good afternoon, i'm chris jansing in for ayman mohyeldin. this is a momentous day. moments ago the biden administration making the announcement as they put it that we've all been waiting for -- fully vaccinated people can take off their masks outside and inside. >> anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities large or small without wearing a mask or physical distancing. if you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic. we have all longed for this moment when we can get back to some sense of normalcy. once you are fully vaccinated, two weeks after your last dose, you can shed your masks. >> and president biden will have more to say about this just

later in this hour. we're going to bring you those remarks, of course, when they happen. right now the president is in the oval office meeting with a group of republican senators to talk about his nearly $2 trillion jobs plan. still holding out hope for some bipartisan compromise. >> i assure you i know this is in good faith, it's a genuine effort. i think we can get there. >> and this meeting comes as we get new evidence the economy is getting stronger. first time unemployment claims reaching their lowest level since the start of the pandemic 14 months ago. and as wyoming republican congresswoman liz cheney charts her next steps after being ousted from her leadership post. >> i intend to be the leader -- one of the leaders in a fight to help to restore our party. >> really busy day, we're going to start with that brand-new guidance, fully vaccinated americans no longer need to wear

masks or social distance outdoors or indoors. joining us now, dr. patel, physician and fellow at the brookings institution and health policy director under the obama administration. and nbc news correspondent tom costello who has been following the ins and outs of this throughout the last 14 months. so dr. patel, how big a moment is this? both as an indicator of where we are in the fight against covid, as well as our scientific understanding of the threat? >> yeah, chris, good to be with you and tom. it is simply put stunning. it's, one, an acknowledgement of the science to your point that with vaccination your risk of getting and giving covid is not zero, chris, but it's incredibly low. and i think the fact that kind of almost in what feels like a 180 from what the cdc was saying just two weeks ago, even some of with people distancing and masks, that you no longer need to do that. so the science has accumulated.

but it also is a stark reminder, chris, of how confuing time is for us. not everybody can take their masks off. children under 12 don't even have an option to be vaccinated. so we're going to need guidance. schools, businesses, that came up in the briefing. but we're going to need a lot more assistance. the science is very clear. >> there are going to be skeptics who see this as proof that a lot of restrictions were overreactions or another reason to doubt what they're hearing as scientific fact. they say the rules keep changing, things are confusing. what do you say to them? >> yeah. here's what i say to them -- i say that's valid, your skepticism, your cynicism, your questions are all valid. but i can show you without you having to read scientific journals, i can show you and go point by point, no matter what vaccine manufacturer you had, the reduction of your risk, the fact that it prevent death, the fact that it prevents hospitalizations, i know you've dealt with it, i have, so has tom, with family and friends that have been affected.

so we can talk about the numbers, cases dropping dramatically over the last two weeks. but i do think it's important to say to those same skeptics and cynics we never expected to eliminate all cases. and i think there's a kind of divergence here. i think people were waiting for this holy grail of herd immunity, and somehow the cases would just be zero. and i think what we're hearing from science and the cdc and other countries like israel is that it's just more realistic that this goes down to a level where we have cases here and there, but it certainly does not have anywhere near the impact to our population. >> tom, literally as this announcement was being made, i got an email confirming that i -- i snagged an outdoor table for dinner tomorrow night for people coming in from out of town. and the first thing i thought was, well, will the servers be wearing masks tomorrow? the implications for businesses i think are confusing and big. >> yeah. i just said in the last hour actually, my family and i took

our first vacation in more than a year down to florida -- >> what? >> last week. yeah. it was fantastic. it was beaches. it was pools. it was great. but the point being when we went out to eat, we were a little bit uncomfortable, right. we've all been vaccinated. in fact, for me it's been almost five weeks since my second vaccine. i know in theory i'm fully protected. but when you walk into a restaurant where nobody is wearing a mask except the wait staff, you still get a little uneasy because for the last 14 months we've all been in the state. and the question's going to be do you have to show a vaccine card? i mean, are businesses going to say, please do come in, you don't have to wear a mask, but you got to show vaccination proof? that seems like a big step in some states. they would probably would bristle at that. or what about the wait staff, your employees? in a big company, an office building. these are some of the unanswered questions now that a lot of people have. >> yeah. >> you know to the point about how effective this vaccine is, chris, you and i have done

