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Artillery Rains Down On Gaza As Israel Gathers Troops Near Border; Biden Faces A Foreign Policy Test With Israeli-Palestinian Conflict; Growing Number Of GOP Govs. Stop Pandemic Unemployment Benefits Early. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired May 14, 2021 - 12:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: As long as it takes, those words from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to describe an aggressive Israeli military campaign targeting Gaza. There was more heavy artillery fire from Israeli forces this morning. Israel continues gathering troops near the Gaza border. The IDF says no ground troops have crossed into the Palestinian territory but it is not ruling that out. Nic Robertson is with us now live from a position near the Gaza border. Nic, what's the latest?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: John, they are gathering here. There are armored personnel carriers, there are tanks, there's heavy digging equipment to dig up some burns, you can perhaps see one over my shoulder in the background there. But what has been happening here while these troops have been stationed, just you know, within a few miles of the border with Gaza here very, very close. You've been able to see overhead Iron Dome intercepts rocket -- intercept Hamas's rockets fired out of Gaza, some have been flying up over here coming out of Gaza that way, because Gaza is in this direction.

And some have been going this way further north in Israel intercepted there as well. So the pace here, the tempo is fairly relaxed. But there's movement all the time. What we are not seeing here, John, is enough troops to make an incursion likely, as you know, if you compare it to 2014 or other years where troops have been masked and then they've gone across the border into Gaza. Those same numbers aren't here today.

And there doesn't seem to be the political world. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was speaking a little earlier said that we said that we would hit Hamas hard. We have hit them hard, he said. We, in the past 24 hours, he said, we've hit them in their tunnels. We've shown we can reach them, we can continue to reach them.

But John, you'll know from listening to so many politicians, that when a politician says we have hit them hard, he's telling you that is done. And he said we've done what we said we would do. He's not talking about ramping up beyond there. The rhetoric could change but the political will, the troop numbers don't seem to be there for an incursion right now, John. KING: Nic Robertson grateful you're there at this very important moment. We'll stay in touch and watch how this plays out and still with me in studio to share their reporting insights, CNN's Dana Bash and Jeff Zeleny. Every President comes to office hoping he or she has been he's so far does not have to deal with this. Every President then has to deal with this, the Israeli Palestinian conference. Let's just listen to a little bit of the President talking about this yesterday.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Israel has a right to defend itself when you have thousands of rockets flying in your territory.

[12:35:01]

There has not been a significant overreaction. The question is how we get to a point where they get to a point where there is a significant reduction in the attacks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Netanyahu again today praising President Biden. They do not have as close relationship as Netanyahu had with Trump. And you could hear in the last piece from the President there, the concern always is, yes, Israel has every right to respond to random rockets targeting civilian areas. Please don't overdo it.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Right. And the question is whether that relationship is going to be as icy as the Netanyahu relationship was with President Obama. See our colleague Stephen Collinson, the talented Stephen Collinson started his piece on this this morning, quoting the Godfather three, just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in and that is so perfect when it comes to U.S. presidents for decades.

Wanting to, of course, you know, in the back of their mind, some of them, many of them in the very much front of their mind wanting to be the person to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But for Biden, the question is foreign policy much more broadly. He wants to focus on competition with China. He wants to deal with Iran.

And the fact is, this is an issue that he will and is, he is having to deal with. And it is so complicated. It is so entrenched in so many years of issues and mistrust and distrust. But the fact that his Secretary of State, you know, is probably is obviously working the phones from here, but not actually there trying to negotiate a deal, as we've seen Secretary of States do before at least emissaries for them, is telling us how difficult even at the most difficult space on the planet is, it's so much worse now.

KING: Right. We have no good choices in the sense that Netanyahu hasn't been able to form a government the Palestinian government is almost nonexistent with President Abbas. They have their own internal problems. And so there aren't people who can -- there are people who can make progress, if you will. If you go, Aaron David Miller, who you mentioned over time, worked in the George H.W. Bush administration, worked in the Clinton administration, when Bill Clinton thought he had to deal with Yasser Arafat. Yasser Arafat walked away.

