>> as you guys are rejoining us, we will be showing you, hopefully, this imagery. this is mount washington, new hampshire, folks. this is the observation deck at mount washington, new hampshire. it is negative 42 degrees there. negative 101 degrees, with the wind chill. i bring you my offer for all of you to come join me in miami, florida. i thank you for watching the katie phang show. i'll be back tomorrow, ali velshi starts now. rts now. >> they are velshi, the very latest on the suspected chinese

spy balloon making its way across the continental united states, then the diplomatic fallout trailing behind. it we're going to go right to beijing for the latest. plus, if republicans find use their house majority to target democrats and the biden administration with bogus, politically motivated investigation, they're going to have to get through veteran trump impeachment manager, stacey plaskett, first. she was just named the top democrat on a key panel created by the newly empowered house republicans. i'll talk to her later in the show. and in the wake of tyre nichols killing in memphis, another push for real reform. my congress fell just short of making history with the george floyd justice and policing act, and why you shouldn't believe the reason you're hearing from so many republicans who want to sound reasonable, but who will not support that bill. then, the crucial advancement separating post roe america from pre roe america's medication abortion. the abortion pill. now the antiabortion forces who got abortion rights that are coming for the pill, too. plus, we've got a special meeting of the row she banned

book club. we are marking one year of resisting through reading. one year of chronicling the dangerous targeting of books, education, and identity. one year of diving into the literature and taking your questions to some of our favorite authors whose work has been targeted. and we will mark this milestone with the award winning writer who helped us start the banned book club, the singular nicole hannah joints joins me in studio. velshi starts now. >> good morning. it saturday, february 4th. i'm ali velshi. an entire month has passed since the new congress began, or at least, when it was scheduled to begin. as you probably remember, the start of the 118 conference was delayed by a contentions and prolonged battle among house republicans over who should be elected the next speaker of the house. that's what drives on for 15 rounds of voting, over three and a half days, during which time house members could not be sworn in or do anything other than cast a vote for speaker.

over and over and over again. it was a historic deadlock that also exposed rifts within the republican party, as the far right factions jockey for power in the new congress, forcing kevin mccarthy to make concessions in exchange for their votes to make him speaker. mccarthy eventually pulled through, and won the race, but there's been a question ever since about exactly what kind of deals he made in order to secure those votes. it's believed that among the list of concessions he made, promises about committee assignments. you often hear about the shuffling of committee assignments every now and then, because there are some coveted positions and the powerful committees that congress members law before in order to gain influence and prestige. that's exactly why the far-right members of the gop wanted that leverage. so, some of the 21 measures who initially voted against mccarthy as speaker have already been appointed to plump positions. for example, conspiracy theories, andy biggs, lauren boebert, paul gosar, and anna paulina luna, and scott perry, the chairman of the far-right freedom caucus, also a subject

of the january 6th investigations, have all been appointed to the oversight committee! it's considered one of the most powerful panels in the house. is expected to launch numerous investigations into the biden administration over the next two years. meanwhile, this process -- it's also allowed republicans to exact political revenge on democrats for previously marjorie taylor greene and paul gosar from their committee assignments after they each made threatening posts against some of their democratic colleagues. now, last, week speaker mccarthy blocked representatives adam schiff and aaron swalwell from returning to their posts on the house intelligence committee. schiff and swalwell are outspoken california democrats who previously served as impeachment managers during the impeachment of donald trump. republicans also sought reputation against minnesota congresswoman ilhan omar, citing remarks he made in the past for which he publicly apologized in 2019. that was two congressional terms ago, but this is the first time republicans have been back in power in the house, and on thursday, all but one

republican member voted to remove omar from her seat on the foreign affairs committee. that's not even the half of it! in addition to kicking members of committees, republicans have created the so-called select committee on the weaponization of the federal government, which will be chaired by the ohio representative, jim jordan, a man not exactly known for his deliberates air. georgia has repeatedly compared his committee to the church committee, one of the most respected and effective panels in congressional history. the creation of the church committee was initially triggered by an investigative report by seymour hirsch in the new york times, which alleged that various federal agencies had taken part in covert operations in america and around the world. it was named after its chairman, frank church, a democratic senator from ohio. the church committee investigated those delegations and undercover abuses by several federal agencies, including the cia, the fbi, and the irs. in fact, it was the church committee that exposed things like cointelpro and fbi program

