to help manage hunger and support muscle health. try boost today. i'm chris jansing in for ayman mohyeldin. and president biden is hosting a meeting with king abdullah ii at the white house discussing issues in the middle east as domestic challenges loom. on capitol hill, the senate is hurdling toward two infrastructure deadlines forcing lawmakers to work quickly to finish both the bipartisan plan and a reconciliation bill. and europe is trying to recover from devastating flooding. world leaders are grappling with a growing climate crisis. canada announced that fully vaccinated american citizens and permanent residents may now travel to canada beginning on

august 9. and our affiliate reporting that the member of the u.s. women's gymnastics team who just tested positive for covid-19 is alternate kara eeaker. and the delta variant prompting new guidance for kids headed back to school. the american academy of pediatrics recommending that any kid over 2 should wear a mask at school. and new fears that the coronavirus spread will reek chaos with the global economy, the dow down as much as 900 points today. but we begin with the breaking olympic news. according to usa gymnastics, 18-year-old kara eaker, and one other gymnastics team alternate, are quarantining after that positive coronavirus test. so just days away from the opening ceremony, heightened concerns that the pandemic could

cast a growing shadow over the competition. joining me now is freelance sports reporter mary pallone who covered the rio olympics with nbc. good to see you. so first coco gauff who said that she is out because of covid and now kara who traveled to japan before finding that she was positive, what does it do to these concerns regarding the games? >> this is exactly what you don't want to happen. the word that comes to mind is discouraging. particularly with the women's gymnastics team. i mean, simone biles is the superstar of team usa. so this really hits at the heart of what the olympics are supposed to be about which is getting folks together and obviously from a pandemic standpoint, that is a nightmare and i think one of the things that is also concerning about what is going on is that it is my understanding that some of these positive cases are among folks who are vaccinated. deend of has echos of what happened to the new york

yankees. even when organizers are taking all precautions possible, this virus is really proving to be the ultimate enemy. and you also -- before every olympics there is often chaos. before rio, zika was the dominant story and then once the games started, people got into the spirit a lot more. but unfortunately, i don't know if that will happen this time around. it seems as though people also in the community in japan are not embracing the games. and you have 11,000 athletes descending on a place where you have some who have had mixed access to vaccines and some that are vaccinated and still testing positive. >> and you mentioned there are other athletes including some in the village who have tested positive. the games were already unpopular with folks in japan according to the polls. you won't have crowds in the stands. so how are these games looking to you and what will you be watching for in the days and weeks ahead? >> it is funny because you mentioned watching.

the time zone particularly for the united states is also definitely a challenge. i'll be watching to see -- i think that there is so much money and momentum in making sure that the games get staged. and if you saw what the nba pulled off in the bubble, i think the organizers are set to having something, having something to air. and so i would be really surprised if things are canceled all out, but i hope that -- i think it is a bummer for the athletes obviously and the fans that love watching and their families. so i'll be really curious to see if the spirit of the games carries over. you know, i watched simone biles do anything. i think that she is hard to make not fun to watch. but of course safety is first and foremost. so it will be interesting to see if the olympic spirit and momentum carries through. >> yeah, and you do feel for folks like coco gauff who said that this has been her life long dream, she always wanted to be an oolympian. and others may not have the opportunity that she may.

mary, thank you so much. for much more on the covid spikes we're seeing all across the u.s., i'm joined now by gabe guttierez outside a honesty in hospital in jacksonville, florida, lisa layer and also an emergency fish owing and also assistant professor in phoenix. so doctor, i want to start with two of the key things that strike me. kara is a teen. and she was vaccinated. so if even if you are in a low risk group and you are vaccinated, you need to understand that we're not out of the woods yet? >> thanks for having me. so a couple things. for one, yes, we're not out of the woods, that is clear. and for anybody who is saying that the pandemic is over, obviously it is not. but, two, if you are vaccinated,

