- [John] Tonight,

vaccines for all.

- We need everyone to get vaccinated.

- [John] The new White House timeline

points to an IndependenceDay free from COVID-19.

But hope comes with a warning.

- Now is the time to doubledown to see this through.

- [Tara] This has Democratsplan to pump $1.9 trillion

into the pandemic economy.

- The motion is adopted.

(politicians cheering)(gavel pounding)

- [John] And...

- I'm glad you're leading with weather

because this is a huge story.

- [John] The Fox News weather forecaster

who turned a spotlight onGovernor Cuomo's handling

of nursing home deaths in New York.

- [Tara] All this andmore on "Faith Nation."

(rhythmic music)

- Turning the page

as the nation looks tomove past the pandemic.

Welcome to "Faith Nation."

I'm John Jessup.

- And I'm Tara Mergener.

Tonight, we have live teamcoverage on "Faith Nation"

one year into the COVID-19 pandemic.

- Here with us now,

CBN correspondents BenKennedy and Eric Phillips

from right here in our news room.

We begin tonight though

with a two-day victorylap for the president.

Last night, in a prime-time address,

Mr. Biden touted progressmade in the war on COVID-19.

- That's right, most notably the passage

of the American Rescue Plan,

which the presidentsays will help Americans

rebound from the effects of the pandemic.

He and the vice presidentcontinued celebrating

in the Rose Garden earlier this afternoon.

Our new CBN News White HouseCorrespondent Eric Philips

joins us now with more.

- Tara and John, to say thepresident is in a good mood

would be an understatement.

He and Vice President Harriswill hit the road next week

to take the plan directlyto the American people,

explaining the benefitsof the $1.9 trillion plan,

but they got a jumpstart today.

- Think of the millions ofpeople going to sleep at night

staring at the ceiling thinking, "My God,

what am I gonna do tomorrow?

Lost my healthcare, don't have a job.

Unemployment runs out.

I'm behind in my mortgage.

What are we gonna do?"

Well, guess what?

They're gonna be getting that check soon.

- When they return to work,when they return to school,

when they reopen their businesses,

when they hug their grandchildren

for the first time in a year,

Americans will see what we did here.

- During today's WhiteHouse press briefing,

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki

also touting the plan.

But I asked about how somepeople of faith should feel

about this vaccination processwhen feeling a moral dilemma,

particularly with one of the vaccines.

What do you say

to a significant segment of the population

that has a moral problem withthe Johnson & Johnson vaccine

because the company uses cellsfrom aborted fetal tissue

in its manufacturing process?

- Well, I know that theVatican has conveyed

that all three vaccinesare safe and effective,

and I know that is a powerful authority

for many who are close to their faith.

But that is something thathas also been conveyed

by health and medical experts.

We are not always thebest messengers here,

a Democratic administration to communicate

to everyone in the publicabout the safety, the efficacy,

and the im&portance of taking the vaccine.

- It's an important questionas the administration is saying

it's important for each American

to get vaccinated as soon as possible

with whatever vaccineis available to them.

The president and VP will betraveling with that message

armed with legislative victoryto several cities next week,

including Atlanta, wheretwo Democratic Senators

won high stakes races just two months ago,

helping to clinch the votes needed

to pass the American Rescue Plan.

And I should add that thepresident saying last night

that, by the 4th of July,if all things go well,

people may be able to gather together

with family and friends.

Tara and John.

- Eric, thank you.

Well, tonight, 10% of the country

has been fully vaccinatedfor the coronavirus.

- That's right, and we canexpect that number to grow

as states expand theiraccess to the shots.

CBN's Ben Kennedy has moreon where that effort stands.

Ben.

- Well, John and Tara,Michigan announced today

that all adults will be eligible

for the vaccine on April 5th.

In nearby Minnesota, theirgoal is the end of April,

but they also announced plans

to reopen college campuses this fall.

