if it's monday, a presidential response to a crippling cyberattack with president biden set to speak a couple minutes from now and expected to touch on the russian criminal attack that shut down a big u.s. pipeline with big national security implications. he will hit on the economy, with the white house facing lingering questions about the most recent

disappointing jobs report in the midst of its push for trillions of dollars in new federal programs. the house's top republican throwing his support behind list cheney's challenger for a job that's technically not even open yet. republicans gear up for a vote to give the boot to liz cheney. what it means for the party, for president biden's agenda and for our democracy. welcome to monday. we are coming on the air with new developments in the white house's response to the cyberattack on a fuel pipeline which is still shut down. we have the fbi releasing a statement attributing it to a russian criminal group. confirming nbc's reporting that group, dark side, might be responsible. the pipeline carries about 45%

of the east coast's fuel supply, gas, diesel. we expect to hear from president biden on camera about this when he speaks from the white house in just about 15 minutes or so. we will take you there live. you have white house press secretary jen psaki and two top security officials have wrapped up briefing reporters on the response to the attack. >> in this case, the ransomware is a known variant. the fbi investigated many cases of this in the past. the first and most important thing is to ensure that systems are patched and that cybersecurity is maintained at the level needed in a given network. we want to see ransomware not be successful. that begins with greater resilience, particularly in critical infrastructure networks. >> one of the concerns is, what does this mean for gas prices? those haven't been affected yet. that might change the longer the pipeline stays shut down. you have commerce secretary

warning we should be ready for more attacks like this in the future. >> unfortunately, these sorts of attacks are becoming more frequent. they are here to stay. we have to work in partnership with business to secure networks to defend ourselves against these attacks. >> the white house is grappling with this cyberattack as it looks ahead to a busy week here in washington. a week in which republicans are poised to purge liz cheney from her leadership position and a week in which president biden is set to reach out to republicans to try to generate some bipartisan support for his multi-trillion dollar agenda. let's get to it. i'm joined by ken dilanian, leading our coverage on this attack. i'm joined by mike memoli and by kiersten todd. she served on president obama's national cybersecurity commission. ken, let me start with you. you have been on the forefront of our reporting.

we heard from the white house during the briefing, no response to the question of whether this company -- whether colonial paid the ransom. >> that person speaking was the former national security agency official who is heading up the white house cyber response. she was alluding to what is the crux of the problem in this case. this was not a sophisticated attack by a foreign intelligence service, china or russia. this was a criminal gang using basic ransomware from everything we can tell, the kind that has become too common. in this case, it's capturing the imagination, because this was critical infrastructure. it may lead to a spike in gas prices. it may lead to service interruptions. it's a wake-up call. 85% of american infrastructure is in private hands. the government has very little visibility on whether these

private corporations have good cybersecurity or bad cybersecurity. in this case, it was not enough to keep out the attackers. it's when the hackers get into the network and encrypt data and demand payment to free that data. they also seized data and threatened to leak it on the internet. it's an extortion scheme, one that most companies should be able to defend against. this one was not able to. that's why the biden administration is contemplating regulations to make companies have basic cyber hygiene. >> there's an important point you are making. you are talking about how this is appears to be a russian criminal enterprise. the white house -- what you heard from the podium is they are looking into the potential, it sounded like to me -- tell me if you read this differently. about what connections might there be to the russian government. is that something that would be typical in a situation like

this? >> yes. in a sense that many of these russian criminal groups or eastern european criminal groups freelance for russian intelligence services. that's one thing to investigate. even if there's no kremlin hand in this, it remains the case that russia grants impunity to the groups as long as they attack the english speaking west, which is what this group says they do. that's a problem. this group attacking american interests and then retreating back to russia where they are beyond the reach of the u.s. justice department. that's a national security threat that only the u.s. government can deal with. >> thank you for that and your great reporting. mike memoli, let me go to you. you have been monitoring the news, the press briefing. we will hear from president biden, if he is not running behind schedule, in just about ten minutes. we will bring it to you live. the expectation is he will talk about this. mike, this is not nothing. this is a pipeline that carries,

