good afternoon and happy new

year's eve. i am kasie hunt in for chuck todd. the clock, thankfully, is running out on 2020, but unfortunately, you can also say the same for the odds of $2,000 relief checks passing during this congress. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has all but guaranteed there will not be a stand-alone vote on a measure passed by two-thirds of the house that boosts coronavirus stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000. despite backing from president trump and a majority of senators. >> our colleagues who purport to be the champions of vulnerable americans now say what struggling people really need is the congress to stop focusing on targeted relief for them specifically and to instead send thousands of dollars to people who don't need the help. borrowing from our grandkids to do socialism for rich people is a terrible way to get help to families who actually need it. >> and here's how the democratic

leader, chuck schumer, responded to that. >> when corporations get a blanket tax break, that's fine by republican majority. when the average american gets a little help from their government, it's poorly targeted. i hope they all heard the reason they will not receive $2,000 checks is because leader mcconnell thinks it could wind up in the hands of democrats' rich friends. >> nbc's sahil kapur is on capitol hill and jake ward is talking to folks who are really hurting as this pandemic drags on. sahil, let me start with you. this is the final day of 2020, which i think is a relief for so many who have struggled through this just devastatingly difficult year. mitch mcconnell had told president trump essentially sign the covid relief package, include $600 checks, and i will

try to at least start the process to deal with some of your other demands. one of those demand ls was a $2,000 check. but the way he's doing it all but guarantees that that's not going to happen. walk us through how that works and what it means for families. >> it's interesting language there, kasie, from mcconnell when he says begin the process of doing something. technically he has begun the process. he's introduced a piece of legislation that provides $2,000 checks and pairs it with repeal of section 230 which is an internet liability law. it creates a voter fraud commission. those two provisions are seen by democrats as poison pills. they're unrelated to the house-passed bill and even if mcconnell's bill were to somehow clear the senate, which it is highly unlikely to get 60 votes to do, the house is out of session and the congressional calendar for this session ends on sunday. so the only viable vehicle to get the $2,000 checks to americans any time soon is the house-passed cash act.

mcconnell fiercely emphatically rejected that bill, made clear through multiple objections over the last several days that bill is not coming up in the senate for a vote. so there doesn't appear to be any avenue at this point for the senate, for congress to ultimately pass those $2,000 checks to americans. one big kind of pressure point coming up for mcconnell is next tuesday. the georgia runoff elections. two of his members are coming before voters and at least one of them needs to win in order for republicans to keep control of the senate. their democratic rivals there are pressuring them to support the $2,000 checks, pressuring the senate to take it up. those two senators, kelly loeffler and david perdue have gotten behind the idea of $2,000 checks. many other republicans like toomey and ron johnson do not. >> toomey set to leave the senate, not planning to run for re-election. sahil, let's jump ahead to next week because another piece of

the president's demand here is related to the election and we know he has been focused on attempting to overturn the results of the election and republicans are, in fact, planning on trying to object to the certification process. josh hawley from missouri said yesterday he was going to go ahead and join in the house. what has the reaction been among other senators on the hill to those plans? >> hawley's decision to go along with this is important because the rules say at least one senator needs to go along with at least one representative. in order to force congress to consider two hours of debate on this issue and ultimately vote on it. we knew house republicans, a group of them, were going to do this. now they have the senator they need in josh hawley. there's been heavy, heavy criticism, particularly from democrats, and immediately so from democrats to josh hawley saying he's engaging in an act to overthrow the election. chris murphy on this network, the democratic senator from connecticut said he was engaging in an act to overthrow

democracy. there's been criticism from republicans, most notably ben sasse, the senator from nebraska, can occasionally very strong critic of president trump said -- basically compared hawley to an arsonist and said he was trying to overthrow the legitimate result of an election. accused him, not by name, but accused him of being an opportunist and trying to tap into the president's base politically. >> that was a pretty remarkable statement there from that senator. jake, let me go to you just to try and expand our focus out here because as the president has focused on the election results, mitch mcconnell is blocking these checks. you are out there talking to some of the thousands, if not millions of americans who are struggling to put food on their tables. what are they telling you about what they need from their government? >> kasie, being here is such a different world than the sort of

