if it's tuesday, president biden prepares to give a major speech on voting rights in atlanta this afternoon as democratic activists grow more frustrated with the lack of progress on the issue. and the white house right now still lacks a plan to get legislation through congress. plus, surging covid cases and hospitalizations hit record highs again. in the u.s. thanks to omicron. as dr. fauci and the cdc director rochelle walensky

testify before congress about the administration's response. and later, governor phil murphy will join me as hard hit new jersey sees the highest level of hospitalizations since the start of this pandemic. just as the governor's covid emergency powers expire. ♪♪ welcome to "meet the press daily," i'm chuck todd. right now you are looking live at atlanta, georgia, where we expect president biden to have just landed as he prepares -- in fact, there he is -- as he prepares to deliver a manger address on the issue of voting rights. it will come less than a week after his remarks on the one year an verse of the january 6th insurrection when he vowed to protect the democracy from former president trump and what he has been trying to do. as biden left for atlanta he spoke to reporters about the political risks facing him on this issue if he gets nothing done. >> i risk not saying what i

believe. that's what i risk. this is one of those defining moments, it really is. people are going to be judged, where were they before and where are they after the vote? we're going to judge t it's that consequential. and so the risk is making sure people understand just how important this is. just how important this is. >> in his remarks this afternoon the president is expected to endorse changing rules on a 50 plus one majority. but senator joe manchin again slammed the door shut on that option. no matter what the president says today. >> anything he can say to change your mind on filibuster or procedure? >> filibuster is what we have our rules, we need some good rule changes to make the place work better, but getting rid of the filibuster doesn't make it work better. if you change your rules with two-thirds of the people present, democrats and republicans changing the rules to make the place work better. >> but it's not just manchin,

senator sinema has clearly signaled she shares the same objections and frankly there's a couple other senators that aren't there yet, either. mark kelly from arizona, even jon tester has had some hesitation on what to change and how to do it. so to be clear, president biden is going to announce this afternoon they supports a path to pass voting rights that's likely to be a dead end in the senate. now, it is no surprise that some democratic roots have grown so frustrated with the process and with the president that a number of party activists decided to boycott the president's speech today in atlanta saying they want action, not speeches. the most prominent voting rights activist in the party, stacey abrams, will not be at today's speech today due to a conflict according to a spokesperson. the president tried to down play it as simply a mix up in scheduling, but it is an extraordinarily notable absence, particularly as other activists have said they are not going. the frustration of many democrats stem from a major disconnect arguably of biden's own making between his words and his actions and words he has

assured democrats that there is nothing domestically more important than voting rights. it is the single biggest issue. he has said that on the record b you in action the white house has not given it top billing or even second billing. to illustrate this point we reviewed biden's schedules and speech transcripts since he started his presidency. he has held more than 60 events as president solely dedicated to the issue of covid, not stridesingly basically on average more than one a week. he has also held 40 events dedicated to build back better and the infrastructure plan that he got passed. now, compare that to the number of events solely on the issue of voting rights since he took the oath. two. and that includes his remarks scheduled for this afternoon. bottom line, all is not well with our democracy, a lot of we have been pointing out the various holes in our small d democratic system right now. former president and his party are trying to exploit those holes and the current president and his party don't have enough support in congress to do

anything about it. mike memoli is in georgia ahead of the president's speech, ali vitali has the latest from capitol hill, also joined by democratic pollster cornell belcher to unpack the politics of this. mike, let me start with the president's intent today. it's a speech, it's on one hand they're pulling out all the stops today. i mean, it feels like half the democratic senate is either on air force one or air force two and if you are on air force two going i think you get to be on air force one coming and vice versa. >> reporter: that's right. >> they're pulling out a ton of stops here but that's today. what's the plan going forward? >> reporter: well, chuck, as you say, this is a very big deal speech. everything that the white house has done leading up to this is meant to signal that and what's so striking, though, is that it's very out of character for this white house in at least two key ways. the first is this is a white house that has always been very careful with how they use the president's political capital, and you see that in those stats