stories about the flu vaccine. in a typical year, 40% to 60% max on how effective it is. we're talking about these vaccines being 90%-plus effective. i mean, that's an astonishing accomplishment. >> it really is. and on the other hand, tom, you know this -- and i think i heard you talking about this last hour, as well, as i've been traveling the country, pretty much throughout this pandemic, i have heard people say, well, i'm not going to get vaccinated because they think it's a tracking device being put into their arm. the skepticism is out there. the question becomes again does this feed into what people's confusion, people's skepticism as they make a decision, frankly, as everybody has the right to do about whether or not to get vaccinated, and have their children vaccinated, tom? >> you know, i had a conversation with somebody last week at a pool, and he said, "i just don't know what to believe. i hear so much conflicting

information i don't know what to believe. how do i know whether to believe dr. fauci and the cdc lady," he said. my answer was i think you have to assume that these people are operating in good faith. that they have always tried to offer the best guidance they have based on the science at the moment, recognizing that this is an ongoing and developing pandemic, and the science is trying to catch up to it, match it, understand it. and so our understanding of it's going to change. so you know, i think that if you just suggest to people, as i tried, that we all have to do our part, but also recognize most people are trying to operate in good faith, but that is a constant challenge when you have so much misinformation and disinformation, especially from some so-called social media or news sites that we seem to battle constantly. >> well, one of the things that surprised me, did a run through social media, there were a number of people who said that they were fully vaccinated, but they're going to wait, they're still nervous about not wearing a mask, particularly indoors.

and i think one of the confusions came about, for example, tom talked about this, his family went on vacation. a lot of people are talking about getting on trains, getting on planes. and you still, as of now, have to put your mask on when you go into an airport and get on a plane. and some people were saying, well, then why? especially on a plane where they have all these now sophisticated systems for air purification. so why would we have to still wear a mask when we're traveling? >> yeah. i think it's a great question. and i think, chris, the reason why we're looking at the science and the evidence. we know that interstate travel, particularly early on when we didn't require masks and we really weren't limiting travel, was probably one of the largest kind of propgators of the virus. why we saw outbreaks in the pacific northwest, west coast, midwest, et cetera. i do think that keeping some caution, health care facilities, of course, local state regional

guidance, and of course transportation hubs. chris, people are traveling internationally, even though we still have restrictions. people have business, people have pleasure, i know of people doing that. and we need to be able to make sure that we have peeled back this onion layer so to speak. note that the cdc today said that they'll be coming forth with guidance for schools and workplaces. that suggests this was for kind of social and recreational and household activities, and that they reminded us that there are still going to be times international travel you need to test, domestic travel and public transportation, you should wear a mask. and i think a lot of that also, chris, just a little statistic, we still know that one in four essential workers, transportation, grocery store, gas workers, are not vaccinated. and as many as four in ten or, you know, kind of one in three health care workers are not vaccinated. so we have essential work force who are part of that labor who need to be vaccinated also. and i think this is going to be taking it away from transportation will be one of the last things we see.

>> tom, we mentioned the international travel, the eu has been working on some sort of green passport. but i get this question all the time so you must get it ten times more. people asking are we going to get some type of vaccine passport? what are the chances? >> yeah. well, the biden administration has said definitively no, that they're not going to get into the business of keeping a record on you and me whether we've been vaccinated for covid or anything else. that's not their job. they don't want to get in the middle of it. some european countries are coming up with their own forum of a digital vaccine passford for within the -- passport for within the eu. i think what's going to happen is when they start to open up europe, and there's some evidence that's going to happen in the next 30 days or so, yeah, they're going to have to take our cdc card, right. we don't have anything else, and they want -- they are in desperate need of our tourist dollars. so they want americans, they want americans to come who have been vaccinated. and then likely when you come

back, at the moment -- this could change -- when you come back, you will need to take a test, a covid test just before you leave and maybe when you land. all of this is very much in flux right now. but i think it's safe to say, you know, that the european union that really wants to see americans come back and they are behind us, very much behind us in trying to vaccinate their populations, are trying to come up with the ways to make it work for us. >> one thing we can all agree on -- >> i hope the biden administration -- they don't need to have a passport per se, but they need to release technical standards so we have scam artists and people taking advantage of people who are not as technically savvy, chris, that is an exposure risk. we do need the -- this is where the federal government does need to come in. they do need to offer technical standards for this. >> so much more to be worked out. at least we can say for today this is a sign we're moving the right direction. dr. patel, tom costello, thanks to both of you so much. two great people to have on a day like today. and it is a very busy day in

