you next time. >> i'm mike emanuel. president biden seeks to combinations bears over the rapid spread of omicron, but his pandemic response faces rising criticism. ♪ ♪ >> president biden: this is not march of 2020. we are prepared, we know more. >> mike: the white house rolls out its plan to get at home rapid test into the hands of all americans while many scramble to get tested for holiday gatherings and travel. >> with ben in line for an hour and 20 minutes. >> it's all the way down the road. >> mike: and as covid concerns then students don't make students back to remote learning, we will ask

dr. ashish jha, one of the nation's top public health experts about the search. then... >> our focus now is moving forward. both with our relationship with senator manchin and our efforts to get bill back better done. >> mike: the fate of the presidents signature social spending bill dashed by joe manchin inch fears of inflation and debt as progressive: mr. biden to take executive action. of we will ask senator ben cardin about the pressures inside his own party and get reaction to the fate of the spending legislation from senator roy blunt, a member of g.o.p. leadership. a plus... from the botched withdrawal to afghanistan to the situation at the border, and a backlog at the ports, we will ask her sunday panel to grade the biden administration's first your response, all right now on "fox news sunday." ♪ ♪

>> mike: and hello again from fox news in washington, president biden approaches his second year in office fighting fire on multiple fronts. having won the job by arguing he could bring competence back to the white house, mr. biden instead faces a prolonged pandemic, rising prices, and a stalled agenda. early next year the of administration will defend vaccine mandates and arguments before the supreme court, and this week the white house renewed its push for voluntary vaccinations and promised help the hospitals. in a moment, we will discuss that response with the dean of the brown university school of public health, dr. ashish jha. but first, let's turn to alexandria half here in washington with a look at new pressures on the white house as omicron spreads. alex. >> might come of the daily covid-19 case in washington, d.c., is not the highest in the nation per capita in the white house has not been spared. close contacts of the president and vice president have tested positive. all americans at large have struggled to find testing. president biden is now

expressing regret. if >> president biden: i wish i had thought about ordering half a billion. >> for not ordering 500 million rapid covid-19 test weeks ago. instead the president promised to distribute them to americans free of charge next month. >> we are getting bombarded and showered with tests. to the point where we ran out of test yesterday. >> the holiday testing demand comes during one of the busiest travel times of the year. airlines canceling hundreds of flights this we can due to staffing shortages as covid-19 cases across the country search. the omicron variant is now the most dominant strain. >> we are not shutting down, we are not falling back, we're going to fight our way through this. >> on thursday, new york city mayor bill de blasio felter pressure and scaled-back the city's new year's eve celebration. under the public schools will not immediately return to in person learning following the christmas break, citing high community infection rates and several universities, including

ucla, columbia, and duke, will start their spring semesters online. >> we are at a critical point and how well these measures are implemented by all of us caring for ourselves and for one another will largely determine the outlook of the coming weeks and months ahead. >> several large cities like d.c. and l.a. are now joining new york in implementing proof of vaccination to enter certain businesses. this is president biden's vaccinate or test requirement for larger companies will face the supreme court a week from next friday. if it's upheld, osha would begin implementation after january 10th. >> need to be able to have the therapeutics, have the medicines, have the test, and have better accessibility to vaccines and boosters moving forward. >> last week, the fda cleared both pfizer and merck's anti-covid-19 treatments. pfizer's medication was found to reduce hospitalization and death by up to 90%. mike. >> mike: alex off reporting from washington. thanks. joining us now is dr. ashis

dr. ashish jha, doctor, welcome back to "fox news sunday." >> dr. jha: good morning, thanks for having me back. >> mike: doctor, according to public white house health officials, omicron variant represents 73% of new cases and in some places in the nation, 90%. however, and south africa, where omicron was first detected a month ago, they began experiencing active surprising drop in new cases, the top infectious disease scientist there said looking at preliminary data, he expected "every other country or almost every other to follow the same trajectory." doctor, would you agree assess? >> yeah, again, early is right, we don't have a ton of data yet but certainly south africa is a hopeful sign that this wave of infections that's sweeping across america is going to rise very, very quickly, but hopefully peaked quickly and come down quickly as well. that's what i think most of us are expecting. obviously we will have to see how it plays out here.

