lawmakers on capitol hill now down to the wire to make a deal. if they don't pass a budget by midnight tonight, the government will begin to shut down.

but there is an option on the table. we're live from d.c. as the midnight deadline looms. a harrowing escape from haiti as it devolves into violence. is apple a monopoly? the department of justice seems to think so. we'll untangle the latest legal battle facing the tech giant. why its blue bubbles could be at the center of the case. it's time to pick a side. the house of "house of the drag releases trailers. a mother and daughter reunited after being separated at birth. see the heartwarming reunion decades in the making. it's friday, march 22nd. "early today" starts right now. good morning. glad you're with me on this friday, i'm frances rivera. time is running out for congress to avoid a midnight government shutdown. lawmakers revealed a $1.2 trillion package which includes funding for the

departments of defense, labor and homeland security. brie jackson joins us from d.c. the house and senate need to pass this bill today to avoid that shutdown deadline. the big question is, can they get this done? >> reporter: so the clock is ticking. leaders of both parties want to get this passed. and they are highlighting what they see as wins, like democrat patty murray, who is the appropriations chair. she fought to get $1 billion in funding to help lower childcare costs and to support head start. and house speaker mike wronson says this agreement addresses immigration issues by cut funding to ngos and increasing detention capacity and the number of border patrol agents, but johnson is facing a lot of push back from the more conservative members of his party. some are angry that they were only given about 24 hours to read a bill that is over 1,000 pages. and many do not want to approve

any funding without major changes to border policy. >> anybody that votes for this budget, i don't understand. all i'll tell you is i'm very disappointed with this. america doesn't deserve this, and it shouldn't have happened. >> this bill is a complete and total failure. i got a prominent individual that follows all the border stuff just texted me and said, quote, it was an f-ing surrender on the border, because it is! we get nothing! >> reporter: and if the house passes the bill, the senate would need all 100 of its members to agree to a quick voting process. majority leader chuck schumer says he will bring it to the floor as soon as the house sends it over. and schumer has asked that all of his colleagues be flexible and prepared to get this done today. >> flexible and well rested. it could be a very long kay for them. wr brie, thank you. bob mamendezmamendez says h

not run as a democrat. >> unfortunately, the accusations i'm facing of which i'm innocent and will prove so, will not allow me to have that kind of debate and dialog. >> more than 30 democratic senators have called on menendez to resign. the trial is scheduled to begin in may. he asked voters to withhold judgment until justice takes place. now to the crisis in haiti. the u.s. flying trapped americans out on chart hed plan as the country descends further into chaos. >> reporter: this is what relief looks like. a plane of 14 u.s. citizens, including children, arriving in central florida. after a harrowing escape from haiti. >> it took a couple of tries, and they didn't give up.

they stayed with us until the end of the mission. >> reporter: philippe armond was on this flight with his wife and 2-year-old son. >> very difficult part was getting around and making it to the airport to fly out. we were dealing with little kids, not adults. so that made it even more stressful on the parents and it was just scary. >> reporter: they were lucky. there are still more than a thousand americans in haiti, but with the airport in port-au-prince shuttered and roads closed, daily gun battles on the streets and armed gangs overrunning the capital, most americans have no way out. >> i would say it's worse than a war zone. >> reporter: private security contractors going door to door trying to rescue them. >> helicopter got surrounded the day of the airport, where the helicopter had to take off in a manner that was just, you know, i don't want to say unsafe, but, again, the tower told him he may not be able to handland there a. >> reporter: another flight arriving in miami.

66 more americans now on u.s. soil. how is the country right now? >> country need help. >> reporter: a country in chaos, and people terrified for their lives, hoping to get out. guad venegas, nbc news, miami. turning now to the turmoil in the middle east. secretary of state antony blinken will travel from egypt to israel this morning to meet with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and war cabinet officials. this as the u.s. is calling for a vote on its newly-revised u.n. resolution, calling for an immediate and sustained cease-fire. it comes after vetoing three previous resolutions. let's bring in josh letterman live. and a warning to viewers, some of the video may be disturbing. what can we expect today? >> reporter: good morning, frances. in the last few minutes, secretary blinken's plane has touched down on the tarmac in

