result of -- remember, that spending you were just talking about, that hasn't even hit the economy yet. that's going to definitely be inflationary. jackie: i want to thank all of you for joining us, stephanie, job first lisa, steve, todd, my wing mafnlt of course, big number out morning, futures indicated higher by 188,000, but we're going hand it over to "varney & company". ashley weber, take it over or for us. ashley: good morning everybody. i'm ashley webster in for stuart varney on this friday p. okay. we now know the august jobs report coming in at 315,000. the unemployment rate ticking up a little to 3.7%. labor participation rate up a hair at 62.4%. let's take a look at reaction from stocks. well, somewhat neutral report, and i think that's given some relief to investors in the premarket. the dow can up 176, the s&p

up.6, the nasdaq up half a percent. let's take a look at the yield on the 10-year treasury, always a good barometer. down half a basis point at 3.25%. it really was a goldilocks report, i think, prosecute view of the fed -- from the view of the feoffment now to politics. well, it was certainly a dark and gloomy speech, pull of finger-pointing and divisive. president biden went off on maga republicans accusing them of threatening our democracy. also another claim by the white house, they say it was the president and democrats who reopened schools. they say they had to clean up former president trump's mess. really? can't make it up, can you? it is last weekend of summer, we know that, and millions are hitting the roads and skies for one last trip. we've got reports on gas prices and those dreaded flight delays. there is some good muse though, movie theaters will be offering

$3 tickets tomorrow. we're going to tell you where you can find that deal. as always, we've got a jam-packed show. congressman michael waltz, janine nunez joining us. it is friday, september 2nd, 2022. "varney & company" about to begin. ♪ ♪ >> we're and greg from michigan, and you're watching "varney & company". >> the number one show in america for financial news and political inslight. and, stuart, you're all right. ♪ it's friday, friday, gotta get down on friday. ♪ everybody's looking forward to the weekend ♪ ashley: yes, it is friday, the first friday of the month, and we just got the latest jobs report. 315,000 jobs added in august. let's get straight to edward

lawrence who's here to break it down for us. edward. >> reporter: yeah. and, ashley, came in a little bit hotter than expected, and that's actually not good news for the federal reserve. they believe that a hotter than expected jobs report might put more pressure because that means more jobs, we'll is have people spending more money where supply chains, according to the federal reserve, are still an issue here. the kansas city principal reserve president esther george told me last week that a stronger jobs report means that it might require more interest rate hikes, a signal towards moving 75 basis points. she's a voting member who says -- [audio difficulty] the other issue is hourly average wages, 5.2 the % over the past 12 months while inflation sits at 8.5% in the same time frame. this shows that workers continue to lose ground in bank accounts under this president. meanwhile, the white house has been lowering expectations for some time. here's the press secretary

yesterday. >> we're in a transition into a more stable and steady growth. we won't see -- we believe we won't see those 600,000 numbers that we have seen for some time, and that that number's going to be -- it's going to cool a little bit. >> reporter: and here's where the jobs were created in this report, you see manufacturing is now above pre-pandemic levels by 67,000, creating 22,000 last month. on the other side of that, leisure and hospitality still needs 1.2 million jobs to get back to pre-pandemic levels but created 33,000, still down 7.2%. there's retail trade up 44,000, health care up and mining added 6,000 jobs back. but the fact is the cooling might not be enough now for the principal reserve in order to -- federal verve in order to keep those rates where her. it look like in this report if

it's better than expected, look for that shift possibly to 75 basis points at the next meeting. back to you. ashley: yes, indeed. edward, thank you very much for breaking that down for us. by the way, later this hour we will be joined by labor secretary marty walsh. it'll be great to get his view on the job market right now. okay, kenny kenny polcari is here. happy friday. this is one of the fed's last key gauges before they meet later this month. i mean, i can't imagine -- i would imagine if, to be honest with you, i kind of find this as a neutral report, not too hot, not too cold, pretty much what the fed was hoping for. what say you? >> right. i agree with you. if anything, you could argue it's slightly a bit hotter, but i think it's essentially like you said, it's more neutral. but, look, we still have cpi and ppi on the 13th and 14th of september which is ahead of the fed if meeting. i expect, like a lot of people, you might see it improve a little bit meaning drop another