abstract negotiations you hear the senate engaging in right now. i'm at this food pantry run by the sf/marin food bank. before covid, they would give out food like this to about 30,000 families a week. as soon as coronavirus hit, that number doubled. they are giving out about 60,000 families worth of food like this every week. you see volunteers here spending the final day of 2020 going down the line grabbing a handful of apples, oranges, throwing them into bags and giving them to a line of people that stretches literally around the block. now when we spoke to the executive director of the food bank here, he told us that it's a whole new category of person that ends up coming here week after week. people who are often embarrassed, have never had to ask for this kind of help before. when you look at the jobless

numbers that came out yesterday, you can see 20 million people or more are dealing with some sort of unemployment benefit. needing that benefit. compared to just under 2 million people a year ago. to see those kinds of numbers and the way that even in these, the wealthiest cities in america, people are lining up for food on the last day of the year. it's hard to see, kasie. >> in fact, it is incredibly difficult to see. and here's hoping that we can figure out how to get the help that people need to them as we start this new year. sahil kapur, jake ward, thank you for being with us. joining me is one of the senators who supports a stand-alone bill on $2,000 checks. connecticut democratic senator richard blumenthal. it's always good to see you. thank you so much for being here. let's talk about these checks because, frankly, the reality of who is in the coalition

supporting them is not reflective of how the partisanship actually looks. you've got josh hawley and bernie sanders on the same side. so try and explain to people who are in lines like that food bank, why is this not going to happen? >> stark political reality is, kasie, that if this bill, the stand-alone $2,000 stimulus payment bill were put on the floor of the united states senate for a vote this afternoon, it would pass. and it would pass overwhelmingly with bipartisan support. the two senate candidates from georgia, loeffler and perdue, have said they'd support it. rubio, graham and others have said they would. i've talked to colleagues as recently as last night who say they would support it. and all the democrats have said they would support it. in fact, we've been clamoring for it. republicans have said, no, and donald trump has failed to lift

a finger. so there is no good explanation to those folks who are going through a humanitarian crisis. we are in the midst of a deep depression for many americans struggling to keep the lights on, put food on the table, buy medicine, clothe their kids. this economic crisis is real for them. and the one standing in the way of a clean bill that would pass, and it's the only bill because of the fact that the house is out of session, is mitch mcconnell. >> senator, why do you think it is that senate republicans have basically been willing to do whatever president trump has asked them to do, quite frankly if president trump has supported a piece of legislation or an idea, you have typically seen that was what mitch mcconnell needed to get it across the finish line. the president supports these

checks. now, obviously, he could have said that earlier in the process and perhaps had more sway, but why do you think it is that republicans now are not going along with what he wants? is it because he lost the election or is it another reason? >> first of all, trying to read the minds of donald trump and republican colleagues is a fool's errand. they should have stood up and spoken out long before now against the attack on democracy that we've seen from donald trump. and now an attack on democracy from josh hawley which is absolutely reprehensible when we should be trying to help everyday americans with this economic crisis. i think that they need to do more than just praise a bill that incorporates poison pills in the $2,000 statement. they need to stand up and speak out and act to put pressure on mitch mcconnell because that's the way that we will have an up

or down vote. that's what we're seeking logistically and legally, physically. any other vehicle is simply impossible to pass this late in the session. >> so senator, the covid relief package that you did pass earlier and that the president finally signed after waiting through the post-christmas weekend did include money for vaccine distribution. and if we rewind to before the election, there was actually a bigger deal at one point that was on the table, and there was no agreement between republicans and democrats to move forward at that point. now we're facing difficulty getting these vaccines to people. they've been sent out there but they're not getting into arms. and state officials are saying that's partly because they don't have the money that they need. do you think you should have acted earlier to send that money out there so that we would be in a better position to get people vaccinated? >> no question, kasie.

there should have been action earlier. and i hate to sound like a broken record, but mitch mcconnell's refusal to come to the table with the principal reason there was no action earlier, if you'll recall. steve mnuchin, the president's treasury secretary, and nancy pelosi, were trying to negotiate a bill and mitch mcconnell was purposefully absent. but now we do need more money in addition to the $8 billion that's in that $900 billion covid relief package because the $2 million doses that have been distributed is way below the 20 million goal that the administration set which itself is way below what's needed. so there needs to be a massive logistical effort to store, distribute, transport, train the workers and i strongly support the defense production act, as i believe joe biden will do in order to inoculate 100 million

