but he knows that for every welcome memory, there's a brutal one of her and what happened churning somewhere like a storm, surprising and devastating when it hits.. i'm this sunday, tragedy on miami beach. 156 people still missing in that building collapse. >> we have official word. we're trying to hold onto whatever hope remains with us. we know that they're gone. >> the heroic moments. >> she was asking, please don't leave me alone. >> our top priority continues to be search and rescue and saving any lives that we can. >> and now a three-year-old report surfaces identifying

major damage to the building and flaws in the construction. we'll have reports from the scene and i'll talk with the miami-dade county mayor. also a case of bipartisanship appears to break out on infrastructure. >> we all came to get some. what we did first was put the needs of our country. >> soon things break down as president biden say as larger plan must also be part of the deal. where does this deal stand now? my guest this morning, republican senator bill cassidy of louisiana and democratic congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez of new york, and the justice department sues georgia over its new voting law. >> the eligibility of our ability to vote is the center. >> joining me for insight and analysis are nbc news washington correspondent andrea mitchell.

msnbc host joshua johnson and danielle pletka ott the american prize it substitution. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." welcome to "meet the press," the longest running show in television history. this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> it's sunday morning. we're going to get to the politics of the day, but we're going to begin with the terrible tragedy of the miami beach condo clachlts as of this morning 156 people remain missing in the collapse of the champlain tower complex, and hopes are fading that more survivors are be found in the rubble. the death toll could be roughly on par with oklahoma city. these terrible images of the floors pancaked one on top of the other reminds us of the devastation that took place on september 11th. joining us is sam brock.

he's been covering the story since the early morning hours of the collapse. sam, we know more fires in the rubble slowed down the search and rescue process, but i know officials insist this is still search and rescue. what can you tell us about how realistic it is that they're going to find more survivors? >> reporter: well, they're maintaining hope. i guess that's the best we can tell you, chuck. look, we're entering the fourth day of this search. over my shoulder on the other side is a pile of rubble that's three or four stories high, and that rubble is incredibly fragile. we know search and rescue crews have much better accessibility than they had 24 hours earlier. the fire was emanating from the building. they had to locate it with infrared technology. they were deploying water and foam to tamp down the flames. all that smoke -- and we're several blocks away -- was so

thick, we were vb having trouble breathing. on top of that, chuck, you have downpours throughout the day, proo'pressive heat, and falling debris. things are clearing up and they're going full steam at this point with canines searching for human life, sonar to detect some sort of sound and excavation equipment, a 400-ton crane picking up smaller pieces of debris and bigger pieces of concrete to look into voids and cracks to potentially find people. chuck, i've got to tell you. i spoke with someone with decades of experience in urban search and rescue. he anticipates it will be a couple more weeks of this going on with recovery efforts. 156 still missing this morning. unmarriageable. >> a lot of people want to know why. why did this happen. we've gotten a treasure trove of papers released from the

community of surfside, and there already seems to be some evidence in there of what may have been the initial cause. where is the investigation going? >> reporter: so here's whether we stand. big news dropped friday night when the inspection report from 2018 -- so about 2 1/2 years ago -- and the information came out. in its own words there was described significant breaks and cracks and there was a slab u underneath the pool deck that needed to be switched out in its entirety. that was a couple of years ago. they say it's not atypical of a building that's been there for 40 years. they said, look, we're lawyer, not engineers. if there was imminent chance of failure, it should have been in the report snoomd there was a

fatal flaw in the construction from the beginning. sam brock, good work, thank you. >> thank you. >> joining me now is the mayor of my miami-dade county. mayor lacava, welcome to "meet the press." i know this has been a tough 96 hours. anything you can tell us that occurred overnight? any signs of new hope? >> thank you for following this important story. we did control the fire and the smoke as of about noon yesterday, so the search and rescue operation continued unabated throughout the night. >> you announced a decision that you're going to reinspect, i guess, anything that is 40 years old or older. explain that process and why did you start with buildings that are 40 years old or older?

