unemployment, more so than white americans, and we know, kate, that the biden administration has dedicated their attention to race and the economy, but it's really about targeting both those things together in order to try to close this gap. kate? >> thanks so much, vanessa. really appreciate it. thanks so much for joining us. i'm kate baldwin. john king picks up our coverage right now. hello, everybody. top of the hour. welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king in washington. thanks so much for sharing a busy day for us. we have a packed hour ahead. president biden's pick gets his vote. racial equality is the big biden them today. the new executive actions target police conduct, improving prison conditions, expanding housing

opportunities and addressing covid-related racism and discrimination targeti ing asia americans. the filibuster is still alive, but there is no paper commitment from the democrats not to try to do away with it down the road a bit. the new president plans a speech on battling the pandemic this afternoon. the biden team now says mid-march is its goal for signing a big new covid-19 relief plan into law. that is an ambitious timeline, anyway, all the more so with an impeachment trial on the horizon set to freeze the senate for most of february. a ritual step in that process a bit later this afternoon. senators take an oath to service jurors in the second impeachment trial of donald j. trump. let's get straight to the white house and begin the hour with cnn's phil mattingly. phil, one week into the biden presidency and another busy day at the white house. >> reporter: no question about it. obviously you have the racial inequity actions. the president spoke about it

quite often on the campaign trail. that will be addressed at least on the executive action side today. there will also be a push on the legislative side in the weeks and months ahead, and there's also the push on the legislation itself, the cornerstone legislation that the biden administration is coming out of the gates with. that's that $1.9 trillion covid relief plan. i think it's really interesting, john, you were listening closely when the president spoke yesterday, took questions about that relief plan, and he made clear he is still pushing to have bipartisan support for that proposal. there was one thing in particular that caught my attention, particularly given what sources tell me is likely coming next on the economic ag agenda. that was his point that unity doesn't necessarily mean republicans are voting for something. unity means their policies are popular and they believe the core components of that $1.9 trillion covid relief plan are largely popular, whether it's related to vaccines or school funding. they believe that's popular, and what that's under scoring --

john, back to you? >> -- allegiance to the same. >> that i take this obligation freely. >> that i take this obligation freely. >> without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. >> without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. >> and that i will well and faithfully discharge. >> and that i will well and faithfully discharge. >> the duties of the office upon which i'm about to enter. >> the duties of the office upon which i'm about to enter. >> so help me god. >> so help me god. >> congratulations, madam secretary, congratulations. >> thank you. >> thank you, all. >> you're seeing right there janet yellen just sworn in by vice president kamala harris. our first female vice president

swearing in our first female treasury secretary. that one of the side sdrentranc to the white house, directly across from the treasury department. phil, sorry for the interruption. that's an indication of how busy things are there, trying to get the new team in place. now the secretary is in place, a part of the administration team not only to get enacted into law but then to use the mechanics of government to implement it. >> yeah, and i appreciate the biden administration for setting that swearing in upp perfectly o bolster my conversation here. one thing i picked up, and this goes to what janet yellen said in her congressional testimony for her confirmation hearing, and that is, one, they're planning to go big. republicans have raised concern over the size of this package, but this is just the start. there will be another jobs package that will follow this covid relief package that will likely be larger than the $1.9

trillion price tag on this covid relief package. while the president said he wants bipartisan support, he wants unity, the democrats have made it clear they're willing to give the republicans a couple weeks to come on board, but they're not willing to cut their package down in a significant manner. that goes for the next package as well. the reason why, and i think this is an important point as you try to get into how this administration is working on the economic side. a lot of them were there in 2009 and 2010 where the stimulus came in at about 700, $800 billion, and they regret that it was less than a trillion dollars, that they didn't go bigger. the economic policy lessons learned on the democratic side of which many of those democrats are now working in this white house play an enormous role in terms of what the administration is going to be pushing for in the days ahead and in the weeks ahead. so as you noted, they want that covid relief plan passed through

