that is as far as i can go folks nasdaq is up as well. s&p up a percentage point. don't forget to send in "friday feedback" email. varney viewers at folks.comb. you might see your question on the show. you will next see mr. neil cavuto. take it away. neil: thank you very much. we're seeing run on corner of wall and broad. at least today, they think they have this omicron thing understood. it will not get out of control. lo and behold middle of that we get confirmation of yet another case. this one in minnesota. that is probably not shocking too many people but the fact that the individual who contracted this vary can't had visited new york city. bumped into someone who had been

in africa. no way of knowing. we'll try to get an update on that as well. we're hearing the administration is not taking any chances. heard talk about new sweeping measures it plans to take, extending, mask requirement on planes and airports well into march next year. providing tests, mandatory tests, free of charge for everybody coming into this country. they will spell it all out. its already getting folks very, have he nervous about that i want to go to a doctor who joins us right now, newark university hospital, former new jersey commissioner of health. commissioner, always good to see you. this building back and forth whether thisp whether this variant is something we should worry about, something we don't know, i go back to the source or medical authorities in africa who are saying the cases they have been seeing have been relatively mild. it's a different strand but it is mild. as i've been saying they could

be talking book, trying to prevent africa from getting isolated, becoming a pariah for other countries not accepting visitors from there but what do you make of things? >> thanks very much for having me on, neil. it is concerning concerning possible community spread of omicron in the united states but certainly across the world at this point but at the same time the fact almost every documented case we know about is, folks with mild symptoms does seem encouraging. however, we are starting to see an increase in hospitalizations in south africa. now whether that is due to folks with the delta variant has been around for a long time or the omicron variant is still unclear because again not every positive tests goes through genomic testing. too early to see what this is especially to vulnerable people. neil: do you agree with measures

white house wants to take? extending mask thing, reminding americans we're not done with this but you know, obviously building up more defenses just in case? >> i do, neil. i know that folks are tired of wearing masks. they're tired of dealing with this pandemic. i know i am but we have to do what we can especially with this possible threat of omicron. now again i hope that omicron is not as serious as folks say they are. we don't have the answers yet but continuing to wear masks on public transportation including flights, testing everybody before they come to this country, discriminatory policy for anybody traveling. those are simple but sensible things, including subsidizing at home testing. we can't test enough now to know exactly how and where omicron is spreading. those things are practical and make sense to me. neil: you know, doctor, i talk to a lot of people who have this thing against getting vaccinated. they just don't. even with the latest development they're doubling up on that.

they think already, if it is still an issue, we have the various vaccines out and they haven't done it, i heard it myself from people when i had a breakthrough case myself, comments, a lot of good the vaccine did you, cavuto. i tried to tell people it would be a lot worse without it but it falls on deaf ears. in a weird way you worry people will hear about this, already saying about it, that cinches it, i'm not going to get vaccinated? >> here is where we get into nuances here, neil. obviously the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines even against delta is well-known and quite protective. the fact that delta is predominant variant in the country but efficacy is without question. we're not getting anywhere alienating people who are hose tant about vaccination. in our hospital, we had only 55%

vaccinated but we went through the mandate successfully with little to no resignations. we did that. we had open approach, i approached people myself to get them encouraged to get vaccinated as matter of safety of our patients and employees. we'll not get folks vaccinated if we make them feel bad about it or alienate them. neil: doctor, do you know anything about the glaxosmithkline covid-19 treatment that the company is saying could be used as a way to tackle the omicron virus? the first company said it might have something in its arsenal as of now, do you know anything about that? >> well, we're seeing, looking at that now, still preliminary. it is hypothetical whether that will work but the better news is that we know that we have on the horizon therapeutics that are very likely to work regardless of the variant you're talking

about. i hope the fda releases that. 30% reduction in the combined end point of hospitalization and death. we have pfizer's therapeutic may be even better than merck's. i think therapeutics will be extremely important and it will be a major step involving from a pandemic to something where covid ends up being endemic and manageable, sort of like the flu where we have therapeutics but really vaccines as well that work. that combination should be available to us soon and i hope it is. neil: all right. watch it very closely. doctor, very god seeing you again. have a great holiday. meantime we want to alert you right now if there were worries building about the minnesota case and the prospect of still other cases here it is not resonating among investors that could change. remember we were a couple hundred points in the green yesterday and we ended up sliding more than 400 point but you just don't know.

for now, these seem relatively isolated and again mild cases. it was an interesting piece in the financial times today, talking about the relatively mild cases we've seen in 20 some odd countries that have reported exposure or cases of this from a number of individuals. very few reports of anything severe. so, we are monitoring that. maybe they're getting wind of that, sort of calming down about it. but certainly putting pressure shush on the travel industry right now just as it gears up what they would hope would be a busy, productive holiday season. still might be. they're talking precautions. the administration urged the mask requirement to stay in effect through mid-march. kelly o'grady at los angeles international airport with more on that side of the story. kelly? reporter: hey, neil. these knew restrictions are coming at a time when we just had the travel ban from the eight southern african countries the other day. it feels like one hurdle after

another here. now the administration is expected to announce the new restrictions later today as well as extension of the mask mandate through march 18th. all travelers coming into the country including returning americans are expected they must now test within 24 hours before boarding flights regardless of vaccination status or country of departure. one concern is the countries or airports have the infrastructure to handle turn around time as testing increases with omicron spread. while the fear was building while the airline industry is struggling to recover the question is whether there is rush to simply mint new limitations when dr. fauci admitted we won't know more about omicron in another two weeks. >> in a matter of two weeks or two 1/2, three weeks, we'll know a lot about trans missability. whether or not the disease itself in general is going to be severe and what is the difference in an individual who has been vaccinated versus

unvaccinated, boosterred, versus not boosterred. we'll get that information. reporter: tightening of restrictions comes as u.s. officials have ordered airlines to disclose names and contact information of travelers who visited eight countries within the travel ban in the last two weeks. yesterday in a briefing dr. fauci admitted he is not sure whether that first omicron would have been prevented if the new travel restrictions were in place at that point. as you said a new case is reported in minnesota. that individual traveled to new york city, not internationally. neil it is here in the united states as we roll into a holiday season we hoped would be a little bit easier than last year. neil: yeah, certainly. kelly owe grady, thank you very much for that. kelly at lax. dick grasso, former new york stock exchange chairman and ceo. hope you had a good thanksgiving people are getting anxious about this depending on the day the market is frantic or joyful.

today on the joyful side to be okay at this time but could change on a dime. how do you think the markets are digesting that. >> thanks, neil. hope your thanksgiving was good as well. as always we italians overeat and we compensate. the markets, neil, to borrow a phrase from alan greenspan in the late 1990s when he observed irrational exuberance, the markets are suffering from irrational depression every time a news feed pumps out the term omicron, travel restrictions, supply chain problems. i think the market is you know reacting in a knee-jerk way. look at yesterday. we had a 900 point swing in the dow jones industrial average. neil: right. >> i mean based on what? as dr. fauci himself said let's

wait for the science to come in on this new variant. science won't be in for 2 1/2 to three weeks yet we get these knee-jerk reactions. q3, neil, was a disappointment. we came in growth at two and a fraction percent. i suspect that was not cooling into the economy. that was a push into the fourth quarter and first quarter of next year. this economy is doing really well. we're creating jobs. i think, neil, the day-to-day reactions in the market are purely algorithmic reactions to news feeds. as i have said to you many times, and to your viewers, sometimes a do nothing strategy is the right strategy. take two aspirins and call neil cavuto in the morning. neil: well i would also include maybe mixing that with tequila or something but let me ask you