>> mike: the antiviral drug developed by merck was approved thursday by federal regulators. it is found to cut the risk of hospitalization and death in high risk patients by 30%, but some experts fear it will fuel the rise of new variantses or could cause mutations in people who take it. is that a legitimate concern? >> you know, it is a legitimate concern. that's why i'm not sure exactly when or how often we want to use that buried the pfizer pill is i think a much, much better option, and that's probably going to end up becoming the standard of care once it's more widely available. >> mike: interesting. earlier this week president biden had this to say about children in school. >> president biden: covid-19 is scary but the science is clear. children are safe -- as safe in school as they are anyplace, assuming precautions have been taken. >> mike: the cdc is promoting its strategy, test to stay. still more than 800 schools

across the u.s. unexpectedly closed this week with more than 500 schools closed in the first week of january. dr. jha, are we headed for full-scale remote learning, and is a public health matter, who is right in this debate, close versus stay open? >> dr. jha: yeah, this is really unfortunate. here we are almost two years into the pandemic. we know how to keep schools open, we know what to keep them safe. this really shouldn't even be on the table and are disappointed to see this is happening. we know that for kids, being in school is the right thing for them, for the mental health, further education, we have all sorts of tools to keep schools open, so i don't really understand why school district are doing this. and i think we can -- we can keep schools open and we should absolutely keep schools open. >> mike: what about the other health concerns of spreading down schools in terms of school-age children such as mental, emotional, physical and social health? >> dr. jha: absolutely, this is why i and i think many of us have said schools should be

absolutely the last place to close in the first place to open. there could be times when you have such severe staffing shortages that it may be hard to keep schools going. that really should be the only context i think at this point. otherwise school should absolutely be open for the reasons you outlined. >> mike: the white house had booster shots available to all adults eight months bat their initial vaccine series beginning in september, but federal regulators and outside scientists said there wasn't enough data suit support that white of an authorization. you even went through your own evolution in thinking on this recommendation. in the end it was four months before all adults were eligible. in light of this, did we miss crucial time in getting in front of omicron, into the bar bureaucracy blow it? >> dr. jha: i do think we missed critical time and i do think the bureaucracy slowed us down. my evolution of this is around late july, early august, i started seeing pretty compelling date of the people needed that third shot, so when the president came out august 18th i

think and said every adult should get one, agreed with him. and i think we spent three months fighting and going through a bureaucratic process. it slowed us down and it's one of the reasons why so few americans have gotten a booster, particularly high-risk people who absolutely need it. >> mike: on wednesday, dr. berlinski repeated the cdc's recognition that those who want to gather for holidays among other things get tested first. dr. jha, there's a shortage of tests and testing. are these federal recommendations coupled with vaccine mandates creating a run on supplies? >> dr. jha: yeah, this is a really good question. first of all, i agree with dr. berlinski's recommendation that it is safe to get together this holiday season. as a poster last year because we have so many people vaccinated and boosted, and if you are, that's great. also, we really think -- i think people should be getting a test before they get together, especially with high-risk people. unfortunately -- we have plenty of vaccine supply, that's not a problem, but unfortunately we do not have enough tests. this is really something we

should have been on top of for months and i'm disappointed that this is where we are as a country right now. i'm hoping to january we are going to see a lot more testing available but it would have helped over the holiday season. >> mike: the bottom on criticism of the biden ministrations handling of covid is they've been reactionary to developments and not aggressive enough. in an interview this week with abc news, president biden defended recent comments by the vice president, who said we didn't see delta coming. i think most scientists did not, upon whose advice and direction we have relied, didn't see delta coming. the president said of omicron, how did we get it wrong? nobody saw it coming. nobody in the world who saw it coming. but here's how others characterized it. >> i believe that the vice president was referring to the fact if you look at the number of mutations in omicron, it's unprecedented. >> this increase in omicron proportion is what we anticipated what we have been preparing for. >> mike: dr. jha, does it appear administration fish were

taken by surprise would also counts for the challenges we've seen in recent weeks to address the omicron surge? >> dr. jha: so i think there are parts of the administration has clearly gotten right. i think the push and boosters, of vaccines, that's all been terrific and even now you can go out and get a vaccine tomorrow and get a supply. i think both omicron and delta, demonstration has not done enough on getting ready through testing and through its communications. so the two places where i would say the administration needs to do a better job communicating more effectively with the american people and certainly may making testing much more widely available. that has not happened as much as it needs to, and i'm hoping that this time around with the president's promise of 500 million tests widely available in january, that finally we will be able to get that issue under control. >> mike: dr. jha, israel is beginning to roll out its fourth shot with one of the public health officials saying that while they don't have all the data on the level of immunity, they don't think they can afford to wait. this comes as pfizer ceo said earlier this month that people