congress whether with republican support or through democrats only, using a budget mechanism, at some point by mid-march. and shortly thereafter, even perhaps before it's passed, it is very likely, i am told, that they will present their second package, the jobs package that they believe is a crucial component of the biden build back better plan they're laying out here. that will be a very large package. it will deal with infrastructure, it will deal with climate as well. while the full components are not completely drafted at this point in time, the one thing you can take away from all of this is the idea that republicans getting involved in these negotiations will significantly slash the top line cost of these packages doesn't seem likely at this point in time. democrats, from janet yellen on down, including the president, are making it very clear they have majority in the house and senate. it might be very, very small, but they believe now it's time to go big. the lessons learned from the 2008 financial crisis bolster their opinion on that view and that's exactly what they plan on doing in the weeks and months ahead whether they have

republican support or not. >> it's going to be a test in discipline and whether he's willing to go forward. phil mattingly, appreciate the juggle at the top of the program. you just saw janet yellen being sworn in for treasury secretary. we'll keep a count of that math and bring that to you momentarily. as phil just noted, the looming impeachment trial brings the senate majority and house minority with a new challenge. with the impeachment trial starting in february, it will jam up everything. the president needs to pick and choose what he wants done first. the coronavirus relief package, big. and then vaccinations, the president views that as his first 100-day priority. democrats aware that republicans don't like the big price tag, but they're also not willing to scale it down too much or break it into pieces. let's go to cnn's lauren fox.

lauren, that will be the challenge. first the president says i'm going to try to get republicans on board. if i can't, then it becomes a big question of democratic discipline. >> reporter: that's exactly right, and you're starting to see democratic lawmakers running out of patience and pretty quickly. that's because they're starting to hear from some moderate republicans like senator susan collins saying, hey, we just passed a $900 billion covid relief package. do we really need to go this big this soon? if you can't get senator collins, considered a moderate that democrats worked with all the time, there is a chance you may not get many other republicans. the larger focus right now on capitol hill is this question of impeachment. the trial is looming here. you're going to see senators sworn in around 2:15 today, a ceremonial process, of course, and then that trial is going to start in about two weeks. we're watching very closely to see where the republicans are going to fall on this.

when you're talking about a bipartisan covid relief package, you can't separate it or detang he will it from the fact that a senate impeachment trial is still looming over a former president. you're hearing all the republicans still saying what they plan to do, whether they would vote to convict former president trump. you heard from one republican, senator rob portman, who announced that he is retiring, still saying he hasn't made up his mind. here's what he told me a few minutes ago. >> i want to hear them out on both sides. i know there are scholars who have views on both sides of this. i'm a juror like everybody else around here, and all these folks who are making decisions before they hear the arguments, i think our job is to sit down and hear the arguments. that's what i plan to do. >> reporter: and, john, he's referring there to the question of whether or not it's even constitutional to hold the senate impeachment trial on an ex-president. that is something that academic scholars are debating very publicly right now, and it's an intellectual argument that

republicans and democrats are telling me on capitol hill is an honest one to be having. i think you mentioned that multiple times. there is a lot of gray area in the constitution on that very question. but look, at the end of the day, if you are going to convict former president trump, you've got to get 17 republicans. we just haven't seen any evidence that they're anywhere close to that number. john? >> no, no evidence we're even close to that number right now. but let's see. as senator portman says, let's listen and see. lauren fox, appreciate the live reporting up on the hill. this is an unprecedented political moment. an impeachment trial of a former president in the very critical early weeks of a new presidency. for republicans, it is another test of loyalty to donald trump and a test of their loyalty to the truth. and this is not just a washington debate. the arizona gop censured three prominent republicans who stood up to trump, including standing up to his election lies. and get this from the oregon republican party. the state party in oregon is calling the insurrection a false flag operation staged, oregon

republicans say now officially, to discredit the gop and silence trump supporters. former arizona senator jeff flake is one of those republicans just censured by the state republican party. he's with us live. senator, thank you for your time today. some republicans will say it's just some flakes out on the state, forgive me, of oregon, just ignore them. it's a state republican party saying that this was staged, this was an attack on the united states government by people carrying trump flags. some of them carrying american flags. what do republicans have to do to stand up to the truth here, for the truth? >> well, unless republicans do, we're going to continue to lose elections statewide, like here in arizona. both senate seats are represented by democrats for the first time in 72 years. that's largely because the state party has gone out so far on the fringe, and we're seeing it in other state parties. i think it's probably more

