that this is like the grand solution for covid-19. so it's really dangerous and really dangerous for the president of the united states to be repeating claims that have been, you know, completely rebuked. >> thanks to all of you for again this quick edition. wear a mask, socially distance, listen to the doctors, real doctors. that does it for this edition of stev andrea mitchell reports. chris jansing picks up. good afternoon. at any moment donald trump will be talking to florida and we will see if he talks to reporters before leaving the white house. tension moments as members of the coronavirus task force testified before the house subcommittee on the virus. dr. anthony fauci answering lingering questions over whether

a fast vaccine is a safe one, arguing it is and the timeline remains optimistic. >> we feel cautiously optimistic we will have a vaccine by the end of this year and as we do into 2021. so i don't think it's dreaming, congresswoman, i believe it's a reality and will be shown to be a reality. the expanded unemployment benefits passed by the c.a.r.e.s. act expires today. that leaves 30 million americans without a critical safety net. federal republicans have not agreed on a plan to replace those benefits and they are gone for the weekend. the state of florida is staring down twin crises today. parts of florida are under tropical storm watch as hurricane isaias makes its way towards the u.s. and the state report its record high death toll from the covid-19 pandemic. let's begin with the congressional hearing featuring key members of the coronavirus task force. for the most patriot, task force members projected a sense of

cautious optimism about a vaccine while warning americans not to become complacent in the face of the pandemic. the questions from subcommittee members did turn partisan, particularly one exchange between dr. anthony fauci and congressman jim jordan. >> you see the inconsistency, dr. fauci? >> there's no inconsistency congressman. >> there's no inconsistency. >> so you're allowed to protest millions of people one day in crowds yelling and screaming but you try to run your business, you get arrested? and if you stood right outside of that same business, you would get arrested? >> i don't ners what you're asking me as a public health official to opine and who should get arrested or not. that's not my position. >> you add ver kated for certain businesses to be shut down. >> with me now from capitol hill is nbc news correspondent garrett haake. i watched this along with you, garrett. there was a little dodging and weaving there.

on both sides dr. anthony fauci didn't want to get back into a corner answering a political question. but, look, this hearing was supposed to be about a national plan to fight the virus that has now claimed 150,000 american lives. what have we learned? >> i think that exchange with jim jordan was an unfortunate outlier because so much of this hearing was useful for people trying to keep up with the latest in what's going on with the pandemic. a couple of key points. we heard from fauci on why the u.s. is doing so much worse relatively speaking than europe in a number of categories. we talked about the efficacy of their shutdown, shutting down 95% of activity to 55% in the u.s. he clarified after pressed this was not that the u.s. is doing more testing but these countries more successfully lowered their base line rate. he was pressed about the value of hydroxychloroquine, and he said if there were data that showed that it worked, he would be the first person out there

cheerleading for folks to go take it. he said without that data, there's just not any proof it's effective at all. and then there's also the discussion about the vch, whiac which was very important. all of the members of the panel cautioning just because they're moving fast, they say they're not moving unsafely. it's advances in technology that's allowing them to do this and they say people people should be trusting they're not cutting corners and developing a vaccine whenever that should be made ready. a point that's worth sticking the pin in because that will be, i think, a topic of great discussion as we get closer and closer to the development of a vaccine. >> meantime for millions of americans, as you know, garrett, coronavirus devastated their livelihoods. get us up to date on the relief bill. any hope year hearing for a plan in the next week? >> unfortunately not. senate left town last night. house is leaving today. they're wrapping up some votes even as i speak. negotiators all say they're

miles apart. nancy pelosi this morning said in a late-night negotiating session last night, the white house offered an exception of the unemployment benefits for only one week. pelosi rejected that saying that's the kind of thing you do if you're just dotting the is and crossing the ts on an negotiation. that's not where we are now. mark meadows, white house chief of staff, who has been essentially leading the negotiations for the republicans and projected a lot more optimism along the way, coming out of the meeting last night saying largely the same thing, they're miles and miles apart. house members are essentially on standby for the month of all. they get 24 hours' notice to come back and vote on something. we just don't seem to be anywhere close to find out what that something would even be, chris. >> garrett haake on the hill for us. thank you very much, garrett. with me now is former democratic congress croom donna shalala. she previously served as health an human services committee