about what apple was telegraphing when it reportedly warning suppliers something is different with the consumer, he, she, maybe started retrenching a little bit. could be inflation thing. could be the trepidation over you know, this latest variant but it is real, it is palpable. as long as that is the case, a case of apple lowering expectations, if that is taking hold then what? >> well, i think that apple is in the same position as some major automobile companies. i mean they're struggling for parts. they're struggling for completion of construction. and so a lot of consumers have said, you know, i will push my apple christmas purchases into the first quarter of next year. neil, i think the demand for the 13 and the particularly the 13 pro, as i talk to people is very strong. but they don't want to

disappoint you know, under the christmas tree. as the president said yesterday, the only absolute guarranty can come from santa. well you know what? try and buy a car today, try and buy an apple 13, you're going to have to wait. and i think that is what we're seeing. i'm still very, very positive on the product cycle of the 13 and 13 pro. and i think that the consumer demand is going to be there in the fourth quarter and into the first half of 22. neil: we'll see what happens. dick grasso, great catching up with you, have a wonderful holiday my friend. former big cheese of the new york stock exchange, a force of calm in some pretty dicey times. obviously he maintains that position through all that is going on lately. we have a lot more coming up for you as well. we're focusing a little bit as well on the government whether it can avoid a shutdown like

tomorrow night. it is looking good but the markets seem to think they will reach some sort of agreement to keep the government lights on. it is debt ceiling issue comes up middle of this month is anyone's guess. right now the dow adding 641 points. stay with us. ♪. what's strong with me? i know when i'm ready to run.

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♪ ♪. neil: we had a lot of shutdowns. this one we could be facing as soon as tomorrow night would be in the category of done that dozens of times before leading back to the carter administration. carter it has become routine. everyone sort of pushes this to the brink. they come up with some means to keep the government lights on. there are some problems, everything has to go off for time. you don't resolve this you have a the debt ceiling couple weeks after that. middle of it chuck schumer, trying to push through the build back better spending initiative.

that is an uphill fight. all of it going on, they want to go on and resolved in the next few weeks. it is a bit of an uphill battle, chad pergram how the battle is looking right now hey chad. reporter: good afternoon, neil. there is not much time to avert a shutdown. there is a bill to fund the government through february 18th. bipartisan supermajority wants to fund the government, but they threaten to slow down the funding bill over the federal vaccine mandate. >> my family is vaccinated. it is certainly not a decision that should be forced on them by the federal government. and certainly not by a single acting within the federal government who shouldn't be exercising that authority unilaterally. reporter: democrats sized on the gop tinkering with the shutdown during a pandemic. >> going to go for their anti-vaxing, okay? so if you think that is how we'll keep government open

forget that. forget that. reporter: congress could stumble into a shutdown if conservatives force the senate to overcome two filibusters to fund the government. operationally by the book that cannot happen by tomorrow night's deadline. gop kansas senator roger marshall would expect pa dieting voight, he wants vote to repeal the vaccine mandate with supermajority threshold. >> few gop members agree. i'm certainly against the mandate but i'm not so sure that is the right way to go. reporter: senator minority leader mitch mcconnell insists the government won't close. >> i don't think slutting down the government over this issue will get an outcome. it would only create chaos and uncertainty. reporter: the spending bill simply re-ups all existing funding at current levels. democrats only wanted to fund the government through january but the gop demanded a later date.

that keeps democrats from implementing their own spending priorities. neil? neil: chad, i didn't understand what was nancy pelosi saying there? she doesn't think this will happen or that she doesn't think any tricks will go on to make something happen? >> reporter: well at one point she said she doesn't think they have the votes to shut down the government in the senate. she is not quite right about that. not so much this time about the votes. they have the votes to crack not one but two filibusters in the flat. they need 60 votes there the problem is time. if they make them run all of the parliamentary traps they can't get that done by 11:59:59 p.m. tomorrow night. that is when the government runs out of money, then what happens, if they don't do that, where are we on saturday? what do they start shutting down or what do they start doing? reporter: sometimes this works two different ways. a lot of times somebody at the capitol sends a message to the office of personnel management nobody can come to work.

when we had this in the past over a weekend, sometimes that doesn't happen right away because you know there is not a lot of federal workers who go to work on saturday and sunday but you have federal police, the military, they are still on. technically they're not being paid. that is why some are okay letting this string out maybe to monday or tuesday. if republicans steel their positions they could stretch this out through next wednesday morning. neil: wow. all right. chad, thank you for that. chad pergram. let's go to dan geltrude following these developments. accountant extraordinaire. he knows about money going in and out. dan, i want to begin by touching over this debate jerome powell. he have seems to feel his oats. sounding certainly a lot more hawkish that he would be inclined certainly to start raising rates sooner than expected. speeding up tapering. the one thing that caught my attention that he is not necessarily loved by all.

-- elizabeth warren but then along comes senator tom cotton with a pretty intriguing piece in today's "wall street journal" the guy simply doesn't deserve it. when it comes to the sole mission to keep the currency sound, he has failed at that. what did you make of that? >> well i don't think senator cotton is completely off the mark here. one of the things he was making reference to, neil, was this whole transitory business-related to inflation and that was a huge miss because when you look at what the fed is supposed to be doing it is about price stability and unemployment and when you miss on those things, listen, we'll give it that we had a pandemic going on but still he kept saying over and over and over again this was going to be temporary. and now he is backing off of that saying well, you know what? maybe it is going to be around for a little bit longer. certainly we're at the point

now, neil, where we are a 30-year high with inflation and i go back to something i've said to you before, related to newton's law of motion. what is going to change that is going to reverse where we're going with inflation? neil: you know the administration seizes on oil prices stablizing well off their highs. the fact that if it started with energy, on the upside, it is continuing with energy on the downside, today notwithstanding. we were flirting with $80 a barrel not too long ago. so the notion is it is already happening. but it is not getting coverage. that is what they say. what you do say? >> you have some aspects, neil. when you're looking at oil we see that happening. but to me this whole reliance upon opec, well that is not something that we could rely upon as being a stable situation. we were energy independent. we are no longer in that

position. so if we're going to be relying on others around the world to give us energy stability, it is not there. so i wouldn't get too comfortable with where we are right now related to oil and energy, neil. neil: all right. got it, dan. thank you very much, my friend. dan geltrude, very good rad on math. i appreciate someone who knows math. i wish people in congress, money in, money out. we were talking, chad was touching on the measure to keep the government lights on at least through february 18th next year. it already cleared a big hurdle. it will advance to the full house. this will be done in the appropriations committee. control room, correct me if i'm wrong. you're right, pops. lurkky break on that. but anyway, this is something to avoid any calamity on friday night. they're a long way from done but they're trying to get there. stay with us. you're watching fox business.

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♪. neil: forget the issue that is hot in washington whether we diplomatically boycott the chinese winter olympics. there is already a move afoot right now from the women's tennis association to suspend all tournaments in china has nothing to do with the olympics. alex hogan with much more from london. reporter: hi, neil. the women's tennis organization is calling this bigger than business. all tournaments have been canceled over safety concerns over peng shuai. china is hitting back firmly oppose to any event other act that politicize sport. the wta is demanding a full transparent investigation. chair steve simon wrote, quote in good conscience i don't think

i could ask our athletes to compete there when peng shuai has not been allowed to communicate freely and seemingly pressured to contradict her allegation of sexual assault. it was last month when the 35-year-old released a long painful memo accusing in detail a 75-year-old senior communist party official of sexual assault. the post itself removed within 30 minutes. reports of the story in china wiped from the web. peng went silent as the world grew loud questioning her safety and issues of censorship. the wimbledon and friend open doubles champion made public appearances like the one you see here. the wta says there is insufficient evidence of her safety. other tennis champions like andy roddick and djokovic commending the wta stance. they held a second videoconference with the tennis star saying she appears to be

