the ceo responds thus. we're a sweet treat company. if folks don't want to visit our doughnut shop they don't have to. that is plain old common sense. i love that. markets still showing a lot of red. not as much as we were a few minutes ago but but nonetheless we're down this. jackie deangelis in for neil. jackie: thank you, stuart. i'm jackie deangelis in for neil cavuto this. is "coast to coast." we highlight sectors that could be hit the hardest comings up. then to washington where the white house is on its way to biggest expansion of the federal government in a generation. we're going to break down how the biden administration push for infrastructure spending

could pack a punch to your wallet. and finally, to our southern border where the white house is now calling for government volunteers to help manage the unprecedented surge of unaccompanied minors crossing the border. we will have a live report from theer coming up. first to the clearing of the suez canal. the cargo ship blocking one of the world's most vital shipping lanes is finally free after blocking traffic in the suez canal for six days, costing nearly $10 billion per day in global trade. let's go to fox news correspondent trey yingst with the latest for us. reporter: jackie, good afternoon, after six days stuck in the suez canal the ever given is free and sailing once again. this is a major relief for egyptian authorities and president fattah el-sisi, as estimates suggest that egypt was losing $14 million a day in revenue. authorities say traffic in the

waterway has resumed. it will take time to return to normal with more than 300 vessels waiting to transit the area. container lines are saying it could take months to work through the backlog of boats. it brought international shipping industry to a halt around the world with nine billion dollars of goods held up each day. dutch and egyptian salvage teams used tugboats and excavators to clear the skyscraper size ship. it caused a ripple effect in the global economy as 12% of the trade does pass through the suez canal. this vessel alone had 18,000 car go containers on board. we know the ships behind it were carrying everything from livestock, to cars to, computer parts. so there are industries around the world breathing a major sigh of relief. jackie. jackie: trey yingst live in jerusalem. thanks so much from that. meantime americans are feeling the pain at the pump as we watch

gas prices surge 20% from this time last year. it is likely going to get worse as well. edward lawrence has more on what the oil industry experts and executives are warning about gas prices under president biden. edward? reporter: jackie, if you filled up you know recently, oh, my gosh, the sticker shock is there. i filled up, had heart palpitations at signs behind me, 3.05 for the cheap stuff. that was a two just last week. the average price of gas nationally is $2.86 a gallon. that is for the 87 octane that is a 6% increase from a month ago. get this, a year ago gas was 41.6% cheaper, around two dollars a gallon. so the president of the independent petroleum association of america says gas prices could stay elevated because in part the aggressive regulations from the new administration. >> when the united states is exporting oil that provides a

good shelter for everything that is going on but if you curtail that, or make it difficult, you know it will be unstable consumer prices that are going to continue to happen. you're seeing that. lots of jobs across the country, not only at the wellhead but manufacturing and other activities. reporter: the other reason could be that opec has now decided to cut oil production in april. also we're expecting the announcement of possible gas tax hike to offset the costs of some infrastructure package that is being worked on by the administration. so right now, california has the highest average gallon of 87 octane at $3.89 a gallon. followed by hawaii, washington state, nevada, and ore oregon. before this hits levels of no return, the oil industry and energy industry want to work with the administration. >> we reached out to the

administration. we have wanted to create a dialogue. they have talked to a number of the oil and gas industry from the major side but not the independent producers. certainly not the small producers that we represent. reporter: and this is obviously a store we'll follow because when gas prices rise it affects the price of everything, that the stuff on trucks, that is delivered to your house, the cost of everything could rise with the gas prices. back to you. jackie: certainly does. we'll watch them rise as summer driving season comes, a lot to look for at the pump. edward lawrence thank you so much for that. we're talking about this from growing gas spending to growing government spending. president biden planning to split the massive 3 trillion-dollar infrastructure plan in two, the first part was focused on rebuilding roads and railways. that is going to be unveiled on wednesday. the second part will cover health care and child care. and it will be revealed sometime next month.

let's get reaction to this spending push from spotlight asset cio shana sissel, capitalist pig hedge fund manager jonathan hoenig. jonathan, go ahead to start with you, talk about what americans are experiencing right now as we're amidst of the recovery. still a lot of people are out of work. but higher gas prices, threat of higher taxes coming, we have the blockage in the suez canal. there will be pin action with that with respect to delays and higher prices for sometime to come. a lot of americans are concerned that they're going to feel very stretched, even if they are gain fully employed? >> yeah. the concern prices are going to be going up and exactly why government, jackie, needs to get out of the way, not getting into the way with new taxes and new regulation. look, it is always a bad idea when government gets in a room, says, oh, we've got to do something, especially when it comes to economic policy, but we're all kensyians now. what does that mean? it means government, especially the biden administration as

subscribed to the idea that jackie, government spending creates wealth. if it fails, opposite is true, failed with obama, it failed with the new deal. it failed with the japan in the 90s. it failed in europe with the 2000s. government should be cutting spending. cutting regulation. they're almost baking in a very long and prolonged recovery from the pandemic because of the size of this spending bill. jackie: shana, saying after passing $1.9 trillion spending on supposed covid relief. some was dedicated to that. a lot wasn't. do we need another 3 trillion. republicans said they would get behind spending on infrastructure per se to get people back to work but we don't necessarily need extra trillion of other programs added in there. your thoughts? >> that is definitely true. in order to support the spending of course taxes have to go up across the board and that has been a real discussion that is of concern. rising taxes on individuals and

small businesses is not good for investment in the economy by the people who really drive the, drive the growth and thin they are talking about raising corporate taxes from 21% to 28%. if you calculate that in to how that impacts the market, that actually significantly impacts the potential earnings growth in 2022. dropping it from about 15.2% to about 8 1/2%. that impacts the overall returns of the market. so you're starting to see increased volatility. people are definitely concerned about how taxes and spending are going to impact this economic recovery. in this particular case, how it will cause it to not be as robust as we've been expecting that the market has been pricing in. jackie: shana makes a great point, jonathan. obviously this administration plan is tax-and-spend. one of the things they want to do is increase taxes on americans. we talked about that you know, increase on households now, that

make over $400,000 a year. they also want to roll back president trump's corporate tax cuts that were very stimulative for this economy. put the two elements together you will find the corporations are pulling back and spending in consumer spending is going to pull back which drives 2/3 of our economy right now. >> not to mention pete buttigieg is basically floating the idea of a mileage tax, i don't know, driving your car to work or going to pick up your kids from day care, et cetera. you mentioned the corporate income tax, jackie. that is an especially insidious type of tax because it is not, really not, it is paid not by the corporations it is paid by the employees and paid by the customers. so you know, any economist will tell you there is no such thing as a free lunch. the more joe biden, president biden's administration wants to spend the more they're going to have to tax or borrow, straight out of the average american's

pocket. jackie: great point about jobs. if you change the corporate tax policies there will be lay offs come with that. i don't know all are offset what he is trying to do with the infrastructure plan. so you know, they need to consider these things as they make some of these changes. they're not looking to do it in a bipartisan way, looking to use reconciliation bill past the goalpost. i want to look at markets today, guys, what is specifically moving right now. major averages are down across the board with a 74-point loss, it is off the session lows, led by the bank stocks, on hedge fund default fears. you have got the energy stocks also hit after the suez canal is reopening. we talked about administration policies, green energy policies, how they are impacting the oil patch there. the s&p 500 down 19, the nasdaq is down 139. this is a market that is looking at the 10-year yield. i think 1.69 was the last that i saw. that is slowly on the rise, guys. this goes back to the spending as well, shana.

