if not just for themselves and their families, but for the health care workers who have done too much throughout this entire pandemic. >> all right, my thanks to claire and elise. thank you for waking up way too early for all of us this morning. that does it for us. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. hi, there. i'm stephanie ruhle. it's wednesday, july 28th, and we've got a lot to cover this morning. overnight, u.s. gymnastics all-star simone biles pulling out of the individual all-around final. the team saying she will focus on her mental health and continue to assess whether she will compete in any other events. while in washington, d.c., fallout from the tense first january 6th hearing took place yesterday. four officers describing in horrifying detail how they were attacked physically and verbally

while they were trying to defend our nation's capitol. the big question this morning, did their words have any impact, will there be any consequence sns we've got to start with the biden administration considering dramatic new action to combat the delta variant's rapid assault against unvaccinated communities. we are talking coronavirus. sources tell nbc news the white house is strongly looking at requiring federal workers to be vaccinated or face tough covid protocols like regular testing and wearing a mask. this news comes after the department of veterans affairs became the first federal agency to issue a vaccine mandate for all front line workers. and after california and new york city announced they will require vaccinations or weekly testing for all public employees. at the very same time, the cdc is out with brand new guidance, now recommending indoor masks again for everyone, including vaccinated americans, in specific covid hot spots. as a result, in the nation's

capitol, masks are once again required in the house of representatives. nbc news has obtained a letter from the office of the attending physician to senate leaders, encouraging them to implement a mask mandate on the senate side as well. the cdc also recommending all students k-12 wear masks when they return to school this fall, even the ones who have been fully vaccinated. and this morning, new research shows the delta variant is linked to a rising number of breakthrough cases in fully vaccinated people. those could carry a higher level of the virus than previously thought, increasing their risk of infecting others. and this very sobering warning, the coronavirus could be just a few mutations away from evading the existing vaccines. >> as long as you get a lot of circulation of virus among unvaccinated people, you give the virus a chance to mutate even more so that you may get a

variant that's worse than the delta variant, that even the vaccinated people may not be able to handle. >> okay, that is worrisome, but you're in luck, i have an incredible team tracking all of the latest developments. shaquille brewster in arkansas, geoff bennet at the white house, and the doctor that served on the covid-19 advisory board and mayor of savannah, georgia. the cdc now saying covid could be just a few mutations away from evading the vaccines you and i and so many other americans have. what would that mean? >> it would more or less be back to march 2020, except that we would have a vaccine platform and could develop vaccine much more rapidly than ten months. but it would be very, very problematic. we would have to go back into a

pretty severe public measures, like a lockdown. we have alpha, beta, gamma, delta. this virus does mutate and part of the mutations is to see how to evade detection and resistance. that's what evolution tells us is going to happen. so the best way to stop that is to get the world vaccinated and get this virus out of circulation. >> a reminder, these vaccines are available, it's that people are choosing not to get them. >> they're available and they're free. >> great point, great point. heidi, you're at a school in maryland that issued a mask mandate before the cdc's new guidance. what are parents and students telling you there? it's not just kids under the age of 12 who aren't vaccinated. it's lots of high schoolers who are. >> reporter: we may be on the cusp of epic political battles

nationwide about a return to mask mandates. here in prince george's county, who was so devastated by covid, this decision is about common sense, not about politics. i spoke earlier with the superintendent and she said case numbers are going up by 200% over the past couple of weeks. and even though they're doing really well with about 50% of students above the age of 12 vaccinated, she said it was not a hard decision. listen. >> for our community and prince george's county, we were the hardest hit in the state of maryland. our numbers were extremely high, the positivity rate, and we did remain in a virtual learning environment longer than any other school district in the state of maryland. what i want to do is make sure we don't go back to that and the best way to do that is through vaccinations and wearing a mask. >> reporter: the big question at this hour, is how are hundreds and thousands of other school officials like her nationwide going to deal with this mandate

when you've got eight states that have said that you can not have a mandate for masks. they made that legislative language. steph, you've got immunocompromised kids, immunocompromised staff. how do you bring them back with states like that that have actually said you can't mandate masks? >> doctor, think about all of this. there is so much mixed messaging and confusion. how is your average american supposed to follow this new mask guidance? do we need to be constantly refreshing a map? i don't do that when i'm sitting in a car getting ready to go to the grocery store. >> i would recommend three things. get vaccinated, they're readily accessible at cvs, walmart, costco, get that and get it as soon as possible. second, wear a mask when you're going indoors shopping, when you're in a crowded place outdoors like a farmers market or something, and, third, get a really good mask. they're cheap and readily available.

