Return to Transcripts main page

The Situation Room

Winter Storm; Inflation and Tariffs Impacting Black Friday Spending?; Could Trump Plan Worsen Nursing Shortage?; Measles Cases Surging. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired November 28, 2025 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:02]

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it really is, Erica.

I mean, if you look at deaths, for example, there, we actually do see something that looks like good news. If you look over the last 25 years, since 2000, measles deaths globally have declined by 88 percent. And so that's obviously very good news.

But then, if you look down at the numbers themselves, first of all, still in 2024, WHO estimates 95,000 people around the world died from measles. And they say any deaths from a disease that's preventable with a highly effective and low-cost vaccine are -- quote -- "unacceptable."

So, if you look at those trends, in terms of cases, they have come down dramatically since 2000. But the pandemic caused some disruptions to vaccination programs. And so we're still kind of recovering in terms of vaccination rates and also investment in vaccines.

So you have got down to just more than 10 million measles cases globally in 2019. That's come up in the last five years to now 11 million in 2024. Deaths, though, still continue to decline, which, of course, is a good thing.

The WHO report suggests part of that could be because we are seeing more cases in middle-income countries where other things, like nutrition and better health care systems, keep measles from being as deadly. But they know there are still long-term consequences that can come with measles infections.

And so you are also seeing high-income countries like the United States at risk of losing measles elimination status. That's something we won after 40 years of hard work with measles vaccination campaigns in the year 2000.

This year, we are seeing a record number of measles cases in the United States, approaching 1,800. That's the most by far since we declared measles eliminated 25 years ago. And going back even further than that, about three decades, we haven't seen this many measles cases.

And, Erica, it's really directly tied to vaccination rates. We're seeing overall, nationally, they're falling in the U.S., but also really in pockets of communities, you're seeing quite low vaccination rates. And that really enables measles to spread -- Erica.

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: It does. And it is amazing, as you point out, 40 years of hard work, how quickly some of that work is being reversed.

Meg, appreciate it. Thank you.

Just ahead here: holiday shoppers hitting the stores, banking on a Black Friday bargain or two. But what about the rising costs that we're also seeing and the tariffs? How is that weighing in on your potential savings and even your plan to spend? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:36:55]

HILL: Happening now: shoppers on the lookout. Maybe you are one of them hoping to see a great bargain on this Black Friday.

But the reality here is that rising inflation and other economic woes are looming over one of the biggest shopping days and shopping periods, frankly, of the year.

CNN global economic analyst and global business columnist at "The Financial Times" Rana Foroohar is with us now.

Rana, always good to see you.

As we look at this, I mean, it's impossible to ignore. Anybody who goes to a store knows that the price of goods is rising. And there is concern, certainly, given that the U.S. is a consumer-based economy, about the impact that that will have.

Where does Black Friday, upcoming Cyber Monday, where does that fit into the economic picture right now?

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: Yes, it's such a good framing, Erica.

You're absolutely right. We are about a 70 percent consumer spending economy. So when people are buttoning up their wallets, that's a big deal. That's a big deal for every kind of business out there.

What we're seeing so far is that there probably are going to be a record number of shoppers, but they are likely going to be spending less than they have in previous years. And that's because people, as you say, they see, they feel that prices have gone up.

Contrary to what the president has said, inflation is about a percentage point higher than it was before he took office. There are some big headwinds coming. Health care inflation is expected to rise. We have got the impact of tariffs still coming through the economy.

And we're hearing even from budget retailers, Walmart, Kohl's, that they are seeing, particularly amongst working people, amongst younger people, people with less money to spend, they're really seeing a sense that folks are tightening up.

HILL: Yes, because there is this uncertainty at play, to your point.

President Trump, as you noted, weighing in on a number of different levels. Here's a little bit of what he's had say recently.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have the hottest stock market ever. That's a big thing for 401(k)s and all of the millions of people with jobs and 401(k)s. Everybody participates in that. But it's 48 times in a little bit less than 10 months, 48 times we hit an all time high.

And I think we're going to continue because, when these factories that we're building from all over the world, they're coming because of tariffs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: So everyone does not participate in 401(k)s, it's important to note, of course, and the stock market is not the overall economy, and the tariffs really are becoming more and more of a concern.

FOROOHAR: Yes, the president's speech is interesting.

You're absolutely right. Only about over half, a little over half of people in America have 401(k)s. There are more Americans invested than ever before in the stock market. But at the end of the day, most Americans still get the majority of their money in a paycheck, in average income, not in inflated stock market gains.