because what you do, when you spend more money, when you are printing money you essentially devalue the dollar. you create a situation where inflation rises. that is why we've seen interest rates climb. the markets are worried about that longer term. >> that is definitely true. rising inflation isn't necessarily a bad thing. it is an indication of an economic growth, but there is, complexity to it as well. you know the dollar strength against other currencies causes some complications and overall inflation of the dollar. so you can't look at it through a vacuum. they're is a lot going on. it gets back to the fact that the fed is being very accommodative and easing putting money into the system saying they're not going to raise interest rates until unemployment gets back to a level that they're comfortable with. they're okay with transitory inflation. inflation isn't, at two or 3%, you know. that is higher than it is today.

but it is still not, 1970s, 19890s inflation. jackie: right. >> bigger concern, with the new policies, new tax policies, especially corporate tax policies, affects employment which puts the fed in a very difficult position because they have said their interest rate policy will be based on employment numbers. >> yeah. >> there is the complexity going on where they're not all working together to help with the economic rebound. that does not bode well for the economy in the next 18 to 24 months. jackie: i will point out that jerome powell managed to calm these markets down with some of this dovish language. they're feeling good about things, once they see the policies come into play, look at their investments and look what is happening, reevaluate. that is what they will have to watch for. stick around. we'll leave it there for now. but we'll talk to you later in the show. jackie: meantime we're watching lawmakers making their way to the southern border amid the

surge in unaccompanied minors. casey stegall has a preview for us. casey. reporter: jackie, so much activity along the southern border here. we'll give you a live report with updated numbers, what those officials plan to do after their visits coming up next. ♪. ♪ ♪ we made usaa insurance for veterans like martin. when a hailstorm hit, he needed his insurance to get it done right, right away. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa [laugh] usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. dad i got a job! i'm moving out. [laugh] dream sequence ending no! in three, no! two, keep packing! one.

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♪. >> it is bad. i've been to the border many, many times. it is the worst i have ever seen it. it is a full-blown crisis. last month, the month of february, we had over 100,000 illegal aliens crossing over. roughly 30,000 of them were unaccompanied minors, kids, just today the biden administration has over 16,000 children in custody. jackie: that was senator ted cruz slamming conditions on the southern border. this as the rio grande valley sector in texas remains ground zero for many families and unaccompanied children crossing into the united states. casey stegall is live in eagle pass, texas, with those details. hi, casey. reporter: jackie, good to see you. the chief of the border patrol sector in fact where we are, is the del rio sector, in fact says he has seen a 300% increase in

the number of overall apprehensions. 300% increase in just last couple of days when you compare it to the same time the previous year. more than 2000 taken into custody in just a few days. so despite the latest messaging attempts, officials say the migrant flow is just not slowing as we now show you. drone pictures from over in the neighboring rio grande valley sector. another with near record breaking arrests. all while the federal government continues to struggle with where to put everyone. >> we begun the market rolling back policies like remain in mexico. title 42 remains in place that is a highly consequential policy because it is resulting of majority of people being returned back. we cannot return children back by federal law. we have to insure the safety. we have to prioritize vulnerable

population. we have to make sure there is safety and security. reporter: so a lot of activity also down here over the last couple of weeks with delegations of senators and congressman that have been coming in. later today, texas senator ted cruz will be touring the overflow facility up in dallas. that is actually at the dallas convention center. he was down along the southern border. as you know late last week and also over the weekend. he too is demanding transparency, asking hhs to let reporters and media inside of these processing centers and these detention centers, so we can see things for ourselves. jackie? jackie: everybody is waiting for that, seems to be according to this administration t will take some time to get that access but thank you so much for that report. lawmakers and journalists alike are calling for the access at the southern border. white house press secretary jen

psaki says the administration is committed to transparency. listen. >> why not allow reporters and camera crews in on a pool basis safely to take pictures and show the american people what's happening in those border patrol facilities right now? >> the press we're absolutly committed to that. the president is committed to that. i'm committed to that. secretary mayor york cast is committed to that. >> but when? >> including allowing providing footage to fox news into the shelters. we warrant to provide access into the border patrol facilities. we're mindful of the fact that we're in the middle of a pandemic. we can't to keep the kids safe, the staff safe. we're absolutely committed to transparency. jackie: former i.c.e. acting director tom homan joins me now. there is a lot to get to. start with the media access, the pool footage we saw from a plum facility, not from facilities in

the worst condition right now. second issue here, the administration president biden himself he will grant access to the media and allow them in when things are better but god knows when that will be. the third issue here is regarding covid. when it comes to covid-19, we're letting people into the country without testing them. when it comes to having press access into these facilities, they were the administration is worried about the virus. >> look, this administration has not been transparent since day one. the secretary on national tv saying there is not a crisis, the border is secure,ed border is closed. i'm here now. i was on the border. i'm in the middle -- [inaudible]. i was on the front line downplays called la jolla. i was not there for than ten minutes and 60 family units already came through. while i stood there for next ten

minutes, nine more, 10 more. by the time i left that one area, there were hundreds. i know from activity about a half mile down the dirt road, there is another group of nearly 100 family units. so, i saw 200 family units in a matter of 20 minutes. that is secure? that is the closed border? no, it is not. one thing i want to point out last night as most important to talk about. the president of the united states said the trump administration, men and women, great men and women of border patrol watched children die of starvation on the riverbanks. an incredible insult to the men and women who stay in this line to protect this country while you and i sleep this night. they're doing great work down there. and they walked up last night, one specific agent thanked me and fox network for telling the american people the truth. his words were, our secretary and our president don't know what is happening down here, what we're dealing with every day. thank god there are people out there telling people the truth.

