pandemic. the commerce department is reporting that the u.s. economy grew at an annual rate of 4% in 2020, but that wasn't near enough to make up for the disastrous performance at the start of the pandemic with the economy decreasing by 3.5% during 2020 as a whole. that was the worst decline since 1946 in the wake of world war ii. wow. thanks so much for joining us. i'm kate baldwin. john king picks it up from here. hello, everybody, welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king in washington. thank you for sharing this busy news day with us. health care is the white house focus as president biden presses his plan to quickly put policy returns on the agenda. and you can stop listening to anyone who suggests that republicans are serious about a clean break from donald trump.

the top dog is at mar-a-lago to patch up his relationship with the president. we hear from the current president next hour. he will open an insurance exchange for a new special enrollment period. president biden will also start a ban on tax dollars going to organizations that provide abortion services. the top economic challenge and the focus of the biden legislative push. a new number this morning makes that effort quite clear. the united states economy shrank 3.5% last year. that's the worst since 1946. the president is open to narrowing his ask and wants a package that can garner 60 votes in the senate. but the white house press secretary says any talk that the president is open to splitting that package into smaller pieces is just not accurate. and democratic leaders on capitol hill signaling today

that they believe it's time to get moving. just last hour, the house speaker nancy pelosi said she is prepared last week to pass coronavirus relief legislation with only democratic votes if that is what it will take. let's get straight to the white house and senior white house correspondent phil mattingly. phil, you could hear the impatience from majority leader chuck schumer today. >> reporter: the president does want a bipartisan deal, does want to see if his team can make it to 60 votes and is ready to go near the top dollar line, but he's not ready to drop to where republicans want that top line to be. i think that's why you see impatience from democrats on capitol hill. you can go rank and file in both chambers. later today when brian drease

briefs senate democrats in a private phone call, i would be willing to say of the 50 democrats on that call probably 40 to 48 of them are ready to go right now and ready to go big. that's what chuck schumer said on the floor as well. while you continually hear joe biden talk about a bipartisan deal, while his team will try to reach a bipartisan deal, they are still trying to reach out to republicans getting them information about the $1.9 trillion proposal. i think reality is setting in, and the reason why democrats are in this position right now, and democrats in the white house, too, particularly the economic team, john, they look at the numbers. jobless claims over the course of the last several weeks, and they remember 2009. they remember their stimulus efforts in 2009 that they blame for the recession dragging on even longer than they should have. but they undershot, they didn't overshoot, they went too low. and they also remember the affordable care act that dragged on with no resolution on a

bipartisan basis. that's driving the democrats' desire to move forward and move forward quickly. and while the president is still trying to reach some bipartisan agreement, the reality in capitol hill and the white house is legislation is probably the only pathway forward right now unless something shifts in the next couple of days. >> phil mattingly, thank you for your reporting. now we have dana bash, mj lee and alex burns of the "new york times." let's start with that stimulus conversation because of the impatience you can see from senator schumer and speaker pelosi. listen to the speaker last hour essentially saying, look, we'd love a bipartisan bill, but i don't think i'm going to wait that long. >> i'll bring a budget to the floor next week and we'll send it over to the senate by the end of the week. we will be finished with the budget resolution, which will be about reconciliation, if needed. i hope we don't need it, but if

needed, we will have it. >> in the house, they keep talking about can joe biden get votes in the senate, i think it's less likely he gets many in the house. how does she manage this moment? you were here, i was here, phil was here remembering the first days of the obama administration in 2009. they thought the stimulus package was too small. they did get bogged down in a long debate, but a lot of the same members weren't here. you suddenly have a president, have a house majority, now narrow, and a senate majority, inkred icredibly narrow. >> yers, all those things and a huge difference between now with president biden and 12 years ago with the obamacare debate, and the democrats had a 60-vote majority, so they were negotiating among themselves. what she is trying to say and what so many, as phil was

saying, of her rank and file and rank and file democrats in the senate are arguing is it doesn't mean we're going to jam this through with only democratic votes, but we want to have the option to do that. and this is the legislative process tool that they can use. the question is, assuming that they're going to go down that path, which it sounds like they are, whether the republicans who are in the middle, who are willing to talk, who are willing to work are going to use that as either an excuse or genuinely feel that that is a slap in the face to the notion of bipartisanship because they're using this -- which is only used in a partisan way. republicans used it to try to overturn obamacare. remember, donald trump wanted to use it and did use it, it just failed because they didn't get 51 votes. it just depends on what people do with it, how it is managed and how it is spun. you heard nancy pelosi try to spin it as just an insurance policy. >> to this point, i'm just handed a tweet from chuck

