'Your World' breaks down gas shortage fallout, Biden's spending agenda

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Energy expert: Gas crisis shows importance of pipelines to US economy

'Kennedy' host joins energy analyst Phil Flynn and Democratic strategist Kristen Hawn to discuss the fuel shortage on 'Your World'

This is a rush transcript from "Your World," May 12, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

CHARLES PAYNE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Fox on top of American consumers on their seats, with prices on everything soaring. And now fuel shortages from the pipeline hack are hitting, gas just crossing $3 a gallon for the first time in seven years.

Hello, everyone. I'm Charles Payne, in for Neil Cavuto, and this is YOUR WORLD.

And it's a very expensive world for everyday Americans. And we have got you covered.

Jonathan Serrie on the panic setting in at the pump, Danielle DiMartino Booth on paying more at the store, and Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley on why more Washington spending will only make things worse.

First to Jonathan on a gas crisis that's just getting worse -- Jonathan.

JONATHAN SERRIE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Charles.

Right now, we're at a Costco. And you can see people waiting in line here. It's well-managed. And they're moving people through. No one's staying in line for much more than half-an-hour, but, still, that is a long time to wait for this basic commodity. They are at a premium, but they do still have mid-grade and regular unleaded.

People are feeling the effects of the temporary shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline, which provides 45 percent of the East Coast fuel consumption. Take a look at this aerial shot of lines at a gas station in Raleigh, North Carolina. Other stations have run out of gas completely.

And, sometimes, tempers flare. I want to show you now some video shot off of a cell phone of a fight that broke out after a woman at a gas station in North Carolina allegedly tried to cut in line, bumping into someone's car. She's seen getting out. She appears to spit at the driver. And then the two get into a physical altercation.

Now, according to updated figures from GasBuddy, 65 percent of gas stations in North Carolina are reporting outages. And here in Georgia, as well as South Carolina and Virginia, the figure is more than 40 percent.

Now, some elected officials say that this is a wakeup call for the nation and that the government needs to do more to invest not just in cybersecurity, but also the infrastructure delivering America's energy needs.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ASA HUTCHINSON (R-AR): Such a large percent of the fuel goes through this pipeline to the East Coast. We need to have alternative routes and invest in that type of infrastructure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERRIE: And the national average cost of gas topped $3 a gallon today.

And, Charles, to put that in perspective, just a year ago, the cost of gas was $1.85 a gallon -- back to you.

PAYNE: Wow. Well, that was some donnybrook. But it's going to probably get worse.

Jonathan, thank you so much.

So, this crisis hitting every -- all the prices on everything that we buy is spiking.

I want to bring in former Dallas Fed adviser Danielle DiMartino Booth, who's certainly worried.

In fact, you have talked about this in the past.

Danielle, let's start, though, with the prices at the pump, just getting started. You start to layer in hoarding, panic, the kind of fights we just saw. Where is this going?

DANIELLE DIMARTINO BOOTH, FORMER FEDERAL RESERVE ADVISER: Well, Charles, these episodes tend to have a lasting impact on consumer psyches if they don't turn themselves around fairly quickly, which we're all hoping to be the case.

But the most important driver of U.S. households' inflation expectations are the prices they see at the pump. They see them with the greatest frequency. After that, you get prices at the grocery store as being the next largest source, again, of anxiety and fears among households that price increases are going to be sticky, that they're going to be lasting.

PAYNE: And, of course, so ironic, because households, particularly people will go to the grocery stores, have been saying, hey, prices are going through the roof. People have been complaining about this.

Now, Danielle, we layer on prices just in the last month. I'm talking boys and girls' footwear up 4 percent, used cars and trucks up 10 percent, car and truck rentals of 16 percent, airfares up 10 percent, hotels and motels up 9 percent. The list goes on and on and on. This is crazy.

I mean, people watching at home wonder, when does it stop?

DIMARTINO BOOTH: You know, and they're right to wonder that.

I will say that people need to temper their fears a little bit, because, this month in particular, the report for this month in particular, did have the spring break in it. And it had Americans splurging on travel with those stimulus checks that were hitting their checking accounts right as they were boarding the airplane.

So we have seen these spikes in travel types, airline, lodging, just as you said, but it might not be as sticky as feared. And what you mentioned about used cars and rental prices, I remember, a year ago, we were talking about Hertz getting ready to sell off a lot of its fleet of rental cars.

PAYNE: Yes.

DIMARTINO BOOTH: Americans springing out and traveling, they can't get rental cars, because the rental car companies don't have enough supply.

PAYNE: Yes.

DIMARTINO BOOTH: So again, these are serious distortions. But I'm not sure that, in time, they're not going to be fixed.

PAYNE: Well, you know what, the prices may not have to be sticky with these kinds of shocks. I don't know we can go more than two months.

By the way, Danielle, you saw the market today, a massive sell-off across the board in all the indices and almost all the stocks.

Thank you so much, my friend.

Meanwhile, there's a big meeting at the White House today -- there was -- as President Biden pushes trillions in new spending. But will that only make inflation worse?

Iowa Republican Senator, member of the Finance Committee Chuck Grassley joins us now.