as we said, nearly half of the fuel supply to the east coast. it's 5,500 miles long. it winds through the states you see on the screen. this is significant. >> absolutely, hallie. think about what the conversation at the white house has been, it has been about the nation's infrastructure and the need for critical improvements of after years in which the president's argument has been we neglected it while other countries had been shoring up, expanding infrastructure capacity. this is what we would traditionally call critical infrastructure, this area of cyber warfare that is becoming the wild west in terms of an emerging battlefield for criminal actors, potentially given safe harbor by nation states with russia. as far as what we heard from the white house, you heard from the homeland security advisor. the white house has been in

touch with colonial throughout the past few days. the president has been briefed regularly. it will be interesting. the president's response is designed to piggyback on what we heard, which is that the white house is on top of this. this has been so much of the approach from this white house since replacing president trump in january. think back to what president-elect biden was saying in december when we learned first about the solarwinds hack. he blamed president trump for, as he put it, taking his eye off the ball, for allowing the nation's guard to be let down in the face of the cyber hacking that we have been seeing increasingly over time. that's one reason why the administration has been naming the first national cyber director, a newly created position focused on cyber. they want to make the point, reassure americans that they have been on top of this. while taking steps to deal with issues like gas prices. the department of transportation

relaxing some of the freight guidelines to allow more fuel to be transported on the roads, if not through pipelines. certainly, expect the president to try to reassure americans that this administration, after four years in which they feel the predecessor did not keep their eye on the ball, is firmly in control of this. >> let me pick up on this point. what is more alarming, the fact that this specific attack happened or the potential vulnerabilities in the nation's cyber infrastructure that it is exposing? >> i will answer by saying both. the issue is that as you said repeatedly, this is a critical infrastructure company that carries 45% of fuel to the east coast. it's an owner and operator. it's privately held. what it calls into question the ability for the government to weigh cybersecurity standards on the companies. we had movement in congress in 2012 to look at cybersecurity standards. congress deemed it was too onerous on the companies to have these basic cybersecurity standards.

i think we have outgrown that perception. we have absolutely got to -- we have to work with these owners and operators to know what their baseline level of cybersecurity is. the other piece is, this type of company should not have been this vulnerable to this kind of attack. ken mentioned, this is not a sophisticated attack of the precision we saw with solarwinds. we see this across the nation. the good news is the biden administration has been on ransomware from day one. the department of justice released an 81-page report that it developed in collaboration with the private sector. it highlighted this issue around countries, nation states like russia, that are providing safe havens to the criminal actor groups and the need to punish them. it talks about making sure that cryptocurrency is libel.

we saw secretary mayorkas talking on the threat of ransomware and what needs to be done. this is not a surprise. we know that we are on top of it. how this government needs to work with owners and operators of critical infrastructure is certainly the next step in securing and making sure our networks are resilient to these types of attacks so we're not having a discussion on whether or not to pay ransom. we should not be in a position where in order to keep our critical infrastructure operating we have to pay ransom. >> you heard the threat come up in the briefing room about what is the onus on the white house? what guidance should the administration be given to the private companies? the other question is what happens down pennsylvania avenue as it relates to congress, and what they should be doing. you talked about the next steps. what should that next step be? what does the administration need to do today, tomorrow, this week in order to give guidance to the private companies and make sure that something like this can't happen again?

>> the good news is the biden administration has been working proactively with industry on looking at these pieces and how to work together to be more resilient. i think this is one of the key pieces right now is you can't expect government to do this by itself. we can't ask the private companies to do this by themselves. we have to come together to identify what is the reasonable, practical, secure set of standards that we need to hold these owners and operators to have security standards by? then working with congress to potentially enact legislation, but let's start with collaboration between industry and government. we have seen industry say, we want to work with government on this in the energy sector. we need real time information sharing. there is absolutely an opportunity for collaboration. we should be encouraged by the actions by this white house to have been on top of this, to be able to create i think solid recommendations but more importantly the execution of