pronounced in arizona. but it's all over the country. this follows statements on false flag operations that are alleged with some of the school shootings, it's just mind-numbing, some of the things that some of these state party officials will come up with. but it really is driving normal, regular, rational people from the republican party, and we can't afford to lose many more. >> and so the question, then, for the party is going to be, as you're trying to figure out a new administration, republicans now in the minority in the senate and the house, you're trying to figure out a new democratic president, figure out life as a minority for senate republicans, and you know former president trump is watching very closely. senator john cornyn of texas, could we go back and try president obama? you get punished for losing an election. senator marco rubio who happens to be up in 2022, it's an act of

vengeance from the left. rick scott in florida who runs the senate campaign for republicans now, this is nothing more than political theater. you have a right as a republican or democrat to take a stand, say whatever you want about impeachment, you can say it's not constitutional, you can say the president is gone, we should just let it happen, but i want to focus on senator cornyn. could we go back and try president obama? everything the president did that he's been impeached for happened after the election. so, again, it's a question that people who will swear an oath to the constitution at least respect the truth? the insurrection happened after the election. the lies and fraud happened after the election. the calls to the secretary of state of georgia and other officials saying, can you find me votes, happened after the election. how does the party break free of this, if that's what they need to do to survive, if you ever a senator from texas who was in the republican leadership lying, lying. this all happened after the election.

>> if i was in the senate, i would certainly vote to convict inciting the election and also calling the secretary of state in georgia asking him to find votes and then trying to fire the acting attorney general to get a lackey in who would bring the challenge to the supreme court. yeah, that all happened after the election. there has to be some consequence. i just hope that there is a conviction. if there's not, it may say more about what a president can get away with than what he can't, and i think that that would be bad, a bad outcome. so i hope that my colleagues will listen, obviously, to the testimony that will come during the trial and act accordingly. but i think the president has surely committed impeachable acts. >> i want you to listen here, this debate about the future of the party. there are people like yourself, a goldwater conservative who wants to stand up for smaller government, free market, stand up for the truth.

former president trump in his approach for some time. nikki haley served, obviously, as the u.n. ambassador. she thinks the impeachment is a mistake. listen to her take on how she believes the republican party has to navigate in the post-trump era. >> we should not want to go back to the republican party before trump. we gained a lot of people that were unheard, unseen, many of who -- like i grew up in south carolina, had just been misunderstood. we want to keep them in the party, but the reality is we lost a lot of women, and we lost a lot of college educated. we want to bring them in and we want to expand the tent. >> the question is, can you bring, and you mentioned at the top what's happened in arizona. we watched this play out. can you bring back suburban women? can you bring back college-educated voters who fled the republican party because they don't like trump or trumpism and keep all the trump people? or does there have to be some accounting? >> it's going to be difficult just how far the president has

gone and what happened after the election in particular. since the incident on capitol hill, since the insurrection, 9,000 republicans in arizona have changed their party registration. so that's where we're going. millennials and suburban women have been walking away from the party for a while. now they're in a dead sprint unless we get away from trumpism. i do believe that the president has lost significant influence, he will lose significantly more influence in the months to come, so i don't think he'll hold the power that he believes he will. but those who are trying to hold on to the trump base, so-called trump base, by excusing the behavior of the president, i think, are making a mistake. >> the truth should matter in every conversation, certainly. senator flake, grateful for your time and insights today. we'll continue this conversation, in an interesting, fascinating, few months and weeks ahead for the republican

party. up next, the biden agenda faces a closely divided congress, and yes, up soon, that trump impeachment trial. golly! (laughter) i can help you find the color you want. that sounds nice. let me talk to my manager. (vo) buy your next car 100% online. with carvana.