that you just laid out, thanks to our colleague sally bronson for research that, that he has only given one other major voting rights speech of his presidency so far. this is an issue that just about everyone i have spoke to, especially in the last 24 hours, agrees that it is unlikely to succeed when they move to the floor and try to change the rules of the senate. so why are they starting coming out of the gate on an effort that is widely seen as a losing one in the short term? the other way it's out of character is this is a former senator of decades, a man of the senate who throughout the democratic primary in 2020 resisted so many of the calls from other candidates from others in the base to embrace filibuster reform. you talk to some biden people and they think that one of the reasons he was successful ultimately in the primary and especially in the general election was for sort of resisting some of these pressures from his base on a number of issues. that's why i think what the president told kelly o'donnell on the south lawn before he took off here for georgia was instructive as to why, then, are

they doing this? kelly asked the perfect question which is what is he willing to risk. his answer is illustrative that this is a moment bigger than politics, bigger than the political capital. he needs to put this stake in the ground in order to be seen as fighting and to try to do something else that the white house has been signaling, which is the same as we saw in that speech on january 6. he doesn't go after former president trump very often, but when he does people take notice. same with a very big deal speech here today in georgia. and we can't forget and you know better than anyone, chuck, this is an election year and it's also a set the table moment for democrats moving forward. >> mike, i'm curious, i know you went to them, you know, you're the one that loves to quote president biden, you know, we sort of got this idea from him, show me your budget, i will show you your values, your priorities, right? well, show me your schedule and i will show you priorities. what do they say in response to this obvious rhetorical miss

alignment, if you will? >> reporter: well, you're exactly right to point out that in covid he has and it's been sort of a real standing point of the scheduling of the white house he has been out there every week talking about covid. as much as voting rights is a consequential issue right now, this is a white house that also knows he's going to be judged ultimately based on how he handles covid. so that was the high priority. but what was number two on that list? it was infrastructure and build back better and what is stalled and also seemingly unable to be revived at the moment? it's build back better. and so this is actually a helpful pivot to another issue, but albeit one that there is no sense that they can succeed on. but the other issue here, chuck, is i think it was illustrative to hear what jim clyburn said, he told the "washington post" today, he reminded the president and the public that on election night -- well, not election night because it was election week as we remember, but when the president declared victory as president-elect, he made it clear that he was going to reward the loyalty of especially african-american voters who had supported him so strongly in the

primary and in the general election. so that is another key point here of why he has to hit on this issue and the way he's doing it here especially as well in atlanta with all the tributes to martin luther king and also to john lewis here as well. >> let me move to ali vitali who is covering congress for us, of course. what is the senate democratic leadership's plan on voting rights that doesn't end up politically turning -- turning this into a democratic failure? meaning, because they don't have democratic unity on changing the rules, it will look like it's democrats versus democrats on voting rights and not essentially democrats versus republicans on voting rights? >> reporter: because right now that's what it is. when mike says that president biden says he wants to show he's fighting on this, he's not fighting against republicans, he's fighting against members of his own party because the reality here right now is they may have 50 democratic votes in unison behind the voting rights package that people like senators warnock and manchin helped to negotiate, but they

don't have the votes beyond that. what we saw senate majority leader chuck schumer say just a few minutes ago is we're likely to see them move forward on that voting rights bill tomorrow. that will fail. and then we will enter the phase of debating the senate rules on the floor. that's where this was always going to go and that's also where the hang-ups are. there seems consensus that there is the need to debate the rules and the way that this body works or rather doesn't, but where it all falls apart is how to actually make those changes. you laid out, for example, manchin being clearer than he's been on this, saying that they do need good changes to the rules, but that changing the filibuster isn't one of them. there are other hang-ups here, you mentioned senator mark kelly, senator kyrsten sinema, all of them have their own concerns as well. that's the rules piece of it, though, and if you are not going to change the rules and you're not going to get republicans on board, both of which seem like they are the true thing right now here on the hill, then it's not clear where you can go on this. the other piece of it, though, when you talk about words versus action is they have taken action

