the studios. this toilet paper gun -- pete: i think that i broke it. come on. will: they took it away from him because he wasn't focused on the show. pete: you have a great saturday, i order you to. neil: all right, another vaccine is out, and in washington, covid relief that they say will soon be following out. we are following these fast- moving developments this saturday morning good morning, everybody so happy to have you, i'm neil cavuto and when it comes to busy shows, well, this is especially so. we've got republican montana senator steve danes joining us also bencardon the democratic senator from adam smith, the washington democratic congressman, all on these latest developments on capitol hill to get a better than $900 billion covid relief package through.

it's a lot easier said than done , but they are close, because they are coupling this with some sort of measure that will stop the government from shutting down late sunday night. that was pushed back 48 hours, thanks to a vote and a signing by no less than president trump, to make sure that they continue moving on this so that they can avoid a shutdown of the united states government. this does seem to happen every year doesn't it? but we're on top of that with first taking a very close look at what's in the measure, where the divisions are. leland, the more i look at this , they had a lot of common ground, but it's some of the more thorny issues that are keeping them apart, right? leland: so close, yet so far away, neil, and behind me on capitol hill, negotiators are burning the weekend oil. congress is working on a weekend , you know, there's something happening. they are trying to find a deal to spend somewhere around a trillion more dollars on covid relief, fund the government through september, and avoid a shutdown which would come sunday

at 11:59 p.m. it was supposed to run outlast night as you mentioned but the white house and congress agreed to a two day extension a couple of the issues trying to deal with this issue of covid liability for businesses and then also bailing out some of the blue states and big cities that are so far in the red, because of tax deficits. not necessarily breaking along tradition republican democrat lines here is senator ron johnson who made his stand yesterday against a fellow republican who wanted round two of $1,200 checks. >> this is all borrowed against our children's future and we'd have more money left over to target people who really need it right now. look at all of the small businesses that didn't get loans , didn't get relief and look at the people that didn't do that so congress, it's easy to shovel money out, it's just easy to just pick a number and say let's spend that, and it's a little more difficult to actually look at the numbers, figure out the best way to target this and that's what doesn't happen very often in

congress. leland: they aren't going to have a lot of time to talk about this because of the issue of simply hours on the clock. in order for a bill to come forward there needs to be a deal that members have to have a little bit of time to read it and discuss it. the earliest we could have a deal be some time this afternoon the earliest we would have a vote is sometime tomorrow afternoon, so there isn't a deal yet on the spending package right now. you'd say both republicans and democrats on capitol hill agree that they want a deal, and the government is open right now what makes this different, neil is you mentioned we seem to do this every year and you might remember a couple of years ago when there was a real appetite by some republicans especially the president to shut the government down and that is definitely not the case here. neil: so when i hear mitch mcconnell speaking, again, no one leaves until we have a deal, we'll work through the weekend if necessary, he means it, right is there anything that could all of a sudden get a lot of these senators to the point where they say well it isn't happening.

any remote possibility of that? leland: well this is 2020 neil and this is washington so there's a possibility for everything. neil: that's true. got it. got it my friend. looking forward to seeing you at noon thank you very much, leland i'm leland's like opening act like zz top when he comes on you have an opening act and leland comes on but the great gusto starts right now , and right through leland at noon. we've got steve danes joining us the montana senator, the senate finance committee honcho here as well senator always great to have you. i'm wondering what you make of the odds, the deal scored by presumably tomorrow the latest it can be scored unless there's another extension keeping the government open. >> yeah, i think somethings going to get done. mitch mcconnell was very clear nobody is going home for the holidays until we get this deal done but you got to step back and think about how crazy things are. we're talking about here is passing a budget that we're already three months into the

current fiscal year. last time i checked the federal fiscal year ends on september 3. it's not like a surprise to anybody, every year september 3 occurs on the same day. neil: right, right. >> it's truly insane, in many ways, neil. people describe d.c. as a work- free drug zone and i think this confirms it. neil: i like that analogy. you know, senator a couple things i'm curious about. republicans seem to have found an issue that really is giving the federal reserve the broad powers its enjoyed to do everything from buying bonds and mortgages, and all of the rest and their message is we've got to slow this down, we're getting the power of the fed to do way too much, giving away too much money to do even more and we want to stop that and that has gotten to be a real sticking point. how big a sticking point? >> well it's an important issue remember where we were back in march. equity markets were plunging. the bond markets were very

unstable. we had negative oil prices for a period of time, so that's why they invoked this very powerful provision with the federal reserve to ensure there was a liquidity backstop for the economy. we cannot use that as a piggy bank going forward now for the whims of what the democrats might want to do to spend more money, so that's why we've got to fight on that, so i agree we need a targeted covid-19 relief package. it just can't be a wild spending package. remember all these packages are using borrowed. these are taxpayer dollars with nearly a $30 trillion debt we face with the federal government so we've got to be smart about it and targeted. that's why the vaccine, the news about moderna and pfizer, that's the christmas gift the american people. that's how we end the pandemic. it's a remarkable achievement thanks to president trump, vice president pence, operation warp speed, because literally, we've had over 1 million americans vaccinated by the pfizer vaccine already since released a few days ago.

neil: you mentioned president trump i'd be remiss before we go , senator, do you recognize donald trump now as having lost the election and that joe biden with the electoral college meeting this past week is the president-elect of the united states? >> well here is what's going to happen is every member will be doing their own due diligence, because there will be a very important moment there on january 6 to ratify first what the electoral college has done and so until all of the evidence is presented, the legal challenges are completed i'm going to wait and see what happens here on january 6. neil: so you're not on board with joe biden being definitely the next president of the united states? you think he could still miss out on that? >> well i'll tell you what there's still challenges that they are existing right now. whether you're a democrat or a republican, what we've got to have is integrity in our elections, and i think that's a really important point going forward, we want to learn what happened where the irregularit ies were, get those revealed and bring them into the light and resolve

it. that's very important for the long term health of our democracy in our country. neil: do you think any of those irregularities, just yourself, senator, were of the magnitude to have actually switched the outcome of the election? i guess that's what the core of this discussion is about. >> yeah it is and i recognize that the very sober moment, a very important moment but i think each member will have to take a look at the data between now and january 6 and come to his or her own conclusions. neil: got it. all right, senator, i know you'll be working the midnight oil here with the threat of these deals best of luck to you on that front, steve danes, the montana senator, and let's go to ben cardin, very good to have you back, senator. what's the likelihood we're going to see a deal by late sunday night? >> well neil first of all it's good to be with you happy holidays to you, i hope you're safe. neil: you as well. >> i think it's probable we're going to get a deal done i'm very optimistic that we'll have

an agreement reached as early as today, and voted on by tomorrow. it's very possible, i can tell you in regards to the package that i've been working on small business, we have completed our work, so i am optimistic. we have one or two issues that were bucked up to the top leadership. they're going to have to make decisions on that i expect as we're speaking now, and put this together for action in the house tomorrow. i do want to agree with congressman, senator danes in regards to the process. this process is just horrible. we should be able to take the budget up, the appropriation bills up, these issues up, in a more deliberate way but this is an urgent situation. we've got to get this done, the american people desperately need this covid relief. neil: all right, so assuming a deal is done, i could be as naive or overly optimistic but to your point that a deal is scored do you think another deal

will be necessary that once joe biden takes over, he's hinted the need for still more relief. are you in that camp as well, senator? >> yes, i do believe we're going to need another covid package. this is basically a transition aid package to get us through the next three months. we know that the impact of covid-19 will be beyond three months from now, the impact it has on american families and on our economy, on state and local government, on our healthcare system, and we're going to still need to do some extra work to make sure that we recover from this covid-19 and the strongest- possible way. neil: you know, i guess there's been some division on the $1,200 relief checks that we saw back in the early part of the pandemic. i guess right now, senator, might be more like $600 and available tofuer fewer people and i think the phase-out would start at $75,000 and eventually run out altogether when you hit