Senator, it's -- the spending is what's driving this up. We have got a money supply that's gone through the roof. We have never, never seen anything like this in this country. And yet and still there's more spending on the drawing board. What does -- what are you saying about it?

SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY (R-IA): Well, when you have $6 trillion suggested to be spent, and $2 trillion of it already going out to the economy, this is going to feed the fires of inflation.

And just listening to your program, long lines, people fighting at the -- at the pumps to get in, and then you have got a prospect of 5 percent inflation now. I remember 17 percent inflation and long lines and Israel being in trouble in the Carter years. And we don't want to go back to the Carter years. We have got to look forward.

And in my 13 county meetings that I had last week, when the Senate wasn't in session, I heard all about this problem of inflation, and lumber going up, so the price of a House is $36,000 more. It's very bad. And, hopefully, the last $4 trillion of this, except for infrastructure, which would be just a few hundred billion, and everybody...

PAYNE: Right.

GRASSLEY: There is bipartisan agreement on infrastructure.

We ought to be able to eliminate most of this other inflation of things. And we're going to be fighting inflation in this election, just like it was when I was first elected to Congress in the middle '70s. I was an inflation fighter in my campaign. And it took six years to get it under control.

PAYNE: Yes, I think that's the big worry, is that you can't control it. That's what Wall Street was saying today with that massive sell-off. No one can come to the rescue once it gets out of hand.

And one point I would like to make, and I like you to underscore why it's so important, isn't this the ultimate tax on the middle class and on poor Americans?

GRASSLEY: Yes.

I remember senators from my state of Iowa in the 1970s talking about 2 percent inflation was just like a 2 percent sales tax on everything you buy. So, you're absolutely right. And who pays it? In proportionate income, obviously low-income people more, but it's also a tax on the middle class.

PAYNE: This fuel shortage, this fuel crisis, we already saw prices at the pump going up already before this hack. Now they're going to go up even more.

Talk about the impact of that, because that was sort of central to the 1970s stagflation and that real period of misery that hit every American. That was a really down period for our country.

GRASSLEY: Well, it was -- it just was out of control.

People had to pay 22 percent taxes if you were a car dealer on their floor plan as an absolute -- I said 22 percent taxes. I meant 22 percent inflation on their floor plan, as just one example. And it increased unemployment, et cetera.

I don't know what more I can say is, we had a century -- or we had a decade of less than 2 percent inflation. And look at how good the economy came just pre-pandemic.

PAYNE: Yes. Yes.

GRASSLEY: The lowest unemployment rate for 50 years. And, also, income inequality was lowered. And the unemployment rate for African-Americans, for Hispanic and for Asian Americans was historically low.

And when you have a good thing like that going for you, you shouldn't screw it up with spending $6 trillion in the first 100 days of a new presidency.

PAYNE: Yes. No, we -- the blueprint was there, to your point. It played out amazingly. We saw things that economists told us could never happen again.

I want to switch gears for a moment, though, and ask about the vote today with Liz Cheney out of the House, your colleagues in the House. She's no longer in leadership.

Just what do you make of it? Because the media is sort of saying that the GOP is in extreme turmoil right now and not sure which direction it's going in.

GRASSLEY: Well, first of all, when you say the party is in turmoil, it's only in Washington, D.C.

We have got 50 different state parties. And these state parties -- and, remember, we got a party from the grassroots up, not from the top down. They aren't worried about this. And there's nothing illegitimate about your question, but, just again, referring to my 13 meetings in 13 different counties last week in Iowa, this issue didn't come up once.

My people are worried about inflation, not being able to hire people because of the high unemployment compensation that the federal government has put out there, and things like that.

PAYNE: Senator, what are your colleagues on the other side of the aisle saying when you bring these things up?

Certainly, we saw a knee-jerk reaction from the Biden administration to say, no, we're not paying people to work from home. That's not a problem, when now even liberal economists, anyone from Larry Summers to a Jason Furman, and so many others, are saying, yes, this is hurting. We are putting too much money in the economy, and we are paying people not to work.

GRASSLEY: And the latter part of your comment, well, states Montana, Idaho, South Carolina, and, more recently, Iowa and Mississippi have cut out the federal add-on to state unemployment. If you're still unemployed, you can get unemployment compensation, but we aren't going to subsidize you to stay home...

PAYNE: Sure.

GRASSLEY: ... so you can make more sitting at home than working.

My colleagues, if you're asking -- that's your question, what you hear this, the needs are so great. The needs are so great. And the only way you can solve these needs is you got to borrow money and pour it out of the federal treasury.

That's OK when the federal government put the economy down March of 2002, when we got it up running again. But you don't have to continue that after the economy is up.

PAYNE: OK, Senator Grassley, thank you so much. I appreciate your time.

Let's go to President Biden on the CDC's new moves.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... since I took office.

I think it's a pretty consequential achievement for the nation.

I promised I'd keep you up to date every 50 million shots, and today I have an important update. Last week, I launched a new phase of our vaccination program.

At that time, I set two new goals for our country: The first was getting 70 percent of adults their first shot by July the Fourth. The second was having 160 million Americans of all ages fully vaccinated by that same date.

