Reuters World News - Title 42 ends, debt ceiling drags and Haley hangs in

Episode Date: May 7, 2023

As a Covid-era order ends, thousands of migrants are amassing on the U.S. border, setting up a political showdown for the Biden administration. Recession fears grow as debt ceiling talks stall. Nikki Haley pivots on abortion. And a Californian man tries to reverse aging. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, Americans face the end of Title 42. The COVID-era order allowed the U.S. government to expel migrants without the chance of asylum. This week, the Biden administration prepares for a surge at the southern border and a political nightmare. Meanwhile, the debt-sealing fight makes the threat of a severe recession more and more likely. Nikki Haley tries to carve a path into the spotlight. and a Californian man claims he's reversed his age by five years. Find out how many millions it cost him. It's Sunday, May 7th.

This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes. I'm Kim Vennel in London. In March of 2020, the Trump administration issued Title 42, which allowed border agents to expel migrants to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Three years later, the pre-year-old. pretext for that rule is gone. So what comes next? Immigration reporter Ted Heson joins us now from Washington. So Ted, what is the U.S. expecting will happen the day Title 42 expires? Well, the U.S. has been preparing for this for some time, but there's the expectation that

potentially thousands more migrants per day could try crossing the U.S.-Mexico border to come into the U.S. and seek asylum. And one estimate that's been given is that it could go to about 10,000 people per day encountered at the border, which would be double the rate that we saw in March and a pretty significant increase. How's the Biden administration preparing for this? The Biden administration has been looking for ways to receive the people who are coming, but also to deter people from coming by opening up new legal pathways to the U.S. and also toughening the consequences for those who come and potentially making it harder to be approved for asylum at the border if you cross illegally. One thing that was recently announced is

1,500 U.S. military troops that are being sent down to assist border patrol. They're not going to be on the front lines making arrests of migrants. They'll be kind of in the back, working on data entry and in warehouses and things like that. In addition, about 500 asylum officers or asylum personnel have been detailed to assist with asylum interviews of people coming over to speed up the process. For the people whose asylum is going to be considered, where do they go while they wait? How long do they wait for? Currently, the weight can be years, and under current processes, it's not uncommon to be released into the U.S. pending your first court date. Now, what they're promising or what they're aiming to do

going forward is to do these initial asylum screenings quicker at the border, hold people for that time over the course of a few days, and if they fail that screening, potentially send them, deport them back to their home country or send them back to Mexico if that's applicable. How much pressure is President Biden under with this? He's under a lot of pressure. The president has just launched his re-election campaign. He's actively out there trying to win over voters. And this is a weak spot for him.

And it has been during his presidency. I think that the last thing that the administration would want are scenes of chaos at the border. In Mexico, thousands of people are lining up near the northern border, hoping they'll soon have an easier time getting into the U.S. Outside a migrant center in Tapachula, Mexico, Venezuelan migrant, Edgar Garado, says he thinks this is the right moment to cross over. But Randy Lopez, who hails from Cuba, is skeptical. He says he thinks lifting Title 42 will only worsen the situation for people like him. While immigration will play a large role in this.

the 2024 campaign, abortion is bound to be a central issue. But since the end of Roe v. Wade, it's become a sensitive topic for GOP candidates who hope to win over moderate voters and women, which might explain a recent speech from presidential hopeful Nikki Haley, who tried to thread the needle a bit. I am pro-life. However... And I won't demonize those who disagree with me. Let's discuss it in a way that allows Americans to show love for one another, not judgment or contempt.

I'm joined now by Graham Slattery. Hey, Graham. Hi, how you doing? Yeah, good. So, Nikki Haley, the rest of the world seems to be going to extremes. What is she up to here? Essentially, she tried to strike a middle ground saying, look, I'm personally pro-life, but we have to reach consents on this issue and realize that we're not going to pass. extensive pro-life legislation in the current Congress. But as you would expect, there were a lot of people who were not satisfied, both abortion rights advocates and the pro-life community. Beyond just the issue of abortion, is this indicative of a wider strategy from Nikki Haley?

