are negotiating 24/7 now in chicago to try to get -- >> harris: we are running up against the top of the hour, randi, with the american federation of teachers president. i want to bring you back. all parents want their kids in school. they learn better that way, but we have to be realistic about it. thank you for watching. let's bring on "outnumbered." fox news alert now. house democrats pushing for sweeping new legislation they say would strengthen our elections, but that republicans are calling it a power grab and the antithesis of unity, hr1 as it' known, the for the people act, would establish automatic voter registration nationwide. would allow same day voter registration on election day, would require paper ballots in all jurisdictions, expand vote by mail and offer nonbinding

support for washington, d.c. statehood. nancy pelosi, the house speaker, talked about the bill last week. >> i thank you for asking about it. because this is really central to the integrity of our government. >> harris: senate republicans blocked the legislation last time it was introduced with mitch mcconnell saying the left wanted to change the rules of american politics to benefit one party, end quote. however, now democrats are in control and tucker carlson is sounding the alarm. >> january 6th we had a riot at the u.s. capitol. why did that happen? it happened because millions of american voters were convinced the last election was not fair. they saw the radical increase in mail-in voting, millions did, and it corroded their faith and the public's faith in our systems of election.

they were enraged by that. some of them exploded. according to democrats, the lesson of that terrible day is that we need more mail in voting, we need more ballot harvesting, more corruption! that will unite the country. we're not overstating any of this. hr1 would literally enshrine fraud. >> harris: let's get into it now on "outnumbered." i'm harris faulkner. here with me emily compagno, leslie marshall, joining us today civil rights attorney and fox news contributor leo farrell. you've been writing some pretty strong op eds for fox news.com. i'll come to you first for your reaction to what's rolling out. >> first of all, hi, ladies. thank you for having me on and everyone else. let me tell you right now, this is a power grab for the

democrats. they are taking away the rights of every individual state, the set of qualifications, harris, for voting. let's be clear. if you vote for hr1, there is no verification of i.d., no voter i.d. whatsoever. this is an attempt by democrats to allow anyone to vote without verification. here's the biggest problem. a lot of people, and i'm a trump supporter. lot of people questioned the large increase in votes. why? because there's no check system. one other point. there's a ballot area of position that allows these individuals, democrats, to collect ballots and just turn them in. what makes this country great is fairness and liberty. one final point, the d.c. statehood is nothing more than to ensure a permanent democratic majority in the senate. d.c. does not deserve statehood at all. >> harris: that's interesting. emily, about that statehood

point? >> he's absolutely right. but i have to say the two largest issues that jump out to me about this are, number one, the fact that it solidifies all of the questionable voting practices that cast so many questions, called into question so much doubt about validity in the last election and ultimately led to an erosion in the entire voting system. the second, one is of federalism to leo's point. on the first, it literally takes the subject and process, there are hundreds of election lawsuits and doubles down. on federalism we know the founders with the 10th amendment left to the state a reserved power of running the elections. with this, it would nationalize it. melding those two together is after this election, are the states relieved? would they gladly surrender their power to the federal government because it removes from them the fact that they would have to do that hard work moving forward of ensuring transparent and best practices with their best state election.

>> harris: katie? >> well, one thing in the legislation that's quite interesting is this automatic voter registration. now, you have a right in most states to vote as long as you're not a felon. but the fact is, you also have a right not to be registered to vote and not to exercise that right, if you so choose to. the idea that you now have everybody registered to vote, just like they sent out mail in ballots to everybody, there is the potential for even more fraud. on the back end, after an election, it's very difficult to prove and go back through all of those things. i'm sure there will be states pushing back on that if it were to be passed and say, we have our rights as a state legislature and we handle our elections differently than the federal government wants us to. democrats are trying to get as many people registered as possible. when states try to clean it up, getting people who maybe died, getting rid of ineligible voters, people who are no longer

