gets his formal briefing from the white house as the biden transition announces more key staff and cabinet picks while preparing for some brutal confirmation battles ahead. and the president and his allies keep fighting with false claims of voter fraud and new attacks on republican officials in georgia where control of the senate hangs in the balance. welcome to monday. it's "meet the press daily". i'm kasie hunt. the biden transition kicks into high gear and the pandemic is raging out of control. today for the first time both the president-elect and the vice president elect will receive the presidential daily brief from the white house. biden announced the white house communications team, economic team and inaugural committee

even as the president continues to spread fanciful cams that la the election results are fraudulent. the work of the transition continues. the coordinator -- deborah birx said she was ready to begin formal conversations with biden's team today. we'll talk with a top member of biden's pandemic to be force later this hour. all these involvements are happening against the brutal backdrop of this worsening pandemic. nearly 200,000 new cases were reported in a single day over the holiday weekend. hospitalizations continue to soar overwhelming health systems across the country. roughly 14 00 americans are dying every day. and despite the cdc's warning against traveling this thanksgiving, tens of millions did so anyway. prompting a chorus of dire warnings from white house

officials. >> what we expect the next couple weeks into december, that we might see a surge super imposed upon the surge we're already in, and when i give that messa message, i don't want to frighten people except to say it's not too late to do something about this. >> i want to be straight with the american people. it's going to get worse over the next several weeks. >> we saw what happened post memorial day. now we're deeply worried about what could happen post thanksgiving, because the number of cases, 25,000 versus 180,000 a day, that's where -- that's why we are deeply concerned. >> this weekend with all the travel, it's really concerning to all of us. about 20% of all people in the hospital have co-vid, so this is a really dangerous time. >> but you would think the president would be focussed on the coronavirus considering all those warnings, but he remains

focussed instead on failing efforts to compel states to overturn election results. arizona officials are meeting right now to certify their vote totals. wisconsin is expected to certify the results in just a few hours. so let's dive right in. joining me now is mike memoli who is with president-elect biden in wilmington, delaware, carol lee is outside the white house, and also with us the dean of the brown university school of public health. mike, let me start with you. we're expecting the president-elect to get his first official presidential daily brief from white house officials. obviously the pandemic is a significant global challenge, something he's likely to learn more about, especially as we've considered and dealt with threats from other countries as it relates to the pandemic, whether it's hacking, cyber security issues, or other problems. what do you know about what the vice president or excuse me, the president-elect's team is doing

behind the scenes right now on this against the backdrop of this worsening pandemic? >> well, kasie, i think you see the priority order in how they're announcing the initial rollout of cabinet officials and senior administration officials. last week setting the stage for the fact that the president-elect can see the presidential daily brief himself. this is something biden is familiar with. he had access to it eight years in the obama administration. he digested it perhaps differently than president trump did. that's one of the sort of new challenges for the intelligence community is to readjust it for an incoming president. then, of course, tomorrow with the rollout of the economic team. central to all of these is, of course, the coronavirus. as you heard from dr. birx, hoping to be able to speak with biden and members of his team today. that's an important relationship that now can be fully engaged given the long national nightmare of ascertainment we saw end last week. these conversations can now

finally happen, and when you see the president-elect announce the members of his economic team tomorrow, you should expect the impact of the coronavirus to be front and center as it has been with most of his policy rollouts. the biden team is looking at these rising case numbers nationwide with great alarm in part because this is certainly going to effect the economic outlook in the years ahead. it's going to effect the health situation that he inherits january 20th, and there's concern about the fact that president trump seems to be completely disengaged from this challenge at this moment. and biden also in touch with local officials as well as we see a number of states are considering in some cases moving toward a greater lockdown posture. new jersey, for instance, considering something close to a statewide lockdown as we see the case numbers rise. and so a lot on biden's plate as he begins to really continue to fill out his team both on the cabinet level and in the white house team. >> if anything, that's an

