GOP Debate, FTC Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Amazon, Slow Vaccine Rollout
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Seven republican candidates will be on stage tonight for a presidential debate.

Former president and the front winter done on trump will skip the event again. Well, any of the others have a break out moma to shake up the race.

I'm Stephen skip with Michelle market, and this is up first from N. P, R. New federal regulators and seventeen states filed an anti trust lawsuit against amazon, accusing the retail giant of harming competitors.

We have to find items that amazon doesn't sell.

What's behind this move and what could IT mean for consumer?

And the roll out of the latest covert ninety vaccines has been plagued with issues. We take a close to look at the problems that have people who want the vaccine frustrated. Stay with us. We'll give you the news. You need to start your day.

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Seven candidates will take the stage tonight for the second republican presidential primary debate in california.

former president trump whale skip IT, depending on the pole you consult, see their far ahead of his rivals or even farther at.

And we one house correspondent, Frankl, or donis, is with us now to keep us a preview of what we might see tonight and also the bigger picture of how things stand in the twenty, twenty four race. So a far good morning, franco.

Good morning.

So as we said, this is the second debate that trump is skipping. Is there any way in which this debate might be different from the last one I was constant.

Well, I I mean, like before there's going to be less attention on the debate without the front runner and without trump, but a key difference could be the audience or republican strategist shaan walls. He told me that the fact that the debate is being held that Ronald reagan presidential library means attendees will be made up of more mainstream republicans.

I don't think we'll have the circus audience that we had the last debate the fox news held. I think that is Christi was going to make some very important point concerning former president trump, and he was shouted down and did not have the opportunity that.

So do you think that these criticisms about trump h that h hanwell salute to, might actually be heard tonight on the debate stage? You think that that other candidates, perhaps, if a part of Christmas, I might have more to say.

they may. I mean, they're running out of time to distinguish themselves and this crowd may be more amenable to hearing them out. I mean, of course, at that debate and was constant, IT wasn't just governor Christie who was speaking out. Basically, anyone who spoke in any fashion against trump was booed. And these other candidates, though, they don't want trump to be the main topic either, but this could give them more of a chance to shine when they're outside of trump.

Shadow trump again, he's going to michigan instead to speak with auto workers, but he's going to a non union shop. And of course, he's going a day after president biden was they are speaking to workers on the picket line, which was widely viewed an historic event. So what's the calculation for trump? And how is hamlet that visit?

Well, I mean, you know, biden has called himself the most pro union president, but trump has been, you know, successful at coding blue collar workers. So he's going directly there to speak with them as use IT. But at a nonunion plants just outside detroit, I was speaking with former how speaker new gingrich. He told me that biden may have the support of union leadership, but not the men and women on the assembly line.

Sample, do Better with working class voters and bike. Well, that's the great irony. The establishment is for the old order.

So the U. S. B. A. Leadership is for the all order, their memberships. Are you going to work for trump?

I mean, the big picture here is that just shows how in this group of voters are michigan, an voters helped both trump and by and win the White house. Trump in two thousand and sixteen, obviously in biden and twenty twenty. And the union vote was a big part of that for both of them.

Okay, very brief. Ly in a biden told union workers they deserve more than they're getting from the auto companies. What will trumps message be?

You know, he's gonna attack by his economic policies, especially electric vehicles. Trumps likely to talk about how he's Better suit to protect the industry and therefore their auto workers jobs. But union leaders really, really are opposed to trump, and they are discourage their members from attending.

That is, mp r. Why has carsbad ET Frankl or denise franco?

Thank you. thank.

Amazon is facing a federal monopoly lawsuit to the .

federal trade commission, and seventeen states have all suit the tech giant, accusing IT of harming small businesses and shoppers, as always will note that amazon is among npr financial supporters and pays to distribute some N, P, R content, and we cover IT like any other company.

P, S, elena soya is with us, not to tell us more. He has a monopoly on this story. Sorry, had to do so. okay. I know how big of a deal is.

This lawsuit is a very big deal. A IT could be up there with historical gm apply cases. Think microsoft back in the nineties. The ftc has been working on this case for years. I started under present trump, and it's now LED by cherie nhan, who became famous as a legal collar, arguing that amazon and other tag giants are acting like modern day railroad tycoons and should be restrained appropriately.

Can you just give some some of the specifics of the case against amazon?

Um yes. So the focuses on the fraught relationship that amazon has with other sellers on the platform. Most of the stuff that you buy on amazon now actually comes from other cells, about sixty percent. And the fc argues that amazon abuses its power over these cellars, kind of trapping them and costing them more and more in various fees, knowing that they can afford to leave.

Have you had the opportunity to speak to some amazon sellers? I mean, what do they say about this?

You know, I mentioned fraught relationship. Selling on the amazon is lucrative tive. So sellers will talk about how they can reach shoppers now in ways that they couldn't even imagine twenty years ago.

