resources to implement those mitigation strategies. next question? >> josh from "bloomberg". >> hi, thank you. can you give us an update on the plan to ship 500 million pfizer doses that was meant to commence this month? has that started and what kind of pace will we see in the coming weeks? thank you. >> thanks, josh. the 500 million pfizer doses that were announced in june to be donated to the world, those shipments do begin this month and we will ship a total of 200 million by the end of this year, this calendar year with the remaining 300 million shipped no later than the first half of 2022. so everything is on schedule there, josh and shipments are beginning in the next several days.

next question? >> next question, cbs. >> thanks, kevin and thanks for taking my question. a quick followup on sabrina's. what is the latest data about children and long haul symptoms after they recover even from mild cases? and then jeff, for you, now that more entities are requiring vaccines, is administration reconsidering something like a qr code or a passport to help verify people's vaccination status and if not, what are you doing to stop the proliferation of fake vaccine cards? >> thank you. >> dr. walensky on the children long covid question. >> right, thank you for that question. we are examining covid in children and we are seeing long covid symptoms, mostly fatigue and headache. they appear to be happening in rates lower than adults, 2 to 3%

but data with delta among covid need to be followed differently and longitudely with alpha. more data to follow on that. >> on to vaccination verification. there are a number of ways people can demonstrate their vaccination status. companies and organizations and the federal government are taking different approaches and, you know, we applaud this innovation. there will be no federal vaccination database as with all other vaccines. the information gets held at the state and local level but any system that is developed in the private sector or elsewhere must meet key standards including affordability, being available both digitally and on paper and importantly, protecting people's privacy and security. the second part of your question, you know, we are aware of some cases of fraud or

counter fit covid-19 cards being advertised on social media sites and e commerce platforms while the practice is not wide spread, you know, i will remind everyone that it's a crime and the office of the inspector general, the department of health and human services is investigating these schemes. next question? >> thanks for taking my question. i want to follow up on a question from last week about the hospitalization rates for unvaccinated versus vaccinated people. cdc has been saying it's 97% of people winding up in the hospital who are unvaccinated. has that number changed with deal to and do you have better numbers on the efficacy yet, dr. walensky? >> that was data from january through june and of course, with more and more people being

vaccinated and with the delta variant, those numbers are fluid and we're continuing to evaluate those. >> next question? let's go to kelly inside health policy. >> thanks for taking my question. there have been reports from cdc that over a million people have already gotten unauthorized third doses of mrna vaccines. do you know if private insurances and medicare are still covering administration fee for these shots even though they're not recommended currently? >> dr. walensky? >> yeah, we are doing an evaluation of that just to make sure to understand and we have the capacity to track this and to understand the practice. many of these are occurring in the context of people who may believe they are merited another shot or severely immune

compromised or doing so in advance of our recommendations. the one thing i want to highlight in the context of this is that it does undermine our ability to monitor safety. we're asking people to follow our guidance, to follow what acip will say and the fda will say in the coming days, several days and to follow recommendations so we can follow safety here, as well. >> next question. >> last question, let's go to michael irman at routers. >> dr. fauci in an interview said he believes boosters in general are an inevidencebility. i'm just wondering how soon you expect that you might make a decision on that and what sort of data are you looking for to make that decision?

>> well, when i made that statement, it's a true statement that we believe sooner or later you will need a booster for durability and protection. right now, you know, as we mentioned, we're evaluating this on a day by day, week by week, month by month basis looking at a number of studies both international and commerce tick -- domestic studies and as we stated, apart from the immune compromised which was just discussed, we do not believe others, elderly or non-elderly who are not immune compromised need a vaccine right at this moment but this is a dynamic process and the data will be evaluated. the one think we're doing is preparing for the eventuality of doing that. if the data shows us in fact we do need to do that, we'll be very ready to do it and do it quickly. >> i'll emphasize dr. fauci ended if and when there is a decision, we're prepared and

