good day, every one from msnbc world headquarters. welcome to weekends with alex witt. here is what's happening at 2:00 p.m. we have some breaking news. the president, after days of silence, speaking out for first time on the massive cyber attack that breached dozens of government agencies. the president down playing the gravity of the hack and directly contradicting his secretary of state who just last night said, russia was responsible. >> this was a very significant effort and i think it's the case that now we can say pretty clearly that it was the russians that engaged in this activity.

lawmakers are scrambling to pass a spending bill and a coronavirus relief package before tomorrow's midnight deadline. congress averting a government shutdown after negotiations hit another roadblock. we'll have a live report from the hill in a minute. first, moderna is gearing up for massive roll out after the fda officially authorized the second covid vaccine for emergency use. moderna says six million doses are ready to be shipped to more than 3,000 lolocations. that starts tomorrow. >> we remain on track to allocate around 20 million doses of vaccines to the all jurisdictions by the end of december. with distribution of those doses pushing into the first week of january. welcome to you both.

we could see as agreement as soon as this hour. any update on that? >> reporter: this hour is almost over and we haven't seen any updates just yet. we do know the senate republicans are on a conference call with treasury secretary steve mnuchin. we think they are going over the details of this bill where they are trying to get sign off and buy in from senate republicans on any sort of proposed deal. let's remind viewers that's in the parameters of this legislation we know about. it includes money for vaccine distribution. it's extended unemployment insurance with $300 extra benefit for the jobless. money for small businesses. some food assistance and some money for education as well and

rental assistance. now that members are coming to the terms of the idea they are going to vote at some point, most likely on the sort of legislation, there's frustration from both sides of the aisle that these last negotiations are just done by leadership and they are not going to have a lot of say in trying to change this legislation. let's listen to senator john r cornyn. >> people who are negotiating this massive spending package on behalf of the 535 members of congress and essentially because this has been pushed off until these last days of the 116th session of congress. the only thing most rank and file members will be able to do is to vote up or down. in other words, there's no opportunity to amend it through regular order. i just have to say this is a

terrible way to do business. in the future, i hope we do better because this is almost the worst of all worlds when it comes to legislating. >> reporter: as democratic leader chuck schumer said today this is just the second largest stimulus package or relief bill in the country's history behind the c.a.r.e.s. act. members are most likely going to hold their nose and vote for this once a deal is reached. it's not exactly what members on both sides of the aisle would have preferred. >> thank you very much.

u.s. cyber security officials are scrambling to determine the extent of a massive hack that penetrated dozens of federal agencies and companies. we're now learning the suspected russian hacking campaign may have begun as early as march. josh, what is the president saying about this and how he is contradicting his own administration with his presumptions? >> reporter: you would expect that the president in his first public comments about this unprecedented breach of our government's computer systems would match the level of concern that has been expressed by the people who are responsible for protecting those systems and keeping america safe. instead of sounding similarly alarmed, the president is suggesting this is all much ado

about nothing. making his first comments in tweet saying the cyber hack is far greater in the fake news media than in actuality. he's been briefed and everything is well under control. really what is so striking about the president's comments here is he says that russia, russia is the priority chant when anything happens but instead president trump pointing the finger at china. that contradicts everything we have heard. signs were also pointing to russia's spy sfrervices as wells secretary pompeo who addressed this and had this to say about who might have been responsible. >> there was a significant effort to use a piece of third party software to essentially

embed code inside of u.s. government systems and now it appears systems of private companies and companies and governments across the world as well. this was a very significant effort and i think it's the case that now we can say pretty clearly that it was the russians that engaged in this activity. >> reporter: alex, you showed a minute ago on the screen, the breadth of this cyber breach and all of the government agencies that are now known to have been affected. a list that is quickly growing to include the treasury department, the commerce department, the state department, the homeland security department as well as the part of the energy department that deals with nuclear security and just in the last few minutes we have learned from a u.s. official that officials were caught off guard by the president's tweets today suggesting it might have been china. they are attempting to figure out how to clean up that messaging between what the president is saying and what top officials like pompeo have been saying. >> so far we should note it's

only the president who is making the suggestion of china publicly. thank you for that. joining me now is florida congressman val demmings. welcome back. it's good to see you. what do you make of the fact before i get o the specifics of these breaches that the president is pointing fingers at china, away from russia and towards china. >> it's so good to be back with you. the president has had numerous opportunities to get this right. he fails to do so. every time russia's name comes up and we've seen it over the last four years. we have seen it before the president was elected. the president will do everything he can to divert attention some place else. you heard the secretary of state. i was very pleased to hear what he said. all indications point to russia.