I'm pleased to report we've made strong progress on the adult vaccination efforts in just the past few days by making it easier than ever to get vaccinated. You can visit Vaccines. gov or text your ZIP Code to 438829 to find a vaccination site near you. And we're also opened up thousands of federal pharmacy sites to vaccinations without an appointment so people can just walk up and get the shot.

Now more employers than ever are giving people time off as well to get their shots. More grocery and retail stores and sports teams are providing discounts and promotions to encourage customers and fans to get vaccinated.

I was -- talked to a bunch of governors yesterday. One -- the governor of Maine -- points out that if you're a hunter or a fisherman in Maine, and you want to get a license, no problem, you don't have to pay for it if your vaccination shot at the same time you get your license. The whole point is: There's a lot more convenient places for people to get their vaccine shot.

From May 24 to July 4, Uber and Lyft -- and I think it's incredibly generous of them -- are going to offer everyone in America free rides to and from vaccination sites. So go online, find out where the vaccination site is, call Uber or Lyft, they will take you there, wait for you, and take you back.

As a result, even though more than half of the adults in the country have already gotten their first shot, we have fewer people who need to be vaccinated than ever before and we're actually -- actually seeing a slight increase in the pace of vaccinations across the past week. And we're now on track to hit 60 percent of adults with at least one shot by next week.

We still have a lot of work to do to get the adult vaccination rate up to 70 percent, but I believe we're going to get there.

So, today, I want to talk about an exciting new development. When I spoke last week, I said that we were hoping to soon add a new element to our vaccination program: vaccinations for adolescents ages 12 and older.

And then, on Monday, after a rigorous and thorough review, the Food and Drug Administration -- the FDA -- authorized Pfizer vaccine for use in that age category: 12 and up.

Today, an independent advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- the CDC -- voted to recommend its use. Now pending the CDC's final approval later today, we're going to have, for the first time, a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine for adolescents over the 12 years of age. And this is one more giant step in our fight against the pandemic.

I sincerely think the scientists, researchers, and clinical trial participants deserve our thanks; they've all made this possible. Because of them, nearly 17 million more Americans are eligible to get vaccinated, and now -- now.

I encourage each of them and their parents to get their vaccination shots right away. And here's why: We know that kids at this -- at this age, 12 and above, are at risk from COVID-19. About 3 million COVID-19 cases have been reported in kids under 17 years of age. And teenagers can spread it to their friends, to their siblings, to their parents, and to their grandparents. Now that vaccine is authorized for ages 12 and up, and I encourage their parents to make sure they get the shot.

As I promised last week, we're ready. This new population is going to find the vaccine rollout fast and efficient. As of tomorrow, more than 15,000 pharmacies across this country will be ready to vaccinate this age group. Most of these pharmacies are close to a family -- as their family home -- as the kid's school is to their family home.

We're also going to be getting vaccines to pharm -- for -- to pediatricians and family doctors so parents and children can talk to their doctors who they trust about getting the vaccination. And they'll be able to do it at that office.

We're also partnering with school-based clinics and community health centers. Of course, we remain focused on equity in our vaccine program. The vaccine is free for everyone -- free.

Additionally, if teens are on the move this summer, they can get their first shot in one place and the second shot elsewhere.

At the same time, we're also launching an important public education campaign. First and foremost, we're providing families with trusted medical information they need to make informed decisions about the vaccination and the vaccine.

Our medical and scientific experts at CDC and the National Institutes of Health will be out there in the public every day to answer questions and get the facts out.

We will also be partnering with health care providers, schools, community organizations, states, and Tribes, and cities at the same time.

The bottom line is this: The vaccine for kids between the ages of 12 and 15 are safe, effective, easy, fast, and free.

So, my hope is that parents will take advantage of the vaccine and get their kids vaccinated.

Now, let's remember that millions of 16 -- and 17-year-olds have also been safely vaccinated. And as more and more Americans get vaccinated, COVID-19 hospitalizations and death rates continue to fall.

Today, the New York Times reported the number of COVID hospitalizations in the United States since April of 2020, right after the start of this pandemic, is the lowest.

Safe and effective vaccines are curbing the spread of the virus, and they're saving thousands of lives and allowing millions of Americans to start returning to a closer-to-normal life.

As I said earlier, for everyone 12 years and up, it's never been easier or more convenient to get vaccinated. Visit Vaccines. gov to find out where, or text your ZIP Code to 438829. That is 438829. Text your ZIP Code to that number, and you'll find the closest vaccine facilities to you at that moment. It's easy, it's convenient, and it's free.

So if you haven't gotten vaccinated or still have questions, talk to someone you trust -- your physician, your pharmacist, your next-door neighbor who got the shot. Talk to your faith leaders. Look at the folks in your community who have gotten vaccinated and are getting back to living their lives -- the grandparents united with their grandkids; friends getting together again.

I've been saying for a long -- this for a long time, but I believe it: This is not a Democratic or Republican issue; this is about life and death. It's about getting us closer to normal.

Let me conclude with this: In light of the end of -- that we've been talking about -- there's a light at the end of the tunnel -- well, it's growing brighter and brighter. And we need all of you to bring it home.

Americans ages 12 and up: Get vaccinated. And on July 4th, let's celebrate our independence as a nation and our independence of this virus. We can do this.

