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--:-- John Bickley: Welcome to Morning Wire. I'm John Bickley.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And I'm Georgia Howe.
--:-- John Bickley: It's Monday, October 4th. We've got a lot to cover today.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's right. President Biden made a rare appearance on Capitol Hill Friday to make a case for his sweeping infrastructure and social spending bills. But his plan backfired, alienating moderate Democrats.
--:-- John Bickley: I was talking with Democrats in the elevator yesterday in Washington. They were stunned at Joe Biden coming in there and tanking their own bill.
--:-- Georgia Howe: What are the next steps for the bills? And how is the impasse affecting President Biden's political agenda?
--:-- John Bickley: I'm joined now by Daily Wire's Ian Howarth to break it all down.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Thanks for having me on the show.
--:-- John Bickley: So, Ian, President Biden attempted to intervene, but apparently things didn't go well.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Yeah, that's what we're hearing. So, as we discussed last week, the background here is that there are two bills at the center of a battle in Congress right now.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The first is a largely bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill. The second is the far more controversial $3.5 trillion spending bill known as the reconciliation bill.
--:-- Ian Howarth: That's the bill that contains Biden's major agenda items. The issue for far-left Democrats here is that they are trying to tie these pieces of legislation together, with so-called progressives in Congress demanding that the Senate pass the reconciliation bill before the House votes on anything.
--:-- John Bickley: But this is incredibly unlikely, given that more moderate Senate Democrats, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, aren't falling in line.
--:-- Ian Howarth: So this impasse was significant enough for President Biden to feel compelled to go in person to meet with Congress.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And what shocked everyone was that President Joe Biden attended a Democratic caucus meeting, and rather than getting the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed and working on reconciliation later, he effectively whipped up support against his own bill, agreeing that one bill can only be passed with the other.
--:-- Ian Howarth: So the president sided with the progressives.
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah, exactly. And what's the political fallout here?
--:-- Ian Howarth: Well, this move by Biden is getting severe criticism for two main reasons. First, his decision to link the infrastructure bill with a huge and arguably unrelated spending bill is now being seen as the president folding to the demands of the hard left.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And secondly, for those who actually want the infrastructure bill passed, Biden's decision has effectively killed any chances of this legislation moving forward.
--:-- Ian Howarth: It does seem like Democrats are in a worse spot now.
--:-- John Bickley: What's President Biden saying?
--:-- Ian Howarth: Well, Biden said that, quote, "we're going to get this done" as he left the meeting. But nothing much was offered beyond that.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It doesn't matter when. It doesn't matter whether it's in six minutes, six days, or six weeks. We're going to get it done.
--:-- Ian Howarth: According to Sarah Faris, a reporter at Politico, Biden offered to take questions from members inside the caucus, but his staff jumped in.
--:-- John Bickley: So yet again, no questions for the president of the United States. We're hardly getting any Q&A time with this president at this point.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Nearly zero.
--:-- Ian Howarth: And how is all this affecting the Democratic Party more broadly?
--:-- John Bickley: It's going to be panic stations for the party leadership.
--:-- Ian Howarth: The infrastructure bill being held up is only forcing Biden's approval ratings down even lower.
--:-- Georgia Howe: According to the latest polls, over 48% of Americans disapprove of Biden's performance as president, and just 47% approve of Biden's management of the economy.
--:-- Ian Howarth: And if I can give you just a few more really telling statistics, Biden's support among Democrats has dropped from 92% in July to 85%, while his support among black voters has dropped by more than 20% in just a month.
--:-- John Bickley: 20% that's really steep.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Do we have any sense of what's driving this drop in support from his own side?
--:-- Georgia Howe: It's a combination of factors. So, for example, the economy is struggling with concerns of inflation and shortages.
--:-- Ian Howarth: The border crisis is ongoing, as well as the continuing fallout from the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
--:-- John Bickley: And then there's the issue of unemployment, which Senator Joe Manchin has been vocal on.
--:-- Ian Howarth: I want to make sure that children are getting taken care of, that people are basically having an opportunity to go back to work.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We have 11 million jobs that we haven't filled. Eight million people still unemployed. Something's not matching up there.
--:-- Ian Howarth: And with Biden siding with the radical members of his own party, the moderate voices like Manchin are only going to get louder and more powerful.
--:-- John Bickley: Right. You know, President Biden campaigned as a moderate, but what we're seeing so far is that he's consistently moving left.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Yeah, it definitely seems that way.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Ian, thanks for the update.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Daily Wire's Ian Howarth.
--:-- John Bickley: Welcome back to Morning Wire. California becomes the first state to require approved COVID vaccines for all eligible children in public and private schools.
--:-- Georgia Howe: When will the mandate go into effect, and how will it impact schools and school enrollment?
--:-- John Bickley: I'm joined now by Daily Wire managing editor Cabot Phillips to break it all down.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Thanks for having me on the show.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So, Cabot, what do we know so far about this mandate?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, the rollout is contingent on FDA approval. Remember, right now they've only granted full approval to kids 16 and older, 12 to 15-year-olds are currently eligible for the vaccine under an emergency use authorization as well, but they're expected to be fully approved soon.
--:-- John Bickley: Once that happens, all high school and middle school students in both public and private schools would be required to get one of those approved vaccines.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: After that, elementary school students will be next, depending on when the FDA approves them.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And it also worth noting California already has a vaccine mandate on the books for teachers but this obviously expands well beyond that.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So this is all dependent on FDA approval.
--:-- John Bickley: Do we have any idea when that's going to come?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: We really don't have a way of knowing how soon the FDA is going to act, but we do know they're under pressure to move pretty quickly on this.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Biden administration has made very clear they want to get kids vaccinated as quickly as possible.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And Dr. Anthony Fauci has been saying for months now that he thinks all schools should have vaccine mandates.