have the supply and people will be able to get a booster in a fast and efficient way, if and when the science dictates. thank you and look forward to seeing everybody at the next briefing. well, it was a big one today which is why we decided to cover it fully on this news channel. welcome to "meet the press" daily. i'm chuck todd. we've been watching the white house covid briefing as the white house battles against a run away delta variant and waning immunity from the vaccine. in this briefing moments ago the cdc director strongly indicated the fda is about to for the first time green light a third shot for some immune compromised americans. >> fda is working with pfizer and moderna to allow boosters for these vulnerable people. an additional dose could help increase protection for these individuals, which is especially important as the delta very -- variant spreads. this is about ensuring our most

vulnerable who may need an additional dose to enhance the biological responses to the vaccines are better protected against covid-19. >> dr. walensky said that the cdc would be meeting tomorrow to discuss the fda's expected action and next steps. the fda's move will come amid an alarming surge of infections and hospitalizations across the country while primarily affecting the unvaccinated, not just the unvaccinated communities are being hit now, everybody is being hit. the size and scope of the surge just as unvaccinated kids under 12 are heading back to school alarmed many public officials across the country. the fda's expected announcement comes as preliminary data suggestions the two-dose pfizer vaccine could be significantly less effective in preventing infections against this variant, the delta and confirms it is very good at preventing hospitalization and death. as you know, whatever we learn from these studies, particularly the ones that have israel as

sort of the place where they've been a couple of weeks ahead of us, what they see is what ends upcoming here. still today's developments do raise a lot of questions about the next face of this war against covid. will the booster shots be needed for more than just those with compromised immune systems? about kids as they head back to school? we still don't have a vaccine ready to go for the 6 to 12 and birth to 6. while some folks are in line for the third shot, kids under 12 are still awaiting approval for the first. given the news, should we expect an update or tweak to the vaccine? a lot of news to go through, a lot of questions. we have experts here to help. we'll dive in. i got monica at the white house with the fda decision and joining me is erica edwards who first broke the story, msnbc public health analyst founding director for disaster preparedness at colombia

university. monica, let me start with you. these covid briefings are so much different than the trump administration and they're trying to make them in someways very technical, but this is a big change, a big next step. i mean, we're going to start a third shot. they all but admitted it even at the end with jeff saying don't worry, we have enough supply when or if we have to make that decision. it seems kind of silly dr. fauci in television interviews say it's coming and here in these technical briefings, they try to walk a line, which i think frankly does probably doesn't help the situation here. but this is a big moment and shows the high level of concern with this variant. >> absolutely a level of concern, chuck, and the numbers today they announced really, really reflect that. cdc director walensky said 90% of counties this this country are expeiening high or

substantial transmission right now. just think about that and where we were a couple of weeks and months ago. so of course, they will continue to push for vaccinations but there are so many questions still about who might get an additional shot. there is a very bureaucratic process that has to take place. the fda will officially recommend and authorize a third dose for the immune compromised. we expect today to get that paper statement and the cdc director talked about how that is coming. then tomorrow, a cdc advisory panel meets votes and issues recommendations based on the fda approval. this morning's comments from dr. fauci absolutely indicate what we can expect for everybody else in this category who has already gotten vaccinations but wondering based on all the information out there if the efficacy goes down, if the delta variant doesn't hold up to it, what am i going to need or what should i expect and he used the word inevitable. almost everybody would eventually need this booster but the question of the timeline is

where they don't want to commit right now and that's because of another question they got in this briefing, which is that we're seeing reports of more than 1 million people who have gone through their doctors or through other channels to get an additional dose, an additional booster shot without that being the recommendation right now of top health officials and so they want to be really careful because they haven't endorsed that and they don't want people potentially taking away from others who could get the shots or again, these immune compromised. so that's a major, major challenge for them. the other thing we need to press on that came up in the briefing, the cdc has given us data of hospitalizations and deaths in those who currently are suffering from the delta variant but only really between january and june. they don't include the july numbers or august so far and that's why there is still a lot of questions about these breakthrough cases but the point the cdc director made today, yes, we've seen a lot more delta

