masks, it now says we can finally start taking them off, as long as you're vaccinated. the cdc is dropping mask recommendations even indoors, even in large gatherings. last night rachel maddow asked the cdc director point-blank about the decision. check it out. >> how sure are you? this feels like a really big change. >> we're sure. it is a coalescing of all of the evidence now that tells us really it is safe to take off your mask. >> almost as soon as the cdc made their recommendation, states started scrapping their mask mandates. more than half a dozen states have already gotten the ball rolling in terms of changing their rules and we expect more in the coming days. i want to bring in nbc's ali vitali, dave gutierrez in new york city and explaining this, former director of the cdc and

president and ceo of resolve to save lives. ali, i want to start with you. what a day. what are people in washington telling you? >> what a day, steph. we've been out here on the mall for several hours already this morning, and we've seen a lot of people, masks around their children. masks as bracelets, just like i've got mine right now, and no masks at all as they've been on their morning walks and morning runs. also no masks at all. but also a little scepticism you cannot just flip an off switch and turn off all of the guidelines we have been hearing and doing over the last year and a half. a lot of people tell me they're fully comfortable taking their masks off outside. some of them still saying they will keep their masks inside. take a look at the diversity of opinions we've heard out here today. >> i think obviously for some spots, if it's touch and go and local guidance says you wear it,

you can put up with it for a little bit longer but i think it's long overdue. >> i already go to outdoor restaurants, indoor restaurants, i take my mask off. i feel comfortable. >> do you think you're going to ditch your mask or no? >> i'm going to keep it. i'm going to keep my mask. >> why? >> just a precaution. >> so, steph, people adjusting in realtime here, that's not just happening on the individual level. you mentioned it, it's happening on the state and local level as well. here in d.c., they're looking at the new cdc guidelines and that's where things get a little bit confusing. here in washington today, several museums with the smithsonian are reopening. as they start coming to the museum where i'm at today, they will be here in groups of six or fewer. they had to preregister online to come into this museum. they will be here on a timed pass. people won't kick them out the door but make sure people move along. the hardest thing for folks, steph, they might be waiting in line outside not having to wear

a mask. but then when they go inside this museum, they have to put their mask on. because right now in d.c., that is still the guidance. a lot of things changing in realtime here. people just trying to keep up. but excitement at the idea of going back to a new version of an old normal. >> a little confusing but we are headed in the right direction, gabe. it's obviously a huge development, joyous today. but you're in a community that lost so much. it may never get back to where we used to be. >> yeah, that's exactly right, stephanie. we're here in corona, queens, a neighborhood that shares its name with the virus. the one-time epicenter of the epicenter. and i can take you on a walk with me on corona plaza where in the subway line here, many people are still wearing their masks. we have been seeing people throughout the day, throughout the morning rather, street vendors here, many of them still wearing a mask, this street vendor hugging a very -- you

know, a lot of people greeting each other. still adjusting to these guidelines. the mayor and governor here in new york city, they do say they're reviewing the guidance here. they're removing guidance before they lift these mask mandates. these are communities, stephanie, that have been hit so hard by the pandemic just ravaged over the past year or so. about 28%, 28% of this area, only 28% is fully vaccinated at this point. a short time ago we did speak with the a doctor from the family health center here. he was skeptical about this updated guidance. take a listen. >> what was your reaction to the cdc's updated guidance? >> i was very surprised. i was very taken aback. and i understand where the cdc is coming up but at the same time we're not there yet.

