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Biden Facing Multiple Crises But Keeps Focus On Pandemic, Economy; Georgia Governor Signs Sweeping Voting Restrictions Bill Into Law; Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) Is Interviewed About House Progressive Priorities; Biden Says He Agrees Filibuster Is A "Relic" Of Jim Crow Era; More Than 50 Million Americans Have Been Fully Vaccinated. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired March 28, 2021 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[08:00:24]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST (voice-over): The assault on voting rights in Georgia.

GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): Ensuring the integrity of the ballot box isn't partisan.

SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): Our democracy is in a 911 emergency.

PHILLIP: Plus, President Biden makes his priorities clear. The pandemic and the economy, everything else must wait.

JOSEPH R. BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Successful presidents have been successful because they know how to time what they are doing.

PHILLIP: We'll get reaction from congressman and squad member, Jamal Bowman.

And more than a quarter of the country now at least partially vaccinated, but the COVID crisis isn't over yet.

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: We need to be much higher than that, to feel like we have to have adequate protection around this country.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIP (on camera): Welcome to INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. I'm Abby Phillip. To our viewers in the United States and around the world, thank you for spending part of your weekend with us.

President Biden is facing a crisis at the southern border. Two major mass shootings and in assault on voting rights that some Democrats say is an existential crisis for our democracy. But his message to Americans and members of Congress is that he remains laser-focused on two things.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I got elected to solve problems. And the most urgent problem facing the American people I stated from the outset was COVID-19 and the economic dislocation for millions and millions of Americans. The other problems we're talking about, from immigration to guns and the other things you mentioned, are long-term problems. They've been around a long time. And what we're going to be able to do, God willing, is now begin one of the times to focus on those as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: But the filibuster makes it nearly impossible for him to make progress on those other issues that Democrats care about. He seems more open than ever to at least requiring senators to keep talking if they want to use the filibuster.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: It's being abused in a gigantic way. And, for example, you used to have to stand and talk and talk and talk until you collapsed. And guess what, people got tired of talking and tired of collapsing. If we have to, if there is complete lockdown and chaos as a consequence of the filibuster, then we'll have to go beyond what I'm talking about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: And joining us now with their reporting and insight, Seung Min Kim of "The Washington Post", and she's in Wilmington, Delaware, with President Biden, and CNN's Jeff Zeleny is with me here.

Now, Seung Min, President Biden was pretty clear in the press conference that he's got these two top priorities and they don't necessarily include issues like guns and immigration, or even voting which he spoke passionately about. What's the calculation here for Biden?

SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: The calculation for Biden and the White House is that the pandemic and the ensuing economic recovery is the factor that they will be judged on, particularly in the first 100 days of their presidency.

Just look at what the President is planning on doing this week. The big kind of centerpiece of his week ahead is his speech in Pittsburgh where he will lay out his next phase of the Build Back Better plan, a plan that we expect to be upwards of, you know, $3 trillion to improve roads, bridges, and also include things like expanding the child tax care credit and so many other provisions.

And it really shows you, when you played those clips earlier in the president's news conference, that while presidencies are so much reacting and dealing with the crisis of the day such as the mass shootings that we discussed, the border crisis that is -- that the administration is struggling to manage, his team right now is laser- focused on making sure that the pandemic and making sure that businesses are back to normal, businesses and schools are back open and everything -- you know, the other issues as the president said will kind of come on its own time.

PHILLIP: Right. Don't get me wrong, I mean, what has been done on COVID-19 crisis, Jeff, has been really large in scale, right? And Joe Biden decided to do it through a process that didn't require any Republican votes even though he campaigned as a uniter.

He's instead gone for these really big moves on these issues and Dan Balz in "The Washington Post" had a piece about this today, he talks about how Joe Biden is being in some ways a transformational president.

[08:05:07]

For liberals, Biden's early initiatives represent the fulfillment of a long-sought goal which is to marshal the full resources of the federal government to attack real problems from the threat posed by climate change, income and wealth inequality and the country's aging infrastructure and the costs of higher education. Add to that, his intention to tackle immigration and voting rights and it adds up to the most expansive and ambitious agenda in half a century.

Is Joe Biden kind of becoming an almost accidental transformational president despite campaigning on maybe moderation and reaching across the aisle to the other side?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Certainly, that is his goal. And he does have big plans and he's staying on track. And we've seen for the first couple of months of his presidency, there is a confidence in President Biden that he knows how both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue work and he's going to stay focused on at least try to stay focused on his program and he said the pandemic may be making this possible.