It's been a year since thenation was hit by the pandemic.

- Here we are one very long year later,

led by science and propelledby a growing sense of hope.

- [Ben] That hope camein the form of a vaccine

pursued by multiple companies.

To date, 98.2 million doseshave been given here in the US,

averaging 2.2 million shots a day.

President Biden wants eachstate to expand eligibility

so all adults can get access by May 1st.

- All Americans no later than May 1.

And the president put the nation on a path

to get closer to normalby the 4th of July.

- [Ben] The CDC is still reporting

between 50 to 60,000new COVID cases per day.

Hospitalizations are down toabout 4,900 admissions per day,

with more than 1,500 deaths a day.

- Cases and hospitalizationsand deaths remain high,

and we've been fooledbefore into being too lax.

So now is the time to doubledown to see this through.

- Now the Johnson & Johnsonversion of the vaccine

just got the green light fromthe World Health Organization

for emergency use starting today.

John, Tara.

- All right, Ben.

A little bit of sad news here.

Today is Ben's last day,

so Ben, we're gonnaask you to stick around

so that we'll have more timeto appropriately say goodbye.

- Okay.

- All right, well here with us now

for our Friday "FaithNation" political panel,

Julia Manchester politicalreporter for The Hill

and our own David Brody, CBNNews Chief Political Analyst.

Welcome to you both.

David, people are sayingthe speech was unifying,

just like he promised in his campaign.

We even saw in theorchestration with all the flags

of the states behind him,but he is taking heat

for government-issued guidelines

in the suggestion of whenand how people could gather

in this COVID age.

Let's take a moment tolisten to what he said.

- In the coming weeks, wewill issue further guidance

on what you can and cannotdo once fully vaccinated.

- David, could the pending guidance

on what people can do oncefully vaccinated backfire?

Could it be seen as anotherexample of big government?

- Well, absolutely, and he'sgetting hit on that line,

and rightfully so.

I mean, I know that theBiden administration

is gonna talk about guidance from the CDC

so it's just a suggestion.

Let's be honest.

I mean, Don, excuse me,Donald Trump. (laughs)

President Biden.

I kind of let the cat outof the bag with that line.

He said, "This is whatyou can and cannot do."

This is the view of this administration,

that the government knows best,

the federal government knows best.

And that was a perfect illustration

of exactly what concerns conservatives.

He also said, "Listen to Dr. Fauci."

Well, let's quickly fact check Dr. Fauci.

I don't have time to go through it here,

but the bottom line isthere's a lot of people

that have concerns aboutwhat Dr. Fauci has said

throughout the last year.

So, you know, there's a lot of concerns

in conservative circles, for sure.

- David, Biden unveiled good news

concerning vaccine availability

and possible small groupgatherings by July 4th.

You know, that is a promising timeline,

but critics say that could not be reached

without the prior work ofthe Trump administration.

Is Biden taking a victorylap for somebody else's work?

- No, there's no doubt about it.

I mean, you know, it's funny.

You mentioned at the top

that people are talking about unity.

I think they may be referring to unity

based on the fact that JoeBiden does empathy very well.

I mean, he's clearly empathetic

and that leads towards unity.

But specifically with that issue,

look, I gotta tell ya, OperationWarp Speed was a success.

Don't take my word for it.

Take "The WashingtonPost" or CNN's Jake Tapper

or even one of Joe Biden's COVID advisers.

So the bottom line is, is that,

you know, why wasn't any ofthat mentioned in the speech?

I think that's the concern.

- Julia, the COVID rescue plan

got no Republican buy-in at all,

but it has wide public support,even among Republicans.

And we keep talking aboutunity in Washington,

as we just heard.

Have we been looking in the wrong place?

- You know, I think part ofthe reason why we really saw

so much divide on Capitol Hill

over this COVID relief package

really doesn't have to do necessarily

with the substance of it,

but I think a lot of ithas to do with politics.

