fun to watch. my husband was actually texting me from the other room updates about the game. so, people are excited about them. >> thank you for placing those bets. that is all the time i have for today. i'm alicia menendez. i'll see you back here next weekend at 6:00 p.m. eastern for more "american voices." for now i hand it over to my colleague, mehdi hasan. hello, mehdi. >> hello, alicia. thank you for that. enjoy the rest of your sunday. alabama has amazon on edge over a crucial union vote. plus, infrastructure hits a gop roadblock. it's all on the table with senator bernie sanders. my conversation to him ahead. then, race in america and the trial of derek chauvin, professor, author, and activist dr. cornell west is here.

when it's a complex program, latest essay in "the atlantic," the fourth surge is upon us. this time it's different. i'll ask her why. good evening. i'm mehdi hasan. the steel industry was once so important to birmingham, alabama, that the suburb now at the heart of the amazon union fight is named after henry bessem rechlt. the city of bessemer, alabama, thrived until steel jobs until, well, it didn't. until the plant closed and all those jobs moved out or were shipped overseas mostly to china. today the biggest employer in town is a small mom and pop retailer called amazon. what is essentially a warehouse to, quote, fulfill orders for the internet giant. and where any day now, history could be made if the bessemer location votes in favor of negotiating to form a union,

which would be the first american branch of amazon to possibly unionize. maybe many americans don't realize, but amazon workers in continental europe have long been laborized. strong labor unions haven't pushed their global push into that market, only here in the u.s. for some reason. if bessemer's employees vote in favor ofunionizing, it will mark the largest group of workers in 30 years. this is perhaps the most important graph to explain the state of our rigged economy today. by the 1950s, unions in the u.s. have been growing steadily. unionized workers and the top 10% of earners in the u.s. were collectively taking the same amount, taking the same share of national income. look at those lines. follow where they go and look at what's happened in the decades since. the top 10% is taking 50% of all

income as union membership has dropped. to be fair to amazon, their employees are getting $15 an hour, thanks to pressure from bernie sanders and others but unions are about more than higher wages. they're also about working conditions. amazon is admitting its employees sometimes have to resort to being in bottles to meet their quotas and targets. of course, that's wasn't what the company first said. in response to a tweet from congressman pocan, this rhetorical question, you don't really believe the being in bottle thing, do you? the company replied with classic what-aboutism, alleging it's not specific to amazon. what about all the other companies? it happened as part of a campaign from amazon pr to openly troll progressive lawmakers backing the union effort. >> if you pull this off here, birmingham, alabama, if you pull

this off here, believe me, workers all over this country are going to be saying if these people in alabama can take on the wealthiest guy in the world, we can do it as well. >> what happens next to the american worker also depends in large part on whether joe biden can make the democrats the party of the american worker again. counter the fake populism of the republicans who pretend they're the party of the worker. the house just passed a pro act. and now there's biden's $2 trillion infrastructure bill. it sounds like a lot of money but it's spread out nearly a decade. some on the left say it isn't enough. >> i have serious concerns that it's not enough to realize the very inspiring vision that biden has advanced. we know that there is so much more opportunity here. and in order for us to realize

this inspiring vision, we need to go way higher. >> let's turn now to senator bernie sanders, who we just heard from when he met with amazon workers in bessemer, alabama. he's the new senate budget committee chair who seems to be at the height of his influence. we spoke earlier today. senator bernie sanders, thank you for speaking to me. we're expecting a result from that vote. maybe as early as tomorrow. what will a yes vote mean? not just for amazon and labor unions in this country, but for american capitalism? >> well, as you know, mehdi, amazon is the richest company,

owned by the wealthiest man in the united states, jeff bezos. i've heard of tales of incredibly bad working conditions, people who are disrespected, people whose concerns are not being heard and they want a union to represent them. obviously frk they win that unionizing job, it will spread to other amazon warehouses and i think will be a shot in the arm for union organizing all across this country. it is no secret that wages have been stagnant for decades. if we are successful in birmingham, i think we'll have an impact on unionizing around the country. >> yes, i think that will be the