And I think that is the key point here. Because, look, he knows that it is easy for presidents to get sidetracked and derailed but the challenge here coming up for President Biden and the White House, and they know this, is that they are going to be able to keep the progressives at bay and satisfied.

There are major issues like voting rights. That is -- this could be the flash point of the Biden presidency. And for him saying he doesn't want to make it a priority, necessarily, that is going to ring hollow to some Democrats and progressives.

So, that is the challenge, but we talk a lot about the filibuster, the reality is the president can't do anything about it. He doesn't have the votes or the power. So will he use bully pulpit to command that? We'll see. But for now, at least, as Seung Min said, it is infrastructure, that's what he's pushing.

PHILLIP: Right, and infrastructure is by no means a small goal.

ZELENY: Right.

PHILLIP: We're talking about a couple of trillion dollars here.

But Seung Min, on the Republican side, Republicans seem to be banking on what is going on at the border as the best counter point against the Biden agenda. They've really fixated on this. You saw a slew of Republicans heading down to the border this week and highlighting the conditions there, but I do wonder how much this penetrating for our audience, they'll see, I'm going to show you what has been happening kind of in the online ecosphere here.

The clicks per day of various stories having to do with either immigration, the economy, or COVID-19 focus on what is going on with immigration which is the blue here. Do you see that small tiny sliver there on the screen? That is how much attention immigration has been getting over the last two weeks. And compare that to what has been going on with COVID-19.

Large swaths of the population much more focused on the issue of COVID-19. So is this really a safe bet as Republicans think that it is, given that it seems that people seem to be much more focused on COVID than they are on what is happening at the border right now.

KIM: Certainly, it is something that Republicans are trying, especially ahead of the midterm elections, if you consider particularly in the Senate, a lot of the Senate battlegrounds, Arizona will certainly be one of them and the border issue is certainly something that is challenging the Border States.

But you're right, the pandemic is at what is the front of voters' minds. You know, the pandemic has literally affected every American. We have to stay at home from our jobs. Children have not been able to go to school.

This is something that is across the nation and that's why this White House has prioritized it in the way that it has. And immigration, as serious as an issue as it is, it is not something that is right now hitting directly every single American. But it's certainly going to be a challenge for the Biden administration in the coming, in the coming days, weeks and months.

You saw a lot of questions at his first formal press conference was focus focused on his handling of the issues at the border and Republicans know, and Republicans have privately acknowledge that their messaging, their fight on the COVID relief bill was not that great.

So, they are playing catch-up but also trying to change the subject.

PHILLIP: And, Jeff, the other issue is voting rights. And, of course, President Biden is getting a lot of pressure especially after what happened in Georgia. What is left for Joe Biden to do if legislation is unlikely to move through the Senate or the House, what is left for him to do? What options are on the table for him?

ZELENY: I think, first and foremost, he can keep talking about this and explaining it to the American people. There have not been a lot of focus on voting rights so I think he could draw attention to it. And he can push the Senate to you know, pass some version of the House bill that could --

PHILLIP: Something more limited perhaps?

ZELENY: Exactly more limited, because, obviously, they wouldn't support the House bill.

[08:10:02]

But also, I was in Georgia last week and talking to some voting rights activists, they want the president to speak up and influence corporations. That's how we've seen change over the years, over the decades of our time in this country that corporations speak out. Are we going to see a lot of boycotts in Georgia of the Major League Baseball and other things.

And so, that's what they want the president to do, to talk more forcefully about this. But, you know, there is not a ton he could do. He said the Justice Department is looking into the Georgia law to see if there is anything they could do specifically but he can talk about. So, that is probably, you know, the most thing he can do.

PHILLIP: Absolutely. Jeff Zeleny and Seung Min Kim, thanks for being with me this morning, and we'll talk more about that Georgia law coming up next. How will it affect the future of voting rights?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:15:20]

PHILLIP: Democrats are uniting in opposition to the just passed voting law in Georgia and they're using it as motivation to push for the first federal voting rights legislation in over half a century. The law limits the number and locations of ballot drop boxes. It allows the legislature to hand pick the state election board and bars people from handing out water and food to voters in line.

