gone are the days when you have to pull up to mcdonald's and sit in the parking lot with your child to do their homework when there is virtual learning going on. dr. king said, of all the forms of inequity, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and most inhumane. this is a once-in-a century pandemic that's hit this country hard and especially the african-american community. it's like off all lost someone to the virus or know someone who has lost a loved one. one in 600 black americans have died from covid-19. it's been reported that blacks are more than twice as likely as white children to have lost a parent or care giver to covid-19, to have to experience the trauma and loss. many of my colleagues say we have to now work on even more fervently. that is mental healthcare. helping people through the

difficult periods we have. it's been deserve e devastadeva. equity is the center of my administration's covid-19 response. the vaccination rates among black adults is now essentially on par with white adults. in the midst of this pandemic we had affordable care act to extend coffee annual for lower held healthcare costs on millions of families. we are working on laws for prescription drug costs to give medicare the power to negotiate lower prices. how do you know the plan with work? because the drug company is spending millions of bucks to try to stop it. that's how you know. together, we're making healthcare a right not a privilege in this nation. now for the millions, of you who

feel squeezed while raising a child and taking care of a parent, the sandwich generation, we want to make it affordable so loved ones can live with greater independence and dignity and child care costs for most families are cut in half. no working family if we get will help me get done. no working family in america will pay more than 7% of their income on child care for any child under 5. you want to give raises to home workers so they can increase the capacity, increase their knowledge, increase their opportunities? hem l health workers and child care workers are disproportionately women of color and immigrants. workers like the ones dr. king stood for when he marched and gave his life. look, folks, just imagine, instead of consigning millions of our children under resource

schools, we gave every single child in america access to an education at age 3 and age 4, quality pre-school. we can afford to do this. we can't afford not to do it. and we do know, no matter what the backgrounds or circumstance the child comes from, when given that opportunity, to have a better than a 58% chance of making it all the way through 12 years without getting themselves in trouble and maybe go on beyond that, that will change lives forever. so historic investments in higher education, significantly increasing pell grants to help millions of black students and lower-income families attend four-year colleges and schools. i tell you, let me be clear, in the shadow of the moore house men, i here a lot about that,

guys. i keep making the case of a point of a personal privilege in the senate. the best hbcu in the country is delaware state. that's where i got started. c'mon. but here's what we've done, the president in delaware state used to work for me, he's in charge of all that, we're committed to nearly 5 billion this year and historic investments with more historically black colleges and universities make every single student, give them a shot to good-paying jobs. you all know what i mean, but for anybody watching this one of the problems is black students in college have every single capability any other student does. guess, what because they don't have great endowments, they can't compete for those government contracts out there

that the big schools are able to go out and get, cyber security, for example, starting salaries 125,000 bucks. you don't get that unless have you the laboratories and facilities you can, fact, train on. it's also about the promise of america. economic injustice also means delivering environmental justice to communities on fence line communities, dividing homes in toxic areas. my state has one of the highest cancer rates in the history of america. because i lived in a fence line community called clay mont, delaware, we used to get up, get driven to a little school, turn on the windshield wiper in the fall in the first forecast and literally be an oil slick on the window not a joke. an oil slick on the window. that's why an awful lot of people like me have bronchial

asth ma, we want our children to avoid these consequences. one of you have an alley in your state, we have a cancer alley, it's building downfor extreme weather events. these have been of biblical proportions. 178 mile top winds in a hurricane down in louisiana? more people dying in queens in their basements because of 20 inches of rain, they flooded, they couldn't get out of their basements, they drowned. superstorms, drought, wildfires, hurricaneles. this is the promise for america urban and rural across america, not just for any one area. as we fight for economic just the is to fill the promise for all americans, the work continues on delivering equal justice under the law. look, i know the frustration we all feel and more than one year after george floyd's murder and the conviction of his murderer,