>> we have a recertification process. we make sure we have the necessary reports on file and that all of the remediation that has been ordered in those reports, recommended in those reports goes forward. we'll be doing that deep dive over the next 30 days to make sure they're up to date. 60% is in cities, and cities are going to have to do their own. >> there is voluntary evacuation in some of the other buildings in the champlain complex. is the county going to be able to provide resources for people who don't want to stay in the buildings for fear that they're not structurally sound? >> just the building that's the sister building to the one that

came down, that is the one that surfside has authorized for voluntary evacuation, and, yes, anyone who chooses to leave can be supported. it's also true that the town building inspector went and did not find any immediate causes of concern. >> you know, this brought back a lot of memories for those of us who went through hurricane awn drew down there when sadly we found out buildings build bildt in the '70s and '80s were shoddy. shoddy building practices exposed, panels faulted. many building codes were indeed overhauled. but this building was built in 1981. do you think you should order a review of any building basically that was built essentially in the '70s and '80s, pre-hurricane andrew, and have them all

reinspected with a fine-tooth comb? >> we have a very strong building code, as you know, and based on hurricane andrew, as you say, we have learned so much from that and buildings have been built to a high standard. for sure when we get this information, we may look at what else we might do. at this point we're starting with a review of 40-plus. this is an anomaly, but the investigation is going to be ongoing. right now we're still very focused on search and rescue. >> i understand that. clearly some flaws were identified three years ago. look, obviously hindsight makes that look very haunting when we're reading about that today, but does that give you a lot of concern there may be quite a few

buildings you don't know about and why would you at this point because it's going through the process. that has to give you more concern that there may be more troubled buildings in the area. >> i've been speaking to fellow mayors of cities and what we'll do as far as municipalities in miami-dade county, and i can assure you we'll be looking into everything. >> are you getting all the federal and state support you need? >> we are very grateful. not only the state of florida has been here in full force, but the president the morning of the disaster called with assistance and we had fema approval. we're working superhard for everything we need. we have not lacked any support as well as support from around the world. >> hurricane season just began. barrier island that contains surfside and miami beach have

not been directly hit in a generation, if not more. andrew missed barrier island with a direct hit. do you feel as if barrier island is ready for this hurricane season? you know, we have a very aggressive drill for hurricane season, we know how to manage hurricanes, our emergency operation center is ready to go, in fact, is activated because of this disaster, and we'll deal with it, whatever comes our way. >> finally i'm thinking about the first responders going into a very unstable situation. you talked about the fire that was put out. we remember after 9/11 first responders ended up with breathing issues and it was very

harmful to them. what efforts are you putting in place to keep our first responders as healthy as possible? >> as you say, our first concern is saving lives, so we have all of the protective gear, respiratory equipment, fans obviously quelling the fire and the smoke. if it was not a condition in which they could breathe, they're told to avoid the area, and we're keeping them safe because they're sacrifiing for us each and every day. >> mayor daniella levine cava. quite a challenge for you. hang in there. we're all pulling for you. >> thank you. thank you, chuck. turning now to the big political story of the week here in washington, president biden's effort to get a deal on the infrastructure. it was something he promised to skeptics.

then again, maybe not. republicans were angered when mr. biden announced a few hours later he wouldn't sign the package unless he could sign a more aggressive bill at the same time. >> only one comes to me. it's in tandem. >> well, lindsey graham, one of the 11 republican senators initially on board responded bay saying if he's going to tie them together, he can forget it. i'm not doing that. that's extortion. i'm not doing that. yesterday the president walked back his statement a bit. in a lengthy statement he writes, my comments also created the impression that i was issuing a veto threat on the very plan i had just agreed to, which was certainly not my intent. well, many progressive democrats

won't go along with that package without that two-bill guerin tee. so where does that leave us? there's a group at the white house on what was initially quite the celebratory day. senator cassidy, welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you, chuck. >> so let me start with the president's statement yesterday. is the deal still in jeopardy or was that enough to calm the waters? >> i sure hope it's enough. a great deal. it's actually going to provide the infrastructure that the american people want, that they need, that will make our country more prosperous for all americans, so i hope it's enough. we'll see going forward, but i'll continue to work for the bill. >> i was going to say. it sounds like it's enough for you. there's a little bit of -- to quote casablanca -- are republicans really shocked that the democrats were going to pursue their own bill? you knew exactly what the situation was. what makes this -- what makes