safe and well. now remember, beijing is set to host the upcoming winter olympics. the ioc says it is offering support to peng as well as an in person meeting in january. now the wta's move would be the most sweeping stance against china any sports body has made. this will cost the organization millions of dollars to cancel these events. neil? neil: keep us posted, alex. thank you very much for that. alex hogan. keeping an eye on major league baseball looking at its first work stoppage close to three decades. the issue is on salaries and a revenue sharing plan that halted baseball as we know it. obviously there are arbitration issues and other things to deal with and salaries to deal with. the more that gets pushed back like a domino effect that could even delay the formal start of the preseason, to say nothing of the full season. get the read from david sampson, a former miami marlins

president. dave, good to have you back. the issue here is what? what prompted this? >> what prompted the lockouts was the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement at 11:59 p.m. the owners belief that the players had no interest in bargaining in good faith. they had no interest in coming to a deal. the owners felt doing the lockout that would get the players back to the table faster so that no games are missed next season. neil: what if it doesn't? in a game of chicken the players wait this out? not in the middle of the baseball season. it is still months away. how does this play out? >> well keep in mind the players only get paid between april and september. so while there is a lockout, players are not losing money. they only begin to lose once the season would have started. so i think the true pressure point comes when it looks like the season is going to be delayed and members of that union will not be getting paychecks they're used to

getting. but the union countered that argument saying we have a war chest here. we have with held licensing money from the players. we built up money we could distribute to the members of the union if they start missing actual paychecks this game of chicken as you called it could last for quite a while. neil: what is your idea of quite a while? >> my idea you have to get right to a true deadline and december 1st was not a true deadline in order to get two parties to come to an agreement. you also need to have both sides want to make an agreement. i'm not sure the players union, under bruce meyer, a newly hired lieutenant wants to make a dial. that is one of my fears. as we get closer to february and march, they will realize missing games is something fans simply will not tolerate. missing a world series the way baseball has done only once because of labor in 1994, that they cannot do that again. but they will go right up to the

limit. we'll talk quite a bit here, if you let me over the next couple months. neil: always love to have you on. david, i would be curious though. you mentioned the fans. in their eyes the battle is between millionaires and billionaires. billionaires owners and millionaire baseball players. they shake their head, how much more will we endure? you're right, it is something quite a while could develop into a canceled or disrupted season but the residual damage would be on both sides, wouldn't it? >> well keep in mind there have been work stoppages in the national football league and national hockey league and in the nba. it is not as though mlb is going the road never taken. it is true fans say i don't want to hear about billionaires and millionaires. it is true that fans have relatively short memories. after the strike in 94-95. by the time 1998 came four years later, we did introduce steroids

and great home run chase between mark maguire and sammy sosa but people tend to have recently bias. what have you for me lately. i do love them again. i do understand you don't want to upset your fans but you have a broader responsibility to the asset value to your team and to the sport. the union has a responsibility to the current and future players. until we see some sort of intersection of desire you will not see a deal and unfortunately the fans are really not part of that equation but you will hear a lot of pr that says we love you fans. we hope you're not upset but really that is ancillary. neil: we'll keep an eye on it. i always learn a lot. david sampson former miami marlin president. this could drag on simply where we are in a season that hasn't started but you know where that goes. it could keep everyone of the belief it will settle soon and

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neil: all right. the omicron virus, variant, you want to call it is rattling restaurants across the country as various politicians weigh in on the possibility of restrictions mask requirements, even shutting some facilities down in abundance of caution. we're not there yet, but my next guest is worried we'll get there. my next guest runs rebel 32 facility upstate new york. caters to weddings and other

events and eclectic events. jim, are you worried that something could come along and get politicians saying well, we got bad news for you, jim? what do you think? >> absolutely, absolutely. thank you for having me on, neil. i will probably take your advice about the two advil and a shot of tequila. that is great advise for everybody. neil: what kind of restrictions are in place now? sorry to jump on you there, now, jim. i don't believe you have attend dance limitations anymore at weddings orb social events but maybe you do. you can update me. what is in place now? what are the procedures to follow? >> sure. currently no attendance limitations. it is based on the occupancy of your building. you want to put the health and safety of your public as first priority. so we do implement some of our own covid policies. we try to make them as, you know, as effective as they can

be but still operate the business. and it kind of becomes a lightning rod for conversation but we're trying to keep everybody safe. we're trying to keep our patrons safe. i'm trying to keep my staff safe. revel 32 is family-owned business. i'm trying to keep my family safe. it become as difficult line to follow when you are in this business. neil: yeah, i bet. i'm just thinking, given the recent history, much of your opening and everything was tied you know, to special events and then covid hit and so you know, you survived that. you had to see a lot of weddings canceled. i'm hearing about stories where weddings are being frantically rebeaked for many every night of the week. where do things stand right now? >> it is funny. at revel 32, we opened, we bought the building in 2019. we renovated it. opened shortly before the pandemic hit.

2020 hit and we shut down completely. so we had to start to do business as we were allowed to do business and you know, we started with 50-person events and then 100 person events. eventually we opened up. even now we'll be working on a holiday parity. you work on parties for months. they're months in the making. then you know, recently we have had calls from people who say, hey, our guests are not comfortable coming into the facility, or going out anywhere that covid is an issue. so you know, it is always in the forefront of our mind. it is literally a daily conversation with our partners. you know, what are we doing to keep our people safe, without you know, upsetting, upsetting the customers. neil: new york's new governor talking about taking immediate action, if necessary she says, to get ahead of this variant, to my knowledge at least at this point, jim, hasn't really produced any serious cases, even

in africa where it is from. >> right. neil: do you think she risks overreacting? >> absolutely. i mean i think that is what we all fear, right? i think risk tolerance is a personal decision and you have, tough in yourself to say, hey, i'm going to wear my mask or i'm going to this event, not going to this event. i think it is incumbent on facilities saying this is what we do to keep safe. our staff is masked or, you're letting anybody in, we take temperatures. we check, we check, you know, your vaccine cards and thinks like that. neil: right. >> you about it is incumbent on facilities to let you know what they're doing to protect but everybody has their own risk tolerance. i think everybody needs to respect the risk tolerance of other people and facilities or you know, the local printer or your grocery store, whatever, wherever you're going. you know, you make that call for

yourself and your own safety. neil: everyone stay calm. that is probably good. >> exactly. neil: jim, wish you well. you have a gorgeous facility, there you have a history of doing big productions and, so i suspect that will still be the case, if people just as you say, stay calm. jim sullivan, revel 32 owner. great success they have there. meantime wonder about success for apple going forward. days after all-time highs there might be a problem with iphone 13 sales because consumers are retrenching. are they? after this. ♪.

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don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections—some serious —and the lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms or if you've had a vaccine or plan to. tell your doctor if your crohn's disease symptoms develop or worsen. serious allergic reactions may occur. it's good to be moving on. watch me. move, look, and feel better. ask your rheumatologist about cosentyx. neil: all right. we could take a peak at apple's stock right now dipping a little bit here. a few days ago hitting all-time highs, latest concern it was revealed in the ft, bloomberg, and others, that apple has been talking to suppliers saying you know what? something is going on with the consumer. they're retrenching a little bit. we don't know whether response to inflation or latest variant or whatever and more or less telegraphing things might not be so off the chart which for apple would mean like selling a billion iphones, i don't know

but anyway that is what has it getting hit right now. lauren simonetti following it all day. what is going on here? what do they say? lauren: do we buy the bloom berg report that apple says there is supply problem. neil: and why would they tell the suppliers. lauren: why would supplier admit there is problems. perhaps they want to manage expectation force the wall street community. if there is a demand problem, the consumers would say let's wait for the 13. wait a little longer for the 14. neil: denied, just delayed? lauren: delayed, perhaps. the 14 is expected to be completely different than the iphone 13 which was just modest changes from the 12. i don't know if they call it the 14. we'll know in couple months. neil: i surprised they call it the 13. people get a little nervous. lauren: skip that number normally. i hear, rumor that the 14 has a