>> as you just heard, there's scepticism here in communities like this one. we spoke to another advocate for the street vendors who say they're going to take a long time to get back financially to normal here. it's been such a difficult time, but there is a concerted effort to get the vaccine into these underserved communities. there's a vaccine bus that will pull up here this afternoon to try to get that vaccination level up. >> gabe, ali, thank you. tom, i wanted this decision but i was completely surprised. were you? >> not really. what we are seeing is a different context. most adults vaccinated. cases one-tenth they were at the peak, and more and more evidence that vaccines are highly effective at preventing infection and even more effective at preventing serious

sickness. so we can see the end of the pandemic. we're not there yet, we've still got a lot of cases, but i anticipate in the coming months cases will continue to go down and then we will be dealing with clusters and outbreaks. the challenge here is we still have a lot of unvaccinated people and communities and variants are the big wild card. >> there are people worried this could become a free for all. given how conservative this cdc has been, to make a call like this, does it tell us that the pandemic isn't over but it is certainly almost behind us? >> we've certainly seen the worst days of the pandemic in this country. stephanie, i want to get back to the global situation in a minute because that also affects us. there's important fineprint here. if you're immunocompromised, you want to be more careful. if you're concerned about influenza or other things inconclusive, you will want to wear a mask at times. if things change, variants

spread, cases go up, we may see changes in recommendations. but right now the challenge is continue to roll out vaccination as rapidly as possible in this country while we address the global problem, because globally we're still in terrible shape. vaccines are nowhere near available enough. we're not vaccinating health care workers globally, the elderly globally and we don't have the kind of supply coming for at least a year unless we take a very different approach. unless the pandemic is over globally, it won't be over here, not only because of travel, trade, stability and economy, but also because anywhere there's uncontrolled spread there could be more dangerous variants emerging and those variants could cause a real problem here or anywhere. we're really all connected. this is good news. it's a remarkable tribute to the progress, both scientific progress making great vaccines and everyone's progress, getting vaccinated.

>> you've been saying for months we need to follow the science, not make this political. the cdc has spoken. if we see states, local governments, still keep their mandate, not listen to the cdc, what does that say to the american people? won't they get frustrated? wasn't it i thought we were supposed to listen to science? >> it's a confusing time. so i think a mandate for outdoors doesn't make any sense. i've said that for about a year. for indoor mandate, how do you know who's vaccinated and who's not? in some countries they have proof of vaccination. if you're proven to be vaccinated, you can come in, have 100% occupancy at restaurants. but here we don't have any accepted way of doing that. in new york there's the excelsior pass and some places have banned it. what do you do about the workout spaces, gyms where workout instructors may be showering and choirs we know spread a lot of

covid. but there are complicated areas, fine print here. but the big picture is things are getting better, they're going to continue to get better and the more we vaccinate and share vaccines and vaccine technology globally, the better off we'll be, safer we will be and sooner the world can put this pandemic behind us. >> before we go, we've spent a lot of time in the last month or so talking about vaccine hesitancy. i want to play part of what a woman told us yesterday when she heard the news of how it relates to getting a vaccine. >> i get vaccinated in a second if it means i don't have to wear a mask anymore, done. i'm over it. so over it. so to work with no mask, show off my pretty smile, you know, and see other people's beautiful smile. >> is this the motivator for people who are hesitant about getting the vaccine to finally get them over the hump and get the shot?

>> it's one of the motivators. stephanie, there are more people who want to get a vaccine and haven't yet then there are who are concern and don't want to get a vaccine. so we need to continue to increase access, get the right messages and mandates. vaccine or mask is a great message for a lot of people. there will be other messages that are important as well, including highlighting the stories of people with long covid, still struggling and suffering from covid infection. these can be healthy, young people who are now having difficulty going about their daily lives. i think showing the reality of covid will also help, especially as there are fewer and fewer cases so people may have kind of a less than a sense of urgency to get vaccinated. >> all right, dr. tom frieden, gabe gutierrez, ali vitali, thank you. we will be diving into how this new guidance impacts businesses in the next hour. and if you have questions, craig melvin will be hosting a special report. he will be joined by a team of