case. let's see what happens. you, elizabeth warren, and other progressive lawmakers were the subject of trolling by an amazon pr twitter account last week. apparently it's been reported that jeff bezos himself was upset that company officials weren't defending amazon enough from your criticisms. he has also refused your invitation to testify in front of the senate. i wonder, how much do you think representative democracy in this country is threatened by the power of a single citizen who is worth $180 billion? >> i think it's a serious problem. we talk about income wealth inequality, it's not just two people, bezos being one of them, own more wealth than the bottom 2% of people. that is wrong in itself. but we forget the kind of power that these individuals have. bezos owns "the washington post." you have large corporations who have thousands of lobbyists all

over washington, d.c., former leaders of the democratic and republican party. they make incredible campaign contributions. so when we talk about the need to create a vibrant democracy, it means taking on incoming wealth inequality, bringing power back to ordinary people through campaign finance reforms, ending gechlt rrymandering, to ending suppression of voters. it is a big issue. it is a very big issue in terms of the power of the few. >> yes. and yet president joe biden while admirably considering an increase is refusing a tax increase on billionaires like bezos. why do you think that is? have you spoken to him about it? >> i've spoken to the white house. they are more than familiar with my views on the need to address income and wealth inequality. and i think one of the ways that you do that is, simply speaking,

a wealth tax. when you have somebody like bezos, $180 billion. when you have the walton family worth even more than that, one way you raise income for the government and you deal with this terrible inequality is through a wealth tax. by the way, my republican colleagues want to make a bad situation worse, unbelievably they want to appeal the estate tax entirely. >> yes. >> which will give hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the top one-tenth of one percent. this is the moment for progressive taxations, not only a wealth tax, but an increase in corporate taxes, to say that we cannot continue to have this kind of massive income and wealth inequality. >> so, on that note, a lot of people think this is a pretty progressive moment in american politics. democrats in control of the white house in congress, joe

biden pushing through progressive legislation like the $2 trillion american rescue plan. we had part one of the infrastructure plan laid out this week around $2 trillion. but over eight years. congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez and others in the climate movement think that's a good start but just isn't enough money to deal with the challenges we face, especially when spread out over eight years. they're right, aren't they? >> i think they are. i think one of the issues we have been focusing on is the crisis in affordable and low-income housing. i think the biden proposal is a serious effort to build the millions of units that we need to address that crisis. i don't think it goes far enough in terms of climate. the truth is, as everybody knows, the scientist tell us we have a handful of years in front of us in order to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel or we're going to face awful crises in terms of

irreparable damage to our planet. so i would propose more. and when we do that, we can create millions of good-paying jobs. >> so, let's talk a bit more about the infrastructure plan. you want part two of the plan to had include health care? you're proposing lowering the medicare age from 60 to 55. given your influence on the biden administration, you were recently called a power broker senator. do you think between now and 2024 you can get this president to not just support that age reduction but also get on board with medicare itself for single pay? is it possible for to you persuade or pressure him into that? >> mehdi, two things. in the immediate momt, i want to focus in the new reconciliation plan not only physical infrastructure, roads, bridges and climate change but human infrastructure as well.

that means addressing the crisis in education. so many of our young people cannot afford to go to college, higher education. so many of our young people leaving school deeply in debt. those are issues we've got to deal with. in terms of seniors and older workers, what we've got to do immediately is expand medicare to cover dental care, to cover hearing aids, to cover eyeglasses. these are health care issues that impact millions of older people who cannot afford these basic services. now, to answer your question, i believe that the current health care system, based on private insurance and employer-based health care is dysfunctional. we spend twice as much per capita as any other country. 90 million are uninsured or underinsured. do i believe we need to go to medicare for all? absolutely. that is not, at this moment, the president's view but we've got a strong grassroots movement to

make sure that mr. president moves in the direction that health care is a union right not simply an employee-based benefit. >> you mentioned the grassroots movement. a lot of frustrated progressives, especially online, and you know this, often ask why can't you, bernie sanders, use the leverage that joe manchin often uses to get his own way on issues like the $15 minimum wage or health care? why can't you throw your weight around, threaten to vote on -- >> first of all, look at the results of what happened, the -- look, i'm not the president. i think what most people would tell you is what we did in the rescue plan was the most significant piece of legislation for working class people in the modern history of this country. >> yes. >> and we're moving forward in a similar direction. we can't get everything we want. that's simply the reality. only one person can say no. i think right now we are moving forward. we are going to push it as hard as we possibly can.

