it's wireless so good, it keeps one upping itself. good day everyone this is "andrea mitchell reports" in washington with the latest on the ongoing saga of nancy pelosi as she tries to corral votes from the warring rings of her

own caucus. after meetings that went well into the night, to midnight thursday, she is huddling with her democratic caucus today trying to coax progressives into voting for the bipartisan infrastructure bill based on a promise of a later vote on a larger package of social programs and a lot of money to combat climate change. the speaker and the president's legacies are on the line as well as control of the house. if they come up with nothing. but reaching agreement is a mystery. >> you asked me about whether i'm willing to accept a number or not. there is no number on the table. i'm not negotiating against myself. >> trying to come up with a framework. is an agreed upon framework enough? >> no. we need a vote. >> and that just happened with jayapal and aoc. we also have breaking news in the fight against the coronavirus. a major announcement from the drug company merck seeking emergency use authorization from the fda for a new antiviral drug that according to their trials reduces the risk of hospitalization and death from covid by 50%.

dr. fauci has called it impressive. there is more breaking news on the coronavirus from the supreme court. the supreme court justice brett kavanaugh testing positive. the court says not symptomatic. justice kavanaugh and his family are fully vaccinated and have been since january. we begin this hour in washington with nbc's senior congressional correspondent garrett haake, and our associated press white house reporter. first to you. house democrats meeting this morning. we just heard from some of the progressives. where do things stand at this hour? we heard congresswoman jayapal saying they've made more progress in the last 45 minutes than in quite sometime. >> yes, andrea. that seems to be the sense from other democrats i talked to who were in this meeting talking about progress and moving in the right direction and acknowledging here that failure is not an option. everyone understands the stakes here and that these two priorities for the president and for all of those democrats who ran on the same agenda have to

be passed at some point. what that point is, is an open question. i've asked several members about the time frame for getting this done. no one seems to have a clear indication of that. part of the problem here is that the people who they need to make the decisions were not all in this room. you have progressive and moderate democrats who i think are willing to move forward, wanting to find some pathway forward that is going to require an affirmative statement of some kind written or guaranteed on television or something from the moderate senators and maybe from the president of the united states on the bigger package. and so without that, we can have progress i think among house democrats but no affirmative decision on what the next step will be. >> we saw the president's advisers on the hill huddling with the speaker late last night. do we know his level of engagement now? >> reporter: we do, andrea. to this point it's been behind the scenes. we know he hosted lawmakers at

the white house a number of times. this week he is using call sheets making calls from the oval office to lawmakers trying to push them along focused largely on the senate side which has drawn some complaint from house democrats who say he has not paid them enough attention saying he has not given them enough of a clear line as to what he would want or accept as a deal. they are watching with great interest as we all are. i was in the press pool yesterday. we were here until 11:00 at night because there was some thought that had there been a breakthrough perhaps the president would make the trip up pennsylvania avenue to capitol hill. that of course did not happen. he is opting to remain here in washington tonight. often on the weekends he heads back to his delaware home. they want him who are and involved. the white house has not read out his schedule the rest of the day. there is nothing on it publicly. they say it could be changed. if there is a moment where progress could be made they say he'll do that. they say he continues to work behind the scenes and feel like

some progress was made and it will happen even though a lot of hard work between now and then. >> despite the fact he's been out of public view other than the baseball game i know you were in the pool for that as well, but we understand close allies on the senate side at least that he's been working the phones and getting a lot of assignments from allies in the senate telling him who to call and when. talk about the stakes here for the democratic party. and the president, midterms, you know, everything is really on the line. >> it really is. i mean, build back better is what the president not only based his campaign on but has based his presidency on. this promise that he would deliver these key components that are contained in both the infrastructure plan and this reconciliation plan to americans. so failure on this would be a massive -- especially at a time