circulation but in the last few weeks, they've also seen a lot more vaccinations and they're hoping that's going to be helpful but quite frankly, we don't have the complete picture. >> looks like we need to do a lot more surveillance and that does feel like we're relying on a lot of other people's data, not our own. erica, look, maybe dr. redliner can answer this question. i'll admit. i'm glad i don't have the j&j vaccine. i'm glad i got one of the mnra vaccines and i say that simply because that briefing didn't have a lot of answers on the j&j vaccine. yes, it said hey, there is some good efficacy. that's good news. but they're not explaining, it's pretty clear dr. walensky was clear to say for pregnant women, she kept saying in the mnra

vaccine. don't take the j&j? are they going to create more clarity here on what to do if you've gotten the j&j vaccine or whether for instance in pregnant women, do you go near the viral vector vaccines? >> yeah, those are all great questions. i think part of the problem is that we have so many people now who have gotten one of those mnra vaccines, pfizer or moderna and so few people have gotten the johnson & johnson vaccine and makes it difficult to study how it acts in certain populations. some doctors told immune compromised patients, people with organ transplants and those living with hiv, people undergoing certain cancer treatments to get those mnra vaccines. that gives them two doses. but, you know, overall, though, the johnson& johnson vaccine is safe and immune compromised people can get the vaccine, however, it's anticipated that the dfa amendment to those

emergency use authorizations will only apply to those mnra vaccines, pfizer and moderna. >> okay. what are you supposed to do, erica, if you got a j&j vaccine? >> it's all about asking your doctor. and administration, the federal officials said certainly people can mix and match doses. however, all of this has to go through the fda regulation, the acip meeting as monica said has to happen tomorrow, the cdc has to officially recommend this booster shot for this particular population. that's when they can actually get this shot and talk to their doctors about what is really appropriate for them and an extra dose is only going to be limited to the pfizer and moderna shots. >> so erica, why can we get a fast track fda approval of a third does but we can't seem to get full authorization for the first dose?

>> another great question. yes, so i think that they wanted to rollout this particular emergency use authorization amendment before full approval. full approval of course, is expected at least for the pfizer vaccine in september, however, they really wanted to focus on this immune compromised population. back in july, the cdc group met previously and really urged the ad administration and fda to act quickly because this is a group, immune compromised folks are left vulnerable. there was a study last week that found, you know, they are 82 times more likely to get a breakthrough infection and in fact, 485 times more likely to have the breakthrough infection linked to hospitalization and death. let's not forget. vaccine is not meant to be a magic suit of armor. you can still get infected. it's really all about keeping

people out of the hospital and from dying from this illness and i think that is where the fda as far as i understand it really is focussing now and right now it's about these immune compromised people. >> all right. i want to define some terms that we heard from dr. walensky. she used the word severely or moderately compromised immune system. she throws out the phrase some cancer patients. as we know, there is a lot of different cancers out there. so how would you define moderately compromised? how would you recommend somebody, you know, if you're a ten-year cancer survivor, five-year cancer survivor, currently under chemo, what is your recommendations? >> so chuck, this is an incredibly complicated situation and i like the way you pose the question, which is how does one know or how does their doctor know if they're compromised to

the point where they do need a booster shot? this is a clinical judgment and there is no way the cdc or the fda or dr. fauci are going to be able to specifically define that term when it comes to making the decision do i give this patient a dose, a third dose or not? and unfortunately, this is the reality in clinical medicine. it's like when do you go to the next step? it's not clear. the other thing of course, i wish we were getting a lot more caveats about this is what we know today and may not be what we know next week. so there is a lot of variables here that are influx, in play constantly in this whole debate. chuck? >> all right. i'm going to personalize it. is age a line here for you? would it be everybody over the age of 75? you know, at some point, the age of somebody makes you automatically -- your immune system is a bit more