those recommendations to secure our networks. >> mike, senator cassidy was on "meet the press" and talked with check about this issue. i want to play for you what he had to say. >> congress has attempted to fix that. there's been problems in the past with sharing classified information with private entities. congress passed a law to fix that. it's going to take an ongoing relationship. by the way, a bipartisan relationship in which we better equip small businesses and large businesses to withstand cyberattacks. chuck, the implications for this for our national security cannot be overstated. i promise you, this is something that republicans and democrats can work together on. >> do you see that as realistic? could this be an area where there is, in your view, bipartisan cooperation? >> it has to be. the area on capitol hill which has tended to be least partisan, although there have been challenges to that over the last few years, of course, has been

in the intelligence committees. in the house and the senate side. typically, i think with mark warner as the chairman, you would see marco rubio on the republican side, this has been something they have been very focused on. mark warner of virginia for instance with a background in the tech industry would certainly like to advance this. this house is pushing as well. when president obama called this the wild west, the white house is dealing with new guidance that needs to go out to the communities themselves. a reporter pressed about this idea of, is the fbi's guidance to private companies to not pay ransom when these attacks are made on their infrastructure? they said, they recognize that increasingly, because of the nature ofdata, that they have no choice. the white house is looking at other things they could be doing, especially so much now we

saw over the weekend with elon muss, dogecoin, bitcoin, the funding mechanism by which some of these take place. the treasury department looking at ways in which they can police this on the cyber front as well. >> we had the fbi coming out and pinning the blame on this group dark side. was it unusual that in an instance like this, in a major cyberattack like this, that happened quickly in the process? >> i think it's very reassuring. one of the failures is that right now -- we talked about this earlier. individuals who impose ransomware attacks operate with impunity. we have no ability right now to indict, to prosecute and to incarcerate these individuals. we have to change that. i commend the fbi for coming out to say, here is a criminal actor group. we know that russia harbors this group. we have to come together with an international coalition to work against these nation states and to ensure that they penalize

those nation states that harbor these criminals. right now, the challenge with cybersecurity is that you can act and commit these offenses and you have no consequences. if an individual had place aid -- placed a bomb and it exploded, we would have no question how we respond. we have to work in the cyber world the same in the physical world. there's not always a one for one. in this case, there is. we have to make sure these individuals don't walk away with that anonymity and that belief they can get away with this. >> thank you very much for your expert perspective on this. mike, great reporting. we are waiting for president biden to speak on this issue as well as the economy. it was supposed to start 24 seconds ago or so. he is running behind. we will bring that to you live when it happens. coming up, we have this deep dive into frankly a bit of an uncertain future for the gop as they go all in on their loyalty to president trump. the plan to abandon liz cheney

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welcome back. as we wait to see president biden live from the white house, you can see the press secretary is still briefing reporters as we speak. we are going to talk about what is happening on the other end of the pennsylvania avenue. that's this push to oust congresswoman liz cheney from her leadership role as the number three house republican. you have the top republican leader kevin mccarthy publically endorsing now the person who is expected to replace cheney. here he is explaining. >> any member can take whatever position they believe in. that's what the voters vote on the individuals and they make

that decision. we are talking about a position of leadership. we are in one of our biggest battles for this nation and the direction whether this next century will be ours. as conference chair, you have one of the most critical jobs as the messenger. >> a member in leadership cannot have a position at odds with where most of the rest of the conference is. that position with regards to cheney is she's telling the truth about the 2020 election. republicans can make this move to expel cheney from leadership as early as wednesday. new york republican congresswoman elise stefanik expected to replace her. i want to turn to a couple of my colleagues. cal perry has been talking with some of liz cheney's constituents. it seems like the writing is on the wall in sharpie. could anything change the

