i would probably take his word before i took the word of what the article said. but in the process, as the conductor will tell you, amtrak became my family. i literally, literally, every single day that i was in the united states senate got either the 728, became the 732 and/or got home on, if i got lucky, i got the metro that left -- the last one left at 6:00 or i got the 730 coming home. and you get to know everybody. you get to know the folks. and i used to have a christmas party for amtrak employees at my home. and it got so big, we ended up having a summer party, because family and retirees kept coming back. i want to tell you, they work like the devil. they really, really, really do. and amtrak wasn't just this way getting home. it provided me and i'm not

joking, an entire other family. a community dedicated that was a professional and that we shared milestones in my life. and i've been allowed to share milestones in theirs. i've been to an awful lot of weddings and christenings and unfortunately, some burials, as well. we're family. you know, i remember one night, my daughter was only six years old and it was my birthday. and we were voting. and i went to bob dole and i said, bob, when's the next vote going to take place and he said, joe, why? and i said, my daughter is really upset i'm not going to be able to be home for the birthday cake she made for me. he said, what do you need? i said, i need to catch the train. got off the train, my wife, jill was standing there. my daughter had the cake, had

the candle lit, blew them out, gave them a kiss and walked across got on the southbound. i've been riding on amtrak as long as there's been an amtrak. it doesn't just carry us from one place to another, it opens up enormous possibilities. and especially now, it makes it possible to build an economy of the future. lewis week, i announced the target of cutting greenhouse gas ecommissions in half by 2030. and most of those emissions in this country come from transportation. but if just 10% of the freight shipped and the largest trucks went by rail instead, we would be removing 3,300,000 cars from the road and be planting 260 million trees in america. as i've said from the beginning, when i think about fighting climate change, i think about jobs and rail and hopefully the expansion of rail provides good union jobs, good-paying jobs.

it also connects people to jobs and an economic opportunities that can be reached from wherever you live. let's put this in perspective. for years, i fought efforts to cut funding for amtrak, because cutting funding for amtrak would be a disaster for our environment and our economy. amtrak carries four times as many riders between washington and new york city as every single airline does within 50 miles of the shore, from florida all the way up the coast. imagine what we would have to do a single day with the northeast corridor, for example, without amtrak and the northeast corridor would cost the economy $100 million. if you shut down all passenger service on amtrak's northeast corridor, the projects that compensate for the loss, you would have to add seven new lanes of highway on i-95.

and consider that cost. average of $30 million for a linear mile on i-95. this is a bargain. it's economical and it's environmentally a lifesaver. that's why in my rescue plan, american rescue plan, we've worked hard to keep amtrak running. at the height of the pandemic, because we weren't traveling amtrak furloughed 1,200 employees. and we were able to provide emergency relief to keep rail service running, and we've now brought back 1,200 union workers who have been furloughed. and by the way, you get a union wage. not 15 bucks an hour. a prevailing wage. but we have to do more than just build back. we have to build back better. and today, we have a once in a generation opportunity to position amtrak and rail and inner city rail as well in general to play a central role in our transformation and

transportation of the economic future. to make investments that can help america get back on track, no pun intended. before the pandemic hit, amtrak's ridership and revenues were on the upswing. the northeast corridor has been making money for a long while now. but last year, the whole of amtrak's system was projected to break even for the first time in history. but then, we had the pandemic. but there is still a huge backlog in deferred maintenance. a huge need to modernize our trains, our stations, our bridges, our tunnels. but we're talking about critical jobs, like the hudson river tunnel, the baltimore, potomac tunnels and the susquehanna river bridge. in my american jobs plan, i propose spending $10 billion a year on passenger rail and freight rail. of this, two-thirds would support existing amtrak rule ruths, including the northeast corridor, but nationwide. and we're talking about union jobs and taking care of the

riders, laying track, wiring switches, fixing bridges, tunnels, modernizing stations and repairing and revitalizing this vital structure. this would allow for the potential to expand passenger rail service. imagine a two-hour train ride between atlanta and charlotte going at speeds of 220 miles per hour. an two and a half hour between chicago and detroit, or faster and more regular trips between los angeles and las vegas, a route that i could imagine could be pretty popular on fridays. bill, as you said, your vision for amtrak calls for a new inner city rail service, up to 160 previously unserved communities being connected. think of what it will mean for opportunity if we can connect milwaukee to green bay to madison. scranton and allentown to new york, indianapolis to louisville, and much, much more. its will provide jobs and also will accommodate jobs.