that secretly surveilled and harassed political activists and civil rights leaders like dr. martin luther king junior. as a result of the church committees, work reforms were suggested and subsequently made to prevent such abuses from happening again. those are the lofty ideas that jim jordan and his weaponization committee would like to invoke us they market themselves to the american people, but it's less clear what they're actually up to. jim jordan has made vague references to misconduct by the department of justice and the fbi. he's also accused federal governments of targeting protesters who show up at school board meetings. they committees been criticized as a fishing exposition, an expert by republican members to damage the biden administration and democrats leading up to the 2024 presidential race, and as an act of retribution for the january six committee. and the committee is moving aggressively. it's moving fast. as already scheduled its first hearing for next thursday, and that's the house judiciary chair, jordan has already issued his first subpoenas,

requesting documents from attorney general merrick garland, fbi director chris wray, and education secretary, miguel cardona. joining me now is ruth -- a professor of history at nyu, writer of loose, a newsletter following threats to democracy, and author of the very important book, strongmen, mussolini to the president. ruth, thank you for being with us. you've tweeted yesterday, you said investigating investigators is what authoritarians do. you are not as charitable as some might be about this weaponization committee. you're thinking it may be up to no good. >> yeah, well, look at the people who have been appointed to the oversight committee. this is a classic example of what i call the upside down world of authoritarianism, when you have lawless people and professional liars, which is what the gop is composed of, it is intended to the big lie, right? and they become in charge of accountability. and the gop, i see it's as kind

of criminal cover-up mode for its complicity in january six. and so it is going to do everything possible to shut down those who stand up for investigation, for freedom of speech, for facts, and for objectivity. >> i think 100% of people would say that oversight of congress is a good thing. the danger here is if republicans in congress are using that concept as cover. they're going out and telling the american people, we're going to set up his committee to find, out to make sure, that your government is not weaponized against you. we are going to increase oversight over congress, and a lot of people will say, that's a good thing! >> yes, the appearance is a good thing, but if you look at the characters involved at also the republicans have been very open about this being revenge. i also see all of these

investigations that will come as a distraction maneuver to cover up their corruption, to cover up their violence. there's people who are on the oversight committee who threatens other people. so, destruction and weaponization, or use of governments and congress committees to cover up your own crimes and misdemeanors is a classic authoritarian move. >> there are lots of republicans who would like to seek revenge on the january six committee. but there are some republicans, including jim jordan, including scott perry of pennsylvania, who are implicated in the reporting of january six! they had some involvement in its, either peripherally or in the case of scott perry, very centrally. that's problematic! that's not sort of an opinion that democrats were on what donald trump calls a witch hunt with that committee. these are actually people who were subjects of the investigation. >> yeah, and this is a classic thing. there's a reason that so many

authoritarian leaders and they really ran for office while they were under investigation. they include ben's kony, putin, trump, and netanyahu, because -- in government is to be able to shut down any investigations about you into your corruption, and this is on a larger scale, what the gop is doing now. they are really terrified of what it has come out about their complicity in january six, this violent coup attempt. so, they are marshaling all their resources, both to punish people, to tie up media attention, it's going to be very important to the media coverage. this because it is a distraction. i sometimes call this garbage. this is a garbage investigation. this is what authoritarians specialize in. >> in about an hour, ruth, i will speaking with the new ranking member on the weaponization committee,

representative stacey plaskett of the virgin islands. she was an impeachment manager. she's a lawyer. she worked with the department of justice. what do you think democrats on committees like this should do? should they try to get it to have an agenda that's actually a valid one about oversight and the dangers of weaponization of governments? should they be there to resist the garbage that the committee wants to do? what role should democrats play when they're on these committees? >> they have a very important role. they can stand up for transparency. they can stand up for true accountability. they will be a force of resistance for democratic procedure. --

