'Special Report' All-Star panel on Dems' $3.5T spending package, Britney Spears' conservatorship battle

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Sen. Joni Ernst brings prop to hearing showing seriousness of Biden's inflation

Sen. Joni Ernst brings prop to hearing showing seriousness of Biden's inflation

This is a rush transcript from "Special Report with Bret Baier," July 14, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOE MANCHIN, (D-WV): I've been very clear that I want to see the pay- fors and make sure that whatever we do is going to be globally competitive.

SEN. MITT ROMNEY, (R-UT): They're either going to have to raise taxes enormously or add dangerously to the debt of the country. It's an unthinkable amount of money.

SEN. THOM TILLIS, (R-NC): I'm not sure that the $3.5 trillion out there that they've got all of their frogs in the wheelbarrow to support it as well. So they've got work to do, and we're going to continue our work.

JOHN BARRASSO, (R-WY) SENATE REPUBLICAN CONFERENCE CHAIR: They're going to need every Democrat to pass, because there is not a single Republican in the House or in the Senate who is going to support this level of taxing and spending and regulations.

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to get this done.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, (D-NY) SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: We are getting this done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Well, there are no Republican frogs in the wheelbarrow. We'll see if there are all the Democrats, the 50 plus one that they need to get this $3.5 trillion package through. We'll start there with our panel. Let's bring them in, Mollie Hemingway, senior editor at "The Federalist," Amy Walter, national editor for the "Cook Political Report," and Jason Riley, "Wall Street Journal" columnist and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Jason, let me start with you. It's bold. They are kind of on a knife's edge as far as the numbers. Can they get it through?

JASON RILEY, COLUMNIST, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": I hope not, Bret, frankly. I can't get past the numbers. We're talking about World War II level spending. We are not at war, let alone a world war. And Biden is behaving and the Democrats are behaving as if they have this huge mandate to just spend and spend and spend until the cows come home. And they don't. And now you look at what's going on with inflation and how all the spending could exacerbate that. So I hope Republicans stand their ground here. I think it's important.

BAIER: Obviously Republicans haven't had a great track record about deficit and debt. We've talked about that in the last four years, Amy. But here is Joni Ernst, Senator from Iowa, with her own take on inflation as Jason talked about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JONI ERNST, (R-IA): To demonstrate just how costs are spinning out of control, I've brought the wheel of inflation. It will tell us exactly how much more Biden-omics is costing hardworking Americans. So, folks, let's go ahead and give it a spin. Oh, let's see, eight, eight. In the past year, the price of bacon is up about eight percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Amy, I just love when they have props on the Senate floor. They have to work but --

AMY WALTER, NATIONAL EDITOR, "COOK POLITICAL REPORT": I love the props.

BAIER: Yes.

WALTER: You don't mess with bacon in Iowa. That's also very clear. So, it's a good prop for that state.

Look, Democrats are definitely taking a risk, and as Jason said, they have a very small majority to act as if they have sort of a mandate from this last election. That's exactly what they're doing, and it's exactly what both sides have been doing, quite frankly, for the last 10 to 15 years. One side gets control of all three branches, says this is our one opportunity to pass legislation, get it done on a party line basis, whether it was taxes under President Trump, whether it was Obamacare under President Obama, and then sort of damn the torpedoes or consequences. It will be written into law, and you can have something to go home and talk to your constituents about, or at the very least, even if things go badly in the next election, you know that as a legislator, you can point to something that will be part of American law going forward.

BAIER: And then, Mollie, you have the juxtaposition here of Washington Democrats welcoming in these Texas Democrats from the state legislator, who walked out to avoid voting on this piece of legislation there in Texas. Here in Washington, Republicans are still trying to negotiate and fight and, obviously, vote against this bill, about $3.5 trillion. But Democrats are trying to end the filibuster. It's quite something.

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, SENIOR EDITOR, "THE FEDERALIST": Right. In Washington Democrats are saying that there should be no -- nothing that the minority can do to affect legislation. And then in Texas, where Republicans have a strong majority in their legislature and are trying to pass basic election integrity, Democrats are literally fleeing the state to avoid -- in order to obstruct the passage of a bill that would tighten up election integrity.