about six months ago, meaningful police reform george's fame still has not passed congress. i remember many times meeting with his little daughter. she'd say as to me, my daddy is changing history. we haven't fulfilled that yet. i understand you got to keep fighting. let me be clear, though, we will continue to fight for real police reform legislation. the fight is not anywhere over. my administration is active. we have already announced changes in the federal law enforcement policies, a ban on choke holds, restrictions on no-knock warrants, requirements that federal agents and the department of justice use of private business rescinding the previous administration's guidance to require the harshest of penalties. it's a pattern and practice investigation of systematic police misconduct in phoenix, louisville and minneapolis, just because we can't get it done in

the states, we are not standing back. we have much more to do and yes my administration wants to advance meaningful reform, to live up to america's promise of equal justice under the law. we want to create safer committees in critical ways. with my american thank you plan and thank you to congress supporting it. everybody kind of forgets, that was $1.9 billion, trillion dollars. we got a whole heck of a lot done like that. it did so well, people don't think know where it came from? what did you do for me lately? we made historic investments in community policing, violence intervention programs and we're shown to reduce some programs violence by 66%. we're expanding summer programs and job opportunities and service and support to keep young people safe and out of

trouble, we're helping formerly incarcerated people, successfully rendering into communities. you get $25 bucks and a bus ticket. gow to the bridge you were before. you should have access to pell grants and housing. you should have access to all the things. you paid your price and we shouldn't put it back in a spot where you sa no positions. we are extending firearms for rogue gun dealers, to curb the epidemic of gun violence. i know i get criticized for passing the assault weapons ban. i am proud of passing the assault weapons ban. here's the deal, we heard dr. king paraphrase it and say give us the judges, we will put judges on the south who will do justly and love mercy. in just nine months, we reported more black women to the federal circuit courts and more public

defenders events than any administration in all of american history because of you. we will change it. we did it in record time. we're just getting started because all of you in the audience here. you have been the engine behind all this. we also know in, to make full promise to america to protect that fundamental right, the sacred right to vote, you know, it's democracy's threshold of liberty. with it anything is possible. without it, nothing s. today the vote under assault from republican governors, attorneys general, secretary of state, estate legislators, i have been following my predecessor, the last president, and deep, deep black home and abyss. i mean it. think about it. this is what got me involved in civil rights as a kid when i was

26-years-old, i love reading about how biden knew he was going to run for president. hell, i didn't know i was going to run for the county council. i didn't even want to. look, this struggle is no longer just over who gets to vote or making it easier for eligible people to vote. it's about who gets to count the votes or whether they should count at all. jim crowe in the first sen scli now a sinister conversation and election sob version. my fellow americans, i thought at one point that i had been able to do something good as chairman of the judiciary committee. i was able to get every member, including the conservative members served clearly who had racist background to extend the voting rights act for 25 years. i thought, whoa, one of the proudest things i ever did as a

senator, but guess what, this means some state legislatures want to make it harder for to you vote f. you do vote, they want to be able to tell you whether or not your vote counts. that's not how it should be. they want something, you are going to reject the final vote and ignore the will of the people, if their preferred is black, white, asian, latino, it doesn't matter, if their candidate doesn't win, they're targeting not just voters of color but every voter that doesn't rote the way they want. i have to admit to you, i have been a senator in my 36-year career involved in, i worked with a lot of folks out here on civil rights issues. i thought, man, you can't turn this back. that you could defeat hate. you could actually defeat hate. but the most unamerican thing

any of us can imagine, the most undemocratic and unpatriotic and sadly not unprecedented time and again we witness threats to the right to vote and free and fair elections come to fruition. each time we fought back. we've got to continue to fight back today. i want to thank martin luther king iii, for leading marches on votes rights during the anniversary of the march on washington on august 28th. the vice president and i and our colleagues here spent our careers doing this work. it's central to our administration on the i was in of bloody sunday, i directed each and every federal agency to promote access to voting from each agency heeding that call. for example, the department of veteran affairs, i asked them to make it easy for their veterans and families to register and to vote. at va facilities, so it would be opened. in addition the u.s. department

of justice doubled enforce. we have a long way to go. it's usually the party to challenge state laws undermining voting rights, whether in old or new ways. something like 20% of republicans i am not your president. donald trump is still your president. as the catholics say, oh my god. look the focus is going to remain on discrimination and racial discriminatory laws. the various new allied voting laws. let's be clear about georgia, dr. king's home state and the home state of someone who has literally stood in his shoes has i think some of you knew the