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only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ the biden team's biggest goal is coronavirus relief. today a marker from the new senate majority leader. they would like support for that. but -- >> we want to work with our republican colleagues to advance this legislation in a bipartisan way, but the work must move forward, preferably with our republican colleagues, but without them if we must. >> march is when the new administration hopes to sign that new covid relief package into law. the impeachment trial is between now and then. you can count on that trial bringing up party tensions. there are more executive actions

coming. tomorrow, for example, the president plans to issue a moratorium on new oil and gas leases, oil and gas leases on federal land, that after he already angered most republicans by cancelling the keystone pipeline. cnn's jeff zeleny, "politico's" rachael bade, toluse olirunnipa. jeff, let's start with you. let's list en to the new president yesterday. you heard them say republicans are not going to work with you, sir. the president says, let's wait. >> i have been doing legislative negotiations for a large part of my life. i know how the system works. i don't expect we'll know whether we have an agreement and to what extent the entire package will be able to pass or not pass until we get right down to the very end of this process,

which will be probably in a couple weeks. but the point is this is just a process beginning. >> it is the process beginning, but the early weeks of a new administration's success in those early weeks are so critical. >> so critical, and look, president biden has been thinking about this for a very long time. he's right about that, he's been negotiating things most of his life. he wasn't planning on an impeachment trial to be coming at the beginning of his first 100 days. so that, without question, is going to slow the momentum. that's why all of these executive actions are happening. they are trying to set the pace of their agenda through this first 100 days. in the blink of an eye, the first 100 days are over. then the first year is over. he knows that, he knows the time is fleeting so they're trying to push these things through. it will be fascinating to see if anyone comes on board with him. the timing yesterday of the resignation of senator rob portman. would he be a player? i'm not so sure about that, but we'll see how long president biden leaves open the hope of

working with folks. they know if they go it alone on the covid plan, there is one more chance, you know, for a bipartisan unity, and that's infrastructure, like you said. that's in the back of his mind here. it's fascinating to see how he is driving a lot of this, actually, because he knows how both sides of pennsylvania avenue work. but, boy, it is a different washington, and that impeachment trial, we can't say enough, that gums up the works. >> and part of the issue with washington is they're the majority in the senate. they haven't been the majority in the senate since six years ago. dick durbin is number two. he says, kwquote, a very limite time to get republicans on board. he said march 15 is when unemployment benefits run out. you need a covid relief package before then. those who want the president to go big and go bold, are they willing to give him a little grace here, and if so, define a little bit? >> the tension is already bubbling to the surface, right.

you have democrats who want to work quickly and republicans are rolling their eyes when he talks about bipartisanship. the interesting thing, i think, to watch will be it's not just republicans who have expressed concern about this $2 trillion package, over the weekend there were a few democrats who also expressed concern over the price tag. so if it's going to be bipartisan or jam it through on a party line, it's not really either/or right now. democrats will have problems with the party line, too, so that's why biden is looking to see maybe they can do a smaller package, because if they say forget the republicans, we'll do it on a partisan basis, because they still have things to work out like what is going to be minimum wage, how big are the checks going to be? it's a test for democrats. >> and, toluse, you have

republicans saying the price tag is too big, so the conversations are many on capitol hill. this is designed, number one, to keep campaign promises, and number two, people who might be skeptical about joe biden, racial equity on a number of fronts. tomorrow the ban on leasing, new oil and gas leases on federal land. there are a bunch of executive actions he's also coming out of the box with quite quickly. >> that's exactly right. in part it's a gift from president trump. the outgoing president essentially did a lot of his governing by executive order. he didn't get much legislation passed over the four years, and as a result, the incoming president has the ability by the stroke of a pen to reverse things that democrats don't like about the past four years, on the environment, on racial issues, the economy. president biden can do that relatively quickly and that builds some momentum for his

administration. obviously, if he does not win in four years, that can all be reversed by a republican president in four years. you can sort of live by the executive order and you can die by the executive order, and that's part of the reason why legislation is such an important part of this presidency, and right now it does not seem like there is as much momentum on the legislative front as there is on the executive front. right now, early in the first week of this presidency, we have not seen this bipartisan support for any specific deal, even though there is a major challenge facing the country when it comes to the coronavirus, pcoronavirus pandemic when it comes to the economy. it does seem there are some democrats eager to do things very quickly. it seems like things will take a little longer in the biden administration and he's going to have to decide whether or not he's going to go along with only democrats if republicans do not get on board with helping him in

the early part of his presidency. a lot of the republicans in the senate are looking to 2024 and are considering running against him, and they may not want to run, and in 2022, they may looking to take advantage of some of the gridlock and take power in two years. so it will be very difficult for biden to get support for his agenda within that colloquial environment, but that's what he said he's set out to do. we'll have to wait and see if he's successful in doing it. >> let me add a third set of republicans, rachael. toluse mentioned the ones up for re-election in two years. susan collins has become part of groups trying, not always successfully, but trying to resolve difficult issues. listen to what she told cnn and chuck schumer.

