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Policy Disputes Over Additional Funding for Ukraine and Israel on Capitol Hill; Venezuela Voted to Takeover Part of Guyana. Aired 4-4:10a ET

Aired December 06, 2023 - 04:00   ET

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

COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hello, lovely people. I`m Coy Wire. Welcome to your CNN 10, especially on a #YourWord Wednesday. Follow me @coywire on

Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, put your unique vocabulary word in the comment section on my most recent post with your school, teacher, mascot, if you

want, and we`re going to choose a winner to work into tomorrow`s show.

Let`s go. We begin today on Capitol Hill where a proposed $105 billion national supplemental security funding package may have stalled in

Congress. Senate Republicans are prepared to vote against a bill, which includes additional aid to Ukraine and Israel. Why? Well, they want

additional changes to this country`s border policies.

President Biden has requested more than $65 billion in aid to support both Ukraine and Israel in their respective wars with an additional $14 billion

for border security here in the United States. Senate Republicans, however, are not budging until some of their issues with immigration and border

security are addressed.

Now, working through policy disputes is a normal part of Congress, but the White House says time is short. Painting, a dire warning about the urgent

need to approve aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia. Our John Laurence has more on the Ukraine-Israel funding plan that`s currently stuck in a

stalemate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN LAURENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Southern border crisis in the U.S. is having a ripple effect nearly 10,000 miles away in Ukraine.

OKSANA MARKAROVA, UKRAINIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: We are in urgent need of additional support as Russia continues this aggression war.

The battlefield is very hot and Russia is trying to advance.

LAURENCE: The White House issued a letter Monday saying, not providing more funds for Ukraine will, quote, "kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield."

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: I`m not helping Ukraine into way up ourselves.

LAURENCE: Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina is among the Republicans who want some of the funds to address the U.S.` immigration concerns.

SEN. JOHN CORNYN, (R) TEXAS: The security supplemental must include funding and policy reforms to address the crisis at the southern border.

LAURENCE: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is pushing on the Ukraine- Israel aid package this week.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, (D) MAJORITY LEADER: Democrats want to be reasonable on immigration. We`ll willing to make concession but not -- but we will keep

going in circles if Republicans aren`t interested in even meeting us halfway.

LAURENCE: Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young says, "If an agreement isn`t reached soon, the U.S. could face critical national

security risks."

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY, (D) CONNECTICUT: Unfortunately, many Republican extreme demands are still on the table. Things that Republicans know can`t get

democratic votes and that`s our stumbling block right now.

LAURENCE: I`m John Laurence reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIRE: Now, one of the key sticking points with the border talks disagreement is how the immigration authority is being handled. The Biden

administration has leaned on humanitarian parole authority, which includes admitting Afghans after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and Ukrainians

following Russia`s invasion.

Other instances, including allowing migrants from designated countries to temporarily live and work in the United States as a way of attempting to

alleviate the surges at the U.S.-Mexico border. But Republicans argue the administration is using their authority too broadly and are seeking to keep

it in control within limits.

With more holidays just around the corner, senators are scheduled to be in the nation`s capital for just two more weeks. A possible option would be

for Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to move to advance an aid package without the border policy changes.

But House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have insisted that Republican or GOP support for more Ukraine funding is

contingent on tightening immigration laws.

Let`s head to South America now, where Venezuelans voted overwhelmingly on a referendum to approve the takeover of an oil-rich region in the

neighboring country of Guyana. The area in question is the densely forested Essequibo region. Its borders have been disputed for more than a century

and this latest largely symbolic referendum is renewing tensions there. Our David Shortell has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID SHORTELL, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: The referendum held Sunday in Venezuela over the question of whether that country should essentially

create a new state within the land of their neighbor Guyana, passing by a wide margin. This was in reference to the Essequibo region, a very oil-rich

part of Guyana that actually makes up about two-thirds of that country`s national territory.

