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The Situation Room
W.H.: Weather Delaying Vaccine Deliveries in Many Areas, but Backlogged Doses should be Delivered within a Week; Fauci: Too Risky to go to One-Dose Regimen of Pfizer, Moderna Vaccines; Sen. Manchin to Vote Against Biden Budget Nominee Neera Tanden, Making Her Confirmation Unlikely; Sen. Bernie Sanders, (I) Vermont is Interviewed about Neera Tanden, COVID Relief Bill, Minimum Wage; Almost 15 Million People In Texas, Over Half The Population, Experiencing Water Disruptions; Source: Trump Considering Speech To CPAC As First Public Appearance Since Leaving The White House; Sen. Graham To Meet With Trump At Mar-a-Lago This Weekend On Peace Mission As Feud Rages With GOP. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired February 19, 2021 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[17:00:00]
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: She died on February 5. Her husband Derek (ph) says he'll miss hearing her voice the most. May her memory be a blessing to her kids, her husband, and all who knew her.
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @JakeTapper. You can tweet the show @theleadcnn. Our coverage on CNN continues right now.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in the Situation Room.
We're following the extreme winter weather crisis in Texas. The state right now facing another night of record cold temperature amid a water crisis triggered by the near total failure of the state's power grid. Nearly half the state is being told to boil water before drinking it, but many still have no water at all.
Compounding the misery, food shortages that have left some grocery stores shelves totally empty, while others are limiting purchases of essential supplies.
We're also following the coronavirus crisis. President Biden touring a Pfizer vaccine facility just a little while ago and saying and I'm quoting him now, "I believe we'll be approaching normalcy by the end of this year. But I can't make that commitment to you."
Let's get straight to Texas right now. CNN's Omar Jimenez is joining us. He's in Austin.
Omar, the state is reeling from, what critics say, is a manmade crisis.
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. We're getting ready to head into another potentially final night of freezing temperatures here in Texas. And the good news is the Electric Reliability Council of Texas which controls the state power grid says we're no longer under a power emergency. Operations have returned to normal. The bad news is, reliable drinking water still seems days away on the tail end of a week where Texans were fighting for their lives in their own homes.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JIMENEZ (on camera): So you'd never even use your fireplace before this?
JENN STUDEBAKER, AUSTIN, TEXAS, RESIDENT: Oh no.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Jenn Studebaker and her family in Austin, Texas were burning chairs, pieces of bookshelves before eventually scavenging for bits of wood without even a means to cut it.
STUDEBAKER: That hammer, actually is what we were splitting wood with.
JIMENEZ: Using their nearly abandoned fireplace now as a means of survival.
GRAYSON CRUISE, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: We would bring the head of a futon bed and put it right here. So --
STUDEBAKER: Get closer to the heat.
CRUISE: And get closer to the heat. And I would sleep right here. So we would all just kind of be huddling together.
JIMENEZ: Restless from the new mentality they've now had to adopt.
STUDEBAKER: Everyone's just, you know, thinking like we just make one more day, just get one more day. And it's like, well, what if it happens again tomorrow? Now we got to -- OK, we can't burn all of this.
JIMENEZ: And even though the powers on,
STUDEBAKER: No waters, not even bubbling, nothing.
JIMENEZ: The water isn't. And it's not just Austin, as they are among the millions across Texas under a boil water advisory.
In Houston, miles of long lines to pick up water at mass distribution sites.
GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): I talked to the President last night and he called to let me know that he was going to go ahead and approve the major disaster declaration that Texas would be submitting.
JIMENEZ: In San Antonio, this apartment complex burned to the ground as firefighters struggled to get enough water to fight it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our main concern is water supply. All these hydrants out here is dry. There's (INAUDIBLE) just frozen. There's no water.
JIMENEZ: Even members of Congress forced to get creative.
REP. SYLVIA GARCIA (D-TX): I'm going to fill my toilet with water so that I can be ready for later today.
JIMENEZ: Without water and her Houston home Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia collected rainwater to flush your toilet.
And hospitals are struggling to care for an influx of patients amid an ongoing pandemic.
DR. ROBERT SALDANA, MEDICAL DIRECTOR EMERGENCY MEDICINE, HOUSTON METHODIST HOSPITAL: As more of our area hospitals were without power and water, many of their patients ended up at our facilities.