$99,000 in income. are you okay with those provisions as long as stimulus checks of any magnitude whether it's 600 or $700 go out? >> remember this is a compromise proposal in order to get it done and signed by the president so that we can provide relief now. it is not as large as i would like to see the package. it does not include direct relief to state and local governments we desperately, the state and local governments need that additional assistance. there's not enough resources here to deal with those who are unemployed beyond next few months, so we're going to have to come back to that. the direct payment check is one- half the size as we did it under the cares act but it's for a shorter period of time as far as its impact as to when we expect to get the next package under the biden administration, so yes, i'm satisfied with the package. it's not the way i would have put it together. i would have done things differently, but this is what we can get done and represents the

views of both the democrats and republicans, the administration, and congress. neil: can you use this delay because from a capital, senator, to tell your loved ones look, i would have normally gotten you holiday gifts, but i've been too busy in washington so is it a good excuse for you in case your loved ones are waiting for gifts from you, that they're not going to get it because you've been too busy working? >> neil, i'm very fortunate, first of all, i live in baltimore so i go home every night and i had to get gifts because we celebrate hanukkah, so yes we've been busy in our family taking care of our needs but i'm one of those fortunate members whoever are night can spend it in my home. neil: that's pretty nice. that's pretty nice so that process is going on, a couple more nights, so on the home front, right? they're all done. >> right. hanukkah is over, it ended yesterday, so we're now in the

post-hanukkah period and your point is well-taken. we should have gotten this done a long time ago. it's desperate that we get this out here. we don't want the holiday to bring the end of relief to those who are unemployed and not provide the resources we need to get with people who are in desperate situations, so we should have done this earlier, but let's get it done in the holiday spirit and let's get this cop pleated but as senator danes said the real gift is the vaccine, let's get this pandemic under control and please stay safe, everyone. we have a few more months we have to deal with this deadly virus and its ability to spread very quickly. we all have to stay very vigilant in dealing with this virus. neil: senator thank you very much, just showing off getting your hanukkah gifts out and not a bump in the process here and now i'm really feeling the pressure for christmas so we'll see what happens. senator, be well, have have a very safe holiday season. senator ben cardin, we're following these developments and

as the good senator pointed out we do have a second vaccine out so that's promising news and again the likelihood you heard it from a republican and democrat that we're going to get relief just a matter of time so that should be the wind at our economy and market's back, right? after this. this holiday at t-mobile, get an iphone 12 with 5g, on us, on every plan! and if you're 55 and up, switch to our essentials 55 plan and save 50% on your bill vs. the other guys. that's right, iphone 12 on us! holiday on with t-mobile. some things are good to know. like where to find the cheapest gas in town and which supermarket gives you the most bang for your buck. something else that's good to know? if you have medicare and medicaid you may be able to get more healthcare benefits through a humana medicare advantage plan. call the number on your screen now and speak to a licensed humana sales agent to see if you qualify. learn about plans that could give you more healthcare benefits than you have today. depending on the plan you

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neil: you seen the fox christmas tree? i think it's the best one in manhattan, the rock center tree? but ours is great. i mean, there is not a spare inch of space on that tree, so, mr. hoffman, we get a chance we should show that tree, in fact we should show that tree the entire show. just knock me off and show the tree. i bet it's a ratings bonanza. welcome back, everybody, i'm neil cavuto and this is cavuto

live we're taking a look at a couple of developments on capitol hill where you heard from the republican senator, democratic senator, very optimistic that they'll be able to get a deal done, not only to keep the government functioning, and preventing it from shutting down, but also get a little bit more than a $900 billion covid-19 relief deal. now, a part of that deal be some stimulus though that could maybe put some in your little hands as much as $600 a week for unemployment benefits and that's ratcheted down since to $300, but then there's a stimulus check, a separate issue , for which many americans would qualify that be down from $1,200, but still probably maybe in the $600 range. now a lot of people, like a tax refund, they're betting on spend that money and keep their finger s crossed that they'll get it later. is that a wise strategy on this? let's go to jonathan max ferris, dan geltrude, and francis newton stacey and a lot of people say

wait i hear a stinks stimulus is coming my way, good idea? >> i don't know that that be my strategist i guess it depends on what kind of a dire situation anyone is in, and this is very good news that we're going to get this through, unfortunately, it's going to be too late for christmas shopping, those that are worried that they're not going to be able to eat or get evicted probably will miss christmas even if the benefits get extended or they get this money in their pockets after the new year, but definitely, anybody out there who can save is probably a good idea, unfortunately, moneys not really moving in circulation. we're going to have to kind of deal with that at some point in time, but for right now, you know, probably blowing it on christmas presents isn't the best plan. neil: what about on processed meats and cheeses? is that a good plan? we'll talk later about that. dan geltruge, let me ask you

because the markets have turned around from thinking we'll never get lame duck relief during that session, because it never happens. now it looks like they are and now they're counting on it, so what happens if it doesn't materialize? what are the markets going to do >> well i think the markets will definitely react, neil, but i think the markets are taking the right bet right now, that we are going to be able to get stimulus and remember, you know, as far as the economy and the market, it's two separate things. right now, the market is roaring and i think that's going to continue because we're just going to see more and more spending and aid from a biden administration but on the other side of this , when you're looking at small businesses, the outlook isn't so rosey. there's a survey that says more than one-third of the small businesses believe that they are going to be out of business by

the end of the year, and 41% of black or latino small businesses will be out of business in the next few months without some financial help. those are dire ideas that are out there, neil. neil: you're right about that and jonas, one of the things i've seen and both parties agree on so this is not a thorny debate when it comes to this feature of providing relief for small businesses. the latest figure has been around $330 billion, about 257 billion to 260 billion of that would really be aimed at the paycheck protection program, the so-called ppp. a lot of them benefit from that. will a lot of them benefit from it now? well for some of them is it too little too late? >> well for some that are actually hurting directly from covid it is too little too late and for probably 80 or 90% of businesses it was a very generous program where the benefits are tax-free which

is unbelievable because that means if your revenues are higher than last year you get a revenue boost and you get to deduct the payroll that you are paying with the government money and the rent. a lot of businesses are doing better than last year although there's several doing worse. it wasn't targeted and we're still not targeting these programs this far into stimulus and the bailout, that's why checks going out to anybody whether you're on social security with no income interruption from covid so my beef is theres no targeting going on to the actual people really hurt by it, it just goes out there's money out the door and in a leaf-blower fashion and does that help retail sales yeah a lot of the checks go into playstation 5 and maybe not to their rent because in some cases they don't have to pay that but it doesn't mean it's not going to juice and a lot of that money flows up to the profits of corporate america which boosts the stocks of all of the tech companies so is it targeted are we going to have to pay for it long run yeah but it's short run good for stocks and the economy and sales but it's a very sloppy program and still is.

neil: yeah, we'll watch it closely guys thank you. i'll see you next hour in the meantime operation warp speed, how it's going now with two vaccines approved the way there is still others down the pike. more after this. if you have moderate to severe psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis, little things can become your big moment. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats differently. for psoriasis, 75% clearer skin is achievable,

