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First Move with Julia Chatterley
President Trump Ends Stimulus Talks Then Calls For Targeted Aid Deals; Airlines Warned Jobs Will Vanish Without More Government Help; Congress Sees Monopoly Powers And Reasons For A Big Tech Breakup. Aired 9- 10a ET
Aired October 07, 2020 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:01:30]
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Live from New York. I'm Julia Chatterley. This is FIRST MOVE, and here is your need to know.
Tweet storm turmoil. President Trump ends stimulus talks then calls for targeted aid deals.
Crushing blow. Airlines warned jobs will vanish without more government help.
And Big Tech take down. Congress sees monopoly powers and reasons for a Big Tech breakup.
It's Wednesday. Let's make a move.
A warm welcome once again to FIRST MOVE. Great to be with you just hours after President Trump's stunning tweet, ending emergency aid negotiations
with the Democrats. Was this a COVID struck President hitting the self- destruct button on his own candidacy? Or just his latest high octane in negotiating tactic?
Remember, we've been here before with the trade talks, I'd say it was the latter. But it's painful either way for millions of struggling Americans.
I think investors believe it's the latter, too. Take a look at this, especially after the President followed that initial tweet with a flurry of
others backing targeted aid for businesses, stimulus checks for households and support for airlines, too.
Now remember that statement from Nancy Pelosi last Friday saying help for Airlines was imminent, either as a standalone bipartisan deal, or as part
of a bigger agreement. So it seems like we can at least do a deal on the airlines, perhaps we're looking at a stimulus stall then rather than a full
stimulus stop.
Remember the U.S.-China trade talks? This is how the President negotiates. The difference here is that we're just weeks away from Election Day, and
we're in a pandemic. And right now, only the President and his own party are being blamed for this. So one could say the art of the deal for now
looking pretty shaky. We desperately need greater transparency on both sides.
The Republicans now need to explain why they walked away. Democrats, for their part must explain why their $2.2 trillion aid offer is a
nonnegotiable line in the sand, too, and perhaps why they aren't willing to agree some cash now, a smaller amount, and then do more when and if they
win the election because this is the middle ground and this is where a compromise deal can be found.
Let's get to the drivers. Christine Romans joins us now. Christine, I say this a lot on this show, words fail me. I don't believe this was the
President hitting the self-destruct button, so fine, it is a negotiating tactics. It's still heartbreaking for the millions of people who need help.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. If you believe that it's three dimensional negotiating chess by the President.
Right? Maybe that's a political strategy he is using here, but for millions and millions of families, they might not see it that way. The optics not
great here.
You have more than half of American families with children who have said they have either lost their job or lost money, lost income over the coast
of course of COVID. We have 26 million people still receiving some sort of benefit check, and we know that there is agreement -- universal agreement
that more is needed to sustain the recovery and prevent a recession from getting worse.
We've heard from the Business Roundtable saying that something needs to be done now or we risk harming the economy longer term.
[09:05:10]
ROMANS: We heard from the Fed Chief just yesterday, listen to what the Fed chief said. He essentially said there will be consequences if there's not
more stimulus in the economy soon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEROME POWELL, U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: Too little support would lead to a weak recovery, creating unnecessary hardship for households and
businesses. Over time, household insolvencies and business bankruptcies would rise, harming the productive capacity of the economy and holding back
wage growth.
By contrast, the risks of overdoing it seem for now to be smaller.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: So here's where I think it seems that the President is a bit out of touch. What he is talking about and tweeting about in the last 24 hours is
how strong the recovery has been, how there's been record job creation over the past few months, which is true, because there was a record job crash
right before then. We're still down almost 11 million jobs since the pandemic began, and we know that there's food insecurity.
We know that there that there's poverty and hunger problems among children, worse rates than we saw in the Great Recession. So there are people really
feeling the pain right now and a President who keeps pointing back to stock markets, and two or three months of job creation that has, by the way,
slowed.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, that first tweet, inexcusable, tone deaf. We cannot debate that, Christine. I think we completely agree. The question is, was it a
move in desperation to try and get some kind of negotiated deal even if it's not the $2.2 trillion that the Democrats want here? The suggestion
behind the scenes is that particular money for state and local governments? I think that the Democrats want to use this money for all sorts of things.
They want to boost voter registration drives. That they want to use it to top up pension funds. And that the Republicans are saying no, it has to be
COVID related, but something has to be done here.
