Inflation is complicating Biden's student loan plan, 4 states hold primaries: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: How soaring inflation is complicating Biden's decision whether to forgive student loan debt

White House Correspondent Joey Garrison reports. Plus, another day of Jan. 6 hearings is in the books, health reporter Ken Alltucker explains how COVID-19 testing labs are raking in millions, COVID vaccines for young kids might arrive next week and four states hold primaries.

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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Tuesday, the 14th of June, 2022. Today, Biden's task to tackle inflation and student debt. Plus the massive cost to taxpayers of COVID testing, and more.

Here are some of the top headlines:

1. Russia has made about 93 billion euros in revenue from the sale of oil, natural gas and coal since its February 24th invasion of Ukraine. That's according to the Finland based Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air. China has been the biggest buyer spending 12.6 billion in that period.

2. Tribal clashes over the past week in Sudan's Darfur region have killed around a hundred people, according to the UN's refugee agency and a tribal elder. A UNHCR coordinator said fighting came out of land disputes.

3. And Philip Baker Hall has died. The veteran character actor known for his work in Paul Thomas Anderson films, among other projects was 90 years old.

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Soaring inflation is complicating President Joe Biden's decision on whether to forgive student loan debt. The White House says any impact on inflation from canceling student debt would be small, but Biden is weighing risks as he considers a decision. White House Correspondent Joey Garrison reports.

Joey Garrison:

President Biden in late April said he was going to, it was actually a response to a question I asked him after an event, he said he was taking a "hard look at canceling significant portion of student loan debt over the coming weeks" and we'd have an answer. And now we are six to seven weeks later and there still is no answer and there's a lot of factors going into that. But what can't be ignored is this comes at a time when inflation is at a 40 year high, and the White House has to be extra careful on any kind of thing that involves with the economy, any kind of lever here, not to make the situation worse. And so there are economists out there, critics of canceling student loan debt, that say, hey, now is not the right time. Because what this means is millions of Americans across the country will be essentially being able to keep say $10,000 more that they're not paying back to the federal government. That's kind of the number speculated or really reported that he's looking at, is a maximum level of $10,000 that individuals would not have to pay back. Well, that's in theory, more money than people will spend.

And the whole issue with inflation right now is essentially a supply demand thing that would be more consumer demand they argue, while supply chains are still struggling. And so the White House claims, in their opinion this would be a "negligible small impact on inflation," that they've analyzed, but others disagree. But the bottom line is inflation has consumed the presidency so much right now, they have to be extra careful on this. And so I think there is hesitance of President Biden right now to do anything that could mess with things when it comes to consumer prices.

The whole backdrop to all this again is that you have the midterm elections in November. And so there's one school of thought that, hey, you pass a plan like or you use your executive authority to forgive student loan debt and, that's going to really energize the left, young voters before the November election. But at the same time you could be giving Republicans just another policy example where whether true or not, they're going to say that this helped accelerate the inflation that people are seeing. As assuming that we are still in a bad situation couple months from now. Now of course, Republicans might argue, regardless of what Biden does that it contributed, but it's another factor to consider.

And then you talk to other people that really, the progressive left has been pushing for up to $50,000 in student loan debt forgiveness or more, and so there are questions really whether $10,000, if that is the number that the White House decides on, if they do follow through on a plan, whether that really would energize the base. So, I think there's lots of questions on whether this would actually be a energizing boost to Democrats who already face major headwinds in the November elections.

Taylor Wilson:

You can find Joey's full story in today's episode description.

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Another day of hearings is in the books for the special congressional committee on the January 6th Capitol riots and the focus yesterday was on the origins of former President Donald Trump's falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election. Since losing the race to President Joe Biden nearly two years ago, Trump has continuously said falsely that the contest was rigged and stolen from him. And during yesterday's hearing lawmakers aired testimony from witnesses, who said Trump was told he lost the election, but decided to spread claims that he won anyway. One of them was former acting Attorney General, Richard Donoghue.

Richard Donoghue:

Told him flat out that much of the information he's getting is false and, or just not supported by the evidence. We look at the allegations, but they don't pan out.

Taylor Wilson:

Others included Trump's former campaign manager, Bill Stepien, who said there were two camps around Trump in the wake of the 2020 election.