people in his first 100 days. >> and finally, sir, before i let you go, we were just talking about josh hawley's decision to oppose certification of the electoral college and, therefore, force this elongated process to certify the vote. do you think your colleagues in the senate are ultimately going to vote to overturn some of these electoral college votes? and i want to remind viewers. i'm not trying to be alarmist here. it would take the house and senate objecting and then voting to override it to do anything, but that doesn't mean the senate might not come down and say, hey, we think president trump won this state's election. do you think that's how it's going to play out? >> i would predict absolutely not. no republican who has any value for their credibility is going to vote to overturn the electoral results in pennsylvania which seems to be

josh hawley's principal focus. but this really pathetic opportunistic political stunt, i think, sinks the senate to a low that we haven't seen in a very long time. it is a misuse of office, and not only an attack on democracy. it is really a kind of shameful attempt at a coup and, therefore, any republican who votes for it is going to be haunted by that vote for the rest of his or her career. and, of course, it undermines democracy. it destroys faith in the result of this electoral process. and it's a disservice to the united states senate. but i think it will be ultimately defeated soundly because i think that it crosses a line that even the most craven

republican partisan will be unwilling to confront. >> i guess we're going to find out if they're looking to how history will judge them or how a possible pro-trump primary challenger will judge them in the next election. senator richard blumenthal, thank you for your time today. happy new year to you and your family. coming up here -- we're going to have much more on how the debate in the senate right now may impact the his poric runoff election in georgia next week. plus, a fraction of the vaccinations promised by "operation warp speed" have actually been given to americans who need it the most. questions about why have resulted in more finger pointing than answers. and we're just a few hours away from saying see ya to a very strange year. here's a live look at times square right now where the celebrations, like everything else, are going to look a lot different. this is msnbc. don't go anywhere.

welcome back. we are ending the year with more grim statistics. nearly 20 million people in the u.s. have tested positive for covid-19, and more than 340,000 americans have died. but while more than 14 million vaccines have been distributed to the states, only about 2.8 million people have been vaccinated. and that is far short of the trump administration's goal of vaccinating 20 million people by the end of the year. that is, of course, today. nbc's kerry sanders is in ft. lauderdale, florida. take us through what you're seeing there. there's been overwhelming demand and broward county where you are had to stop scheduling vaccine appointments? what's the hold-up? >> let's take a look at the math here. if you want to look at the entire state, you have 21 million residents in the state. 1 in 5 -- or 65 and older.

so 20% of the population is anxious to get this vaccine right now because it's been made available to those 65 and older. but there is now more demand than there is supply of the vaccine. so in lee county, ft. myers and collier county, which is naples they decided let's just have people show up. they started showing up waiting more than eight hours to get the injection here in broward county. they said let's do it a different way. let's schedule people. they can make appointments. well 100,000 people phoned into the system crashing the system. they had 30,000 emails. they were able to make 5,000 appointments but that takes them through the end of february. not sure which is best but listen to what they're saying here in broward right now. >> our seniors, our most vulnerable, our grandparents, our parents, our neighbors, health care professionals and our ems, we hear you. we want to be able to give you

the vaccine. as i said yesterday, it's going to have to be a little bit of patience because we can't do it alone, but we will be in collaboration with other entities to make this happen. >> so a member of the florida cabinet is now calling on the governor here to get the national guard to take over what she calls this chaos and create a much better plan. the national guard in the state does have strike teams. they've been out handling the testing of people for the virus, not the delivery of the vaccine. the governor has yet to respond to that call about calling out the national guard, kasie. >> it's got to be frustrating for so many families. i know i've got two 90-something-year-old grandparents in florida. one of whom is a world war ii vet and we have no idea how to help them. we obviously have a lot of advantages that so many others do not have. so kerry sanders, thanks for your reporting. please keep us posted and happy

new year to you. meanwhile, the nation's top infectious disease expert says state and local governments need more help from the federal government to fix this delay in vaccine distribution. here's what dr. anthony fauci told andrea mitchell just last hour. >> we've got to make sure that the states and the local authorities have the resources that are necessary to implement these programs because when you speak to them, and i've had the opportunity to do that, many of them just do not have what it takes to get this type of a program running at the efficiency that you want it to run. so we really need to rethink or think more intensively about how we are going to reach out and help the states, help the cities and help the local authorities get this job done. >> joining me now is dr. william schaffner, professor of preventative medicine and infectious diseases at vanderbilt university medical center. he's also a cdc adviser.