might need a fourth shot sooner than expected. doctor, should people here in the u.s. anticipate that yet another round of shots will be needed, and is our health system repaired to make that happen? >> dr. jha: if we needed, i think our whole system is prepared but let's talk about whether we needed or not and at this moment based on the data that we've seen in pretty skeptical that we will need a fourth shot. part of the question we have to ask ourselves, what are we trying to do. are we trying to block every single infection? maybe that is our goal. if that's her goal, then yes, maybe we need a fourth shot or we just trying to prevent serious illness and death, which i think should be our primary goal. so i'm pretty unconvinced at this moment, mike, that we need a fourth shot. if we do, our system can handle it, but let's get a lot more data before -- i think before we even start seriously thinking about it. >> mike: asked again whether cdc is considering revising its definition of "fully vaccina vaccinated," director michelle berlinski said the agency is looking at that right now

from your perspective and public health, is this going to be a necessary and inevitable revision? >> dr. jha: i do think we are going to end up there. we have lots of vaccines that are three shot series, so i don't think the idea of a three shot covid vaccine series to be fully vaccinated is either unprecedented or unusual. my take is that's probably where the science is -- actually that is where the science is landing right now and i think in the upcoming weeks and months the cdc is going to revise it to say fully vaccinated his three shots. >> mike: the supreme court is hearing arguments soon over the presidents vaccine mandates, cost, benefits, it impact the economy and the workforce already is changing the fully vaccinated definition the right thing to do? >> dr. jha: certainly if we change it, it -- and if cdc changes it, and it's going to put pressure on businesses, on universities that have required fully vaccinated people to then update it to include boosters.

i think that's already starting to happen. i'm seeing a lot of businesses starting to require their employees get the booster, so i don't know how much of an impact it will make. it will certainly have some impact. we will see where all of this plays out. >> mike: thanks very much, dr. jha and happy holidays. up next, the president's agenda faces a critical reckoning and new year with potential consequences for the senate and the courts. we will discuss with them a critic senator next. ♪ ♪ [music throughout] this year has been extremely challenging for me. i am broken. and i am healing. i'm here at the memorial wall. i wanted to do something to remember my mom. for some reason, i'm having anxiety. obviously it's normal with everything that's going on right now. i think i'm going to take a break for a while.

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♪ ♪ >> mike: the white house spends the year on defense as the president spending bill takes a crushing blow in the midst of democratic infighting. joining us now, democratic senator ben cardin of maryland. senator, welcome back to "fox news sunday." >> senator cardin: might, it's good to be with you, thanks. >> mike: majority leader chuck schumer sent out a dear

colleague letter this week in which he said there will be a boat on the build back better and president biden said he thinks there is still a possibility of getting the bill done. if senator, what's the path forward to actually getting the legislation passed as it is now when the math clearly isn't there? >> senator cardin: well, mike, not only to the majority leader send a letter out, we also had a caucus this past week, late last week, and there is - unanimity n our caucus that we want to get a bill to the president, we are working to see what that bill will contain. president biden is directly involved in these negotiations. we need to deal with the affordability of child care because it affects our workforce and having workers available for our economy. got to deal with the cost of higher education. we know working families have tax issues, we got to extend certain tax provisions to help working families and families with children. there are things that need to get done that shouldn't be

partisan. we should be able to get these issues worked out. we are prepared to move, we just need to make sure we have unanimity in our caucus and that's what we are working on and we will start on that next week when we return. >> mike: to your point, are democrats hoping to scale it back even more or passing various pieces as stand-alone's, maybe attracting senator manchin or even some g.o.p. on some of these issues? >> senator cardin: that's a strategy decision that's being negotiated. we are open to a way to reach the finish line. we want to make it as copperheads of as possible because the needs are just there. we recognize that families need help on affordability, and that's what this is about, making our economy affordable for families. and it will be fully paid for. that is very clear. we understand the risks of inflation and we are committed to making sure that we really offset all expenses. with those parameters, we want to see it as competence of as possible but we need to make sure we have the votes to pass it, so that means it will be

different than some of us would like to see. >> mike: is scaling back the ball to win over moderates risk losing progressives in both the senate and the house? >> senator cardin: we've got to find that sweet spot and i think as long as everybody's at the table as we are negotiating, i know president biden has always included all parts of our caucus in these discussions, i think we can reach that sweet spot. look, a lot of us are going to be disappointed, but we are not going to let perfection be the enemy of getting something done, so we need to get something done. i think we will be pragmatic about it but we want to make sure it deals with the issues that we are facing in our communities. >> mike: president biden said in an interview with "abc news" this week, "the only thing standing between getting voting rights legislation passed and not getting past is the filibuster. i support making an exception on voting rights of the filibuster." majority leader chuck schumer said the senate would "in sitter changes to any rules which

