the team planning president-elect biden's inauguration day is warning americans to stay home and not travel washington d.c. due to

the coronavirus pandemic. mr. biden and kamala harris will be sworn in at the u.s. capitol but most of the festivities will be online. what do we know about the plans for the president-elect's inauguration? >> reporter: well, anderson, nothing about the election year has been normal. it turns out inauguration day will be no exception. the presidential inaugural committee giving us a sense of what inauguration day next year will look like. as you mentioned, both biden and kamala harris will be taking their oaths of office on capitol hill, and biden will give an inaugural speech. but really everything else will probably end up looking very different from what we are used to. the committee telling us the ceremony will be extremely limited ins it footprint. i would also say the parade would be reimagined. we don't know what it means so we will find out, and that the public really needs to stay at home. do not travel to washington d.c.

to participate in any of the activities. the committee appointed a chief medical advisor, really making the point that they are trying to get advice from experts and doctors as they try to do it in a safe way during the pandemic. >> what about cabinet choices, the latest on that? >> reporter: there are a couple of announcers. the first, the former michigan governor is expected to be named energy secretary. a long-time advisor to joe biden. the second is ginna mccarthy, expected to be the next biden's climate zarco. -- czar. and then we saw the announcement that pete buttigieg will be

named transportation secretary. there should be an event in washington tomorrow. >> a reminder our digital news show, catch it streaming live 6:00 p.m. eastern. or watch it on the cnn app any time on demand. news continues now as i hand it over to chris for cuomo primetime. welcome to primetime. we have a massive political problem. this one, we can do something about right now. the top four congressional leaders are finally talking relief again. it is happening tonight. but the word is that they are huddling separately right now and there is no word of a deal. this is unacceptable. because this is not about some irrational sound and fury that will amount to nothing like what we just lived through. this is a soulless, slow walking of relief that must be the focus of attention and outrage. there is no good reason for this delay.

it is time to focus on it. has anyone heard of the flood of lawsuits that are hitting businesses so hard that we have to address it right now with equal urgency as hunger, vaccine production or any family pain. mitch mcconnell has. he is arguing for exactly that. be very clear. mcconnell is talking about 1,400 or so suits since march. they are against employers for work related illness regarding covid. he say he says these suits are such a threat and emergency that they are worth holding up relief until there is a deal to hold the employers harmless from liability. so those companies getting relief matters as much as anything else? forget the fact that some of the suits may be justified, maybe many of them or all of them. or that people may have been

mistreated. or there is something called workers' compensation and other tools that are already in place to limit liability or the fact that litigation is how we figure out problems. or that you could address the problem of massive number of suits, not 1,400, when they really pile up. you know what is piling up? 60 million. we are close to that number of people who are hungry. kids that need food. schools that are desperate. vaccines that need to be produced. families that won't have christmas. those are the circumstances, those are now. these families needed help weeks ago, months ago. but look at mcconnell, because this is about him. and this is about his visage betraying his demeanor. he always has that face on, because he is about the goal. there is no shame in his game. there is never a trace of

humanity or of concern. he is a pro's pro. he does not care about the cost to anyone else. lie about the garland nomination and then stack the court. there is no principle, only priorities. he will let the pain pour down on the country, because he has. it is not speculative. if he doesn't get the protection, no deal. he says and does what he has to when he has to like today. >> the electoral college has spoken. so today i want to congratulate president-elect joe biden. >> same face. electors were an echo. voters spoke six weeks ago. he knows transition matters. he said it when it suited him. he was silent because it worked for him despite what it meant to the country.

imagine our own senate leader playing the same game as putin. putin actually beat him to saying congratulations to the president-elect. the retrumplicans couldn't sabotage the election. think about it in terms of context. in march, trillions got out fast. even trump was involved. now everything is worse. is it as bad as we thought it would be? thankfully, no. i know there is pain on just about every level you can manage but the expectations and projections were worse. so, why is everything delayed right now? priorities have changed. who wins? a handful that are not in crisis or millions and millions that needed the relief a month ago.

christmas is ten days away. this is no time to take care of a special interest. but this is how mcconnell plays. he will continue to do so as long as he is in power. >> in this election, georgia was not going to be bullied. georgia wasn't going to be silenced. you know who did nothing why trump and others were trying to wipe out every one of the five million votes you cast in november? your two republican senators. they fully embraced nullifying nearly 5 million georgia votes. you might want to remember that come january 5th.