CHIEF CANDE FLORES, ABLIENE FIRE DEPARTMENT: Earlier today we had a situation where an elderly female walked out of her home and she was found in her backyard deceased. And that was directly related to the weather conditions.
JIMENEZ: Emergencies merging and leaving those already affected by the pandemic wondering where to go next.
STUDEBAKER: I lost half my income. And then finally we're getting here. What am I going to do? I mean, we can barely live here.
Sorry. It's like it just keep going and going and just this whole year, just keep going. And if we just make it one more month, then my tax return will come in or we get some funding. I can't pay my utility bills. So, just let us have the tiny apartment. It's all I'm asking. Maybe some water would be nice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ: And water is that next frontier expected to be a multiday process. But on the electricity front, Governor Greg Abbott says the state of Texas may have to step in with funding to make sure what happened this week never happens again.
Meanwhile, the CEO of ERCOT was asked whether he would resign at the very least how he could keep his job in the midst of this. And he said, if that's the outcome, that's the outcome, but for now he's focused on restoring power and explaining the decisions they made as this crisis began to unfold. Wolf.
[17:05:17]
BLITZER: Yes. Hard to believe what's going on in Texas. My heart goes out to the people there.
Omar Jimenez reporting. Thank you very much.
Let's get the latest forecast right now. Our Meteorologist Jennifer Gray is joining us.
It's been a brutal week, Jennifer, for Texas and several other states. Is there relief in sight?
JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: There finally is relief in sight, Wolf. And this is going to be a storm the entire Gulf Coast and even the eastern seaboard is happy to say goodbye to.
We have temperatures right now in the upper 30s in Dallas, low 50s in Houston, Austin at 43, San Antonio 46. But there is a hard freeze warning tonight. We're going to have one more night, a very, very cold temperatures and then things are going to get back to normal.
Look at this, record called 1,300 low temperature records, almost 200 monthly records, almost 50 all-time cold records with this system. So, the low temperatures, when it was the coldest of the cold on Tuesday with temperatures two degrees below zero, in Dallas six, and Austin 15, in Houston one degree, in Shreveport things are getting better now with temperatures in the 50s. But 30 or more cold temperature records could be broken for tonight.
There we go. Here's the radar. This is the storm that's moving out. New York City, Philadelphia, Boston still getting a little bit of snow, but this is pushing off the eastern seaboard. And this is a beautiful sight across much of the Gulf Coast. Nothing on the radar looking much better.
There's that hard freeze warning for Texas, much of Louisiana, but high temperatures tomorrow look beautiful Wolf in the mid to upper 50s for much of Texas and Louisiana.
BLITZER: All right, that's good. Our Meteorologist Jennifer Gray, thank you very much.
The weather, meanwhile, is taking a major toll on the country's COVID vaccination effort. CNNs Nick Watt has more from Los Angeles.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Now we know just how badly this weather is delaying vaccinations.
ANDY SLAVITT, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE ADVISER FOR COVID RESPONSE: We have a backlog of about 6 million doses due to the weather. We anticipate that all the backlog doses will be live delivered within the next week.
WATT: Started shipping some of that already and just announced plans to open four federal vaccination sites in Florida, one in Pennsylvania.
SLAVITT: to target vaccinations to those who are most vulnerable.
WATT: But with production times, miscommunication, infrastructure issues, the sheer size of this task, is it time to delay second doses?
DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: I proposed this back in early January. Got a lot of pushback. WATT: The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were both trialed and authorized as double dose. But, Israeli researchers who tracked over 7,000 hospital staff now say that after just the first Pfizer dose, symptomatic infections fell 85 percent.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Even though you can get a fair degree of "protection" after a single dose, it clearly is not durable. We know that.
WATT: So the White House for now will not delay second doses. Today in Los Angeles and elsewhere, second doses are the priority.
Dr. Fauci argues the extra durability and protection from that second dose is needed now more than ever.
FAUCI: It's an variant issue to protect against variant.
WATT: That threaten to derail our progress. Average case counts just fell nearly a third in just one week.