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neil: well, is there enough there there regarding the hunter biden e-mails and business relationship with china to warrant something a little bit more involved than finger pointing back and forth, maybe a special counsel to look into it all, republicans eager to do that. democrats not so much, and then there's the issue of what happens to that special counsel once the new administration takes over. matt whitaker the former acting u.s. attorney general. matt, very good to see you and thanks for coming in on a

saturday. what are the odds of whatever your views on the subject, and we will see a special counsel handling this. >> well, neil, good to be with you and happy holidays. i think that actually, a special counsel, you know, is a very technical question, in the department of justice has regulations that say when a special counsel should be appointed and obviously, famous ly, the mueller investigation was one of those instances where it was determined that because of the conflicts at the department of justice, no one could handle it and i think based on those regulations an investigation into the son of a president would qualify for appointment of a special counsel, so i think that is necessary. i think it's very interesting oftentimes the special counsel is required by those regulations to come from outside of the department of justice and right now, obviously, a u.s. attorney is heading up that investigation, so it's going to be very interesting to see how

that is interpreted bias of this coming wednesday, the acting attorney general, jeff rosen. neil: so, i'll ask you a series of very simple questions, but because i don't know it nearly as well as you do. let's say this administration or someone at the justice department appoints a special counsel in the interim, that would carry technically over into the biden administration. can whoever in the biden administration, his attorney general opt to have that person dismissed or is that person on automatic at that point? >> right. the whole purpose of the special counsel regulations, neil, is to protect that individual and that team from interference, because what it causes is a heightened standard for removal and it is a for cause standard and only under certain circumstances that a special counsel can be removed

obviously, without that protection of the special counsel regulation, you could have a president or ultimately an attorney general remove or replace anyone investigating someone that isn't a special counsel, and so i think once it is in place, if it is put in place, it be very hard to undo. neil: where would it go though? sometimes, these individuals go way beyond what was the original focus of the investigation and i know investigations lead into other areas, but if you look at the mueller thing that turned out to be almost a freak show, was going into areas that were not at all part of the original edict. so, how far would this go and how far would let's say a biden administration go in allowing it >> yeah, the challenge with the special counsel is it is an

unguided-missile that sometimes when not properly supervised does go far afield. i think the mueller investigation was actually more narrow than the media led us to believe in what their inquiry was was fairly precise in what they were charged to do under their appointment memorandums, but that being said, i think special counsels tend to be free from serious supervision and management by the political structure, by the political appointees at the department of justice, and so i think caution should always be used when appointing a special counsel and only in the most conflicted situations where no one can be viewed as independent and above approach should they be appointed. neil: matt it's just interested in getting your thoughts on bill barr resigning. i think he's going to be out in a matter of days, apparently the lynch pin for this and the

trigger was his arguing that whatever fraud was going on in the election it was not of the magnitude to have changed the outcome. do you agree with that? >> well bill barr has served his country several times admirably. he is obviously a two-time attorney general, which is unusual, because he's the only one that's done it twice. i think he's been a very important figure not only in his handling and landing the plane that was the mueller investigation but i think he handled other issues very well. obviously, all he can do as an attorney and attorney general is report the facts at what as he knows them and he made a statement that based on what he had seen to-date, there hadn't been enough that would overturn an election, that is the fraud and the irregularities. that doesn't mean that investigation doesn't continue and that doesn't mean that we won't ultimately know how

widespread that was in our country, but ultimately, bill barr, i think, saw that he be out of a job in the coming weeks and months so i think he decided that as he said, he would rather spend christmas holiday with his family. neil: all right, matt, thank you very much. good seeing you again hope you have a merry christmas, matt whitaker the former acting u.s. attorney general. i like about matt he takes any and all questions, he doesn't dodge them but whether you agree or disagree he's one of the few out there who takes them on. we are watching operation warp speed, this is a presser that a lot of people have been keeping an eye on because not only is the pfizer vaccine out, moderna was approved for its vaccine, so we could see another 6 million doses of that one, maybe as soon as monday, so it's going to be a busy time we'll be monitoring that amid talks that there is still other potential remedies from johnson & johnson and astrazeneca, and a host of others. it's getting crowded isn't it? after this.

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neil: all right, i want to dip into general gustaf perna, the chief operations officer for operation warp speed, detailing how not one, but two vacancies are already or vaccines i should say, are out to deal with covid-19 and more could be coming, he's explaining the rollout how some states will get their hand on this some before others but there is a

method to it, listen to him. >> we have allocated 7.9 million doses of vaccine and we are ready for that distribution. first dose distribution. we will ship simultaneously to all 64 jurisdictions and five federal entities. jurisdictions have already ordered the vaccine and we know it is going to 3,700-plus locations, with more requests coming in every day based on allocations. shipments will gina i'veing on monday, and continue through the week. moving forward, this will become our regular cadence of providing allocations receiving orders, and shipping to the american people. we have already learned a lot of lessons from last week in the initial rollout, and we will continue to apply those lessons as we move forward. i know we'll learn more this

week, but i'm also confident that we will have the agility to correct ourselves and get things right, so that the next time, it will go flawlessly. now, this week, many have heard concerns about allegations of vaccine doses being cut. i want to assure everybody, and i want to take personal responsibility for the miscommunication. i know that's not done much these days, but i am responsible and i take responsibility for the miscommunication. here is the bottom line. i want to make sure that we are 100% committed to fair and equitable distribution to everybody in the united states of america, and i give you my personal word that is what i'm driving to.

jurisdictions have asked me for planning numbers, and rightly so. we want to be open and transparent with them at all times. i have to work on the estimates that we know and we provide them forecasts accordingly, but vaccine manufacturing is a very arduous technical capability and we work hard in collaboration with them to know the process, to understand where we're at with the process, and then to make our best forecasts accordingly, but at the end of the day, what should really give you great confidence, everybody in america should have great confidence. the fda is the gold standard, not just in america but around the world, and they require the highest levels of review at the highest standards before doses of vaccine are released to the american people.

i, personally, personally appreciate that. at the end of the day the number of doses available to us to allocate ended up being lower, and so as we gave forecast to the jurisdictions and -- neil: all right we're going to continue to monitor army general perna here talking about the distribution of the moderna vaccine. they're looking at about 5.9 almost 6 million doses to be out in the next couple of days as it works its way through the system that be very similar to the pfizer vaccine that's already out, and about 6 million doses have become available across the country. the moderna one is a little bit different here. doesn't have to be kept quite as cold so there's a little bit more ease and logistics wise getting it out but the fact of the matter is close to 200,000 americans have received that vaccine. this might have a faster rollout , about 1.1 million worldwide have gotten the pfizer

vaccine and remember, it started first in great britain and then bahrain and some of these other countries that had it before we formally approved it, canada for example, that accounts for the huge difference between those americans who have it and those worldwide who have it, but the pace is picking up pretty markedly. mark meredith who has been following it very very closely because mark, he seemed to indicate more is on the way and they're speeding the process up, right? >> absolutely, neil and the fda 's emergency authorization of this vaccine was expected but really is still cause for celebration here at the white house, and nationwide. as you were talking about there are some differences, but the similarities also with this vaccine requiring two doses will be required for moderna's vaccine and it's close to be 95% effective, it could be stored though at warmer temperatures compared to pfizer's vaccine, so this will be also a staggard rollout but easier logistically. as you know the first pfizer vaccine started their injections this past week. many are hoping this will mark