and what this means is towns and cities in danger of being left behind will be back in the game. it means families won't have to sacrifice the cost of living or quality of access to opportunity that sometimes only occurs if they live in a big city. we have a huge opportunity here to provide fast, safe, reliable clean transportation in this country. and transit is part of the infrastructure. and like the rest of our infrastructure, we're way behind the rest of the world right now. we need to remember, we're in competition with the rest of the world. people come here and set up businesses. people stay here, people grow because of the ability to access, access transportation. access all of the infrastructure. it's what allows us to compete. and with the rest of the world, to win the 21st century, we've got to move. china already has 23,000 miles of high-speed rail, 220 miles

per hour. two-thirds of all the high-speed rail in the world. 220 miles an hour. and the way -- and they're working on transit on trains that can go as high as 400 miles an hour. we're behind the curve. but folks, as i said the other night, america's on the move again. we need to remember that we're in the united states of america. there's nothing beyond our capacity. nothing we can't do if we do it together. and we celebrate amtrak's birthday. i was thinking about amtrak's role, as i said, on my birthday, when they allowed me to come home and blow out that candle. there's a lot of things that amtrak does. and you know, the fact of the matter is, if we were able to, which is now beyond the ability to pay for it, but if we were able to straighten out three curves from washington to new york, you could make it from washington to new york in an hour and 32 minutes.

an hour and 32 minutes. folks, there's so much we can do. and it has such an incredibly positive impact on the environment. incredibly positive impact on work. impact on opportunities. and again, all the things we have to do to put amtrak in place and be one of the great, great contributors to our country is we have to invest. and so, you know, if you think about it, when we were -- when i was vice president with barack, he allowed me to put together a budget for amtrak. and it had money for high-speed rail at 200 miles an hour from charlotte and another line going from -- in florida down to tampa. another line -- if we had moved, we would have had that tunnel

fixed in new york now. the money was there to get it done. there's so much we can do. and it's the biggest bang for the buck we can expend. so on this momentous birthday of amtrak, i want to thank you for making so many birthdays possible. i believe that the best days for amtrak and for rail and for america are ahead. i really believe that. and i'm just confident, i'm confident we can get this done. and i must tell you, i'm anxious to see the new train. thank you all so very much. god bless america and may god protect our troops. thank you, thank you, thank you. [ applause ] good afternoon, everyone. i'm ayman mohyeldin in new york. we just spa president biden there speaking at philadelphia's 30th street station with his amtrak family, as he makes another pitch for his infrastructure plan and marks the national passenger railway's 50th anniversary, saying there is so much we can do, if we

invest in amtrak and rail in this country. biden famously spent 36 years commuting by train between delaware and washington when he served in the senate. and breaking news also this hour. in the last 30 minutes, the united states announced that flights between the u.s. and india will stop on tuesday, may 4th, as india continues to set daily world records for coronavirus infections. however, the policy will not apply to american citizens, lawful permanent residents, or other exempted individuals, though they must still operate under international quarantine restrictions. this as the u.s. reaches a crucial point in its vaccination efforts. the biden administration announced today that 100 million americans, that is about 40% of all adults in this country, have now been fully vaccinated. just 137 days after the first vaccine dose was administered. joining us now to start off this coverage for the hour, mike memoli, nbc news correspondent. he is with the president there in philadelphia.

and we'll get to garrett haake, hopefully, in just a minute. but let me start with mike. mike, you know, this was a pretty important speech for the president on a personal level because of, you know, his attachment to amtrak. the role that he played. he told some anecdotes about the time he spent going back and forth between delaware and oversleeping and missing his station. but tell us what the scene is like there and who he has been visiting with. >> yeah, ayman, i'm sure it was evident who those who were watching that along with us, but i don't think president biden has enjoyed himself more in these first 100 days as president as he has today. perhaps even more than inauguration day, considering the task of what was ahead of him. but clearly, joe biden's political identity has been shaped by amtrak. as you mentioned, it's celebrating 50 years now. 50 years ago, joe biden was first collected to public office. and of course, he took those 8,000 by his own estimation trips between washington and

wilmington as a senator and some as vice president to be home with his children, especially in those early days. this is more than a nostalgia tour. it's getting america back on track. the president here today to sell his american jobs plan, which includes $80 billion for the passenger rail in this country. he has called it the second great rail road revolution he's trying to spur. and he's not the only administration official on the road. and not the only one on a train station. pete buttigieg, the secretary of transportation there today. you'll notice all of these officials in key political states as well, as they try to put up, ramp the pressure up on lawmakers, especially republicans to support this major challenge. >> and he made the case, what this means for the economy as well as the environment. mike, you know you've been talking with some of president biden's closest advisers about the inspiration behind his first