and i am proud of the direction in which we are moving. >> and just on joe manchin, you say you support getting rid of the filibuster, but senator joe manchin has said he doesn't agree with that. he doesn't back the 28% corporate tax rate that's proposed. when you were running for president, you said you would go to west virginia, rally working people there. >> mehdi, we're going to go -- >> hold on. hold on. let me just ask the question, senator. do you think president biden should pressure joe manchin in the way you said you would, or would make him defect to the republican party, as some would say? >> first of all, talk to joe manchin. second of all, there is a lot of work being done in order to bring the democratic caucus together. once again, we passed the most significant piece of emergency legislation, which among other things will cut childhood poverty in half. i expect that the second

reconciliation bill will be very profound in creating millions of good-paying jobs and, by the way, i'm going to do everything that i can, along with others, in making sure that we do pass that $15 an hour minimum wage. >> understood. but you support internal pressure, but you support internal pressure on joe manchin, not publicly going to west virginia and calling him out? >> i have no problem going to west virginia. and i think we need a grassroots movement that makes it clear to joe manchin and everybody else in the united states senate, including republicans, that the progressive agenda is what the american people want. they want to raise that minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour. they believe health care as a human right should be universal. they demand the rich start paying their fair share of taxes. this is not my ideas. this is what the american people want right now. our job is to rally the american people in every state in this country to make sure that the

government starts working for the working class of this country, not just the one percent. >> on that passionate note, you'll have to leave it there. senator bernie sanders, always a pleasure. thank you so much for coming on the show. >> thank you very much. next, i'll be joined live by professor cornell west. he says the death of george floyd shows the world who america really is. still to come, the queen of complex systems and even more complex problems says we have the tools to stop a deadly and more transmissible covid-19. you'll hear from her later. stick around for that, too. latr stick around for that, too urance so i only pay for what i need. 'cause i do things a bit differently. wet teddy bears! wet teddy bears here! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ you can't plan for your period's... what the gush moments.

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the derek chauvin murder trial resumes tomorrow in minneapolis. it was a taxing week of testimonies. for some it was too much to watch. chauvin faces three charges of

murder. he held his knee on his neck as he was face down on the sidewalk for 9 minutes. >> do you need a minute? can you just explain sort of what you're feeling in this moment? >> i can't help him. helpless. >> can you describe what you're trying to do at that point? >> basically i'm saying you can't win. once the police get the cuffs on you, you can't win. i'm trying to tell him, just cooperate with them. get up, get in the car. go with him. you can win. >> the trial has forced those witnesses and the rest of us, especially black americans, to relive the trauma of watching george floyd's death.

joining me now is dr. cornell west, professor of philosophy at harvard university. dr. west thank you so much for coming on this show. what was it like for you, as a black man, not as a public intellectual, a harvard professor, but as a black man to watch the trial of derek chauvin, to hear those witness testimonies and see that video again? >> you know, brother, i was thinking of the words of the wise and courageous elder brother of george, philonis, when he said this is america on trial. and putting america on trial is to see whether america can be fair to black people. when the first move of the defense is to put george floyd jr. on trial. and when you put george floyd jr. on trial, you're putting black people on trial. so that george floyd jr. is me and i am him. so i imagine myself with that

policeman on my neck and whether i have to prove my humanity in order to even get a fair trial. yet they got to go through, try to justify, rationalize by any way they can somehow to reach the conclusion that george floyd should not get justice. so this is as deep an issue as it gets, my brother. as deep as it gets. you put america on trial for me as a black people, these are the tips of the iceberg. how long can black folks put up with this kind of sense of being in a perpetual audition, having to prove our humanity day in and day out, my dear brother? >> yes. and you said it's as deep as it gets. >> yes. deep as it gets. >> teenagers testifying this

past week, 18-year-old darnella frazier, the girl who took the viral video of george floyd's final moments, she testified tuesday. let's listen to that. >> when i look at george floyd, i look at my dad. i look at my brothers. i look at my cousins, my uncles. because they are all black. i have a black father. i have a black brother. i have black friends. and i look at that, and i look at how that could have been one of them. it's the nights i stayed up, apologizing and apologizing to george floyd for not doing more and not physically interacting, not saving his life. >> how many other darnella