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black americans are at least to now have times more likely than white americans to be killed by police. that's according to data collected by the washington post. this isn't new. that stat hasn't changed for as long a state that has been kept. but we're reminded of its relevance every time police officers claimed the lives of another unarmed black or brown american. the latest example of that is tyre nichols, the 29 year old black man who died after he was brutally beaten by police officers in memphis, tennessee. next week, representative sheila jackson lee of texas plans to introduce to the house, to reintroduce the houses policing bill after president biden's state of the union address. that's according to nichols family lawyer, ben crump. new to the version of that justice and policing act that's being reintroduced an element that crump called the duty to intervene in honor of nichols, who was beaten relentlessly while other officers stood by. this bill already has support

from the white house. when biden was asked if he supports the george floyd justice in policing act, he says, i. do i think we should do it, right now. we should have done it before. so, why didn't we do it before? in 2020 the, black lives matter movement saw unprecedented momentum and prolong the energy that made it one of the largest movements in american history, if not the largest. the movement began soon after the equivalent of george zimmerman, who in 2012, shot and killed and unpack armed trayvon martin, who was 17 years old. after the on camera death of george floyd at the hands of police, between 15 and 25 million americans participated in protests during the summer months of 2020. while people were still marching that year, the house first introduced the george floyd justice in policing act, which would be the most significant policing reform proposal in decades. it passed the house in 2020, but it was squashed before it reached the senate. a new iteration of that bill passed the house again in march of 2021, in part, that bill would've lowered the criminal intent standard from willful to

knowing or reckless. it would've granted administration, the administrative subpoena power to the department of justice. it would have established a framework to prevent racial profiling, and it would have limited the use of force, including no knock warrants and chokeholds. then, two of the country's three black senators, democrat cory booker and republican tim scott, spent months negotiating in reform deal they hoped might gain traction with enough republicans to pass in the senate. one of the major sticking points in that talk was over what is called qualified immunity. qualified immunity shield officers from civil lawsuits and makes it difficult to prosecute them for individually, for prosecute them individually for wrongdoing. senator scott calls it a poison pill, meaning the bill was doomed to fail. in the end, even a watered down version of the justice in policing act failed to reach the senate at all. in their negotiations, that once comprehensive bill shrunk significantly, noticeably

eliminating any changes to qualified immunity, which has a deep history in this nation. in 1961, a supreme court ruling called monroe versus pate allowed people to sue police officers who violated their constitutional rights. after that ruling, the number of police misconduct suits rose quickly. the backlash was swift. law enforcement officials raise concern that the suits against police officers would dissuade anyone from joining law enforcement. they worried the resulting settlements would bankrupt officers and eventually, municipalities. all of those concerns became the basis of the last 60 years of protections for police officers. and this really, qualified immunity protected officers if they could prove they were acting in good faith. after years of strengthening that immunity, the law that protects almost any officer who can claim that the way they violated someone's constitutional rights has not been clearly established by law. qualified immunity has been used to shield police from accountability in the wildest of circumstances.

officers in fresno, california accused of stealing more than $225,000 in cash and rare coins. a mere. a georgia sheriff deputy who shot a ten year old boy while trying to shoot the family dog. in the. and idaho swat team that destroyed a mother's home with tear gas and grenades. it means. it's incredible difficult to hold officers accountable unless they're criminally charged, and when it comes to police involved killings, in this country, since 2014, only about 2% of those incidents result in criminal charges. let alone convictions! that's according to reporting by vox, and that's 2%. that's double the charges brought in the year that the ten years prior! so, while very slow progress has been made in the holding of police criminally responsible for wrongful deaths at their hands, really, for families of those victims, it could've come from civil suits against those defending officers. and that is what eliminating qualified immunity would do.