the beginning of the end of this pandemic. the white house says this week alone 2.9 # million doses of pfizer's vaccine went out and 2 million more are expected to be distributed next week. as for president trump he has not spoken on camera about the moderna decision which is a little surprising but he did tweet about it last night, a pretty simple tweet. he wrote "congratulations, the moderna vaccine is available , now available. " on friday though vice president mike pence and his wife and surgeon general all received their pfizer vaccine shots. the vice president said he didn't feel a thing after his injection. house speaker nancy pelosi also received a vaccine on friday and more lawmakers are expected to get their shots in the days and weeks ahead. as for when president trump is going to get his vaccine that is the big question at this point, there was talk it was going to happen this week and he said he wanted to wait, white house officials insist he will eventually get the vaccine but no time on that one, so neil, we'll continue to watch for that . as for the president's schedule nothing on it this weekend but we'll let you know if anything changes and

neil, merry christmas to your team up in new york. >> and to you as well, my friend. thank you very much, mark meredith at the white house on that. now there were some bumps along the way the general alluded to them there, he took the blame. i don't possibly see how that could be his fault but having said that, in chicago, some hospitals were looking at a temporarily freezing the issuance of these vaccines until they had a better handle on some more stubborn side effects and nothing serious, but enough that they wanted to pause a little bit. i want to explore that issue with dr. craig spencer, vaccinated for covid-19 himself on wednesday, global health emergency medicine doctor, director of new york presbyterian columbia university medical center, that's what we're talking about smarty pants , doctor very good to have you. >> thanks for having me, neil. neil: do you know of some of the side effects that are popping up or at least giving some hospitals pause? did you have any problem like any of these? >> it's a good question and we

need to be honest and transparent, because these vaccines do have some side effects. i had some pain in my right arm where i was vaccinated for about 36 hours. that is quite common. we know some people are having headaches, other people are having muscle pain or fatigue. we're seeing that quite commonly maybe even more commonly than with other vaccines but the other thing that we're see ing is that this rollout is being more closely observed than any other vaccine rollout ever. we're learning about any adverse reactions in realtime, and the fact is that they've been incredibly rare, and this has been proven over and over to be safe and i'm quite happy to have been vaccinated myself a few days ago and looking forward to my next dose in just under three weeks. neil: so what would prompt the hospital to say all right, we're going to pause here a little bit. we're going to check this out a little bit, and i agree with you , these bumps that you would expect along the way, but are these serious bumps or are these just things that they want to double check and make sure there's nothing more serious

going on? >> obviously it's a very good question. we want to be really safe and there's already many people in the public who are hesitant, who are worried about the speed these vaccines have come out and so we want to be really safe. the reality is we've seen a couple reactions to this , and people that ultimately needed treatment. everyone has been okay. everyone has been observed. its been a very small number of people, but the reality is i would much rather treat an allergic reaction from maybe a one in a million dose of the vaccine than treat a really severe covid patient coming into my emergency department. that's much harder and much likely to be, much less likely to be successful. neil: that's an excellent point. you know, doctor, i am curious though, what i've been seeing where they televise people getting the vaccine shot and all , is it my imagination or is the needle unusually long, and does it go in unusually deep? maybe it's just the wimp in me

but i'm noticing it. that's a big needle, or is it me? >> i will be honest with you. i was so excited to get vaccinated that i didn't even feel it. it sounds silly to say i was euphoric about getting a needle jabbed into my arm but honestly, neil i've been watching this since march. i saw every single day back to back to back for hours, people coming in, unable to breathe, needing life support, dying, calling family on face time videos to tell them their loves one has passed, i was excited knowing that this is the beginning of the end of this getting vaccinated for me will protect me and my colleagues and i may not have to worry about treating one of my colleagues again like i did in march and in april. neil: you got the priorities right and if someone is just complaining about the size of the needle, i did notice the size of the needle, doctor, i should just shut up so i won't

say another word. doctor thank you very very much and for all your hard work and sacrifice for so many people. we appreciate it. dr. craig spencer. >> thank you, neil. neil: we are following a couple of other developments, other news is going on including this massive cyberattack on the u.s. here, on russia behind it, that's what the secretary of state says, but this isn't just your normal run of the mill attack. this was sweeping and incorporated everybody, and every institution including defense. let's get the latest from lucas tomlinson following it very closely in washington. hey, lucas. >> neil that's right the secretary of state is the highest-ranking official in the trump adminitration to put the blame squarely on russia for this massive cyberattack on the u.s. government and private sector. >> this was a very significant effort and i think it's the case now, we can say pretty clearly that it was the russians that engaged in this activity.

>> president trump has not spoken publicly about the attack nor tweeted about it. officials say he was briefed late this week. it's still unknown how extensive the damage is, not clear if any secrets have been stolen and officials say the intrusion goes back to at least march the top republican and democrat on the senate arms services committee says the attack is still ongoing and other lawmakers are calling this an act of war. the attack blamed on the russian intelligence service which succeeded the kgb, and the attack targeted the state department, treasury, homeland security, commerce and energy departments, national institutes of health was also hit and the scale appears unprecedented and the russians deny any involvement and microsoft is one of the first companies to sound the alarm and dozens of its customers were also attacked including some overseas. officials say the russians use the texas-based company solar winds to get inside u.s. government computers. >> there was a significant effort to use a piece of third party software, to essentially

embed a code inside of u.s. government systems and now appears systems of private companies & companies and governments across the world as well. reporter: keep in mind about 70% of the department of energy's budget is from nuclear weapons, neil. neil: lucas, thank you very much lucas tomlinson following all of that. we're getting a little bit more updates here of the distribution of this second vaccine, the moderna vaccine, that between the two and pfizer maybe 20 million such vaccines by the end of the year, and million s more, and remember the goal was for next year, between the two companies, to get better than a billion doses out to the public by the end of the year. they are well en route to doing that. stay with us. re-entering data that employees could enter themselves?

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>> next question is from karen stacey, your line is open. neil: all right, we are still following army general perna, in charge of the logistics in getting these vaccines out, moderna which was approved yesterday, millions of doses of that vaccine will be out to the american public, or close to 6 million in the days ahead. he has an aggressive timetable here but we're going to step back and look at the political impact of this as well, and there are a lot of folks that say we got wind of these vaccine s before the election, and might have different results and there's no way of knowing that the so we're going to move to the future and think of what the impact be on the georgia runoff senate race, and now given the fact that two vaccines are out and more could be on the way, amanda mackey joins us gop strategist also attorney. you know, it is interesting that we'll never know, had we gotten this kind of news before the election, whether it would have altered the results, so best we could do is sort of

gauge how all this vaccine news could affect the georgia runoff races. what do you think? >> well, i think it's just nothing short of nobel peace prize winning what we were able to do in record time, and the kudos really goes to all the companies, you know, hhs and president trump putting his ceo skills to the test here, and getting multiple vaccines to market, but he had promised this before and you know, no one seemed to believe him. he said by the election, or around the time of the elections, we're going to have a vaccine and surely enough , before the end of the year, we've had multiple vaccines that have come to market and so it's very unfortunate that they didn't believe the president but i think it could have had a dramatically different impact on the president and the race on november 3. neil: let me get a gauge from

you though where this goes, because the action of course is crucial to democrats and they need to win both of those seats to take control of the senate, but it's at a time where whatever progress the president and kudos to him with dick durbin, the democratic illinois senator gets high praise operation warp speed for making this possible. does the president stop on his own message by questioning georgia voting, certainly in the presidential election, and that it might, you know, dissuad e a lot of voters from participating. >> well look, the vice president was just there last week, ivanka trump will be there on monday so certainly, you know, the trump team and the trump family has been doing everything in their power to ensure that these senate seats

remains in republican hands. most importantly, for president trump's legacy, you want to make sure that the senate remains in republican control because all the great things that president trump was able to do in his four years, i think, a united states senate that remains in republican hands, is going to be very important to that legacy. it's really the only stopgap we have in making sure that there's a check and balance on government after january, so i think it's very important to president trump's legacy. neil: all right we're watching closely because you do have that and the question about the voting and whether its rigged or fraudulent and then it's very good news on now two vaccines out to the public, a lot sooner than virtually anyone thought possible, so we will follow it closely right now, as we head into our second hour, growing questions about whether we could get some relief from washington for covid-19.

