from home improvement, drugstores, select travel and more earn 5% cash back that automatically adjusts to your top eligible spend category, up to $500 spent each billing cycle. hi there, everyone. it's 4:00 in the east. today we find out if democrats have the stomach to fight like republicans when they believe the future of our democracy is on the line. feshl voting rights expected to garner all the support of the democrats in the u.s. senate today but ultimately republicans are expected to be successful in blocking the only known antidote to the only supporter nullification laws masquerading as social security bills racing through legislatures in 48 states. now, i never pretend to think i should tell democrats what to do, but i can tell you what

republicans would do. in fact, history can tell you what republicans would do. now, i take democrats at their word that they believe nothing less than the health of our democracy on the line in the wave of voter suppression laws. >> this really is horrific. this is pre-1965. this is undermining the most fundamental vision of citizens participating in their democracy, so it is shameful. >> to give our kids to grow up in a true democracy, not just one with the occasional election, but a representative, vibrant democracy where every voice is heard and every voice matters and every vote is counted. that's why this is so important. >> we are not asking for the bestole of a right. we are asking about the preservation of a right. that is the right of a citizenship. >> i think at some point this summer the question will be

called, do we want a filibuster on are do we want democracy, because it's increasingly looking like you can't have both. >> so, to democrats this is existential. the democratic party's position is that democracy takes a potentially unrecoverable blow without federal voting rights legislation. if true, they mean that and i believe they do and i believe they're right. but if that's true, then we would not be covering what we're about to cover today. what is expected to be merely a symbolic show of support by democrats for voting rights, a drama-free event by democrats followed by certain defeat of those efforts at the hands of gop obstruction of said voting rights legislation. keep in mind, when mitch mcconnell felt that what was existential for him was his power and his ability and his power to appoint judges, he did away with the filibuster. no hand-wringing, no nothing. far less at stake than the faft our democracy, and i promise you, if the shoe were on the

other foot, mcconnell would not think twice. one of the two political parties in this country has broken bad, predicated on a lie. of course, there was not any systematic election fraud in 2020. just historic turnout. but here we are, and today state legislators are begging washington democrats for help. more than 480 of them signed onto a letter urging for the bill's passing, writing this, quote, we are out of options. we need your help. the world is watching. american democracy is in the balance. when future generations judge whether we rose to this pivotal moment in history, we hope you will be counted alongside us in the fight to preserve this experiment in self-governance. that's where we start today with some of our most favorite reporters and friends. white house correspondent for pbs newshour and moderator of "washington week," joining us former rnc chairman, michael steele and former democratic

congresswoman debora edwards, now contributing columnist with "the washington post" is here. i've spoken to the white house. i know you speak to lots of people there. tell me their view on what is happening today. >> white house officials underscore that president biden feels revolted by these gop laws to restrict voting but they feel this is a senate issue when it comes to the filibuster. the president wants to see some voting legislation passed. there was a white house statement out just today saying democracy is in peril and it is imperative to pass the for the people act, but the white house also understands the president cannot change the senate and, from my understanding, the president and the vice president are going to be out engaging voters, engaging voting groups, state legislatures to see what they can do. the white house press secretary said over and over today, the fight is not over. that said, you hear the frustrations in voices of democratic activists saying they

think the president is not using his bully pulpit enough. the white house pushes back and said, in fact, the president gave a speech in tulsa, oklahoma. the feeling is among progressive democrats that democrats need to do more, when you look at january 6th, and the way republicans have bend the rules in their favor, they think. this is really reaching a fever pitch where progressive democrats are saying, are we going to go with a procedural rule or democracy itself? >> michael steele, it's not just progressive democrats. and i think that's the -- the dynamic feels backward to me. the progressive democrats would be fine, probably, even if 48 voter suppression and voter nullification laws were to tragically pass. it's the red state democrats who should be really, really, really worried. here's one of them. here's senator tester. >> i think the filibuster is important, but i think this is pretty fundamental to our country and who we are. and so i would take another look

at the filibuster, if that's what we need to do to move forward on this. but i will say the filibuster does put legislation out that stands the test of time. no doubt about that. on the other side, i didn't come here to do nothing, and i think this is pretty fundamental to what our country is all about. >> that feels like one of the most important things that's been said. this isn't a choice between a good choice and a bad choice. they're both bad. they both suck, because as i said, republicans have broken bad. and he's right. the filibuster has done more good than harm, until this moment. and now it is being used by a party that is not legislating in good faith. blocking the commission to investigate january 6th was predicated on a lie. these 400 laws racing through state legislatures are predicated on a lie. where do you see this going? >> well, i agree with senator tester. and i think his assessment of it is exactly right in terms of why he was sent to the united states senate and what the business in

this moment should be about. the country has watched after taking risk unto themselves to participate in democracy last november, they've watched, you know, my party, your former party, just systematically degrade the value of the vote. and sort of rapt it with this persistent lie about the events of november 3rd and then topped it off with january 6th. but here's the rub that's so maddening in all of this discussion. what we're going to witness in a few hours is a vote on whether or not they should debate the bill. this isn't a vote on the bill or the merits of the bill. this is just to have the debate. so what senator tester and others are saying, okay, i may have some issues with the

substance of s-1, you know, sr-1, but can we have the debate? that's all the country's saying. that's what the letter you showed at the top of the segment is all about. can we at least have the debate? and for republicans, i would think, hey, this is a good opportunity for us to give our view on why certain provisions in this aren't suitable for the moment, are not right for democracy, et cetera. make your case for what kind of voting experience you would like voters to have, right? and to the extent democrats have in crafting, joe manchin in particular, crafting legislation that accommodates a lot of those desire that republicans have particularly wailed about for voting, they still don't want to have the debate. so, you know, we're going to watch this unfold. now the test as it was in the beginning is now and looks like it will be for a while on

democrats to figure out what the heck their strategy's going to be. do they pull out pieces of sr-1 and put pieces before the senate going forward? do they take what manchin put on the table in whole cloth and work that on the back end after this fails? that's what the next test is about and we'll see how well the democrats meet that test. >> donna edwards, michael steele put it in a more elegant way. let me be a little more blunt as i tend to do. joe manchin put voter id requirement in there, something republicans have wanted since back when i was a republican, six decades. that is in there. republicans aren't going to permit a debate because republicans aren't looking at this in good faith. they are looking at this in bad

faith, the same bad faith that incited a deadly insurrection in which the mission statement was, hang mike pence. so what, given those dynamics, do you think should happen next? >> well, i have every reason to believe because history has told us that that as much as mitch mcconnell has tried to stymied and has democrats right now, that whatever it is joe manchin crafts, which i think he will do in good faith, i think mitch mcconnell will pull back, peel back just enough republicans to hold it at bay. so, i share the frustration of activists around the country who wonder like, you know, if you can't do it on voting rights, on the mere right to be able to cast your vote without somebody getting in the way of it, what else can be done? i think it's very frustrating. and i think that if the shoe

were on the other foot, there's no doubt in my mind that republicans would be doing everything they could to move their agenda forward and getting rid of the filibuster to do it. and i think that we are on a march in that direction. and democrats could make -- i mean, the decision about democracy, which i do think is an existential threat, but it's also a political threat, for pete's sake. if democratic-based voters are being prevented from voting and these rules are being put in place in states all across the country, it's a political threat to democrats as well. and so i don't understand why there isn't a sense of absolute urgency about passing legislation that enables people to vote whether republicansment to do it or not. >> donna, to your point, republicans see it exactly that way. and they have since election

day. >> well, they absolutely have. look, i'm on the side of madison and hamilton. i don't see the need for the filibuster. it certainly isn't needed in modern times. and, really, it doesn't go to the issue of whether we can move forward any legislation, whether it's bipartisan or not, buzz republicans want to get in the way of the bipartisan legislation, too. >> let me add to our conversation. democratic senator jeff merkley of oregon, the lead senate sponsor of the for the people act. thank you for joining us. i want to read from your op-ed. i saved it until you joined us. you write, on january 6th we were all reminded in the starkest of terms that government of the people, by the people and for the people is not guaranteed. but a violent mob unleashed on the u.s. capitol is not the only way to attack a democracy. in fact, are we the people democracy has been under siege for decades as the powerful and privileged have funneled

billions in dark money and undermined citizens' right to vote. why? so the government does their bidding instead of reflecting the will of the people. there are things that i know you have been fighting for for a long time. i think my old boss, john mccain and former senator russ feingold, fought some of the same fights. it feels like this is all of those fights on steroids. this is removing drop boxes. this is sort of low-tech and high-tech. this is rigging the referees. this is removing the brad rathen bergers from the line they walk. can you just put the stakes today in context of the historic fight you've waged? >> it's a massive rigging of the elections in america. we're trying to stop that rigging with these core principles that really americans of every party support. the right of every american to cast a ballot and not be

