‘Your World’ on infrastructure, Biden-Putin meeting

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Progress made toward bipartisan infrastructure plan

Rep. Nancy Mace says she is 'encouraged' that Republicans and Democrats are 'coming together' on 'Your World'

This is a rush transcript from "Your World with Neil Cavuto," June 17, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

CHARLES PAYNE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Juneteenth is officially a federal holiday.

President Biden just it signing into law with bipartisan support commemorating the end of slavery. It is the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. was created in 1983. And it will be marked on June 19 of each year.

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

We're going to talk to Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King Jr., in just a moment, but, first, to Gillian Turner at the White House with more - - Gillian.

GILLIAN TURNER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Good afternoon to you.

So, Juneteenth is now officially a U.S. public holiday. It's known already in some states here as Emancipation Day or Jubilee Day. But, regardless, it is now a federal holiday for all Americans to celebrate after the House overwhelmingly passed this bill commemorating the anniversary yesterday.

And you now just saw President Biden signing it into law. Now, the backstory here is that a bipartisan group of senators had been pushing for sometime to commemorate the holiday at the federal level. Democrats, including Chuck Schumer, have said -- quote -- "It's a way to atone for America's past sins."

Now, Charles, as you can imagine, some Republicans had been standing in opposition to passing this bill through. Most of them say it's because they disagreed with the name or because they didn't like the fact that it was going to cost, according to their estimates, about $600 billion for the federal government to give all their employees off another day during the calendar year.

Now, regardless of this, it has gone through. It's now a day for all Americans to celebrate. The president said this has been on his agenda for a long time. Interestingly, Vice President Kamala Harris was one of the senators last year who first introduced legislation proposing the idea of making this a permanent federal holiday.

We're told by sources here at the White House that she was very invested in getting this through. She sees this as a big victory for the United States.

Charles, one other thing worth mentioning here is that this is the first new public holiday added to the U.S. calendar since 1983, which was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. That was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan, bringing us to a total now of 13 U.S. public holidays -- Charles, back to you.

PAYNE: Gillian, thank you very much.

My next guest says creating the Juneteenth holiday will unite Americans. Alveda King is the niece of Martin Luther King Jr. And she joins me now.

Alveda, it is always a pleasure to have you on.

Just share your thoughts. I mean, I can imagine a number of things running through your mind watching this event.

DR. ALVEDA KING, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Absolutely, Charles.

I was a state legislator when the Martin Luther King bill became a holiday, and I was very instrumental in Georgia as a state legislator in helping to get that passed. So, I feel just as excited today as I did then.

However, I remember being at the White House in 2020 with President Trump and some black leaders. And he supported us fully in having Juneteenth to be a holiday. I have been working at Priests for Life as a pastoral associate for many, many years.

That was my first initiative when I joined Priests for Life. Let's get Juneteenth for not only African-Americans, but for the babies. And so that has been an initiative. I'm very happy that it has been signed, been working on it for a very, very long time.

I see that President Biden did sign it. And I'm glad he signed it. We have been working on it a long time, even with President Trump. And I'm just so very happy to see it passed.

You know, what happens, a new president comes in, and they get to take credit, not only for what they're doing, but the good things that the president before them did, like the vaccines, for instance, with President Trump.

PAYNE: Sure. Right.

KING: So, I'm excited to see that bill signed, very excited.

PAYNE: Alveda, to your point, I mean, it passed 415 to 14 in the House, and though some of those House members that voted against it had nothing to do with the holiday, in and of itself. They had voted against other things that cost a lot of money.

They have stood on principle there. So, that didn't -- wasn't different for them, unanimously in the Senate. We had John Cornyn up there getting his pen as well.

Just -- I mean, you have seen the evolution of this. And you know what we're going through as a nation. I always feel that there are higher powers that are always manipulating everyone to be at each other's throats, at each other's -- we're not allowed to be united.

And, still, it feels like, against all of that, we always gravitate eventually toward that. Just talk to this movement, how we have moved toward this as a nation.

KING: I am joining a Juneteenth celebration tomorrow. And it's been said that the slaves, the first thing they did, they acknowledged being free in Texas. It's been -- Juneteenth has been a Texas holiday for a while.