that gives a great deal of protection. only people i see in the e.r. with covid are unvaccinated people. the data shows that. but i have yet to see a patient coming in with covid looking sick who has been vaccinated. they are all unvaccinated people. and so if you have been vaccinated, i think that you have good reason to feel that you can be confident that you won't get sick or severely sick. but yes, you can still test positive and most importantly, you can still spread to others. remember, not everyone is vaccinated. definitely the young kids aren't. >> and so gabe, you are at a hospital in florida. that is a state that is accounting for 20& of all new covid cases right now across the u.s. tell us what you are seeing. >> yes, statewide hospitalizations in january were much higher here in florida. but right now, this particular hospital is about to see its highest amount of hospitalizations at any one time. just this morning he were inside a covid unit and they said that

they had 123 covid patients, dramatically up from 86 that they had on sunday. and we spoke with one of the nurses, take a listen to what she told me about the type of patients that they are seeing. >> i believe 98% are unvaccinated. and if i ask any single patient that is up in a bed right now, they will tell me that they wish they had gotten the vaccine. 100%. they have told me personally that they wish they had gotten it, that they should have gotten it. and they did not. >> reporter: and chris, we actually spoke with an actual patient a short time ago, 65 years old, she says that she didn't get the vaccine because she was scared. and she deeply regrets it. she is trying to tell everyone to go ahead and get the vaccine. but many of the health care

workers we spoke with today say that they are frustrated that this issue, the covid vaccine issue generally, has become so politicized, statewide positivity rate here in florida is now at sturbing number. and the hospital you are at believes that they will break a record for the number of covid patients today? >> reporter: yeah, i said that they were at 123 just this morning, but they had several more potential covid patients that they were waiting for testing on. and so it is possible that by the end of the day, they could break their previous record of 125 covid patients inside this hospital. i mentioned that they have four covid units right now, there are plans to expand. of course different parts of the state are seeing this differently, but here in jacksonville and some of the surrounding counties -- or rather in the surrounding counties where there is less of a vaccination rate, there is some concern that this surge could continue not just for the coming weeks about you into the

fall especially with back to school. >> and i emphasize that, doctor, because obviously florida is not alone. there are a number of states that are seeing surges. and the american academy of pediatrics came out today and said we think, our recommendation is, that students 2 and up ought to be wearing masks in a classroom even if they are vaccinated. that is not what the cdc policy is right now, would you expect them to follow suit, should they follow suit? what do you think? >> yeah, talk about how confusing it gets for the average person at home trying to figure it out. you have multiple agencies saying multiple different things. ideally the pandemic could have been beaten, but alas here we are. but everybody agrees that kids should be back in school in-person learning. and there are ways of controlling the disease.

it would be important in my opinion to children that wear masks that are not vaccinated. again, everybody agrees on that part. the disagreement is if you are vaccinated should you wear masks or not. and there is no way of proving who has been vaccinated or not. it is an honor code. and my personal opinion is that the honor code has not worked. people i see in the hospital have said various things about their vaccination status and yet there they are sick. and we see it in the community as well. so i think that it is reasonable to say that everyone needs to wear a mask especially when they are younger because you don't know who has been vaccinated and who has not been. and remember basically nobody under 12 has been vaccinated. so it seems to make the most sense, i'm not a politician, but to have everyone wear a mask until we can guarantee that the disease has gone down significantly. and that looks like a while. >> and speaking of politicians, lisa, you've been reporting on republican opposition to

vaccines nationwide. tell us what you are seeing out there, the kinds of campaigns and whether it is surprising that some of the same politicians who praised the trump administration for "operation warp speed," for getting a quick vaccine, now are saying, no, you don't need to get a vaccine. >> well, what we're seeing is that these vaccination rates are really breaking down along partisan lines. we so in the polling data thats are far more hesitant to get vaccinated. and rates are low in the counties that trump won last november. and part of what is concerning, while some republican officials have encouraged their voters and people -- americans generally to get vaccinated, in a lot of conservative media, to activists, to the halls of congress, you are seeing a number of republicans who are really sowing this

disinformation and conspiracy theories about health concerns about the vaccine or even more conspiratorially thinking about government plots. just things that are simply not true but are these theorys that have made their way and really burrowed deep into conservative circles. and it is striking to see as you point out, it is a reversal, i think during the trump administration, you had a number of republicans happy to tout the vaccination rates. but now there are concerns about the vaccination. >> very busy day on the covid front. gabe, lisa, doctor, thanks to all of you. we really appreciate it. now, some of the worst situations that we are seeing all across the country, the number of cases, deaths, continue to be in arkansas where the overall vaccination rates are among the lowest in the nation. the aggressive spread of the delta variant is prompting fears of a return to the surge conditions that plagued that state just a few months ago.