targeted with barriers that were set up especially for them. stopping gerrymandering, stopping billionaires from drowning out the voice of the people and buying elections. and ending the conflicts of interest that create so much corruption and prevent public servants from serving the public. these four principles are the entire purpose of this bill. every part of it deals with one aspect of that or the other. and these concepts are in the dna of americans. when you asked about these parts of the bill, three out of four americans of both parties say, yes, we're on board, get it done. and it does have that urgency that donna was talking to. today we're ringing the bell on round one of the fight. this isn't like other fights where you lose and say, well, we didn't have that policy support so we'll wait two years and is see if we have more votes. no, this goes right to the heart of our constitution. it means we have to act now to defend the americans' rights

from the predatory actions taking place in state after state after state, so we'll come back for round two and round three and round four and round five until we win. >> what does round two look like? unless i have this wrong, there will not be the votes to even have a debate on voting rights legislation today. >> several of my colleagues have constantly reminded us that this should never be a partisan debate, these principles are all american. you know, so after we work out the details with joe manchin, joe and sinema will join us and say, join us in defending the rights of the constitution of all americans. should that fail, and mitch mcconnell likes to go to the floor and brag about locking down his caucus. if i was a republican senator, i'd be embarrassed to have a leader say that i have been locked down, almost like you've

been locked up to prevent you from voting to defend the constitution. but we'll find out just how locked up they are, if that is, in fact, the case. then 50 champions for our constitution have to get in the room and say, how do we rebalance the role of the filibuster? and it's best framing by some of my colleagues, it's about slowing things down to make sure the majority doesn't run over the top of the minority. they get a chance to be heard. they get a chance to offer amendments and a chance to work out compromises. but should that not be the purpose of mcconnell's actions, and i'm pretty sure it's not, you know, i mean, his goal is pure obstruction, then we have the responsibility to figure out the second half of that social contract, which is, in the end, the minority cannot obstruct the majority from taking action. and that's the piece that's missing right now, and we'll have to figure out how to

restore the filibuster, strength know strengthen the fill buster to recreate that contract. >> do you have in your mind what mitch mcconnell himself viewed as existential and worthy of blowing up the filibuster for the appointment of conservative justices? when you're in the room making this case to your democratic colleagues who are skeptical about filibuster reform, what is the case you make? >> well, we start with the fact that our constitutional authors wrote the constitution when they were part of the confederation congress that was paralyzed by a super majority and they warned us not to do this. donna referred to that. hamilton said, you'll produce tedious delays and compromises of the common good. and madison said, you cannot let the will of the majority bow to the will of the minority, compromising the fundamental principle of a republic.

they were so aware that you have to have a legislature able to make decisions to address issues. so, we should start by listening to them. then we need to proceed to look at ways that we can make sure there is not the ability to just roll over the minority. they do have the opportunity to participate and to be heard. but ultimately can't block. there's many ways to do that. one suggestion is lowering the number required to close debate. another is to create an exemption on constitutional issues like defending the right to vote. the senate made an exception for reducing the deficit. but then mcconnell came along and expanded that exception so a simple majority could do tax cuts for the rich. he supported changing that so he could do tax cuts for corporations. and he used the -- he changed the rules so he could put federal society members on the supreme court. and then he wanted to speed up

stacking the lower courts and so he did a 15-fold increase by cutting 30 hours of debate to 2 hours. on all of his priorities, he changed the rules. so our supporters must ask the question, if mcconnell changes a rule to do things for the powerful and privileged, where are the champions for the people standing up to get things done for the fundamental foundations for families to thrive on health care, housing, education, jobs, for equality of opportunity for all americans, including lgbtq americans, to take on the really significant risk to our planet of climate chaos. where are the democrats in fighting for their priorities for the people, the same way mcconnell fought for his priorities for the powerful? >> and the only thing i would add to the very complete case you've made is mcconnell paid no price politically. he was strengthened within his caucus and strengthened within his state. there's no price for what

mcconnell did in suspending the filibuster. i hope that figures into all your calculations. senator jeff merkley has been out front on all these issues. thank you for spending some time with us today. the i mean, are we about to enter into a debate in this country about minority rule, about obstruction, about what is the filibuster? >> we're going to enter into that debate and enter into what is american democracy and who should have access to it? this will fundamentally be a debate in talking to white house officials, this is going to be a debate about whether or not we want america to be the place that the founders -- the founders wanted it to be, which is a place where people could vote and people could have access to who were the elected officials. when i talk to activists and civil rights leaders, they tell me that not only, of course, are they going to continue to put pressure on lawmakers to put in bills and try to push back on this filibuster issue and try to get the for the people act

passed. i've been talking to officials who say two other things need to happen. the first is the doj needs to start taking action to figure out if there are ways to stop these state legislatures and states from trying to take away voting access from americans. the second thing they tell me is they want to see now president biden accelerate nominating judges because they see that as the first line of defense against a lot of these laws. so, we're entering a phase now that, of course, is going to be about this procedural rule. president biden called it at one point a relic of jim crow but we're also going to enter into this post 1/6 world where we have to ask ursz whether or not democracy will be protected. >> and i think whether or not democracy still polls high enough to apply pressure on all the democrats to take the kinds of extraordinary actions republicans took when far less than the fate of our democracy was on the line. thank you for starting us off on a day like today. michael steele is sticking around. when we come back, the wnba

is hoping to make lightning strike twice. already this year their activism proved decisive in flipping to democratic control. the same leaders at it again, this time for voting rights. one of the architects of their strat dwis is renee montgomery and carl nassib coming out in an instagram video. we'll talk with a former nfl player who knows exactly what it looks like for nassib to do what he did yesterday. we have a packed two hours of live coverage of the vote in the u.s. senate. we'll bring it to you and all the day's headlines coming up. "deadline: white house" continues after a quick break. a. , with thirty grams of protein. those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks! ( sighs wearily ) here, i'll take that! ( excited yell ) woo-hoo! ensure max protein. with thirty grams of protein, one-gram of sugar, and nutrients to support immune health! ( abbot sonic ) ♪

♪ when technology is easier to use... ♪ barriers don't stand a chance. i that's why we'll stop at nothing to deliver our technology as-a-service. ♪ no, he's not in his room. ♪♪ dad, why didn't you answer your phone?

your mother loved this park. ♪♪ she did. delicia: this is where all our recycling is sorted -- ♪♪ 1.2 million pounds every day, helping to make san francisco the greenest big city in america. but that's not all you'll find here. there are hundreds of good-paying jobs, with most new workers hired from bayview-hunter's point.

we don't just work at recology, we own it, creating opportunity and a better planet. now, that's making a difference.

. surely some of my republican friends believe at the very least in this chamber we should be able to debate about voting rights. after all, voting rights are preservative of all other rights and what could be more hypocritical and cynical that invoing minority rights in the senate as a pretext for preventing debate about how to preserve minority rights in the society. >> that was georgia senator raphael warnock blasting republicans for their opposition to just having a debate on voting rights. hours ahead of a vote to advance the for the people act. the democrats' sweeping voting legislation. senator warnock was made part by

a daring moment of activism by atlanta dream. they wore t-shirts saying "vote warnock" against team owner kelly loeffler. it helped propel warnock from fourth place to becoming georgia's first black senator, a win handing democrats control of the senate. now the atlanta dream is joining senator warnock and at least 70 other businesses in the fight for our democracy, signing a letter calling on the senate to pass the for the people act. the letter reads in part, quote, let's be very clear. this is not a partisan issue. the for the people act is not about choosing one party or one issue over another. it is about common sense reforms that protect and expand our democracy and put the power in the hands of the people. it is about reaffirming our founding principle that we can chart our own course as a nation. joining us now, two-time wnba

michele montgomery. we had so many conversations heading up to the election about the work you were doing to not just get out the vote but to make voting easier in the middle of a pandemic in places where it wasn't always obvious where how you could vote. from what you did, republicans want to shut most of that down, as i understand it. arena voting would be much more difficult if these laws passed. how do you combat all of that good when it -- when one of the two governing party wants to shut it all down? >> you know, the first thought for me -- thank you for having me on, nicolle. >> thank you for being here. congratulations on all of your big new roles. >> thank you. my first thought is, boy, we must have done something good. every time you do something big, people are going to come back and try to combat it. the thing is, anyone, when you're thinking about college