to make carveouts in the rules so that things can get done here when they're gridlocked. they did it on the debt ceiling. senator warnock is one of those who is central to the voting rights conversation and who made the point during the end of last year when they made that carveout on the debt ceiling, hey, if you are going to do it on the debt ceiling why can't you do it on something as fundamental and important as voting rights? certainly that's a conversation here and part of the reason why we see grassroots groups so upset about the way the senate has handled this and other agenda item issues, it seems like they're willing to do carveouts on things that are economic related but not necessarily on something as critical as democracy and voting, which they have repeatedly said is an underpinning of the democratic agenda right now, but as you go into a voting year, i don't have the numbers of how congress spent its time but i would imagine it looks pretty similar to the way that president biden spent his time. the focus has been covid and build back better only in the last month of the year did we truly see a true pivot just to voting rights here on the hill. >> and, ali, there's some word

chuck schumer wants to keep the senate in all weekend. is this for show or work? >> reporter: it could be for work and it could be for show. again, the realities aren't necessarily changing here just because you are doing it on a weekend. the senate majority leader's office has aenl said they wanted to have action on voting around martin luther king jr. day so that puts you at monday. if the schedule holds and what we heard him say on the floor just a little while ago holds, then what you end up seeing is action on the voting rights bill tomorrow, it fails, you debate the rules and you go into the weekend and potentially do something then on monday. it could mean a working weekend, we know how much lawmakers here dislike that, but at the same time if this is a priority working the weekend might be a way to signal that. >> let me move to cornell belcher here who obviously does this for a living when it comes to giving democrats advice, how to walk this line, and we've talked about this before, you've brought up this issue that they do have a base issue, certain activists very upset on voting

rights. the stacey abrams absence, can you really chalk it up to a scheduling issue, number one, cornell, and number two i feel like the president is in a box. we may have made his own box here, but if he doesn't do a big show as he's doing today people will say why didn't you at least do that and then of course he will do this and if he comes up short, well, you couldn't get anything done. address this issue and dilemma. >> yeah, that's a lot. first, chuck, i want to say great reporting by mike and ali. that's really great reporting by both our folks there. look, i think you can give him a pass on the covid stuff, i mean, i think with so many americans dying of covid, yeah, he's going to spend most of his time on covid, 100,000 americans dying, but i also think strategically there was this sense that can we get bipartisan, you know, movement on infrastructure and on some build back better? and so before we go hard into -- because we know we are not going

to get republicans to move on voting rights. can we get some things passed with bipartisan -- with some bipartisan votes that help americans? and i think, you know, he did that with the infrastructure bill, we did get republicans on board, but now it's damned if you do, damned if you don't. he's criticized for not doing enough on voting rights and now when he's beginning to do stuff on voting rights he's also criticized. look, i think this is now becoming a big priority for the president, not only because, quite frankly, the base wants it, but, i mean, chuck, you have seen the data on this and polling, depending on the poll, you know, upwards of 70% of americans actually approve of the john lewis voting rights act. i think democrats have to sort of pivot and put republicans, you know, on the defensive for why is it that we can't -- why are you trying to make voting harder as opposed to easier? why are you trying not to count the votes of every american? so from a values perspective that's where most of the voters

are. so i have no problem with them pivoting and, by the way, i think you will see all hands on deck with this with the vice president as well as the president and other surrogates going around the country putting pressure on both republicans and as well as democrats. so manchin and sinema aren't there yet, but we're never going to get them there if we don't go out and put pressure on -- put pressure all across the country to actually try to move this along. by the way, the president has moved on this. several democrat senators have moved on this. can we put enough pressure and movement to get other democrats who are on the fence to move forwards this? i think that's what they're trying to do today. >> the stacey abrams conflict, scheduling conflict, should the white house take that as a little bit of a brushback pitch or not? >> i think the white house should take that, quite frankly, as an opportunity to prove to all the sort of democrats or

