♪ yamiche: a covid spike test the nation and the president. >> we are losing the war. the covid-19 pandemic is worse than ever. icu beds are full and patients are back in the hallways and waiting rooms. yamiche: omicron slams the nation, straining test sites and overwhelming hospitals. and president biden rolls out a new plan to fight back. president biden: we should all be concerned about omicron but not panicked. >> who is the real president in this country, joe biden or joe manchin? yamiche: senator joe manchin derails president biden's build back better act. >> i cannot vote for this piece of legislation. yamiche: as the president's approval ratings slide, next. >> this is "washington week."

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welcome to "washington week." it's the night before christmas and millions are celebrating, but many are on edge as the. sought to reassure the country but i question him why it is still so hard for many to get a covid test. what is your message to americans who are trying to get tested now and w are not able to get tested and are wondering who took so long to ramp up testing? president biden: what took so long? it didn't take long at all. what happened was, the omicron vis spread even more rapidly than anyone thought. yamiche: meanwhile this week, some good news. the fda authorized two pills to treat covid. it could keep high-risk patients from developing serious illness. joining me to talk about the challenges facing our country this season is yasmeen abutaleb, health reporter from the washington post, jacqueline

alamein he, author of the post newsletter." susan page, and ayesha rascoe, white house correspondent for npr. yasmeen, i have to start with you. as soon as omicron started surging, i wanted to have you on, because you have the reporting to square what is going on. the president said nobody saw omicron coming, others say we should have been prepared. what are your serious -- sources saying about the response from the president and whether it was enough? yasmeen: there were warnings all over that if we didn't vaccinate all over, this would happen. new variants would emerge. this virus has outsmarted experts at every turn. it has moved much faster than everyone has been prepared for. as long as you have huge pockets of people that are not vaccinated, not just in the u.s. or western countries but throughout the globe, these

variants would emerge and would spread in a matter of days if not sooner, and that is what we saw with delta and now omicron. obviously, this variant is highly transmissible, by far the most transmissible we have seen yet. it is unbelievable that it is so much more contagious than delta, doubles every two or three days, spreading faster than what the country was prepared for. but there is frustration that there hasn't been a long-term strategy with the virus and it seems like we are reacting every step of the way. yamiche: you talk about a long-term strategy, let's talk about testing. the president told abc news'david muir that he wishes he would have ordered 200 million test months ago but that didn't happen of course. should the president have done more when it came to -- is he keeping up with a promise that he made over the last few months? yasmeen: my colleagues and i took a deep look at the administration's approach to testing.

what we found is, when president biden came into office, he vowed to take this fdr style approach to testing, have this war mindset about it. things don't always go to plan, but when they came in in the winter, we were dealing with the worstsuge, 3000 deaths some days. there was an overriding focus on vaccinations, and then cases came to sleep. that focus on vaccinations remained with the cost to testing. if the government doesn't make a big purchase of tests -- and we saw other countries like the u.k., singapore make these but purchases in the spring so that it was not dependent on consumer demand, that the manufactures would keep producing them even if cases fell -- the u.s. didn't do that. when the administration put in these big investments in the fall in september and october, that was great, increase the supply of tests we have by quite a bit, hundreds of millions a

month, but we were not prepared ahead of time for a massive surge like this. even if you put the money and now, it is too late to deal with what we have in front of us. yamiche: too late to deal with what we have in front of us. another quick question, what should we be learning now entering year three of this pandemic, especially when we hear about the severity, still some reporting out there about how severe omicron will be compared to delta. yasmeen: these reports and early studies are encouraging, that if you are boosted and relatively healthy, you are likely to have a mild case of omicron and not end up in the hospital. that's great. there are still millions of americans who are not vaccinated. it is not clear if boosted older people or at risk populations also face milder disease. they probably do. earlier studies have suggested that we do not know or sure yet. health care are overwhelmed again. even if you are not dealing with