doctors at 11:00 a.m. eastern here. can you tweet your questions with the #msnbcanswers or email them to talk@msnbc.com. we know this is very good news but we know people have lots and lots of questions. we also have breaking news on capitol hill regarding the vote on congresswoman elise stefanik to replace congresswoman liz cheney in the lead house position. garrett haake is on the hill. what's the latest? >> the vote is under way right now. house republicans gathered at 8:30 this morning. there have been a series of nominating speeches for bong both stefanik and a challenger she received from congress, chip roy, republican of texas, member of the freedom caucus threw his hat in the ring yesterday. what's happening literally as we speak, secret ballot under way. the minute we hear the results, i will let you know, steph. for right now, stefanik is still

the odds-on favorite here. i don't think there's any consideration she won't ultimately win this vote having both the backing of minority leader kevin mccarthy and most importantly the strident backing of former president trump, whose push on cheney here is kind of how we got into this situation in the first place. >> charlotte, you write about how congresswoman stefanik went from a moderate to maga, sort of putting political power or power grab above ideology. does the change in stephanie represent the change we're seeing in the republican party? >> yeah, almost exactly. she has thoroughly mirrored the evolution of the party as a whole. stefanik started off her career in the bush white house. she -- paul ryan was her mentor and when she first came into congress in 2014, she was -- she was elected in 2014, she was really there in order to try to modernize the gop, help it

appeal to millennials like her. so that meant she was more moderate on climate change, she was more moderate on immigration. she was more moderate on lgbtq rights. but then the party changed, her district changed and she reacted accordingly and starting in 2018 and 2019, we started to see her wholeheartedly embracing trump in a way that he hadn't done when he first emerged. >> then does congresswoman cheney now become the leader of those 100-plus republicans threatening to leave the party, where do they all go? i mean, they're obviously not elected officials but she is and she's got mitt romney and adam kinzinger and a few others still floating around in the middle. >> yeah, it's pretty clear that she is trying to position herself to be a leader of this sort of rump faction of the republican party that is either

still opposed to trump or at least opposed to the idea of the big lie, that the election was stolen. and that, frankly, has been one of the things people who know elise stefanik told me was most surprising to them because she is widely considered to be highly intelligent, probably one of the most intelligent people on the hill, and people who know her, who knew her early in her career, told me from my book that she was somebody who had a deep, deep sense of integrity and very good personal character. i think that's one of the things that's been disappointing a lot of people who know her, she's kind of signed on to these conspiracy theories about a stolen election in a way that the elise stefanik of 2014 never would have done. >> then garrett, does anything change with congresswoman stefanik in this leadership position, beside the fact she gets to stand behind kevin mccarthy when she's at the

podium and go like this? >> well, i think the remaining members of house leadership are hoping they will be able to deliver a more coherent message without getting off track when asked about donald trump. that's how this all started, of course. kevin mccarthy would take questions about trump, attempt to dodge them. reporters like myself would then ask to go down the line. liz cheney would engage with the questions in a way that frustrated and ultimately infuriated the rest of house leadership. so they are hoping they're at least together on message on one thing now and that is their continued support and allegiance to the former president. >> charlotte, garrett, thank you both so much. we will leave it there. coming up -- major bridge connecting two states shut down after a massive crack is fortunately discovered before something terrible could have happened. this as senate republicans say their infrastructure talks with president biden actually went well. but how close are they really to a deal? and many americans, me included, are breathing a sigh

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truck drivers are struggling to keep products moving across the country this morning after the shutdown of a major bridge, the m bridge is a key route for drivers to get across the mississippi river between arkansas and tennessee. inspectors closed it down after discovering a massive crack this week. the frustrating situation is making the need for infrastructure investment even more urgent. and to that end, president biden says he plans to hold another round of talks with republicans next week on his infrastructure plan and theirs. the announcement coming after the president met with a ground of leading gop senators thursday at the white house, both sides describing the talks as productive. >> very, very good meeting.