what the president has never really showed any serious commitment to cyber security and never showed any serious commitment to holding russia accountable. >> let's talk about the breaches. one of which is at the department of homeland security. you're a member of the house homeland security committee. what can you tell us about how serious this? >> what we know is that this definitely appears to be a very coordinated, deliberate, sophisticated attack and we have a reason to be concerned. the investigation is still unfolding. you heard the reports that this breach may have occurred as far back as nine months ago. i know the investigation is still trying to truly determine that. the attack against government agencies as you just indicated and also those in the private sector who work with government agencies. we have a lot of work to do. i can tell you, our committee

from homeland security to intelligence and we should be very concerned about this attack. >> yeah. is there anything that can be done to reverse the damage or at least guarantee that nothing further is obtained? i guess once information has been obtained, they've gotten it, it's out there. >> as i said, the investigation is still ongoing and they are doing everything that they can to really still determine the extent of the attack, to really still determine all of the agencies that were involved. we still don't know, completely, what that list looks like yet. we're working hard to do that and you're right, the government agencies are working hard to harden their targets against further attacks. >> how worried are you that information was obtained that

can be used against us? >> i think when we have an administration that's not shown any real concern in this particular area, someone who eliminated the white house, cyber security coordinated position. you know fired the director of systems. never really shown any serious concern and we know that cyber attacks is the new weapon of choice. i just think we ought to be very concerned and what i am encouraged about this is new administration. we know that president-elect biden has made a commitment already to hardening our targets and taking our cyber security very, very seriously. we need to get to the point where he's sworn in. what i can tell you right now is we should always be concerned and always be ever individuvigi those who continue to undermine the united states and we must hold them accountable.

>> leet's turn to the coronavirs relief bill. why has it taken so long and what are your constituents telling you about what they need? >> we pass the heroes act in may and we could start there and say why is it taking so long to bring relief to millions of americans who have lost their job. we know the number in terms of those who contracted the virus. we know the number in terms of those who have lost their lives to this virus. leadership has been at the table for months trying to get this done. the gop keeps moving the goal post. we should not be debating whether we're going to increase snap benefits, for example. i heard horror constituents who have been standing if long lines trying to

feed their families. i believe we're still here in d.c. we should be here until we get this done. i believe we're closer than we have ever been. i would hope that the gop would remember their primary responsibility and that's to take care of the people who they represent. stop moving the goal past, let's get this done on behalf of the american people. >> how confident are you t going to happen before the end of the weekend? >> i really do believe it's going to happen. all indications we had a caucus call today with leadership. we discussed this thoroughly, exactly where we are with the negotiations. i am confident that we are going to get this done before we leave. >> let's hope you are 100% correct on that one. i want to switch gears and talk about former president obama. you know he was defending his comments on defund the police when he said emphasis a snappy slogan that could alienate people. he said he wasn't pointing to

the movement the reason democrats lost seats in the house. let's take a listen. >> if we say defund the police, not just white folks but michelle's mom might say if i'm getting robbed, who am i going to call and is somebody going to shop up? wi can we be precise with our language enough that people who might be persuaded around that particular issue to make a particular change that get a particular result that we want, what's the best way for us to describe that? >> you're a former police chief, when you hear the defund police were you ever concerned, if you will, that the message would be misinterpreted for the movement and did you think it would be a lot of push back on that? >> i tell you what, it's comforting to hear the voice of reason from someone who has the title of president. let me say this that i believe

