the farmer's dog really helps that out. see the benefits of fresh food at betterforthem.com at newday usa we give veterans the va cash out loan with no upfront costs for an appraisal or termite inspection. no upfront costs at all. let us get your family security of cash in the bank. >> sandra: all new at 2:00, china ramping up hypersonic weapons program and turns out i may actually be paying for it through your tax dollars. on top of that, a stunning new report shows that american might is losing its bite. >> the chinese communist party is building its fleet, building space capabilities, cyber capabilities and we have allowed ours to deteriorate. an important component of the weakness sitting out there today is the wokeness sitting in our

military, too. >> sandra: are america's fighting forces focused on defending us in war or is it all about going woke now? it is a question many are asking. welcome back as "america reports" rolls into hour two on this tuesday afternoon. >> john: good to be with you. i'm john roberts in washington. military may not be ready for a major conflict, according to a stunning new report. that's all new at 2:00, but we begin with a fox news alert. >> sandra: there is now a 100% chance of a recession within the next year. that warning coming there bloomberg economic, just 21 days to the midterm elections and democrats are using the final three weeks to focus on abortion. >> it does not rest with the extremist republicans in congress and finally say, finally say about your right to choose that it rests with you and if you do your part and vote, democratic leaders in

congress i promise you will do our part. i'll do my part. >> john: president biden making a major promise to put abortion rights into law, telling supporters to vote blue. voters say they are concerned with the rising prices under the administration. >> just buying food, you know, takes over like a quarter, or third of my income. >> we make decent money but that doesn't make a difference. >> it's ridiculous to go in the store and you can't buy meat, eggs are even, you go in and you just, like i came out with two small bags and paid over $100. >> i just retired and i'm a little nervous about what's going to happen with my pension. >> i don't think the administration gets what the average person has to deal with. we live paycheck to paycheck. >> john: right to it with jacqui heinrich, any sign, jacqui, in the face of this democrats are going to turn their strategy

around? >> you know, john, since the supreme court decision on abortion, democrats have made abortion their number one issue. but this new poll from the "new york times" really should turn that strategy on its head, at least if democrats are paying attention. that survey among likely voters showed abortion has faded from top voter priorities and concerns. 44% are calling inflation and the economy, including jobs, their top worry. only 5% said abortion was their top concern. and moreover, female voters are moving away from democrats and toward republicans because of the economy. in september, independent women voters favor democrats by 14 points. new they are backing republicans by 18 points. that is a huge swing in just a month's time. and listen to this line, i'm shifting more toward republicans because i feel they are more geared towards business, said robin ackerman, 37-year-old democrat and mortgage officer planning to vote republican this

fall. she said she disagreed 1,000% with supreme court decision to overturn roe v. wade and erase the national right to abortion but does not have a lot to do with my decision. she said i'm worried about other things. and yet today the president has delivered remarks on the choice voters face between as the white house puts it, republicans who want to ban abortion nationwide and democrats who want to codify roe into law and protect freedoms. >> i believe congress should codify roe once and for all. if you care about the right to choose, you have to vote. that's why the midterm elections are so critical. >> the "new york times" poll showed 49% of likely voters are planning to go with republicans this election, and only 45% said they plan to back a democrat, john. >> john: pretty interesting moves in the numbers.

1600 pennsylvania, thanks. sandra. >> sandra: inflation top of mind for voters, three weeks out from election day and we have new fox news polling shopping a whopping 89% of voters are concerned about inflation, and that is what is coming down to in some of these key house races where you might have least expected it. in particular, watching california's -- watching california's 49th house district, and this is becoming the race to watch in that state as mike levin goes up against brian marriott, interesting race to watch, inflation is one of the top issues. brian marriott, he is a business guy who claims that he is going to be the guy to fix inflation in that district. mike levin is an environmental lawyer hammering home the climate change topic for his constituents there. and he is losing ground now to the republican in that house district. i'm going to back out and go to another heated house race that

we are watching. in oregon, in particular, watching the 6th district there, mike erickson is going up against andrea salinas, and this is another race that is becoming more and more about inflation. they are dealing with crime and inflation that state, two of the top issues for voters. i'm going to take you through a couple of the other races we are watching, in particular in iowa, another close house race and the latest power rankings did reveal that this first house district in iowa has gone from likely republican to lean republican. so we are certainly watching that. and also in the state of montana, this is another one, montana's first house district has gone from likely republican to lean republican. so, these are some of the closest house races that we are watching just a couple weeks out from election day. when asked voters if they are extremely or very concerned about inflation and higher prices, it is still top of the