republicans and democrats say we can't. mitch mcconnell in fact has ordered all senators to stay for the weekend, that no one leaves until they do, so we wait after this. ...

before you go over the river and through the woods this holiday season.

remember, safe drivers save 40% with allstate. saving is easy when you're in good hands. call a local agent, or 1-800-allstate for a quote today. >> all right. we're not the only ones working this weekend. so, too, on capitol hill, all the key players, all the players in the house and the senate where they're trying to scramble to get some covid-19 relief out and pair it with the measure that keeps the government spending mechanism in place at least for another few months and they hope a little longer than that. they're close. we're going to be hearing from mitch mcconnell potential will i in a few minutes to outline what the plans are and how close they might or might not be on covid-19. they agree on the big issues, it's the thorny ones, oddly the

role of the federal reserve, arcane as it may seem to you, has become a stumbling block. hey, chad, where do we stand? >> the christmas crisis it's a ritual on capitol hill. the covid-19 relief package stalled, and we don't expect a vote until tomorrow afternoon and even that could be optimistic. announce this afternoon or tonight according to whip steve scalise. >> i think we are going to have it completed by today. the final details were almost worked out last night. today i think we'll see it come together and tomorrow we could vote on that package and i'm hopeful we'll get it voted on by the end of this weekend. lawmakers and top aides worked on finalizing the language helping to attach it to a spending bill and they ran out of time. that's why they approved a temporary bill and steny hoyer

says the scope of this bill just takes time. >> even if an agreement were reached late tonight, the administrative work necessary to put that agreement to memorialize it in a bill would take at least 18 hours or thereabouts. >> the plan faces opposition from parties, conservatives think the $900 billion package is too expensive. liberals, too small. >> it's more than zero so we need to like really make sure that we hold the republican party accountable for cutting people's stimulus checks in half. >> the race is on to finish and if they don't have it settled. they will have to approve another stop gap spending bill to avoid a shutdown as they try to approve a bill before the holidays. neil: thank you very much, chad. following that. and the republican from

oklahoma, senator, you said this would be a tough hill to climb. that's proving right, senator, but you're optimistic you guys can climb it. >> i'm optimistic we'll get to a deal. the challenge is two-fold, to so what is negotiated in the quote, unquote room with it happens and all of us to look at it and see what the final negotiation will look like and to be able to make a decision whether we need to go back and renegotiate some areas or to be able to pass it. we're still in the phase of going through it and optimistic we'll at least have something we can all look at in the next 24 hours. neil: now, there's something in there, i guess, for both sides to dislike, i guess. democrats aren't too keep on the thought of limited liability protection for businesses that you and your republican colleagues are a little leery of some of these figures, going out of control, help for cities and the like. i don't know where that stands. is there one drop dead issue for you, senator, that would make you a no on this?

>> no, it's usually a whole series of issues on it. i would tell you that most of the issues that are really important to me i've seen are in the proposal, that is vaccine distribution, testing supplies, help for small businesses and the paycheck protection program, a second round on that, dealing with forgiveness on the paycheck protection program from the initial round that's so important, assistance for nonprofits. those are key areas that have got to be there. or we're really not providing help where they need help the most. and as you mentioned before, dealing with the federal reserve. we extended a lot of additional capacity for the federal reserve to do lending and backstop to the economy back in march. not knowing what would happen. and a fraction was used thankfully and we want that expire and democratic colleagues say we'd like the ability to have the flexibility to be able to use the federal reserve more deep into next

year. we said no president should have this kind of ability to be able to extend that kind of credit from the federal reserve in a time when we're not in a crisis mode and we're quickly moving out of the crisis with the vaccines on board by the time we get to march and april of next year, we're in a very different place than in march of last year. neil: got it, senator, thank you very much. i hate to interrupt, but mitch mcconnell is on the floor of the senate. >> we're face ago five-alarm crisis, the virus is surging across the country. two days ago my home state of kentucky set another bleak new record, in those kentuckians lost in a single day of this pandemic so far. nationwide, since the start of december, we've lost around 3,000 of our fellow americans to this disease every single day. meanwhile, although the american people have built our economic recovery from more

speed and resilience than anyone anticipated we've known all along that recovering prosperity would come hand in hand with defeating the virus, thus working families across the nation are still under terrible strain. last week, economists thought we'd see a slight downward tick in new unemployment claims, instead, the number shot up, logging 885,000 new claims in just one week. almost 900,000 newly laid off americans in one week alone. senators on both sides know what we need to do. and in the springtime when the country needed a bridge. we passed the largest in american history on unanimous bipartisan basis, now what americans need is another bridge. fortunately, this time we do not need a bridge over an unknown and frightening future, but a bridge through the next several months while the life

saving vaccines can flow throughout our country. frontline health care workers are receiving the vaccine as we speak. yesterday vice-president pence, speaker pelosi and i all received first doses of vaccines pursue to pre-existing plans for the continuity of our government. these vaccines are safe. they are effective. they are our nation's path out of this hellish chapter. so the first lines of the cavalry are already arriving. we just need to help american families hold on while reenforcements continue to pour in. for paycheck protection loans for hard-hit business, more direct aid for assistance for families. a lot more funding for k through 12 schools to reopen and get our kids' educations back on track. and perhaps most important of all, a huge amount of funding for vaccine distribution so that we aren't just helping americans endure this battle,

but we're helping them win the battle as fast as possible. last night we extended government funding for two additional days. the senate and the house need to finalize another rescue package containing all the policies i just named and many more. we need to finalize government funding legislation for next year and we need to pass these measures with a big bipartisan vote and get them signed into law without further delay. we need cooperation and focus from all sides. there is a kind of gravitational pull here in congress where unless we're careful, any major negotiation can easily slide into an unending catalog of disagreements. let's guard against that. the american people have already waited for more assistance longer than they could afford. in my judgment they've waited far too long for a relief package of the same general size and scope that senate

republicans have been proposing literally since last summer. every one of us in the senate and the house represent american families who simply cannot wait any longer for congress to conclude these discussions. every day that we delay may very well cost more small businesses their survival, cost more american workers their jobs and, yes, cost more americans their very lives. we've had productive discussions this week. i appreciate the good faith spirit that's characterized my talks with democratic leaders, speaker pelosi, leader mccarthy, secretary mnuchin, but the american people cannot feed their families or pay their bills with congress good faith discussions, they need us to act. we need to conclude our talks, draft legislation, and land this plane. >> under the previous vote the