it was great to be back with so many colleagues that i had served with in the senate, and i am very optimistic we can reach a reasonable agreement, but even if we don't, there's a good-faith effort since this started. >> i'm not honking the bipartisan horn yet but it sounds like it's a positive. joining us now to discuss the new moderator of "washington week" airing tonight on pbs, yamiche alcindor and jonathan allen, senior national reporter for nbc news. yamiche, two nights ago the president signaled when he was talking to lawrence o'donnell he was willing to make a deal with republicans on hard infrastructure. he then touts this very productive meeting yesterday. and i want to share what republican senator roger wicker said this morning -- >> it was a good meeting. we feel good about it. we've agreed to give the president a more concrete

proposal, and he's going to get back to us. i think we can get it done. >> could we actually see an infrastructure deal here? >> we could. talking to white house sources all week and talking to some of the senators who came to the white house after those meetings, you got the sense -- and there is a sense there really is optimism when it comes to trying to get a deal on hard infrastructure, that being roads and bridges. that being said, these senators who emerged from that meeting, especially senator shelley moore capito, when i asked her what were the actual issues in contention, what were the things they thought we couldn't agree on, she couldn't answer. all she said was the president asked us to give him more details. when white house sources talked to me, that means they tell me they want to know how do republicans plan to pay for a lot of this if they don't want to touch the 2017 tax cuts that were the signature achievement. they think of former president trump and the thing senator

mitch mcconnell said he didn't want to budge on. that being said there's still filing president biden would likely have to go it alone. when he thinks about the expanded infrastructure, that means dealing with health care workers, community college aspects, family aspects, giving tax credits for people to childcare, all of those different things. but there could be one bill that's about a bipartisan deal and there could still be a go-it-alone bill where democrats focus on the issues that they think are important as well. >> john, details matter, especially in the age of misinformation, which is what we are living in. you went to michigan and you talked to voters about the president's plan, about the overall general idea to tax the wealthy. the idea of taxing the wealthy is wildly popular with most people, but what do they tell you about the details of it? >> so, i was in saginaw county, michigan, stephanie, which is a place where joe biden won by about quarter of a percentage point after trump won in 2016.

what i heard from a lot of voters there was in fact they want to see it work. they're not on focused about the details of the infrastructure package as they are really getting through the pandemic, as they are benefits, whether that's unemployment insurance, whether it's food aid benefits that may come to an end at the end of the school year for some families, but what a heard a lot of was please tax the wealthy more to pay for government services. and the swing area, i heard folks too that are worried raising taxes whether it's on individuals or corporations will slow the economy, corporations will pass on any tax increases to them to the consumers. we're hearing a lot on both sides there but certainly the idea of taxing the wealthy is pretty popular. >> yamiche, we have to remember

leader mcconnell made it very clear, he wants to block every single thing on biden's agenda and zero republicans voted for the covid relief plan. but how can republicans from places like arkansas, tennessee, mississippi, vote against an infrastructure bill when you have the m bridge completely closed right now? >> well, that is the same question that white house officials and president biden are asking, and they're really trying to lean in to republicans and say, look, listen to your own voters. listen to the governors, mayors, some of them who have appeared on camera with president biden as he travels around the country, explaining to americans what he wants to do on structure. they really are betting on the idea their plans are popular enough with republican voters and, of course, democratic voters and that would spur change from the senators and house members. and that being said, it's still 2022 and these elections are coming up. republicans know they could be handing president biden a great thing to talk about in the midterm elections if he's able to pull off a bipartisan

infrastructure bill. so the politics of all of this is definitely looming large here. >> john, if he can't pull off a bipartisan bill on hard infrastructure, can joe biden get his whole thing done if he goes at it alone? we keep hearing, he can just do it alone to get everything in there, but can he? we've already heard from democrats from high-tax states that say unless he corrects and makes an adjustment on state and local taxes, they're not going to play ball. we know john manchin isn't going to play ball. could joe biden go at it alone and get this whole thing done even if he wanted to? >> no, not the entirety of what he proposed. let me say "washington week" is much more reliable than the infrastructure in washington. we keep hearing about infrastructure week after week for years and years -- >> that's not saying much though. >> no, it is absolutely not. but yamiche's show is great and