send me these two men. we will control the senate, and we will change the lives of the people in georgia. >> it matters. i would like to argue to you that it really does. bipartisan ship is good. balanced interest. but that does not happen. not anymore. the money that states need to get it to the needy. right now the answer is yes. we need all hands on deck for this to work out as it is. do you know how hard this is going to be? as amazing as it is that the vaccine was made and seems to be safe, that is the easy part. the vaccine, the gift will be worthless if it does not get where it needs to go when it needs to be there to the people

that need it the most. biden gets a bad start for bad reasons. remember the situation we are in. the president quick working on anything but his own political future. no details. and the rest of the world is not just waiting until we are ready. think about it. they have been ignoring the worst hacking by russia to date.

you don't hear that, do you? no bible quote for that. a suspected cyber espinaj campaign and you barely heard a word about it from the retrumplicans. things they knew were made up and real attacks get ignored. you know what happened. you are not going to do anything, right. never forget. the question then becomes how does a deal get done? what is the play here to get relief when you have imbalanced power? >> look, i think that the play

is that there is enormous anxiety in the country, and i think that they are feeling it. i mean i am not privy to their negotiations. i think there is an awful lot of pressure on both sides to not leave. how do you leave and go home to celebrate the holidays knowing you didn't do what you needed to in order to bring relief to people that are suffering. you know, we have heard a lot about the people that are suffering from the virus itself. but not everyone can sit home and zoom to make a living. not everybody is free of that fear. four months the congress has been talking about it.

i don't think they can go home without doing something on this. even mitch mcconnell understands as a political matter heading into the special elections in georgia and beyond, he does not want to be the one who is assigned the blame for no aid going into the holidays. >> how do you explain, michael, the play on corporate liability? >> i think he is protecting the benefactors of the republican party. i liked what you said when you referenced the cases, we have no idea right now.

my own hunch is that they have to be determined on a case by case basis. to say none of them strikes me as umt fundamentally unfair. >> this is an easy point to win. the suits may be a problem. you might wind up having a kind of surfing of class action suits. we deal with that all of the time. tort reform is something everybody is familiar with in congress. you don't have to do it. you can argue for a separation bill. give us the money. talk about checks for people. let's get this out the door. am i just missing it or is it not there? >> look. i think the focus that democrats and republicans are facing is the right one on the people that need help right now.

you know, this is a complex and a misunderstood issue in some ways. you know, the legal issue that you have kicked around here. the fact that people are going without paychecks and at the end of the month the situation will worsen is something that is understood. we saw hundreds of thousands people simply giving up. we have more small businesses going under. we know the next six to eight weeks is going to be perilous and will promote more economic hardship. i really think that it is enough pressure. i agree with you completely. i think that, you know, mcconnell is protecting special interests. there may be some that are deserving. but there is no case to be made

that people do not need help in the country. when you ask people to shut businesses down and forgo their paycheck. it is in our interest. we ought to be making sure that they can weather the storm in doing the right thing. >> last word to you. >> mitch mcconnell has an issue on his hands trying to ignore the vote. >> i am referring to one particular republican. he would have members of his caucus voting against the incumbent president of the united states. finally recognizing joe biden as the president-elect.

>> yeah. >> can mcconnell control the vote or not? also republicans who are coming in. it would be just one to join forces with the house member and now you will have a vote in both chambers. now mike pence, talk about an uncomfortable moment for him. >> when you are betting on mitch mcconnell to make sure that biden gets safe passage, you know how deep you are right now in this reality. thank you. thank you for the points and the context. appreciate you. >> thanks. >> all right. maybe a member of the senate in a non-disaster scenario can get behind the relief hold up on the bill and see what will really make a difference here.

chris murphy has been loud on relief, and he is here next.

