thursday, december 2. 2021. as always, the story goes on. thanks for being with us this afternoon and look forward to seeing you back here tomorrow at 3:00. have a great evening. stay tuned. "your world" starts right now. >> neil: here we go again. a third case of the omicron variant now reportedly creeping up in colorado. officials say the man that was fully vaccinated attended a convention in new york city. he had not been in africa. this as president biden is unveiling sweeping travel restrictions to deal with it. if wall street is worried as i so often say, they have a funny way of showing us today. we're keeping track of it. happy to have you. i'm neil cavuto. this is "your world." we have fox team coverage with

rich edson on how the white house is reresponding to this. kelly o'grady on lax on how travelers will try to deal with this. we begin with rich. >> good afternoon, neil. the white house says president biden is pulling out all the stops to deal with this new variant also going in to the holiday season and indoor season in the wintertime. you have a number of restrictions and guidelines that the white house announced. the president was at the national institutes of health where he said that fighting this pandemic should not be political. >> this is a moment that we can do what we haven't been able to do through this whole pandemic. get the nation to come together. think of it as a patriotic responsibility other than somehow denying people their basic rights. >> martha: the white house is pushing booster at home testing and traveler rules.

the government will require travelers coming to the united states to test for covid-19 within 24 hours of their departing flight. previously you had 72 hours. the travel industry group says they hope this is temporary until more is learned about the omicron variant. the administration is extending mask mandates for public transit and domestic flights. it's still unclear how effective current vaccines and boosters will handle the new omicron strain. the white house says the administration is working with pfizer, moderna and j&j to develop contingency plans. they say the new variant could pose problems for the economy. the white house says the administration has made a lot of progress to relieve supply chain bottle knocks, maintains the administration has done a lot to prepare for this moment and will continue to assess where the supply chains are. back to you, neil. >> neil: thanks, rich. just to clarify, there's three

individuals that we have known that have been testing positive for this variant. it was a man in minnesota that visited new york city. never visited africa who tested positive. a woman in colorado, we don't know her situation. we'll keep you posted. as many said, a good bet that people have it but just don't me how many. even the cases out of africa have been relatively tame. so might be a good deal of much adieu about nothing here. everybody is taking precautions as are travelers. kelly o'grady is at los angeles airport with more. kelly? >> hi, neil. yeah, on top of these new travel restrictions and the mask mandate through march 18, i want to remind you that this comes days after banning travel from those eight southern african countries. so for the travel industry, it's

one hurdle after another. the biggest change for the travel restrictions comes for all travelers coming to the united states including americans have to test within 24 hours versus 72 before boarding flights regardless of their vaccination status or departure country. one concern is whether countries will have the infrastructure to handle the turn around time. the u.s. travel association commented on the new measures saying they hope it's temporary and the tightening of restrictions comes as u.s. officials have order airlines to show the names of travelers of visitors that visited the eight african countries under the travel bans. critics are saying why there's a rush even when dr. fauci admitted that they won't know more about omicron in two weeks. travelers are not that worried. >> i don't think it will affect me.

i'll still travel. >> it's better as far as like, you know, right then and there, you don't have covid. >> no, i would travel the same. >> now, there were reports that they were considering post arrival testing as well as a seven-day self-quarantine period. senior administration officials say they won't be implementing that as of now. fells like restrictions are changing daily and the outlook for the easy travel holiday season that we hoped for seems dim, neil. >> neil: thanks, kelly. one of the things that the president has recommended is that you keep wearing markets through march. and that coming in to this country, whether you are a foreign or american, that you be tested as well. how far that goes and how it will affect the economy is any one's guess. they're all good ideas. dr. richard besser, the former cdc acting director.