understatement. i'm glad you mentioned the president and his lack of engagement here. we have, i think, a little bit more sound from dr. fauci who spoke to chuck on "meet the press" over the weekend. i'd like to show it and then talk about it. dr. fauci essentially seemed to say to chuck that he was powerless to get the president to focus on the pandemic. let's watch. >> how about getting the president to talk about not traveling over the holidays or getting the president to talk about wearing a mask again? >> i don't know. it certainly is possible, chuck, but i don't think i have any power in that regard. i mean, what i'm doing is the best i can do. >> the best that he can do, which, of course, i think americans across the country, of course, appreciate. but what a statement to make. he's the top infectious disease expert in our government during the middle of a global pandemic,

a once in a lifetime global pandemic, and he says he can't get the president to listen to him. >> kasie, and he's being honest. i think anyone who works for the president and has been trying to get him to say something about the pandemic over the course of the last few months when he's really just shifted away from talking about it in a meaningful sort of way mostly focuses on the vaccines is running into the same frustration, perhaps that dr. fauci has and has essentially given up. the president is not somebody who is going to be out there and be the face of whatever the white house is saying and messaging on coronavirus. it hasn't been that way for some time. and when i was speaking with the white house official when they were gearing up for the thanksgiving holidays, they said that president trump was not going to be part of their arsenal in terms of who they put out there to try to message to americans to social distance and wear masks. i think you'll probably see the same thing as we head into the

winter holidays where you'll have folks like dr. fauci and mike pence coming out and making these sorts of recommendations while president trump stays behind the scenes. he has, though, focussed heavily on the vaccine. that is because he wants credit for the vaccine development, because he feels like it's his operation warp speed that is responsible for that, and that it's his initiative, and he's even come out and basically said he doesn't want joe biden, for instance, getting credit for the vaccine. he feels like that's something he should have. one interesting thing, kasie is during the election the campaign, the president repeatedly said on the campaign trail that once we got through the election, everyone would stop talking about coronavirus, and really, the only person who has stopped talking about it is the president. you see everybody around him in his administration, the transition that the biden team is pulling together, and all americans are dealing with this, governors state and local officials and the president as you noted, just doesn't weigh

in. >> i'm glad you brought up the vaccines, because i want to go to the doctor on that. obviously we've been covering and focussed on how difficult things are right now out there. the surge on top of a surge. but one of the things people have been trying to hold onto, and i've heard possibly you, some of your colleagues on our air waves saying we finally have light at the end of the tunnel. we have hope. let's get through these few weeks and months we have left. we've done so much already. let's hold out a little bit longer until we can get this vaccine. but we've also seen throughout the last year that convincing people to do something if you're a public health official, convincing the public in mass to do something is a lot harder than a lot of us thought. wearing a mask was politicized quickly. we saw a dropoff in confidence in vaccines and questions about whether people would take them right away, and i feel like that's the next potential messaging challenge here is convincing people that hey, it's safe to do this.

this is something that you should do. you have to do it -- there's likely two shots, one after the other. what kind of challenge are we facing in terms of communicating with people about how this vaccine is going to be rolled out both how they should act before they're able to get it and then how they should feel and whether they should feel comfortable about taking it at all? >> yeah. so kasie, thank you for having me on. there are a couple points worth emphasizing. number one is we are in for the sort of hardest six, eight weeks of the pandemic ahead of us. they're going to be really, really tough two months. but the light at the end of the tunnel is not only there. it's bright and gets brighter every day. both moderna and the pfizer vaccines look terrific and look to be quite safe. but as you have pointed out, the big challenge is helping people you said why it's in their best interest to take the vaccine, and what i have argued is that some of the he sitancy we see i natural. the vaccine has been developed

quickly and people are worried about whether we cut corners and the short answer is we have not cut corners. the scientific integrity with which the vaccine has been develop second down very high. when it's my turn, i plan to get vaccinated, so we have to sort of just talk openly and honestly with people. one of the ways we got into trouble with mask wearing is there was a political campaign by people to undercut the public health message. and my take is if there is a campaign, we have confront that campaign and really fight that disinformation that made it so much harder to do the basic public health stuff so far. >> it's a very, very important point. mike, let me go back to you. i want to talk a little bit about the transition. you mentioned the economic team. that's a critical part of trying to recover from this pandemic once we are able to distribute the vaccines and people get back