ten minutes later, talking about vilifying border patrol, doesn't see what i saw. i saw a young family, 7, 8-year-old little girl, scared and crying. i watched a big bull burly patrol agent talk to the child. calm voice. [inaudible]. you know what? i'm sick and tired of the left vilifying these men and women. they're patriots. they put their lives on the line. they have lots of compassion for these families. they bring food to the homes. they bring toys from their own children to the center for children to play with. stop vilifying the men and women of the border patrol. [inaudible]. jackie: there were a number of things that he said in that press conference that are being refuted. casey was reporting a 300% surge at the border compared to what we saw same time last year. commander-in-chief president biden said, no, no, this is

cyclical. we see the same kind of surge every year. we saw it under the trump administration. that is not true. >> that is a lie. family groups are never seasonal. seasonal is about adults, single adults, agriculture. seasonal has not meant everything for number of years. i've done it 35 years. this is his fault. the numbers will be close up to 350% because last march under the trump administration they arrested 33,000. this march, you're looking about 150. that is conservative figure. that is 350% increase. no. this isn't difficult. i started my career on the border patrol. what i saw last night i've never seen. the border is out of control. they were doing with the groups. all the border age wents tied up. i asked the border agent who is guarding down here? nobody. jackie: i want to two things real quick before we go. first what you said. you talked about seeing a child under 10 years of age. the president said, no, no,

there are not small children coming. they are all 16, 1-year-old males. interesting your experience being there last night, that is what you saw. the second thing article i saw in "usa today," talking about u.s. citizens traveling to mexico for recollection creational purposes not being able to reenter our country because they have a positive covid test yet to bring this back full circle, at the southern border you have a migrant surge, they are not being tested and allowed to come into our country. your thoughts? >> as of today the border patrol still not conducting covid tests. as a matter of fact their goal is to process as quick as possible and release them -- [inaudible] this is open border. these men and women of the border patrol signed up to the enforce the law. they're no longer enforcing the law. they're welcoming centers and they're disgusted by it. we took an oath to defend the country and secure the goarder. they're not being allowed to do it by the biden administration. jackie: great to see you. thank you so much for your insight. telling us what you have seen

first-hand. really appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. jackie: coming up, more trouble for new york governor andrew cuomo. the new details on how he handled who got covid tests early on in the pandemic. that is after this break. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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jackie: welcome back, everybody, to "coast to coast. a new report that governor cuomo rationed covid testing kits while securing for his friends and family access to supplies which were very limited as you recall. bryan llenas in brooklyn, new york, for us with the latest. reporter: jackie, look, nursing home victims families want to know there were seemingly enough covid-19 tests for governor andrew cuomo's friends and families allegedly and not enough for the urgent requests

that were being made by nursing homes throughout the date particularly in the early days of the pandemic. we spoke to jack wheeler, stuebe ben county up state in new york, they asked the state for the covid-19 tests for the county's 3:00 nursing home facilities in april of 2020. the department of health provided enough tests for one. they denied requests for the other two even though there were 46 positive cases in that one facility. >> priority wasn't on us but we felt that the ask was so small that it was reasonable. so that's the frustrating part is we're not asking for 100 person strike team to descend from albany. we're asking for a few hundred tests and a few staff members to be able to conduct them to really mitigate the spread in a nursing homes. reporter: a department of health spokesperson tells fox news anyone can attempt to rewrite history or rehash out of context

conversation as year later but that doesn't change the facts. the fbi is investigating the cuomo administration handling of covid-19 in nursing homes and nursing home families are demanding that new york's attorney general letitia james launch another investigation into the nursing home scandal, this time with subpoena power. but the ag needs a referral from new york state comptroller tom dinapoli first. listen. >> please, comptroller dinapoli issue an other, make a claim, ask the ag, the attorney general please let's have an investigation. let's see what happens. let's see where the numbers are. let's see how far this went. reporter: whether or not the cuomo administration purposely withheld or hid nursing home death toll data is also part of an on going impeachment investigation in the state assembly. jackie?

stuart: jackie: brian, another black eye for the governor. thank you for that. new york and new jersey are now leading the country once again in covid-19 infections as texas is seeing a decline. dr. nina radcliffe, what is driving the surge here in these states. doctor, good to see you this afternoon, thanks for joining us. when i read this morning i was a little surprised with the vaccine rollout, thinking of optimism thinking we were on the right path. you see this. you live in new york. the worries and tensions start to rise again. where is this coming from? >> nationwide covid-19 cases have been on the rise. new york, new jersey are leading the nation's cases with the highest rates of infection. new jersey averaged about 4100 new cases a day, a trend some public health experts say could be an early sign of a coming third wave. now i want to frame this. neither new york or new jersey are experiencing what they saw last spring with the hospitals were overflowing. while they are in a better place

than january earlier this year at the peak of pandemic's winter spike, the lack of improvement in recent weeks is concerning. people are letting their guard down too much, along with more widespread reopenings and experts are citing this spread of potentially more contagious variants in densely populated regions spreading more widely. jackie: what is interesting to me we're talking about states, new york, new jersey, blue states specifically that were stricterrer on restrictions and lockdowns. new york city, still feeling the brunt of this and not open at full capacity or even close to it, so you ask yourself, when you look at texas, things are getting better there. they're open at 100% capacity. you look at florida as well. and you say, you know, so lockdowns? i mean how effective were they? >> everyone has been questioning wondering does loosening restrictions matter, will this make a difference? when we see outlyers in texas removed mandates for social gatherings and face masks they're not seeing what is going

on in new york and new jersey, we realize our country is not homogenous. there are different areas and different regions. in february, new york governor cuomo allowed them to hold concerts yet again at 10% capacity. new york city movie theaters are now open. restaurants can open 50% capacity and rest of state 75%. indoor fitness classes resumed. new jersey governor phil murphy done similar reopenings. but restrictions do matter. when we see outlyers in texas, we need to continue to watch and monitor. what we do know new york and new jersey they have a different situation and we need to address it now. jackie: final point i want to make, the cdc director is out saying she is concerned about spikes coming up in the summer and the winter again. this is far from over. even going as far as saying she has a feeling of impending doom. your thoughts on the cyclical nature of this? >> well there is mind-set we

already crossed the finish line, we're very close to crossing the finish line. that is unfortunately not the case. to use the word doom, i would like to take a step back. i'm optimistic if we continue to do the things that work, there have been mixed messages. but i want to be clear. it is essential not to let our guard down. we need to wear face masks. we need to stay socially distanced. we need to avoid large gatherings. we need too get vaccinated. some americans say we're doing great on vaccinations and we are. 14% of the american population has been fully vaccinated. that is nowhere close to herd immunity. vaccines decrease the risk of illness and death, almost making it negligible. scientists are studying how the present of the virus and there are breakthrough cases n minnesota, 800,000 people vaccinated but 90 reported cases of covid-19. we can't just stop wearing the face mask. we can't just you know, gather with people and go back to normal yet. but if we continue, keep our

knowses to the ground, we will be closer to doing so, with less lives lost, fewer hospitalizations and quicker. jackie: dr. ratcliff, great to see you. you make a great point. you are don't get a vaccine and flip a light switch and we're back to normal. it's a process. great to see you. >> great to see you. jackie: coming up visa is the latest company getting in on the cryptocurrency craze. we'll explain how that is working after the break. ♪. ♪ ♪ ♪