it would allow victims and families their day in court and allow police to be held to account. now, major change on any issue does not happen overnight. it starts with incremental change, and we have seen incremental change at the federal, state, and local level. police body cams are now widely use. cities across the nation have hired mental health professionals and have implemented policies aimed at mental health intervention. but despite these incremental changes, deaths at the hands of police have increased since 2020, according to washington post data, and mapping police violence. big change doesn't happen overnight. when it comes to police reform in america, let's break it happen soon, because lives are dependent on it. in the app, and get one free. free monsters, free bosses, any footlong for free! this guy loves a great offer. so let's see some hustle! research shows people remember ads with a catchy song. so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's a little number you'll never forget. did you know that liberty mutual custo—

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meeting was productive buttress that real police reform will require republican support as well. senator tim scott of south carolina, the lead republican notion day she ate around belize reform in the senate said quote, resurrecting the house progressives police reform bill also known as the george floyd justice in policing act, is a nonstarter. and quote. that bill has been at a standstill for over a year and a half, because of lawmakers inability to agree on changing the legal liability shield for individual police officers, known as qualified immunity, to make it easier to bring civil lawsuits against them individually for run the wing. joining me now is the activist and civil rights attorney, miles widely. he's a former chair of new york city complaint review board, which oversees the city's police department. he said president and ceo of the leadership conference on civil and human rights. maya, my friend, good to see you this morning. thank you for being with us. >> oh, it's wonderful to be with you, ali. i don't know why you need me after that intro you gave. it was absolutely brilliant. >> you've seen this up close. you see what accountability is

supposed to look like. in fact, there's some word games going on. help me clarify this. lindsey graham tweeted, on january 29th, i oppose civil lawsuits against individual officers. however, holding police department accountable makes sense, and they should face liability for the misconduct of their officers. on the surface of that, maya, that sounds reasonable. you can actually hold police departments accountable. there is methodology for doing that. the idea of qualified immunity is about the police officers themselves. is that correct? >> correct. qualified immunity says is when you two things that you department did not sanction, when it didn't say you could do, when it didn't give you permission or didn't train you to do, and it's wrong and violate peoples constitutional rights, let's be very clear, violates constitutional rights, you are liable, personally. that is not about the police

department. that's about you as a person with a badge and a gun who abuses constitutional rights, and you have to pay out of your pocket. it's not a criminal charge. it is a civil charge. and this is why it's so important on accountability. where we make the mistake is thinking that you change the culture of a police department when you let individuals get off for violating the rules of that very departments, but also violating peoples constitutional rights. that doesn't create change or reform, because as we saw in the killing of tyre nichols, the police commissioner said none of that, none of that, was consistent with their training! training is not enough. they violated their training. they did what they were told not to do? and they killed somebody! so, unless you put skin in the game for the officers, you are

essentially saying, do whatever you want, because the police department will have to pay, not you. that's actually what we do right now. >> one of the reasons the russell council prosecution of the officers in the george floyd killing is we had the department. we have the chief of the department. we have the training experts come in and say, this isn't part of training. this isn't what we would have done. you saw in memphis, the police chief immediately came out and said that. here's what tim scott said about this whole thing, but senator who is ostensibly tasked with the republican side of getting a deal here. he says, i've been working towards common ground solutions to actually have a shot at passing. solutions to increase funding and training to make sure only the best wear the badge. solutions that would have made a difference in places like memphis and kenosha. could you evaluate that for me? >> well, first of all, let me say, we've asked for a meeting with senator scott as a civil rights community. we will work with and to talk with everyone who wants to find

common ground, keep us safe from police violence. the issue with training is it's insufficient as a guard and a protection for our people. here's why. training alone doesn't actually change the culture. you have to have the training coupled with the accountability. coupled with the consequences for when you violate it, because right now, part of the problem we have is police recruits and cadets go into the training, come out the other and, go into the precinct, and then are told, forget all that stuff they taught you in the academy. we're going to show you how it's done. the other thing is there are awards for being aggressive. for getting those callers, for arresting people, that doesn't get solved with training. so, we have to have various forms of accountability and consequences for when officers

do wrong or else it doesn't matter that you trained them to do right. that's exactly what we saw in this tyre nichols case. >> that's a distinction. no one is looking to go after anyone who doesn't do anything wrong. cops were doing their job properly, this is never going to apply to them. maya, this last few minutes is a demonstration of why i need to rely on you for expertise and advice on. this thanks again, front. good to see you. maya wiley it's the former chair of the new york city civilian complaint board. she is the president and ceo of the leadership conference on civil and human rights. all right, up next, the latest on the suspected chinese spy balloon floating across the continental united states. states.