what this campaign taught me about chuck schumer is that he will say or do anything in order to win. she said she does trust joe biden from his days in the senate now that he is president, but that's bad blood from a leader right there. as a senator, he would need to go everything bipartisan. >> yeah, there is no love loss there between susan collins and chuck schumer. you saw it going all the way back to impeachment last year when the first day of the impeachment trial there were a bunch of ads going up against susan collins trying to hit her up on witnesses, will she support witnesses. this is where the biden administration will come in handy in the senate if they can get support. schumer and collins wouldn't be great in a room together trying to negotiate anything, but collins is one of the first republican senators that biden reached out to after he won the election. clearly that's going to make, perhaps, a difference if he can do a bipartisan deal. i do think it's kind of telling,

though, that a couple days ago and over the weekend, we heard susan collins say this package is too big in regards to coronavirus relief as she quickly called out the $1400 check saying people who make $300 shouldn't get those checks, they need to be more targeted. so even people like susan collins who biden has a close relationship with, she's not there yet. she wants a smaller package. so it goes back to what we were talking about before, will he go for a more ambitious package, the president, or will he try to go for the bipartisanship that he wants. >> and as they do that, the impeachment trial will go ahead. how long will the trial be? how much evidence will the house managers try to bring into the senate trial, meaning how many witnesses will they call, how much video will they use? >> do you expect to have video in the trial and call witnesses, and if so, do you know who they would be? >> i hope you won't hear any of

the impeachment managers talking about our trial strategy. >> i will not be previewing the trial. >> i know it's frustrating for you not to hear what our strategy is, but i don't think it would be appropriate at this time to reveal that. >> so it's a bit of a mystery there. on the one hand, jeff zeleny, you get it, right? the house democrats don't want to reveal their cards, eventually they'll figure it out but you want to build your case. there is also the question for democrats to resolve among themselves. chuck schumer says he wants it to as quickly as possible. joe biden making it clear yesterday the senate has to do this, however, as you noted at the beginning of the conversation, he wants it done as quickly as possible so he can get about his business. >> they have bosses. they are nancy pelosi, chuck schumer and joe biden. yes, they're going to present a fulsome case, but there's no question here, they do not have an unlimited time to deal with this. the president, his success

depends on how quickly this goes. so, yes, there is likely to be witnesses, but these impeachment managers are not operating in a vacuum here. they're operating under this environment. and there is a limited tolerance, i think, for how long this will go. so we'll find out in the coming weeks. there is an interest on the hill to limit this potentially to a week. it couldn't be any shorter than that, but not longer than a couple weeks. we'll see if they can do that. >> we'll see if they can do that. before i say goodbye to you, i want to show some around the country. this was the dallas morning news, january 6, 2020. there you see the case for impeachment trial up much higher back then. now we can look at the "dallas morning news." i hope you have that one next for me. bring that one up. there we go. again, a much bigger deal for the first trump impeachment trial than the second trump impeachment trial, and the

tribune, pretty much the same, though you do see the managers walking across in that picture. one of the questions, i think, is out in the country for senators is this getting as much play because of covid, because of the new administration, because of the schools debate. it's interesting, toluse, rachael, jeff, thank you for the insights. why one expert says activities once deemed to be safe might not be anymore. when you switch to xfinity mobile, you're choosing to get connected to the most reliable network nationwide, now with 5g included. discover how to save up to $300 a year with shared data starting at $15 a month,