tying them together somehow more fraught for some than if it's back to back the way it's likely to be? >> first, we were assured that the two would not be linked. yes, the human infrastructure as you will, is that the two would not be linked. why is that important. first, there's bipartisan position to the bipartisan infrastructure of the bill. number two, republicans think that portion is bad for our country. we have an inflation rate that's been higher than it's been for quite some time, and that bill would make it higher. we don't want to be party of something that might coerce the package. lastly, it will probably sink both. this infrastructure bill is good for america, for all americans. it's going to make us more production tichb. it's going to create lots of jobs. if you sink both, we lose the advantage of that which is in our hand, which is this

infrastructure bill. >> you know, considering the infrastructure problems we still see, and there are some experts who say, as good as this bill is, the problems we face in this country of rebuilding our roads and bridges and adding some 21st century technology, that this bill still isn't enough. do you accept that criticism? >> first, it's estimated the most we can absorb per year is about $70 billion in infrastructure spending, hard infrastructure, roads, bridges, et cetera, before it becomes a little wasteful. we kind of get there. by the way, we go further. we also have $47 billion for resiliency. i was discussing this with the white house. i said, does that include things like coastal restoration and working with rivers to make sure we don't flood as much. they said that's absolutely what

we're thinking of. so not only do we have the roads, bridges, and tunnels but plans to protect the roads, bridges, and tunnels. >> what's your case to skeptical republicans where you say, hey, i was able to go home and secure funding for this bridge over here or this restoration project over there, but somehow the political chattering class tells them, hey, you're going to give joe biden a win, right, because you're supporting a bill he reports. i know we're so politically cynical in this town, but sadly there are senators who stick their finger in the wind and make a decision based on that. how do you walk that line? what's your message to the republican senators? >> if you go home and talk to constituents who are stuck in traffic for 1 1/2 hours getting to work and 1 1/2 hours getting home, three hour days they can't

spend with their families, they want a bridge coming to a town near them. my wife says roads and bridges are a woman's problem if you will. oftentimes it's a women who besides commuting to work are taking children to skoal and doing the shopping. the more time she spends on the road, the less time she does things of higher value. if you speak to her, she's going say this is a good bill. lastly, if you speak to communities that have been flooded, that are in danger, you spoke of the hurricane, my coastline of louisiana has been melting away, if you speak to those communities, they really like the resiliency piece. if you put your finger up in the air, you're going to feel a breeze in favor of this bill. >> senator mitch mcconnell, we know if he doesn't like something, he can probably convince 40 republicans to vote no. how much are you consulting with him, and is he still comfortable with where this deal is still

going even if he doesn't personally support it? >> hey, mitch has been -- if we can pull this off, i think mitch will favor it. now, he didn't like the president throwing the wrench in there saying the two are tied together. that caused a little bit of, hmm, let's think about this. i think much mcconnell wants infrastructure as much as anyone else. i think leader mcconnell will lean forward if it continues to come together as it is. >> the former president is on what some deem as a revenge tour. he's going after people who voted to impeach him or voted to convict him. how much does that concern you politically? >> it doesn't concern me at all. there's a discrepancy tur, let the day's own troubles be sichblt for the day. if republicans focus on what's

right and if they focus on the bridges and coastlines and decrease in fives and floods, future politics will take care of themselves. good policy is good politics. let's stick to the good policy, and this is good policy. >> senator bill cassidy from louisiana part of the bipartisan group trying to strike this deal. thanks for coming on and sharing your perspective. >> thank you, todd. when we come back, we're going to hear from one of the democrats, congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez from new york. stay with us. andria ocasio-cort new york stay with us the #1 toothpaste brand in america.