leadership time is reserved. neil: all right, we're going to continue monitoring this on capitol hill where they are making progress and to hear mitch mcconnell tell it, they're getting closer and closer to something that seemed inconceivable in a lame duck session. let's go to adam smith, the washington democratic congressman and house arms services committee and chairman as well. chairman, thank you for taking the time and there's a lot that's in your bailey wick-- baliwick and particularly foreign affairs, and the covid relief, where are you? >> i'm in favor of getting something done. look, i support the larger package that the house passed. we passed a large package the end of september. i think the problem is great and it's not going away in three or four months. if all goes well with the vaccine, we can begin to get the pandemic under control. there are people losing their

places to leave, massive food insecurity, massive unemployment, i'll take what they can negotiate. they're talking $900 billion at this point. i'll take that and whatever we can get the senate republicans and the white house to agree to is a step forward and i hope we can take that because the need is great across my district and across the country. neil: what does your gut tell you, sir? do you think a deal can be scored in the next couple of days? >> yeah, you know, i've been talking with the leadership quite a bit in the midst of this, mainly because of our efforts to pass the defense bill, but i've also talked about these issues and my gut tells me that the problem is you've got too many parties here. i think that mitch mcconnell, nancy pelosi and steve mnuchin could have cut a deal a while ago. the problem is they have that conversation and then it goes back to the white house and the

chief of staff and they change it a little bit and what are the changes? there's a lot of multiple pieces here and used to be when we negotiated the deals, they cut a deal and everybody agreed it was good. mitch mcconnell and stepped up and has been more assertive and mark meadows has been more assertive. it's made it more difficult. we've been hearing it 10 days, two weeks, we're close. i've negotiated deals like this before if you're close for that long, that's a little bit of a problem. so, i hope we can get through this because we need to get it done. neil: chairman, if i-- of great interest to me is the armed services committee. as you know, the president promised to veto 740 billion defense spending bill because it doesn't include a provision in there to slap social media

and the protection via 230 from lawsuits and the like. but it seems to me that there are plenty of votes to override that veto if it were to come to pass. your thoughts? >> yes, no, we have the votes, no question. the president is sitting on it. i've been doing this for a long time, working on a lot of legislation, seen a lot of things. everyone as mitch mcconnell says, if you get into this, there's a lot of differences and a lot of-- this is from a legislative standpoint the reason for the president vetoing this bill is pretty much insane if you're looking at it legislatively. this is an issue that has nothing to do with the defense bill. senator inhofe and i negotiated this along with senators reed and congressman thornberry over the course of months and literally at the last minute mark meadows calls me up by the way you have to repeal section 230. first of all, what is section

230 and i had to figure that out. i was like, wow, okay, i see some agreement here, but it's a huge issue. you can't stick it into the defense bill the absolute last minute. yeah, we have the votes, but in addition to that, the president has-- it's complicated, the president has 10 days, he's not vetoing it. he keeps sending out, i'm threatening to veto it. neil: so you don't think he'll follow through with it? you don't think he'll follow through with it? >> oh, no, no, no, i think he will follow through with it. i'm not sure, lord knows how he makes his decisions, but he's got until december 23rd. okay? he's got 10 days. if he hasn't signed it then, it becomes law without his signature, but you know, he could do it right now. he's waiting and that doesn't make a lot of sense either. neil: chairman, thank you very much. very good having you. i know i've hit you with a lot of concurrent developments here. we'll see what the president does on the defense measure. as adam smith was telling you

there, the president threatened to veto that on provision 230. and some say it's not too much. a bridge too far, we'll override you and see if he does, and we'll see if he does. stay with us. an air force veteran made of doing what's right, not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right. usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs it with hassle-free claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. because doing right by our members, that's what's right. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. ♪ usaa

>> from operation warp speed to two vaccines out to now operation maybe lawsuit, steve? because right now a lot of offices are considering since vaccines are out maybe requiring their workers to take it not only for the safety of their workers, but so everyone can get to work. and a legal analyst and great legal mind in general, can they do that? can they force the issue, mercedes and demand you take the vaccine? >> yes, i mean, they have the-- lawyers have a huge safety net

under the new laws and regulations. they can mandate vaccinations for then tire work force and why is that? because we're in the midst of a pandemic and keeping the work force safe. there's lots of safety nets there for the employees themselves. they can say, it would be too dangerous for them to take the vaccine. they have some medical issue, they can't take it. a religious exemption to taking vaccines, there's lots of pitfalls for employers. but they need to get everyone safe and back to work. neil: so the people that argue on religious or other grounds, it would be a wasted effort? >> not, no, not necessarily because they do have significant protections under the laws. there are anti-discrimination laws that will give them that protection. i mean, if it's a religious exemption, they can trigger the title 7 and many of the local laws that are anti-discrimination. if it's a medical condition,

they can say that they're protected by the americans with disabilities act. so there's definitely established laws out there that will protect the employees, but it's going to be a balancing test. it's great to hear about 63% of employees in the country wish to take the vaccine. that's a very healthy number of individuals that want to come forward and take the vraciu. but you still have 37% and in the recent study that says they're not intending to take the vaccine. it's going to be a test for employers, employers don't want to issue like this and end up in court because somehow they've made missteps in trying to enforce that mandate. neil: mercedes, could this extend then to schools, even colleges, let's say? before you come back, just as we require vaccines and vaccinations for a whole host of things, we're going to require the same for covid? >> oh, it's absolutely a

possibility. i mean, even the government can mandate it. i mean, there's actual case law in the early 1900's where a mandate to take a small pox vaccination was upheld by the united states supreme court. so we have legislation and with this in place in terms of discrimination laws afords protections to employees, but you have legal precedence that have the government and employers to mandate the vaccination. it's going to be interesting to see what will ultimately happen, especially if students raise objections. even the employees, if they have any sort of reaction to the vaccination, they can bring a personal injury case through workers' compensation. so, all of these pitfalls that can be executed by the employees who fear the vaccine or they feel some comorbidity could put them at risk. most employers, frankly, neil

are looking forward to bringing employees back and making their work more safe. neil: got it. that's part of what this is all about. mercedes, great things of all things legal and meantime, a great read on the economy. let's say the republicans continue to hold the senate. you're not free yet. have you checked what your state is doing? after this. cosentyx works on all of this. cosentyx can help you look and feel better by treating the multiple symptoms of psoriatic arthritis. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms, if your inflammatory bowel disease symptoms develop or worsen, or if you've had a vaccine, or plan to. serious allergic reactions may occur. watch me! get real relief with cosentyx.

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>> all right, the thinking goes as we look at our fox christmas tree, phenomenal by the way, so much better than rockefeller center, but i digress. a lot of people are getting early christmas present money-wise if the republicans in the senate, make it possible for them to pass along tax

increases that joe biden wants. but that isn't happening in states, new york, new jersey, california that are looking at raising taxes, certainly on the wealthy. so what you gain federally you lose at the local level. the impact on the economy then with jonas max ferris, we've got dan and francis. dan, what do you think everybody thinks they've dodged the tax hike bullet, but in states like new york and new jersey, maybe not. they've got to raise revenue and right now the governors are looking at going after guys like you to do it. >> i don't know about guys like me, neil, but what i will say this whole topic of tax the rich, they're not paying their fair share is just simply not true. they vilify successful people and say, those are the people that we've got to get our money from. but, here is the truth. those people can move. wealth is mobile, and given the

technology that we have right now, people are moving because they can go to states like florida or texas and some of the others that are either no tax or low tax, and have substantial savings. how much savings? let's say more than 10%. these numbers are significant. so blaming the rich is not the way to go, and let me make one more point related specifically to new york city. 80% of new york city's income taxes are collected from 17% of the residents and those are the ones that make over $100,000. if 5% of those people leave new york city, which many of them are, it costs new york city almost a billion dollars. that's the fact into that's interesting. frances, i'm wondering, if states look to do this. 44 states in this country have

a constitutional mandate to have their books in balance by the end of the year. and it's the only way they can do it, isn't that going to cast a pall over the markets and economy, and so many states, could contribute to the pace of the recovery or reverse it? >> what's interesting is this tale of sort of unintended consequences. by not coming to an agreement on the state and local funding, and some of the states don't have a choice they have to have the balanced budgetsment they can't increase industry while the pandemic is going on and many of the states in the most dire of situations have the strictest lockdowns, new york and california. so, the thing is they don't have a choice, but to raise taxes, but the thing is, why do people pay more to live in new york city? because you have massive industries there and you have more job opportunity and you have higher salaries.