They dressed up. So I'm going to have a Juneteenth celebration in a lovely dress. I'm going to pray and thank God for everybody that has supported this through the years. It was fascinating. The -- President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. It took two years down in Texas for black folks to realize that they were free.

And then they celebrated. Now, it took President Biden, OK, 40 years as a senator and eight years as a vice president. I guess he couldn't get it done then. It is signed now. I'm excited about it. I'm so glad. I want to say, President Biden, what took you so long?

But it's done. So I'm excited.

PAYNE: It's done.

KING: No sour grapes, just elation, absolute elation.

PAYNE: Yes. Yes.

Yes, I think this is a day we leave all politics society, and we look forward as a united nation...

KING: Yes.

PAYNE: ... a united country. And we love each other.

KING: I'm excited.

PAYNE: And we just try our best.

KING: Come together. Celebrate Juneteenth.

PAYNE: Yes.

KING: For the babies too, Charles, though, for the babies.

PAYNE: Oh, absolutely.

Alveda, thank you so much.

And, by the way, folks, sign up right now for FOX Nation to watch Alveda King's speech and more from the Faith and Freedom Coalition's Road to the Majority Policy Conference. It's streaming live on FOXNation.com through Saturday. You don't want to miss it.

Alveda, thank you so much.

Now I want to get to spending in inflation, because 71 percent of folks surveyed in a Monmouth University poll say they are concerned that Washington is spending too much and that it will trigger inflation, this as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer signals that he's ready to go around Republicans and ram through even more spending.

I want to go to David Spunt first. He's on Capitol Hill with the very latest -- David.

DAVID SPUNT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Charles, good afternoon. You mentioned keeping politics aside on a day like Juneteenth.

Well, as you know, on Capitol Hill, everything is hyperpolitical. We are in a polarized political climate here on Capitol Hill. That's no different even today. ' But the good news here on Capitol Hill between Democrats and Republicans, there is some progress being made on infrastructure, on the president's spending plan, nearly $1 trillion spending plan.

You see this group right here of bipartisan senators. They put out a statement late yesterday announcing they are not giving up hope. The spectrum runs from progressive John Hickenlooper all the way to conservative Lindsey Graham.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D-NY): We want to work with our Republican colleagues on infrastructure where we have common ground. And Democrats believe we have other priorities that the Senate must consider above and beyond and above a bipartisan infrastructure bill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SPUNT: And some Republicans are jumping in with concerns about some of the spending.

Let's look specifically, $110 billion in roads, $66 billion in railways, $15 billion -- this is new -- in electric vehicles, which includes, Charles, charging stations and electric buses.

Now, over in the House of Representatives, things are certainly touch and go, meaning that House Democrats effectively have zero margin to play around with. Congressman John Yarmuth, a Democrat from Kentucky, told FOX News this week that all Democrats individually have the ability to sabotage an entire bill.

That's how the situation is right now. I asked Speaker Nancy Pelosi this morning about that comment that he made. Listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): It's -- we're a Democratic Party. We're not a lockstep rubber stamp. Who would want to belong to a party like that?

You could cross the aisle and do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SPUNT: And Democratic leaders like Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer are encouraging their colleagues, especially progressives, not to use name-calling when it comes to Kyrsten Sinema from Arizona and Republican -- or Democrat Joe Manchin from West Virginia.

Some progressives would say he's a Republican. That's why I said that.

They say, listen, leave the name-calling out, and, ultimately, we're going to need people like Manchin and Sinema to come on board if we want to get things done -- Charles.

PAYNE: Yes, that name-calling memo should have gone out a while ago, a few weeks earlier. David, thank you very much.

So, is all of this spending starting to worry my next guest, South Carolina Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace?

Congresswoman Mace, listen, we have come a long way from the original $2.2 trillion price tag, which obviously was some sort of a feeler. But it's so intriguing to me, because it feels like Republicans are warming up to this bipartisan effort, and it's the Democrats seem to really be pushing back.

What are your thoughts?

REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): Absolutely.