prevent us from debating and reaching final conclusion on important legislation." senator, you said in the past you'd be open into a limited in that but because the votes to do that do not exist, you'd like to see bipartisan buy into reforming the rules. what's your position now? >> senator cardin: mike, i've been in the senate for 15 years and what i would like to see us is returned to how the senate was operating when i first came to the united states senate, and that is allow issues to come to the floor of the senate so we can debate. we are supposed to be the greatest debating society, institution, in the world. we need to be able to debate issues but we also need to make sure that the minority have an opportunity to offer amendments and get votes on their amendments. at the end of the day we should be voting up or down on legislation. that's what we need to do, to reform the senate rules so that it acts in its traditional historic sense. we are not doing that today, and i do hope we would have republicans who would join us in this effort so that the senate can restore the way that it

should be considering legislation. >> mike: of course some folks favor changing the rules when they are in the majority and then when they get to be in a minority they don't care for it so much, right? >> senator cardin: mike, i've been working both in majority and minority with senators from both sides. we recognize that the senate is broken as far as the way it operates and we have to fix that. of and yes, voting rights is a good example. there's no reason why we shouldn't be debating this issue on the floor of the united states senate. it's a timely issue, and it needs the debate in the united states senate. we should be voting on amendments, and we should allow the majority to rule on these votes on amendments. let's have a real debate and let the senate carry out historic role. so i felt this way when we were in the minority when i couldn't offer amendments. i feel this way and the majority we can't get votes up or down. let's listen to each other, let's fix the senate, and let's take up issues such as voting rights. >> mike: in that letter to colleagues this week's

senator schumer seemingly took a shot at senator manchin stating that every senator would have the "opportunity to make their position known on the senate floor, not just on television." here's manchin from an interview he did this week. >> i'm from west virginia, i'm not from wonderful were they can just be people and think they will be submissive. >> mike: senator cardin, senator manchin is an elected official from west virginia, he's been in the u.s. senate for 2010 and prior to that served as governor. as a possible he has a point that some of the policies in build back better just don't rate with his state? >> senator cardin: and he certainly has expressed himself. he's asking for a vote in the united states senate, he wants us to take the issue up and vote on it. we all have our own views, we have our constituents. at the end of the day i think senator manchin understands the importance of getting legislation to the president to deal with many of the issues that are in build back better. he doesn't agree with all of them, so let's sit down and find

that area where we all can come together for the sake of our country. and all of our states, including west virginia and maryland, the citizens will benefit from that. >> mike: charles lane, who is part of our panel this week, wrote for "the washington post," a sort of all politics is local peace regarding senator manchin's announcement that he cannot support build back better, basically pointing out that there are various parts of the legislation that may benefit other parts of the country, but what's in it for west virginia mack he then adds "at times, manchin's motivations for resisting have been portrayed as a mystery. real mystery is why the white house and senate majority leader charles schumer that their political future on getting manchin to vote for a bill such as this one." is it possible west virginia is quite different than new york, california, or even maryland? >> senator cardin: each state has unique issues. i've are present the people of maryland, i can tell you that chesapeake bay is very important to our state. i think it's important to our entire country, so i'm sure that

joe manchin has issues in west virginia he wants to see us pay attention to in washington. that's what our job is, our job is to represent the people of our state but also to represent our nation, and i think we can come together on this. the affordable child care is in every one of our 50 states have issues, where parents have a hard time dealing with the cost of child care and it's preventing some people from entering our workforce. every state has a challenge on the cost of higher education. we need to deal with it as a nation. these are national issues that affect all of our states. so i hope we can find a spot. certainly there are certain issues that are more important in some parts of our country than others, but that's what the senate is about. it lets find a common spot that can help all of our states and help our country. >> mike: leader schumer may have been referring to senator manchin specifically in his letter, but senator, what about all these other democratic members who are up for reelection in 2022 who represent states with competitive races, moderate politics? maggie hassan of new hampshire, catherine cortez masto of

nevada, mark kelly of arizona, for example. as a possible manchin has been taking the heat for a number of your moderate colleagues? >> senator cardin: i can tell you that everyone of my colleagues in the senate have strong views into what needs to be in build back better, and they express themselves on these views. at the end of the day, we think the american people want to see the united states senate act on these issues. they recognize we have challenges. they want to make sure that it's fully paid for and we want to make sure that it's fully paid for. we want to make sure that we deal with core issues, so whether we are on the ballot this cycle are not, it's in our political interest as well as the policies of this country to get this right. so to me, the worst outcome is inaction, getting nothing done. if got get something done. >> mike: several prominent republicans, including minority leader mitch mcconnell and senator john cornyn of texas have been openly recruiting >> senator cardin: switch parties. he says he hopes there is still room for him in the democratic