Still, some of the more controversial items like ending no excuse absentee voting and restricting Sunday voting were left out of the final bill due to intense pressure from activists. While Democrats say it will suppress minority votes, Republicans are now pushing back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARNOCK: And so this is democracy in reverse, where politicians have decided that instead of voters picking their representatives, the representatives have a right to cherry pick their voters, it is un- American, it is anti-democratic.

KEMP: The blank statement of this is Jim Crow or, you know, this is voter suppression or this is racist because it is not. It expands early voting in Georgia, it also further secures the ballot with a photo ID requirement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: And joining me now to share their reporting is Astead Herndon of "The New York Times", and Patricia Murphy at "The Atlanta Journal Constitution".

Patricia, I want to start with you this morning.

You know, these restrictions have been under a lot of scrutiny for the last several weeks and months now. Tell us about what impact you see them having on voting patterns in Georgia, particularly younger voters and minority voters?

PATRICIA MURPHY, POLITICAL COLUMNIST, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION: Well, I think it will certainly make it harder for a number of Georgians to vote. That is just very clear. There are a number of changes especially to early and absentee voting that just put up more obstacles for a number of Georgia voters.

There are also so many changes, it is entirely possible that Georgia voters won't know that some portions of this have been changed until they encounter those problems and they may not have time to resolve those issues. I think the challenge that may be ahead for Republicans in the state is that this entire debate, this entire issue has served to energize Democratic voters.

So for as many voters who cannot vote in the future in Georgia elections, we know that Democratic activists are going to be working twice as hard to get voters out to the polls and there has been a significant backlash here in the state from independent voters and people who said there was no evidence of the kind of fraud and the problem that Republicans have alleged, never proven. So this does seem to be a solution in search of a problem when the problem really probably was that Donald Trump did not win Georgia.

PHILLIP: Right, and just to that point about the degree to which this could galvanize the other side, just the imagery coming out of this week, on screen I'll show you this, the left, you'll see Governor Kemp signing this voting bill, basically underneath a photo of a slave plantation, and on the right, you'll see a state lawmaker, a black woman being arrested after knocking on Kemp's door while he was signing that bill.

These kind of images really invoke a dark time in this country, Astead. What do you see happening for Democrats and Republicans? Is this something that will charge the Democratic base.

ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: That is what Democrats are hoping. They are trying to see, trying to pitch this to voters as an affront to motivate the base to come out in defiance. Let's remember that one of the things that changed from the November elections to the Senate runoffs was that Democrats were able to re-motivate the base and see an increase in the black share of the electorate because they were pitching these folks are trying to disenfranchise you and that is a reason to come out.

But no matter that, there is a poor democracy argument still not being talked about here, no matter what -- whether it is to energizes Democrats or Republicans, that this is something that at its basic core increases the barriers for core constituency to come out to vote. This is a power play on behalf of Republicans who are punishing groups of residents simply because their preferred candidates did not win.

This is a Democratic party that was only woken up to this problem because they've been focused on state legislatures for five, ten years now as Democrats are just waking up to it.

[08:20:05]

PHILLIP: And, Patricia, just to drill down on one of those things, the little pieces of hypocrisy here, you have Governor Kemp saying this is not going to restrict anyone voting but here he is not too long ago casting his ballot drop box outside, something that is no longer allowed in this bill. And something that is now restricted in terms of how close to the election you can do it.

Republicans seem to be trying to spin this or maybe gaslight the public as something that is fully about expanding voters and they seem to be on the defensive about it. Are they worried about backlash on their side of things, that people might view this as a voter suppression effort?

MURPHY: Well, I think it is certainly viewed as a voter suppression effort by people who did not support Donald Trump in the last election. Again there was no evidence of any fraud so for the Georgia legislature to move forward with dozens and dozens of changes to voting in the future just does not line up.

There is a huge disconnect between the reality of the last election which was quite smooth to be honest with you, the average voter wait time was three minutes in the November election. And so to come in and just make these sweeping changes that nobody knows how it is going to effect how Georgians vote. But Brad Raffensperger has had his authority over elections drained away in this bill and that power has been concentrated in the same Republican legislators who have passed this bill.

So when you talk about it being a power play, the power that rests with county governments or Brad Raffensperger will change element entirely and the legislature will mostly be overseeing the elections rather than Brad Raffensperger and that is a change that will have ramifications for many years to come.

PHILLIP: Yeah, that is a very good point. Astead, before we go, what do you see as the future of voting rights legislation in the Senate. We know that Democrats don't have 60 votes for it. But do you see any other paths to getting any kind of voting rights legislation to get through that particular chamber?