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for heart failure. do not take if allergic to farxiga. symptoms of a serious allergic reaction include rash, swelling, difficulty breathing or swallowing. stop taking and seek medical help right away. tell your doctor right away if you have red color in urine, or pain while you urinate, or a genital area infection, since a rare but serious genital infection may be lifethreatening. do not take farxiga if you have severe kidney problems or are on dialysis. other serious side effects include dehydration, genital yeast and bacterial infections in women and men, urinary tract infections, low blood sugar, and sudden kidney problems. stop taking farxiga and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of ketoacidosis, which is serious and may lead to death. answer the alert. ask your doctor if farxiga could do more for you. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. >> the humanitarian crisis of hunger and homelessness as well as the logistical shot of the

vaccines, the need is desperation. lives hang in the balance. time is death, not just money. just now as time is running out leaders from both parties are meeting on capitol hill. will there be a deal. senator, welcome back to primetime. we get a deal? >> we have to get a deal. we cannot go home to our states if we do not get a deal. it is good news that mitch mcconnell after seven months of refusing to negotiate finally came to the table today. but how much time was wasted by his refusal to negotiate? how much misery did he create by

sitting outside that negotiating room. mitch mcconnell, he has to deliver enough republican votes to be able to get this through. but it feels like we might be closer than we have in a long time. listen, i am willing to set aside the perfect and accept the good. we desperately need money in connecticut to distribute the vaccine. we have testing sites closing midday. we will have to pass along a massive tax increase along the middle of a national recession. the government is going bankrupt. we need relief in connecticut. i will settle for three quarters of a loaf. i guess it is good news tonight mcconnell is finally talking. >> finally talking, but is liability for companies with covid lawsuits, something you will have to give them? >> mitch mcconnell carries

k-street's water. mcconnell's number one operating principle is do what is right for corporate america. that is what the liability protection is all about. it is an attempt to try to avoid liability for truly irresponsible behavior that might have happened at some of these companies. nobody wants frivolous lawsuits or companies that are playing by the rules. >> don't say nobody, senator. i can't believe there are not sanctions for a dozen of the lawsuits. but continue. >> you see there is clearly a way to protect companies that are playing by the rules here without shutting every single worker in the country out of court to leave them with no redress. as you mentioned, it does not have to be settled now. the emergency is that folks will go hungry this winter. thousands of small businesses in

my state will shut down. >> that is not what he says. >> it is not? >> yeah. he says the liability question is an emergency. there is no evidence that there is a flood of lawsuits being filed. all of that said i am willing to do a deal on liability. you can't close the doors of the clubhouse to millions of americans. but i am looking to offer provisions that would offer more certainty. >> do you believe mcconnell is balancing the interests of his caucus in terms of the potential vote on january 6 that he is afraid that if he makes the wrong type of deal with you guys that it might encourage rand paul to have a vote on certification of the electors he can't control? >> ted cruz and rand paul are not going to make their decisions on january 6 based on

the deal that is cut on covid. they will decide that based on what they think is best for their presidential ambitions for eight years from now. probably too cute for mcconnell to think he will avoid a fiasco by giving ted and and what they need on the deal. they are always looking out for their best political interests. >> what is the chance of the republicans successfully derailing the ederail ing the certification on the 6th? >> there is a chance a republican senator will join a republican house member in a contest but that only gets you so far. you have to have both the house and the senate vote to essentially decertify a delegation.

>> what is your on the scene understanding of mcconnell saying i have to get the liability the way that i want it, but i am not giving states like connecticut the money they are asking for this. is a bail out. not my fault murphy and the governor can't balance their budget. >> if mcconnell wants to have a conversation about right sizing the amount of money connecticut sends to the federal government we will be happy to have that conversation. every year we subsidize kentucky. every year we subsidize florida. there is a crisis that whacks us and we ask for good will in return. it is just absolutely rich mitch mcconnell and any other republican from the states

subsidized are all of a sudden lecturing us on bailing them out. >> strong point. senator chris murphy, thank you very much for joining us. i will be coming to the office about where the vaccine is going. any help is appreciated. thank you sir. >> all right. more good news, how about that. it does not have to all be dark. the vaccine is out there. a second covid vax seccine is a to get fda approval. there is a big difference between the moderna and pfizer and it is not just storage. we have the good doctor, sanjay gupta, dropping science next.