It`s land that Venezuela has long laid claim to, but the borders of which were set back in 1899 by an international tribunal. So of course, leaders

in Guyana are very concerned in the run-up to this election, calling it an existential threat to their country, and it attempted annexation.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro for his part had been campaigning on the issue for several weeks, calling it an opportunity for Venezuelans to

reclaim a part of their country that he says was essentially stolen from them by colonial powers back in the 19th Century.

Now, voters were asked five questions and in preliminary results released by the country`s national election, authority on Sunday evening, voters

overwhelmingly supported the initiative, voting more than 95% of the time, yes, in those five questions.

Now, of course, this is Venezuela. It`s an authoritarian country with no independent election monitors present at the ballot box on Sunday. So these

results have to be taken with a fairly large grain of salt.

Now, analysts say do not expect an invasion of Guyana anytime soon. That`s because if Nicolas Maduro were to actually try to create this state within

Venezuela, it would likely have to involve the use of armed troops to move into Guyana. And that`s not something that he has any support for from even

his closest allies.

Still, it has raised the threat level considerably in the region, Brazil, which shares a border with the region, sending some troops up last week.

And the U.S. actually sending some senior military leaders down to Guyana in recent days in a bit of a show of support for that country.

Now, Guyana`s leaders calling it, as I said, an existential threat to their country and the vice president there in recent days actually invoking

Vladimir Putin`s invasion of Ukraine, saying that all the options are on the table when considering how to deal with this threat.

David Shortell, CNN, Mexico City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIRE: Ten second trivia.

What type of low-level cloud is known to be nearly uniformly thick, dense, and produces steady rain or snow?

Stratus, Cumulus, Stratocumulus, or Nimbostratus?

If you said nimbostratus, you are correct.

In Latin, nimbo stands for rain cloud. Stratus means to extend, spread out, flatten, or cover with a layer.

On the weather front, more than 10 million people in the Pacific Northwest of the United States were under flood alert as waves of heavy rain and snow

are saturating the region. The cause? A series of atmospheric rivers. Here to explain the science behind these rivers of the sky, our meteorologists

my man Derek Van Dam.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN WEATHER ANCHOR: I think it`s best that our viewers think of this as a literal river in the sky. The ability for this to transport

water vapor from the tropical regions of the planet to the mid-latitudes where you and I actually live is just incredible.

And we`re talking about a tremendous amount of water vapor so much so that, that has the ability to transport as much as equivalent of 25 times the

amount of water that flows through the Mississippi River.

So these river in the skies, the atmospheric rivers, we keep talking about produce significant heavy rainfall and mountain snow. That`s when the

freezing level is far enough down in altitude where we can get so much snow.

But this time it`s a little different because you can actually trace back the origin of this atmospheric river all the way back to Hawaii and that

moisture means that it`s pulling in this kind of tropical influenced moisture.

So it`s going to be a warmer AR event or atmospheric river event and we believe that this will be more of a rain event. So the snow we got earlier

in the week, well that`s going to melt. That`s going to add to the flooding concerns because we have a level five of five according to some of the

authorities out there.

So this is a significant event for the coastline of Oregon, even in proportions of Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Today`s story getting a 10 out of 10 is turtlely awesome, dude. And it`s going to leave you shell shocked. On the Island of St. Helena, a sea

shell`s giant tortoise named Jonathan is the world`s oldest living land animal, estimated to be 191 years old.

He`s basically a shellebrity there, even featured on the back of one of their coins. He`s believed to have been born around the year 1832. That`s

before postage stamps were invented, before light bulbs, even pedal bicycles. His latest birthday was quite the shellebration with a cake made

from his favorite foods like cabbage, carrots, lettuce and fruits. Despite being blind and unable to smell, his vet says he`s in good health, showing

no signs of slowing down.

Jonathan should write a shelf help book on longevity. It`d probably be a New York Times best sheller. Thanks to everyone who subscribed and

commented on our CNN 10 YouTube channel, showing some love.

Now, shout out to Henry W. Moore in Candia, New Hampshire, long live the Lancers. And Prescott, Arizona, shout out to the Grizzlies at Granite

Mountain School, rise up. I`m Coy. This is CNN 10 and I`ll see you tomorrow for your word Wednesday. Bring it.

END