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a new controversial study from the world health organization and china is suggesting four scenarios for the emergence of coronavirus and none of them suggest a lab leak. fox news correspondent rich edson at the state department for us with more details. good afternoon, rich. reporter: good afternoon, jackie. this report says the most likely scenario is an origin in bats that went through another animal on to humans. this is according to the associated press which obtained a draft copy of the report which is expected to be released tomorrow. this is all the result of an investigation that happened in china in wuhan, that w.h.o. team visited in wuhan. this month two dozen scientists wrote an open letter, that the w.h.o. team had insufficient access to investigate the sources of this virus including whether it came to a wuhan lab. this report claims a lab leak is

extremely unlike hi as former u.s. officials suggest it's a real possibility. >> i am of the point of view that i still think the most likely etiology of this pathogen in wuhan was from a laboratory, escaped, the other people don't believe that. that's fine. science will eventually figure it out. reporter: current state department officials including secretary of state antony blinken say they have real concerns about this w.h.o. report. the access, the team got, the methodology, and chinese government influence. chinese foreign ministry spokesperson says china's government will never accept the groundless accusations and wanton denigration of the epidemic issue from the united states. now the secretary of state is here at the state department today. he is participating in a virtual united nations meeting. he is expected to deliver the remarks and take questions in next couple hours.

jackie, back to you. jackie: rich edson, thank you for that. we'll talk more about this next hour. mean time switching gears for a moment, visa, the largest credit card network in the world is piloting a program to allow transactions using a stable coin backed by the united states, by the u.s. dollar. that is positive for the future use of cryptocurrencies. why they're rallying across the board. back with our panel, shana sissel, jonathan hoenig. shana, start with you here, talking about the crypto space, it is volatile and on the rise. more pervasive who is backing it, more uses for cryptocurrency. it suggests to me that there is an investor feeling, sentiment, positive sentiment when it comes to crypto because of the weakening that we're seeing essentially in the dollar. >> yes. i think that crypto is deflationary, that means an inflationary environment is actually good for crypto. a lot of what you see with crypto right now is largely

speculative. what you're seeing is people investing in trying to determine which, how it will play out. which cryptocurrency was successful. the blockchain is the key here. and that is really what is driving this, is that technology, which is why you also see nft is the new craze. another proof of concept that the blockchain is the wave of the future. but there is concern here, right? the more popular these cryptocurrencies become the risk of regulation becomes greater. so the major, major push in the major positive that people see with cryptocurrency it is decentralized and there is no government backing. that will change as more and more corporations begin to adopt. cryptocurrency as a form of payment. what visa is doing is doing something backed by the u.s. government. that is largely positive for cryptocurrency being adopted by governments worldwide. that will be real question. jackie: you can see the names on

the screen. mastercard is another one. tesla is using crypto in a functional way. bitcoin specifically. goldman sachs, they are working this into their business model. i'm wondering there is a rush by corporations to do this to make crypto more acceptable, bitcoin more acceptable for example, does that in some way the regulation push has not actually started but is on the horizon. that would deter what government can do about it, if it does have the ex pan sieve breath? >> i don't believe so. not at all. add paypal another one of those companies, jackie. crypto is going mainstream now more than ever. you mentioned some of the companies having crypto on their balance sheet and visa, really the global preeminent payments company now getting behind not so much bitcoin keep in mind, but as was mentioned blockchain the technology behind bitcoin. basically they will settle a crypto based credit card that

crypto is tied to the u.s. dollar. so it is not exactly a dollar a full split into bitcoin if you will but it is a real embracing of blockchain and of cryptocurrency as a legitimate part of the landscape. even five or six years ago, jackie, you couldn't imagine, crypto was seen as this nefarious thing for drugs, funneling money, it is truly become being mainstream. jackie: that is what i mean. it is something to watch. they can crack down more on it, and more legitimacy as the companies stand behind it. it is phenomenal to watch. shana, jonathan, great to see you. >> okay. jackie: moving on, when we return a fixture of central park is opening back up today for the first time since the pandemic began. we'll speak to the owner of the central park boathouse after this.

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♪. >> even though restaurants are able to reopen in the city, the business just isn't there for the boathouse. the boathouse is heavily dependent on tourists, park

users. we do a big banquet business. we have decided being we're going into the winter months, which traditionally a quieter time of the year that we'll be reopening in april. jackie: today is the day that many new yorkers have been looking forward to. that is because central park historic boathouse restaurant has is open after being closed since the start of the pandemic. we have the owner of the l-eeb central park boathouse. great to see you. as a new yorker who frequents your establishment and runs by it all the time it is halter heart warming to here you're reopening. that you made that decision. what made you decide this is the right time? >> thank you, jackie, thank you for having me. traditionally april is the time we reopen the restaurant for lunch and dinner. we have been closed as you said since march of last year.

the winter is typically a very quiet time of year. so we've decided to open up this week -- [inaudible]. we will be open for easter. we have bookings for easter. it is the proper time to open. we're opening for lunch now and reopening for dinner come the end of the month. jackie: let me is you how the business stands financially since you closed at the beginning of the pandemic and chose to remain closed, not opening with limited capacity that the city and state were allowing. i'm wondering where your business stands right now. so many businesses had to close unfortunately were just put out all together. how are you able to come back at this point? >> it will be difficult. the parks department has not charged us rent from the time we were closed so we're grateful for that. there are expenses keeping the restaurant closed. insurance and health insurance for certain employees here

during the year even though we were closed. so there are expenses we had during the month that we were closed. as far as opening up we are just hoping that people are beginning to go back out, and they will come to the restaurant. we're grateful for the amount of social media posts that we've seen. people saying they're glad the boathouse is opening. i don't have a crystal ball. we'll see what we do, but the thanks to the people that are working. jackie: one of the things about your restaurant, it also doubles as a venue for weddings, for example, for larger gatherings. the way those look will be very different than they were previously. there is a lot of new rules in place, covid testing, social distancing, wearing masks but is there interest in having parties and using the area as a reception facility at this time? >> those who booked already are having their affairs and we're backing affairs for the future which i would think that the people who are booking for the

future, are booking with the anticipation a lot of these rules will not be at that time. april is quiet for affairs this year as well as may. june we're very busy. jackie: what about getting your employees back to work? i often think about a restaurant closed for a long time. hiring all new staff, have they gone elsewhere or are they waiting to come back to the boathouse? >> no. the staff, all the staff we have hired, the staff back on senority basis because we're not at full capacity of staff but, they're all back. they're all back and i'm glad they're back. jackie: wow. great to know that you're open, we wish you the best of luck, a lot of success. i will tell you to try to drop by in the coming weeks. democrats looking to use a third reconciliation package to pass the president's budget agenda. is there any way to step the

runaway spending? we'll ask former cbo director doug holtz-eakin after this. ♪

♪ ♪

jackie: good afternoon, and welcome back to "coast to coast," everybody, i'm jackie deangelis in for neil cavuto. white house spending spree, president biden set to unveil the first part of his next massive plan later this week. the white house confirming that biden's plan will now be split into two bills which could come with a $3 trillion total price tag. fox news white house correspondent peter doocy joins us live from the white house with the details. good afternoon, peter. >> reporter: jen psaki, the press secretary, is in the briefing room at the enof the driveway right now, teasing an announcement wednesday in pittsburgh with further details about this first package, the first of two packages that is going to be the immigration one. she says that the white house is not really going into their legislative strategy right now, but she told our colleague, chris wallace, yesterday that they do plan to pressure republicans to support this. >> i will say that i don't think