And as I said a little bit earlier today in another context I don't believe that the American people -- there's any significant portion of American people who will refuse to get vaccinated. You keep hearing about how Republicans wont -- and this. Look, if it's available, if it's nearby, if it's convenient, people are getting vaccinated. I believe the vast majority of Americans are going to get vaccinated. That's the route we're going now.

So may God bless you all. And may God protect our troops. And if you've been vaccinated, you don't have to wear this outside around people unless there's really large groups. And you don't have to wear it inside if you're with people that you -- that have also been vaccinated. So protect yourself. Protect your neighbors.

Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

QUESTION: Mr. President, what do you say to Americans who are worried about the supply of gas and rising prices right now?

BIDEN: We have been in very, very close contact with Colonial Pipeline, which is the one area you're talking about, where the -- one of the reasons that gasoline prices are going up. And I think you're going to hear some good news in the next 24 hours. And I think we'll be getting that under control.

Secondly, I have, in the meantime, made it easier for us to have lifted some of the restrictions on the transportation of fuel, as well as access to the United States military providing fuel and with vehicles to get it there -- where -- places where it's badly needed.

And I'd also point out that I think what this shows is that -- I think we have to make a greater investment in education as it relates to being able to train and graduate more people proficient in cybersecurity.

And I've been saying for a long, long, long time now -- I know I probably - - you could probably say it for me, but I think that one of the most important things we have to do to reclaim our place as a leading innovator in the world is to have a better-educated work force.

And that goes back to the days -- long time ago now, over five years ago -- when I was Vice President and I surveyed all the Fortune 500 companies. I said, What do you most need? And remember what they said: a better- educated work force. But they're not spending money to educate the work force.

And -- but it's important that we do this. And the cybersecurity piece is one, I think, you're going to see where we need significantly larger number of experts in the area of cybersecurity working for private companies, as well as private companies being willing to share data as to what -- how they're protecting themselves.

I think that's part of the long-term answer not just in terms of energy, but across the board. I know that's not a direct response to your question, but it does impact on it, I think, down the road.

QUESTION: Are you concerned about the violence in the Middle East? And can you talk about what conversations you have had with officials there?

BIDEN: My national security staff and Defense staff has been in constant contact with their counterparts in the Middle East -- not just with the Israelis, but also with everyone from the Egyptians, to the Saudis, to the Emiratis, et cetera.

And I had a conversation with Bibi Netanyahu not too long ago. I will be putting out a statement very shortly on that.

My expectation and hope is that this will be closing down sooner than later. But Israel has a right to defend itself when you have thousands of rockets flying into your territory.

But I had a conversation for a while with the -- with the Prime Minister of Israel. And I think that -- my hope is that we'll see this coming to a conclusion sooner than later.

Thank you.

QUESTION: What's your take on the end of your meeting, sir? Were you optimistic coming out of it today?

BIDEN: Which one -- which one of the 12 I've had? (Laughter. )

QUESTION: Pelosi, Schumer, and the crew.

QUESTION: Infrastructure, sir. And in particular...

BIDEN: You guys are bad. I'm not supposed to be answering all these questions. I'm supposed to leave, but I can't resist your questions.

I came away encouraged. And -- but I want to make it clear to you: I'm encouraged not just because of a solid meeting with the Republican Leader in the House and with Mitch -- or Senator McConnell, who I've known a long, long time and worked with. I've been meeting with bipartisan leaders for a long time now. I've met with gosh knows how many.

I mean, and there's more than one single group. There's a bipartisan organiz -- you know, groups that're made up of 10 to 20 members. There's been groups that I met with...

For example, I met with -- yesterday, with Kyrsten Sinema. I thought that was a -- and she purported, and I believe her, to speak for some of the bipart -- her friends who are both sides of the aisle about how to do deal -- how to go forward with infrastructure.

So I'm -- generically, I'm encouraged that there is room to have a compromise on a bipartisan bill that's solid and significant, and a means by which to pay for it without dropping all of the -- all of the burden on -- on middle-class and working-class people.

Look, what's the one thing people are concerned about with the gas? Gasoline prices going up. Exactly right. And it matters if you make $40,000 a year. It matters if you're a two family person [sic] and making 80-, 90,000 dollars -- two family -- two wage earners. It matters.

And what I don't want to do -- and this will be another discussion we didn't get into today -- is how to pay for it. And if everything is paid for by a user fee, well, then the burden falls on working-class folks who are -- who are having trouble. They're -- we're getting them out of the -- they're coming around, but it has -- this has to be a burden shared across the spectrum.

Anyway, thank you, guys.

QUESTION: Should Americans be worried about inflation, sir?

PAYNE: President Biden covering an array of issues, but, more essentially, the question of the gas shortage, he did say we could have good news from Colonial within the next 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the press -- the press conference was to update us on CDC and some of the new recommendations, particularly for the Pfizer vaccine. It's been approved for children 12 to 15 years old.

The question now, of course, is, should parents go through with their?

We want to bring in immunologist, along with the Allergy and Asthma Network, Dr. Purvi Parikh -- Parikh.

I hope I'm pronouncing that properly.

Doctor, 12-to-15-year-olds, are you comfortable now with this, that there was a 14-0 vote? So, obviously, the CDC has a lot of confidence that this is going to be OK.