washington today. joining us now is nbc news white house correspondent monica alba and jake shermon of bunk bowl lose and msnbc contributor. both maskless. good to see your faces today. monica, this afternoon you've got another bipartisan meeting at the white house with the president and senators over infrastructure. but yesterday after he held a meeting with the big four leaders, kevin mccarthy comes out, sends a fundraising text saying the president still plans to push his radical socialist agenda on to the american people. so when you see stuff like that, what are the chances -- what does the white house think the chances are that there's room for honest negotiation and an agreement here? >> well, they're certainly committed to the idea of negotiation and these for star. to add color, as you were discussing this massive new guidance, it came out while that meeting was happening, while the president was hosting those key republican senators. so when the press pool went in

they were wearing masks. now we can report that white house staff has been told you no longer need to wear a mask if you're fully vaccinated. that applies to the journalist, as well. i know a complex you know from your days here covering the white house, for the last year we've all been wearing masks when we're inside or when we're in the briefings, according to the white house correspondents association. that now is all shifting effectively immediately. that gives a sense of how things are shifting rapidly. in terms of the meeting on infrastructure, the president signaled last night that he is willing to kind of clear the slate, have these conversations, and see what ideas the gop lawmakers bring to the table. but where it seems there's going to be conflict because the gulf is so wide is on how to pay for his more than $2 trillion plan. we know that senate minority leader mitch mcconnell has said effectively it's a red line to raise any taxes on corporations

and wealthy americans. that was a bigger more overarching meeting yesterday. today we expect more of the nitty gritty, and of course the devil is very much going to be in these details. so we're told that meeting was extensive. still ongoing. we'll see what other information comes out of it and whether anybody speaks about it. of course the president in the rose garden just a little bit later in this hour is going to be focusing on that major new announcement from the cdc and what it means for fully vaccinated people in terms of masks. >> yeah. some of the promises that he made, that he was going to work so hard on the coronavirus. let's talk about where this leaves the republicans. jake -- lizcheney is in a fight to break donald trump's grip on the republican party. what's that going to look like? can she do it? >> no, of course she can't do it. here's the problem, chris -- across the country in republican districts in the house of representatives, donald trump retains somewhere from a 60 to 80% and higher approval rating.

he's extraordinarily popular in the republican party. what cheney is describing is a long-term effort to kind of turn the battleship, right, to bring the party back to a set of principles frankly that many republican voters no longer care about because cheney says we should not be the party of trump, we shouldn't be the party of one man. but this party, whether republicans like it or not, is basically about fealty to donald trump. that's why cheney was pushed out of her position. that's why elise stefanik who has a decidedly moderate to liberal republican voting record, that's why she's going to be the house republican conference change the number-three house republican to replace cheney. i don't know what it will look like. i imagine it will include using a megaphone that house republicans handed her, cheney, since she was pushed out of this role. i think it's going to be a tall task because this party is really perhaps a little bit less devoted to donald trump than they were perhaps in 2017, 2018

and 2019. it's party that donald trump is seen as the leader of. i am lost for words in trying to predict how this might play out. >> some house republicans at the same time have been trying to rewrite history about january 6th. and some of the things that they said yesterday bore absolutely no resemblance to what you lived, what many of the folks on capitol hill lived on that day, what those of us who were back here saw unfolding and the videos that have happened since then. let me play to you a little bit about what some folks said and how kevin mccarthy responded to that. >> in fact it was trump supporters who lost their lives that day, not trump supporters who were taking the lives of others. >> i don't know who did a poll that is t's trump supporters. >> there was no insurrection. >> if you didn't know the tv footage was a video from january the 6th, you would actually think it was a normal tourist

