weijia: president biden accelerates his ambitious agenda as republicans endure a very, very bad week. president biden: america's back. weia: president biden tries to turn the page on the trump presidency as he grapples with how to overcome the covid challenges he inherited. vaccinating americans. president biden: by the end of july we'll have enough to vaccinate every single american. weijia: reopening sools. president biden: at the end of the first 100 days we have a significant percentage of them being able to be opened. weijia: and stimulating a stunted economy. president biden: now is the time to go big. weijia: plus a deep freeze in the heart of texas brings power politics to the forefront with one senator embroiled in controversy. >> i understand why people are upset.

weijia: next. announcer: this is "washington week." corporate funding is provided by -- >> for at that years, consumer cellular's goal has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and connect. we offer a variety of no contract plans and our u.s.-based customer service team can help find one that fits you. to learn more vifment consumeris he lar.-- visit consumercellular.tv. announcer: kaiser permanente. additional funding is provided by the estate of arnold adams and koo and patricia yuen through the yuen foundation, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities, the corporation for public brdcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. weijia: welcome to "washington

week." i'm weijia jiang. tonight we take an in-depth look at what president biden is doing to help the economy, help the country through the pandemic. with one month into the biden administration, questions remain about the nation's fragmented vaccinate rolloult and the push to reopen classrooms. many educators and officials are concerned students are struggling with online learning and falling behind. but the biden administration's guidance on how to reopen schools safely has been contradictory and confusing. this is what pressecretary jen psaki told reporters plast week. >> his goal that he set is to have the majority of schools of more than 50% open by d 100 of his presidency. and that means some teaching in classrooms. so at least one day a week, hopefully it's more. weijia: then president joe biden said that wasn't true at a cnn town hall on tuesday. president biden: there was a mistake in the communication.

i said opening the majority of schools in k through eighth grade. because they're the easiest to open. the goal will be five days a week. weijia: we also have the latest news on the crisis in texas. millions of texans do not have drinkable water tonight. the state is still recovering from a winter storm that knocked out their power grid. president biden demrared the state a disaster area. and senator ted cruz is feeling the heat after fleeing the cold for cancun. many texans are livid. we will have more on that and the crisis of leadership in the g.o.p. tonight, we have four top reporters closely covering it all. yasmeen abutaleb, national reporter focusing on health policy for "the washington post," my colleague, ed o'keefe, senior white house and political correspondent for cbs news, and ann palmer, founder of punchbowl news a political newsletter and the host of "the daily punch podcast." and ayesha rascoe, white house

correspondent for national public radio. president biden laid down markers for his administration this week. he estimated that students in grades k through eight will return to the classroom in april. promised there will be enough vaccine for every american by the end of july. and that normal life may resume by christmas 2021. yasmeen, public health officials have been hesitant to -- attach any dates. because we saw anthony fauci ve to walk back his prediction when open season would be. he initially said april. and then now saying may or june. do these experts stand by the president's goal marks? yasmeen: i think a lot of experts actually think some of these goal marks could be a little bit more ambitious like the number of vaccinations that the administration tries to ensure are done a day. i think these are fairly realistic. you see the biden administration taking -- the

opposite tack of the trump administration and sort of underpromising and hoping to overdeliver. so the goals they set out may not seem, you know, incredibly ambitious on their face. but i think, you know, they're reluctant to attach too many dates to when these things might happen because so much is dependent on how quickly they can get vaccines into arms, not just have doses manufactured. and then of course these changes in individual behavior and whether he's going to be able to pass his relief package. weijia: right. and so much actually depends on when those shots actually get into arms and the debate over when teachers should get the shots is ongoing with the c.d.c. sing that it shouldn't be a prerequisite to open schools. ayesha, i want to ask you about what we just saw which is really a muddled message from the administration about reopening schools. what do you think happened there? ayeshait seemed like they were trying to please everybody and didn't want to risk upsetting parents who are, you know, desperate to get their kids back in schools.

i have a first grader. you know, who i would love to see back in school. and it also seemed like they definite did not want to upset teachers and teacher unions who have pushed for more stringent, you know, guidelines for when teachers go back into the schools. they want to be safe. and, you know, truly it seems like most parents, they want their children to be safe. they want teachers to be safe. it's a very nuanced issue. and they were trying to -- it seemed like the white house was trying to please everybody or spin it in a way that no one would get upset. and when you do that, though, you end up with this muddled message and you end up with this message that just is not clear. what exactly does the white house expect? do teacherseed to get vaccinated? that's a simple yes or no question. but they didn't have the yes or no answer. weijia: right they had different variations