The president said something else interesting, though, which is, he talked about all the foreign direct investment coming in. And that's true. There has been a lot of foreign direct investment into the U.S. because of the possibilities of reindustrialization.

But that is in of itself inflationary. When you put more investment into the economy, particularly if it's not coupled with productivity gains right away, that's inflationary. And a lot of the investment that's coming over is, it's long-term plays. It's about semiconductors and automobiles and defense spending.

[11:40:13]

These are long-term projects. So, in the short term, I think it's actually going to be inflationary.

HILL: So when we look at what the picture is in the short term, there have been a couple that -- I think it was made Deloitte that was showing that the amount that Americans are expected to spend this holiday season is actually down from last year. I believe it's $622.

And we're also seeing that higher -income earners, right, really the wealthiest in this country, are spending more. And they're spending a lot.

FOROOHAR: Yes.

HILL: But it is the middle class, it is people who live paycheck to paycheck, lower-income folks who are really having to hold on to that paycheck because there's less of it to go around.

FOROOHAR: Right.

And that gets to a term that I think many of us have heard, the K- shaped economy. You can imagine one angle here and one going down. That's the economy right now. As you say, it's wealthy people that are doing most of the spending. Middle-class working people, they're just simply not spending as much.

But, ultimately, there's only so many pairs of jeans or homes or cars that the wealthy can buy. You need broader-based middle-income spending in order to buoy and really lift up a 70 percent consumer income economy, to go to your very first point.

HILL: Rana, always good to talk to you. Thank you.

FOROOHAR: Thank you.

HILL: Just ahead here: a brewing fight over the Trump administration's plan to limit the amount that can be taken out of federal loans for nursing school and a number of other professional programs. So how could that impact the nursing shortage that already exists in this country?

We're joined by the head of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:46:45]

HILL: Happening now: fears that a shortage of nurses could soon get worse.

The Trump administration is looking to limit the access to federal graduate student loans across a number of fields by reclassifying those degrees and no longer listing them as professional degrees. So, that proposal would then cap the amount of money, federal loans, that could be available to borrow.

The Education Department says most nursing students won't be affected. Health care groups, however, are warning that this could mean a number of fewer nurses. It could also threaten patient care.

Deborah Trautman is president and CEO of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

It's good to have you with us.

So this is all part of the president's Big Beautiful Bill, which, of course, he then signed into law, where they were reclassifying a number of programs as being professional or not. And nursing was reclassified. It's no longer under that professional designation, which then limits, for people who aren't familiar with this, the amount of federal loans that can be taken out.

That's a big deal, because then that means that people who may go to work for example in a rural area or in areas of high need that could potentially have some of those federal loans forgiven, that maybe wouldn't happen either. What is your biggest concern in looking at these rules that are supposed to go into effect in July?

DEBORAH TRAUTMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO,AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGES OF NURSING: Thank you very much.

You have highlighted some of the very reasons we are deeply concerned about this. The nurses that would be affected by this are several, nurses in different groups, nurse practitioners that you mentioned already. So these are post-baccalaureate degree nurses in all of these different categories.

They are vitally important to the health of our nation. We have said -- and it's not an overstatement -- that we believe the omission of these nurses on the list of professions who are eligible for this highest level of loan support, the next level down -- there's only two levels -- it's half the amount.

So we will be slashing the federal loans limits for nurses by half -- they'd only be half percent. That's not enough to support this nursing education and the strong work force we need. These are nurse practitioners. They are -- so they're all post-baccalaureates. It's not all nurses.

It's nurse practitioners who, as you said, provide care in rural and underserved areas. Nurse practitioners right now are stepping in and providing primary care. Our country is in a primary care crisis. Primary care providers who take care of us keep us healthy, take care of us when we're sick and they help us if we need to see a specialist.

Nurse practitioners are meeting that need. And not only are they improving access to care, but they're also helping assure we maintain quality care. I don't know how many of those watching today are still struggling. There are long waits for primary care, but nurse practitioners also provide specialty care.

And, as you said, they're in rural and also in underserved areas. But there are also certified registered nurse anesthetists here who provide and support anesthesia and surgery, clinical specialists, nurse midwives and teachers, those who teach the future next generation of nurses.

We have a shortage of faculty right now, over 7 percent shortage of faculty. And that -- almost all of those positions require a nurse with these advanced degrees.

[11:50:05]

HILL: As I'm sure you know...

TRAUTMAN: To eliminate them means that we are -- go ahead -- challenging the future.

HILL: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

HILL: What I wanted to say is, as I'm sure you're aware, the administration has said, look, these limits are not going to impact most students. And part of this is tied to the very high cost of both undergraduate and postgraduate education and the fact that these degree programs do cost so much.