progressives who have been arguing that voting rights is essential to our democracy and you have to sort of show us some movement on voting rights, i think you should take that as an opportunity, okay, here i am, here we go, all hands on deck, we're going to move heaven and earth to try to get this thing passed. >> i want to ask you about a comment that jim clyburn made to mehdi hasan on his streaming show. let me play it here because i'm curious about the message it's sending and what do you make of it? here it is. >> if we do not pass these bills, i don't see how we can have unfettered elections in november where every vote will be counted, the nullification efforts down in georgia and other prays places. this is not about suppressing the vote, this is about

nullifying the votes that have been cast. >> are you at all concerned -- i understand what he's saying -- are you at all concerned, cornell, though, that if people view the inability to get these bills means my vote doesn't count anymore? what does that do to turnout? voting rights for a long time has been a way of you have to make sure they don't take your right to show, that's why you have to show up. the doom and gloom messaging, there a double-eblngd sword to it. >> as a political hack, with my political campaign hat on, congressman clyburn is setting up the argument. is there a persuasive argument to make with moderate middle swaths of americans that our democracy is in danger and republicans are the ones who are putting our democracy in danger, as well as the base voters to say, look, this is a sense of urgency, our democracy is in danger. i don't know about you, but i don't think people who look like

me are going to fare well if democracy goes away. i look at it as an opportunity quite frankly both to energize the base but also to persuade voters in the middle who don't see a sense of urgency about this. >> mike memoli, ali vitali, i second cornell's comments about your reporting. appreciate that. and cornell, as always, sir, appreciate you coming on and sharing your analysis with us. we're going to have a lot more, actually, on the challenges facing biden and voting rights later in the hour. we will speak with one of the activists today who decided to opt out of attending today's speech. later an intense hearing on capitol hill as dr. fauci and dr. walensky testify before the senate as the u.s. shatters a new record, more than 1.3 million covid cases, but the bigger deal is the hospitalizations. you're watching "meet the press daily." the the hospitalizations by lubricating your eyes and may provide temporary relief.

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legislation to protect voting rights, state leaders are facing renewed pressure to act a bit closer to home to ensure every vote is counted and certified. michigan republicans who control the state legislature but not the governor's mansion are attempting to essentially bypass the governor on this and if they pull off the ballot initiative, they legally can and pass new restrictions on voting without the governor having any say. it's a quirk in the state's constitution. now, the efforts may succeed, despite any objections by governor gretchen whitmer. joined now by someone else who can probably tell us exactly what congress can and should do, it's jocelyn benson, michigan's secretary of state. madam secretary of state, i want to start with this, because i think one of the critiques that many of us have had about the current push for voting rights is that it's been very -- you have not heard the direct correlation between what we've seen take place in the states,

between essentially january 2021 through essentially october 2021 and what it is that congress is trying to do. so when you look at the situation you're facing, we have to figure out how to protect election workers, we have to figure out how to protect the integrity of the vote counting process. what does federal legislation look like that does those two things in your view? >> well, we also need to protect the ability for voters to have access to their democracy, which is really -- when you look at the 19 states that have passed over 33 laws in the months that you talked about that will restrict all those things and make it more difficult for us to run elections, it's really important that we have support from the federal government that is, you know, the freedom to vote act rightly provides, as well as the john lewis voting rights act that will reinvigorate the federal protections that have stopped a roll back on democracy for so long.

so my other concern is if we don't see the passage of these laws or something similar then it will be a green light to the state legislatures who around the country have found ways and are finding ways to make it harder to vote and easier to overturn election results they don't like in the future. to find even more ways and enact even more laws in the months ahead preceding the 2022 and the '24 presidential cycle. >> well, that's why i'm looking -- look, it looks like at best maybe there is some small compromise legislation that can happen as part of the electoral vote count act. you heard from susan collins who says we have to do something to protect election workers and that aspect of things. what does that -- what specifically in the legislation needs to be in there in your opinion if a smaller compromise bill does address this issue? >> well, there are three things, chuck. i mean, first, to respond to really the three lines of assault on our democracy, first are our protections for our