visit. >> what happened on the 6th was atrocious. nobody -- when i look at the rioters that came in, those people should be held accountable to the rule of law. and that's exactly what's happening. >> but what you didn't hear him say, jake, he didn't rebuke those members. and he's the same guy who said that yesterday he doesn't think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election which, again, flies in the face of everything that we know, jake. >> yeah. it's not -- not tethered at all to reality. either the reality that i know of having lived through this, or the reality of any free-thinking human being who watched the coverage and said, hm, that actually doesn't look like a tour. that looks like a group of people attacking the capitol waving donalflags. so i'm not really sure what the disconnect is. if he means that there was one frame, mr. clyde from georgia, one frame of footage of people walking perhaps slowly through

stansions, maybe that's so. taken as a whole, this event was nowhere close to tourists coming through the capito listen, mccarthy has a -- i don't want to say a difficult job but a complicated job. he is the leader of a very -- a conference that's devoted to donald trump and that's, frankly, afraid of both the short-term consequences and the long-term consequences of being against donald trump. in the short term, the short term meaning a primary challenge, the long term meaning donald trump will, you know, rebuke them. so that's kind of the dynamics that -- that kevin mccarthy is trying to work with. >> jake sherman, thank you so much. monica alba, on a very busy day in washington. once again, monica is standing by as we expect to hear from president biden later in this hour about that big new announcement on basically getting rid of mask mandates for all intents and purposes for folks who are fully vaccinated with some exceptions.

so we're going to have a lot more reporting on that. we were also planning to bring you a report from israel this hour. our correspondent had to take cover because of coming rocket fire. and just mutes ago, a spokesperson for the israeli defense forayays three launches identified from lebanese territory toward israel, off the coast of galilee. additional rockets being fired from the gaza strip today. israeli military officials say they will continue to target terror targets as needed. this video shows a man watching television in his home in an israeli town as a rocket hit a residential building early this morning. the unrest has also extended to the streets. we also have video from israeli police overnight showing them combating israeli arab protesters in northern israel. israeli police say nearly 400 people were arrested across the country on wednesday. we will continue to update this story and bring you the latest reporting. coming up, autoworkers are fuming over general motors' plan to invest $1 billion in an

electric vehicle plant in mexico. they say it's a slap in the face. we'll take you there live. first, new jersey democratic governor phil murphy joins us on the lucrative ways officials are convincing people to get the covid vaccine. when our daughter and her kids moved in with us... our bargain detergent couldn't keep up. turns out it's mostly water. so, we switched back to tide. one wash, stains are gone. daughter: slurping don't pay for water. pay for clean. it's got to be tide. ♪ when i was young ♪ no-no-no-no-no please please no. ♪ i never needed anyone. ♪ front desk. yes, hello... i'm so... please hold. ♪ those days are done. ♪

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so if no longer having to wear your mask isn't enough, ohio's newly announced big prize lottery for folks who get vaccinated is causing both excitement and controversy. on wednesday, governor mike dewine announced a lottery system where adults who get at least one dose can enter to win a $1 million prize. and for resident ages 12 to 17 it the prides will be a full scholarship -- prize will be a

full scholarship to one of the public colleges or universities. in new jersey, now that more than half of residents have had at least one dose of the vaccine, the garden state is moving ahead with its reopening plans. just this morning, governor phil murphy signed an order to lift capacity limits on all outdoor gatherings and percentage-based capacity limits on restaurants, businesses, and places of worship. those changes will take effect next week. joining me now is new jersey's democratic governor, phil murphy. so good to see you, governor, on a pretty momentous day where folks are told you know what, you can pretty much not wear a mask if you are fully vaccinated. do you think that that is going to be sort of the push that some people need, or do we need million-dollar lotteries? >> chris, good to be with you. my guess is that we need a little of each and maybe some other things. we've got something called operation jersey summer that has 12 or 14 components.

one of them is a shot and a beer at one of our craft breweries -- >> does that seem to be having some impact? people are getting -- yeah? >> it is. it is. and the signs are encouraging, although we still have a lot of work to do. but i also think, chris, the cdc doesn't make the announcements it made today, a, without confidence which is important, and b, without basically saying, okay, this is what life will look like if you're fulle vaccinated. go out and get fully vaccinated. i think that is also important, and that's a message we'll continue to hit on, as well. >> yeah. it's a good news for lot of economies including the beach economies in new jersey. but you know, i'm thinking back to just 12 months ago, your state was a major hot spot for this virus. so tell us where you are now that tells you, okay, we're good to ease up, and how close is the state to being back to normal,