list, 89% say that's what it's about for them. crime is up there, 79% say that is their top issue. political divisions, the russia-ukraine situation, those are up there as well. what your children are taught in the classroom, and abortion policy ranks bottom of that list. so it is going to be interesting to see, john, if some of those democrats mostly focused on abortion will pivot in some of these final days as those high prices are key for many voters out there, john. >> as jacqui was pointing out, the swing among independent women is dramatic, and sandra, as we talk about inflation, it has very real effects for americans, household budgets are blowing up, like vacations and even the places people go to escape the realities of inflation are getting a little bit too real. we are talking about the happiest place on earth which might make your wallet a little sad. one-day pass costs between 104 and $179. that's up 9% from last year. fox business correspondent kelly

o'grady is in anaheim with the details. and kelly, i know it's just the cost of admission, but that is just the cost of admission because once you get in the park, boy, keep piling it on. >> oh, you are absolutely right, john. we may have to rename this place to the most expensive place on earth. to get in the door, about $249. i want to break the number down. you mentioned the ticket price, on a popular weekend day, 179 bucks. disney hits you with a number of extras. something called the individual lightning lane, that allows you to skip the line and why wait 2, 3 hours when you could zip through for an extra 15. and genie plus, the rebranded fast pass experience will cost you another $25. so, let's say you are a family of four, that means you are shelling out $1,000 simply to get in the park and hit the rides that you want to and it's why many lifelong fans are

saying disney has lost its magic. >> this is my 40th trip between disneyland and disney world, and by far our worst experience. because of all the app and the, hey, if you want this, you have to pay for this, you want that, pay for that, and the rides are closing constantly. >> and anyone that's been to disney knows the pain of standing in line for space mountain only to have it break down. disney says it's all about improving customer experience, shortening the lines, having the money to build new rides to compete with other parks and admittedly, universal studios, hollywood, a similar sticker shot but you have to buy your food, mickey ice cream sandwiches, i'm buying the ears, these have gone up 33% since last year but i can tell you people have been streaming in all day, but you know, i was just listening to you talk about inflation. critics are saying is the average american getting priced out of their dream vacation? >> yeah, that's $1,000 a day,

and last time i went to disney world, we stayed for three days and then had cost of the hotel on top of that. i had no idea how much it cost us. holy cow. all right. kelly o'grady, thank you so much for that. sandra. >> sandra: joining us now, andy pudzer. i love talking to you, you had that, you know, the inside knowledge of the consumer's brain having run a company that ran fast food restaurants. you know how sensitive the consumer can be in certain environments. i want to go back to some of the races i was just highlighting a second ago there on the map, 49th house district in california, the sixth up in oregon, these are a couple republican candidates that are former businessmen and some cases still, one is a supply chain guy in oregon and california he's a financial planner, brian marriott, and they are coming in and saying i can fix this inflation situation. when you look at california, his

district, rents are among the fifth highest in the country right now. they are saying we can fix the problems some of these candidates are focussed on other messages that voters are saying are not the top issue for them. >> and i think if you are a democrat that's the thing to do. i think they should focus on abortion, climate change, ignore the economy, ignore crime, ignore the border, ignore the war in ukraine, ignore the incompetence in washington, d.c., at least that's what i hope they do. >> sandra: that's not going to happen. you are seeing them sort of pivot here. >> they have to pivot -- look, if you are worried about the economy and inflation, who are you going to hire, someone a community organizers or experience in business and can do something. obviously the latter. >> sandra: you and i keep saying when it comes to the energy, administration says it's their patriotic duty to ramp up production to bring those prices down. we brought on the head of a refinery in indiana and we asked

him about his current situation what can be done. listen. >> being able to price gouge is a misnomer. when you are a refiner and you are selling wholesale gasoline and diesel fuel you have to set the price at what the market bears. if you don't, if you sell it, if you set it too low, you'll sell out in a day, and if you set it too high, you won't sell anything. so the market really determines the price. >> sandra: he felt like he had to defend himself because they are being accused in an environment of sky high energy prices of being price gougers. >> you know, joe biden sells oil from the strategic petroleum reserve. what do you think he sells it for? he does not give it away, does not sell it at cost. president trump brought it inexpensively. the reason he's trying to flood the market with oil before the election is because he knows the problem is supply. it's exactly what this gentleman said. oil is priced on a worldwide market.

