With former President Donald Trump's historic second impeachment trial set to begin next week, Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich. 14th. District) said she wants Americans to understand just how real the threat against the government and its elected officials was on the day of the Capitol insurrection.
"I'm from Detroit. I'm a strong Black woman. I understand survival. But to have the police come in, lock the doors, and tell us to seek shelter, then to tell us to put on gas masks, and then to hear this mob just banging on the door and yelling, and I'm sitting there going 'Oh my god, am I going to die today?'" she told Cheddar.
The congresswoman recalled the day of the attack as the building was overrun right before she was set to defend Michigan's electoral votes for President Joe Biden. For Lawrence, not only was living through the experience life-changing but seeing the aftermath on television reinforced her stance on holding Trump accountable.
"If we had not been exited out of that room and they were able to bust through those doors, what was the plan? And people died that day, and so to say, 'Just look over this. Let it go. [Trump's] gone.' No," Lawrence said.
"We have on record a President of the United States assembling and directing an army of people against our government. That is unacceptable and accountability must be had."
It's a similar sentiment among Democrats on the Hill: deal with the insurrectionists and get COVID relief to Americans. However, for Lawrence, she's taking initiatives a bit further in asking to address "disparities in health care," particularly when it comes to Black and brown people.
Now that Biden has assumed his role in the White House, Lawrence said she is confident that the issues around inequality in health outcomes will get handled. While Democrats have said they would like a bipartisan agreement on relief efforts, Lawrence noted that the party will not wait for Republicans to get on board.
"I know they talk about the collaboration and working together, but we're in a crisis," she said. "We will get relief to the people, and we are not going to be held hostage and not respond to the cry from the communities to get this country back on track."
2021 saw markets continue to be impacted by the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic -most recently in the form of the Omicron variant- in addition to the global supply chain shortage, and increased inflation. But it wasn't all bad news, as crypto soared throughout the year, and meme stocks continued to have a moment. With the year coming to a close, investors are keeping an eye out to see if they should expect more of the same in the new year. Chris Vecchio, Senior Analyst, at DailyFX tells us what market trends to be on the watch for in 2022.
Matt Hayden, vice president of govtech solutions at Exiger and a former assistant secretary of cyber at Department of Homeland Security, joined Cheddar to discuss the surprise phone call initiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin to President Joe Biden, ahead of January security talks about the rising tensions over Ukraine. "We're hoping to hear that we're able to talk about the aggression and the leadup of the Ukrainian militarization," Hayden said. "But we're also looking to hear is how the Kremlin leveraged their talking points to try to test their negotiation stance with the United States leading into this January 10th meeting."
The No Surprises Act begins implementation on January 1, 2022. The legislation is meant to curb the practice of unexpected billing for care from providers the patient was unaware were out-of-network from their insurance. Patricia Kelmar, director of health care campaigns for U.S. PIRG joined Cheddar to describe the hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars charged to unsuspecting patients and how things will change under the new law. "If we are picking an in-network doctor and an in-network hospital, we should not see those added costs from anesthesiologists, radiologists, scrub-in surgeons," she said. "The other area it protects you is in air ambulances — not ground ambulances, unfortunately — but the helicopters or the airplanes you might need to transport you in an emergency situation."
President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladmir Putin are expected to have another conversation surrounding escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Ariel Cohen, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, joined Cheddar's Ken Buffa to discuss the ongoing tensions and why Putin's request for a conversation with Biden comes now. "This is very serious. This is the worst security crisis we had since the collapse of the Soviet Union," Cohen told Cheddar.
Stocks closed mixed on Wednesday, but two indexes - the Dow and the S&P 500 - ended the session with a new record. Akshata Bailkeri, Equity Analyst at Bruderman Asset Management, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where she says there is a consensus for robust consumer spreading in 2022, especially as the Omicron variant is proving to be milder than other COVID-19 strains.