i hope people watch it. as far as getting the whole thing done, i think a lot of it will be under reconciliation and that's where the democrats get it done with 50 votes instead of 60. so even if they were to get john manchin on board with something that didn't include republicans or house democrats with competitive races on board for something that looks exactly like what biden proposed, a lot of that stuff wouldn't meet the standards for reconciliation. this idea of splitting the bill up actually makes a lot of sense from the perspective if they can get 60 votes for the hard infrastructure, a package that's in the $800 billion to trillion dollar range, the pay comes a little easier on that and they come back through with some type of reconciliation and get whatever they can. i think it makes sense for a president to go out there and make a big proposal, sweeping proposal that he knows will have to get scaled back because it's never going to be the case he goes to congress and they decide

to expand what he's doing. >> split it up, get it done and maybe even keep on trucking across the m bridge hopefully. yamiche, jonathan, thank you both so much. yamiche, we will be watching you tonight, it's friday night. this morning we've got to talk about the colonial pipeline. you know it, it provides much of the gas along the east coast running from texas to new jersey. good news, it is back up and running. and u.s. official confirming to nbc the u.s. paid the hackers who shut down the networks nearly $5 in ransom, using bitcoins to make the payment, making it completely anonymous. the fbi discouraged victims from paying hackers but they don't outright prohibit it. many americans are feeling the effect of the shutdown with long lines and higher prices at gas stations. the company said it could take several days to replenish the supply. remember, they don't just flip the switch back on. it takes 5 miles an hour to get through this thing and it's 5,500 miles long. coming up, many americans are thrilled about the new mask

guidance, but what does it mean for businesses? are they now in charge of monitoring who has the vaccine and who doesn't? could you be going back to work sooner than you thought? i'll be right back. with moderate to severe crohn's disease, i was there, just not always where i needed to be. is she alright? i hope so. so i talked to my doctor about humira. i learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of crohn's disease after trying other medications. the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief in as little as 4 weeks. and many achieved remission that can last. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection.

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. the cdc says vaccinated people do not have to wear masks anymore, but are businesses and business owners ready for the change? we have already heard from one big business, delta air lines, who say any new employees must be vaccinated and existing employees who are not vaccinated will have their duties restricted. i want to dig deeper into all of this, ellison barber has been talking to small business owners in new york city, matt shea, president and ceo of the national retail federation, and jason furman, he chaired the white house council of economic advisers under president obama. ellison, to you first, these businesses have completely changed the way they did business over the last year. are they ready to go back? i think ellison doesn't hear us. >> hey, stephanie, i'm not sure -- losing my sound in my

ears but i think your question had to do with whether or not business owners are ready for this new normal, if you will. they're certainly ready to talk about it. this is a restaurant that has 14 locations across the gulf coast and even as mask mandates changed locally, they were still requiring their servers to wear face masks, especially as they were interacting with customers at tables, but now the owner of this, he says they're going to reassess that. >> that's something we're going to look at and look at it very, very hard. we'll probably talk to some of our customers. i know our employees are ready to be rid of the masks. as long as our customers feel good about it, and i know they will, that will be something we will be doing. >> and talking to another business owner not far from here, he said the exact same thing, that they're going to be reassessing this. the one thing though that we don't necessarily know at this point from speaking with these owners is how or if they will

make sure their staff or even customers are vaccinated. one thing to keep in mind when we're talking about a state like mississippi, this state in particular, is that only 26% mississippians, only 26% have been vaccinated so far. that is not just low, according to "the new york times" tracker, that is the lowest vaccination rate of all 50 states. >> ellison, ellison, we've got to leave it there. we have to turn to kevin mccarthy, who is speaking. >> first our focus is back to work, back to school, back to health, and back to normal. we're thankful for operation warped speed, that just yesterday the cdc said you don't have to wear a mask 23 you're vaccinated. i believe in the vaccine. i believe in the ingenuity of america. i also believe we shouldn't give that away for free. so with that, i want to call up our whip, steve scalise. >> thank you, kevin. i also want to congratulate our new conference chair, elise