good to have you on, doctor. a lot of people here, some of these measures and none are really draconian, they start calling in to question do i really need to take that trip, do i need to go out to the mall. is this a hassle? how do you respond to them? >> yeah, you know, neil, this is one of those situations of incredible uncertainty. i remember from my days at the cdc, in a situation like this where there's a potential threat and you don't currently know how great that threat is, you want to go at it hard. because going about it any other way, if it turns out that the omicron variant is more severe and spreads more easily and is a risk to people who have had covid already or been vaccinated, you want to know you've done everything to try to slow the transmission and protect lives. my hope is we'll take these measures now and over the next

two weeks as scientists answer the questions, many of these restrictions and changes will be able to be lifted. that would be a good thing. i've always been in a position where i would rather someone say that we did too much than to say we did too long. >> neil: doctor, there's a lot of people that say it can go both ways. they hear this and say after all of these vaccinations and everything else, shot after shot, booster shots, we're still seeing the variant and not sure that it's going to respond to anything we have out or we'll get something to treat it later, why the heck should i get vaccinated? the unvaccinated could say, i'm going to remain unvaccinated. conversely, they could do what the president seemed to intimate that they get scared in to getting something and that would be good. how do you see this falling out? >> neil, there's part of this that i don't really understand. that is today, in america, about every day, 1,000 people are

losing their lives from the delta variant. to me, that would be enough of an incentive when you look and see that the vast majority of people that are dying from this, being hospitalized haven't been vaccinated that, i would get my questions answered and roll up my sleeve. whether or not the omicron variant turns out to be a challenge, i don't think we can accept as a nation that 1,000 people across our country die every day from this. but right now that seems to be something that people are getting used to. and the signs i see of that are people not wearing their markets indoors and crowded places and not getting tested if they have symptoms. >> neil: people think we're making this number up. we're not. i'm very eager for people to get vaccinated. i see the wisdom in that. i don't want to weigh-in on the

mandate thing. i think it's better to be vaccinated. when i mentioned 1,000 people, oh, you made it. the statistics are there. be that as it may, we're learning more about these three individuals including this woman in colorado. maybe if they had any exposure or connection to africa where this originated. the woman in colorado had traveled to south africa. she was fully vaccinated. like the two others. experienced some minor symptoms. in all three cases relatively minor reactions right now. the gentleman in minneapolis stands out, i guess, doctor, because he had not traveled to the african continent at all. he had been in new york city, which raises the possibility might have been exposed to someone who had been there. what do you make of that? >> yeah, i think there's probably many, many cases of the omicron variant in the united states. now as the cdc is ramping --

they were doing 8,000 tests to look at what type of variant it was. that will be now 80,000 test as week with that, they'll see more and we'll get a better understanding. with these three cases, you know, if all three cases the word had been they're all in the hospital, they're all in the intensive care unit that would give me grave concern. the fact that they're all mild cases, i like that news. but i'll be much more comfortable after systematic studies are done to look at the full spectrum of illness. it is re-assuring to me somewhat that these cases so far have been mild. >> neil: you think we'll ever get this or is this a part of our life? maybe like the common flu. i just wonder where this goes. >> yeah, you know, we're going to get through this. everyone is so ready to be over

this pandemic and over this virus. this virus isn'ts ready to be done with us. we will get there and i hope we get there with far fewer lives lost than i fear we're going to see. >> neil: doctor, you've always been a calming influence in coming the politics out of this. just people being safe. thanks. i appreciate that. dr. richard besser from the robert wood foundation ceo. all right. so what do you do now? you have the warnings. people saying maybe i'm not keen on traveling, i'm not keen on doing much of anything until we know what is going on here. let's get the read from kat timpf, superstar. brian here is from kings college. business professor. i've always been told i wish i had professors like him in college. i was always falling asleep in class. professor, i went with you.

i'd be curious how psychology plays a role in our economy. when it looks like we're not so worried about the variant, stocks run up. yesterday looked like it wasn't a smooth ride. do we overdo it? can we pin ourselves in to something that isn't justified? >> yeah, i think that's the concern here, neil. we get some news about a strain. we don't know a lot about it. as we learn more about it, we find out it's in the u.s., clearly there several places in the u.s. based on the minnesota case that we just saw. the point is don't panic. don't risk everything we need to do to make a comeback from this by instituting restrictions and confusing requirements that people can't understand. it causes them to throw their hands in the air and say are we ever going to get through this? i think people at home right now are saying exactly why? it seems like our government