of that answer. but one thing is clear, they are ramping up distribution of the vaccine. ed, just this week, the biden administration announced that they would be sending 13.5 million doses to states every week. that is an increase from 11 million last week. but they continue to criticize the trump administration for its rollout. so when does team biden take ownership of the pandemic response including victories and step-backs? ayesha: i think it's when he hits these deadlines that he has imposed on himself. so essentially the first 100 days. the goal was 100 million vaccine shots into the arms of americans by late april when he hits the 100-day mark. and then this ever-moving school goal which is when -- one that he really has no real need to engage on because there's virtually no federal control or oversight of schools. it's o of the most decentralized aspects of american society. your school board has more say over who goes back to school

and when than a president ever will. but once those marks are either hit or missed, and he's been so explicit about it, it would be impossible to not hold him to accoun either way, i think at that point you really can begin to lay more blame on -- or credit on the biden administration if they've met those marks. but what he's doing by putting it on the backs of the last guy is nothing new. george bush did it to bill clinton. barack obama certainly did it to george w. bush, especially on foreign policy. donald trump, spent most of his four years blaming his predecessor and certainly through the first month of this administration, they're doing the same. weijia: right. and you're correct that he's all in on the schools aspect. because i think he really thinks that's the key to reopening the economy, so care takers at home can get back to their normal lives at home. and that's why we're seeing such a push for this covid rescue package. and aa, i know you wrote this week in punchbowl that democrats are on track to pass this massive bill, sometime in

late next week or the weekend. i wonder how much it's going to resemble president biden's proposal, especially when it comes to minimum wage and a lot of people want to know is it going to hit that $15 mark or not? anna: democrats have to play a flawless hand here to meet the deadline. one of the deadlines that joe biden has set out which is march 14 when he said that they're going to sign this bill into law. th's a very short amount of time. right now, the next week is key for house democrats to pass this bill. the issue of minimum wage, obviously raging with progressives trying to push it and make it part of the bill, it appears that it will be part of the house bill. but again, the senate is a whole different ballgame and righnow, by parliamentary procedure, and arcane rules that have to deal with spending bills, it appears that it will be thrown out and will not be a part of this bill. i think there's going to be a lot of wrangling around that. and certainly in terms of chuck schumer, the majority leader in the senate, he is going to need

to pacify the progressives who want this to be a part of it in order to get it passed because it's going to be a party line vote. they're going to need every single democt and kamala harris to get this bill across the finish line. weijia: and of course a big part of this bill, yasmeen, is a focus on vaccine distribution. before i let you go, can you talk about this rush to get as many people shots as possible before variants of the virus really ramp up? because i know a lot of experts are worried that it's a race against time. yasmeen: right. i mean, theaccinates are obviously the key to reopening and life back to normal as quickly as possible. but the other piece of this that you mentioned is that the more the virus spreads, the more opportunity there is for variants to spread and for there to be other mutations of the virus. so experts know and the administration knows that the best way to prevent against these variants from really getting out of control from becoming the dominant strain in the u.s. is to vaccinate as many people as possible, even

though the vaccines may be a little bit less effective against some of these variants. they still offer some protection and the more you can prevent the infections from spreading in the first place the more you can protect against the variants really getting out of hand. weijia: i think republicans are onboard with money for testing and vaccines. but ed, this morning, you reported that local mayors across the country are urging lawmakers to really think about that $350 billion that they want for state and local aid. and i wonder if the pressure on republican lawmakers is enough or if that figure is just too expensive for them? ayesha: i think it's one of those things that republicans would like to support and might were it standing alone as an option to be voted on up or down. but the sort of traditional republican argument or the most common one we've heard in recent weeks is they consider this what they call a blue state bailout. that most of the cities that are facing budget shortfalls

are larger democratic-controlled cities, most of them inside democratic-controlled states. in the conversations i had with the democratic mayor of baltimore and with the republican mayor of oklahoma city, they said no. if you were to go to most big and small cities and towns across the country, they're having a very similar problem. a lack of tax revenue a shortfall that's caused by, you know, the inability to write parking tickets on people who are downtown either working or shopping. convention centers not holng large meetings. tourists not paying the hotel tax. all of the revenue. tied up and unclear when or if it will ever come back. so as the mayor of oklahoma city said me, we've been responsible for helping dole out federal programs to help small businesses, to help community organizations that are helping with dealing -- helping the homeless or other low-income parents. what cities now need as employers and some of the largest employers in their