He says, we could come up with any number of creative, sometimes very tough minded ideas that the administration could embrace. The question is, will they and so far it seems they're highly risk averse even in the face of intensified conflict. In other words, if you don't know -- it's so hard to get a solution, why touch it.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. And the President Biden does not have as warm of a relationship, obviously, with Benjamin Netanyahu as President Trump did. But he does have a long relationship with him. He's been watching this very long. So it's different than former President Obama, I think in every way, in many different ways.

So this is not something that the Biden White House, obviously wanted is something that landed in their laps. I talked to former Senator Joe Lieberman about this this week. And he said, look, I mean, they have no choice but to act. So they are sending an envoy now. But the President has only spoken about this one asked this week publicly. I am told that they believe his biggest asset is talking privately to the Prime Minister, which he has done in private phone calls.

So the President is working this more aggressively behind the scenes. They're trying to Egypt and others involved as they did seven years ago to try and stop this violence at the moment. But there's no question now this is part of the foreign policy portfolio, whether he likes it or not, as it is for every president.

KING: And it is proof, for all of the good of the Abraham Accords from the Trump administration. That was progress. It's significant. It's important. You can't fix this one. It's a core -- if the Israeli Palestinian issue, it is the core of the problem. You don't fix that, you get this. Thank you both for coming in today.

[12:38:42]

Up next for us, it is the new red blue divide. Many Republican governors say it is now time to end the more generous COVID unemployment benefits.

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KING: It's a growing debate in the country pushed largely by Republicans about whether it is time to end this, the more generous unemployment benefits many people receive during the COVID pandemic, 300 weekly -- $300 weekly federal boost in state benefits, that's what the federal government gives. Jobless benefits go to more people than normal to freelancers, to independent contractors, those who've run out of regular state benefits. That is the federal program as of now.

But you have 16 states now saying no, all Republican governors, two of them carried by Joe Biden in the presidential election. But all 16 of these states, this is what they have in common, Republican governors who are joining a growing Republican movement to say enough that in their view, these benefits are keeping people from applying for jobs, that people are making as much or maybe more staying at home than they could if they go back to the workplace.

Most of these states are below the national average. You see Arizona in 6.7 percent unemployment. It's above the national average, Mississippi 6.3 percent above the national average. But most of these states have relatively low unemployment. Their governors are saying we need to stop sending their money and they are getting support from Republicans here in Washington who say, it was a good idea at the time, it's no longer needed.

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SEN. STEVE DAINES (R-MT): This is not about laziness. It's about logic. You do the math, there's no reason to come back to work.

SEN. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R-TN): In our office we call it the Biden bucks. The Biden bucks are keeping people from going back to work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Joining our conversation Douglas Holtz-Eakin. He's the president of the American Action Forum and the former director of the Congressional Budget Office. Doug, it's great to see you on this important topic. I just want to put up some numbers here in the economic impact.

Nearly 2 million people, these Republican governors enacting this policy will take these benefits away from about 2 million people and about $11 billion in payments they will not receive. Are you concerned that -- is there any chance this backfires that it takes that money out of the economy at a time maybe the economy still needs it?

[12:45:10]

DOUGLAS HOLTZ-EAKIN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN ACTION FORUM: Well, I don't think there's any real risk on that front, John. There's an enormous amount of stimulus that's out there from the $900 billion that Congress appropriated at the end of 2020, that $1.9 trillion that they passed in March. So there's plenty of money to keep the economy running.

This is more about the supply side of the economy, getting people back to work, having people available for the 1.8 million jobs that are advertised and unfilled.

KING: Right. And so help me with that, because I want to get in a minute, I'm going to get you more political question. And your gift is that you are an economist, but you have been involved in politics enough to understand sometimes things get twisted a little bit.

HOLTZ-EAKIN: Yes.

KING: When you look at the data, especially after the last jobs report, a lot of people said, OK, this is proof. We did not get people -- the hiring was nowhere near what people expected. This is proof we need to shake things up in the pandemic. But some people say it's still fear of COVID, or it's a lack of childcare. What data tells you that a significant number of people are staying home, because they're getting a check that's equal or more than anything they could receive if they went and got a job?