every time we get new news wants to pull back on life. you're never going to get back to normal if with every new strain we go through the same process over and over again. >> neil: what about you, kat? you travel a good deal. would it make you rethink that? >> no, not me personally. i traveled internationally over thanksgiving. you know, i'm fully vaccinated. i had covid in between shots also. my doctor says that counts as a booster. i'm not worried about the virus. i am worried about the things closing down again and making plans for maybe a vacation that would be in the future and not knowing where i'm going to arrive if things are going to be open, if i'm going to have anything to do, if things will be cancelled. do i have to take time off work. that's where i'm concerned and that will impact the economy even among people not worried about the virus itself. might be concerned about doing

the things you want to do. >> neil: and what other governments are doing. i did my fbn show. you've been on the network. you know about it. same thing that they were afraid of getting stuck in costry -- costa rica. they said they don't want to be at the mercy of foreign governments. >> america has a leadership role in this as well. we set the tone for how the world will respond to this. right now we're following a lot of the places that are reacting most strongly in a knee jerk way. i've been talking -- talking about supply chains. their entire supply chain, they hold so much more inventory, neil, which means they're putting more and more money trying to get more product in a warehouse so they can sell it.

they're not thinking it's ever going to be over. when they see the restrictions, they say my government is not interested in making my life easier. i can't get things across border, i can't get my people around the country. what am i going to do. >> the press secretary didn't help when asked about whether we might have more domestic travel restrictions. she said well they're not off of the table. goodness? what in the world is off the table at this point? you cannot make plans if nothing is off the table. >> i like your attitude, kat. you're fully vaccinated. you take your chances. that's life. you're going on with life. >> i'm going on with life as much as i can. i still haven't taken a honeymoon. we had these plans -- we were dumb enough to think that by next year things would be okay and we could take this overseas trip -- >> neil: i told you a million times about the catskills. >> maybe we'll go to

poughkeepsie. we want to go to japan. now maybe i'll die without ever going there because it's never going to end. that is a little dramatic. there's people less dramatic than i am feel this way. that feel like things are coming back and see hope and boom, it all comes crashing down again. >> neil: you shouldn't talk to brian so much. thanks very much. we're examines how people are responding to this. meantime, something else for you to worry about. not that it's a big worry, but we might have the government shut down tomorrow night. but you know, it's just money and job security and the economy. what could go wrong?

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midnight to come up with something that will avoid the government lights bes shut off. that's how it all starts. chad pergram with more. hi, chad. >> the house votes later today on an interim bill to fund the government through february 18. gop utah senator mike lee won't let the senate accelerate the process. he plans to eliminate federal vaccine mandates. >> we should be temporarily suspending nonessential functions. the one hand, the other hand, standing idle is up to 45 million americans losing their jobs. >> most gop senators oppose lead's strategy but they don't like lee using a shut down as a means to an end. >> i share their concerns about the vaccine mandate. but we know ultimately we're going to fund the government.

i don't see this hostage as one that we should take. >> senate minority leader mitch mcconnell opposes lee's gambet. he doubts the government will close. president biden spoke with mcconnell and senate majority leader chuck schumer today. he says the leaders have a plan if someone decides to be totally erratic. nancy pelosi says its reckless to have a shut down during a pandemic. >> i don't think that the republicans in the senate want to shut down government. i don't know that they would have the votes to do so. but it is yet again a double, a double sense of irresponsibility. >> the issue in congress is usually about the math, whether they have the votes to pass a bill or break a filibuster. on this case it's not about the math. it's about time. they don't have the time to overcome lee's delay before the

funding deadline. back to you. >> neil: we'll watch it closely. thanks, chad. let's get the read on this from ro khanna, california congressman. what do you think? you talk to members all the time. is it your sense that as it happened dozens of times over the many decades that something is cobbled together at the last second and we avoid this or push it back to a future month? >> i'm optimistic especially when you have senator cornyn and senator mcconnell saying they don't want to shut down government. many on the other side say they don't want to shut it down. two or two senators shouldn't get to shut down the entire government of the united states. makes no sense. let's get it done. >> neil: so assuming that we can do something, something akin to kicking the can down the road ordealing with it again in february, there's still the debt ceiling issue that is on the 15th and we're told by which