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>> in 1984, with german fans nena had a hit single in america, the german language 99 luftballoons, the song tells the fictional tale of a group of balloons for dinner on the horizon, which aren't mistake it by a trigger-happy general on the ground for ufos. the general sense of a squadron of planes to investigate, and finds nothing but balloons, but orders a massive show of force anyway with the pilots, as the song says, believing they are

captain kirk. this causes other trigger-happy general feeling provoked to then order their own shows of force, and boom! as nena things, 99 years of war leaves no room for victors, and quote. several decades before that song, in 1947, rust belt, new mexico, a very real balloon said to be a weather balloon was mistaken for a ufo, leading to one of the more infamous and well-known americans conspiracy theories. this week, another balloon was spotted in america. it's not fiction. it's not a ufo, i,. they're at it. pentagon officials say a chinese high altitude surveillance balloon, with the ability to maneuver, flying at a height of around 60,000 feet, traveled from china through the illusion eyelids of alaska and down to northwestern canada before arriving in montana, where it hovered for several days before moving eastward across the continental united states. notably, montana is home to one of america's three nuclear missile silo fields, which operates and maintains intercontinental ballistic missiles.

the pentagon for the team of f 22 fighter jets to investigate and track the balloon, but decided against shutting it down, saying that risks harm to people in infrastructure on the ground. the pentagon as the surveillance balloon has-limited value in collecting intelligence, and won't provide anything the chinese surveillance satellites can't already obtain. china has responded, admitting the balloon is there, but saying it's quote, a civilian air ship used for meteorological purposes. a weather balloon, in other words. which it quote, deviated far from its planned course, end quote, because of strong winds. montana is roughly 6000 miles from mainland china. this incident, by the, way comes during tumultuous times between america and china. on sunday, the secretary of state, anthony blinken, was scheduled to travel to beijing to meet with his chinese counterpart and potentially, with chinese president xi teaching paying himself. that trump has now been postponed. lincoln would have been the highest ranking official to visit china so far during the biden administration, and the

first secretary of state to make that trip since mike pompeo did in 2018. it also all comes as the u.s. has reached a new agreement with the philippines to expand america's access to military bases in the philippines, a move that is meant to counter chinese regional influence and ambitions specifically in the south china sea. as it relates to taiwan, as well. joining me now in beijing as my longtime colleague, friends, and fellow canadian, nbc news correspondent, janis mackey frayer. janice, good evening to you. boy,, a lot of debate and diplomacy around this balloon. how does it look from your? and >> well, it didn't take 99 balloons. it only took one to push u.s. china relations even further to the brink. ali, the optics of the secretary of state coming here, pushing ahead with that visit, sitting in the same room face to face with chinese officials, as the suspected surveillance balloon continues to float over

the united states. it is simply not going to happen. it's unacceptable. mr. blinken spoke yesterday with his counterpart here, expressed his disappointment at china's behavior, and made it very clear that it may take some work on both accounts in order to get things back on track. the timing really could not be worse. this was the visit that was supposed to help reset relations, which we now are fraught, and now, things seem to be even more mired in mutual distrust. china did admit regret, which apparently surprise u.s. officials. but what hasn't been made clear or what hasn't been said is if this weather balloon did, in fact, veer off course and inadvertently float into u.s. air sports, let's assume force measure, why did china alert the u.s. to it earlier?