compromised. what is that definition? is it really the definition of if you feel vulnerable, get the shot? >> no, it's really going to be more about does your doctor, your personal physician think that whatever conditions you have and your age, do they in total make you eligible and desirable in terms of getting the third shot? there is no way that can be defined right now and even if we did design it, it's going to change. i think we heard the federal team talking about, you know, right now, we'll be giving it to immune compromised people and i think those hints, of course, that eventually more than that will get the third dose. so maybe it will become only age or age plus some compromise. but the other thing to keep in mind, chuck, is that we don't know a whole lot about where this delta variant is going, nor do we know much about other variants that may be waiting in the wings. so all of this is incredibly dynamic and we're just going to have to wait and see,

unfortunately. we want harder answers than i think are available but i think federal government is doing the best it can except it's causing confusion, if it does not say this is what we know today and may be different than next week. >> is the cdc doing enough current surveillance? it does seem as if i'll be frank with you, every time i see the studies out of israel, that's my early warning system. it was an israeli study that showed the efficacy of the pfizer goes down about every two months a little bit. moderna holds up a little stronger but also has a little erosion on efficacy, as well. are we relying too much on other people's research here or lucky it's good research? >> well, good research in places like israel, germany, the u.k., et cetera. there is plenty of good research out there and yes, we could be doing more research here and we are doing more research here. but at the end of the day, there

is going to be changes even in terms of what the israelis were reporting a month ago and i wouldn't be surprised if we get more data making more changes inevitable and our protocols for doing the vaccine. the other thing to keep in mind, chuck, the world health organization is desperately trying to keep wealthy countries like the u.s. and europe from going ahead with a third dose until the rest of the world has gotten a level of protective immunity from vaccines, which they don't really have enough of. and to that point, too, if i can make more one point about this is that, you know, we promised 585 million doses internationally. that's a drop in the bucket. i was disappointed to hear that only 200 million doses will be distributed before the end of this year. we need to ramp that up to make sure the whole world has the protection it needs, chuck. >> monica alba, doctor, appreciate you helping us unpack a very important covid briefing

today, which is why we thought it was important for you guys to get this directly from the government on that one. we're going to sneak in a break here. we're expecting to hear from president biden in a few minutes and bring you the remarks live when it happens. coming up, politics. control the house. 2022 is up for grabs. the once in a decade battle over who draws the lines, the congressional districts and that kicks into high gear starting about ten minutes ago but new census data is releaseed to actually start making maps. with president biden's legislative agenda is on the line, how and when to move forward as moderates push pelosi to move ahead. we'll talk to the democratic caucus that wants pelosi to wait. pa helosi to wait when technology is easier to use... ♪ barriers don't stand a chance.

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every single day, we're all getting a little bit better. you're in good hands with allstate. we're better cooks... better neighbors... hi. i've got this until you get back. better parents... and better friends. no! no! that's why comcast works around the clock constantly improving america's largest gig-speed broadband network. and just doubled the capacity here. how do things look on your end? -perfect! because we're building a better network every single day. welcome back. the senate has passed the president's bipartisan infrastructure bill and advanced the $3.5 trillion build back

better spending bill, which contains the other parts of his agenda but of course, now comes the hard part. dueling over timing, really. what happens next in the house where speaker pelosi is zero margin for error, any four people can get-togethers and cause some problems these days. eight moderate democrats are signed on a letter urging her to act on the ipartisan bill writing the country cannot afford unnecessary delays. they also raised concerns about the size and scope of the reconciliation package and the majority of its 96 members would withhold their support until the is that the fully passes the $3.5 trillion package. okay. pelosi is signaling she's sticking with the progressives plan for now and been saying that publicly for weeks but with any, like i said, hand full of house members able to block a party line vote, the fight could last into the fall. joining me is the washington democratic congress woman.