chair. it is great to see you. what do you say to americans who are asking why is congress going home when there's no help coming our way? we're worried about keeping a roof over our head and food on the table. >> democrats are going home because we voted on a very good bill called the h.e.r.o.e.s. bill, which does more than put food on the table. it puts money in people's pockets. and it gives money to state and local governments. it extends money -- small businesses. so we did our job. we did it 77 days ago. and it's sitting over in the senate and as you heard, the negotiations are not going very well at all. but it's not like democrats are leaving without having done their job. we've done our job. now it's up to the republicans and they've got to take this seriously. this is tragicic in my state, in my district. i represent a district that's

totally dependent on crowds, on vacationers, on people that take cruises, on people that come for conventions to miami beach. thousands of people are out of work, totally dependent on unemployment as well as small businesses depending on us extending the grants for them. we have to play -- pay police and fire and teachers and meanwhile, the virus is totally out of control in florida. with no hope -- >> one of the things we heard, congresswoman, that again is the bottom line that we heard it from the experts today on that convention panel was you've got to get this virus under control if year going to get the economy back up and running. the hearing today was titled "the urgent need for a national plan to contain the coronavirus." republicans on the committee argued there is a national plan.

let me play this for you. >> for anybody to suggest there's not a plan, in fact when you look at the title of today's hearing, urgent need for plan, that's not the title of a hearing. that's a political narrative and false political narrative at that. you wouldn't even be here today if there wasn't a plan because you are the people tasked with carrying out the plan. >> is the name of that committee hearing a false political narrative, congresswoman? >> absolutely not. there is no national plan. there is no national effort to set a standard across the country. there's no national effort with a hammer to starve this virus. every state is on their own, every hospital is on their own to get their own protective equipment, and we're scampering

around in a very disorganized way. but more than anything else, there's not national leadership that says to every american, this is what you must do, including in many states, we need to close down. in florida, we have to close down, get control over this virus, then we can gradually reopen. we opened too fast. we didn't hit the virus with a hammer. we didn't starve it all the way down. now we have people dyeing unnecessarily, we have deaths that shouldn't have happened if we had, had strong state leadership and strong national leadership. many. >> florida democratic congresswoman donna shalala, also with a hurricane bearing down on your state. thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us. we appreciate it. i also want to bring in dr. michael osterholm, the director of infectious disease research and policy at the university of minnesota. so good to see you. in response to today's hearing, the president again --

>> good to see you. >> the president is again insisting that the u.s. is only showing more cases in europe because we test more. can we settle this repeated claim and why it's so important we continue to test at the highest possible rate? >> well, when your entire country is on fire, you need more fire hoses. in that sense, yes, we're testing more. those are our fire hoses. but the fact is the country is on fire with this virus. we are as bad as almost anyone in the world in terms of transmission right now so we should be doing a lot of testing. >> dr. anthony fauci said today, we just talked about this, he said it multiple times, as did other members of that panel, they're cautiously optimistic they will see a vaccine by the end of the year. do you agree with the timeline, can a safe vaccine be just four months away? >> it's possible. i think the government is doing everything they can to possibly move it forward quickly.

i think they're not taking shortkutz. but how the vaccine will work, who it will protect, what the percentage of people and side effects will be are still yet to be determined. but i have to give them credit for every effort that's been made to move these vaccines forward. >> just today the french drugmaker sa foefy said it has a $2.1 billion agreement to supply the u.s. with 100 million doses of its experimental vaccine, so the u.s. is betting on multiple different vaccines, paying for millions of doses before the clinical trials are even done. so even if they don't all pan out, given the scope of this disaster, should the breadth of the investments in vaccines give us hope? >> i think it should. again, i come back and compliment them. but i think there's an important footnote to add. what we're talking about is at least six more months without a vaccine. during that time we're going to see many, many, many deaths and millions and millions and millions of illnesses. the so we need to keep our eye

on the vaccine ball. it's very porn. the we need to figure out today what are we going to do in this country to get us through next week, next month? i fear desperately, just as we saw memorial day weekend set a new course, i suggest labor day will set it up a new notch. when colleges come back to session, high school starts up, we will see incredible transmission in that age group and going back indoor for the flu season and i think, chris, between now and the time we have a vaccine, wire in dire dire straits. we've got to be better prepared for that as well as the vaccine. >> let me ask you quickly, we're almost out of time, you just heard donna shalala, who i mentioned was also the head of hhs, so she knows a little bit about this, she wants florida to shut down again, get this under control to make sure we're in the best possible shape when we do have a vaccine.