joining me now, dean of the college of public health, dr.wi. i was in your state last weekend. and you have a republican governor but also a lot of other republican political leaders who are pushing for the vaccine. but you can sense the frustration that they are not getting very far very fast. what do you think is going on in your state? >> thank you for having me on this afternoon, chris. and it is difficult for us to really assess what is going on in the state with the entire population. there is a real lack of willingness to accept the covid vaccine among the population. and it is for various reasons. for some people, it is a mistrust of science, for others it is a mistrust of government.

and for others, it is just an inability to get away from work or to get to a place where they can get vaccinated easily. i have to say the governor has done a tremendous job within the parameters that he has of trying to get people to go out and get vaccinated. and in this respect, he is going around the state to the smaller towns to see what he can do to encourage people to get vaccinated. >> one of the -- when you talk about parameters, i was in schools and one of the superintendents was so frustrated because he cannot mandate masks. the legislature says that you can't do what the american academy of pediatrics just said, right? and he couldn't even hardly express how worried he was for his students who are going back

to school. and you've said that the delta variant is up ending your projections. do you have any sense what the next weeks or months will look like in your state? >> the best we can do right now, because of how quickly this variant is spreading, is to say that we are very likely entering a new surge that will perhaps -- and i say this with some caution but i think that there is good reason to say this -- will exceed the surge that we saw in december and january of this past year. and in saying that i believe the state is looking at more than 3,000 daily cases in the near future. >> well, dr. williams, i know that you have your work cut out for you and we appreciate you taking the time. some lessons for a lot of folks in a lot of states that are having similar problems to arkansas. we appreciate it. meantime, we have the first

january 6th rioter learn his fate today. the sentence just handed down, the tone it sets for hundreds of others who are charged. that is next. and nearly 20 years after the first detainees were sent to gitmo, dozens still remain. today one is being transferred. ♪ ♪ 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. ♪ you've been taking mental health meds, and your mind is finally in a better place. except now you have uncontrollable body movements

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now to washington and that

showdown over infrastructure and the economy. president biden this afternoon firing back at republicans' claims that his policies are to blame for a spike in prices as the economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. and also arguing that his infrastructure plan will help deal with rising costs. >> it will take the pressure off of inflation. give a boost to our workforce which leads to lower prices in the years ahead. so if your primary concern right now is inflation, you should be even more enthusiastic about this plan. >> and take a look live at the senate floor where chuck schumer will set up a procedural vote on wednesday for the bipartisan infrastructure will. s republicans question the timing since the text has not been finalized. >> chuck schumer is not writing the bill, nor is mitch

mcconnell. so we should bring it forward when it is written. >> how can i vote for closure until it is written? unless senator schumer doesn't want this to happen, you need more time to get it right. >> and let's sink into it with mike memoli and also leigh ann caldwell. so mike, the parameters of this argument are clear. and it is critical to what happens withinfrastructure, republicans are blaming the president for inflation. today we heard firsthand his response. >> yeah, that's right. and this is a white house that is very well aware of what the lead republican argument has been against his spending proposals and the president tried to go on offense today and i thought it was interesting how he did so. first by rewinding the clock since months as he prepares to mark the first half year in office tomorrow. he noted that his critics and his former opponent were predicting that if he were elected, if he were sworn in, that as he put it, there would

be a socialist agenda being implemented and he said in a capitalism is alive and well talking about the fact that the economy has rebounded beyond what many were projecting six months ago. so with that pretext, he argued had if we tackle some of the long standing issues like child care and infrastructure and boosting manufacturing, it would ease some of the spending -- inflation that we've seen. but of course the white house is arguing that these are only temporary. and this argument only holds water as long as it does prove to be temporary. but the white house trying to stay on the offense here, very much a critical week. >> and chuck schumer taking a gamble obviously, but sticking to the strategy not only by setting a wednesday vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill that is not fully written, but setting a wednesday deadline too for details of that companion $3.5 trillion bill which is that human infrastructure. any progress to report on either front? >> yeah, they have a lot of work ahead of them.