good to have you on. let me ask this, what is wrong with taking up the bipartisan bill now and reconciliation in two months. one is three times the other and one would assume one is done and one is not done. guess what? i got -- do you mind sticking with me? president biden came out. >> i know there are a lot of people out there trying to turn a public safety measure that is children wearing masks in school so they can be safe into a political dispute, and this isn't about politics. this is about keeping our children safe. i saw a video and reports from a tennessee of protesters threatening doctors and nurses were before a school board making the case to keep kids safe, there should be mandatory masks. and as they walked out, these doctors were threatened, these

nurses were threatened. in our health care workers are heroes. they're the heroes when there was no vaccine. many of them gave their lives trying to help others. they're doing their best to take care of the people refusing to get vaccinated and unvaccinated folks are being hospitalized and dying as a result of not being vaccinated. to the mayors, school superintendents, educators, local leaders standing up to the governor's poiticiing mask protection for our kids, thank you, thank you, as well. thank god that we have heroes like you and i stand with you all and america should, as well. now, let me turn to the focus of today's remarks. there aren't a lot of things that almost every american can agree on. i think it's safe to say that all of us whatever our background or our age, where we

live can agree that prescription drug prices are outrageously expensive in america. today i'd like to talk about how we're going to help millions of americans save money and ease their burdens by lowering the cost of prescription drugs. let me start by acknowledging the ground breaking and life saving work that many pharmaceutical companies are doing. look no further than the vaccines they're manufacturing and delivering that are helping us beat this pandemic and save lives but we can make a distinction between developing these breakthroughs and jacking up prices on a range of medications for a range of everyday diseases and conditions. right now, right here in america, we pay the highest prescription drug cost of any developed nation in the world. let me say that again. of any developed nation in the world. about two to three times what

other countries pay. last week in the oval office i hosted a small business owner named gayle from denver. she's 60 years old. when she was 11, she was diagnosed with type one diabetes. for nearly 50 years she's had to take insulin to stay alive. you know what she told me? she said she doesn't worry about becoming blind or her blood sugar dropping dangerously low. the natural worries of anyone with type one diabetes. she worries about being able to pay for her prescription drugs. during our conversation, she pulled out a vile of insulin from her bag. in 2001 she said that single vile cost $32 a bottle. today that exact same bottle with the same exact formula, no changes, cost $280 per bottle.

gayle and her husband work hard. they spend wisely. because of the cost of prescription drugs, her husband may not be able to retire. they drive the same car she said she's had for 17 years unable to afford repairs or a new one. gayle is not alone. it's estimated more than 34 million americans, 10% of the population of the united states have diabetes including more than 1.5 million of those who have type one diabetes. outrageous cost spanning every kind of condition of the disease is similar. i remember what it was like for my mom as she got older, moved in with us. her prescription drugs were so expensive, it took me my siblings chipping in to cover the thousands of dollars in monthly costs that she had to

exhaust rather than exhaust a little savings she had for her prescription drugs. it's personal to so many of us and so many of you. you know, for more than 1 million americans living with ms, one common drug for that disease cost $7,100 per month. the price has gone up 1,000% over the last 20 years without any change in the drug. for more than 1 million people arthritis one drug cost $1,350 per month when introduced in 2003. today, the same drug costs $7,700 per month, over five times more expensive without any change. for years, the price of many

prescription drugs is dramatically outpaced inflation. these prices put the squeeze on too many families and stripped them of their dignity. they've been forced, we forced people into terrible choices between maintaining their health, paying the rent or the mortgage, putting food on the table, i mean, literally. that's the case for a lot of working families and seniors, even if you can get the care you need. but today, working families and too many seniors are struggling to make it work. today one in four americans who take prescription drugs struggle to afford them. nearly 30% have skipped doses, cut pills in half or because they can't afford the cost. we have to change this. and we can. my administration is already taking significant steps to lower the cost of prescription

drugs. last month i signed an executive order that has the effect of improving competition in the economy which resulted in lower prescription drug costs. right now, when a drug company seeks permission from the fda, food and drug administration, for a certain drug to get a patent, it's allowed to exclusively sell that drug without competition for up to 12 years. when that time period expires, other companies can come along, make the same exact drug and sell it cheaper, called generic drug but unfortunately, it often takes a long time, years and years for this to happen. that's why i've instructed the federal drug administration to get these generic drugs to consumers faster. this will increase competition and lower drug prices for