republicans in this country think we should be 13th in the world as it relates to infrastructure. roads, railways, rebuilding them, that's not a partisan issue. that's a lot of what the president will talk about this wednesday. then the he will have another package if, another proposal that he will put forward in just a couple of weeks that will address a lot of issues that the american people are struggling with, childcare, the cost of health care. >> reporter: so two bills, those social programs in the second, infrastructure in the nurse. and top republicans -- in the first. top republicans not totally out on the idea of infrastructure, but they are, apparently, totally on the outside of what the white house is thinking right now because the republican in charge of rounding up votes in the senate has not heard from the biden administration. >> support for infrastructure. there always has been. it's historically that way, but this is an administration at least right now seems set on doing it their way or the highway. >> reporter: and the infrastructure package is expected to cost trillions. now, the transportation

secretary, pete buttigieg, is talking about one way the senate might try to scrape together all that money, a mileage tax. meaning the more you drive, the more you pay in tax. jackie? jackie: it's remarkable. peter, what will they think of next? good to see you. what effect is the ban on evictions going to have on rent prices? lydia hu live in our fox business newsroom with more on that. >> reporter: hi, jackie. we know that federal ban would have expired on wednesday. but as you said, it's now been extended. it will last through the end of june. now, the policy was originally enacted to keep people in their own homes away from congregant settings, but homeless shelters were unable to pay their rent. it seems there's an unspended consequence that has e -- emerged. some landlords are now raising rents as they house people who cannot or will not pay represent

for rents for luxury units are falling. data from costar group shows rents for four and five-star apartments in cities like chicago, seattle, new york, they fell in 2020. and in san francisco luxury rents dropped by about 20%, the costar the group says. but you compare that to the affordable rental market where you see prices are rising, and experts say that people who did not vacate these units during the pandemic, and landlord have to continue to house tent significants who cannot -- tenants who cannot pay due to hardship. we talked to one landlord in new york saying she's increasing to offset her losses. >> really leaves the small business land lord like myself to go through every piece of savings i've worked so hard over the years to put aside for my future. >> reporter: now, moving

forward with the moratorium extended, some landlords will continue to face that mounting financial pressure, and it seems that people searching for affordable units now should expect to pay more than they would have a year ago. it may be just a slight increase, but there are some examples of some big jumps. one woman lives here in queens, new york. she says represent for her apartment in a multifamily building is going up by nearly $1,000. jackie: that's a big jump for a lot of people the take. it's been hard on the landlords, and it will be are hard on the renters going forward. lydia, thank you. the historic amazon union vote count beginning this week. it could lead to the company's first unionized warehouse in america. connell mcshane is live in alabama with the latest. >> reporter: hey there, jackie. there's never been a union formed at an amazon facility in the united states, so a lot of attention on these workers here in bessimer and certainly how

much they get pace is an issue, but it's by no means the only issue. in talking to union officials, they tell us they're getting a lot of complaints about the conditions inside this facility. people talking about an unbearable pace, talking about wear and tear on their bodies. some people say they're afraid to take bathroom breaks and also race has become a factor in the discussion here in bessamer. >> about 85% of the people at this facility are black. and we have seen the struggle as being just as much a civil rights struggle as a labor struggle. and i think that has inspired a lot of people to be supportive of the union. >> reporter: yeah, it's an open question about whether that support will be enough. amazon has a history of being able to shoot down previous attempts at organization, and the company this time, i can tell you, is pushing back hard as well. there's this mailbox that we saw in the parking lot at the

facility here, it's set up -- and the union's complained about this because it's a mail-in ballot -- it's set up so people with can vote on their way in and out of work. amazon can't just rely on people not voting at all. we know amazon has been able to convince some workers to vote no, because we spoke to some of them. >> go to the bathroom when they have to use it, all that kind of stuff. so i don't understand where that is actually coming if. >> i mean, where can you find an entry-level job, entry level does not require you to have college, anything else, and you start at $15.30 an hour. >> reporter: deadline day is today, the counting will start or tomorrow. but it's not clear when we will actually have a result to report to you, because either side could enter a challenge. if there's a problem with one of the ballots or something like that. one thing is for sure, jackie, workers at amazon facilities all over the cup and probably other tech companies, maybe even other retail companies will be

watching very, very closely. jackie: oh, sure. and really interesting to see the difference in opinion between those who are saying, yes, we need to do this and those saying, no, the conditions aren't bad. >> reporter: there's certain some of that. -- certainly some of that. that's why both people in the amazon camp and those supporting the union seem to expect a close vote. i would say maybe the amazon side is slightly more confident, but the union officials we've spoken to have been arguing this is already a win for them since it's brought so much attention to their cause, and they think this type of movement can spread around the country even if they don't win here. so we'll see.jack connell mcshane, thank you so much. let's get back to president bidens' spending plan. democrats are considering using budget reconciliation two more times this year to pass up to $3 trillion in spending aimed at infrastructure, climate change, education, taxes and health care.

is there any way to stop the runaway spending? let's get reaction from former congressional budget office director doug holtz-eakin. doug, great to see you. look, there are a lot of republicans who will back the infrastructure spending, you know, the way jen psaki was describing that we're behind and we need to catch up here. fine. but they don't necessarily want to get behind all the rest of the spending. >> well, let's first look at these process issues. this will be the chance to use reconciliation one more time. there will not be two more shots. the notion that this so-called section 304 revision in the budget law allows them a third bill, i think, just overstate thing the case. i don't think that's a realistic assess. here comes one more chance to do it on a party-line vote in the senate, but that'll be it. and when we turn to the substance, i think you have some real issues with what's going on here. everyone likes infrastructure, but from a first principles point of view, you first

identify the objective. what are we trying to accomplish. you then find out how much it costs to fund it, then figure out how to pay for it. none of these things happening. we're just giving big numbers and saying let's go spend it. so i don't think you're going to get a consensus that works out very well. why does his infrastructure get in, mind doesn't. i'm not optimistic about getting a bipartisan bill. jackie: okay. for example, the funding they're mulling over here, the two options that i see you print more must be and you raise -- money and you raise taxes. [laughter] >> yeah. those are the two options. you have to think about this a little differently than the so-called american rescue plan, the stimulus. by the time this money hits the economy, everyone expects us to be back at full employment. so so you're now trying to take workers away from other jobs to put them out there to build infrastructure of one type or another. that's going to be pressure on inflation, that's going to be pressure on the economies that

deliver that. so regardless of whether you borrow the money or whether you raise taxes, you're going to steal something from the private sector in thes process, and that's not going to help growth. now, they're going to say we're doing great infrastructure, it's going to raise product i., but experience is when you hear the productivity number divide it by two and when you hear we're going to be done in three or four years, multiply by two. they always take longer and deliver less than advertised. jackie: and when you look at another $3 trillion on top of the $1.9 trillion that just went through and you think about where we're going with respect to our spending in the future, not having a plan right now is definitely causing a little bit of pause for the market because it's also seeing interest rates rise, and it's really worried about inflation right now. i mean, that is what happens when you spend like this without having a concrete way to pay for it. >> it doesn't really add up. suppose you do $3 trillion in really good infrastructure and you pay for it with $3 trillion