48 megapixel camera, four times stronger. so much greater than the current phone. neil: you would. i don't want the cameras being so precise you know. just, you get to an age you fuzz the entire lens. in other words they're not hurting early sales. advance sales were very strong. all their other products are selling crazy. part of me, know it sounds very cynical, is part of this a strategy to surprise on the upside? >> it could be. it could be. i really don't know and i don't think investors are buying much into this report either. earlier this morning apple stock was down 3 plus percent. it is still down. up for the week. when you have the whole market up 650 points and you see apple just a part of the market down even just a little bit, that is a big deal. the iphone 13, so apple, because of the supply chain issues, they took a 6 billion-dollar hit in this past quarter. this story, if there is a supply

and a demand problem for the current holiday quarter, it's a big quarter for apple where most of their revenue, more than half of their revenue comes from the iphone anyway. a lot of people upgrade, get christmas, hanukkah gifts what have you, they could probably take a bigger hit in the current quarter. maybe that is why they're prepping wall street. dan ives of wedbush increased price target despite the news $15 to $200 a share for apple. he is usually right on these things. neil: i will see where it goes. lauren: he is not buying it. neil: 48 megapixel camera. lauren: scary i said. neil: lauren simonetti on all of that. want to go with andy lipow, not what is happening on apple but he has a great read of oil markets. he may have a bunch of apple products i don't know for sure. andy, great to see you. what is going on with opec countries not keen on changing

production levels to help us out, not on these days that it is necessary but your thought on oil and where we stand right now? >> well, opec is continuing with their program to increase or restore production in january. that would relief some of the pressure they have been receiving from the united states, china and india about supply shortfalls. you know, as we go forward of course the oil market is really being buffetted by what we see on the demand side, especially from the latest covid variant and since november 9th, we've seen oil prices fall over 20%. you know the good news is that the covid variant did what the strategic petroleum release could not do which was -- neil: that is a very good point. that is a very good point. you're right about that but finish that thought. >> as a result you know the consumer will see this gradual decline in gasoline prices at the pump. i expect them to fall 25 cents a gallon over the next four to six weeks given the remarkable fall we've seen in crude oil prices.

neil: so, spell out for those who will be traveling during the holiday season what are they looking at gas pricewise? >> well gas pricewise i would say the national average by christmas is probably going to be around $3.20 a gallon, maybe a little bit less. so a little bit more money in the consumers pocketbook but don't look for any really dramatic falls below $3 a gallon on the national average by christmas. neil: all right. we'll watch it closely. andy lipow, lipow oil associates president. oil holding it a little soft. not so the dow. up 642. more after this. voya doesn't just help me get to retirement... ...they're with me all the way through it. voya. be confident to and through retirement. ...

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neil: all right, updating you on a couple of developments, stocks racing ahead as worry about this omicron thing so far not evidencing itself today of course yesterday at this time, we were doing pretty nicely until we found out that a case was in the u.s. , we've got another case in this country right now, but so far, no one panicking about it. the administration is outlining new measures to sort of prepare us for the unthinkable, if it were to happen, by requiring masks through the end of march, middle of march, more like it, and also some new rule changes, you're going to be tested coming into this country whether or not you're from this country. those are some of the big things they are talking about here but the fact of the matter is that

for vaccine makers and the like, they are the golden place to be right now and this is helping hospitality and related stocks on the belief that this will make sure that everything is hun ky dory through this whole process, we'll see how that goes as you know wall street had a manic reaction to this so again, a much depends on what maybe the president outlines and whether he will provide more details. we know of two known cases in the united states but we already heard from a number of epidemiologists who suspect dozens even hundreds that we just don't know who and where they are. so, that does follow the virus variant pattern, remember this is the fourth variant that we've seen, so we'll keep track of that for you. in the meantime, as i said keeping track of what the president might be recommending right now, just in case, i guess edward lawrence at the white house, the just in case thing, means you could take some sweeping actions, even if they don't warrant it, right? reporter: yeah, neil exactly and minutes ago the president landed

at nih, national institutes of health and will take a tour and deliver some remarks within this hour, about his plan going forward. now, the president's plan basically breaks down to three main categories, it's testing, outreach, and travel restriction s. on the testing portion of it, the president will announce that private companies will be forced to pay for home covid tests or reimburse for those tests starting in mid-january. he plans to make sure community sites as well as rural clinics have free tests, the white house also encouraging pharmacies to send millions more robo calls, texts e-mails pushing vaccinations and boosters. i asked about this , listen. >> well look, what our objective is here is to make sure people know where to get a vaccine and a booster and a lot of people are still confused about that and access, we know, is a huge barrier so i'm sorry about all of the calls. reporter: so the plan for calls also calls for a safe school checklist to be given to schools

to on a clear game plan on how they could get as many teachers and students vaccinated as possible, but it stops short of calling for mandates on this saying the decision is up to those local school districts, and we do know the president is trying to force employers to mandate vaccines but the courts have halted that as it's being challenged there. >> the federal government should not be telling private employers to force their people to be vaccinated. now the private employer may choose so, but i do not think the federal government, i think it's an overreach of president biden's power. the courts obviously agree. reporter: and now, on travel, the president will require, as you mentioned, to wear masks through march 18, as planes, trains, as well as buses, also everyone flying into the united states from another country has to, starting early next week, have a covid test, a negative covid test within 24 hours of that flight, all four nationals coming in, must be vaccinated. back to you. neil? neil: edward looking forward to hearing what the president will

propose at nih, also letting you know that a lot of the airline hospitality stocks are so far saying this is not a big deal and we only glean that from authorities and health ministers in places like south africa and elsewhere who said the cases relatively mild here and they don't like being alienated, and having, you know, embargoes put on trade as a result of what they're experiencing, but if that holds true, the fallout could be limited which could be welcome news, bar ry bickle is the frontier airlines ceo. good to see you again. how are things looking first off on dealing with this , and how your own staff, your pilots, your baggage handlers, flight attendants, are they anxious about it ordealing with it? >> neil thanks for having us on i think if you look at it we're almost two years into this so i think consumers as well as our employees just aren't panicking

and over reacting. we're looking at sales volumes that they are still very strong, we had a great thanksgiving, we're looking at great christmas bookings so i think the american consumer is smart, and i think the facts that we've seen so far are that there's milder symptoms , the facts are it looks like the vaccine is preventing severe outcomes, so i think if you're vaccinated, you're boosted live your life and we're just a few weeks away from the pill treatments so i think we're kind of i think we're moving beyond panicking anymore. neil: yeah, well the earlier emergency approval of merck's pill treatment to deal with this , but let me ask about the things that president might outline in the next hour, including keeping masks on, at least through middle of march, maybe beyond that. how do your passengers deal with that, respond to that? some of these videos, mayhem and all on flights are now legendary but i'm just wondering how do you suspect they will deal with yet another extension of that? >> well, i think look, 99.99%

of everybody is complaint and it's not a problem. there's still a handful of people that are a challenge but look it's a couple more months, you've got the merck pill but you've got the pfizer pill treatment which is coming out very soon, so i think by the time if they do extend it through march by then, hopefully we're completely behind this. i think 2022 should be the end of covid as least the crisis part of covid. neil: let me ask you the most important question of all. united is the first carrier to allow liquor back on flights. they were going to risk it, because they said that a lot of passengers were demanding it, they think it's safer, because rather than boozing up at the airport and being hostile on the plane, they can start the process on the plane, and by the time they are rowdy, they're off the plane. where are you on the liquor debate? >> yeah, look, we've seen no evidence that the liquor alone is the problem. in fact there's other substance abuse issues, and there's some people that are just upset about masks and it doesn't matter if