100 days in office. what has been the theme? what did you find out? >> reporter: it's been interesting, as i've been talking to biden advisers, not in the past few days, but over the past year. there are a number of democrats he's considered political icons. never heard him talk as much about franklin roosevelt as he has in the past year. and there's a good reason for that. it was as they were planning his first 100 days, they looked to that example of fdr's. fdr's the first president to make 100 days a real measuring stick for new presidents. the thing that president biden himself took away from his study of his now predecessor was not just the idea of action and action now, as roosevelt put it. doing as much as they could quickly to try to restore confidence in this country, it was about trying to really save democracy. fdr, when he took office, biden said he was really surprised as he read about him the degree to which people were calling for him to become something of a

dictator, a benevolent dictator, sure. mike donlin, a longtime biden adviser of the top senior counselor at the white house, he told me, of course he wanted to learn from another president who faced similar moments of crises, but as he put it, biden has put his own stamp on these first 100 days as well. >> mike memoli live for us in philadelphia this afternoon as well. thank you, as always, my friend. a source now confirms to nbc news that in late 2019, the fbi warned rudy giuliani that he was the target of a russian influence operation, aiming to circulate falsehooding dhanlgd then-candidate biden in the 2020 election. the story was first reported by "the washington post." giuliani's lawyer, robert costello, tells nbc news, quote, the story is totally false according to mayor giuliani. the event described never happened. the report coming just days after the fbi raided mr. giuliani's apartment and office and seized electronic devices as part of an increasing his ukraine dealings.

giuliani spoke out about the investigations last night. >> in the middle of the impeachment defense, they invaded, without telling me, my icloud. they took documents that are privileged and they unilaterally decided what they could read and not read. so the prosecutors, the justice department, spied on me. >> joining me now, nbc news correspondent julia ainsley and robert kurtsman, and also the author of the book, "rudy giuliani: emperor of the city." julia, tell us more about this reporting and what we know about a russian agent that giuliani met with. >> that russian agent's name was andre dearcopf.

and they gave giuliani a briefing explaining that dearcopf was actually a russian agent, had very active ties and could be feeding misinformation directly from russia to giuliani with the intent of trying to influence american politics. the american presidential campaign. this is a very similar briefing. they call them defensive briefings that they gave to members of congress. senator ron johnson, a republican has said publicly that he received a similar briefing. the difference is, giuliani went back and met with dearkoppf after that briefing in ukraine. we all publicly would have found out about dearkoppf in september of last year when he was sanctioned by the u.s. treasury. according to my reporting now and my colleague was first to report this here at nbc, he says that it was actually giuliani who would have received this information and basically ignored it and continued this relationship. >> andrew, giuliani's son, also

by the name of andrew, was asked if his father would turn on former president trump to protect himself. let me play for you that sound bite. >> no. i mean, he has -- i don't really know how to respond to this, because it's a theoretical. you know, my father represented the president in good faith and i don't, you know, this is all theoretical, if there was something illegal that happened. there's nothing illegal that happened. >> what's going on inside rudy's world right now, you think? and what's the relationship with trump like? do you think that there is any kind of communication between or a relationship between the two men? >> well, i think that andrew giuliani is trying to deflect the whole issue on hunter biden, something that i don't think is going to work, perhaps with the exception of his base. you know, giuliani and trump have been incredibly tight.

giuliani is arguably responsible for both impeachments against trump. there's just a level of trust and camaraderie. they're both, they both traffic in kind of conspiracy talk. they're on the same wavelength. with that said, let's just stipulate that nobody ever wants to go to jail and if giuliani was put to that test, who knows what will happen. but, you know, it's hard to see giuliani kind of turning on trump, just because he thinks he's right. giuliani always thinks he's right. as his biographer, it's one of the themes that runs through his career. it's been a long time since giuliani has said, i did something wrong. >> and the president also thinks along those same lines.