tenth of a percent if or so in september. but then i think in october, november it rears its ugly head and starts to move if up again. one way or the other, i don't think today ooh's report is going to change the narrative at all. i think it was always going to be 75 basis points in september. i don't think that's changed at all. ashley: right. i think you are right. let's get to the markets themselves. do we test those june lows again at some point here, kenny? >> i think we do, right? and i was, a couple of weeks ago i was not so sure, i thought maybe we'd come down to 3800 which it looked like we were going to do to do. we bounced yesterday after we hit an oversold, technical level. but i think as we get into september and people come back to work and we start to focus on what's ahead, the beauty pageant, earnings revisions, we continue to look at the data and continue to listen to the fed, i think the market tests lower one more time. whether it gets all the way down to 3665, i'm not so sure.

history does tell us if we have a real bear market we should take 30% off the top to. i think that's a bit dramatic, but hey, listen, who noses, right? ashley: -- who knows? ashley: that's exactly right. if anyone does, it would be you, kenny. [laughter] thank you for joining us and have a great labor day weekend. we appreciate you very much. >> you as well. ashley: thank you, sir. president biden, as we know, gave a speech in philadelphia last night. he says former president trump and his supporters are simply threats to democracy. take a listen. >> donald trump and the maga republicans represented extremism that threatens the very foundation of our republic. mag da republicans -- maga republicans do not respect the constitution, they do not believe in the rule of law, they do not recognize the are will of the people. they refused to accept the results of a free election. ashley: okay. congressman mike waltz, to the

only innocence red background there. mike is, of course, a republican from florida. congressman, let's get your response to president biden's claim that, essentially, maga republicans are a threat to this country's democracy. >> well, look, i guesshaving record tax reform, veterans reform, justice reform, securing our border, middle east peace and a pivot on china to deal with our greatest adversary and, oh, by the way, are rebuilding and strengthening our military, if that makes me a maga republican, then i'll take that all day long because that's actually delivering results that a made americans' lives better and safer. so, look,-just the beginning of, clearly, biden wants to keep trump in the headlines. this sounded like his campaign launch against president trump. and anytime he can keep president trump in the headlines rather than his failings as a

president and the progressive left's failings for country, you know, this is what you're going to see. and it's amazing that it was all predicated by, i guess, the world's biggest coincidence with an the fbi raid on mar-a-lago. [laughter] ashley: all right. we could get -- >> just thinking about the timing. ashley: yeah. you're not the first to point it out. taiwan's government, i want to get to this issue, has warned that china's been conducting simulated attacks on u.s. warships. as a green beret and a member of the house armed services committee, what should our response be? this is a part of the world that's heating up quite a lot. >> look, chairman xiing is about to get, if you -- i use this term loosely, but reelected by the chinese communist party for life. he changed their constitution. and he's telling his country to prepare for war. he has actually told his military to be prepared to take taiwan by 2027 the, and part of

that is defeating any u.s. or coalition intervention. and so, look, that means the next president very well could be a wartime president, and god help us if it's joe biden. [laughter] number one, we have to stop presenting cuts to our military. but, number two, this is going to be the won or lost economically way before it is militarily. we have to arm up taiwan, and we have to to decouple from china and bring our supply chains back home because that's the biggest point of leverage. it's one thing to sink our aircraft carriers, it's another thing to choke off american pharmaceuticals, computer chips and other key supplies. ashley: congressman, thank you very much. we'll have to leave it there. congressman mike waltz of florida. meantime, a group of lawmakers are pushing back on the white house's plan to renew the iran nuclear agreement. good morning, lauren simonetti. lauren: hey, ashley.