are there states you're looking at that you do believe should be shut down again? >> first of all, for those few people on this show that are watching that remember the old oil commercial decades ago, "you can pay me now or you'll pay me later." this is exactly the case. i know lockdowns, shutdowns, bad terminologies are very difficult and we didn't do it that well to begin with. if we do that, we will see a much, much higher price being paid in the economy in terms of number of lives lost in the next six months. so we need to take our medicine now, yes. regionally, a number of states need to look at beginning a sense of slowdown, distancing issue. if think don't, they will be a house on fire for months to come. >> dr. michael osterholm, always good to see you. thank you very much for being on. i appreciate it. >> thank you. any minute now the president is expected to leave the white house for florida and he's going

to take part in an event with sheriffs in tampa, followed by a covid-19 round table in pa nillous county. as we have been talking about his trip to his adopted home state, comes as florida continues to set records in coronavirus cases and deaths. with the white house and congress hitting an impasse on coronavirus relief, chief of staff mark meadows held a briefing today, attempting to blame democrats who passed a bill in the house, months ago, to blame them for the current stalemate. >> the democrats believe that they have all the cards on their side, is and they're willing to play those cards at the expense of those that are hurting. i want to stress that the democrats have made zero offers over the last three days, zero. >> joining me is the senior white house reporter for nbc news digital shannon pettypiece. hey there, shannon. look, the president is going to a state where he's been down in the poll since the start of this pandemic.

tell us about his mess age today and sort of what the strategy is as we listen to mark meadows, where the strategy seems to be just blame the democrats. >> chris, first of all, i would note this is basically a campaign fund-raising trip the president is taking. he has what is described as a campaign coalition event with sheriffs to start off with. he's then going to speak to supporters, which often means downers and then speak at a fund raising committee. you mentioned in there, in between, he has a responsibility to talk about the coronavirus response and storm preparedness. oochb times the white house will add in an official event to help defray costs so it goes between a campaign event and white house duty. but he's trailing in the polls and his advisers have clearly linked to him the drop in the polls with concerns over his handling of the coronavirus response.

so going to florida, talking about coronavirus is part of the broader strategy the white house has to try to make the president look like he's taking a leadership role when it comes to the coronavirus response because when you really think about it, until about two weeks ago when they started these coronavirus briefings again, the president was barely talking about coronavirus. he was mentioning it in passing and spending most of his attention focused on the issue of crime and protest. he started talking about coronavirus a bit more. we now see him out traveling to these hardest-hit states to provide to present the appearance as a president who is taking control of this situation but really is more of an optic strategy shift to try to help him as you mentioned in these declining polls. >> shannon pettypiece, always good to see you. thank you for that. and a a littlittle later on hour, you will hear the controversial doctor praised by the president earlier this week. she's now defending her own debunked claims.

plus, sounding offer on the beef stakes. ali velshi joins us after picking the brain of voters in battleground pennsylvania. you will want to hear who they want and who they don't want. and steve kornacki has head-to-head polling on the race itself. and we will ask the secretary of state what she thinks about the president's idea of floating the idea of delaying the election. constitutional scholars say he can't. but what would states do if he tried? tried? an army family who is always at the ready. so when they got a little surprise... two!? ...they didn't panic. they got a bigger car for their soon-to-be-bigger family. after shopping around for insurance, they called usaa - who helped find the right coverage for them and even some much-needed savings. that was the easy part. usaa insurance is made the way liz and mike need it- easy. and look, it feels like i'm just wasting time.

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the battle over voting this november is taking on new urgency today. this delivering a eulogy for congressman john lewis yesterday, president obama went there, calling for election day to be a national holiday, calling on congress to end voter suppression and expand voting rights. but back in washington, president trump double downed on the idea that the upcoming election should be delayed, arguing with no evidence, that voting by mail will lead to fraud. >> there are those in power who are doing their darndest to discourage people from voting. >> these elections will be fraudulent. they will be fixed.

they will be rigged. >> closing polling locations and targeting minorities and students with restrictive i.d. logs. >> so we want to have an election. i would love to see voter i.d. >> attacking our voting rights with surgical precision, even undermining the postal service in the run-up to an election. >> with me now michigan secretary of state joycelyn benton. thank you so much for joining us. your state has experience with getting voting by mail set up. i think it was 2018, voters in your state passed a constitutional amendment granting every voter the right to vote by mail. just now, literally minutes ago, the president once again was asked about his move to delay voting, asked about his contention that vote by mail will lead to fraudulent results.