states, cops, firefighters, and others, and that's what they're hoping this would do. it has broad bipartisan support for more than 400 mayors across the country. certainly a handful of governors in both parties. also say it's necessary. whether there will be republican support for that specific proposal, or the entire package, remains to be seen. one of the underreported but somewhat noticed aspects of this past week and it was a crazy one was that the maine senator susan collins noted she heard from the white house. they were still talking about finding a way potentially for at least some republicans to vote for this covid relief bill once if gets to the senate. weijia: and they're already talking about what's next. this week, we saw democrats roll out the president's sweeping immigration bill. and ayesha, i wonder why you think they decided to go forward with that now when a lot of us expected that, you know, they would be talking about an infrastructure plan by now. ayesha: well, it seems like -- and you know, reporters tried to nail down white house press

secretary jen psaki on exactly what the strategy was for rolling it out. you know, she talked in very broad terms that this wasn't really political. they look at this as a moral issue. i think what we're seeing is, you know, the biden administration is trying to say that they learned from what happened during the obama administration, where many hispanic groups and immigration groups felt like they were on the left felt like they were left behind, that they were put on the back burner while obama wentfter passing obamaca, passing -- trying to get climate -- a clite change bill passed. and that they ended up on the back burner and nothing happened. and this is a very difficult issue. i think what you see biden trying to do is say no, i'm not like -- you know, obama, pimm, you know, i'm going to roll out a plan on the very first day in office. and now we have the legislation. this is a priority for me.

the problem is there are only so many trains leaving that station in congress. and so you're trying to get this big recovery bill, this big rescue act bill. you're trying to do infrastructure. and now you're talking about immigration which has been impossible to get done for more than a decade, really. and so these are really huge things that they're trying to get done. weijia: all at the same time which is very challenging for the administration. we are going to dive into politics, so yasmeen, we're going to let you go but thank you so much for your insights about the medical piece of this. it's always great to see you. yasmeen: thank you so much. weijia: and turning now to texas, a debilitating winter storm left millions of residents without power. the government's response to the crisis paints a picture of the lack of preparation and of leadership. texas governor greg abbott tried to deflect blame by spreading misinformation about the root of the disaster.

>> this shows how the green new deal would be a deadly deal for the united states of america. our wind and our solar got shut down and they were collectively more than 10% of our power grid. weijia: to be clear, there is no green deal. and abbott later acknowledged that energy sources were not reliable and took responsibility for the failure of resources. texas senator ted cruz also faced criticism this week after he escaped to cancun, mexico, for a family trip, leaving his constituents in the cold, asking for help. >> the decision to go was tone deaf. look, it was obviously a mistake. in hind sitting. i wouldn't have done it. weijia: all of this unfolding as the g.o.p. struggles with an identity crisis post-donald trump. and the former president makes clear he is not backing down in the cold war with senator mitch mcconnell. this comes after mcconnell sharply criticized trump following the vote to acquit him in last week's impeachment

trial. >> there's no question, none, that president trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. weijia: trump fired back releasing a statement calling mcconnell a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack. i want to start right there, ed, because this is like where watching a very ugly, very public breakup that could have some real long-term implications for the republican party. and i hate to extend this analogy, but now it's like the members have to pick who to stay friends with. so do you think this week's war of words is going to have a lasting impact? ed: yeah, i mean, and this really in some ways ia continuation of what began during the 2016 presidential campaign cycle. maybe this is just the next chapter or the fifth season in an ongoing saga in the party that now really is in the

process of bifurcating. you're with -- sorry. not ted cruz. he was in mexico. you're with mitch mcconnell who believes that you have to nominate candidates who can win elections in november. not candidates who can win primary elections. and whether that person is supportive of president trump ortands apart from him, it doesn't matter to mitch mcconnell. as long as they can win an election and -- in states next year like pennsylvania, ohio, kansas, and, you know, ultimately win over independent voters maybe even some democrats who have not been fans of republicans in recent years. then you got the president who of course the former president who believes you got to be with him, you got to do it his way, you got to support everything he does and that's the only way for republicans to succeed. and what's trickier, too, and anna knows this well, is you got different political dynamics in the house and the senate. house elections will probably be won in districts where you got a large base of republican support and the way districts are drawn across the country, those republican districts are

more likely to favor someone that prefers the former president. but when you got to win statewide elections in these large states for senate seats, you'to make a broader appeal and standing with president trump isn't necessarily the way to do it. how this goes into next year will have a huge effect going into 2024, whether or not he decides to run again. and really, you know, one by one, republican candidates and republican office holders across the country are going to have to face this choice. weijia: of course, one of those lawmakers that has stood by president trump is senator ted cruz and anna, you wrote in punchbowl yes, ted cruz actually went to mexico. perfectly capturing now unbelievable it was and apparently somehow undefensible it was because nobody has rushed to defend the senator. so what do you think this does to him politically if anything as he looks ahead? anna: i think in the short term, it's a real problem for ted cruz.