>> very similar. >> what impact does this report and the briefing described have on any potential criminal case against giuliani? >> well, it depends on what charges they file, eamon. if they just decide to charge giuliani with not registering as a foreign agent, they really don't need the fact that he had this defensive briefing at all. they can just show that he was paid by foreign government to carry out their interest in the united states without disclosing that and registering as a foreign agent. but if they are going to show that there was some sort of larger experience by russian--based oligarchs to influence the american election and giuliani and his meeting was part of this, then it does matter, because it showed he had the information and went ahead and kept meeting anyway. he cannot claim ignorance. he cannot just claim he wanted good information and was acting in the best faith of the president when this person he

was meeting on was actually an active russian agent. it depends on which trail they're going down. but the fact that he was briefed by counterintelligence officials at the fbi and this wasn't part of the criminal division, it could actually end up being two separate matters. >> andrew, one of the more remarkable things in this case is how far giuliani has come from his prom nen innocence as the u.s. attorney. you tweeted out a story about how giuliani once refused to accept a picture frame gift when he served. tell us about that story and how far has giuliani came to get investigated by the very office that brought him to national prominence. >> i wrote about this in my book. an old friend from the neighborhood, in brooklyn, when giuliani was growing up visited them when he was district attorney and brought a nice photograph and put a frame around it and he took the photograph off, and returned the

frame and said, sorry, i can't accept gifts. he was known as scrupulously ethical. he was famous for being incorruptible. and to see him kind of in this situation now where he -- a situation where he could be indicted by the same office that he ran is just -- it's almost surreal. and this whole episode has almost a comic quality to it. the fact that giuliani thought that he could, you know, hunt for dirt on, you know, a presidential candidate's son, you know, have a u.s. ambassador fired, interfere with the inner workings of the foreign government, you know, and not see a red flag? it's just an extraordinary thing. and you know, he brought this upon himself. >> extraordinary allegations, indeed. andrew kirtzman, julia ainsley,

thank you. and switching gears, a new restrictive voting bill is headed to governor ron desantis' desk. like similar bills across the country, the florida measure sets new limits on the use of drop boxes and mail-in ballots, but notably absent from the bill are certain measures that republicans initially favored, including including i.d.s for drop boxes, banning drop boxes altogether, or imposing strict signature requirements for mail ballots. joining me now, a miami-based democratic pollster, fernand with, great to have you here. i know that governor desantis is expected to sign the bill. how will it affect voting in florida? >> well, eamon, quite simply, it's going to make voting that much more difficult. strangely ironic considering the november 2020 election saw record florida turnout in what all analysts regarded as a glitch-free election. i think what we're seeing here

again is efforts to turn florida into a maga stand. the drift that they have taken away from the american democracy by doubling down on these anti-voting measures, very close to what we're seeing in our neighbor states north of georgia is what's in play. this was the governor's number one priority. they have got it enacted as part of a broader effort where they control the legislature to make voting that much more difficult for the residents and voters in that state. >> do you think that it will -- aside from its potential affect on voters, do you think that this bill will make it harder for democrats to win statewide races? could that affect people who actually want to run? >> that's precisely why they are being done. we know that there was a disproportionate use of the vote by mail, the early voting process, that's been an historical trend in florida. so it's no surprise that the efforts by the bill in florida

as well as by georgia was to make that much more difficult. and again, i feel like now, we're seeing the republicans through legislation acknowledge that democracy is not something that they can abide by, because the more voters that vote, the more difficult it is for them to win. so pardon the pun, they're really rigging the system in realtime to try to make it as convenient and beneficial for them as possible. and unfortunately, in every state where you see these republican-controlled legislatures or republican governors, with very few exceptions, this is the trend that has exponentially grown throughout the country. >> to your point, according to "the new york times" in 2020, over 2 million democrats cast mail ballot in florida and republicans cast roughly 1.4 million by mail. republicans used to rely on and still do absentee ballots, especially for senior voters. what happens to that voting

block? >> anytime you make it more difficult, you'll have an impact on all sectors of the electorate. but what begs the question is why. why are they doing this? if this was in response to a question of fraud or logisticsical problems around the last election, would could argue, there's a good faith argument for implementing these re restrictions on voter behavior. but the fact of the matter is, it was a perfect, almost flawless election with record turnout. so it begs the question, why are they doing this? ways the purpose behind it? and sadly, i think it's an obvious one. the abandonment of american democracy by the second base of the political party in the united states, beyond disturbing, that's why i think you're also seeing a lot of folks ask for federal action in the congressional bill and the house bill to try to protect voting rights. >> fernando mondi, thank you.