if those companies and wealthier people leave as employers, you're going to lower the ability for new york to come out of the pandemic because less people are going to be willing to pay those prices and deal with traffic and subways and the other things they deal with to live in new york city if they can get a commensurate salary elsewhere. you know, real estate and construction is about half of new york city's revenue, and that's down substantially. and i think that state and local government funding has to fill that void. otherwise you risk longer term consequences that make it much harder and take much longer to come out of this, neil. >> so, jonas, what would it be for the markets in the meantime? >> well, you know, neil, i wasn't actually-- i mean, morally, yeah, i think it's half of the taxes in new york, the top 2% if you want to narrow it down. california and new york pulled this game after the last crash

they went to super tax rates and everyone predicted doom. and it basically worked, plugged the budget holes from '08, '09 crash. there wasn't a covid situation there, the workers were still there and the jobs were still there and the tech companies, for example, aren't going to leave california. they doesn't want to be there, they'd like to be in country with low taxes and route through ireland or whatever. and without the worker base or the job base, that you can go to double digit tax on over a million dollars, like new jersey, it's not going to work well. and not going to work because you're seeing a lot moving to texas and goldman sachs is looking at moving to florida. it's going to become a detroit situation where you lose your tax base. i don't think it's going to work. states and cities could collapse and other states could do well and it's not going to be good for the economy or market because those are key

important states for the economy and with the whole picture, without the federal government coming in, they're basically going to collapse without a functioning tax increase which isn't going to work because people are going to leave. so it's a very dire situation. they don't have their own central bank and they can't buy their own debt so it's going to require something that's not as easy as the last solution, so to say. >> quickly, guys, i'm going to ask you about 2021 and the markets versus 2020. and the upside on the nasdaq, dow up 6%, and i guess s & p 15%. will the markets do better in 2021, frances? >> yes, the fiscal stimulus, the money has to have someplace to go. and what's unique happening right now the money is going into asset prices and it's not really moving around in society. the velocity of money is not moving. neil: it can go higher? >> it can go higher.

neil: all right, i'm sorry to be rude, dan, can it go higher than we are this year? >> yes, it will go higher, neil. why? because there's going to be stimulus, number one. number two, if the republicans hold out on the georgia senate race, we're not going to have an increase in taxes and third, interest rates are going to stay low and therefore, money on the side line is going to come back into the market. neil: all right, up we go. jonas, final, final vote. >> i think the tech boom is going to collapse hard, but the low negative rates will support foreign stocks and value stocks more or less, but this whole nasdaq bubble is out of control. neil: aren't you debby downer? guys, really, very good readable things. i hope you have a wonderful holiday, you've been a huge help us to here trying to figure out the crazy markets and this economy in a quite unusual year. stay with us, the latest on what the f.d.a. is considering now, as still more drugs line up at the runway to get

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>> there is a new vaccine in town and we've been monitoring how many doses are going to get out. i guess they're talking 5.9 million doses in the next 48 hours on top of roughly 6 million of pfizer doses out. you normally cut that number in half with both of them because these are both two-dose

regimens for individuals, whether they're 21 days or fewer apart. and let's go to christina coleman following the significance of this. >> great news. we just got an update from operation warp speed. vaccinations have begun with syringe and needle kits starting on monday and this couldn't come sooner, many hospitals reaching their breaking points. nursing home residents and workers to get the vaccine, for emergency use. more than 1.1 million people worldwide have got the vaccine already. moderna's vaccine will be given to people 18 years and older in two doses and four weeks apart. the company says its vaccine is 94.1% effective at preventing symptomatic covid-19 cases and

early data indicates it might protect vaccinated people from asymptomatic symptoms as well and pfizer's highly effective go against covid, moderna's doesn't need to be in kept at the temps. the officials are warning people against putting their guard down. >> while the second vaccine by moderna along with pfizer allows america to be on the offense we're a long way from being finished. i join our health professionals in urging americans to stay diligent in their defense. wear a mask, wash your hands, and stay socially distanced. >> and up to 20 million people could get one of the two vaccines by the end of the year, neil. neil: all right. christina, thank you very, very

much. by the way, as christina was wrapping up. we're learning in great britain they're imposing new restrictions what they call tier four restrictions to deal with a spike in cases there. namely around the london area. we don't know how sweeping they will be, but they are pretty substantial and the british prime minister, boris johnson was spelling out what the brits are in store for. they're not liking all of this because it's happening all over again. we've seen similar clamp downs in the likes of germany and italy. let's get the read on this with dr. tom freiedman, the former c.d.c. director. director, thank you for taking the time and i'm giving you sort of the headline what's happening in britain and echoing what we have pea seen in other european countries and ours included where spikes are pretty pronounced. what's going on here? >> two things are happening.

one good news, very effective vaccines beginning to get rolled out, but we're months away from having most people vaccinated and in the meantime, in the u.s., we're seeing the highest case numbers, the highest hospitalization numbers, and the highest death numbers we've had in the entire pandemic. so it's far from over. neil, i think of it this way, imagine that we're on a really dangerous sea voyage and many people have died, but we can see land that we can get to. the and we need to make sure that people get vaccinated. neil: doctor, i had a congressman yesterday on on fox business talking about his leeriness to take the pfizer vaccine, moderna had not been approved yet. i want you to respond to this. this was the congressman yesterday. >> it's my choice, i am in

america and i can decide whether to take the vaccine or not. in this case i'm not going to take the vaccine. neil: can i ask you why? >> yeah, i'm more concerned about the vaccine than the side effects. disease, i'm a healthy person and i think that most americans are healthy. i think we should focus on the at-risk populations in america and make sure they get them first and the health care workers who want the vaccine get the vaccine as soon as possible, but i am not going to take a vaccine. neil: director, he has since clarified or his office has that it is a remarkable development, this vaccine and that for at-risk individuals would be a good thing to do, but i'm not sure he's not alone. there are people talking about the speed at which it became available and the risk. what do you tell the population very leery of this? >> first off, it's true that this vaccine was developed very

fast, but it didn't develop in a rushed way. corners were not cut on safety. let me tell you, neil, for myself, the moment it's my turn to get a vaccine, i will get a vaccine. this is a vaccine that's very highly effective and we can't say that when a million or 10 million people get it we might not find some very rare adverse event. but with tens of thousands of people in the trials, there were no serious adverse events. so, the vaccines appear to be very effective and quite safe, but we have to look with time to see what happens. right now, we're not talking about forcing anyone to get a vaccine. we're talking about making vaccines available first and foremost to people living or working in nursing homes because that accounts for 40% of all of the deaths. right now, neil, we're seeing a big increase in deaths in nursing homes. there was this concept going around earlier that we could let the virus spread in young, healthy people and somehow shield the elderly and the

