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--:-- John Bickley: Good morning, I'm John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Monday, October 25th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- John Bickley: More shocking details emerge about the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin. Why did multiple crew members walk off set in the days leading up to the accident? And will Baldwin be held responsible?
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's right. Let's go to our entertainment reporter, Megan Basham. So, Megan, this was obviously a really tragic and shocking story, but I think what most people are wondering is how it even happened.
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, as we mentioned there at the top, Baldwin was on the set of the movie Rust, that's a Western, rehearsing a scene at Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This was just before about two in the afternoon. The set armorer, that's the weapons master, the person responsible for firearm props, had set three guns that were supposed to be loaded with blanks on a cart for the scene. None were supposed to have live rounds. These are typically called cold guns.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And I think a lot of people saw this headline and their first thought was, how could something like this possibly happen on a movie set? I mean, I was shocked that there was ever a loaded gun on set. Is that standard?
--:-- Megan Basham: No, it's not. Live rounds are never supposed to be used on the set. And obviously, that was not the case here. When you look at it, it seems like a whole chain of protocols broke down in this case. For example, the Actors' Equity Association guidelines state, before each use, make sure the gun has been test fired offstage. Now, it doesn't sound like that was done.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We're also hearing reports that the assistant director actually said cold gun when he handed Baldwin the prop, indicating at that point it was safe to fire. But according to NBC, that assistant director actually has a, quote, unsafe history.
--:-- Megan Basham: They quoted several sources who said this particular assistant director had allowed dangerous working environments in the past. Now, perhaps not coincidentally, there are also reports that crew members walked off the set a few days before due to poor working conditions. One of those who walked off was actually the prop's master who would have been in charge of overseeing this gun safety. The day of the accident was reportedly the new prop master's first day on the job.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Wow. And most shocking, three crew members told the New York Times that there had been at least two previous accidental discharges in the days leading up to that day. That actually led a supervisor to complain about the safety practices on the set.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, what about the legal ramifications? Is this all going to fall on Alec Baldwin? Well, that's something that a lot of legal experts are discussing right now. Baldwin not only shot the gun, he's also a co-producer for the movie. So it is possible he could face some charges.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The fatal shooting could be ruled an accident, could be ruled negligence, could be classified as recklessness or involuntary manslaughter. A Los Angeles Times report quoted several legal experts saying they very well think Baldwin and others involved with this film could at least face civil liabilities.
--:-- Megan Basham: They said that everyone on a film with weapons like that should have been versed in fundamental safety rules, and events suggest that those rules weren't followed. To give you one example, USC law professor Gregory Keating told The Times something like this, quote, doesn't happen without negligence. It's really just a matter of who's negligent and how the responsibility gets parceled out.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Then it gets murky because the facts are murky. Now, that all said, it's really too soon to tell. We aren't going to know what charges, if any, could be filed until the sheriff's office completes its investigation.
--:-- Megan Basham: Wow. I mean, it's still hard to believe. And if you're an actor and someone hands you a prop and says, cold gun, it's really hard to say that it's your fault. Yeah, that is true. But we also have to consider that as the producer, if safety protocols were sloppy, that's where he could have more responsibility.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Megan, thanks for coming on.
--:-- Megan Basham: Yes, of course. That's Daily Wire entertainment reporter Megan Basham.
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--:-- John Bickley: Coming up, President Biden tries to convince Senator Joe Manchin to get behind his multi-trillion dollar spending bill. Who's standing in the way of the president's agenda? And what are the bill's chances of getting passed?
--:-- Georgia Howe: And congressional Democrats have revised their controversial plan to monitor all bank transactions of at least $600 by raising the threshold for IRS surveillance to $10,000 per year. Why does Congress want to know how you spend your money? And could this affect your financial privacy?
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back after this break.
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--:-- John Bickley: Welcome back to Morning Wire. I'm John Bickley with Georgia Howe.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for staying with us. Now, let's go to our managing editor, Cabot Phillips. So, Cabot, give us a little background here. Why is Joe Manchin so important right now?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, at the moment, he's so important because the Senate is split evenly down the middle. And in order to pass a heavily partisan bill like the one they're discussing right now, Democrats have to have all 50 members on board because no Republicans are going to support this thing.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The bill in question right now is President Biden's social spending bill, as you mentioned. Republicans view that bill as essentially a far left wish list. It got things like free college tuition, strict climate change measures, Medicare expansion, and corporate tax increases.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, the initial price tag on that bill was $3.5 trillion, but Manchin said he wouldn't vote yes on anything higher than $1.5 trillion. He called the original price tag fiscal insanity.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So he's holding out right now, and the Democrats cannot move forward until he's on board.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: You know, we've seen a few times this year that Manchin has been at odds with his own party.