however we define normal? >> yeah. we got clobbered. we were one of the first states in the nation to get clobbered and paid an enormous price. almost 26,000 losses of life. but as we sit here today, all of the health metrics that we watch and monitor like a hawk are going in the right direction. hospitalizations went under 1,000 today for the first time in six months. a lot of other metrics going in the right direction. and we've got, again we're not patting ourselves on the back because we still have teamwork do, we've got one of the most successful vaccine programs of any american state. we're now 3.7 million adults in new jersey are fully vaccinated. our goal is 4.7. we still have a ways to go. but the numbers are going in the right direction. and that allows us the confidence to say you know what, we can open this place up. and how normal will we be this summer? i think's going to be pretty normal.

it won't be probably entirely normal, but i think we're going to have a great summer in parents' level of comfort with their kids and a lot of new jersey parents are hoping has a the pfizer shot for 12 to 15. how can parents do it in new jersey? when will they be able -- i'll be honest, this came from a new jersey resident who works here. when will they be able to just bring their kids to a walk-in clinic some because they couldn't get an appointment on line. >> yeah. so almost almost every place in our state right now allows walk-ins. so you do need parental or guardian consent. but as -- when the feds give us the all-clear, we'll be ready to go. and again, it's 12 to 15 years old. it's the pfizer vaccine which has proven to be very safe and very effective. we'll be ready to go. we've got a distribution system, we've got over 800 locations in

the state. so we're ready. >> you mentioned there are still challenges. one of your recent briefings i saw you said you were between -- my characterization, frustrated and angry at long-term care facilities who -- those staffs refused to get vaccinated. do you have numbers on that? how bad is it? is there anything you can do about it? >> yeah. and i don't want, chris, to vilify these folks because they've been heroic from day one -- >> it's tough work, yeah. >> the loss of life and it's just been really tough on them. but i frankly take it out on the operators. they need to have a plan in place. cvs and walgreens through the federal channel did a great job in getting residents vaccinated. our numbers among seniors in long-term care are -- are really high. staff numbers are not. it's getting better. but it's still in the 50s percent, and that needs to get up over 70%.

so we've said to families next time you go in to visit your loved one, ask the operator what percentage of everybody is vaccinated and what's your plan to get that number up to an acceptable level. >> yeah. that's a scary thought to put an elderly loved one in a place where there's only 50%-some vaccinated. new jersey governor phil murphy, thank you so much. we appreciate your time. >> thanks for having me, chris. we've got new development in the investigation into possible sex trafficking by congressman matt gaetz. one of his associates is pleading guilty. what it could mean coming up. up ♪ the calming scent of lavender by downy infusions calm. laundry isn't done until it's done with downy.

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nearly a week after it was shut down by a cyberattack, the colonial pipeline is now fully operational again. fuel shortages will still be around for at least a few days until the fuel supply is fully restored. today president biden urged drivers to be patient. he also had this to say about those who carried out the attack and reports it was a ransom was paid to end it. >> the fbi released details on the attack so others can take steps to prevent from being victimized like colonial has been. we do not believe -- emphasize we do not believe the russian government was involved in this attack. but we do have strong reason to believe that the criminals who did the attack are living in

russia. >> were you briefed on fact that the company did pay the ransom? >> i have no comment on that. >> well, just in the past hour, nbc news has confirmed reports that colonial pipeline did pay nearly $5 million in ransom to these hackers. president biden is facing a test over his pledge that fighting climate change will create millions of jobs for americans. general motors recently announced it will stop production of gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035 and invest billions of dollars in electric vehicle plants and new jobs here in the u.s. but autoworkers are crying foul after gm quietly revealed plans to invest $1 billion in an electric vehicle plant in mexico and then ship those cars and trucks across the board. josh, what -- border. josh, what are automakers telling you and what does the company have to say? >> reporter: well, united auto

workers is calling this a slap in the face. and the workers we spoke to here in flint said that's how it feels to them, too. they said, look, we want gm to go green, they should be moving toward electric vehicles, but it shouldn't be done at the expense of autoworkers right here in the u.s. they said it's particularly galling that general motors is spending $1 billion in mexic at the same time that they're asking the u.s. taxpayer to spend tens of billions of dollars to extend tax credits and federal subsidies to buy electric vehicles, as well as to build electric vehicle charging stations around the country. take a listen to what the workers had to tell us. >> in just an order to when you heard that gm was going to spend all this money to build electric vehicles not here but in mexico, how did that make you feel, beth? >> insecure. >> reporter: chris? >> i was disappointed. >> reporter: what about you, bret? >> shameful. >> reporter: tell me about that. >> so i worked at delphi, i hired in at delphi and seen what