happy friday. ashley: is this a bipartisan pushesome. lauren: it sure is. they want president biden to share with hem the text of potential iran deal that returns to the 2015 nuclear award cord. -- accord can. that would trade sanctions relief for acran giving up nuclear weapons and submitting to monitoring. this is what they write: a amid iran-sponsored terror plots to assassinate former officials on american soil, this is no time to remove, suspend or dilute u.s. terrorism sanctions on iran or the irgc terrorist group. they also worry the deal would leave russia -- russia -- essentially in charge of iranian compliance to the deal. so talks have been going on for a 15 months now, and we do have news just today. iran says, well, we submitted our constructive response on the draft. the state department callings it the complete opposite. so 16 months and honestly,

ashley -- [inaudible] ashley: that's exactly right. lauren, thank you is very much. let's take a quick check of the futures for you after of the august jobs report, 315,000 jobs added. the dow up a 250, the s&p up 34, the nasdaq up 100 on hopes that perhaps the fed -- it wasn't overhot, the jobs report, and that means the fed won't be more aggressive. we'll have to to wait and see, it's just one number. all right, coming up, the white house seems to think the democrats were the ones who opened schools. >> our schools went from 46% to open to nearly all of them being open to full time. that was the work of this president, and that was the work of democrats in spite of republicans not voting for the american rescue plan. ashley: okay. we're going to correct the record on that. you can be sure. meanwhile, millions of americans are at risk of being evicted as rents go i sky high. how do we fix this?

former secretary of housing and urban development dr. ben carson is here to answer that next. ♪ ♪ got a ways to go, but this is still the place that we all call home ♪ moving forward with node- positive breast cancer is overwhelming. but i never just found my way; i made it. and did all i could to prevent recurrence. verzenio reduces the risk of recurrence of hr-positive, her2-negative,

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♪ oh, ain't that america for you and me. ♪ ain't that america, something to to see, baby ♪ ashley: that's a great shot, nashville. lower broadway, that is. great place to go. fun city to visit. it's currently 77 degrees in music city. by the way, if you like the music we play on the show, make sure to follow us on spot final.

just search "varney & company," or you can scan the qr code on your screen right now. okay. let's take a look at those futures. we are moving many a positive direction in the premarket, and that is still holding true. dow up 25 the 0 points -- 250 points, the s&p up nearly 1%, same story on the nasdaq, up 100 points. now this. for the first time ever, the average cost of renting a one-with bedroom apartment has hit $2,000, and the latest data shows millions are at risk of being evicted. former secretary of housing and urban development dr. ben ben carson joins me morning. great to see you, secretary. i want to begin with this story, rent prices out of control, housing affordability becoming a really big issue. how do we fix this? >> you know, for the first time the average house, average new house costs over $400,000. you know, it's been a combination of shortages and,

you know, building materials and all these kinds of things half really contributed to to that. and what that has done is pushed new housing out of the range of many americans and, therefore, shifting over to the aren'tal market. and -- the rental market. and now they're finding in the rental market a shock when they look at those prices. i why are hose prices so high in one of the things, you know, when i was secretary we learned is that it's regulatory areas. we're still very innovative in this country. we still have the entrepreneurial spirit. we have people who know how to build things that are efficient and don't cost an arm and a leg. but by the time you get through adding on the regulations, the noise restrictions, the density restrictions, water, it goes on and on, a list as long as your arm, we take something that was affordable, and i you make it

unaffordable. and, therefore, the real solution is federal, state and local authorities working along with the private sector and the nonprofits to create the kinds of structures and the environments that actually work k. and we find that when we work together, that is eminently possible. ashley: very good. i want to move on to this issue, secretary. reading and math scores have plummeted since the pandemic. reading scores down ott lowest levels since 1990. how concerned are you about the long-term impacts of remote learning that these students went through for two years of the shutdown and the long-term effects of that? >> i hate to say i told you so, but i've been complaining about this for a couple of years now. [laughter] you know, people have not really done a good benefit to risk analysis in terms of shutting down schools and drastically

interfering with the learning environment of our children and the impact that that had on them over a lifetime. and if we did that, we would see that it is much worse to 40 interfere with a child's learning than it is to expose hem to the risk of covid which is very small. the chance of a child dying or having a serious complication from covid is 0.025%. i mean, that's approaching 0. so why would you take something that is a approaching 0 and elevate that to such a level at the expense of that child's education and their long-term success and societal success as well? it's really defies understanding of logical people, and it makes you wonder does somebody have other nefarious intelligent. ashley: yeah. all right. and i wanted to get your feedback on this one, secretary. what's your opinion of joe