let me play for you what the president just said. >> everyone knows mail-in ballots are a disaster. you just have to take a look at the last recent -- take a look at new york city. look at new york, they're still counting your ballots, pat. do you know that? they had a small race by comparison, by comparison tiny. it's so messed up, they have no idea. there are blots missing. thousands and thousands of ballots are missing. they think they're going to send hundreds of millions of ballots all over the united states and it's going to come out? you won't know the election result for weeks, months, is maybe years after. maybe you will never know the election result and that's what i'm concerned with. it will be fixed. it will be rigged. >> fixed, rigged and a disaster. is that what you're expecting in november? >> no, quite the opposite. i mean, we've got this here in michigan and myself and my colleagues all across the country have been working day and night throughout this pandemic to ensure our elections are safe, secure, and able to

happen on time. in michigan we have a right to vote by mail, it's time tested. we see sit zcitizens on both sif the aisle embracing their right to vote by mail which underscores our confidence in it. >> how do you plan to secure the vote ahead of an election where more people will indeed be casting their votes by mail, more people will be voting by mail than those who will be voting in person for sure with the threat of coronavirus. how do you make sure that at the end of the day, it's all legit? >> first, it's all about making data-driven decisions. not any particular agenda, just showing what the data says about how to secure our agenda. here in michigan you have to request a signature on your request for matches the signature on your voter registration. then when you get your ballot and return it, you have to sign the outside of the envelope that

and signature has to match everything we have on file. we have multiple levels of security checks. we have people working overtime to be prepared to process those ballots and ensure they're counted as efficiently as possible. so we've got this. we've got the provisions in place and we have and many other states have done this for years. let's underscore what's really happening here, what this is really an attempt to do is sow seeds of doubt among our electorate about the safety of the process and really set the stage for the potential rejection of otherwise accurate results later this year. and i think that's what we're all particularly concerned about but at the same time we're all laser focused on making sure every citizen can vote, every voice is counted and heard this november. >> let's set real liistic expectations. you heard the president suggest we may never know the real adults. but you did say earlier this week it could take days to get final election totals.

what's your expectation with mail-in voting in numbers like we've never seen before affect the timing of the outcome? it will we know who is the president at the end of election day or maybe not? >> in michigan we're doing everything we can, thanks in part to the federal funding we received through the c.a.r.e.s. act to put high-speed tabulators in place, high-speed envelope openers and hire more people so we have more capacity to process what we anticipate being twice, or maybe three times as many ballots through the mail than ever before. that said, we're trying to manage expectations and say, you may not get an instantaneous result on election night. it may take us a few days longer, in part because we can't even begin processing these ballots sent through the mail until election day morning. but rest assured, our staff and the hard working people around michigan will be working as hard as they can be to be efficient and accurate and ensuring the results are delivered as soon as possible.

yeah, it may take a few more days but that's only because we're doing everything we can to ensure the process and accuracy of the results. >> michigan secretary of state josselyn benson, very much appreciate you coming on the program. >> thank you. we go to california as that state leads the country in coronavirus. and the doctor praised by the president last week is speaking for herself. instead of walking back wild, unfounded claims about covid and more, she's doubling down.

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and put what you want out there. we're following the latest developments in the coronavirus pandemic. here are the facts as we know them this hour. the st. louis cardinals have been instructed to self-isolate after one of their traveling team members tested positive for covid-19. this afternoon's game against the milwaukee brewers has been postponed, and a weekend series between the philadelphia phillies and toronto blue jays has been postponed as well, after multiple philly staff members tested positive for the virus. the ceo of mcdonald's is suggesting that law enforcement could be called in to deal with customers who refuse to wear masks. the chain's employees have been trained on how to speak to customers about masks as well as de-escalation measures but law enforcement could be called if a customer remains unwilling to comply. facebook ceo mark zuckerberg says there is no end in sight