here is one. make sure -- i recommend n-95, niosh approved. we're not asking you to wear them eight or ten hours a day. wear them when you go indoors. wear them when you're going to interact with people whose status you don't know. if you're just walking in a park or walking down the street and there aren't people around you, you don't need to wear a mask. that's the common sense approach. i do endorse the idea that students should get vaccinated if they're eligible and wear a mask. there are many students in a school who can't get a vaccine. they're too young, they're under 12, they are immunocompromised or have some other problem that you don't know about. maybe they go home to an elderly person who is immunocompromised themselves. three rules, get a vaccine, wear a mask indoors when you're with other people who you don't know, and get a really good mask, an

n-95 niosh approved mask. >> geoff, the president is considering a vaccine mandate for federal workers. i've got to tell you, i assumed it was already in place. why hasn't it been? >> reporter: it's a good question, steph. and what's under discussion is a vaccine mandate similar to what is being implemented in california and new york city, whereby employees, in this case federal employees, would have to attest to their vaccination status, or submit to regular testing and other sort of mitigation measures. the announcement is expected to come tomorrow in a speech where the president will also lay out other efforts and incentives to spur the rates of vaccination as this delta variant spreads, and this of course comes just a couple days after the department of veterans affairs became the first federal agency to mandate that employees, frontline health workers get the vaccine over the next couple of months. i'm told the president, even though he has the authority to mandate that military service members get the vaccine, he's not taking that step just yet.

the department of defense will come up with their own rules for that. but this is really a powerful signal about the degrees to which mandates are needed to spur vaccination rates given the numbers of still vaccine hesitant people here in this country, steph. >> how about even getting more powerful, dr. emmanuel? we said in the beginning there were going to be anti-vaxxers, but there's a whole lot of people who are hesitant. if they wanted to get back to their normal lives, they would need to get vaccinated. we're seeing mandates in france. they're mandating health passes for dining and travel. some people the rested it, but as a result of these mandates they're seeing a record number of people show up for a vaccine. 880,000 got a shot in a single day. 2 million signed up to get one. why don't we do these? require health passes here. want to go to the bar, the movies, go to work? get vaccinated or stay home. >> stephanie, i think we are on the cusp of that. i think these increasing

mandates, we called for all health care workers to be mandated to get a vaccine and there's been a positive response from the health community. we're seeing it with municipalities. i know there are a lot of cities like fairfax, virginia, that are going to require their municipal employees. i think this is sweeping the country and i think we will have that situation where you are going to need a vaccine to do a lot of things. i think the two probably most effective or three most effective things we can do is require the military, the last thing we want are our soldiers or airmen or naval forces not being able to be mobilized because they have covid. so i think military is one. second is you want to fly, you want to sit on an airplane, very crowded with other people, you've got to be vaccinated. americans have shown they really want to travel. that's something that would be very effective to do. you want to get on a plane or train, you've got to show that you're vaccinated.

i think it's coming in this country. i've been an advocate of the mandate for months now, and i think it's almost inevitable that it will be the way we're going to get to 70%, 75% vaccinated. and therefore put the coronavirus really behind us. >> mayor johnson, you reinstated a mask mandate in your city two days ago. how is that going? are people complying? and is there a penalty for those who don't? >> we recognize that we have to do what we must do to try to keep people safe. fortunately, the cdc guidance helped bear this out in terms of following the science. we know that masks are a temporary less intrusive way for us to get to where we need to be while we get people vaccinated. here in savannah we're about 42% vaccinated, which is better than the state of georgia's

vaccination rate. we have to get people vaccinated. in terms of wearing the masks indoors, we're prepared to be able to hold people accountable. we have to get by this, and the fact is, we cannot afford, any of us, to go back to where we were in march and april and may of last year. >> how do you hold them accountable? what is the punishment? >> well, the last time we did the mask mandate, which was the first in the state, we held them accountable by fines. i think that since then people recognize, businesses recognize that if we move to shutting down businesses, if we move to capacity limits, if we move towards canceling city events, everybody loses. so we're still working that out. i think the general populus will help to move people into doing the right thing. >> dr. emmanuel, can you understand the pushback from vaccinated people who say, i followed the rules, i wore the