biden's student loan handouts? >> well, you know, i think it's ridiculous when we sit will and tell people -- there and tell people that we're going to have the people who didn't go to college pay for the ones who did go to college. we need to get back to a point where we teach people responsibility. if you take out a loan, you need to pay it back. don't be looking for somebody else to take care of your problems. this is a very bad trend that that we're teaching our people. america was built and became a great nation very rapidly because of the can-do attitude, not the what can you do the for me attitude. we need to work very hard to get rid of that. if we intend to continue to be a leader in the world and a great nation, if we want to be like everybody else, let's continue down this path. ashley: amen. it is an absolute pleasure of you on the show, secretary ben carson, and thank you, sir, for

taking the time out this morning. >> my pleasuring. thank you so much. ashley: thank you. okay, take a quick with look at these futures as we head towards break, and we are up across the board, strongly is so, up about 1% on the dow, the s&p and nasdaq. and, guess what? the opening bell is coming up next. ♪ ♪

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♪i will hold you long♪ ♪and i won't let go♪ please? ♪and i won't let go♪ ♪and i won't let go♪ yes today, one in five working age americans has a mental health condition. people in all types of jobs and at all levels. and the key to helping us succeed is a supportive and inclusive workplace. all of us have a role to play in making that happen. so what can i do to help? as a ceo, i can set the tone for a supportive culture. as a manager, i can offer assistance and accommodations. as a coworker, i can listen and be a source of support to my colleagues. as someone with a mental health condition, i can ask for what i need to perform my best. i can offer all employees the supports they need to deliver on the job for the team and for the business. what can i do? what can i do? what can i do? i can remind others that we all benefit from workplaces that promote good mental health.

mental health friendly workplaces are more important than ever, and all of us have a role to play in promoting them. learn more at whatcanyoudocampain.org ashley: all right, let's take a look at those futures moving positively right now in the premarket. mark mahaney is here now as we lead up to the opening bell. mark, we know you follow a lot of tech names, so i'm going to put you on the spot. what are your top tech picks in this environment? >> i still think you want to follow what i call hard money, so quick backdrop here, ashley, we've had ultra-low interest rates for a long period of time. that has clearly changed. we got that from the jackson hole speech by chairman powell a week and a half ago, week ago, and so i think you still want to be careful. so go with companies that have got clear free cash flow yields.

google does that, meta and amazon. i think you want to be careful about high-beta stocks like a shopify or roku. their time will come, but for the foreseeable future, i think you want to stick with the most cash flow-sensitive and defensive names in this space. ashley: as interest rates rise, and we know the fed's going to do that, with we know it's tough on those big growth companies, right? companies, to your point, that have a solid foundation, if you like, to be able to ride out those higher rates. >> yeah. look, i'm a huge growth bull. i have been for the last 25 years. i like these growth as sets -- assets. innovation, consumers, etc., etc. and some of these behemoths are generating tons of cash flow, amazon, microsoft, google, meta, these stocks are can outperform. it's next year that -- i think

the market is saying we're not going to touch you for a while, and that's what happens when rates rise aggressively, and they clearly are. if you're a long-term investor, you have to have very long investment horizon. you want to stick with the stalwarts and not take on too much tech risk. ashley: in this environment, it's so choppy, isn't it? do we retest those june lows? >> well, we won't today if we get, you know, kind of moderate results. and so, you know, job numbers come in in line, if we had had a huge jobs number, i bet the stocks would be offed today. i don't think we do test the june lows, but it'll come down to inflation. if inflation kind of moderates modestly, the interest rates are still going to rise, but they don't have to rise aggressively. if we get another inflation shock like we've had several times, we could retest june lows. trigger for me will be those inflation catalysts, and

hopefully, they smooth down. that's good for all of us. if they don't, it's bad for all of us. ashley: right. all right. we'll have to leave it right there. mark mahaney, thank you very much. the opening bell -- >> have a great -- ashley: -- being rung, thank you, mark. ten seconds from now. we managed to actually make some gains yesterday. the nasdaq was down, but the dow and s&p managed to break the losing streak. it's the second day of september. we know august was rough. september traditionally not a great month for stocks and with all that's going on with the fed, be interesting to see how this plays out. we are off and running, the confetti is flying and a lot of between on theboard to start the session. the dow up 2 the 64 points. chevron, american express, caterpillar at the top. can we make it all 30 stocks turning green? let's get to the s&p, almost unchanged. up above 4,000, up 37 pointings.