DR. PURVI PARIKH, ALLERGY AND ASTHMA NETWORK: Yes, absolutely.

We really need to protect our children. One in five coronavirus cases are in pediatrics. And we're still seeing children in the ICU. I had patients as recently as last week, so absolutely. And the CDC and FDA would not give the green light if it wasn't very safe and effective in this age group.

PAYNE: What should parents -- what questions, though, should parents be asking? Obviously, we had the brief moment where the Pfizer vaccine was taken -- or sort of put on hiatus, if you will.

The central questions that parents will be asking, what would you be telling them?

PARIKH: Right.

So, overall, it's actually a very safe and efficacious vaccine. The Pfizer vaccine now was one of the first approved. And so we have a lot of data now. Parents should be asking their pediatrician if their child is a candidate, but, overwhelmingly, most children will be.

The only real contraindication is if they're allergic to one of the ingredients in the actual vaccine itself. Pfizer has continued without any pauses, actually, and has done quite well globally.

PAYNE: After that pause with the vaccine, we did see a slowdown in the uptake of vaccinations there. I don't know if that's leveled off. We were at three million, and then we sort of came in 2.5 million.

And there's been some recent criticism about the CDC and messaging in the White House, whether it's about outdoor transmissions or wearing masks. This kind of confusion already is pretty difficult. Obviously, President Biden trying to reassure Americans

But what do you say when the messaging has been blurred at times, particularly with so many people who still aren't sure?

PARIKH: Right. There is a lot of confusion.

But what I like to reiterate is that we should all be far more afraid of the virus than of the vaccine, even in children. Children aren't as protected as we initially thought they were. The virus does far more devastation and destruction than the vaccine.

And, remember, the pause wasn't with Pfizer. The pause was with Johnson & Johnson. And, really, the pause shows me that our safety checks and balances are working, and that the systems are in place, and that we are being very cautious and not rushing through.

So, I would ask people to have faith in the system.

PAYNE: Dr. Parikh, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

PARIKH: Thank you for having me.

PAYNE: Meanwhile, folks, Democrats and the White House defending extended jobless benefits. But with job openings soaring to an all-time record, is the administration's plan really working?

Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman is calling on his state to actually put a stop to those extended benefits and offer back-to-work bonuses instead. And he joins us now.

Senator, thank you so much for joining us.

SEN. ROB PORTMAN (R-OH): You bet, Charles.

PAYNE: So, right now, six states have stopped the $300. A couple have also followed up on your idea of offering a bonus instead.

How would this change the entire dynamics, in your opinion?

PORTMAN: I think we would get more people back to work, which is good for them to get back to their careers. And it's also great for business, because, right now, you got small businesses all over America who are saying, we just need the workers. We can't go forward.

We have a restaurant that just closed in Columbus, Ohio, because they just couldn't find workers. I had someone text me today who is a small manufacturer in Ohio, saying that she could use 70 people in Ohio right now and 30 people in New York. She's only got about 200 employees.

And, by the way, if Ohio is a better place to get a job because you don't have this extra benefit, and that -- and that disincentive, then those kinds of companies will do more work in Ohio, rather than in a place like New York, as an example.

So, it actually is a competitive benefit for these states to get people back to work.

PAYNE: And I should correct myself. It's nine states now that have announced that they're going to end the $300.

This is the additional federal supplemental money, not their own unemployment benefits.

Senator, also, 23 states are...

PORTMAN: That's right. Every state has their basic employment.

PAYNE: Yes. And 23...

PORTMAN: And, in Ohio, it's about 360 bucks per week.

PAYNE: Twenty-three states want also now proof that you're looking for work.

And I guess this is a sort of carrot-and-stick approach. But the situation seems to be that desperate, doesn't it?

PORTMAN: It really does.

In fact, I think, Charles, now that number has gone up to I think there are 30 states in that category. And while we're talking, probably other states will add to both categories, because states are realizing this makes no sense for anybody to have a situation where it is more advantageous not to work than to work.

And, look, I think the supplement was needed during COVID. People lost their jobs, through no fault of their own. Now there are 8.1 million jobs being offered. That was as of April 1. There may be more now. But think about that, 8.1 million jobs. The unemployment numbers are about 10.8 million.

That means that, if those 8.1 million jobs were all filled, you would have unemployment that would be less than it was before the pandemic. It would be at historic levels, actually. So, let's get people back to work. It's good for everybody. It's good for the workers.

I also support providing a bonus of $100-per-week bonus for six weeks, because I think that will encourage more people to get back to work. So I hope states will take advantage of this opportunity, one, not to get people stuck on unemployment insurance by having this additional $300 on top of the state benefit.

PAYNE: Right.

PORTMAN: And, two, to put back in place the requirements that have always been there that says you have to be looking for work if you're on unemployment insurance.

PAYNE: I guess you can understand the defensive nature of the administration on Friday.

Everyone was bracing for a million dollar -- million people getting jobs.

PORTMAN: Yes.

PAYNE: Some Wall Street firms had two million. I think they were prepared for a victory lap. They didn't get it.

But, by now, do you think maybe this is starting to seep in at the White House that, certainly, the government should not be competing, particularly against small businesses, for talent, as these businesses are -- they have demand. They have an opportunity coming out of the COVID. They survived that.