let's start with the bipartisan plan. there is some progress there. senator tester just told our colleague frank thorp that they figured out how to replace the irs component of the funding. they took out of $60 billion of irs enforcement. he didn't say what it would be replaced with. they will continue to work tonight to hammer out the details. but as far as the time line for the bill, senator ben cardin, a democrat from maryland, he talked about that time line earlier today and let's listen to what he had to say. >> and i think progress is being made. we'll be patient, but understand the clock is ticking. there is only a certain number of days that remain even after an agreement is completely agreed to the bipartisan package, it will take time on the senate floor. so we have to see the bill

shortly. i don't know whether wednesday is in stone, but i can tell you this, we don't have that much more time remaining. >> so senator cardin lays out the challenges and is that the number of legislative days left before august. so they have a lot to do. senator schumer has not indicated that he is going to back down yet on that wednesday procedural vote. he will move forward with it. and then still we have this $3.5 trillion plan that we're also waiting on details. >> all right. thank you both. and this afternoon, we now know a florida man is heading to prison, the first person sentenced for a felony in connection with the january 6 riot at the u.s. capitol. and he is 38-year-old paul hodgkin's. seen in this video from the senate floor with a trump campaign flag. a federal judge gave him eight

months in prison, 24 months of supervised release after he pleaded guilty to one count of obstructing an official proceeding. and pete williams is joining us now. so it is less than prosecutors asked for. and there was also a lot of talk that this sentencing would be our first big indicator of what may be facing the hundreds of others charged. so what if anything does this sentence tell us, and does it potend anything for the other accused? >> i think that it will depend what the other accused are sentenced for. three are those who committed violence, attacked police, those who damaged property, and he is in a third category of people who went on to the floor of the house or senate, and then there is the final category of people who just kind of walked in and took selfies or smoked a joint. but prosecutors had urged the judge to impose a 18 month sentence. the lawyer for hodgkin's said that the sentence should be no prison time or a term of home

detention. and the judge said that hodgkin's didn't do anything violent or damage property, but he said that he did participate in a larger event that threatened the capitol and democracy itself and the damage caused had way was beyond several hour delay of just certifying the vote. it is a damage that he said would persist for several decades. hodgkin's was arrested on february 16th, he pleaded guilty in june to a single felony account of obstructing an official proceeding. admitting that he carried that trump flag on to the senate floor. he did address the court today. he told the judge that he would not have entered the capitol if he had known of the violence acts that would be committed inside. and he said that he was truly remorseful and regretted his actions. but prosecutors said that they wanted a longer sentence because it would send a clear message to other would-be rioters that if they are caught they had face a serious sentence so that there

won't be a next time. >> pete williams, thank you so much for that. and we also have a couple of big developments out of the pentagon. for the first time under the biden administration, a detainee has been transferred out of guantanamo bay and taken to morocco 19 years after he was captured in afghanistan. he was never charged with a crime. there are now just 39 prisoners left at guantanamo bay. and breaking in the last hour or so, the biden administration is set to start evacuating translators, drivers and others who helped the u.s. military in afghanistan. joining us with more on this is our pentagon correspondent courtney kube. a lot of people who served in afghanistan, i know you've talked to them, have been pressuring the administration to get this done sooner rather than later saying those folks were in danger. what do we know about what will happen, what the time line looks like? >> so these are the first 700 or

so of these people who worked with u.s. military many as you mentioned served as interpreters and their families. so about 2500 people total. but it is important to point out, these are individuals who already have been in the special immigrant visa pipeline. and they have gone through months perhaps even years of background checks, of going through paperwork, of the bureaucracy involved and actually being approved for the special immigrant visa application. they are the first ones who are going to make their way to the u.s. we should expect to see them here by the end of this month. we also now know that some if not all of those 2500 will be housed for several days at least at ft. lee, virginia, the u.s. military base in virginia, not too far from richmond. what is unclear though is exactly how this is all going to happen. it sounds as if because just the

shear number, 2500 people, they will be brought in waves and they may not have all housed at ft. lee at the same time. in fact we know that the u.s. military is looking for al iter alternate locations as well. but the military will be responsible for housing them, providing food and any medical care and comfort issues like religious services and everything. so a little bit more specifics on it, there are thousands more that are in the pipeline at a much earlier stage though. we do not expect to see them this month, but perhaps later this summer. >> courtney, appreciate it. devastating wildfires and the search for survives after flooding in europe. are these clear indicators of what global warming is doing to our world? we'll speak with a scientist who says that the time for urgent action is now.