ROMANS: Yes, that state and local government issue has been a fault line from the very beginning here, and what Democrats will tell you is that they
need to use it to cover the losses from tax revenue, from tax money coming in that cratered because of COVID, that everything is because of COVID.
They need to pay police, right? They need to pay teachers. They need to fill in the holes in their budgets right now. So that has been a sticking
point from the very, very beginning in the state and local, and there have been other sticking points as well.
The Republicans really want pretty robust liability protections for companies and airlines, businesses, and everybody, schools, who are
operating in COVID. You know, and they're not really that far apart.
Remember, the Democrats passed $3.5 trillion of stimulus months ago. They've had all summer to come to grips with this. You've got Republicans
at $1.3 trillion to $1.6 trillion. You've got Democrats who have come down to $2.2 trillion. They've got to figure out a way to yes.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. And the President thinks that dive bombing in the middle of that and breaking up the talks is perhaps the way to close that gap.
"The Art of the Deal," Christine. We shall see art of no deal. Bungled negotiation art of deal. We'll see.
Christine Romans, thank you so much for that.
The battle over stimulus negotiations is just one of the challenges that the White House is facing right now. The number of White House staffers
with coronavirus infections continues to grow. Now with top policy adviser, Stephen Miller included.
At least 19 people who work at or have recently been to the White House have now tested positive. CNN White House correspondent, John Harwood joins
us now. John, one can only imagine what it's like being in the White House at the moment given so many people have now been diagnosed positive, but
what we saw last night with regards to stimulus negotiations as well, I think just plays to an apparent appearance of chaos.
JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Complete chaos and the West Wing is pretty much a ghost town right now, Julia, you could not have a
more vivid demonstration of the failures of the administration to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic than the fact that it has hollowed out the
White House itself and you have a President who is -- having a busted out of the hospital over the weekend and being given a serious cocktail of
medications: steroids, monoclonal antibodies, and remdesivir. He is now in the residence feeling sorry for himself, tweeting complaints about how
people are out to get him.
He wants to get out of the residence and go to the Oval Office perhaps as early as today. But people are frightened within the White House about
coming in contact with him, of course. He wants to go debate Joe Biden, whether or not he has been proven clear of the coronavirus and whether he
is not shedding the virus anymore or not.
It is an incredibly chaotic situation and the fact that he then torpedoed those stimulus talks just tells you that the President is focused on
himself, his needs, his psyche, his ego, rather than the needs of the American people.
[09:10:10]
HARWOOD: And it's a pretty difficult situation right now.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, it sounds like someone who is feeling unwell. And we have to remember this is a President that right now is fighting COVID whatever
that looks like.
John, you mentioned the magic word here "debate." We've got the vice presidential debates tonight as well, perhaps never more significant
debates in light of the presidency's COVID diagnosis, but also the fact that, you know, the two presidential candidates have 151 years between
them. What do we expect from the vice president candidates tonight?
HARWOOD: Well, you can expect Kamala Harris to go after Mike Pence, the Vice President because he is the head of the Coronavirus Taskforce at a
time when the President is sick with coronavirus and the West Wing is hollowed out with positive cases, many close allies and supporters of the
President have now tested positive, and he is going to have to explain that.
There are a lot of public health officials who think Mike Pence ought to be in quarantine himself right now. But he has resisted that. His aides have
even resisted the idea of Plexiglas shields to protect Kamala Harris from potential exposure from Mike Pence. They've ultimately acquiesced in that.
And from the Democratic side, you can expect that Pence to try to put pressure on Kamala Harris to suggest that she is an indication and some of
the things that she favored, Green New Deal and other things during the Democratic primaries are evidence of where the Democratic Party is headed.
That it is headed so far left that that would be damaging to the economy in the long run.
That's the attack that the President has tried to take against Joe Biden. He is not really in charge. It's going to be the Democratic Party that
takes the country further left than it wants to go. The challenge, of course, for the Republican ticket is they are governing right now over a
period of extreme difficulty for the country, health wise and economically. So it's hard for them to make the race about the Democratic ticket rather
than about themselves.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, hopefully we hear more policy than we did last week. John Harwood, great to have you with us.
