tv CNN Newsroom CNN January 21, 2021 10:00am-11:00am PST
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supporters, who are response fo -- responsible for the insurrection two weeks ago, and it's something the white house might have to address. >> i hope those followers slowly figure out they've been on the wrong path, but we shall slowly see. donie o'sullivan, thank you for your reporting. brianna keilar picks up right now. have a great day. hello, i'm brianna keilar and i want to welcome our viewers here in the united states and around the world. on his first full day as president, joe biden will speak about the first important item on his agenda, the coronavirus response plan. he's doing it as he gets hit with a major setback when it comes to vaccinations. sources tell cnn president biden is inheriting a non existent
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covid vaccination plan. a member of the covid advisory board says the team only knew the details that were known to the public, and that included operation warp speed briefings and details on distribution. >> what we knew in the transition advisory board was that we were not getting any information that was not public information already. and so what was a complete mystery, was there going to be a binder describing the national strategy and what the strategy was of distribution and where things were. the team on arrival, the president and his team found that there was not those pieces there. and no coordinated national effort. it's been all breakthrough and no follow-through. >> as of today, there are more than 19 million doses still to be administered according to the cdc. the absence of a vaccine plan is comeing on a day where we're
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seeing several new developments on the pandemic. the president released his strategy for the covid response. it's the second biggest day of the pandemic, more than 35 million lives lost, and it was this day last year the first case of the coronavirus. tell us about this vaccination plan. can he still make good on his promise? >> reporter: the biden team feels confident that 100 million shots in 100 days is still an achievable goal, but they really do feel like they're walking into a mess. i want to read you what one source told my colleague mj lee. there is nothing for us to rework, we will have to build everything from scratch. the biden team feels like this distribution process should really be a federalized process, that the federal government
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should be involved to make sure there is enough vaccine supply, making it available to states, and setting up the ppe supply. the trump administration focused so much on getting the vaccine developed, but they didn't pay enough attention to this last mile, making sure they get shots into arms. brianna, we have to look at this through the lens of politics. the biden team knows they have an astronomical challenge ahead of them, so they're trying to manage and say, what a catastrophe we're walking into, what a total mess this is. that's so they can get their arms around the situation but also so they can buy a little time for what steps they feel can make a difference in. >> those things are probably true. sara murray, thank you. president biden will be signing a bunch of executive orders, and this is part of his plan on getting the virus under control.
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phil mattingly is with us. phil, what can we expect from him today? >> reporter: press secretary jen psaki says the president goes to sleep thinking about the pandemic, wakes up thinking about the pandemic, and that's his focus today, too. what you're going to see the president put into place here in about an hour is a raft of executive actions to fill in gaps they feel were left by their predecessors. it will start with a surge on supplies, really invoking the defense production act, trying to boost supplies for testing, for vaccinations, ppe, things of that nature as well. also setting up a national testing board as well to look at shortfalls on the testing front of things where those gaps can be filled in. he'll make a boost on reimbursement for fema, and why that matters from state to state is that will help as they move it from 75% to 100% in terms of financing for the national
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guard. for school openings as well, they plan on using that reimbursement. you'll see a series of actions by this administration making it very clear this is this primary number one issue. there are a number of issues they will be trying to face in the days ahead, whether it's on economic issues, racial inequity issues as well. today is about the pandemic, today is about the biden team operation trying to address some issues they believe were not addressed prior to coming into office and major issues they believe need to be addressed in the coming weeks and months to hit some of those targets they laid out, and perhaps, as you talked about managing expectations, exceed them over the course of the next several months, brianna. >> phil mattingly, thank you so much reporting live from us from the white house. let's get a perspective right now on just how hard it is to get vaccinated. it's been about a month since the first covid vaccine was granted emergency use authorization. john knapp said they finally got
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their first shots out of a whole lot of effort. ann is 73, john is 88. they live in delray beach, florida. thanks to both of you for lending your stories so we can talk about what's happening as people are supposed to be vaccinated. ann, i know you called initially a vaccine number where you should have gotten some help, what, more than 30 times? >> yes, i tried when it was first on our tv station, a vaccine number here in palm beach county. i called 33 times, it never went through. on the 34th time, it went through but i had to remain on hold for an hour. after an hour, they told me your call cannot be processed. so then they gave me an e-mail. i tried the e-mail, and it had crashed. so i hended up having to go to broward county, which is the county just south of palm beach county. i registered there. i never heard from them.
