hey, there. i'm stephanie ruhle, live in carlstat, new jersey. this morning, we are coming to you live from xpo logistics, a freight transportation company at the heart of one of this country's biggest current challenges. getting the things you buy home to you. we're going to start this morning with breaking news. the october jobs report is out and it is a big one. 531,000 jobs were added last month, with the unemployment number falling to 4.6%. and wages, well, they went up, as well. remember, this is important. because october was the first full month of hiring after those enhanced jobless benefits expired. it also comes as the covid situation has steadily improved. kids went back to work.

more child care options. people got back on the job. and there's more news. the house finally appears to be ready to vote on the two parts of president biden's multi-trillion-dollar agenda, assuming it passes the human infrastructure bill will have backed the senate for review. but the hard infrastructure bill. money for roads, bridges, ports. that's going to go to the president's desks and it could be signed into law tonight. it is very big news, it is good news, but americans are still concerned. they're concerned about prices. inflation, the average price of gas is currently up more than 60% from a year ago. and you know supply chain issues and bottle necks are still delaying deliveries for weeks, even months. and it might not get back to normal until 2023. that is why i am here. xpo specializes in moving freight all over the country. 42,000 employees, 50,000 customers, and nearly 300 locations across the u.s. but just like a lot of companies, they are getting squeezed. higher demand on one hand and a

shortage of drivers and trailers on the other. more on that in just a minute. but i want to start on this jobs report. it is a big one. nbc's monica alba joins us from the white house. douglas holt eakin, and former director of the congressional budget office, and helane olynn, who focuses on the economy. monica, great number. the economy is clearly moving in a positive direction. what's the administration have to say about it, because with an economy like this and covid numbers going down, one would think biden's approval numbers would be going up and they're not. >> reporter: well, this is very welcome news to the white house, stephanie. i'm already hearing from white house officials and from others on twitter on the administration reacting, celebrating, saying that this is proof that the president's american rescue plan, that covid relief package is working, and that the economy is heading in the right

direction. so they will find a lot to celebrate in these robust numbers. in particular, the fact that for the first time in months, what economists had predicted for the first time in october, was outpaced. and a trend that this white house has continued to point to, the fact that unemployment continues to dip now at 4.6% below 4.8% of last month. that's something else that you can expect the president to tout when he does speak next hour. this is a white house that for months has said, it's not going to be like a light switch, on and off. it's going to take a while and something that i think they'll also point to is the fact that you have some of these revisions for numbers and figures for the months of august and september, in terms of more jobs that were added. we have just a bigger, clearer picture of what was happening there. and the white house is probably going to come out and say, like they have in the last few months, instead of using words like disappointing or lackluster, the fact that they feel that their plan is working and that this is further evidence the president will

argue for his other major spending bills and economic agenda, some of which could be advanced as early as today, depending on what happens on the hill. >> doug, a very good jobs report. what's your take on this? >> i think this is a very strong report. and i think it's strong, especially in the continued evidence of labor demand. if you look at the payrolls of private firms, a combination of workers, hours per week and wages, it's rising at essentially a 7% annual rate. that's very strong. it's income into those households. payroll growth is important for spending. and it's evidence that, you know, firms really have good opportunities and that they want to hire more people. the question has always been, where can we get people back into work? and that remains the missing link in this report. the labor force participation didn't change. we're still well below where we were in february of 2020. and that's the last piece of the puzzle that has to come

together. >> how about maybe a little selling of this really strong economy, helane? the economy is improving, wages are going up, but given the rate of inflation, frustrated consumers, some empty store shelves, it doesn't feel that way to a lot of americans. >> right, what we've seen is that people's wages have mostly kept up with inflation, but that inflation has picked up. and people react to what they see around them. and what they see around them often is the fact that they can't get what they want, necessarily and the fact that services have somewhat declined since the pandemic. i wrote about this this week, and i talked about it. there was this fantastic piece a few weekend ago called skimpflation. and that's when you go to a restaurant and they give you a qr code or instead of a menu. and you go to the restaurant and you have to wait because they

