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House Passes $95B Aid Package for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan; How Office Vacancies Could Lead to a "Doom Loop." Aired 4-4:10a ET

Aired April 22, 2024 - 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, everyone, and welcome to the show. Hope you had an awesome weekend and you`re ready to make the most of this Monday,

April 22nd. I`m Coy Wire. This is CNN 10.

And we start today in the nation`s capital, Washington, D.C., where the U.S. House of Representatives passed a $60 billion aid bill for Ukraine

this weekend. This coming after months of back and forth between both sides. The money will help Ukraine in its fight against Russia, who invaded

its neighbor a little over two years ago.

The bill passed with a bipartisan vote, which is somewhat of a rarity in Congress. The final tally, 311 to 112. All of the 210 Democrats in the

House voted for the bill, along with 101 Republicans.

The bill upset some of the more conservative Republican House members, including Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has threatened

to oust Speaker of the House, Republican Mike Johnson, for working with Democrats to pass the bill.

The Speaker is the leader of the House, and they are voted into that position by other representatives in the House. But even though they`re in

charge, there`s a rule that if just one member of the House is upset with how the Speaker is performing, they can put forth a motion to vacate,

meaning they can make the whole House vote on whether to fire the Speaker from their position.

Some conservative Republicans say they are upset about the bill because they want the money to be spent here in the United States, not abroad in

Ukraine. The Democrats and many other Republicans think the bill is vital to helping Ukraine, a democracy, fight against the authoritarian regime in

Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN REPORTER: Of course, the White House made the ask for these additional funds for Ukraine back in October. The President at

the time said in an address to the nation that it was in the interest of U.S. national security, saying that it should -- no ground should be ceded

to Russia. But of course, the stalled aid in Congress only added to the urgency.

And over the course of recent months, U.S. officials made the correlation between battlefield losses in Ukraine, arguing that that was because they

weren`t getting the funding that they needed and putting the responsibility squarely at the feet of Republicans in Congress.

Now, over the course of time, White House officials have been in touch with members of Congress and congressional staff working furiously behind the

scenes to see this through. And the President Saturday applauding that it has now happened and hoping that it crosses the finish line soon so that

aid can get to Ukraine swiftly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Next up, we`re taking a look at the doom loop. No, it`s not some new roller coaster coming out. It`s actually referring to the effects of

increasing office space vacancies on cities.

Post-pandemic, a lot of businesses don`t require their employees to come into work, letting them work from home instead. Great for some workers, but

not so great for the people who own the office buildings that rely on companies to pay their leases to rent space. The numbers show that a lot of

businesses are now getting rid of their office space.

At the end of last year, one out of every five office spaces in America`s biggest cities were empty. And that`s leading to something called a doom

loop, which could hurt these big cities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STIJN VAN NIEUWERBURGH, PROFESSOR OF REAL ESTATE, COLUMBIA BUSINESS SCHOOL: In New York City, there`s currently about 90 million square feet of office

space available for rent, you know, including supply space. Just to put that in perspective, that`s about the size of 35 Empire State buildings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Since the 2020 pandemic, office vacancy levels in New York City have risen above 20%, the highest level since the city began

recording them in 1984.

NIEUWERBURGH: Everybody`s affected by this issue. Property values, office values have declined. That lowers tax revenues, and now cities have to cut

spending.

You know, when cities cut spending, the city becomes a less attractive place to live and people leave. And that aggravates the problem. And we get

into this vicious cycle that I`ve called the urban doom loop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Property taxes from commercial offices typically generate 10%of New York City`s revenue, or about $3.4 billion. One way the

city can try to recoup some of those costs and prevent a so-called doom loop is to convert some of that office space into alternative use, like

apartment buildings.

PATRICK MADL, RESIDENT: I didn`t expect it to look so nice on the inside. When I arrived, I saw the outside. I said, this is an office building. I`m

sure there was cubicles everywhere, like just the process of removing everything. I can`t imagine what that looked like.

I did meet a friend. He actually worked here in the building. So I thought it was really cool knowing, like, I don`t know where your office was, but,

like, now my dog and myself, like, could have been my bedroom. It`s a 16- month lease, $4,700 a month.