Ironic, while much of the country freezes, Pfizer just told the FDA, its vaccine does not need to be stored so long, at below minus 60 degrees C. It can survive in a regular freezer for a couple of weeks. Pfizer now testing that vaccine on pregnant women also on high school aged kids, Is it safe? Does it work? And they expect that data,
FAUCI: Maybe not exactly coinciding with the first day of school, but sometime in the fall we will have that.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
WATT: Now, if there is anybody out there still saying oh, this is just like the flu, then listen to this. New research shows that 30 percent of people still have symptoms nine months after infection with COVID- 19. Symptoms like breathing problems, aches, brain fog, fatigue. This is not the flu. I've said it again, Wolf.
BLITZER: You're absolutely right. I know people months after they had it they still have brain fog, for example.
Nick Watt reporting for us. Thank you very much.
Let's get some more in all of this. Dr. Peter Hotez is joining us. He's the professor and Dean of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine.
[17:10:01]
Dr. Hotez, thank you for joining us.
You're in Houston where vaccine appointments have been cancelled. Shipments are delayed as a result of the extreme weather crisis. These vaccines are time sensitive, as you know better than I do. How problematic are these delays? DR. PETER HOTEZ, PROFESSOR AND DEAN OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: Yes, I'm pretty worried Wolf. Because originally, we heard, well, it was just going to be on Monday. We heard it's just going to be a day or two and then the shipments will come on Wednesday and now the shipments have been delayed. So we've really lost the whole week.
And, and the reason I'm concerned about losing a week is because we have this new race ahead of the B117 variant that's coming from the United Kingdom and it's starting to take off now in Florida, it's going to be pretty much nationwide we think by late in March and into April.
So we're in this horrible race because that U.K. variant or the B117 variant seems to be much more transmissible, more highly contagious than what we've seen in the past. And the U.K. government just put up information which has not been peer reviewed, but it's looking pretty ominous that it's more severe in terms of level of disease and death rates.
So now is a real crunch time to get ahead of that variance. So losing a whole week like this is really awful.
BLITZER: It is, indeed.
Researchers as you know, Dr. Hotez, in both Israel and Canada say a single dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine is enough to significantly reduce disease. Dr. Fauci says the second dose still provides critical durability. What do you think? Should U.S. officials consider giving one dose so more Americans can at least begin to get some level of vaccine protection?
HOTEZ: Well, look, I think they can look at the data coming out of Israel. I've not seen it. I think the FDA has to evaluate it. But basically, I'm with Tony, I'm with Dr. Fauci in the sense that we know that two doses both give high levels of consistent neutralizing antibody, and durability of protection. I haven't seen sufficient data yet to go just to that single dose route.
Again, delaying it a week or two or three weeks is maybe OK. But any longer than that, you have to face the reality, we've got this U.K. variant coming along. We don't have any data on either single or double dose against the U.K. variant.
I think it's -- well the double dose we do, but not the single dose. So, going with the double dose to ensure that we get protection against the U.K. variant is important.
If we collect that data for a single dose against this new variant that's coming up, you know, we can revisit it. But right now it's not there. It's provocative. I think we can afford to delay a little bit a week or two, but I wouldn't go much beyond that at this point.
BLITZER: I know you're tracking the spread of these more transmissible coronavirus variants. What could the U.S. actually be facing Dr. Hotez in the next couple of months if we're not able to speed up the rate at which people are getting vaccinated?
HOTEZ: Well, now the Institute for Health Metrics is already coming up with, you know, getting -- we're already going to be at about 500,000 Americans who've lost their lives hitting that milestone, that horrible milestone very soon. We're going to be at 600, 650,000 by the end of May into early June. And the numbers keep on going especially with that higher death rate.
So this is pretty scary stuff. I know people are starting to be a bit self-congratulatory about the sharp declines that we've seen in the number of new cases. And that is good news. But I fear it short lived based on what we saw in the U.K.
And remember how this works. It's things stay flat for a long time. And then when they go bad, they go bad very quickly. They go up very quickly. So the U.K. variant appeared in southern England in September, it looked OK in October and then towards the end, as you got close to December, then it really accelerated.
So we have to be prepared for the same thing that happened here in the United States. And this is not something we want to play games with.
BLITZER: Yes, the numbers may be going down, but 2,500 Americans died just yesterday from coronavirus. And not just numbers, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters.