stefanik. congratulations. you're going to do a great job. our conference is incredibly unified right now but we're also very concerned because america is experiencing numerous crises. all across the board, you're seeing president biden fail to lead this nation through some unprecedented serious problems that are affecting everyday hard working families. it's not just in america, by the way, we are seeing crises. across the globe you see right now thousands of rockets going off in the middle east. israel is under attack. where is president biden's leadership? he spent more time negotiating to help iran get towards a nuclear weapon than to confront the problems of hamas and palestinians attacking israel. you are seeing russia continue to be on the move. in fact, not only is russia on the move in eastern europe, russia is attacking america's pipelines. what is president biden doing? he's making it easier for russia

to send us gasoline, to be more reliant on russia and middle eastern oil because he shut off the spigots. it's not only the keystone pipeline he shut down, he's also canceled leases and permits on drilling on federal lands making americans less energy secure, and that means families are paying more money at the pump. when you see lines at the pump, that's something people haven't seen, like our leader said, since the 1970s. this is because of president biden's failed leadership. where is he on these problems? why hasn't president biden or harris gone to the border? the crisis is created by president biden's failed policies. we had a secure border when he took office -- >> we will leave it there and check back in. all right. we're going to leave that there. we're going to step back in when elise stefanik is speaking. i want to turn back to my panel.

matt shea, let's talk about the cdc guidelines. for offices, this is very good news. they can limit who is in the building, they know who their employees are and can ask vaccination status. but for retail organizations, big box stores, how do they handle this? >> 125e6, i think we saw from the beginning going back this time last year, march and april, some of the most challenging and early days of facing the pandemic with so many unanswered, unknown questions, retailers spent up, protected their communities and frontline workers and associates with a whole range of measures and that carried all through last year. you may remember we were the first industry group to come out last july in support of mandatory mask mandates in stored. we got some fan mail about that, but it was the right thing to do because it worked. the cdc's guidance is simply that, guidance. localities, states, store owners will do what makes sense for

them and their community members and customers and they will continue to prioritize health and safety. i will say there's an enormous amount of confusion out there. the messages have been very muddled from the cdc. it's created some skepticism from members of our community. so the best i think we can do is rely on store operators and retailers to continue to do what they've done, which is prioritize health and safety of the people in those stores and they will do that as we go forward, taking this guidance into consideration. >> matt, does it get even harder for them? we know over the last few months, we have seen frontline workers in stores get harassed, even get assaulted when asking some customers to wear masks. if retailers decide they still want people to wear masks because they can't monitor who's been vaccinated and they want to protect those workers, how much more of a challenge are they facing to get people to do that? >> well, there's no question that it put frontline employees in really tough situations. we saw examples of that last

year and we still see that in some places. i think by and large most americans have kind of gotten with the program, gotten the message and we normalized the idea you need to wear a mask when you go into some of these businesses. there are people who are going to ignore that guidance or those requirements, and they still do. and sometimes that creates conflict. i think we've done a good job through our foundation and other resources giving guidance to retailers how to de-escalate conflict, how to work with customers that are skeptics for some reason. i think as we see more gemting people getting the vaccine, you see the case count of infections going down, more businesses opening, outdoor dining, americans assuming normal patterns. i think we're getting comfortable and hopefully that will eliminate or substantially reduce these kind of frictional points in retail locations and restaurants. >> how about offices, andrew? does this speed up when we go back to the office?

