to thank for what i'm going down now. >> reporter: i think she'd be pretty proud of you. >> i hope so. this sunday, a fourth covid-19 wave. cases are climbing. >> we need to hold down just a bit longer and give vaccines a chance to really get the upper hand. >> even as vaccinations hit 4 million a day. >> too many americans are acting like this fight is over. it is not. >> states are dropping restriction, air travel is up as the cdc relaxes guidance for people. but is the u.s. getting back to normal too soon? my guest this morning, an epidemiologist, michael

ostehhome. >> it's a once in a million investment in america. >> president biden is making a pitch for a $2 trillion package. how will he pay for it? >> it just raises taxes. >> we need to go higher. >> pete buttigieg and robert wicker of mississippi. and taking a stand after president biden weighed in. >> i think the days of professional athletes are acting incredibly responsibly. >> major league baseball pulls the all star game out of atlanta. organizations condemning georgia's new voting restrictions. >> there is something that's more than money. this is about protecting the voices of our people. >> it means can sell culture and partisan activists are coming for fight over voter rights. joining me for analysis areia

mitch yamich cindor. >> joining me from washington, this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> good sunday morning and happy easter and a happy passover. you know, the backdrop of the current political fights on covid, the economy, immigration and voting violates a -- voting rights. very the attack on capitol shook the slow return to normalcy. the cdc supports travel but cases are rising up in 31 states over the past two weeks. america's past-time, restricted georgia's law, announcing it was moving the all star draft out of atlanta and all week in

minneapolis, the nation watched eyewitnesses forced to relive the violence over the final minutes of george floyd's life. it's perhaps because of this uncertain backdrop that joe biden considered the small era over, deciding to go big on infrastructure. he is trying to drive a wedge and putting political capital behind legislation that on paper is widely pop lor. the covid relief plan had 70% report. 79% supported government overhaul of american roadways, railroads, bridges and ports. while biden is going big on infrastructure, it's what he chose not to go beg on, guns and immigration, that show hess is still a pragmatic politician at heart. with republican officials seizing on the size of the plan and the tax increases the democrats are proposing to pay for it, fighting for this popular infrastructure proposal may fought be any easier than

any other washington fight he could choose to pick. >> it's big, yes. it's bold, yes. and we can get it done. >> president biden rolling out the next phase of his economic plan this week in pittsburgh. >> it's a once in a generation investment in america. unlike anything we have seen or done. >> the president's proposal includes $620 for transportation infrastructure. at least 650 million to expand broadband and invest in green energy 580 billion for research and development. they left a bipartisan deal on the table turning promises on infrastructure into a long-running joke. >> the american people deserve the best infrastructure anywhere in the world. >> we will create the infrastructure of the world. >> we are actually at the end of

what the president called infrastructure week. >> last week was a great week, infrastructure week. >> how many times we heard this is infrastructure week over the last four years? >> now, biden is determined to push a bill through over -- >> paying by primarily raising the corporate tax rate from 21-to-28%. >> it seems less about infrastructure and more about tax increase. >> this is a big whopping tax increase. >> joe biden wants to build up taxes. >> reporter: biden is hoping it's good at home. >> i was able to get some money in there specifically for the completion of corridor h and the appalachian highway system. >> i can't imagine that somewhere in the bill -- [ inaudible ] >> like president obama a decade ago. >> mr. mayor, mr. mcconnell,

help us rebuild this bridge. >> this week cabinet members are heading out on a road show to make his case. >> i think the republican voters are going to have a lot to say about whether we get this done. >> most democrats are praising the president. some have concerns. >> it's insensitive to any tax increases that hurt the families in my district. >> it's not clear whether the white house can unite progressives and moderates around the plan. >> we need to go higher. we can do 10 trillion. >> you have to vote to proceed. >> i have told them i will not vote to proceed until we try. >> you believe you can get ten republicans on an infrastructure bill? >> i sure do. >> joining me now is the secretary of transportation pete buttigieg, welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you, welcome to be back. >> i want to start with you with yourself and senator wicker later, defeign infrastructure as this administration sees it? we are already having a debate