where polls are starting to show his support is starting to soften a little bit with americans frustrated this pandemic is ongoing and it is still tough to get back to work. and so failure is certainly not an option. it is not an option for democrats in the house and senate either. voters delivered all three in the hands of the democratic party. if they -- it as mandate to either fulfill promises either working with republicans and if they won't then doing it alone and if they can't manage to do that it would be really devastating heading into 2022. >> garrett, what about this highway bill they still have to fix? the money ran out for the highway bill. not a great look for the democrats. >> no. >> they have to get that done. is the senate on stand by to do this somehow by voice vote? how is that going to work? >> exactly right. the infrastructure bill was built on the back of a traditional annual highway funding bill that had to be passed before the end of the fiscal year. that was last night at midnight.

it wasn't passed. so there needs to be some kind of patch to keep funding going in the federal highway program. both the house and senate understand the risk here and are working something that could potentially be done by voice vote unanimous consent to give themselves more time here. >> you have another long night ahead of you all. thank you so much. joining me now, the minnesota democratic senator amy klobuchar. i want to hear your thoughts about all of this coming up but first something personal. how are you doing? i know you announced you had been diagnosed earlier this year with breast cancer stage 1 thankfully because of early diagnosis and you've worked straight through it. you were cochairing those critical hearings on the january 6th homeland and rules committee. i don't know how you did it but talk to me about how you're doing. >> well, thank you, andrea. i know you've been through this yourself and talk about someone who keeps working. for me, my family, my friends

were incredible. it makes you step back and realize every day is a gift and it coincided with my dad, the long good-bye and dying in the middle of it. but i have the gift that i can pass on, having come through this with a lumpectomy and radiation with doctors at mayo clinic saying my chances of getting cancer are just the same as anyone else in the general population which is a great outcome. but i can now pass on the fact as we're in breast cancer awareness month people have to get their tests. thousands of women are going around with undetected breast cancer, 1 out of 3 americans, during the pandemic putting off routine exams. at the beginning you could understand that. i put mine off and i shouldn't have. luckily it got caught. i hope a lot of people go out and get their exams. i think you know how important that is. >> absolutely. i was going into a campaign year

and got, flunked my mammogram on a friday, heading to ames, iowa. that was a really rough weekend just getting through a weekend not really knowing, you know, what was ahead. and just through the help of family, friends, and the wonderful people here at nbc was able to continue my work when i got back. but it is early diagnosis that is key. >> it makes such a difference and i think so many americans right now are balancing so much, their work, their families, through the end of this pandemic, how important health care is, which kind of gets us to the next subject i have a feeling you might ask about, the work we're doing in washington that must get done. >> yes, so is any white smoke coming out of the chimney over the capitol? you know, this is, i mean, we've seen deadline pressure before. it's always the last minute and sometimes a bill goes down. but that would not bode well for this speaker and this president

as it did with the tarp for instance go down once and then the markets collapsed around it. that is sort of what we're fearing with the debt ceiling as a matter of fact. >> yes. >> what do you think about this? >> so, i think we're going to get this done, and i have so much faith m president biden and speaker pelosi and senator schumer. they can put together a deal. i don't think we should be surprised this is hard to do. we don't have one vote on the republican side. not one vote for making sure that our -- we don't default on our debt which would send the markets to levels we haven't seen that would hurt every day americans and their interest rates and auto loans and you name it. so that is one thing out there. we don't have public support for doing what the republicans want. they are with us on this. the public wants us to get through this pandemic and they also want to make sure they can find child care and that we can

bring down the costs of prescription drugs. so to me the infrastructure bill, i love it. i love the bipartisan infrastructure bill. but i also know my constituents need housing. they need child care. every day families that have been seeing their drug prices skyrocketing for decades. this is the moment to put people first. that's how i think about this second bill. and i think there's been a lot of debate. here and there these two people what do they think, what are the numbers. in the end these are dramatic policy changes that will help the american people and we will find a way to get there. >> how do you get there, how do you satisfy the whole progressive caucus which is a growing power now, a real force? nancy pelosi has a three-seat margin and you have some 60 votes and growing of people who are really angry at senators manchin and particularly senator sinema who has not publicly explained to her constituents what her bottom lines are.