n-95 mask, i got the vaccine, why should i have to do this? the current pandemic is a pandemic by choice. it is among the unvaccinated. >> well, two things. first of all, we do recognize from this delta variant that there are breakthrough infections, in other words, if you're vaccinated you could have an infection and that infection, while it may be mild, still carries risks and i think you want to protect yourself. the second is, we have to stop with this notion that wearing a mask indoors for a few minutes is onerous or really problematic, and i think we have to just hang together. it's important not to spread anything, if you by chance have a delta variant and you're asymptomatic, it's also important to protect yourself and your family. the last thing i would say is we know that mandates are effective. we've seen in health care facilities, like houston methodist hospital, like many long-term care facilities that have instituted mandates, that

you can get over 95% of the workers vaccinated and close to 100% of the workers vaccinated. i think these things work for people who are hesitant, who find lots of reasons -- you know, it's inconvenient, they're worried about being sick the next day, helping them over by saying, listen, you've got to get a vaccine, we're going to give you the day after you get the vaccine off in case you have fever or fatigue or some other problem. and that, i think, would be a huge benefit to the country. again, if we can get up to 75%, 80% around the country, that will make a huge difference in driving the cases, driving the hospitalization rate and driving, fortunately, the death rate down. >> shaq, that is not happening where you are. arkansas just had its highest single-day increase in covid deaths since last march. is that grim reality having any impact on the vaccine hesitant people? are they now saying, oh, my

gosh, this is real and they're getting on board? >> reporter: well, officials say they're seeing a slight uptick in the number of vaccinations, but doctors say it's nowhere near the pace that you need in order to stop the surge. the deaths numbers, yesterday this state saw the highest number of hospitalizations since late january, and hospitals are full. they're also dealing with staffing shortages. i spent some time inside the icu yesterday with the icu pulmonologist who showed me entire wings of the hospital that were absent of covid patients just a couple of weeks ago but are now completely full of them at this point. listen to how he put this. >> we thought we were getting out of this, we're right back in it. >> how does that feel? >> it's frustrating. you would like to have it change, but we don't have a say so over this. it's not up to us. >> reporter: he told me about 90% of the patients that he's seeing are unvaccinated.

i also spoke to the chancellor of this hospital and i asked, what happens if we never get to that herd immunity number? he looked me straight in the eye and said what happens if covid never goes away? >> my goodness. we are going to continue to cover this and urge everyone out there, get vaccinated. it makes a difference. thank you all for joining us this morning. you definitely got us more informed and a whole lot smarter. coming up, more states requiring federal workers to get the vaccine. could airlines and other industries be next? maybe they should consider it. they've got billions and billions in support from our government. now it's their turn to do the right thing. first, simone biles pulls out of the individual gymnastics competition at the olympics, putting her mental health first. an olympic gold medalist will be here to weigh in on that decision next. okay, everybody, let's do a ticket check. paper tickets. we're off to a horrible start.

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breaking overnight, superstar olympian simone biles pulls out of another major olympic event, withdrawing from tomorrow's individual all-around competition. the decision comes a day after she withdrew from the team final over her mental health concerns. the shocking news making headlines around the world. keir simmons is in tokyo following the latest. >> reporter: stephanie, it's another warm night here in tokyo, and plenty of heat still surrounding the decision by

simone biles to pull out of the team final after that tumble on the vault, saying that she wants to focus on her mental health, saying in interviews that she has been fighting demons. now, a statement from usa gymnastics now saying she will not compete in tomorrow's final of the individual all-around competition and she will be evaluated daily, steph, to see whether or not she will take part in next week's individual event final. meanwhile, another statement from u.s. olympic and paralympics, the u.s. olympics and paralympics committee, saying you've made us all proud, directed to simone biles, saying we applaud your decision to prioritize your mental wellness over all else and offer you the full support and resources of our team usa community as you navigate your journey ahead. now, steph, jade carey will file in for simone biles tomorrow. she qualified ninth. meanwhile, katie ledecky achieved gold in the 1500.