tel aviv for those fraught negotiations over the future of the war with prime minister netanyahu. and in just a few hours we expect a vote in the security council on that u.n. resolution, calling for an immediate and sustained cease-fire of at least six weeks, and this is really an effort by the u.s. to turn up the pressure on israel's government to reduce civilian casualties, to have a sustained pause in the fighting. despite the fact that in the past, the u.s. has vetoed those resolutions, tried to protect israel. and just this morning, the israeli military says it is continuing with a military operation at the al shifa hospital in the gaza strip which our viewers may remember from november which was the site of a controversial israeli military raid on the largest medical facility in gaza. but, in the months since, israel says that hamas has regrouped at that hospital and is using it once again. and over the last few days, israel says it has detained more

than 600 people and killed well over 100 hamas operatives. nbc news can't independently confirm those numbers, but is a dangerous situation with the world health organization saying it has lost contact with its team on ground there. the final two mississippi officers who were part of a self-proclaimed goon squad got their prison sentences thursday. brett they and four other officers admitted to subjecting two black men to acts of racist torture. one victim was shot in the mouth. the case crew condemnation from law enforcement officials across the country, with u.s. attorney general merrick garland calling the attack heinous and kdeprave. the manhunt for a dangerous, escaped inmate has come to an end in idaho. the men injured corrections officers, and now authorities believe they may have killed two

people during their time on the run. there's dana griffin. >> reporter: escaped inmate schuyler mead and an accomplice arrested after a vehicle pursuit with police, nearly 36 hours after their brazen ambush on corrections officers outside a boise hospital. the men may now be tied to two homicides during this time on ttheir time on the road. >> the motive and why they did what they did, i don't know. >> reporter: the men taken into custody in twin falls, idaho, nearly 130 miles from the hospital where three officers were shot during the initial escape. >> the patient had a driver with the shooter. >> reporter: the two are members of the white supremacist gang the arian knights. it was formed in the 1990s in the prison system. they often use initials ak.

they also use violence to target inmates of color. >> the fact that they did basically a movie-type shootout to free him from prison is just really bold, and it means that they've been planning it for a while. >> reporter: authorities now turning their investigation into how they pulled off the coordinated attack and escaped. >> with near certainty, this was not an accident. this was a planned event. and we're channeling every resource we have into understanding how they went about planning it. >> reporter: a sophisticated criminal plot coming to an end with these jailhouse friends heading back behind bars. dana griffin, nbc news. generally speaking, no one likes a trip to the dmv, but things were frustrating thursday. there were disruptions. the outage lasted several hours with all locations up and running by 3:00 p.m. eastern. the non-governmental group who provides software to dmv offices

says the outage was due to a loss in cloud connectivity, and they're working internally to determine the root cause. their weekend plans might need an umbrella and snowshoes if you're in the north. michelle grossman is tracking a system sweeping across the country and making our plans move all inside. >> that's right. we're definitely going to need the indoor plans. looking at very heavy snow, the first storm. then we have a second storm that's going to come sunday into the early part of next week. let's start with winter alerts. we have snow in the northern tier of the nation. winter watches in the blue. warnings in the pink in portions of northern new york into parts of new england where we could see eight inches, even up to a foot in some spots. also a whole lot of rain. soaking rain in portions of the southeast, the gulf coast today. and then eventually into the mid atlantic, the northeast, new england as we go throughout

tomorrow. 41 million people impacted by flood watches in the green. that includes portions of southern florida as well. this is the first storm. we're going to see heavy rain, flooding conditions in pourtion of southern florida. we have the chance for icy conditions with a mixture of rain, also snow and really heavy rain in parts of today into tomorrow. then it's warm into the southern plains, temperatures into the 80s and 90s, 90 in brownsville. and that's your friday forecast. >> thank you, michelle. up next, a landmark lawsuit. the doj accusing apple of having an illegal monopoly on smartphones. illegal monopoly o smartphones. [dog whimpers]