of bridges roads, infrastructure, elder care is not. define infrastructure in your view. >> let's say infrastructure is the foundation that makes it possible for americans to thrive and what we know is that that foundation has been crumbling. whether we talk about care infrastructure or whether we are talking roads and bridges and the other things that i work on as the secretary of transportation. we have fallen to 13th in the world in terms of our transportation infrastructure and continuing to head in the wrong direction because we have been failing to invest for a generation. the american jobs act sa chance to fix that. >> this part is approximately 2 trillion. the next part rolled out in three weeks is i guess another trillion or so here. is this being broken up because you think, well, all right, the bricks and mortar part of infrastructure, we can find republican support. the social service infrastructure we can't? >> i think we can find a lot of support for all of the elements

of the president's agenda. certainly, what we are seeing with the jobs plan is overwhelming support among the american people and you know in many ways, it feels like we've already convinced america, now we got to get washington to follow suit. i would note there is a lot of support of how the president is proposing to pay for this. that is why there is such a compelling package. we know we can afford to make infrastructure. we need to make sure corporations are paying their fair share. that's what this plan is going to do. >> let me start with how long you will look for bipartisan support. it was about this time in 2009 that president obama and a vice president biden rolled out a healthcare plan and they've spent six months convinced because polling told them there was bipartisan support. individual lawmakers, you thought this was support. you ran into sort of a party [ wall there. how much time do you give to

bipartisanship? >> well, the president really believes in a bipartisan approach. it's one of the reasons i am constantly having conversations with members of congress on both sides of the aisle. the president has a clear vision. as he said, this has to get done. he is asking for congress to make major progress on this memorial day. the bottom line is we got to deliver for the marine people and we can't let politics slow this down to where it doesn't actually happen. >> it looks that the administration looks like it wants bipartisan support than leadership. is their patience less than the president's? >> you'd have to ask them. but i believe they are just as interested in trying to get somewhere that's a win-within. at the end of the day, yes, it's the president's belief. but it's also the belief of the american people that the government works better when you got both parties actually talking to each other,

negotiating, working in good faith. that's what we're working to do around unfor. if there is anywhere where it can be done, surely it's this one. at the end of the day, it's whether they will vote for it. it's a great package. now is the season for hearing any idea they want to bring to the table. we can find the president is very opened to that we had two oval office meetings, you can expect more of that. >> talking about paying for this plan, president bind had one idea. route? mostly corporate tax rates. i know the idea is, hey, if you got another idea, we'll listen, there is three ways to fund projects, user fees, you can throw gas tax into a user-fee category. and then there is debt deficit spending. does president biden, does he guarantee that he will sign a bill that is totally paid for or will there be some deficit

spend spending in this bill? >> i will say the president fully paid for. across 15 years, it will raise the revenue. by year 16, you'd see it working to reduce the deficit. again it's important to point out the american people agree with this. we've seen corporations paying zero. we're asking corporations to pay their fair share at a rate, by the way, that would be lower than it's been for most of my life. now again, if folks on the hill have other how to pay for it, we will be interested to hear those visions. >> there is a vision to pay for this bill in full. if a bill that funds this infrastructure project comes to the president's desk and it does not include enough to pay for this bill and its deficit spending, it doesn't sound like he would somehow veto it? is that what you are saying, if

congress decides to deficit spend, so be it? >> that decision is very literally above my pay grade. we'll see how this thing looks by the time it reaches the president, which we hope is quite soon. what i'll say is, we got a great proposal for how we can do this, which is responsible, that keeps the american economy competitive. if there are other ideas, now is the time to hear it. >> you call this a jobs bill. the acronym jobs. you want this to be seen as a jobs bill. we had a tremendous jobs report on friday. we're probably going to have a couple more months just like it if not better as we reopen to the pandemic restrictions. it's natural. do you worry that will recede the sense of urgency for this plan and perhaps make some democrats hesitant to spend this much money? >> no, because those jobs in which are good news, still reflect an economy that's coming out of a deep hole created by

the pandemic. but those are also numbers that are about this week, this month, this quarter. the american jobs plan is about a generational investment. it's going to create 19 million jobs and we're talking about economic growth going on for years and years. the rescue plan was largely about getting through this season, getting america back from the brink. i want to be clear, it's not about short-term stimulus. it's about making sure america is positioned to compete for the next decade and for the generation ahead. we know that china and our other strategic competitors are already making major investments. it's time for america to lead the way again. those 19 million jobs we're about to create go way beyond some quarterly or monthly report. it's about our future of the country. >> do you have a vision, what will america look like in 2035 if you implement this plan? >> absolutely, by 2035, america will be much more economically competitive. we will be stronger in terms of leading the world because of the