she did not win the 200 freestyle. still, the gold is her sixth career gold medal. so once again, plenty to talk about here in tokyo, steph. >> keir, thank you. joining me to discuss, two-time olympic gold medalist and world cup champion. brianna, first of all, thank you so much for being here. you are a former olympic athlete. what was your reaction when you first heard the news, simone biles, maybe the most famous athlete in this olympics, pulling out of events because of mental health? >> well, stephanie, thanks for having me. i was heartbroken for simone. and the reason i was heartbroken is not because she won't be able to defend her gold medals, but because i know how hard that decision must have been for her. she competed in an event and wasn't able to have the mentality and the vision that she normally has with her very complex routines, and she really

did something brave and mature in putting her mental health and her team first, knowing that she might be a drag on the team and decided to step aside and let someone else take over. that is real leadership in my opinion. >> you started highlighting mental health in sports after you suffered a very serious concussion in 2010. when you look at the overwhelming support biles seems to be getting, are we now finally taking mental health seriously? >> i think we are. i mean, i feel like the stigma is coming off of mental health, people are realizing that athletes aren't just about the physical part. the mental part is just as important in high performance. and simone biles doing this right now and taking this really brave decision in the midst of all eyes all over the world on her, she put her team and her mental health first and she followed the footsteps of naomi

osaka, who did something similar a few weeks ago, prioritizing her mental health. so people are realizing that mental health is as important, if not more so important than physical. she feels like she's not suited and not ready to do it. it's just like a regular injury, but you can't see it. so i think it's really important that simone has really stepped up here and prioritized and made a mature, a leadership decision, and that everybody supporting her, including me. i wish her the best and i hope that she is feeling much better very soon. >> you said something very interesting. her decision to put her team first. a lot of people out there would look at something like this and say, in a team sport, if a lebron james, if a tom brady pulled out before a championship, before the super bowl, they would be letting their team down. help us understand how that's the wrong way to look at it. >> well, in simone's case in particular, she is the leader,

she is the grandma, i think she calls herself, of her team, and the fact that she realized, after that vault, that something wasn't quite right, not only mentally in the air, but also physically in her landing. so she didn't want to be taking away points, deductions from her team, knowing that she couldn't quite be the performance -- do the performance that she's used to doing. so by stepping aside, and allowing another teammate who was more ready and more able to do the task in her stead, that really shows leadership and that shows, to me, that she put her team in front of her own self. and i'm telling you, stephanie, that was a very, very difficult decision for her to make with all eyes and the pressure that she's been feeling and having. and i really commend her for that. and, for me, that is putting team first. >> i've got to ask you about a different team quickly, the women's soccer team.

a surprising and disappointing tie with australia. are these ladies going to be able to pull it out and win the gold? >> steph, i sure hope so, you know. it's been a bit of a roller coaster these few days with the women's national soccer team, a huge loss to sweden and a big win to new zealand and now with this stumble into the quarterfinals against australia. the good news is they did make it in and i think they will be able to make some adjustments, but i'll tell you what, it's going to be a real tall order against the netherlands. netherlands are playing incredibly well. so i think we're going to need a little bit of luck and a lot of skill to beat that team. they're playing very well and they have a little bit of a payback against the u.s., because they played them in 2019 world cup and beat the netherlands. so we'll see. it's going to be a very exciting game. >> you are giving me the chills just talking about it. i do know one thing, we will all

be tuning in at my house and certainly rooting for team usa. thank you so much for joining us this morning. i appreciate it. >> thank you, stephanie. great to see you. appreciate it. coming up, heartbreaking testimony from officers who defended the capitol on january 6th. but many republican lawmakers say they didn't even tune in. they were busy. they were working. so will these men's very important words have an impact? [♪♪] looking to repair dry, damaged hair without weighing it down? try pantene daily moisture renewal conditioner. its color-safe formula uses smart conditioners to micro-target damage helping to repair hair without weighing it down. try pantene. ♪

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if you thought you knew all about the january 6th capitol riot, turn up the volume for this. we heard gut-wrenching testimony from four officers during the first hearing with the house select committee, including their stories about being attacked, along with the riot's psychological toll on them. we should warn you what we are about to play is hard to watch, hard to hear, and even harder to ignore. be prepared for graphic language, including a racial slur. >> on january 6th, for the first time, i was more afraid to work at the capitol than in my entire deployment to iraq. >> i was grabbed, beaten, tased, all while being called a traitor to my country. i was at risk of being stripped of and killed with my own firearm, as i heard chants of, kill him with his own gun. >> several attempted to knock me over and steal my baton.