All right. Tonight, as John mentioned there, CNN's vice presidential debate coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday on the U.S. East Coast. That's
midnight, Thursday in London, 3:00 a.m. in Abu Dhabi and 7:00 a.m. in Hong Kong, and if you miss it live, you can tune in for a replay of the debate
that's at 8:00 p.m. London time, 11:00 a.m. in Abu Dhabi and 3:00 p.m. in Hong Kong.
President Trump has called for billions of dollars in aid for the U.S. airlines after ordering an end to talks on a wider stimulus deal Tuesday.
Airline stocks rebounding in premarket trade after big losses yesterday.
Richard Quest joins us now. Richard, the share price is actually of these airline stocks dropped dramatically yesterday, then moved sideways and then
have picked up again. What do we think? Is a deal possible? An isolated deal for the airlines because it's devastating for the workers involved?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: Well, late last night, United Airlines sent another letter to the U.S. Treasury Secretary
basically saying, look, if you can do a deal, we can prevent these furloughs from happening. But if you can't, then these furloughs are more
than likely to become permanent job losses.
And what you saw, of course, was -- I mean, imagine it's a plane, as soon as the President tweeted, it went right down, the share price and then it
tanked along the bottom, and then as it became -- you know -- let's do a deal for the airlines, it went back up again.
But here is the problem, Julia, why has it taken so long? There are no new facts on the table by the way. The situation hasn't changed. The
personalities and parties involved haven't changed and it does beg the legitimate question which we are talking about, how do you square a tweet
saying no stimulus, I am withdrawing my representatives from negotiations with tweets three or four hours later saying, let's do an airline stimulus
and there will be $1,200.00 for everybody?
You can't square that circle without indecision, and that's exactly what the markets hate.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, absolute indecision. The only caveat I will put to this, Richard, if you remember on Friday, market sentiment turned on that
statement from Nancy Pelosi, how the Speaker saying rescue is coming imminently, quote, "imminent."
She said either as part of a bipartisan, isolated agreement or as part of a bigger deal. This to me looks like a President and the leader of the
Democrats in these negotiations saying we will do an isolated deal for the airlines. Why can't we agree this?
QUEST: Because the difficulty is political. It is extreme. And if you do a deal for the airlines, you've got everybody else saying, "What about me?
What about us?"
[09:15:13]
QUEST: Now, I happen to agree with you, Julia, that the airlines are sui generis, a case on their own, were clearly the nature of the business we
are seeing capacity down 60 to 70 percent; on international routes, you're seeing passenger numbers, not capacity, you're seeing actually load factors
down 85 to 90 percent.
I flew back just two weeks ago, I'm still in quarantine, from coming back from London. Look, the cabin held 50 people in business, that's 42 people
in business class. There were 12 of us. Back in economy, though it holds 220 to 2. There were 20.
You can't run a business like that for very long without some form of extraneous help, and that's what they're waiting for.
But this could have been done. This could have been done in a moment weeks ago, because of the airlines, which really raises me asking, Julia, why do
you think other than electoral politics, why do you think there is any greater emphasis to do a unilateral deal on airlines now than there was
three weeks ago when it could have been done?
CHATTERLEY: There isn't one. You said it. Politics before people. The end. Really frustrating. We need to find a compromise.
Richard Quest, thank you for joining us.
Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook are accused of abusing their dominance in the marketplace. A report for the House Judiciary Committee says all
four hold monopoly power in key business segments following a 16-month investigation. Donie O'Sullivan joins me now.
Donie, wow, and even suggesting that as a result of this monopoly power, perhaps we should be looking at breakups of Big Tech. It's a fiery report.
What do we think?
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Yes, that's right, Julia, this is a gigantic report, 450 pages. The committee went through and gathered one
million documents from the companies. And of course, as part of all of this investigation, there was that high profile hearing with the tech CEOs
earlier this summer.
And you know, the ultimate conclusion here is that the committee found that there is significant evidence to show that the company's anti-competitive
conduct has hindered innovation and reduced consumer choice and weakened democracy.
So many parts of that there, you know, it's coming, obviously, at a timely moment here in the United States, where we see so much scrutiny on these
companies for their impact and their role in political discourse in the lead up to the election.
But obviously, then goes into everything from how the likes of Google and Amazon can use the search data that they gather through their search
engines on their competitors, to build competing products.
