yamiche: high anxiety as the omicron variant spreads. pres. biden: this new variant is a cause for concern but not a cause for panic. yamiche: the omicron covid-19 variant arrives in the united states, upending travel, rocking the markets -- >> vaccine mandates are illegal and they are hurting this country. yamiche: -- and intensifying political fights over vaccine and mask mandates. plus -- >> our body, or choice. yamiche: the supreme court hears arguments on upholding a mississippi law that prohibits abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. and the house committee investigating the january 6 capital insurrection ratchets up its work as lawmakers get key trump officials to appear, next.

♪ >> this is "washington week." corporate funding is provided by -- consumer cellular. additional funding is provided by -- the estate of arnold adams. committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. sandra and carl delay mackin so. robert and susan rosenbaum. the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. once again, from washington, moderator yamiche alcindor. yamiche: welcome to "washington week." we begin with the omicron variant of covid-19. the new strain is causing concern across the globe and here at home, though officials

have been insisting all week there is no need to panic. still, there is a lot we don't know. here's what we do know. scientists say it appears to be more transmissible. they are also studying how well our current vaccines work against it. they say in most cases, people had mild symptoms. meanwhile, the new strain has been found now in several states across the country. it has also shown up in more than three dozen countries around the world. thursday, president biden announced new plans to fight the virus. they include stricter testing requirements for people traveling into the u.s.. pres. biden: we are going to fight this variant with science and speed, not chaos and confusion. yamiche: white house officials are occurred during -- encouraging all eligible adults to g their booster shots. critics say the plan may be too little, too late, and the admits rati is also under fire for imposing a travel ban on south africa, the first country to identify the strain, and a

several other neighboring countries. here is what the attorney general and president of south africa had to say. >> the only thing a prohibition on trouble would do is further damage the economies of the affected countries and undermine their ability to respond to and recover from the pandemic. >> the people of africa cannot be blamed for the low level of vaccinations available to them. nor should they be collectively punished for identifying and sharing crucial science and health information with the world. yamiche: strong words as this variant continues to spread. joining me tonight are some of the top reporters in washington. eugene daniels, white house reporter and co-author of "political playbook." sahil kapur. seung min kim, reporter for the washington post. and it jonathan martin, political correspondent for the new york times. seung min, i want to start with

you, what do we know about the omicron variant, and what do we know about how it is upending the president's messaging, given that he wanted to be talking about infra structure and anything but a new variant? seung min: we are learning more about the new variant every day, but you're right, there is still a lot we do not know. dr. fauci indicated earlier this week we may know within two weeks, more about the variant. but for now, white house officials are not taking anything for granted and have ruled out a number of additional steps to try and contain the spread. we have talked about the new restrictions announced earlier this week. but this creates a lot of problems for president biden, just in terms of trying to manage this pandemic, which is his top priority. but political problems as well. the white house has indicated for a long time that his political future is really tied to whether he can get this pandemic under control. he would love nothing more than for this to be not the main story.

if you go out a sell his infrastructure plan, pass the agenda and travel the country to sell it, right now he is focusing on trying to control that variant and that is now his top priority. yamiche: seung min is talking about this idea of all the challenges this presents. eugene, i want to talk a little bit about what this travel ban argument in particular reveals about the biden agenda, how they are approaching the omicron varit and you think but the criticism that is happening. eugene: the more that you hear people talk about south africa and all these other countries that also have this variant, it is also in states in this country now, many of those states. jen psaki today talked about doing that more with other states, that this is not just about south africa. a lot of folks in south africa and health experts are saying this keeps these countries from being able to get more vaccines,

being able to get the pandemic in their countries under control, especially in a lot of these african countries. some of them are at levels of 2% vaccination rates. it is a global pandemic, so the only way to get a handle on it is for the entire world to be vaccinated. yamiche: and a quick follow-up, because the president did say the u.s. will be shipping out 11 million vaccines, 9 million to africa, 2 million to other countries. the white house has been saying they have shipped out more vaccines to countries than any other countries, especially the ones combined across the globe. with that said, how does that deal with the pressure the president is facing to do what you said, which is try to share more with countries? eugene: it is one of those things when you give people a little bit, they want a lot more from america. we have given more vaccines to other countries than anyone else, but they want more. and people are also seeing us getting boosters. we have talked about getting osted in this country while other people in other countries, poorer countries, have not

gotten any vaccine. i think that is the frustration you are seeing with a lot of doctors and health experts, that the arguments we are having about vaccine, vaccine mandates, when in other countries they will take our expired vaccines. that is causing issues for the president. unless they get this pandemic under control, almost nothing else matters. yamiche: sahil, we could also be talking about a government shutdown. conservative senators, they were possibly threatening to shut down the government over vaccine mandates, pushing back against them. what does that tell you about where we are and how this fight over covid has continued to be so political, even as a new variant spreads? sahil: it it is a politically divisive issue and that has not changed. it is remarkable to think we came one day away from a government shutdown that there is a new variant -- now that there is a new variant that people are concerned about.