schumer, we're in the midst of a once in a century crisis which requires a once in a century move to overcome it. only big, bold action is called for. democrats say joe biden is proving their point, because by the end of today, he will assign 42 executive actions. he's proving the point that even he knows on big questions there is not a lot of republican support out there, so use executive action to turn the page away from the trump administration. if you need any more proof, this is mitch mcconnell on the floor of the senate saying he's watched the first week of the biden administration, and he doesn't like it. >> an administration that wanted to pursue unity might observe that 77% of americans, including a majority of democrats, and 85% of independents don't want tax dollars to fund fabortions.

americans are getting short shrift. >> what is the proof the president needs? this is joe biden's dna. he wants to essentially try the republicans, put it on them. i tried to be bipartisan, you wouldn't give me anything, that's why we went all democratic approach. what's the threshold? what does he have to see to say, okay, never mind. >> john, i think that is sort of a work in progress, the answer to that question. what is joe biden's red line in terms of when the bipartisan approach is clearly not working? but from the reporting i have done with folks on the hill and around the biden orbit, it's pretty clear that he is also captive to the impatience of his own party in a way where he doesn't necessarily have an unlimited amount of time to try the bipartisan approach. you alluded earlier to those early months of the obama administration in 2009. there was a great sense of urgency at the beginning, that he had to get a stimulus, and it was worth getting a smaller one. it meant that you got it fast and that you got it with

republican support as well, limited republican acquiescence on the stimulus. i think when you talk to folks on the hill today on the democratic side, there are people who were around 12 years ago who sort of view that episode with regret, and there are a whole lot of younger members, or at least newer members, who have come in as a new generation of democrats formed in an atmosphere are feeling like that obama approach just did not work. and when you have the tiny margins the democrats have in both the house and senate, we talk a lot about the difficulty that leader schumer may have with a couple of the more conservative members of his caucus, there are also the members of his caucus that are going to have to corral on board that are more partisan and centrist. i think the big question for republicans is, are they willing to meet joe biden close enough in the middle to make it worth his while to stand up to the left wing of his own party?

>> one of the things the president is trying to do to acknowledge the left of the parties to say, i'm using my executive powers that i said i was going to do in the campaign. we saw it on covid, we saw it on climate yesterday in a very big way, the new president changing federal policy, and today we will see it on health care. he's going to reopen the enrollment period, the he healthcare.com website until the end of may. reversing abortion restrictions. you can hear republicans complaining about that. and make it easier for direct agencies to enroll in medicare and medicaid. one of the complaints from the biden administration, the trump administration, yes, they had the obamacare enrollment open, but they didn't really promote it or advertise it, so they're trying to bring more people in. >> yes, and keep in mind these

are the initial steps we're seeing president biden taking on the health care front, and obviously the big promise he had made on health care as a candidate and during the 2020 campaign was, i'm going to improve on obamacare. i'm going to make obamacare more accessible, so those are the kinds of executive actions we are seeing, so we shouldn't be surprised. but what i am fascinated by, and i think this discussion is definitely coming, is what happens at the point where president biden decides he wants to take on health care in a legislative way, in a bigger way in terms of working with congress and getting something done in a more wholesome way. because the point of executive orders is that you can use the power of the presidential pen, but that is very different from what you need to do legislatively in terms of winning over support from democrats and potentially republicans as well, and just keep in mind we all covered the 2020 presidential campaign and the democratic primary.

just think back on how overwhelming the issue of health care was, and on the democratic side, it was basically if you are for medicare for all, then you are, you know, okay in terms of your progressive credentials, and if you are not, and joe biden is not, then you fall in the other camp, right? so we are not just talking about a discussion and debate between democrats and republicans, we are really talking about a potential upcoming debate within the democratic party. when that discussion comes where democrats and particularly those on the left really putting the pressure on joe biden to do more significant on health care, that is going to be a whole different dynamic and political discussion that takes place. >> the supreme court may force the timing of that one when it settles the obamacare case held over from the trump administration in a couple months. we'll wait on that. mj, dana bash and alex, we