time we could be looking at running out of funds, period. and then the whole build back better thing that chuck schumer wants to get done before christmas. you think all of that is possible? >> well, the debt ceiling we have to do. we're never going to default the united states of america. we will get that done. i hope we can get that done with republicans. usually it's bipartisan. one way or another, we'll raise it. i'm optimistic on build back better. that will help lower costs, lower prescription costs, food costs. we need to do it. >> neil: how will build back better lower costs? i can understand the prescription things, the government playing a role. any government spending initiative is inflationary. the degree is to how inflationary. how will this solve rising costs? >> prescription drugs, there's a cap. if you take insulin, diabetes,

it's $34 a month. on the broader issue, it's going to deal with supply chain issues and with labor shortages. one of the reasons you've seen food prices increase is because of a shortage of workers. if you can get people back in to the work force by having child care, if you can get them helping with the supply chain, the investments -- >> neil: think about it, congressman. there's ten million americans that are ignores job opportunities, good job opportunities and offers out there. are you saying the only reason why they're not is because of child care issues and that will magically change with the passage of this? >> no, i'm not saying that. i don't want to be that overbroad. obviously there's complex factors. i think child care will help. lowering costs on american families. >> neil: wait a minute. i don't mean to hammer you with this. if you think about it, we didn't have any of this child care stuff. right?

that was put in to this legislation when before the virus hit and the pandemic hit. we were looking at 3.5% unemployment. so that is without any of these child care features. we were doing just fine then. why we so need it now? >> there's the -- the situation has changed with the pandemic. folks that have their kids quarantined for ten days for classes and they have to stay home with their kids. issues with traveling that are re -- >> neil: you don't think that sets a dangerous precedent, that the government comes to the rescue and funds people after spending $5 trillion, isn't that a catalyst with the run-up in prices that people are experiencing that you'll put them further to the wall? >> no. the spending is over ten years. so you're talking about $175 billion over the next year. even people like --

>> neil: on top of the $5 trillion that's been spend. that money adds up, right? >> the $3 trillion was under donald trump. most of that money -- look at the $175 billion compared to the $5 trillion. that will not -- that will push inflation. that money is going to help with lowering child care costs, going to help with giving people lost cost of taking care of the elderly. i think they're long-term investments that will help the working and middle class and long overdue. you pay less if you're in the working class or middle class with these policies. >> neil: that would be a first if that happens. we'll see. congressman, great seeing you. ro khanna of california. another development we're watching, growing tension with russia and the united states. the secretary of state meeting with his counterpart in russia. let's just say chilly.

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>> neil: santa knows you want an apple iphone. now they're getting word from apple it might have them ready for you. what is going on? after this.

>> in my meeting with foreign minister lavrov, i made clear my concerns and our resolve to hold russia responsible for their actions. >> neil: he might have laid his concerns, but congressman has his doubts. good to see you. we have 100,000 russian troops at the border of ukraine. i have a feeling they're not just taking in the beautiful views. what is your worry? >> my worry is an invasion the size which we haven't seen since world war ii. they are determined and serious about this. about 100,000 russian troops on the ukraine border as i speak

with many more on their way from moscow. you have to ask the question, what provoked this? i would go back to afghanistan and the showing of weakness by the unconditional surrender to the taliban. this has provoked putin and xi as they look at china and taiwan. this is happening in real time. it's happening very quickly after the fall of afghanistan. >> neil: this troop presence has gotten big now. it's a steady and very unstoppable build-up that goes back to the early part of the spring in fact. but i'm wondering why the russians might risk it when they know the economic rap they'll take. they did it before in 2012. that is a legitimate concern. i'm wondering where you she this going and why they would risk

that. when it comes to the economic harm that would come to them. >> well, they've always wanted ukraine back. putin wants the old soviet empire. ukraine was the bread basket of russia. this has been on their plate for quite some time. they've always wanted to take it back. i think they're making a calculation that this president is exhibiting weakness and he's not going to respond. so i think it's important for the administration to show deterrence here and for our nato allies to demonstrate this will come in at a high price if you do this. >> neil: when you say a high price, it would go beyond economic sanctions and all. that -- would the high rise be our sending in troops to respond, nato to up the ante and militariliry respond? what exactly are you saying?