Dr. Hotez, thank you very much for joining us.
HOTEZ: Thanks so much.
BLITZER: Up next, will the minimum wage increase to $15 an hour make it into President Biden's $1.9 trillion pandemic stimulus package. We're going to talk about it with Senator Bernie Sanders. He's standing by line.
And we'll also get more on the unfolding disaster in Texas with the mayor of Houston, the largest city in Texas. This entire city is under a boil water notice right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:18:23]
BLITZER: President Biden got a firsthand look at a Pfizer manufacturing plant today expressing optimism that all Americans will have access to a COVID vaccine this year. But the President wouldn't make a firm commitment on when life here in the United States would return to normal. Our senior White House Correspondent Phil Mattingly is joining us right now.
Phil, update our viewers.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, the President making clear the end of the coronavirus pandemic is in sight but the pathway to get there is still littered with bumps and hurdles.
And how it actually comes to be? Well, according to the president that is up to the Americans themselves.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to beat this. We're going to beat this.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Tonight, President Joe Biden touting the one thing that could bring it in to the nightmare that is coronavirus.
BIDEN: There's one message to cut through to everyone in this country is this, the vaccines are safe. Please, for yourself, your family, your community, this country, take the vaccine when it's your turn and available. That's how to beat this pandemic.
MATTINGLY: Biden touring a Pfizer plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the largest and the company's network engaged in manufacturing the COVID- 19 vaccine.
BIDEN: I believe we'll be approaching normalcy by the end of this year. And God willing this Christmas will be different than last. But I can't make that commitment to you.
MATTINGLY: While also pausing to recognize the cost as the death toll nears 500,000.
BIDEN: That is almost 70,000 more than all the Americans who died in World War II over a four year period.
[17:20:00]
MATTINGLY: And challenge Republicans who oppose his $1.9 trillion COVID relief plan.
BIDEN: Or they have me cut, or they have me leave out. Should we not invest $20 billion to vaccinate the nation? Should we not invest $290 million to extend unemployment insurance for the 11 million Americans who are unemployed so they can get by while they get back to work?
MATTINGLY: For Biden, a day spent straddling the dual challenges of domestic and foreign policy.
The President, in remarks to the Munich Security Conference, putting an exclamation point on a dramatic shift in U.S. posture.
BIDEN: America is back. The transatlantic Alliance is back. And we are not looking backward. We are looking forward together.
MATTINGLY: With subtle but crystal-clear digs at his predecessor as the White House seeks to reestablish America's closest alliances.
BIDEN: Our partnerships have endured and grown through the years because they are rooted in the richness of our shared democratic values. They're not transactional. They're not extractive
MATTINGLY: Biden's seeking to unify allies to confront clear challenges from China. BIDEN: You know, we must prepare together for long term strategic competition with China.
MATTINGLY: And ever present from Russia.
BIDEN: Addressing recklessness, Russian recklessness and hacking into computer networks in the United States and across Europe and the world has become critical to protecting collective security.
MATTINGLY: But also making clear the administration's through line leading with diplomacy. A prime example Iran, or China and Russia will be crucial to next steps on the Iran nuclear deal.
BIDEN: That's why we said we're prepared to reengage in negotiations with the P5 plus 1 on Iran's nuclear program.
MATTINGLY: With the U.S. taking a significant first step in opening the door to meeting with Tehran. While making negotiating priorities beyond the deal itself clear.
BIDEN: We must also address Iran's destabilizing activities across the Middle East.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
MATTINGLY: And Wolf, the White House is still continuing depressed also get all of their nominees confirmed. And one of those nominees is now running into significant problems. Neera Tanden, Biden's nominee to be the Director of the Office of Management and Budget will now have the opposition of one Democrat, Joe Manchin, putting out a statement, the Senator from West Virginia, saying that he will oppose her nomination due to, as he's called them, overtly partisan statements directed at both parties.
And here's why these matters. The White House has the narrowest of majorities in the United States Senate, 50 to 50, with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as the tiebreaker, they can't afford to lose a single Democrat if they don't have any Republican support. Now, a senior administration official tells me they will not be pulling the nomination. They're waiting to see what Republicans do here.