>> you know, everyone has had their moments during this time where they get mad. believe me i have had mine. how we get there for me is the larger purpose. and the larger purpose is that there are still moms that are watching right now that are balancing their toddlers on their knees and their laptops on their desk. there are parents that have had to teach first graders how to use a mute button. there are seniors who have spent months and months isolated at home because of this pandemic. they deserve a better america. they deserve in joe biden's words for us to build back better. the way i see this happening is there is general agreement in the democratic party we have to get these things done. that we can't let our forests burn and hurricanes get worse and do nothing about climate change. the numbers may be different. that's where the negotiations come in. but for the large part of the policies, people are in agreement. and we simply have to get across the finish line and get this

done. >> are you thinking that something along the lines of $2.5 trillion could be the final number? >> i would love to negotiate this on your show and announce the final number. i think that is still a work in progress. but i think you've heard, i was just listening to the reports earlier on msnbc. you have heard that there is progress being made. and having sat through so many leadership meetings in the u.s. senate, our caucus meetings, people in good faith are trying to get there. of course they get mad. my colleague tina smith has the energy piece of this bill with her energy standard. she wants to get this done. i want to get the prescription drugs lowered. we want to make sure that we get this done for the american people. and so it is not everyone is going to get every single detail that they want but in the end i am confident that we'll do good for the american people.

failure is not an option. >> you think they can get it done today or this weekend? they've stopped the clock so we are still in the thursday legislative day, still september 30th somewhere on capitol hill >> i can't give you the exact day. by the way, i spent the summer with senator manchin and senator schumer and warnock, padilla, merkley, many others, eight of us, working on that voting bill. we took it issue by issue and we have what i consider a breakthrough bill with the freedom to vote act that i hope we will be considering next. i know we will. once we get through this. but senator manchin worked with us on the details and we got that done. that is what needs to be happening right now with both senators sinema and manchin. they can't hang out. they have to get in the room and put out their policy needs so we are able to reach an agreement. i understand the -- how people feel when there's been so much

delay on this in the progressive caucus. i've talked extensively with bernie. we've worked together on the prescription drug issue. but there is a common ground and purpose and that is what we have to remember as we head into the next hours. >> senator amy klobuchar, it was so great to see you and know how well you're doing. continued good health as we start the cancer awareness month. >> thanks, andrea. you were a mentor to me through it. you didn't know it but your incredible courage and ability to be resilient when you see that you know you can too it yourself. thank you, andrea. >> not really deserved but very kind. thank you. senator amy klobuchar. and great news on the health front. a major milestone potentially a huge development in treating covid. the pill that could change the pandemic. plus vaccine hesitancy. millions of americans still refusing the shot. who are they? steve kornacki is at the big board ahead on "andrea mitchell reports." stay with us.

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breaking news on the fight against covid-19. executives at pharmaceutical company merck say they've been testing a pill that reduces hospitalizations and deaths by 50% in people infected with coronavirus. the company is submitting the trug to the fda for emergency use authorization immediately after the trials were so successful that under ethical standards they were suspended to

move ahead to request emergency use. dr. fauci giving us an up-tate in the last hour. >> the news of the efficacy of this particular antiviral is obviously very good news. we always hesitate to make any timeline. the fda will look at the data and in their usual, very efficient and effective way will examine it as quickly as they possibly can and then it will be taken from there. >> joining me now dr. patel a physician who served as white house health policy director during the obama administration and is on the front lines dealing with this disease with patients every day. doctor, how significant is the news from merck this morning? >> andrea, it's huge. honestly for me it signals that the end is insuit for this pandemic. the combination of having an effective treatment combined with vaccines, so far all we have in the form of antivirals

