(orchestral music)
- Well, welcome to the 700 Club.
You know, back in the 50s and 60s,
there was a popular TV show featuring a
little dummy named Charlie McCarthy.
He was a little dummy that wore a tuxedo
and he sat on the, thelap of a ventriloquist
whose name was Edgar Bergen.
And Charlie McCarthy would,and they would talk together
because the ventriloquistcould project his voice.
And so as the dummy talked,the voice behind him was
Edgar Bergen, and it was very popular.
You know, I wonder now whileI listened to the nonsense
that's being spoken aboutthe infrastructure bill,
when I listened to thenonsense that's being spoken
about what happened in Georgia,and I listened to comments
by a Senator from New York, a Democrat
who said the following, "Paidleave is infrastructure,
"childcare is infrastructure,
"caregiving is infrastructure."
What nonsense.
But I asked myself who is theventriloquist behind all this?
And I'm not sure anybody knows for sure
but it does seem thatthere's somebody somewhere
that is controlling the action
and the dummy is just speaking.
And when it speaks, strangethings come out of its mouth.
Well in other news, acatastrophic war with China.
It could happen if the Chinesegovernment invades Taiwan.
Beijing sees President Biden is weak.
So will China risk a shootingwar with the United States?
And what must the US do to prevent it?
Dale Hurd brings us this alarming report.
- China has ramped up military operations
in the Taiwan Straitsignificantly in recent days
and there are fresh fears ofa Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
China views Taiwan as a renegade province
and could be tempted to make a move
because according to some experts,
Beijing sees the Bidenadministration as weak.
But would China actuallyrisk war over Taiwan?
And then, what would America do?
While China talks tough andhas improved its military
by stealing technologyfrom the United States,
Chinese leaders are keenlyaware their military has not
fought a major war in 42 years
and when it did in 1979, it lost
in the view of some experts, to Vietnam.
But the commander of theUS Navy's Pacific Fleet
warned the Senate ArmedServices Committee that
taking over Taiwan remains China's
number one strategic priority.
- My opinion is this problemis much closer to us than
most think and I, we have totake this on with urgency.
- [Dale] With China'smilitary untested in combat
while America's has beenfighting in several nations,
some experts say thelast thing China wants is
a shooting war with the United States.
But China's true intentionsremain a mystery.
- I think it would be very,very dangerous to assume that
all of this is just to save a rattling.
China would certainly prefer to reunify
with Taiwan peacefully.
What the Chinese leadership has made clear
over the last 70 yearsis they are prepared
to use force if it is necessary.
- [Dale] What might helpprevent an invasion of Taiwan
would be an actual agreementwith the United States
to defend the island.
There is no defense pactbetween the United States
and Taiwan now, butsomething officials call
strategic ambiguity whichmeans China doesn't know
if the US will defend the island or not.
It's a strategy that was condemned
during a recent online HouseSubcommittee hearing on Taiwan.
- Strategic ambiguity, relativeto Taiwan and China is,
in my opinion, absurd and dangerous.
We ought to be crystal clearthat if China attacks Taiwan
we will be there with Taiwan.
- [Dale] Pentagon simulationsshows the US losing a war
with China over Taiwan,primarily because US bases are
so far from the island.
And China may have already decided that
now is the time to strike.
(marching band playing)
Dale Hurd, CBN News.
- Thanks, Dale.
They did it in Hong Kong andthe next target is Taiwan
and we cannot allow it to happen.
But we will if we're weak.
We've gotta have strengthand we have gotta
position forces over there.
It means we need to build our navy.
We don't have enough navy ships,
we don't have enough carriers,
and China could overwhelm us if there's a
shooting war over Taiwan.
But we cannot allow the Chinese mainland
to take over that independent Republic.
And if we do, we willlose face all over Asia.
But it means we've got to be prepared.
And are we prepared asa nation to go forward?
The answer is probably not.
And if we're spending all our time
on a diversity trainingand all the stuff that
goes on in the military,we're not gonna be
ready to fight a war.
And we have to have our loins gird about,
as the Bible says, ready to go.
And if we are ready togo that is the best way
to prevent a conflict is we're strong.
And it's peace through strength.
Well, President Biden is alsofacing another big challenge.
Russia is raising red flags in the Arctic.
Efrem Graham has that story.
- Pat, Russian President,Vladimir Putin congratulated
his military for its performance
during recent Arctic drills.
The Russian military toldPutin the exercise featured
three nuclear submarinessimultaneously breaking
through the Arctic iceand war planes flying
over the North Pole.
Russia has made it apriority to beef up its
military presence in the Arctic.
The region is believedto hold up to one quarter
of the Earth's undiscovered oil and gas.
Putin, his quoted estimates put the value
the Arctic mineral riches at $30 trillion.
Russia, the US, Canada, andDenmark, and Norway have all
been trying to assert jurisdictionover parts of the Arctic.
Here at home, the Centersfor Disease Control says
the more deadly andcontagious UK variant is now
the most common strainin the United States.
This comes as PresidentBiden announced this week
every American adult will be eligible
for the coronavirus vaccine by April 19th.
CBN News' Capitol Hill Correspondent,
Abigail Robertson has this story.
- While new variants ofCOVID-19 are rapidly spreading
across the country, the good news is
the vaccines seem to beeffective against them.
Still, President Biden warnswe're in a race against time.
- We're still in a life anddeath race against this virus.
- [Abigail] Biden hopeswe'll see a return to normal
by the 4th of July, butencourages Americans
to take precautions until then.