covid, you don't want to end up in the hospital right now because they are so shortstaffed. there is so much focus on people's individual risk, and when you think about what we are dealing with as a country and society right now. yamiche: aisha, what is the white house saying about how their approach has evolved? ayesha: part of this is that they have been very defensive of the way that they have approached this, but you did hear president biden say that yes, he wished he would have bought tests earlier. i remember asking about the threat of omicron maybe a week or two ago, and the response was the white house had put out its winter covid plan, and they felt like it was working. it does seem like they were caught flat-footed. we should say, this is a global pandemic, this is something the ole world has struggled with. every administration would have struggled with this issue. but when it comes to omicron, it

seems like they were caught off guard, and now they are having to play catch-up. yamiche: definitely what it seems like when i talked to white house sources. this week, former president ump address the politically charged issue of vaccines. >> did you get the booster? >> yes. >> i got it, too. >> don't, don't. a very tiny group. yamiche: his admission was met with some booing, but president biden gave credit to president trump, saying this was something they agreed on. president trump said he appreciated the comments which could help the process of healing in this country. we don't often hear president trump talk about this way. how much power does former president trump have at convincing people to get the vaccine? with the midterms coming up and maybe even 2024, do we think president trump will have the political will to push back on

his base, a lot of them who don't want to take vaccines? >> this may be the best news we have on the covid front this week. the people who have refused to get vaccinated so far will not be persuaded by joe biden. they are suspicious of the president, of democrats, government. they trusted donald trump. to hear president trump finally come out in a public way and say these vaccines are a good thing to get, that they will keep you from getting very sick or even killing you from covid, this is incredibly encouraging. hey voice that we ought to magnify. i don't think it matters that president biden welcomed this. we have trump speaking to an entirely different audience, one that is very resistant to the message from the administration. i think we have seen a real pivot on the part of donald trump, now trying to take credit for the vaccines, and that could be preliminary to another

presidential run. yamiche: it is striking to hear former president trump talk about this idea of vaccines being critical. even in an interview with a conservative host, he said the idea that people are protected by vaccines. susan, you have seen a lot of stuff in washington, covered a lot of presidents. any chance that president biden or president trump could work together? what does it say that former president trump is getting booed while president biden is also facing scrutiny? susan: it's interesting because you don't see donald trump get booed very often, but that may be a part of the process of persuasion. i think it will be hard for joe biden and donald trump to cooperate in any kind of big public way. the trust level between the two of them is very low. donald trump spends every day trying to undermine joe biden's presidency. i think the biden administration views trump with some concern

about how much you can count on him. that said, this is good news that donald trump is delivering this message to his followers. yamiche: it is good news. we have seen a number of lawmakers republicans and democrats testing positive for covid this week and in the last few days. what impact might this have on the mindset of lawmakers, what may get done when congress comes back? i want to ask you about jim clyburn in particular, who said it took him 56 hours to get a pcr tests result. susan: thanks for having me. jim clyburn taking this amount of time to get tested and having to miss his niece's wedding is relatable to the average american. ostensibly someone who is most in the loop of how these testing

systems should work and still cannot get it right himself, and imagine what it is like for other americans in positions of less power. i have been thinking about the way lawmakers have been reacting while they are on recess in a twofold sort of way. i am curious about the republicans who are still on vaccinated, house members, many of them who will not disclose vaccination status. we know all of the senators on the republican side are vaccinated house members are different. they have been noticeably silent on these breakout cases that have been happening. i am curious if they are getting hit by this. the people getting hit the hardest are the unvaccinated. also wondering about how democrats are going to come back from recess and recalibrate and get focus back on build back better by using what is happening with the pandemic right now, the resurgence and spread of omicron, to make a more persuasive case and potentially push joe manchin

back in the direction of needing to spend more money in order to get the country back on track. yamiche: it is interesting to hear you talk about the divide we see going on in congress. it is replicating across the country. yasmeen, what are you hearing about these covid pills that have been authorized? i was talking to a white house official who said it is good that they are authorized but it could be a hard problem when people actually want to get the pills. the demand could outpace the supply here. what are you hearing? yasmeen: absolutely true. one of the challenges we are facing with omicron, some of the existing treatments we have in more abundant supply, are not effective against this variant. two of the three monoclonal antibodies that the u.s. has does not work against omicron, which means officials are having to preserve the one that does work. the other two do not work against omicron.