is remdesivir and even that has been a little bit lack luster in terms of doing kind of what we would hope. and the merck oral drug is taken, you know, this is something you can take by mouth and doesn't have the expensive infusion or complicated hospital need but something you can take by mouth that can actually cut the rate of hospitalization and dramatically reduce death as a result. that is a game stopper. we have to have as much possible because we aren't going to be able to vaccinate the entire world at the pace i want and we're seeing justice kavanaugh and others who are healthy but getting these breakthrough infections. this gives us a lot more security and there are others on the way. oral antivirals with similar promise. >> that is really exciting to hear you and dr. fauci today. i want to also talk about vaccine mandates because from

new york state and new york city schools to tyson and the private sector and united airlines, health workers in new york, how big an impact do you think this is going to have, these mandates? i know they'll be legal challenges and they already are. but potentially how big a deal is it sf. >> the mandates, look, i think we have these initial months, you even heard president biden as candidate biden who did not want to use the word mandate but i think we're at the point where mandates simply put now that we have the vaccines, one fully approved and the others on the way to full approval we have the sufficient data we need. we have what we have to require plus there are still religious and medical exemptions, ethical exemptions but the majority of us can live in a society where we have these requirements. we do it for travel, schools, i do it for work. this is not unusual. this is not a new precedent. i think it will become the norm. it is also going to be one of

the best ways to return people securely to the work place. we know colleagues who are anxious about coming back to work. this gives people security. think of the tysons workers, the rates of spread, the death, disease, single mothers who had to make a decision whether to work or to get sick. that shouldn't be allowed. it doesn't give us confidence in our economy or ability to work. >> it seems like a win-win on all levels. dr. patel, thank you as always. right now nearly 23% of the country's adults are still unvaccinated. msnbc's national political correspondent steve kornacki is at the big board with a deeper dive on just who are the holdouts. with all the data it is incredible so many people are still hesitant. >> as you say the number right now 77% of adults at least one dose so about a quarter or a little less who aren't yet

vaccinated. this gets a lot of attention. a lot of the polling keeps finding a partisan gap. democrats with a much higher vaccination rate than republicans. independents with about two-thirds. if you look inside these numbers there might be other factors that are driving this partisan divide at work. here is another example. look at the educational divide. folks with a college degree, vaccination rate on the whole of over 80%. adults without a college degree the vaccination rate is significantly less. about two-third. this divide, this educational divide, college/noncollege. it gets into questions of social class. it gets into questions of social trust. you tend to find a big gap between people with a college degree and without and how much they trust institutions. it seems to be factoring in. in our politics, it's been the huge divide among white voters.

biden overwhelmingly won whites with a college degree last year. trump, this has become the core of the republican base, overwhelmingly winning whites without a college degree. we've seen it among white voters in politics. among african-americans we have data, too. you don't see a divide in politics but what is interesting is look at the same groups here when it comes to the vaccine and now the divide works differently. purely an educational divide. aagain, whites without a degree, african-americans without a degree is where you see comparable drop-offs in vac nation. so the educational divide may be shaping a lot of this, too. >> that could play into the fact of people who are able to recognize the false information and conspiracy theories. >> i don't want to get into one

group -- to me it is we find that educational divide with the degree wow without a degree it is this question of social trust when you try to measure sowing trust, the faith-tsh social trust the faith in the ens constitutions, confidence in public institutions. the medical community, government, things like that. you tend to find a big difference between those two groups. i think what is notable is it kind of cuts across some racial divides. it cuts across political divides. you see it most starkly here. >> it could have a connection to people who believe in science just because they've had more connection to scientific facts and that kind of education. >> i get it. to me i see this over and over again in all sorts of different questions here. it is almost two different ways of looking at the world i think. >> well, it is all fascinating data.

thank you so much. of course the real life results are that a lot of people, too many people are still not vaccinated. for the u.s. to have effective herd immunity. steve kornacki, thank you so much. in the court as well a u.s. supreme court justice now testing positive as the term's first oral arguments are just days away. the texas abortion law now challenged by the department of justice. congresswoman barbara lee joins me after sharing her personal abortion story on the hill. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. a mitchell reports" on msnbc. nucala is a once-monthly add-on injection for severe eosinophilic asthma. not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occurred. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection-site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. ask your doctor about nucala.