to some semblance of normal life. just the public health piece of it goes a long way. there's going to be a lot of damage that an economic policy needs to be focussed on. you touched on this a little bit briefly earlier. the president-elect's economic team? i'm interested particularly also in neera tanden who is slated to be the director of omb and who has drawn some fire from republicans, and what the thinking is inside the biden campaign about whether they were expecting that kind of criticism so early and quickly out of the gate or whether they were surprised by it. >> i've spoken with advisers about the immediate blowback. first, an awful lot of senate republicans in particular who have yet to acknowledge the fact that joe biden won the election and is the president-elect are reacting strongly to some of the nominations. neera tanden first and foremost.

a tacet acknowledgment of the fact he won. and the other thing, a lot of senate republicans who for some reason never seem to manage to see president trump in his tweets are highlighting a lot of neera tanden's tweets as well this morning. >> funny how that works. >> it's a sign i think that they're ready for a fight if it comes to them. i know they were in a cynical time. there's been some discussion of whether neera tanden is a sacra official lam. someone meant to draw fire away from other nominees. one saying that's not how joe biden operates. he wouldn't necessarily put somebody in that position, even if it might have the effect of happening. more broadly about the economic team, you're continuing to see a president-elect who promised to have an administration that reflects the diversity of this country. doing that with his choices. we have, for instance, the first woman nominated to be treasury secretary and a diversity in neera tanden of lived

experience. a number of the former officials who are out there touting her today are noting she is somebody who benefitted from social welfare programs that republicans have sought to undermine and that she would be in large part charged with helping to shore up as the omb director and working with the economic team. the other thing is remember, there's been a lot of discussion about where joe biden fits on the ideological spectrum. center or left of the party. on the economic front, it's interesting having observed joe biden. a populous streak in him. and one of the nominees came from the economic policy institute. biden gave a speech that i think a lot of folks should look back on two years ago where he talks about the ways he was often at odds with the obama administration on economic policies and ways he did not think they were focussed enough on the needs of middle working class americans. it's rare for bide tn to critice

the obama administration on any front. it's an indication of some of the approach that he is bringing into the white house that perhaps is not necessarily appreciated more widely. >> interesting point. doctor, let me wrap up with you and stick with this economic question briefly. it's going to be harder to reach communities that are already at a disadvantage. we've been focusing on income inequality for months if not years now, but it's been made so much worse by the pandemic. what do we need to do broadly to try to make sure that those communities both have access to the public health resources here to deal with the pandemic explicitly, but also in the future as you think about public health wholistically. >> yeah. i think two weeks. in the short-run, it needs to be a priority. there are certain communities, communities of color primarily that have been

disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. we must absolutely ensure that when we do vaccine distribution and community outreach, that those communities are not left behind. i think that's going to be critical. the second part, the longer run, is that there are broad issues of systemic racism in our country that have landed us where we are, and they have to be addressed. everything from housing policy to other social policies that have really created the context for the pandemic hitting certain people more than others. if we don't address those junz lying issues, we're going to be back here again. i hope we can learn the lessons and make sure we do better next time. >> all right. doctor, mike, carol lee, thank you for kicking us off this morning on a busy news day here. coming up next, votes are being certified as accurate and fair. counter to the president's attempts to overturn them. arizona officials are certifying the results.