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i never heard -- when i finally did get through to palm beach county, never heard anything from them, either. >> this sounds frustrating for you guys. >> very much so. very much so. then the lines where people were doing drive-thru, the lines were so long that it was impossible to think about getting an appointment someplace. >> john, can you tell us, going through this process of jumping through hoops. i know eventually a neighbor kind of came to help, understood where it would be a better place to get a vaccination, and ultimately you were able to do that. but you're kind of, you know, feeling your way through this. it's so much trial and error. what surprised you, john, about the process and how difficult it was? >> well, you know, we are all in this thing together. not only in the state of florida but in the united states.
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and the leadership here in palm beach county basically really needs to improve some areas of life. we had to go almost an hour away to get to a vaccine jackson memorial hospital. it was only because one of our neighbors put us on a website where we could both get on the same time the same day. we went down -- >> it was a week ago today. >> i was set to have another vaccine on the 4th of february, and we're both scheduled for that. you're talking about dade county, which is twice the size of this county up here, and broward county is almost twice the size of us. so we have a lot of work to do down here. i'm sorry. >> i'm sorry, i didn't mean to interrupt you, but ann, your husband says there is a lot of work to be done.
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who needs to be doing this work? who is responsible for what has been, at least in your area, not a great rollout here? >> well, from my perspective and what i've seen on the news and what i've researched is that our health department for palm beach county, the head of it, dr. alonzo, is not a county employee. she's a state employee. that's number one. number two is that as far as i'm concerned is the federal government knows everybody over the age of 65. they ever all of their infor -- our information. they probably even have our phone numbers. they should be contacting us saying if you live in a certain zip code, if your last name starts with this, go to this place and get the vaccine. it could be so easily handled if it would have been done
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federally instead of by the state, by local and then county governments. there's too many variables that are going into it. they started vaccines at our grocery stores here. they were out within a couple hours. and now they have to wait until january 23rd until the next time they can do any. >> it sounds like that's what people are experiencing across the country. thanks, ann and john. i'm glad you were finally able to get vaccinated, and i know what you're saying, hopefully it goes right into the ears of the people responsible for this. thank you both. >> i hope we don't have to go to cuba. >> all right, you guys, thank you. there are tensions that are building in the senate as republicans and democrats are fighting over sharing power and an impeachment trial is looming. plus the house minority leader tries to rewrite history on his role in the capitol
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siege. and just in, we are learning the fate of fbi director christopher wray in the biden administration. we'll talk about that. this is cnn's special live coverage. it's neutrogena®. rapid wrinkle repair® visibly smooths fine lines in 1 week. deep wrinkles in 4. so you can kiss wrinkles goodbye! neutrogena®.
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republican house minority leader kevin mccarthy has vowed to play nicely with democrats, but he's throwing about lame what-aboutisms as he talks about how he and republican colleagues didn't try to overturn the election. >> you regret the role you played denouncing the election. >> i denounce any violation, i denounced it in the summer, i
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denounced when it happened in portland and seattle as well. i'm very consistent. what i voted on wasn't to overturn an election because it wouldn't. i've always denounced what individuals did here, what they did in the summer, what they did last night. that's unamerican, that's undemocratic, and anybody involved in that should be prosecuted. >> reporter: do you believe former president trump provoked? >> i don't believe he provoked if you listen to what he said at the rally. one thing we learned about president trump in the last four years is he listened to voices that nobody was hearing from either party. those are the voices we should continue to hear. >> that was a great question from manu raju, but that was a horsepucky response. it was a conspiracy theory circus that continued to this day. he lent his conspiracy challenges in court, on tv and
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as a ringmaster where the conspiracy theorists could hear him loud and clear. he refused to say joe biden was the president-elect until the riot. he amplified the rhetoric until the riot. and it is an acknowledgment that by casting doubt on the election, by feeding the conspiracy theory monster, he was a major part of why those rioters showed up at the capitol, convinced their votes had been ignored, sure they could overturn the election. for mccarthy, it was all a political gain for two months until the monster showed up on the doorstep of his workplace. today mccarthy dodged questions about whether he is accountable. he refused to answer why he didn't speak the truth when it mattered, why he didn't say what he knew all along, that the election was free, fair and finished. and to top it off, he's still defending the man who is probably driving his golf cart across the putting green right now, and to say that trump didn't play a role in the
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insurrection is not only a lie, it contemplates what was said eight days ago. let's listen to kevin mccarthy and then we'll list en to kevin mccarthy. >> the president bears responsibility for the insurrection by mob rioters. >> i don't believe what you say if you listen to what he said about the rally. senior political analyst ryan lizza who is chief political officer. ryan, to you first. help us square what mccarthy is saying and what mccarthy is saying. >> i think you're getting hung up on what he -- mccarthy is moving with the political wins. let's say that at the start. he's clearly contradicting himself.