biden knows that, he knows if he increases supply the price will come down. he won't approve pipelines, nonsensical problem for people going to where they want to go, afford to go to work and if you look at synthetic fertilizer, based on natural gas, 3 to 3.5 billion people depend on it to eat. half the world's population. this is a crisis and he's trying to address it with, i don't know, with paper clips and you know, the way you used to work on your engine when you were a kid, anything to do to get it to work, he could solve the problem and refuses to do so. >> sandra: and a game changer, entering the home heating season and you've got people in areas of this country who are saying they have to make major sacrifices just to pay to heat their home. we spoke to a woman from a

non-profit who is up in maine, who said she's hearing things about the ability to pay for home heating that she's never heard before entering this season. listen to this. >> this year we are hearing really tough choices. we are hearing people say, especially older mainers, pick between heating our home and getting the medications we need. between filling up our gas tanks to go to church and to buying the food we need to live. the inflation impacts all of us. >> sandra: that's devastating. >> that was very impactful. i hope every politician in the country from either party is watching, watched that segment and saw what that woman had to say. we are 1 to 2 million barrels short a day of what we were producing prior to the pandemic. saudi arabia cut production 2 million barrels. we are the swing producer. if we were start producing more, saudi arabia couldn't do what it did. we have real problems with our political approach on this issue and if we have an administration more concerned about climate change than they are whether people can feed their families or drive their cars, that's a

party that's probably not going to remain in power very long. >> sandra: i want to get this in here, we obviously watch what happens with gas and oil, i'll play it out with bret. bret will join us in the next block and play it out, a little teaser. he played a sot when he was anchoring with us last week or the week before, fred smith, founder of fedex corporation reminded everyone, a small group of people his poll numbers, almost perfectly correlated with the price of gasoline and you would think people would take notice of that fact or at least the democrats, if you will, perhaps it's too late, according to politico. so bret will join us next hour. andy, thank you for being here. appreciate it. >> john: in fact, we could not wait until next hour. next hour is martha's show anyway. the battle for the senate may come down to female voters, and democrats believe abortion is it, and republicans believe inflation and crime matter more

for independent women. let's bring in bret baier, good to be with you. >> hi, john. >> john: women in a moment, but the lead political affairs specialist is out with the latest power rankings. a slight shift to republicans. gop advantages, republicans with 232 seats in the house, democrats with 203. it's a slight shift toward the gop, and it's something that the recent polls reflect as well. >> that's right. sandra did a nice job on the board running through the power rankings. but i do think that this is setting the table for an environment that looks very healthy for republicans. the inflation numbers out last week, what will happen with the fed on november 2nd, is just providing this environment where people are very concerned about the economy, inflation, and republicans in every poll have double digit leads on those issues that are the most important issues for voters.

now, could things shift, yes, they could. but because of redistricting, and how the congressional districts are arranged, republicans were in good position anyway, they are in a better position now. >> john: that's reflected in a lot of the recent headlines. politico, democrats midterm hopes fade. we peaked a little early. blue state headaches, republican gain edges, voters worry about economy and gop keeps lead for house control. democrat momentum stalls amid economy worries. is it over, you mentioned that the democrats might turn things around, but there's no new messaging coming from the white house to try to sort of address the concerns the voters have. >> it's never over until the voters are all making their decisions, obviously, officially. and it's just an environment in which republicans look to be -- to jump on. i think that there are some races where it comes down to individual candidates, but when you talk overall trends, that's

what we are looking at at the power rankings and where we get to the extrapolations not only polls but issues. i talked to brit hume on our show, he's covered quite a few elections in his time, and said if you look at policy issues it seems it's an rout for republicans, but individual polls play differently. >> john: "new york times" poll came out, stunning information about independent women voters and should shock democrats to the core. back in september they favored democrats by 14 points. now they favor the gop by 18 points. that's a 32-point swing. it would seem the dobbs decision was driving independent women toward the democrats in the summertime but now bread and butter issues are bringing them back the other way. >> yeah, and speaker nancy pelosi was just on another channel, asked about this very poll, finding, she said that's

an outlier, and you know, and so -- >> john: don't know too many "new york times" polls classified as outliers. >> she said they are looking at different stats and thinks the abortion issue will still play. look to the point president biden is out with an event today saying the first piece of legislation he will sign is overturning roe v. wade -- i mean -- codifying abortion rights. so the fact they are going down that road still to this day. >> john: is it because they have nothing else? >> it's tough to talk about inflation when you can't have a solution. it's tough to talk -- they are going to release from the spro, but is it going to make a difference in the short-term on gas? probably not ahead of election day. >> john: and then this interesting moment in the georgia gubernatorial debate last night, brian kemp squaring off against stacey abrams, about issues that women and minority voters really care about. listen here.