everyone. research shows prices could be cut by 25 to 33% and save $54 billion for consumers over the next ten years. makes a gigantic difference for an average family. secondly, i've ordered the fda to work with states and tribes to import prescription drugs safely from canada. these are drugs that the fda has determined are safe and they're going to make sure the drugs get to the states and tribes safely. colorado estimates that their version of the drug importation program is going to save 35 million to $60 million a year for people in colorado. cutting the prices down by more than 60% for the cost of the same drug. these things -- by the way, you know, the company making these

drugs and charging the prices are selling the same drug in other countries. at considerably lower prices. not like there is another company always making this drug. same outfit. these things by themselves will be a great help but to really solve the problem, we need congress to act. that's what my build back better plan will do. now, there is long been talk, a long time since the days i was back in the senate about giving medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices. now medicare takes care of millions of people. medicare -- my plan is going to allow that. any other type of health care service from the cost of how much a doctor can charge for a visit, hospital visit, crutches, wheelchairs, medicare is allowed to negotiate and say we'll pay no more from the medicare than the following amount for those

things. as i've said before, the only thing medicare is not allowed to negotiate are prices for prescription drugs. my plan gets rid of that prohibition. the proposal i made while running for president is that medicare should negotiate drug prices across the board. congress is currently debating more narrow vision letting medicare negotiate some of the most expensive drugs particularly from those companies that don't face competition for that drug. we're going to provide the competition through, we're going to provide that competition through medicare. medicare is going to negotiate a fair price. right now drug companies will set a price and whatever the market will bear. some of you may remember when i had the moon shot going when i was vice president. i met with 12 drug companies and

agreed i would not name them at the time. a private discussion. i said if any one of you came up with a drug that cured a particular type of cancer, what do you think you should be able to charge for it? they said whatever the market would bear. whatever it will bear. that often means significant number of people can't afford it. under any circumstance. and they'll die without it. that's unacceptable. what we're proposing as it will negotiate a base -- negotiate with a company based on a fair price. one that reflects the cost of the research and development and the need providing for a significant profit but that's still affordable for consumers. and by the way, if there is a significant amount that's

invested in it and a fair price is very expensive, we're going to have to figure out how society can provide for that drug that will save lives because people can't afford it. but that's what we're trying to get done. and has to get done. not only that my plan caps the amount that seniors have to spend on prescription drugs each year, no more than about $3,000 a year, our plan says that drug companies can only raise prices based on the rate of inflation after it's determined how much they invested and what a healthy profit constitutes. studies have shown if we do this, we can save seniors thousands of dollars a year. for example, an expensive drug for cancer called multipalmyloma can cost $20,000 a month. $20,000 a month. people who need that drug pay an

average of $1,300 out-of-pocket with medicare. what i'm proposing would reduce the total cost by thousands of dollars and seniors would not pay more than $250 a month on average. that would be a game changer. by the way, it isn't just seniors who benefit. this would lower prescription drug prices for all americans and here is how. if medicare prices are available at the private insurance companies, then it would reduce the cost of employer based health insurance coverage. what that means is once medicare negotiates a lower drug price for the beneficiaries and employer based plan shouldn't have to keep paying whatever the drug company demands. they should get access to the same drug at the same price as medicare. so if you're not on medicare, you get your prescription drugs

through your employer based plan, your plan should pay the same price for that drug as someone on medicare. and it means drug companies would have to sell their drugs to all distributors at the medicare price or face up to a 95% excise tax. the savings for employers and employees would be billions of dollars a year. we don't have to stop there. my plan expands medicare by adding dental, vision and hearing which would make a world of difference for millions of people. we can take some of that savings created when medicare is no longer forced to pay for prescription drugs and use it to pay for these additional benefits and improve access for people with coverage on medicaid and the affordable care act. you know, at the same time, we can invest in medical