while these antiviral pills are good news, the more medications we have the better. the more ways we have to treat covid better. these are also in limited supply, just authorized by the fda this week. a lot of people who need it will not be able to get it. it will be a limited supply for a few weeks. yamiche: important for people to understand the context of these pills. thank you. there is not much appetite for people shutting down and being back indoors, especially in the holidays. i want to talk about the science of this. president biden has been promising there will be no more lockdowns. what does that telyou whether that is a scientific decision, political decision, some combination of both? yasmeen: i heard a lot of people say it feels like march 2020 all over again, but we are in such a different position now. we have an abundant supply of vaccines. anyone who wants to get one can get one. it may be harder to get

appointments now but they are free and accessible. there are treatments. we know a lot more about how to treat the virus. rapid tests are not as available as we would like them but they are out there. because there are so many tools at our disposal, most experts agree it is not necessary to go back to those full lockdowns again, and you have to weigh the cost and benefit of them. there are severe mental health aspects of that when you have people locked in and not socializing. there are steps people can take to gather safely or be more safe right now. we probably have to put in restrictions on some of our activities, testing before we see family members, being careful around at risk family members and loved ones. most people agree it is not necessary to go to a full lockdown again but there are important steps people should be taking to mitigate the impact on the health care system and not be contributing to these huge chains of transmission. yamiche: what are some of the steps that we should be taking? i know you are talking with producers about young people

versus all people. yasmeen: i think there is a mindset among a lot of us healthy, vaccinated, boosted people, that if i get it it is not a big deal. the good news it is -- is it is probably going to be a mild infection but you have to be careful about who you may spread it to in the meantime. if you are seeing family members, whatever is affordable and accessible to you. avoiding crowded settings. all of those are really important steps. some people are canceling travel plans, some are not. not taking unnecessary risks while we are dealing with this way for the next couple of weeks is the biggest thing people can do. and using the things that people know works. wearing masks, testing frequently. it is not foolproof, but it is good enough. yamiche: thank you so much, yasmeen, for your great

reporting. thanks for coming on and joining us this christmas eve. yasmeen: happy holidays. yamiche: let's turn to the big story on capitol hill. after weeks of back and forth, democratic senor of west virginia went on fox news and announced he was not supporting the build back better act. the white house immediately pushed back in a lengthy statement, saying manchin's stand represented a breach of his commitment to the president and the senator colleagues in the house and senate. some progressives, including the chairwoman of the house progressive caucus, congresswoman primula jaya paul, also reacted angrily >> the only thing we have to trust around here is our word. it is unfortunate that it seems we cannot trust senator manchin's word. yamiche: later, the white house and some progressives soften their tone. the president vowed to work with senator manchin to get something passed. ayesha, what do you make of the

change in tone? the white house put out this biting statement and then sort of walked it back. they didn't lock back the criticism but definitely softened the tone. what are you hearing from officials about whether build back better can be passed here? ayesha: they will try to get something done. the question is what will build back better look like? the reason you have that softening of the tone, they cannot get something passed without joe manchin. that is a fact. they do not have the numbers. in the senate, anyone can jam up what is happening because they need every single democrat. if you are going to get something on the level of change that president biden has been talking about, he is going to have to make friends, get close. the holiday season is upon us. try to get close to joe manchin.