product investment through mexico does to a community like flint, michigan, that we live in. and it -- for general motors to ask for the bailout and for american taxpayers to be there for general motors in a time of need is a time of need for american workers. and to not get this investment is shameful. >> reporter: gm says that this is just a small sliver of what they're spending on electric vehicles, chris. they say that here in the u.s. they're spending $9 billion t tennessee. they say there will be about 9,000 jobs associated with that. a company spokesman telling me, look, we build autos around the world. if we're going to go all electric by 2035, it's only natural that some of those cars will be built outside the u.s. chris? >> we're going to hear more about this going forward. josh letterman, thank you for that. up next, congressman of new york hakeem jeffries will join me on the ongoing threat to

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you're safe now. big new development in the case against an associate of florida republican congressman matt gaetz. court documents reveal that joel greenberg, a former florida tax official, is expected to plead guilty in the same case that spawned a sex trafficking investigation into congressman gaetz. it is unclear what the specific charges are that greenberg will cop to. federal investigators are looking into whether gaetz and greenburg used the internet to search for women to pay for sex, something that gaetz has denied. senior justice report pete williams. how could this be for any ongoing investigation of matt gaetz? >> well, very significant because clearly this indicates that there is a plea agreement here that greenberg will agree to cooperate with prosecutors in the investigation not only of the charges against him but also

potentially in their investigation of the congressman. now we'll certainly learn more about that at a court hearing on monday that greenberg must attend according to a judge's order. but the judge also said that the lawyers should give any additional information to him before the hearing on monday about any kind of agreement that the government might have to cooperate and seek any kind of leniency for greenberg at his sentencing. so we may learn more in the coming few days before the monday hearing. but it's obviously a very significant -- significant development, and you wouldn't get a plea agreement like this if the government didn't have a very good idea of what it is that greenberg is going to say and whether they can establish the credibility of it. >> something we will be watching closely. i know you will, pete williams, thank you so much. it was just days ago that matt gaetz was on the campaign trail with his republican colleague, marjorie taylor green, who the house stripped of her assigns an

supporting qanon, questioning whether plane hit the world trade center on 9/11, this time questioning the presidential election. >> the democrats that say they won the presidential race -- [ boos ] >> say they won, and yet yesterday house republican leader kevin mac carthy said this -- >> i don't think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election. i think that is all over with. we're sitting here with the president today. >> joining me now, the chair of the house democratic caucus, congressman hakeem jeffries of new york. lots to talk about. thanks for coming on. i want to get your analysis of what we've seen unfold over the last 24 to 48 hours including what's happened with liz cheney. i mean, one way to think about it might be that it's bad for democracy and maybe good for the democratic party if there's a war within the republican party. how do you view what's

happening? >> well, it is bad for democracy and the republican party here in the house of representatives has completely fallen apart. they continue to choose party over patriotism. they've chosen the big lie over the rule of law. and they've become the party of donald trump, qanon, and the insurrection. and it's bad for the country when you think about the fact that we are still in the midst of a deadly pandemic which is both a public health crisis and an economic crisis. we as democrats continue to work with president biden to get things done on behalf of the american people, to crush the virus, to provide direct relief and assistance to everyday americans who are struggling and ultimately lay will foundation to revive our economy. but the republicans are a mess, and instead of moving toward the center to try to find common ground, they move further and further and further toward the extremes.