appreciate your insights. south carolina says they have detected the first u.s. cases of the coronavirus strain first seen in south africa. this is the first that dr. fauci said, quote, troubled him. elizabeth cohen, how big a deal? >> this is a big deal, john. it is not surprising when you have the south african variant in other countries, it is inevitable that it is going to come to the united states as well. as a matter of fact, you might say that other countries spotted it first, not because it was there first but because their surveillance systems are better than ours. the u.s. surveillance system isn't great. an important point here is that the two folks that south carolina found who have this south african variant, they had not traveled to south africa. in fact, they had no significant travel history at all. so that means it is just spreading within the united states. this is a variant that is

believed, we don't know for sure, but it is believed to be more transmissible. there is no evidence yet that it is any more deadly or that it causes people to get any more sick. there is concern, and this is what dr. fauci was referring to, that it might, to some extent, evade the vaccine. in other words, the vaccines we have now that are 95% effective against variants that have been around for a while, the vaccine may not be 95% effective against the south african variant, it may be somewhat less effective, but still effective. i cannot emphasize enough, just because this variant is here, i don't want anyone to think, the heck with the vaccine, i don't want to get it now. don't think that way. the vaccine is still the best defense and it still will do something against this south african variant based on all the science we know right now. john? >> another reminder just how complicated this is even as the numbers do start to improve somewhat. you have these variants to worry about.

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he has a clear goal, but he is anything but persistent as he completes that goal. mr. mccarthy said mr. trump shared blame. >> the president bears responsibility for wednesday's attack on congress by mob rioters. he should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. >> then weirdly the former president was angry and cursing mccarthy. power, it seems, trump's principle. >> we learned in the last four years that president trump brought forward that he listened to voices that no one else was hearing on either party. those are the voices we should continue to hear. >> today mccarthy is in florida

at mar-a-lago to make amends face to face and make clear that house republicans still stand with a twice impeached president that for two months tried to overturn a free and fair election and then tried to attack his own government. dana bash is still with us. i get it, the former president still has sway over the base, but to go down, forgive me, to kiss the ring at this moment in time is pretty stunning. >> and that is what our colleagues on capitol hill, that's what the reporting is, that for the most part, the goal that kevin mccarthy has is to make nice with the former president who is still such a force in the party. the question that i have is whether or not he is also going to use his audience with the president to encourage him to stop the people who are arguing amongst themselves or who are picking fights with fellow republicans in his name to cut it out. because i've talked to so many

republicans who are saying, enough already. we can't focus on the issues we talked about in the last segment from, you know, health care to name your topic when the focus is on an intra-party war, a real war. we'll see if he gets it. i can tell you i was told one bit of advice that mccarthy got was not to go because it makes him look weak. he didn't take that advice. >> it makes him look weak, i think that would have been sound advice. it was a collision of events. he's at mar-a-lago today to make nice with the president. he called his supporters, scheduled a rally, called his supporters to washington and then we know what happened after that. just yesterday mccarthy part of a call with the qanon congresswoman saying, we should

execute speakers like nancy pelosi. she pledged $120,000 to the republican party. she was congratulated for that. let's hear them congratulate the qanon congresswoman. >> if scott pederson had done his job, then that wouldn't have happened. why are you attacking gun laws that take away our second amendment rights? >> mocking there a parkland survivor. she also called that one of these false flag events, suggesting it was staged, and yet she is embraced by leader mccarthy, by others in the party. we'll show you an example today of discord in the party. matt gates is going to wyoming because he's mad at liz cheney because liz cheney supported impeachment of the president of the united states.

proud to be in your corner, marjorie. that is the house republican party. >> that's exactly right. the juxtaposition of that is so telling. why isn't matt gates in marjorie taylor greene's district, saying she needs to go because she went after a kid who was using his first amendment rights to protest because he survived a massacre at his school? why is he going to wyoming to attack somebody who voted her cons conscience? i talked to somebody who is working with matt gates who said liz cheney totally miscalculated this. doesn't she know that donald trump won wyoming by more than any other state? and that, i think, says so much about the disconnect and discord. she didn't miscalculate. she was very well aware of the political trauma that she would be exposing herself to, but she

did it because she thought it was right. she did it because the notion of a president, even a president in her own party, inciting the violence that she and her colleagues on both sides of the aisle had to endure is bigger than a party. and the idea that, again, going back to kevin mccarthy, he got on that conference call yesterday and he said, as a leader should, stop going after one another, and yet matt gates heard that and then still kept his trip to wyoming, not only kept it alive but is trying to encourage people to go to do a rally to attack liz cheney for this. >> because matt gates knows former president trump wants recrimination. >> wants it, and he's not saying anything. the silence is decafening, not just from matt gates but the republican party, and it tells

you that republicans firmly believe they should be focusing on in congress. instead they're focusing on the personality of trump and not the policies. >> choices. it's about choices. dana bash, appreciate the reporting and insights. we'll see what we get out of leader mccarthy's meeting in mar-a-lago with the former president. interesting choice there as well. senate republicans say no to a biden agenda and no to a president impeachment trial. - [narrator] grubhub perks give you deals on all the food that makes you boogie. (upbeat music) get the food you love with perks from- - [crowd] grubhub. if these beautiful idaho potato recipes are just side dishes, - grub what you love. then i'm not a real idaho potato farmer.