HERNDON: Yeah, Democrats are going to try to ramp up the pressure to find some Republicans votes here but it is hard to see. That is going to come down to whether Joe Biden is able to pressure a particular Democrat to get rid of the filibuster and be able to pass this. This is the only question at the core here. We've seen some people willing to talk about a carve-out but that is where his agenda rubber meets the road on this front.

PHILLIP: Absolutely. Astead Herndon and Patricia Murphy, thank you both for being here.

And coming up next, progressive Congressman Jamal Bowman will tell us what issue he thinks the Biden administration should prioritize next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:26:36]

PHILLIP: With the COVID relief bill now the law of the land, Democrats in Washington are asking the White House, what's next?

There are a number of issues vying for President Biden's attention, a growing crisis on the border, back-to-back mass shootings and restrictive voting laws being pushed by Republicans in states from coast to coast.

Biden acknowledged the laundry list of agenda items at his Thursday news conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: It's a matter of timing. As you've all observed, successful presidents better than me have been successful in a large part because they know how to time what they're doing, or to decide in priorities what needs to be done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: Meanwhile, as the White House maps out its next legislative steps, four progressive lawmakers were at the White House last week for a meeting with the chief of staff, Ron Klain.

One of those attendees joins me now, Congressman Jamaal Bowman of New York.

Congressman Bowman, thanks for being here this morning.

What was your message for the Biden administration last week and as you know, President Biden has made it clear that infrastructure is his next big priority. Do you agree with that decision to prioritize that bill over other things like voting, the minimum wage or even immigration?

REP. JAMAAL BOWMAN (D-NY): Well, it was a great conversation first and foremost. And the conversation was around a holistic approach. It wasn't just a focus on infrastructure or immigration or gun control.

We understand, to save our democracy and to evolve into the multi- racial democracy that we are, we have to take a holistic approach. So we spoke about infrastructure in alignment with a Green New Deal, ending our dependence on fossil fuels within the next 10 years.

We spoke about education and fully funding our public schools and canceling student debt. We spoke about repealing the Hyde Amendment, a federal jobs guarantee, we spoke about a variety of issues in alignment with the progressive priorities that the people of this country are demanding.

So, it's a great conversation, very exciting to meet the president's chief of staff, Ron Klain, and the rest of the economic staff because the meeting started with a focus on how do we get to a $15 minimum wage? It's way past time we get there. And the conversation started and centered on that. So I was excited about what came of it.

PHILLIP: But on the issue of going to -- to infrastructure next, are you in agreement with that, yes or no?

BOWMAN: So, yes, because it's going to create millions of jobs across the country, right? This is the time for us to rebuild crumbling infrastructure in place for the last hundred years. That is why we proposed a plan for school infrastructure, a $1.16 trillion over the next ten years to get us to our goal of net zero carbon emissions.

So, absolutely, it will grow jobs in the care economy, it will grow jobs in the infrastructure economy, it will give people back to work and it works in alignment with the federal jobs guarantee that we need in this moment.

[08:29:47]

PHILLIP: On some of the other issues that you mentioned, President Biden on Thursday said that he agreed with former President Obama, that the filibuster which is holding some of those issues back is a relic of the Jim Crow era. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Regarding the filibuster, at John Lewis' funeral President Barack Obama said he believed the filibuster was a relic of the Jim Crow era. Do you agree?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes. Successful electoral politics is the art of the possible (ph). Let's figure out how we can get this done and move in the direction of significantly changing the abuse of even the filibuster rule first.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: So Biden says he wants to modify the filibuster but how can it be both a racist relic and he also still at this moment opposes eliminating it?

BOWMAN: We have to move my colleagues in the senate towards completely ending the filibuster. It is a racist relic. It is a Jim Crow relic. It was put in place to stop anti-lynching legislation. It is not a component of our founding documents and the founding fathers did not put it in place.

The American people sent us to Washington to do their job, to work for them. The filibuster stops us from doing that. And when we end it, you'll see more bipartisan collaboration around the policies that matter the most. So -- the president has moved on this. You know, a couple of weeks ago he did not say he was ready to reform the filibuster. Now he's moving on this because of the pressure and the engagement from the American people and because of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus as well.

PHILLIP: Do you think that this law in Georgia that we've been talking about that restricts voting in some ways, adds more urgency to this conversation about whether the filibuster should be ended right now and not just reformed.