they're drinking or not, so we haven't seen a strong correlation. i know there's a lot of allegations but i haven't seen any real facts that support that neil: so when we're looking at the busy travel season, we were familiar with what happened over the summer and the early fall with flights that were over booked, flight cancellations , you know, so a lot of people are burnt by that, far more than they are by anything covid-related. what can you tell fliers now? >> well it appears that the shortages that people had, you know, those things are moderating now that we're no longer paying people to stay home and so a lot of those challenges that i think the staffing that hit many other airlines and us to a degree, but it didn't impact our operations like it did others, i think we're largely behind that and so i think everybody had a great thanksgiving and ourselves as well as the industry, so i think the industry is ready and prepared to have a good holiday season. neil: now, this isn't so much an issue for frontier as it is many international carriers, but i am beginning to wonder if

people have to restrict where they go, on how you prepare for that. some are focusing only on profitable routes or those that are heavily used. i know american is focused on that. delta, spirit airlines comes to mind. what are you doing in that regard? >> yeah, i'm sorry, what is the exact question in there? neil: i'm sorry just on focusing on the routes that are productive, maybe limiting or cutting back those routes for you that are not, or don't generate as many passengers. >> oh, sure. yeah, no, i understand now. so yes, we're primarily domestic , we have near- international so we don't have the risks, obviously in and out of israel is a problem, or south africa, but that's what i said a while ago. the biggest risk globally is overreaction and it appears some countries maybe have gone too far based on the facts we know so far so as long as we don't overreact this will be short

lived and you already saw the demand that's there for trans-atlantic and all international travel if we can just move forward. i think the restrictions are not as effective as they'd like them to be. i think what's more important is probably the testing and vaccinations. neil: yeah, that is the bug-a-bo o here. the last question, it's important to me, i know everyone has to stay calm on planes i get that, but i'm always behind the guy who puts his seat back all the way, and is there a way that you can punish that individual or any thoughts on that? >> well, so at frontier we have a unique situation where we've already pre-reclined the seats because i too, neil, i've been annoyed about that my entire life and so we prevent that by happening by just going ahead and pre-reclining everybody's seats so they can't push it further into you. neil: perfect if you could spread that to your industry colleagues i think we're on fire here. very good seeing you and hope you have a very happy holiday,

the frontier airlines ceo. again, following these developments when we are worried about yet a new variant that gives people pause. it does sort of become a self- fulfilling prophecy, if you're worried about it, you stop doing things and if apple is right you stop considering buying expensive badges", could the same happen to air travel, to vacations? let's get the read from lydia hu , fox business, todd piro, fox & friends first co-host. this guy does not sleep, but he's always so gung ho and very happy. you're welcome on all those jets i think you be welcome on those jets. todd: if you need muscle on any of these things to like beat somebody up -- neil: call lidia. >> [laughter] todd: that's not a joke. neil: does it give you guys pause when you hear this sort of stuff? maybe i won't do that trip or it's going to be a hassle? >> you know, when i think about the mask mandates being extended , i have a two-year-old, and i already have to wrestle with her in saturday morning dance class to wear the mask,

the thought of wrestling on board a plane -- neil: they kick kids off planes, it seems silly. >> they should kick me and my daughter off. neil: what do you think? todd: we just turned one, we're not at the ripe old age of two, so we're not doing masks but there's a producer on fox & friends that had a great phrase, is the juice worth the squeeze? you go on vacation to relax and enjoy your time but all the hoops you need to jump through in the covid age quite frankly my family and i made the decision to stay home and enjoy the time at home because by the time you go through all of those hoops, you're exhausted and the purpose of vacation hasn't been realized. now for those people who want to visit relatives during the holiday season that's a different ballgame altogether and especially if you haven't seen your relatives in two years neil: or if you really like them but that's a whole other issue. lidia, i know you fly private, i get that, i'm kidding, kidding just kidding, but what do you think of this? you talk, todd raised a good point, you are young parents and

all that, that it's just not worth the hassle and i think that employee tends to a lot of other areas, that people are happy or over the worst of the pandemic but they're not going to go gangbusters on anything, they are proceeding with caution wouldn't they? >> yeah, i think when we think about these evolving restriction s and new covid variants there's resilience being built up in two arenas. the resilience to the covid variant like okay, if there were to be a covid case we could manage through it we know the treatments are great, vaccinations, booster, et cetera but then there is can we handle a new restriction that comes into play, if we are abroad. are we going to get stuck somewhere and get a covid test and then when you bring children into the fold just a whole new ballgame of whether or not you can accommodate their needs as well. so i think, you know, on the one hand i think people that want to travel, i'm going to do that, whether or not i bring my children around and along is a different story.

my appetite for that decreases. neil: yeah, depends on the day or the restrictions, but we are going to get more restrictions today, we just don't know how many, but they will be sweeping enough for a lot of people, you know, who were thinking about getting vaccinated, might not now, it's the irony of look what happens even when you are, right todd: right. if you're going by anecdotal, the city, the last couple days, has been an absolute disaster so i feel like the travel has come back here, the beginning of the holiday season, but it begs the question, neil, like you mentioned. once these things are instituted and in place, are we going to see the numbers especially if foreign travelers, everybody loves to be in new york during the holiday season, are we getting foreign travelers and are people going for their holiday season out of the country. one more thing on the kid front. yes, if all these restrictions are in place as adults we maybe able to navigate them with our employers but doing it in the daycare setting is an absolute nightmare. if you have any sniff of covid,

you're out for 10 days and that destroys your parents schedules in an untold way. we had a little scare, was out 10 days, we couldn't do anything it crippled my wife and i and the in-laws from a scheduling perspective and you have to obviously go with the kid because, you know, you love the kid, you made the kid, it's your kid, they're priority but it's really ramifications and goes back to is the juice worth the squeeze if you want to enjoy a little, are you going to be, you know, put behind the eight ball when you come back. neil: i tend to think that we're through the worst of this though i could be wrong but i just tend to think even the cases that are being reported we don't know a lot, but it just doesn't seem like this is a crisis. >> i feel the same. i was actually talking to a travel executive earlier today and she said they are just not seeing knee jerk pullback cancellation on trips right now like we did at the start, so that was a very encouraging sign , it's just the tolerance seems to be growing, people are trying to navigate, but you know

, navigating like you said with kids, whole other issue. todd: and neil not to get out of my lane here but just look at the little green box in the bottom of the screen. i think that's a good sign from the travel front and a lot of what we saw over the last couple of days has more to do with the fed and the interest rates and there i've said too much this is a business show. neil: you're right. a lot is going to hang on how the world digests all of this stuff. i think you're right. i do notice that people are hungry for some sense of normalcy like the tree lights in midtown manhattan, that's a big deal. i was surprised a number of people outside our building, with this huge christmas tree, i've been telling people that is "the rock" efeller. todd: $10 a pop. neil: you thought it was over there, no, no. todd: you'll be able to hire real security for that plane, not rely on tiny todd. neil: guys i want to thank you very very much on that and todd is right, we're up about 650 points and again this manic

reaction depends on how people react to the latest news right now on this variant, which so far seems so good, there is also building story we're following that already we're learning that jerome powell, the federal reserve, is inclined to just sort of wait this thing out, that would fly in the face of early reports that he was going to go really hawkish on raising interest rates, you know , immediately addressing all of this tapering and speeding it up, but again, depending on what you read and what you follow, he might go slow and just see how this works out and criticized in the past for sometimes getting behind the curve and this particular time, if he follows that, the markets might welcome it. we'll see , right now 10 year treasury, amidst all these inflationary fears you don't see it 1.45%, two weeks ago today, 1.65%. stay with us, you are watching fox business.