voters, young voting, a lot of times those voters aren't necessarily trying to think about one side or the other. they're more issue-based. this younger generation, they are very aware of what's going on. they want to know both sides of the issue. they want to know both sides. for me the main issue is we should be able to hear both sides and we should be able to figure out, make an important decision about what we think. we saw what happened in 2020 when people showed up and showed out. georgia showed up and showed out. we want to continue that, keep that same energy. obviously, we know there's going to be try to be some blockers and different things. the main question s what's the problem in having a debate? i had a short stint at harvard school of business and that's the whole premise when you're trying to argue an argument, you have to hear both sides of the debate. my thing is, we want to hear both. why couldn't we do that? >> so, what does it say to you about the republican party that they didn't just obstruct the legislation, they blocked the

debate. i mean, they don't want people to hear both sides. they're not coming to this debate with a different way to guarantee the right to vote or to guarantee election security, there was no election fraud, so it's pretty logical they have nothing to say on that front. but how do you sort of shake this loose? everything in washington feels so prone. >> yeah, i mean, it is. it's a broken system. if we're not allowed to talk about what's going on, there's a problem there. you know, like -- it's not even -- people have to understand. we're not even talking to pass the bill or not. we're debating on, can we talk about it? i think that needs to be understood because when we talked about in 2020, that election felt like we were fighting for democracy. it feels a lot like that again where we're fighting for a certain level of democracy to talk about things, debate things on the senate floor where they should be debated. i think the people need to understand their power. this is all a reaction to what happened last year. this is a reaction to people using their power to vote and so these are now reactions.

i don't think they're okay. people should understand we can talk about it. and to make an informed decision, have you to hear both sides. we want to hear the other side as well as we want to understand, you have to go with what you know. what we know is we had record turnout numbers. there was no voter fraud no matter how many audits we want to do. there was no voter fraud. we know who won the election. it was a success. why we wouldn't continue down that path, i do not know. >> you know, michael steele, when we look at these debates in washington and we cover the usual actors you and i have known for the course of our careers, it's really dark. it's a grim picture. but when you look at sort of changing the picture and you look at the successes that renee has had in the last six months, it is sort of that slice of hope that maybe somehow the whole debate gets shaken up in a different way. >> well, it relies so much on the energy and the passion you

just hear from renee and what she brought to the game, if you will, last fall. and what is important now, you know, on her words is that we got to keep this going. you know, i've been saying this for a while. 2020 was a warm-up to '22 and '24. i mean, you know, i can give you chapter and verse what's going on in some rooms on capitol hill right now in preparation for '22 and '24. it ain't pretty. you're just seeing the outward stuff, you know, the ground game and the strategy is all about the power and the money that align themselves in a way that causes the senate minority leader to basically sound like the majority leader. it's like, oh, we're just not going to do any of this. we're not going to have the debate. we're just going to block the conversation. so, civic involvement and engagement right now is so critically important.

the members of the congress and the senate have to know that whatever vote they take on these pieces of legislation, voters will remember and voters will hold them accountable for it. you put your finger on an important point in the last segment, nicole. i wish we had explored it a little more, is that there have been no consequences for the last five years for all the crab load of stuff we've seen republicans say, do and act on. there has been no consequence. so, now they're out there rigging the game at the state level and the county level with the vote, and what's the exceptional consequence? they're basically thumbing their nose at voters saying, what are you going to do about it? what renee is talking about, oh, we've got something for you. we've got something for you. and whether you put an obstacle for us to get to the ballot box,

we will get there. it's like that negro spiritual, may not get there with you but i'm going to get there. and that's the goal right now for a lot of voters around the country, is that what republicans are underestimating is that the voters will get to the ballot box. you can put it in a black box and stick it in a corner in a haunted house. folks going to show up. they're going to be -- >> go ahead, renee. i see you ready to jump. >> look, i'm scared of haunted houses but if they put it there, i will show up. but to michael's point, and thank you for your words, michael, but to your point, it doesn't -- the obstacles put in front, they're going to make harder rules. we saw the young vote turnout. we saw the gen z turnout. student ids may not be acceptable. we understand what's going on. that's the scariest thing that

should be understood. we understand what's going on, so whatever rules, whatever blocks get in front of us, we'll work past them. student ids aren't available. everybody, time to get your license ready, get your ids ready, get your passports. that's what it's going to have to be. whatever roadblocks are there, we have to move past them. >> michael steele, can i jump in here? that's not how it's supposed to be. there was no voter fraud. i hear all the democratic activists saying, if they build a more complicated hamster maze, we'll teach our voters how to go through it. there was no fraud. they're stoking a problem that doesn't exist. that seems to be at the heart of what is broken. >> you're absolutely right, nicolle. that's the essence of the big lie. we got that. to renee's point, the obstacle

at this point is the play. it's not counter manneding the big lie. americans, we figured that out. we know what it is. now the strategy is, how do you prepare to overcome what's being put in front of you? we can have the lawyers do the legal thing, the challenge in the courts. we can have the legislators try to, you know, block and tackle legislatively. at the end of the day, what is going to be required is citizen activism. it's citizen action. and you have to have -- when you go to the polls on election day, the names of every state legislator, every congressman and every united states senator who stood in that proverbial doorway to block your entrance into that poll, and then remind them in that moment, we get the last say, not you. >> renee, you've had such an impact.

would you run for office? >> it's not on my radar right now. my plate's pretty full. >> put it on your radar, girl. put it on your radar. >> right now it's not on my radar. i'm trying to build up the atlanta dream and build up, and literally the atlanta dream metaphorically and our organization. i love sports and i love talking about it, but we see what's going on in politics. it's mucky water. i don't know. i'm not going to count anything out because my parents always told me that, but for me, it's just not on my radar right now. >> let me ask you one more question about sports. you and lebron and really the nba very comfortably stepped into the role of social activists. other leagues have struggled a little more. do you have lessons learned? are there conversations going on with other leagues and other athletes? >> i think the lesson learned is leagues now can lean into that. the wnba has been the leader in the forefront since 2016.

to michael's point when he said citizen-led activism, in 2017 it was player-led activism. we didn't have the support of the league. we saw 2016, that same year, that's when colin kaepernick took a knee. just to see where we are in 2020 where now the league is supporting these movements, the leagues are putting money behind these movements, committing $300 million to the nba foundation for equality, equity. that's huge. leagues can say all they want to say and they can put up a hashtag, put now we're starting to see the money follow it. now we're starting to see the action behind it. for me, up be, i think the wnba, the nba, definitely the forefront leaders. nfl, you got some work to do. mlb has work to do but it's promising. there's other people, and naomi osaka, what she's doing, that's athlete activism.

that's fighting for rights, mental rights, any fight is activism. you can see all the athletes come -- understanding, again, understanding your power. sports are made up of athletes. without athletes, there are no sports. i think athletes get that now. without citizens voting, we don't have a democracy. to michael's point, we understand the lie, we understand all the barriers. we understand everything. but we understand our power as well. >> i just think it is one of the most important developments, especially when you have, i think as michael and i see really clearly, one of the two parties disinterested in preserving the democracy. it is so important what you're doing. we'll continue to cover it. renee montgomery, thank you for spending time with us. it's great to see you. michael steele is sticking around. up next for us, a huge moment of acceptance from a community that only a couple years ago might have seemed impossible to imagine.

las vegas raiders player carl nassib coming out and saying he owes much of it to his coaches and fellow players in the nfl. we'll talk about an important step forward next. orward next. 25% of your mouth. listerine® cleans virtually 100%. helping to prevent gum disease and bad breath. never settle for 25%. always go for 100. bring out the bold™ tex-mex. tex-mex. ♪ termites. ♪ don't mess up your deck with tex-mex. terminix. here to help. don't you just love the look on the kids' faces... yea, that look of pure terror... ...no, no, the smile... ...and that second right before the first tear comes... ...what?! pizza on a bagel-we can all agree with that. do you want a hug? keeping your oysters business growing has you swamped. you need to hire. i need indeed

indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a shortlist of quality candidates from a resume data base claim your seventy-five-dollar credit when you post your first job at indeed.com/promo finding new routes to reach your customers, and new ways for them to reach you... is what business is all about. it's what the united states postal service has always been about. so as your business changes, we're changing with it. with e-commerce that runs at the speed of now. next day and two-day shipping nationwide. same day shipping across town. returns right from the doorstep, and deliveries seven days a week. it's a whole new world out there. let's not keep it waiting. i'm so glad you're ok, sgt. houston. this is sam with usaa. do you see the tow truck? yes, thank you, that was fast. sgt. houston never expected this to happen. or that her grandpa's dog tags would be left behind. but that one call got her a tow and rental... ...paid her claim... ...and we even pulled a few strings.