- Even moving at the recordspeed we're moving at, we're not
even halfway through vaccinatingover 300 million Americans.
This is gonna take time.
- [Abigail] 44% of newCOVID cases are coming
from just five states:New York, New Jersey,
Florida, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.
- We're seeing the numbers goup and we're still seeing that
sick patient population coming in.
We can definitely feelthat there is an uptick,
you know, for the sick patient coming in.
- [Abigail] Michiganhealthcare workers say
they're concerned by the ages
of the patients being hospitalized.
- We're seeing a lot more younger adults,
middle-aged adults being affected,
getting sick and coming in.
- [Abigail] The CDC Directorwarns daycare centers
and youth sports are leading to a rise
in cases amongst youth.
- 65,000 cases, that's65,000 opportunities
for mutations to occur, formore variants to spread.
- [Abigail] But Dr. Anthony Fauci says
there is good news on theefficacy of the vaccines.
- [Fauci] Antibodies deliveredby vaccination persist
at least through six months and likely,
from the shape of thecurve, well beyond that.
- [Abigail] And he assuresAmericans the end will come.
- We'll know it when we see it.
It'll be obvious as the numbers come
down rather dramatically.
And when they do, we'regoing to wind up getting
really stepwise, much, muchmore towards what we consider
approaching a degree ofnormality which everyone really
quite dramatically notices it.
It's on the way, hang in there.
- Dr. Fauci also says thefederal government will
not require American citizensto carry vaccine passports
although he perceives some businesses
implementing their ownrules requiring them.
Reporting from Virginia,Abigail Robertson, CBN News.
- President Biden issaid to unveil a series
of executive orders addressinggun violence, today.
One area he will addressis tighter regulations
requiring buyers of homemade guns
to undergo background checks.
He will also nominate David Chipman to be
the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
Chipman is a former federal agent
and advisor of a gun control group.
President Biden may havea big problem getting
his massive infrastructurepackage through Congress.
Senator Joe Manchin, a key Democrat,
said under no circumstancewould he support passing bills
like the infrastructure billwithout Republican support,
the potential setbackcoming as the president
unveiled details of his plan.
George Thomas is on this story.
- The president's massiveinfrastructure plan
faces stiff resistancein the months ahead,
Republicans calling it abig liberal spending agenda
that comes with major tax hikes
while on the left, progressiveDemocrats are demanding
even more money to tacklethings like climate change.
President Biden says he's opento negotiating the details
of the $2 trillion plus package, however.
- Here's what we won't be open to.
We will not be open to doing nothing.
Inaction simply is not an option.
- [George] While theplan calls for spending
around $820 billion onroads, bridges, railways,
airports, and power grids,there's also massive amounts
of money going to projectsthat Republican's say
isn't related to infrastructure
like $400 billion for carefor the elderly and disabled.
- This package that they'velaid out at the beginning
styled infrastructure is a Trojan horse
for massive tax increasesand a whole lot of more debt,
and a whole lot of spending.
- [George] Republicans saythat extra spending coming
from Democrats stretching
their definition of infrastructure,
New York's DemocraticSenator, Kirsten Gillibrand
getting flack after she tweeted that
"Paid leave is infrastructure,
"childcare is infrastructure,
"caregiving is infrastructure."
Republicans like Ted Cruz pushing back.
"Abortion is infrastructure,
"gun control is infrastructure,
"forced unionization is infrastructure.
"Whatever the left wants isinfrastructure," Cruz tweeted.
Politico estimated that only about 37%
of the bill will be spent on what the
president, himself, definesas infrastructure projects,
the president defending theamount of spending in the bill.
- I've heard from my Republicanfriends say that it's,
many of them say it's too big.
They say why not focus ontraditional infrastructure?
We are America.
We don't just fix for today.
We build for tomorrow.
- [George] The presidentwants to fund his agenda
by raising the corporate tax rate to 28%,
rolling back former PresidentTrump's 2017 tax cuts
and expanding the globalminimum tax rate to 21%.
Republican lawmakers andbusiness groups argue the hikes
will crush American competitiveness.
- What the president proposed this week is
not an infrastructure bill.
It's a huge tax increase for one thing,
and it's a tax increaseon small businesses,
on job creators in theUnited States of America.
- [George] Democrats hoping to use a
budget reconciliation process to bypass
Republican opposition got a major setback
from one of their very own today.
West Virginia Senator, JoeManchin, a key Democrat,
said under no circumstanceswould he support passing bills
like the infrastructure onewithout Republican support.
"I simply do not believebudget reconciliation
"should replace regularorder in the Senate,
Manchin wrote in the Washington Post,
"Senate Democrats mustavoid the temptation
"to abandon our Republican colleagues
"on important national issues."
George Thomas, CBN News.
- This bill looks dead in the water.
Pat?
- Well it looks like itdepends so much on the health
and safety of Senator JoeManchin; he's become a hero.
But possibly, KirstenGillibrand from out in Arizona,
they're just two of them,
and they're standing in the way
of monstrous, monstrousoverhaul of our entire nation.
And it's going to be jammedthrough if Joe Biden has
his way at his allies and the squad,
as they're called, in the House.
If they could jam thisstuff through, they'll do it
by executive order and byfiat and all the rest of it.
But you know, if I wereyou, I sure would pray
for Joe Manchin and you know, (chuckling)
- [Terry] May he live a long, long time.
- Yeah he, he's the guywith his finger on the dike.
And if he takes it out of the hole
the flood will come uponus and it will be horrible.
So please pray for America, all right?