BOWMAN: It does. We need to pass HR-1 and we need to pass HR-4 which is the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. The only way to do that in the Senate or one of the ways to absolutely do it in the Senate is to end the filibuster.

So this is even more key because what happened in Georgia is being proposed in states across the country. And let me just say, what is happening in Georgia is not just voter suppression, it is inhumane. You cannot bring water and snacks to people waiting on line?

First of all, people waiting on line too long is a form of voter suppression. So we need to make sure we give people better access to voting, not just in Georgia but across the country and we can do that if we pass HR-1 and HR-4 in the Senate but the best way to do that is ending or going around the filibuster.

PHILLIP: On two other big issues -- on guns and on immigration, you know, the House has recently passed bills on both of those issues. But in the Senate it faces a tougher path and moderate Democrats are the ones who are saying we don't necessarily agree with all of this.

I wonder, are you open to narrowing the scope of some of these priorities on guns, maybe limiting it to just the issue of background checks that can get bipartisan support and a narrower path on immigration in order to just get something done.

Is that something that progressives like you are open to and willing to do in the interest of doing something rather than nothing?

BOWMAN: We cannot allow the NRA to control our democracy. Mass shootings are happening pretty much every day. Most of the gun crimes that occur in my district and in my city are done by guns that come from outside of the state. We need a ban on assault rifles and we need common sense background checks immediately.

In terms of immigration, we need to have an honest conversation about immigration. We have disrupted the political, social and economic systems in Central America for over a century because of our personal capitalist interests.

Because of that disruption, that is why we see a rise in crime and a rise of dysfunction and that is why people are coming here. The least we can do is offer them asylum. The best we could do is implement a 21st century Marshall Plan and help to rebuild Central America in the same ways that we have destroyed it. We wanted their land and their natural resources and we were engaged in coup d'etats and other behavior in those areas in order to do so. Now we have to right our wrongs.

And climate change is a part of that as well because it is causing mass refugee crises across the world which is leading to mass immigration across the world.

PHILLIP: I do want to ask you just real quick on the asylum issue. This last press conference President Biden indicated that, you know, there was an example of a child who would be -- who had come up, had been sent up by his mother and President Biden indicated that he thought that child might ultimately be sent back.

When it comes down to the asylum policy, do you believe -- what do you think should happen to that child? Should he be sent back to his mother in Honduras?

[08:34:55]

BOWMAN: So 80 percent of the children who come here have family members who live in the United States. So we need a more efficient way to get them to their family members which means we need to bring more resources to the border in support of connecting children with their families.

We need to make sure we have housing for the children who are coming here and food and safety so they can live here and be safe and not have to go back to a place that, as I said before, we were responsible for disrupting.

So we need to do everything in our power to make sure we provide asylum to as many of our immigrant friends and families as possible.

PHILLIP: Well, this is going to be a big conversation we'll be talking about for a long time. Congressman Jamaal Bowman, thank you for being with us this morning.

BOWMAN: Thank you.

PHILLIP: And coming up next, will voter restriction laws like Georgia's help the GOP flip the congress or will it drive droves of Democrats to the polls.

Former GOP Congresswoman Mia Love joins us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIP: The battle over the filibuster and whether it should be reformed or scrapped altogether is raging in Washington. And now it has morphed into a debate over racism.

Listen to former President Obama when he spoke at last year's funeral for Congressman John Lewis.

[08:40:02] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You want to honor John? Let's honor him by revitalizing the law that he was willing to die for.

And if all this takes eliminating the filibuster, another Jim Crow relic, in order to secure the God-given rights of every American, then that is what we should do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: But Republicans, most notably Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, are crying foul.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: It's fake history swirling all around the discussion -- fake history. Historians told Politifact that the filibuster did not emerge from debates over slavery or segregation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: Later he added this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCONNELL: It has no racial history at all. None. So there is no dispute among historians about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: So McConnell's office had to walk that back saying he was talking about the origins of the filibuster. But McConnell's original point is valid. The filibuster wasn't explicitly created to address issues of race or any specific policy issue at all.

But it is also not true, as many Republicans are arguing, that a 60- vote threshold for passing legislation is the way that the Senate was originally designed to work. That change happened later.

The truth is, historians do agree that when it came to blocking civil rights legislation and protecting so-called southern rights at the expense of black people, the filibuster was the procedural move of choice.