>> he is weakened gun laws and flooded our streets. he has weakened our privacy rights and our, and women's rights. he has denied women the access to reproductive care. the most dangerous thing facing georgia is four more years of brian kemp. >> i would just let people at home know the largest, fastest growth segment of the population buying handguns and firearms is african americans and females. you know why? the criminals are the only ones that do have the guns. >> john: stacey abrams can spin it the way she wants but the idea about defunding the police has come home to roost. >> it has, and as much as a number of individual candidates try to run away from the progressive catch phrase, it is still factoring in and more importantly, crime in the cities and the country, not just, you know, just not covering it a lot, it is happening a lot. and it's having an event, especially in places like wisconsin and other races you

are seeing it make an impact. >> john: great to see you, see you tonight at 6:00. could independent women voters decide the solution? >> sandra: and thank you for the teasing. i mean -- i thought i was the last block of the last show -- the last hour. i want to play this out. because bret put this up while you were out, john and an interview he did with the founding of fedex, fred smith, dated april 20th, and it really stuck out to us. listen. >> president obama one time told me in a small group that everybody thought his poll numbers went up on this, that and the other thing. he said they were almost perfectly correlated with the price of gasoline. >> sandra: not rocket science, but it's a good observation so we decided to chart it. you can put it up. biden's approval rating up against gas prices. so i haven't -- i haven't seen it myself here, ok. so you can see in the recent

months of 2022, somewhat of a correlation. but to your point earlier, john, the headline of the day, it's -- is it too late for the democrats to be, you know, taking this as the top issue in this election? >> john: it may be. the only people who don't care about gas prices are those driving electric cars. voting and abortion rights front and center at the white house briefing. let's go there now. >> abortion rights. >> thanks, karine. going back to the speech, the president mentioned his decision on marijuana during the speech. why haven't we heard more about that since then and do we plan hearing more about that soon? >> we laid out our plan, you heard directly from the president on what his policy was on marijuana and you know, you heard that from -- you heard him mention that today. i don't have any more, you know, events to lay out about the

specific speeches or comments about marijuana but you heard directly from the president about what his policy is and he kept his promise, commitment he made during the campaign. >> try to get specific. how many more votes does the president think he needs in the senate to codify roe, 51, 52? >> i'm not going to talk about the election. this was a political speech and will not weigh into specific numbers. >> you did say if there are enough votes in congress the president would sends as his first bill, the 118 congress, a bill to codify roe. you can't say how many is enough? >> i can't. >> if the country sends to congress a house and senate that are not interested in codifying roe or busting the filibuster to do so, what is the top priority in that case. >> one more time. >> house and senate do not fall

into democrat hands, let's say that republicans take the house, what would be the first bill the president sends to congress? >> a lot of hypotheticals. let's first get -- let me -- [laughter] i know we are all talking about hypotheticals but i've also said i'm going to be very careful about what i say from here, so also led with that as well. but that is like -- that is a different type of hypothetical i'm just not going to preview from here at this time. >> so is it fair to say that abortion rights currently is the president's top legislative priority? >> what the president has said is he is showing his commitment, how important roe is to him, how important reproductive rights is because majority of americans believe that this right needs to stand and that they believe that the 50 years, nearly 50 years of rights they had constitutional rights they had and that was taken away, you know, is not -- is going backwards, not forwards. and so he is going to continue

to talk about issues that are impacting the american people and this is one of them. by saying, by laying out what he is going to do next year with the 50th anniversary, laying out that he's going to his first piece of legislation will be on codifying roe is just showing his commitment to where a majority of americans are. >> on that mexico, the president of mexico has said that president biden is going to be travelling there in december. would you be able to say if that's accurate, if he's right on that? >> so we are still working through plans for the next north americans leaders summit and have no travel announcement to make at this time. >> also said that president biden arranged a phone call with him today. is that right? >> so the president is going to speak with the president of mexico today on a range of issues from u.s.-mexico priorities and we'll have a readout as soon as that conversation is completed. >> one more on that spr release.

some white house officials have been talking about the fact that it's a possibility. can you explain why with gas prices you mentioned earlier, gas prices are going down again, why would the u.s. need another spr release from that 180 million barrels that you already announced, why would you need that now if prices are already dropping? >> again, i'm not going to get ahead of the president. as you know, there is going to be an announcement tomorrow on the president's policy next move, his next move forward on what he's going to do to help the american people, continue to give them a bit of a breathing room. but president biden has said for months how he is committed to doing everything that he can in his power to address putin's price hike. he has said this on almost every speech you heard him talk about when it comes to gas prices and what the american people are seeing and feeling at the pump, and he's been delivering on that. so you know, as you know, gas prices have indeed come down, i just listed some of the states

where we had seen an increase and now decline this past week. they came down at the fastest pace in over a decade this summer and have continued to fall in recent days. but at the same time, putin's war continues. his war on ukraine, unprovoked war, brutal war on ukraine continues and so it puts pressure on our global energy supplies because of this war, so he's going to continue to take action, the president, he will take action to make sure he lowers costs. >> any response to those who are criticizing the white house saying it seems like a ploy ahead of the midterms? >> look, i would say this to folks. should the president not do everything that he can to lower prices, should he not continue to keep his promise to give american people a little bit of breathing room, you know. that's the problem that he's made. should he not do that, and so that's what you are seeing right