trajectory? >> it's highly unlikely. it's all but a forgone conclusion that elise stefanik will replace liz cheney and liz cheney will be ousted. it will happen wednesday in a conference meeting where one republican member has to make a motion of confidence against cheney. if leadership considers it of immediate importance, they can call a vote. a simple majority can vote her out. the writing has been on the wall for a while. the message that republicans are sending is that you can't be in party leadership if you contradict president trump. he is the leader of the party. liz cheney for actively debunking his falsehoods was not appreciated by her party. that's the reason it appears she has to go. >> it's the active debunking but it's what you hear from those republicans who want to see her gone is it's a messaging issue. she's not on message with where the rest of the gop is. here is congressman banks on

that. >> any leader who is not focused on that, on pushing back against the radical dangerous biden agenda at this point needs to be replaced. the point is we are almost entirely unified except for liz cheney. >> the person who is not talking about president biden's policy agenda is donald trump. the former president releasing more than 20 statements over the last six weeks tipping to push his lies about the 2020 election. five in the last week alone. why is if then that republicans are blaming cheney and not the former president? >> there's a contradiction in that. they say cheney needs to go because she talks about the past. she's only responding to former president trump who has put out a steady stream of statements talking about the past, talking about the 2020 election and insisting falsely that it was illegitimate. the irony about the message that they are discussing is that liz

cheney has a more ideologically conservative voting record than elise stefanik. one of the achievements of the trump era was the 2017 tax law. she voted for it. elise stefanik voted against it. yet, she's seen on the right messenger. that tells you about all you need to know about what the message is. it's donald trump. it's not about taxes, spending. >> i know you and our colleagues on capitol hill have been reporting on what exactly are liz cheney's next steps. it's our understanding -- your understanding from a source familiar that she's planning to stay in congress, to run again. cal, you are in her district talking with people who she serves. tell us more about what you are hearing. >> yeah. before we play this sound, people will say, you went to trump country. this was liz cheney country. she won by a landslide here in casper. she won by a bigger margin. as we hear, what seems to be the issue for voters is speaking out

against the former president is the ultimate betrayal. >> i think liz cheney needs to go. she does not represent the people of wyoming. 73% of the people here in wyoming voted for trump. she basically stabbed us in the back with she felt that it was the right thing to do. i didn't vote for her for her feelings. i voted for her to represent us. >> i think she's a rhino. i think she voted on the liberal side. we voted her in as a republican. she doesn't have our best interests at heart. >> that's a traitor. >> why? >> well, she's a republican and then she votes against the republican president. she's a traitor. she gets what she deserves. to get run out of office. . >> keeping in mind, she voted with the president more than 93% of her time, while the president was in office. one of the most fascinate things about this is liz cheney is going to run for re-election in 18 months.

when you talk to democrats who live in the state, they are living in the upside down. they support her because she's more liberal of two options on the ballot in 18 months. >> that's something to think about. two questions to follow up. did you find anybody willing to speak to you about their support or at least getting where she's coming from for liz cheney? >> i was reminded of one person who spoke to us yesterday in casper who was willing to talk on camera. most liberals we bumped into didn't want to speak on camera. they felt like the minority. it's different in cheyenne. people didn't want to talk on camera about their support for liz cheney. >> you played an interview with a woman who said something like, i didn't vote for her for her feelings, to tell me how she feels. on the policy issue, what did some folks tell you when you pointed out -- to the idea that as you say, liz cheney votes in line more with the policies that donald trump represented than

elise stefanik who opposed the biggest policy push in 2017, his tax cuts? >> not a great answer for that, i will say it feels like it's not liz cheney versus donald trump as much as donald trump versus america again. i keep hearing this answer as i talk to people. it's true on vaccine hesitancy as well. what is this really about? is this about the vaccine? same with liz cheney. the answer comes back, no, this is about former president donald trump and what happened during the election and what happened on january 6th. >> let me ask -- congress is dealing -- the house republicans have this on their plate. this is obviously expected to happen as early as wednesday. there's a lot of other stuff on the do list for lawmakers as they come back into town, into session. starting with infrastructure. you had senate minority leader mitch mcconnell who is shifting where he is on this. he said, i would support something like a $600 billion plan.