in new taxes. on balance you'll probably end up behind from an economic growth point of view. that's not a good trade. and they're then promising to make permanent big chunks of that child credit and earned income tax the credit and premium tax, all things that were in the american rescue plan, that's another $3 trillion over the next ten years. so they will have taken a federal budget that had a serious spending problem, and they will have ballooned it by $3 trillion over ten years. that's not a recipe for a calm market. jackie: i wonder about some of this logic. i'll give you an example. coming out of the coronavirus relief package, all these people are getting stimulus checks, and they're essentially going on vacation. that wasn't the intention, right? they're going to florida on spring break, and that wasn't necessarily the intention. so you think about hows this is going to play out, the unforeseen consequences with respect to spending this kind of money. and i know none of us have a crystal ball, but your thoughts

on sort of what can happen if you take, bias off such a big piece of -- bite off such a big piece of this apple. >> the $1.9 trillion's indefensibly large. there's no good analyst who can defend that number. so we run a risk of some type of overheating. is it going to be consumer price inflation? some people think so. i'm a little more worried that up front some people are going to take that money and stick it into their the robinhood apps and start speculating on stocks -- >> reporter: i think they are. >> well, it's going to flow into asset prices, and that's a recipe for a little financial volatility and not something we need coming out of this recession. jackie: doug, great to see you. thanks so much for your time. >> thank you. jackie: coming up after the break, why rising interest rates are leading to rising pressure on some of the pandemic winners in the stock market. we're going to take a look at that when we come back. ♪ ♪

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over more block trades. charlie gasparino has the latest for us. hey, charlie. >> just when you think things can't get any weirder, a firm blows up the markets by, with a bunch of ill-timed bets on certain stocks and use of leverage. i think the reason why the market isn't off more and why it's coming back is some of the stuff we've been reporting on the exposure to this blow-up of this family office hedge fund. it was known that goldman sachs had some exposure, we're hearing now it's nonmaterial exposeure. and if you take two big players like that out of the ecosystem of contagion, the markets will recover, and i think that's what you're seeing now. ditto for morgan stanley. the back story to this, this was a not very well known family

office run by a trader that came out of the hedge fund world that was take huge bets in the markets through derufftives. derivatives. the bets involved stocks like discovery and viacom and a few others, baidu. when those stocks started to tank, particularly viacom last week because there was an earnings downgrades, there was downgrades, and they were doing a secondary offering which would have, which hurt the stock price, that's when -- i can't say the name -- [laughter] archegos started to implode, and then there was massive block selling of, that they had to do to essentially stay afloat. and that's what you have right now. so the big question is in the market, how did archegos i smoothly. -- evade smoothly. they didn't have to disclose

their positions because it owned these stocks synthetically through derivatives. they expect gary gensler to come out with new bank disclosure rules that somehow give the markets some sort of a heads up if a relatively unknown player starts accumulate aring 10% of viacom under the ray car because he's doing it -- radar because he's doing it through swaps. keep an eye on that, that there could be some regulation. we should point out the sec has said it's monitoring the situation. and, again, the markets are coming back after trading off in the beginning because, i think -- at least as of now -- the exposure to the big u.s. banks is pretty minimal. credit suisse, on the other hand, has massive exposure. the mirror as well. and the credit suisse ceo could, thomas godstein, is definitely

on the hot seat because this follows another fund that it traded through earlier that blew up. lots happening here. i hope i distilled that in a way that people can understand it. jackie: no, you did. my understanding is knost at -- not across the board in all the banks, that's a good thing, and more regulation is coming. but to your point, charlie, every time one of these situations happens, it feels like they find another way or come up with a new plan of how to dodge the rules or get around them, and that's something that we have to watch for. but really appreciate that breakdown, thank you so much. >> okay. jackie: all right. we are watching the nasdaq as well edging down after two weeks of losses, although it's off the lows, the stocks there benefiting from the pandemic-inspired work from home trends that have fallen hard for the past few months as well. we're now joined by dave manny, great to' you -- >> great the see you. jackie: we're opening up and things are getting closer to

getting back on track, and what were the big winners of the year are now pointing downwards. doesn't mean they're out of the game just yet. your thoughts op how investors should be thinking about this market, maybe repositioning expect economy going forward. >> yeah, look, i think there's a difference between habits and capabilities. there are things that we did as a society that were just based on habit. this idea of zoom communications and face-to-a face stuff from different places was made possible well before the pandemic. but now we've got a habit of it, and we've broken a habit that a we can only talk to other people face to face if we're in the same place. so i think there's going to be things that are going to change and change permanently. i haven't talked to a single other entrepreneur, ceo type who says, ah, screw it, as soon as i can i'm going to travel just as much as i used to.

everybody seems to be saying, yeah, i'm going to be back on the road but maybe half as much because i can do this when i need to. so i think in many things, you know, are people always going to want to just stay home and ride the peloton, or will gym membership come back, and is there something in this social aspect. and i think that fine-grained examination of whether it's something that's going to to stick or whether it's just something, a habit that we broke is going to be really important for investors. jackie: well, i imagine it's going to be some sort of a hybrid. you bring up zoom and peloton, for example. people have enjoyed the benefits of those things under lockdown, you're right, there's going to be some desire to get back into the office, but maybe a workweek looks a little different. maybe you still have zooming a -- are zooming a day or two a week. and maybe you do want to take peer class,, but certain days you can't squeeze that workout

in, and you will hop on the peloton at home. i think it's accelerated some of these trends that were in place, as you say, but now people have learned to integrate them into their lives, your thoughts. >> i think's exactly right. and i think what investors need to be wary of is the fact that in many cases the markets have also kind of priced in a presumption that the model that we've been on for the last 12 months is permanent. so i would be, you know, i think there could be rough roads ahead for those stocks that are based on, you know, everybody piling in thinking that we had a permanent new paradigm. it doesn't mean we're all going to go back to the old way or stay this way, as you put it. we've got some kind of hybrid model. jackie: yeah, i think you're right. people are sick of being locked down, so they're going to want to get out and about, but i think the behavioral patterns are going to be different. we've seen a shift in society and humanity and how we're

developing here. it's going to be so interesting to see how it plays out, dave. thank you. >> thank you. jackie: all right. back in business, we're going to take a look at the impact caused by the ship stuck in the suez canal and how long it's going to take to get back to normal now that it's free. ♪ don't you worry, don't you worry, child -- ♪ see, heaven's got a plan for you ♪♪ ♪ ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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♪ jackie: welcome back, everybody. i want to start with some news just in that could help the reopening of the economy. new yorkers 30 years of age and older can begin to schedule appointments and get vaccinated beginning tomorrow, and workers 16 years of age and older can begin to schedule appointments and get vaccinated beginning april 6th. it's great news there, and the

big apple has been looking forward to this. meantime, fox news obtaining a letter from the office of personnel management asking for volunteer deployments to help with the migrant influx for up to 120 days. fox news correspondent kristin fisher has more. kristin, good afternoon. >> reporter: hey there, jackie. well, this surge in unaccompanied minors is now expected to last for at least seven months according to u.s. customs and border protection. to put this in perspective, we're already at about 16,000 unaccompanied minors illegally crossing the border this month. axios just got its hands on some leaked documents, and it's reporting that number could spike to about 26,000 per month by september. and yet despite these numbers, president joe biden on his way back to the white house from delaware yesterday said that he still at this point has no plans for him personally to go down to the border and see what's happening nursehand.

