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tv   Face the Nation  CBS  February 21, 2021 8:30am-8:59am PST

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the 7pm news, weeknights on kpix 5. captioning sponsored by cbs >> brennan: i'm margaret brennan in washington. this week on "face the nation," turmoil in texas. and president biden makes his international debut, digging in on the challenges affecting the u.s.-around the world. brutal winter weather sparks catastrophe in texas. freezing cold without power, health, or water. dozens are dead, and there is devastation across the state. how could this happen? we'll get an update with mayors of two key cities, houston mayor sylvester turner and fort worth mayor betsy price. and then president biden makes his first appearance at the world's most
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exclusive club, the grup group of seven world leaders. friday's g-7 gathering was healed covid-pandemic-style. president biden brought an american-style olive branch, a promise of $4 billion in aid for a global covid vaccination plan. but his pledge may be leaders looking for cooperation and stability from the u.s. >> biden: america is back. the transatlantic alliance is back. and we are no not looking backward. we're looking forward together. >> brennan: mr. biden's declaration came with a talk about the nuclear program, reentry into the paris agreement, and a more aggressive position on china and the w.h.o.'s handling of the coronavirus crisis. and we'll talk with the
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white house national security advisor jake sullivan. and a revealing interview with the covid-19 point person on president biden's national security council. you knew enough to call the federal government to ask for masks, yet the american public wasn't being told to wear them, and the president wasn't it tstratis ly. >> ban: it all just ahead on "face the nation." ♪ >> brennan: good morning. and welcome to "face the nation." we've got a lot to get to today. and we begin with the diran >> reporter: the heat is back, but texas swagger has burst like these pipes in metro dallas. >> that's what i've been dealing with all day long. >> reporter: in much of
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austin, running water is a crisis. hues hus has a boil-water advisory until tomorrow. the storm was generational, texas exceptionalism, the state's self-image froze with everything else. nationally, last week's storms do total $50 billion in damages. in texas, it is predicted as the most costly disaster in state history. >> this past week has been an enormous challenge. >> reporter: at its peak, four million people lost power. >> in the morning when you wake up, it is high 30s, low 40s, inside the house. >> reporter: victims died of hypothermia in bedrooms and backyards. texans shivered and boiled all at once. >> iust got power on after 46 hours. >> reporter: the state's main grid operator is ercot. and they failed to winterize gas-fueled pipes.
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especially ted cruz, he left with his family for tropical mexico, and was whacked like a piñata. he raised home for redemption, handing out water to texans who could only dream of cancun. he told "face the nation" before the storms hit, senator cruz spoke with a meteorologist about the seriousness of the storms, he corrected them to governor abbott aned texans early on to take the storm seriously. and last week's snowstorms also threw a three-day delay in the covid rollout. it shut down the fedex hub in memphis and the u.p.s. one in louisville. fema reported more than two dozen vaccine sites lost power. six million doses have been delayed. ripples from the delays could continue into this week. it is another wrinkle to the rollout in a nationwide race against the clock.
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margaret? >> brennan: mark strassmann in atlanta, thank you. we'll have more on the situation in texas in is moment. but we want to turn to white house national security advisor jake sullivan. he joins us in washington this morning. good morning. >> good morning. >> brennan: jake, we're about to cro ou thereeedsdue to be a 9/11-style commission to figure out what went wrong? >> i believe that we need to take a variety of steps to look at this -- to look at the previous administration's response to the pandemic and what lessons we need to learn to make sure that never happens again. i also believe that we need a credible, open, transparent international and they're about to come out with a report about the origins of the pandemic in wuhan, china, that we have questions about because we do n
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made available sufficient original data into how this pandemic began to spread both in china and eventually around the world. we believe that both the w.h.o. and china should step up on this matter. >> brennan: president bidenpresent for what he said na specifically to make this data available? are you suggesting that the w.h.o. is being manipulated by china? >> i'm not going to charrize ithat way. what i am going to say is that the only way to have a scientifically-based investigation is to have access to all of the data. and not merely, margaret, to know what happened in this pandemic, but to be able to prevent future pandemic as well because the lessons we learned this time around will apply in the future. president biden did raise the issue of covid-19 and the need for all countries to shoulder responsibility, to take their own responsibility for helrote the world, including china.