one latched onto my face and got his thumb in my right eye, attempting to gouge it out. i cried out in pain and managed to shake him off. >> the crowd, perhaps around 20 people, joined in screaming, boo, [ bleep ]. no one had ever, ever called me [ bleep ] while wearing the uniform of a capitol police officer. >> one republican lawmaker called that day a normal day of tourist visits. and on top of that testimony, we might, i underline might hear from former trump officials soon, after the justice department said they could testify about efforts to overturn the election. i want to go straight to garrett haake in dc and scott mcfarland, msnbc national security analyst and retired capitol police officer butch jones. garrett, this hearing set the

record straight on what happened, but the house is now going home for seven weeks. what actually happens next? what are the consequences? >> reporter: we've got some clues to that from the members of this committee yesterday, bennie thompson, the chairman told me he's put the committee members on notice they may have to come back during what's supposed to be a seven-week summer recess for another hearing. as for what that hearing would entail, that's an open question. liz cheney has said she wants to get to the bottom of everything that happened in every minute during that day. over at the white house, that suggests you're going to need subpoenas and a lot more research and digging. there's also the possibility of other witnesses from within the capitol community itself. cheney has will described jim jordan as a potential material witness to what happened on the 6th. he told fox news yesterday that he had in fact spoken to president trump during that day, possibly putting a bigger target around him for what he might have known about what was going on that day. so all of that is to say the committee still has to figure out exactly which direction they

want to go next, but they understand they have to do it likely sooner than just seven weeks from now. >> frank, with those subpoenas -- right, that's a big headline. are we actually going to see any of those people testify? there were all sorts of subpoenas during the trump administration. remember what those officials did? crumpled them up and threw them out. >> we should absolutely expect pushback as we have seen throughout the trump administration and it's going to be yet another test of our system, our three so-called equal branches of government, and the respect for the rule of law. so there will be power, not only in the issuance of a subpoena, but in someone's refusal to comply with it. why is someone going to refuse to comply? what is it that they're hiding? is it a conversation they had, in the case apparently of jim jordan, with the president of the united states on or around january 6th? so, yeah, this is a fight. it's a long battle ahead, but i have to tell you, stephanie, the decision yesterday to start this all off with those four

officers, it was compelling, it was effective, they were both victims and witnesses. and i think they've set and laid a foundation, saying this was gravely serious. you've got to respect the testimony of these officers. that's what this is about. that's why we're having this hearing. >> scott, those officers had incredible stories, devastating stories. but there were only four out of the roughly 140 who were injured by those very rioters. where does the investigation stand now? >> reporter: even during the hearing yesterday, stephanie, more cases were filed, including against a pennsylvania man accused of something chemical spray and googles and using the spray on officers. but i'll note this, i was watching the courthouse during the hearing yesterday and noticed they scheduled a plea agreement hearing in a particularly high profile case. lonnie coffman is the man accused of having 11 molotov cocktails on january 6th.

he'll plead guilty or enter some type of plea september 29th. that's a unique case, that's a high profile case. really so far, we've only seen plea deals in largely low-level cases where there's no assault alleged, no damage alleged. this could be a big win for the prosecutors, but to be clear, with 500 plus charged so far, there are potentially hundreds for arrests to come. there's a long winding legal road still ahead, stephanie. >> frank, former president trump continues to praise many of these people, to double down on his big lie. we know that officer dunn said capitol police weren't prepared on january 6th. now, the new chief says they're in a better spot, but look at the calendar. we are just days away from this ridiculous right wing conspiracy theory, this idea that trump is going to be back in office in august. that is obviously not true, but are we prepared for the threat from these types of people when

it doesn't become a reality? >> yeah, there's a cult-like -- those that study cults have something called forcing the end, which is when what you want to happen, what your leader has told you will happen never happens, and then you make it happen yourself. i think that's the greatest threat of all regarding this nonsense involving coming back and being reinstated in august. to your question, i still don't see what has changed significantly about the security posture in and around the capitol that's going to be able to push back and repel a force like we saw on january 6th. i don't see changes in rules, i don't see changes in staffing, i'm not hearing about a roving force that was recommended to protect the whole capitol region and i definitely don't see rules changed at fdi that allow them to get out ahead of the intelligence and prevent something from happening. >> mitch mcconnell said he was too busy working to even watch