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austrian border, this german army unit jumped in to assist with cleanup as water continued to flow. meanwhile, wildfires rage across the western united states enveloping parts of california and oregon. high temperatures and a drought mean fuel for fires like oregon's bootleg wildfire, that is the largest this country has seen this year. joining me now live from germany is raf sanchez and live from california, jake ward. and raf, walk us through now that you've had a little bit of time, but goodness, some of the pictures i'm still seeing out of germany on the ground there are horrifying. what are you seeing? >> reporter: we are standing about 50 yards from the banks of the river. and this is really ground zero of the flood zone here in western germany. and if you can see here in here, this is, or it was, a car wash.

but now tree branches, root, all snarled up in the mechanisms there. and if you follow me around, the scene here is almost post-a pop live tick. apocalyptic. you can see this tree was ripped up from the roots by the force of the water. and i want you to take a look across at the stucco house. you can see really clearly there that muddy brown high water line. that was the high point of the water at the peak of the floods. so the entire first floor of that house under water living room, kitchen, dining room, all completely subsumed. if you follow me into the forecourt here, you can see these gas pumps basically ripped apart by the floodwater. again, just tree branches everywhere. and back here is something kind of unusual. this is a salvage zone where the family living next door have

been bringing items that they have been recovering from their muddy house. and this, chris, is really something, this is this family's photo albums that they have managed to salvage, those photos, precious memories, are wet, they are muddy, but they will be okay the family tells us. and so, chris, it makes you think if your home was full of floodwater, what would you say. and the answer is probably your family photo albums. >> some of those things that are irreplaceable. and jake, in california, what is the situation there on the ground? we've been covering these relent last fires year after year after year, they are coming earlier, they are more frequent. more dangerous. what are you seeing? >> reporter: well, that is exactly right. and this is considered a relatively modest fire, one that jumps from about 600 acres to 6,000 acres on friday and now

grown to more than 20,000 acres. on the face of it, this is part of the natural cycle of the ecosystem. if you look behind me, you see a pair of tree, one of which still has its needles. that means that it will be able to breathe and heal. the other one burned black all the way to the tips. that means that that tree will not survive, it will not come back. that is part of the natural thinning of the landscape that that fire serves to do. but it is one thing to look at that in this small abstract scale. another thing to see the vastness of this landscape and then if i can show you, the entire valley here, all the way down to a body of water where you can hear helicopters trying to control the fire as it continues. it is just unimaginable to see how enormous the scale is. and as a result what that does to human habitation. you cannot live in the path of this, that is why so many people had to be evacuated and a few structures have been lost. fortunately with this fire nobody killed, nobody injured

that we know of. but at this point, we're looking at dozens, by one count more than 80 fires across california and that is the effects of climate change amplifying this natural fire cycle, one that scientists say should be part of it, all of it making an unprecedented fire season in california. >> jake, raf, thanks to you both. and joining me to talk about the science is michael mann, director of the earth system science center at penn state university. appreciate you being here. it really hit me as we were seeing these first slug waters come into germany when the environment minister there said simply climate change has come to germany. to what extent is climate change to blame for what we're seeing in western europe? >> yeah, it is really not that complicated at this point. we would not be seeing these events in the absence of human caused climate change, the warming of the planet from the burning of fossil fuels and

generation of carbon pollution in the atmosphere. this is catastrophic climate change. it is here. and at this point, it is a matter of how bad we're willing to let it get. you know, you warm up the planet, you will get more extreme and more frequent heatwaves. you will get worse droughts. you put heat and drought together, you get these massive wildfires. at the same time a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture. and so when it does rain, which is the other side of the spectrum, you get more rainfall in shorter periods of time. these huge flooding events. so we see more extreme weather on both sides of the spectrum. and that is what we're now seeing play out in real time on our television screens. >> you've written that u.s. infrastructure is unprepared for major climate events. and in fact i know there are ongoing discussions in europe over whether they should be making big investments in climate resilient infrastructure. i think about things like building codes that are required in places where there is a lot