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welcome back. we've got a lot of election action today as more key states move to seal the results heading into december. you're watching live now as arizona completes their election certification process. it's one of the last two battle ground states to certify their results. the other hold out, wisconsin is planning to certify their results later this afternoon following a partial recount requested by the trump campaign. it confirmed joe biden as the winner. the traump campaign's failure to halt the certification process in the crucial states does not mean the legal battles are over. as the results are certified in arizona, rudy giuliani and other trump campaign lawyers are holding what they're calling a hearing, quote unquote, with

arizona lawmakers to discuss unproven claims of election fraught. and trump has continued to fight with georgia republicans attacking the governor and triggering a second recount even though the state has already certified its results. it's a fight that could spell trouble in the two senate runoffs that are going to decide control of the senate. i'm joined by two of my colleagues, shaquille brewster in arizona and vaughn hillyard in arizona. it's always great to see you. shaq, let me start with you since now the process in wisconsin seems to be wrapping up. let's walk through what changed and didn't change after the recount. the trump campaign spent 3 million on this. how much did they pay for each vote they found, and did it actually help them?

>> i'll need to get a calculator to get that answer for you. i'll tell you, the trump campaign requested the recount in the two most democratic counties of the state. you saw president-elect biden's margin increase by about 87 votes. the bottom line, though, is that it didn't really change both the result of the election, and president-elect biden still won this state by about 21,000 votes. but we did see from the president this weekend, he explained a little bit of the strategy here. today later this morning we'll see the chair of the wisconsin elections commission certify the results in the state of wisconsin now that the recount has finished. that will then allow the trump legal team to move this from a recount fight to a court battle. they'll have five days to appeal the results of the recount to a circuit court in this state. the president this weekend suggested that's what we will do. he says the lawsuit will come

monday or tuesday. what his team is alleging is three objections we heard throughout the recount process over what he calls illegal ballots. many are long-standing practices we've seen in wisconsin that his team is objecting to. for example, any early in person vote. his team believes in the two democratic counties those votes should be tossed. the biden team is saying this is just a massive effort to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters. we've talking about about 200,000 votes that would be tossed if the trump campaign and trump legal team got their way. bottom line, we're getting to the end of this process, but we're not at the end yet. we'll expect some more court battles to come. >> fair enough. i would never try to put someone on the spot to do math on television. it seems like biden added more

than 30,000 -- thank you. great reporting as always. vaughn, let me go to you in georgia. we're keeping an eye on arizona. it sounds like we haven't gotten quite to a certification process. you've been keeping an ear to the ground on your home state. i want to talk about the senate runoffs. and the recount process, because this absolute civil war among republicans in the state of georgia. the president versus the governor and the secretary of state, and a lot of allegations flying on social media that republicans are having to tamp down because there are some suggestions they shouldn't -- voters shouldn't go out and vote for loeffler and perdue. what a headache if you're mitch mcconnell. how is that playing out on the ground and how nervous is it making the two georgia senators, loeffler and perdue, that they may lose their runoff elections?

>> exactly. i think the frustrations that there are some republicans who want this process to be over in wisconsin or over in arizona is different than the frustrations here in georgia, because it is distracting from the necessity for republicans to hold on to the senate majority. if, in fact, the democrats were to pull off both senate seats here in georgia on the january 5th runoff day, ultimately it would be 50/50 in the senate, and kamala would be that 51st deciding vote. that is why when you look ahead to this saturday, president trump is going to be campaigning here in the state of georgia, but the question is is he going to be more focussed on trying to help the likes of david perdue and kelly loeffler or focussed on his frustrations with what he says is the election integrity in a fraudulent election here in georgia? he lost the state of georgia by 13,000 votes. it's taken to his twitter feed

to not only slam the republican secretary of state but in the last 36 hours the republican governor, governor brian kemp. yesterday he said he was ashamed he ever endorsed him for governor in 2018. this morning in a series of tweets, he called him a hapless governor, expressing frustration because a week and a half ago the governor and the secretary of state, they certified the election results. we should note the governor's office released a statement here to nbc news earlier today in which the governor's office said georgia law prohibits the governor from interfering in the elections and said they are going to do what it takes to restore trust and across the serious issues that have been raised statement. this wednesday will mark essentially the end of the final, final recount and yet, it appears that no matter what the results and how many recounts take place in the state of georgia, the president will not be content and again, what democrats are hoping for is that