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a fresh reminder of the coronavirus economic crunch this morning. 800,000 americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week. the white house says that is proof there needs to be a big relief package and soon. chuck schumer says the bad numbers tell him to get the process rolling, even though so far the democrats are united in calling the biden plan too expensive. >> the senate, as early as next week, will begin the process of considering a very strong covid relief bill. we have a responsibility to help the american people fast, particularly given these new economic numbers. the senate will begin that work next week. >> joining me now, the senate republican conference chairman john berasso of wyoming. senator, thank you for joining

me. i know it's a busy time up on the hill. answer the argument the democrats are making, that joe biden won by 300 electoral votes. he ran on the premise, i'll give for money for stimulus. why won't the senate say, you did win, we'll bring it to the floor, even though we all may vote against it in the end. what's wrong with that? >> he gave a great inaugural speech, but i'd like to see one thing he's actually done to try to unite the country. if you take a look at the "new york times" lead editorial today, it said, ease up on the executive orders. the "washington post" said specifically with regard to this relief package, they said the best path forward is a bipartisan path. so, yes, he won the presidency, but i will tell you, we have a 50-50 senate, we have a house very narrowly divided at this point.

that should really be a mandate for moving to the middle, but that's not what we have going on now with this large proposal, the executive orders which have targeted american energy, the jobs from my state, getting rid of the keystone xl pipeline, getting rid of oil and gas and coal on public lands and now the call for a $15 an hour minimum wage. john, the small business owners i've been talking to in wyoming say, if that happens, i'm out of business. we can't afford this. that's another 1.3 million jobs that will be lost. so we do have people who want to work together in a bipartisan way to do targeted relief, but that's not what we're seeing coming from the democrats in this proposal, which is to send checks to people making up to $300,000 a year. >> help me, if we can. i don't want to spend too much time on this. it's pretty clear to me there is not going to be a lot of republican support, but the new president says he wants 1.9

trillion. what would it take for you to say we'll bring the votes to bring it to a floor, even though some of us may vote against it in the end. is it too big? >> it's what's included in it. the $15 minimum wage shouldn't be included in this piece. if you look at the "washington post" in the editorial today, look at things that ought to be left out. we want to make sure people can get back to school, that the virus can be snuffed out, that people can get the vaccine. those are critical issues we need to address, i agree with that, but not a lot of extraneous things that are going to hurt the economy. >> one of the things that's going to happen here is senator schumer says he'll start the process next week. then in less than two weeks we'll have the trump impeachment trial that will literally shut the senate down until it's over. we don't know if it's one week

or two weeks, we'll see as it plays out. and they said most likely president trump would be convicted in the senate. listen to senator cain here. >> if we want accountability, how do we want this to end? do we want it to end with trump acquitted again, or do we want to have it end with senate fines that censors president trump, finds that it was an insurrection and possibly bars him from holding office. >> senator schumer says they're having a trial. but if there was any way, any way to stop a trial, would republicans join in a big vote to censure the former president? >> no. 45 republicans voted that it is unconstitutional to try a president, a former president, a citizen for impeachment at this point. there is not going to be a conviction.

you can read the writing on the wall on that. but senator -- >> forgive me for interrupting. so you believe -- okay, that's the republican position that it's not constitutional. so this former president, there should be no accountability? you don't think republicans should go on the record to condemn what he did and said at that rally that led to the attack on your building, the capitol building? >> there's plenty of accountability. this president is the only president in the history of the nation to be impeached twice. now, that's going to be in the history books forever. in terms of what senator kaine is proposing, senator kaine said let's do this instead of a trial. senator schumer, the majority leader, said we're going to trial. that's what's going to happen in the united states senate. they're saying that is even higher priority than focusing on getting people back to work, getting kids back to school, getting relief out there. they're saying it's a higher priority than allowing president

biden to put his cabinet in place. this is the democrat priority. this is a partisan crusade. it is revenge. it's vindictive, and my prediction is that president trump will not be found guilty when the final vote is taken. >> i think a lot of people around the country would like to see some accountability. i'm not going to get into a big argument about it. i would like to ask you about another question, a very serious question. you have a number of house democrats today, and republicans, voicing concerns about their security. there's been a lot of talk that especially republicans like yourself, who did not support the president's lies about the elections, who were willing to have the electoral college process move forward, what are you being told about the continuing threat? there were no incidents at the biden inaugural, we're all very grateful about that, but there was a very high security presence. what are you being told about security threats and is it personal? are you receiving threats or other members that you know of?