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we have breaking news from the supreme court. justice kavanaugh has tested positive for covid. he is fully vaccinated and has been since january and has no symptoms. the 56-year-old justice was supposed to take part in a formal ceremony today for justice amy coney barret which had been postponed from last year because of the pandemic. nbc news justice correspondent pete williams joins us now. the new term kicks off next week. there's a lot at stake. first of all, inquiring minds want to know has justice kavanaugh been with the other justices this week in the preliminary? have they had conferences? >> yes. he has been tested twice this week. the justices were all together for the very first time in the court on monday looking at all of the cases that piled up over

the summer. they were all of course double vaccinated and all tested before then. he tested negative. they were then again tested on thursday in preparation for today's investicure ceremony and he tested positive. he stayed home. he has no symptoms they say. presumably he won't be at court monday for the start of the term. he'll be able to listen to the argument and take part fully in deliberations just as if a justice had the flu and had to stay home. that kind of thing. they've been through this before. >> they certainly have. notably i think a couple times with justice ginsburg and for the last year and a half since the pandemic they've been working from home with telephone conferences and arguments. >> that's right. all the argument have been conducted by telephone conference call and when the court convenes on monday the justices will be in the courtroom. today we were going to say this is the first time they've all been in the courtroom since march of last year when the court basically shut down.

eight of them were there. justice kavanaugh wasn't. eight will be back in the courtroom hearing oral argument in the courtroom but you'll be able to listen live and that is a first for the court to do that in the courtroom. that is because the public still isn't admitted to the building. >> so the public is not there but presumably the lawyers are. >> well, it is going to be a very small number of people. the justices, essential court staff, and arguing counsel. the rules for the arguing counsel say as soon as you're done leave the building. don't go into the cafeteria. get out. so they're very tough. >> and the justices will not be masked presumably on the bench or will they? >> i don't know. they haven't said. they weren't today. so we'll have to wait and see. >> were you over there? >> yes. i was there for the ceremony. me, and we were allowed to come in for the ceremony strictly formal, ceremonial because of course she went through all the full swearing in to be on the court last year.

but this is a thing the court always does. the justice comes up. they sit in a chair used by john marshall. then somebody reads the presidential commission. then as you see in these pictures the chief justice usually comes out and stands with the new justice outside. chief justice john roberts stood with her. they came down the stairs. then after a brief time the chief left and her husband jesse came and join her. the whole thing took about 16 minutes. >> okay. just exciting the history of it all. we all of course presume they were not very close to each other the last couple days. >> correct. although they were in their conference on monday. >> big arguments on monday? >> no, this week off to a somewhat slow start in terms of arguments. the big cases will be in november when the court takes up the second amendment. what does it mean to have a gun outside the home. and of course the big abortion case will be argued december

1st. >> pete williams, great to have you back here. >> pleasure. >> thank you. the supreme court has been asked to take an appeal on the restrictive texas abortion law on a fast track bypassing the court of appeals. a federal judge in texas today is taking up the biden administration's challenge to the near ban on all abortions in the state. joining us now is congresswoman barbara lee of california who shared her deeply personal story on capitol hill yesterday about getting a back alley abortion before it was legal as a 16-year-old. congresswoman, thank you very much. thank you and your colleagues. it was such a deeply moving moment to hear from members of congress of different ages of course but you know you were one of the pioneers in that you remember just how terrifying it was to get an illegal abortion in those days before roe v. wade. >> andrea, nice being with you. let me just say a couple things. i hope that the message got out

throughout the country in terms of our testimony. as it relates to personal decision to make decisions about their bodies and about their lives. it is so important right now that we speak out and believe you me i always knew and my mother reminded me this is my business, nobody else's, and that's the point. nobody else should interfere with personal decisions such as having an abortion. this is a gut wrenching, heart wrenching decision based on whomever that individual wants to consult with or not but it is a personal decision. and so, yes. i did have an abortion. this was in the mid 60s in mexico and let me tell you, i can remember it, everything about it to this day. it was a competent, compassionate doctor.