now it's like six to $800 billion. is that a sign there could be compromise? is this just more two parties talking over each other? >> it depends on who you ask. there are a variety of opinions amongbelieve it's possible they could get a bipartisan deal with democrats and -- they insist that they try. there are progressive lawmakers in the house and senate who say this is a fool's errant. republicans are not going to be on board with anything major, anything close to the level of what needs to happen. progressives are willing to give president biden a chance to get caught trying to get bipartisan support. if he can't, then he can go it alone and say he tried. he believes the space to do that. the clock is ticking. democrats have a limited window to get something big done. many of them see memorial day as a pivot point by which point they will realize, either they can pursue a bipartisan deal or

they need to start moving toward reconciliation, which is the filibuster proof way to get something done. >> thanks to the magic of television, we are able to show you what one of our colleagues in white house briefing room asked the press secretary. kelly o'donnell putting to her this question that i would like to hear from you on. i want to play what she had to say. >> obviously, the house republicans have some of their own internal matters going on. does the president think any discord they are having has an influence or comes into the meet meetings he will have with leadership? >> no. the president knows that there is some introspection going on in the republican party right now. a determination about who they are going to be, who they want to lead them and what they want to represent moving forward. he is not going to focus on that. >> what does your reporting tell you about how what's happening

in house republican world could affect negotiations between democrats and republicans in the white house moving forward? >> it probably won't. very few people expect house republicans to be on board with a major deal. >> do you think it will come up on wednesday when they meet? >> surely it will. president biden wants to be in the driver's seat in the way he is not doing on police reform and guns where he is punting to congress. the economic agenda is crucial for him. that's going to be the defining feature of this year of his presidency in the eyes of the white house. he is going to -- he has nothing to lose by meeting with kevin mccarthy and trying to gauge where he is and isn't. the fact of where republican politics are make it very difficult for kevin mccarthy to join forces with the white house on anything.

white house recognizes where the republican politics are which is why he decided to go it alone on covid relief. his advisers believe he has to give republicans a chance and give a little more time for potential bipartisanship. infrastructure is not quite the same level of an emergency as covid. you can't justify moving as quickly this time around. the end game might be the same. conversations that don't amount to anything. you saw mitch mcconnell moving his rhetoric a little bit, saying the window is not just 600, maybe 600 to $800 billion. that came after he got criticism for saying his 100% focus is on stopping the biden administration, which emboldened some of the democrats to say, why bother with bipartisanship? >> thanks for your reporting from washington to wyoming. we appreciate it. president biden is set to speak from the white house any minute on the economy. but we expect him to likely address the cyberattack on the

colonial pipeline. we will bring those remarks to you live. we are talking about how with hopes growing of a normal summer maybe, dr. fauci reminds us, we're not exactly out of the woods yet. how vaccine hesitancy is still spiking in some states and why. some say this is my greatest challenge ever. but i've seen centuries of this. with a companion that powers a digital world, traded with a touch. the gold standard, so to speak ;) wanna grab pizza? bad move, guys! get a freshly made footlong from subway® instead! like a classic italian b.m.t.® stacked with fresh veggies. there's a subway® three blocks from here! choose better, be better. and now save when you order in the app. subway®. eat fresh.

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welcome back. we will take you to the white house live when president biden begins his remarks on the

economy and that attack on the u.s. gas pipeline. first, good news in the fight against covid. case numbers are at their lowest since last september. also going down, the number of daily vaccinations. now below 2 million for the first time since march. you have several states turning away vaccine supply since the demand is dropping. wisconsin, for example, has asked the federal government for just 8% of its allocated doses for the coming week. those extra doses will be given to other states that have more of a demand. dr. fauci told chuck right here on sunday that meeting the president's 4th of july vaccination goal will help keep the virus at a level more manageable. >> if we get to the goals the president has established, namely, 70% of the people vaccinated by the 4th of july, namely one single dose, and even more thereafter, you may see blips, but if we handle them well, it's unlikely you will see

the surge we saw in the late fall and the early winter. >> connecticut is the first state in the country to vaccinate 70% of adults with at least one shot. overseas, the u.s. is facing pressure to expand the fight outside of its own borders. european leaders, including emanuel macron and angela merkel are criticizing the u.s. for not exporting more doses, choosing to support waving intellectual property rights. the u.s. has promised to send over 60 million doses. while case numbers are on the sharp decline, concerns are now growing over the actual number of deaths caused by the pandemic. why the nation's top experts are now saying the data we have been seeing might be way off. ♪ hold my pouch. ♪ trust us, us kids are ready