research and development investments here and we will be on track to avoid climate disaster because of the provisions for things like electric vehicles and just as importantly, because we will have made these investments startling here in 2021, those electric vehicles more and more people will be increasingly made by union workers. this is what you get for planning for the long term. look right now, we are coasting off of infrastructure choices made in the 1950s. now is our chance to make infrastructure choices for the future that will serve us well. in the 2030s and on into the middle of the century, for when we will be judged whether we met this moment in the 2020s. >> thank you for sharing your perspective with us. >> thanks for having me. joining me the top republican senator wicker on the science and transportation committee, one of the key committees focused almost solely

to infrastructure on this country. welcome to "meet the press," sir. >> they gave an c-minus, the state of mississippi was worse, they were given a d for drinking water. overall a d plus. how badly does the country and mississippi, in particular, need a massive infrastructure investment? >> chuck, thanks for having me on. let me take a minute, though, first of all, your panel will probably be talking about the attack on the capitol. i just want to say, our heart felt condolences to our capitol police officer who gave his life. >> we will honor him.

thank you. >> listen, i'm all for working with the administration on an infrastructure bill and, yes, we need it in mississippi. i voted for it as a state legislator and as a member of the house appropriations committee. and let me tell you, i think i can work with pete buttigieg. i spoke to him the day he was nominated. we have been trading phone messages for the last three or four days in an effort to talk about this bill. i think pete and i could come one an infrastructure bill. what the president proposed this week is not an infrastructure bill. it's a huge tax increase, for one thing. and it's a tax increase on small business, on job creators in the united states of america and, chuck, you made a statement that i just have to wonder about. you said, it seems the administration is more eager to have bipartisanship than members

of congress are. how could the president expect to have bipartisanship when his proposal is a repeal of one of our signature issues in 2017 where we cut the tax rate and made the united states finally more competitive when it comes to the way we treat job creators. he reverses all that. a and i'll tell you what, he says no one will pay extra taxes if they make less than $400,000 a year. that may be true, we'll have to see the details there. under this tax increase bill, there are a lot of people making $100,000 and $50,000 that will lose their jobs because of the extra burden this plan would put on job creators. >> look what they're talking about, though, is lowering, is basically finding a middle

ground between where the corporate tax rate was in 2017 and what the corporate tax rate is today. they would like to move it to 28%. i am curious, this tax cut that you guys put through in 2017, there were various promises made, they would pay for themselves, hasn't come close to that it will produce 4, 5, 6% growth. we didn't even get 3% growth. at one point, former president trump says this will pay off the debt like it's water. as you know, the debt is way up. so i guess when you look at this tax cut proposal, when most of the benefits seem to go to stockholders. corporations didn't do what you thought they were going to do, which is take this savings and invest. they instead did stock buybacks. wasn't this tax cut kind of an economic failure? >> no, it wasn't at all, until the pandemic hit in march of 2020, the tax cuts were working

just as we expected them to. unemployment was down. job creation among african-americans was up. job creation among veterans was up, among women in the work force. there was more participation. the fact that we have lowered the tax burden on job creators, particularly small business, which is the job, the great job engine of the united states of america was working fine. now, some of these predictions that you mentioned, i never participated in. >> i understand. >> what i said was, you make us more competitive internationally and we will create jobs and we did just that. >> let me ask you this. how would you pay for infrastructure? where would you get the money? >> well, listen, i am opened to suggestion about that. but i have to bipartisan bills that i have been reduced,

senator stab stabenow is on an advance. >> that's investing in mineral bond, debt financing? >> and on another bill of mine, but i'm absolutely up to looking at ways that, for example, mayor buttigieg's home state of indiana did. they used private public partnerships and things of that nature. but the very worst way to finance this is to put a major tax burden on small businesses that create the jobs in the united states of america and i'm opened to pay for this. we got to pay for it. the worst way is to tax job creators. >> i understand you want to carve out. let's not conflate. should the big businesses that benefit from smooth-running road and really good ports and airports that will improve delivery mechanism, should they contribute something to our

infrastructure? you got a whole bunch of companies that pay zip into the federal government in congress. >> i'm all for looking at ways to pay for it and let me just again say that states like our neighboring state of alabama, tennessee, arkansas, they've all found a way, a fair way that the public will go for it to pay for roads and bridges, but when you talk about big businesses and you say we should raise their tax rate from 21% corporate rate to 28%. let me just tell you, that's going to cut job creation in the united states of america. it's the very reason we lowered those tax rates in 2017. it's a plan that worked and if the president wants a bipartisan plan, how can he possibly try to get something passed that every single -- that repeals the bill that every single republican in the senate voted for in 2017.