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standing by for a white house briefing, the press secretary jen psaki and the policy supervisor, susan rice, due in the briefing room any moment now discussing joe biden with racial equality issues, new prison reforms, police reforms, dealing with discrimination in housing and discrimination during the covid-19 pandemic. in the meantime, i want to bring in our doctor, leanna wen. i maiy have to interrupt you during this conversation. we can see the latest case numbers and show our viewers it is at a whorrific level but the case numbers do seem to be on a plateau. we're still up way too high there, but something more

encouraging. dr. fauci said he's worried it could head back up again if we don't get a better grasp of those new variants and how widespread they are. >> the sobering news is what i think you were alluding to, that as you get more and more repureplica ty o -- replication, you get ahead of it. the best way is to suppress the amount of virus that's circulating in the population, and the best way to do that is to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as you possibly can. >> what else? the new president says he hopes to get up to 1.5 million vaccinations a day. if you can do that, but what else? more testing? what has to be done? >> it has to be all the above, john, so i do think there is good news that we're finally -- it looks like the number of infections, number of hospitalizations are finally trending down, although we're still plateauing at a very high

level -- >> i'm sorry, dr. wen, my apologies. we need to go to the white house briefing. >> good afternoon. as part of the nation's efforts to increase transparency and introduce all of you to the policy experts who are leading the president's initiatives, we're joined today by domestic policy alddviser, susan rice, w will be talking about the racial inequity order that she will be signing this afternoon. she's agreed to stick around and answer questions. i will play the role of bad cop when it's time for her to go. with that i'll turn it over to susan. >> good afternoon, everyone. it's good to be back. jen, thanks. the president has committed the whole of our government to advancing racial justice he can wit -- equity for all americans. i've assembled a first rate team to drive this agenda forward.

we'll hold the federal government accountable for advancing equity for families across america. i have the support of every white house office and every agency in this work, because as president biden has made clear, advancing equity is everybody's job. tackling these challenges, though, is personal for me. i'm the descendant of immigrants from jamaica and enslaved americans. my grandparents and my parents are beneficiaries of the american dream, and so am i. my family's story is a remarkable one of the march towards greater equality and opportunity. but for too many american families, systemic racism and inequality in our economy, laws and institutions, still put the american dream far out of reach. today the average black family has just .10 the wealth of the average white family.

while the gap between white and black in home ownership is now larger than it was in 1960. these longstanding inequities are compounded by the crisis we face as a nation. nations of color are dying by covid-19 at higher rates. 40% of black-owned businesses have been forced to close for good during the covid crisis. black and latino families with children are twice as likely to be experiencing food insecurity during the pandemic as white families. and black and latino americans are 2.8 times more likely to die of covid-19. and for native communities across the country, the overlapping economic and health

crises have devastated tribal economies and health care systems. these are desperate times for so many americans, and all americans need urgent federal action to meet this moment. today president biden will deliver a national address on his plans to advance racial justice and he can -- equity starting with a racial equity advisory. he will make the american dream real for families across the nation by taking ambitious steps to readdress equality in our economy. his economic plans make restoring underserved communities and put economic recovery at the heart of it.

these aren't feel-good policies. the evidence is clear. investing in equity is good for economic growth, and it creates jobs for all americans. economists have estimated that the u.s. economy has lost a staggering $16 trillion over the last 20 years because of discrimination against families of color. if we closed racial gaps in income and opportunity, these same economists have estimated we could add $5 trillion to the u.s. economy over the next five years and add over 6 million new jobs for all americans. so building a more equitable economy is essential if americans are going to compete and thrive in the 21st century. we've hit the ground running to embed equity throughout the administration. on day one the president signed

an executive order directing an unprecedented whole of government initiative to embed racial equity across federal policies, programs and institutions. that starts with the review of policies and institutions to redress systemic racism where it exists and to advance equity where we aren't doing enough. every agency will place equity at the core of their public engagement, their policy design and program delivery to ensure that government resources are reaching americans of color in all marginalized communities, rural, urban, disabled, lgbtq plus, religious minorities and so many others. the president has put equity in the center of his covid-19 and economic crisis. his executive order he signed last week deliver rent relief, student debt reprieve and

emergency food services to families across the country, helping all americans, including black and brown families who we know are being hit hardest by this crisis. and he took steps to make our broken immigration system more humane and secure. he restored the integrity of the census so our constitutionally mandated accounting of every person in the united states is fair and inclusive. and even before taking office, president biden released his american rescue plan that will make historic investments in advancing equity. independent economists estimate that his plan will cut child poverty in half, cut child poverty in half for all americans and reduce overall poverty by 30%. black american families this year will face a poverty rate of 20% if congress does not act on the american rescue plan. but if enacted, the poverty rate