the testimony. officer jones, we heard one officer say that he was called the "n" word over and over during the riot. that has absolutely nothing to do with trump losing the election. there was very clearly a white national movement tied to all of this. how do we handle it? >> first we have to get the members of congress online, we have to get the republicans online. and we, the people, as the constitution states, have to be able to force our members of congress to do the right thing, until we make congress accountable for what happened on january 6th, we will never find out what really happened on january 6th. and for them officers it's a slap in the face. >> more than a slap in the face. garrett, besides some republicans not watching the hearing, it has only been a month since 21 republicans voted

against a bill to honor those very first responders. did any of those lawmakers feel any different after what we heard? have they made any public statements? >> reporter: i've not seen any statements with lawmakers changing their tune. it's important to point out that the republican lawmakers weren't the intended audience, it's the american people, and particularly those who might have heard a rewriting of history over the last several months about what exactly did happen on january 6th. if they watched yesterday, now they know. i can tell you that the contents of that hearing did spill out into other hearings, including yesterday afternoon when congressman jamie raskin pressed andrew clyde, a republican of georgia who said if you didn't know it was january 6th, the images of statuary hall looked like a normal tourist visit. raskin asked him if he still felt that way after what he heard and here's that exchange. >> you know, if you didn't know the tv footage was a video from

january 6th, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit. those are your words. >> and i stand by that exact statement as i said it. >> reporter: so, stephanie, i think the political ramifications and the way in which house republicans, at least some of them, i should be clear not to speak for all of them, but some of them talk about what happened on january 6th will remain the same, at least for now. >> butch, how does that make you feel? you watched your guys testify, speak about the horrors they faced in defending lawmakers. how does it feel to hear those very same lawmakers completely dismiss what their testimony was? >> i think this is an embarrassment to our country, number one. number two, is that i'm surprised, like mitch mcconnell, all of them had 24/7 police protection. how can they face them every day and say that it was just a

normal day? i'm appalled that they are treating capitol police the way they are. number one, january the 6th, they protected congress. they allowed them to go home that night and to turn their backs on them the way they have done since january the 6th is a shame before god. and they should be ashamed of theirselves to represent the united states. >> those officers protected and saved hundreds and hundreds of lives. thank you all so much. i appreciate you joining. coming up, airlines have got a major bailout from the government last year. should they be doing more to help the government get americans vaccinated? i'm going to give you the answer. it's yes. out sleeps r cape. but when we realized she was battling sensitive skin, we switched to tide hygienic clean free. it's gentle on her skin, and out cleans our old free detergent. tide hygienic clean free. hypoallergenic and safe for sensitive skin.

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against the delta variant. this comes as the white house is thinking about requiring federal workers to get vaccinated, following in the footsteps of the va, new york city and the state of california. all requiring them for state and city employees. but one very powerful group still isn't taking this step, the airline industry. so should they be next? let's dig deeper and bring in andrew russ sorkin, columnist and editor of "the new york times" and anchor of squawk box on cnbc. andrew, the airline industry got $50 billion, with a b, bucks of taxpayer funded bailouts. the government saved them. so why won't they return the favor? >> look, there's a huge opportunity for the airline industry to actually change the dynamic around vaccinations in america in two ways. one, to require the vaccination of their own employees, and the other to require the vaccination of their customers. it would create the ultimate nudge, the ultimate incentive or

even forcing mechanism for those who either need or want to travel to get vaccinated. and you start to think about the millions of americans that are getting on airplanes and what that could do to the vaccination rate across the country. unfortunately, the airlines have not tried to take this step. in some cases they've attempted to with their own employees, but the problem has actually been that the union has fought back against them. so you have airlines like united, for example, which are not hiring new employees that aren't vaccinated, but older employees that have been on the job don't require the vaccination. and so this is not just an issue, i would argue, with the airlines themselves, who would have the greatest incentive to do something like this, but business leaders across the country have this remarkable opportunity, when you think about the walmarts of the world, the amazons of the world, the

upss of the world. at the same time we have a conundrum, that we have states that don't want to go near this. >> okay, fine. but then is it time for us to call bs to all these businesses who love to say they care about doing the right thing? they stood up for voting rights, but that's easy to do. voting rights doesn't have a real impact on their business. actually saying, you cannot walk in my door unless you're vaccinated, that doesn't impact their bottom line in the short term, but in the long term requiring vaccines will get us fully reopened for good. >> yes, yes, yes. this is the opportunity for leadership, and, yes, they should be called out. and there is such a debate for some reason inside the business community that either they're scared of getting sued, they're scared of getting sued by people who are going to be forced to take it, they're scared of getting sued by someone who takes it who may have a problem,