making it easy to make things right: that's what we're made for. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. get a quote today. is your family ready for an emergency? you can prepare by mapping out two ways to escape your home, creating a supply kit, and including your whole family in practice drills. for help creating an emergency plan, visit safetyactioncenter.pge.com a little preparation will make you and your family safer in an emergency.

a week's worth of food and water, radio, flashlight, batteries and first aid kit are a good start to learn more, visit safetyactioncenter.pge.com hey frank, our worker's comp insurance is expiring, should we just renew it? yeah, sure. hey there, small business owner. pie insurance here with some sweet advice to stop you from overpaying on worker's comp. try pie instead and save up to 30%. thirty percent? really? get a quote in 3 minutes at easyaspie.com. wow, that is easy. so, need another reminder? no, no no, i'm good. uh, yes please. oh. ho ho ho, yeah! need worker's comp insurance? get a quote in 3 minutes at easyaspie.com. what's up, people. i'm carl nassib. i'm at my house in westchester, pennsylvania. i want to take a quick moment to say i'm gay. i've been meaning to do this for a while now. i feenlly feel comfortable enough to get it off my chest.

i have the best life, friends, family and job a guy could ask for. i'm a pretty private person, so hope you know i'm not doing this for attention. i just think that representation and visibility are so important. i actually hope that one day videos like this and the whole coming out process are just not necessary. but until then, you know, i'm going to do my best and do my part to cultivate a culture that's accepting, that's compassionate. >> an historic moment. really, really important one. we were listening to carl nassib, defensive end for the las vegas raiders, who is also now the first openly gay active player in the nfl. as part of that video, he announced a $100,000 donation to the trevor project. the trevor project, of course, a nonprofit focuses on preventing lgbtq suicide. joining us, retired player, wade davis, a handful of players who came out after leaving the nfl. he's done work with nfl and other professional sports

leagues for years on lgbtq issues. i've seen some of your interview, and i really would like to hear from you about the importance to young players or maybe some young players who aspire to play in the nfl and have this example, this touchstone now. >> the yeah, so carl offers us a model for what it looks like to love yourself unapologetically, and he also offers a model for nongay players for what it means to also be accepting because here's the flip of the coin, right? lgbtq folks aren't looking for heterosexual folks to accept us. it's the inverse that needs to happen, right? like we are standing in our truth. we are standing in the love for ourselves. so it's actually the work of heterosexual folks to show up differently so we will actually embrace and accept them, right? it is not us that was afraid to own our sexuality.

the world they have built said if we choose to own our truth, if we choose to openly identify as gay, that they will hurt us, that they will create harm, right? i just want us to flip the paradigm to say, what is the work of heterosexual people who ensure more carl nassibs happen? >> you talked about, i think in that vein, the are intersection of sexism and homophobia. explain that. >> when i was a player, i didn't hear a lot of homophoic language. i heard a lot of sexist language. i learned that the root of homophobia was sexism. that some men want to distance -- they want to distance themselves as far as they can from what it might mean to be feminte and they want to see individuals who identify as lgbt as similar to women. we don't have a problem with that. it's them that actually think

it's less than if you comport yourself in ways that may be historically identified as feminist. again, the work is on the heterosexual folks. specifically men to think through, like, what is it about me that makes me so insecure that if someone might see the way that i perform a certain type of masculinity, i'm read as less than. >> what role -- the nfl has just -- since we've been on the air announced it will match carl's donation to the trevor project. seeming to say the right things about standing with him and making the same contribution to the organization he singled out yesterday. what more can the nfl do in this moment? what opportunity does the league have? >> so, one, it has the opportunity, not the opportunity, to make sure that their players, their coaches, their owners, right, are educated on what it means to create an inclusive environment.

two, their players, owners and coaches have the opportunity to talk about what they have learned from carl, right, what it means to be a courageous individual. and what it means to be someone who identifies as a man, right, and not just because carl is gay, but because carl did something that so many of us don't have the courage to do. he chose to love himself without apology. like, that's the real learning. and carl's helping to redefine what it means to be a man. those are the stories i want to hear coaches say. i want to hear how players like what they have learned from carl because what they then do is they help to redefine for young kids who are watching carl and who are watching the nfl understand that there's a large spectrum, right, in what it means to identify as a man or a woman or trans or nonbinary. >> what would you guess the reception was, you know, positive and negative from his

teammates and other players in the league right now? where is the league? >> i'm pretty confident that carl did a decent analysis of his teammates and the organization that i don't imagine carl is going to have much trouble. carl is not the person who we should be worried about. when you step into your truth, when you show the world that you love yourself, like you are already okay. you've done the hardest work that can ever be done as a human being. the work is actually on everyone else to figure out, how do i do the same? how do i not let carl do this alone? how do i see him as someone who i can model myself after? so, the nfl has an opportunity to tell a larger conversation also about how what carl did is connected to what other players have done around blm, how what women have done in the women's march. all of these movements aren't singular. that's the larger story we need to be telling.

>> it's so important. it's so neat when some of the biggest stories of the day do not come from our nation's political leaders. it's really great to talk to you about it. wade davis, thank you for spending time with us today. it's a great conversation. i hope you'll come come back of. we have to sneak in a break. we'll be right back. ck often we have to sneak in a break. we'll be right back. we'll be right back. that delicious scramble was microwaved? get outta here. everybody's a skeptic. wright brothers? more like, yeah right, brothers! get outta here! it's not crazy.

it's a scramble. just crack an egg. i booked our hotel on kayak. it's flexible if we need to cancel. cancel. i haven't left the house in a year. nothing will stop me from vacation. no canceling. flexible cancellation. kayak. search one and done. tonight, i'll be eating a pork banh mi with extra jalapeños. [doorbell rings] thanks, baby. yeah, we 'bout to get spicy for this virtual date. spicy like them pajama pants. hey, the camera is staying up here.

this is not the second date. paul loves food. but his diabetes made food a mystery. everything felt like a “no.” but then paul went from no to know. with freestyle libre 14 day, now he knows how food affects his glucose. and he knows when to make different choices. take the mystery out of your glucose levels - and lower your a1c. now you know. try it for free. visit freestylelibre.us ♪♪ this is power. so's this. you recognize it. but for the corporate special interests and billionaires buying our elections, dark money is power. billions spent manipulating elections. gerrymandering partisan congressional districts. and restricting our freedom to vote. exactly why we need the for the people act--h.r. 1. to finally ban dark money. ensure fair congressional districts. and protect our freedom to vote. because the real power is you.

and it's time for the people to win. we're back with michael steele. we have a live picture we're

looking at, senator catwell. this is debate before the vote to have a debate of voting rights legislation. michael steele. >> how crazy is that, the debate to have a vote to debate. that's really what this boils down to for a lot of americans to really appreciate what's happening here. we're not talking about the nuances of legislation. we're talking about can we have the discussion. and i think for me, while that's a frustrating point that we have to do that, the more frustrating thing, nicolle, is what is the strategy going to be going forward. millions of americans across the country are really kind of relying on one party, as we used to say, help us out. so i think this moment, given the movement we've seen with joe manchin in the bill that he's offering, the compromise he's offering on infrastructure, how

that can be utilized in this voting space. how do we utilize those strategies in this space? because at the end of the day, if i'm weighing my vote versus a road, i'd rather have my vote, you know? that then allows me to get the road and all the other things i need. i think this is a sober moment, particularly on the heels of january 6th, the slap in the face to americans not to investigate january 6th, and now seemingly what will be another slap in the face to tell them, guess what, we're going to run roughshod over your right to vote and there's not a damn thing you can do about it. >> the vice president will preside over the vote. michael steele, just a thought on the republicans -- let me

widen it. he's actively obstructing a conversation about how to protect ours. >> they're lucky some government in the european capital somewhere is saying, do we need to send the military in to help the united states get the votes for its citizens. it's that kind of crazy we find ourselves in. just the dramatic shift. it's not just the whole donald trump thing. it is just fundamentally how the party has ripped itself from its moorings on some of its fundamental ideas. they talk about, you know, we want judges that appreciate the rule of law and appreciate the constitution. well, you've used the rule of law to violate parts of that

constitutional value for the american people. you're ignoring their access to the ballot box. so there's a lot here, and the thing about it, and i keep going back to this point because you made it so clear and it's so important, there have been no consequences so far, nicolle. where is the pride they paid? in 2020 they picked up seats in the house. so you have to worry and wonder a little bit -- wonder a little bit and worry a lot, what this portends for 2022 and beyond if voters don't engage the way they need to. >> we'll find out if they like living in a democracy, right? michael steele, thank you for spending the whole hour with us. we needed you. the next hour of "deadline white house" begins after a short

break. we're just getting started. that delicious scramble was microwaved? get outta here. everybody's a skeptic. wright brothers? more like, yeah right, brothers! get outta here! it's not crazy. it's a scramble. just crack an egg. one, two! one, two, three! only pay for what you need! with customized car insurance from liberty mutual! it's a scramble. nothing rhymes with liberty mutual. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ so through ancestry, i discovered my great aunt ruth signed up as a nursing cadet for world war ii. she was only 17. bring your family history to life like never before. get started for free at ancestry.com this is the sound of change. the sound of a thousand sighs of relief. and the sound of a company watching out for you.