my mother sent me to el paso where i was born and raised. went to catholic school. and a good friend of hers took me to mexico. she knew the physician. she said that he was going to conduct the procedure and she trusted him. i was terrified. because i did not know what was happening. i was traumatized. but because of the love and the support of this individual and my mother and my family, i survived. it was a back alley clinic. and there were so many women who did not survive. you know, andrea, during that period the septic abortions was the main determining factor for african-american women's death during that period. i knew that and it was terrifying. now we see unfortunately these states with these laws possibly going back to those days. the reason i decided as hard as it was because it is so personal to me to speak out, is because

i'm trying to send a warning that we do not want to go back to the days of back alley abortions because it is deadly. women will die. >> and i think people should understand how difficult that was for you and the others to speak out. that deciding on an abortion from what i have heard over the years is not only deeply personal but it is very difficult. it is not that people want to get abortions. it is that they feel there are reasons in their lives to do it but either way, it is either pro or con these are very personal, tough decisions to make. >> they are very personal. they're very tough. and they're heart wrenching and gut wrenching. i mean, you know, some people make one decision. others make another. but that's okay. it is whatever that individual decides. i'm a person of faith. i have to pray a lot over this. i was a cheerleader the first

black cheerleader in my school. i was an accomplished pianist. i was on the honor society. made great grades. can you imagine the stigma if people knew and what am i going to do, how am i going to explain this? but at 16 years old it was like what do i do? so i just knew my life was going to be destroyed. and so you go through all of that. you make that decision. some may come to a different decision. my mother and i came to this decision. she told me whatever decision i made she would support me and i think that is so important that we have that support of whomever you trust to help you work through these very difficult moments and believe you me, andrea, they're difficult. it is important to share these stories now because again we don't want to see us back in those days of back alley abortions. these states are passing laws that are going to kill women, that are going to force women to do things that would be very

dangerous if in fact they come to those points in their lives they have to make this very hard, hard decision. >> congresswoman, thank you so much for what you are doing, you and your colleagues pro and con because there was a congress member also speaking out against this yesterday. >> can i just say something? andrea, my colleague said her mother made that decision to go through with her pregnancy. and that is the point. it was her mother's decision. it is not anyone else's decision. it is based on your values, what you decide to do not anyone else. and so it is not -- it is about freedom, reproductive freedom. >> thank you again. thank you for all you're doing and your colleagues. and straight ahead three decades after her groundbreaking testimony anita hill is still leading the fight against sexual violence. she joins me next with her new

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it's too much new to fit in one commerc- turning to haiti and migrants back in the country after being deported from the u.s. southern border, we'll go to a remote town in the country's southwestern peninsula for the latest on the conditions there. it has been very tough and tough communications so great to hear from you. tell us what you're seeing. >> andrea, thanks so much. we're in a ten in an area hard hit by the earthquake that struck in august and we are at a distribution site for the world food program right now. on top of the earthquake these folks were receiving distributions and had great needs before the earthquake.