breakthroughs while also reducing the cost and save lives. right now, when americans over pay for prescription drugs, too many pharmaceutical companies don't use the profit nearly enough to innovate or research. too many companies use it to buy back their own stock and inflate their worth, drive up ceo salaries and compensation and find ways to box out the competition. in fact, according to one study, from 2016 to 2020pharmaceutical companies spent $577 billion in stock buybacks and ddividends. 56 billion more than what they spent on all research and development over that same period of time. look, folks, they should be able to make a significant profit, but why should we pay two r

three times what other countries are paying for a similar drug? there is so much we can do. for example, at the defense department, those of you that cover the defense area, there is something called darpa the defense advanced research project agency. set up exclusively in the defense department to seek out the cutting edge research projects that enhance our national security, an outfit that came up with the internet, gps, and a lot of things. i'm proposing we do a similar thing. i propose we spend $6.5 billion for a similar agency within the national institute of health, the nih called advance research project agency. like darpa to help speed cutting edge research and how to detect,

treat and cure diseases like all -- alzheimer's, dabetes and cancer. it's personal to so many people out there that we can do this. i'm not criticizing companies that aren't prepared to spend billions of dollars on certain projects to research. i get it. if they're not, we should. to make sure the americans are covered. here is one other big thing that will help millions of americans afford their prescription drugs. getting them affordable health insurance. if anyone is worried about getting health insurance during the pandemic, there is help. today. for those who get their insurance through the affordable care act, recovering more people with better benefits and with the premiums 40% lower. that means the average premium

has been cut by -- from $104 a month to $62 a month. $62 a month for quality health insurance that covers doctors visits, hospital care, prescription drugs. in fact, one-third of the consumers are buying plans through the affordable care act for less than $10 a month. earlier this week, i announced more than 2,500,000 americans signed up for coverage under the affordable care act since i called for the special enrollment period during this pandemic. folks that don't have insurance, you're still signing up under the affordable care act through sunday, august 15th. just go to healthcare.gov today and get covered. to all those folks, especially concerned about rising costs for families, i urge you to support

these basic reforms that will allow drug companies to make billions of dollars as they have a right to do but will address one of the largest out-of-pocket expenses that families face, prescription drugs. we can do this. let me close with this. i've long said health care should be a right, not a privilege in this country. with my build back better plan, we have an opportunity to come together and get us even closer to that reality. the american people support it by overwhelming bipartisan margins. this isn't a partisan issue. alzheimer's, diabetes, cancer, they don't care if you're a democrat or republican. this is about whether or not you and you loved ones can afford prescription drugs you need. i look forward to congress getting this done.

and there is another area, this is another area we can come together make a difference in people's lives. thank you, may god bless you and god protect our troops. thank you. >> all right. we always wait the extra beat there because he is sometimes more likely to take the shouted question. two important things to take away from the president's remarks. first restarted by standing with local officials who he said are standing up to governors that are politiciing masks and vaccines and interesting i guess you could call it ad lib before the start of that. the focus of the remarks was talking about a piece of what he calls the build back better agenda part of the $3.5 trillion bill and we've talked about what is this about? well, this is what you'll see a lot of in talking about different pieces of it. this is about prescription drugs as you heard him talk about and

then he transitioned to creating darpa for health care and biotechnology and things like that. so this is about the beginning of him trying to sell the substance because right now as we've noted before, the biggest star of that big plan right now that people know the most about is the price tag, not what's in it. this is an attempt to show you what is in it. we'll sneak in a quick break and after it i got ambassador ryan crockel. we'll be right back. crockel we'll be right back. ♪ rock the boat don't rock the boat, baby ♪ ♪ rock the boat don't tip the boat over ♪ here we go. ♪ don't rock the boat, baby rock the boat ♪ see disney's jungle cruise. it's time to rock the boat, america. [john legend's i can see clearly now] ♪♪ make your reunion happen with vrbo. ♪♪