eligible to vote, then they sue the states and say, you can't do that. it makes the voter rolls unclean. it also puts out there lot of potential for fraud when it comes to having a back stop of verifying all these automatic registrations. >> harris: what's interesting, too, katie, is it sounds like, at least i'm understanding this, that it also kind of pits the citizens up against the state to have to make sure that things are done right. if you're talking about lawsuits now, who wants to sue? they just want to vote. >> if you want to be registered to vote, that's something an individual gets to make the decision about. you shouldn't be forced as a citizen to be registered to vote or to cast a vote. that should be something that you choose to do as a individual on your own time. >> harris: leslie? >> registering to vote doesn't force you to vote. as we've seen from the numbers, lot of people registered don't

show up. 67 lawsuits out of 68 that were not brought by the federal government but were brought to the state. what were the issues with the state? that there weren't paper ballots. they were concerned about the voting machines. this is one of the area that addresses the cries from republicans and especially though in the party or even outside the party who felt that this was a fraudulent election even though there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud. so i think, quite frankly, this is -- whether democrats are in control or republicans are in control, that's why elections have consequences. the party in power is going to have a power grab. this puts everything on a uniform level so quite frankly it should address and alleviate the concerns of the voters out there. everybody's been screaming paper ballots. this is one of the areas this legislation addresses. >> harris: leo, i want to come back to you. when you talk about republican

opposition, senate majority leader then at the time, so this was right when hr1 was put forth, nearly an 800 page bill, by the way. a bit ago when this first came on to the scene, he said this about it. he labelled this a democrat politician protection act and said in an op ed that democrats were seeking to change the rules of american politics. how does it change the rules and how are republicans going to push back against it? >> it goes back to the states. states have the obligation to set for qualifications for voters in their states. this is a high check. this is to nationalize it. that's wrong. it's the right of the state to set the qualifications. secondly, the whole issue of voter supression, layer harris, they want people to vote without any type of proof. no voter i.d.

this is not 1950. this is 2021. people should have to prove voter identification in order to vote in this country. >> harris: democrats facing push back in their second impeachment trial of president trump after their call for unity. >> hearing in the house, now they're going to turn around and bring impeachment, yet they say they're for unity. >> harris: plus, the white house stressed over president biden's new covid related travel restrictions after he once called similar measures by then president trump xenophobic. is there a double standard? >> when president trump was imposing travel restrictions in march, specifically on china, then candidate biden called it xenophobic. what words will you use to

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>> president biden says he believes the senate impeachment trial of former president trump has to happen even if it affects his agenda. he cautions democrats do not appear to have enough republican votes to conflict trump in the senate. biden making the comment just as the impeachment article was being seen delivered to the senate yesterday. republicans are slamming democrats days after they called for unity. watch. >> they didn't even have a hearing in the house. now they're going to turn around and bring about impeachment yet they say they are for unity. if you are truly wanting to move on, move on. >> we are being asked to impeach a president who isn't president.

we're asked to proceed when we don't even know if this is constitutional. >> how can a bunch of politicians in washington will decide they'll say to 74 million plus americans, we are gonna decide who you are allowed to vote for? >> we learned that democrat senator patrick leahy will preside over the trial and not chief justice john roberts. it is unclear whether there will be witnesses or how long the trial will last. leslie, i'd like to start with you. if president biden is already doing this bid for conviction and we know that it's just a numbers game, right, given the legislative intent of his administration at this point, then why are they moving forward with this? >> well, the constitution. if you impeach a president in the house, that's one thing. that's done. that's part a. part b is, is this president removed from office? the is where as you know, emily, better than i, with your legal background, that this is the new precedent here. there is no precedent for this.