for employees working from home. the social media giant has no timetable to reopen its offices. and actor bryan cranston confirmed on instagram he tested positive and recovered from covid-19. best known for his role in "breaking bad," cranston said he is now donating plasma. and good for him for doing that. it is california that currently leads the nation in covid-19 cases. the state reported another 10,000 daily cases, bringing the total to nearly half a million. there's another grim milestone, the state now reports over 9,000 total deaths due to the virus. with me from los angeles is nbc news correspondent gadi schwartz. hey, gadi. are state officials willing to consider any different measure to slow the spread of the virus given where we are right now? >> hey, chris. the drastic measures everybody here in california seems to be on the lookout for would be another full-on lockdown with only essential businesses open

and so far that has not come up too much this week, as least as much as it was coming up last week. however the number of cases continues to climb, with the number of tests also climbing that are being conducted here in los angeles. we're watching the positivity rate, that's holding below 8% and threshold to watch there is about 10%. so while things are not great, they could be a lot worse. however, major problem here in los angeles county at least is an overwhelmed contact tracing system. we just saw "the l.a. times" report that major outbreaks are not being detected by that contact tracing system. right now the number of cases that are following through the cracks when it comes to that contact tracing system are many reasons. over the last few weeks, a number of people with covid-19 that contact tracers have been able to reach, for example, has fallen from 75% to 68%, and only

40% of those have been willing to say who they've come into contact with, as you can imagine, alerting othe-- hamstr those who need to alert others. if they admit to their employer they have covid-19, even if they might have caught covid-19 while on the job. chris? >> gadi schwartz in california for us. thank you very much for that update. we're lalso getting a new view into the belief of the doctor who president trump praised, retweeting her video, showing her falsely claiming there's a cue for covid-19. the video, now banned from most social platforms, falsely pushes that hydroxychloroquine is a cure for covid-19. now we look at her long history of unsubstantiated claims.

morgan chesky is joining us with more. what does the doctor say now? >> we're finally getting a chance to hear from the doctor and video that was seen went viral and then scrubbed from many media sites that you mentioned. dr. stella immanuel spoke exclusively with kprc in an interview where she did stand behind the controversial claims she made that are highly discredited. this morning one of the doctors featured in a now-banned viral video about the coronavirus is speaking out. >> of course they think i'm dangerous because i'm speaking truth. >> reporter: dr. stella immanuel was part of a group of doctors monday claiming without evidence there's a cure for covid-19. in the clip she pushes hydroxychloroquine as part of the cure for the disease, largely discredited by health experts. the president retweeted the video which was eventually take down by twitter, facebook and

youtube for violating misinformation policies. >> i was very impressed with her and other doctors that stood with her. i think she made sense but i know nothing about it. >> reporter: despite the backlash, in an interview with nbc affiliate kprc, dr. immanuel continued to claim hydroxychloroquine could be part of the coronavirus cure. >> why am i crazy on it? >> that's the minority view. >> when you have 400 patients and none of them have died, it's not a minority view. >> reporter: dr. anthony fauci says scientific data doesn't support her claim. >> all of those trials showed consistently that hydroxychloroquine is not effective in the treatment of coronavirus disease or covid-19. >> reporter: there are currently no drugs approved by the food and drug administration to prevent or treat covid-19 and the national institutes of health recommends against using hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of the virus. beyond her controversial coronavirus claims, dr. immanuel

has also drawn criticism for pushing conspiracy theories and her disease about demon spirits and disease. >> it's off the beaten path to say demons are sleeping with you overnight. >> demons are people. >> are they? >> yes, demons exist. >> reporter: now also in that interview dr. immanuel said she herself is currently taking hydroxychloroquine, which she added she's given to hundreds of patients. ment she also added that she plans to publish those findings giving those patients the drug at a later date. chris? >> morgan chefsky, important to point out how off the rails all of this is and how dangerous it can be if people believe it. morgan chesky, thank you. hard to believe, have you been watching the calendar? we're 95 days away from the election. we have new head-to-head polling to show you and it shows some trouble for the trump campaign. and any day now, joe biden