firsthand. >> we are putting in place a plan that i feel very confident about, and i don't care what the other guy does. >> reporter: well, the other guy that president biden was referring to is former president trump who says he'll be visiting the border in the next few weeks. the situation has gotten so bad that the biden administration is asking for civilian federal employees to help with the surge in unaccompanied migrant children. the administration wants them to volunteer for deployments of up to 120 days. our republicans who recently toured the border said the situation is past the point of a crisis, senator lindsey graham called it a complete loss of -- while senator tom cotton said this: >> i was there last week, and what i saw was an absolute crisis. you have young moms and dads with small children sitting under a bridge in the middle of the night waiting to be processed inside some of these facilities, small children without even parents there who

are sleeping right next to each other in large -- i guess you might call them cages. >> reporter: and the white house says that they are doing everything they can to get these kids out of border patrol custody and into more long-term housing solutions as quickly as possible. but, jackie, the bottom line is that the biden administration is still refusing to even think about reversing the underlying policy which many republicans say is causing all of this, and that is allowing all unaccompanied minors into the united states. no sign on any movement on that front from the white house, jackie. jackie: and it will likely be months before the media has access to actually see what's going in these facilities as well. kristin fisher, thank you so much. we are also following the story in the suez canal because traffic is now resuming as the ship stuck since early last week has been freed. former shell oil president john hofmeister joins me now. you free the ship, yet there's 400 ships behind it that haven't been able to pass through the

canal, and that's going to take some time and throw the whole supply chain off, correct? >> yes, i'm afraid so. but it will untangle itself. i think there are pretty good communications with the authorities, and i think it will untangle itself in, let's say, the next week or so. i don't think it's going to take much longer than that, in my view, unless another mishap occurs. that's where we could get bottled up again. but let's hope that they've got it under control. jackie: let's hope they do. obviously, when it comes to transporting things through the canal, we are talking about consumer goods but also oil and petroleum products. we've been following the rise in gas prices for a number of reasons, but this isn't going to help us either, is it in. >> no. i think we are headed higher structurally for energy prices. i think over the next 2-3 years, actually, we're going to see structurally higher prices.

the industry has a long way to go to recover its financial credibility and its return to investors which has been hurt over the last, let's say, 6-8 years because of, i think, bad judgments made by mohamed bin salman back in 2014, other bad judgments with respect to opec increasing supplies when they should have been decreasing supplies. it's really harmed the financial story of the energy industry, and it's really harmed investors. and so without structurally higher prices for a longer period of time, we have an industry that doesn't have the capital to reinvest in itself for the growth of the future. and if people think we're getting out of the oil and gas business anytime imaginable, they have another thing coming. it's just not going to happen, jackie. we're integrated globally in the use of this energy, and globally it's 85% of the energy we consume, fossil energy.

jackie: yeah. >> so you don't just unwind that if in the period of a couple years. jackie: well, that's the thing thing the biden administration doesn't seem to understand. invest in energy both ways, right in find that delicate balance. john, i want you to clear up this point for me. we know gas prices rise much faster than they fall. so the average right now, $2.86 for a gallon, and we're at the end of march. you know seasonally they drive by july 4th because of the summer driving season, and we're going to be reopening. last year at this time, $2.02, and the pandemic impact hadn't even been realized to take them down. so we're with talking about almost a dollar difference right now, possibly $1.50-2 in the summer. this hurts consumers. >> yes. eventually higher prices slow down the global economy, slow

down the u.s. economy. and when you have negative, negative outlook on the industry from the administration which sets policy, they're going to make access more restricted. same mistake that they made back in the obama early years when we didn't open up soon enough, and it wasn't until, you know, later obama realized he'd better let shale go, make it happen because the gas prices were really holding back the recovery from the great recession. people don't remember this, but we had $4 and $5 gas prices a couple of years after the great recession which just held back economic growth. lower energy costs yields higher economic growth -- jackie: yeah. >> -- yields more jobs. i mean, it's just -- yes, we have to address climate change, but in terms of addressing climate change, let's build the new system before we dismantle the existing system. jackie: yeah. you point to that other spike in

energy and gas prices. i remember specifically it was painful at the pump and, john, people are starting to feel it now. hopefully, you know, hopefully it won't get worse, but the fear is that it will. great to see you this afternoon. thank you. >> thank you. jackie: okay. the first day of arguments now underway in the trial against the former minneapolis police officer accused of killing george floyd. martha maccallum joins us live from min minneapolis with the lt next. ♪ ♪

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♪ jackie: today begins the murder trial of former minneapolis police officer derek chauvin charged in the death of george floyd back in may 020 leading to protests around the globe along with hundreds of millions of dollars of destruction in the city of minneapolis due to the riots. the story host martha maccallum joins us now. good afternoon, martha. >> good afternoon, good to be

with you. jackie: let's talk about what you're experiencing and seeing on the ground. i was listening to the opening remarks of the prosecutor talking about the fact that this is about derek chauvin, not necessarily all police. >> yeah. yeah, so there are two big stories going on here. one is what's happening inside the courtroom today, and that's the battle between the prosecution and the defense. the central questions here are what killed george floyd. was it derek chauvin's knee on his neck for nine and a half minutes or, as the defense will argue, were there complicating factors in his health, an enlarged heart complicated by drugs in his system which hay called a speedball today that he took on the scene according to the evidence on the scene. so that's the facts that are driving the courtroom situation right now. but outside of the courtroom, you have the dynamic that resulted after defund the police movement and a severe

diminishment of protection in the city as a result. you had the city council led by lisa bender who said she wanted to essentially dismantle the police department after what happened to george floyd, and that has led to a very dangerous environment where there's now an autonomous zone but also in some of the neighborhoods we visited across the country. and all of that really began right after george floyd's killing when the police were told to abandon their post at the 3rd precinct in minneapolis on lake street. we went down there yesterday with ted williams to look at it. it is still completely burned out and unoccupied. he's what we saw. this is the 3rd precinct, and right after george floyd's killing, this building was abandoned by all of the police officers who worked there. rioters were all outside this building, till completely boarded up. >> when i see this building, it