now to craig melvin's exclusive interview, including the rough transition for the rescue dog, major, and the latest furry addition to the family. >> there's a question that millions of americans have been wondering for a number of weeks now. major. the first dog. >> we were going to bring him in to see you. >> well, i don't know if that's the best idea based on what i've heard about major. is he back in the white house? >> he's back. yeah, he is such a sweet, lovable dog. >> about the biting -- >> he really is? >> is he? >> he is. i'll take you to meet him. he's probably outside now. >> and then there are these rumors that the first family was considering adopting a cat. >> yes, that is true. >> can you confirm that? >> he's waiting -- she -- she is waiting in the wings. >> was this your idea, mr.

president? >> no. >> let me get this straight, major biden, who's clearly had some trouble adjusting to life at the white house, now he's going to be forced to contend with a cat as well. >> that was part of his training. they took him into a shelter with cats -- >> the secret service. >> yeah. and he did fine. coming up, breaking news from the pentagon. we'll take you live there. you're watching msnbc. you're watching msnbc. now, there's skyrizi. ♪ things are getting clearer. ♪ ♪ i feel free to bare my skin yeah, that's all me. ♪ ♪ nothing and me go hand in hand nothing on my skin, ♪ ♪ that's my new plan. ♪ ♪ nothing is everything. ♪ achieve clearer skin with skyrizi. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. of those, nearly 9 out of 10 sustained it through 1 year. and skyrizi is 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. ♪ i see nothing in a different way it's my moment ♪ ♪ so i just gotta say... ♪ ♪ nothing is everything. ♪

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breaking news. a little over a year half soldier vanessa guillen's disappearance and murder in ft. hood, texas, more reprimands were just announced in connection with her death. guillen's family championed her case, relentlessly demanding accountability from the army and sparking a collective outrage that put women in the military front and center. nbc news pentagon correspondent courney kube has the very latest on this. hey, courtney. >> reporter: we've learned a couple of new things about this case today, eamon. one of the main headlines here is that they are saying that they now believe that vanessa guillen was sexually harassed by one of her supervisors, by one of her supervisors at ft. hood. they detail one specific incident in late summer in 2019, when one of her supervisors made an inappropriate sexual comment to her. she told several of her fellow soldiers about it at the time.

they reported it to unit leadership, and critically, no one did anything about it. that is one of the headlines that came out of this 156 army investigation report that was released today. the report also and the investigators also found that in addition to the sexual harassment, she was also mistreated by this supervisor. he singled her out. we don't know who this individual is, too, eamon, i should point out that. the army is not releasing the individual's name, but they are saying that the investigating officer found that whomever this supervisor was who was mistreating and harassing vanessa guillen, the person was never held to account for these actions. one other things we learned today, is specialist aaron robinson, who is the individual who is believed to have killed vanessa guillen, he was not sexually harassing her, but in fact, the army found he was harassing another soldier, eamon. >> courtney, do we know why they have not made the name of that

supervisor public? what's the reason by the military for not making that person public or holding him accountable? >> we believe the individual has been disciplined. there are now 21 soldiers associated with the vanessa guillen disappearance and murder who have been disciplined in some way. the army is saying that the reasons that they won't tell us who this person is, we're assuming it's a man, but that they will not tell us who he is is because he's so -- he's junior in rank. so they generally don't release information about individuals if they're below a certain rank. that being said, we have no idea what kind of discipline this person is now facing because of this role. it's also important to point out, eamon, that they're saying that despite this mistreatment and sexual harassment, they do not believe that had anything to do with vanessa guillen's disappearance and murder. so while we have some answers, there are still major questions out there about this. why was she murdered that day? and what was the motive behind