>> 113,000 people are battling

covid in hospital beds right now. we don't have those kinds of beds. we are stretched everywhere. these are not people you can warehouse. it is a new record and the worst kind to be making and happening every day for the last week and a half. new cases top 200,000 per day. that is why the vaccine means so much. to eventually stop cases and right now to allow the people keeping the rest of us alive in the hospital a chance to stay well and to do that job. more good news. that is terrible news. the moderna vaccine may be approved soon. there is new data that may make moderna even better. i am not talking about the storage temperature. the claim is what and do we believe it? >> what happened is that we got the report about moderna,

talking about all of the things that we expected and heard from the company. they added an addendum in to look at the issue that we talked about before. we know it can prevent people from getting covid-19. the second question, does it also prevent them from becoming infected, carrying or transmitting the virus. they swabbed people before getting the first dose of the vaccine and between the first and second doses. 52 infected. you can look at the data.

people will interpret it differently. it indicates the vaccine has some impact. but it is not perfect. the more critical thing is that it does seem to really, really work well at keeping you from getting sick. >> the last part, just to sum it up. the vaccine keeps you from getting sick, meaning feeling bad. feeling the symptoms. >> yes. >> but it does not necessarily mean that you do not have the virus in as high of a load amount to give it to somebody else. the potential with moderna, it may keep you from feeling sick and getting someone else sick? >> right. you look at the numbers and it is not perfect. a lot of people got the vaccine and still had the virus in the system. the second pace is an important

one. we detected the presence of the virus, but it was it enough to be contagious. the vaccine is keeping you from getting sick and lowering it where you are not contagious. that could be the case with the pfizer vaccine as well. they say they will probably have the data in january. >> another thing that will matter to people. the fda authorized a fully at home test. they expect to produce about 3 million in january, $30. is that for the machine and you have to buy everything else in short supply or a better set up? >> it is all over the counter. you don't need a health care professional administer the test. you have a test. swab yourself. you have an analyzer.

connects to your smartphone. 20 minutes after you place the swab, you get a result. it sounds like a pretty good test. it is 91% likely to find positive cases and people that don't have symptoms. those are the most likely people we are talking about. if you have symptoms, stay home. you are trying to figure out, can i go out. it is pretty good, but if you don't have symptoms you should still wear a mask. >> these numbers are many times better. when anybody tells me to get a rapid test, half the time they are negative, they are not. thank you very much for the headlines. appreciate it. >> any time. >> vaccination.

we will be using sanjay and senators and going to states and locality. i will take what you are telling us about your own community. why? this matters. transparency is everything. where to focus the vaccine and who should get it. you start with where are the most cases and where are people dying the most. new york, california, texas, florida. okay. now let's look at the states. they have the most health care workers because you have the most people, population and everything. nursing home, health care. only one of the states that i just mentioned, texas, is even scheduled to get close to enough doses to give everyone in the group a single dose by the end of the year. why texas. not the biggest. certainly hasn't been the most responsible. why texas? in fact of the five states that will get enough to give everyone

in the group a single dose by new years, none of the states that will qualify that way are in the top 20 when it comes to case count. is this just about math or manipulation? we are just getting started. it is already an issue as i outlined to you. this means we are going to be all over this. i know this guy named cuomo in new york. he said 10,000 doses were administered yesterday. that leaves him just as exposed as he was without the vaccine. every bit counts. new york needs so much more. a lot faster or the curve of cases will go up a lot longer and include more of the people we need on the front lines. time equals death.

the governor in florida said they sent 100,000 to five hospitals, but there is a delay as shipments for the next two weeks are on hold. two issues. one, why did they get so many more than new york. is that true? dos santos said it is about pfizer. it is not you only need one shot b.s. he was trying to pedal. did they get the doses they need or should they. it all demands answers in real time. otherwise problems will fall on top of each other. what you give one state they were not supposed to get will fall down the line and there will be short falls. fedex and ups place a tracker in every case. you can track all of your stuff. who is tracking the good on the receiving end right here.

are the states all doing it? you have to be suspicious. we will have to stay on it. the vaccination is too important not to give it our all. we will, i promise. georgia, huge because of the run-offs. three weeks. not only a matter of time for the state but for the country. look what the imbalance of power is doing right now. can democrats win? the wizard of odds is back. inside scoop is next. with new rewards from chase freedom unlimited, i now earn even more cash back? oh i got to tell everyone. hey, rita! you now earn 3% on dining, including takeout! bon appetit. hey kim, you now earn 5% on travel purchased through chase! way ahead of you! hey, neal! you can earn 3% at drugstores. buddy, i'm right here. why are you yelling? because that's what i do! you're always earning with 5% cash back on travel purchased through chase,