next line was coming, that's why they had the jets come out. as a moore house man. that's what i keep getting from cedric anyway. an as a preacher and a pulpit of the senator war nock. he learn e earned the broad coles of the voters of georgia. in response to the republicans of georgia, it's not to try winning on the merits and ideas, it's about changing the roles and make it harder to vote, deny francesco. the vice president leaned in our efrlths, we supporting critical voting rights bills, making sure we have unanimous support. but each and every time senate republicans block it by refusing to talk about it.

they're afraid to debate the bills in the u.s. senate. as even yesterday on a bill that included provisions that they traditionally supported. it's unfair, unconscionable and unamerican, this battle is far from over. john lewis vogt rights act will soon come up for vote, whose voice we hear every day in our hearts and our conscience it's the law to help lead reauthorization. as i said for 25 years i served on the senate judiciary committee expanding the voting rights act. traditionally received bipartisan support. we have to keep up the fight and get it done. i know the moment we're in. you know moment we're in. i know the stakes. you know the stakes. this is far from over. and finally, we're confronting the deep stains on the soul of

the nation. hate and white supremacy. you know, there is a tough through line of subjgugation, of the kkk and dr. king being assassinated until that line continues to be torturous, emerging from dark shadows in charlottesville, chanting anti-semitic vial and clan flags, and the violent deadly insurrection on the capitol nine months ago, it was about white supremacy in my view. the rise in hate trooims crimes against asian americans and the rise in anti-semitism. the through line is that hate never goes away. it never, i thought in all the years i have been involved, i thought once we got through it,

it would go away, but it doesn't. it only rights until some seeming legitimate person breathes some oxygen under the rocks where they're hiding and gives it some breath. i've said it before and all my colleagues here know it, according to united states terrorist committee white supremacist is the most lethal terrorist threat in the homeland. to that end, our administration is carrying out the first ever attack on the threat asked by posed by domestic terrorism, including white supremacy. we're doing so by taking action to reduce online radicalism and recruitment to violence. we're disrupting networks that inspire violence by providing resources to communities, to build resilience. we cannot and much nost give

hate any safe harbor. your fellow americans, standing here se southern christian leadership conference, which dr. king led, i quote, he said his goal was quote redeem the soul of america. that's what's at stake here. the soul of america. we know it's fought the work of a single day or single administration or a single generation. but here we stand with dr. king to show out of struggle there is progress. out of despair, there is hope. from the promise of a quality and opportunity and jobs, justice and freedom, we see black excellence. american excellence. black history,'s american history and a defining source of the might on this nation. that's why we're here today. to renew our own courage in the

shadow and the light on the shoulders of dr. king, coretta scott king and all those known and unknown, who gave their whole souls to this work. the courage to confront wrong and to try to do right, the courage to see america whole, to act knowledge where we fall short. to devote ourselves to the perfection of the union that 23 love and we must protect, for if we can summon the courage to do these things, we will have done our duty, honor our commitments, brought the dream of dr. king closer to reality. it's the highest of callings. it's the most sacred of charges. it's what with the help of god we can do now. so let's go forward from this sacred place. with tur mail and promise, a nation always seeinging, always thriving.

always keeping the faith. because, folks, you know, i know my colleagues in the senate used to always kid me for quoting irish poets on the floor. they thought i did it because i was irish. it's not the reason. they're just the best poets in the world. there is a line from and i believe this to be true, there is a lean from a po fem that says once in a lifetime, that tidal wave of justice rises up and hope and history rhyme and it's not the whole quote. i won't bore you at all. hope and history rhyme. i believe the american people, the vast majority are with us, i think they see much more clearly what you have all been fighting for your wheel lives now, it's in stark relief. the bad news, we had a president who appealed the prejudices dis.