But all of this underscores the high wire act that the administration is facing, not just with their nominees, but also with that Cornerstone legislative proposal, the $1.9 trillion COVID relief package. They can't afford to lose any Democrats. If they aren't going to get Republican support the administration working hard behind the scenes to ensure they keep everybody in line, Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Phil, thank you very much, Phil Mattingly at the White House.
We're joined out by the Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. He's the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.
Senator, thank you so much for joining us. I want to get to several important critical issues. But first, what's your reaction to this news that Democratic Senator Manchin will not vote to confirm Neera Tanden for OMB? You of course questioned her about her tweets. She personally attacked you in some of those tweets.
Is it time, do you believe, for President Biden to withdraw her nomination, put someone else potentially there?
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Wolf, OK, I worry less about what Miss Tanden did in the past and what she's going to do in the future. I will be speaking to her early next week to get a sense of what she wants to do as head of the OMB. But right now --
BLITZER: Let me just ask you, Senator --
SANDERS: As the chairman of the Budget Committee --
BLITZER: Will you vote to confirm her?
(Crosstalk)
SANDERS: -- talking to her early next week. But what I am focusing on right now is chairman of the Budget Committee is the absolute necessity of us passing this COVID emergency relief bill, which is life and death for 10s of millions of working class and middle class Americans.
We have got to get those $1,400 direct Payments into the pockets of every working-class adult and their kids. We've got to extend unemployment benefits until September.
And we, by expanding the child tax credit, can cut childhood poverty in America by 50 percent. And as the President just mentioned today, we have to do everything we can to increase the production of vaccines in America and get them into the arms of the American people. That's how we open our schools safely. That's how we get workers back to work.
BLITZER: I want to talk about the COVID relief bill, which is so critical as you correctly pointed out, but is it my understanding -- is my understanding correct that you have not yet made up your mind and whether to confirm Neera Tanden for OMB?
[17:25:09]
SANDERS: I will be talking to Ms. Tanden early in the week. We've talked once, I want to talk to her again.
She has -- that is a very important position. And I want to know that the head of OMB is somebody who is going to be standing up for the working families of this country, for the middle class, for lower income people and has the guts to stand up to the big money interests, who have so much influence of what goes on in Washington.
BLITZER: Let's get to some of the specifics of the COVID relief bill. The White House responded, as you probably know, to a report that the President thinks it's unlikely the $15 minimum wage actually winds up staying in the deal. They say Biden hopes it remains but knows it has to go through a lengthy Senate procedural parliamentary process. What are you hearing from the White House specifically on this?
SANDERS: Well, it's not the White House that matters on this one. It's what my committee is doing, what the Health and Education Committee is doing, the Finance Committee, what Senator Schumer and leadership are doing, and all of us are working together to and I won't bore the American people with the arcane rules of the Senate. But what we have got to do is convince the parliamentarian, one person, that the $15 an hour minimum wage, which in my view we desperately need, is consistent with the rules of the Senate and reconciliation.
We made all these committees and their lawyers made those arguments. I think that they are right. I think we're on the right side. And I think we can win those -- that argument. We'll know about that probably, definitively next week.
BLITZER: As you know, the right now the minimum wage is only $7.25 an hour. And it's been like that for since 2009. If it were included in the new legislation, it would immediately, I understand, go up to $9.50 an hour, then there would be annual increases. But gradually, it wouldn't get to $15 an hour until 2025. Is that your understanding as well?
SANDERS: Well, it's on my understanding Wolf. I wrote the bill. That's what it is. And I appreciate your making that point. Because a lot of people are saying, oh my god, it's seven and a quarter right now and if we raise it to $15 an hour next year, a lot of businesses are going to have a trouble accommodating that increase.
And the answer is you've just indicated, it is not, it's going to go up gradually until 2025. And furthermore, we intend to provide tax credits to small businesses, to help them with this wage increase. But this is a gradual increase.
And look, Wolf, if you were to ask me, what the major economic crisis in this country is today, it's not just unemployment. It is the fact that half of our workers are living paycheck to paycheck, and millions of people are working for starvation wages. You cannot survive in any state in this country. On eight or nine bucks an hour, you certainly cannot raise your kids on those wages.
We need the minimum wage to be a living wage. And conservatively speaking, 15 bucks by 2025 is what we've got to do. I would go further, but I'll accept that.