to me, i don't see the bipartisan gesture there. >> one last question here. did you guys blow it? you had four years to do an infrastructure bill? you had the presidency, you had the senate and the house for a bit, did you blow it? >> no as a matter of fact, we passed infrastructure bills, the fast act on two occasions. but, yes, i would love to have passed a larger infrastructure bill and i certainly hope we can do that, but i don't want to do it by raising taxes and cutting jobs for americans. >> senator roger wicker, republican for mississippi. i really appreciate you coming on and sharing your perspective. happy easter. >> thank you, chuck. . ahead, can the rising state of the virus get ahead host vaccines? a man was released from the

hospital yesterday. after that attack on a barricade about 100 yard friends and families caring to see him. we also want to take a moment to remember capitol police officer billy evans who died in that attack. an 18-year veteran of the force. he was a member of the division of the first responders unit. he graduated from western leyman university and is survived by two young children. he was the third police officer to die since the january 6th incident. the january 6th incident so you smell them later. ew right? that's why febreze created small spaces. press firmly and watch it get to work. unlike the leading cone, small spaces continuously eliminates odors in the air and on surfaces. so they don't come back for 45 days. just imagine what it can do with other odors.

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12 states have seen higher cases in months. the variants are spreading rapidly. joining me is the director of the center for infectious disease, research and policy at the university of minnesota. dr. osterhome, the last time you were on, the metaphor is things felt rosey. you said, hey, this is going to get worse. well, do you believe we're in the midst of this fourth srnl surge and do you think we are sitting on a category 35 and is this a manageable surge? >> thank you, chuck, for having me again. first of all, let me say at this time we really are in a category 5 hurricane status with regard to the rest of the world. at this point we will see in the next two weeks, the highest number of cases reported since the end of the pandemic n. terms of the united states, we're at the beginning of this surge. we haven't begun to see it yet.

we have had over the course of the past year surges of cases that appear in the upper northwest and the northeast and we see a big increase in the southern sunbelt states and it subside and the mid-west comes back again. we are in that cycle where the upper mid-west is beginning to start this fourth surge. i think it was a wake-up call yesterday when michigan reported 8400 cases and we are seeing severe illnesses, icus and hospitalizations and individuals between 30 and 50 years of age who have not been vaccinated. >> i actually want to put up some cdc headlines from the week. there was a little confusion. i want you to clear it up. i get there is guidelines and there is interpreting the guidelines. you know, we had cdc reiterating americans should limit their travel as the u.s. hits 30 million cases then they say fully vaccinated people can travel without tests for quarantine teens. then we had the cdc data

suggesting the vaccinated folks don't carry or spread the virus. some scientists say, whoa, whoa, whoa, we don't know that's the case. the president of argentina apparently has covid after getting the sputnik vaccine. so clear up this confusion for us. the cdc, should they be clear on what our guidelines are? >> well, we all want to be clear. and i do give the director of the cdc michelle wolinski for being a truth teller. give me an example on the airplane flight, when you get vaccinated it's like a suit that works 95% of the time. so why want to walk into a big fire if you don't have to. what they are basically saying is, yes, if you are vaccinated, you can open up a lot of things in your life that you couldn't do before. now if you know you will be walking into a fire, why do it? so i think their message was completely consistent, although,

it may have confused the public. get vaccinated. but don't put yourself in harm's way unnecessarily. it will not be fool proof. i think in terms of the other recommendations with the public, that's the challenge we have. please note the b-117 variant from the uk, it's now 50-to-100% more infectious. it causes more illness, 50-to-60% of the time. this is almost like having a whole new virus descend upon us. the vaccines do work against it. >> nicknamed the eek mutation, it's less like a variant, it seems to be, it's a calling card of these more viral i guess more intense variants here. how concerned are you that this will get around our vaccine? >> well, i'm concerned about all the variants. before november, we really