donald trump is a private citizen, no longer a sitting president. however, does a political party not move forward with impeachment in the house because they know they don't have the votes in the senate? well, andrew jackson, bill clinton, republicans knew they didn't have the votes. they pushed ahead. democrats know they don't have the votes. i said that before. just like president biden is saying. but they have a constitutional responsibility to follow through. >> katie, to leslie's point in part, given the chief justice is not presiding over this, isn't that just one more reason to call into question this impeachment conviction as to the legitimatety of it all? >> the reason justice roberts is not presiding over this impeachment trial is because president trump is no longer the president. i think this is some issue of priorities, a massive waste of time. go back to the first impeachment that democrats brought against president trump, the house did not do all the work they should have by calling a number of

witnesses. this time they have called zero witnesses before they sent the article of impeachment over to the senate. last time around the house intelligence committee, led by adam schiff was focused on impeachment while a virus was emerging from china. the house, senate, congress and the white house had to focus on this impeachment trial rather than gathering intelligence and trying to prevent a pandemic from occurring here in the united states. when they were focused on this, as a president is no longer in office, the being used as a political weapon. it always has against president trump. democrats have brought impeachment for a number of reasons. they're trying to use it against him for political reasons. this is a continuation of that. my concern is what is happening outside this impeachment bubble, whether it' threats from foreign adversaries or dealing with domestic issues? last time around we should have learned our lesson about priorities when a virus was coming into the country while the entire u.s. senate and congress were focused on impeachment.

>> leo, on the legal side of things, what is your analysis on the potential for consequences of a speedy trial? one potentially without witnesses. >> i'll tell you right now, let's be very clear. this impeachment is red meat for the socialists on the left. this impeachment is unconstitutional. donald trump is a private citizen. like leslie made reference to bill clinton. he was in office. donald trump is south of office. donald trump, emily, has been denied due process. didn't have a chance to oppose the proceedings in the house. he hasn't had the right to even challenge the impeachment proceedings. what this is all about, everyone knows this, especially i, because i am a trump supporter. they don't want president trump to run in 2024. democrats are afraid of donald trump. this is a way to try to punish him. one final point. all donald trump did on january

6th was exercise his right to free speech. i challenge any one of though democrats to tell me what incited the crowd. i submit to you he said nothing to incite that crowd. >> harris, circling back to katie's point, the nuts and bolts of the impeachment trial, how much will that play an important role when we look back on this and look back on it as she pointed out with the last impeachment trial where we see this is being hidden by focusing on this at the moment. >> what we learned about impeachment in the past is americans are busy. when they look at this issue they say, okay. if they peach him in the house and don't think they can get a senate conviction, why are we going forward? we can talk all day long about the constitution. if things are so egregious, why don't they ever get kicked out? the senate decides that it

doesn't want to convict and remove. that's its job. that's where the constitutionality comes in, leslie. they can't really do their job now because he's already out. i want to just say this. i think it is really fascinating that you've got a deal between mitch mcconnell and joe biden to delay. that helps both of those men. it helps president biden with his current covid agenda, which helps america, he's hoping, to get that rolling and get those vaccines out and stay focused. democrats say they can walk and chew gum. he needed more time before they started every day at 1 p.m. for sick -- six hours for six days straight. the other thing it does for mitch mcconnell, it allows him to look at his own party but across chamber and maybe get some help, pressure some of those democrats from the house, from those who are waivering

inside the senate. if you don't have the votes maybe you don't do this. time kills most deals. i'm fascinated by the politics of it all. remember, mcconnell and biden have known each other a really long time. >> oh to, be a fly on that wall. a new report reviewing president biden's white house history was shield by dark money donations. details on the anonymous campaign cash, next. plus portland's mayor once again getting confronted at a restaurant just like he did in this video. this time he takes an extreme measure to defend himself. has he lost control of his city?