brings back shock if if memories of the night -- and memories of the night shortly after floyd was killed that these citizens lost out and the crooks in this community took over. the police officers, in this droves, driving away from this building, abandoning a police station. >> and people were throwing things at their cars, firecrackers, yelling at them. >> not only that, but they were going in the building. the crooks. and they were opening file cabinets, they were throwing things on the floor. it was watered down. i've been in law enforcement for well over 40 years, and i'd never seen anything like this. law enforcement is the center of every community. the business people, the citizens, they a want to be able to count on police officers. and that night they saw these police officers leaving their building, abandoning these

buildings in droves, turning it over to crooks, turning it over to rabble-rousers, turning this building, this police building over. the people who came in here tore it apart, just destroyed it. and when you destroy a police department, you really destroy the community. because the community wants to be protected by the police department. and here's where police officers were running away. and it was all because the mayor told them, told these police officers -- and i know they wanted to stay and defend this police department and this building, and they were told to abandon it by the mayor of a city. >> so that is the nexus of what has led to the community being so unnerved about this trial as it gets underway. they don't know what to expect,

will there be more riots when the decision comes down in 2-4 weeks from now, and it's a situation where people feel unprotected. they have texting groups in their neighborhood so they can let each other know, so it's really a very tense situation in might be yap lis. jackie: tensions high. martha, thank you so much for laying that out for us. we will be watching course coverage -- your coverage of it on fox news. more questions, of course, than answers after a w.h.o. report on the origins of covid, and that may be because china had to approve the report. we're got those details coming up. ♪ ♪

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♪ >> i see stiff competition with china. they have an overall goal to become the leading country in the world, the wealthiest country in the world and the most powerful country in the world. that's not going to happen on my watch. jackie: president biden promising to outspend china on innovation and infrastructure to prevent overtaking the united states. but where is the money coming from? blake burman is life from the white house -- live from the white house with the details. >> reporter: hi, jackie. we do expect president biden to unveil his budget request for agencies all across the federal

government at some point later this week, and we also expect there to be at least the theme running through it of increased spending as it relates to government research and development. the president gave us a bit of a hint last week during his press conference citing the need to be able to compete with china. >> we're going to invest this medical research, cancer, alzheimer's, diabetes, the things -- industries of the future, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biotech. and we're going to make real investments. china is outinvesting us by a long shot because their plan is to own that future. >> reporter: some numbers for you, jackie. according to china's national bureau of statistics, china spent what a amounts to $378 billion in research and development in 2020 and plans to increase that 7% every year through 2026. now, according to the oecd, which is an international economic group of countries, you can see the numbers here, the u.s. does invest more in r&d

than china, but that's factoring in contributions from private companies as well. as a percentage of gdp, that number right now in the u.s., or in 2018 was about 3%. but you can see it's only increased incrementally over the last two decades whereas in china it's grown more than 2x. one area of concern right now when you talk to some of the experts, a a.i. the bipartisan national security commission of artificial intelligence says the pentagon needs to be ready for a.i. by 2025, and here's what they said in a pretty lengthy report. quote, we know adversaries are determined to turn their a.i. capabilities against us, china is determined to surpass us in a.i. leadership. now, they write, we hues act. jackie? jackie: thank you so much for that, blake burman. good to see you. a new report from the world health organization in china suggesting that covid-19 came from animal-to-human transmission, not from a lab. but critics are asking why was

china even involved in putting this report out. to the china learning curve author, dan joseph. let's start with that, dan, why was beijing involved in writing this report? >> well, the fact that beijing was involved in preparation of the report to a certain extent is not a surprise. i mean, it's their country. to a certain extent, they're going to have a hand in how information is collected. the problem is do they have what we might say veto or edit authority, which is what a lot of people are reporting. if that's the case, it's going to throw further shade on a process that is already so tainted, there's not a lot of credibility. i mean, people will analyze the results, but as far as the conclusions, people that want to know what's behind them as opposed to face value. jackie: you would want to believe that the w.h.o. is impartial, taking the information that china gives it with a grain of salt, conducting its own investigation.

but even the current administration which has, you know, resumed funding the w.h.o. is skeptical of china's hand in this. i mean, the credibility here is really the question, and they're posing a narrative or furthering a narrative that, you know, makes china seem like less culpable, if you will, for what's happened here. >> well, there are a number of reasons why this is already tainted. first and foremost is the lack of transparency from china from the beginning. on top of that, now there's a political agenda where china has been actively advocating theories that push the blame elsewhere. so already there's people questioning the impartiality. the best the w.h.o. can is, like you said, is try to be objective and at least explain its positions. there's going to be a lot of doubt. there's not going to be conclusiveness. based on what we've received, they can say, here's what we think. but athey also need to point out what they need more access to.

at the end of the day, i think china -- trust in china has already taken a hit. it doesn't matter what this report says. there's enough doubt in how china handled it that it's going to impact their relations with the world. jackie: i was particularly struck by an opinion piece in "the new york post" this weekend, and i do emphasize this is an opinion of steven mosher, an author writing extensively on china, and he talks about the former leader of the task force investigating origins, suggesting the virus did, in fact, escape the wuhan laboratory the, and that even possibly it was part of a bioweapons research program. what struck me particularly in this article is that he outlines the fact that the coronavirus that we are seeing, covid-19, it burrow es itself into these human cells using fur and cleavage sites and that in the thousands strains we've seen, we've never seen anything like this which suggests that it had

to be made in a lab. i'm curious to get your reaction to that. >> you know, i read that as well, and i don't have the medical background to evaluate that. what i can tell you is i have heard and read that if a virus is engineered, it's not difficult to tell. so i think that opinion would be expressed in more places than what you just named. so i'm a little skeptical, but i don't have the background to judge that. what i will say is this, i don't think there's any evidence that they would release that intentionally because they're not good enough to do that and control it. if it were accidentally released, it would simply mean the chinese careless but not necessarily malicious in their release. and at the end of the day, i'm not sure that makes a big difference. we have to push back against china, and i don't know that that would change it. jackie: malicious intention would certainly be one conversation, but even being

care less with respect -- careless with respect to their to it if this was a careless mistake and not locking china down, allowing people to leave but blocking passengers from coming into china, certainly an issue there. we're going to have to leave it there, dan. thank you. i of do have some breaking news for you. next hour president biden is expected to announce 90% of the adult u.s. population will be eligible for vaccination, and 90% will have a vaccination site within 5 miles of their home. all of this by april 19th. that's according to several reports. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ [laugh] dad i got a job! i'm moving out. [laugh] dream sequence ending

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jackie: quick check on the dow, up 44 points. in the green. that will do it for us today on "coast to coast". neil is back tomorrow. here is charles payne. charles: jackie, thank you very much. good afternoon, everyone, i'm charles payne this is "making money." major indices are sort of trapped in a narrow trading range after so call family office imploded. the dust has not settled but questions are rising about these entities in general, how much contagion there is out there. is this a black swan or a black eye for wall street? it is free. that's right, folks, workers set free the colossal container ship stuck nearly a week in the sue weds canal but a shipping container shortage has main street worried about running out of toilet paper. gordon chang says that should be