would fall by over one-third and it would fall by 40% for latino families and by one-fifth for asian american and pacific islander families. the american rescue plan also provides critical relief to native american communities and tribes. these investments will lift over 8 million black, latino and asian americans out of poverty and provide relief across sectors where families of color are most disproportionately impacted by this crisis, in food and financial security, health care access and education and child care. today president biden is continuing his commitment to embedding equity at the center of his agenda by signing an additional package of executive actions. the president will sign a memorandum directing the department of housing and urban development to mitigate racial bias in housing and affirmatively advance our nation's fair housing laws.

he will also sign an executive order directing the department of justice not to renew any contracts with private prisons. private prisons profiteer off federal prisons and are found to be by the department of justice inspector general to be less safe for correction officers and for prisoners. president biden is committed to reducing mass incarceration while making our communities safer. that starts with ending the federal government's reliance on private prisons. the president will also sign an executive order reinvigorating the commitment of all federal agencies to engage in regular, robust and meaningful consultation with tribal governments. and the president will sign a memorandum directing all federal agencies to take steps to combat xenophobia and acts of violence against asian americans and pacific islanders who have been

targeted by political leaders in our nation's response to covid-19. again, these are a continuation of our initial steps to advance racial justice and equity through early executive action. beyond this, the president is committed to working with congress to advance equity in our economy, our criminal justice systems, our health care systems and in our schools. as i've said many times in my personal capacity, and i say again, i believe we all rise or fall together. advancing equity is a critical part of healing and of restoring unity in our nation. the president will have more to say about all of this later this afternoon, and i'm happy to take a few of your questions. >> reporter: thank you. you speak about communities of color right now that are disproportionately impacted by

the pandemic, fof course, and they're also less likely to have a positive response to the vacci vaccination process. what is being done right now to communities of color to convince them to get this vaccine? >> i will leave much of this to jeff who is leading our covid response, but, one, we ever put in our covid task force a part about equity, and particularly that there are americans of color who for valid reasons are skeptical and reluctant. a large part of what our colleagues on the covid task force are doing -- this is the second part -- is reaching out directly to targeted campaigns to get to those very communities where the skepticism is highest.

and that's vitally important, because as communities of color are suffering disproportionately, and may have less access to information about the vaccine and the ability to easily go online in some instances and get an appointment, we have to take those additional steps to ensure that they are aware of its availability, they can get appointments, and that they understand that the vaccine is safe. >> reporter: another one, there is a lot of promises right now -- >> agenda is news of the day. >> reporter: president biden said in his first day of office, i'm going close the background details. what happened to that one-day promise? >> i think you can see we've rolled out an unprecedented number of executive actions. as you heard jen say and my colleagues say, this is just the

beginning. we have 1,454 days left in president biden's first term. give us a little something to do in the next few days. >> reporter: a housekeeping question, if i may, and then a follow-up. can you speak significantly as to what this does as it relates to immigrants? does this cover particularly the prisons and private prisons housing undocumented immigrants, tens of thousands of whom are facing deportation in privately run prisons right now? >> this order today applies to the department of justice-run prisons. it is not, in this instance, applicable to those run by other agencies. >> reporter: okay. and then going back to january 6 and what we saw just a few weeks ago at the capitol when we saw people roaming that building, carrying confederate flags, wearing anti-semitic shirts. we saw firefighters in that group, we saw military veterans

in that group, what are you doing to address this nationalism and how concerned are you about the threat of some of these groups leading into the impeachment trial? >> we have seen, and it's been plain for all americans on the television sets just how serious a problem we face from nationalists and white supremacists who have demonstrated willingness to resort to violence in some instances. and that is why the president has ordered the intelligence community to compile a comprehensive assessment of the nature of this threat and challenge and its origins and roots, and, thus, provide policymakers who have inputs that will be very important to address this challenge. the national security council has set up a capacity within the