there is a lot of talk about the conditions the biden administration is sending haitians back to. this is not the crime riddled streets of port-au-prince but extreme food insecurity. here are the distribution buckets. the orange are called jerry cans for water. the buckets are from unicef, hygiene kits. vegetable oil. rice, beans. pierre runs the world food program here in haiti. all these people lined up right now here are here to receive your services that are not going to last beyond this distribution. this is the fifth cycle of distribution. you've been able to give these people. i think a lot of americans don't quite understand the situation on the ground in haiti. what are we seeing right now? >> today we are here after 45 days of the earthquakes but those people as you say were already receiving assistance. they were considered the most vulnerable among the vulnerable. it is a lot of pregnant women,

single women with children, elderly people. they are really in need. really when we want to -- it is for people who don't even have a meal a day. this is really about life saving and bringing peace to a country that really it could be very violent. >> people only have one meal a day and that is the condition --. >> and powering through some bad communications from haiti but thank you so much for the report on a critical area we need to pay more attention to. 30 years ago this month anita hill testified in front of congress that her former supervisor supreme court nominee clarence thomas had sexually harassed her. in october of 1991 during televised hearings that lasted three days hill was grilled by the all white, all male senate

judiciary committee chaired by then senator joe biden. >> there is nothing in the statement that, or nothing in my background, nothing in my statement, no motivation that would show that i would make up something like this. and i guess one really does have to understand something about the nature of sexual harassment. it is very difficult for people to come forward with these things. >> and that, joining me now is anita hill university professor of social policy, law, and women's gender and sexuality studies and her new book is "believing, our 30-year journey to end gender violence." a deep analysis she has learned after living with and studying the effects of sexual violencement thank you for being

with us today. i believe from my recollection that was in answer to late senator arlen specter's questions. hostile questions accusing you of lying. it was a searing couple of days for anyone in the room as we were but for you it was transformative because you went on and you had to make some big decisions be the what your career was going to be going back to oklahoma where you had been raised on a farm or becoming a leader in this effort. tell us, and i know you write about it in the book "going to atlanta" and the key meeting with lillian lewis, late john lewis's wife, tell us about your transformation. >> well, it was slow coming in a way but i think it was the right decision that i made for me, certainly. starting with the conversation that i had with lillian lewis, in atlanta, in 1992 a few months

after the hearing i was at a crossroads as to how i would proceed. i had heard from thousands of people who had written me about their problems, their problems with sexual harassment some of them. some of them with problems with incest, some rape, sexual assault. some intimate partner violence. and everyone who i heard from either told me a story about terrible behavior that they had experienced or they focused on how people were responding to them or they focused on how the systems that were meant to protect them were failing them. and i had to choose. lillian lewis was so kind and so gracious in convincing me that as an african-american woman with law training and teaching, that i had a voice and should

really take up the cause of sexual harassment and then which in large really to include a whole variety and range of behaviors that really need to be addressed in this society. >> i think that's what's so important about your book. because you talk about all of the ways it manifests itself. and how prevalent gender violence is in our work places and in our homes. and you write about 1 in 4 women in the united states experience intimate partner violence including sexual abuse. 1 in 3 say they've been harassed at work. few report the incident because they are afraid of retaliation. women of color experience sexual harassment at higher rates than white women. so those data points are really scary. i don't know how much the me too awakening if you will has changed any of that or the

willingness to report corporate america being more aware? perhaps there are incremental changes. it still exists. >> it exists. it persists in our society. in part it persists in such large numbers because we really haven't started to address the systemic problem. we've tried to address individual behavior and we've been successful in some cases and in some cases not so successful. but unless we change the processes people are going through to get some kind of reckoning for what happens to them, or, and, excuse me, not or. and deal with the cultures that people go into and grow up in that really tells all of us that the behavior we are experiencing is not so bad.