this is the sound of low cash mode from pnc bank, giving you multiple options and at least 24 hours to help you avoid an overdraft fee. because we believe how you handle overdrafts should be in your control, not just your bank's. low cash mode on virtual wallet from pnc bank. one way we're making a difference. vo: the world is racing low cash mode on virtual wallet from pnc bank. to create the clean energy jobs that will solve the climate crisis. president biden has a plan to make sure america wins that race. biden: doing nothing is not an option. the world is not waiting. if we act to save the planet, we can create millions of good paying jobs. and i want to put the world on notice, america is back. the competition of the 21st century, the future, will be built right here in america. doing nothing is not an option.

brother against brother. well, this should be interesting. [ grunting ] i've spent my entire life in your shadow...

and now, you spend the rest of yours livin' in mine. ♪ ♪ i ain't going anywhere little brother. there is a rot, a rot at the center of the modern republican. donald trump's big lie has spread like a cancer and threatens to envelope one of america's major political parties. even worse, it has poisoned our democracy, eroded faith in our elections which is so detrimental to the future faith people need to have in this democracy and, of course, it became the match that lit a wildfire of republican voter suppression laws sweeping across the country. because of one man's lie,

republicans are now doing the dastardly act of taking away voting from millions of americans, millions of americans, making it much harder for them to vote, and many, many, many will not. >> high again, everyone. it's 5:00 in the east. expected this hour, a senate vote that could determine the future of american democracy. the senate will take up a procedural vote to begin debate on the for the people act, currently the only known federal remedy for the republican-led assault on the right to cast a ballot, an assault predicated on the ex-president's desecrated faith in american elections. as republicans led states rush to enact restrictive new voting laws, democrats have presented the legislation as the party's best chance to undo them.

the wildfire that senator schumer speaks of looks like this. 389 restrictive bills that have been introduced in 48 states. since january of this year, 14 states have already enacted the 22 new laws that restrict access to vote. there are restrictive bills moving through 18 state legislatures. this is nothing about the conspiracy fueling audits in arizona and elsewhere. those republicans likely taking their queues from congressional republicans. in recent months they purged liz cheney from their leadership ranks, refused to form a bipartisan commission to investigate the insurrection of january 6th, who reduce to convict donald trump for inciting the insurrection and today, who are posed to block debate on legislation to protect

the right to vote and to prevent republicans from rigging the vote counting. the vote is almost certain to come up short of the 60-vote threshold it needs to pass. senate democrats -- senator joe manchin who had been the lone democratic holdout announced that he will vote yes to begin debate on the bill. he said, quote, unfortunately, my republican colleagues refused to allow debate of this legislation despite the reasonable changes made to focus the bill on the core issues facing our democracy. i remain committed to finding a bipartisan pathway forward because the future of our democracy is worth it. vice president kamala harris, who president biden tasked with leading the white house's charge to protect voting rights in america will preside over the vote expected at 5:30.

the uncertain fate of american democracy is where we begin with our favorite reporters in friends. nbc capitol hill correspondent garrett haake and erin hayes is here, editor at large for the 19th, lucky for us an msnbc contributor. garrett haake, i know you spoke to senator manchin. >> what was president biden's message to you about this yesterday? >> we had a good conversation. he and i had a very good conversation. >> did he ask you to vote for this bill? >> it was a very respectful conversation. >> are you going to go out and try to find republican votes. >> i always try to. >> garrett haake, since that interview, you put the pressure on him to clarify that he would vote yet. what does manchin see as the path forward, if he truly

believes, as it appears he does, that our democracy is under attack? >> reporter: manchin seems to think there might be republican votes for a narrower set of remedies including things like making election day a federal holiday, to expanding early voting, expanding access -- same-day voter registration. i have to tell you, nicolle, my reporting throughout the rest of the day, the rest of this week is that joe manchin is probably wrong on that account. republicans have r are as unified as we've ever seen them. i asked mitch mcconnell about this today, other republicans about it in the last few days, they are fundamentally dead set against any additional federal regulating of state-level elections or elections that happen at the state level. federal elections are still conducted at the stated level, of any kind. i do not envy joe manchin the task he seems to have set for himself, trying to find republican votes for any of these provisions. >> so what happens next,

garrett? >> i asked chuck schumer that question today, and he told me we could only talk about it after the vote tonight. the reality is democrats have no good options here. i think the thought was that, if this bill failed with democrats unified on one side and republicans unified on the other side, that might increase pressure on joe manchin, on kyrsten sinema, the maybe half a dozen or so other democrats who are nervous about getting rid of the filibuster but haven't said to publicly. kyrsten sinema doubled down with an op-ed in "the washington post." i don't see a path for any of the major provisions in this bill becoming law in a 50/50 senate, full stop. >> nick, i said this yesterday. you've done a lot of the best reporting on each of those -- the laws that have passed and the ones that have been

proposed. what is the toll they will take, not just in terms of suppressing the vote and trying to erode the historic turnout from last november, but rigging the vote counting? >> when you look at these bills in tow at that time, it's a simple fact that it's going to make voting harder. one of the ways to make voting harder is simply making it more confusing. there's all sorts of new rules and regulations and i.d. requirements and availability of drop boxes. they're not going to be 24/7 in nearly every state. what that's going to do, a lot of voters aren't paying attention to this back and forth over voting rules happening months or years before they cast their ballot. what's going to happen is when they go to cast their ballot, they're going to assume they can do voting the same way as they had done in the past year, whether absentee in 2020, in person early or on election day. so it's difficult to quantify

exactly how many voters won't be able to vote due to the new voting laws across the country. it's definitely going to bring a large amount of confusion to the voting process, which can sometimes just make a voter want to stay home. >> nick, in georgia the republican lieutenant governor, lieutenant governor duncan acknowledged in a television interview that the law in georgia was predicated on a lie. there was no fraud there. three audits bare that out. in texas republicans have had to concede the same thing. how open are republicans about the motive, that there was no fraud, and when there was, they're usually people that voted for trump? >> there's been kind of two different messages that you've seen from republicans as they rationalize these voting bills -- actually in the preamble of that law and the florida law, there's a line that

says this bill is designed in part to restore confidence among the electorate. what that is implicitly acknowledging is there has been -- within the republican base, lack of confidence in elections because former president trump has espoused lie after lie after falsehood about the election claiming it was rigged, trying to say there was fraud when there wasn't, especially in georgia. there were three audits there run by the secretary of state, a hand audit. so there was no fraud there. despite the repeated accusations by the president, there's been no evidence since even as they push forward with another potential audit in fulton county. that lack of confidence that some of these republican state legislatures are referencing as they push forward the bills, is the result of the former republican president of the united states. the other thing they've been saying is a reason for these bills is they need to strengthen the security of the american

election and the american electoral system, but that's also being stated after one of the most secure elections in american history. secretaries of state on both the republican and democratic side in states like georgia, arizona, texas, florida, have all called their own elections the gold standard. so if there's already this gold standard, improving that security or trying to strengthen that security of an already secure election kind of shows there's clearly other goals here and probably other motives in passing these new voting laws. >> erin, just to build on nick's point, the only election interference came from russia in 2016 and russia to the ukrainians in 2020, republicans not particularly concerned about either incidence. where is this disconnect between what grart is describing as dead on arrival. there's no sign of life for federal voting rights legislation as we sit here today

