Biden administration removes residency requirements, meaning students who are about to leave campus for summer break can get dose number two at their home pharmacy.

According to the White House, most pharmacies will now offer anyone a second shot regardless of where they got the first one.

To India now, where it's reporting a new record single-day coronavirus death toll. Deaths there are a lagging indicator after a huge spike in cases so it's likely this will keep happening. The Indian healthcare system overwhelmed. It's every man, woman, and child for him or herself.

CNN's Anna Coren live in Hong Kong with more. It's just hard to overstate just the absolute devastation right now that's happening in India.

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's a calamity really, what is unfolding in India and it has not been unfolding for weeks.

You mentioned that sense of abandonment that people are feeling -- what the government should be doing -- the healthcare they should be providing for their people. It is now up to the individual.

We know that there is an acute shortage of oxygen. Hospitals, themselves, sending SOS tweets saying we are -- we are running so low we're about to run out. People being turned away from hospitals unless they have their own oxygen cylinders and can provide their own supply. This is happening day after day.

And tragically, Christine, people are dying on the streets. People are dying in the parking lots waiting to get some medical help.

Take a listen to some of the people on the ground.

[05:35:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And my father in is very critical condition. I'm getting no help. (INAUDIBLE) but nobody's responding. Numbers are not reachable.

Please help me, please. My father is dying. I can't afford (INAUDIBLE). Yesterday, I lost my younger brother.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The doctors warned us that if we take my father to the hospital without oxygen support, there is no guarantee he will be OK. But we just couldn't find an ambulance. In desperation, we had to take an auto rickshaw.

He was gasping for air and just removed his face mask. He was crying, saying save me -- please save me -- but I could do nothing. I just watched him die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: Now, the W. Health Organize -- sorry -- I beg your pardon. The World Health Organization (WHO) has described this as a perfect storm -- the situation that led to the catastrophe unfolding and easing of social restrictions, allowing mass gatherings, a very low vaccination rollout.

You have to remember that only 1.9 percent of the population has been fully inoculated -- a population of more than 1.3 billion people. Throw into the mix this Indian variant and double mutation. So it really is a recipe for disaster. And the health officials say they have been crying out now for months.

We also know, Christine, that this is spreading. It's spreading to Nepal. There are fears it's also spreading to Pakistan. So this is not just affecting India. This is going to potentially affect the region and the world.

ROMANS: It's just awful. All right, Anna Coren, thank you for that. Keep us posted.

A post-9/11 measure meant to make Americans safe delayed again. You won't need a Real I.D. driver's license or I.D. card to board a plane until May 2023, a delay of 19 months. At that point, adult airline passengers will have to use Real I.D.-compliant information to board a domestic flight.

Homeland Security attributed the delay to limited capacity at state DMVs because of the pandemic.

You can tell if yours makes the grade by checking for a star at the top. So far, only 43 percent of U.S. I.D.s are compliant.

President Biden has tapped Texas Sheriff Ed Gonzalez to be director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Gonzalez has been sheriff of Harris County -- that includes Houston -- since 2017.

He was a vocal critic of the Trump administration's immigration policy. At one point, he withdrew his department from a controversial ICE program that allowed local officers to carry out immigration enforcement.

So, small businesses suffer because big companies pay taxes at a lower rate. How does that happen? How do you fix it? Senator Elizabeth Warren spoke to CNN's Matt Egan and he joins me next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:42:04]

ROMANS: Welcome back this Wednesday morning.

Senator Elizabeth Warren is calling America's tax system rigged and she's using Amazon, Netflix, and other big companies to make her case, pointing out they pay little to nothing in federal income taxes. She says that's not just a coincidence.

It's time for three questions in three minutes and for that, I want to bring in my friend and colleague, CNN lead business writer Matt Egan. Good morning, Matt.

Senator Elizabeth Warren is saying the big guys wrote the rules and the small companies suffer on the tax front. Why is she taking aim at Amazon and Netflix?

MATT EGAN, CNN LEAD BUSINESS WRITER (via Cisco Webex): Yes -- well, good morning, Christine.

This is all about raising revenue to fund the Biden agenda, including this $1.8 trillion American Families Plan that the White House has just unveiled this hour.

And Warren is just calling out Amazon and Netflix and other big profitable companies that pay little or nothing in federal income taxes. And so, I asked Sen. Warren -- I said, aren't these companies just playing by the rules of the road? And she said yes, but that's because corporate American, through its lobbyists, have helped create those rules of the road.

Now, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, FedEx, Nike, and more than 50 other large and profitable companies paid nothing in federal income tax last year. Now, for their part, both Amazon and Netflix -- they paid well below the 21 percent --

ROMANS: Yes.

EGAN: -- rate that was set by the Trump tax cuts.

Amazon told me that U.S. tax laws are designed to create the kind of investments that the company has made that have also created almost a million jobs over the last decade.

Now, Elizabeth Warren -- she's pushing a seven percent tax on what is known as bulk profits. Those are the profits that are reported to Wall Street and they tend to be a bit larger than what gets reported to the IRS. She says this is going to raise more than $1 trillion.