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who knows if he believed the first thing or the second thing. i think what's fascinating about this is the shift, bri, right? mccarthy is a pretty establishment politician, came up through the system in california. he was wasn't considered a populist right winger of the trump kind until trump came along and changed the republican party, and so this sort of cynical shift in just a matter of days to me is fascinating because he's not afraid to do it, right? these guys have been terrified by their own base, the trump base, for four years, basically, and now, whether it's mcconnell got to him or some other elements of the republican p party, the fact that he has decided he needed to be on the other side of this issue after, as you point supporting the lawsuits, supporting the objection to the results and not being able to call out the incitement, the fact that he has
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shifted makes me wonder how broad a shift this will be with his members who, after all, he needs support from. and as rachel, who covers congress and knows a lot more about this than i do, can tell you. >> rachel, can you speak to that? you're hearing kevin mccarthy who said one thing days ago. mitch mcconnell has said something different. at least he's been consistent in it. so what is the difference in the calculus between kevin mccarthy and mitch mcconnell aside from, i would say, i think, mitch mcconnell is a more astute politician, that's well established, but what is the difference in the calculus? >> so mccarthy is in a sticky situation trying to have it both ways. clearly he sees the president is still popular with his members and with his base, but he's also getting an earful from corporate donors who are wanting him to put separation between himself and the president. i think that can sort of explain
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the evolution we have seen back and forth, back and forth. a couple days ago he was saying, yes, the president did something wrong, he incited these riots, and now saying he didn't provoke these riots. a couple days ago the president was really angry with him for some things he was saying about trump including a censure in the house, and he was calling him bad names behind the scenes. so clearly mccarthy is seeing these reports. perhaps he's getting an earful from conservative members of the house that are still with the president. i agree with ryan, i think it's an early indication that even though we're moving on from trump, he's still not gone yet. he has a very strong voice and presence from these republicans on the hill who are hearing from his constituents back home, and that's why you see mccarthy doing this tap dance at a time
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when mcconnell is ready to close the book entirely on trump. >> we can move on a little bit. we'll talk more about the future here. you have a very interesting article, rachael, in "politico" where you say the democrats were not expecting to win both of these senate seats in georgia. they weren't expecting that they would have this power in the senate, so they've been caught flat-footed by the victory. how is that reflecting this key time when they need to be tackling their agenda? >> there is quite a scramble happening right now behind the scenes. obviously yelled was all smiles and joy, you didn't hear a cross word from democrats. but if you talk to people sort of privately, they will admit they really don't know what's going on right now. you can take the covid proposal as a good example of this. we know that the top priority for president biden is to address the pandemic, he's put out a proposal, he wants this big package to move, but, you know, there is a disagreement
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about how exactly to do that. we see democrats right now, they have this idea of trying to sort of jam a big bill through congress on a party line, they had sort of set up for that, and then all of a sudden biden is calling and saying he wants to try bipartisanship first, so that's what they're going to do. they're going to try bipartisanship first. >> how much, ryan, can biden realistically get done, and how much time does he have to do it? also, what kind of position is he in that maybe was different than barack obama who didn't have as much experience in congress? >> that's such a great question, because basically as president, you get your first year to do all the big stuff. that sounds kind of crazy when most presidents recently -- recent exception excluded -- have had eight years. but look at clinton, look at the bush era, look at barack obama's presidency, it's that first year where you have a partial honeymoon. most presidents do come in