There is a comment period that -- there will be a comment period here. Do you believe that could potentially lead to any changes in this rule taking effect on July 1, as it's supposed to?

TRAUTMAN: Thank you. I believe it's imperative that it lead to changes.

The other health professions that are listed under professional degrees, not everyone needs these loan limits, but to exclude anyone, it creates then a block, a blockage that will stop us from having the number of professionals we need in these very vital positions.

So, yes, I believe there's widespread support across the country. The only, the only support we don't have yet is the Department of Education. We have support from the nursing community. We have a petition of over 200,000 signatures. We have support from medicine. We have support from the leaders of the health care professions, as well as universities.

We have support from Congress, Republicans and Democrats, and the public. It makes no sense not to support nursing.

HILL: So, what if the...

TRAUTMAN: If the nurses don't need the full limit, we won't take it.

Yes?

HILL: To your point about the support that you have garnered, right, and that you have readily available to share with the Department of Education, what has your experience been in having those conversations with the Department of Education? Do you feel that you're being heard? Are you able to get to the right people to have those conversations?

TRAUTMAN: Unfortunately not, no.

The Department of Education isn't speaking directly to us, us, the AACN, or any of the other nursing associations. But we have all been submitting comments. We have had letters of support from all of those groups that I just talked about.

So there has been a very strong advocacy effort. But they have not talked to other groups either. The RISE Committee, which is making recommendations, we submitted nurses, qualified nurses to be on that committee. Regrettably, there was not a nurse on there.

There are experts on there. And I would like to believe that our increased advocacy and education that has occurred since they made this proposed recommendation -- it's not final yet -- I would like to believe that that has helped provide them with even more information, so they will reverse this mistake, which is an omission of nurses on that list.

HILL: It is certainly something that we will continue to follow.

Deborah, thanks for your time today.

TRAUTMAN: Thank you very much.

HILL: Just ahead here, we are closely watching this dangerous winter storm. Depending on where you are headed -- and it is a large part of the country we're talking about here -- this could really impact your travels heading home over the weekend. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:57:51]

HILL: Happening now: treacherous travel conditions for millions of people heading home from their holiday. Take a look at Erie, Pennsylvania, here. This was yesterday. Now a dangerous winter storm is set to bring even more snow, rain. And, of course, that comes with potentially slick roads.

All of this is actually stretching across a 1,000-mile stretch of the country.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar joining me now.

This one is keeping you a little bit busy, my friend. So walk us through the path here.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right, so we have got two separate storms. We have got the first one in the Northeast. That's wrapping up.

And then a brand-new one out to the West, it's going to slide its way across the northern tier of the U.S. as we go through the rest of the weekend. So a lot of folks are expected to be impacted here over the next 48 to 72 hours. Here's what's left of the first system. So you can see there's still plenty of snow coming down across portions of the Midwest and the Northeast, as those strong winds are really the driving factor here for a lot of that lake-effect snow.

Several more inches is expected going through the next 24 hours as we wrap up that first round. And then the second system begins to slide in. Now, right now, it's mostly focused over Montana and Idaho. The system is really going to get its act together and strengthen and intensify as we make our way into the evening hours tonight. So here you can start to see a lot more of that snow beginning to fill

in across the High Plains and the Midwest. By Saturday morning, this is when we really start to see things become a little bit more treacherous, especially for Iowa, portions of Illinois and into Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas.

Again, you can see the purple color here. This is the very heavy snow. The pink indicates a little bit of that mix. So you're talking rain a some times, snow, maybe even some ice. And then on the southern flank, this is where we're talking about the rain. This could be heavy at times and even some potentially severe thunderstorms for places like Texas and into Louisiana.

By Saturday night, now the snow is more focused across Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland. A lot of those areas are really going to take the bulk of the snow and more of the rain sliding into the south and east. Some of these spots, because they are all just going to get snow, you're looking at eight to 12 inches potentially for snow over the next 48 hours.

Keep in mind that some of these areas had snow from the first system. So it's eight to 12 inches on top of what they have already had earlier this week. The wind for the first system is expected to die down across the Northeast by tonight, but the winds will be picking up at the same time across the High Plains and the Midwest as that second system begins to near.

[12:00:10]

You're looking at 30-, 40-, even 50 mile-per-hour winds that are going to blow all of that snow around, leading to very poor visibility.

HILL: Wow, that is really something. Allison, appreciate it. Thank you.

Well, thanks to all of you as well for joining me, spending part of your day with us here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

Stay tuned. "INSIDE POLITICS" with Manu Raju starts right now.