When I heard Nancy Pelosi's remarks just now on your program, her saying that Democrats are not in lockstep, that they're not all in one, just last week, the House had its markup, its committee hearing on transportation infrastructure, where Republicans were not allowed to pass any bipartisan or nonpartisan amendments to the infrastructure bill.

So I have huge disagreement with the speaker on this right now. But I I'm encouraged. I do feel encouraged by Senate -- the Senate that's got Republicans and Democrats coming together. They have come up with a plan for $973 billion in spending. And most of it looks like potentially it's on infrastructure, not art and sculptures and landscaping or high-speed rail in Nancy Pelosi's backyard, but real infrastructure projects.

And that's what the American people want, need and deserve.

PAYNE: Yes, I think, right now, our infrastructure gets a D-minus from the American Association of Civil Engineers. So, you're right.

Everyone wants it. Every politician talks about it. Everyone promises it. And it always seems like low-hanging fruit, except when you attach a lot of things that maybe are designed to reimagine America.

So this bill, this -- would you consider it more than -- if it is pure infrastructure, which we all want, really more of an investment than spending? And if that's the case, how do you ultimately pay for it? Because I know that Republicans are going to stand firm on no new taxes.

MACE: Absolutely.

And there's a way to pay for it. There are trillions of dollars in unspent COVID relief funds. I talk to states and counties every single day that have more money than they know what to do with. The money is out there.

So, if we take that money, let's say $1 trillion in COVID relief money that has not been spent, we can do a enormous good with that in an infrastructure package. And that's the way you can do it without the largest tax hike in American history. That's the way to go.

PAYNE: So, in the last week, we have gotten reports on inflation in this country. They're shattering records. So people are concerned, even that $1.9 trillion that went through earlier this year helping to goose up inflation.

And everyone's feeling it, and a lot of people. According to a Monmouth poll, over 70 percent of people are concerned about it. How do you juxtapose that to any more spending, any spending at all coming out of D.C., these huge projects?

MACE: Well, we're -- I mean, you look at inflation right now. We're approaching levels that haven't been seen since World War II. Groceries are going up over 21 percent, gasoline fuel. Lumber is 381 percent up. The cost to build a house costs 30 percent more today than it did six months to a year ago. It is a problem.

Inflation is taxation the American people. But spending is not just a Democrat problem. Republicans and Democrats have been at fault for this for decades. It's gotten significantly worse in COVID-19. Our debt is $28 trillion and counting. The deficit is $3 trillion or more.

And we have got to hold each other accountable. And without members holding strong in the House or the Senate, I don't know how we get it done. But we have got to stop this.

PAYNE: How do you -- isn't the problem, though -- because I think a lot of people really come to Washington, D.C. -- you're new. You're still fresh and eager. And you have made these promises.

But it feels like, once they get there, the lure of staying forever takes over, and every -- any good intention they may have had, it's influenced by that.

MACE: Well...

PAYNE: So, it's all -- all of a sudden, it becomes bringing home the bacon, bringing home the bridge to nowhere. And that's how you get reelected.

How do you resist something like that?

MACE: Well, it takes people with character.

It's not only that. It's also staying in power. The more money you have, the more power that you have. And I see it every single day.

PAYNE: Right.

MACE: You see -- people, they're intoxicated with power. And you see new members sometimes, like they're being -- they're a deer in headlights sometimes, and they don't know what to do. And then they go back on their promises.

It's really important to the American people now, more than ever, when it comes to fiscal policy, that we put our money where our mouth is, that we live by the rules that we enact on everybody else.

PAYNE: Yes.

MACE: And so if Congress is going to have the highest tax hike on corporations and small businesses, well, guess what? Congress should be taxed just the same.

And if that were the case, they wouldn't do it.

PAYNE: Yes.

And, by the way, that $28 trillion and counting, we're going to hit the cliff. We don't know where it is, but we are going to hit it at this rate.

I want to switch topics for a moment. The Supreme Court siding with a Catholic foster agency 9-0. That was the decision against the city of Philadelphia. Now, the city had tried to ban the agency because it excluded same-sex couples. What do you make of the decision?