fraziers are out there? kids in the black community, who have had to witness horrors like this and other similar horrors? kids. >> it's true, though, brother. you're talking about my daughter and son. you're talking about my grandkids, though, brother. here it is on easter. we're trying to pull out love and joy in the midst of this institutionalized hatred and this chronic sorrow. and the same true was when martin died, when medgar died. same was true when breonna taylor was shot. how long can you put up with this? and what do you do about it? that become the question. your spine and your backbone and continue to fight with the dignity and with the compassion, trying to love everybody, but recognizing in the end sometimes

your hatred of injustice is difficult to confine just the injustice. and that's part of the challenge of martin king and the jew named jesus in the face of a roman empire, to use his police, use his courts, use his lawyers to try to rationalize criminal conviction and crucifixion then and around the world. that's part of my own christian witness. but it's it's tough, man. it's really tough. it is. you know, if george floyd doesn't get justice, man -- >> let's talk about justice. it only takes one juror, one juror to say not guilty and derek chauvin will walk free. if that happens, in your view,

what happens to race relations in this country? >> brother, we put on the king of love is dead, written by jean taylor, the song she sang three days after martin was shot down. she sang that. the whole country ought to just listen to nina simone. what happens when you think we're on the brink and how do we come to terms with the vicious lies and crimes against black people for 400 years? that's what we're going to have to wrestle with. you're going to cross that bridge when we get to it, but it's going to be something, though, brother. ain't no doubt about that. >> and just going beyond this case and police brutality, how do we betraysism in this country when a good chunk of this country, according to the polls, thinks the main victims of racial discrimination are white

people? >> the lives are out there, man. i was glad you had on brother bernie sanders, though. he's a sign of hope. why? because we're going to have a multi-racial coalition. we're going to have to have muslims, catholic, baptist, jews, buddhists, gay, lesbian. but the center of it is going to have to be critique of white supremacy because white supremacy in the foreign policy, look what's happening in haiti right now with the u.s. government. in terms of the u.s. militaryism on the continent. right now, it's the spiritual and the moral issues of how do we hold oursds together when you confront it with such ugly hatred, brutality, callousness

and they get away with it. people can only take so much. i can only take so much. i'm a human being. >> yes. we all are. and i'm glad that in our common humanity. i wish i could talk to you all night long, dr. west. >> amen, brother. >> thank you. >> and congratulations on the show. >> i appreciate it. >> your show is soaring like an eagle, my brother. i love it. >> appreciate it. let's have another conversation soon. good night. >> good night, my brother. >> it's emotional and traumatizing, reliving the death of george floyd over and over throughout this trial. if you're having trouble dealing with it, please do speak up. please ask for help. here are organizations you can reach out to. please don't hesitate to get help. next, vaccination rates are rising, but so are covid cases. that doesn't make any sense, does it? we'll try to find out what we're doing wrong.

first, richard lui is here with headlines. >> in myanmar, marched with easter eggs with slogans like spring revolution and "we must win." demonstrations have continued daily despite killing of civilians by the military. rapper dmx is still on life support after a heart attack, says his lawyer. the grammy-nominated musician was hospitalized friday. his first four albums debuted at number one. new guidance to the cruise ship industry, covid-19 reporting from weekly to daily. cruise lines also need a plan for vaccinating crew and port personnel. no date was assigned for ships to resume sailing. more mehdi hasan show after this break. hasan show after this break. uh-oh, sorry... oh... what? i'm an emu! no, buddy! only pay for what you need.