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monitor, check and lock down you money with security from chase. control feels good. chase. make more of what's yours. welcome back. as we told you, covid cases are

going down in this country. so are the number of deaths. even though the true toll is unknown. the seven-day moving average is at its lowest since last july. although, nearly 700 coronavirus deaths a day is arguably still too high. according to nbc news, nearly 600,000 people have died from this virus. a new projection from ihme, a key model cited by the white house, shows the full extent of the death toll may be 50% more and maybe over 900,000. >> i think there's no doubt, chuck, that we are and have been undercounting. what that tells us is something we have known. we are living through a historic pandemic, the likes of which we haven't seen in over 100 years. >> we have known the toll is not necessarily just those who have passed from covid-19 specifically, but deaths relating to access to care, not presenting to care and many other things.

>> joining me an infectious disease doctor and an msnbc medical contributor. thanks for being on. >> thanks for having me. >> 500,000, 600,000. the projection closer to 900,000. have we been undercounting by that much? >> actually, i agree with what dr. fauci and dr. walensky said. we have known it. we said at least 40% more than what we have seen. the reason is what's happened is we know there's a certain number of people who were officially diagnosed. there's a difference between people diagnosed before the death and the total number of mortality. the idea is that most places with a semblance of public health system are able to count how many people die in a month, in a year, and compare it to what's expected from prior years. what we have seen is that access

mortality has gone up. some is secondary to the fact that there are more people who died of covid before being diagnosed with covid. some died because they were not able to get access to care. then there's the inversefewer p respiratory problems. the new model is trying to assess that and give a more fuller picture. this is important because it shows clearly that we have been underestimating our mortality has been. it shows globally the impact and lack of assessment of how many people died. india, per their model, has 2 1/2 times the number of deaths officially reported are likely are their model. that's important for us to get a better handle how bad this pandemic is. >> i wonder what you make of the reporting that we are getting in some states are turning away doses of the vaccine because there's just not enough of a demand for it.

do you foresee where we are right now, less than two months away from the 4th of july, which has been president biden's goal to get back to more like normal, do you think that's going to make that goal a lot harder? how do you get past this vaccine hesitancy hurdle we are facing? >> i do think we will get there kicking and screaming. the reason why is because the vaccines are now being approved for children 12 and 15 as well. they will add to the population level immunity. the concern is that -- >> i'm interrupting you. we are hearing from president biden now who is set to speak on the economy and that cyberattack on the colonial pipeline. let's listen. >> i have been personally briefed every day. the department of energy is working directly with colonial to get the pipeline back online and operating at full capacity as quickly and safely as possible.

the fbi also is engaged to assess and address this attack. the agencies across the government have acted quickly to mitigate any impact on our fuel supply. over the weekend, at my direction, the department of transportation issued an emergency order to loosen restrictions on truck drivers in order to allow more fuel to be transported by tanker. we are prepared to take additional steps depending how quickly the company is able to bring its pipeline back to fulop ragsal capacity. the federal bureau of investigation has determined colonial's network was infected by ransomware and it's a criminal act, obviously. fbi released details so others can take steps to prevent being infected. my administration takes issue -- takes this very seriously. we have efforts underway with

the fbi and doj, department of justice, to disrupt and prosecute ransomware criminals. my administration will be pursuing a global effort of ransomware attacks by transnational criminals who often use global money laund launderring networks to carry it out. private entities are making their own determination on cybersecurity. to jump start greater private sector investment in cybersecurity, we launched a new public/private initiative in april. it began with a 100 day sprint to improve cybersecurity in the electric sector. we will follow that with similar initiatives in natural gas pipelines, water and other sectors. in addition to companies stepping up, we need to invest