--:-- Georgia Howe: What factors keep landing him in this position?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So he's in a really unique position with his constituency. He's a Democrat senator in a state where just 29% of people voted for Joe Biden, West Virginia. So he's kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. Vote with the party and risk upsetting your constituents, aka your reelection chances, or vote on behalf of what people in your state want and upset basically the entire Democrat party.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's a tough spot.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Look, we saw some reports last week about Manchin potentially going independent. Is there any substance to these claims?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, last week there were reports that he was threatening to leave the Democrat Party if they wouldn't lower the price tag on the bill. Manchin said he told party leaders that if they had a problem with him being a centrist, he'd be happy to file as an independent but still caucus with the Democrats.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So doing them a kind of a favor. Kind of, yeah.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, it is unlikely that happens, though, given that such a move would probably cost him his spot as chair of the Senate Energy Committee. And also, a lot of Democrat leaders don't want him to leave the party. That would just further disenfranchise him. And remember, they need his vote.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But just the fact that this is being talked about shows how big the divide has become between the party's moderate and progressive leaders.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So if a deal is struck this week between Manchin and Democratic leadership, do we expect this bill to pass in the coming days?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: That's the thing. It's not likely, even if they come to terms on a price tag soon, which is still not a given, there's still going to be a ton of other stuff for them to iron out.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Usually the price tag on a bill like this is one of the first things they agree upon.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So it's still early on in the process. Democrat leaders like Nancy Pelosi have said that they hope to pass the bill this week. But from what we're hearing out of D.C., that's probably just posturing.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It'll likely be at least a few more weeks before anything substantive is passed. And that's assuming a deal is struck, which, again, still is not a guarantee.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: In situations like this, it's just important to remember that things in D.C. move at a very different pace than they might in other industries.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, they certainly do.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Cabot, thanks for the update.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime. That's Daily Wire Managing Editor Cabot Phillips.
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--:-- John Bickley: After a national backlash, Democratic leaders in Congress have scaled back their proposal to have banks report to the IRS all accounts with at least $600 of transactions per year. But critics say their new reporting threshold would still sweep up nearly every single working American, exposing their personal financial details to the federal government.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Daily Wire's Ben Johnson has the details of their updated plan. Good morning, Ben.
--:-- Ben Johnson: Good morning, John. So originally, Democrats proposed adding a provision to the reconciliation bill requiring banks to report any bank accounts with 600 in transactions a year, a very small amount. Where does this proposal stand now?
--:-- John Bickley: Starting next year, banks would have to report all private or commercial accounts and have more than $10,000 a year in transactions. That's deposits and or withdrawals to the IRS. The new proposal would eliminate wages from an employer and federal benefits like Social Security from reporting requirements. But that privacy doesn't apply to people who are self-employed, like many hairstylists, contractors, or family farmers.
--:-- Ben Johnson: So they raised the reporting requirements from 600 to 10. But how many people's accounts are we still talking about allowing the IRS to effectively monitor?
--:-- John Bickley: Unfortunately, that would still include most Americans. The $10,000 annual threshold means if you pay at least $834 a month in bills, your account would be reported to the IRS.
--:-- Ben Johnson: The American Bankers Association said in a statement, quote, virtually all Americans will be subject to this new reporting. Senator Mike Crapo of Idaho crunched the numbers. This is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The total is the average American runs over $61,000 through their account. Housing, $20,000. Transportation, $9,000. Personal insurance and et cetera, $7,000. The list goes on.
--:-- John Bickley: The average American will be picked up by this plan.
--:-- Ben Johnson: How does the administration rationalize this proposal?
--:-- John Bickley: Officially, the Treasury Department says it's trying to collect potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid taxes, especially from people who work off the books.
--:-- Ben Johnson: Politically, the Biden administration needs to find more revenue to pay for its multi-trillion dollar spending plans. Republicans say the proposed reporting requirement is a slippery slope because the IRS will scoop up enormous amounts of financial data, but not enough to know what those numbers actually mean.
--:-- John Bickley: So the IRS would likely ask for more specific details about individual transactions, which could trigger more IRS audits.
--:-- Ben Johnson: The Biden administration has said that audits of people who make less than $400,000 a year won't rise proportionally compared with wealthier Americans. But it's also said the IRS plans to massively increase audits of wealthier Americans. That's even more likely since the president has proposed hiring 87,000 new IRS agents, doubling the size of the IRS.
--:-- John Bickley: Right. That will also mean more audits for the middle class, fueled perhaps in part by these new reporting requirements.
--:-- Ben Johnson: So, in the end, this plan could go far beyond just reporting the amounts of transactions and withdrawals in a year.
--:-- John Bickley: Exactly. Many privacy and overreach concerns here.
--:-- Ben Johnson: Thanks for sharing these details with us.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Ben Johnson: That's Daily Wire reporter Ben Johnson.
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--:-- John Bickley: Other stories we're tracking this week. In an effort to combat the growing supply chain crisis, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis encouraged cargo companies stranded outside the ports in Los Angeles to reroute their cargo ships to ports in Florida.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The governor highlighted capacity at all of Florida's ports, as well as incentives for companies who decide to ship their cargo through Florida. The governor stressed that all the ports in his state are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
--:-- John Bickley: And COVID vaccination for children ages 5 through 11 may be available as early as the first week of November, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci.
--:-- Georgia Howe: An FDA advisory panel is due to meet Tuesday to discuss authorizing the Pfizer vaccine for children.
--:-- John Bickley: The vaccine has already been authorized for children ages 12 to 18.
--:-- Georgia Howe: If you liked this episode and are interested in hearing more, subscribe to Morning Wire on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening, and give us a five-star review.
--:-- John Bickley: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for staying with us.
--:-- John Bickley: Goodbye for now.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Goodbye.