>> when we go back to the office and it also will create an even more complicated situation and it gets back to the whole question of whether you're going to require vaccination more than anything. are people going to wear masks inside the office? are they not going to wear masks inside the office? to be honest with you, i think this is going to create even more confusion than ever before. and i think you're going to have more people not -- wanting to not wear a mask and saying i don't have to wear a mask. and then there's the question of, you know, is there going to be testing? what's the vaccination rate going to be, et cetera, et cetera? i would just make one point, stephanie, which is for all of the companies in america who say they want a better society, and they say it all the time, the one thing they actually can do which they've been unwilling to do thus far, is actually mandate vaccination. you saw delta do it for new employees and new employees only. but it baffles me to this day given the trillions of dollars that was pumped out directly to

businesses to help them during the pandemic, that the one thing they've been unwilling to do thus far is help themselves and help society by mandating the vaccine. of course, there will be instances where that continues to be the case, for medical reasons, religious reasons and others, but it's something i think that has to be on the table. >> andrew, put medical and religious reasons aside. businesses and individuals were willing to take trillions of dollars in support from our government over the last year and the only thing our government is asking of them is to get vaccinated. it baffles me why they wouldn't. jason, this is obviously going to be a huge win for our economy on a week when we certainly need it. at this point, does the federal government need to keep pumping money support into the system? just yesterday i saw a bill proposed, $30 billion for small gyms. it's been a really difficult year for lots of businesses but we know there have been billions and billions of dollars for

small business in ppp loans. at this point can't the government say i'm going to step back? we know demand is there and household savings is up, we're ready to spend? >> absolutely, stephanie. the only thing the government needs to keep pumping is vaccines into people's arms. that is the most important thing for the economy. what the government did helped. $2.8 trillion this year, that's working its way through our economy. that money is still getting out there. people need to feel safe about using that money. they're increasingly feeling safe, which is great news. the most important aspect of the cdc announcement and, yes, it was bumpy, it's going to be confusing. maybe could have been handled better. but most important is it's going to help vaccinations. it's going to make it clear all of the wonderful things you can do if you're vaccinated. i agree with andrew, i would love it if this puts pressure on more businesses to require vaccination for their employees.

we've required it for our students at harvard. i hope we require it for our -- my fellow employees at harvard. and lots and lots of other institutions doing the same around the country is how we can get our economy back, get our lives back. this guidance makes that clearer than ever before. >> well, jason, please let harvard know that all of my kids are going to be vaccinated so whenever harvard's ready, they're ready too. matt, andrew, jason, thank you. we have to leave it there because we have to head back to capitol hill. elise stefanik is taking questions now. let's listen in. >> listen, competition is in good america. we are the united states of america. we should have a discussion of ideas. i welcome the competition. i'm honored for the support. we are working as one team. my job as house republican conference chair, we are focused on putting forth policies and

communicating them to the american people to beat democrats and we are going to win the majority in 2022 as one team. >> miss stefanik -- >> yes. >> is there a place in the party where there will be people like liz cheney and adam kinzinger? >> liz cheney is part of this conference. they were elected and sent here by the people in their district. they are part of this conference. we're unified in working with president trump. my job representing our republican members, the vast majority, look forward to working with president trump. >> have you talked to liz cheney since the events of this week? >> i have not. thank you, everybody. >> one last thing, i want to wish our policy chair right here happy birthday. it's her birthday today. do you all remember the birthday song? here we go. ♪ this is your birthday song, it's a happy song, hey ♪

>> all right, everybody have a great weekend. >> republicans are ending on a high note, high note for them. elise stefanik, her first remarks now that she's in her new leadership position. coming up -- violence in israel and gaza continuing this morning with more than 120 israelis and palestinians now reported dead. we're going to go live to the ground for the latest. latest. you're clearly someone who takes care of yourself. so why wait to screen for colon cancer? because when caught in early stages, it's more treatable. i'm cologuard.