now. this is something that he has done throughout the summer. this is something that he has done to address putin's price hike, and this is something that he has done to meet the global challenges that are in front of us. >> it's been eight months since britteny griner became a detainee, 32 years old today, a statement released from her representative, said thank you everyone for fighting so hard to get me home, all the support and love are definitely helping me. my first question is has the u.s. had any consular access to britteny griner since the beginning of august. as of last week they have not. have they in the course of last week? >> i want to be very clear here because this is important, this is important to the president, important to this administration. getting her home, getting paul whelan home is a priority for this administration. they are wrongfully detained and they should be home today, and so the president, his national

security council, the state department is going to do everything that we can to get them home. i don't have anything else to preview for you at this time or to update you but it is a -- it is, continues, continues to be a priority for this administration. >> frustration, you can't say in the last week there's been any access to her, right? >> we are going to continue to work through our channels that we have with russia on getting her home, getting paul home. >> in terms of access, we presently can't say. how do we tell the american people do we know that she is well, do we know her condition is well right now, when is the last time we had indication of her circumstance? >> it's a very good question, don't have any update for you on that piece. what i can say, it is a priority, you've heard this president, you heard from secretary blinken, you've heard from the nationa advisor, and we are going to continue to talk through our channels until this moves from a priority to a reality. we have had success as you know,

peter, with bringing americans home from russia, from afghanistan, from venezuela, burma, haiti, west africa and more. so, we have had success in doing this. we are going to keep -- we are going to be steadfast on making sure that they come home. >> one quick follow-up, and hear from the president in more detail as relates to the questions about oil specifically, can you today rule out an export ban that would send oil overseas? >> i am not going to get ahead of this president. i'm not going to -- >> the president draft that specifically, i guess? >> i'm not going to lay out or preview what the president will address or not address, i'm not going to get ahead of him. >> to be clear, if you are not going to get ahead of him, an issue you don't want to get ahead of him. >> that is not what i said. >> i'm not asking what he's going to say, i'm asking that specific question. >> i'm answering that specific question. i'm not going to get ahead of

the president. >> following up on something steve was asking, what is president biden's top domestic priority now, is it inflation or is it abortion? >> the president is going to continue to talk about issues that matter to the american people, and abortion is one of them, majority of the american people disagree with the decision that the supreme court made, the dobbs decision. that is a majority of the people disagreed with that. when it comes to the economy, the president has made it very, very clear, when it comes to inflation, it is his number one economic priority, and he is doing everything that he can to make sure that we lower prices. >> number one economic priority. we have heard the president say inflation is his top domestic priority, but now he's saying come next year his first bill would be abortion-related, so, is his number one domestic priority abortion or is it inflation? >> let's not forget what the

president has done the last 19 months. he has made the economy his top priority. he has passed the american rescue plan by the way, as you heard me say all the time, no republicans voted for that in congress, and it was a plan that helped us get back on our feet with the economy. that helped us gain or create 10 million jobs that we had lost. it also put money in people's pockets, also make sure that businesses were able to open up, schools were able to open up. people were able to get back into their homes, save their homes. and so that was the american rescue plan. does the bipartisan infrastructure legislation, which was again to invest in ports, invest in the infrastructure that was dwindling, and so that is something that he did. the inflation reduction act, that is lowering cost for the american people. he is working on the economy every day. i just announced yesterday or we just announced yesterday hearing aids, 30 million people are going to benefit from hearing

aids, saving thousands of dollars a year. so that's working on the economy every day. >> so you said he's been working on the economy every day for 19 months. now bloomberg economists are forecasting a 100% chance of a recession. so, how is it that we can be barrelling towards a recession and the economy is, as the president says, strong as hell? >> so here is the thing about the economy and i've said this many times. you've heard this from secretary yellen, from brian deese who runs the economic council, is that what we are seeing right now is the job market is strong, the labor force is strong, and that is not what we see usually before -- before a recession. and so -- and a lot of that is because of the work that this president has done. we were seeing an economy that is resilient. we are seeing an economy that is going through -- into a transition with more stable

growth, more steady growth, and that is because of the work that this president has done. that is because of the economic policy that he has put forward and let me remind you, the economic policy that he's put forward is about building the economy from the bottom to -- from the bottom to the top and the middle out. and that is so important because it means that we leave no one behind, means there is equity at everything he puts forward, and so again, you are going to hear from the president about gas prices, that's again trying to make sure that we continue to keep prices low for the american people. >> last one, just if president biden keeps going to the petroleum reserves when there are energy problems, is he giving up on his campaign pledge to end fossil fuel? >> so, i want to be very clear on that piece. you know, there is no shortage of opportunity or incentive for oil companies to ramp up production. we have made that clear. oil companies are raking in record profits as we have seen, they have showed it themselves, we have seen it ourselves. while more than 9,000 approved