don't have enough staff. or you go to the restaurant and the long is line because they don't have enough staff. the question is, how do people process this? and they're not processing it very happily. one of the things that really fascinated me when i looked at the survey data is that most people thought that the economy was going in the wrong direction, even though you can see from today's unemployment report, it's really not. but at the same time, they would say their own situation was quite good. and to me, that pointed to the sort of skimpflation factor that's out there. >> doug, the economy is doing really well. the markets do not need anymore help. and the news that the fed is going to taper, it barely scratches the surface. over the next seven months, the fed has promised to keep rates at zero, and buy $600 billion worth of paper. do we need this much support? when wall street is really happy and the far left is really happy, something seems off. >> no, i think if you look back at 2021, what will stand out is

that both fiscal and monetary policy were too loose in retrospect. you know, the american rescue plan was too big for what was needed at the time. it did push inflation up. and the inflation figures are an achilles heel of this economy. and the fed is behind the curve. they don't need to be continuing to purchase. they can taper more quickly. they don't need to raise rates in the immediate future, but there's no reason for the quantitative easing. so, you know, like i said, people notice the inflation. the average family spends half of their budget on food, energy, and shelter. those food and energy numbers are enormous this year and there's no getting around the fact that it makes people unhappy, despite the other strong points in the economy. >> people's heating bills, they are only going up. please stick around, because i want to cover another topic here. this jobs number is a big deal, but we have to remember, it's last month, it's backward looking. and i want to look ahead,

because right now, many companies are already planning huge hiring for the holiday season. we're seeing big retailers set to hire hundreds of thousands of seasonal workers to keep shelves stocked and they're paying big bonuses to do so. amazon alone wants to hire 150,000 temp jobs. walmart, same number, but most of those are full-time. target wants to hire 100,000 workers. these really big numbers. kohl's, 90,000. about as much as they have done in the past. and if you go on top of that, we have to talk about logistics. u.p.s., fedex, the postal service, looking to hire 200,000 people, just to keep packages moving. this is great, great for workers, but you know who it's not great for? small businesses. they are struggling to hire workers, because they simply cannot afford to pay these higher wages and they cannot compete with the huge stores that pay more to get supplies on time. so how are they going to survive? joining us now to discuss, ieu cheese grerra, the owner of a

bakery just ten minutes away from us. talk to us about this. obviously, you want to pay your employees as much as you possibly can. you want to get your supplies. that's hard to do after a really long year. >> oh, yeah. basically, to have an employee work for an hour and paying, $12, $15 an hour, i have to make at least double, triple that within that hour to be able to pay them. and then, your gas and electric and your supplies and everything. and it's pretty hard. and you don't have people that are coming in that want minimum wage. they want big dollars. >> not necessarily big dollars -- >> they want the higher paycheck. >> how do we address this? it's great to see workers getting paid more, getting benefits, and the amazons, the walmarts of the world can absolutely do that. but what happens to our main street stores? what happens to lucia's bakery and the pizzeria? >> these are really hard

questions and they don't necessarily come with easy solves. but i will point out something that for decades, we've kind of expected workers to take the slap for other issues. so lucia's pointing out that her rent still needs to be paid and it's probably quite high. the cost of supplies is going up. and workers are reacting to all of that as well, too. and they also deserve a piece of that. they also need to get by. and so how you're going to piece all of this together is not an easy fix. but you do have to understand, workers are going to go to where they can get the best wage they can. and that means in part, yes, you know, costs are going to go up for people, because they're going to need to pay more for the cost of increased rent, the cost of increased supplies, and of course, the cost of hiring people. and can we do that? if salaries keep up, we should be able to do it.

but if salaries don't keep up, it becomes a huge issue. >> lucia, how are you dealing with supplies? much bigger establishments can get their butter and eggs faster than you can. they can pay up. >> oh, yes, that's exactly -- i heard you talking before. and going to -- my husband does the shopping. he'll go restaurant depot for instance, need to buy something, get there, and there's nothing on the shelves. and he's like, well, what's going on? he asked one of the workers that are stocking and he goes, people are waiting for the delivery. it's sitting at the warehouse, it's not coming in because they don't have enough employees to work or he orders from our suppliers and they're like, sorry, we don't have this, we're still waiting for it. so even the bigger companies we're ordering from to get our deliveries, we can't get them because they can't get them. so we're stuck with, um, okay, what do i do? >> doug, how does lucia handle