So you know, will anything ultimately come out of it? Well, that's the big question. Right? I mean, there is, of course, ongoing probes from the U.S.
government that this was from the U.S. Congress, from the U.S. government looking into possibly breaking up the companies under antitrust
investigations.
This could set the scene for some legislation to rein Big Tech in, but Congress itself right now doesn't have the power to break these companies
up.
CHATTERLEY: I was about to say, Donie, we will reconvene on this in at around five to 10 years' time.
In the meantime, I want to -- yes -- in the meantime, I want to talk to you about QAnon, of course, the far right conspiracy theory.
Facebook, taking action on this three years, let's be clear, after it began. Just explain what QAnon is for our viewers and what this will mean.
O'SULLIVAN: Yes, QAnon is a fringe conspiracy theory. Well, it is a fringe conspiracy in its beliefs in the sense that, you know, it ties falsely a
lot of Democratic Party politicians here in the U.S. to a purported cabal of pedophiles. It's totally baseless.
It is fringe in the sense of that is what it believes, but it is becoming more mainstream with the help of companies like Facebook and Twitter. As
you mentioned, Julia, QAnon has been around for three years. But now, we're starting to see Republican politicians in the United States running for
Congress in next month's election, who have embraced QAnon, who have praised QAnon.
We've heard from President Trump who has refused to sort of disavow this conspiracy theory because many of its followers are his supporters. So
Facebook, taking the move yesterday to ban QAnon from its platform, giving itself a bit of a pat on the back.
But you know, I've been traveling to Trump rallies the past few weeks speaking to Trump supporters and you know, a lot of them have become QAnon
believers during the pandemic because they have more time to spend online, and they had gotten the information, the false information about Q through
Facebook. So the horse has sort of bolted, but nonetheless, it is, I guess good to see the company taking this seriously, finally.
[09:20:18]
CHATTERLEY: Yes. And those two stories ultimately very connected in terms of intervention and democracy, facts and fake news. Something needs to be
done.
Donie O'Sullivan, thank you so much for that.
All right, coming up here on FIRST MOVE, two sectors desperate for further emergency aid, the Association of Flight Attendants. What do they make of
the on again off again promises of financial aid and more empty seats?
We'll hear from the National Association of Theater Owners, whose industry is also in dire straits in this pandemic.
Stay with us. That's all coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE live from New York where the major averages remain on track for a higher open on hopes, perhaps the targeted
emergency help for businesses and out of work Americans all this, after President Trump unilaterally broke off talks on a wider bill with the
Democrats yesterday, and that came just hours after Fed Chair Jay Powell made his most impassioned plea for fiscal aid yet in a speech.
David Kelly joins us now. He is Chief Global Strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management. David, fantastic to have you on the show. What a 24 hours? Can
you just give me your base case here for what happens pre-election as far as further financial aid is concerned?
DAVID KELLY, CHIEF GLOBAL STRATEGIST, JPMORGAN ASSET MANAGEMENT: I don't really expect very much. It's possible we get some standalone bill for the
airline. I don't think we'd get anything else.
But after the election, hopefully, the political temperature will diminish however the election goes because it makes no sense not to pass some
relief. We need it for state and local governments. We need it for workers who have been laid off in the pandemic. We need it for airlines.
But most of all we need to come down to -- you know, get together to crush the pandemic. I mean, the other thing that Jay Powell made very clear
yesterday is you can't have a healthy economy until we crush the pandemic and to do so, we need to have a united, disciplined approach as a country
to reducing that case count down to essentially zero.
We could do that before a vaccine, but we absolutely need to do that to get the economy healthy again.
[09:25:19]
CHATTERLEY: Yes. And in the absence of that, you have to buy the recovery, the longer you go without a formalized plan for tackling the virus, the
more money you'll have to put in to support the economy.
KELLY: Well, it's -- I mean, it's a little bit like, you know, sort of stimulus steroids, it doesn't really fix the underlying illness, it just
makes you feel a bit better, but it isn't fixing the illness. You've got to crush the pandemic.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, there's lots of steroids going around at this moment in time. David, what's the market pricing at this moment in terms of election
results? There were fears of a contested election. But what we have seen in a number of polls right now, it seems is, is Joe Biden pulling ahead?
KELLY: It's possible, but it is too early to say. It's something that is too call. It's too early to say. We're still four weeks out.