the good news is, he ripped the band aid off. make it absolutely clear what's at stake. i think the american people will follow us. guess what, where whether they will or not, we have no choice. we have to continue to fight. god bless you all. may god protect our troops. ♪♪ oh, welcome to an abbreviated issue of "meet the press." we have been listening to president biden, i can't believe it's been ten years of dr. martin luther king. the memorial feels like one of the newest memorials. it obviously still is. what was interesting about the president's remarks is how he used about half his remarks to talk about what we're going to talk about next this evening which is getting his agenda

passed. we will turn now now to the latest action. s another day of brutal day in washington as they try to cobble together a multi-million dollar package with razor thin majorities the sauce annual making ain't pretty. it rarely s. democrats around the country are losing patience, amid flashing red lights for the party, biden's decline of the approval rating to trump's resurgence on the right ahead of the mid-terms. that was summed up by governor newsom when i spoke to him yesterday in los angeles. >> i mean, this political death march of who is up, who is down, manchin, sinema, i can't take it anymore. no oneen can take it anymore. enough, stop, get something done. it looks like they will finally get something done, watch, miraculously the numbers go up. they deliver, you go out and say what you did. you don't remember what was in

the original 1 million package and the infrastructure. not just the 3.5 reconciliation over ten years. peep don't know it's ten years, they don't know what a trillion is, what reconciliation is, no one is getting a dam thing done. it's driving them crazy, of course, they will blame whoever is in the executive branch. >> does that sum up how many democrats feel these days? you can catch more of my interview on sunday and later in this show as well. democrats still have a lot of difficult work ahead to actually deliver something to president biden's desk, something big and to do it quickly. arguably comes the hard part, selling it to the public. because they haven't known what they're selling. that might be the biggest squabble, democrats will have to get to the public that all of these concessions they may have read about was actually worth it, in other words, they have to

say while they didn't like the way the sausage was made, it's still the best dam meal you have eaten by a member of congress. it might be a tough feat, joe manchin floated leaving the party. he confirmed he might think of being an independent, he would stick caucusing with the democrats if things got a bit overheated. it's been no secret manchin is border, progressives are frustrated. they think it's too small. they will talk about the bill, democrats will have to go back to the board if terms of how they're going to pay for it. because kyrsten sinema remains opposing taxes according to aids familiar with her position. even if they agree, they have a lot of work to do to figure out how to reenforce their pledge that there is zero cost in this

legislation. kirsten welker is at the white house. with us, is a former white house political director under president obama and he's currently at the center of american progress. he will be tasked with selling this plan among others. i want to start with you. i have some sources that tell me this, maybe they're close to a deal when it comes to the top line number. but this same deal says there is no deal and how many one-year pilot plonlts will be allowed in the deal. >> yeah, i think those are a lot of the outstanding questions. as much as there is more numbers, it has felt like whack-a-mole, when there seems to be of the michigan of frame by the end of this week, now 24

hours away, seems really difficult, there is this new thing popping up, kyrsten sinema is again reigniting raising taxes on the corporations and the wealth articles of impeachment i asked her about that. right now the reporting is coming from lobbyists and aides. she kept with the theme of not commenting on much except she liked my plows remember so that kind of speaks to the vibe the democrats lad this entire time, which is that she's not negotiating really necessarily with them. she is speaking to the white house. but for a lot of people i have spoken to up here. they don't necessarily know where she stands. but at the same time. she one of those people that keeps popping up issues that democrats have to go back to the drawing board and solve. in terms of the way this is going to be messaged. i think you are right, it has to be sold. much of the concept democrats will be talking about is this will be a once-in-a-lifetime change. they want to see big progress made. i think at the end of the day, a

lot of those one-year projects will allow them to look at the pandemic through the lens of intersectionality and help women climb out of this. nevertheless, there are key lawmakers that even if they get those priorities, it's not enough for them. the balancing act is still continuing. i have to say more optimism than we have heard in a while. but at the same time, that can dissipate quickly as we've seen. >> no, exactly, which is request i think a lot of people may empathize with the remarks there from governor newsom, who sort of said, ah, i can't take it anymore. let me bring in kristen welker. it was interesting what the president said at the mlk tribute just now, because he talked about one issue that i'm not 100% convinced will be in this final bill. that's negotiating the prices on prescription drugs. so where are we as far as the white house is concerned?