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the attacked on gaza last night. we have to share the breaking news in the middle east with tanks, artilleries and planes using tunnels by hamas. martin, this has opinion a devastating week. tell us what's the latest on this ground. >> reporter: it's 5:45 in the afternoon here now and there's been consistent firing from dpau -- gaza from israel.

it's nothing like the intensity of like night which was a night to remember or maybe to forget. 200 rockets fired into israel t in a barrage sending the israelis to the bomb shelter. one 89-year-old woman was killed. israel was pounding gaza seeking those same hamas targets of hamas military facilities, police stations, the factories where the hamas is manufacturing those rockets they are using to fight israel to send into israel. new thing was israel has been targeting very intensely the underground tunnel complex. they are calling underground city underneath the city of gaza. very sophisticated complex network of tunnels that hamas is using to hide their fighters. they are using as an operation center and israel went after the complex very intently last night. also, on the ground, at the border fence, israel called out

9,000 reserves. they sent two infantry brigades and one mechanical brbrigade. they are at the border of gaza ready to invade waiting for the order which we're not sure will come. we're not sure whether it's a show of force or a sign of the imminent escalation of the battle. this is danger now. will israel invade gaza on the ground. not clear at all. >> martin, thank you. stay safe where you are. this morning we head back to washington because we have big news about the investigation into congressman matt gaetz. his associate in florida is expected the plead guilty to federal charges that led to the sex trafficking probe. gaetz is being investigated but least not been charged of a crime and he's repeatedly denied

any wrong doing. pete, put this into context. what does this mean for the gaetz investigation? >> it's a big step forward. it's been pretty clear that greenburg would agree to plead guilty and the fact there's the sign it will be a change of ple government knows basically what he would tell the government. they wouldn't agree to this plea deal unless they had a pretty good idea of the goods that he would offer. what this means is he will probably cooperate, continue to cooperate with investigators, potentially testify before a grand justify that's investigating gaetz. it's a step forward for the investigators. it doesn't mean anything about whether charges will be filed but it does mean a step forward for the investigators trying to learn more about the relationship between gaetz and greenburg involving young women, was money paid, was other favors given. those are the key keys and

greenburg can answer them. >> he's continuing to go to wrong. he's speaking at republican fund raiders. realistic, how much trouble is he in? >> there's two ways to look at that. how much trouble in terms of potential charges being filed. it would be great concern do him and his lawyers that now this person at the very center of the case, remember it was the investigation of greenburg that led them to look at gaetz. now this person is willing to talk pretty freely to investigators. that's a bad sign. in terms of the charges, if charges ever were filed and it ever did go to court, then i'm sure that one of things the lawyers for gaetz would do is attack greenburg's credibility. he's already charged with make things up involving other allegations of underage sex, so they would attack his credibility and that would be a key issue at the trial if there ever was one.

>> it's fair to say it's messy and going to be ugly. thank you smouch. thank you for watching. that wraps up this very busy hour. if you have questions about the new mask guidance, we're hear to help. we'll have a team of doctors to answer them today at 11:00 a.m. eastern. you can tweet your questions with the hashtag, nbc answers. thanks for watching. ashtag, nbc. thanks for watching. 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 ♪

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the new covid reality setting in across the country the morning with the new guidance on masks affecting americans coast to coast. following two big stories as we speak on capitol hill. we're learning just within the last few minutes after a bipartisan agreement to create a 9/11 still commission to investigate what happened on january 6th. republicans are now emerging from their private meeting with a new member of leadership. the gop electing elise stefanik as their new conference chair. you have city, states, bid, families, racing to review the cdc new guidelines for unmasking. what is behind the decision and what it means for the nation's fight against the pandemic. >> i am cautiously optimistic

we're seeing this great, great end point in sight. >> a major step towards trying to get us back to a degree of normality. >> do not toss your masks just yet. what you need know about when vaccinated people will still need it. we have the latest from our team of medical experts, incluing answers for parents who are still high risk. let's get to that breaking news. we just learned about this 9/11 still commission to look into what happened at the insurrection. this has been safe to say, months in the making. there had not been bipartisan agreement but that has changed as of today. >> reporter: that's right. these had been incredibly thorny negotiations between congressional leadership. they kicked it out to the chairman and ranking member of the house homeland security economy who came up with a deal