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also called dark donors. >> president biden did benefit from record breaking dark money. in fact, donation helping him with his election win, $145 million in comparison, president trump received $28.4 million. that's about 17% of what biden got according to the center for responsive politics. what exactly is dark money? in politics it refers to funds political nonprofits or superpacts. they are expenditure only political committees. they can take in unlimited contributions for individuals, unions without any legal limit on the donation size. once it's all lumped together going to the candidate, you really don't know where it came from. the irony here is democrats have been after dark money for years including biden himself in 2018 when he said, quote, people can't possibly trust a

politician with a superpact. >> there is a rot in our american democracy and there is a shadow over the halls of congress. the rot is dark money and the shadow is special interest influence and empowered by that dark money. >> that was a sheldon whitehouse from rhode island. but house dems have also been vocal on this issue, even hoping to revive to reform campaign finance laws to bring dark money into the light. it's interesting. it raises a question. with biden taking advantage of dark money, how can the democrats go the distance? it's a little bit like saying if the uber wealthy used tack laws to their advantage then said they wanted to dismantle the very laws that help them. it has people scratching their head. >> harris: thank you very much.

leo, it's more complicated than looking a little hypocritical, right? if you need that money to win as democrats, you look at those numbers, that $145 million for biden and $28.4 million for president trump, when you look at that, it shows you that one side was clearly leaning harder than the other. what do you make of this? >> that's why i like donald trump. he didn't take that swamp money. here's the point, harris. citizen united allows dark money. let's be clear about the law. first of all, money alone, in and of itself, does not guarantee victory. check out jamie harrison in south carolina. he had a boat load of money. he lost. issues win elections. what i'm concerned with is trying to restrain, restrict corporation, individuals from contributing. i'm all for contributions of money into campaigns because money, in and of itself, does not win elections. but when you fight against dark money, like the president did in

the swamp, i'm for a guy like president trump who is issue oriented. democrats are talking double talk. >> harris: that's interesting. katie, what about the fact that it's untraceable? are there problems with that? are there challenges with that? >> yeah. i think it's traceable in the sense that you know which groups are donating to which pact but the amount of money is difficult to kind of track down. the problem that i have with this is not about money being placed in a superpact. my issue is democrats have been railing against citizens united. they've campaigned against these issues. far left is always railing against corporate money and corporate donations. but when it comes to getting joe biden elected, the campaign was happy to take more corporate money than president trump did, while pretending to stand up for the little guy.

it is not an issue that i think is wrong, but the law is very clear. the supreme court ruled citizens united is valid and corporations are essentially people and can make political donations. the issue is democrats are happy to use the dark money profits to their advantage while railing against it for their republican opponents. >> harris: leslie? >> i have to say, i agree with most of what leo said. don't thank me, lee, my friend. i'm glad he pointed out citizens united set the ground work for this. i can't stand dark money, quite frankly. both sides take advantage of it and will continue to as long as it's part of the system. the person with the most money doesn't always win. donald trump proved that in 2016. there are people who benefit from this. mitch mcconnell whose one nation had more dark money funneled into federal campaigns than any

other. like i said, it's rotten, it stinks. both sides use it and take advantage. that's not good because of the influence these individuals and corporations have possibly on politicians rather than the people who elected them. >> harris: that was the part that i was getting to about the untraceable. katie is absolutely correct when she says, it's not like we don't know where it's coming from. we do. it's the amounts. that speaks to the issue of access and what will be done in return for that. i would think -- i think that's how politics works. emily? >> exactly. that's why executive issue of directive one summed it up perfectly. she said the whole point is it's dark from public disclosure, but you get the private credit. it's only dark to the public. democrats call this uniquely corrupting, now the amount biden received dwarfs president trump and then candidate romney's amounts that they received.

these guys are unapologetic about it. the chairman of priorities usa, that was the container of the largest bundle for now president biden, he said, we weren't going to unilaterally disarm president trump and the right wing forces that enabled him. so unless these gaping loopholes are closed, this will remain legal. >> harris: i said this is how politics work. don't we all hope that it doesn't make work that way for some people? i guess that's a little polyannish. president biden imposing some new foreign travel restrictions to help slow down the spread of the coronavirus. however, president trump was criticized as xenophobic for taking similar actions. how the white house press secretary responded when she was questioned about the apparent double standard.