because it seems as if, like i said there does seem the number is close. the details of what that number encompasses is not. >> reporter: it's not close. and there is not a clear understanding of what specifically would be included if that piece makes it into the final bill, chuck. i think what you saw the president try to accomplish with the speech that he just delivered was to layout a set of principles and essentially what he hopes to achieve with this and he used, of course, martin luther king as a backdrop for the principles he says is guiding this process. that's something to see echoed behind the scenes at the white house. the officials saying, look, this is going to be big change as ali just said, that will be the talking point. take a look another the numbers, this is nearly half the package the white house, these democrats

energily set out to pass. we know that at this point in time the president has made it clear he's not going to include division-free community college, that that child tax credit will be scaled back and so will be a key climate provision. you already have some democrats coming out saying, hey, wait a permanent, we will not back cutting the child tax credit. that's something we care about. so how do you get to the finish line? of course, you have overnight the white house insisting that the price tag for this will be zero, but what are the details for that, chuck? now, president biden for his part is going to be out trying to sell this tonight at a town hall. i am told not to rule out meeting with lawmakers today. but it's tough to sell it when the details are still so murky, chuck. >> it sure is, getting us started. thank you both. let's bring in patrick, like i said, he's got a lot of experiences under his belt. he was the political direct tlor in the first term, president

obama, an ambassador to south africa and now is president of the center for american progress. perhaps the most influential think tank in democratic politics today. it's good to see you, sir. >> thank you tore having me on, chuck, in this important moment. >> let me ask you this, if you and i spoke on january 7th, i'm not invoking the january 6th issue, january 7th is the day we found out for sure democrats were going to have control of the senate, barely. they were going to get it. 50-50. on that day, we were going, okay, what is this going too mean by the end of the year? hey, will you get 1.9 trillion in covid relief, a bipartisan infrastructure deal, anywhere from half a trillion to a trillion and you are going to get about 1.8 trillion dollars in efforts to tackle climate change and inequality in this country. would you have said that was a victory for progressive politics? >> that is all going to be up

for progressive politics and let's be really clear, chuck. you asked me to go to january 7th. let's go to january 5th, it was clear for them to have these debates until we took those seats. so you are right on healthcare, on infrastructure, on climate change, on what we are doing to sensor women in this economy in a renowned way, that's historyic changes. some of us said no way we will get a trillion dollar package, it was disappointing, but extraordinary change that will accrue to the benefit of average americans, we were going to invest in working people and we're going to invest in our planet, this is altogether good. that's something we can sell. we say to the press and joe biden we saw speaking at the mlk memorial. that is a guy there is a reason 80 million americans voted for him. we spent far too much time

talking about his predecessor, thatmen man, that fierce urgency of now. >> look. it's a tough period for the president, the senate majority pack, the democratic side that handles tough races for the party on the senate side. they did a presentation on senate battlegrounds. they had the president's approval rating at 41%. cnbc national pollster we use seems to have the president's job rating at 41%. look, there is a truism in american politics, whenever you with bogged down, the majority party will take it on the chin, but how do you bring everybody back? there are some hard feelings here, let's assume the best here, you will get this deal. there same to be a lot of hard feelings. the attacks on sinema and mandhin seem to be personal.

your idea is to keep the whole coalition together. how do you do it? >> it's a broad tent. you get these robust debates. they're all healthy debates. but you have 96% consensus among house senates, democrats in the house and senate, about the measures in this bill and have you democrats far reaching, bernie sanders and manchin agreeing on the rolling back of the trump tax cuts and censoring climate and medicare expansion. so it's going to be easy i think to keep the party together. you just described the sausage making, that's democracy. things are hard, but at the end of the day, progressives, moderates, sensetures in the party will be able to go back and talk about meeting the benefits of the lives of average americans who don't care about the challenges, and this personality and the other or the ongoing debates. they want to know, what are you delivering for us now to make sure we don't have the