Look, there were bitter campaigns

that were fought in theSenate and the House last year

and there are stilltensions between Republican

and Democratic lawmakers,and clearly, Republicans feel

that much of what's in thebill probably, in their view,

favors Democratic causesor Democratic issues

so you hear them voicing that.

But I think it really just shows

where we are right now inWashington and how divided we are.

And even on somethingas a stimulus package,

we couldn't really see acompromise reached at that point.

I do think that, going forward,the Biden administration,

if Biden wants to continue tohave this theme of unifying,

he needs to work more with Republicans

and will probably continue to reach out

to get some sort of bipartisan measure.

Been hearing a lot oftalk about infrastructure,

something that has normally worked

on both sides of the aisle.

- All right, David andJulia, thank you so much

for our Friday "FaithNation" political panel.

We'll see you next time.

- Thank you.- Thanks.

(logo whooshes)

- [John] Well hopefulsigns of a bounce-back

and a look at the consequences

of a nearly $2 trillioninjection into the economy.

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- [Shawn] Watch "Going theDistance with Shawn Brown"

Saturday night at 7:30on the CBN News Channel.

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- [Announcer] Life.

It's meant to be lived fully.

Jesus said it.

I came to give you life,

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CBN.com.

- Tonight, there are already hopeful signs

of an economic bounce-back.

- With nearly $2 trillion on the way

from the massive COVID relief package,

jobless claims rose lessthan expected last week,

still though above pre-pandemic levels.

First-time jobless claimstotaled 712,000 last week.

That's below economicestimates of 725,000,

but still above thepre-COVID record of 695,000.

- All right, joining us now, Mark Hamrick,

Washington bureau chief

and senior economic analyst at Bankrate.

Mark, always a pleasure to see you.

The White House is planningan infrastructure bill

that could cost $2 trillion.

That is on top of the relief bill

that has a price tag of 1.9 trillion,

and that projected deficit for this year

is already a little over 2 trillion.

How are we gonna pay for all this?

- Well, first of all,we're not gonna worry

about paying for legislationthat has yet to be passed.

That's one thing.

Obviously, that is to be dealt with

in that legislation and the proposal.

Interest rates are stillclose to record low levels.

There has been sometalk of using something

along the lines of evena 50- or 100-year bond.

But let's just talk aboutwhat we know is happening

and that is, of course, the passage

of the $1.9 trillion planyou're talking about.

There's no doubt that there is going to be

a reckoning at some pointthat elected officials

in Washington are going tohave to come to terms with.

The reality also is thatwe saw nearly equal amount

of money spent with thepassage of the Trump tax cut.

So there is, neither partyis pure on this question.

And we can remember years ago

when Republicans were the chief advocates

for fiscal austerity or responsibility,

but that boat has left the harbor.

And so I do hope that down the line

there will be an opportunityfor elected officials

to try to take a long-term view of this,

but that's not where theirminds are focused right now.

- Mark, speaking of tackling the debt,

how real is the concern thatthe debt eventually gets so big

that we'll start to see higherand higher interest rates,

which could eventually choke the economy?

- Well, the concern isabsolutely a legitimate concern,

and some of the projections that go out,

let's say 30 years, see that the amount

that the federal government has to devote

to just paying on interest

becomes essentially a stranglehold

on the government's abilityto spend on anything else,

you know, as much as, let's say, 50%

of federal expenditures,and so that's quite,

that's clearly not sustainable.

But you know, if there'sone national sport

among elected officials inWashington, down the road,

let's hope that theydon't look to kick the can

that much longer.

- Mark will there be at some point

a pretty significant pickup in inflation,

which would make thedebt cheaper to pay off?

- Well in terms of a pickupin prices that is sustainable,

that's not the consensus expectation.

The focus right now is on aremarkable surge in growth.

If you look at where theconsensus forecasts are

for GDP this year, they're looking

for an annualized increase in GDP of 6%.