>> i think the sanctions would be extremely important, effective. i think it's important that nato and our allies have a presence in ukraine as this threat plays out. but remember, this is the same president and administration who when congress put mandatory sanctions on nord stream 2 pipeline that will go from russia to europe, president biden waived those sanctions in the national interest. i don't know how that is in the national security interest of the united states to allow putin to complete his pipeline in to russia, making europe dependent on russian oil and gas. in fact, in the national defense authorization debate going on right now, i passed an amendment to take away that presidential waiver and it's sitting in the senate. i don't understand the foreign

policy that emboldens mr. putin. they had a summit with putin and want to make him happy in this discussion. >> neil: we'll watch very closely. congressman mccaul, very good seeing you again. meantime, keeping a close eye on troubles at the white house. not with the president of the united states so much as the vice president of the united states. another key player bolts from her. what is going on? next.

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>> that's a good question. what is going on? one of the vice president's most visible advisers, simone sanders is joining a handful of other from the vp's office heading for the pennsylvania avenue gate. >> i love simone. i can't wait to see what she does next. it's been three years of a lot of jumping on and off planes and going around the country. >> the vp's poll numbers have fallen and her portfolio is really big. she's got root causes of immigration, she's got the space council and she's got voting rights and now her office is reviewing applications. >> is the vice president not satisfied with the staffing that she's had so far or do people just not want to work for her him? >> i'd say working on a presidential campaign, maybe covering one too to be fair and working in the first year of a white house is exciting and

rewarding but also grueling and exhausting. >> there's talk about recent poor poling hurting kamala harris if she runs in 2024. a growing rift with pete buttigieg if he wants to run. all that talk has to walk for the president, joe biden, to say that he is not running for re-election. as far as we know based on what he said, he said he's in. neil? >> neil: peter doocy, thanks very much. if he's in, then that means potentially kamala harris could be out. let's go to tom bevin of real clear politics. as remarkable as that sounds, used to be common place for presidents to go through their vice presidents like tissue paper. f.d.r. switched running mates every run. so since we haven't seen it whether we're about to now. >> seems unlikely, neil.

the latest -- go back to the 70s with gerald ford replacing spiro agnew. but it certainly hasn't happened in the modern era. she cannot be fired obviously. there's talk that she might get a supreme court appointment. someone would have to resign or die. that seems like a bank shot. and at the end of the day, you know, biden could -- if he's going to run for re-election, he could choose to drop her and replace her with pete buttigieg. he would be under pressure to not do that from plenty of people in the democratic party. >> normally everything is right, you have to deal with the earpiece here, but everything is right when the administration turns itself right or comes through bad poll numbers. that is one of the first things an administration will consider doing something with the number 2. how real are these tensions?

>> they're very real. wu know, the fact that we're seeing this this early in the administration, less than a year in, we're seeing these stories that came out from cnn talking about interviewing people on the report in kamala harris's camp talking about the tensions they're feeling. they feel like the biden -- the. has given her tough jobs and impossible jobs and treated other members of his cabinet including pete buttigieg, quick to defend him from assaults from critics. when they look at the numbers and the dysfunction that is clearly happening with the vice president's office, it does not bode well for democrats whichever way for democrats as they move forward. >> neil: thanks, tom. the big cheese. we were telling you about apple awhile ago here that surprised some folks by whispering to some suppliers. you know, we might have some issues with consumer demand.

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>> neil: all right. there's not a big demand for iphones and consumers are not keen on buying a pricey gadget right now. that doesn't mean a sale is denied. what apple is telling suppliers, it could be delayed. what to make of that with hitha herzog. apple seems to be saying there's a chill on here. it's not a huge chill, not a huge concern but this is not going to be necessarily a huge christmas. what do you make of that? >> you know, tim cook had mentioned this in the earnings call a couple months ago. he said that this was going to happen. he didn't say there's a slowing of demand but they cut production of product of these iphones. this is a marquee product for apple. i have to disclose, i do own

apple stock. any time a ceo is transparent about what is happening with their marquee product, investors get nervous. we saw the sell off today. >> neil: you think on that -- i've seen ceos do this. that he's just trying to tamp down expectations here and surprise on the upside? what do you think? >> we've seen tim cook and even before tim cook with steve jobs do that with apple. they try to tamper expectations and record out a blockbuster quarter. analysts like me are expecting this new holiday season to be pretty big for apple. it won't be report breaking but it will be a blockbuster quarter. sales are expected to be about 6% up during this holiday season. i have to tell you, neil, i was in the short hills mall. i took pictures of the apple store.