I expect that the market to the extent that it is pricing things in, is pricing in a decisive result, and I think that's -- it's reasonable to
expect a decisive result actually on either side. I mean, there has only been one election in the last century, which has come down to even one
state. So usually, you do get a decisive result.
And I also think that, you know, while there could be some complaining about bad ballots in the way people voted, I mean, the truth is, every vote
counts exactly the same whether it is, you know, cast by mailbox or drop box or ballot box. I mean, it's the same thing.
And within, I would expect 48 hours, we would have counted the vast, vast majority of those votes, and we'll know who the next President is.
CHATTERLEY: David, that's a fascinating comment. I need you to elaborate on that. I guess, because there's a huge difference between an inconclusive
election result and one where a candidate refuses to concede. Are you saying that what we saw in 2000, actually was a sort of a real statistical
anomaly?
KELLY: Precisely. I mean, what happened in 2000 was extraordinary. To come down to one state who said, it is a once in a century event -- a once in a
century event, but also, it came down to 547 votes. That's one out of every 10,000 voters in Florida. That will never happen again, never happen again.
So what will happen very likely on Election Day is one candidate or the other will be held by two states or more with tens of thousands of votes
dividing the candidates in those two states. And while there will be some complaints about well, what happened to this precinct or that precinct? In
general, that will be just a large helping of sour grapes until I believe the system will ratify the person who actually got the most votes by the
Electoral College as the winner.
CHATTERLEY: Fascinating. And you think investors are sort of smart enough to understand that at this stage, and what's in the price for at least for
stocks at this moment is a clean win within a few days for either person here?
KELLY: Well, it's not. It's not just that. I mean, markets have to be forward looking. You've got to look, say, a year or two ahead. A year or
two ahead, we'll know who is in the White House, with the pandemic hopefully be over. There'll be a lot of fiscal stimulus in the system. You
can move back up and running.
So your stocks a long term investments. And while there is a lot of short term uncertainty, I think it's important to try to look at the horizon year
and recognize that uncertainty will dissipate after the election and particularly after we crush this pandemic.
CHATTERLEY: So what's better then for stock market investors, particularly in light of what you were saying about the longer term horizon -- it is a
very important one -- a clean sweep for the Democrats where they win the House, the Senate and Biden takes the presidency or perhaps split Congress
and President Trump remains in charge? What's better for stocks?
KELLY: I think a clean result of a one party government is at this point better, because what we've seen, you know, the country is so divided at
this stage, polarized politically, that I think if you have a divided government, you're not going to get anything done and things need to get
done. Things need to get done on the pandemic, and things need to get done on fiscal support, and on infrastructure, and you know, on many, many
issues.
So, I think, a clean vote one way or the other would be better for markets and particularly the stock market. I mean, I think it would be better for
the stock market to have a decisive result with one party sweeping. It also will be worse for the bond market because I do expect interest rates would
go up with the perception that the economy is going to be recovering faster, and you'll get more stimulus with a one party sweep.
CHATTERLEY: And so arguably, the Democrats are better for the economy for ordinary people in America, many of whom are still suffering.
KELLY: Well yes, you know, I don't want to get into how people should vote. I think you can -- people are grown up enough to be able to look at the
plans from either side, but it's about -- we have to this scientifically.
I mean, you know, you have -- you can't just run bigger and bigger deficits and cut taxes and increase the debt without some -- come up at some stage,
so you have to have a plan. There's got to be an adult plan which you know stimulates and supports part of the economic needs in the pandemic, but
also as a discipline to rein in the growth in the debt when the economy is improved.
[09:30:13]
CHATTERLEY: Yes, taxes have to rise, bottom line. David Kelly, thank you so much for that. The Chief Global Strategist for JPMorgan Asset Management.
KELLY: Thank you.
CHATTERLEY: Thank you. All right, the market opens next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. U.S. stocks are up and running this Wednesday. We're seeing solid early session gains as investors try to get a
handle on an array of market challenges. Chief among them, uncertainty over new emergency aid.
President Trump slammed the door shut on further negotiations with Democrats yesterday then later said targeted aid for unemployed workers and
businesses is possible particularly hard hit airlines.
Now, major airlines fell sharply in Tuesday's session. As you can see, they are all higher in early trading today. American Airlines called this week a
crushing blow for aviation after the U.S. President dashed hopes of that relief on Tuesday. But then of course, as I mentioned, he threw the
industry that lifeline suggesting that Congress could deliver a standalone package tweeting the House and Senate should immediately approve $25
billion for airline payroll support.