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>> peter doocy challenged the press secretary this. >> talk about the announcement about the travel restriction. when president trump was imposing travel restrictions in march, specifically on china, then candidate biden called it xenophobic and fear mongering. now president biden is putting travel restrictions on. what words will you say that? >> that's not quite a fair articulation. the president said he thought the muslim ban was xenophobic. he overturned that ban. he has supported, we did, even before he was inaugurated steps, travel restrictions in order to keep the american people safe. >> to keep the american people

safe. how is this not outright hypocrisy? >> this is why identity politics and using racism or xenophobia accusations falsely is dangerous. president trump put those orders in place to try to prevent the pandemic from coming to the u.s. when the president said they repealed a muslim ban. that's not accurate. president trump signed an expectative order that prevented people from failed states like somalia, libya, yemen from coming to the united states because the governments there couldn't prove who these people were, whether they were terrorists or criminals. they didn't have an accurate portrayal or paper record to give the united states in order to make sure that bad people who wanted to do americans harm weren't coming to this country. and so bottom line is that president biden and president trump both put in travel

restrictions against certain countries to prevent the pandemic and virus from continuing to spread. it was true for president trump. it is true for president biden now. the left accused president trump of false xenophobic and racism when he did to it keep the american safe and joe biden being praised for doing the same thing. >> what is your response to katie's response, leslie? >> well, first of all, when i look at what is being responded to, when former president trump was calling it a china virus and in addition to that, it was just china. if you remember when the restrictions were imposed on china, at the same time, italy, iran and south korea were all surging. there were no restrictions on those countries. quite frankly, the restrictions weren't even enforced. i came back from mexico right before everybody stopped flying in march. when i came in through lax, i had to go through customs, international terminal. there were flights from china, from iran, from italy, from

south korea. i asked the gentleman at customs, what is going on? i thought china was banned from coming in? he said, supposedly. but if they're american citizens, we can't stop them. he said the rules change one minute to the next. one, one nation. two, lack of enforcement. three, using china virus as the rhetoric that surrounded that decision. >> harris: i'm going to step in with breaking news. white house press secretary jen psaki, susan rice are going to hold a press briefing inside the white house. let's watch together. >> good to be back. jen, thanks. the president has committed the whole of our government to advancing racial justice inequity for all americans. i'm leading this effort out of the domestic policy council. i have assembled a first rate to drive this agenda forward.

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

than it was in 1960. these longstanding inequities are compounded by the converging crises we face as a nation. americans of color are being infected by and dying by covid at higher rates. one in ten black americans and one in 11 latino workers are currently unemployed. by some estimates, 40% of black owned businesses have been forced to close for good during the covid crisis. black and latino families with children are twice as likely to be experiencing food insecurities during the pandemic as white families. and black and latino americans are 2.8 times more likely to die of covid-19. and for native communities across the country, the overlapping economic and health crises have devastated tribal economies and healthcare

systems. these are desperate times for so many americans, and all americans need urgent federal action to meet this moment. today, president biden will deliver a national address on his plans to advance racial justice and equity, starting with an equitable and inclusive recovery. president biden will renew the federal government's commitment to making the american dream real for families across the nation by taking ambitious steps to redress inequality in our economy and expand opportunity for communities that have been left behind. including communities of color. his economic plans make historic investments in underserved communities, and put equity at the heart of our recovery. his ambitious agenda builds on a legacy of americans forging opportunity out of crisis. these aren't feel-good policies.