HOLTZ-EAKIN: Well, I think your summary is the right summary. There are a number of potential explanations for why someone doesn't go back to work, they could be afraid of having their health compromised because of preexisting conditions, fear of just catching the virus, they could have schooling responsibilities, because their children are home from their school, they could not have access to daycare, or it could be the extended benefits that the federal government has put in place for the COVID-19 recession.

What we know from previous recessions, previous research, a lot a large body of work is that the higher is unemployment as a fraction of your wage, how much we replace of your standard of living, the longer spells of unemployment. And this replacement rate is over 100 percent for 37 percent of Americans. That's a really big replacement, right, unprecedentedly large. You have to expect that it's going to extend some unemployment. We just don't know how much.

KING: And because of the world we live in, I noticed I -- as I noted there, this is all Republican governor so far taking this step at the state level.

HOLTZ-EAKIN: Right.

KING: Bernie Sanders an independent but an independent who caucuses with the Democrats here in Washington says, Democrats in Congress secure lifesaving unemployment aid to workers so they wouldn't have to go back to work for starvation wages or without childcare. I sent a letter to the Labor Secretary today asking him to ensure Republican governors do not strip that assistance away. Does Washington have that power? Does the administration have that executive authority? Or is this up to the governor's whether they're a D or an R?

HOLTZ-EAKIN: Insurance, unemployment insurance are state run programs, and the pandemic uninsurance was an add on that the federal government put in place because of the very special circumstances. We don't normally have a initially 600, now $300 week benefit. We don't normally waive the requirement that people look for work to get -- to receive unemployment insurance. And we have a broader set of people receiving it, as you mentioned at the outset.

So those are very special provisions. The government shouldn't say, look, we just want to run our state program. And in doing so they'll do two things. They'll change the economic incentives. That's what we discussed before. But they're also making the statement that we're back to normal, right? This is a time when everyone desperately wants to get back to normal. They're making the political statement that my state is back to normal. Let's do business as usual.

KING: Douglas Holtz-Eakin grateful for your time on this important issue. We'll continue the conversation. Thank you.

HOLTZ-EAKIN: Thank you.

KING: Thank you.

President Biden spending a lot of time this week meeting with Republicans to talk infrastructure, the goal is to see if a bipartisan deal can be struck by Memorial Day. Is that possible? Well, Republicans in the meeting do compliment the President's outreach and his goodwill. But they also make clear there are giant disagreements.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO (R-WV): It's a good jumpstart. We did what we intended to do, which was get next steps, be very cordial, and ready to deal.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): The Senate Republicans are not interested in revisiting the 2017 tax bill.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): We first have to start with the definition of what is infrastructure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: With me to share her reporting, White House reporter for The Washington Post, Seung Min Kim. Seung Min, everyone says goodwill, good talks, it's great. But when the Republicans come out, they're drawing lines that at least at the beginning unacceptable to the President over how to pay for it or they won't go quite as high. Do you think it's actually possible? Are they just talking nice here?

SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I mean, it's not just a disagreement on how to pay for it. What you point out is a massive -- where there's a massive gulf between the two parties. But I'm told that the two sides don't even agree at this point on what infrastructure really means. And that's kind of the next challenge for Senate Republicans when President Biden asked them to come back and rework their offer and present them and present a new offer to the White House in the coming days that they -- both sides need to figure out what infrastructure really mean to them and then kind of go from there.

For Republicans it means the classic, you know, roads, trains, bridges, broadband systems. But we know the White House has sought a much broader definition of infrastructure, things that would help people go back to work and help revitalize our economy. So they have to bridge that difference first and then they can start talking about how to pay for it. And as you point out there are very few places where the White House and Republicans really kind of intersect or overlap on how they can actually pay for this really big package.

[12:50:17]

KING: And so you write about these dynamics somewhat today, which we're actually having infrastructure week, God forbid. But you write about this, beyond the platitudes, though, none of the lawmakers have been able to map out a path that will thread the political needle, satisfying enough Republicans to get Biden across-party achievement he craves without significantly sacrificing Democrats' ambitions on a transformational jobs plan.