MACE: Well, the First Amendment religious liberties should be protected in this country.

And there are many plentiful foster homes and foster services around the country that have varying opinions that are not religious-based. And so I think it's really important that we do protect religious liberty in this country, protect the First Amendment and allow folks to go through their proper agencies to do those adoptions or to foster children.

It's important to have those protections in place for everybody.

I think I lost -- did I lose you?

PAYNE: No, I got you. I got you now.

I think someone was...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAYNE: See this map?

One of the states just dropping those extended unemployment benefits, and it's run by a Democrat. New proof our labor squeeze isn't about red or blue, but all about people making green.

We're back in 60 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN BRADY (R-TX): When Governor Abbott and the legislature has approved money for our Texas law enforcement to help, it has real results. So we welcome Florida -- Florida's assistance there as well.

Look, Washington needs to be paying for this. It is really -- it's just sad that states have to protect themselves when Washington and principally President Biden simply won't do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAYNE: Well, that was Texas Republican congressman Kevin Brady on this show yesterday applauding Florida's decision to send resources to his state.

And as the situation Southern border escalates, well, he's not the only one.

Border Patrol Union Vice President Chris Cabrera joins me now on the phone from Rio Grande Valley, Texas.

Chris, thanks for joining us.

I mean, how much of a relief was it to hear that the help is on the way?

CHRIS CABRERA, VICE PRESIDENT, BORDER PATROL UNION: It's a huge relief, any help we can get, whether it's from other states, which is unheard of.

And we really appreciate it, or National Guard, military, or whoever. We desperately need to help down here. It's getting busier by the day. And it's becoming to a point where we just can't keep up.

PAYNE: We know you're overwhelmed. We see the numbers.

Put it in perspective for us, though, because I think now we're starting to get numb to some of these numbers. But we're talking hundreds of thousands of human beings. And they make this treacherous trek. We understand why they want to be in this country. You have a job to do.

Just -- just, if you can, bring it to light for us what it feels like down there for everyone.

CABRERA: You know, our guys are completely overwhelmed down here. We're waiting two, three hours just to get a bus out there to transport people.

And, before, we would just need a van or two. And now we're needing three or four buses at a time. And it's gotten to the point where they will even -- they know that we're tied up handling people that are turning themselves in, where just last night we had two vehicles load up in broad daylight, I think 5:00 in the evening, with about 30 people and took off from the river area.

And, before, that was unheard of. That never happened during broad daylight. But they know that we don't have the manpower to spare to go after them. So they're doing it right in front of us.

PAYNE: And those who are unaccountable, I know those numbers have rocketed higher. I have heard and spoken to some folks down there about the tactics that the cartels are using to send a bunch of people there, particularly children, divert attention, and then kind of stroll right into the country.

Is that still happening?

CABRERA: Yes, that's happening.

And it's to the point where we have these areas of the wall where there's gates where you can drive through to check on the south side. So, these two gates in particular, they will have 70, 80 people at them at a time. And in between those gates, there's people throwing ladders up and jumping over the top that we can see.

We just -- we can't get over there in time to stop them, because we're so tied up with the women and children that are coming. It's just gotten completely out of control, not to mention the smuggling.

PAYNE: All right, Chris.

Chris, we wish you luck. We know you're overwhelmed. You're doing an amazing job. And we will keep -- we will stay on the story. This is perhaps the biggest story in the country, one of them. And, certainly, I don't think it's getting enough attention. Thank you very much.

Now, folks, watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REBECCAH HEINRICHS, THE HUDSON INSTITUTE: I would cancel the meeting because President Biden has not built up a position of strength going into this meeting. He's been relatively muted when it comes to holding the Russian government accountable for these attacks that are coming from Russia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAYNE: Skip the meeting, that's what the Hudson Institute's Rebeccah Heinrichs told Neil President Biden should do earlier this month.

So, what does she think now that the summit is over?

Well, she is with us now.

Rebeccah, your thoughts? Should he have -- should he have skipped the meeting?

HEINRICHS: He should have skipped the meeting, Charles.