of tornadoes or places where there are a lot of wildfires. but what more needs to be done and how exactly does that fit into the puzzle of what we need to do to address climate change? >> yeah, so when it comes to infrastructure, look, we need a lot of spending on clean energy solutions. we have to transition off the burning of fossil fuels towards clean energy. and we need economic incentives to do that. we need spending on that infrastructure. so part of the infrastructure package has to be helping us transition off fossil fuels. at the same time, we are already seeing devastating climate change impacts. some of those impacts are now baked in and we need to be more resilient in the face of these challenges. and we need funding especially for frontline communities about that are most exposed, that have the least, you know, capacity to deal with these disasters. and the biden administration

their package does try to direct resources toward those frontline communities to be more resilient. >> michael mann, author of the new climate wars, thank you so much for being with us. we appreciate it. and the attacks on voting rights prompting congress to do something they have not done in two decades. we'll explain next. the instant air purifier removes 99.9% of the virus that causes covid-19 from treated air. so you can breathe easier, knowing that you and your family have added protection. ♪ ♪ i'm greg, i'm 68 years old. i do motivational speaking knowing that you and your family have added protection. in addition to the substitute teaching. i honestly feel that that's my calling-- to give back to younger people. i think most adults will start realizing that they don't recall things as quickly as they used to or they don't remember things as vividly as they once did. i've been taking prevagen for about three years now. people say to me periodically,

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for the first time in 20 years, the senate rules committee held a hearing off capitol hill, the issue, voting rights. in atlanta local officials, voters and senator warnock testifying on georgia's voting laws. here is amy klobuchar with garrett haake. >> i believe that this is an even bigger deal than just party versus party. this is literally a question to save our democracy.

because once you start disenfranchiing people, people lose faith. >> and while that is going on, texas democrats who traveled to d.c. in an effort to block republicans from passing voter restriction bills back in their home state are kicking off a week of events to pressure congress to pass federal voter legislation. and joining me now from atlanta is gar rett haake. i want to hear about what happened in atlanta, but first i understand mitch mcconnell was talking about this on the floor back in d.c.? >> reporter: yeah, it is really all related. this field hearing today a chance for democrats to try to shine a light on this issue both here in georgia and nationally. they see these state legislatures passing laws in republican-controlled states, making it more difficult to vote, voter earlier, vote absentee and they see to as an attack on democracy and it led to will this hearing and what led to the texas democrats flying to d.c.

but back in washington, mitch mcconnell who is a member of this committee but did not make a trip down to georgia nor did any other republican on the floor dismissing this as overwrought hysterics. here is what he said on the floor. >> this week was our own colleagues' turn to get on the jets, but rhetoric wasysterical the same. washington democrats need to grab unprecedented power and rewrite all 50 states' election laws. the shame shtick we've been hearing for multiple years now. >> reporter: and comments from mitch mcconnell and his and all other republicans from the rules committee absence underscore the challenge for democrats which is unlike on something like infrastructure, there is not really a middle ground when it comes to a need for federal election law or not. republicans say that there is

just absolutely no place for it, democrats say it is a necessity. so if something will happen on this issue, it will come with changing those senate rules so that something could pass by 50 votes. and as i stand here yet today, no movement from joe manchin or any of the other democratic senators who have been filibuster agnostic or filibuster skeptics. so at least part of what we saw here in georgia is to show those senators that their fellow democrats are showing how to change it. >> and i want to bring in eugene robinson of the "washington post." and eugene, let me pick up with that whole idea. you know, strategically does it make sense to you? some people have said that there is a time, money that could be better spent elsewhere, this is just a show, they should be back in washington working on this. but where do you see this going

and what do you make of the democratic strategy? >> well, if you really believe this is as important as amy klobuchar and other democrats say it is, of course this is what they should be doing. they should be shining a light on this issue in any way they can if it is an existential threat to our democracy. the question though is whether the prospects or the senate actually agreeing to do anything about the voter suppression that is taking place, and right now, those prospects are dim. we should be honest. unless manchin and sinema and perhaps others move on the question of what to do with the filibuster, there is no way that there are 60 votes in the senate for any sort of federal voting legislation. now, that was once the case with the civil rights act of 1965. so it is not as if, you know, it