This is just a sampling of the headlines over the last century between 1917 and 1994. Half of the bills that were derailed by the filibuster dealt with civil rights. That is according to two political scientists who have studied this.

And of course, in recent years, the use of the filibuster has become bipartisan and far more widespread reaching a modern day peak in the Trump administration. Republicans have a point there. But that doesn't erase the very real history of the filibuster being used for much of its history by a small group of lawmakers or even just one senator to block progress and protections for minority populations. That history is anything but fake and McConnell ignores it completely.

And with me now to discuss all of this is Mia Love, a Republican congresswoman -- a former Republican congresswoman from Utah.

Mia, thanks for being here this morning.

Look, the GOP is doubling down --

MIA LOVE, FORMER CONGRESSWOMAN (R-UT): Thank you.

PHILLIP: -- on this issue of the filibuster. What is your take on this debate? Should the history that does involve Jim Crow be completely ignored or should it be relevant in this conversation?

LOVE: Well, it is really important to understand that all of the laws, all of the areas in the constitution have been used one way or the other and some ways not very admirable.

But the filibuster is really important. It is a way to make sure that Congress is deliberate and slow in their decision-making because that is the way that the process was supposed to be set up.

The filibuster has been used against Republicans. The filibuster has been used against Democrats. And I would argue to say that whatever party is in power, when they want to get their legislation through, is always going to say, hey the filibuster needs to be removed and we need to stop the filibuster.

And I also want to remind everybody that what one party does, another party will end up abusing. So they have to be careful. You may want the filibuster removed now but when you're no longer in power and you need the filibuster, it is not going to be there.

PHILLIP: I want to turn to another issue that we've been talking a lot about. This is the Georgia voting restrictions. It's part of a really a nationwide push to restrict voting all across the country by Republicans especially in places where voters of color turned out for Democrats.

You were one of only about ten black Republicans who have served in Congress in this last century -- the last century. I wonder, do you think your party is effectively giving up on this effort to appeal to voters of color on issues rather than just trying to curtail how many of them could come to the polls for Democrats?

LOVE: Well, I think that Georgia has to be really careful on the laws that they put in place. Again, this is an area where what they have been doing may have unintended consequences in suppressing Republicans going to the ballot.

[08:44:50] LOVE: Ok, let's be very clear about this. I think voter ID has always been something that has been important to make sure you solidify the integrity of the electoral process, making sure that people know that they can go to the ballot and their vote for them will be cast.

But some of these other issues like water, not being able to provide water in the lines is ridiculous. And I think leads the issue with Georgia's laws to be scrutinized.

I also think that the fact that they didn't have ballot boxes before the pandemic and then they're trying to restrict it after they realized that it worked really well during the pandemic, is ridiculous.

But whatever they do, they have to understand that it is going to end up having repercussions also with their own voters. And we saw that with the former President Trump going to Georgia and saying, look, it is all rigged and in many ways I believe wholeheartedly that that suppressed Republican voters going to the ballot.

PHILLIP: It is a good point about Republicans potentially having repercussions -- these measures having repercussions for Republican voters who may actually want to use drop boxes.

But do you think also, there has been some talk about whether this is all of these efforts to restrict voting is just an effort to push back against inevitable demographic change. Is Georgia on the verge of becoming what Virginia was several years ago?

LOVE: I think the efforts honestly, these are efforts to appease a lot of the Trump voters that feel like something had to be done because their former president said this has been -- the whole thing was rigged. I think that this is their way of saying, look, we've done something in trying to appease those voters. If you really look at it.

I honestly think that Georgia really should be looking at what they need to do to make sure that there is as many options for people to vote as possible. This is about more time, more places, and various ways that people can actually vote.

PHILLIP: Former Congresswoman Mia Love, thanks for being with us this morning.

LOVE: Thanks, Abby.

PHILLIP: And coming up next, a $10 billion plan to expand vaccine access and fight against vaccine hesitancy. But is it enough to get more shots into arms in low-income neighborhoods?

[08:47:17]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIP: There's genuinely encouraging news in our long fight against COVID-19. America is vaccinating people at a faster clip than ever and the CDC reported 3.5 million shots on Saturday, a new record. The average is 2.5 million shots a day. That is a pace that will allow us to easily hit President Biden's new goal of 200 million shots by the end of April when he marks his 100th day in office.