BLITZER: And a lot of people don't appreciate that. It's really sad that for what, 11 or 12 years, it's remained only $7.25 an hour. You can't make a living, you're in poverty, if that's what you're making right now.
So, it's got to go up. And let's see if it does go up.
But you know there are some, not just Republicans but some Democrats who were opposing a raise. They'll say they'll vote against the entire package if it's included. What do you say to them like Senator Manchin, Senator Sinema, for example?
SANDERS: Well, what I say is, look, there are 50 Democrats, and anyone can torpedo any piece of legislation. But I believe that in this unprecedented, this unprecedented moment in American history, Wolf with so many people are suffering. Working class people worried about feeding their kids, worried about being addicted, paying a doctor's bill.
I believe we're all going to stand together, we're going to support the President. Notwithstanding, you know, our differences on this of that aspect, I have differences with the bill.
But at the end of the day, what the American people are saying in overwhelming numbers, is we are hurting. We are worried about our kids, we're worried about our parents. Help us. And if we all one country, and if the government is supposed to represent the people of this country, we've got to act, we've got to act decisively. And I am confident that every member of the Democratic caucus, and hopefully some Republicans will do that.
BLITZER: Well, they're going to have to make up their minds very quickly because it's coming up. It's got to come up soon. By mid-March it's got to be passed. Otherwise, a lot more people are going to be suffering right now.
Senator Sanders, thanks so much for joining us.
SANDERS: Thank you.
BLITZER: Coming up. Texas now bracing for another night of record cold amid a terrible water crisis.
[17:30:00]
We're going to talk about that with the mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner, when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: More now on our top story, the water crisis facing most of Texas tonight after the power debacle brought on by days of record cold temperatures. Right now, almost 15 million people are experiencing water disruptions, that's more than half of the state's population.
Joining us now the Mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner. Mayor Turner, thank you so much for joining us. You say Houston, the largest city in Texas, I think the fourth largest city in the United States right after Chicago, has come a long way restoring power but I know you're not out of the woods yet. A lot of people are still struggling without water.
[17:35:09]
What's the situation like right now? What are the residents dealing with? MAYOR SYLVESTER TURNER, HOUSTON: Wolf, things have improved significantly over the last 48 hours, 48 hours go of the pressure in the city of Houston for its water system was below 20 PSI. And that's the regulatory requirement. When it falls below 20, you have to give the boil water notice. As of couple hours ago, my Director of Public Works has said on average, we are now at 40 PSI, but there are still pockets within the city where the pressure is still too low. So people may be experiencing low pressure or no pressure at all.
So we are continuing to push the system. Things are continuing to improve. But a lot more people have access to water, our hospitals, our jails, businesses, residential consumers. So, much better shape, but we're still not there yet. And then until we can stabilize, let's say of a 12-hour period, take samples, send them to the state for them to take a look at, those sums up the layout for 24 hours before you get the all clear signal. We remain under the boil water notice until then.
BLITZER: I know at least as of yesterday, you told us you hadn't spoken with the Texas Governor Greg Abbott since the crisis began. Any update on that? Have the two of you connected the governor and the mayor of the largest city in Texas?
TURNER: I have not spoken to him, Wolf. I have had several conversations with the Biden administration. Several of them. So we've -- you know, I've had those conversations, but I've not had an opportunity to speak with the Governor. Look, we stand laser focus on the issues that are here. In terms of power outages, you know, three days ago, there were 1.4 million people in the Houston region without power. As of today, that number is under 4,900. So, we've made significant progress there.
The pressure is increasing, we're now where we need to be yet. But we are moving in the right direction. I'm particularly sensitive now to people who are on the margins, for example, don't have financial means and types of bursting, you know, all over the place. So, there are thousands of homes, of people living in apartments, who are now facing a situation where their ceilings have fallen, their properties have been damaged. They don't have insurance, they don't have the financial means, and they are wondering, OK, how do we move forward. And so, we will focus on assisting them. And we'll be creating a fund to assist these persons.
So, there are a lot of things that we still need to do. And I look forward to working with our state leaders. We look forward to working with people on the federal level. It will take all of us working together to kind of get on top of this situation.