the president sews further distrust among republican voters here who you saw over the weekend, the rnc chair was here. kind of had a town hall like gathering and the republican voter who is said what's the purpose if the election is rigged? and mcdaniel was pleading with those voters to please come out and vote. the question is could donald trump be what costs the republicans their senate majority? >> exactly to that point, it's -- it really is in many ways the worst nightmare for republican officials. it's also obviously for voters a frustrating place to be, but there's some talk about whether trump is going to go to georgia or not. that he may be campaigning there for perdue and loeffler. again, it illustrates the bind they're in. on the one hand, they can't win

without the turnout from his base. on the other hand, is he going to come down to georgia and say your votes don't count? why would you go vote in the senate election if your vote for me didn't count this election, was rigged? it's like they can't win with him or without him. what do you do? >> january 5th is only two weeks before bide en's inauguration. if the president loses further interest in this race, it could cost that enthusiasm. early voting begins here two weeks from now, december 14th and still loeffler and perdue who won by narrow margins to need to turn out the base. both of the senators are on capitol hill up where you are, kasie, because those negotiations continue on capitol hill over a spending agreement with a government shutdown on the line next week which they would -- you would expect to be

at least held responsible for in part. at least that's the democratic messaging in the state as well as co-vid talks. there's no co-vid package passed through this since the spring. right now loeffler and perdue need this president, and the question is to what extent will he be there for him? >> all right. vaughn hillyard on the ground in georgia for us. not arizona and shack brewster in wisconsin. thank you both for your reporting today. up next here, the white house's fight to keep undocumented immigrants out of the census. now it's up to the supreme court to decide. we'll have the latest on today's arguments coming up next. s comit when i was in high school, this was the theater i came to quite often. ♪

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welcome back. we have a little bit of breaking news. moments ago arizona officials finished up their meeting where they formally certified the state state's election results as a win for biden. the state's governor was in attendance and so was the state's attorney general. it turns out those calls on election night that so angered the trump campaign, here we are. biden certified as the winner there. let's go now to the supreme court where oral arguments have wrapped up in a major case that could have sweeping implications for how you're represented in congress. justices are considering a challenge to the trump administration's plan to exclude

undocumented immigrants from the census. if the trump administration gets its way, some states could lose a seat or two in congress, and many others would lose millions of dollars in federal grants. here's part of the opening statements from both sides. >> the president has at least some discretion to determine that at least some illegal aliens lack enduring ties to the states which means the judgment should be reversed? . >> this policy ignores the undisputed fact that millions of undocumented immigrants have lived here for decades and have substantial community ties. their undocumented status doesn't erase their presence. >> nbc news justice correspondent pete williams has been closely following the oral arguments which have been taking place virtually in the pandemic. pete, it's great to see you. can you bring us up to speed in terms of what you heard for the arguments on both sides of this case, and the repercussions?

>> sure. what i heard is basically the -- what you laid out there. the constitution says that the census has to be conducted every ten years precisely to figure out how many members of congress each state gets. by the way, that means how many electoral votes and how much they get in federal funds. it says the census is to be conducted by counting the number of persons in the state. the dispute is what does that mean? the groups that depend on the census says that means you tie every person, the place where they lay their heads every night. some conservatives of the court seem to think the administration has the wrong argument here. amy coney barrett says if somebody has lived here, even if they're illegally here for 20 years, doesn't that establish that there ais is their residen? i think frankly a majority of the court is not willing to accept the trump administration's definition of that. here is the problem.