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neil: you know, a lot of times you're focus on the president and his trail, but right now it's the vice president getting a lot of scrutiny whether people will stick with her or not is, i'm not talking about the president of the united states, but key aids including s

imone sanders whose quitting the vice president harris, by the end of this year, second major player to lead the vice president, what does that mean, what could it portend , let's get the read from peter doocy at the white house, but busy and crazy times there. what is happening with the vice president? it just seems like these stories keep coming. reporter: busy and crazy, neil, is exactly right. we haven't seen this kind of a mass exodus of staff from the white house among biden staffers but just across the driveway over at the eisenhower executive office building as many as four key kamala harris aids are either out, announced they're out or are reportedly leaving soon. is the vice president not satisfied with the staffing she's had so far or do people just not want to work for her anymore? >> it's natural for staffers who have thrown their heart into

a job to be ready to move on to a new challenge after a few years and that is applicable to many of these individuals. reporter: the vice president's approval ratings have been falling like a rock look at this from 50% approving in june to 40% approving in the most recent november fox news poll. her portfolio is huge, address ing root causes of migration, fixing voting rights, leading the space counsel and there have been murmurs about descent among the ranks all the way up to the vp featured in detailed reports but the vice president has insisted she can handle whatever the president xi s her to do. >> so you don't feel misused or underused? >> no, i don't. i'm very very excited about the work that we have accomplished but i am also absolutely, absolutely clear- eyed that there's a lot more to do and we're going to get it done. reporter: president biden and vice president harris insist that everything is fine when they are in public but remember,

it was only like two and a half years ago they were rivals in public. neil? neil: that's a good point. i am curious, whether the administration could be even thinking the unthinkable, of replacing her, as a runningmate should he choose to run again. in modern times we haven't seen it, but we certainly saw it a lot. it was quite common in early as well as late american history going up to fdr where he went through vice president like tissue paper so it's unfamiliar to a lot of folks but is is that in anyone's mind right now? reporter: it is in some people's minds maybe not here at the white house but from the outside but to my point about how they used to be rivals something we notice all the time is that biden staffers and harris staffers are not necessarily close, even though they are all part of the same administration, and so, there is a sense, according to some of these reports and some people speaking anonymously to reporters, that they think that kamala harris

should be the error apparent and there are many other people in the administration who were through the bruising progressive primary of 2020 they don't necessarily feel the same way, and there's no indication yet, at least publicly, that president biden is going to step down this time. he has said he wants to run for re-election in 2024, that would really mess up her 2024 aspirations. neil: yeah, to put it mildly. peter thank you very very much. peter doocy following these developments meantime following a lot of back and forth on capitol hill right now, and specifically, the conservative lawmakers now calling out the white house for all but silencing the right wing thoughts or even conservative general thoughts. hillary vaughn has a lot more on that on capitol hill. hillary what's going on here? reporter: hey, neil. well there also has been some concern from republican lawmakers about the nomination that biden chose for the fcc

commissioner ghi ghi stone, she was here on capitol hill yesterday and she faced a lot of questions about some of her past comments, her past tweets, that were attacking republicans, saying negative things about them and that is adding to this narrative that there is a concern that the biden administration is putting people in positions of power that would have influence over news organizations but also social media companies as well that are slanted against conservatives and stone faced some of those questions in the hearing yesterday that she had to either defend or take back. >> maybe the tone was a little sharper, maybe i should have dulled it a little bit, those were my words and my opinions but they will have no bearing on how i would act if i'm confirmed as an fcc commissioner. >> well i think these tweets are clearly evidence of bias. >> senator, i respectfully disagree. >> really? reporter: but while stone

admitted her tone was not ideal in her public attacks against certain media organizations she never takes them back so i asked her on her way out yesterday if she still believes the things that she said. >> you didn't take the tone of your tweets back. do you still stand by all of the things you said on twitter? do you stand by those comments? >> meanwhile on capitol hill there are questions about if congress will act in big tech and prevent any bias on their platform. there was a hearing yesterday on section 230 the rule that gives social media companies like facebook and twitter liability from content moderation decisions, this as facebook just lifted its ban on searches for kyle rittenhouse and positive posts about him and also, some republican lawmakers like senator josh hawley worries will just give them larger grounds to actually go after and

censor conservatives on that platform. neil? neil: you know, hillary, when you chase these people down and one of my favorite moments here it looks like if she could have run into a wall and through it if she could, to avoid you, but it's very clear her language, certainly is anti-fox, i get that and all, but those are strong opinions of hers that they cannot be interpreted at something that would make her a questionable overseeer of all these media. reporter: yeah, and neil what i think was interesting is we talked to lawmakers out of the hearing and she said a lot of negative things directly about news organizations, the very ones that she be in charge of regulating, she promises she'll recuse herself, if an outside committee decides that she has biases but then the question is, well what's left in the job description if you have to recuse yourself from all of these agencies when

that's part of, a big part of your job, is to oversee matters related to those. neil: i thought she was looking for a trap door or something when she felt the wall. i guess not, but i was just wondering. all right thank you very much, hillary vaughn, i love those moments, i gotta get "of here. all right right now, we're up about 594 points here we're following other developments in washington besides the back and forth over presidential appointment picks and all the rest. the president himself and what he's going to say about crack down on dealing with this latest variant, just in case. just in case, and what's happening with the potential government shutdown that could be a little more than what, about 40 hours away? after this. i've spent centuries evolving with the world. that's the nature of being the economy. observing investors choose assets to balance risk and reward. with one element securing portfolios, time after time. gold.

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neil: all right, i think that i'd call this punting or kicking the can down the road but whatever works right now, the idea being in the middle of this pandemic, and what's going on right now, with a new virus

variant trying to keep the government lights on, beyond late tomorrow night, or else we start shutting things down. they think they have a plan that pushed this back or this day of reckoning for at least another couple of months, let's get the latest right now following all these developments , on capitol hill. what are they talking about here reporter: hey, there, good afternoon to you, neil. so it looks like the house is setting up to take a vote on funding the government sometime later today, and then it'll get kicked over to the senate, but really interesting what's happening on the senate side right now a lot of people talking about the so to speak de fund the vaccine mandate movement that senator lee actually, mike lee of utah, is leading the way on. he was just on the senate floor talking about it a few moments ago, but look, minority leader mitch mcconnell came out today doubled down on this idea that republicans are tossing around and said no, we will not allow

the government to shutdown. instead he wants to take a legislative route to address this vaccine mandate. take a listen to this. >> next week, we're going to have a vote on the vaccine mandate, prohibiting that regulation from going into effect. i think it has a decent chance of passing the senate. we're not going to shut the government down. that makes no sense for anyone, almost no one on either side thinks it's a good idea. reporter: so if this passes the house today, then mcconnell will need to round up 10 republicans to help leader schumer avert a shutdown tomorrow. what he won't help democrats do is pass the president's build back better plan, so democrats have been looking at this omicron variant that's come out as another reason now to pass this bill and in fuse the economy with more covid relief money on top of of course the nearly 5 trillion that's already been allocated for the pandemic and the white house really giving more political ammo, neil, to

republicans, fired up over new restrictions that come ahead of a really a full picture of this new variant. listen to what senator rand paul said this morning. >> their first reaction, their gut reaction as soon as they hear something we must act, we must do something but it's usually to control your behavior to tell you, you can't do this in your business or restaurant or hotel or to tell you you can't travel. the thing is is this is devastating to the world. reporter: so again, looks like we'll have a vote later today in the house to fund the government but then perhaps a showdown in the senate coming our way. neil: all right, looks like another late night, thank you very very much for that, following these developments so where do we stand? let's get the read from california congressman john gara mundi, also dusty johnson, the south dakota republican senator both working together on a number of initiatives but before i get to that, gentlemen, to you first, congressman, garamundi on this shutdown, not shutdown, how do things look to you right now?