BLITZER: Yes. You would think, though, that the Governor would be in touch with you, would call you to see what specifically he could do to help and he's been silent, which is from my perspective, worrisome, but I'll give you the last word.
TURNER: Well, you know, look, I think the people in the state, the people in our respective cities and counties want us all to work together. I stand ready to work with the Governor, with our state legislators to make sure that this situation never happens again. This was an unavoidable situation. We simply were not prepared. We did not have enough capacity.
I found a bill, Wolf, when I was in the legislature in 2011, that would have required the Public Utility Commission to make sure that ERCOT, our Texas grid has sufficient reserve power to prevent blackouts. That bill never got to hearing in the legislature.
BLITZER: Yes.
TURNER: So, I look forward to working with the Governor and the legislature to make sure that this situation does not repeat itself.
BLITZER: It's hard to believe this was going on right here in the United States of America. So much of these pictures we're seeing seem to be coming from a third world country. It's hard to believe it's happening in Texas, and it's happened over these past several days.
Mayor Turner, thank you so much for joining us. Good luck --
TURNER: Thanks, Wolf.
BLITZER: -- to you. Good luck to everyone at Houston.
TURNER: Thanks, Wolf.
BLITZER: Coming up, will former President Trump returned to the public eye with a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference next week? We have new information.
Plus, yet another GOP power player, Senator Lindsey Graham, makes a pilgrimage to Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, as Republicans feud over the future of the party.
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[17:43:45]
BLITZER: Former President Trump could return to the public eye as soon as next week. A source close to the former President says he's considering an invitation to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Let's discuss with our Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash and our Chief National Correspondent John King. John, we know Trump loves speaking of crowds, what could he possibly gain though, from speaking at CPAC in the coming days? Are there any risks involved?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what he would gain, Wolf, is he would suit his ego. He's lived through a period of time, he just had to send an impeachment trial. Yes, he was acquitted. But it's a big standard to his legacy. The Senate Republican leader, he's in an open feud with him, went to the floor and said the President's conduct was reprehensible. And he wants to know part of him in the Republican Party.
So in the middle of this debate, of where does Trump or whether Trump fits in the future of the Republican Party, it would offer him a platform. Are there risks? Of course, there are risks. Now, I might define risk differently than the former President. The former President might define risk differently than Mitch McConnell and other Republicans. There are risks, he stirs up more trouble and hurts himself instead of helping himself.
But, Wolf, it'd be interesting to watch. We know that he wants to stir up this fight. We know that he likes this fight. CPAC is a possibility. He's also been invited to a Republican National Committee meeting in April which is closer to home, it's in Palm Beach. So let's keep an eye on him.
BLITZER: Yes, he would love those crowds, I'm sure. You know, Dana, you've been doing some excellent reporting on this trip that Senator Lindsey Graham is making a visit, the former President in Palm Beach. What's the goal here?
[17:45:10]
DANA BASH, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: The goal is to try to be in the words of a source constructive in trying to bring the former President back into the fold with a very, very specific, very clear- eyed goal, which is for Republicans to regain control of the United States Senate. It's razor thin, 50-50 can't get any tighter than that. And Republicans across the board here in Washington, sure you both have heard this as well, they are freaking out about the idea that if the former President gets involved in a place like Arizona, and decides to throw support behind one of his favorite politicians, Kelly Ward, who's the party chair there who Republicans don't think could win if she wanted a Republican primary, statewide, then that could be one problem.
Same goes with Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Greene, there's concern that maybe she would run against David Perdue, who's already said that he's running, that could take Georgia off the board. And, you know, the list goes on and on. So, look, Senator Graham has had mixed results in his courtship of the former President and his friendship with the former President and his political alliance with the former President, but this is one area where the hope is that he can try to at least steer him in the right way to make it about his legacy and how much his legacy is tied into the future of the Republican Party because he changed it dramatically.
BLITZER: He certainly did. You know, John, we learned that Trump rejected a request from Nikki Haley for a meeting at Mar-a-Lago. Is this the new test for Republican candidates being granted an audience with Trump?