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controlling congress. biden has accomplished that now with the georgia seats. and this is it. the lesson from democrats of the obama years was strike while the iron is hot, because after 2009, that big, bold first year of the obama administration, once republicans won the midterms in 2010, it was just a slog, at least legislatively, for the president and presidents tend to do a lot of domestic legislating in the first year, and as things slow down, turn their attention to foreign policy and other things. so now is biden's moment, and i think the big question is how long does he wait? how much time does he give republicans, does he extend his hand to republicans? the left of the democratic party thinks that's a mistake right out of the box. other people will say, well, what's the problem with at least trying? and then if things get bogged down, the calls for getting rid of the filibuster in the senate
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will be extremely loud, because that is the one nuclear option joe biden has to actually move his agenda forward. the big question is how serious is biden about requiring republican support for his agenda? >> yeah. i mean, i remember. so much time spent, i was covering congress at the time outside of committee meetings where there were bipartisan negotiations that, sadly in the end never yielded anything. i'm sure biden remembers that very well as well. thank you, and congrats to both of you on your new roles. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. we have some new details on who in the trump administration biden has dismissed. plus we'll go into the oval office to see what is different and what biden decide to do put a spotlight on. two studies in two days show
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is a sign of confidence in the bureau's leader who has six years left in his term. biden said during the transition that he planned to keep wray on board assuming he wasn't fired by trump first. president biden is working faster and more aggressively to dismantle his predecessor's legacy than any other modern president. with the stroke of a pen, biden signed 17 executive orders, memorandums and directives on his first day in office to make coronavirus a top priority and to undo many of trump's signature policies. cnn's political reporter nia-malika henderson is with us now to talk about this. this was quite the whirlwind of orders and memorandums. walk us through what he signed so far. >> it sure was, and coronavirus, as you said, front and center in terms of what this challenge is for this incoming president. and so you saw him yesterday. he signed two things, essentially. one is a federal mask mandate, meaning if you're on federal property, you have to wear a mask.
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that was one big thing. and the other was rejoining w.h.o. the trump administration made a big deal of pulling out of w.h.o. this administration getting back in and appointing anthony fauci as head of that delegation. others on immigration andiinequ. you remember donald trump's orders, build a wall, build a wall, build a wall. you have president biden saying stop with the wall. so that was signed. another thing president biden wa wants to do is come in and say no limitations on military diversity. on climate, another big deal, rejoining the paris climate accord. that was a promise that he made. he signed that re-entering the paris climate glagreement, and
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then rolling back the permit on the keystone pipeline. lots of conservatives not happy about that, but it, again, is showing what the values of this administration are, pro science, pro environment. so you saw those executive actions on those issues signed yesterday. >> tell us about these departures, because biden is dismissing officials from the former administration. >> listen, this is the prerogative of the president to have the people he wants in these very key posts. so you see the nsa council on leave. that was a very controversial appointment that donald trump made in the last days in office. that person is now on leave. the head of voice of america seen as wanting to turn that institution into too much of a pro-trump outlet so he is out. the consumer protection bureau director, he is also out. they want to bring in people that reflect their priorities. the chief usher, who was somebody who had been at a trump property, brought in as the chief usher, biden will get to bring in his own person.