insecurity we all experienced during covid. >> do you think the, all is fair in politics with sinema and manchin? or do you think some in the party have been too far? do you think it's been a little too heated on the both of them. >> you know, chuck, you mentioned some of my biography. i did have a period of leading the dnc for a period. i knocked on doors in west virginia and arizona, i recognize when they're campaigning west virginia and holding your community different, it's very different than campaigning in california and new york and in other spaces. i think senator mandhin and senator -- are being as thoughtful as they can about what they need to deliver for their constituency while keeping you had and i on the greater democratic enterprise we are all engaged in. by that, i mean snowfall u small and deep democracy to hold this country together. one thing we need to be mindful of their circumstances as we demand they appreciate the

challenges faced by americans across the country. >> i was in my interview with governor newsom. we were talking about there are so many in many ways existential threats. we are concerned about the future of this democracy that seems serious, climate change. it's nothing in the way off, it's here, it feels like an existential threat. inequality could create a moment where that becomes existential. it's sort of like, are you trying to tackle them all at the same time. you are trying to prioritize. >> they didn't get any support from the other party. >> i understand that. he said something i thought was interesting. he says the president needs to remember, he was elected for one reason, to get us behind covid. do you think everything should be about covid first and everything else should come second? >> no, absolutely not. i am going to disagree with my friend governor newsom. president biden ran on an agenda of censoring working class

americans, moving out renewed strength in this country, making sure we closed the whole on medicaid that keeps millions of americans from getting access to healthcare and he ran on the fundamental, protecting the fundamental integrity of our democracy and has been sab tajd by donald trump and this administration. he held on to those issues and said, we can get all of these things done as we then occur on covid, americans have that expectations. 80 million own it for that vision. it's not enough just to get us back to where we were before the pandemic arrived on our shorts we got to be better than that we have an obligation to future generations on the climate and on the economy. we will see that through. >> patrick, the president of the american center of politics, we appreciate you coming on, sharing your perspective with us. >> thank you so much. up next, a key senator has to sign off on all this. every senator is key when it's 50-50. but this one is pretty key, too.

later, an exclusive look at an all new "meet the press" reports, we're digging into the growing textbook wars across the nation as americans remain divide how to teach race in this country. the most painful parts of our country's history. are you watching "meet the press daily." "meet the press daily. it departs... keeping crews connected as they help build communities... or providing patients the care they need, even at home. we are the leader in 5g and a partner who delivers exceptional customer support and facebook advertising, on us. network. support. value. no trade-offs. unconventional thinking, it's better for business.

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we hope to get more of the climate agenda passed. a lot of people are uncomfortable to represent states along the pacific coast and democrats still need to have a hard conversation around how they pay for it. so i am joined by a democratic senator in oregon jeff merkley. he has been on the front line, senator, let me start there. if i could sum up what the

largest -- what this larger human infrastructure bill is about, i can argue two categories, climate and equality. there were derivatives down from there. how concerned are you that the climate piece has gotten too small? >> well, i'm very concerned on the family investment side, we're going to have investments in day care. it's going to be huge when pre schools will be huge, investments in housing is so important for families, each one by themselves will be an enormous victory. on the climate side, we cannot miss this opportunity. we can think back to the first president bush ran the democrat ran on coal. we've missed that opportunity then and we've missed every single opportunity since and now we have in deep, deep trouble. my state is burning up our snow pack in the cascades is disappearing. the acidity of the pacific ocean

is affecting our shellfish. the warmth of our streams is affecting our salmon and trout. so we have to act and we have to lead the world and we can't miss this opportunity. i personally, if we don't have a clean electricity payment plan, fine, but tell me how we are going to be on track to cut carbon by 50% by the end of this decade. i don't care, many paths. it has to be a viable path. lock everybody up over the weekend. put this kind of nightmare to rest, come back with a strong set of programs. it won't be all of them on family investments. and a strong set of strategies on climate that joe manchin can live with and let's get it done. >> it's interesting. obviously, you said it, it doesn't have to be the program that was originally in there. you just said that on climate. what is an alternative path that