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>> brennan: the state department said back in january that the u.s. has evidence that a covid-like virus was circulating in wuhan china as far backnese military was conducting secret experiments at the wuhan institute of virlg. virology. do you dispute any of that material? >> this is why the w.h.o. investigation has to be left to the scientists and the experts to lay out, without any interference by any government. because that's the only way we're going to know what the origins of this are. i'm not in a position to say how covid-19 came into this world. all i'm in a position to do is to call upon the w.h.o. to do its job to the fullest extent possible. >> brennan: so you're standing by that declassified report? >> no. i'm saying that i am not in a position, nor is the biden administration in a position, to make a determination about
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precisely where covid-19 originated. and that's in part because there has not been sufficient transparency coming from the government of china, and the w.h.o. still is has more work to do to get to the bottom of exactly where this virus emerged. >> brennan: later on in the program, we're going to hear from matt pottinger, and he says when it comes to dictatorships like china, they're not going to be transparent, period, with health officials. and that is why the intelligence community, he says, needs to take more of a direct role in monitoring these biological threats. do you agree with that assessment? >> i think it is absolutely the case. and we've seen this in covid-19, that pandemic represents one of the most severe threats to american lives and livelihoods. and, therefore, our intelligence community should, across the board, be elevating its tools, its resources, its
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practices to focus on detecting, preventing, and responding to pandemic. and that is something that the biden administration will be pursuing as we go forward. >> brennan: do you think they failed to do so with covid-19, that the intelligence community should have played more of a role? >> what i believe is that the trump administration did not take pandemic surveillance as seriously as they should have. there was an office, margaret, at the national security council, which i now lead, that was stood up under the obama administration to detect and prevent exactly the kind of pandemic we have seen in covid-19. the trump administration dismand dismantled that office. so whether we're talking about the types of policy tools required, the types of intelligence too required, or the typef engagement in international institutions required, across the board it is going to be important for every future administration to elevate
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global health, bio preparedness, and pandemic preparedness to the highest order of national security priority. >> brennan: they would say they just rolled it up into a different directate. moving on to irae americans being held there as hosth united states. do you need to begin hostage negotiations in iran? >> we intend to very directly to communicate with the iranians about the complete and utter outrage the humanitarian catastrophe that is the unjust, unlawful detention of american citizens -- >> brennan: have you done that yet? >> we have begun to communicate with the iranians on this issue, yes, and we will continue to do so as we go forward. and our strong message to the iranians will be that we will not accept a long-term proposition where they continue to
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hold americans in an unjust and unlawful manner. it will be a significant priority of this administration to get thosericansafely back home. >> brennan: has tehran responded yet to the offer made this past week to begin nuclear talks? and does the offer still stand, given what iran said overnight about perhaps unplugging or dismantling some of the advice surveillance of its nuclear facilities? >> well, in order to answer that question, let me offer just a couple of basic propositions. first, joe biden is intent, determined, to prevent iran from getting a nuclear weapon. second, he believes that hard-headed, cle the iranians how we get strict restrarestraints on their nuclear program. iran has not yet responded. but the script has been flipped.
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it is iran isolated diplomatically, not the united states, and t recently id that action uld be taken soonsderaernment, known olar winds. sanctions have not deterred vladimir putin one bit over the past few years. how do you make russia pay a price and not escalate tensions? >> well, first of all, we have asked the intelligence community to do further work to sharpen the attribution that the last administration made about precisely how this hack occurred, what the extent of the damage is, what the scope and scale of the intrusion is, and we're in the process of working through that now. and then what i have said is that it will be weeks, not months, before we have a response prepared. that response will include a mix of tools seen and unseen. and it will not simply be sanctions because, as you say, a response to a set of activities like this
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require a more comprehensive set of tools, and that is what the administration intends to do. we're in the process of working through that. we will ensure thatand united states draws the line on this kind of activity. >> brennan: jake sullivan, thank you for your time this morning. we hope you'll come back. >> thanks for having me. >> brennan: we turn now to the mayor of houston, sylvester turner. good morning to you, mr. mayor. >> mayor: good morning. thanks for having me. >> brennan: i'm glad your power is o wants to visit texas when it is not a burden. is that time now? and what federal resources does your city need? >> mayor: well, he certainly can come now. we certainly would welcome him, and he would not be a distraction, neither a burden. let me just say right now with so many homes across the city having pipes that burst because of the frigid weather and major leaks, major water damage, we need a lot of plumbing
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materials and supplies like right now. we have a number of licensed plumbers but could use even more. the main thing is even when plumbers are going out, it is very difficult to find the necessary materials and supplies. talk a the core issue head ectricity, but on the the wa u to you. wy wasn't that system better prepared for the cold? and what are you doing to fix it? > >> mayor: you have to bear in mind that the power outages and the water system are all interconnected. it is not one versus the other. when the power went out, we had to bring on even more generators in order to power our system. we have a very large system. i am pleased to say at one point in time the water pressure was below what we call 20 p.s.i., but as of now, the system has been normalized, and the water pressure is above 50
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p.s.i., and we have already taken samples and statanpefully we canet positive response that ourer on today. it could come tomorrow. it could come on tuesday. but we're hoping for the best. >> brennan: when it theatter of electricity, the state did not push utilities to winterize the grid, the power lines and the power plants. that cost money. and the power system, as you know, is powered by a mix of energy resources, fossil fuels, and green energy. all of this has gotten really politicized in the past week, which is why i'm laying it out. but for your constituents, they're going to have to pay to fix all of this. is that fair to stick them with the bill? who pays for this? >> mayor: well, the answer is no. let ne just say this: all of what happened this past week was foreseeable and filea bilat wouk i01 when i wa
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require thersees ercot, which manages our texas grid, to ensure there was an adequate reserve to prevent blackouts. austin did not give it a hearing. at the same time, our system in texas is designed primarily for the summer heat and not necessarily for a winter event. the reality is climate change is real. these majorrms can happen at any time. the system needs to be weatherized. we need to open up our texas grid because right now we have is a closed grid. we can't get generation from outside of the state because of our system. and then it is a market-driven system. when the demand exceeds the supply, the cost of the generators can charge can go from a few thousand to 9,000 megawatts.