President Biden also waived those congressionally mandated sanctions against the Nord Stream II pipeline, something that Russia wanted. That would be terrible for NATO, because it allows the Russian government to divide NATO and extort Eastern Central European countries using energy.

So, Joe Biden made these bizarre kind of concessions, walk-backs, without getting anything in return going into this meeting. So, he didn't have any leverage. He went into this meeting.

And I think, now, in hindsight, watching how it went, that Vladimir Putin that ends up looking pretty good walking out of this and Joe Biden still leaves empty-handed. He got nothing out of the Russian government, and only came away with some gaffes, including saying that he -- President Biden said that he told Vladimir Putin explicitly which things he should not hit with cyberattacks, listing 16 things, which tells the Russian government that essentially everything else is fair game.

PAYNE: Everything else is free game.

On that Nord Stream, it is interesting. I mean, what do you think President Biden thought we would get back? Obviously, it was a gift. Obviously, it hurts our allies in so many different ways, including there is now more dependence on Russian natural gas.

We have natural gas, by the way, that we would have loved to have shipped there. What do you think Biden thought he was going to get back out of this deal? Because, when I watch it, to be quite frank with you, Rebeccah, it felt like, at many times, President Biden was naive, but he's been around the block a few times.

HEINRICHS: He has been around the block a few times, but he sort of notoriously doesn't learn any lessons.

And even though he's had decades in foreign policy, nobody in Washington, D.C., thinks of Joe Biden whenever they think of somebody who's knowledgeable and wise when it comes to foreign policy. I mean, listen, he canceled the Keystone pipeline. So he has no problem harming Canadian and American workers when it comes to energy.

But he was too sheepish when it comes to upsetting the German government, who wanted this pipeline. And the German elites have essentially been increasingly bought off. As they leave the German government, they go work for Russian energy companies.

And, essentially, what Joe Biden said was this pipeline was a done deal anyway, and it's what the German government wanted. Only 95 percent is completed, so they could have put pressure both on the Germans and on the Russians to not finish this pipeline.

PAYNE: Rebeccah, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Well, meantime, a U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, the translators remaining are now fearing for their lives.

To FOX News national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin with more on this FOX exclusive story -- Jennifer.

JENNIFER GRIFFIN, FOX NEWS NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Charles.

Well, on Tuesday night, we went to Dulles Airport outside Washington, D.C., not far from the CIA, for whom some of these combat translators worked in Afghanistan. We met one of the lucky few who managed to get a flight out of Kabul, after receiving his SIV, Special Immigrant Visa, after working for the U.S. military.

Fearful the Taliban will target his family back in Afghanistan, he asked that we refer to him by a pseudonym. We will call him Sadiq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Although it was a long journey for us, the visa process took a long time, like three-and-a-half years.

But, finally, they made it.

GRIFFIN: How do you feel now that you're here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel safe. I feel really good, because I survived from many threats. And I survived from many bad conditions.

And now I really -- I feel pretty good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Sadiq and his wife and four children waited for three-and-a-half years for their visas. He was greeted by No One Left Behind and Keeping Our Promise Rochester.

He was greeted by the very first recipient of an SIV visa, an Iraqi translator who came to the U.S. in 2005 after helping the U.S. military in Mosul. Sam became a citizen and joined the U.S. Air Force five years ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: What will happen if the U.S. doesn't bring them here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, it's clear. Like, it's crystal clear to everybody. Finally, the bad guys will find them and they will kill them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have seen this scenario in Iraq, and I would hate to see it happen again in Afghanistan. And I have actually lost personal friends and colleagues that -- who supported the Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: There are 18,000 Afghans waiting for Special Immigrant Visas.

They are now facing death threats from the Taliban. The U.S. does not plan to evacuate them, we're told. And we have now learned the embassy and consular section in Kabul, Afghanistan, is closed due to COVID -- Charles.

PAYNE: Jennifer, thank you very much.

So, what's the big deal about another state dropping extended jobless benefits? Well, it's the first one run by a Democrat. So, is that proof this labor crunch is very real? And will more states start to follow?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAYNE: We're getting word from Surprise, Arizona, that law enforcement are investigating several shootings in the area this afternoon. The suspect in those shootings was quickly located and taken into custody. And we will bring you more on this story as it develops.