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the u.s. is breaking records

this week for daily vaccination records, more than 4 million on friday alone. yet covid cases are still on the rise. 26 states experience some degree of a percentage of increase of cases over the past 14 days. this comes at a time when states are rapidly reopening and lifting mask mandates. this is the start of a fourth covid wave. my next guest points out in the atlantic, quote, compared with previous surges, case for unvaccinated case, this has the potential to cause more deaths, infecting fewer. associate professor for university of chapel hill. thank you so much for coming on the show. the b.1.1.7 covid variant has been more deadly. dr. olsterholm was on "meet the press" this morning. have a listen to what he said. >> please understand this

b.1.1.7 variant, it's almost like having a whole new pandemic descend upon us. >> a whole new pandemic descend upon us. what's your reaction to that? >> on one hand in the united states, we have an enormous vaccine supply, which is very good for us, vaccinating more than 3 million, 4 million in a day, and some days we are breaking records, which is excellent. we've only vaccinated perhaps a third of the population and maybe with sort of our best case estimate, maybe up to 100 million people may have some level of immunity from a previous infection.

even if you put all that have together, it means tens of millions of people are yet unvaccinated. while the vaccines themselves are excellent, the unvaccinated are even more vulnerable right now exactly because this variant is both more infectious, so that's something that we got lucky with and got away with and were kind of able to do before may now carry more risk. there's increasing evidence that it's also more severe. not only are you more likely to get infected from another infected person, you are more likely to have a severe course of disease. so, places in michigan, philadelphia, new jersey, some in florida, we're seeing these cases go up in michigan. we're seeing hospitalizations go up. so it's complicated. both at the same time. >> so you mentioned michigan, which is experiencing a spike in cases right now. cases are up 122% over the past 14 days. in your "atlantic" article you make the argument for, quote,

ring vaccination. explain that term for our viewers. how could it help a state like michigan right now? >> ring vaccination is a public health tool. my suggestion is where you go to a case where an outbreak can occurring and try to vaccinate contacts and potential contacts of the people who have been infected. it is how we eradicated small pox in the past, too. gu to the place where there's been an outbreak and you kind of smother it with immunity. right now, our vaccine supply means that we are able to open up eligibility to large numbers of people, which is good, but we're now, you know, vaccinating 20, 30-year-olds who are lower risk. they should be vaccinated, but they're clearly lower risk, in places where there is no big outbreak or surge. so i think it would make sense to try to direct and send more

vaccines to places like michigan, places like philadelphia, places like new jersey where we're seeing these hospitalization upticks as well. and especially direct them to the front line essential workers who cannot just sort of stay home and order those groceries, because they're the ones sending us the groceries, because we're vaccinated by age, which is important, because old people are -- you know, they have vulnerabilities, but now there are all these people who cannot necessarily protect themselves and the vaccinated are feeling great. that is very understandable, because they're clearly safer, but we cannot leave those people behind just because some of us now are much safer thanks to excellent vaccines. >> and you've already written about the misinformation on the write surrounding covid. you point to a trifecta issue, polarization, bad science and

puritanism. how do we fix the bad science and the puritanism? >> i'm going to come back because it's not just on the right sometimes. the right has its own misinformation. especially the vaccines, which are excellent. there's been a consistent campaign painting them as not great when they are. we also have other problems that i think are common across the political spectrum. after a year epidemiology, outdoors, beaches and parks are much safer. and we still have places that are fighting over whether to keep a local park or, you know, an open beach open, like a local beach. people are being shamed for being outdoors, which is part of the bad science. and that can cut across the political spectrum. the other one i like to talk

about is that we've been acting like it's the fault of the bad behavior that people exhibit, which is not false completely. there are clearly irresponsible people. but if you look at the breakdown of covid victims in this country, it is primarily people in primarily minority, black people, hispanic, essential workers. blaming -- if it's just personal irresponsibility when it was very much those people we sent out there without the protections, and then we're kind of wagging our fingers at the victims, that's something i think we should not do. >> it's a very, very good point. we'll have to leave it there. we're out of time. thank you so much for your insights tonight. appreciate it. >> thank you for inviting me. congressman matt gaetz has been in the news this week for allegedly saying and doing some pretty often things i have a 60-second rant coming that shows how he has always been awful.

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gop matt gaetz is under investigation for sex trafficking and the allegations about him and women and drugs continue to pile up. let me sum up matt gaetz for new 60 seconds. elected to the florida house in 2010 backed by his daddy don

gaetz with deep pockets and connections two years after being arrested for driving under the influence. called for recipients for welfare to be drug tested, and was one of two florida house members to vote against a bill criminalizing revenge porn. gaetz accused a holocaust claimed attorney general jeff sessions was a hostage in the deep state. defended trump's description of haiti as an asshole country, falsely accused gorge soros ten days before wore a gas mask to mock the threat from covid, attended a maskless party in new york at the height of the pandemic and the only member in congress to vote against a bill to combat against human trafficking. funny that. matt gaetz said he would quit his job, leave his home to defend donald trump. the question now is, will donald trump do the same thing for him? we all know the answer for that.