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when pain happens, aleve it. all day strong. we are 95 days out from election day, and new battleground polling shows presumptive democratic nominee joe biden continuing to gain support in some critical swing states. nbc news national political correspondent steve kornacki's at the big board for us. walk us through the numbers, steve. >> chris, we've got new numbers out of three different states. let's take you through one by one. in the granite state, new hampshire, what you remember in 2016, this was actually new hampshire, of all of the states that hillary clinton won in 2016, this was the closest margin here, .3 of a point. that was about 2,700 votes. that was clinton's margin over trump in 2016. the significance, new hampshire is one of those states they talk about flipping, being on

offense, gaining a state trump wasn't able to carry in 2017. that's what they've been talking about in new hampshire. what does the new poll out of new hampshire show us from unh, 13-point advantage for joe biden over donald trump in new hampshire. fraction of a point 2016, double digits now in new hampshire. let's look at pennsylvania. a state obviously we're getting a lot of numbers in for good reason. trump won by half a point in 2016, first republican since the 1980s to carry pinsz. here's another new poll, this one from franklin and marshall, college in pennsylvania, consistent with what we've been seeing in pennsylvania, nine-point advantage for joe biden. one other we can show you from florida here, mason-dixon poll. trump's home state, he changed his resident from florida. won this narrowly in 2016. this is a big, big state trump needs to hold on to. again, here's biden lead, believe it or not, this is probably the best poll we've seen recently for donald trump. he's still trailing. it's four points.

we've seen polling in florida where it's been seven, eight, nine, ten points. but from an electoral perspective, this one is essential for trump, he's got to find a way to carry the state of florida. if he loses it, very tough to stitch together 270 votes for him. >> he's on his way there, even as we speak. steve kornacki, always great to see you my friend. meanwhile, the talk around the vp is escalating as joe biden said he will name his vice president pick next week. the big question remains, how much will geography play a role? where kamala harris, for example, lose points from being from a solid blue state? or midwesterners like tammy duckworth appealing because of the need to take back states donald trump flipped in 2016? let's bring in msnbc weekend anchor ali velshi, who spent some time in a midwestern state trump flipped. ali, good to see you. what did pennsylvania voters

tell you about what they're looking for in a running mate? >> chris, about a week ago i pulled a chris jansing and i went out to talk to them, as opposed to about them, you would have been proud to me, socially distanced conversation with six people from bucks county, pennsylvania. they know, as steve described, will be very important in this conversation. as much as we talk about rural pennsylvania or suburban pennsylvania in a certain way when it comes to demographics, i was able to find a democratic diverse and politically diverse crowd. i asked them what -- not what donald trump, i'm sorry, what joe biden need toes do in terms of picking a vice presidential candidate. here's what they told me. >> because we only have two choices at this point, that's why i'm going with joe biden but i also say i feel joe biden does need an african-american woman vice president. i say that because the state of

the nation i feel like having a woman as vp will be very important in that stride in healing this country. >> if you said, look, i have four african-american on my short list but regardless, african-americans -- the expression he used is -- they brought me to the dance, and they will be -- they will be recognized in this administration, quite possibly with senior positions in the cabinet. would that be satisfactory to you? >> dno. i want him to select -- he narrowed it down to four people. he has already committed it's going to be a woman. i want him -- my opinion, i want him to select an african-american woman. it's time. >> mary katherine, what do you think about a woman as vice president? >> i'm for a woman being president. i agree. but what i really am for is the best person for the job, regardless of race, color, gender, sexual orientation.

>> so just one very small sampling, chris, but the bottom line is -- why do i keep saying donald trump? if joe biden doesn't pick an african-american woman as his vice presidential candidate, the people i talked to said well then there better be some form of recognition of what role african-americans are going to play in his administration, he might want to do that sooner than later. chris? >> one of the things he said is that it will look like america, his entire cabinet. time will tell. ali velshi, all right, if you're going to take my job and go out to bucks county, which is one of the coolest places in pennsylvania, i'll give you a pass this time. thank you, my friend. remember ali velshi every morning, awesome show, 8:00 to 10:00 eastern here on msnbc. time now for a preview of what's ahead in our next hour. joining me is my colleague chuck todd. chuck, what do you have coming up? >> first, a little shout out to velshi there. that was a really well done,

socially distanced focus group. kudos there. good spacing. well, chris, i appreciate it. we're going to speak with congressman jim clyburn. not only has he been leading this morning's coronavirus committee hearing, i think he may have something to say about the vp vetting process. we will also hear from lori cash, one of the postal workers raising flags about new rules that could delay the delivery of ballots in november. see you in a few minutes, chris. >> looking forward to that, chuck. thank you very much. still ahead for us in this hour, in the wake of john lewis' death, resounding calls to renew the voting rights act. there's a bill bearing the congressman's name that's collecting dust on mitch mcconnell's desk. what getting fueled with one protein feels like. what getting fueled with three energy