could cut our carbon emissions by 50% in the time frame? is it a carbon tax which apparently suddenly that doesn't have support from mandhin and sinema, john tester said that will be tough to support. >> well, a methane theme is a part of the solution. it's leaking out of our natural system of pipes. then you throw incentives for energy efficiency and transition towards the vision of this, electrify everything with renewable energy. sow put everything you can on incentives to go to electricity then incentives to move everything you can in terms of putting renewable energy on the grid. that would be almost all on the carrot side and if that's the way we need to do it. let's do it in that fashion. but we have to have people going, yep, in the next e next three years, i want to put solar panels on my roof. we want utilities so say this is

the future america wants. we will deliver. i may not be a payment plan, our customers are subsidized to do it. we have to korea it that set of incentives to get it done. >> would you do, a member of the congress jared hoffman on the house side said, why not simply create a carveout for west virginia, which reminds me of how healthcare was put together, there was a carveout for nebraska, in order to get certain votes, but there actually may be something to that. a carveout for west virginia and wyoming, who have economies that are pretty you know heavily linked to coal right now. is that viable? >> i know, if the president can sit down and strike is deal with joe manchin in whatever strategy, if it puts us on the path of r of 50% reduction, i'd

be for it. i think we all recognize for states with strong coal energies, it's a hard transition. we're very supportive of every feasible strategy of porteing those families in those communities and have been dependent upon coal jobs. let's take care of them. that's the right thing to do. and this transition shouldn't fall on the backs of fossil fuel workers. let's be there with them in powerful ways. but we can't remain to be trapped in the fossil fuel economy. >> you earlier in our interview caught the use of the word nightmare. obviously, you're being an elected member of congress these days, being a democrat means you probably have been hearing from friends, family, constituents, going what the heck is going on? what is taing so long, all of this thing. do you refer to it as a nightmare. does this feel part -- you have been here a while, does this

team worse than ever? >> well, it takes me back to the affordable care act when they insisted on a year-long negotiation with three republicans who said they weren't going to do a deal. the energy started evap waiting from the process. the momentum came to a stop. there is moment in which you have to wrap it up. we are at that moment now. folks back home are like what is this all about? what is wrong with you? you have ten wonderful things you've proposed. if you were doing one by one, you would cheering each one, building momentum. wow, we finally got day care, we finally got pre-school and investments in housing. but the way it's being done now is just, it's completely taking the air out of the balloon for the biden presidency. it's hurting biden. it's hurting the democrats. it's undermining the vision of all the accomplishments we will have as being highly significant. the frustration is people's heads are blowing off.

and they should be. it has to come to an end. i don't know if soap opera or nightmare soap ap ra is the right worry, we're in big trouble right now with this extended getting nowhere negotiation. senator jeff merkley, democrat from oregon. i appreciate you coming on, sharing your perspective with us. thanks very much. >> thank you, chuck. up next, we will deep dive in how we teach about race in america and what we're not teaching. it's the subject of our latest episode of our streaming show "meet the press reports." we have a sneak peekite after this. you are watching "meet the press daily." u are watching "meet thes daily. i don't know. i think they look good, man. mm, smooth. uh, they are a little tight. like, too tight? might just need to break 'em in a little bit. you don't want 'em too loose. for those who were born to ride there's progressive.

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welcome back. across the country, some school boards and state legislatures have descended into full-on culture war over a simple question of how we teach the history of race in america. for some parents, teachers, and lawmakers, the answer is to whitewash some of america's most important and most painful parts

of its history. texas has taken some of the most stringent steps to control how schools teach race, a very top-down approach, already passing two laws aimed at curbing the teaching of so-called critical race theory which contends that historical patterns of racism are ingrained in u.s. institutions. mind you, they're banning something that has not been happening, so we don't forget. my colleague antonia hill has been following these education wars, first in her podcast "south lake" and now with her latest episode of "meet the press reports." here is a sneak preview. >> reporter: state senator brian hughes is the author of the second and most stringent of the anti-crt laws in texas. when you look at what's happening around the state, you don't think this has gone off the rails? >> i think people need to focus on what's in the bill, not what's in other states or things they've heard and things like that. if we were to tell little white