>> next, the russian government allegedly tried to poison alexey navalny. he is risking death with a self-imposed hunger strike. hune starts with making a commitment. a promise to others. using the lessons you've learned. the values you believe in... to show what you're truly capable of. ♪♪ (burke) phone it in to 1-800-farmers to get policy perks, like a home and auto-bundle discount. to show what you're truly capable of. (man) i'm phoning it in and just saved twenty percent. (burke) get your policy perks by calling 1-800-farmers. go ahead, phone it in. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪

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strike. kremlin is blamed for the attack and u.s. sanctioned russia for using chemical weapons. navalny says he's suffering from back pain and being woken up every night is tantamount to torture. correspondent who has written about vladimir putin's russia. you have a weird twist, butina visits him, taunts him, what is going on over there? >> well. great question. what is going on is maria buttina is part of the larger

kremlin ploy to discredit navalny's claims that he's in torture like, inhumane conditions. maria butina who says i don't know what you're talking about, regions i grew up in are worse than this jail. not sure who that was supposed to make feel better. asked on facebook if he understood the difference between a prison and resort. look man, if you did the crime, do the time. and i have to say -- >> says a woman -- >> kremlin -- >> sorry. >> kremlin is leaking cctv camera footage to show him walking around fine.

omnipresent independent media and online and kremlin is using its media to push back on his claims. >> navalny was hospitalized in medically induced coma for weeks in berlin when he was poisoned. two of the doctors who treated him have died, third has quit. many are calling it a cleanup operation. is this standard operating practice now in russia or just one big coincidence? >> i don't know now. the kremlin is good at sweeping up its traces. i don't know if you remember the documentary that came out, "icarus" and investigation into the elaborate doping scheme that the russians used for the 2014 sochi olympics. one of the whistleblowers fled to the u.s. and had to go into witness protection because colleagues started dropping dead

of heart attacks and committing suicide. it's hard to say, men in their 50s, in russia that's around the time that men start dying of health conditions, their health is generally very bad. but seems like quite a coincidence and raises a few eyebrows, including both of mine. >> well, that's why we wanted to speak to you tonight. before we run out of time, trump is gone and president biden refers to putin as killer and putin hit back with sarcastic have good health before challenging biden to a bizarre debate. what leverage does biden have if any to pressure putin and help navalny? >> i don't think that biden has a lot of tools left in his toolkit save for drastic measures like cutting russia out

of the swiss banking system which would create chaos not just in russia but europe which is economically intertwined with russia. i don't think there's much left in areas where the u.s. could cooperate after russia's illegal annexation of crimea, you saw cooperation fall by the wayside. you have space left and counterterrorism. security services in the u.s. don't believe the russians are helping in counterterrorism, now spacex is launching our rockets rather than the russians. renewed the s.t.a.r.t. treaty but not sure what other overlap there is. as for what biden can do to help navalny, there's not much, for everyone that depends on putin,

existential question, us or them, take the heat of sanctions if they're not strung up from the lamppost. >> which isn't enough. we're sadly out of time, thanks for your insight tonight, appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. we're moments away from "the week with joshua johnson." he'll have a live interview with former covid-19 advisory board member during the biden transition. stick around for that. stick aro. it works naturally with the water in your body to unblock your gut. free your gut, and your mood will follow. i'm morgan, and there's more to me than hiv.

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thanks for watching. we'll be back next sunday at 8:00 p.m. eastern. and monday through thursdays 7:00 p.m. eastern on "the choice" on peacock. now joshua johnson. >> it's good to be with you tonight. hope you had a lovely easter. workday for some in biden administration promoting infrastructure package. >> we're coasting off infrastructure choices made in the 1950s. >> could struggle or die without bipartisan support. is second reconciliation bill on the horizon? covid vaccinations speeding up, 4 million on friday, but new cases, rising in more than half the states. ask dr. zeke emanuel if we