>> looks like a normal congress to me. i've been here 11 years and this is not news. we're coming up against the deadlines and then there's always this finger pointing both directions or every direction, except at yourself. the fact of the matter is, we will get this done, and we'll move along here. neil: all right, so congressman johnson, one of the things that's come up is if this is pushed back, so too could be the complicated efforts to raise the debt ceiling, republicans have made it clear to democrats that they're not interested in helping out on that frontment i'm just wondering if democrats go it alone, whether you think they can. >> oh, i think they can go it alone. i think that's what the folks in the senate have been asking for the republicans all along. i think the general sense is that if you're going to pass a covid bill unilaterally if you'll pass build back better unilaterally then when you have

to go to the american people and tell them you have to borrow more money you can do that unilaterally. you also need to get past the filibuster. neil: well they might just do that so let me get your sense separately things that you are keen on joining forces on because we tend to think republicans and democrats are at each other's throats and both of you prove that's not always the case, particularly with this legislation bill. could you explain, congressman garamundi, what this is about? >> this is about a fair system of international trade. one in which the american exporters, american businesses, are not harmed by a system that is clearly designed for a monopoly and there are five major shippers, they're able to could, i'm sure there was an example, dusty has an example , i was at the jelly belly headquarters in fairfield, california. the candy maker, six months ago they were able to get a

container to export their candy, to somewhere in the world for just over $3,000. the bid this week is $31, 900 for that same container and the containers are actually available. so it's the market system, it needs a regulatory environment. neil: so what will this do then? everything we hear, congressman johnson, is that it's a supply chain problem, it's hard to get things here, delayed by covid, who knows, but it seems to be entrenched in the system. now we've taken a number of efforts to help that 24/7 workers, but to little a vail. where do you see it going? >> so right now, we've got these foreign-flagged ocean carriers that john is talking about whose interests are not well-aligned, neil, with american exporters interest, and as a result, they are just rejecting it, unprecedented levels that their willingness to carry american agricultural

exports especially. they are choosing to take empty containers across the ocean, rather than put american ag exports in them and i'd just note this is not a conceptual problem. you look at company after company, like valley queen cheese factory in south dakota, they have 2 million pounds of lactose which have already been sold overseas that have been sitting around for weeks, recently they had one shipment sit on the port for 75 days. it started to rot. it cost that company money. we just gotta get these foreign flagged ocean carriers to do their job and haul those goods. that's what our bill would do. neil: all right well keep us posted i apologize for interrupting the president of the united states is speaking at the national institute of health on measures to safeguard us in light of this latest variant hitting the united states. >> first of all, expanding the nationwide booster campaign with more outreach, more appointments, more hours, more

times and sites to walk-in, providing booster shots for up to 110 million americans who are eligible for boosters, and i was talking to one of my folks who does polling and national strategy, and he said there's some evidence in one poll, i won't mention it because i'm not positive of the number, but told this as i was leaving the white house, that there is an expectation that 30% of the non- vaxxers under no circumstances would i get a vaccination, because of the new variant are now saying i'm going to get a vaccination, so we hope that's true, i hope that's true. the second point is that launch ing new family vaccination clinics to make it easier for children, parents and whole families to get vaccinated in one place, and new policies to keep our children in school instead of quarantining them at

home. i'll talk about the detail of each of these in a moment. the third piece of this is making free at-home tests more available than ever before, and having them covered by your private insurance plans available in thousands of locations and available in community health centers and other sites for the uninsured, who don't have insurance. four, increasing our surge response teams that our doctors, our nurses, i know people in this audience know incredibly well about what a surge team is, but medical staff and the communities with rising cases and overburdened hospitals and short on personnel, and by the way, they make a gigantic difference. republican governors as well as democratic governors contact me when i go into their states and talk about thank you for these surge teams, because it really makes a difference in some communities are hit so much harder than others, they just can't make it and what we're

going to do i'll speak to this in more detail in a second. the fifth thing we're doing is accelerating our efforts to vaccinate the rest of the world and strengthen international travel rules for people coming to the united states. i plan to announce, my plan i'm announcing today pulls no punch es in the fight against covid-19 and it's a plan that i think should unite us. i know covid-19 has been very divisive in this country and a political issue, which is a sad, sad commentary. it shouldn't be, but it has been now, as we move into the winter and face the challenges of this new variant, this is a moment we can put the divisive behind us i hope. this is a moment we can do what we haven't been able to do enough of through this whole pandemic, get the nation to come together, unite the nation in a common purpose, to fight this virus, to protect one another, to protect our economic recovery, and to think of it in terms of literally a patriotic

responsibility rather than somehow you're denying people their basic rights. the plan i'm announcing today is a plan our scientists and covid teams have recommended and while my existing federal vaccination requirements are being reviewed by the courts, this plan does not expand or add to those mandates. a plan that all americans hopefully can rally around, and it should be and should get bipartisan support in my humble opinion. it should unite us, not continue to separate us. parenthetically you all know that literally as it relates to whether or not we pay the federal debt, whether we're going to, in fact, have a continued resolution, et cetera, some of my friends on the other team are arguing that if i don't commit that they'll never be any more mandates they will let us default. in the neighborhood, they look at me and say "go figure" but

before i explain this new action in more detail, i want to and i'm not going to embarrass you, doc, but i do want to thank francis collins. you know, you've done an incredible job, doc, here at nih, one of the most important scientists in our time , in my view, and i think that i'm not exaggerating a bit. dr. collins was the first call, i think it was the second call i made to ask if you'd stay on. the second call i made. it's because when i was vice president, i got to know dr. collins really well, when i was given the opportunity to manage the cancer moonshot initiative, and dr. collins is an incredible resource for our nation and i'm grateful and i mean that sincerely. i'm grateful for everything he's done for this pandemic and advancing all kinds of medical breakthroughs including mapping the human genome. he recently announced he's

stepping down as director of the nih this month after a truly consequential tenure, but the good news really is dr. collins is going to return to the lab, for national human genome research institute and we look forward to his unmatched ability to unlock possibilities within our reach and doc, bad news is you ain't getting rid of me, man. i'm going to keep calling you all the time because there's a lot of other things we can do, you can do and help me to get done. you just tell me, point me in the direction and i'll follow. i just received a briefing from dr. collins and fauci and dr. lawrence tiback, as well as dr. julie ledgerwood, and i appreciate it very much. my only regret was it was a short meeting because i was coming to speak. i think we all benefit more if we made my speech short and spent more time with these docs, but you know, as they study the

omicron variant, we have just two cases reported here in the united states, but as i explained on monday, this new variant is cause for concern, but not panic. we knew there be cases of this , of omicron here in the united states, and it's here, but we have the best tools, the best vaccines in the world and the best medicine and the best scientists in the world. we're going to fight this variant with science and speed, not chaos and confusion. just like we beat covid-19 in the spring and more powerful delta variant in the summer and fall. as a result, we enter this winter from a position of strength compared to where america was last winter. last christmas, 1% of adults were fully vaccinated. this christmas that number will be 72% including more than 86% of seniors, the most vulnerable population. last christmas our children were

at risk without a covid-19 vaccine. this christmas, you have safe, effective vaccines for children age five and older, with 20 million children and counting now vaccinated. last year, a majority of our schools were closed christmas time, in that area. now, over 99% of our schools are open, but i pledge to always be straight and straight from the shoulder as president of the united states and tell the american people exactly where we are, so here it is. experts say the covid-19 cases continue to rise in the weeks ahead this winter, so we need to be ready. you can read the whole plan we're talking about here, white house.gov, and it's all laid out in detail. for now, here are the five key points i want to expand on slightly. we're expanding our national booster campaign to provide booster shots to all eligible

adults. our docs and scientists believe that people who get a booster shot are more protected than ever from covid-19. i was just told, which was a question i got to ask, i've been meaning to ask for a long time, whether or not, not just an it increases resistance to the variant that is being dealt with but it also is stronger. it not only just raises the total, but it's stronger and makes things more powerful in terms of resisting, and the center for disease control and prevention, the cdc, the food and drug administration , the fda and our top public officials recommend all adults get a booster shot when it's time, but here's the deal. more than about 100 million are eligible for boosters, but haven't gotten the booster shot yet. folks, if you're over the age of 18 and you got vaccinated before