this? so many other small businesses are telling us the same thing every day. >> for the small business sector, it's the same story for the economy as a whole. all roads lead to, how do get people back into the labor force. how do we get people back into work? in the absence of that rebound, everyone's fighting over the same workers, wages are rising, cost pressures on small businesses are enormous. and they get translated into further inflation. so for the average american, the key is to make sure we don't get into sustained inflation. that means we have to somehow get people back into the labor force, have adequate labor supply, because one person's labor shortage is another person's supply chain problem. and that's what we're seeing all across the economy. so i think the real focus has to be on, why is it that we see labor force participation so much below what it was prior to the pandemic. >> what's the answer? >> there is no clean answer. i mean, people have struggled

with this. we think about just flat fears, there are all the child care issues and the schooling issues that have arisen, the unemployment benefits were too rich, but that's gone away. so that's cleared out. the delta variant cases are receding. so one hopes at last a brighter future than the past seven or eight months, which have been pretty tough. >> all right. doug, helane, monica, lucia, thank you all. so much more coming up on this jobs day, live from carlstat, new jersey, my dad's hometown, including a major breakthrough in our fight against covid. that could be a game changer. plus, transportation secretary pete buttigieg will be here to talk about what is being done to help businesses amid the supply chain crunch. i've got to tell you, all of these truckers, they want to know what pete has to say! know what pete has to say! ♪

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right now, we've got a live look at the house floor on a huge day on capitol hill. one that has been -- ready for this -- seven months in the making. just a few hours from now, the house is set to vote on president biden's hard and human infrastructure bills. it comes after he worked the phones last night, pushing democrats to get both of these things passed. and overnight we learned the progress was made on three key sticking points. immigration, state and local tax deduction, and the overall cost of the bills. but here's the big, big question. after 219 days of back and forth, is every single democrat onboard? garrett haake has the latest from washington. what is the answer, my friend? >> reporter: well, stephanie, they better hope every democrat is onboard. i was in the chamber late last night -- not late will not -- yesterday evening, watching speaker pelosi work the floor, whip her members, try to get her ducks in a row, and now we've got the table set here. you're looking at a procedural vote now, that republicans called to try to slow down this

process. but this won't stop the house from moving ahead today. another procedural vote in the next hour or so, and the wheels start turning here and that whip operation comes to bare. i can't believe it was only 219 days, they have been discusses this for so long. but at some point, as speaker pelosi said yesterday, you've got to call the vote and essentially call the bluff of members who might have their concerns still with standing. >> okay, but nerd out and get technical for us. because when someone is driving in their car right now and they go, oh, both the bills are getting voted on, the hard infrastructure bill, if this goes through, will it pass in the house and the senate and go to the president's desk? but the human infrastructure bill, walk us through specifically what happens here, because it's a much higher climb when it comes to the senate. >> reporter: always happy to have an opportunity to nerd out. yes, the hard infrastructure bill, this will be easy. if that vote goes through today, bang, that goes to the president's desk. he could sign it as early as night.

on the human infrastructure bill, that big $1.75 trillion bill, it will go to the senate. but they're out next week. the senate won't even begin bringing that bill to the floor until the week of the 15th. then, of course, it's got to go through joe manchin's gauntlet of what he wants to see in it. he told "morning joe" yesterday, he's not even watching this house process. he wants to make sure that this bill looks like what he negotiated with the white house. and there's still the parliamentarian, the senate referee who will decide if everything the house put in their bill meets senate rules to meet that 50-vote threshold. so we're still looking at probably an end of the year deadline to get that bill to the president's desk. >> i want to go back to the hard infrastructure bill, because it's kind of gotten sidelined with all the focus on the human infrastructure bill. this is massive. there's no filibuster being used. you've got republicans and democrats to sign on to $1 trillion of infrastructure

spending. any voter out there will tell you how important infrastructure is, but it's very hard to actually get things done. it's what former president trump claimed he was going to get done straight out of the gate and he got nothing done. this is massive. >> it is. and it speaks to why the biden administration and a lot of democrats wanted to see this passed weeks ago, if not before the election this week. this is what joe biden ran on. the idea not only that it could do big things like the infrastructure bill, but that it could be done in a bipartisan way. i mean, if you got 50 democrats and mitch mcconnell voting for the same bill, that tells you something about the process that went into it and how big and potentially transformative that the parties think that it could be. and we'll finally see those shovels going into ground, we'll finally start to see all of that hard work coming to fruition, if those votes happen today, steph? after four years and nine months, infrastructure week maybe final coming to an end.

