| "I do think there's an agreement to be reached. It's so important for our country." - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tells Margaret Brennan on the possibility of convincing Senator Joe Manchin to support Build Back Better
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. Did someone forward you this? Sign-up at cbsnews.com/email. 1. Speaker Pelosi: A deal on BBB can still be reached 
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tells "Face the Nation" that she believes a deal can still be reached with Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia on President Biden's $1.75 trillion social spending plan after negotiations were put on ice last month.
What we asked: "Senator Manchin has made clear it's not possible at this point [to pass Build Back Better]. It sounds like you are trying to revive those talks... Where is that? Have you spoken to the senator?" What Pelosi said: "Well, I have spoken to the senator over time. I do think there's an agreement to be reached. It's so important for our country, whether we're talking about, right now the need for childcare for moms and dads whose children may or may not be in school." Why it matters: Manchin pulled his support for President Biden's $1.75 trillion tax-and-spending plan in December due to concerns over inflation, the COVID-19 pandemic and the national debt, delivering a near-fatal blow to the package, which is a key pillar of the president's domestic policy agenda. 2. NYC Mayor: "We must learn to live with COVID" 
Eric Adams, the newly inaugurated mayor of New York City, insisted on Sunday that his administration is "doing the right thing" by keeping schools open amid the ongoing COVID-19 surge and an uptick in children being hospitalized with the virus.
What we asked: "You do have these staffing shortages, as many schools are seeing around the country. The federal government says they're giving out plenty of money for you to hire people to come in. But how do you get someone to take a job as a teacher right now in the middle of a pandemic at a low wage?" What Adams said: "Well, we need them in, and our teachers are paid accordingly to a great union contract, and they get the support that they deserve. And we need to attract people to do what I like to say: teaching is a calling. We're not just trying to make sure we fill a job applicant. No, we want the best in front of our children. And what we have done successfully here in this city is pivot and shift based on the needs and how COVID is changing. We must learn to live with COVID, and we have to do it in a safe way." Why it matters: Besides requiring school staff to be vaccinated and both students and staff to wear masks, the city has given out N95 masks and COVID-19 tests to schools. But those measures have not stopped staff shortages, partly caused by the Omicron variant. Student attendance is also down in New York, with about 30%, or roughly 300,000 out of 1 million students, missing class over the past week. 3. Gottlieb: "Serial testing" is best for schools right now  Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb joined Margaret Brennan to discuss the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic, and offered his advice to parents as cases among children are on the rise. What we asked: "What should parents do over the next two to three weeks because the unprotected are those ages four and under? We know it's just not realistic for parents to not drop their kids off at daycare tomorrow or not send their kids to preschool." What Gottlieb said: "So, we're seeing a lot of hospitalizations in those younger age groups where the children are largely unvaccinated- 5 to 11 as well, where vaccination rates are very low; only 16% of 5- to 11-year-olds have been fully vaccinated. I think the old rules apply. Try to encourage social pods in those settings. Hand hygiene. I think masks can be helpful where they can be worn. It's hard with the very young kids; trying to keep kids distanced. The best thing that schools could be doing right now is serial testing. Again, hard to do with the very young kids, although you can do pooled samples like saliva tests and also keeping them in social pods." Why it matters: The rate of hospitalization for kids under 5, who are not yet eligible for a vaccine, is at a record level of more than 4 in 100,000 children -- up from 2.5 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 4. Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger: "You cannot overturn the will of the people and so that won't matter"  Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger discussed the future of elections in his state and weighed in on his upcoming primary battle. What we asked: "But to that point is the level of what's at stake here, the possibility that an election outcome in your state could be manipulated." What Raffensperger said: "The laws that we have in place, there have been concerns raised, but no. The results will be the results, and those will be the results that will be certified. You cannot overturn the will of the people and so that won't matter. But at the end of the day, I will be reelected, and he will not be." Why it matters: Raffensperger became known nationally after defending the integrity of his state's 2020 election results against attacks from then-President Trump. Since then, his state's legislature has stripped his position of oversight over elections. In addition, Raffensperger is set to face a primary challenger who objected to certifying the last presidential election when he was a congressman. 5. Becker: "That's not the sign of a healthy democracy" 
David Becker, executive director and founder of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, on the state of elections across the country.
What we asked: "Twenty-five states enacted 62 laws that expanded voting since 2020. Nearly all of them have Democratic controlled legislatures. Nineteen states enacted 34 voting restrictive laws. All of those have GOP controlled legislatures. When you look at that breakdown, what does this say to you, and when it comes specifically to Georgia, is it really the case that what they have done is Jim Crow on steroids, as President Biden refers to it?" What Becker said: "Well, I think what you're seeing, obviously, that's not the sign of a healthy democracy and our democracy is in crisis right now. I'm as concerned as I've ever been. And certainly, in those states where Republicans control majorities in the legislatures, those majorities are being fueled by the lies from the losing presidential candidate of their party. We are now over 400 days after what was, by any measure, the most secure, transparent, scrutinized and verified election in American history. More audits of those ballots than ever before. More court scrutiny and verification of the outcomes than ever before, including judges appointed by the losing presidential candidate himself. And so, in states like Texas, Florida, Arizona and yes, even Georgia, we see election policy being considered in a way that's not entirely constructive. It is partisan." Why it matters: Becker says what we're "really worried about" are the false claims made by former President Donald Trump, and the new laws from Republicans are based on the "same false premises" about how well the election was run. | 
No comments:
Post a Comment