i think a lot of people already thought he was missing a little bit of an empathy gene in general. and this kind of plays into that stereotype. so cerinly in terms of winning over texas voters, that's going to be anssue for him. but in the long term, it's a much bigger problem for him. ted cruz clearly wants to run for president, has run for president, and the attack ad writes itself here. you know, when his state was in dire straits, he decided to go on a fancy vacation with his family instead of actually pitching in and helping out. so i think this is going to be hard for ted cruz to recover from. i think the point that we made in puempelbowl news this morning was the fact that not a single member of the senate republican conference defended him or tried to help him out shows his own standing within his own conference. weijia: and it's not ju a bad week for ted cruz, right? i mean, many elected officials in texas are sort of grappling

th their response or lack of response. ayesha, i want to talk about those harrowing images that we have seen all week from the ate. i wonder how you think this changes the relationship between texans and their elected officials. and whether it exposed anything that they might not have known was there before. ayesha: well, it exposed a failure of government. it exposed, you know, there is obviously an independent streak in texas. and, you know, that's an understatement. but they want to have their own grid. they don't want federal regulators coming in. but at the same time, there were warnings of that texas would not be able -- texas power generators would not be able to withstand a really serious cold snap. and that there should be -- there should be weatherization and hardening of infrastructure

. but in a didn't happen because -- but that didn't happen because these power generators were not required to. and it cost money. it's expensive. and so for the bottom line, they decided not to do it because texas doesn't have freezeover very often. but here you have a situation where you have people dying. you know, you have -- you know, senior citizens, you know, babies, in homes without heat, without running water. it is a horrible situation. and you have to imagine that people are going to want answers for how this could happen in the u.s. and the -- in the richest country in the world how does something like this happen? and what needs to be done to make sure people are protected from these extreme weather events? weijia: yeah. and i think you know a lot of americans across the cntry are watching this and asking could this happen to me? so ed, i wonder if you think this will impact president biden's agenda at all as we all

wait around and see when he is going to talk about his inastructure plan? ed: well, it plays into two priorities. infrastructure is one of them. climate change is the other. remember, he came into office saying there are dual crises facing the country and the world. one of them is climatehange. and the stated policy of the administration to make concerns about it, addressing that concern. omnipresent across government, across domestic and foreign policy. and, you know, this -- this doesn't happen. it's not supposed to be below 40 degrees in texas anytime of year let alone in february. there's not supposed to be snow. this was caused by changes in climate, changes in wind patterns and weather patterns and it just socked a part of the country that has never sustained this kind of a deep freeze before. i think that's the other aspect of this frankly for my others across -- many americans aoss the country. ayesha is right. we have this perception outside the state of what texas is. one of the things texas is unaccustomed to this kind of

weather. so there was just a simple societal and psychological blow to the state this week. because there are a lot of people who simply never had to endure that kind of weather and didn't know how to deal with it. and that is something that even government can't necessarily deal with. but the other notable thing was hearing president biden today when asked about the situation in texas, reiterate what he had campaigned on. that he would be a president for every state regardless of who it supported in the presidential election. that of course another way to contrast what he's doing with president trump who we can recall at different times in different situations would criticize local and state leaders often because they weren't necessarily supportive of him. whether it was questioning the origin of wildfires and deep -- in deep democratic california or questioning the finances and the leadership in puerto rico, an islan that doesn't necessarily support his brand of politics. it was a reminder that biden is going to do it differently. weijia: and one critic of president biden was certainly

rush limbaugh, conservative icon who passed this week and anna, quickly, before we leave, can you just tell me what you think this is going to do for the republican party? since he was such an impact. anna: i remember -- you look back at the 1990's and the republican revolution was -- he was the honorary member of congress at that time. oftentimes when republicans have been in control of the chambers, they've looked to him before they ruled out policy -- rolled out policy to how he would talk to people. the real question will be who fills that void as we are looking at this republican party. weijia: thank you so much, anna. that's it for tonight. another big week inashington comes to a close. many thanks our reporters. ed, anna and ayesha, and thank you for joining us. we will keep taking you as close to the news as we can. our conversation will continue on the "washington week" extra. find it on our social media and our website. i'm weijia jiang. good night from washington.

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man: people have no idea. people just think everybody gets minimum wage, right? woman: our integrity is compromisedvery single day. man 2: i love what i do, but i don't like the way i get paid. man 3: i've had to hold down 3 jobs at once because my tips were so bad. woman i feel like i'm working for nothing. 2.13 has got to go. woman 3: doing this work has helped me see that we can make a difference, that we can make change. not just make change, but we can force change. this blew my mind. the minimum wage for "tipped" workers is $2.13 an hour. and in some states, it's better than that. but some states-- that's the national-- lots of states. 2.13.