garrett, we're going to see you a little bit later in the hour. we've also got breaking news this morning on the covid front. we just got word from pfizer that their covid-19 antiviral pill reduces the risk often hospitalization or death -- are you ready for this -- 89% among high-risk patients, according to the preliminary data released by the company. pfizer said it plans to ask the fda to authorize the drug as soon as possible. that is very big, very good news. but coming up next, we talked about it a moment ago. many small businesses are struggling to hire workers and the shortages are causing higher prices and a national backlog. so what does that look like on the ground? well, i'm here! we're going to be talking to workers from this logistics company right here in carlstadt, next. y right here in carlstadt, next

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we have been talking all morning about the jobs report. 531,000 added last month. big number, but we're still dealing with supply chain issues and a labor shortage, and that's leading to empty shelves. one reason why, there is a big truck driver shortage that's delaying order costs from coast to coast. that's why we're here at

carlstadt, new jersey, at a freight transportation company, xpo logistics. this place obviously transports goods, but it also trains new drivers to start filling the shortage we have right now. joining us to discuss, xpo chief strategy officer and chris young, an employee who is training to become a commercial truck driver. matt, first talk about the state of things. the supply chain issues and the trucker shortage. you're right in the middle of it. what's it really like? >> we are. it's challenging. we're obviously doing everything we can to help our customers move their freight. we've been confronting shortages of drivers and the effort we have with christian and many others is helping to address that and shortages of equipment. you see lots of trucks here at this terminal, but we could use still more. we're overcoming that. customers come to us for capacity and transparency and we're giving them both of those today. >> was this an issue before covid? for your average american, it feels like this came out of nowhere, but it's not going to

end. >> from time to time in the past, things got tight, but this is like nothing we've ever seen before and it's lasted for longer than most capacity crunches. covid led to a shutdown in so many ways, but more recently, obviously, consumers have been purchasing and the pipes haven't been quite big enough to move all the goods through them. again, we're making a lot of headway in addressing that issue. >> christian, why'd you make this career change? you're training to be a truck driver. >> look where we're at, you know? xpo had a great package set up for me. i was looking around, looking to get into the trucking industry. obviously, the dmv, it's tough going alone, but when you got a company behind you, it's a lot easier to get your foot in the door. this is a great place to be. obviously, i'm being trained here. i got no complaints. it's been three weeks, a week of dock training, two weeks of driving so far. we've got four more weeks to go. and it's -- it's -- i really

just thank the trainers, jose and the whole training staff has been great so far. >> what kind of job did you have before? because when people hear, oh, there's a labor shortage, there's not enough drivers, there's not enough retail workers, people must be home, they don't want to work. you weren't not working before. you worked in a different industry and you're shifting to trucking. what did you do? >> correct, i was at the airport. i was loading it down the planes, essentially. similar to this, but things going into the air. it's a great job. that was my first time around any airplanes of any kind. but for me, i like the challenge that truck driving has and specifically, here at xpo, we have different types of set-ups. the traditional advance, the 48-footers, the 53-footers, and the doubles. that's really exciting for me. it can get a little bit repetitive what we were doing at the airport. this has the potential for me to do something different every day. >> how hard is it for you to

find new drivers. you train people here every day. do you have a wait list of people or are you out there searching for drivers? >> we're working hard. our driving school is a huge competitive advantage. the velocity through which people moved through them, it was harder to do work in person. this year, we're going to graduate double the number of new drivers that we did in 2008. >> will that put a dent in this problem? the trucker shortage is part of the supply chain issue. there are cargo ships saying, we're ready to be unloaded. we need a truck to show up. >> it's beginning to do that. and next year, we'll double the number of graduates again. it's a huge advantage to us. it's our most unique and innovative solution to this real challenge. >> well, we need a solution. christmas is coming. we've got to get those presents in time. chris and matthew, thank you both so much. coming up, after multiple infrastructure weeks, it was like infrastructure years, we could finally see a vote on the bipartisan bill today. but the most important question, just because they sign it doesn't mean we see our lives