can never happen. but it is not happening right now. >> well, i mean that is really the problem, right? so we see state after state after state where there are problems and i was in austin on opening day of the session, not this special session, but the session, and all of the lawmakers, democratic lawmakers i talked to, said this is where our focus is, this is where we're strategizing. but they also recognize that you are not suddenly got to get a democratic majority, right, so that it had to happen on the federal level. you've been watching this for such a long time, if you were a betting man, where is it going? >> if i'm a betting man, i'm very pessimistic. i'm frankly not putting money on the prospect that there is going to be meaningful federal legislation. some version of the john lewis act which is hr-4, some version of that possibly reimposing

pre-clearance. but again, even that is going to require manchin and sinema to agree to some sort of carveout for voting rights on filibuster. i don't think that that is entirely impossible. i think maybe they are convincible, but i think the odds are against it. the odds are that democrats will go into the next election having a fight uphill. >> eugene robinson, always good to see you. appreciate it. and tonight lawrence o'donnell and jonathan capehart will be talking with those texas democrats. e talking with those texas democrats. push for voting rates. that's at 10:00 p.m. eastern only here on msnbc concerns over rebounding covid cases sends wall street st the businesses most impacted and what it means for you next. you're watching msnbc. in backgr)

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an amusement park is like whooping cough, it's not just for kids. whooping cough is highly contagious for people of any age. and it can cause violent uncontrollable coughing fits. ask your doctor or pharmacist about whooping cough vaccination because it's not just for kids. we're following the breaking news on wall street. a tumultuous day of trading saw the dow jones fall by as much as 900 points, more than a 2% decline. this is the worst day of trading since october. joining me now cnbc senior analyst and commentator ron insana. covid is rearing its ugly head again. there were cruise lines, airlines, a lot of stuff in the tourism sector which was just trying to get back.

clearly wall street isn't so sure. tell me what you see and what happened today. >> i think it's three pronged. first and foremost are the concerns you talked about, the delta virus not just spreading in the you sats but spreading unchecked overseas, which could slow the pace of global economic growth and we could see pockets of economic weakness here as a consequence and, as you said, it hit those most vulnerable areas. leisure, tour. and the like. we have a huge decline in energy stocks. the u.s. taking a harder line on china with respect to cyber security. everything coalesced to launch a sell-off. the biggest since october, as you say. it is that concern about the delta variant slowing economic growth that's not only pushing the stock market down but interest rates down as well. the yield on the ten-year treasury at 1.8% is the lowest since february. >> one of the things we heard today, the focus of joe biden speaking to the american people was the infrastructure bill goes

through, this will deal with inflation, will be a big boost to the economy. is that where we see things coming back? what's your analysis from what you heard from the president? >> i think the economy is fine. infrastructure is a productivity enhancing endeavor. it also makes the economy more efficient. by that measure it does constrain inflation. we've seen, chris, a big roll over in the inflationary indicators in the market that have had stock investors perturbed in the last couple of months this is shifting from a growth worry to an inflation worry. we're changing our minds, if you will, on wall street. >> the global economy affected by coronavirus. we were talking earlier to a doctor -- and we only have 30 seconds left -- about the uncertainty. for example, on masking kids and now the cdc disagrees with the american academy of pediatrics.

is that too granular to are the uncertainty that affects wall street? >> no, and then you have dr. fauci saying everything is on the table when it comes to complete school reopenings in the fall. anything that adds to the uncertainty about the pace of reopening and growth is the type of thing that can affect the stock market. >> ron insana, thank you. that will wrap things up for me. i'm chris jansing. jansing. an online food delivery service. business was steady, until... gogo-foodco. go check it out. whaatt?! overnight, users tripled. which meant hiring 20 new employees and buying 20 new laptops. so she used her american express business card, which gives her more membership rewards points on her business purchases. somebody ordered some laptops? cynthia suarez. cfo. mvp. get the card built for business. by american express. it takes a certain kind of person to change the world. my great-great-grandmother, my great-grandfather,

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hi, everyone. it's 4:00 in the east. i'm ali velshi in for nicolle wallace. as democratic lawmakers in washington are taking their fight against the republican-led assault on voting rights national. for the first time in 20 years the senate rules committee is conducting a field hearing in atlanta, georgia. the state now home to one of the nation's most