nse to focus on domestic violent extremism and to ensure that we are, within the white house and within the inner agency, coordinating efforts to craft and implement policies that will address this. so we're taking it quite seriously. >> does this address the i.c.e. detentions? >> it addresses the department of justice prisons in the first instance. it's silent on what may or may not transpire with i.c.e. facilities. there was a department of justice inspector general report in 2016 that underscored that private prisons funded by doj were less safe, less secure and arguably less humane. this was -- the biden

administration took steps to end this in private prisons. president trump reverse that had and we are reestablishing it. >> reporter: two questions. the first, what will the administration do to address the relationship between communities of color and police, particularly as part of the mass incarceration component, and then second question, republican legislatures have signaled that they're going to look to roll back some of the voting procedures from the last election. we know that's centered in some of those swing states and largely black and brown communities. what is the administration going to do about that as well? >> with respect to prisons policing the entire basket of very important criminal justice reform issues, this is something that we are committed to addressing, and we will have more to say on criminal justice in the coming weeks, including on matters related to policing. so please stay tuned for that.

with respect to efforts to roll back the access to the ballot, this is something that i expect that the president will address in his remarks today. it's a matter of real concern because we ought to be in the business of encouraging and enabling all americans who are eligible to vote to be able to vote, and that's why we will continue to work with congress on its various efforts to advance democratic reforms. there is legislation on the hill that would move us in that direction, including restoring and revitalizing the voting rights act. >> this will have to be the last one, but susan will come back, i'm sure. >> you want me to come sfback? >> we would welcome that. >> reporter: these executive actions that could, of course, be overturned or reverse d by a

future president, can you think of ways to make them permanent so they can't be undone by a future president? >> to caudify something and make it lasting in law requires that both houses in congress pass it and the president sign it. for this, as well as many other things, there will be areas where legislative actions are the best and most durable approach. there will be some instances where, in advance of legislation or efforts to achieve legislation, it's wise to take executive action. i don't think we should assume that by doing something by executive action, where it may also be appropriate to seek legislation, that we wouldn't do it. we have a very full legislative agenda. the president's first priority is enacting the american rescue plan as well as getting our nominees confirmed, and we'll be focused in the next few weeks on that.

>> thank you. >> thank you, jen. thank you, everybody. >> okay. just a couple for things at the top and i'll be happy to take your questions. the president and his team have been working around the clock over the past six days to make meaningful progress on vaccinating as many people as possible. as we've talked about in this room before, increasing the vaccine supply and building increased cooperation between the federal government and state and local leaders on the ground is key to getting that done. the president will speak later today on those efforts and provide an update on his team's work to bolster the vaccine supply available so that we can, in turn, get more shots into americans' arms as quickly as possible. and i'll also add, as many of you have reported, there are some calls this afternoon with governors to brief them on these plans and give them an update on how we will continue to work

together even more efficiently. a couple other things. earlier today the first female vice president swore in the first female secretary of the treasury. what's that for history? dr. janet yellen. today is a pretty historic day. this afternoon the vice president will make her way to a federal agency, the national institutes of health, where she and the second gentleman will receive the second dose of the moderna vaccine. the vice president will thank director kcollins, dr. fauci an the staff of the nih for their work to develop the vaccine and efforts to keep americans safe. she will also make the case that congress needs to immediately pass the american rescue plan which includes $20 billion to invest in local community vaccine distribution centers in the hardest hit areas. her remarks in the vaccination at nih will be livestreamed on the white house youtube channels, so you can all tune in

for that. jonathan, kick us off. >> reporter: first on the response to the pandemic, two matters there. first, could you provide a little more detail as to how much more of the vaccine is going to be distributed and how quickly to these states? we have heard the governor sound the alarm that they're desperately low on what they need. and has cdc considered a manner of testing of passengers for all u.s. domestic flights? >> jonathan, the first part of our effort is certainly to ensure we are more effectively and efficiently working with governors and local officials who have expressed some frustration in recent weeks about the lack of information and the lack of a federal plan. we've only been here six days, but we want to take steps as quickly as possible to address that. and part of that will be what the president updates us all on this afternoon, and i would be a very short-lived press secretary if i got ahead of the president, and we're having so much fun in here so you don't want that to happen. on t