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the house gaveled in about 90 minutes ago, the start of a potentially huge day on capitol hill. after months of negotiating, the house will finally vote on nearly $3 trillion of spending. the human infrastructure bill still has to go back to the senate, but the hard infrastructure bill heads to the president's desk and it could be signed into law by this time tomorrow. and i've got the perfect person to talk about it. the one who's going to have to work on this, transportation secretary, pete buttigieg. secretary buttigieg, i have not seen you since you became a dad. congratulations. >> thank you. it's turned our life upside down, but it's been a beautiful thing. >> well, you've got a lot of work ahead of you. once this hard infrastructure bill gets signed, how soon can

we see things start to happen? shovels in ground. and what's it going to be? >> some things will happen right away. >> like what? >> this week, i'm going through applications for a grant program that funds improvements in roads, bridges, and more. but we've got about a 10-1 ratio in terms of the applications that come in versus the funding that we have to give out. that changes the moment this bill passes. and we'll be able to find far more projects. we're talking about immediate support to so many worthy efforts that are going on in terms of everything, from roads to ports, and i'm glad that you're covering ports in a hands-on way. let me be clear. some of these things are longer term. infrastructure by its nature is longer term. so when we talk about some of the improvements that we'll want to make on rails, for example, in this country. some of the things that are in the division for airports. some of these will play out over time, but that's a good thing. this isn't like 2009, where we're just trying to get a

stimulus, and an immediate kind of electroshock to bring the economy back to life. this is about creating jobs and doing more projects now and many, many years to come. >> well, immediate could have been two months ago. are you frustrated that it's only getting voted on today, when you could have done this -- democrats had this basically sitting on a shelf since the summer. >> it's the right time to make a lot of these investments was not just a couple of months ago, but a couple of decades ago -- >> but you had bipartisan support in the senate over the summer? >> yeah, i'll also acknowledge that delivering the biggest investments and most complex piece of legislation on this subject in our lifetimes was never going to be simple. but needless to say, i'm especially excited that we now are so close to actually seeing this through. i mean, for me, but also, i would suggest for so many of the member of congress voting on this, especially if you take the two packages together. this may be the biggest and most

impactful thing we get to do in our careers. now, the moment the president signs this, then it's over to our department on the transportation pieces to get out there and to deliver. and we're taking that very seriously. we're talking about a lot of taxpayer money. we've got to make sure that it is deployed well, effectively, and we've got teams already getting ready to go, poised for the moment that this bill becomes law, as soon as it get through congress, which of course, until it's signed, sealed, and delivered, that's our focus. so push and make sure this actually passes. >> let's talk supply chain and transportation. this is your jam, sir. the administration has already taken action, but mostly relying on the private sector to fix things. it's still a huge problem. is it time for the government to step in and taking a bigger role in trying to solve it? >> well, we view our role as supporting the private sector players who own and operate our supply chains. look, think about -- >> what does that look like?

>> -- how a product gets to a shelf. the three main thing are the maker, the shipper, and the retailer. none of those ought to be government owned and operates. nobody wants to go to a government-run grocery store or have a playstation that is manufactured by the united states government. but what is public, what does belong to us and is the government's responsibility to maintain is the infrastructure that that shipping runs on. i would also say, in the shorter term, we found that we can play a role bringing some of these different parties together to find solutions. so not a lot of folks were talking about supply chains and shipping in july, but that's when i brought together the community that included the shippers, the ports, the truckers, some of the other private companies that are involved. we have these issues -- >> but, sir -- >> -- waiting far too long to get an assignment. you have issues where we have retailers that could be doing more to move their products

along. and as they've stepped up, that's helped. and we're encouraging and brokering that kind of good work. >> if you had that meeting in july, why were we in a disaster situation at those very ports in september and october? >> when a port -- for example, when the third largest container sport in july in china shuts down for two weeks and all of the ships start moving all at once, we're going to see an effect in the fall in the united states, no matter what kinds of meetings the u.s. secretary of transportation is having. we're talking about global imbalances in demand and supply. and as you've seen, you know, not only do there have to be a lot of pieces coming together, but also, they are racing to keep up with demand. i worry that there may be a perception right now that our ports are going slower than they used to. and so i want to make sure everyone understands, our ports are moving more product than they ever have. it's just that the demand is even higher. even with the workers at our ports and through our supply chains doing a record level of

movement, retail sales off the charts and on track for an all-time record high this year, it's just not enough to keep up with demand. and again, that goes to long-term issues. this is what decades of underinvestment looks like and some of those short-term issues, where even though it's mostly private companies, we find that we can help convene, broker, secure commitments and get some of these things moving. >> sir, when you bring those stakeholders together, you're bringing together transportation companies, retailers, and manufacturers. i'm thinking about the small retailers. because when you talk about retail sales, you're right, they're off the charts for those big box companies. those companies can bully their way to the front of the supply chain line. they can work out their own supply chain routes, get their own cargo ships. how do we support -- how does this administration think about the small businesses, the toy stores, the bookstores in mom and pop usa, who certainly can't get ahead of an amazon or a walmart, and they're at the end