the evidence is clear. investing in equity is good for economic growth, and it creates jobs for all americans. economists have estimated that the u.s. economy has lost a staggering $16 trillion over the last 20 years because of discrimination against families of color. if we closed racial gaps in income and opportunity, these same economists have estimated we could add $5 trillion to the u.s. economy over the next five years and add over 6 million new jobs for all americans. so building a more equitable economy is essential if americans are going to compete and thrive in the 21st century. we've hit the ground running. on day one, the president signed an executive order directing an

unprecedented whole of government initiative to embed racial inequity across policies and procedure. that starts with a review of policies and stphaoug -- institutions and to advance equity where we aren't doing enough. every agency will place equity at the start of their policy design and program delivery to ensure government resources are reaching americans of color and all marginalized communities, rural, urban, disabled, lbgqt, so many other. the president has put equity at the center of his response to the covid crisis. his executive orders signed last week deliver rent relief, student debt reprieve and emergency food assistance to families across the country, helping all americans, including

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

would fall by over 1/3 and it would fall by 40% for latino families and by 1/5 for asian american and pacific islander families. the american rescue plan also provides critical relief to native american communities and tribes. these investments will lift over 8 million black, latino and asian americans out of poverty and provide relief across sectors where families of color are most disproportionately impacted by this crisis, in food and financial security, healthcare access and education and childcare. today, president biden is continuing his commitment to embedding equity at the center of his agenda by signing an additional package of executive actions. president will sign the memorandum directing the department of housing and urban development to mitigate racial bias in housing and affirmatively advance our nation's fair housing laws. he will also sign an expectative order directing the department

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

covid-19. again, these are a continuation of our initial steps to advance racial justice and equity through early executive action. beyond this, the president is committed to working with congress to advance equity in our economy, our criminal justice systems, our healthcare systems and in our schools. as i have said many times in my personal capacity, and i'll say again. i believe we all rise or fall together. advancing equity is a critical part of healing and of restoring unity in our nation. the president will have more to say about all of this later this afternoon and i'm happy to take a few of your questions. >> peter? >> thank you. you speak about communities of color that are -- >> harris: all right. want to pull back to get some context and perspective about that. today we have civil rights

attorney leo terrell. leo, you were saying kind of off camera your reaction to susan rice now and her comments. from a civil right's attorneys perspective, what do you think? >> thank you very much. i have been a civil rights attorney for 30 years. this is my wheel house. the democrats just went out and announced systemic discrimination in this country. there is not discrimination in this country. they don't even define the term, harris. it's a legal term. they use this to basically divide this country. the democrats use this all the time in democratic cities. people of color are running these cities. i would challenge anyone, debate anyone from the white house, where is it? where is systemic discrimination in this country but a people of color are through every aspect of government. one final point. when they talk about systemic discrimination, they never point to a particular department, a

particular division, because it does not exist. this is not 1950, harris. this is 2021. there are laws and there are people of all color in every level of government. one last point. you want to get rid of discrimination. have school choice. break the poverty cycle of these teacher union and public unions who control the poor education system in these public schools. >> harris: you know, leo, as you're speaking, and we were just hearing from the adviser to president biden now, susan rice, on these topics, i'm just curious why if these are democrats' longstanding values that they've held, and correct me if i'm wrong, if these are some things that have been tried before, why haven't they worked before? and, you know, when you see the unrest that we had after the death of george floyd, you can understand probably that there is a need to have some kind of conversation. >> you're 100% right, harris.

look. we should have a discussion on race. but the democrats use the race card as a basis to keep black and minorities in their party. harris, i have left the democratic party last year because i was tired of the democratic playbook of always playing the race card. joe biden can make comments that would be deemed racist. it's discussed because he has a big d in front of his name. donald trump or any republic, no matter what they do, they're automatically racist. that is a game plan and strategy that the democrats have used for 50 years. i'm telling you, it has worn out. that's why donald trump received more votes from minorities than any republican in the last four years. why? because we've figured it out. it's a game to keep democrats beholden to the democratic party. it doesn't work. >> harris: all right. in all fairness, i do want to bring up, and we have leslie marshall with us here, too. you hear leo terrell talking