election workers and protections for their ability to simply do their job and run elections. that should include increased and sustained federal funding to support their work. secondly is post-election support to ensure the certification of accurate election results and have real accountability for those who seek to use their positions of authority or other ways to interfere with the accurate results of the election. but we also need legislation to ensure that the success we saw in 2020, the large turnout numbers that we saw, the large number of american people who were able to participate that we protect that access as well. we need all three things and you see all three things available in a lot of the proposals before the senate and really all we're waiting for is action. >> what laws have changed now that you think is going to make it harder for you to count the vote and to get the vote out and for people to vote in '22, just in michigan? walk us through what has changed from 2020 to 2022. >> the biggest change that we've

seen, actually, is a replacement of the individuals at the local level and at the state level, the state canvassing board, who are charged with certifying election results. those are appointed, recommended to appointment by political parties and those who on both sides of the aisle stood guard of the election results after the 2020 election. many have been replaced. when we look at why democracy prevailed in 2020, it was really two things, one, a record number of people voted, and two, good people on both sides of the aisle did their job, followed the law and protected those election results. so the first thing we have seen change is a lot of the people and a lot of attempts to remove other people, myself included, who stood guard. and then secondly, you mentioned, theres an initiative that the governor has vetoed, any of the efforts and there have been 39 bills proposed by our state legislature to undo many of the policies that enabled us to have such a successful election in 2020 with such high turnout. under the guise of increasing election security.

now, that said, if any of those provisions become law through the loophole you were mentioning early that circumvents the governor's signature when we have an issue where it will be more difficult and confusing for citizens to vote the same way they have in most recent elections, particularly absentee and that will make it more difficult for us to run elections and communicate with voters about what they need to do to make sure their voice is heard. >> i want people to understand like what -- how this could have changed things. so wayne county, if there is not an agreement to accept the results in wayne county, what happens then? is it the legislature all of a sudden take that over? i mean, if the even-numbered party members, basically the republican appointees, decide we are not accepting these results, how does that gum up the works? does it allow the legislature to take over? >> it does a couple of things. first and foremost it creates this air of confusion and chaos

among democracy and results. now, secondly, we do have legal opportunities to go to courts, myself and the attorney general, to force the local state -- located and state board of canvassers to do their job under the law and certify election results. the first course of action would be to go to the courts to seek a declaration that they must do their job and certify the election, but in that time period a lot could happen and certainly with the legislature that has shown through its actions its willingness to interfere with ults results, there is potential for legislative leaders and others to step in and at the very least stir and foment more chaos and confusion and questions of legitimacy around the results of the election, even if we are able to ultimately protect through the courts, hopefully, the results, if, again, the board of canvassers fail to do their job. >> i fear making people's head explode when i ask you about the

constitutional amendment process and all of this, it's convoluted, but is there anything you can do to stop -- i mean, it seems astonishing that basically a constitutional amendment can get written, dealt with by the legislature and have no -- it's not a voter approved thing or having another branch of government involved. this is really legal in michigan? >> yeah, it really indicates if your policy is not popular then you're finding a very unpopular way of proceeding, which they have. i think there are a number of protections, most importantly typically the voting rights act and federal protections under the u.s. constitution and that, again, gets back to why we need the federal government to really play its role to help us protect our voters in michigan and other states around the country against these efforts. secondly, we do have protections in our state constitution so it's likely the courts will have a say of anything that will infringe upon the rights that voters themselves voted into law when they attended our state

constitution in 2018 to, among other things, give themselves the right to vote absentee. so we could anticipate legal battles, but those -- you know, the ability for us to protect our voters is strengthened and will be significantly strengthened if the federal government acts and passes the freedom to vote act. >> and the most important point you made here is all of these -- all of these little shenanigans are designed to almost -- to erode even more confidence in the system. some of this is a bit gamesmanship by some on the right. jocelyn benson, secretary of state in michigan, thanks for your time and explanation today. >> thanks. well, if it's tuesday, somebody is voting somewhere as i like to say. we're going to tell you who is voting and where that somewhere is next. you're watching "meet the press daily." t somewhere t somewhere is next. i was afraid we wouldn. with our divorce and.... great divorce guys. yeah... search 100s of travel sites at once.