But also amazon is still their competitor. Um IT didn't see what they sell, what's most profitable IT could sweep and sell little loss, squeak out them, the rivals and then start raising Prices. Yesterday, a few sellers were brought together by in the antimony ly thinktank and they described all this. And one of them was Nicholas parks from alabama, a he says, hot sauces and spices.

you can't compete head on an any relevant way in the grocery category. So we have to find items, the amazon dozes. And if they pick up one of the items that we sell, then that effectively means we just can't sell that item any longer.

He also mentioned that when you tell all the fees, about half of what he makes on the platform goes back to amazon.

And lets look at this from the consumer standpoint. How does this affect shoppers?

Well, so the case argues that you could mean that perhaps you are not seeing best quality results at the top of your search or you're paying more because sellers are paying more. And even more directly, the last suit argues that amazon actually punish es sellers that try to charge lower Prices elsewhere on the internet, meaning you might see higher Prices caused by amazon even if you don't shop on amazon.

And what does amazon have to say about this?

Amazon pains ftc is radically viewing from its mission to protect consumers and argues that if the government wins, the result could be higher Prices, lower deliveries, fewer options for shoppers and businesses.

So what's the goal here? What do ftc, only seventeen states want the court to do the ftc.

once the core, to make amazon stop acting and a competitively. I want to note that at the moment, they're not asking the court to break up amazon, but this case is going to play out over probably many years. And so a lot can change in the years of litigation ahead.

That is mp s aliena. sailor. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

The rollout of the new covet vaccine is facing some speed bumps when the .

centers for disease control and prevention recommended the next round of cod nineteen boosters earlier this month. Doses were supposed to be available that day at pharmacy y two weeks later, consumers are reporting problem.

M, P, S, U, K, O, gucci with us, not to tell us more about this.

Good morning.

I am the shell. So what are the chAllenges this time?

Well, once going to sound familiar, a lack of supply is just like three years ago when decca es first came out, you know, except this time, of course, approval was anticipated in demand isn't as high as back then, but some things just don't have doses yet. And then kate ran into this. She's an executive at kiser family foundation as well as the consumer looking to get vaccinated at obara acy. This week, her appointment got cancelled and he tried to go in anyway.

the very nice pharmacy said, yeah, we just don't have the supply. We're not getting enough in and we're still letting people schedule appointments.

So you might get an appointment but not get a shot. Why is that happening? So why are stores like her is not getting the shot?

There's no great explanation. It's no not true across table because some stores have stock and some don't. One difference this time is that pharmacies had to buy vaccine from their suppliers, you know, whole sailors, and there are no longer getting these doses for free from the federal government.

So perhaps there are some hick ops in that adjustment. But either way, manufacturers say they've made plenty of doses, so it's likely to clear up in a matter of weeks. The other big category of problem though is insurance. okay.

So to tell me about that, what's the road block there? Because I thought that insurers were supposed to cover covered one thousand vaccine costs.

and you're right. And that is actually the biggest change from every other round of cover vaccines that we've seen. This is the first time ensures and not the government are supposed to be covering the cost of these vaccines because they are preventative medicine. So whether you have private insurance like through a job or you have government sponsored insurance like medicare, IT should be free to you without copy or charges. But k to K, F, F says, insure seem to have missed that memo.

What my colleague ran into was a plan saying, yeah, we don't have IT and we're not going to cover you out of network, which is actually against federal law regulations.

And so insurance snack like this or other signs like that are, you know, with this new cover, vaccine is happening about twenty percent of the time or more. According to john back norm, his group is the national community armies association. And IT represents independent drug stores. Begor is basically insurance systems haven't updated their systems to reflect the new rules and it's causing pharmacy headaches too. You know the system sometimes don't reimburse pharmacies for the cost of the vaccines because federal government used to supply them for .

free arms is is on the hook for that money until IT .

becomes directly fad.

And I asked the american health insurance plans about some of these are reported chAllenges, and they responded in a statement saying they are covering the new covet vaccine. And they say they're working with pharmacies and government and others to ensure that consumers don't fix any costs.

You can have to tell you, I have faced this myself. I tried dict the cover vaccine and have been unable to do so.

They would say, hang in there.

It's people you can. No guy you can.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

We have one more story for you this morning and update on the ongoing negotiations on capital hill to avoid a government shutdown. Last night of a partisan group of senators released a bill that would extend government funding through november seventeen th. The bill also includes aid for ukraine and disaster relief.

Senators voted seventy seventy nine to get started on the bill, but their process could take longer than the three days they have left before I shut down. And even if they do succeed, how speaker Kevin mccarthy is talking about an entirely different stop, get measured with border funding, with the two chAmbers pursuing very different strategies so close to the deadline, the chances of a government shutdown are only going up. And that's a first for wednesday, september twenty seven, I mi al mark .

and I Stephen scape. Today's episode of up first was edited by making Price, Emily cut, Scott hensley and H J. M.

I IT was produced by Shelley hawkins, za butch and kd cline. Can we get engineering support from stac abbott and our technical director? Is zc common to here tomorrow?

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