drilling permits remain untapped by the oil industry. at the same time, u.s. oil production is up, and on track to reach a record high this year. again, a record high. in fact, the united states has produced more oil in president biden's first year than under the trump administration's first year. we are going to move on. >> john: all right, our peter doocy in his daily go around with karine jean-pierre, asking about oil prices there, and oil production. thought it was interesting, sandra, a question he asked, if the president has been focused on inflation and keeping the economy strong, why are we barrelling toward an economy and if inflation and the economy are his top priority, why did he say the first order of business after the new congress comes in would be to pass legislation codifying a woman's right to abortion into law. >> sandra: and challenged on pointing to the american rescue plan as how the president has been focused on the domestic

economy as a top priority when even larry summers, formerly of a democratic administration, the obama administration, sounded the alarm about that plan, saying it was the least responsible economic policy in 40 years, and that it could engender significant and persistent inflation. and john, we now know that was a correct forecast based on the cost of that plan, $1.9 trillion. i heard the same thing peter did, when she said as far as his number one economic priority is inflation. voters say it's their number one priority. >> john: yeah, absolutely. and people will render a judgment on what they think the president is doing on november 8th. >> sandra: and while the program is going on, the who us said the president will have a major announcement, i added major, announcement on gas tomorrow. there is speculation. >> john: what do you think he'll say? >> sandra: speculation and ro khanna said it on the program many times and a few minutes ago, he's calling for an export

ban, but then they should be challenged why they talk about the global market all the time, putin's price hike, right. >> john: oh, yeah, that came back. >> sandra: prices are global. >> john: brought that chestnut out of the dust bin. >> sandra: i don't know how banning exports when we have a global price situation how that would bring down prices or maybe announce additional tapping of the strategic petroleum reserve, but that does not increase global oil output. >> john: three weeks left to go, only going to get more heated. >> sandra: so we will move on, john. secretary of state antony blinken suggesting it's not a matter of if, but when china is going to invade taiwan. and he's warning that when just got a whole lot sooner. blinken said china moved up the timetable for taking control of taiwan, an act that could force the united states into action. >> john: as disturbing as that thought might be, a kicker, we could all be helping china pay for their weapons with our tax

dollars. morgan ortagus moments away on that, but first jennifer griffin live at the pentagon. what have you learned, jennifer, about china leaping ahead in hypersonic missile development. >> we know they steal american technology, vacuuming up r and d from defense contractors. now shocking new details how beijing has simply bought prized u.s. technology and software to advance their hypersonic missile program using shell companies to get around american export laws. the washington post followed the money, interviewed chinese scientists and found military research groups already on u.s. black lists simply use cutouts to purchase advanced software products developed by u.s. firms who received millions of dollars in pentagon grants to simulate wind tunnel conditions needed to advance their hypersonic missile technology. >> there's no question the last 30 years a lot of american

technology, a lot of american i.p. has ended up in the pla military and the reality is our export controls are like swiss cheese, full of holes and it's very easy for the chinese to play shell game. >> u.s. commerce department officials who oversee export enforcement told fox it's too early to tell whether these american companies knowingly violated the law. still studying the level of the aerodynamic simulation software sold to the chinese front companies. one expert explains how the chinese have used peer reviewed academic publications to have american scientists do their homework. >> the chinese have submitted lots and lots of papers and really in the end gotten lots and lots of free information and advice from the west because people review the papers and say instead of this, you should do that. that's one example of how i would say china has played the system very well. >> the commerce department says

it has sufficient authority but american companies have a responsibility for better due diligence to understand how their technology often funded with u.s. taxpayer dollars could be helping the chinese military advance. john. >> john: got to be careful you don't give away the store in pursuit of the almighty dollar. >> sandra: morgan ortagus, spokesperson and founder of polaris security. thank you for being here. i think taxpayers would want to know, american taxpayers if we are helping china build up their weapons. >> well, absolutely. i mean, listen, we have a problem, we have a military readiness problem in this country. sandra, even if you look at the f-35, you know, some of the newest fighters, they are entirely, and wholly dependent at this point on rare earths, where there are rare earths sourced from, from china. so what we are experiencing in this country, obviously for decades now, we have had a

problem as you all just laid out about i.p. theft, not only for our military equipment, but for our technology and intellectual property at large. why american businesses should not be doing business with any -- any, anyone in the chinese communist party affiliated with the pla. and we have a readiness issue, right. the chinese navy is bigger than ours, they have 360 ships right now. we have around i think 296. when you look at just 2030, not far from now, if biden's budget stays the same, the chinese navy will be around, you know, we are guessing here, but thinking around 430. guess how many more ships we'll have when you account for the budget today? two, just two more. while they are growing -- exponentially outgrowing us. if you look at our air force bombers, we have 40% less than in the 1980s.