Joining us now Sara Nelson, President of the Association of Flight Attendants. Sara, fantastic to have you with us. Just talk me through the
last 24 hours. I'm sure huge highs and lows for your workers and the workers you represent.
SARA NELSON, PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATION OF FLIGHT ATTENDANTS-CWA: Yes, huge highs and lows. We already have tens of thousands of people on furlough
without healthcare or paycheck, over 100,000 who are not getting a paycheck and we are expecting more furloughs.
So this has been the most successful jobs program and infrastructure program of coronavirus relief, and we have had overwhelming bipartisan
support to get this done.
We truly believe that our issue was driving the ability to get a larger package for the whole country because everyone needs help, and we know that
in our communities, everyone needs help.
[09:35:21]
NELSON: So it was crushing when we knew that talks were progressing and moving towards a larger relief bill that would have given substantial help
to all Americans. We believe that it's really sad that that was stopped, because it had every ability to get passed.
At this point, we are going to move forward and try to get everything that we can for the American people, including the people that we represent and
aviation workers, and we need to keep this critical infrastructure in place for all of America, too.
We know that we're fighting for our jobs. We know that airline jobs support one in 14 jobs in this country. So if we let this go, we're not only
hurting ourselves, but we're hurting the rest of America. And we also know that this critical infrastructure that provides connectivity to all of our
communities is at risk as well if we don't get this in place.
So it's very sad to us, because so much more relief could have gotten to so many more people. We are going to work very hard now to lock in this
airline relief so that we can continue to take care of people and remain strong ourselves and try to lift our country out of this -- out of this
horrible crisis.
CHATTERLEY: Sara, I mean, you know, I can see and hear the emotion in your voice. I can only imagine the conversations that you're having and the
struggles that people are facing, one with the uncertainty, but two with just daily, being furloughed or being laid off.
I just want you to clarify for me, particularly for our international audience. In the United States, when we talk about furlough, it tends to
mean if a person had medical benefits and insurance, they would keep them.
We're calling the several tens of thousands of layoffs this week, layoffs, because in many cases, we believe they've lost their medical insurance. And
we have to remember in a pandemic. How many of these people that are now being furloughed will lose their medical coverage, because this is
critically important to understand, too.
NELSON: Every aviation worker who is on furlough is also losing their medical insurance. So we're talking about over a hundred thousand people
who are losing their medical insurance as well in the middle of a pandemic.
These are people who have been on the frontlines, since the beginning of this virus, hiding -- every day going to work risking their lives, and they
have not only been put out of work, they have been put out of their medical insurance as well. It's cruel, and it's got to be reversed.
It seems that maybe we have a path to do that, but to keep people in uncertainty like this, it is really cruel. And there are people who are
struggling with mental health, and we are dealing with that in our union as well, trying to support people and help them understand that they're not
alone.
But this has been -- this has been incredibly trying and it didn't need to be.
We have overwhelming support. This has been a jobs and infrastructure program that has worked. It has had incredible support. Two weeks ago, this
could have moved through and gotten resolved. But one senator held that up and the President did not weigh in then.
People have been kept in this perpetual state of uncertainty and now actually having faced furlough and on their seventh day of that furlough
and no health insurance. We have people who are having babies and going to the hospital without insurance.
We have people who have chronic illnesses, who now no longer have that insurance and that certainty. We have people who are -- who have been at
work and exposed to coronavirus and now don't have that health insurance.
This is serious, and we need to get all of these people certainty as soon as possible and that's what we're working very hard to do.
CHATTERLEY: So ordinarily, I would interrupt to ask more questions. But I think you've painted a picture of the challenges. And it's -- actually it's
not just your industry, it is many different industries, which is part of the battle here. But the heartbreaking thing is, we do seem to have
agreement both from the Democrats and the Republicans. It is just coming to a finalized deal to get the money to you.
Do your workers feel safe working on these flights because this is another issue and as you said, they are on the frontlines in this pandemic amid the
fear of contracting COVID? Do they feel safe when they are up in the skies if they are working?
NELSON: Well, look, we've done a lot of work in the airline industry and actually worked very closely with the airline industry. The government has
refused to put a plan in place -- to put in place any kind of mandates, such as a mask mandate and back us up in that way.