party. senator, is there still room for manchin and other senators who represent states that may not support some of the progressive policies and that bill? >> senator cardin: absolutely. the democratic party is proud of having a broad tent, as we say. we have people with different views, and look, give senator schumer a lot of credit. we have a 50/50 senate, as you know and yet we've been able to keep unity among all of the democratic senators, we were able to pass the american rescue plan, able to deal with the borrowing cap, debt cap in our country. we were able to get a lot of the things done. there's absolutely room in our party for joe manchin and elizabeth warren and everyone in between with different views, bernie sanders. we are very proud of our caucus and the fact that we have diversity in our caucus and joe manchin is very much welcome in the democratic party. >> mike: thank you, senator, we appreciate you making time for us today. up next, were joined by senator roy blunt for

republicans reaction to the future of build back better and the state of the g.o.p. ♪ ♪ pla n n this broker is your man. let's open your binders to page 188... uh carl, are there different planning options in here? options? plans we can build on our own, or with help from a financial consultant? like schwab does. uhhh... could we adjust our plan... ...yeah, like if we buy a new house? mmmm... and our son just started working. oh! do you offer a complimentary retirement plan for him? as in free? just like schwab. schwab! look forward to planning with schwab. >> mike: coming up, more bush era republicans exit washington or consider it, including the number two republican in the senate. >> i hope that senator coons will indeed, after the holidays, announce he's going to run for reelection. >> mike: we will discuss with another g.o.p. leader who is not running for reelection,

senator roy blunt, next. vo: if you're buzzed and doing this... to make yourself feel okay to drive... man: z-w-x.

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♪ ♪ >> mike: much of the focus of build back better's derailment has been on senator joe manchin. demographic leader chuck schumer also looking at senate republicans for congressional gridlock. it joining us now, senator roy blunt of missouri, a member of g.o.p. leadership. senator, welcome back to "fox news sunday." >> senator blunt: good to be with you, mike. >> mike: senator blunt, your democratic colleague joe manchin argued single handily sunk the bill back better this week but that overlooks the g.o.p. senators who were no votes as well. there's president biden tuesday making an impassioned plea on

behalf of families he says would benefit from passing that legislation. >> president biden: imagine being a parent, looking at a child and you can't afford, you have no house to borrow against, you have no savings. it's wrong. >> mike: how do you respond to that criticism from the president? >> senator blunt: well, i think the biggest challenge that families are facing right now is the inflation, inflation numbers as high as they've been in for decades. of the impact families at the grocery store, at the gasoline pump, when they pay their home heating bills, putting more money into the economy at a time when the economy is already overheated i think is just a bad idea. and obviously we want to get people back to work. there are jobs available, people are trying to get people to come and work with them and to make the country function economically. we can't solve every problem by

just dropping money on top of more money. i thought the congress made a big mistake in the administration made a big mistake right out of the box in march of this year by deciding after five bipartisan bills to fight back covid and what covid could do to our economy, all democrats all on their own decide we are going to spend another $1.9 trillion in what they call the american rescue plan in an economy that frankly, mike, clearly at that point did not need to be rescued. there were things that need to be done but just sending another $1.9 trillion in has created a big problem. if i think another $2 trillion in build back better idea will also create a big problem in families are suffering, whether the administration and democrats in the congress want to admit that or not. this is not a transitory

problem, it's a real problem, and you don't -- this is no time to make that problem worse. >> mike: senator, one of the casualties of the collapse of that bill is the enhanced child tax credit which expires at the end of the year. according to the urban institute, continuing the benefit could have a significant impact on child poverty, reducing child poverty to about 8.4% from 14.2% if all of roughly 40%. is that a compelling argument to extend it? >> senator blunt: i think this is one of the problems and one of the gimmicks in the bill, frankly. we doubled the child tax credit in the 2017 tax bill. there's a cap on that credit based on income. senator manchin has repeatedly said that one of the problems he has with the bill is that sending money to every family that has children under 18, the families that make -- every family that makes up to 150,000,

and many families that make up to $400,000 if you look at the house plan, just simply doesn't make sense. you're putting a cap on families in need is what we can do, should do them and would do in the country and i think could do in a bipartisan way. again, we doubled the child tax credit just a handful of years ago, and we need to look at that if that's no longer meeting the need of moving kids out of poverty, but families that make $150,000 for instance aren't in poverty in missouri, i don't think they're in poverty almost anywhere in the united states, and it's a big mistake to assume they are. >> mike: another argument being made for the enhanced child tax credit is it would bolster financial security and spur economic growth in missouri by reducing taxes on the middle class and those striving to break into it. how do you respond? >> senator blunt: well, if you look at the bill back better plan, the second biggest spending in that plan is