Now you can add Louisiana to the growing list of states dropping those extending unemployment benefits right in the middle of a major labor shortage, that state's governor, John Bel Edwards, becoming the first Democrat to make the move.

So maybe this isn't about politics and all about a very real hiring squeeze.

Let's get the read from economist Steve Moore and Democratic strategist Jenna Arnold.

Steve, what do you think of this latest development?

STEPHEN MOORE, FORMER DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISER: It's good news.

By the way, we still have 15 million Americans out on employment insurance today, Charles, even though we have something like nine million job openings. So we have millions of Americans still on unemployment benefits. We have got to get them back in the work force.

And the big question now, Charles, is, why has New York, why has Michigan, why has New Jersey, Illinois, Colorado, why are those Democratic states not getting with the program, getting back to the normal benefits, so these small businesses can get the workers back on the job?

A s you know, we had this study that came out this week that showed, in a lot of these blue states, a family with two unemployed parents could get benefits as high as $100,000 on an annual basis. That's not going to get people back on the job.

PAYNE: Jenna?

JENNA ARNOLD, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Charles, Steve, it's nice to be with both of you today.

MOORE: You too.

ARNOLD: And I would caution us as we enter this conversation to avoid making sweeping generalizations.

I appreciate Steve pointing out that there are 16 million people who are on unemployment today. And there's only eight to nine million jobs that are being -- that are available to be filled. So, now you have another eight million folks who, if this unemployment was pulled out from under them, would be in a financial crisis.

And I would urge us all to consider how we're looking closely at who those people are who would be impacted should be this fiscal -- this financial support be yanked out of their lives. And it's mostly going to be women and communities who have been specifically hit by COVID.

These are communities that are trying to rebound from this pandemic, who are largely unvaccinated. And it's specifically related to women. So, if we want to talk about getting America back to work, I think we should talk about childcare and how state and federal can support that.

(CROSSTALK)

MOORE: But one thing about that, Charles.

PAYNE: Go ahead.

MOORE: Let me just make a point.

Look, a lot of these people who are unemployed are people who had jobs before, Charles, and they're not going back to the jobs they had. In other words, their employers are saying, come back, and the workers won't.

Now, if it's childcare issues, I mean, why are the childcare issues worse now than they were pre-pandemic? The Biden administration said, well, people aren't going back to work because they're still worried about the virus. But we have got the vaccine out there right now. Most Americans have been vaccinated. So I think a lot of those arguments are false.

And, by the way, let me add one other quick thing, Charles. There is a piece of legislation supported by Ron Wyden, who runs the Senate Finance Committee. You're not going to believe this, Charles. He wants to make those extended unemployment benefits permanent, permanent.

PAYNE: Yes. Well, I do believe that.

ARNOLD: Steve...

PAYNE: Jenna, to that point -- Jenna, to that point, Jason Furman -- Jason Furman -- I know you know who he is, a bigwig Democrat economist -- they actually did work on this and said, it wasn't -- that women are not the ones who are hurting the most in this situation.

In fact, college-educated women have gone back to work at far greater numbers, percentage wise, than other groups, and even non-college-educated women. So, I know it's easy to say and kind of think that because of the school situation, but maybe that's wrong.

And what about the other things that Steve just talked about? Is there a chance that people are being just lured to stay at home because these benefits add up to a lot of money for some of them?

ARNOLD: Charles, I'm going to have to push you on that women statistic.

Women are out of the work force at a 33-year low.

PAYNE: Well, you got to push Jason Furman on that, not me.

(LAUGHTER)

ARNOLD: You know what? That's fine.

And I think Steve and other economists will have their work cut out for them. But domestic workers and women are the ones who are getting hurt the worst coming out of this pandemic, for sure.

PAYNE: Right.

ARNOLD: And I would also add, Charles, going into -- if it is about childcare, one, you have a tremendous amount of countries, not -- I retract that -- not a tremendous amount, a handful of countries, a handful -- a handful of countries...