good for a 1% gain. and the nasdaq, which has really been taking a beating of late, is up about 100 points, almost one cent, is 1 -- # 1,882 on the nasdaq. big tech, all in the green. apple up, amazon up 1%, meta/facebook up 1, alphabet up a third, microsoft up .2 of a percent. now let's take a look at lululemon, up big today. susan li,,s is that because they handed many a strong report card? susan: absolutely. it also shows wealthy shoppers still have the cash, and they're willing to spend it on the expensive leggings and at pleas. better sales, better.. -- profit. we talk about retailers in high inflation which means consumers aren't spending as much. not the case, they said inventories are actually less than a year ago and, in fact,

they're under-inventoried due to supply-chain bottlenecks. as a result, they're raising their outlook for the year, and remember, this ises in contrast to nordstrom, macy's. lulu's store traffic, this was incredible to me, up 30% from last year. that shows that demand -- people want those legging, and they love hair spandex and lie lycra from lulu. ashley: well -- yeah. stu varney was just saying that last week. susan: right. and do we want to picture stu in lycra? ashley: no. susan: o.k.. ashley: god bless him. they named a new ceo at starbucks. what do we know about him, susan? susan: the he's the lysol brand box, he's a former pepsico consultant. howard schultz picked a complete

outsider from the company. he's known as a person that can turn the around a company, and that's actually what he did for the lysol parent. starbucks is going through a difficult time, slowing sales growth, union drives, high inflation. schultz will stay on until april next year, so this is a long transition period for this handoff, but the stock is down 25% this year. underperforming the rest of the market. so, yes, they need somebody to help turn the company and the stock around. ashley: very good. all right, let's take a look at apple. are they now the number one smartphone in the u.s., susan? susan: yeah, and it's pretty dramatic. we're talking about 50% market share, overtaking android. you have to remember that android is used in samsungs and pretty much if every other smartphone on the planet that apple doesn't make. so the fact that apple has surpassed android is a big deal and shows the dominance of the biggest company in the world, biggest company in america has. the highest market share we've

seen since 2007, and it's just in time, of course, for that iphone 14 launch event next week, few iphones expected. you'll get an upgraded camera, maybe an elongated pill that shows you your microphone status, etc., for privacy settings. i also want to particularly highlight services and that nfl sunday ticket is a wildcard that everybody's trying to guess. as i mentioned before, i'll be at the apple event. it usually takes place a week later, but this takes place just before the nfl season starts on september 8th. so that has wall street buzzing that apple will likely win that ticket, and we just saw fox sports ringing the nasdaq bell ahead of the nfl season debut on the 8th. ashley: right. well, apple can certainly afford it. susan, thank you very much. want to get back to this morning's jobs report. it showed 315,000 jobs added last month and, guess what? labor secretary marty walsh

joins me now to break down the numbers. good morning to you, secretary. 315,000 jobs added, the unemployment rate ticking up a little bit to 3.7%. what's your overall take on this report? >> you know, i think it's a great report in a couple ways. number one, obviously, 315,000 jobs is a big number, and then we saw the labor participation rate go up a little bit as well, and that's why we saw an increase in the unemployment number. what we need to do, companies in america want to see more and more people go back into the work force. that's something we've been talking about for the last, you know, several months and maybe longer than that. so this is an overall good report for the most part when you look at it at the end of the day here. ashley: fed chair jerome powell has said, look, the labor market, in his opinion, is clearly out of balance. and he says there's going to be more pain for the labor market. unemployment rate expected to rise as the fed rate rises right along with it.

i mean, how much does that concern you? >> well, we haven't seen it yet. we keep seeing those unemployment rates staying pretty stable, more and more people coming into the work force, more and more jobs added to the economy. and i think that, you know, we're in a very interesting time when it comes to our economy. it's unlike any other time prior to this. you know, we talk about we're not in a recession period, and we're not in 2008 or 2002 and 1 when we had more challenges. so, you know, we're going to continue to do, companies are still hiring, people are still in emerging industries, and the legislature here in washington and the president passed some significant legislation that's going to only add to more jobs to our economy whether the infrastructure bill, the chips bill, the inflation reduction act. all those investments and all those bills are about promoting our economy moving forward. ashley: and, secretary the, you mentioned companies are hiring. more than 11 million job openings at last report, that's

