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[0] On Wednesday, a bipartisan majority of senators voted to overturn President Biden's federal vaccine mandate.
[1] Which Democrats joined Republicans to nullify the vaccine order?
[2] And what does this mean for the embattled and divisive federal mandates?
[3] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire, editor -in -chief John Bickley.
[4] It's Thursday, December 9th, and this is Morning Wire.
[5] Amid skyrocketing inflation and steady supply chain delays, the White House is quietly holding meetings with.
[6] media outlets in an attempt to shape the way they cover President Biden's handling of the economy.
[7] We'll take a closer look at the administration's messaging campaign.
[8] And restoration efforts are underway on France's iconic Notre Dame Cathedral, which was ravaged by fire in 2019.
[9] But not all historians are on board with the new plans.
[10] What changes are being proposed to the historic cathedral?
[11] And why is one critic calling the proposal a quote, woke theme park?
[12] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[13] Stay tuned.
[14] We have the news you need to know.
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[20] Senate Republicans voted successfully yesterday to overturn President Biden's vaccine mandate for private businesses.
[21] The White House said the president will veto the measure if it reaches his desk, but the Senate vote shows there's some bipartisan opposition to the vaccine mandate.
[22] Daily Wires, Marade, Alorty, is here to fill us in.
[23] So, Marade, what's the impact of Wednesday's vote?
[24] Well, so as you said, this measure outlawing vaccine mandates, which is explicitly targeting President Biden's mandate for large private companies, is unlikely to become law since Biden's.
[25] is saying he will veto it even if it passes the House.
[26] And of course, it faces an uphill battle in the House.
[27] But here's where the vote does have an impact.
[28] This is a bipartisan effort.
[29] Republicans are joined by multiple Democratic senators, which means that both parties are showing Biden that his mandate for companies is not popular.
[30] And remind us of the details of this particular mandate.
[31] Sure.
[32] So back in September, President Biden announced that he would direct the Labor Department to require companies with 100 or more employees to mandate that all their workers get vaccinated, or else get tested once a week.
[33] The president issued what sounded like a warning, telling Americans, quote, we've been patient, but our patience is wearing thin and your refusal has cost all of us.
[34] Biden's move spurred lawsuits from Republican states and companies, including the Daily Wire.
[35] And how did the vote go yesterday?
[36] So Republicans were quite unified in this effort.
[37] Senator Mike Braun of Indiana led all 50 GOP senators in voting together to overturn the mandate.
[38] They were joined by two Democrats, Senators John Tester of Montana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who both voted with GOP senators to nix the mandate.
[39] Last week, Manchin said that he does not support any government vaccine mandate on private businesses.
[40] Ahead of the vote, White House Press Secretary Jan Saki was asked at her press briefing about the White House's response to Democrats voting against Biden.
[41] She said the president has a good relationship with both Manchin and Tester, but that the White House considers weekly testing to be a, quote, quite reasonable alternative for unvaccinated people.
[42] So we certainly hope the Senate, Congress will stand up to the anti -vaccine and testing crowd, and we're going to continue to work to implement these.
[43] If it comes to the president's desk, he will veto it.
[44] Now, one of the things that a lot of critics have noted is that Biden is going back on his own word when it comes to this vaccine mandate.
[45] That's right.
[46] Last December before he was inaugurated, Biden promised Americans that he would not issue a vaccine mandate, saying he doesn't think vaccines or face masks should be mandatory.
[47] No, I don't think it should be mandatory.
[48] I wouldn't demand to be mandatory, but I would do everything on my power.
[49] Just like I don't think masks have to be made mandatory nationwide.
[50] But of course, Biden ended up shifting his stance dramatically on vaccine mandates, which seems to be putting some Senate Democrats in an awkward position.
[51] Right.
[52] And Democrats are really having to reckon with the fallout from these very controversial sweeping mandates.
[53] It appears so.
[54] Marade, thanks for reporting.
[55] Of course.
[56] Thanks, Georgia.
[57] That's Daily Wire investigative reporter, Marade Allorty.