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welcome back. president biden wasn't the only democrat who linked the two infrastructure bills on thursday. house speaker nancy pelosi told her house members there ain't no bill without the reconciliation bill, and, yes, she emphasized the word "ain't" on that bill. it would inclues many progressive priorities including

education, child poverty, climate change. joining me now is one of the leading progressive voices in the party is congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez from new york. congresswoman, welcome back to "meet the press." >> of course. thank you for having me. >> it's basically the flip question i asked senator cassidy. president biden's -- i don't know whether we call the statement a walkback or not, his clarification, was it a veto threat, was it not, what he said on thursday seemed to cheer progressives. do you think his -- are you a little upset by the walkback that he made yesterday or do you consider it a walkback at all? >> you know, i think regardless of the president's statements, there are three key chess pieces we need to align to pass any legislation as we know. there's the senate, there's the house, and the white house t presidency, and so i believe that, you know, the president is more than able to take his own

approach, but i believe we have to also talk about this missing piece, which is the house, and i believe that in the house and house democrats, they're very committed to making sure that, you know, in senator cassidy's words, that infrastructure is very centered on women, and in addition to a bridge, you need a babysitter, and it's sprornlt we pass a reconciliation bill and family plan that expands child care, lowers the cost of child care and supports families in the economy. >> would you like the president to be issuing a veto threat on the bipartisan deal if the reconciliation package doesn't come to fruition? >> well, i think -- i think what's really important, i think it's very important for the president to know that house progressives and i believe, you know t democratic caucus is here to ensure he doesn't fail and that he's successful in making

sure that we do have a larger infrastructure plan. and the fact of the matter is while we can welcome this work and welcome collaboration with republicans and in those areas where there is agreement, republicans are more than welcome to join so that we can get this work on infrastructure done. but that doesn't mean that the president should be limited by republicans particularly when we have a house majority, we have 50 democratic senators, and we have the white house, and i believe we can ensure he's successful and issue a strong agenda for working families. >> the senate majorities are extraordinarily narrow in the house and in senate, and when i think about the democratic coalition, we can make the assessment 50% is progressive, but that doesn't give you majority votes here. how big do you think this reconciliation package can be? i've seen upwards of $3

trillion, $4 trillion, but i've heard from more conservative democrats in the house who think $3 trillion is too much. is there a baseline number you can tolerate before you come out against the deal? >> well, to me, it's not just about a price tag, right? you can have an enormous price tag that's chock-full of fossil fuel giveaways and that's not going to solve our problem. likewise you can also have an infrastructure plan that's too small and it's so small it doesn't invest in any meaningful way that people can feel a positive impact in their everyday lives. for me it's not so much about a price tag, but there is a level we do go too small, but it's really about what impact are we making. and it's important that we talk

about these figures that are spread out over ten years or eight years in some of these packages. and so when you break that down into a per-year cost, it is much, much smaller. and, frankly, we really need to understand this is our one big shot not just in terms of family, child care, medicare, but on climate change. the report came out this week that showed devastating consequences. it's the underinvest. and so while i appreciate, for example, the president talks about resilience, resilience does not draw down carbon and building infrastructure does not draw down carbon. while i appreciate the easy investment, we need to have real deals, rail investment, high-speed rail investment that will electrify and transition folks so they have the option to take rail almost wherever they need to take it. >> obviously a lot of this

depending on the senate democrats holding together. i know where you stand on the filibuster. i'm curious where you stand when it comes to sinema. she wrote, would it be good if we did this, basically getting rid of the filibuster, only to see legislation rescinded a if you're s new no and replaced by a nationwide voter i.d. law or restrictions on voting by mail in federal elections over the objections of the minority. she's saying let's get rid of all of this and the roles are reversed and everything gets rolled back. is that a good enough defense to you for the filibuster? >> no. i mean, it's an argument of saying, well, why do anything at all in case something in the future may change it. political systems all across the country, all across the world pass legislation with majorities, and, frankly, here's the thing.

democratic legislation once enacted is popular. republicans have tried to gut social security. they've tried to reverse the aca. they've tried to claw back on legislation that has passed by simple majorities in the senate, and they haven't been able to because democratic policies are popular. and once they are enacted, they're very politically difficult to undo, and so, i do not believe in the defeatism of saying we will lose in the future and this will automatically mean ta anything we do now is going to be reversed, so we might as well not do anythinglegislate. our job is to help people, do as much as we can. even if that is the case, even if that is the case, wouldn't it be better to get people health care and voting rights for three years instead of zero rights