that is the only way that you get it done. you can talk about executive orders, things that he can do through executive orders, but not on the level of what they are trying to do. that is why you saw that softening of the tone, while you will continue to see outreach. this is the test of a president. when the chips are down, can you take what has happened and build something out of the ashes? that is the test of a president. yamiche: jackie, ayesha is talking about a test of the president. talk about what you are hearing, where build back better stands, how lawmakers are viewing president biden in particular who made progress is that promises to progressives build back better would get through the senate. jacqueline: this has been a case of whiplash for everyone, reporters and lawmakers. one lawmaker described it to me as his temper tantrum on fox news last week. the frustration on capitol hill,

calls with democratic staffers and lawmakers that i've had, the frustration has been palpable. this is not the message they wanted to go home with to show their constituents, showing up empty-handed at the holidays while people are again going through this coronavirus search. -- surge. there is a feeling that something needs to get done. they are taking this cooling-off period to go back to the drawing board and make hard decisions on what they are going to cut from build back better in order to appease joe manchin. now that manchin has more explicitly laid out his redlines -- he does not want the child tax credit expansion included in build back better. any bill cannot go over $1.75 trillion. that gives democrats more clarity and guidance that they have been looking for to get something done. that being said, this is going to be really hard for lawmakers

and white house to let go of a policy baby. the child tax credit has been important to people like brian deese, senator michael bennet, and it will be a hard decision for them to get something through without such a transformational policy. yamiche: susan, there is a power struggle going on right now between president biden and senator manchin. i wonder what you make of who has the power here, and what does it say that some see senator manchin as being the president -- even though he is not -- but even president biden said when you have a 50/50 senate, any senator can be the president. susan: this has been a train wreck on sunday. the question is, can they get the cars back on the track early in the new year to get something big past? a 1.70 $5 trillion package that included things like climate change and universal pre-k, that

would be a pretty big thing to pass, but the risk now is, it is not likely to include the child tax credit and other provisions that progressives wanted, maybe it will not be seen as such an achievement. there is a real expectation problem here. the other peril for the white house, joe biden was elected with the argument that he really understood washington, understood the hill, could get things done, but in this case, he overestimated the leverage he had with one member of the senate, joe manchin. yamiche: ayesha, as susan is talking about how the president is using his power, what is the concern among democrats and maybe some in the white house, that president biden is leaning so much into build back better it is coming at the expense of other things like voting rights, immigration reform. some are talking, especially those that are critical to the democratic base, that they are not getting the policies that are important to them.

ayesha: that is the concern that you hear over and over again. we are talking about build back better, but what about police reform, voting rights? you hear from the white house, and they will say nothing is more important than voting rights, but that is not what you see in the legislative schedule, not what you see as far as action. the white house defense is the are doing what they can do and it is up to congress, but that is frustrating to people who voted for democrats, expected action on these issues that they say are paramount to democracy. so, not having that push is a big issue. yamiche: susan, i want to come back to you. one minute left. talk about the fact that now in this new npr, marist poll, president biden's approval rating has some 241%.

-- to 41%. what does that reveal for him? susan: it is the lowest number at this point in his 10 year except for donald trump. it reflects our polarized politics but also some disappointment in the job that joe biden has done so far. it doesn't mean that he couldn't recover. sometimes they come back, as bill clinton did. sometimes they don't come as jimmy carter did not. his one term in office. as we head into christmas and the new year, we are watching to see whether joe biden can turn things around. yamiche: jackie, 15 seconds. there is inflation, all of these things that are weighing on president biden and also democrats. what is your sense of what next year lookike? jacqueline: i think lawmakers will try to recalibrate and try to go full steam ahead and get things done.

but there is an expectation from democratic lawmakers at the white house need to do a better job in shaping the messaging and applying more real pressures on lawmakers who will not go to the ends of the earth to get these priorities done, like voting rights, and make changes to the way the system works now, like the filibuster. yamiche: of course, huge challenges for next year. i am thankful that everyone watching will hopefully stick with us as the president and democrats and republicans navigate this. that is all for tonight. thank you for joining us this christmas eve and sharing your reporting. we will be back in the new year. for all of us from "washington week," mary christmas to those who celebrate. have a happy and healthy holidays. i am yamiche alcindor. good night from washington. ♪

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