And now they're fighting against their own government for the worker, the very worker to make these businesses successful.

PORTMAN: Absolutely.

It would make all the sense in the world for the White House to listen to your advice and to change their view on this, because that's how you're going to get this economy moving, get people back to work.

One of the issues that's talked about by the administration is that there are people who can't go back to work because of COVID, because they're concerned about COVID. That concern is a lot less now, thanks to the vaccinations and thanks to the numbers we're seeing. So, that's one issue that can be resolved.

The other one is that there are a lot of parents, particularly moms, who are going to stay home because their kids are not in school. Well, the answer to that is to get schools reopened.

And so I think there are some -- there are some ways to deal with some of the issues that might be out there, in addition to the fact that, for about 42 percent of Americans, they're making more on unemployment insurance than they can at work, given the $300 on top of the state benefit.

So, I think all these issues should be addressed. It's in everybody's interest to get folks back to work, including workers themselves.

PAYNE: Yes. Yes, two enforced errors at this point.

President Biden just was asked about this fuel shortage. He hinted that maybe we will have some good news from Colonial within the next 24 hours. But, even before that, gas prices were running quickly to -- higher, even before this ransomware attack.

What do we -- what do you say? Well, I mean, what's going on here? I mean, I'm hearing people saying maybe this is why the Keystone pipeline decision was a huge mistake. Others are wondering about other policy mistakes we are making right now with respect to a war on fossil fuels.

I think the last couple of days prove we still need it.

PORTMAN: Absolutely.

I mean, we are totally dependent on fossil fuels. Natural gas has taken over a lot of the power plants around the country. And that's resulted in less emissions, as you know. So, we have actually made progress on CO2.

But, broadly speaking, Charles, you're the -- you're the economist here, but everybody told us a couple months ago this economy was going to take off. The Congressional Budget Office, which is a nonpartisan group, said that we will be back to pre COVID-19 by midyear. They were right, it turns out.

So the economy's taking off. The demand is there, as you say. And the problem is, the administration thought it was necessary to prime the pump. And that's resulting in higher inflation, not just gas prices, but across the board. Look at lumber prices. Look at food prices. Look at housing prices.

So, I think they're -- unfortunately, whoever is giving the president economic advice is missing the data, the reality, and looking at what's really happening out there. And these gas prices don't surprise me.

PAYNE: Yes.

PORTMAN: Even if we didn't have the Colonial Pipeline issue, gas prices were already going up. As the demand increases, we got to be sure the supply is there.

And then, in addition, as you say, their energy policy is one that constricts supply more. So, it's not a surprise. It's exactly what you would have expected to happen.

So, the answer is, of course, not to raise taxes right now, not to keep pumping the prime -- priming -- priming the pump, not to keep putting more money into circulation, but to allow this economy to grow in a steady way, so we don't have this spike in inflation, so we don't have these higher interest rates, and so that we can get back to the kind of pre-COVID economy we had, which was a very inclusive economy, where you had higher wages, particularly among lower- and middle-income workers.

We had the lowest poverty rate in the history of our country going back to the 1950s, when we started keeping track of it. And we had relatively low unemployment, 3.5 percent, the lowest historically for Asian Americans, Hispanics, blacks. So things were going pretty well. And people were coming in off the sidelines to go to work.

Let's get back to that.

PAYNE: And the rise in blue-collar wages. We had an 18-month run in blue- collar wages we hadn't seen in well over a decade.

Ironically, that was a -- the very definition of shared prosperity.

PORTMAN: Absolutely.

PAYNE: And I agree with you 1000 percent, 1000 percent.

PORTMAN: Yes, absolutely.

PAYNE: Senator, thank you so much. Always appreciate it.

PORTMAN: Thanks, Charles. Always good to talk to you. Take care.

PAYNE: Well, from fuel lines growing -- you got it -- the border crisis mounting, and Middle East violence escalating.

We're going to talk to Karl Rove on how the White House is handling all of it.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAYNE: The House Oversight Committee holding a hearing today on the January 6 riots.

Democrats questioning the decisions made by former acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, while Republicans questioned the double standard of holding this hearing, but taking no action on the riots that rattled the nation last summer.

Former acting Defense Secretary Miller defending his actions during the hearings today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): During that 1.5 hours, either you disobeyed an order given to you by the president to help Mayor Bowser, or the president changed his order and asked you to delay support, or you just plain froze.

REP. CLAY HIGGINS (R-LA): The hypocrisy of this body is indeed disturbing to the scores of millions of Americans that supported President Trump and love this country and have been denied access to their own Capitol for over a year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAYNE: Former acting Defense Secretary Miller defending his actions during the hearing today.

To the Israel-Gaza border, where the U.N. is warning escalating tensions there could in fact turn into a full-scale war.

Trey Yingst is on the border with the very latest -- Trey.

TREY YINGST, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Charles, good afternoon.

As we speak, the Israeli air force is pounding the Gaza Strip with airstrikes. We can hear loud explosions, as factions there are reporting a number of buildings being targeted by the Israeli military.