Bill Stepien:

I didn't mind being categorized. There were two groups of, we called them kind of my team and Rudy's team. I didn't mind being characterized as being part of team normal, as reporters kind of started to do around that point in time. I said hours ago, early on that I've been doing this for a long time, 25 years, and I've spanned political ideologies from Trump to McCain, to Bush, to Christie and I can work under a lot of circumstances for a lot of varied candidates and politicians. But situation where, and I think along the way I've built up a pretty good, I hope, a good reputation for being honest and professional and I didn't think what was happening was necessarily honest or professional at that point in time. So, that led to me stepping away.

Taylor Wilson:

Trump's speech before rioters stormed the US Capitol, along with rampant election misinformation from him to his supporters, have been at the center of the committee's case that Trump was the driving force behind the insurrection. More hearings are set for tomorrow and Thursday.

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A new study highlights the mounting costs of COVID-19 testing paid for by taxpayers through federal health programs or consumers who buy private insurance. Health Reporter Ken Alltucker says labs are raking in millions.

Ken Alltucker:

So there's a new study out from the University of Hawaii and Johns Hopkins University and the study looked at how much revenue, how much money and profit labs in Hawaii were collecting by offering COVID tests during the pandemic. And this, the researchers think that it's likely applicable to other states as well, although this particular study looked only at Hawaii labs. And what they did was they sort of tracked the revenue and profit that these labs made.

So to take a step back since the beginning of the pandemic, the Congress and the administration has required that Medicare and private insurers cover tests, COVID tests with no cost sharing to consumers. So you could go get a test and you don't have to pay any money out of pocket basically, if you're insured and then there are other programs that help subsidize testing for those who are uninsured.

So, it's been couched as free testing for the public, but what this study does is sort of peels back the layers and examines what it actually costs. And so they came up with a figure of these labs basically made on average $10 for every test that was done in Hawaii over this period of time and there are roughly 2.8 million tests done at labs. So we're talking about $28 million. Now they say that's a minimum amount of profit. They say it's likely higher than that, but that's sort of what it examines.

I think the idea behind this was just to show that we're year three into the pandemic, these testing requirements are still in place in terms of what the government and what private insurers are paying for, and Americans are getting tested every day and ultimately these costs will be paid by someone. In the case of government funded programs it's the taxpayer that will pay for it. In the case of private insurers, the insurance plan will cover it and usually what happens when insurance plan covers something it's ultimately passed on to consumers and employers who pay for insurance plans through higher premiums. So you might see a little bit of a bump in what you pay for your monthly health insurance.

Taylor Wilson:

For more from Ken give him a follow @kalltucker on Twitter.

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Beginning today, an FDA advisory committee will hold all day meetings to discuss safety and effectiveness data for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for kids aged six months to 17 years old. They will also do the same for the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine for kids aged six months to four years. And it's widely expected that the panel will recommend authorization for both vaccines. If that happens and the FDA commissioner signs off, the CDC will follow the same process and a different advisory panel will review on Friday and Saturday. The CDC director would then have to endorse them. White House officials said last week that millions of doses have already been ordered for small children in anticipation of authorization. White House COVID response coordinator, Ashish Jha.

Ashish Jha:

If the FDA authorizes and CDC recommends that kids under five get vaccinated, vaccinations will begin quickly thereafter. So what does this mean for you if you're a parent or a pediatrician? Realistically, it means we could see shots in arms of kids under five as early as the week of June 20th. So we think that vaccinations would really start in earnest on Tuesday, June 21st. And importantly the vaccination program is going to ramp up in the days and weeks that follow with more and more doses and more and more appointments becoming available.

Taylor Wilson:

According to US Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy more than 30,000 children under the age of five in the US have been hospitalized with COVID during the pandemic.

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Voters in four states will head to the polls today for primary elections. Most eyes in the political world are on South Carolina where incumbent Republican representatives, Tom Rice and Nancy Mace face challengers backed by former President Donald Trump. Rice was one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump. He faces Trump backed state representative Russell Fry among other candidates. Nancy Mace opposed impeachment, but criticized Trump for his conduct and will face Trump backed former state legislator Katie Arrington.

Meanwhile, in Nevada, voters will decide the nominees in a full race that could decide the fate of the US Senate. A Republican Senator in North Dakota also faces a primary challenge while voters in Maine will set up a full governor's race. For full coverage, enter USATODAY.com/politics.

And you can find 5 Things every morning of the year, right here, wherever you're listening right now. Thanks to PJ Elliott for his great work on the show and I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Inflation muddles Biden's student loan plan, more primaries: 5 Things podcast