>> members are receiving threats. we still have 500 national guard stationed around the capitol building. you can see the razor wire is still up, the fences are still up. and i think going into an impeachment trial, which is what chuck schumer said he's going to do and is the priority of the democrats today, that's going to pour more gasoline on the fire. i think it's a mistake. >> they're arguing they're doing their constitutional duty, but that's a discussion we'll have for several more weeks. senator, thank you for being here. >> thank you. up next, president biden asking states to be more aggressive in offering covid vaccines.

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some trouble in coronavirus news today. south carolina has said they found the mutated strain first identified in south africa. this variant is more contagious. that bad news comes at a time when there is somewhat encouraging news when you look at the numbers. first you look at the state case map. you're looking at a lot of green. that's good, we're coming down from a high level. but you have 40 states trending in the right direction. no states reporting new infections now compared to last week. that's important. however, we do know the deaths are a lagging indicator. cases are down a little bit, deaths are down a little bit. we still have more this week than last week. let's walk through how this plays out. the case timeline is improving,

again, improving from a horrific place up here. you see wednesday, 152,048 cases. you see the red line trending down. that is encouraging. still around 150,000. you want to get more than that, but if you see around 300, that's heading in the right direction. hospitalizations also heading down. this is encouraging. the peak on january 6, 132,000-plus. down to 130,000 yesterday. you see the trend line is starting to come down again, going in the right direction. the lagging indicator is deaths. when cases come down, hospitalizations come down, it sometimes takes a couple weeks. the death counts still at a troubling point, over 21,000 u.s. deaths last week. let's hope this one comes down. one of the ways to get it down is get the vaccination rollout at a quicker pace. you're looking here at 16 states that have administered fewer than the 50% of doses they have

on hand. meaning doses are delivered, and you see 43 million delivered internationally. you see these 16 states that have administered less than 50% of the doses they have on hand. one of the big priorities for team biden, the new team, urging states, speed it up. >> i don't want to imply that the people are sitting -- the states are sitting on doses for weeks and weeks. there is some period of time, a grace period, in that 21 days or that 28 days where people are coming in expecting to get that second shot, and we believe that we should be following the fda authorization for both of these vaccines, and we need to make sure that vaccine is available when those people asking in. so we are ensuring that vaccine is available for the second shots of both pfizer and moderna. >> let's bring in cnn's kristen holmes. the cdc director there, dr. walensky, telling states trust us, trust us.

put those shots on the shelves into arms and we will get you that second dose. some of the states don't trust that. >> john, that's absolutely right, and they have reason not to trust it. they have spent the last several months since the vaccine started not knowing when the next shipment was coming and how many doses there would be. this has really been the biggest question that we have had since the beginning of the rollout. why is there such a discrepancy between the doses administered and the doses distributed? i want to pull up that number here because you can see just how wide that gap is. 41 million distributed, meaning they're in the states' hands, but only about half of them have actually been administered. the cdc has given us a litany of reasons. they talked about how they didn't have enough people to administer those shots, but now we're learning that some states were holding onto these second doses to make sure people actually got them. now, a white house official saying we don't want any states to hold onto any doses, but the more and more officials i speak

to say we're very happy with what the biden team has laid out, that increase in doses that we are expecting to see next week. but we have been promised things before, and we don't want a situation in which our residents of our state can't get that second vaccine. and if that happens, we think it's not going to be effective. so they're trying to do what's best for the people who live in their state, and we're going to keep a close eye on this to see if the biden team does deliver on the increase of doses next week. >> interesting. kristen holmes, i appreciate you watching this. in 50 states, all the millions of people waiting to get their vaccines. up next, nancy pelosi addressing new security concerns from lawmakers, not just about washington but also about when they're at home.