almost two jobs per person out of work. i mean, how do you explain that? >> well, that's one thing, i mean, the previous question we're talking about the job market's -- we have so many jobs opening. there's a couple things. i think what the pandemic has done is put a spotlight on i don't know if inequity's the right word with, but but the inequity of the job market which means we need to have a serious conversation about immigration. we really have to look at, and when i talk to ceos from companies across america, they're all in favor of immigration reform, they're all in favor of pathways, of visas for people coming to the united states and working. we're going to have to have that serious conversation at some point because it will begin to impact our economy. what i'm concerned about where i stand is if those 11 million jobs had to be filled tomorrow, we don't have must have people in the united states to fill those jobs -- enough people. and companies are going to grow and expand. i heard your previous report

talking about apple and you think about we're doing more around electric vehicles and chips, a lot more manufacturing coming back to the united states of america. so at some point the issue of workers has to be addressed, and the only way you can do it is through immigration. ashley: right. okay. labor secretary marty walsh, thank you so much, sir, for taking time to chat with us this morning. >> thank you. ash do appreciate it. thank you. all right, coming up, charlie crist picked a florida teachers union leader as his running mate for governor, but she's now under scrutiny for her connections. florida's lieutenant governor will be here to take it on. also, a new poll shows a majority of democrats and republicans think u.s. democracy is in danger of collapsing. we're going to get to that story as well. and, of course, as we head into the labor day weekend, millions of americans will be hitting the road or taking to the skies. our travel guy, jeff hoffman, is going to be along with some valuable travel tips to help

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ashley: all right, let's take a look at these markets. finishing out the week on a strong note, but with we have lost a little. the dow up now just a third of a percent, the s&p up a third, nasdaq up one-tenth. meantime, the price for a gallon of regular now sits at $3.80. that is up 62 cents from last year. grady trimble is in chicago. good morning, grady. are people can elinging plans -- canceling plans because of higher gas prices? >> reporter: good morning, ash. maybe not canceling entirely, but it does seem like some people are choosing to stay a little closer to home this labor day weekend because of those higher gas prices. a survey from the vacationer

found that more than half of americans do plan to go somewhere this lay e boar day weekend, but that same survey also found that gas prices will affect their plans by about the same amount either because of higher prices at the pump or because of higher airfare. the good news is gas prices have fallen for 11 weeks in a row x while the white house has been taking credit for that drop, most experts say the biden administration is not responsible. instead, demand here in the u.s. and overseas has softened, and americans have been driving less and taking shorter trips because of the high prices. aaa says we're also cutting back on spending in other areas to make up for high fuel prices. experts do expect them to keep falling as we head into the fall, that's what typically happens, but supply is still extremely tight. so any number of scenarios could cause prices to do a u-turn and start climbing again. if a major hurricane hits the refining states, for example.

we also know the g7 countries are planning to to impose a price cap on russian oil to limit revenues that are helping russia pay for the war in ukraine. the kremlin has already said it would stop selling to countries that impose price caps. the white house told our colleague, edward lawrence are, they're confident those price caps will work, but some experts worry that they could backfire which would cause global markets of oil to go into turmoil again. ashley? ashley: hopefully not. all right, grady trimble in chicago. grady, thank you, as always. coming up, by the way, i want to mention this, don't forget to send in your friday feedback. you can e-mail your questions, comments and critiques, we love the critiques, to varneyviewers@fox.com. ♪ if. ♪ ♪

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ashley: in a new video released by project veritas, an assistant

principal in connecticut is seen bragging about woke indoctrination of kids, and he says in part this, ready in you're teaching them how to think. that's it. it doesn't matter what they think about. if they think about it in a logical, progressive way with, that becomes their habit. they'll never say, oh, this is a liberal or democratic way with of doing this. indoctrination, indeed. connecticut are republican state senator ryan fazio joins me now. where do we begin, senator somewhat's your reaction to this assistant principal, and should any action be taken, or is this pretty much the norm in schools today? >> well, certainly actions need to be taken by the local government, by the state government as well. there needs to be leadership. now, he was placed on administrative leave, and there is going to be an investigation. there needs to be a fully independent investigation of what happened in the schools with this assistant principal and perhaps beyond. but the state government also plays a role just like every