heritage talked about this in their report. we need an industrial revolution as it relates to our military hardware and infrastructure of what we can build. but we also need to have the same industrial revolution for our supply chain. you know, congress can grant all the money in the world it wants to the pentagon to build this equipment, but if we can't source everything, still dependent on china to source the rare earths or the materials and the equipment we are trying to build, then we have a holistic scary problem. >> sandra: meanwhile, the wall street journal today takes on the united states military's growing weakness, morgan. i'll ask you about it as a new heritage foundation report warns about declining u.s. naval and air power and describes the ranks, and ranks the u.s. military as weak, saying as currently postured the u.s. military is at growing risk of not being able to meet the demands of defending america's vital national interests. rated as weak relative to the

force needed to defend interest on a global stage against actual challenges in the world as it is rather than as we wish it were. this is the logical consequence of years of sustained use, under funding, poorly defined priorities, wildly shifting security policies, exceedingly poor discipline and program execution and profound lack of seriousness across the national security establishment even as threats to u.s. interests have surged. so, where is the military mind in this and is the military so far and so woke that we are not prepared? >> well, this report is a stunning indictment. it should scare all of us that are reading it, listening to the show right now. as i just laid out, the capacity problems that we have with our own u.s. navy, our own air force bombers and the supply chain issues. and then, of course, we have the problem, really, i think our political leaders are to blame more than our military, if you

look at our political leadership and their funding priorities, for the budgets that president biden, his team are submitting, every agency gets an increase except which agencies, dod, dhs, and the doj. so, that means our current military budget does not even keep up with the cost of inflation. so we have president biden on one hand going out and saying that we are going to defend taiwan militarily, and then you have this heritage report and other war games that have been public that are showing that we could be out of advanced munitions in a week if we go to war with china over taiwan. some, there's a lot of serious implications here. we need to have a serious discussion in this country about properly funding our military. you know, we keep funding it on the temporary cycles, we keep making extensions and of course as i said earlier, we have an industrial base that's not even prepared to support such a massive influx. so, this country needs to be aware that we could be facing in

a matter of years just very, very soon a war over taiwan and we are not ready. >> sandra: quite a warning. morgan ortagus, thank you for joining us on that and great to see you. all right, john. >> john: the crisis at the border weighing heavily on the city of el paso, which has been bussing migrants to other cities. now the white house is pressure ling the city's democratic mayor to not declare a state of emergency. see for yourself if it constitutes an emergency. we'll take you there live coming up next.

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>> sandra: the city of el paso is the latest hot spot in the border crisis as venezuelan migrants there orwhelm local shelters. the cr-led city is paying millions to charter busses and send migrants north and a new report suggests the white house asked the city's mayor not to declare an emergency. bill is live in the border town, in the border town of eagle pass for us at this hour. why did the white house reportedly do this, bill? >> sandra, according to the new york post, the white house is worried about the optics of what's happening in the city of el paso because el paso has quickly become one of the epicenters of this border crisis and we'll show you what that looks like.

take a look at this video. el paso has been overrun by migrants, some days upwards of 2,000 illegal crossings in a single day. they are camped out under an overpass, doing street releases of migrants, they are overcapacity. hundreds of venezuelan migrants are living on the city streets. they have been overrun there and several city councilmembers, according to the new york post have asked the mayor to declare a local state of emergency, but he is apparently told by the white house not to do that with one of those city councilmembers saying that the mayor told her in a private call "the mayor told me the white house asked him not to," meaning not to declare an emergency. but the mayor himself, a democrat, i would add, is pushing back. saying in part "i don't bow to pressure from any side. i make decisions based on current circumstances and in the best interests of the citizens of el paso." now as a result of everything

happening in el paso, an effort to relieve pressure, they have been bussing their own migrants to new york city and chicago for weeks on end. talking thousands of migrants, sometimes several bus loads every single day to the big apple, and we got some new numbers. the city of el paso has sent over 11,000 migrants to new york city via bus, and more than 3100 to chicago via bus. compared to texas governor greg abbott's program, smaller numbers. governor abbott has only sent about 3300 to new york city, and about 1,000 to the city of chicago. but really only governor abbott is taking the criticism for the bussing. and back out here live, the city of el paso is being reimbursed for migrant travel, housing and food costs by the federal government. that means it's us, the taxpayers, footing the bill for that, and el paso matters, a local media outlet in el paso,

the daily cost for the city is pushing upwards of $300,000 per day. we'll sends it back to you. >> sandra: ok, really important story for us, thank you, bill. john. >> john: sandra, weeks since president biden declared that the pandemic is over, but california governor gavin newsom says he's keeping emergency restrictions in place until next february. when they end, nearly three years covid closed schools and kept millions out of classrooms. the former president of levi, the iconic jeans company fought the closures and says she lost her job because of it. jennifer say was the brand president there, on track to be the next ceo, also a mother of four and author of "levis unbuttoned, the woke mob took my job but gave me my voice." jennifer, great to see you again. it was an interesting interview with anthony fauci over the weekend i wanted to play here, let's listen.