20 minutes ahead of this vote. it is a largely symbolic vote. the white house says they're doing things behind the scenes, we'll see. they point to the 90-minute meeting yesterday getting joe manchin on board. as garrett says, he doesn't think his actions have much potential to attract republicans. if democrats believe -- i believe them when they say this, that democracy is on the line, when will they take a measure that seems commensurate with the threat they think these laws pose? >> nicolle, that's exactly what a lot of the black voters, organizers and activists i've been with are asking at this moment. we know they're putting pressure on elected officials both at the federal and at the state and local level to do something, to push back against the voter suppression that's has been on the march for the better part of a year now, fueled by the big lie. republicans have certainly, to

garrett's point, been in lockstep against any efforts to improve voter access, and have been really reticent denounce the big lie or the idea that the -- the false narrative of election integrity is something that needs to be maintained. listen, as we sit here today, nicole, just like you said, with state legislatures continuing to pass these bills and with federal legislation stalling as the for the people act is likely not to advance and the john lewis voting rights act in real jeopardy here, you have a significant number of americans who are wondering in 2021 if and how they will have access to our democracy going forward. that is something that i think we have to think about in this moment. i am out this week with black voters matter trying to push back. because the other thing about these suppressive bills, to nick's point, yes, they

certainly could have a suppressive effect. we don't know how many voters this will deter from the ballot box, but we also don't know how many black voters this will galvanize because they understand so many of these laws are in direct response to the record turnout we saw in november and in january with the georgia senate runoff. they know these bills are -- they're targeted at many of the strategies that they use to get around voter suppression headed into the 2020 election and the voter suppression that they're trying to enact headed into elections this year, next year and beyond. so i would not be surprised if this continues to be a showdown between voter suppression and voter turnout. that is really what our elections have come down to, and i think we have to think about that in addition to thinking about what is happening in congress with legislation that may or may not happen, frankly, and that seems to be facing pretty long odds as we sit here

today. >> errin i hear you. claire mccaskill makes a similar point. the numbers are incredibly daunting. nick gave us these numbers yesterday. georgia in 2020, 272,000 georgians didn't have the requisite id they would need to give the secretary of state's office. they'd have to provide new vote information based on the new georgia law. more than half were african-american voters. joe biden won georgia by 11,779 votes. i mean can you really incentivize -- the laws are sweeping. the laws take hundreds of thousands of people out of the equation. >> yes, nicolle. unfortunately black voters have been here in this country before. let's take this week and think about this. yesterday was the anniversary of the killings of andrew good man, michael swerner and james cheney in mississippi, three civil

rights workers who went down to mississippi who tried to register black voters and were killed and buries in an earthen dam. -- a lot of the efforts you see happening at the state level today. black folks have long known what the stakes are, what the odds are for them, the obstacles for them getting to the ballot and have been determined and focused and resilient in the face of that opposition. i think that's what you're seeing today. i think that's what you're going to continue to see. they know they cannot only rely on what will happen at the federal level, even though they continue to push for action at the federal level and they continue to want a return on their investment, frankly, at the ballot box for what they did even in the midst of a pandemic in the 2020 election, but they know that the fight remains a fight. the fight is still before them, and they are more than prepared

to remain on the battlefield in the face of this opposition that they see unrelenting and really just in response to their determination to continue to participate in this democracy. >> garrett thrksz battlefield that errin describes, is something that seems to be on the mind of some democrats who seems to understand there's an expectation they stand on the battlefield with their base. here is debby stabenow talking about her views on the filibuster. >> my calculus has changed. i came to the senate 20 years ago. i had a different view at that time, similar to our senator from arizona, and the world has completely flipped upside down. we now have a perversion of the rules, we have tyranny of the minority really. i want the freedom to vote to be protected. i want to be able to move forward in our economy and jobs and health care and everything

else that we were elected to do, and i know people in michigan want that to happen. i'm on the side of getting that done, not protecting rules that have been completely perverted. >> garrett, how much concern is there -- i hear little blips of this, and i ask democratic strategists on friday, how little can democrats produce without real worries heading into the midterms? >> reporter: i wonder about this a lot. i've started to report this out, the challenge that democrats might find themselves in in a situation where they've overpromised their voters on all the things they wanted to get done but won't be able to. every time i hear president biden talk about want to pass an assault weapons ban or the background checks to change how firearms are sold, that's not happening on a 60-vote threshold. this voting rights bill is not

happening on a 60-vote threshold. democrats are going to have to recalibrate their message about why they need more democrats in house seats and senate seats and, oh, by the way, in state legislature which is where a lot of these bills are being born and raised. the gap between the promises that are being made and what is able to be done with the rules as they exist right now is enormous. again, when you talk about joe manchin, kyrsten sinema, there could be half a dozen other democrats who feel as they do about the filibuster and who are more artful about how and when they engage on the topic, whether it's because they don't want to vote for everything that might pass from a majoritarian, more liberal house or if they fear, as sinema laid out in the op-ed, in two years democrats could be in the minority. what will a republican majority

do with no filibuster left to restrain them? it's a real challenge for senate democrats. >> nick, quick last question to you. are any of the state bills waiting and watching this vote today to proceed, or are they all full steam ahead because this is their mission statement? >> i think texas is definitely the place to watch. governor abbott literally a few minutes before we hopped on announced he was going to have a special session starting july 8th with the focus being getting a voting bill done. democrats were able to stall the voting bill in texas back in may through a dramatic late-night walkout. i was talking to some texas democrats earlier today from the state legislature, they're certainly all watching the vote today. they want to see at least a united the democratic party. they wanted to see senator manchin at least vote with the democrats to begin deliberations here. they also see this as kind of a starting for an escalation.

it's time to use these battles that are going to continue, not laws that have finished, but ones pushed through state legislatures, this is going to rean mate the stakes of what is before congress right now in these voting bills. >> nick, now that we've found you, you're going to get so sick of us. errin, thank you, and garrett haake promise me you'll come back to that spot if you learn anything else from the next 45 minutes. we're minutes away from the senate vote on the for the people act. when we return, voting rights advocate beto o'rourke will join us. "deadline white house" continues in a minute. in a minute. don't go anywhere. everything felt like a “no.” but then paul went from no

to know. with freestyle libre 14 day, now he knows how food affects his glucose. and he knows when to make different choices. take the mystery out of your glucose levels - and lower your a1c. now you know. try it for free. visit freestylelibre.us ♪♪

talk to me. what do we got? when you have xfinity xfi, with blazing speed... try it for free. visit freestylelibre.us [ screaming ] a powerful connection. that's another level. and ultimate control. power us up. you can do more than you ever thought possible. yes! hold on. get a powerful and secure connection you can count on.

only with xfinity xfi. and see f9 only in theaters. ♪ ♪

. there is a federal answer to what ails us at this moment. it's called the for the people act. i know we can win this fight, though it will not be easy and it may not be over quickly, it is certainly worth doing. i cannot think of anything more important for us to focus our time and our energy and our effort on this moment. >> as we await the procedural vote in the senate to begin debate on the for the people act, one that's sure to fail, that was former congressman beto o'rourke on what the bill would do to counter the hundreds of voter suppression bills making their way through 48 state legislatures. joining our conversation is former congressman beto o'rourke. beto, "the new york times" who has been on this, nick course it inity just reported that of all the states to watch, texas may

be the most emboldened when the vote fails. what's your reaction to that? >> texas is already the tough estate in which to vote. it's no accident. it's been intentional over the last eight years since the supreme court's shelby decision that gutted the most important aspects of the voting rights act. you have voter i.d. laws, polling place closures in the hundreds. you have what a three-judge federal panel who described it as a gerrymander. sp 7, the elections bill was defeated by the house democrats in the political minority who walked out, if implemented, would make it harder for people to vote. think about an afghanistan war veteran who came back with ptsd who will have to prove their disability before they're allowed to vote a mail-in

ballot. it would allow partisan poll watchers free reign inside polling places. texas would reserve the right to overturn future elections simply based on the allegation of fraud. if the for the people act is defeated and if we lose the vote today, i want to make sure everyone knows that doesn't mean it's defeated. there are many more votes to come and this game is far from over. if it's defeated, you're right, republicans in control in texas will subvert our democracy to the point that we may not have a democracy going into the 2022 elections. >> tell me more about what is to come. if the vote fails, as it's expected to do -- largely expected to be symbolic to show that joe manchin now is behind voting rights legislation in some form, what's the next step? >> i think the ultimate question that i hope is called before the end of the summer and before the window of opportunity closes on

our ability to protect voting rights is do you want the filibuster or do you want democracy? the two may be mutually exclusive by the time you get to a vote that cannot muster ten republicans. when you couldn't even get ten of them to support an investigation into the january 6th insurrection that killed five people including a capitol police officer. so i think that's going to be the question for senator manchin and senator sinema and their constituents who i'm encouraging to reach out and to show up and to march if you need to on state capitols as we did this past weekend here in austin. this is a moment of truth, not just for the senators, but all of us as americans. if it's truly government of, by and for the people, then it's all of us and there are no sidelines. we all have a responsibility to make sure we come through right now. i think, nicolle, that will be the question at the end of the day. >> so on that topic, i spent