eliminating the tax deduction that almost totally benefits the richest americans, $230 billion going to restore the tax deductibility of all your state and local taxes. there's already a $10,000 deductibility for every family. i just -- what we see with -- the child tax credit is a great example what democrats want to do with this entire bill. they started the child tax credit at this level in march, and now here we are six months, eight months later, and they are saying well, we can't stop that program, the program we just started. and that's exactly the kind of gimmicks that the build back better, or some of my friends: the build back broker package does. once you startle these programs, you'll never be willing to stop them, so you've got $1.7 trillion of spending paid

foreign over ten years, but most of that money is spent in the first three or four years and the child tax credit will be another example, extended for a year and we will have exactly the same argument again next year and how are we going to extend this half a trillion -- this $500 billion program for the second year even though supposedly we are going into a program that's fully paid for. those of the kind of gimmicks that joe manchin and every republican in the senate were offended by it americans are going to be offended by them too if they ever have a chance to hear that bill debated as we are now debated -- debating publicly once we see the specifics of the bill. >> mike: democrats have expressed their interest moving forward with a vote on build back better after the new year. if democrats were to scale back the bill at some point even more or to break out some provisions and try to pass them as stand-alone bills, are there any parts of build back better that

you could see republicans potentially supporting? >> senator blunt: well, i'm sure there would have to be. we've never really seen build back better, but with a bill that over ten years if you extend all the programs would spend $4.9 trillion, surely there is something in there that i would be for, senator stabenow and i have worked for years to try to see that we create mental health like all other health. that's a relatively small item in this bill. i think it's in there, but that's an item if we put on the floor by itself republicans and democrats would vote for. i think that we've extended this program, expanded at a couple of times since we first were able to get it passed in 2015. of course there are things in there that you could before, but i don't see how anybody could in good conscience support a bill that if you take all the gimmicks out of the bill, you're going to be putting another $5 trillion into the economy over a decade and an awful lot of that goes into the economy

immediately, 6.8% inflation could become something bigger than that in 6.8% is way bigger than we can handle right now. >> mike: senator, you're retiring after 24 years of service in the u.s. house and u.s. senate. the new senior senator from missouri were believe josh hawley. you two have diverts on everything from certification of the 2020 electors to support for the infrastructure legislation recently passed by the senate. senator, does this reflect an ideological shift on some of the biggest issues that is good for the g.o.p.? >> senator blunt: well, i think when you look at the future of our party, the future of our party is to focus on the things that we have done well in recent years. obviously border security, regulatory policy, tax policy would be at the top of that list, and once again our friends, the democrats, are helping americans figure out the difference in us and them, what

we were doing in the previous four years with producing great economic results, even the battle against covid produced five major bipartisan bills. i think the way that voters reacted just last month in the elections in new jersey and virginia show that there is a real resurgence of people rethinking the difference in the two parties and i think a republican party is going to do very well in that discussion in that debate and those elections next year. >> mike: one of your colleagues, john thune, the number to a republican in the senate, is weighing a retirement announcement. senators richard shelby of alabama, rob portman of ohio, plus richard burr and pat toomey in the swing states of north carolina and pennsylvania are leaving already and of course you. first, have you had knee conversations with the senator, and second, are you concerned that any hopes of future bipartisan moments in the u.s. senate will leave with you all?

>> senator blunt: i think the country is resilient and strong and understands the importance of finding solutions. senator food and i came to the congress only 5 years ago, we are close friends, we work together in senate leadership. certainly the country will benefit if he decides to stay in the senate, and this is just a decision that he has to make. certainly in my case, it seems to me that it's the time to bring this chapter to a close, and i'm looking forward to what we are going to be doing next year. ben cardin and i are working on a couple of major issues, mental health issue that i mentioned earlier. what we could do with more health research, what did we learn from covid, what do we need to do to enhance testing. if i think this is going to be a great opportunity for th the ser continues to be an important leader in of next year. >> mike: senator blunt,

th blunt: thank you. >> mike: up next we will bring in our sunday group to discuss our president biden did on covid and other areas one year in. ♪ ♪