what is the court supposed to do about it, and this is where today's argument took a strange turn. jeffly wall whom you heard a little bit, the acting solicitor general said he's talked to the census bureau. they don't know two things, how many people they will exclude from the census because they haven't figured that out yet, and they don't know when they'll know the answer to the question if at all. now, there's a deadline to get this information to the president by the end of the year, and then he has to use it to transmit to congress early in january the number congress is to use for reapportionment. it's unclear about what that number is going to be and when it's going to be turned over to the white house. so while i think the majority of the court is skeptical of the president's plan about its constitutionality, there didn't seem to be any great appetite for acting quickly even though the court has promised a decision by the end of the year. my guess is they will not block

the administration in this initial decision from doing this. they'll wait to see what happens. they'll wait to see how many figures the census bureau gives the president, whether that would make a difference in reapportionment and maybe then entertain new lawsuits to try to block that. >> so pete, it sounds like you've said you may not have the information to answer this question, but i think certainly what i'm grappling with as i think about covering congress is okay, so let's say in this case that they do as you suggest, that they don't stand in the way initially. what is likely to be the real world political implication of this? who is going to get hurt if this is how this happens? >> sure. the winners and losers. challenges challenging this way this is an attempt to shift political power away from states with large immigrant populations, new york, florida, and toward states that would otherwise lose a seat in

congress. so the president was quite clear about this in a memorandum he sent to the census bureau in july. he was saying states that don't deal with large numbers of people who are here illegally should not be rewarded with political power. that's what this is all about. but you can't really know how many seats a state would lose until you know how many people the census bureau is going to put in that category, and what they said today at the court is it's not enough just to know how many people are in i.c.e. detention or even how many people are in daca or another category. you have to match those people to people in the census, and that's what the government says is taking so long, and is so uncertain. >> forcomplicated. pete, thank you for taking these things and explaining them clearly to all of us. coming up next here, as the race for the coronavirus vaccine

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welcome back. a glimmer of hope amid the gloom of this pandemic. december could be the month that sees a coronavirus vaccine gain emergency noouse authorization. moderna submitted their fda approval this morning. the company expects the agency to evaluate their vaccine on december 17th. one week before that, on december 10th, the fda is set to evaluate pfizer's vaccine, submitted for emergency use authorization earlier this month. the trials showed a high level of effa efficacy.

while the approval process will take place during the trump administration, the bulk of distribution will happen after biden takes office. and they have only recently been in contact with the current white house's project warp speed. joining me now is a member of president-elect biden's covid-19 advisory board. she's an assistant professor at nyu's grossman school of medicine. doctor, thank you so much for being with us today. and let's start with what we expected to be the first biden transition meeting, dr. birx talked about this over the weekend. has that briefing happened yet, and if so, what can you tell us about what you learned? >> sure. the transition team and the advisory board are in the process now of meeting with trump white house officials

including dr. birx. and essentially what we're learning about is what are the distribution plans that are already in place? for example, through state and local health departments, through big pharmacy retailers, through nursing homes, and understanding the logistics of those plans, and how to make that transition as smooth as possible. >> so we know that initially the trump administration plans to send batches of vaccines to states districtly based on population and then states are going to make decisions about how to distribute among vulnerable populations, health care workers, et cetera. does the biden team have any concerns about that method of distributing the vaccine, and as we go forward, are there any adjustments you think should be made to the plan? >> well, ultimately the biden team will be deferring to scientists, doctors, epidemiologists, as to how best

to prioritize allegation of the vaccine. and this week the acip, a group of such scientists at the cdc, will be issuing guidelines to help guide that distribution process, that prioritizing. we will have a limited supply of vaccine up front. it is simply not going to be possible to vaccinate everyone at the very beginning. so you really want to make sure that you're vaccinating for maximum impact, and equity as we move forward. >> when we get to this point where you are actually taking the reigns, the biden team is taking the reigns from the trump administration on distribution, what area should we be focussed on in terms of potentially trouble spots, problem areas, places where, a transition is a huge undertaking under the best of circumstances, trying to do it in a global pandemic with a government that has been frankly