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the passing of congressman john lewis put a renewed focus on his life's work, ensuring the right to vote for all americans. lewis's mission was echoed by former president barack obama during his eulogy of the civil rights icon. >> there are those in power who are doing their darnedest to discourage people from voting by closing polling locations and

targeting minorities and students with restrictive i.d. laws and attacking our voting rights with surgical precision! even undermining the post aal service in the run-up to an election that's going to be dependent on mail-in ballots so people don't get sick. you want to honor john? let's honor him by revitalizing the law he was willing to die for. and by the way, naming it the john lewis voting rights act, that is a fine tribute. >> but right now there is a major obstacle. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. joining me now is kristen clark, president and executive director of the lawyers committee for civil rights under law. good to have you here, especially the day after congressman lewis was honored in that way. and president obama obviously went there at the funeral because the fight for voting

rights was indeed the centerpiece of so much of john lewis's life's work. what's your take on mitch mcconnell's refusal to move that bill? >> it's a tremendous travesty. you know, the supreme court issued a devastating ruling in 2013 that cut out the heart of the voting rights act, a provision that required states with long histories of voting discrimination to get federal review of those changes before they could be put in place. and for seven years congressman lewis fought tooth and nail to get congress to restore the voting rights act. the supreme court literally put the ball in congress's court. and the effort has stalled. and the effort has stalled under the watch of mitch mcconnell. congress -- the house side has done their part. they held hearings examining the record that shows very plainly that voter suppression and voting discrimination is alive and well across the country. purge programs, the shuttering

of polling sites, restrictions making it harder for people to get registered to vote. there is urgent need for congress to act, and mitch mcconnell, if he believed in the life and legacy of john lewis, will move, will do something and will do more than issue a statement of remembrance. >> president obama also went a step further. he called for election day to be a national holiday. i want to read you? research from the pew research center. of the 36 nations in the organization for economic cooperation and development the u.s. is one of just nine that votes on a weekday, one of seven that does not designate election day as a national holiday. and with the exception of 13 states it's not even a paid holiday. how important would this be for election day to be a national holiday? and is it less important if people are voting by mail? >> it would be monumental to

make election day a holiday. and we need it to be a day of service. we need people to go out and serve as poll workers and replenish the ranks that have been hit by the pandemic. and you know, we have a lot of work to do to catch up to other modern democracies across the globe. whenever you look at how he with measure up to other modern democracies we are often rock bottom when it comes to voter turnout and participation. so not just election day, making it a holiday but same-day registration, automatic voter registration, expanded early voting opportunities. all of these are steps we can take to make it easier for americans to vote. but no doubt the most powerful step that we can take is for the senate to act now, for mitch mcconnell to act now on the legacy of john lewis and pass the voting rights act, restore the voting rights act. my organization, the lawyers' committee for civil rights under law, will not stop until we complete this project and live up to john lewis's words.

>> kristen clarke, so good to have you, and a lot for people to think about as they head into their weekend. we appreciate you taking the time to talk to us. >> thank you. >> and that's going to do it for me today. chuck todd picks up our coverage after this quick break. have a great weekend, everybody. y for what you need? i should get a quote. do it. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ over time, you go noseblind to the odors in your home. (background music) but others smell this... (upbeat music) that's why febreze plug has two alternating scents and eliminate odors for 1200 hours. ♪breathe happy febreze... ♪la la la la la. introducing the new sleep number 360 smart bed... now temperature balancing, so you can sleep better together. can it help keep me asleep? absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable.

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good afternoon. i'm chuck todd. today, three of the nation's top doctors testified in a house hearing on the national strategy

in the coronavirus crisis. >> blaming china is not a plan. blaming china is not even a good excuse. >> there was such a diversity of response in this country from different states that we really did not have a unified bringing everything down. >> would it be possible for our nation to have results for all covid tests completed and returned within 48 and 72 hours? >> it is not a possible benchmark we can achieve today given the demand and the supply. >> what happens next is really dependent upon if the american public fully embrace what we've asked. >> it did not sound like we are anywhere close to a national strategy. right now president trump is departing for events and a private campaign fund-raiser in tampa. he was going to spend the night at his resort in miami, at doral. but those plans changed due to the track of hurricane isaias. multiple coronavirus testing sites are now suspended in