what we all want and we have to keep our eye on the ball is the efficient and effective delivery of public safety in all communities. if we're going to ever reach that mission then we have to make sure that law enforcement agencies, all 18,000 of them across this nation have the resources that they need. what we do need to take a critical look at what we're asking police departments to do. i believe former chief david brown who is now the commissioner in chicago, he said this as the chief of dallas, he says every time there's society failure, we call the police to fix it whether it's mental health, whether it's drug addiction, whether it's sub standard housing, whether it's homelessness and i believe we do need to take a critical look at what we're asking police to do. we're not talking about taking money away from police

departments because every community, regardless of their economic base, deserves to be safe. what we are talking about is getting serious about funding those programs, those social ills that cause decay in communities in the first place. i appreciate the president, president obama's comments. i appreciate those involved in the movement but i do believe what we all want is that the safer delivery of public safety for all communities. >> amen to that. let me offer a happy holidays to you and to your husband. long distance virtual hugs to you both thank you so much. >> thank you so much, alex. take care. >> you too. moderna or pfizer and will you get the chance to choose which one you want to get? the two differences between the

two vaccines and what we know about next phase of the roll out. to show off the ease of comparing rates with progressive's home quote explorer. international hand model jon-jon gets personal. your wayward pinky is grotesque. then a high stakes patty-cake battle royale ends in triumph. you have the upper hands! it's a race to the lowest rate, and so much more. only on "the upper hands." it's a race to the lowest rate, and so much more. when your v-neck looks more like a u-neck... that's when you know, it's half-washed. downy helps prevent stretching by conditioning fibers, so clothes look newer, longer. downy and it's done.

or psoriatic arthritis, little things can become your big moment. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats differently. for psoriasis, 75% clearer skin is achievable, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. for psoriatic arthritis, otezla is proven to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain. and the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines and if you're pregnant or planning to be. otezla. show more of you.

now to some break news on the coronavirus pandemic. officials say there will be 20 million vaccine doses allocated by the end of the year. vials of the moderna vaccine are being packaged now. the cdc called an emergency meeting this weekend to go over data from the moderna trail. in israel, the prime minister is first person in that k country to be vaccinated. israel begins public vaccination program tormorrow. back here in the u.s. comes the daily increase in cases. the country has 17.5 million cases after adding more than 246,000 cases in just one day. my colleague is in olive branch,

mississippi outside of that plant in charge of distributing the moderna vaccine. do you have any idea when those boxes get shipped out? >> reporter: we know the answer is tomorrow. we're now hoirs away now that we have gotten the emergency use authorization from fda from seeing those fed basic trucks and u.p.s. trucks and really send them out across the country. all eyes are on this distributor called mckesson. workers inside the plant are trying to convert moderna's large stockpile into individual shipments as determined by the cdc. we got an update this morning from the chief operating officer and he addressed the concerns and complaints you've been hearing from different states governors about the initial round of vaccine and those al allocations being smaller than

the original projectionprojecti. listen to his comments. >> i am the one that approved the fk sheforecast sheets. i approved the allocations. there is no problem with the process. tlp is no problem with the pfizer vaccine. there is no problem with the mode moderna vaccine. to the governors, the governors staff, please accept my personal apology if this was disruptive in your decision making and your conversations with the people of your great state. i will work hard to correct this. >> reporter: now the key difference between the pfizer va vaccine and the moderna vaccine, this moderna vaccine does not require the special freezers we have been seeing for past week. it's a more industry standard freezer that the vaccines can be held in. the reason why that's important when we talk about rural communities and really getting this vaccine out to more places,

this moderna vaccine will be able to go to more places more quickly. places like pharmacies, nursing homes. places that have a standards freezer. the expectation is some places will start receiving this sh shipment as early as monday. you can know for many people will be coming just in time right ahead of the christmas holiday. >> okay. thank you so much. lot of people will consider that a gift. thank you. moderna was granted that emergency authorization after studying 30,000 participants for about three months. big welcome to you. can you walk us through the details of this vaccine and how it's different from pfizer's version. >> absolutely. i would say these vaccines are very comparable. they have a very similar composition, a similar mechanism of action and they both have a