it? that remains under investigation. we still don't have that answer. >> courtney kube live for us at the pentagon. courtney, thank you, as always. now to more breaking news. moments ago, vice president kamala harris talked at the cincinnati airport about the u.s. decision to restrict travel to india as the country deals with a major coronavirus outbreak. watch. >> we have announced that there's going to be a travel restriction starting on tuesday on the advice of the centers for disease control, our covid-19 experts, medical experts, our national security advisers. it is important to note, as i said earlier that we have a responsibility as the united states in particular as it relates to the people we have partnered with over the years to step up when people are in a time of need. and as it relates to the people of india, we have long-standing decades-old relationship with india, with indian people. in particular around public

health issues. tonight, in fact, we're going to be sending a plane with supplies that will include oxygen with an expectation that that will provide some level of relief. >> that was the u.s. vice president kamala harris talking about the suspension of flights from india to the starting may 4th. and as the u.s. starts to recover from the devastating effects of the cyrus, what impact could immigration have on a recovering economy? ali velshi joins us next with a look at that. but first, we are heading back to pennsylvania, deep into trump country to hear how voters there are grading president biden on his first 100 days. you're watching msnbc. ching msn. m yum yum ♪ ♪ yum yum yum yum yum yum ♪ ♪ yum yum yum yum yuuum yum yum yum yum yum yum yuuum ♪ ♪ yum ♪ ♪ yum yum (clap, clap) yum yum (clap) yum yum ♪

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instead, start small. with nicorette. which can lead to something big. start stopping with nicorette as we just showed you moments ago, president biden spoke in philadelphia to push his infrastructure plan as he marks 100 days in office this week. pennsylvania, of course, was key to the president's election victory, and as part of nbc news's county-to-county project,

dasha burns went to beaver county to see how voters there view his job so far. dasha joins us now live. dasha, what are you hearing? >> reporter: hey, eamon. where i'm standing right now is very different politically than where president biden is at the moment. this is an area that represents a major challenge for democrats. it was once a democratic stronghold. used to be home to the steel industry, but as the steel mills moved out, republican politics moved in and donald trump swept this county by double digits in both 2016 and 2020. and soy asked voters here for a report card for president biden for his first 100 days. and here in beaver county, his average grade is about a c minus/d plus. not surprising who people who did not vote for this president aren't thrilled with his performance. but eamon, as i've been talking to voters here for the past year, the number one issue that constantly comes up as a top priority is the economy. it's an area that's seen a lot of struggle and people say the economy is why they voted for a businessman for president and

it's why they are concerned about this white house. a lot of big "c" and small "c" conservatives here who are asking, how is this white house going to pay for all of these big, expensive proposals? take a listen to some of what we heard. >> well, it's kind of like, so far, so good. yeah, the economy is going crazy, which is wonderful for investors. how long that's going to last, who knows? >> a lot of these federal programs are going to require a lot of money, so i'm just concerned with in the next couple of years where that's coming from, will the taxes be increased, especially on businesses and as a small business owner, that could be like a make-or-break for me. >> as a new college graduate who's getting married soon and wanting to start a family, knowing that this debt that's continuously expanding is going to be my responsibility and my kids' responsibility to pay off.

>> reporter: eamon, back to you. >> all right, dasha burns, it's kind of ironic to hear them talk about the uncertainty of the jobs there, with the jobless claim now being at record lows. dasha burns, thank you. and the 2020 census may have provided the biden administration with a powerful argument in its push to fix the nation's broken immigration system. census data released earlier this week shows that over the past decade, the u.s. population grew at its lowest level since the 1930s because of a falling birthrate and a significant decrease in legal immigration. and if the current trend continues, it could have a serious impact on the u.s. economy. joining us now to take a closer look at this, msnbc anchor ali velshi, host of "velshi," which airs saturday and sunday mornings right here. ali, good to have you with us. so why would the u.s. need to let in more people in order to keep the economy growing? >> so when you think about growth, economic growth, it's a

function of how many people you have and how productive those people are. and as you just pointed out in the united states, we've got a negative replacement rate. here's why it is. we've had a declining fertility rate in the united states. that is typical of modern countries, right? as people work more, you have fewer children, you don't have children to sort of help out on the farm and things like that, and if you look at the u.s. birthrate since 1960, you can see, it continues to drop. how do you make up for this? you make fuper it with immigrants. the congressional budget office has said, despite the fact we're creating more jobs right now, by 2024, we're going to get back to where we were before the pandemic. about 3.5, 3.6% unemployment. economically speaking, that's full employment. that means you don't have enough people to do the work that's available. we have this weird narrative in america that immigration is bad and it takes wages down, but it actually doesn't. we need more immigrants. that's the problem that we've got.