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so you don't wait for life. you live it. >> electoral college says biden won. fine. now we have to look at the georgia senate races. bipartisan does not seem to be in the dictionary of a political dialogue. the two senate races will make the difference. democrats get them both or the state of play stays with mitch mcconnell saying i have to help companies before i help the country. what does history and data tell

us about the chance for democrats and the state of play. thank you very much for being here brother. let's start with what we saw in november and what it suggests about potential in the senate run off. >> right. the key thing to remember what happened in november is that joe biden won the state of georgia but barely, by .2 of a percentage point. democrats in the senate regular, and the senate special. i tallied up all of the democrats, combined them all with all of the republicans. in the regular and the sprecial the democrats ran behind the election. the democrats need to out perform what they did in november, otherwise simply put it won't work out for them. >> what do we know about run-offs? >> this is the key thing to keep in mind about georgia run-offs. what happened in 7 of the 8 times, the republicans gained more ground than the democrats

did from round one to the run-off. historically speaking, given the republicans got more votes in the senate races back in november, and the fact they gained ground historically, 7 of 8 times, you have to think that republicans at least, looking historically are in better shape than the democrats are. >> you don't have trump telling them not to vote this time in a way that matters. look at the polling averages and what does it tell us about the state of play? >> you look at history and might say the republicans will gain ground. if you look at the polling average, the democrats have slight advantages in the special and here is the thing. it is really tight, a point in the regular and two in the special. it certainly suggests that republicans are not gaining ground like we might expect. people might say the polls. i don't trust them. in georgia they were pretty darn

good in november, only off by a point. the race is just really, really tight. >> even if we don't need to paraphrase spike from gremlins when he says polls -- let's say look at the imbalance between the senate democrat candidates and biden in terms of mismatches of performances and a window into what might happen here. >> look, here is the key thing to keep in mind, the georgia sixth congressional district. that is in the atlanta suburbs. there was a special election. now a democrat represents that district. joe biden won by 11 percentage points. in the senate special and the senate regular election, democrats, although they won there ran behind joe biden five to six points, the greater under performance of any congressional district in the state. if the senate democrats will win this go around, they need to improve and to get to the levels

of support joe biden had in the atlanta suburbs, particularly whites with college degrees. if they can't match biden's performance, especially there in the georgia suburbs they are not going to win. i am going to keep an eye on the atlanta suburbs because that may tell the story come january fifth. >> already. do you believe that when you look at the race that enough has changed since the election where biden was picked but democrats were under sold? has there been enough of a change? >> i will say obviously there has been a lot of movement within the state, you know, saying that the vote count wasn't legitimate, especially those among the far right. that may anger a lot of georgia, traditionally republican voters in those suburbs that picked the ballot for biden but went for the senate republicans and say we want to send a message.

there was a reason we supported joe biden. i am not saying that is the case, but it would not be surprising to me. if you can move the margin, just a little it could make a big difference and something like that could be the ultimate difference january 5th. >> are the retrumplicans not going to vote because they are pissed at the party? >> it looks to be on pace in terms of the partisan balance. a lot to be determined. >> sorry i made you nervous. sometimes just looking at me can do that. >> you don't intimidate me at all. the fact of the matter is that no matter how hard you try, i will always see you for being christopher cuomo. >> that is who i am. i will see you soon. >> see you later, buddy. >> too many politics over the pandemic. shouldn't have ever been this way. it is bad. it is making people quit when we need them to help. i have two medical officials facing all kinds of ugly for just keeping their communities safe. one had to resign in