But we have worked with our airlines, and they are enforcing the mask policies. They have improved their cleaning. They have made sure that the
air filtration is better than any office building.
The truth is that it's probably one of the most controlled environments, and that does make it more safe possibly than other places.
But there are no assurances with this virus, and the best way to protect yourself is to remain socially distanced, remain safe at home. So when they
go to work, when they go on public transportation to get there, when they are going to the hotels to stay, all of that is -- all of that puts them in
jeopardy. And so they are doing a service to the country and we just want the country to take care of them now.
CHATTERLEY: Sara, great to have you with us. Thank you so much and we hope an agreement gets reached out. Our hearts are with you and your workers.
Terrible times.
NELSON: Thank you.
CHATTERLEY: Sara Nelson there, the President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. Thank you.
We're back after this
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CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. While President Trump is calling for the airlines to receive unspent money from the CARES Act, cinema owners
are urging Congress to funnel funds in their direction.
According to the National Association of Theater Owners, without more government support, 69 percent of small and medium sized movie theaters
could go bankrupt or close for good while two thirds of theater jobs will be lost.
All of this comes as movie distributors delay major releases until the pandemic eases. John Fithian is the President and CEO of the association
which advocates for cinemas and the theater industry.
JOHN FITHIAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF THEATER OWNERS: Thanks for having me.
CHATTERLEY: John, fantastic to have you with us. I mean that paints a picture of an industry in dire straits. Great to have you with us, too.
Just explain how bad this is and what specific support you want Congress to provide.
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FITHIAN: Right. So we had a record breaking year in 2019. We sold $42 billion movie tickets all around the world, and then beginning in March,
like so many other businesses, we came crashing into this pandemic, had to shut down entirely and for months and months and months have had no
revenues, even though we've had continued costs.
So what we're looking for from Congress is a bridge to get us to the other side. We're beginning to operate now, but at very low volumes. We're doing
about eight percent of the business we did at the same time last year, and so our companies are hemorrhaging cash.
And what we're looking for from Congress is relief in the form of loans or grants. There are a variety of programs on the table. One is an extension
of the very popular PPP program. Another is spending money from the CARES Act like your airlines guest just talked about.
There are a couple other programs on the table as well. It's just about getting enough liquidity to get to the other side. And I would add, it's
also about the workers. We have 150,000 workers here in the United States. We support lots of other jobs in industries that supply us, and that
unemployment compensation that's also in these negotiations is essential to our workers.
So both for the businesses and for the workers, we implore the President and Congress to get back to the table and find a deal to help America's
economy.
CHATTERLEY: You're saying two-thirds of these jobs could go. How quickly might they go, John, just underscore how critical this is?
FITHIAN: Right. Very quickly, which is why we can't have this be postponed until the lame duck session of Congress. We surveyed our members and we
believe that 29 percent of our members could go bankrupt by the end of October, and 69 percent of our members could go bankrupt by December 31st.
And so the speed with which Congress acts is essential to supporting our jobs in this industry.
CHATTERLEY: Part of the challenge here is the fact that we're not in control of the virus, that some of the big studios now have decided to push
back their releases. So there's less draw to get people into these cinemas.
It's sort of the perfect storm. Do you think the movie studios made the right decision?
FITHIAN: Well, we're asking the movie studios to keep their movies on schedule so that we can bring people back to the cinemas. We're open now in
48 states across the country.
We really urge Governor Cuomo in New York to let us open safely there as well. We have extensive safety protocols called Cinema Safe. We've had not
a single outbreak of the virus in movie theaters anywhere in the world since we've reopened. And so we need to get New York open and that will
help us get the movies back on schedule.
The movie studios are delaying many of their theatrical releases in significant part because New York is not open and we believe that we can
get all the states open, bring the movies back. We can at least begin to increase our business in the remainder of the calendar year.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, not opening in New York and LA is a huge chunk of revenues for these movie studios, admittedly. Is it safe, John? Because you know,
I've had conversations with people about this. And actually, they're pretty okay going back out there with a mask on. They feel comfortable to go back
to life.
But they are reticent to sit in a restaurant or a cinema for a couple of hours just to watch a movie when they can stream at home. What's your
response to that?