>> do you think then that joe biden, who has invited republicans over the last couple of days to come to the white house, yesterday it was the big four, and today he has some bipartisan -- senators including republican senators in the oval office just this afternoon meeting with them about infrastructure. i mean, do you see any room for compromise? or again, do you think that he's wasting his time? >> i do not think that president biden is wasting his time. he's keeping his commitment to the american people. he made clear even before his inauguration that he was going to be the president for people who voted for him and who did not vote for him because he's the president of the entire country. and he's trying to find common ground. we do need to invest in our crumbling infrastructure to fix our bridges, roads, and tunnels, our mass transit system, of course, to operate and support affordable housing and public housing and public schools. make sure that everybody has

access to broadband across the country. and it's important for the president to lead and to try to bring republicans along. if remains to be seen whether they will negotiate in good faith or continue to adopt the mitch mcconnell position of obstruction today, obstruction tomorrow, obstruction forever. >> you know, congresswoman marjorie taylor green was seen shouting at alexandria ocasio-cortez wednesday. "the washington post" reported it. our team asked congresswoman ocasio-cortez's office for a statement and they confirmed the "post's" account. they said they hoped house security would look into what happened. then you heard several republican members of congress suggesting that, you know, january 6th looked pretty much like, you know, tourists going through the rotunda. are you concerned at all still about security around the house, around capitol hill, are you confident of the measures that have been taken?

>> i'm certainly confident in steps that have been taken. we've had great leadership from speaker pelosi and leader hoyer. they're taking this incredibly seriously from the beginning. we all, you know, were firsthand witnesses and victims of the january 6th violent attack on the capitol. i think the biggest concern that i have is that the former president and his sycophants here in the house of representatives and across the hall in the senate, they continue to perpetrate this big lie, including by kevin mccarthy who has uttered it time and time and time again and continues to give aid and comfort to people like matt gaetz and marjorie taylor green. when they elevate this big lie, they continue the radicalization of millions of americans who actually think that donald trump won the election. and that is what jeopardizes the safety and security of members of congress. and so i know there are additional steps that are being taken by the chair of the

appropriations committee. speaker pelosi and others to invest in additional security to support our capitol police and provide the type of measures necessary to ensure that we can do our jobs as representatives in this great democracy. >> let me ask you finally, we're waiting for the president, he's going to be talking more about this big announcement about largely lifting mask mandates for fully vaccinated people. just moments ago there were celebrations. republican lawmakers pulled off their masks following these new guidelines. you can see senator susan collins, joni ernst, very specifically demasking. there you see joni ernst doing something that looks like a little dance. senator collins called today's announcement on masks long overdue but still a step in the right direction. is that how you would characterize it? >> i think that president biden continues to follow the guidance of our public health

professionals, that's what we've been directed to do here on capitol hill, as well. and that ultimately is the best pathway out of this pandemic. >> what do you think it's going to mean to the economy in new york, congressman? >> well, i think, you know, the most important thing to the economy in new york is going to be the $1.9 trillion american rescue plan that has provided substantial assistance both to crush the virus and to assist cities and states all across the country. and that has transformed, that will lay the foundation to get to a better place. this mask issue is not a political game. it's a serious step that needed to be taken in order to emerge from this pandemic, minimizing the amount of pain and suffering and death. >> congressman hakeem jeffries. it's good to see you. we appreciate your time today. thank you. >> thanks. any minute now we'll hear from president biden on that cdc decision to ease covid restrictios for vaccinated

people. and now that the cdc is saying yes to the covid vaccine for children 12 and up, how we got here. up next i'll talk with a 12-year-old girl who was actually involved in the clinical trial about why she decided to take that risk. feeling stressed in your skin? not with new olay retinol body wash. which improves skin 3x better. from dry and stressed, to bright and smooth. so, i can feel my best in my skin. olay body. fearless in my skin. my plaque psoriasis... ...the itching ...the burning. the stinging. my skin was no longer mine. my psoriatic arthritis, made my joints stiff, swollen... painful. emerge tremfyant™. with tremfya®,

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major milestone. starting today the pfizer vaccine is available to children ages 12 to 15. following that unanimous vote from the cdc advisory panel but even that vote of confidence and the trials that show the vaccine is 100% effective still not maybe enough to ease the minds of worried parents. now sophie and her dad. i'm thrilled to have both of you here. sophie, i have to start with you. say thank you for participating in the trial. it was a brave thing to do. what made you want to do it? >> well, of course, my dad talked over me with the concept forms and to go over it and i thought that i wanted a way to help out the community and a way to get out of this pandemic so that we could all be safe and go back to a normal lifestyle and