>> i would say that what we should realize and have realized that there will be collateral consequences when you do something like that. if you go back and i ask anybody to go back over the number of times that i've said we have to do everything we can to keep the schools open, no one plays that clip. >> is there lesson here, future pandemics, one thing, is more of a focus on that, how can we protect the kids and get them back to school. >> exactly. >> john: anthony fauci, we have to do everything to keep schools open, focus on how to protect kids and get them back to school. in essence, how is that different than anything you were advocating for which cost you your job? >> well, it's not different, it's exactly the same. but i would also argue that isn't what he said. he may have said that, but he

also set such stringent guidelines that it would be impossible for schools to open so it was never his intention to have the schools opened. it just wasn't. so it's a lie, and he looks back and says he had no influence and no authority but he absolutely did, everybody was hanging on to his every word. and yes that, is exactly what i said that there would be adverse impacts to children across the country, there are, we are seeing that now. it is all true but the truth of it didn't matter. i was going against, you know, the democratic governor, the cdc talking points, and in the end, that was too dangerous to allow me to keep my job. >> john: part of what you said in an op-ed advocating to keep schools open. you wrote when our kids are screaming for help and we tell them they are resilient and continue to keep their schools closed, we are not listening and we are endorsing closed schools as a required sacrifice. we have now seen the result of school closures and declining

test scores, psycho social skills, depression, suicide, any vindication in the aftermath for parents like you who fought to keep the schools open? >> no, not really, the kids are harmed. i don't feel vindicated having been right. at the end of the day, the harms we fought against are all playing out. so there's no vindication in that for me. i find it all very sad. >> john: so the california governor has decided to keep covid restrictions in place to next february in case a spike over the winter. he said throughout the pandemic guided by the science and data moving to save lives. state of emergency was effective tool we used for the state and would not have gotten to this point without it. california is refusing to release statewide test scores,

though some show sharp declines. he may have protected some people, he has done tremendous damage to others. >> it's also arguable whether or not he actually protected people. when you adjust for age, the results, the fatality rates are the same, basically, in california and florida, and when we look at some of of the northern european countries who prioritized kids and open schools they are not seeing the learning loss and you know, they -- they fared better, actually, than we did here in the united states from a covid perspective. so you know, it's arguably, he problem -- it's arguably he protected no one, and caused undue harm to children across the state, small business owners, you know, businesses went under across the state, the economic results and the learning loss, and many democratic governors are refusing to release the results of the testing before the election because i think that they know it's harmful. >> it's go g to be bad, no yes

about that. jennifer, great to catch up with you. >> thank you for having me. >> sandra: update on a horrifying act of random violence in los angeles. police arresting a homeless man in north hollywood accusing him of attacking the victim with garden shears, stabbing her in the back of the head as she walked down the sidewalk there. jeff paul has details from the l.a. bureau. hi, jeff. >> sandra, the victim's mother says she has no bad feelings or anger towards her attacker saying she knows this person is very sick. but her mom fears if something in society doesn't change, it's only going to get worse. now, this is video of the attack. the victim identified as 24-year-old kylie watts to the left of the screen. attacker is wearing a backpack, the cement truck that passes by at the exact moment of the stabbing there, you can see her reacting to the attack. kylie then walks away, reportedly with the shears still

embedded in her head as she tries to get help. police say the suspect attacked another woman and was later arrested. >> it's a really big problem and not a first situation i heard happening over here, so i heard there's a guy who got stabbed back in the building behind our restaurant. >> kylie went into surgery after suffering that traumatic brain injury. she's now recovering, but has a long way to go in terms of healing both physically and mentally. she could face long-term issues with both her vision and balance. sandra. >> sandra: jeff paul on the story for us, thank you. >> john: oh, my gosh, what a horrible horrible -- it's happening with increased frequency across the country. you don't feel safe going on the streets. >> sandra: indeed, new york city, happening every day. that's it, not another hour

after this. >> john: there is but not for us. >> sandra: we have switched to military time underneath the camera today and so i think i looked down and thought we were still in the first hour when i said that. >> john: i love military time. every time i switch my clocks my wife gives me grief for it. >> sandra: let me know it's happening and i'll use it. john, that was great. back here tomorrow. thanks everybody for joining us. i'm sandra smith. >> john: see you again tomorrow. >> john and sandra, thanks. i'm trace gallagher in for martha maccallum. some of the most consequential races taking you to the debate stage. >> no sheriffs are endorsing her statewide because of her stances on wanting to defund the police. >> he's weakened our privacy rights and women's rights. >> don bulduc's record make it clear it's a yes vote for a national abortion ban. >> i