of this supply chain, literally. >> this is a great point. and this is one of the things i'm very concerned about. it's one thing if you are a major corporation, able to use your market power to get beneficial contracts for shipping or even own entire chunks of the supply chain. it's another if you're a regular, main street retailer. you're right, they're at a disadvantage. that's why part of what we're trying to do is not only work with, for example, a big box star to help them get their inventory to their shelves, which, of course, at the end of the day, is their responsibility. but also, make sure that it is flowing more quickly and getting out of the way of some of those other goods. we're also closing watching what's happening to the spot rates, the shipping prices, that shoot up when you have these kind of bottlenecks. that's why you try to make sure you're making better use of the systems that we have. when you have truckers that are there, ready to go, and their time is being wasted, because they haven't been able to get an assignment to pick up a container. that's an example of something with the existing capacity that we have, could be used better.

and just because that's not owned and operated by the government or by my department doesn't mean we're going to sit back and let it happen. we're engaging everything that plays a role to find solutions. >> the white house and many economists keep saying that inflation is temporary, much of it is tied to covid. it's tied to these supply chain issues. but is it a mistake to dismiss this as temporary when, in the moment, it hurts. it hurts for that person who's paying up for a dishwasher that's not going to arrive for three months. >> yeah, look, which is something we take incredibly seriously. and there's a technical issue over whether it's considered structural or considered temporary. but when it's hitting your grocery bill, that's not temporary. that's just your life. that's your budget. and americans are feeling that, in a lot of different ways. it's one of the reasons why it's so important to move this legislation through. you're going back to where our conversation began. if we can act to reduce the cost that americans face, the cost of child care, the cost of

schooling, the cost of access to pre-k, just literally putting more money in people's pockets with things like the child tax credit that represents thousands of dollars a year for most families with kids, that's something that can help at a time when we see other issues, like with what's going on in global oil markets increasing the costs and increasing the costs people face. just because this isn't considered what economists would call a permanent structural inflationary pressure doesn't make it any less real or painful. and that's exactly why we're focused on the price pressures that americans are facing. >> i have to ask, before we go, you are just coming off millennial leave that was provided to you, because of your government job. have you been on the phone with lawmakers? are you talking to members of congress about parental leave, paid family leave, as it relates to the infrastructure bill? what did it mean to you and how important do you think it is? >> obviously, this is a policy

that's important to me. it's important to the president, which is why it was put forward in the build back better plan. right now, obviously, the most important thing is to get the legislation through, in a form that will pass the house and the senate. but i'll tell you, you know, i always believed in it, as a mayor, as a candidate, and now as a dad. i think it's really important. and you know, the big picture here is that we've got to do more as a country to support parents raising kids. and what is in the framework, what is in that legislation? the child tax credit of $250 to $300 per child, per month, for most families raising kids. getting that free pre-k, which a typical families spends $8,600 on that kind of preschool. making sure that we make child care more affordable. these are things that are going to make such a transformative, real, dollars and cents difference for families across this country right away. which is why it's so important -- and why it's so popular. the american people are demanding the kind of policies that are sitting in front of

congress right now and we can't wait to see them through. >> secretary pete, thank you so much for joining me. congratulations on your growing family. i appreciate it. and for you at home, my question, or i guess this is a plea for a guest, for anyone who believes that we shouldn't have paid leave for you parents, but it's okay to have 100% write-off in year one on a private plane and to keep the carried interest provision for private equity firms in, i would love for that explainer. we'll be right back with more. e. we'll be right back with more. ♪ ♪ there are beautiful ideas that remain in the dark. but with our new multi-cloud experience, you have the flexibility you need to unveil them to the world. ♪ ♪ ♪