That's something that we haven'texperienced in my lifetime.

If prices were to pick up,it's now the consensus,

including the belief ofFederal Reserve officials,

who are, let's say, the chiefworrywart about inflation

in the regulatory sense,

they believe that inflationproblems will be short-lived

as the economy just gets back to normal.

Think about the fact that peoplereally haven't been driving

or traveling nearly as much as before.

That had a dampening impacton prices over the last year,

and now we're gonna get back to normal.

- All right, Bankrate's Mark Hamrick,

always a pleasure to have you.

We hope you have a great weekend, Mark.

- You too, thank you.

(logo whooshes)

- [Tara] All right, coming up,

a weather forecaster-turned-crusader

amid reports of GovernorCuomo's mishandling

of nursing home deaths in New York.

(dramatic music)

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- [Announcer] Watch "Studio5" Wednesday night at 9:30.

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- Welcome back.

Tonight, embattled NewYork Governor Andrew Cuomo

is refusing to resign,criticizing demands for him

to step down as reckless and dangerous

even as the seventhwoman came forward today

to accuse Governor Cuomo ofimproper sexual behavior.

- Now he remains defiant

amid an ongoing federal investigation

and new reports that topaids allegedly altered data

to hide a higher death tollamong nursing home residents

across New York State.

Fox News meteorologist JaniceDean has been in the spotlight

for her personal crusadeagainst the governor

after losing both ofher in-laws to COVID-19

in New York nursing homes.

"Faith Nation" anchor JennaBrowder talked with Janice

about finding the lightduring these very dark times.

- There's no way JaniceDean could have forecast

the dark times aheadin 2020 for her family.

She lost both of her in-laws to COVID-19,

and there were other ups and downs too.

But still, she managed to findand is finding the sunshine.

- And I'm glad you're leading with weather

because this is a huge story.

- [Jenna] The warm andwitty Fox News meteorologist

writes about all of it in her new book,

"Make Your Own Sunshine: Inspiring Stories

of People Who Know How toFind Light in Dark Times."

And dark times, she certainly knows.

- One of the terribletragedies that happened

during this past year is welost my husband's parents.

Both died of COVID in separateelder care facilities.

Never in a million yearswould I have thought

that something like that couldtake their lives so quickly,

and it was terrible.

There's no way to describeit any better than that.

- [Jenna] Since their passing,

Janice has been using her platform

to speak out against NewYork Governor Andrew Cuomo,

who's under federalinvestigation for his handling

of the virus in nursing homes,

the scrutiny growing by the day,

and now reaching a boiling point.

- The truth is everybodydid everything they could.

- I never wanted to be a political person.

I'm the meteorologist on Fox.

No one knows who I voted for.

I don't comment on politicalmatters on television.

But I started learning more

about Governor Cuomo's executive order

to put COVID-positive patients

into nursing homes for 46 days.

And we are finding out more information

that it was over 9,000 ofthose infected patients

that went into nursing homes.

And I wasn't seeing thecoverage on television.

I was learning this after my in-laws died.

We had no idea that there wasthis executive order in place

and I wasn't seeing thenews stories out there.

I felt like it wasn't being covered.

- [Jenna] Janice wantsanswers for her family

and all of the others who lost loved ones.

In the book, she writesabout finding the light

in life's hardest moments.

Janice features everyday heroes,

from the teacher whocut her student's hair

to the Uber driver who helpeda new mom buy baby clothes.

- Every chapter is basicallya story about somebody

who did something kind for someone else

and many of them pass it along.

- [Jenna] That's whather husband did for her,

when COVID nearly squashedher 50th birthday.

- Yes, I was going to celebrate

my 50th birthday in Las Vegas.

I had planned, you know,dinners and outings

and dancing with my closest girlfriends,

and it came to ascreeching halt, obviously.

We couldn't do that.

So my husband planned thiswonderful birthday for me

and I was, I never expected it.