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welcome back. we'll say it here for the first time in 2022, if it's tuesday, somebody is voting somewhere. i said it before the break. today that somewhere is south florida in a special election to succeed the late congressman hastings. democrat sheila mccormick is the odds on favorite against republican jason mariner in this heavily democratic district. the winner will hold the seat for the remainder of the term. it will be up for grabs in november. the real contest in this district was last november's democratic primary where sheila

mccormick won out by five votes. five votes. every vote counts when you vote. if she wins she would become florida's first haitian member of congress. a democratic victory would give speaker pelosi a ten-vote margin in the house which could mean a little more breathing room if and when another version of president biden's build back better bill comes back to the floor. still ahead, dr. fauci access senator rand paul of using the pandemic for his own political gain as the nation's top health advisers testify on capitol hill for the first time since the omicron surge began. a dedicated fidelity advisor looking at your full financial picture. this is what it's like to have a comprehensive wealth plan e the omicron surge bs designed to help you keep more of what you earn. and set aside more for things like healthcare, or whatever comes down the road.

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welcome back. turning now to the worsening coronavirus situation, particularly with hospitals. yes, there are mon than 1.3 million covid-19 cases reported in the u.s. yesterday, yes, that's a record, yes, that's a big number. brings the seven-day average to 740,000 cases. here is a number that means more to our health care system,

hospitalizations are reaching a record high. data shows more than 145,000 covid patients are hospitalized nationwide, this eclipses the record set last winter, essentially one year ago from this month. dr. fauci and leaders from the cdc, fda and hhs address the current surge in a senate hearing today. they took plenty of tough questions on the cdc's changing guidance and confusion over rapid testes. >> this is the right guidance for what we currently know about transmission and the real world circumstances we currently face. as we will learn more, we will continue to update accordingly. omicron is likely not to be the last curveball this virus throws at us. >> we can act very rapidly, but first i would like to say people should not use swabs that are designed as nasal swabs and try to swab their throat, they may stab themselves. that would not be good. we do know that tests are picking up omicron, but right now with less sensitivity than they did some of the other

variants. >> meanwhile, dr. fauci sparred with some republican senators who used his appearance for their own political purposes it appears over misinformation and what he called some personal attacks on him. take a listen. >> you keep distorting the truth. it is stunning. >> what happens when he gets out and access me of thanks that are completely untrue is that all of a sudden that kindles the crazies out there and i have life -- threats upon my life, harassments of my family and my children with obscene phone calls because people are lying about me. >> you are making a catastrophic epidemic for your political gain. >> all of this comes as states face some big pandemic realities that they have to address. particularly staff shortages, schools and hospitals being essentially one in one a here.

new jersey is one of those states grappling with the overwhelming surge. covid hospitalizations have tripled and now the governor's emergency powers are set to expire tonight and that puts potentially the university school mask mandates and health protocols in jeopardy. governor phil murphy joins me now. governor, let's start with that. are you ready to relinquish she is powers or would you like the legislature to continue to give them to you and for how long? >> chuck, good to be with you. let me just say up front tony fauci has been iindispensable, invaluable, i don't know where we would be without him in new jersey, if that's not enough he's married to a jersey gal. he has been a hero to us. we're working with our legislative leadership literally as we speak. i don't have any news to break for you, but we're having very constructive deliberations with them and my hope is that we will have something to say about this sometime even later today, but it's pretty clear all of us

think this is not the time to lay down our weapons. this thing is raging, we have now over 6,000 folks in our hospitals, which is not a peak, but it's getting in that neighborhood for us, as you rightfully point out, staff shortages across all of society, but certainly in our health care system are a reality. so i don't have any news to break for you, but i'm highly confident we will have the things in place that we're going to need to have in place to continue to fight this thing. >> all right. but if you don't keep them in place then does everything become a county decision or even more local than that? >> i don't even want to go there. i'm confident enough that we are going to have a good statewide solution. by the way, this isn't -- whatever it is, it's not forever and for always. we are going to get out of this thing. there's no question about that. but we're not getting out of it in january of 2022. >> so let's talk about the staff shortages on both schooling and