we've wrecked our reputation immigration wise over the last four years and we'll need to turn that around, because the key to becoming a more productive society over time is to have enough population. we're not giving birth to enough people, so we'll need those people as immigrants. >> so it begs the question then about the role of the government in this. what does the government need to do in order to make this happen? >> well, in fact, this is one of those things that government does better than anyone else. company these the people, but government has to decide on how to do it. there's something called the citizenship act of 2021, and it proposes a few things, including equalizing the waiting times for applicants, regardless of what country they come from, establishing a pilot visa program to allow localities to request workers. so if you're in a locality or a state that needs workers, which is a major problem for us here in america, it doesn't have to be federal policy. it's also going to provide employment authorization to spouses and families of people with h-1b visas. if you think about silicon valley and all of those people with bring in as engineers,

those are h-1b visas. if you come in on those visas, your families can't work. so a lot of people would choose to go to a country where they can get a job and their family can come in, like canada, for instance. so america has to change a few things to make it more attractive to visitors. america is still the biggest destination for people who want to immigrant. look at that. this is a gallup poll and says over the next few years, 21% of people who want to leave where they are still choose the united states. everything else is a very, very distant second, third, fourth, fifth. good news is people still want to come to america, we've just got to make it a little more palatable for them to do so. >> very fascinating conversation. ali velshi, good to see you, my friend. be sure to catch "velshi." this sunday he'll be joined by heather bucher. a legal battle is brewing in austin, texas, after redistricting after state gained two congressional seats thanks to the 2020 consensus. we'll explain that after the break. and he was the first congressman

to take paternity leave when his son was born two years ago. how optimistic is he that president biden's plan for paid family leave will get the bipartisan support it needs? congressman collin allred joins me next. you're watching msnbc. collin al me next. you're watching msnbc. was that your grandfather, paving the way for change. did they brave mother nature... and walk away stronger? did they face the unknown, with resolve...and triumph. ♪♪ there's strength in every family story. learn more about yours. at ancestry. are you managing your diabetes... there's strength ...using fingersticks? with the new freestyle libre 2 system, a continuous glucose monitor, you can check your glucose with a painless, one-second scan. and now with optional alarms, you can choose to be notified if you go too high or too low. and for those who qualify, the freestyle libre 2 system is now covered by medicare.

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the governor is republican. the state redistricting board is republican. so it's the gop who's going to roadway draw those lines for what will now be two more congressional seats and republicans only need five nationally to win control of the house. i talked to folks on both sides what they're looking for. take a listen. >> well, i think it's going to be a big fight. texas, unfortunately, shamefully, has a history of passing racially discriminatory maps. gerrymandered maps on a racial basis that have disenfranchised african-american, hispanic, and asian american communities in texas. that's federal courts that have said that repeatedly over the past decade. >> what they're doing is the racial divisiveness and the identity politics when they're losing elections, losing population from blue states and they're coming here to texas because people want better opportunities. >> who are the folks who are coming here? there's been a population explosion. 4 million people in a decade. 2 million of them hispanic. another 600,000 plus are black.

exactly the voters who ten years ago when the republicans redrew the maps, federal judges said were targeted deliberately to be disenfranchised from the voting process. democrats say that's what weir going to be fighting against. republicans say what they're civil righting for is election integrity. so what happens? this legislative session ends in about a month, so there's going to have to be a special session probably called by governor abbott. the republicans are going to have control of redrawing those lines. the critical redistricting, and then the democrats will take it to court. it's going to be big. something that's going to continue to be seen and probably won't be decided until the fall. so you know what that means? that means it's going to blow up the primary process, potentially. that's going to get pushed back, eamon. >> absolutely incredible. chris jansing live for us in austin, texas, with a very important development there. thanks, chris. joining me now is democratic texas congressman, collin allred. great to have you with us on your perspective on this.