and then they're scared of employees that are either going to storm the gates or leave the gates. and so inside corporate america that's what's happening. but the question is, is there a leader inside a corporate america that can actually be a leader and show the rest of corporate america and the country that this is doable, this is workable? >> yes, people will protest it. in france, when macron put a mandate in place, people protested, thousands of people. and millions got vaccinated. do the math. andrew, thank you for joining me. when you say yes, yes, yes, you're always welcome to come back. coming up, lawmakers running out of time to strike a deal on infrastructure. why negotiations over this one bill could impact president biden's entire legacy.

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this time it is do or die for instra fra structure on capitol hill. president biden met with senator sinema, the top democrat negotiating the bipartisan deal, comes as more than 100 business leaders push congress to pass this hard infrastructure deal. with the clock ticking down to august recess, senators are not on the same page. the majority leader schumer said there is no time to waste saying that senators should be prepared to work through the weekend to get this bill finished. let's go straight to sahil kapur on capitol hill and co-founder bresnihan. are republicans just going to try to run out the clock at this point? >> reporter: stephanie, that has been the fear of democrats for some time. some are skeptical all along about the republican negotiating posture but senator rob portman insists he is determined to get to a deal. the issues remain outstanding continue to be the distribution

of funds between highways and transit money and also some detail to iron out on broadband policy and labor provisions on the construction of these projects. to your point senator chuck schumer has threatened to keep the senate working through the weekend to try to hammer out the deal and suggested the senate could continue working past the end of next week into the previously scheduled august recess. his previous threat to put a vote and see where the chips fall did not work. none of the republicans bit. but the prospect of losing some vacation time or recess i should call it might have a bit of a different impact. i asked senator schumer yesterday what the remaining holdups on the deal were. >> there are a bunch of issues still outstanding but we're making progress. we're not there yet but we're making progress. the number of issues narrowed significantly. >> a source familiar with the meeting between president biden and senator sinema talked about

shared optimism getting this over the finish line. those two have a lot riding on this deal as does senator portman the republican who has a reputation as a moderate, deal maker and honest broker and this is his moment to prove wrong his critics who say that reputation does not live up to actual legislative activity in the senate. he's retiring, not having a lot of opportunities to come up with a legacy defining achievement here, stephanie. >> oh heavens, they might have to work through the weekend. john, 146 business leaders from huge companies signed this letter to urge congress to get this thing passed. is that going to have any impact? they signed a lot of letter. >> they do. there has been a push. the business community pushed as have labor unions or construction trade unions and other unions involved in the transportation industry for instance pushed congress to pass a hard infrastructure bill. everyone knows this is a huge issue. everyone needs, we all know our roads and bridges and highways

need a lot of work, our ports, our airports. everyone knows this is happening, so the business community knows, and broad wand also, this is a big component of this negotiation is broadband and this would help the american economy be more efficient and more productive and thus grow. everybody knows this is an important investment in the future of the american economy so i think this is important and i think they've got to push members harder and just let's talk about one more thing. even once the senate passes this, they still take a lot of work to get it through a house senate conference. >> okay but john, everybody knows this. everybody has known we've needed this for years. biden's entire agenda is wrapped up in infrastructure at this point. if this deal falls through, what does this mean for the rest of his term, his ability to work

across the aisle, especially on something that should be so universally supported? >> you know, that's an excellent question. because i think that's an important issue. the democrats if this falls apart the democrats will try to push another package through a reconciliation bill on just democratic votes, that will be hard to do. i'm not sure they'll be able to do that and then i think it's going to, i think there's going to be a problem with working in bipartisan fashion. if they can't get an infrastructure bill done, that everyone wants on both sides of the aisle, i think that's difficult to see anything happening in 2022 when the elections are in full force. >> all right then, john, sahil, thank you so much and thank you at home for watching. that wraps up this hour. i'm stephanie ruehl. hallie jackson picks up breaking news coverage on the other side of the break. she'll be speaking to massachusetts senator elizabeth warren. to switch.

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