didn't understand that this virus would mutate as it does and that in terms of its mutations can do one of three things, one it can be much more infectious, two, it can cause much more severe illnesses, or three in some instance, it can evade the immune protection from the vaccine or from having previously been infected. the it, you are talking about, that particular variant addition is one that evades the protection of the vaccine or natural infection. not totally. we are very worried about this. chuck, i'm even more worried about what's coming down the pipe over the next several years. right now, if you look at the vaccine distribution around the world, ten countries have received 80% of the vaccine. 30 countries have not seen a drop of it. if we continue to see this virus spread throughout the countries unfettered, they will spread out variants that each and every instance can challenge our vaccines. this is why we need a u.s.

response. we need a global response to get as many people in low and middle income companies to be vaccinated. so we don't miss the vaccines with these new variants. >> how are we going to live our life next year, should we be wearing masks, getting a third vaccine shot in the next six months? is whatever pre pandemic normal was never coming back? >> i don't think so. i think we surely have that opportunity to come back but in the meantime, please understand this b-117 variant is a brand-new ball game. in fact, right here in minnesota, we're now seeing the other aspect of this b-1 stefani variant that hasn't been talked about, that is the fact that it infects kids, unlike the previous strains of the virus, we didn't see children under 8th grade get infected often or they weren't very ill, they didn't transmit it to the rest of the community. i was strongly supporting

reopening in-class learning. b-117 turns out on its head. these kids are major challenges in terms of how they transmit. the fact that i can sit here and talk about 749 schools in minnesota in the last two weeks having 3-117 activity. so the message right now. >> right now, you would close schools? >> this means we would reconsider what we are doing. that gets us to the summer. i do believe and give the administration great credit for how it's bringing forward the vaccine as quickly as possible. at the same time, we will not have nearly enough in the six-to-eight weeks to get through this surge. we will have to look at other avenues a just as every other country in the world that had a b-117 to do. . >> what you said there about in-person school and what's happening with this variant, i think a lot of the scientists and the cdc will be taking that into major consideration, what's

going on there. that is a very uncomfortable development. thank you for always coming on. >> thank you. when we come back, can president biden muscle through another 2 trillion dollar be ill? and former speaker of the house john boehner is unloading on his former colleagues. boehner's language is quite colorful in doing it. >> p.s., ted cruz, go -- yourself. >> the panel is next. panel is t

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welcome back. the panel is with us. yamiche cindor is here with us. i'm going to start, yamiche where heidi heidcamp did a pretty good job on npr at least giving words to the size of this package. she said, you get a bij. and you get a binl! and you get a road! and you get a hospital. it's the oprah of even for. this is a very, very big bill. i think at times there hasn't been anything leak it in our lifetime. >> that's right. and the biden administration is banking on the idea this big, bold plan, it's not just about roads and bridges but the way our american society has functioned and the societal ills that have been allowed to happen

that this bill really focusing on that will somehow get the attention of the american people, will get the support of the american people and will allow them to continue to use what is their redefined idea of bipartisanship, as pete buttigieg told you, the american people supported. the republicans in washington may not. i think when we think about this bill, we should look at the money, there is some $400 billion in here for in-home healthcare about women of color who are working in women's homes and about helping societies an communities that were torn apart by highways, african-american communities. so they're really betting on this bill focusing on roads and brejs that will be enough to run on in 2022 and beyond. >> amy, this is going to be one of the political fights is going to be over taxes and democrats are saying, hey, the public is in favor when you can effect the tax increase to infrastructure. no doubt, there is plenty of polling. we all have the polls to prove them. i want to single another poll

out this week in the state of california. mostly a poll about the recall. but our friends at ppic asked californians on their personal tax bills, federal, state and localss, nearly 60% of californians said they think they are paying more than they should. 36% said they are paying about right this tax argument is always a lot trickier than what your polls tell you, sit not? >> right. that right. when you asked chuck to have senator wicker define the debate about infrastructure. he said this isn't an infrastructure bill. this is a tax bill. if you look at asks folks the question, do you think people making over $400,000 a year should pay more. sure i support that. do you think corporations should pay more taxes? sure i support that at the end of the day politician define it. the biggest challenge for the biden administration is what secretary buttigieg put forward saying this is a generational