reluctant to help in the ways that they're supposed to. i mean, there's a lot of additional challenges layered. what are the potential weak spots you think we need to be particularly on top of and focussed on? >> well, in terms of populations, rural populations as well as communities of color are of concern. we simply don't have the same kinds of capacity with respect to, say, hospital systems, or pharmacy retail chains in some of these rural parts of the country. and so the logistics of distributing vaccine in those areas is going to be more complicated. as for communities of color, we've already seen issues with testing where there are fewer testing sites, longer lines to get tested. longer turn around times for a test. and we certainly don't want those same issues replicated with the rule out of a vaccine. >> so let's talk a little bit about the next couple of months

before this is able to unfold and he's grappling with what seems like it's going to be the worst of the pandemic with infections off the charts? what should we be doing now? you've compared it, i think, to a dimmer switch as opposed to a full lockdown, but how would you at this point dim activity and where to try and help people get through this last bit of this horrible year, frankly? >> yeah. i mean, i think we've learned a lot since the spring. we have a much better understanding of which populations are contributing. the transmission and in what kinds of locations. for example, restaurants and bars and gyms. not so much schools are the major transmitters of infection. so that means trying to prioritize resources in terms of keeping places safe with personal protective equipment, and ventilation for schools, for example. while perhaps having to dial down, restrict in closing indoor dining and the like.

so i think we're trying to be much more targeted in what we restrict based on the epidemiology, but also based on where the zip codes that are the hot spots as opposed to really implementing something on a city-wide or state-wide basis. >> dr. fauci suggested with my colleague chuck todd over the weekend on "meet the press" we should close the bars and keep the schools open. i think that makes a lot of sense to people. why are we seeing some places like new york city, for example, not quite follow that edict? >> well, i think policy is a balance between what the science is, but also other interests. i think that is essentially what you've seen play out in places like new york city. there are come peeltipeting int like small businesses. they have a lot at stake as

well. we don't want to see those folks suffering either. i think it's a question of balancing the economic interests and the science. >> for sure. and it's such a difficult calculus every day. doctor, thank you so much for being with us today. we appreciate your insights. coming up next here, congress gets back to work with a narrowing window to pass a co-vid relief bill. an update from garrett haake on capitol hill after this. i'm susan and i'm 52

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welcome back, we have news this afternoon over stalled talks talking about the coronavirus relieve bill. we have all been reporting out and talking about this, what may be the first of possibly many bipartisan gangs that we may be covering that seem to be returning to the landscape on the hill, but in seriousness there are a lot of people out there really hurting. the talks have been stalled for months. we got nowhere. there are some conversations about what is happening. what do you know about the details of that and so could something actually happen here? >> it is a bipartisan group of

senato senators. it speaks to the talks across the hill that no deal has been reached. they are talking about the times. they have been at the center of the shut downs trying to come up with compromises before. so these folks can talk to each other, the number two senate democratic bodes well they are really only a push in policy if they can convince their lip to act. you have leadership of the democratic side. they have issues like state and local funding.

and despite the new group having these conversations the problems appear to be the same as they ever were. >> same as it ever was. they have to find a compromise to keep the government open. >> what's your sense, they left open the possibility that they could potentially do some of the critical pieces that they agree on in the massive spending bill. how about people looking at unemployment benefits or those that need a refresher on the ppe loan program. is there any hope for that? >> i think those bills are a good way to refill bucket that's already exist, but they can't really build new buckets that

are not already there. so if you have a program like ppe, unemployment insurance protections, those kinds of things could potential i will be more easily refilled. but we'll see what the next two weeks bring. >> it will be pretty up and down. it seems to be a hot spot at the capital as well with republicans canceling lunch after too many members got coronavirus. thank you all for being with us this hour. chuck will be back tomorrow with more "meet the press daily." you can me every day at 5:00 a.m. eastern. and now our coverage will continue with katy tur coming up after the break. l continue with katy tur coming up after the break. ♪

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good afternoon, i'm katy tur. it is 11:00 out west, 2:00 p.m. in the east. another covid-19 vaccine is submitting for emergency authorization. officials still warn things will get worse before they get better. moderna submitted their vaccine to the company today. they claim it is 94% effective and 100% effective at preventing serious cases of the virus. it could be approved as