But the race between the vaccines and the more contagious variants, we don't know for sure who is winning. And cases are rising fast in 23 states right now. We are still looking at about 60,000 new infections a day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: I remain deeply concerned about this trajectory. We have seen cases of hospital admissions move from historic declines to stagnation to increases. And we know from higher surges that if we don't control things now, there is a real potential for the epidemic curve to soar again.

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PHILLIP: And Dr. Ala Stanford is a pediatric surgeon and the founder of the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium. She joins us now this morning.

Dr. Stanford, thanks for being here.

Look, I'm sure a lot of Americans are maybe getting fatigued by those kinds of warnings. But they are very real and very important. The important thing also for lawmakers is figuring out how to get to that 200 million shots a day goal.

You are on the ground every day, trying to get vaccines in arms. What are you learning about what needs to be done on a practical level to increase that pace?

DR. ALA STANFORD, FOUNDER, BLACK DOCTORS COVID-19 CONSORTIUM: So, I'm learning that everything doesn't work for everyone. And the Biden administration has said that equity is important in our rural and urban areas and what may work for those who have access to a computer and to a phone and are able to work from home and get to sites and to pharmacies immediately when the vaccine is available doesn't work to some of our disenfranchised and under served populations.

So we have made a walkup, as long as you meet criteria and you reside in a hard-hit zip code, you are able to get vaccinated by us. And it's allowed us to do over 2,000 vaccinations per day, 75 percent of which are African-Americans and over 82 percent of which are people of color.

PHILLIP: And to that point, President Biden did announce $6 billion to expand access to the vaccine and communities that have been hardest hit, including communities that are black and Latino. Things like mobile vaccination units.

But we're still seeing a lot of inequality in that regard. The Kaiser Family Foundation looked at some of the state data. And you can really see that every state has huge disparities including your own. Is the federal government doing enough to assist what you all are doing and does more need to be done? I mean I think the idea of a mobile vaccination site makes a lot of sense. Should we be bringing the vaccines to people as opposed to forcing people to come to the vaccines?

DR. STANFORD: So I think first and foremost what the Biden administration is doing is great, considering, prior to this, we had nothing. So yes, the mobile unit, we started testing people in April of 2020, going to all of the areas where the positivity rate was the highest and the death rate was the highest and we earned the trust.

I think the money is great. But it doesn't help without oversight and so when you come to the community, you got to know, what's already working? You don't need to reinvent the wheel there. You need to support those efforts and talk to the folks on the ground and make it barrier-free for them.

And we are vaccinating people of color, the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium at rates greater than every hospital, the city of public -- the public health in the city of Philadelphia and the FQ8C (ph) and largely because of the trust that we have gained with the communities. We were testing them when no one else was testing.

And so while the funds are important, it helps to work with the people who are already getting it right and oversight has got to be paramount. You can't just throw it at the hospitals and expect that the people you want to get vaccinated at the highest rate will receive the vaccination.

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PHILLIP: Right. So I want to get at something that is personally important to me. There was a study last week looking at pregnant women under vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer shows the vaccines are not only safe for pregnant women or lactating women but it actually helps protect the baby.

I am five months pregnant and a couple of weeks ago I was actually vaccinated here in Washington, D.C. and it was a personal decision for me but one that I really didn't hesitate about. What are you telling your patients about whether they should go ahead and get the vaccine if they are pregnant or nursing their child?

DR. STANFORD: Well, first, congratulations. I (INAUDIBLE) for a safety course and all that wonderful that comes with motherhood.

But what I am saying to folks is what the CDC and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology has, in essence, said is that there is less risk for to you receive the vaccine than it is for you to contract coronavirus disease.

And that's a decreased risk for you and for your unborn child and that if the anti-bodies that are generated helps you, it helps your baby. And that is well worth the risk because, you know, pregnant women are in a state immunocompromise. It's a stressful state. When I was pregnant, I took the flu vaccine during H1N1. And I'm glad that I did.

And so obviously, if you have a doc, have a conversation with your physician. But this is helpful coming from the CDC and ACOG to help pregnant women and lactating mothers make decisions for their children and themselves.

PHILLIP: Absolutely good news, I think, all around. Thank you, Dr. Ala Stanford. Thanks for being with us this morning.

And thank you for being with us here on INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY.

Coming up next, "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER AND DANA BASH". Among Dana's guests this morning, Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia.

Thanks again for sharing your Sunday morning with us. Have a great rest of your day.

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