you just heard dr. fauci there saying the states need more help. let's just dig into what that means. what do these state organizations need from the federal government that they are not getting right now? >> well, kasie, as you can imagine, delivering vaccine to essentially the population of an entire state is a very large job. it has to be absolutely meticulously planned. you don't want to foul things up. most states are starting gradually and then gaining momentum with time. that's what we're doing here in tennessee. and most states, however, don't have the resources on the ground in local health departments in order to do this in a massive fashion. so they're doing it in a graduated fashion, careful not to make mistakes. they want to absolutely deliver this vaccine thoroughly, carefully, equitably to

everyone. you know, delivering vaccines requires a lot of personnel time. and so you need people to do that. we've invested an awful lot in making the vaccine. we've invested a lot in trialing the vaccine. now we know it's very effective and very safe. but we haven't really invested very much at all in delivering the vaccine, which turns out to be the biggest job of all. so the states and localities really do need some assistance. >> so why is that? this is not -- in march it was understandable we were still developing tests. we all got hit on a very short timeline with this pandemic. a lot of unknowns. we are all scrambling around. but ever since then, we have known that we were going to try to be implementing a vaccine distribution program on a massive scale. why is the federal government so behind? >> good question. and i am a professor.

i'll ask the question back. beats me. one would have thought that this was really pretty straightforward, right? in order to move vaccine from vials into arms, that takes -- you have to have appointments. you have to treat the vaccine very, very carefully. the pfizer vaccine requires special attention because it needs to be kept very, very cold. this has to be done over a long period of time. and the people in local and state health departments have been incredibly stressed out. they've been working on this for really two months. now the vaccine is here. we're starting to get going. and part of what has to be done is friendly persuasion. even in our own medical center, we've been conducting all kinds of q&a sessions. we've made videos that explain about the vaccines because even among our medical personnel right here in the medical

center, there was a lot of skepticism. all this work has paid off. we're now vaccinating people very, very smoothly. and in order to extend that kind of activity out to the entire community, including communities of color, various ethnicities that are disproportionately affected by the virus takes time and effort and that translates into people who can do the work. >> that's a very, very good point. and we, of course, our thoughts are with all of those local county, state health workers who are trying so hard to get this out to people, especially over the holiday season. dr. william schaffner, thank you to you for everything that you do as well on the front lines and thank you for being here today. >> same to you. we are just -- we are just days away from what could be a game changer of a special election in georgia. the state of that race ahead. this is msnbc. [♪]

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welcome back. today marks the last day of early voting in most georgia

counties. in a race that's going to determine the balance of power in the senate. there have been more than 2.8 million early votes cast in the runoff elections. more than 210,000 georgians voted in person yesterday alone. those are incredibly high numbers for a runoff. both president trump and president-elect biden are set to campaign there on monday. and joining me now from smyrna, georgia, is priscilla thompson. great to see you. the lines have been long there all week. the numbers of people turning out just incredibly high for a runoff. what are you seeing on the ground there in these final days? >> kasie, record-breaking numbers for a runoff and that is continuing even today on new year's eve. it's started to rain here in cobb county in the last hour. but these folks are still waiting in line. they've gotten some ponchos and this is a line. the line is taking around two hours, 2 and a half hours to get

through. these folks are not just waiting for a half hour in the rain but they're really out here in it. and this line stretches all the way down the street actually. and as these voters are here casting these ballots, the candidates are spread out around the state campaigning and today, reverend raphael warnock, one of the democratic candidates, is out with a new radio ad featuring a familiar first lady. take a listen. >> this is michelle obama. the upcoming runoff election for senate is going to be very close. and in georgia, you have an incredible amount of power. i'm asking you to vote for reverend raphael warnock because i know he'll work with joe biden to help make health care more affordable and together they'll finally take the coronavirus seriously. passing the economic relief georgia families need and helping get people back to work. >> reporter: and while the obamas have not announced any trips to campaign here in

georgia, as you mentioned, the vice president-elect and the president will both be here on monday. vice president-elect kamala harris will be here on sunday and the president-elect and the president will be here on monday. so pulling out the star power, the big guns in these final days heading into election day. kasie? >> you've been doing such a great job covering it all for us. priscilla thompson, happy new year and thank you for that report. good luck this weekend. for more, i'm joined by former florida congressman david jolly, kimberly atkins and former maryland congresswoman donna edwards. all three are also nbc news contributors. thank you guys for being here on this new year's eve. david jolly, let me start with you here. what's your take on these incredibly high numbers that we are seeing in this runoff election? republicans that i'm talking to here in washington seem pretty optimistic that david perdue and kelly loeffler will be able to pull this out, but at the same