time in the party formally organized around republican principles. i don't know what they are now. mitch mcconnell didn't break a sweat or lose a minute of sleep annihilating the filibuster to rush through judicial appointments. the democrats seem to cherish the filibuster much more. is that a strategic disadvantage here? >> it's pretty dumb from where i'm looking. think about it this way. if you had to bet money on whether we would still have a filibuster in ten years, almost none of us would bet on -- it has been chipped away over the last 20 years, first four, federal judges, supreme court justices, reconciliation, budget bills. it's going to go out the window at some point. do you want that to happen when democrats can literally save democracy or when mitch

mcconnell is perhaps, once again, the majority leader? no matter how you look at it -- i'm most compelled by the need to same democracy and voting rights right now, or whether you look at it in terms of the tactical advantage the democrats would enjoy. if the filibuster is going to go, you want to be in the majority when it does. this will be democrats last best hope. to what garrett was saying in the previous segment, after two years of power in the white house, in the u.s. senate, if you're unable to tell the american people how you have made their lives demonstrably better, they'll throw out that party. if the thing preventing you from doing that was a filibuster, then get rid of it now. >> people i respect a whole lot come on and defend the filibuster, but it has this feeling now, when you look at this current iteration of the republican party that was behind military action to bring

democracy to the middle east and now willfully gutting access to the polls and the preservation of the kind of non-partisan people liking raffensperger, it feels like playing the violin on the deck of the titanic that democrats even think twice about getting rid of the filibuster. what do you say to them when you make this case privately? >> i think your assessment is spot on. as republicans traffic the big lie, that somehow there was widespread election fraud in 2020, as they cover up for insurrection and promote across 47 different state legislatures, more than 300 voter suppression rules, democrats are finding common ground or concessions that would take a miracle. we should be singularly focused on saving democracy and fighting just as hard to preserve it and

not only stopping these acts of voter suppression. what i'd like to see is automatic voter registration, same-day voter registration, reducing the power of corporate spending in our politics. there are lots of things we can do to not only save, but expand democracy. with democrats in power, let us be the party that does it. >> i want to ask you about something you just alluded to. this game the democrats are playing is a giant political loser has struck me for several weeks. the covid relief package was a big boone. it helped lift president biden's approval ratings or sustain them depending on your analysis of the polls, around 60%. if you go back to your voters at the midterms and say 85% for gun safety wasn't enough despite the epidemic of daily mass shootings in this country, sorry, we can't guarantee you'll be able to vote

for us in '22 or '24 -- >> i spent the last three weeks traveling the state of texas. i was in the fifth ward of houston and south dallas, but i was also in rains county, walks hatch chi and wichita falls, and the folks coming out to our conversations about democracy and voting rights are angry and very frustrated. a lot of that frustration is aimed at democrats. when is there going to be accountability for what happened on january 6th, is somebody going to stand up for our democracy and fight? these are the questions i get. i direct them back to those that serve us in the suchlt s. senate, and the president of the united states who has done so far a great job, but could make this a vision -- yes, i want to

see democrats do more. >> beto o'rourke, we follow all of your rallies and events and interviews else where, it's a treat to talk to you on a day like today. thank you for spending some time with us. >> thank you, nicolle. we're getting closer to that senate vote. the vice president will be pre vieding. when we return, nbc's vaughn hillyard riding the bus with freedom riders of 2021, heading to washington to demand passage and action on the for the people act. vaughn joins us next along with the rev lend al sharpton. don't go anywhere. when technology is easier to use... ♪ barriers don't stand a chance. ♪ that's why we'll stop at nothing

to deliver our technology as-a-service. ♪ nicorette knows, quitting smoking is freaking hard. you get advice like: to deliver our technology as-a-service. try hypnosis... or... quit cold turkey. kidding me?! instead, start small. with nicorette. which can lead to something big. start stopping with nicorette [sfx: kids laughing] [sfx: bikes passing] [sfx: fire truck siren] onstar, we see them. okay. mother and child in vehicle. mother is unable to exit the vehicle. injuries are unknown. thank you, onstar. ♪ my son, is he okay? your son's fine. thank you. there was something in the road... it's okay. you're safe now. it's okay. some days, you just don't have it. not my uncle, though. he's taking trulicity for his type 2 diabetes and now,

he's really on his game. once-weekly trulicity lowers your a1c by helping your body release the insulin it's already making. most people reached an a1c under 7%. plus, trulicity can lower your risk of cardiovascular events. it can also help you lose up to 10 pounds. trulicity is for type 2 diabetes. it isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. it's not approved for use in children. don't take trulicity if you're allergic to it, you or your family have medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. stop trulicity and call your doctor right away if you have an allergic reaction, a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, changes in vision, or diabetic retinopathy. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. taking trulicity with sulfonylurea or insulin raises low blood sugar risk. side effects include nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, which can lead to dehydration, and may worsen kidney problems. show your world what's truly inside. ask your doctor about once-weekly trulicity.

emergency planning for kids. we can't predict when an emergency will happen. so that's why it's important to make a plan with your parents. here are a few tips to stay safe. know how to get in touch with your family. write down phone numbers for your parents, siblings and neighbors. pick a place to meet your family if you are not together and can't go home. remind your parents to pack an emergency supply kit.

making a plan might feel like homework, but it will help you and your family stay safe during an emergency. procedural vote in the senate. i'll apologize in advance if that causes us to jerk toward a live event or speech. there's another part of the story we want to tell you about. hundreds of activists are riding buses heading toward washington, d.c., self-described freedom riders of 2021, they're calling on, demanding the senate to protect the for the people act. they're traveling from montgomery, alabama, greensboro, south carolina. let's bring into our conversation, nbc news political reporter vaughn hillyard on a bus with hundreds of freedom riders heading through the south to d.c. calling on the senate to

pass the for the people act. >> reporter: nicolle, we're in a little traffic in greenville, south carolina. we started the morning in montgomery, alabama, made our way through atlanta, georgia. we're making progress en route to north carolina before arriving to d.c. here on thursday. we're talking about the folks here on this bus. they hit at the very heart of the conversation you were just having. a lot of them were on the front lines in 2020, in georgia, phoenix, arizona, taking part in getting those democrats elected into the majority in the house and the senate, in the white house. then the question is, well, what's next? this is frankly the what's next part. they started five days ago and have making their way throughout the country on their way to washington, d.c. i want to introduce you to elena and angelica. you guys are new friends, is that the case? >> oh, yes. >> you didn't know each other before this. why are you on the bus and what is this message as we wait the senate vote? >> i'm from west l.a.

this vote is so important for the people. it's for the people, and that means working people. it means new voters. it means the elderly. it means people of color. everyone should be able to vote. then we have a democracy. right now we really don't have a democracy. it's a sliver of people able to vote. >> lana, you're from arizona. what is your message to the democrats and also the republicans on the other side of the table? >> well, being in arizona, they have passed these laws or trying to pass these laws to stop us from voting. we have to think about our native american siblings out there. they're not able to vote. that's why i'm here, also to show my kids this fight is not over. we will continue to fight until we don't have to fight anymore. that's why we're here. the basis of this was the civil

rights, the civil rights trail they set for us. we're going to do this now for the native americans. it's for the elderly. it's nor the lgbtq. it's for all of us. >> if i can come back to you, you're part of a clergy group, a faith leader. in terms of that messaging, harkening back to the freedom riders 60 years ago. for clergy in america being a part of this, what does that mean? >> i think it has to do with where your heart is. where the clergy part is the fairness for all people, the caring for all people. it doesn't matter what religion none, as far as i'm concerned. we're all god's kids, if you will. we need to take care of each other, and we're not. we're just taking care of a few. we need to take care of everyone. >> lana, angelica, best to you as well as everyone on the bus. this is just one of the buses. there are several coming to

washington with a plan to address lawmakers. of course, the great number of folks on this bus, what we're expecting to come out of the senate. at the same time they said they didn't fight to get majority out of georgia and arizona for no reason. they'll continue the fight for as long as it takes. >> vaughn hillyard, i am so jealous. i've watched you report from all over the country. i wish i were there. thank you, my friend. joining our conversation, reverend al sharpton host of msnbc's "politics nation," former congresswoman donna edwards and former rnc chair michael steele is back with us. rev, i want to come to you with something i heard from beto o'rourke and just now from vaughn hillyard from the freedom riders of 2021 as they're calling themselves, that if their democratic elected officials do not deliver on protecting their right to vote, they are not going to be happy