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[61] takes you.
[62] As the economy continues to struggle under the weight of skyrocketing inflation and persistent supply chain backups, a new CNN report says the White House is quietly trying to mold the way media outlets cover President Biden's handling of the economy.
[63] Here were the details on this story as Daily Wires Cabot Phillips.
[64] Cabot, what's going on here?
[65] Well, according to a new CNN report, President Biden is, quote, not happy with the news media's coverage of the supply chain and economy.
[66] So in response, White House officials have been meeting secretly with major newsrooms around the country to try and reshape the way they're covering the economy to paint a more favorable picture of President Biden.
[67] According to the report, the meetings have so far been, quote, productive with major networks and anchors and producers getting to speak with the White House officials directly.
[68] So, as you can imagine, the news set off a bit of a firestorm on social media when the story broke.
[69] So tell us about that.
[70] What kind of reactions did we see?
[71] There were two sides to it.
[72] A lot of journalists were defending the Biden administration saying this sort of thing is normal and that government officials should be briefing members of the media to make sure everyone's on the same page.
[73] But there were a lot of others who disagree.
[74] They say the secretive nature of these meetings blurs the lines between reporting and propaganda.
[75] And on social media, a lot of people on the right, especially questioned how CNN themselves would have covered this same story if the roles were reversed.
[76] And it had been Trump officials who had met secretly with media outlets to try and sway their coverage.
[77] Now, obviously, the timing of these talks is really coming at a crucial time for President Biden as gas prices are way up.
[78] Inflation continues to rise at record rates, and those supply chain backups continue to slow down businesses nationwide.
[79] What does this development tell us about the Biden administration and the economy more broadly?
[80] That's the thing.
[81] It's important to look big picture at what this means.
[82] Politicians are always trying to influence coverage of themselves, but this type of concerted effort would seem to show that the president and his team, are aware of the fact that Americans are sowering on his handling of the economy.
[83] Poll after poll shows Biden's approval rating on the economy hovering around 35%.
[84] One recent Washington Post poll, for example, showed that 70 % of Americans rated the economy negatively.
[85] That's a 13 % drop in the number of Americans who say that Biden is handling it well.
[86] Another poll from CBS showed that just one -third of Americans approved of his handling of inflation as well, which we now know is one of the key issues that's driving American sentiment towards President Biden and other politicians.
[87] Right.
[88] Inflation's really becoming the story of this year.
[89] Yeah, a growing number of people now list inflation as the main issue for them as voters.
[90] And the other part of this is how President Biden's messaging on the economy has really alternated over the last few months.
[91] At times, he's empathized with people who are paying higher prices for gas and other products because of inflation, showing that he is aware of the problem.
[92] But at other times, he's consistently touted the success of the stock market and mentioned low unemployment rates as a sign that the economy is actually in a great spot.
[93] And that lack of a coherent message on the economy appears to be hurting the president with a lot of voters.
[94] And keep in mind, we're less than a year out from midterms.
[95] And Democrats know that people overwhelmingly vote based on their pocketbooks.
[96] And the fate of their control over the House and Senate could really rest on how Americans view their handling of the economy.
[97] And that's bad news for them right now.
[98] Well, it always comes back to the economy.
[99] So it's, I guess it's not surprising.
[100] and we're seeing some urgency here to reshape the messaging.
[101] Exactly.
[102] Cabot, thanks for the reporting.
[103] Anytime.
[104] Daily Wire's Cabot Phillips.
[105] Restoration efforts are underway on France's iconic Notre Dame Cathedral, which was ravaged by fire in 2019.
[106] But some critics aren't happy about the plans Catholic Church officials are drawing up.
[107] Here to explain the controversy is Daily Wire Entertainment reporter Megan Basham.
[108] So, Megan, I'm sure most of us remember how heartbreaking it was to watch Notre Dame burn a couple years ago.
[109] But before we get to the rebuilding plans, was the cause of the fire ever firmly established?
[110] You know, it wasn't.
[111] Authorities do believe still that it was accidental.