hospitals. which is more acute at this point -- and obviously the hospitals are dealing with life and death, but which staff shortages are harder to fill? >> i think given, to your point, given the reality of a sickness that is significant enough to be hospitalized or even worse yet in the intensive care unit and not making light of any of the heroic efforts by our educators and staff who are doing an incredible job, it's got to be the health care workforce and it's a challenge both in hospitals and long-term care, we've deployed now teams from our national guard, one group of teams are going to long-term care, another one are helping us man our vaccination centers, but i'd say it's the health care staffing challenges that are the most acute at the moment, not making light of any of the challenges we have in our schools. >> long-term, though, i think schools is going in some ways a

bigger problem you're having. we have multiple issues we're going to be dealing with here. you have your state of the state tonight. what is your legislative agenda look like if covid doesn't recede the way, i think, we are all hoping it recedes this year? >> listen, i kind of don't each want to think about that, but we have to clearly plan for that eventuality, it's going to have to continue to be a central element of our fight, but this past couple of years i'm sure i speak on behalf of anyone else who is an elected official on both sides of the aisle, this is redefined the ability to walk and chew gum at the same time. you have to prosecute a whole of government agenda even in the midst of a pandemic. last week we had three storms, we've got education realities that you point out, we've got to get the economy recovered fully, but that will have to -- if it stays around it's going to have to continue to be the central element of our agenda.

>> how are -- it's the school's piece, though, that i'm really concerned about over the next sort of three to five years. we've seen it in the state of virginia, different counties here. the number of potential students for the public school system has gone up, the number of actual enrollees since the start of the pandemic has gone down. i'm guessing new jersey and virginia economically, particularly northern virginia, they have a lot in it common and this becomes sort of a death spiral. if you pull students out, funding mechanisms have to do with how many pupils you have. we have staff shortages because people have felt like this has been a horrible time to be in education, so then you need to incentivize more instructors. you see where i'm going here. >> yeah. >> what is your -- what is the first place to go as far as your budget is concerned about restoring confidence, faith and staffing in the public school system? >> yeah, so let me say that we start, chuck, with the nation's number one public education system in new jersey. that is something that we're not just proud of, it's great for

our kids, but it's a central element in our whole entire economic agenda. folks come to new jersey for really more often than not two reasons, our great location and even more importantly our talent. so keeping our public schools, you know, top handful in the country is an obsession of ours and it begins, i think, by funding them fully, i inherited a state four years ago where the schools were underfunded over the course of eight years by $9 billion. we've turned that around. secondly to put the educational profession back up on a pedestal. i inherited a state where they were throwing barbs at teachers and disrespecting them. we have to get educators -- we need as many top flight educators as possible. and thirdly i think we celebrate we are the most diverse state in america and i think we celebrate that dieity and that's a huge piece to our educational success. none of this, of course, on top

of all of that i should say you have a lot of money that when resources we're throwing at learning loss and mental health challenges, which have become sadly a reality in this pandemic. >> governor phil murphy, busy time to be a governor and as you said walking, chewing gum and you have to rub your tummy. you have to do that, too, and top of your head. anyway, governor, thanks for coming on. i appreciate you sharing your perspective with us. up next, let's talk more action. that's what some voting rights activists in georgia are calling for as president biden gears up for a speech in a couple of hours. one of those activists who is skipping the speech joins me next. you're watching "meet the press daily." me next you're watching "meet the press daily. n. that's why i love liberty mutual. they customize my car insurance, so i only pay for what i need.