It is. You know, she really hasn't gained that much traction yet. She's still stuck in the single digits. Trump is out of about half the vote. DeSantis in second. So she's come out and tried to tackle issues that are divisive, effectively to generate some news flow and differentiate herself. Another topic that she addressed that's very controversial within the Republican Party is Ukraine. She's been a strong advocate of Ukraine. So it is part of her broader strategy to remain relevant by tackling issues that other candidates with perhaps a larger natural voter base had the luxury of ignoring. Is she trying to stay in the race here, maybe looking to become vice president?

It could absolutely be true, something that she denies, as all candidates tend to deny it at this point in the race. DeSantis has had a tough month or so. Obviously, she'll be looking to replace him as the natural alternative to Trump. And in certain states, she seems to have a statistical chance at that. For instance, in her homestay of South Carolina, which is very important in the nominating process, she's statistically tied with DeSantis. The X-state is fast approaching. That's the day the Treasury says it won't.

be able to meet its payment obligations should the U.S. default on its debt. If Congress can't get its act together by June 1st to raise the debt ceiling limit, the consequences could be disastrous. And experts see the protracted fight already hurting the economy, says U.S. economics editor Dan Burns. Well, most people agree that defaulting on the U.S. debt would be unprecedented and really would be catastrophic. There's questions about just how the market could keep on functioning And all of that would ripple through very quickly into the real economy because the government would have to restrain its spending by hundreds of billions of dollars a month. And that has a real effect on anything from creditors to social security recipients. Then is the likely scenario here a recession?

Almost certainly any sort of actual default would cause a recession. And yes, it would result in large-scale job losses pretty quickly. the question, of course, is just how long it lasts. If it lasts for a day or two and is sorted out, you know, one to two million jobs lost an unemployment rate that rises to about between four and five percent. If it persists for a period of time, you could see an unemployment rate rising to as much as 8 percent. That's the equivalent of seven and a half to eight million jobs lost.

In your article, you write that even if Congress raises the ceiling, we could see negative effects from the political fight itself. Yes, and we, in fact, already are. The closer Congress and the White House take to actually strike a deal, the closer to that ex-date, the tighter and tighter credit conditions are going to become that makes borrowing more expensive for households and businesses and the government.

Are you feeling your age this Sunday morning looking for a way to reverse time? A 45-year-old Californian man claims to have shed five years off his age. He's on track to spend $2 million a year on his pursuit. for youth. He says scientists measure every bodily function so he can reverse the process of aging. I spoke to Brian Johnson in his LA home. It has been the most liberating experience of my life where I no longer have to grapple every day with 20 complicated decisions. Do I eat this dessert? Do I have a second serving? Do I do this sugar drink? When my mind has an opportunity,

it will make the wrong decision every single time. I'm totally untrustworthy. And so the algorithm just takes it out of my hands and it's beautiful. I've slowed my speed of aging by the equivalent of 31 years. So I now accumulate aging in my body at the speed slower than the average 10-year-old, slower than 88% of 18-year-olds. I have 50 biomarkers like cholesterol, triglycerides, that are in the perfect optimal clinical outcome range, 100 biomarkers that are less than my chronological age. My body runs three degrees Fahrenheit lower than average. And my fitness tests on many of them, I score as an elite 18-year-old. And so all the data is telling the same story. My body is very happy, it's responsive to all the things I'm doing. I freely share everything with everyone. Anybody can

do blueprint. Anybody can put it to the test and see if it works. So it really is an endeavor for everyone to be able to change our lives as well. We couldn't independently verify Brian's claims, but we'll be sure to bring him back on the podcast if he makes it to 18. That's it for this edition of Reuters World News. We'll be back tomorrow. To get our daily shows and new weekend editions in your podcast feed, make sure to follow us on your favourite podcast platform so you never miss a beat.