to save guard our critical infrastructure. that's one of the many things my american jobs plan is designed to do. i also want to update the people on the progress that we made in our recovery and the next steps we're going to be taking. as we learned friday, the economy created 266,000 jobs in april. in fact, all together, since the time we took office, we have created more than 1.5 million jobs in the country. it's the most jobs created in the first 100 days of any president on record. more than three times the solid job creation president carter saw. our country was creating 60,000 jobs a month. the three months since we have gotten here, we have been creating 500,000 jobs per month. in the first quarter, our

economy grew at 6.4% rate, outpacing the growth we are seeing from our friends in the euro zone. because of the american rescue plan, forecasters are projecting we will see the fastest economic growth in nearly 40 years in the months to come. we are moving in the right direction. let's be clear. our economic plan is working. i never said and no serious analyst ever suggested that climbing out of the deep, deep hole our economy was in would be simple, easy, immediate or perfectly steady. remember, 22 million americans lost their jobs in this pandemic. some months we will exceed expectations. others will fall short. the question is, what is the trend line? are we headed in the right direction? are we taking the right steps to keep it going? the answer clearly is yes.

i also want to offer a bit more detail on the jobs numbers in particular. these monthly reports are a snapshot, as you know. they take one week, a moment in time. since this snapshot was taken around the week of april the 12th, since then covid-19 counts are down by more than 40% since then. vaccination rates among working age americans has roughly doubled since then. this survey was taken before adults -- before every adult was eligible to be vaccinated. back then, 18% of working age adults were fully vaccinated. today if it were taken, 34% are fully vaccinated. no wonder things feel better today than back when the survey was taken.

with that context, here are the steps we are going to be taking to maintain our progress. first, today we are opening a portal for state and local governments to apply for their first funds from the american rescue plan. the money we'll be distributing now is going to make it possible for an awful lot of educators, first responders, sanitation workers to go back to work. second, this is a year-long program. second, we're delivering assistance to tens of thousands of restaurants and bars across

the country. today we're sending out the first relief checks to 16,000 hard-hit restaurants with help for many more to follow. a lot more people are going to be employed. third, employers bring back laid-off workers to help them do that. we're going to remind them that there is some progress they can take advantage -- some programs they can take advantage of. for example, employers can hire back their laid-off workers part-time without those workers having to give up all their unemployment benefits. here's another example. in the american rescue plan, we expanded a tax incentive called employee retention tax credit. this can provide a recovering small or medium-sized business, a direct credit for each worker they keep on or a job that they rehire. fourth, we're going to provide real help for people struggling

with the challenge of child care, which is making it hard for many parents who need to work, especially women, to get back to work. during this crisis, thousands of child care providers and centers were forced to close because they couldn't make ends meet with fewer students and higher costs to keep them safe. as a result, parents lost the support system they depended on for child care. and tens of thousands of child care workers lost their jobs. in fact, there are 150,000 fewer child care jobs now than there were pre-pandemic. the american rescue plan has already allocated funds to states to address the immediate challenge to our economy and of too few child care operations. this is the largest investment in child care since world war

ii. today my administration is releasing guidance to states to help get the funds they need out the door as quickly as possible to allow dramatic expansion and availability of child care in this country. with these funds, states can help hundreds of thousands of providers reopen and stay open and provide safe and healthy learning environments for more than 5 million children. these funds will also allow states to provide over 800,000 families with subsidies to pay for child care. simply put, this can help working parents get back to work. this one-time investment is a real answer to a real problem that our economy is facing right now. look, the fifth thing we're going to do, we're going to make it clear that anyone collecting unemployment who is offered a suitable job must take the job