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house speaker nancy pelosi is meeting with former general honore on the capitol security. more than two dozen house members writing a letter to pelosi and minority leader kevin mccarthy asking for help. the house responded. >> we will probably need a supplemental for more security for members when the enemy is within the house of representatives, a threat that members are concerned about in addition to what is happening outside. >> cnn's crime and justice correspondent shimon prokupecz joins us now. shimon, you hear the speaker there. and we do know even the biden inauguration went off without any major security issues, they believe the threat will persist. >> reporter: and it's going to persist, john, for some time. this is not going away any time soon and that's what has law

enforcement officials so concerned. the chatter, we keep hearing about the chatter being off the charts. there is a continued effort throughout, sort of, the social media world to try and energize some of the people who believe a lot of these falsehoods, and the concern is as this continues, and doesn't really end, that many of the lawmakers, when they go back to their homes, back to their home states outside of the security bubble that they're really offered here in washington, d.c., that they face unprecedented threats. you know, for most of us, when we see our local lawmakers, they're able to mingle with crowds, they're able to hold events, be with the constituents. that is likely going to change and it's going to fall on local law enforcement, whether it's in new york city like the nypd or in l.a., los angeles police department. they're going to have stto star worrying about lawmakers as they return home, when they start having events, when they start going out and being with con

constitu -- constituents because of this consistent threat. the lawmakers need to start making some changes with how to protect themselves and protect their families as well, john. >> shimon prokupecz, grateful that you're on top of this as we watch it play out in the days, weeks and perhaps months ahead. president biden has pushed getting more children back into the classroom and is facing resistance from teachers' unions. upgrading over a thousand towers a month with ultra capacity 5g. to bring speeds as fast as wifi to cities and towns across america. and we're adding more every week. coverage and speed. who says you can't have it all? ♪ no matter if you're young or old, tall or small,

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this just in, confirmation of a big policy item now under review. tony blinken told the afghan president today that the u.s. is looking over the peace deal with the taliban. the biden administration wants to assess whether the taliban is living up to its deal to reduce violence. it's unclear if the united states will ultimately decide to pull out of that agreement with the taliban. chicago a major test case for a key biden ninitiative, getting children back in the classroom asap. it has been proven that with safety concerns, it can work. but big pushback by teachers'

unions. the we are told they will strike if they are told to get back into the classroom. it's a major test of the biden administration while running up against a traditional ally. >> reporter: it really is. teachers' unions are prepared to strike if they are told to go back to the classroom. we're seeing the same dynamic play out in different parts of the country. for the biden administration, that means politically watching a tightrope of sorts where, on one hand they have said, like teachers' unions have said, they support getting teachers vaccinated and getting these teachers back into the classrooms safely so schools can reopen, and it's part of what chief medical adviser dr. anthony fauci has said as well. >> this is not an easy issue. you've got to understand the concerns of teachers because they obviously have a concern, an understandable concern.

putting all that together, we need to try and get the children back to school and that's the goal of president biden, that in the next 100 days, get the k to 8's back in school. >> reporter: now, president biden also says he supports the science of covid-19, as dr. anthony fauci has also said something along the lines of close the bars and keep the schools open. obviously that pults a lot of these teachers in a precarious position when you consider the studies done out of the cdc show the risk for transmission in schools is relatively low when proper precautions are taken, at least lower than the community tr transmission rate. those t those are issues playing out here in chicago, and the real pressure and sense of urgency comes from the fact that over 6,000 k-eighth grade students are expected to return in person

on monday. it's a small percentage of the total, but it's still more than 60,000, and teachers want that vaccination, they want the testing. schools are falling too far behind and the gap we're seeing in remote learning are going to affect things in the long term, and you have what we have here, again, a similar standoff to what we're seeing in other parts of the country. again, i should mention that a little more than 6,000 k-8 students, that's a little less than previously affected, suggesting some are dropping off in the midst of this battle. >> very, very important reporting on a vast issue. remember these viral photos of senator sanders and his mittens? they've transmitted into big charity. t-shirts, sweatshirts and stickers with him at the

inauguration with his mittens has raised more than $1.8 million in just the last five days. that money goes to meals on wheels and several other charities in the senator's home state of vermont. a good cause. thank you for joining me on "inside politics." boro brianna keilar picks up coverage right now. have a good day. hello, i'm brianna keilar and i want to welcome viewers here in the united states and around the world. we are beginning with breaking news. a disturbing development in the coronavirus pandemic. south carolina has now detected the first u.s. cases of a more contagious strain of the virus. this is that variant that was first spotted in south africa. and this is coming at a dire time in the country when we are still losing thousands of people every day and states are dealing with a shortage of vaccine. i want to go now to cnn senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen on this. what do we know about this strain, elizab