with those elected officials. >> i think you're hearing this all over the country. many of us that fought for the right to vote fought against the impediments that were set up in 2020, did not do this for people's political careers. we did this for having and holding the democratic principles in this country, and anything short of that is going to have direct action, like the freedom riders that are heading to washington that you just showed. we'll be announcing another effort tomorrow. there's going to be direct action. i think sometimes people get in the beltway, nicolle, and think they are operating on their own, not realizing the momentum for what happened in 2020 came from the bottom up, and the bottom can be their support or it can swallow them up. we want the right to vote

preserved. >> rev, i started this two-hour broadcast by saying that we will know in the coming days if democrats can fight like republicans. and it was an insult at republicans, not democrats. i hope it was taken in the spirit in which it was delivered. the point is, mitch mcconnell obliterated the filibuster for far less than the future and sanctity of our democracy. do you think democrats have the stomach to do the same? >> i think they need to have the stomach or the backbone, or there will be those in the activist community, those of us that will move forward to deal with them because they're not protecting what was gained on their behalf. again, had there not been a movement, they would have not won 2020. let's be real clear that it was a movement that exceeded expectations in terms of turnout. it gave the democrats the senate

and the white house. i think they would be naive to feel that the people that fought for them would expect them to do anything less than to fight for us. >> rev, claire mccaskill, renee montgomery, errin haines, a lot of people have come on this show and said the mentality of voter suppression is that the result will be voter exuberance, voters will crawl over glass and find a way to vote. i'm in awe of that, to be honest. but it's also -- it's the crime of the voter suppression laws. they shouldn't have to. these laws are predicated on a lie. a republican called me and said, nicolle, you're sord ha on these lies. what could you live with? i said nothing. there was no fraud. it was like waking up and deciding we needed laws for

jaywalking. even if there is jaywalking, there's already laws. how do you get at the root rot that senator schumer talked about and undo all the law making? >> what you have to first of all understand is people will walk on broke glass to vote, but they'll also walk on broke glass to fight for laws that protect their vote. they're not going to wait until election day. that's why they're in freedom buses now, why we're announcing new efforts, as i said, tomorrow. but the other thing is, to not fight and allow these laws to remain where they are is to, many many ways, condone with our silence that these things are just, that these voter suppression methods are just. you must press the democrats on this because silence is consent, and we can never consent even if we're determined to vote no matter what happens. we must make it real clear that

this is unacceptable and that is not why we sent you to washington. >> rev, let's listen to senator schumer. >> -- polling hours, locations and ballot drop boxes, raising id barriers to students, making it a crime to give food and water to voters in laws. in states like texas, trying to move sunday voting hours so it's harder for black church goers to go to the polls after services. it's the most sweeping voter suppression effort in at least 80 years, targeting all the ways that historically disenfranchise voters, black and brown americans, students, the working poor, access the ballot. we can disagree about solutions to this problem, about which policies might be more effective, but we should all agree this is a problem. we should all agree that protecting voting rights is

worthy of debate. that's what this next vote is about. should the united states senate even debate, even debate how to protect the voting rights of our citizens? the story of american democracy is full of contradictions and halting progress. at the time of our constitution's ratification, you had to be in most states a white male protestant landowner to vote. how many in this chamber, how many of us would have been able to participate in those first elections? the truth is many of us, particularly on our side of the aisle, would not have been able to vote. but ever since the early days of the republic, americans launched mighty movements, fought a bloody civil war and, yes, passed federal election laws to expand the franchise until there

were no more boundaries. are we in a backslide here in the 21st century? are we going to let reactionariry state legislatures drag us back into the muck of voter suppression? are we going to let the most dishonest president in history continue to poison our democracy from the inside? or will we stand up to defend what generations of americans have organized, marched, fought and died for, the sacred, sacred right to vote? the thing that makes a democracy a democracy. i plead with my republican colleagues, stand up my republican colleagues, stand up to a man who has lied. we all know he has lied. you know he has lied about our elections. do not let this man lead you around by the nose and do

permanent damage to our democracy. at least have the decency and honor to let this chamber debate. i urge my colleaguesdebate. i urge my colleagues to vote yes. and ask -- i yield the floor. >> the clerk report the motion to in vote cultures. to hear by move to bring to a close the debate on the motion to proceed calendar number 777, s number 23. reduce the influence of big money and politics, implement other anticorruption measures

for fortifying our democracy and other purposes, signed by 17 senators. >> by unanimous consent. the mandatory quorum call has been waived. a bill to expand americans access to the ballot box. reduce the influence of big money in politics. strengthen ethnic rules for public servants and implement other anticorruption measures for the purpose of fortifying our democracy and other purposes shall be brought to a close. the ayes and nays are mandatory under the rules. the clerk will call the role. miss baldwin. >> mr. barosso. mr. bennett.

>> so we are watching this procedural vote on the vote of people act. michael steele. this is the moment, this is all what it boils down to. the yays and nays will tell us who stands with democracy at least having this debate and who does not. so it is a frustrating moment.

it is important. i think a lot of the hard work going back to what we talked about before, nicole, will be on the back end of this. how do we create the energy around the voting efforts that we see emerging on the filibuster effort. i think that's going to be important for democrats. >> you know, one of the most exacerbating things watching donald trump is how you reign in someone with no shame. that's the legacy of his republican party. they are now refusive after an election that was deemed the most protected, they don't want the american people to hear and debate on that. >> i was thinking about that, nicole, when i was listening to the majority leader schumer.

that speech that he made might have had some effect on a party that had shame. the republican party does not and so as a result we know that mitch mcconnell has already laid down the gauntly. he said no, no, to anything dealing with voter rights or voter suppression. and so i don't know what tomorrow holds but i can tell you this, republicans are going to stand in locked steps with mitch mcconnell. i don't see joe manchin being able to muster enough republican support on an alternative to be able to move that alternative forward. it really is going to be on democrats to decide that they want to stand on the side as

beto o'rourke put it on the side of democracy rather than the side of rules. >> you know, if you look at the brazenness and the speed which these laws are racing through, 22 already signed into laws since january. do you worry about the pace that democrats are maybe just the speed, we have been talking about whether they have the stomach to look at the filibuster new. the speed which republicans are moving, is there still time to fix this before the midterms? >> the speed that they are operating around the country and we are approaching 25 states no matter where it goes, they're doing it at a rapid pace. we may not have time to fix this before the midterms. a lot of these states that are controlled by the legislatures by republicans are going to be changing a lot of the lines due to the census last year. which is going to make it more

difficult to deal with this. that's why we have no choice but the pressure to move past this filibuster and make federal law. that would supercede state law and protects us. senator manchin -- we dealt with him twice. he can't come up with a compromise that the republicans are even flirting with, less no committing to. you had people from stacey abrams to barack obama saying we'll support it when many of us don't even like the compromise. they don't even deal with that. nicole, we are watching people voting rights and can't even discuss voting rights. we won't even debate or talk about i want. this is what we have come to in a building that was under sieged

just in january 6th. now we have elected officials saying we don't even want to discuss it. this is a dark day in this country. >> michael steele, this is a dark day for the republican party even in the era of donald trump. i don't know that they ever saw anything this systemically cynical that mitch mcconnell is so loathsome of a debate of how to protect voting rights in america that he forbids it. >> i think we passed dark days, we are into dark years and turn off the lights. it is a disregard for the process and the constitutional process. i get all the senatorial and mumbles and jumbles in the

process. some things are just fundamental. you don't want them to get all caught up in process. you don't want to get them all caught up in procedures. you just want to have a straight conversation with the american people about where you stand as one of their elected representatives. we are not going to hold it against you. what we hold against you is what we see here. people know that they are blocking the point, the opportunity to debate those ideas, to see what the virtue and the value is of a particular aspect of the law. look, this stuff and hr-1 and sr-1 that's problematic. fine, let's debate that. let's discuss the essential stuff that the country needs now. that's not what's at stake here for republicans. what's at stake for republicans

is power and control of that chamber. come january of 2023. whatever joe biden wants to do good, bad or in different will not see the light of day just as this legislation will not see light of day by the minority in the senate. >> i want to explain what we are watching. they're doing the role call, we can't hear the senators responding. we are talking over it. they called for senator manchin and he did not appear to be in the room as he enters, if there is anything newsworthy, we'll break in. don edwards, i want to give you the last word. >> if you look at hr-1 and sr-1. they are widely supported by a majority of americans, republicans and democrats and independence. i think for democrats, the real

importance here is not ignoring what people across the country really want and that they have to really fight for it because otherwise why would those voters fight for them. that's what i worry about for democrats. >> if you give up on this fight, it is going to fight. >> yeah, that's where we'll pick it up in our conversations in subsequent days but by this historic day, i am honored to joined by reverend sharpton and donna and jon edwards. we'll pick up this discussion with ari melber. >> does this breakthrough and how does this vot