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covid, it's all over the place in the country. it's spreading wildly, makes people scared and then it was politicized, and that made it all worse. people see wearing a mask and staying safe as a weakness and capitulation to a political opponent. case had in point, kansas, what do we see? cases are not just surging, people that have been pushed for the right thing have been made in to pariahs, my next guest, she knows it well as someone that was pushed for mask mandates in her rural community. her friend, dr. john franco left his job this week because of the pandemic politics at his health

department. now, in the one hand, when i look at you two, with your ethnic backgrounds and you're in kansas it fulfills the promise of the country. then i see how you are being treated and it shows me the struggle of the country right now. i welcome you both to prime time and i'm sorry it is for this reason, but hopefully by shining a light on what is happening, it had will make people think about it a bit. dr. mckinney, now, you two have only met on zoom because of covid and when he put together a support group for health care workers you guys wound up meeting. just that idea, support group for health care workers, not just because of the stress of dealing with the pandemic. but dealing with people who don't want you to deal with the pandemic, explain, dr. mckinney. >> well, chris, it has definitely been a very challenging time. i mean, people are scared, they are frustrated, they just want to get back to normal life, and there's nothing about what's going on right now that is

normal. so, when people have to deal with the unknown, when they are tired of dealing with the pandemic, they get angry. had they get frustrated and they take it out on the only thing they can. they cannot be angry at a virus they cannot see, so they take it out on the rules. they take it out on the people that are making the rules. and so, that's where we come in, that we end up having problems with people getting angry and frustrated with us, when we are just really trying to help. >> you had to resign, why? >> because the board of county of commissioners decided to make some changes to my public health emergency order that contains community mitigation strategies for the virus. and it was not the first time that it happened and to be just, to go to the point that we just put up, i had seen that too many times it was a last straw and i also thought it was time to send a signal that it is not right

for policy makers who have no background in public health to decide how this pandemic should be contained. public health measures should be decided based on public health science and not on politics. >> and dr. mckinney, it's not just about policy, it's about politics and people you put in the crosshairs as almost being a partisan, even though you are staying on and you want to fight, how rough is it? >> well, you know, there should have never been a part for politics in this entire pandemic. i mean, at its essence, this pandemic is a health crisis, and really, our job as health officers is to take the data andthe science and make the best decisions possible to keep the most people safe through the entire thing. and we know that commissioners and legislators, they don't have a medical background, but we do. and we have been training for this kind of thing for years. and so, we hope that we can advise our elected officials and we can help them to make the best decisions possible. but, that's not always happening. and when we start talking about

politics and everything else, it really muddies the waters and it makes it so hard for us to give the solid advice that we have been trained to give throughout the thing. so, it's hard it has been a challenge. we really just want to do our very best job and really save lives and keep people healthy and there's no other, other purpose for us right now than to do our best job for people in our communities. >> and it's not like you are doing it from far away. you live there, you are in kansas, it's a rural area. you live there, you care about the people. so, doctor, what is your concern about as the vaccine comes, and the public policy statements that need to be put out and the messaging, what is your concern? >> well, first of all, my first feeling is one of joy, we have been waiting for this day for many months. and i'm not sure that everyone fully understands at that point what a success it is to be able to develop and deploy a vaccine

in just a few months. my concern is that we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and the light has a vaccine name. and people are going to drop all their guards and precautions and start running toward the light. but we are still in the tunnel. and this is not the time to run. because you are still running in the dark. so, the way we get to the light is by marching and walking slowly, deliberately and keeping our precautions up. it's not the time to give up. we will get there, but we are not quite there yet. >> so, in terms of where we are and where we need to be. the concern doctor mckinney is that people aren't going to want to take the vaccine. i actually believe that we are going to have the opposite problem, that as people start to see that it's working they are going to be desperate for the vaccine and they are going to be start to be angry because they cannot get it. what do you see in your community right now, which is more of a rural part of kansas? >> well, right now, i'm seeing a

lot of people that are hesitant to take the vaccine. i hear people talking about wanting to wait to see what happens. they are nervous because of the technology to produce the vaccine. they are nervous about being one of the first to get it. i know that, that the best advice that i can give any of my patients is that -- is that i had will get the vaccine. i will make sure that my 76-year-old dad who has been serving the community for 42 years as a physician will get the vaccine. and he is still taking care of patients. that's the best endorsement that i can give. we are talking about safety, and trying to educate people, there's just a lot of, again, fear and misinformation that we have seen throughout the entire pandemic. and now, it's applied to the vaccine, the one thing that, like the doctor said, it's the light at the end of the tunnel. so, we are hopeful that we get people to understand, it's safe. it's a way to get back to normal