It is really interesting that Democrats are putting so much into this fight against basic election integrity. Republicans view it as making it easier to vote but tougher to cheat. And Democrats say that making it easier to vote and tougher to cheat is voter suppression. It's a very interesting -- it's very interesting to note just how much Democrats care about not tightening up any election integrity, and it suggests something about how much of a threat they view that to their electoral power.

But it's also, yes, as you point out, hypocritical that they're fighting minority rights in D.C. while supporting Texas Democrats for fleeing the state.

BAIER: OK, I want to turn to this story about the U.S. saying to the U.N., United Nations, you should investigate the U.S. about racism, history of racism, and human rights abuses. I'm going to put up this quote from Secretary of State Blinken to the United Nations in which he essentially says that this is the right thing to do. "We have reached out to offer an official visit by the U.N. special on contemporary forms of racism and U.N. Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism and the U.N. Special Rapporteur on minority issues. I also welcome the intervention or the action, the U.N. Human Rights Council's adoption today in Geneva of a resolution to address systemic racism against Africans and people of African descent in the context law enforcement."

OK, so put that just in the context of asking the United Nations for this investigation, Jason, and what we're not asking the United Nations to do as of tonight.

RILEY: I see this as a lot of political theater, Bret, for the woke left. And it's pretty laughable. Yes, America has some problems with race relations, what country that has a diverse population does not? You have to say compared to what? But the idea that we need lectures from the international community on how to handle race regions in the U.S. is just laughable. Black people are among the richest people, blacks, on the planet earth, Bret, and have been for a long, long time. And I really think the acid test here is how many minorities are trying to leave this country as opposed to how many are trying to get in? I think that tells you all you need to know.

BAIER: All right, last topic. Here is Senator Ted Cruz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R-TX): I am firmly and unequivocally in the camp of Free Britney. She is perfectly capable and competent to go on tour. She sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of records and tours all across the country. And yet, her dad controls almost every decision of her life.

The California judicial system, which has allowed this abusive process, I hope they hear the bipartisan call and allow this woman to lead her own life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: And tonight, Amy, a judge has said Britney Spears can have her own, choose her own lawyer in this conservatorship battle. It seems like it's tilting her way.

WALTER: It is. It's a rare form of bipartisan here in Washington. Who knew that Britney Spears could be the link we all needed to bring Democrats and Republicans together? But she could ask this lawyer to get her out of this conservatorship, and that may be most likely where we're headed next.

BAIER: All right, Mollie, 10 seconds.

HEMINGWAY: Well, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee have been making this an issue for a long time. Britney is well known as a victim of a bad conservatorship, but many people are. They are trying to push legislation to help everyone who is being abused in such a manner.

BAIER: All right, panel, stand by. When we come back, tomorrow's headlines with you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAIER: Finally tonight, a look at tomorrow's headlines with the panel. OK, Jason, first to you.

RILEY: Bret, Anthony Fauci is already calling for more local vaccine mandates. I think you're going to see that continue. But I also think you're going to see more pressure for federal vaccine mandates. I think that's a bad idea politically because of a cause. The vaccine skeptics are sort of digging their heels. Nevertheless, I think that is what the progressives are going to push Joe Biden to endorse.

BAIER: Wow. Mollie?

HEMINGWAY: In the latest example of FBI malfeasance, the Inspector General of the Department of Justice announced that the FBI mishandled the investigation into the Olympic doctor who abused gymnasts, then they lied about it to cover up, and in what is becoming part of a pattern, they all got away with it.

BAIER: All right, Amy?

WALTER: Well, I wrote "The Onion" headline for today. Check out the shoes worn by Olivia Rodrigo, the pop star who came to the White House today to pitch vaccines to younger folk. The headline would read also Biden infrastructure package these shoes.

(LAUGHTER)

BAIER: There you go. Good way to end it. Thank you, panel.

Tomorrow on SPECIAL REPORT, German Chancellor Angela Merkel comes to Washington. We have asked her to come on SPECIAL REPORT. We'll see what happens. Never know. Either way, we'll cover the trip.

Thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. That's it for the SPECIAL REPORT, fair, balanced, and unafraid. "FOX NEWS PRIMETIME" hosted by Pete Hegseth, five seconds late, starts right now.

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