KING: It's the current test. Let's remember, this President has lost friends over the years, the former President, has lost friends over the years. And sometimes when his circle gets smaller, he goes back to people he had previously sent into exile. Brad Parscale, for example, his former campaign manager was backed down meeting with the former President recently. So Trump is very transactional. People who are on the outs today could be in the inner circle six months from now, so let's be careful about this. But right now, yes, he is mad at any Republican who criticizes him. Mitch McConnell said, you know, the President's conduct was reprehensible. The former President issued a statement, you know, going to war and very personal insulting terms. Nikki Haley tried to straddle, she was talking about how things he had done, the former President done that she thought were great, how important his supporters were to the party. But she also said his conduct after the election was reprehensible and that Republicans were wrong to stay with him. For that, she is now banished from Mar-a-Lago.
So right now that's the President's dividing line. No ambiguity. You're either for me or against me. Do not say I did anything wrong, or you don't get to come kiss the ring. Well, that last, we'll see as we go forward.
BLITZER: We certainly will. Guys, thank you very much.
An important note to our viewers, be sure to join Dana, Sunday morning 9:00 a.m. Eastern for State of the Union. Among her guests this Sunday. Dr. Anthony Fauci, we'll be watching. Of course, we will.
Coming up, one Texas City has managed to keep the lights and the heat on throughout the disaster. We're going to show you how they did it when we come.
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BLITZER: One Texas City has avoided the disaster playing out across the entire state, thanks to a hard-learned lesson. CNN National Correspondent Dianne Gallagher is in El Paso with the story.
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DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (VOICE-OVER): No power, no water. It's been the same story across the state of Texas this week. Well, most of it.
RALPH LOYA, EL PASO RESIDENT: They're freezing in San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Rio Grande Valley. We're very, very lucky.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): The reason the lights never really went out in a major way here in El Paso is a bit more complicated and rooted in experience.
LOYA: We had gas shortages, water shortages, power outages.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): Ralph Loya, like everyone else in El Paso, can't forget the 2011 deep freeze.
LOYA: It was a catastrophe that hit the city that we just weren't prepared for.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): El Paso Electric Company's Senior Vice President of Operations Steve Buraczyk was in the control room 10 years ago this month when it all came crashing down.
STEVEN BURACZYK, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS, EL PASO ELECTRIC COMPANY: We actually had over three days where the temperature in El Paso never got above freezing. And we lost most of our local units. Those impacts lasted for weeks and weeks after. And so, we made that decision that we were going to harden our assets, that we were going to invest in new technology, and invest in new infrastructure.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): The winterize plant that manager Albert Montano is showing us around today exists in part because of that big freeze.
ALBERT MONTANO, PROJECT ENGINEER, EL PASO ELECTRIC COMPANY: Were designed to run in the summer. But there's these few times where we have an overnight low that we really got to get all the systems up and ready. Then our team was able to do that.
BURACZYK: It's a lot easier like with a brand new plant because now we're designing it for minus 10. You have the top technology, its state of the art. And so you can design in these redundant systems.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): And built-in redundancies that needed to be tapped into this week when natural gas supply dropped.
MONTANO We went into diesel operations with the first unit on Monday of this week. And that's when we started seeing issues with gas pipeline pressure.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): But another risk in El Paso isn't in the dark. It's located so far from other Lone Star cities that it's not on the same power grid is 90 percent of the rest of Texas. There were three power grids in the country, western, that's what El Paso was on, Eastern and Texas, the only state to have its own grid in part to avoid certain federal regulations. This week, the Texas system which is operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas or ERCOT failed and has faced accusations of being unprepared for the storm.
[17:55:05]
GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R), TEXAS: I'm taking responsibility for the current status at ERCOT. Again, I find what's happened unacceptable.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): Planning for a once in a decade storm is expensive, but it is possible and worth it, says El Paso Electric, if it prevents disasters like what we're seeing in Texas this week.
BURACZYK: When we saw what happened to our community in 2011, we made a decision and we said never again.
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GALLAGHER: Now, there were still challenges here in El Paso. In fact, there were roughly 3,000 households that did lose power, fewer than 900 though were for more than five minutes. And, Wolf, they said that no household was really out for more than a few hours because of the storm. BLITZER: It's really impressive, the situation in El Paso compared to the rest of the state. Dianne Gallagher, thanks for that report.
Coming up, the latest of the water crisis facing Texas as the state braces for yet another night of record cold. Tonight, more than half the population is experiencing water disruptions.
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