even if you think what is true that's not in the first place. and then beyond that, why 60 votes? why stop at 70? why need 80? why defend a 60-vote filibuster when the senate already amplifies minority pow sore that the 50 democratic senators already represent millions and millions and millions more americans than 50 republican senators? and so i would argue that 50 republican senators is already a built in kind of filibusteresque law. >> congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez, i really appreciate you coming on. i wanted to get in a little new york city politics, but we've still got a lot of counting to do. >> we do. >> thanks for coming on. appreciate it. >> thank you very much. when we come back, president biden's high-wire act. can he keep enough republicans and moderate democrats together

for a bipartisan deal? that's next. >> announcer: "meet the press" is brought to you by charles schwab. own your tomorrow. to micro-target damage helping to repair hair without weighing it down. try pantene. nobody builds 5g like verizon builds 5g. thousands of engineers taking business to a whole new level. employees are empowered. customers are engaged. near real time data for fast decision making. this is business at the speed of 5g. because the more businesses do with 5g, the more your network matters. it's us pushing us. it's verizon vs verizon.

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and swelling. could your story also be about ibs-c? talk to your doctor and say yess to linzess. welcome back. the panel is here, and, yes, in person again. nbc news correspondent andrea mitchell, joshua johnson, danielle pletka of the american enterprise institute and yamiche

alcindor and this is the first time we can say you're the moderator of washington week and congratulations on that. >> thank you. >> on first freedom friday our team laid out three ways this bipartisan deal can get derailed. scenario one, conservatives revolt. you saw that with lindsey graham, a plan that he called extortion. you heard bill cassidy say maybe the president's statement helped calm the waters. see therrio two, the democratic consensus unravels. we heard how that's possible from congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez. however, i sense there is an attempt to not make the white house mad. i mean i thought that was interesting there. and then, scenario three is something, we call it the great unknown. the fact is these are fragile majorities, okay, and anything can happen and suddenly the majorities can change. we have very narrow majorities in the house and senate. andrea mitchell, where does this

deal stand? >> it is in such a fraught place, just teetering in the balance. you heard from senator cassidy. they want a lot of what's good in it. they say mitch mcconnell might want it. i don't know about that. >> he wants a new bridge between northern kentucky and cincinnati. he wants that. >> but he does not want a biden victory, that's very clear, and this would be a bind victory. people want infrastructure, but i have never in my experience seen two bills so different moving in tandem which pelosi and schumer have said is their bottom line, and, you know, you heard nancy pelosi say it ain't going to happen, using that word, "ain't," and that, of course, precipitated the president miss speaking so badly he had to release a long statement of apology for ever saying anything like that. for both of these to be worked through, and they have to wait because in august they're going to be rewriting language. i think senators -- >> dani, i think you're the one

former one here. you know about compromise. that's the thing. they're not going to vote on this until september. those three scenarios, i think they're going to happen 3,000 times between now and september. what say you? >> i think that's absolutely right. what's going to happen on reconciliation and on this other -- how many trillion are we talking about now in. >> by the way, i thought it was interesting aoc wouldn't say what her bottom line number is. they have to negotiate the number. >> it starts with a "t." the closer we get to next year's election, the republicans are going to start to ask themselves a question, "a," are we paving the way toward this other reconciliation bill that, you can spend, $1.3 trillion and then you're going to do three, four, five more on reconciliation? are republicans going to be okay

with letting that happen? can i ask one last question? where is all this money coming from? it's not crazy. >> we seem to have -- we've not worried about the deficit in a long time. >> what this week really underscores is how fragile this partisan shenn is in washington and the delicate dance that's being done. i was surprised it was number three, and then we realized number three was 1 through 99. what frt said is i want both of these bills on my desk, and, of course, he had that long 600-word statement where he really trying to assure people, yes, i'm behind the bipartisan bill. with that said, there's also this feeling -- i was on the driveway when the senators swaggered out. they all had to know there was going to be a second bill. of course, there's not the veto there. of course, we have to remember the white house has been saying and the democrats have been saying for a long time, they

want this second track. there's this real understanding, we can have this but you can't say the two are tied together. >> i do take the point that this is tied to two, covid relief and infrastructure. >> this year. >> this year, right, the first year, and that politically potentially, that's ammunition, i think, to speak to a republican base. i do think, however, there's nothing like a disaster to focus the mind. i have never spent a night in a building and wondered if it was going to hold me up by morning. >> right. >> i stayed in a hotel across the street from here, on the seventh floor. i lie in bed and before i closed my eyes, i thought about the condo. you and i are both from south florida. florida is one big infrastructure project. bill cassidy is in louisiana. that's the biggest. new york subways have flooded in the last few years.