FITHIAN: Of course, they are. Right, so we spent several months working with five different epidemiologists to construct our safety protocols, and
it involves social distancing, which we could enforce through reserved seating and it involves a mandatory mask policy, contactless interchanges
between our workers and our movie patrons. Lots and lots and lots of cleaning, enhanced air filtration systems, and the epidemiologists have
supported our plans.
And as I mentioned earlier, we haven't had a single outbreak at a movie theater anywhere in the world. And the reason for that is when you're
sitting in a movie theater, you're sitting quietly, you're not exercising, you're not singing, you're not talking. Whereas those activities in places
like restaurants or churches, or gyms are much more dangerous because you're breathing more and putting more particles out into the air.
So we believe that we can operate very safely. We urge Governor Cuomo to allow us to operate safely in New York, bring some movies back and
hopefully have some business this year while at the same time, hopefully, Congress will give us some bridge to get to the other side of the pandemic.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, well, it makes sense to me. We hope you get the most support, John. Thank you so much for joining us.
FITHIAN: Thank you very much.
CHATTERLEY: We'll speak again soon. John Fithian there, the President and CEO of the National Association of Theater Owners.
All right, still to come, a Category Two Hurricane just landed in Mexico. We will tell you where it swept ashore and where it is headed next, after
this.
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CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. Fierce winds and heavy rain are battering Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula after Hurricane Delta came ashore just
before dawn. Here is our Matt Rivers with the latest.
MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Julia as you can see, the situation here along the Yucatan Peninsula is extremely serious. A
little bit earlier, we know that Hurricane Delta officially made landfall here in Mexico, and cross onto land in a town called Puerto Morelos which
is about 20 miles north of where we are right now.
So we're quite close to you know, the center of this storm and we can certainly feel it. But this is a storm that intensified so rapidly.
We were watching what was a tropical depression as recently as Monday, we were monitoring it in our Mexico City Bureau and then we woke up Tuesday
morning and found it had quickly strengthened into the hurricane that it is now.
The main concern with this particular storm is not flooding because it's moving quite quickly. It's not going to be a huge rainmaker, it is the
wind. It is a relatively small storm, geographically speaking, but what that does is it puts an increased concentration on the winds that are
centering on where this hurricane made its landfall.
So as the sun comes up today, as the day goes on, as the storm moves across the Yucatan Peninsula, we're going to be looking at the damage perhaps in
Puerto Morelos. Now that town is right between where we are in Playa Del Carmen and also north of it in Cancun.
Now, these are obviously internationally famous tourist destinations. We know that some tourists were stranded as a result of this storm. But
frankly, the bigger concern right now will be localized damage here in the Yucatan, and this storm is going to continue on to the United States, so
what happened here in the Yucatan might be a preview of what we will see in the southern part of the United States in the next few days -- Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Matt Rivers reporting from Playa del Carmen there in Mexico and CNN meteorologist Chad Myers is also following the storm's path for us and
joins us now with an update. Chad, what more can you tell us?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Julia, this is heading into the Gulf of Mexico. And although it's not as warm as the water down in the Caribbean
down by the Cayman Islands, it's still in the middle 20s, and that's going to be enough that we're going to see more explosive growth as it gets past
Cancun back into the Gulf of Mexico and then makes a run up at the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Still seeing some storm surge, one to three meters here in some spots. It'll be a Category Two, 195 kph storm as we work our way into Thursday,
but as we get toward Friday, we're still back into this warm water. Again, we're in the 20s and not 30s, but certainly a Category Four, possible 24 to
25 degrees C across the northern Gulf Coast. That's enough to keep the storm moving.
Maybe not enough to keep the storm getting as big as it was before it was headed toward Matt, but this storm was a big storm. This was a Category
Four almost pushing Category Five category just a couple of -- 24 hours ago or 12 hours ago, but luckily it died quite a bit before it did hit Cancun.
[09:55:20]
MYERS: The European model is farther off toward the west, the American model is farther to the east and closer to New Orleans. But we're worried
about the entire Gulf Coast because this will be a big surge area. There will be three to four meter surges here and then probably somewhere in the
ballpark of 250 millimeters of rainfall as we work our way up the Mississippi River with more flooding likely -- Julia.
CHATTERLEY: We will continue to watch that. Chad, great to have you with us. Chad Myers there, our meteorologist.
All right, that just about wraps up the show. Thank you for watching FIRST MOVE. I'm Julia Chatterley, stay safe. Our coverage continues.
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