time, it seems there are clearly a lot of factors here that are unprecedented that we haven't seen before. >> yeah, look, this is, kasie, a nationally watched election. so the turnout we're seeing is indicative of that. i'm not very surprised by the enthusiasm that has carried on from november. republicans often play this game about how they turn their voters out on election day as opposed to early and often behind the curtain a lot of your sources for instance would say they have reason to feel good. but it's impossible to separate what we're seeing in georgia from what's happening in washington with mitch mcconnell and donald trump in the stimulus. because that's going to be the defining issue, and it is all about that relationship. that relationship between donald trump and mitch mcconnell and what direction the president is going and what direction the majority leader is going. donald trump has created a nearly impossible situation for the two republican candidates in georgia. >> so donna edwards, do you agree with that assessment? mitch mcconnell's every

decision, i think we should underscore, is directed at least in part by making sure he can hang on to the power he has as majority leader. there's arguably nothing more important to him. do you think he's handled this in a way that does actually give david perdue and kelly loeffler what they need? or how do you think this is going to play out on the ground in the final days? >> no. in fact, kasie, i actually think that mitch mcconnell has handed on a silver platter an argument for both democratic candidates going into these next several days before election day. and that is that there is somebody who didn't agree with these added stimulus checks all year long, flip-flopped on that, only to have mitch mcconnell sabotage the effort in the senate and i think that there's going to be blowback from that for these candidates. and i think democrats really

learned a lot these two democratic candidates, about where the votes needed to -- they needed to find the votes from the general election to these runoffs. and so they have been going out to rural areas finding democrats. upping the numbers of asian americans and latinos in addition to ramping up the vote among young people and african-americans. and so that's why i think you see this really strong, early vote turnout. and i expect that to carry on to election day. >> kimberly atkins, let's talk about what the outcome here means and the difference it's going to make in a biden administration because, obviously, it is a critical difference. what kind of policy areas are going to be most affected? one i hear from my sources is climate change, for example. that joe biden will have a lot more leeway to work on climate policies if, in fact, chuck schumer is the majority leader

than mitch mcconnell. what other impacts do you see? >> you read my mind. that's going to be one of the top issues that joe biden will really need congressional help to pass. and if there is a clear republican majority, there's going to be a lot less that he can do there on the issues of climate, on emissions, even on the potential fight for the people who will be ahead of the epa and other agencies. another one certainly will be criminal justice reform. we saw that the issue of defund the police was central in the 2020 election. and served as a rallying cry for democrats to push forward and for republicans to push against. and it will be a lot more difficult to really kind of usher through the more robust policies that congress could do if he doesn't have that majority. and it will also just -- if the more you have divided government right now at a time where politics has become so partisan, it's going to be a lot more

difficult for joe biden to be the type of president that he envisioned himself as a uniter. as somebody who can move us into a new era. that, if the partisanship on capitol hill is just as strong as we've seen it, it's going to be a lot tougher for him to make that case. this race is really consequential. >> of course, it's going to be extremely narrowly divided regardless. david jolly, let me ask you about what we're expecting to see next week. you worked with a lot of these republicans who are going to go and object to the certification of electoral votes from critical swing states. what do you say to your former colleagues who are willing to make this move? >> i say shame on you, but i suppose i'm not surprised. and kasie, you know the hill very well. i don't think there's a lot of surprise in terms of the house actors that are engaging in this, but i think there's surprise on the senate that josh hawley, coming through stanford, yale and the supreme court would somehow suggest that there's legitimacy reason to protest

this. it's unnecessary. it's going to take the nation through a very tough moment, and i think it will provide a moment of energy to trump protesters on the streets, and i think the likes of josh hawley who are trying to be considered as a legitimate presidential contender in '24 should reconsider whether it's worth selling themselves on this altar of trump populism just to capture the headlines on monday when he likely will be held in ill repute for trying to undermine democracy in the long lens of history. >> all right, david jolly, kim atkins and donna edwards, thank you all for being here on this new year's eve. happy new year's to all of you. coming up next year, a new more contagious strain of the coronavirus confirmed in colorado and california. how worried do you need to be? we'll try and get some answers from dr. jon torres coming up right here on msnbc. - [narrator] grubhub perks give you deals