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same with the labor general counsel. that person seen as too pro-business, and a new appointment there in this administration. the surgeon general, jerome adams, he will stay on as an adviser but biden will bring in his own person. >> nia, thank you so much for taking us through that. it is the most famous office on the planet where war has been waged, disaster managed in some of the most dramatic areas of american democracy. the decor of the oval office symbols the vision for the country. on president biden's first full day in the white house, let's take a look inside the oval office. to the left now of the resolute desk, biden replaced the portrait of andrew jackson that president trump had displayed. he replaced it with benjamin franklin, giving a boot to one of the most controversial
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presidents in favor of one of the founding fathers who made contributions to science. no coincidence that he put out a display of moon rocks as this promises to bring truth of science back to the white house. and biden chose to bring in busts of civil leaders. of course, as you can see there, which is customary, there are family photos, and this includes one prominently displayed of his late son beau. to the right of the desk, biden has brought back the famous painting "the avenue in the rain" to the oval. the patriotic scene was completed in 1917 as u.s. entry into the first world war was imminent, and this oil painting also hung in the oval during the obama and the clinton administrations. then across the room, the wall of the biden oval features paintings of george washington, abraham lincoln, thomas jefferson, alexander hm iamilto
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and fdr who led the country through several crises at once. what's also notable as you look at these pictures is the jefferson and hamilton pictures because they're next to each other on the wall, though these two men famously disagreed with e each other. there is a bust of martin luther king jr. there is also one of robert kennedy, key figures of the rights movement, as well as rosa parks who refused to give up her seat on a bus in montgomery, alabama in 1955, sparked a bus boycott that forced the city to integrate its bussing system. then eleanor roseoseroosevelt, the most controversial first ladies, as well as a senator who fiercely defended the union. but nowhere is the bust of winston churchill that trump prominently had on display. on the resolute desk itself, there are two phones and a cup and saucer set, something we didn't see during the trump
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administration which is a coke enthusiast. trump reportedly had a button next to him for a staffer to bring him a soft drink. there is a pen he can use to sign orders. that is not particularly unusual, but it is quite different than the sharpie style markers that trump used to make his oversized signature stand out on documents. even the desk chair is different. you can see biden, we saw him sitting in a dark brown leather chair tufted after trump's red dish brown thick chair that he used when he became president. they have a yellow gold oval office rug that they switched out, and they put in a blue one that presents the presidential seal and ringed by a floor rim. they were telling the "washington post" that it was important for president biden to walk into an oval that looked
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like america. we are waiting on president biden to talk about his detailed plan to fight the virus, which includes reopening schools and businesses. and the mixed messages over his vaccine distribution plan. we'll bring that to you. plus a judge's stern warning to a woman who was accused of trying to sell nancy pelosi's laptop during the insurrection. want to brain better? unlike ordinary memory supplements— neuriva has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. try our new gummies for 30 days and see the difference. ♪ ♪ this is my body of proof. proof of less joint pain and clearer skin. proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis... ...with humira.
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earlier today the speaker of the house emphasized she was focused less on the physical damage done to her office and more on those traumatized by the attack. >> when the press came to my office and asked about things that were stolen, glass that was broken, just violation of the property there, i said, that's important, i respect the speaker's office and the history that is there, but i'm more concerned with the damage that they did to our staff, to our colleagues and the congress, to the custodial staff and the capitol of the united states. >> toi want to bring in cnn justice correspondent jessica reilly who is following these arrests. it's interesting to hear the speaker talk about this and say she's more focused on the damage
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that's been done to her staff. but why has this person been released? did the judge explain? >> reporter: he did, brianna, and we're seeing this in various cases, these suspects being released. the recent one by the judge said the constitution demands her relief just as the judge said the constitution demanded that joe biden be certified as president, which of course these rioters were trying to prevent. so this federal magistrate judge in pennsylvania, he said riley williams was a federal issue, but she is still at home. she said the constitution prevailed because congress, stepping over the wreckage of its capitol, met and confirmed with the vice president of the united states the vote of the electoral college, setting the stage for the latest peaceful
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transition of power yesterday. the judge also said it meant her release. she is accused of aiding in the laptop. the fbi said she had plans to sell it to someone who would hand it over to russia's foreign intelligence service. that part of the plan doesn't seem to have materialized, but her lawyer said in court today that those allegations were overstated, but he also said something of note, brianna, that williams took the president's bait in storming the capitol. he said she was just following trump's direction. so that's a theme we're seeing in this as well as these people go into court. brianna? >> so interesting that he said it was overstated. that's something that kind of stands out. tell us, authorities also arrest aid leader of the proud boys, which is, of course, an extremist group. what is this arrest? >> reporter: right, joseph biggs, and prosecutors say he was actually one of the first rye oioters to enter the capito after a small group he was with busted through a window with a
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police body shield. the fbi is disclosing that they interviewed him on monday and that biggs admitted to entering the capitol, but he is denying forcing his way in. he's also denying any preplanning or coordinated attack, but the criminal complaint against him is just the opposite. it says how he posted on parler days before the attack, and he told his followers what to wear to blend in on january 6th instead of what they usually wear, their signature black and yellow. the fbi also believes he wore an earpiece for communication that day and had a walkie-talkie device. so, brianna, this is part of the fbi and federal prosecutors trying to prove their case that this was planned and coordinated so then they can bring these broader conspiracy and maybe even sedition charges down the road, brianna. >> jessica, thank you so much for updating us on that. we appreciate it. my next guest will lay out what biden should do to avoid the mistakes of president obama's time in the white house.