there were so many people in this store. this is in new jersey. if you're not familiar with the mall, it's fancy. >> neil: very fancy. >> apple has pricing power. when you have pricing power and the products increase, the consumer doesn't flinch. they pay for it anyway. >> neil: i do love that mall. it's by me in new jersey because it has couches in the middle of the store. not too far from annie's pretzels. there's a way to work that through. all right, hitha. thanks very much. this might be a brilliant head fake. we'll see. meantime, even if you make it in to that apple store, have you seen these rush robberies? well, that's scaring a lot of people off. not on apple stores but in a lot of stores. in california, it's so bad, this is hurting us economically. finally they realize that after this.

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beholder i guess, but rachel is here to say that whatever it is, it's got to stop. it's having an economic fallout that is real in california, the california retailers association ceo, good to have you. i guess it has gotten so bad that the governor now kind of a cruise with you, you have to do something about it. but what are they going to do? >> you know, i was thrilled when the governor made his statements and we have actually already been in contact with the governor's office and meetings with them on a regular basis now talking about really having some great dialogue about policy changes that can be made when it comes to putting an end to these brazen crimes. it's unfortunate that it took the last couple of days and what we saw in california had to kind of knit to that needle. but we are bringing in our subject matters from companies in california and having great dialogues, putting forward some really great policy recommendations, so as of today i'm cautiously optimistic that maybe we will be able to get

some movement in california to combat that break in time. >> neil: were in there, but i think the thing that could've gone to the his company is rethinking even having conferences or annual meetings, i know there was a dustup with jpmorgan to cancel its 20,000 conference going on, a lot of people are concerned. and in the san francisco area, just cancel it, don't do it. we've heard about the crime and don't want anything to do with it. what is moving the needle? >> exactly what you just said. while i am here representing the retail industry, we were contacted by the hotel industry, the tourism industry. this is having a huge impact. a san francisco is going to take years for them to recover from the loss of economics due to the crime issues in the city. we are starting to see it in los angeles. not only that, but when you think about the crimes being committed at $1 million coming

out of a louis vuitton store, that sales tax revenue that the government is losing. >> neil: i'm sorry, thinking of brazen, how did he get that bad? people say you steel up to $2,000 worth of goods, you are safe. they won't see you. but in broad daylight, guards are all but opening the doors for robbers and burglars when did it get this crazy? >> you know, it has been leading that this and you and i have talked before a -- like beating the drum saying something has to change and it has to change now. and when i saw it happen this last week and talking to the experts in the retail field and they have never seen anything like this. but when in california there is no consequences for your behavior when you have open organized cases that are ready to go but then prosecutors are not prosecuting them, when you need the attorney general to step in and start prosecuting these cases, and they get away

with the behavior and continue to do it. as they continue to do it it gets worse and worse and more brazen. a security guard and nordstrom sprayed with pepper spray, and if security guard that has been killed trying to stop these retail thefts, we are in a whole new arena right now in a has to stop. and the retail industry, we are waving her hand saying we will work with anyone and everyone that wants to find solutions to a end to the crime california. >> neil: very quickly as i have you as our retail expert as well, these things that might be slowing down because the prices come to you see any evidence of that? >> not yet. i think that we had, i was just reading some numbers and we have a pretty good black friday, pretty good weekend and cyber monday for the retail industry, but time will tell, inflation is a big issue, we need to get a handle on that. but so far, so good as long as we can deal with their retail theft piece of it, we will be in

pretty good shape. >> neil: you took my line, i always say, you never know, time will tell. great seeing you again, rachel, president and ceo, things are so bad here that they were going to get help from politicians who would not even normally care. here is "the five." ♪ ♪ >> hi, i am greg "watters' gutfh katie pavlich, jessica tarlov, dana perino and its "the five." ♪ ♪ the media rushing to defend joe biden as he pushes the same old tired plan to deal with the new covid variant. to the president implementing new testing requirements adding additional mandates and of course telling americans to mass up and get their boosters. now complaining