similar side effect profile. while the storage temperatures different and this is likely due to the differences in composition, for the regular person trying to to do whether to choose between one sook seen or the other, i would say they are exceptionally comparable. they are highly efficacious and both good, safe vaccines. >> the point you just made about people choosing, it was my understanding that people who are receiving the vaccines don't necessarily have the choice. will there be a point someone will say do you want pfizer or moderna or johnson and johnson. >> you're right. i don't think the choice will come any time soon. maybe in several months when we have adequate supply of all the

vaccin vaccines. i don't think peemg will get the option of cheesing between one or another. >> are there any advantages you see to taking modern jarngs over pfizer with regard to allergies. some people have had concerns about that. >> we know there's been some rare cases of severe allergy reaks after the fierz vpfizer v. we don't have any information on the moderna vaccine. we're just going to have to wait and see if these rare instances of allergies occur after people get the moderna vaccine as it has been happening. >> i led the phase three or the

team that conducted the phase three clinical trials at emory university in atlanta. we had 700 people at three of our sites. lid a team of about 15 people to enroll people into the phase three clinical trial. this is so sweet an amazing and very emotional for all of us that work so hard for month os this trial to see the vaccines going into people's arms. this is just fantastic. >> i had trouble fighting back tears because testifies pretty emotional. let me ask you about the vaccines having been created in record time.

is this the kind of thing that could be replicated? >> i sure hope so. the difference was normally these are done in sequence. one after the other after the other. this time around because of the tremendous public health need and amazing amount of resources, both financially, scientifically we're poured into ensuring that the phases could happen in parall parallel. at the same time the phase one trial was going onto ensure safety, the efficacy trial which is the phase three trial was being planned. such that it could launch the moment the phase one safety data were received. in addition, these vaccines have been manufactured before we even

knew they were safe to ensure the supply could be relief the moment the fda granted the eua. it was an all hands on deck effort from scientific community and then also financially. billions of dollars went into making this happen. we don't have the resources to do this for every single infect gin ious agent. does this mean we could do things differently in the future. i hope so. we don't have to wait so long to get effective vaccines or pruks in general to people. time will tell. >> heartfelt thanks for the interview but the efforts on behalf of moderna. thank you. >> absolutely. what questions do you have about the pfizer and moderna vaccines.

we will answer tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. eastern. that covid whistle-blower whose home was raided is speaking out and said she will not be silenced. i'm going to talk with her, next. nced i'm going to talwik th her, next ♪ pepto bismol coats and soothes your stomach for fast relief and get the same fast relief in a delightful chew with pepto bismol chews. toni(doorbell rings)ting crab cakes with spicy aioli. thank you. can we be besties, simone biles? i guess? yessss! should we dismount now? where we've got the best deals on refrigerators, microwaves, gas ranges and grills. and if you're looking for...

>>oh my gosh you made it! ♪ did you put some ah, kale in the greens? ♪ we didn't forget about you! welcome to the family. thank you. wooooow. ♪

only nature's bounty does. new immune twenty-four hour plus has longer lasting vitamin c. plus, herbal and other immune superstars. only from nature's bounty.

here we are right on time as promised. president-elect joe biden will be making a big announcement and introducing key members of climate team. let's take a listen as we know nbc is standing by watching this with us. let's take a listen to the president-elect joe biden. >> i want to begin by saying good afternoon. today i'm pleased to announce a team that will lead my administration's ambitious plan to address the threat of our time. climate change. excuse me. like the fellow cabinet nominees and appointees. our members are brilliant,

qualified, tested and they are barrier busting. today the announcement we will make the sixth african-american members of our cabinet which is a record. after today our cabinet won't just one or two pres dent breaking appoints but 12 including the first native american cabinet secretary. welcome, welcome, welcome. thank yous fg being willing to do this. already there's more people o color in our cabinet than any cabinet ever. the cabinet that looks like america, that opens doors and includes the full range of talents we have in this nation. like the rest of the team, today's nominees are ready on day one which is essential because we literally have no time to waste.