NIEUWERBURGH: Not every building is physically suitable for a conversion, or it might be very expensive. A lot of policymakers would like to have

affordable housings in these buildings. And the problem is that the math often does not work out.

These conversions are not viable if we force too much affordable housing into them, unless we can subsidize these affordable housing units. And

that`s where a lot of cities are currently going. They`re trying to subsidize through taxes, for example, reduction in property taxes for these

conversions.

RICHARD COLES, FOUNDER & MANAGING PARTNER, VANBARTON GROUP: The sort of underbelly, if you will, of the doom loop is the demise of the urban

center. We, being a developer, kind of view it a little bit more optimistically. And it`s a moment of reinvention.

NIEUWERBURGH: The doom loop is also not inevitable. It depends on the responses that the policymakers have to the problems. And many cities have

already passed legislation that stimulates conversion of office to apartment buildings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Ten-second trivia. What was the most popular car sold in the United States last year?

Ford F-Series trucks, Toyota RAV4, Tesla Model Y, Honda CR-V.

Go on and toot your own horn if you said Ford F-Series. That`s right. That is the correct answer.

For today`s story getting a 10 out of 10. We`re taking a road trip, vicariously, of course, through Pelumi Nubi, a super adventurous traveler

who decided to pack up her tiny car and make the nearly 5,000-mile drive from London, England, to Lagos, Nigeria, in Africa, all by herself. She

slept in the car, cooked her food in there as she journeyed through the city and desert, all in the name of adventure.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PELUMI NUBI, GLOBAL TRAVELER: I`m solo driving from London to Lagos. Everyone`s asking me, do I have a 4x4 car? Am I using a 4x4 car? No, I`m

using a normal car.

LARRY MADOWO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is Pelumi Nubi. She`s a global traveler, and she just completed her most daring road trip yet, a

drive from London to Lagos in her regular car, a Peugeot 107 that she`s had for five years.

NUBI: London to Lagos loading, we are in France, guys. We made it.

Well, it is my baby, that`s what I call it. I`ve never seen anyone do it like this, and it`s just important for me to make use of what I had, so I

went for it.

I want to show it`s possible for black women like myself to seek adventure.

MADOWO: For Pelumi, that adventure involved traveling through around 17 countries, including France, Morocco, Senegal, and Sierra Leone.

I have like a flat layout bed, so you can literally sleep in it. For quick meals, you know, I can just cook up something, noodles, all of that stuff.

And to wash and stuff like that. I stayed in like a lot of camping sites as well that had facilities to like, you know, freshen up and all of that. We

made it to the Sahara Desert. We made it to Sierra Leone.

Borders, out of all my trials and tribulations, was the sore in my side. Like it was so difficult crossing. Liberia border, I had to sleep there for

two days. So yeah, it`s been lots of lessons. You know, patience, endurance, you know, being knocked down and standing up again. I had a car

accident in Ivory Coast.

So that was something you don`t plan for. It was bad. I guess if it was in the U.K., the car probably be considered a write-off.

Everybody when they saw the videos and photos, they`re like, that`s it. The trip is over, you can`t go. But I was just so determined. We are about to

hit the finale. Yay! Drum roll, please.

MADOWO: After finally arriving in Lagos, 68 days after leaving London, Pelumi, who was born in Nigeria, was gifted a new car and an apartment by

Lagos` state governor and made a tourism ambassador.

NUBI: We really need to just own our own, take ownership of what we want to do with our lives. So go for it. As black young girls, do brave things.

Step out of your comfort zone and be daring.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIRE: That is some serious determination and dedication and inspiration.

Shout out to all the darts in Kaysville, Utah, who are joining us from Davis High School today. Thank you for all of your determination and

dedication.

And this shout out goes to Johnson Junior High School in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Firebirds got us feeling kind of fly. Go on out and dominate this

Motivation Monday. As the wise Yoda once said, do or do not. There is no try.

I`m Coy. This is CNN 10, and I`ll see you right back here tomorrow. Rise up.

END