>> president biden: after ten months of the pandemic, we still don't have enough testing. that's a travesty. >> what's your message to americans were trying to get tested now and were not able to

get tested and who are wondering what took so long to ramp up testing? >> president biden: what happened was the omicron virus spread more rapidly than anybody thought. >> mike: that was then president-elect biden a year ago on his president sensors pandemic response and then this past week defending his administration's actions, and it's time now for our sunday group, former republican congressman jason chaffetz, catherine lucey, who covers the white house for "the wall street journal," and charles lane, from "the washington post." panel, welcome to all of you. >> thank you. >> thank you, mike buried >> mike: want to start by taking stock of the president of foster's first year in office. catherine, president biden ran as a dealmaker planning to renew confidence that government could do big things, but with the government struggling to ensure americans have key supplies like testing and therapeutics and the president is again pressing hard for vaccinations. give us a sense of his covid scorecard both on tactics and

messaging. >> that's right, mike. i think the public is giving the president a mixed review on covid. there's frustration about where things stand and you're right, i think we have to think about this. it broadly, the president is someone who can get the pandemic under control, the summer he said the country would declare independence from a virus and then we had delta and now he's dealing with the challenges that omicron is presenting and you are releasing that -- seeing that play out this holiday season, long line at testing centers, travel has been snarled. this is an, you know, the festive moment that this president was hoping for. and kind of what you're hearing from the white house is a sort of -- a mixed response here, they are trying to really stress or urgency, trying to explain what they're doing in terms of efforts to ramp up access to testing and support for hospitals, but they are also really trying to argue that the country is in a different place now than it was a year ago. and that is true as well. you know, more people are

vaccinated, what vaccines widely available, boosters are available, new therapeutics are being made, so they're trying to walk that line, but he heads into '22 in a tough position and facing some very tough questions, as you noted, in particular about the testing shortages. >> mike: jason, we saw a poll this week that gives us an early sense of how vaccinated and unvaccinated adults in the u.s. feel about the risks from omicron. take a look. 54% of vaccinated were adults save and it makes the more likely to get a booster shot but only 12% of unvaccinated adults say it makes them more likely to get vaccinated. we also saw in recent days former president from taking credit publicly for the vaccine. my question, jason, is there anything the white house or former president trump could say to encourage unvaccinated adults to consider getting a shot? >> well, they've tried just about everything, including, you know, getting payments to people and other types of assessments. but i think joe biden is in a

very tough spot with kamala harris, because i think their plan is failing. they essentially tried to declare victory back in july. i happen to have -- i've been vaccinated, i've had the booster, i would encourage other people to get it, but what really rubs a lot of people wrong i think are the mandates. forcing people to do it, saying that getting an injection is something that you have to have in terms of getting -- going into a restaurant to getting -- you know, having to show your papers. there are a lot of people that believe in the vaccine, they just don't believe in the mandate, and i think politically the president is taking a lot of steps backwards. the other thing is, i do think america thinks they need a second opinion at this place. i'm shocked the president biden still has dr. fauci and other mouthpieces out there in front. i think he would do the country a great favor by putting a new, fresh face out there and getting rid of dr. fauci, because there are millions of people that flat out don't believe in. >> mike: chuck, we will see

another key test for mr. biden one supreme court hears oral arguments and a pair of appeals over those mandates, the mandate for large businesses, and the mandate for health care workers at facilities receiving medicaid and medicare funding. the white house says it's confident it has legal justification for its policies but you covered the court. how do you see this playing out? >> i think they've got a problem, which is that they have six conservative justices on that court who are known to be skeptical of government regulation in general, and the kind of attenuated linkage to a statute that this mandate rests on. even by the admission of those who support it, we just feel it sort of falls under category of an older statute and they didn't require new congressional enactment. if i don't know how this would play into the court but i think it's an interesting factor. the ground has shifted under the mandate since it was proposed.

now, is your previous guest, dr. jha, suggested, fully vaccinated may mean three shots whereas when they proposed it it meant two. and that sort of changes the whole atmosphere around the mandate. >> mike: jason, we also saw a major setback last week on the president's build back better agenda. as you know, west virginia democrat joe manchin told us on this program last sunday that he didn't think he could get to yes. we saw the public reaction from lawmakers. you were a member of congress. how big a blow is this to the president's first year? >> it's pretty shocking. i think the democrats acted as if they had some major mandate. they didn't. i think the expectation and the promise of joe biden and kamala harris is that they were uniter's. they knew how to bring people together but they didn't even try to attempt to get republicans behind this. i do think that coming about valentine's day, somewhere around whatever the state of the union's, i do think they'll come back with a smaller package, one that's more palatable and they'll pass something. it's too good a tool to pass up, but i think they overreached,