or lose their unemployment benefits. there are a few covid-19-related exceptions so that people aren't forced to choose between their basic safety and a paycheck. but otherwise that's the law. i know there's been a lot of discussion since friday's report that people are being paid to stay home rather than going to work. well, we don't see much evidence of that. that is a major factor. we don't see -- look, it's easy to say the line has been because of the generous unemployment benefits that it's a major factor in labor shortages. americans want to work. americans want to work. as my dad used to say, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck, it's about your dignity, your place in the community, being able to look your kid in the eye and say

everything is going to be okay. i think the people who claim americans won't work, even if they find a good and fair opportunity, underestimate the american people. so we'll insist that the law is followed with respect to benefits or we're not going to turn our backs on our fellow americans. 22 million people lost their jobs in this pandemic through no fault of their own. they lost their jobs to a virus and to a government that bungled his response to the crisis and failed to protect them. we still have 8 million fewer jobs than we did when the pandemic started. and for many of those folks, unemployment benefits are a lifeline. no one should be allowed to gain the system, and we'll insist the law is followed, but let's not take our eye off the ball. families who are just trying to put food on the table, keep a roof over their head, they

aren't the problem. we need to stay focused on the real problems in front of us, beating this pandemic and creating jobs. again, the law is clear. if you're receiving unemployment benefits and you're offered a suitable job, you can't refuse that job and just keep getting the unemployment benefits. we're also working to overcome all the barriers that may be making it harder for people to get back to work. child care, getting vaccinated, getting schools open. we're making progress in all these things, and we need others to step up and play a role as well. for example, we need employers to step up in a couple of ways. first, we need them to get help to their people and get them vaccinated. two weeks ago, i announced that we'll provide a tax credit to employers if they give workers paid time off to get a shot and recover from the effects of the

side effects, if there are any. our economy can't achieve its full potential until we get more people vaccinated. employers can help that. we also need to recognize that people will come back to work if they're paid a decent wage. the last congress, before i became president, gave businesses over $1.4 trillion in covid relief. congress may have approved that money, but let's be clear. the money came from the american people, and it went from the american people to american businesses, many of them big businesses, to help them get through this pandemic and keep their doors open. i'm not questioning it. it was the right thing to do. but my expectation is that, as our economy comes back, these companies will provide fair wages and safe work environments. and they do, they'll find plenty of workers and we're all going

to come out of this together better than before. so we need to stay focused on creating jobs and beating this pandemic today and building back better for tomorrow. the american rescue plan is just that, a rescue plan. it's to get us out of the crisis and back on track, but it's not nearly enough. that's why we need the american jobs plan, which is an eight-year investment, an eight-year investment strategy to make sure working people of this country get to share in the benefits of a rising economy and to put us in a position to win the competition with china and the rest of the world for the 21st century. that's the next stage. that's what we're doing right now. we're working to get that passed. i want to thank you all and may god protect our troops. thank you. >> mr. president, you protect

criminal infrastructure from a criminal act. how can you possibly protect it from an escape actor? >> you can do both, and we will. >> do you think russia is a factor at all? >> congressman, i'm going to be meeting with president putin. so far there is no evidence from our intelligence people that russia is involved, although there is evidence that the actors' ransomware is in russia. they have some responsibility with this. >> remarks from president biden in the east room there. he was addressing the economic recovery from the pandemic but also talking about the news of the day. you heard a question from peter doosey, i think, at the end, asking if president biden thinks putin is responsible and he did not respond. i'm in for katy tur.

when we come back we'll talk about a crippling cyberattack on the u.s., and the fact that russians are behind it. what it means to you. gas prices are ticking up as officials scramble to deal with the attack that has knocked out one of the nation's largest gasoline pipe lines. it delivers about 45% of fuel for the entire east coast. imagine that, nearly half of the fuel for the east coast moving through one pipeline flowing through ten states from texas all the way up to new jersey. after days of public suspicion, the u.s. government is now pointing the finger directly at a russian criminal enterprise known as dark side. and the biden administration is making a full court press today to respond as experts warn this attack shows just how vulnerable our cyber infrastructure really is. >> right now there is not a supply shortage. we are preparing for multiple possible contingencies because that's our job, especially on the homeland security