june 2, six months has gone by. go get your booster now. go get it now. booster shots continue to be free. we've already made it available, 80,000 locations coast to coast in the united states of america. 80,000 locations to get the booster, and if you want to know exactly where to go text your zip code to 438829 to find where you can get your booster shot now, now. starting today, we're making it easier than ever to get a boost er shot. i'm calling on pharmacies and they've been cooperative, big and small, to offer more appointments, more walk-in hours including week nights and weekends, so you can get vaccinated at a time that works best for you and your family. pharmacies will send millions of texts and e-mails to remind their customers to return for the booster shots because you know who got the booster

shot at cvc, they've agreed they are sending texts to that particular person when the time is up, when they've met, if it's pfizer or moderna, or six months if it's j & j two months, and, you know, to reach our seniors, we're also collaborat ing with the american association of retired persons, aarp, who will be reaching out to their 38 million members, making an aggressive effort. they are hosting virtual town halls to answer questions on and even arrange rides for seniors to get their booster shots so that will all be coming. my administration also contacted the 64 million people on medicare to remind them to get their booster shots. we have the ability to do that from the federal level, and just like i did to make it easier for folks to get their first and second shots, i'm providing paid off time for any federal employee who goes to get their booster, is the only time they

can get the booster where they are if it's at such and such a day in the middle of the day, they can go, all they have to do is demonstrate that's where they went or took their son, daughter, husband, wife, mom, dad, they get paid. they don't get docked their pay, and i'm asking other employers in the private sector to do the same thing. now, i don't want you to have to choose between paycheck and getting additional protection for a booster shot. i want to reiterate dr. fauci and dr. collins believe if you're worried about the omicron variant the best thing to do is get fully vaccinated and then get your booster shot when you're eligible. excuse me, we don't yet believe, excuse me, that additional measures will be needed, but so that we're prepared, if needed, my team is already working with officials at pfizer, moderna, johnson & johnson, to develop contingency plans for other vaccines or boosters, and i'll also direct a fda and the cdc to

use the fastest process available without cutting corner s for safety to get such vaccines renewed, reviewed and approved if they're needed. second, we're expanding our efforts to vaccinate children ages five and up. for any parent worried about omicron variant or the delta variant, get your child vaccinated at one of the 35,000 locations in the country including doctor's offices, pharmacies, chirp's hospitals, and 9,000 pop-up clinics at schools. if you're wondering where to go, again, visit vaccines.com. today, i'm announcing that we're going to launch hundreds of new family vaccination clinics across the country. these sites offer vaccinations for the whole family, one-stop, one stop, children can get vaccinated, parents can get vaccinated, get their second , first or second shots, or their booster shots.

family vaccination clinics will be held in community health centers and other trusted locations. some will be mobile to reach further into harder to reach communities. if it's booster shots for adults , vaccinations for kids, all at the same place at the same time. now, you know, when we first announced, i said the logistical problem, it wasn't just we didn't have enough vaccines when we got into office but once we got the vaccines the logistical effort to get all communities and all areas vaccinated was a gigantic logistical undertaking that would make any military proud of being able to do do it, but because of the incredible talent, including our military, we got that done and we can do the same thing now as we continue to expand. we know parents of children under the age of five are wondering when the vaccine will be available for little ones. that's the question i most get often asked now at functions

we had a function celebrating hanukkah and various things at the white house. parents come up to me and are saying, i have a three-year-old. is there going to be a time that am i going to be okay? is she or he going to be okay and let me say this. i strongly support the independent scientific view of vaccine usage for children under five. we can't take shortcuts with that scientific but i'll do everything in my power to support the fda to do this safely and quickly as possible when we get to that point, vaccinating our children is also critical to keeping our schools open, but while over 99% of our schools are open now, we need to make sure that we keep that throughout the winter, this winter, the cdc is now reviewing approaches like, recall, test-to-stay, test-to- stay poll thinks which for a lot of students who stay in the classroom and be tested

frequently, when a positive case in that classroom popped up and it wasn't them. up to now, you go home and you quarantine but rather than being sent home and quarantine and be able to stay the test will be available and regularly. the cdc will release the latest science and other findings in the coming weeks so that other schools can learn from the impediments, excuse me, if there's any impediments in this practice they can learn to implement exactly what the best way to do this is, it's a process. we want our children in school and we're going to take new steps to make sure it stays that way, but again, the best step is to vaccinate your children. the third this winter we're making free at-home tests more available to americans than ever before, to better detect and control the delta variant, i made testing more available and affordable and convenient. i used the defense production

act to increase production of rapid test including at-home tests. when i came into office none of these tests were on the market. thanks to our actions and the work of all of you, we now have at least eight at-home testing options, and prices for those tests are coming down, but it still isn't good enough in my view. that's why i'm announcing that health insurers must cover the cost of at-home testing so that if you're one of the 150 million americans with a private health insurance, next month, your plan will cover at- home tests. private insurers already cover the expensive pcr test, and that you get at a doctor's office, and now, they will cover at-home tests as well. now for those not covered by private insurance we'll make it available free tests at thousands of convenient locations for folks to pick them up and take a test kit home. the bottom line, this winter, you'll be able to test for free

in the comfort of your home and have some peace of mind. this is on top of the 20,000 sites already around the country like pharmacies where you can go in and get tested for free. we have to keep this going. four, we're going to continue to help communities that experience rising cases this winter, and improve the care for those who get covid-19. since this summer, we worked with republican and democratic governors and many republican governors to deploy what we call surge response teams. these teams work, they provide needed staff, for staff overruns that's badly-needed staff for overrun hospitals are handl ing more patients than they can handle, for their emergency room and intensive care units who don't have the personnel available, to help provide life saving treatments and communities in need like

monoclonal antibody treatments. we have more than 20 teams deployed now, today i'm announcing we're going to triple that, more than double it, get to 60 teams ready to deploy in states experiencing a surge in cases over the course of this winter. just with governor in minnesota who was raving about the positive impact its had on his state, but there's other states the same circumstance and this is increasing the availability of new medications recommended by real doctors, not conspiracy theorists, okay? for example, monoclonal antibody treatments have been shown to reduce the risk of hospitalizations by up to 70%, and for unvaccinated people at risk of developing severe disease. we've already distributed over 3 million courses of this treatment to save lives, and reduced the strain. and we're, we have promising new a rifle i'll, excuse me,

anti-viral pills on the horizon help hospitalizations and death of people affected by covid-19. we secured enough supply already. we believe that these will remain effective against omicron. we don't know yet but that is the expectation. we want to assure these medicines will be available to the haweddest hit communities in america as well. fifth and finally as we see with covid-19 and the delta variant and now with omicron variant, all all that emerged elsewhere, it all came from somewhere else. we'll ultimately, to beat this pandemic we need to go to where it came from in the rest of the world. we also need to vaccinate the rest of the world. america has, in my view, continues to lead in that effort. we shipped for free more

vaccines around the world than all other countries in the world combined. every other country combined. over 280 million vaccines so far to 110 countries including south africa where we delivered all the doses they requested. now, today i'm announcing that we'll accelerate the delivery of more vaccines to countries that need it. places to deliver 200 million more doses than in the next 100 days on our way to delivering more than one billion 200 million doses for the rest of the world, let me be clear, not a single vaccine dose america ever sends to the rest of the world will ever come at the expense of any american. i will always make sure our people are protected first but vaccinating the world is not just a moral tool, a moral obligation that we have in my

view, it's how we protect americans. as we've seen with this new variant. america is doing our part and we'll do more but this is a global pandemic and everyone needs to fight it together and that includes countries who are helping that aren't particularly friendly toward us. their populations are in trouble. to their credit the scientific community particularly in south africa -- charles: good afternoon, everyone, i'm charles payne. this is "making money." we'll get back to what president biden is talking about. breaking right now the whirlwind action today. market making another attempt to regain its footing. after the one-two punch of omicron virus and hawkish jay powell s this the time for individual investors to become so bearish that they throw in the towel? i have the best line up to get you through this. biden administration taking most government control that we've ever seen,