(CROSSTALK)

PAYNE: Yes, I know. But we don't have enough time to divert to that topic. I know where you're going.

(CROSSTALK)

PAYNE: Well, let's talk about that at a different time, Jenna. I don't want to be disrespectful, but I'm coming up -- it's a hard break.

ARNOLD: Charles, but it's really important. It's really important that we make sure that we talk about childcare.

PAYNE: We will talk about that later. You didn't talk about the money part. We will talk about the other topic next time.

Steve, Jenna, thank you both very much.

MOORE: Thanks, Charles.

PAYNE: So, with Americans' wallets taking a big hit, is the Biden agenda next?

Also, I want you to look at what China's celebrating over there. And should it light a fire under us here?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MACE: Inflation right now. We're approaching levels that haven't been seen since World War II. Groceries are going up over 21 percent, gasoline fuel. Lumber is 381 percent up. The cost to build a house costs 30 percent more today than it did six months to a year ago. It is a problem.

Inflation is taxation the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAYNE: Republican South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace telling me earlier about her concerns over rising inflation, as the White House pushes for even more spending.

But a new Monmouth poll shows that most Americans support President Biden's spending plans, despite 71 percent saying they're concerned that it could lead to inflation. So, why is that?

Let's get the read from Washington Examiner's Sarah Westwood.

Sarah, it's -- we say we're OK with this kind of -- these kind of things, until we get the bill. But what's driving this sort of complex relationship here?

SARAH WESTWOOD, THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Well, a lot of the things that that poll asked about and a lot of the things that Biden is proposing in his spending plans are popular, regardless of the party who's proposing them, right?

Let's take infrastructure. Fixing roads and bridges is something that's popular when President Trump suggests we do it and it's popular when Biden suggests we do it.

But, as you mentioned, the majority of people who responded to that survey also said they had at least some level of concern about inflation. And those concerns are only going to continue to grow as inflation goes up and as they realize that their dollar is not going nearly as far.

That will also potentially push some moderate Democrats, who Biden is already having difficulty getting on board with some of his more ambitious proposals. They may be going back to their districts, going back to their states, and hearing from voters that inflation is a real concern, that their paychecks are just not getting them as far.

And that could make them more hesitant to sign on to those big spending plans. And Biden, Democrats in Congress, they already have such a thin margin for error there. That path is more complicated when the recovery is not as robust as they have been promising.

PAYNE: Yes, when you dig into these inflation numbers, it is -- it's the sort of inflation that really hits people when they sit around the kitchen table and talk, right? Meat prices are up, gasoline the highest level since 2014.

Those are things that really, really resonate. And they let their lawmakers know. They let elected officials know. You can lose an election, you can lose a presidential election on a spike in gasoline prices.

So, it does seem like, to your point, Sarah, it's already resonating. Otherwise, I think they would have already rammed through some sort of reconciliation infrastructure package between $2 trillion and $6 trillion.

WESTWOOD: Right.

And the problem for Biden is that a lot of experts right now, even Democratic economists, are drawing sort of a straight line between the size of that stimulus bill, which some Democrats, like Larry Summers, for example, or Jason Furman, the chair of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, were saying this was too big, this was too much money, it's going to overheat the economy.

And those fears are sort of being realized right now. The same people in Biden's administration who are now saying we need more spending are the ones who said we're not going to see inflation when we pass this massive stimulus bill.

PAYNE: Yes. Yes.

WESTWOOD: So their credibility is sort of being eroded on that. And the justification for more spending, which really rested on having a robust, healthy economy, goes away.

I mean, remember that Biden released his budget proposal about three weeks ago.

PAYNE: Yes.

WESTWOOD: And that was based on calculations that showed very low inflation.

So to hit those revenue projections that he proposed, you would need to not have inflation, which we have right now. So the math for Biden's plans just doesn't add up if this inflation continues.

PAYNE: Yes.

And, of course, he actually called Larry Summers a week ago. So he probably told Larry, you are right, maybe I should have listened, although we will never know.

Sarah, thank you very much.