children that they're inherently oppressors, that's not good. >> is that the motive behind these laws, so white kids don't feel guilty? >> to make sure they're not limited because of the color of their skin or guilty because of what people of their race did in the fact. >> what about dr. whitfield here who is about to lose his job? >> the words of the bill matter, not the facebook memes. >> but do you have a message to them, is there something you can clarify at a statewide level? >> what we do not teach in texas public schools is that one race is inherently superior or inferior. >> i understand that, but i want to know what you think of the current lives people are living as a result of this entire movement. >> i can't speak to what other states are doing. all i can tell you is what's in senate bill 3. >> reporter: a group of

colleyville heritage high students have led classroom walkouts and spoken out at school board meetings, holding out hope they'll get their principal back. >> the best principal any of us have ever had in our entire lives. just because he's the first black principal and they could get away with it. >> the reporter behind this great piece will join me next, right after this before he can. you're watching "meet the press daily." t the press daily. at humana, we believe your healthcare should evolve with you, and part of that evolution means choosing the right medicare plan for you. humana

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that takes wealth. but this is worth. and that - that's actually worth more than you think. don't open that. wealth is important, and we can help you build it. but it's what you do with it, that makes life worth living. principal. for all it's worth. get pumped fans, because basketball's back! and our league pass lineup is totally stacked.

forty games a week, all season long, on all your devices, so you'll never go wrong. watch your favorite sport, and do it your way, with nba league pass. order today! experience all the nba action with xfinity x1 - track stats and scores while watching your team live. to upgrade, just say nba league pass into your voice remote or go online today. welcome back. as we showed you before the break, our new episode of "meet the press reports" is taking a deep dive into the fight in this country about how we teach race. antonia hylton joins me now. antonia, i can't thank you enough for your reporting for this episode, for everything on here. i was able to just speak earlier on a podcast with the principal that you highlight here. so let's start with that back

and forth you had with that lawmaker, he keeps saying what's in the bill, and he keeps saying we're going to prevent kids from feeling like they're oppressed or they're oppressors. where was this happening? like, this has been sort of -- where i keep it, did somebody actually teach this anywhere in school? because i haven't found any evidence of it and you've been working at this a long time. have you? >> well, i asked him that question, actually, directly, chuck. and what he told me was we were hearing reports, we got phone calls from parents. but i have spent the entirety of this year in texas, going back and forth in the north texas area reporting on what we're seeing happen in that community and other communities nearby. and i have not been able to find one verifiable piece of evidence that critical race theory made its way into texas school or other schools throughout the united states for that matter. it's a graduate level concept, really a law school course.

it's not taught in k-12. when i think is so important in that conversation with senator hughes there is that, you know, i'm asking him to grapple with, right, the tangible impacts that a law that he's just authored that has been passed is now having on people's lives. and he's repeating language in the bill and repeating beliefs about what he thinks is happening in the classroom and i'm trying to contrast that with, here's what's actually happening, here is what teachers say they're experiencing, here is an educator about to lose his job, and it's not clear that what you're describing ever happened, in colleyville, the community at hand, or any other part of texas, chuck. >> he keeps saying don't look at other parts of the country. but wasn't this cookie cutter legislation? >> it was. and these bills, if you look at the language of the bills in states all over the country, they are very closely aligned. i mean, there's very much copy cat language saying, to make sure students don't end up feeling guilt or anguish, we see

that in texas, and next door in oklahoma, in the piece tonight you'll not only meet dr. whitfield and see what his life has become, you'll also get into a school in oklahoma where they're dealing with the exact same law and trying to find their way through this precarious situation. >> antonia, it's a terrific piece. dr. whitfield, i have to say, somebody walk a day in his shoes and you'll understand why we're spending so much time on this issue. i can't wait to see you later on this next episode, thank you for all your hard work. catch the full episode of "meet the press" reports streaming on nbc news now. it will be on demand tomorrow on peacock. i'm running late. we'll be back with more "meet the press daily" tomorrow. msnbc coverage continues with geoff bennett. i owe you 30 seconds, buddy. it is great to be with you. i'm geoff bennett. as we come on the air, we are awaiting a vote