- [Jenna] She describeshow he decorated their home

like a casino, arranged a car parade,

and even set up Zoom dateswith her coworkers and friends.

- And I wrote about it because it was,

it was something we were all going through

and it was a moment where myhusband went outside of the box

and did something so special.

And to me, it was probablythe best celebration

of my 50th year on this planet,

and it happened to begoing on during a pandemic.

- I know you talk aboutyour own battle with MS

and you feature some other people

who are also struggling with it.

Couple of questions.

One, how are you doing?

And two, on this topic of sunshine and...

How do you cope with that onsome of your tougher days?

- It's a good question and I did write

about two wonderfulladies in the in the book

about having MS andhaving a chronic illness.

We don't have a cure for it.

I'm doing well.

You know, I've beendiagnosed now for 16 years

and, you know, I've had bumps in the road,

but I'm, knock wood, relatively well.

I mean, I have a great neurologist.

I'm on a new therapy that I've been on

for a couple of years now,

which has been working well for me.

I just actually had a new MRI,

round of MRIs done on my brain,

which is something thatwill tell my neurologist

if there's any lesions,new lesions on my brain,

and I am clear, so that that's great news.

But I think something like that,

being diagnosed with a chronic illness

or going through challenges,if they're health challenges,

it does make you appreciateevery single day.

I know that every day that I wake up

and I put my feet onthe floor and I get up,

I mean, I'm grateful for that.

- [Jenna] Janice says writing this book

was actually healing for her in many ways.

- Well, just the fact

that we were goingthrough such a dark moment

and it made me appreciate the kindness

that was happening duringthat terrible time,

from the school principal calling us

and checking in to see how we were doing

to the local firefighterwho brought us a meal

and left it on the doorstep

to strangers, strangers whosent me cards and prayers.

- And she hopes it will behealing for readers too,

who maybe need a little encouragement

or that extra shot of sunshine.

In Washington, Jenna Browder, CBN News.

- [John] Thank you, Jenna.

Coming up, a CBN News farewell.

We say goodbye to a friend and colleague

and wish him well on thenext chapter of his career.

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to get your free DVD or booklet.

- Well, finally tonight, as we sign off,

we want to take a moment to say goodbye

to a valued member of our CBN news team.

- For four years,

Ben Kennedy has producedcompelling reports

that we watch nightlyhere on "Faith Nation"

and we, just like you at home,

have benefited from hiscreativity, his humor,

and his journalistic chops.

From his early days atCBN News in early 2017

bringing us stories off the beaten path

to reporting on the Oval Office

as our White House correspondentfor the past three years,

Ben's approach to covering the news

shows he's a consummate professional.

But what makes him so great to work with

is he's also someone who doesn'ttake himself too seriously.

Ben, personally for me, andcollectively for all of us,

it's been such a treatto work alongside you

for the past four years.

- We cannot close tonightwithout letting you know

how much you're gonna be missed.

Any last words before you go?

- Well, John and Tara,

it's been an honorworking alongside you guys

and the entire CBN newsteam these past four years.

And I think Eric is goingto do such a great job

as the new White House correspondent.

- He certainly has big shoes to fill.

You know, what peopleprobably don't know about you,

you're an excellent reporter,

you're a great fill-in anchor,

but you're a man of many talents.

You can sing, you're a great artist,

and just an all around great guy.

The thing that I think you need to work on

just a little bit are the dad jokes.

(Tara laugh)- Oh, my...

I appreciate that, John.

Well, you know what, CBNgave me the creativity

to really express myself in storytelling,

as you guys were just talking about,

and it's been, it's beena fantastic four years.

And the good news isI'm not going too far.

I'm just gonna be a coupleof blocks down the road

So I'm sure- Well, we'll miss you.

- I'll be running into you guys

and the news team in the near future.

- We wish you well.

Goodnight, guys.

- Thank you.- Bye, Ben.