Sunday, October 3, 2021

The standoff between Democrats on the Hill continues

Tensions flare among Americans still crippled by the COVID pandemic.

"The folks that get compromised are lower income, working class families. It's health care, it's relief, it's communities of color."

- Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on who gets "left behind" in legislative disputes.


Welcome to the "Face the Nation" Five at Five newsletter. Scroll down for your five takeaways from today's broadcast of "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on CBS.

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1. Ocasio-Cortez says moderate senators "not really coming to the table" over budget bill

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Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, said Sunday that moderate Democratic senators are "not really coming to the table" to negotiate the details of a sweeping $3.5 trillion social spending package that is a cornerstone of President Biden's economic agenda but has been at the center of infighting among Democrats.

What Ocasio-Cortez said: "What we're seeing here is the dynamic where progressives are trying to skin this cat nine different ways but moderates are not really coming to the table. This is the issue, is that we're saying, 'OK, we're going down from $6 trillion to $3 trillion, now it's $1 trillion, and we have some of these conservatives that say, 'Well, our line is zero, and you're lucky if you get $1.'"

Why it matters: Democratic leaders laid out a two-track strategy for passing a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and the broader package, which includes plans for free community college, universal pre-K, expanding Medicare and combating climate change.

But last week, progressives in the House successfully held up a vote on the more narrow infrastructure bill as they pushed for the Senate to pass the larger package first. The threat from progressives to oppose the infrastructure bill came after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi effectively de-linked the two measures after she promised moderate Democrats that the House would consider that legislation by September 27.

Ocasio-Cortez, though, said while both bills need to pass, they will not clear Congress if they're de-coupled.

2. Fauci says it's "too soon to tell" whether Americans should avoid gathering for Christmas

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Biden, said Sunday that it's too early to say whether Americans should avoid larger family gatherings for Christmas, while the nation experiences an uptick in new COVID-19 infections among children alongside lagging vaccination rates. In an interview with "Face the Nation," Fauci said it's "just too soon to tell" whether holiday gatherings should be limited for the second year in a row due to the ongoing pandemic, but said Americans need to focus on lowering the number of new infections and hospitalizations.

What Fauci said: "We've just got to concentrate on continuing to get those numbers down and not try to jump ahead by weeks or months and say what we're going to do at a particular time. Let's focus like a laser on continuing to get those cases down. And we can do it by people getting vaccinated and also in the situation where boosters are appropriate to get people boosted."

Why it matters: The country hit another grim milestone in the coronavirus pandemic, surpassing 700,000 deaths from COVID-19 on Friday. But the surge of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths driven by the highly contagious Delta variant appears to be slowing. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned the turnaround should not make Americans complacent or lead to a plateau in vaccination rates among those who are eligible.

3. West Virginia governor says there's "no chance" of COVID-19 vaccine mandate for students

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West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, who has publically encouraged parents to vaccinate their children, said Sunday there's "no chance" he will mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for students because he believes "mandates only divide us."

What Justice said: "I truly believe that the mandates only divide us and only divide us more. From the standpoint of mandates, I don't believe in imposing upon our freedoms over and over and over. I don't know how many times I've got to say it. But from the standpoint of our children, I'm going to still encourage in every way, because I truly believe that the more people that we get vaccinated, the less people will die."

Why it matters: Less than 50% of West Virginia's eligible population is fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state-wide mask mandate was lifted in June, but 51 out of 55 counties have some kind of mask mandate for schools.

During a press conference last week, Justice reported 72 coronavirus outbreaks in schools across 26 counties, with 831 confirmed cases. On September 27, Justice said about 1,000 children had tested positive for COVID-19 and he urged parents to get their kids vaccinated to prevent spread and long-term effects for children.

4. Gottlieb says COVID-19 vaccine fight could hurt broader vaccination efforts

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Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said Sunday that the politicization of COVID-19 vaccines could hurt broader vaccination efforts, warning that vaccine rates could decline in the future.

What Gottlieb said: "I do worry about the consequences of the moment we're in. The fact that now vaccination is something that's dividing us culturally and politically, because I think that's going to have broader implications than just around COVID. I worry that going forward, we're going to see vaccination rates decline as this becomes more of a political football."

Why it matters: Gottlieb noted that schools have had vaccine requirements for students for decades, and said it was "inevitable" that COVID-19 vaccines would eventually be added to the list of required immunizations.

5. Tensions flare as divided America still crippled by COVID

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Medical mandates, surging crime rates and racial reckonings are as controversial as ever in an increasingly divided country.

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