state government plays a role in public education to insure that there's transparency and accountability and that there can be trust. this is a very sad moment in our town. i'm a product of these public schools. we love our public schools. we love our teachers, and what this assistant principal with, what this administrator was doing, this bias, prejudice and indoctrination was an offense to all of our families, our parents, our kids and our teacher. ashley: i'm assuming that it doesn't surprise you. this is not an outlier. are you concerned that this is, perhaps, a similar story across the state of connecticut? >> i am concerned, and in the past couple of years there's been incidents in this school district and in others around the state of political bias in the classroom, of inappropriate sexual material in the classroom. and that's something that nobody wants. i think there's a very small minority of people that think that's acceptable. so i've heard from democratic parents, from republican parents and from independents that this

isn't an acceptable paradigm. we have to get to the bottom of what's going on. but that's why ideas like the legislation i submitted with colleagues for full curriculum transparency many connecticut, the idea that everyone, especially parents, should have the right and the ability to easily access course material and curriculum, post it online, is probably an acceptable alternative. it's right way forward to bring people together, to insure transparency and to weed out the bad actors because sunlight's always the best disinfectant. ashley: and quickly, senator, has there been any backlash to this? have any parents come forward and expressed their anger? >> oh, or i've gotten hundreds of messages just in two days, again, from parents on all sides of the political spectrum. they understand that the schools, that the public education system should answer to parents contrary to what assistant principal explicitly said and that the government should always answer to the people. this was an offense against our

democratic system here in connecticut. nobody voted for this. we want great schools. we love our schools. they should be teaching a rigorous core curriculum and supporting kids, not getting between parents and their kids. ashley: exactly right. all right. senator, thank you so much for chatting with us this morning. st an important issue, for sure. thank you. >> thanks for having me. ashley: talking about education -- thank you -- a college professor in illinois says going maskless indoors is a fan -- man manifestation of racism. please help me understand this one, lauren. lauren: i can't. i mean, i don't understand this. northern illinois university is wherest happening, and the school says, look, faculty members can require masks if they want to to. so physics professor jared edelman wants to, he told students refusing to wear masks

indoors is a manifestation of racism and tells the most vulnerable that their health and the health of their loved ones does not matter. thus, masks are required here. ashley, he -- i think he's being the one who is discriminating because there are no other class options for students who disagree with their policies. so if they want to take this physics class, this is their only option, and he's calling them racist for not wanting to mask up. can't explain it. ashley: another one for you, lauren -- i know. all right, this one, who is the white house crediting with reopening schools after the pandemic? i think i have an idea. lauren: themselves, democrats. [laughter] karine jean-pierre was asked about that report showing the abysmal decline in the third grade math and reading scores. here's her answer. >> reporter: does the administration shoulder any blame for not pushing schools to reopen sooner? >> so let's step back to where we were not too long ago when

this president walked into this administration. how mismanaged the pandemic, response to the pandemic was. our schools went from 46% to open to nearly all of them being open to full time. that was the work of this president, and that was the work of democrats in spite of republicans not voting for the american rescue plan. lauren: i think it was the work of parents speaking out, right in and i think her logic is just so twisted, ashley. the unions wanted the schools shut. they guided the administration. and then do you remember the dnc ad? they ran an ad that attacked president trump at the time for risking lives by opening schools. i just -- ashley: yeah, i do remember. lauren: convoluted. ashley: and also in florida, above desantis, he did everything he could to keep the schools open, and he was ridiculed by new york and california, and guess who -- guess what? he was right. we have to move on.

lauren: new jersey, no restrictions whatsoever, complete 180 from last year. and i'm just scratching my head what caused the change. i think it was the parents and these test scores being so bad -- ashley: i think you're right, absolutely. you are right. good stuff, lauren, thank you very much as we head to the next hour. you take a look at the futures, they're moving higher. and still ahead in the show, david avella, steve hilton and florida lieutenant governor jeanette nunez. the 10 a.m. hour of "varney & company" is next. ♪ tonight let's get some and live while we're young ♪

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♪ ashley: shake your groove thing, morning in new york city as we pull back on that beautiful shot. it is 10:00 eastern time. ashley webster in for stuart varney. look at the green on the screen