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all of this was foreseeable. i wrote about it in 2011. so for these exorbitant costs, it is not the consumers who should assume that cost. >> brennan: who should? >> the bill should go to the state of texas. >> brennan: it still goes back to taxpayers, no? >> mayor: well, there is a huge rainy-day fund in the city of houston. ultimately, all of the revs news tharevenues that comee from the taxpayers. but for people, for example, in this city, or other cities, when they're getting these exorbitant electricity bills and they're having to pay for their homes, repair their homes, they should not have to bear the responsibility of bag a thousand dollars a day, or $2,000 a day. those bills, those exorbitant costs, to be individual consumers who did not cause this
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catastrophe this week. >> brennan: very quickly, can you get vaccines back on track? >> mayor: vaccines started in the city of houston yesterday. as of monday, the major distribution of the fema site will open. that will 6,000 vaccines per day for the next six to eight weeks. in addition to our normal supply, i suspect this coming week we'll probably vaccine more than 100,000 people in the city of houston. the people of resilient. i'm very proud of the people of the city of houston, how they've come together. and we're putting together a special relief fund to assist people who don't have insurance, people who don't have the financial means, to assist them in repairing their homes while we wait on the federal monies to come forward. i want to thank the president for signing the disaster declaration. that will help out quite a bit. >> brennan: mr. mayor. thank you. we'll be right back with another texas mayor, betsy price.
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>> brennan: go now to the mayor of fort worth, texas, in just a moment. we're having some communication issues there. there are some power issues in texas. when we get that right back up, we'll take you to the mayor of fort worth. standing by, we do have former f.d.a. commissioner dr. scott gottlieb, who is joining us from west port, connecticut. he sits on the board of illumina and pfizer. doctor, jumping into the fire aga the infection rateoing down,isorbidf half a milli aoptimiic givenl on the united states, but we should be optimistic in my view. i think we'll continue to
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see infection rates decline into the spring and the summer. right now they're falling quite dramatically. the new variants create new risks. i think b117 creates some risks, and we could see higher prevalence over all in the spring and summer than we would have seen wihout this strain. but i think it is not enough to se trends. with rising vaccination rates and the fact we've infected about a third of te country, that is enough protected immunity. if you look at the counties in new york and new jersey that had greater than 45% prevalence, meaning more than 45% of the population was infected going into the winter, they really didn't have much of a winter surge. once you get to about 40% of the population with some sort of protected immunity -- you don't have herd immunity because it will continue to transfer, but it will transfer at a much slower rate. >> brennan: canrechart munity wt
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vaccinating children since they make up a quarter of the population? >> doctor: no, you can't. but i don't think we'll ever reach total herd immunity. it is isn't like measles or smallpox. hopefully we will vaccinate the older population to protect them from dying from this. but this will continue to spread. as we get into the fall, the b117 and the south africa and brazil variant could become more prevalent here ith see the vaccine manufacturers trying to develop boosters to cover the variants. you see the sequencing to try to uncover the new variants. so we do have time. i think we'll have the spring and the summer to work this out and prepare much better for the fall. >> brennan: will high schoolers be vaccinated by the falmentary
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students? >> doctor: yeah.sieedtohe high l population in the fall. we have seen the spread more in the high schools than the elementary schools. there is less risk in the grade-school-aged children. i don't believe this vaccine will get moved to 12an and under into the fall. it may be a question of trying to reformulate the vaccines at a lower dose to the younger kids because they develop a more robust immune response to the vaccine. maybe it is not licensed for 12 and under, but we have it available, if, in fact, we run into trouble. i think students are likely to start school without being vaccinated 12 and under. maybe in the histories we should introduce the vaccine. >> brennan: when will we know if the vaccine prevents you from traps transmitting the vaccine.
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>> doctor: i think the data out of israel will be the most definitive answer. i think the vaccine does prevent infection and transmission. te question is the magnitude. we don't know the full yet. >> brennan: dr. gottlieb, thank you very much fof your time. we'll be right back.
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