--:-- John Bickley: At the moment, experts predict the approval will come sometime in the winter, which means the mandate in California would likely take effect before the next fall semester.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And so what's going to happen to kids who aren't vaccinated?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, it depends. There are going to be religious and medical exemptions, but that part of the mandate still hasn't been written yet.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: For those without an exemption, they'll be required by the state to complete an independent study course at home.
--:-- John Bickley: That part had a lot of parents upset over the weekend. They said it was unfair to force them into homeschooling because of their decision not to vaccinate their children against COVID-19.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, walk us through what both sides are saying about this.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, obviously diverging viewpoints here.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The general argument for those in favor is that without a mandate, schools will become hotbeds for transmission.
--:-- John Bickley: They also point out that students are already required to get other vaccines for things like measles and mumps, and they say this is no different.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: That's also the general message we heard yesterday from Dr. Fauci on CBS.
--:-- Georgia Howe: People need to realize that having a vaccine requirement for schools is not a new novel thing that is very peculiar or specific to COVID-19.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, it is worth pointing out that COVID vaccine mandates for kids are not overwhelmingly popular nationwide. If you look at polling data, most adults are generally supportive of vaccines for themselves. But when it comes to vaccines for kids, there's less consensus.
--:-- John Bickley: In most polls, around 40 to 50% of parents say they're hesitant to have their child vaccinated for a few reasons.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: They say the diseases that kids are already required to get vaccinated for are more dangerous to kids than COVID.
--:-- Georgia Howe: They note the fact that the COVID survival rate for kids is 99.99%.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And they say it's a violation of personal freedom to make them choose between a classroom education and the shot.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, there's also the fact that mandating a brand new vaccine is pretty different than mandating vaccines that have decades of data.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, that's what a lot of the parents are saying here.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So what sort of legal pushback are we seeing?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The governor's order hasn't been challenged in court yet, but that's just mainly because it hasn't been implemented.
--:-- John Bickley: Legal experts say that once the FDA approves the vaccine for kids and the mandate goes into effect, there are certain to be lawsuits filed against the state.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, we're already seeing a pretty significant drop in enrollment in public schools in California.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So I'm wondering how that's going to affect this.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, that's a good point.
--:-- John Bickley: Cabot, thanks for coming on.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Absolutely.
--:-- John Bickley: Welcome back to Morning Wire. China is continuing its crackdown on symbols of freedom in Hong Kong.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The latest casualties, museums documenting the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square.
--:-- John Bickley: I'm joined now by Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham to break it all down.
--:-- Megan Basham: Thanks for having me on the show.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So, Megan, some of our listeners, particularly the younger ones, might not have a firm grasp on this history.
--:-- Megan Basham: Sure. So in 1989, about a million student-led protesters gathered in Beijing's Tiananmen Square to demonstrate for democracy and free speech.
--:-- John Bickley: The communist Chinese military opened fire on them killing hundreds possibly thousands. Estimates vary a bit on that.
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, that massacre is also known as the June 4th incident.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And for obvious reasons, it has significant symbolic importance to today's pro movement in Hong Kong.
--:-- Megan Basham: And that region is struggling to maintain itself as a semi-independent territory.
--:-- John Bickley: So these pro-democracy groups do things like organize candlelight vigils that are attended by tens of thousands of people to mark the anniversary of Tiananmen.
--:-- Megan Basham: And they've also established museums to keep its memory alive.
--:-- Georgia Howe: For the last two years, supposedly because of COVID, the CCP has banned those outdoor vigils.
--:-- Megan Basham: And they've also censored social media groups dedicated to honoring those who were killed on June 4th.
--:-- John Bickley: Now they're targeting the museums.
--:-- Megan Basham: And how specifically are they targeting those museums?
--:-- Georgia Howe: So last year, China passed a new national security law that's not subject to local Hong Kong authorities.
--:-- Megan Basham: And under that law, the police now have the power to arrest centers, shut down newspapers, and investigate cultural institutions.
--:-- John Bickley: In June, they closed the physical location of the June 4th Museum.
--:-- Megan Basham: They seized its assets and they froze its bank accounts.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now that exhibit was run by a pro-democracy group known as the Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, the Alliance for short.
--:-- Megan Basham: So they were responsible for organizing the biggest Tiananmen vigils.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, on September 25th, the Alliance announced they were disbanding after police accused them of being, quoting here, agents of foreign forces and inciting subversion.
--:-- Megan Basham: And in the meantime, as the investigation was ongoing, the museum reopened in August as an online-only exhibit.
--:-- Georgia Howe: When that happened, the organizers were careful to say it had been crowdfunded and was operating independently of the pro-democracy group, the Alliance.
--:-- Megan Basham: So now it looks like China has restricted Hong Kong citizens from accessing that site.
--:-- John Bickley: On September 23rd, just recently, administrators started reporting that users are unable to reach the museum's web address unless they use a VPN.
--:-- Megan Basham: And how did the online museum react to being shut down?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, they very quickly put out a strong statement calling this a disgraceful act to erase historical memory.
--:-- Megan Basham: And what about the Biden administration? Have they commented on what's going on with these museums?
--:-- John Bickley: They did issue a statement on the brick-and-mortar museum back in June when that happened.
--:-- Megan Basham: A spokeswoman said simply, the United States condemns that action.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right, well, hopefully they'll have more to say about it soon.
--:-- Megan Basham: Thanks for joining us.
--:-- John Bickley: That's Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- [Closing music starts playing]
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: If you like this podcast, get the Morning Wire newsletter delivered straight to your inbox when you join at dailywire.com slash subscribe.
--:-- John Bickley: And don't forget to follow us on social media.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We'll be back tomorrow.