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welcome back. we think that we can get an update today on the situation of afghanistan from the official government sources where the taliban continues to gain ground. there is a briefing in an hour from now, and this is as the

u.s. officials are looking at what the rapid gains means for the national security, and they are saying they are worried not only about a potential al qaeda resurgence in afghanistan, but also what this means for kabul. and now joining us is ambassador at the carnegie center for peace. there is not a single piece of positive news coming out of afghanistan and rumors coming out from kandahar city, and rumors to move or evacuate our own embassy building. how bad is this? >> oh, it is pretty bad. part of the problem as you allude to, we are not seeing clear or coherent statements of anything from the situation on the ground or the implications of the long term presence or what we are doing to get our

interpreters and others who assisted the efforts in afghanistan out to safety. there is none of this out there, and in that climate of course rumors absolutely multiply. >> it seems as if, you know, say what you will, but suppose it is president trump or president biden who followed through on the order to withdraw, but we had plenty of time to plan for the withdraw, and why is this going as haphazardly as it appears to be going? >> precisely, because we didn't use that time to plan for withdrawal. we had gotten down to about 3500 or so troops in the trump administration. that was probably a little less than desirable long-term and the wheels were staying on the bus. this is a precipitate decision by the president. he has taken complete ownership

of the trump afghan policy and we are seeing the results. >> look, i can tell where you stand on this issue. it does look like, can this bell be unrung at this point? i guess that i'm amazed that 3,200 troops was basically keeping the facade up that there was an afghan government that could stand up for itself. i mean, there is something about this that feels just, that the minimal amount of troops that we had here in the last year and half that they are gone and this quick of a rout? >> well, see how this plays nout the longer term. the taliban are the taliban and they are not going to be able to hold what they take or can they? and it is not the fighting power of our 2,000 troops that made the difference. it was the signal that it sent

that we are fully engaged in this effort. it empowered and it encouraged the afghan forces and it discouraged the adversaries. now, that started to unravel as soon as trump decided that he would negotiate with the taliban without the afghan government in the room. that frankly was the beginning of the end. that was at least effectively saying that we are surrendering, and we are getting out. what are you going to do, and it completely delegitimized the afghan government, so this is in the psychological sphere as much as it is in the military realities in the ground. we basically gave up on the afghan government, and not just now, but all of the way back to the start of the talks. what president biden did was to embrace it, and embrace the

policy and he owns it. >> so there is a base on the left and a base on the right that are in the way that our political pendulums meet at one point where it swings, so perhaps they have made a political decision here, but we are about to come up on the 20th anniversary of 9/11. i mean, the image of the taliban getting kabul in and around that anniversary, and what does that say about the 20 years in afghanistan. it was successful 20 years and now we hope for the best, or did we just waste 10 of the 20 years? >> well, it is -- it is actually even worse than that in my view as we approach this 20th anniversary. the taliban are back and they are not kinder and gentler, but they are meaner and harder and coming back with them are al qaeda, and they are clear on

that, and that is part of the reality for the last two decades. the taliban is there, and so will al qaeda. that is what we are seeing now. so you can combine that perfect storm with the comments made some weeks ago by cia director bill burns that pulling out all of our military assets is going to degrade our intelligence capabilities in afghanistan. so you have al qaeda. you have taliban and a severe constraint on the intelligence capabilities, and this is all about 9/11 and that is why we went in and stayed in and now we are all just handing it back. >> well, ambassador crocker, i am trying to find out if there is anything that we are misreading about how bad this is and the answer after our interview here is no. i appreciate your blunt

assessment here. >> thank you for the opportunity. >> we hope to speak to you soon. and now, thank you for meeting up here, and my apologies for the power outage situation here, and worked from home, and welcome to the problems. tomorrow, we will be joined by the former attorney general eric holder with his fight against gerrymandering as the redistricting battles kick into high gear. and i will hand it over to my friend garrett haake after this break. iend garrett haake after break. - [narrator] this is dr. harold katz. he used to worry about how to fix

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good to be with you. i'm garrett haake and we are covering the breaking news on multiple fronts. the u.s. embassy in kabul for the second time in a mat per of days has issued the alert for all american civilians to leave afghanistan immediately. this comes as the taliban is tearing across the country at a shockingly fast pace. we will go to afghanistan in a moment. also breaking at this hour, a huge announcement from the fda