All of this comes shortly after Israel's security Cabinet approved increased strikes against Hamas, the group in control of Gaza. All day, there has been cross-border fighting. And we just found out, according to Israeli media, that a 6-year-old Israeli boy has died from his wounds following a rocket attack in the Southern city of Sderot earlier tonight.

We were at the site of a different rocket attack. Israel's missile defense system, the Iron Dome, is doing its best to intercept many of these rockets being fired from the Gaza Strip into Southern and Central Israel. But with more than 1,200 rockets since Monday evening, it's difficult to keep up.

Additionally, we found out this morning there was an anti-tank attack against an Israeli jeep that had four soldiers inside. One of those young soldiers died of their wounds.

Going now to Gaza, we know that there have been a number of casualties. The death toll, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, is approaching 70 people. Many of them are children. Israel being criticized for that today, amid what is becoming a very chaotic and messy situation.

Also in Gaza, a number of high-rise buildings have been targeted. This was a red line for the factions there, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, who said, if the tall skyscrapers in Gaza, any of these buildings above 10 stories, for Gaza, a very tall building, if these buildings come down, they say they are going to fire more rockets at Israel's second largest city of Tel Aviv, as they did last night.

We will wait to see what the coming hours will bring for the region -- Charles.

PAYNE: Trey, thank you very much.

Now, amid that crisis over there, President Biden facing mounting crises over here, the administration dealing with the price spikes, border crossings still rising, and job growth now stalling.

Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff and FOX News contributor Karl Rove joins me now to discuss where all of this is going.

Karl, it's -- the honeymoon is over. It's -- President Biden's got a lot on this on his plate right now. And I'm not feeling really confident about what we're seeing initially.

KARL ROVE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, look, the honeymoon may go on for a little while longer. But it's starting to look pretty ugly for 2022.

I mean, we have job growth slowing, as you said. The border, we say it's a crisis. America knows it's a crisis. But the administration can't even bring itself to say the word crisis. And then underneath it all is the administration is pushing a very liberal, very progressive agenda that I think is not going to sit well and is already starting did not sit well with swing voters.

Remember, next year, the 2022 election is not only going to be the first midterm of the Biden administration, but it's also going to be happening right after reapportionment and redistricting. So there's going to be a lot of vulnerability out there for a lot of Democrats.

And there is a reason why the first midterm is always -- with one exception in 2002, and one exception in 1934, it's always bad for the incumbent party.

PAYNE: Yes.

And, I mean, I think you're right. Everyone already sense, to borrow a word, a shellacking perhaps on the horizon. Let's just go down two of these avenues, though, that you talked about for a moment, the commitment to the sort of left wokeness, instead -- as a substitute for real economic policy.

These are smart people. Larry Summers said the $1.9 trillion was too much money. Today, Jason Furman complained about these things. Steven Rattner has been talking about it. It seems to me the administration is choosing ideology over real economic policies that would help all Americans. And they must know the dangers of this. Ultimately, it's going to backfire.

And that's why I think it's nuts that they won't pull back, Karl.

ROVE: Well, I agree with you that it's nuts. But it may be that they don't believe Larry Summers and Jason Furman. It may be that the economists and the economic advisers inside this White House are of a distinctly more left-wing view.

I don't think they're doing this just because they want to placate the left. I think they're increasingly doing this because this is what they want to achieve. There's this almost smug conversation going on where, look, Joe Biden is more transformational than even Barack Obama was.

And I do think that's an expression of what we're -- the White House is not doing this simply because they think it gains them points with AOC and Bernie. They're doing this because they want to do it.

So that means it ain't going to get better quickly. They're not going to sort of you make a U-turn and start being more reasonable and rational about it.

PAYNE: Right.

ROVE: I think we're likely to see more of this as the months go on.

PAYNE: Let me ask you about the vote today with Liz Cheney, now out of leadership in the House.

Your thoughts on that?

ROVE: Well, we're -- the Republicans are in the middle of a civil war, and civil wars never end well.

And this is one where I don't think either side is going to come out looking like a winner. Liz has been removed from leadership. Kevin has now got another fight on his hands. Who's going to replace Liz?

And, again, it takes -- all of it takes away from the real issue, which is, how do the Republicans come up with a message that will allow them to do three things, keep in their coalition people who are sort of working class blue-collar people who liked Donald Trump, may not have liked what -- how he handled himself, but liked what he did?

How do they regain their strength in the suburbs among swing Republicans and swing voters? And then how do they deal with an increasingly diverse electorate?

PAYNE: Right.

ROVE: Ironically enough, they're doing better on the last point than they are the first two.

PAYNE: Karl Rove, we have got to leave it there. Wish we had more time.

Meanwhile, folks, panic buying is setting in at gas stations, so the big question everyone's asking, how long will this last?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL REGAN, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ADMINISTRATOR: The folks should follow the advice of the governors and the attorney generals, which they're asking folks not to panic, not to hoard gasoline.

PETE BUTTIGIEG, U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: This is a time to be sensible and to be safe. Of course, we understand the concern in areas where people are encountering temporary supply disruptions. But hoarding does not make things better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAYNE: All right, don't panic, don't hoard, that's the message coming from the White House Briefing Room today, as fuel shortages and gas price spikes are causing widespread chaos.

So, how is the White House handling all of this?