issue. this isn't just a short-term political gain and in politics, we live in the short term. we don't live and we're not being defined by generational. in large part because the voters don't trust that politicians can deliver on this. the easy part, chuck, has been thus far people were getting tangible things. they got money in their bank account and they're saying vaccines going into people. this will take a long time to go through, it gives republicans a long time to define it by taxes? what is the risk here? republicans will make a tax argument. there is a comfortable place for the party, mostly a unifying issue in many ways. what's the risk in pursuing a tax strategy to defeat this bill? >> i don't think there is a huge risk at all. i think the corporate taxes, they're not really entirely paid by corporations. the research supports that consumers, shareholders, workers, end up paying a part of

that burden. just the number here is astonishing. in 2019, the federal government, the entirety of the federal government spent $4.4 trillion. biden is talking about basically matching that in his first two bills out of the gate. i think it will be heard because it's harder to spend the second 2 trillion, taxes adds another complicating factor. finally, he has to worry about the obama stimulus, for example. you spend the money, litter landscape with money. at the end of the day, does anyone point to anything that's big to see it changed? >> it took four years for people to see obamacare tangible remarks. fdr cent sift interest, there is pragmatism. he is going big on infrastructure, which is popular with the country. he's not going big on guns and immigration. why? those are a bit more divisive. >> chuck, earmarks our back.

that says all we need to know about how biden is channeling the fdr also channeling lbj. he used it to shore up the republicans not often tooms aligned with him. it is another era in his quiver to insure this bill will get passed. it allows him to put points on the board, not just with republicans. but it also helps to shore up a lot of those democratic union workers that went republican. because he's going to be putting money back n. and who did he choose to be the head of his head of transportation? pete buttigieg in why. she already looking into the mid-term elections, recognizing the unions in the mid-west are in trouble if they want to come back to the democratic party. now, is he going to be able to pass gun reform and immigration? this is another way of trying to figure out how do you make sure there is a political you can lus

to say you were able to be bipartisan here when you move on a step further. those republicans that say they don't want any of it? ask them, what will they fought give back to their states? none of them can answer. >> quickly, rich lowry, i want to ask you about the impact of john boehner. paperer really torches the entire right wing media ecosystem, all things freedom caucus. all things ted cruz as we noted in our these here. i know what the criticism of boehner will be. so now you tell us. but is he on to something? and is this only going to split the party more? >> well, one, it wasn't a secret as you know, chuck, john boehner couldn't stand sean hannity, ted cruz, all those people that made him have a miserable experience as speaker of the house. it's simplistic what boehner calls the chaos caucus took over the party.

they are with government spending. i think if you look to why republican owners, you got to go to the immigration and republican elite came out of touch with the rank and file and trump drove a truck through that gap. >> i think that is very well put there rich. coming up, covid changed the look of easter services for a second row in a week. there are signs some of the changes may be interesting. s so changes may be interesting [♪♪] life is busy, and sometimes odors can sneak up on you. for a convenient life hack. try febreze unstopables fabric refresher. with 2 times the scent power of regular febreze, unstopables fabric finds, neutralizes and eliminates tough odors trapped in hard-to-wash fabrics, like couches or smelly sports equipment; leaving an irresistibly fresh scent. and for a tropical burst of freshness, try new paradise scent.

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welcome back. day to download time, today marks the second easter celebrated in the time of covid. vaccinations and optimism aside, things are not back to normal in most churches. our friends at puig research found 27% of people were planning to go in person. in a non-pandemic year, 44% of the group say they would be in the pews. many opted to attend church from home, doing it online. 33% have wore shipped online. it's down a bit from july of last year. 17%, by the way, have visited their congregations for in-person worship up a smidge from july. so what does this mean for worship overall in this country? this week, gallop released some data showing the number of americans saying they are members of a church, mosque or

cinema dropped below 50% in this country. this is not to say that is technically the percentage of adults who claim they are religious. this is sophisticate that less than half of americans are members of a specific house of worship. it will have long-term political consequences. look, when virtual services end and worshippers decide whether or not they want to go back to church? what decision will they make? it's all a part of the decisions we have to make when the normal life we all want to live begins again. when we come back, is the major league baseball decision to stake the saul star game out of georgia the beginning of a new backlash to new voter restrictions across the entire country. stay with us. ions across the ene country. stay with us new cascade platinum, with 50% more cleaning power! it dissolves fast to start cleaning sooner, releasing the soaking power of dawn. then cascade's food-seeking enzymes latch on and break down food into particles so small they can flow right down the drain.