this is a perfect opportunity for that. >> did you have questions, concerns? i wonder if you have advice for parents talking with their kids about whether or not to get vaccinated. >> i did have some questions in the beginning but we knew about side effects in adults and i did get those side effects after getting the shot but they with respect that bad and i could have imagined much worse but that didn't and it was really just an easy experience and i did have questions but it wasn't an experience to be worried about. >> dr. holland, i don't know if you saw it last night but msnbc held a vaccination town hall last night and a mother asked about waiting for full fda approval before vaccinating her kids. i want to play part of what the surgeon general had to say to answer her. >> we now have really good data

that's telling us that the vaccines work in kids to protect them and the rate of adverse effects is extraordinarily low and the most common side effect were temporary muscle aches, fatigue and fever that lasted a couple days and went away and left with protection. the risks are really low and the benefits are really high. >> i wonder if you -- you obviously made a decision that you were going to let your daughter participate. what would you say to any mom or dad that's nervous about getting their kid vaccinated? >> i think it makes sense to have questions and think about that for their kids. at the time that sophie was enrolling in the trial we had a good safety database in adults.

so i felt confident ian that's why we felt good about going forward with that and the authorization of the fda means that this is a safe vaccine in kids as well. the side effects that we expect to see from vaccines they happen up front, soon after vaccination and now the kids like sophie who did get the vaccine and the trial observed for months and we have seen that it's safe. >> were there folks that thought you were a little bit crazy to let your daughter take part in this? >> i don't think so. we have had a lot of positive feedback and people are appreciative that sophie was willing to do this and assume what was a small but certainly an unknown outcome one of the first kids in the world to get this vaccine and i think mostly people are appreciative and supportive of us. >> does it feel cool to be one

of the first young people in the world to have this full vaccine? you're fully vaccinated. just found out that you did not get the placebo. >> yeah. found out today. a rush of excitement. so happy i got to contribute to that and benefit from getting the vaccine in the process and so happy that my friends can get it and my friends can be safe and excited to get it and excited i contributed to this. >> tell us what do you want to do first? >> i just want to hang out with my close friends that i haven't hung out with a while and feel like i'm in a normal lifestyle again and this is a huge step closer to that. >> i'm not examine rating when i say that you and other folks that participated in the trial and made this happen all the great scientists are my heroes. heroes for a lot of us. dr. holland, to you and your wife for letting her do that. have some fun.

we are excited. same day you find out you're fully vaccinated and can take the mask off. banner day, right? >> great day. thank you so much. >> thank you. that wraps up the hour for me. "deadline: white house" with niccole wallace starts right after this quick break. r this qk the patented blend is clinically shown to help manage blood sugar levels. boost glucose control products contain high quality protein and key nutrients to support immune health. try boost. alice loves the scent of gain so much, she wished there was a way to make it last longer. say hello to your fairy godmother alice and long-lasting gain scent beads. part of the irresistible scent collection from gain! from prom dresses to workouts and new adventures you hope the more you give the less they'll miss. but even if your teen was vaccinated against meningitis in the past they may be missing vaccination for meningitis b.

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it is 4:00 in the east joo we are awaiting president biden with news from the rose garden on the covid response. already this afternoon a major shift from his administration on what you can do two weeks after you have been fully vaccinated. it is the -- here he is. let's listen. >> gist a few hours the kroenter for disease control ian pro- voent cdc announced they're not recommending that fully vaccinated people need wear masks. this recommendation holds true whether you are inside or outside. i think it's the great milestone. a great day. it's been made possible by the extraordinary success we have had in vaccinating so many americans so quickly. to date, we have given out 250

million shots in 114 days. and we are seeing the results. cases are down in 49 of the 50 states. "the new york times" reported that hospitalizations are the lowest they have been since april of 2020. over a year ago. right after the start of the pandemic. deaths are down 80%, also the lowest level since april of 2020. and as the virus tragically rages in other countries, as other nations even wealthy nations are mired in the challenges of slow vaccine rollout and poor economic conditions, as a result things are very different here. in less than four months, we have gone from 5.5% to nearly 60% of the adults in america with at least one shot in their

arm. we have gone from stagnation to an economy that's growing faster than it has in nearly 40 year just we have gone from an anemic job creation to a record for job creation for a new administration. all of this is a product of prompt action to roll out the vaccine and boost our economy. as i said in my joint address to the congress, this vaccination effort has been historic logistic achievement for the united states of america. over the past 114 days our vaccination program has led the world. that's due to the incredible hard work ofo