just this year wildfires burn more than five million acres in california and washington state. powerful hurricanes, tropical storms pummelled florida, louisiana, north carolina across the gulf and along the east coast. more americans see and feel the devastation in big cities, small towns on coastlines and farm lands. in red states and in blue. look, billions of dollars in damage, homes and memories washed away. small businesses closed for good, crops and farm lands destroyed for the next generation of family farmers and just last year, the defense

department reported the climate change is a direct threat to more than two-thirds of our operations in the world familiar in the united states. this could well be a conservative estimate. it's not just the pandemic that keeps people inside, it's poor air quality. folks, we're in a crisis. just like we need to be unified nation in response to covid-19, we need unified national response to climate change. from this crisis, from these crisis, we need to seize an opportunity that's what this

administration is going to do with the help of these fine people. we think jobs, good paying union jobs. our build back better economy and economic plan is building a moderate infrastructure and clean energy future. we can put millions of americans to work modernizing water, transportation and energy infrastructure. we see american workers racing to lead the global market. we see farmers making agriculture first in the world to achieve net zero emissions.

really reduce consumption and save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in energy cost. we will challenge every one, every one to step up. we'll bring america back into the paris agreement and put us back in the business of leading the world on climate change again. the current administration reversed the obama biden fuel efficiency standards and picked big oil companies over american workers. our administration will not only bring those standards back, we'll set new ambitious standards that our workers are ready to meet today. we see american consumers switching to electrical buildings and not only that the federal government owns and maintains an e mnormous neat of

vehicles. one million new jobs in the american auto industry. we'll do another big thing. no future president can turn back. it will be the greatest spur of job creation and economic competitiveness in the 21st century. not the mention the benefits to our held and environment. we need to get to work. we got to get to work right away. we'll need scientists and national labs, historic black colleges and universities to innovate the technologies needed to generate, store and transmit this clean energy.

we'll need engineers to design them. workers to manufacture them. we'll need iron workers to install them. that's how we're going to become the world's largest exporter of these technologies creating even more jobs. we know how to do this. the obama/biden administration reduced the auto industry and -- rescued the auto industry while reduces pollution and at the same time help them retool. we made solar energy costs competitive with traditional energy. weatherized more than a million homes. we're going to do it again. this time bigger, faster and better than before. we'll build 1.5 approximate new energy efficient homes.

we're going to create more than a quarter million jobs right away to do things like working toward plugging the three milli million two hour thousands abandoned wells that pose a threat to our communities. they will be good paying union jobs doing that. we'll launch new modern day civilian climate accord. i believe that every american has a fundamental right to breathe clean air and drink clean water. i know we haven't fulfilled that right. we haven't fulfilled ta right for a generation or more in places like louisiana or right

here in my state along route 9 in the delaware corridor. fulfilling this basic obligation to all americans including low income, white, black, brown and native americans communities who don't have the clean air and clean water. it's not going to be easy but it's necessary. we're committed to facing climate change by delivering environmental justice. these aren't pie in the sky dream. these are concrete actionable solutions and the team will get it done. for the secretary of interior i nominate congresswoman deb. she's of pueblo people. only 35 generations in new mexico and she is from a military family. her mom also pueblo served in united states navy. her dad a norweigan american, a marine now buried in arlington. a single mom she raised her child while running a small business. when times were tough, they

relied on food stamps. congresswoman graduated from law school and got involved in politics and public life. two years ago she became one of first native american women to serve in the united states congress. she serves on the arms service committee and the committee on natural resources and chairs the sub committee on national parks and lands which i have a sincere interest in. she learned and earned. as a first native american cabinet secretary in the history of the united states of america, she'll be a true steward of our national parks, our natural resources and all of our lands. the federal government has long broken promises to native american tribes who have been on this land since time. with her appointment,

congresswoman will help me strengthen the nation to nation relationship and i'm honored to accept that she's been willing when kale e i called her to accs critical role. thank you for doing this. for secretary of energy, i nominate governor jennifer grandholm. she's a great friend as well. first woman to ever serve as governor of michigan. in 2009 she faced the collapse of the defining industry of her state and our nation. i saw first hand how she responded. she bet on the auto workers. she bet on the promise of a clean energy future. her leadership helped rescue the automobile industry in the united states of america. helped save a million american jobs and helped bring detroit back. governor grandholm is like the state she's led so efficiently and effectively for eight years. hard working, resilient and