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he's inherited domestic crises before not at commander in chief. in 2008, president obama's vp, of course and his right-hand man as obama pulled the nation oust great recession. i want to bring in staff writer for "the atlantic." y write biden should same to make his signature policies as stupidly straightforward as possible where the obama administration's approach was toop often clever and strewn with budgetary wokiness. the biden formula should embrace the opposite. big, fast and simple. what does that mean? big, fast and simple? >> yes. jumping into a time machine and go back to 2009. the economy then like it is today in a steep recession and the obama administration thought, wanted to be kind of clever. thought if they sent americans checks a lot of americans would look at the check and say, great. throw it into my savings account. if they somewhat surreptitiously tricked americans into becoming
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richer than expected, we might spend the money quickly. so they adopted a policy called making work pay. essentially adjusted a payroll tax withholding such as americans looking at their bank account would see more money than expected got the biweekly checks from their employer. thinking, nudge, quote/unquote, nudge americans into spending more than they otherwise would. this just didn't work. the reason it didn't work, it was too subtle. americans did get richer, did benefit from the tax credit but didn't know they were getting richer. 90% of americans didn't know the tax credit existed at all. the point is not hypnosis or subconsciously make americans better off. very kogsly make americans bet of you off and have them know you did it. biden is looking at a similar system lass plan in 2020, 12 years later, 11 years later, excuse me, what he should do
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essentially is try to find a way to give people money as fast as possible since they know they're getting it. $2,000 or $1,400 would do it. checks over tax credits is key. >> you know, former president obama spent his, a big part of his political capital on the $787 billion stimulus package in 2008 to head off the great recession. you say his stimulus numbers weren't big enough. i was covering it at the time and remember a lot of experts saying it wasn't big enough. how big should biden go on his stimulus package and, you know, how big can he actually get? >> look, somewhere between $1 trillion or $2 trillion is appropriate. it's not about the size of the package. it's really about what's in it. we need money for vaccines. i think great to have money for states and cities really struggling right now with the depletion of sales tax revenue.
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and money more hospitals and for the $1,000, $2,000 checks as well. add it all up, which is necessary, you get to about $1.4 trillion to $1.9 trillion. that's a lot of are money. the thinking in 2009 was, well, wait. this is way too much money. trillion dollars stimuluses and trillion dollar, multi-trillion dollar deficits we can't stomach. one thing i think the entire economy community has gotten smarter about is exactly how much debt this economy can withhold? worse for an economy like ours is not running the deficit really high, when the economy is really bad. it's having a weak recovery for many, many years. what we we had in the 2010s. a weak economy for so, so, long. wage growth wasn't high and most importantly for democrats nent v
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they blamed them. blow it out. go big, fast, simple. put $1 trillion, $2 trillion into the package and make americans feel you are helping their lives. >> yeah. we'll see what headwinds, of course, he's going to face in congress. derek thompson, thank you. a hugely consequential time in our country and we appreciate your perspective. >> thank you. moments from now president biden will speak live on his first full day in office. he's going to reveal his coronavirus executive actions after cnn reports that his team says the trump administration left a vaccine mess behind. between what is hoped for and what can be, there's a bridge. between endangered and protected, there's a bridge. between chaos and wonder, there's a bridge. there from the beginning to where we stand today.
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