Now, Republicans, of course, are arguing that raising taxes -- that's going to destroy investment, it's going to hurt jobs --

ROMANS: Yes.

EGAN: -- and it's also going to make the tax system and the market less efficient.

Still, Elizabeth Warren -- she's saying that the current system just isn't fair. She told me that small business owners are paying their fair share but the giants are not and that creates a disadvantage for every small business in America.

ROMANS: Yes, there was supposed to be tax reform that put the rate at 21 percent for everybody. But clearly, not everybody's paying the 21 percent rate. That was really tax cuts in 2017, not tax reform.

Meantime, sources are telling CNN that President Biden is looking -- is seeking $80 billion to boost IRS enforcement of high earners. I think a lot of people don't understand but there's a big pot of money sitting out there that the IRS just can't get its hands on because it's underfunded. It's a -- it's a way to raise revenue to pay for Biden's programs.

How much money are we talking about here? How long does it take to get your hands on it? And is it safe to say that Elizabeth Warren is a fan of this move by Biden to enforce -- add enforcement to the IRS and let them go out and get the money that rich people owe the IRS but aren't paying?

[05:45:06]

EGAN: Yes, Christine, you're right. It's a huge pot of money. The IRS estimates that tax evasion costs America $1 trillion a year.

Now, the White House says that it's $80 billion in enforcement -- that's going to actually generate $700 billion over a decade. They say that money can be used -- yes -- to pay for some of Biden's ambitious plans.

Now, Elizabeth Warren -- she told me that she is very happy with the direction that the president is going in terms of the IRS enforcement, but she said she hopes that he goes a little further. Warren -- she's calling for $100 billion of IRS enforcement. She says that's going to raise over $1 trillion over a decade.

Now, what's interesting is that some of the deficit watchdog groups -- they actually put out a statement yesterday and they were praising these calls for IRS crackdown. They said that unlike tax cuts and unlike infrastructure, that closing the tax gap will truly pay for itself.

Christine, I do think that this is a bipartisan issue here.

ROMANS: Yes. It couldn't happen overnight because you've got to hire the people and it takes a couple of years to train up a good -- a good IRS investigator. But, you know, it could -- it could definitely bear some fruit.

You know, Elizabeth Warren, of course, a proud liberal. This week, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a congresswoman, said she thought that Biden had done a better job for progressives than she expected. Do you think that Warren feels the same? I feel like there was some skepticism on the left wing of the party that Biden was going to be right in the middle and too solid in the middle.

EGAN: Yes, Christine, I think it's a good question. I think it's tough to say. I mean, listen, America faces some huge problems -- everything from inequality to women dropping out of the workforce, to the climate crisis. And progressives -- they want truly bold solutions.

Look at the -- at the climate crisis. Biden set a goal to cut emissions in half by 2030. But some climate activists -- they argue that he actually didn't go far enough. Bernie Sanders wants to tax Wall Street transactions and pay for free college for most Americans. That's not part of the Biden plan --

ROMANS: Yes.

EGAN: -- right now.

Elizabeth Warren -- she's pushing her wealth tax. I asked her if she's disappointed that the wealth tax is not part of the Biden plan and she told me, you know what, she's not going to keep fighting.

So we do have to keep in mind that the reality is Democrats only have slim margins in the Senate and the House so much of the progressive wish list just isn't possible. But that is not going to stop Elizabeth Warren from trying, Christine.

ROMANS: Yes, companies concerned. Wall Street complaining about higher taxes on investors, higher taxes on companies, but the market's sitting at record highs. So kind of square that, you know?

Matt Egan, CNN business lead writer. Nice to see you this Wednesday morning. Thank you, Matt.

EGAN: Thank you, Christine.

ROMANS: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:52:32]

ROMANS: Welcome back.

A juror in the Derek Chauvin trial speaking out now to CNN. Brandon Mitchell was juror number 52. He says, quote, "It was just dark. It felt like every day was a funeral and watching someone die every day."

Mitchell says early in the trial, Chauvin had a confident look, but that didn't last. Quote, "As the case went on, his demeanor kind of changed to more of a confused look, as this isn't how it's supposed to go. I didn't see any remorse."

Mitchell says during deliberations only one juror raised doubt about Chauvin's guilt.

A dramatic rescue caught on police bodycam video in southwest Atlanta. After a minor accident in the parking lot of a gas station, a car caught fire and its driver began having a seizure. A team of officers working together to break into the burning car pulled the man to safety. The driver and several of the officers were taken to a hospital where they were treated for minor injuries.

Let's look at markets around the world this Wednesday morning. You can see gains, really, to start the day. You can see Asian shares closed higher. Europe has opened higher here. And on Wall Street, stock index futures are narrowly mixed.

Stocks finished mostly flat Tuesday, barely moving, basically. The Dow managed a tiny gain. The S&P 500 fell short of that record high. The Nasdaq closed down a little bit, too, but still very close to records here.

There's just a ton for investors today.

The Fed wraps up a two-day policy meeting this afternoon. You know, the central bank is not expected to raise rates but experts believe it will defend its policies to let inflation -- maybe the economy run a little hot and not worry about inflation.