forward thinking. someone not only capable of solving you are jenurgent probl someone who sees the opportunity of the fuch but also with eyes and aspirations of working people. we become friends over time. together throughout her career she's worked with states, cities, business and labor to promote clean energy future with new jobs, new industry. cleaner and more affordable energy. i'm asking her to bring that to the department of energy. thank you for being willing to do it. i appreciate it. for administrator of the environmental protection agency, i nominate michael reegan. he's a proud son of north carolina. he turned passion for exploring the woods and waters and intercoastal plain into a deep expertise in environmental science. he got his start at the epa serving and with both democrat

and republican administrations. working in everything from reducing air pollution to improving energy efficiency. he currently serves as secretary of north carolina's department of environmental quality. when the governor told me how wonderful he was, i don't think he expected i was going to try to steal him. governor, thank you very much for putting up with me. the environmental quality he's brought to the people across the public and prooifivate and non-private sector, creating quality jobs and confronting climate change. he led the charge to clean up the cape fear river contaminated for years by dangerous toxic chemica chemicals. he created north carolina's first board of its kind to address environmental justice and equality. have fences separating them from

the plants that are polluting chemical and other plants that are polluting. help lift up those front line defense lines communities that carry the burdens of industrial progress for much too long. without sharing any of the benefits. michael would be the second african-american official and first african-american man to serve in this position. he shares my belief in forming consensus and finding common purpose. he's the leader who will respect the epa's place as the world's premiere, premiere environmental protection agency and reassert that. safeguards our entire planet. protects our lives for all americans and the chair the council on environment quality, i nominate brenda malloy. accomplished public servant, daughter of working class family to solving the most complex

challenges faciing america. helping safeguard our public land, help communities manage the natural resources responsibilitys. chair and ceo council of economic quality, i'm asking her to coordinate our environmental efforts across the entire federal government to solve some of the most persistent environmental problems america faces today. brenda would be first african-american official thoelds this critical position. we're fortunate in one of the most widely respected environmental leaders accepted the call to serve again. thank you. thank you, thank you, thank you. to serve as the first ever national climate adviser. by the way, when we're in the back, we're talking about the environment and i turn and said that this particular person forgotten more about the environment than most people know. i was really, i wasn't sure she

was going to do it but the first ever national climate adviser led the newly to lead the newly foreign white house i'm appointing gina former epa administrator and shows how serious i am to ask her to come back. it shows how committed she is to be willing to come back. she's got more than 20 years of experience and she's a policy wonk and a people person. a problem solver and a coalition builder. as epa administrator, she was instrumental in carrying out the obama/biden climate action plan, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, getting toxins out of the air. she led our effort to lower carbon emissions of existing power plants and power plants of the future. by doing the necessary work here at home, she helped us rally the world around the paris climate

accords. today, i'm asking her to take a singular focus on carrying out the ambitious climate agenda here at home and working with my special envoy, former secretary of state john kerry, who leads our climate effort around the world. i'm grateful that she agreed to do it. i'm looking forward to working alongside her again. i used to drive her crazy when i was vice president, always calling, asking all these questions. she's thinking, my god, what is he going to do as president? and to serve as our national climate adviser, i appoint ali zandi -- zaidi, excuse me. ali, you can call me bidden. he served as a top climate adviser to me and president obama and the domestic policy

counsel. he drafted our climate action plan and secured the paris climate agreement. he currently serves as new york deputy secretary of energy and environment and the state's climate chair of policy and finance. he's helping to create jobs and solar and wind power, and a more modern grid of a bold climate change, and he's an immigrant from pakistan who grew up outside of erie, pennsylvania. i was from the better part of the state, the northeast, scranton and pittsburgh area. but all kidding aside, he knows -- he knows we can beat the climate crisis and do it with jobs. he knows we can deliver environmental justice and revitalize communities, as well. too often overlooked and forgotten. and every day, he'll walk into the white house knowing the world is looking for america to lead. i say to each one of you, thank