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we are back here in carlstadt, new jersey, where we're talking jobs and the economy, but this morning, we also have news out of the nation's capital and i want to toss over to my colleague, garrett haake for that. >> reporter: hey, steph. thanks. good morning, everyone. in a few moments, the doors will open at the national cathedral here in washington for the funeral of former secretary of state and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, colin powell. joining me from outside the cathedral is nbc news chief white house correspondent, kristen welkwelker. and with me is justin honore. what can we expect to see in today's service? >> well, garrett, this is going to be a day to pay tribute to the man who serves as the nation's first black secretary of state, first black joint chiefs chairman. so this will be family, friends, and former presidents who will be here to honor colin powell. just to give you a sense of the

list of dignitaries, president biden will be here with the first lady, former president obama will be here with mrs. obama, former president bush with former first lady laura bush. former secretary of state, hillary clinton will be here. president clinton will not be joining her, of course. he is hospitalized and resting upon the recommendation of doctors. there will be a list of doctors who will deliver the eulogies to remember the former secretary of state, including madeleine albright. of course, his predecessor, richard armitage, who was his deputy secretary and his son, michael. so this is going to be a momentous day, garrett. this was a man who was awarded two presidential medals of freedom. the highest nation's honor. so i think you will feel that emotion and that service today. i've been speaking to people who worked with him in the bush administrations, the obama administrations, i say. how would you characterize him?

one person said, character above all, garrett. >> kristen, thank you. having three presidents in the front row alone is quite the tribute. general honore, what can you tell us about the lasting impact that general powell had on the military. particularly, i think about him as the singular person with so many firsts as an african-american leader in the military. > well, he's a general of our time and he lived the american story. son of immigrant parents from jamaica rose to the highest level of our military as well as a diplomatic core. he set the standards for the 21st century for war fighting, with taking the complex and making it simple. if you go to war, you need to figure out how to get out.

he's a remarkable man and a soldier's soldier. >> a soldier's soldier. probably the way. probably referred to as general powell later into his career. kristen welker, general honore, thank you both. tune in today, starting at noon for special coverage of secretary general powell's funeral. my colleague, hallie jackson, will be live from outside the cathedral. you can catch that right here on msnbc. and that's going to do it from the nation's capital. i'm headed back over to the hill, so steph, i'll toss it back to you in carlstadt, new jersey. coming up, you've got to turn up the volume for this one. total jersey. the second, most powerful lawmaker in this state who held office for nearly a decade. i cannot overstate -- this guy was an influencer here, unseated by a republican truck driver who shot his campaign video on a phone, but there's already calls for this new guy to resign. that's next. new guy to resign that's next. ♪

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who spent $2,300 total on his campaign this year, according to campaign finance filings. but in the wake of his victory, he's now facing questions about social media posts that have resurfaced. joining me now to discuss, wnyc radio reporter, matt katz. matt, first, how did this even happen? did sweeney put no effort into his campaign, act like he was running unopposed? i mean, when a truck driver who spent $2,300 total wins, it almost feels like when my dad writes in bart simpson when he doesn't like either candidate? >> yeah, you know, sweeney spent money, but we don't think he really necessarily did the kind of door knocking that edward dur did. i think the real thing that happened was sweeney got blindsided by the same thing all of us did, and that was republican motivation. and people in his increasingly red, rural and suburban district, which follows national trends, were angry about covid mandates. then they were angry about other issues that are local to new jersey, like gun control measures and high property

taxes, and edward dur tapped into that. sweeney didn't get less votes than he had in previous elections, but edward dur got so many more votes than a normal republican did in that district. and there's a massive wave going on and steve sweeney might have been at the receiving end at the tip of that spear, i think. it's a crazy thing that happened in new jersey politics. stephanie, i've been covering new jersey for a very long time and nobody has seen anything like this. it's going to have ramifications in the statehouse for years to come. sweeney was the most powerful legislator. nothing happened without his say-so. he made deals with republicans like governor chris christie -- >> matt, i've got to jump in, because we're almost out of time. what did dur do? now social media posts are coming up. what did they say? >> we saw social media posts from a year or so ago where he referred to islam as a false religion and called muslims fools. he has since apologized for

that. but he's going to the statehouse and that's the kind of thing that's going to lurk behind him, for sure. >> that's extraordinary. that is certainly going to follow him. wow. matt, thank you so much. thank you for watching. that wraps up this hour. i am stephanie ruhle, live on this jobs day from carlstadt, new jersey. president biden set to speak about that jobs report in the next 15 minutes. we will be covering it right here all day, but jose diaz-balart picks up breaking news coverage right now. >> good morning, it's 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart and we begin in washington on this very busy friday morning. in just a couple of minutes, we'll hear from president biden on the latest jobs report, showing strong gains for the economy. and the house of representatives is expected to vote today on the bipartisan infrastructure bill and its version of the build back better bill that would dramatically expand the social safety net.