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welcome back. prominent voting rights groups in georgia are calling for actions. some are making it clear that today's speech is not enough. some activists are choosing not to attend as the president speaks later this afternoon. joined by one voting rights activist reverend james whittle. the former state president for the georgia naacp. i appreciate you coming on, reverend. instead of me saying you're not going to be there, tell me you're not there and what message you hope the president receives by your absence, stacy abrams' absence, and others who have chosen not to be there today. >> thank you for having me.

go dogs! >> thank goodness for college football. thank goodness. we needed it. >> that's right. we're asking the president to use his position to give all senators, including joe manchin including kyrsten sinema on passing these crucial pieces of legislation. it's unacceptable those two continue to block the desperately needed action to safe guard democracy. this is a moment we have seen unlike any other. our democracy is literally under attack, and we want to send a very clear signal we have waited 14 years since the decision. we've waited nearly a year since the senate bill 202 law was signed -- the senate bill 202 bill signed into law in georgia. now is the time. we don't have the luxury of waiting anymore. >> let me ask you this, adds you

know, there's -- i want to say there's a small door ajar with the bipartisan group that would do what the electoral vote act maybe expand beyond that. i'm going to call it a slice of bread. is it worth taking that slice of bread, if that's all there is? >> no. it's not. because that's not all there is. the aca, does not address the scores and scores of attacks against our democracy from recertification to preelection day to early voting to polling location changes to the attacks against minority communities, black and brown voters. it doesn't talk about the ability for states to overthrow it and take away and decompose county election officials and those boards on a local level. it's insufficient. it's a non-starter to be able to say this is some kind of comprise. when we're talking about it's democracy.

like, we're not talking about the election, you know, if it happened two years ago or, you know, the big lie or, you know, some conversation that we're seeing on social media, we're talking about every single element to maintain this democracy. because in the spirit of lyndon b. johnson, he said this is our challenge. not to hesitate. not to pause. not to turn about and linger over this evil moment, but to continue on our course so we may fulfill the destiny that history has set for us. they should be in congress and on capitol hill getting these two legislative items passed and signed into law. >> what does turnout look like among democrats in georgia? let's pick georgia since you know the state so well -- in november, if nothing comes of this effort, you know, they make an effort but nothing changes. what happens? >> if nothing changes, democracy fails, and america ceases to exist. what we're asking the biden administration, what we're

asking for kyrsten sinema and joe manchin and leader schumer and every other elected official all over the nation is to reciprocate the energy, the bravery, the tenacity that was exited by black and brown voters both in november of 2021 when we elected and sent joe biden to the white house, and in january of 2021 when we elected war knock. they told us not to give up. despite sitting in lines and despite having the secretary of state investigating actual legitimate voters and sending them out to their house, despite all of that, they told us not to give up and to still believe in this thing called america. because we believed then, we're asking for the white house, we're asking for joe manchin, krysten sinema to not give up now. to believe in the spirit in john

lewis and so many other ancestors of liberation that this is what democracy looks like. >> reverend, i would love to keep going but i'm up against what in my business call a terminal break at the end of an hour. appreciate you coming on and sharing your perspective with us. we'll be watching today but, more importantly, we'll be watching to see if there's any action after today. thank you for sharing your perspective with us. go dogs! thank you all for being with us at this hour. we'll be back tomorrow with more "meet the press daily." msnbc's coverage continues with katy tur after this break h h katy tur after that's also gentle on skin. for wrinkles results in one week. neutrogena®. for people with skin. your doctor gives you a prescription. “let's get you on som this”" we could bring it right to your door. with 1 to 2 day delivery from your local cvs. or same day if you need it sooner.

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xfinity. a way better way to watch. . good to be with you. i'm katy tur. when will we start treating covid as the flu? it's not so crazy to ask. in fact, some european countries are already starting to. spain is the first major eu nation to tell its citizens to deal with it. it's time to start living with covid because covid isn't going away. just like the flu, it is indemmic, said spain. in the uk, prime minister boris johnson is reportedly making his own live with covid plan where the nation just rides this wave out. no more long-term restrictions, shorter isolation periods, and less testing. but for others, it is still too soon. the world health organization warns today that a tidal wave of covid is sweeping across europe. projecting 50% of the