you for answering the call. and thank you to your families. we could not do this without them, couldn't do it without you. to the career civil servants at the agencies, i know many of you felt forgotten for a long time. we look forward to working with you. to carrying out your department's mission and honoring the integrity of the office of the organization you're involved with. and to the american people, yes, the goals i've laid out are bold. the challenges ahead are daunting. but i want you to know that we can do this. we must do this, and we will do this. we are america. there's nothing we can't do if we do it together. so i say again to all of you, god bless you all. may god protect our troops. and now i'm going to turn this to the team, starting with our next secretary of interior, deb,

the floor is yours. there you go. >> thank you. thank you. i'm proud to stand here on the ancestral homelands of the tribal nation. the president-elect and vice president-elect are committed to a diverse cabinet and i'm humbled to accept their nomination for secretary of the interior. growing up in my mother's pueblo household made me fierce. my life has not been easy. i struggled with homelessness, i relied on food stamps, and

raised my child as a single mom. these struggles give me perspectives, though, so that i can help people to succeed. my grandparents, who were taken away from their families as children and sent to a boarding school in an effort to destroy their identities, maintained our culture. this moment is profound when we consider the fact that a former secretary of the interior, once proclaimed his goal was to civilize or exterminate us. i'm a living testment to that horrific ideology. i also stand on the shoulders of my ancestors, and all the people who have sacrificed so that i can be here. my dad was a u.s. marine and no matter where we were stationed, he made sure we spent time outdoors. time with my dad in the mountains or on the beach and time with my grandparents in the cornfield at laguna taught me to respect the earth and to value our resources.

i carry those values with me everywhere. i'm a product of their resilience. as our country faces the impacts of climate change and environmental injustice, the interior department has a role to address these challenges. the president-elect's goals, driven by justice and empowering communities, who have shouldered the burdens of environmental negligence. and we will ensure that the decisions at interior will once again be driven by science. we know that climate change can only be solved with participation of every department and of every community. coming together in a common purpose, this country can and will tackle this challenge. the president-elect and vice president-elect know that issues under interior's jurisdiction aren't simp l lsimply about

conservation. they're about good jobs and closing the racial and wealth and health gaps. this will not go by about the acknowledgement of the many people who have believed in me over the years and had the confidence in me for this position. i'll be fierce for all of us, for our planet, and all of our protected land, and i'm honored and ready to serve. thank you again. >> mr. president-elect, edmadam

president-elect, thank you for your confidence. i bring my gratitude and that of the loves of my life, my husband and best friend and partner, dan. my glorious children and their equally magnificent spouses, connor and alexis and jack. my commitment to clean energy was forged in the fire. i was the governor of michigan as the president-elect said, during the great recession, when it struck and pushed our auto industry, which is the lifeblood of michigan, to the brink of utter collapse. workers were losing their jobs through no fault of their own. banks wouldn't lend. people were losing their houses. our unemployment rate in michigan was 15%. in detroit it was 28%. but then, thankfully, as now,

help was on the way. joe biden and the obama administration worked with us to rescue the auto industry and the million jobs that are attached to it. they worked with us to retool and electrify detroit for the future, of course. and to diversify michigan's economy on the premise of this promising future in clean energy. so today, in the midst of another harrowing crisis, clean energy remains among the most promising jobs and economic growth sector in the world. over the next two decades, countries and companies are going to invest trillions, not just billions, trillions in electric cars and batteries and

solar panels and emergency efficient appliances and buildings. we're going to upgrade their electric grids using smart technology. millions of good-paying jobs are going to be created. millions. but where? where will those jobs be? are they going to be in china or the other countries that are fighting tooth and nail to corner the market on this hopeful electric and clean energy future? or are those jobs going to be here in america? the path to building back better starts with building and manufacturing and deploying those products here, stamping them made in america and exporting them around the world. we can win those jobs for american workers with the right policy.