or that we shouldn't be making a big deal out of it. we get that message from a very early age. and it's important for us to deal with the cultural impediments to our being successful and eliminatingviole it's also an important for us to deal with the structures that impede people from coming forward. and by that i mean structures like systems that are really too costly for most people to engage in or with, so difficult or too foggy or unclear, or maybe even processes that in some situations, in some organizations, just don't exist at all. so we've got a whole range of issues to deal with. some are cultural. some are -- have to do with our systems. but until we are invested in taking a deep dive and looking at all of the factors that hold

us back, we will never eliminate this problem, and we're going to pass it onto another jn ration. >> and we've seen most recently the terrible effects on the women's gymnastics team. their testimony gut wrenching of the failed investigation, the failures of society in allow -- in the larry nassar case. thank you for bringing this to light. you've been such a path breaker. reluctantly at first you were dragged into this, not a willing person. and you became the person you are now. anita hill, and the book is -- >> can i just add that my work has been driven by the stories that i have gotten, i've heard, i've taken in, and ie taken quite seriously. and i wanted to be able to write a book that really brought those stories to the front and made them the survivors and victims, the center of the conversation. >> you are giving them voice,

and we're grateful. professor anita hill. >> thank you. moments ago on capitol hill, majority leader steny hoyer telling reporters house democrats will meet again this afternoon as the leadership is trying to get progressive members to yes on the bipartisan bill. joining us former u.s. ambassador to south africa. thank you for being with us. from your experience, you were in the white house. you saw the struggles over obama care. do you think they can get to yes? do you think that the democrats are going to come together? >> well, it's always an honor to join you. they'll get to yes. i'm confident of that. let's recall here, i know that you said that they're trying to get the progressives to yes, but it's more than that. right now we're in a circumstance where 96% of all democrats in the house and the senate are for this bill. i know that senator manchin and

sinema are defined as moderates or on the other side. there's consensus across the democratic party and 77% of americans believe in the bill. i think it's appropriate that i'm following anita hill and others who brave it. at the end of the day if this bill centers women as agents in the economy. we need the -- this is the moment for congress to recognize the central role that our essential workers of women, child care workers, early childhood educators, play in this economy and to recover and build out in a way that is no longer rigged against them. and i think we're going to get this done. >> and you know, you make a very good point. there are so many things that can happen between now and then, but i think everybody knows the failure is not an option. that the joe biden agenda is on the line, and speaker pelosi, there's a lot of affection and

respect in all parts of the party for what she is trying to accomplish here. >> yes. and you know, andrea, i'm a few elections i've worked, i can tell the democrats in the house right now it's much hard tore show up on election day with few -- little to show in the way of accomplishments from the time in congress. go and get the two bills done. give shopper who is are voters a comparison between a republican party that's obstructionist and the democratic party that put essential workers first, climate change, and education first. >> patrick, thank you very, very much. thanks for being with us today. and before we go, i want to say a very special birthday greeting to former president jimmy carter as he turns 97 years old today, or in this case, 97 years young, because of his spirit. aides say the 39th president is celebrating quietly at home in georgia with his beloved wife.

president biden today tweeting an old signed photo along with his wishes, calling carter a beacon of light and moral clarity. like many of us, the former president has slowed down during the pandemic. he has survived several falls . the family is mourning carter's daughter-in-law, annette davis carter who died two weeks ago. a celebration of her life is tomorrow at the family church. despite the loss and sadness, we want to wish the former president and his wonderful wife a happy and healthy year ahead. >> that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports". chuck taud and mtp daily starts right now. right now. i got a fancy grown up lamp to make me feel like a fancy grown up. mhm. adulting ain't easy. ooh! check this one out. waffles loves her dog bed.

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congressional progressive party. they are make progress gresz. based on everything we're hearing, it looks like the caucus is days or weeks away from a deal they can pass through congress. although the democratic caucus chair just told reporters he's confidence they will vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill today, he's hopeful they'll get some clarify from the senate shortly. all of this comes as right now progressive democrats are still holding the line, insisting a far from reconciliation bill must be passed before there's a vote on the president's bipartisan infrastructure bill. a framework on paper is probably not going to be enough. the progressive caucus chair spoke to reporters twice today. and she made it clear that progressives still don't fully trust the democratic agenda in the hands of the senate moderates. sinema has left washington according to two sources familiar with the matter. >> i have consistently said that we need a vote in the senate, because i want to