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stomach area pain, and swelling. could your story also be... about ibs-c? talk to your doctor and say yes to linzess. ♪♪ welcome back. major league baseball became the highest profile, entity, corporation, however you want to ascribe to, essentially make a snap statement about georgia with the decision pulling the all star game out. quite a few companies have come out publicly against the new laws that have been passed in fwachlt. some are going after texas. this boycott situation is complicated. in fact, stacey abrams, herself in what she said before baseball's decision and after shows you this discomfort i have no doubt that voters of color, particularly black voters, are willing to endure the hardships of boycots. but i don't think that's yet. two days later, i am disappointed that the mlp is

relocating. i respect boycott, although, i don't want to see georgia families hurt. the boycott issue is a complicated one, particularly if you are a georgia public servant or you aspire to be one. >> it's complicated. but, basically what we are seeing what happened in georgia with the legislation is they are working it back and putting resin on the ball. they are cheating. they are the ones that created the current existing laws on the books. the secretary of state of georgia certified that there was no cheating, that this was a certified election and now because they didn't like the fact that young people, people of color, african-americans, latino, asian, came out, flexed their muscle, said they were going to have a different direction for georgia, they're changing the rules. that's just not right. the fact that major league baseball and these corporations coming out, talking about having access to the voting booth. this is the fundamental issue our country is facing right now. it's democracy, with a little d.

not the big d. unless we get this right, access to the voting booth, more corporations have to come out. that's what we saw the result of the insurrection of january 6th when individuals wanting to say a certified, fair election was not correct. >> you know, amy, it was interesting to watch governor brian kemp yesterday. he seemed he was relieved not having to deal with donald trump anymore and bracing this aspect that he can court his base again. at the same time, you know, it does feel georgia is in a good state. do you think these boycotts will have an effect? >> i don't know that they will. i think what they do the reenforce the sense as you pointed out, chuck, that there are two georgias as there are in so many of these states, where you have the economic engines of those states, which are becoming bluer and bluer, including the suburbs around those major areas and more rural and small town

that are becoming more republican. and the other issue, i think, that is really important to appreciate is that voters also are seeing this really through the lens of politics, that they believe and i've said in a couple focus groups and i heard from conservative leaning voters, sort of the mild of the road to liberal swing voters is they all think this is being done by both parties in order to win. one voter said everybody just wants to win. they will do what they do and change these laws, for politics, not for the issue that maria teresa brought up, it's. >> it becomes a means mindset. elly granderson n. l.a. times connected what's happening in georgia to the chauvin trial. he said the chauvin case is less about the soul of america and the goal of america. who and what are we trying to

be. and are we sincerely ready to do the work to get there? you know what i like my tax cuts, but can't support them here. i know just on myself and a lot of folks has been seeing up close and personal the trauma that eyewitnesses have in these events. i say to myself times that by 5,000 of events that we don't watch as closely as we are watching this one. >> well, the chauvin trial and that murder trial in the death of george floyd is connected to voting rights. because at the end of the day, it's about how african-americans and whether african-americans are allowed to thrive and survive in america and are able to having a says to the principles that america holds up as near and dear. that is democracy. it is also your ability to pursue happiness and to not have an officer kneeling on your next for 9 minutes, 29 seconds,

watching this trial in georgia, they absolutely connect. >> you know, rich, republicans, are they risking something here by appearing to go too far? >> i think the attack on this georgia bill is an aoutrageous smear, chuck. it actually increases early voting hours. it tries to deal with the problem with long lines. the key security measure is you got to sign your driver's license number on the absentee ballot envelope. . >> this week, we are streaming, every thursday, we take a deep dive into one issue. it focuses on the rise of domestic extremism. you can check episodes, season one, today at 2:00 p.m. watch the season 2 premier and on demand on peacock. we'll be back next week. because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." , it's "meet the press. it's "meet the press."

♪♪ we will not be intimidated. and we will also not be silenced. major league baseball, coca-cola and delta may be scared of stacey abrams, joe biden and the left, but i am not. and we are not. georgia governor brian kemp hits back after major league baseball decides to move this summer's all-star game out of atlanta over the backlash over the state necessary new voting law. the question is how does