So one theory, Seung Min, is that you cut a deal with Republicans on a package, let's say its $800 billion, paid for the way they want to pay for it. Everybody shakes hands. You have a big bipartisan rose garden event. And then two days later, the Democrats say now we're going to do the rest of it in a Democratic plan through the budget rules called reconciliation. And then everyone says, well, we did a nice bipartisan thing here. Let's fight like crazy over here. Can that happen?

KIM: That could happen. I mean, that would be one way to make for example, progressives who don't want to scale back their ambitions happy. But would Republicans go along with it knowing that after this deal is done, the Democrats would just go ahead and push these massive changes to government programs on their own. And I actually asked the Republican senators about that after the White House yesterday, and if that kind of view spoils these bipartisan deal making processes.

And they're right now saying, look, we find President Biden to be a very, you know, good faith negotiator here. But leadership in the past, especially Mitch McConnell and others have shown not such a great like for that kind of strategy. So if that becomes more and more realistic, that could also be a problem. But these negotiations.

KING: It could become a problem in these negotiations. Well, we have two weeks is that we do now, we watch for two weeks?

KIM: Right. I think so. I mean, the White House has to get defined what progress made by Memorial Day. But Republicans left the White House with kind of a takeaway, that maybe we can get some sort of a deal in principle by Memorial Day that by then in those two weeks, though, that Congress and the White House will figure out whether any sort of bipartisan deal is possible.

So we'll wait and see what Senator Capito and her other Republicans have to offer for this next offer to the White House. And we'll see if President Biden and Democrats are willing to kind of work with that or whether these talks were all for naught except for some good nice meetings with some chocolate chip cookies.

KING: I'll take chocolate chip cookies, and I'll be prepared to circle back next week. Seung Min Kim, grateful for the insights and the reporting, appreciate it.

Up next for us, President Biden's push to make immigration a legislative victory.

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[12:57:23]

KING: An update now on the COVID outbreak among the New York Yankees. The club reporting eight members now including one player all fully vaccinated have tested positive for COVID that raising new questions about breakthrough infections. But one thing is clear vaccines work. Only one of the eight have any symptoms that according to the team.

Topping our Political Radar today, President Biden today meeting with six immigrants protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program, part of a group known as the DREAMers. The six work in health care, education, and agriculture that will discuss their experiences as frontline workers during this pandemic. Face time with the President, part of the ongoing push to get Congress to pass the American Dream and Promise Act which would put into law a pathway to citizenship for the so called DREAMers.

Sources telling CNN the pipeline company finally emerging from a crippling cyber-attack paid a ransom to the group accused of carrying it out. It's not clear how much Colonial Pipeline paid the group, identified as DarkSide. But sources familiar with the incident say the hackers demanded nearly $5 million in cryptocurrency, the feds still working to identify the individuals behind that attack.

And its graduation season and high school ceremonies are getting a pause on the so called 2020 election audit happening in Arizona. The Arizona Veteran Memorial Coliseum in Maricopa County is being rented by more than a dozen high schools next week. So this morning 2.1 million ballots are being moved into temporary storage right next to the local fairgrounds where the appropriately named Crazy Town Carnival also happens to be taking place. That pause will last one week.

And a deep breath for me, before we go today, thank you and farewell, this is the final day in the chair for our amazing magic worker, miracle worker, Executive Producer Jessica Metzger. You see her on the right, right there. Jess is off for a new adventure. And we will profoundly miss her. She is our leader and our warrior. I've been at this a long time. I have never met anyone who so selflessly works so hard.

I first worked with Jess a long time ago and her husband, now husband Ted back in 2009 when we launched the State of the Union franchise. I am blue collar Boston, which is why the Yankees heart was pretty hard. She is blue collar western Pennsylvania. So just roots for the wrong teams and our language sometimes gets a little salty, but those roots are what makes her tick, what makes her special, and what helped me remember every day why we do this and who we are here for. So, from the anchor and from every member of the IEP team and our family, thank you, thank you, thank you and best wishes in the new adventure.

And thank you for joining us Inside Politics today. Have a fantastic weekend. I will see you Monday. Ana Cabrera picks up our coverage right now.

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