>> we had a pedestrian street fall. >> they say for every dollar you spend, it saves $6 in disaster relief. miami beach hasn't been hit by a major hurricane since 1926. they called it a big blow. category 4 that killed 113 people drowned and crushed by a hurricane. i understand all this political calculi that are playing. but it's enough to remind people the home you sleep in may not stand by morning and there's something you can do about it. >> there's something about the so-called pay for it. they're completely made up. if you're not doing a gas tax or electric car tax -- >> and you're not doing entitlement reform. >> forget that. irs collection? that's the old waste, fraud, and abuse of the 1980s.

>> i wish we could get rid of it. >> you know, both sides -- nobody wants to face the reality that there is no way to pay for any of this. inflation is rearing its head. let's see where we are by fall. >> do the house democrats have the votes for $3 trillion in reconciliation spending? >> right now they do not. nancy pelosi has lost at tleeft a vote from a moderate blue dog, and she can't afford to lose more than two votes, so this is a very, very fragile situation for democrats. they're trying to also get senator manchin to agree with senator bernie sanders, which is going to be a feat in the senate here, but i will go back to something josh said because i'm a south florida native myself. with family searching the rubble right now, there's something to be said about 156 to even 200 souls that may possibly go missing at the end of this. right now the number is at 156, but it's really, really scary

when you think about they that building is -- it's an anomaly that it came down, but the fact that it was dealing with corrosion, there was a consultant three years earlier saying there are major structural issues with this building, how many more buildings have reports like that? how many more senators getting notes from their constituents, are our buildings safe? that might be one of the unknowns that would help you. >> this isn't just about money. it's about responsibility. without that, all of the money in the world isn't going to make a difference. >> this is reminder. folks, worry about who you vote. in we had terrible officials in the '70s and '80s who allowed all this shoddy stuff to happen down there. to see this in 2021, you just got angry all over again. you don't know the answer but someone does. when we come back, the growing acceptance across the

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welcome back. it's ""data download" time." what made it newsworthy is it's lis itted a shrug from the general public. to mark the end of lgbtq p.r.i.d.e. month, we want to look at how far the debate has shifted in the last few decades.

the best place to look is on the issue of same sex marriage. 70% of all adults believe that same-sex marriage should be legal, and this is across the board on the political agenda. in fact, there is more acceptance of same-sex marriage atlanta is of global warming occurring or that abortion is morally acceptable as you can see. so we've made a lot of progress there. this has changed a lot. in 2004 the idea of same sex marriage was a polarizing debate in this country and it was used in that presidential campaign in order to generate voter turnout. well, there's a new divisive part of the lgbtq rights fight these days, and it has do with trans people. legislation targeting transpeople in this country is occurring in more than 30 states, and this is the, quote,

new battleground you're going to see. in 2004 you would have seen a map like this. the question we have is will we see the same rate of acceptance of the trans community over the next decade as we did with same-sex marriage we've seen earlier in this century. when we come back, limiting voting action circumstances and the justice department is striking back. stay with us. department is striking back. stay with us it also helps lower cholesterol and slows sugar absorption to promote healthy blood sugar levels. so you can feel lighter and more energetic metamucil. support your daily digestive health. and try metamucil fiber thins. a great tasting and easy way to start your day.

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changes to georgia election laws were enacted with the purpose of denying or bridging black georgians to vote on account of their race or color in violation of section 2 of the voting rights act. welcome back. that was attorney general merrick garland announcing that they're going to challenge georgia's laws, and yamiche, this feels like it's first of what could be many of the justice department's attempts to challenge state laws around the country. where is this going? >> when you talk about people really familiar with the thinking about this, the democrats realize it's not only going to be resolved in a legislative way, but there has to be a judicial court battle ahead. when i talk to rights activists, they want to see two things, that that can't be the way america works. they want to see more judges on the court. they want to see president biden