Let's ask Kennedy of the FOX Business Network, energy watcher Phil Flynn, and Democratic strategist Kristen Hawn.

Kennedy, you're known for your chill. I mean, did you get that vibe from the White House today? Or did you go out and get you a couple of canisters, so you can hoard your own gas?

KENNEDY, FOX BUSINESS ANCHOR: No, it's really hard to dampen that drive, because we have been in hoarding mode for almost 15 months now. And so people, their pump is primed to grab and hold on to whatever they can.

So you're going to have a really, really hard time talking people out of that, even though it is the worst thing to do right now if you're one of those Southeastern states, like North Carolina, Georgia, Florida. They're having a tough time and their pumps are dry in many parts of the state.

And so people are wasting gas driving around looking for gas. So, yes, the appeal is right. Don't hoard. Relax. The pipeline will be open. But I absolutely understand the instinct. I never drive. And I am so desperate to drive around and look for gas in Manhattan.

PAYNE: So, now, apparently, gasoline is the new toilet paper, right, you go back a year ago.

Phil, you're the expert on this. You have seen these things. You have analyzed them. And I think one of the underlying things, though, we need to point out is that gasoline prices were already making a real big move higher anyway. So I'm not confident that the price move to the upside is going to stall anyway.

PHIL FLYNN, FOX BUSINESS CONTRIBUTOR: I think you're absolutely right.

One of the things that we have been seeing for a long time is that we have underinvested in U.S. energy. And the Biden administration is a big part of that. They're telling people don't invest in old-fashioned energy. Why invest in gasoline refineries? That's going to be obsolete in a few years.

Yet, at the same time, I don't think they understand the importance of pipeline. There's absolutely no reason in the world that the Biden administration didn't get out in front of this, not yesterday, but almost day one. And this is a time where the power of the tweet would have come in handy, where they could have -- President Biden could have tweeted out and said, listen, there's plenty of gasoline supplies, as long as we don't panic.

And I have to say that the American people didn't panic. I think the Biden administration is panicking right now.

PAYNE: Kristen, there was and still is, to be quite frank, some confusion over all of this. We don't know if Colonial paid the ransom. We're not quite sure.

I know there was an allusion -- alluded -- President Biden alluded to Russia, what kind of consequences will come of this one, when the next time it can happen. You can understand why people are extraordinarily anxious right now.

KRISTEN HAWN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yes, I mean, I think we need to figure out exactly what happens -- or what happened and take the appropriate action. I think the Biden administration will.

I also think this just demonstrates the importance of having a comprehensive energy infrastructure here in the United States. I mean, the -- President Biden, when he was candidate Biden, got a lot of flak from the left of his own party when he refused to -- refused to end all fracking.

So we have to take a comprehensive approach. You can't just have all wind, all solar. Oil and gas plays a very important role in our economy.

PAYNE: Well, I'm glad you said that, because, Kennedy, the first act of the Biden administration was to get rid of the Keystone pipe -- oil pipeline. So there's some irony there, maybe bitter irony.

And what about infrastructure? Can we now agree this is a real infrastructure? We all want to help grandma and those folks. But this is real traditional infrastructure that allows us to move, take the kids to school, call the ambulance, call the police department, call the fire department.

Isn't this what we should be investing in, Kennedy?

KENNEDY: This is not only infrastructure. This is critical infrastructure.

And I found it very interesting that the Biden administration really tried to distance themselves from the Colonial Pipeline, as if there's no government reliance on this pipeline and as if it's disconnected from the government economy. It absolutely is not.

And Kristen is absolutely 1000 percent right. We need to focus our free market and all of those technology sectors and coming up with new ways of using renewable energy sources. And, at the same time, we are not off fossil fuels, and we cannot be naive enough to think that we can just shut off the spigot and we will be fine.

This is one glitch, and you're seeing paralysis in part of the country. So, we do have to think comprehensively. But we also -- we have to wrap our arms around that free market to help us come up with solutions when we bump up against crises like this and like the one we saw in Texas when everything froze there.

PAYNE: Yes.

Phil, to that point, to a degree, the free markets, though, have their hands tied, and probably will face even more regulations. So, the transition Kennedy's talking about, even Kristen, I don't disagree with. I wish it would happen naturally, instead of being forced, because I think it's going to leave us vulnerable.

FLYNN: Yes, I absolutely hear that.

One of the criticisms I heard with this pipeline going down from some people is, says, why are we so reliant on one pipeline that takes almost 50 percent of the supply to the Northeast? And it's like, because you won't let us build more pipelines. There's so many pipelines that are being killed right now.

Right now, there's another pipeline up in Michigan they're trying to kill. And it's shortsighted thinking. I think what this crisis should do is show America how important pipelines are to the economy, to consumers, and to the national security of the country.

PAYNE: Yes. Yes, we want to fuel our economy.

That's it for now, folks. Thank you all, by the way, very much. And that will do it for me.

But, of course, you can catch me tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. Eastern on "Making Money" on the FOX Business Network. I have got a very special guest, former Reagan economic adviser Art Laffer. We are talking about the modern monetary theory. A lot of people are saying we could print our way out of this. I don't think Art will agree.

Make sure you check me out tomorrow, and of course, the market in turmoil.

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