[112] And after a couple of years of investigation, one of the primary theories is that the fire may have started because of previous restoration work that was going on in the spire at the time.
[113] So six electronic bells have been temporarily installed.
[114] And now there's speculation that cables running from them into the roof short -circuited, or maybe that the workers on the spires inad.
[115] damaged the wiring.
[116] So the spire collapsed.
[117] Most of the roof was destroyed and the upper walls were severely damaged.
[118] But thankfully, that vaulted ceiling managed to contain most of the fire.
[119] So experts say that the vast majority of the artwork and religious relics were moved to safety early on and could be reinstalled once that restoration is complete.
[120] So you say could be, why wouldn't they be?
[121] Ah, well, in May, during an online conference, Father Gilles -Druon, he's the liturgist chosen by the Archbishop of Paris to oversee the restoration.
[122] Well, he unveiled his proposal for the interior.
[123] It was then posted to YouTube.
[124] Last week, British outlet the spectator broke the news about what exactly was in that presentation.
[125] And they called it a quote here, woke scene park.
[126] Oh, right.
[127] So Father Duan's proposal includes some pretty shocking updates like taking out confessional boxes, altars, and some of those classical sculptures and paintings.
[128] Now, he would be replacing those with modern murals, contemporary abstract art, and these new sound and light installations to create what he calls emotional spaces.
[129] There would also be a discovery trail, that's what they're calling it, through 14 side chapels that would emphasize not France or Europe, but Africa and Asia.
[130] So quotes from the Bible would be projected onto the walls in languages like Mandarin.
[131] And one chapel would also have a climate change theme.
[132] So, of course, you know, Notre Dame is an 850 -year -old Gothic masterpiece.
[133] Its history is the history of Europe.
[134] It's the history of France itself.
[135] So it's really not surprising that a lot of historians and architects are, you know, pretty appalled to hear about changes like this.
[136] And what are those historians and architects saying?
[137] Well, one of the foremost critics is the famed Parisian architect Maurice Coulo.
[138] And he told the art newspaper, quoting here, It's Notre Dame de Paris turned into Disneyland.
[139] While Kolo went on to point out that the exterior of the building is going to feature traditional period -appropriate materials like stone, wood, and lead.
[140] But he said he's afraid the inside is going to be a theme park for foreign tourists.
[141] He asked very pointedly, how could a priest choose, on his own, the interior decoration of a cathedral that belongs to the universal heritage of humanity and is being rebuilt with donations coming from all over the world.
[142] And of course, Kolo has a point.
[143] As you said, Georgia, people around the world were heartbroken to see this international treasure suffer all of that damage.
[144] So 340 ,000 people around the world donated $940 million because they wanted to see Notre Dame return to its former historic glory, not turned into something new.
[145] So what's the thinking behind these changes?
[146] Well, Drewa is arguing that Notre Dame has always a evolved with the times and that his plans are no different.
[147] He told the French news agency, AFP, that his changes to the church are intended to be welcoming to people who, quote, are not always from a Christian culture.
[148] Okay, so what comes next with the restoration?
[149] So since the French Revolution, any church built before 1905 is owned by the government.
[150] So what that means is that the final say will come from France's National Heritage and Architecture Commission.
[151] And according to reports, the commission will be reviewing plans this week.
[152] So if the plan is approved, then the project would move forward.
[153] In the meantime, French president Emmanuel Macron is promising that the cathedral will be open to visitors in spring 2024, just before the summer Olympics in Paris.
[154] Well, I mean, personally, I would love to see it restored to its former glory, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.
[155] Yeah, that's what I'd like to.
[156] Megan, thanks for reporting.
[157] Absolutely.
[158] That was Daily Wire Entertainment reporter.
[159] Megan Basham.
[160] Another story we're tracking this week.
[161] A new poll from the Wall Street Journal found that Hispanic voters, a group which has historically swung heavily in favor of Democrats, are now split evenly between preferring Democrat or Republican candidates on a generic ballot.
[162] This is the first time in U .S. history this demographic has been evenly split.
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