there is a passionate set of conservative voters in this country who do not like vaccine mandates, and they have a few ring leaders in congress, mainly senator ted cruz, to avoid a government shutdown. i spoke to senator cruise about this yesterday and he argued he is not personally against vaccines but he strongly opposes the idea of any politician, "any pissant politician," saying that you need to get the vaccine. he backed down on an amendment to the government funding bill. the republicans do not have majority or the numbers to force an issue, end of the government was ultimately funded. for cruz, this is a familiar tactic. he has threatened government shutdown on issues that cannot be achieved when republicans are out of power. it is a familiar tactic for an

ambitious politician who wants to be in tuned. sahil: but he backed down this time -- jonathan: but he backed down this time, which tells you how politically explosive this issue is. to borrow a cliche word, the optics of a shutdown over a vaccine mandate in the midst of a resurgent virus would be really bad for the republican party in a moment when they have a lot going for them politically right now. i thought it was telling that cruz thought that was a point of valor. sahil: a majority of republicans disagreed with him. yamiche: the last thing i will ask about this until we talk about it even more on other parts of the show, this is coming as ne broke that former president trump tested positive before he got on a debate stage with president biden. it is a remarkable thing to think about. i was thinking about, this is the genesis of how we got so

politicized. how does president biden cut through that? how does he commence people to get boosted and get more vaccinations if he is dealing with that? jonathan: i think part of the calculations they are making in the white house now is, yes, we need to take this new variant seriously, but if we are being honest with ourselves, what can we do in a polarized country to address this issue? can we with a straight face say we are going to impose max mandates -- mask mandates across the entire country, knowing they are not going to be followed? flouted not just by governors, but everyday people. that is the sobering thing for the white house. they are limited as to what they can do proactively to address this new variant because more than one third of the country , perhaps even closer to one half, is not going to follow the guidance on this issue. yamiche: when you talk about the white house being limited, the other issue we want to talk

about tonight is abortion. this week, covid was not the only health care story dominating the news. one of the most contentious issues was also top of mind, and that is abortion. on wednesday, the supreme court heard arguments on mississippi's restrictive law. it prohibits abortions after 15 weeks without any exceptions for insets or rape. this case is a response to roe v. wade. justice sonya's ir suggested the court's reputation would be tarnished if they were to over overturn the five decades old ruling. >> will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the constitution and its reading are just political acts? i don't see how it is possible. yamiche: but the conservative

justices seemed ready to set new limits on abortion rights. here is justice brett cavanaugh. >> if we think that the prior precedents are siously wrong, why then doesn't the history of this court's practice with respect to those cases tell us that the right answer is actually a return to the position of neutrality? yamiche: the court is expected to announce its decision by early summer. seung min, this is of course a huge case. so many people, women, but also everyone around the country, is watching best. talk about the biggest takeaways from this week's arguments, and the politics at play. seung min: the biggest legal take away is the future of abortion rights in this country and how limited or how broad the justices will eventually issue their ruling and what the impact will be state-by-state are definitely something that everyone is closely watching. we will probably be waiting until june to see what the justices decide. but there is a major political impact as well. if this decision does come in

the summer, right in the middle of a heated midterm campaign where democrats majorities are at stake, and a lot of democrats and republicans i talked to this week, democrats are mobilized by this issue. they say the fear that abortion access will be taken away will mobilize the democratic base. what was interesting from the republican answer to this is they want to focus on different issues. of course it gets the conservative base excited, but in terms of the broader republican party -- i talked to rick scott. i asked him twice, what is the impact of this case, this ruling, on your party's voters? he told me, i want to focus on inflation, the border, afghanistan. abortion is not something they really want to talk about, particularly in a lot of swing states. yamiche: you also mentioned democrats being mobilized. i wonder what you are hearing from democrats views on changing the supreme court? tell us what you heard. seung min: on thursday, i talked

with 17 democratic senators across -- yamiche: that is why we want you on this show. [laughter] seung min: right. across the caucus spectrum about what they heard at the supreme court and if that changes their mind about the structure of the supreme court. we are not going to expand the court anytime soon, but there is a growing faction of democratic senators who really view the current makeup of the supreme court and how we got there --mitch mcconnell blocking merrick garland, a really contentious hearing with justice cavanaugh, and amy kony barrett being confirmed right before a presidential election -- they see the makeup as being a serious problem. they are starting to think about mandatory retirement for justices. a long way before changes could happen, but it is a new development that was interesting this week. jonathan: i think you since a combination of -- you sense a commendation of a few issues. guns, voting, and abortion.