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welcome back. two states, colorado and california, have now confirmed cases of the more contagious coronavirus variant first discovered in the uk. and they believe this strain is already spreading in other parts of the country. joining me now is nbc's medical correspondent dr. jon torres. dr. torres, the early indicators are that this mutant variant does spread more easily, but is not necessarily more deadly. what do we know specifically as well about the vaccines? are they going to be effective in fighting this strain, too? >> kasie, we think they are, and by think i mean, the manufacturers have said there's no indication they wouldn't be able to fight this variant, and they're doing the studies right now to make sure that's happening. like you mentioned here, what we know is this variant is more contagious meaning people can get it easier and spread it more, but it doesn't look to be any more deadly. this virus is doing what viruses do to survive. it's adapting.

by adapting, it's able to infect more people this way. something to be concerned about and something scientists are keeping a close eye on, kasie. >> what should we be doing to try and prevent the spread of this? it sounds like at the very least the man in california had no contact with people in the uk or hadn't traveled, rather, which suggests that perhaps this is already spreading in the community. how widespread do you think it is, and what should we be doing to try to limit it? >> same thing here in colorado. i'm in monument, about 35 miles from where the first case was confirmed in the 20-year-old national guard member who was working in an assisted living center. the people there hadn't traveled. he hadn't traveled so they think it's in the community. the toothpaste is already out of the tube. this virus is in 20 other countries and territories, confirmed around the world so we know it's spreading. and the fact we have two confirmed cases here in the u.s. tell us there's a lot more cases in the community. what we need to do personally is the same things we've been doing

for coronavirus. wearing masks, washing your hands, social distancing but on a higher level, they need a surveillance system that can look for these types of variants and keep track of where they are, how much they're spreading to make sure they stay under control. hopefully this variant doesn't change into a more deadly variant but we need to know before hand that's happening and get on it as early as we can, kasie. >> so i'm glad you mentioned that because dr. fauci was just on with andrea mitchell last hour and talked about how we do or don't track these different kinds of strains. i want to play for you and for our viewers what he had to say and then ask you about it. let's watch. >> what we don't have is bringing it all together. so you can say this is the core of what we are sequencing so it's a little misleading to say we're way, way down on the list because there are other areas in our own country that are not essentially coordinated into one particular database which is what we probably have to do first is to get all the

information we have into a single database. >> so, of course, he's talking about how to put the genetic information in one place so we know what's going on. why are we behind on this? >> you know, i wish i could answer the question as to why we're behind but the problem is we're seeing here throughout the pandemic, and this is both with the vaccine distribution, finding out these new variants of the virus itself and testing it. we have a fragmented system. if you look at countries that have been successful, they have a centralized system that essentially either keeps control or offers a lot of assistance to help control the pandemic. here in the u.s., we don't have it at this point. there's a disconnect between the central government trying to do their part and the local governments trying to do their part. getting that connected, getting information like this is going to be extremely important going forward, kasie. >> i think that relationship we're going to be documenting for years to come. dr. jon torres, thank you very much for your time and happy new year to you and your family. we are, as we just mentioned, just hours away from

flipping the switch and saying so long to 2020 and welcoming 2021. it can't come soon enough. we'll get a report on the very different celebration that's going to unfold in times square. don't go anywhere, this is msnbc. msnbc. ♪ ♪ smooth driving pays off. ♪ with allstate, the safer you drive the more you save. ♪ you never been in better hands. allstate. click or call for a quote today.

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for some around the world, 2020 is already over. bangkok, for instance, celebrating the end of this unprecedented year a few hours ago. early risers are all right starting the first day of 2021. we're used to settlers packed

like sardines. i can't say it ever really appealed to me. this new year is like any other holiday before it and we will be celebrating a little differently. what is it going to look like this year? >> hey there, i have some breaking news. apparently it has stopped raining here in times square. the sun is peeking out. it has been a soggy dreary mess all morning. thankfully we now have some light. as we prepare for a very different generation. it has been an iconic ringing in. this year ringing in, massive crowds are urging people to stay home and we blocked off many streets here in times square. they plan to block off more throughout the afternoon and the

only invited guests will be allowed to watch the ball drop this year. they are frontline workers. places like los angeles and boston are urging people not to have house parties. fire works in chicago are being scaled back. so again we're waiting for 2021 and again thankfully the rain has stopped but many people are watching a person. many people here cannot wait to ring in the new year, kaci if is our first reponders and heros. thank you to you. that will do it for us this hour, and for the year. i wish a happy new year to all of you.

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