about some of the comments president biden, then candidate made on the trail. i think you and i have been on the air when some of those things have been said, leslie, so i want to give you as the person on our virtual couch who can talk from a democratic perspective, how this kind of fits in. i'll give you an example. you're not black if you don't vote for me. something he told radio folks at the time. >> yeah. my jaw dropped. i think you and i did talk about that on the air. look, joe biden, like any other politician, whether running for president or any other office, makes campaign promises. 84 million people voted, especially a lot of minorities, for promises that he made. this is part of fulfilling those promise. to leo's point, you've got to just look at the number. not just here in california, but throughout the country. disproportionately affected by

the covid-19 virus. this affected them financially. housing. the housing market. loans given for housing. small business loans. all disproportionately affected in this nation. that's what president biden promised to address and that is what sue soon rice is speaking to right now. and sorry, if you just look at the number, whether it be incarceration, whether it be in housing loans, business loans, or again those people affected financially and physically by this virus. well, there is some systematic racism taking place when people of color are not being given the same opportunity. >> harris: we've had two different perspectives. let's go back to susan rice. they are talking about nationalism.

>> we are reestablishing it. >> the first, what will the administration do to address the relationship between communities of color and police. part of the mass incarceration component. the second question, republican legislatures have signaled that they are going to look to roll back some of the voting procedures from the last election. we know that in some of those swing states in largely black and brown communities. what is the administration going to do about it? >> with respect to prisons, policing, the entire basket a very important criminal justice reform issues, this is something that we are committed to addressing and we will have more to say on criminal justice in the coming weeks. including on matters related to policing. please stay tuned for that.

with respect to efforts to rollback the access to the ballot, this is something that i expect the president will address in his remarks today. it's a matter of real concern because we ought to be in the business of encouraging and enabling all americans who are eligible to vote to be able to vote. that's why we will continue to work with congress on its various efforts to advance democratic reforms. there is legislation on the hill that would move us in that direction, including restoring and revitalizing the voting rights act. >> susan will come back. we welcome you back. >> these measures, executive actions which of course could be overturned and reversed by a future president, can you talk about what steps could be taken to codify these. to make them permanent, so they

could not be undone by a future president. >> took codify something and make it lasting and long requires that congress, both houses of congress pass it and the president sign it. for this as well as many other things, there will be areas where legislative actions are the best and most durable approach. there will be some instances would in advance of legislation or to achieve legislation it's wise to take executive action. i don't think we should assume that by doing something -- doing something by executive action and where it may also be appropriate to seek legislation, that we wouldn't do it. we have a very full legislative agenda. the president's first priority is enacting the american rescue plan as well as getting our nominees confirmed and we will be focused in the next two weeks on that. >> thank you, ambassador rice. >> thank you, jen.

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

even more efficiently. a couple other things. earlier today, the first female vice president swore in the first female secretary of the treasury. dr. janet yellen today of course, it's a pretty historic day. this afternoon the vice president will make her first visit to a federal agency, the national institutes of health, where she and the second gentleman will receive their second dose of the moderna vaccine. the vice president will thank director collins, dr. fauci and staff at the nih to develop the vaccine and efforts to keep americans safe. she will make the case that congress needs to immediately pass the american rescue plan which includes $20 billion to invest in local community vaccine this tradition centers in the hardest hit areas. her remarks and the vaccination at nih will be live streamed on the white house youtube channel. jonathan, kick us off.

>> the response to the pandemic, two matters. provide more detail as to how much more of the vaccine is going to be distributed and how quickly to the states where governors have sounded the alarm that they are desperate for what they need. can you talk about the cdc considered, the white house support. all passengers on u.s. domestic flight. >> secretary psaki: the first part of the effort is to ensure we are more effectively and efficiently working with governors and local officials who have expressed some frustration in recent weeks about the lack of information and the lack of a federal plan. we have only been here six days but we want to take step as quickly as possible to address that. part of it will be what the president updates us all on this afternoon. i would be a short-lived press secretary if i got ahead of the president. and we are having so much fun in here, so you don't want that to happen.