this sense of real frustration boiling over among democrats in congress, given the fact they are restricting the filibuster in the senate. the combination of the abortion arguments, the shooting in michigan, and now stacey abrams getting in the race for governor of georgia next year, has brought all those issues back to the forefront in the same week. for democrats in congress, there is an urgency to address those issues now. i will say this -- they will not save us on the record, but part of the reason is they know they probably will not be on the in the majority of your from noah in at least one chamber -- in a year from now in at least one chamber of congress. yamiche: you wrote about this, talking about what democrats are planning to do about them possibly trying to mobilize voters around this issue. take us into what you heard this week. sahil: plan a for democrats is

to codified roe v. wade into law federally. there is a bill that would do that. it has passed the house of representatives and is sitting in the senate. it does not have a path to get to the senate. it has 48 sponsors. it could get to 50, but it does not have a way around the filibuster. plan b is to take it to voters directly. here, they believe they have the real advantage in the swing states and swing districts because the majority of the country is clearly pro roe v. wade. the difference has been republicans have had a good thing going because they could not mobilize their voters on the desire to overturn it without facing much of a backlash from the pro roe majority, given that abtion rights did not seemed threatened. now they are not only threatened, they could potentially be gone in the coming months. that is likely to awaken the democratic base. they view this as a mobilizing issue. republicans are less inclined to talk about this. it is like the dog that caught the car. what do they do now? yamiche: you are talki about

this idea of democrats now being awakened. j-mart, you are talking about this confluence of frustrations. eugene, what do you hear about this being a media pandora's box? you turn 50 year precedent. this could be about voting rights, about lgbtq rights. eugene: people see the turning over precedent as something that can happen over and over and over again. i just got engaged. people were talking about, is this something they can e to take same-sex marriage away? that is something that some democrats and republicans worry about because the things that have been settled law for 50 years, things that most people have taken for granted, is in the crosshairs. you talk to abortion advocates and they are certain that something is going to change. they are not exactly sure how much of it is going to change,

but abortion will be restricted in some form. we will wait and see if that actually happens. you heard brett cavanaugh, who lked about president and all the justice talking about how important precedent is. they talked about how they can get rid of precedent. when necessary, the supreme court can do so. it has changed things because most justices have not said that publicly, and definitely not on issues like abortion and other issues in this country. sahil: they were quick to emphasize that if they did overturn roe, it would be kicked over to legislators. yamiche: going back to this idea of what jonathan was talking about when it comes to frustration, one thing i hear from democrats is they are frustrated about a credible issue that american democracy has. that brings us to the updates on the january 6 investigation. tuesday, mark meadows, chief of staff re former president trump,

agreed to share documents with lawmakers. once a, the vice chair of the committee had this morning for former president trump. >> in a communications mr. trump has with this committee will be under oath. and if he persists in lying then, he will be accountable under the laws of this great nation and subject to criminal penalties for every false word he speaks. yamiche: again, powerful words here. j-mart, talk a bit about, is there a shift in the intensity of this comttee now that steve bannon got indicted? it seems that people are at least showing up. we don't know what they will say, but they are saying, we hear you, we might come. jonathan: i am skeptical that president trump will show up at the january 6 commission anytime soon. it does feel that way,, that there is an increased intensity.

meadows's cooperation was striking. his lawyer urged him to do that, i think it is safe to say. they are doing more interviews, talking to the secretary of the in georgia -- the secretary of state in georgia, who the president told to find more votes. yamiche: 11,000, in particular. jonathan: they are getting more serious and this is picking up in intensity. if this investigation does come out, how is it perceived? can it cracked the polarization in this country that is so darned strong right now that it does not seem like anything can crack that? does this create at least some mild, small cracks in that polarization? i think that remains to be seen. the republicans have painted this as a partisan investigation, but this is not going away. i think this is what mcconnell feared, which is why he did not want to have this hanging over the midterms. it is going to keep january 6 in the news in the midterms, in a

way that democrats would not admit this but is good for them. yamiche: we are running out of time, but i wonr if you could talk a bit as we talk about all the things we have been talking about tonight. in some ways, in what ways are lawmakers, people you talk to, talking about the fracturing of the united states? all the topics we have been talking about. seung min: especially this week, we saw so much fragility in all of these fronts, whether it is keeping people who were responsible for the january 6 the insurrection at the capital accountable, whether there are 55 decades worth of abortion access that could be at stake. with the severity of the covid pandemic coming over and over. there is a role for lawmakers and policymakers to play in all of these things. but in this polarized environment, campbell parties

come together to investigate -- can both parties come together to investigate? it looks really hard and difficult right now. yamiche: it is hard and difficult and i think there are a lot of things still up in the air about january 6, abortion. i want to say thank you all. that is it for tonight. thank you for your reporting. don't forget to tune in on monday for the pbs newshour. the secretary of veteran affairs will discuss the most pressing issues facing former service members. we will continue our conversation on "washington week extra." thank you for joining us tonight. now, we leave you with the sights of the holidays in washington. ♪

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