they assumed too much, they went much more progressive, and i don't think there's much of a place for a person like joe manchin, the old blue dog democrats, they're gone, they are extinct, there's no room for them in the democratic party of today. >> mike: catherine, your reaction on the setback to this agenda? >> certainly this is not the news the white house is expecting just a week ago on this show. they were really taken aback. there were very frustrated, but you have also heard their tone in the past couple days. they are really arguing that they think that they can find a way forward. if the president has been very careful in his remarks about senator manchin specifically. they think that they can reopen negotiations, so i think as jason said, there's going to be an effort in the new year to see what they can come together on and then as we've all discussed a lot, the question becomes do you try and do less things were more time, do try and scale this back, what kind of pay fors are you looking for, how did they do something that is perhaps smaller and more palatable? >> mike: panel, we have to take a break.

up next, a look ahead to the new year with our panel's 2022 predictions. ♪ ♪ ♪ my work has been viewed by 100 million people. ♪ my work helps save lives. ♪ my work has gone platinum. ♪ my work gives people hope. ♪ i work at fedex. ♪

take your career to the next level with one of our many open positions. ♪ this is your home. this is your family room slash gym. the guest bedroom slash music studio. the daybed slash dog bed. the living room slash yoga shanti slash regional office slash classroom. and this is the basement slash panic room. maybe what your family needs is a vacation home slash vacation home. find yours on the vrbo app. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> mike: we are back now with our sunday group for a look ahead to what to watch in 2022. so we just ticked through the president of us to bass and republican scorecards for 2021. i want to go around the horn here with a group to see what you see as the major items you think we will be back you're

discussing at the end of 2022, what are the major political themes, policy themes in the coming year, jason, let's start with you. >> i think security was going to be right near the top of the agenda. security in your health, security on the border, security in your hometown, security and the big cities, and certainly security around the world, because i think joe biden is a very full plate going into 2022. i also think privacy will be a major theme, an issue, you need to show papers in this country in order to go into a restaurant. those types of things will be right near the top of the agenda, and certainly i think immigration is an underplayed story. >> mike: catherine, you're up. >> president biden ran a someone who could get the economy and covid under control back on track i'm a i think those are going to remain defining issues, especially as we head into the midterms if people feel more confident on both of those areas. the other thing i'll be watching really closely that you mentioned earlier in the show is

what happens with schools in 2022. if we see anymore widespread, you know, return to virtual learning. we seen a lot of parent frustration over that, that really played in the virginia's governor's race, i think that something we can keep a close eye on. >> mike: chuck, your turn. >> i think it's a safe production that we will be back here near talking about donald trump. his shadow continues to lie over the whole political system and the whole political future of the republican party especially. there will be republican primaries coming up next year for his candidates will be on the ballot and they will test his influence. the whole issue of support and loyalty for his view him a false view that the election was stolen will continue to be a story. he's the man in the news. >> mike: last, i know sunday shows are often reacting to the news but i want to give each of your moment to tell us which stories that you think are under covered right now but have the potential to shape the dynamics heading into midterms.

catherine. >> i'm going to again note that schools i think are real thing that could -- and parents, and how parents are feeling also about some of these issues in the bill back better plan, child care, can working parents get back to work. we've seen a lot of frustration over the access to child care and support families during the pandemic, so those things remain top of mind for families. >> mike: i know a lot of parents very nervous seeing schools closing down going back to virtual. chuck, your turn. >> i think foreign policy. very often when a president stalls out in his domestic agenda, foreign events start to take over, and the issue of europe, the stability of ukraine and the possibility of war between russia -- an invasion of ukraine by russia is already under covered under could be a huge story next year. >> mike: all right, jason, bring us home. >> scandal. just last week the secret service said 100 plus

billion dollars was scammed and a lot of the payments going out there, there are a lot of scandals going up there across this administration, and i think those will be a lot of surprise issues and they will be coming up and they are underway right now. look out, because they are coming. >> mike: jason, catherine, and chuck, thank you very much, wishing all a very happy new year. panel, see you next sunday, thank you for joining us, have a great week, i will see you tomorrow for fox news at night on the mighty fox news channel, and we will see you back here next "fox news sunday." ♪ ♪ of flights are canceled acros

the country once again this morning, including dozens here in the bay area. we're live at the oakland airport as it's expected to be the busiest travel day before the new year. also ahead as people gathered for holiday celebrations. concern over the omicron variant are amping up. but even as cases surge, the cdc is easing quarantine recommendations for some. plus the world is mourning the loss of an international civil rights leader. more on archbishop and nobel peace prize winner desmond tutu's life and legacy coming up. from ktvu. fox two news. this is mornings ontos