accelerate nominees to the courts. who can get the access to vote? republicans and state legislatures are saying essentially a critic would say if we don't like the way you voted, we will take away your vote. that's a real problem if you look at the philadelphia state legislature and whether north they can nullify votes in philly. that could be a problem and a big problem. >> look. this is where sort of the multiple conversations here, dani are. there's the fight about access to the polls and then who decides what vote counts. i want to put up a map here. we have about a dozen states who want to change or have already changed laws or restricted local officials from what they can do to change election law. this seems to be, first of all, hard position to defend from the right and the question is whether or not the courts can

effectively stop them. >> there are a whole bunch of issues at play here. i don't think the republican party at the state level or federal level wants to be known as the party of the voter suppression any more than the democrats want to be known as the party of fraud. the challenge here is because of covid, there were a lot of changes on a state-by-state level. it's confusing to me and to a lot of people that when states seek to adjust based on some of those changes, for example, drop boxes, georgia never had drop boxes before. now drop boxes are in law. this is the law merrick garland was just talking about. there are going to be problems that if at the federal level, they only need to go after republican-run states for laws that mirror, for example, things that exist in delaware or new york or connecticut or new hampshire. and i think the other challenge is that -- i think it's hard to argue that we are in an

existential crisis. how many people voted in the last election? more than ever before. we have unbelievable voter engagement. so, again, there are reasonable arguments to be had here, but i'm not sure that those are the ones that are going on. >> i do want to get to the point, though, of whether the bigger mistake here is that there hasn't been a bigger push to renew the voting rights act because i don't know if merrick garland has the tools to push back on this. >> this is an attempt to deal with the pre-clearance issue, and it's no accident that these changes are taking place in particular states, and it is a nullification. it's arizona taking away from the secretary of the state katy hobbs, her right -- >> but they right it so the change would expire when her election term expires. it's the most bizarre attempt of all. >> it's taking 100,000 people off -- sorry. it's specifically aimed at people of color, at people who have voted in the last election, people who had access because of the changes, because of covid,

they had more access. it's taking away -- in texas, taking away sunday voting, souls to the poll. it's exactly aimed at minority voters. they took away other aspects. they're purging the role. it's so explicit that in each of these cases, if you talk to lawyers on both sides of the case, there's no question that in georgia they have -- >> we have to remember that you push republicans. i've talked to state republicans, why are you doing this. well, there was voter fraud, voter issues. you have william barr just out today with "the atlantic" saying it's b.s. >> he didn't say b.s. he said the whole word. >> then republicans who are keeping -- letting him continue to have power, understanding he

has a lot of influence with the base, that they are following suit in this conspiracy theory, and we have to really base all the conversation in the fact there was no widespread voter fraund that black people and people of color who fought and died for the right to vote, their ballot box is now in jeopardy. >> that's what makes me have a little bit of hope in the long term. this whole voter suppression, big lie thing is such a move. it feels like a hail mary. both parties know where the demographics are going. the nation knows it's a lie. i think there's a strong core of people who buy into this. the fact that you're taking away the vote because you didn't like the way the vote was going? this feels very much like a desperate last gaps, especially among people who know what happened to the voting rights act. you want to see everyone cast

their ballot. >> i understand. i think we separate out the big lie part of this. hang on for a scored. there may be people who can't. there may be legislatures who don't want to. agree with you with arizona. this apparent attempt to replace someone you don't like is wrong. on the other happened, i think that part of the argument that we're making about places like georgia is unjust, you know. they're allowing sunday voting. they've expanded access. and the very hero against trump, the secretary of state s now a villain. he's a villain in the georgia voting right. >> last word. >> i think one of the problems is you've got two bills, the john lewis bill and the for the people act. the first was a messaging bill with everything voted in. it's the john lewis bill. >> that to me was a mistake. the democratic leadership made a

mistake. that's all for today. very lively panel discussion here at the end. i appreciate that. thank you for watching. we'll be back next week even on independence day because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." something went very, very wrong here, and we're going to get to the bottom of it, but as far as i'm concerned, job one is to get those folks out of that pile of rubble and reunite them with their family. >> the desperate search for survivors continues after last week's condo chance in south florida. the question this morning, could a warning about struck montreal damage back in 2018 have prevented this disaster? plus, president biden walks back his veto threat on the bipartisan deal. they say they were