So, are we so focused on what China's doing here on Earth, we're losing sight of gains that they're making in outer space?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAYNE: The space race is heating up.

China launching a manned space mission overnight, this for the first time in five years. The three astronauts aboard the rocket successfully adopted at that nation's module, which eventually will become a space station. It's under construction.

So, how should the U.S. view China's expanded space operations? And how do we compete?

Joining me now, former NASA astronaut Terry Virts.

I got to tell you, Terry, every time I see that, those rockets going up, it just -- something about it. I guess I was maybe being an American born in the '60s. And you know exactly what I feel.

So, how should I feel about the fact that China's doing it, they're building a space station, and that maybe they may start to take the lead with respect to space?

COL. TERRY VIRTS, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Well, first of all, congrats to the Chinese and their astronauts, Nie, Tang and Liu.

They're having a great view of the Earth and also having fun in weightlessness. So, congratulations to them on that. I wish them the best.

China has certainly been doing a lot in space. They recently landed a rover on Mars. They landed a rover on the far side of the moon, which is amazing. And a big difference between the Chinese program and ours is that the People's Liberation Army is very involved in every step of their civilian space program.

And so a nation that can do these amazing things in peaceful space exploration also has pretty significant military space capabilities. And I think we need to keep that in perspective, what the Chinese goals for their future and their vision of future down here on Earth is much different than ours. And so we need to keep that in mind.

PAYNE: Right.

So, with that in mind, we also had a successful rocket launch from America today. It was a commercial launch. But I understand it was a defense package. NASA, what's their role now with -- as we have more private contractors going on?

And we're so focused on the commercialization of it. Should we -- are you afraid we're going to lose sight of the defense aspect of this?

VIRTS: Well, they're -- so, NASA is definitely our civilian space agency. So, they -- I was a NASA astronaut. I went to the space station behalf of NASA.

Our Mars program, our probes that go out into the solar system, our observatories are all NASA. We have the Space Force now. It's a new organization to the DOD that does our military communications and weather satellites and those types of satellites.

And so we -- actually, our military space budget is much greater than NASA's, believe it or not. But private contractors have a very big role, even in the military side of things. I think SpaceX has recently gotten some military contracts.

And one of the strengths, really, our competitive advantage in America is that we have innovation, and we can use our private sector to do much better things than the government can. The government is not always known for its innovation its own.

PAYNE: Right.

Terry, just the big summit that President Biden just returned from, there was a communique put out where the G7 nations acknowledged the importance of space, securing space, and to deter any bad actors.

You just alluded to the fact that China's military is really a central part of their space mission. Are you happy now that it feels like maybe the Western world, which maybe ridiculed the idea of the Space Force just a year ago, seems to be focused on the need now for a Space Force and some space deterrence?

VIRTS: Well, look, space is critical in every area of our civilian lives, and especially our military lives.

When I was commander of the space station, we had to maneuver the station to avoid some debris that the Chinese had created back in 2007 from an anti-satellite test. Ironically, if they have a space station in low Earth orbit, that will give them some self-motivation to not cause any more of these explosions in Earth orbit, because space junk can be a really bad thing.

Space is certainly here to stay. It's very important for our military. And I would add also, so is cyber. I was a big proponent of the Space Force, but I also think we need a cyber force, because that's really important. And it's very different than air, land or sea or space.

I think we need to acknowledge that we're in the 21st century now.

PAYNE: Right.

VIRTS: And it's a different -- it's a different world out there.

PAYNE: That's -- I never heard that before. That's -- I'm going to delve into that a little bit more. We're running out of time here.

So, just what can you say, in terms of this new excitement, this race to space? I think everyone's thrilled about it.

VIRTS: Well, you know what?

Without competition, you don't achieve anything. Without the Soviet Union, America would not have landed on the moon. Without the Yankees, the Red Sox aren't going to work hard.

(LAUGHTER)

VIRTS: Competition is what humans need.

And so having the Chinese doing these things in space hopefully will light a fire under us to get moving in the future. Like I said, it's a very different vision. It's a very different vision for the future.

PAYNE: Terry, I have got to let you go.

But thank you for your service. We appreciate it.

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