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t the department of justice is looking to take a bite out of apple. a lawsuit saying they cut competitors out of the market. charlotte reed is here to break it all down. good morning. >> this is indeed a watershed moment. the u.s. justice department accusing apple of monopolyizing the smartphone market. it is alleging that apple took measures to lock in its users and prevent competition by restricting access to its software and hardware. the lawsuit claims the problem extends beyond the phone to the apple watch and other items. merrick garland says they have maintained power because of

unlawful exclusionary behavior. apple controls 65% of the market. apple in a statement says the u.s. case tretehreatens who we and the principles that set us apart and would set a dangerous precedent by allowing government to influence how technology markets develop. this is the latest issue for apple that faced competitive problems in europe. they just paid a $2 billion fine here as well. and apple shares were raising $13 billion of its market cap. still to come, the first look at the long-awaited beetlejuice sequel. and a long time since we checked in with westeros. we look at the two new trailers for the "house of the dragon." e for the "house of the dragon." (♪♪) your heart races.

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bend the knee. or your house burns. >> but you must accept the path to victory now is one of violence. >> good. to war then. >> hbo's making fans choose sides in a house divided. the first trailer of "house of the dragon" was released. it shows the unique factions as they each attempt to take control of westeros. the war for the iron throne resumes on hbo on june 16. >> that might have been in a ditch l different language. i have no clue. we'll watch it. and the ghost with the most is rising from the the dead

♪ ♪ >> the juice is loose. >> all right, michael keaton is again donning the pinstripe suit for beetlejuice. jenna ordega leads a new generation to the land of the dead. it hits theaters on september 6. andthe star-studded cast adds willem defoe. it plemay be a while before return to the spider verse. varate a new short will debut on youtube. he attempts to carry out heroic duties. the slohort will be released in

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gift sets. a combined $1.7 billion is up for grabs. the power gballgrand prize is $750 million. and the mega millions stands at $977 million ahead of tonight's drawing. new york remains the richest city in the world, home to 350,000 millionaires and 60 billionaires. the bay area comes in second and los angeles third. we'll be right back. angeles thi. we'll be right back. [dog whimpers] [thinking] why always the couch? does he need to go to puppy school? get his little puppy diploma? how much have i been spending on this little guy? when your questions about life turn into questions about money... there's erica. the virtual financial assistant to help you spend, save, and plan smarter. only from bank of america. my life is full of questions...

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after giving birth in columbus, ohio. and they finally met where it all began. s sierra johnson has the emotional reunion. >> i was 16 years old and became pregnant. i was from a strict home. >> reporter: 54 years ago, carla walked into grant hospital, pregnant with a baby girl. and later, she walked out alone. >> i had her, and they swiftly took her away. i didn't get to see her, hold her, touch her, count her toes. >> reporter: that adoption was closed. for years, carla wondered if that little she gave to a family wanting a little girl of their own was nearby. she also wondered if that little girl ever thought about her birth mom. but in 2015, a change in ohio laws allowed pamela, who grew up in texas to take a chance. she looked at her adoption file and attempted to find the woman who gave birth to her.

>> it was maybe a year, i don't know, before we had the first phone call. it was a lot of letter writing, a lot of sharing of photos. >> reporter: cautiously optimistic, after pam ha found her birth mother, both women took their time. they exchanged dozens of carefully crafted letters and photos, until they decided to meet. the date, pamela's 54th birthday at the hospital. an instant connection. two women realizing they found their missing piece. two women connecting the dots on their similarities, despite the absence interest one another's lives. >> i watch the way she holds her hands or the way she stands or she's got a bunion on her foot like me. it's things like that. >> reporter: a moment coming full circle. >> i always sang happy birthday

to her on march 20th. she didn't hear me, but, you know, she felt it in her heart. >> when every birthday rolled around, i wondered if she knew it was my birthday, and come to find out, she did. >> reporter: this year a birthday they will never forget. >> and hopefully many more as mother and daughter, too. our thanks to sierra johnson for that report. coming up later this morning on "today", one young woman went viral for freezing her eggs at the age of 25. now the procedure is becoming increasingly popular and touted as a work perk by companies. are younger women taking on this costly procedure, and is it worth it? it's coming up on "today". than for wksat can an oven roasted turkey breast pack so much succulent flavor, that the mere glimpse of it induces turkey sandwich daydreams? if it's hillshire farm, oh, hill yeah.™

news is on the way. a landmark doj lawsuit against apple.