vulnerable and that is just fundamentally wrong. we're connected. people work in nursing homes. people visit nursing homes. people deliver food to nursing homes. one way or another, the virus gets in and people die so we have to prioritize first and foremost, nursing home residents and staff, and health care workers. as more vaccine becomes available, more people will be able to get vaccinated, including essential workers. that bus driver who is risking his or her life every day, may have diabetes and risks dying from covid or people who are working day and night to keep the economy going. essential workers, very important, the elderly, very important so that's going to get rolled out in the coming months, but it's not here yet. that's why it's so important to double down on protection protocols. especially with the christmas holidays coming, neil, because what we saw after thanksgiving, it was coming down and

thanksgiving came and a big bump. some dodged that bullet and we need to do that with the december holidays coming. we need to enjoy our families, celebrate, meet by zoom or skype or other means, but avoid lots of people indoors. when you travel, the virus travels. when people share air, the virus spreads. neil: got it. doctor, every time my extended family complains i'm not getting together with them, i said dr. friedman says i can't. always appreciate it, and you're giving us good advice and staying calm. and days running the c.d.c. and covering that for a lot of people who are scared. doctor, thank you, very very much. >> thank you, neil. neil: we'll have after this. l idaho potato farmer. genuine idaho potatoes not just a side dish anymore.

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>> all right. i want to take you to london right now. we're watching a live press conference led by boris johnson, of course, the british prime minister with top health officials outlining some more fairly sweeping measures in britain to get a hand on what has been a serious spike in cases there. the prime minister surging among other things, very small gatherings among brits at their homes, and trying to keep it very, very small and don't be breathing on each other, and advising, i think, one of them talked about the wisdom of masks, even in homes. of course, the prime minister himself was infected and had a very dangerous bout of covid-19. there's a heightened sense of urgency, it's a problem and they said we're revisiting lockdowns and things we didn't think we'd have to do we're doing. and people want to find out if they have the virus itself, up

until now, you had to go to various stations and hospitals and points. and you take your car and drive up and give you a swab and you may have to wait a while. he is a leading figure in getting those tests at home. you do it, you get the results in minutes and the company and founder and ceo, dr. shaun parsons. thank you. timing is everything, as they say, doctor. now with the spikes in cases abroad and of course, here, many more are curious about taking these tests. what are you noticing? >> yeah, thanks so much for having me, neil. now is the time. we need to test as many people as we possibly can. we need to reduce the transmission within our communities and get to that distant shore as we previously discussed. we need to stop as few people as getting the disease and dying between now and the vaccination of the community. neil: for a lot of people that aren't familiar-- i'm glad to have you back,

doctor, can you explain how your at-home test works, you know, and steer me through the process? >> sure thing. so, the way the test works, is you download, so it's much pr the test quit from stores or online. you go through the app and walks you through how to do the test step by step. and a video that shows it's simple to use and people can get it right even when they're feeling sick with covid. you take a swab of your nose and screw is into a small vial that comes with the kit. so all of the science and analysis and testing and measurements happen in the analyzer right here and the results are blue-toothed from here to your phone. there's no misinterpretation,

is that a line or not a line? all of this is here and this is to your phone with a whole lot of information what you should do next. neil: so the reaction you've gotten from this, i guess with the spike in cases, it dovetails with the interest in getting tested, right? >> yes, we've been inundated with interest in the product. which is very pleasing. we've been working on this product for many years for other purposes, flu in particular and so it's been very pleasing to see the interest. obviously because a lot of people need this right now and we're rapidly scaling up our manufacturing to be able to deliver as many tests to as many people as we can. >> and again, how much is the test? >> yeah, the target retail price is around $30. it will probably start a little higher. the goal is to get it down under that $30 point so, but the $30 is the approximate

target price point. neil: very interesting. now, dr. parsons, timing is everything and i hope you stay well, stay healthy. dr. parsons, the ellume ceo. and as the doctor was talking, we're getting details from boris johnson about the lockdown provisions in britain. and that the virus has 70% more transmissible cases than thought. he says it's a heavy heart that we cannot continue with christmas as planned. he's not canceling christmas, just telling people to dial it back. keep an eye on that and what dialing it back means. there was some good news this week. besides promising vaccines, there was a big snowstorm along the east coast and there was a marvellous good deed done in west virginia, the county

school in west virginia. and bonnie gibson who had an idea for kids buffeted by this and wanted a snow day, in the virtual learning environment, they don't do that anymore, but thought it was very, very important to do and he did it. kids were very happy. she was very happy, i should say. and the reaction was incredible, over the top. people saying, hey, thanks for thinking of our kids. thanks for thinking of parents. bonnie shea gibson, west virginia superintendent. thank you very much. what made you do that? in the metropolitan area they weren't giving kids a school day. >> well, in our estimation, children have lost a lot, we all have. i think you're just speaking about some of the restrictions on christmas. there are a lot of really sacred rituals and family things, things that bring us altogether, that we haven't had

a lot of control over and this is one thing that we could do to help families regain normalcy, to see some light at the end of the tunnel and we wanted to do that. i love the way your letter ended, bondy, where you said please enjoy sledding and hot chocolate and cozy fires, and snow hats they will outgrow by next year, and read books you wanted to lose yourself in, but haven't had the time. are you sure you're a superintendent? are you sure you're an administrator? because that was marvellous. i just thought it was magic. >>, the administrator who has a head for the job and the heart for kids. so those things go together. and if you get into the business you get into it because you just get your joy from bringing these kids on their way in the world and sometimes that's about usually, that's about a lot more than

academics, it's about helping them build relationships and enjoy life and find some happiness and connection, with each other. it was astonishing how many people came to me who didn't even have children. people who just, the number of adults who remembered the days when they were kids and just-- how excited they were. it was wonderful. neil: you know, i think that the timing was everything, bondy and other superintendents might feel that way. that's not always the case, they lose some of the heart and passion that you haven't lost one speck of. i'm wondering, given the pandemic and craziness of this year, it's like it hit a chord. it was like a santa claus for kids. and they've responded in droves. this has gone viral.

your letter has been played again and again, the world is reading it. did you ever anticipate that? >> oh, please. there is no way to anticipate that. it's been unbelievable. but i do-- you make a really good point. the pandemic has been all about restrictions and about taking things away and like snow days are all about freedom, you know? you're free from school, you're free from teachers. you're free from rules, don't roll around on the ground and do snow angels and i think it just struck this chord of i'm so tired of my life being restricted except on snow days. you're telling me try to have some fun and try to get my life back and it resonated with people and i deeply appreciate all the joy and the love that they've sent back to say thank you and sent me beautiful pictures of their families. so, thank you for that. neil: no, thank you. we needed that, bondy shea

gibson, superintendent. we don't have superintendents like that in my neck of the woods, just saying. but we have a beautiful christmas tree outside, i think so the most beautiful ever. - i didn't know why my body was moving on its own. it turns out i have tardive dyskinesia,

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>> at this very moment, negotiations underway, you can see a rare saturday session of the united states senate. lawmakers are trying to strike a deal on not only a coronavirus relief package, but also funding the government that shuts down on sunday night without it. welcome to america's news headquarters from washington. i'm leland vittert. you and i often work on the weekend, but it's rare when congress does. >> it is a rare sight. we're following it. i'm laura engle in new york. this comes as several key figures, including vice-president mike pence. surgeon general