you flipped a republican district back in 2018. as you just saw there, state officials led by the gop will be in charge of redrawing the congressional district map. are you and your colleagues concerned about what the future may hold for districts like yours? >> first of all, let's just say that voters should choose the representatives, not the other way around. we shouldn't have politicians picking their voters. i was a voting rights lawyer before i came to congress. i've been an opponent of partisan gerrymandering of both parties my entire career. and i think that we should not have this kind of a conversation, where you're asking me whether or not one party is going to use racially discriminatory mechanisms and all the technology they can get their hands on to try to carve up the state in a way that they can have more power. that shouldn't be the way it is. that's why we need to pass hr-1, which would get part of partisan gerrymandering and have them

draw maps that are consistent with communities and have those communities reflected in their members of congress. >> what do you think the criteria should be when drawing a district? >> well, there's a lot of criteria that should go into it. but you have to keep communities contiguous. just a couple of streets over from where i live here in east dallas is a totally different congressional district, because they tried to carve up dallas. the district i represent is a gerrymandered district. the state has been gerrymandered and as i mentioned in the previous segment, we have not had a single map since the voting rights act has passed that has been pre-cleared, because every time we had our legislature, whether it was democrats drawing or in recent decades, republicans, it has always been discriminatory. so we have to keep communities together. this should be reflective of the overall vote share of that state. in this state in 2020, joe biden got 47% of the vote in the last presidential election. so we should see a fairly even split in the congressional delegation. but of course, that won't happen if republicans have their way. >> let me switch gears for a

moment if i can, sir. during president biden's joint address to congress, he highlighted his goal of guaranteeing paid family and medical leave. as i mentioned, you were the first member of congress to take paternity leave when your first son was born back in 2019. and it's quite remarkable. the u.s. is one of a few countries without national paid leave. what do you want to see president biden's plan and are any republicans going to get onboard, you think? >> i certainly hope so. we're only major country in the world who doesn't have paid family leave. this is an idea whose time was come. i didn't know that i was the first member of congress to ever take paternity leave back in 2015. i'm actually still on my paternity leave right now, as we speak. we have still not been a month with our second child. but every american should have the chance to do what i've done and spend some time with their newborn or maybe what their family member if they get sick or ill. this happens to 100% of us. we will all have something

happen in our life in which we will need to take some time off from work. and when companies have this policy in place, they have better employees who are more productive, who are more likely to stay with that company. and it really has huge impacts for the family itself, when -- especially when men take leave. when they have access to paternity leave. it has huge impacts on the child, reductions in family violence and divorce, it's better for the woman in the workforce. there are so many benefits that accrue from having paid family leave. and it's something that i hope we can get done. >> we have about 30 seconds left, but i know you were in the aisle the other night at the house chamber for the president's address to the joint session of congress. did you get a chance to talk to the president? what were your conversations like? >> i did. and you know, it's funny, every time i speak with president biden, we talk about my sons. i think he's somebody who cares deeply about family. he had just written me a letter, congratulating us on the birth of our second son. and i thanked him for that and we were talking about that. and he was, of course, also

joking that he wished he had been as good at football as i was. and i don't know about his football career, but i know that i certainly appreciate his focus on families. and he always remembers, you know, my kids and that's something that i will certainly always cherish about him. >> congressman, congratulations to you and thank you for sharing some of your paternity leave with us today. we certainly appreciate your time. best of luck to you and your family. >> thank you so much, eamon. >> i'll see you back here monday at 3:00 p.m. eastern. "deadline white house" with nicolle wallace starts right after this quick break. h nicolle wallace starts right after this quick break but my symptoms were keeping me from where i needed to be. ♪♪ so i talked to my doctor and learned humira is for people who have uc... ...or crohn's disease. and humira helps people achieve remission that can last, so you can experience few or no symptoms.

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hi, there. everyone. it's 4:00 in the east. here's the most important thing to know about the swirl of breaking news in that criminal investigation into rudy giuliani. the former mayor of new york, whose brand in trump world is inextricably linked to a perverse strain of selective patriotism and is quickly fading post-9/11 glory was informed by the very law enforcement agency that helped make his entire career, the fbi, that he was aiding and abetting a russian disinformation campaign, an attack on the u.s. election. and what did rudy, america's mayor, do? he wittingly proceeded to amplify russian disinformation in defiance of that fbi warning that it was an russian attack on our democracy. "washington post" breaking that bombshell with this reporting. quote, the fbi warned rudolph w.