Investors will also get earnings reports from Boeing, Apple, Facebook, Ford.

The big headliner will be the president's joint address to Congress tonight and his vision for remaking the American economy to favor the worker again.

The pandemic moved Americans' lives online and that was a boon for tech earnings. Revenue jumped 34 percent to Google's parent company Alphabet. Profit, nearly $18 billion. Millions of people turned to Google to stay informed during the pandemic.

Microsoft also reported its strongest quarterly growth since 2018. Revenue rose to nearly $42 billion, a 44 percent jump in profit. Microsoft computer and gaming sales soared as people spent most of their time in front of multiple screens during the lockdown.

Confidence in the economy now near pre-pandemic levels. A 14-month high in consumer confidence. A new survey from the Conference Board shows consumer confidence rose for the fourth month in a row.

[05:55:03]

Vaccines and historic stimulus have helped businesses reopen and the jobs market has begun to recover, helping Americans feel more confident about planning trips in the future and increased spending.

A shortage of tank truck drivers could mean a shortage of gas at gas stations this summer. An industry trade group says 20 to 25 percent of tank trucks are parked right now. They don't have drivers. Drivers left the industry when demand for gasoline dropped because of pandemic shutdowns.

Analysts say vacation hotspots are at most risk of shortages. That could mean higher prices. Already, the national average price of gas -- a gallon of gas is nearly $2.90 a gallon.

A battle of the billionaires in the space race. Jeff Bezos' rocket company, Blue Origin, is protesting NASA's latest contract with Elon Musk's SpaceX. The contract is to build the vehicle that will land the next astronauts on the moon.

Now, Blue Origin's CEO said the decision downplayed technical challenges in SpaceX's proposal. Musk's response, "Can't get it up to orbit. LOL." It's going to be a long week for "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE."

All right. The Golden State Warriors get blown out after the longest scoring drop the NBA has seen in more than a decade. Andy Scholes has more in this morning's Bleacher Report. Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (via Cisco Webex): Yes, good morning, Christine.

You know, sometimes it's just not your night and it was not the Golden State Warriors' night as they took on Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks. Steph Curry making this three right here. He gives the Warriors 12 points in the first quarter. After that, they would not score for nine minutes and 38 seconds.

During that time, the Mavs scored 28 unanswered points. That matches the second-biggest scoring run the NBA has seen in the past 20 years. Dallas just cruises to victory after that, 133 to 103.

And Steve Kerr says the loss, it was on him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STEVE KERR, COACH, GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS: I'm the head coach so, you know, I did not have them ready to play, clearly. You know, biggest game of the year and we -- it was over before it started.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right. The NFL is getting set to host 50,000 fans tomorrow night for the draft in Cleveland. The main stage is outside and masks will be required. Now, fans closest to the stage will be invited by the NFL -- will be verified as vaccinated.

And fans will be back to the Kentucky Derby this weekend as well. Between 40,000 to 50,000 are expected at Churchill Downs on Saturday. The favorite, Essential Quality, will start the 14th position right beside the horse with the next best odds, Rock Your World.

All right. Undefeated five-time boxing champion Floyd Mayweather, meanwhile, will be getting back into the ring to face YouTube star turned fire (ph), Logan Paul. The pair is going spar off June sixth at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. Mayweather hasn't boxed since a 2018 exhibition. Paul lost his only professional fight thus far.

All right, the NHL is skating into a new T.V. home starting next season. The league and Turner Sports announcing a new seven-year agreement yesterday. The deal includes regular season, playoff, and Stanley Cup Final games televised on TNT and TBS, as well as the NHL Winter Classic, the annual New Year's Day outdoor game. Turner Sports is owned by CNN's parent company, WarnerMedia.

All right. Finally, eight years after turning pro, golfer Michael Visacki's dream of getting a spot in a PGA tour event finally came true. Visacki made a 20-foot birdie putt on the final hole to qualify for his first-ever tournament. And check out his emotions when he called his father to tell him the news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL VISACKI, QUALIFIED FOR PGA TOUR: Hey, dad.

VISACKI'S FATHER: Hey.

VISACKI: How are you?

VISACKI'S FATHER: I'm great.

VISACKI: I made it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes. Before this, the 27-year-old only played in one web.com tour event but Visacki says he never thought about quitting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VISACKI: A lot of people give up on their dreams probably because they can't afford it. But I've been lucky enough to be with my parents and they've been able to help me out sometimes to keep dreaming it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes, Christine. Good luck to Michael this weekend. We're certainly rooting for him.

ROMANS: God, just keep trying. I want to show that story to my kids. Just always keep trying. Don't give up. That's what that all means.

Andy, nice to see you. Thank you.

SCHOLES: All right.

ROMANS: All right, thanks for joining us, everybody. I'm Christine Romans. "NEW DAY," live from Washington, starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Brianna Keilar alongside John Berman, live from the nation's capital on this new day as President Biden is set to deliver one of the most important speeches of his presidency so far. A brand-new snapshot of how Americans feel about his performance.

Plus, just in, newly-revealed e-mails.