these are some of the questions that remain unanswered. china also isn't saying who the balloon belongs to. they're saying it isn't military, but they're not saying who launched it, why it was launched, why there were sightings in canada, in latin america. so, we're lacking for details here. i spoke earlier today with retired pla senior officer, who claims this is not a military assets. he claims that china doesn't need to send big balloons up into the air to gather the intelligence. -- said, quote, this has nothing to do with military reconnaissance or surveillance. he continued, this is an accident. we have expressed our regrets over this. he says, i cannot see any reason why the u.s. government should not believe it, except to make, you know, a political use of it. he said this should be over.

for chinese officials part, they did release a statement earlier today, downplaying the postponement of the secretary of state's trip. they reiterated the regrets. then, they started to hint that maybe the u.s. was hyping up the issue, and pointed out that the secretary of states visit was never really formally announced, so they don't consider it to be really called off. so, it's going to take a lot to try to get these talks back on track to get these visits rescheduled, and of course, to try to make any sort of progress or find common ground on all of the issues that have pushed u.s. china relations to this very low point. ali? >> thank you, my friend. good to see you, mackey frayer, live for us in beijing. we'll stay on top of the story until we get more detail on it. up next, republicans are declaring war on the one thing that separates the post roe era from the back alleys of the three roe years, but, first a quick, important note. before we pay the bill, starting saturday, february

18th, velshi, both myself and the show, it's moving to a new time slot. saturday since sunday from 10 am to noon, eastern. again, we're going to start at ten a.m. instead of eight, with a little more sleep for all of this. that same weekend, february 18th in the fine weekends, i will be back in ukraine. i'll be live on the ground as we prepared to mark one full year since the russian invasion began.

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probably the most famous abortion provider in america. he was directed, harassed, shot, and his clinic was firebombed throughout the abortion abortion wars of 18 and nine days, every time you come back to, work because he understood the need for abortion. he once said, quote, stopping one doctor who performs abortions will not decrease the number of abortions, and quote. meaning abortion is necessary. you can make it hard, but you can't make it go away. dr. taylor was one of a handful of doctors who was bullying

able to perform liter abortions, for, that he was relentlessly targeted by protesters, violent extremists, conservatives, members of his own state government, and national television personalities. dr. taylor was shot dead by a religious zealot by reeves -- and will remain around many remember the shocking circumstances surrounding his timely death, it was less, known he set out to be a dermatologist. and killers perez died in a plane crash in the 1970s, he left the navy and went home to wrap up his late father's medical practice. it was during that time, he learned his father provided secret abortions to numerous women. when doctor tiller would deeper, his love his dad risky decision to offer illegal abortions was prompted by guilt over the death of a pregnant woman who he turned away. doctor tillar wen said, it was the woman, the patients that taught him abortions was necessary. that window, they gave him into the darkness of the pre roe era made him change his whole

career path and become an abortion provider. at the top, doctor tiller lived and died to the most violent violent chapters of abortion, he didn't live to see the post-roe reality take shape. there is a key event that separate this area era from the pre-rope period, from the horror stories of women dying from the lack of safe, legal abortion access. the stories that are born -- as a dermatologist, and instead, it dedicate his life and his career helping women who need abortions. that one thing is this. medication abortion. the abortion pill. it's an easy, safe way to end early pregnancies, it did not exist in the u.s. before federal abortion rights. the years of the so-called back alley illegal abortions. with medication that can be sent from the mail, take it at home, you don't need a back alley. that is why it's so disturbing that the antiabortion movement is moving its way to abortion pills. just this week, republican attorney general from 20 states issue letters to cvs and

walgreens warning them against mailing abortion pills in their state. many of the hostile jurisdictions, abortion pills are the last remaining lifeline for women who were seeking safe, illegal abortion. it gets worse. not content with denying women in their own states, the anti abortion group in texas are suing the food and drug administration to completely pull a type of abortion pill from the u.s. market. if the trump ported -- of the antiabortion coalition, it could amount to a nationwide ban on medication abortion with far greater repercussions than the dobbs decision overruled the constitutional right to an abortion. the fda has called a lawsuit extraordinary and unprecedented, with the overturning of roe, local prosecutors have unchecked power to prosecute women who attempt to seek an abortion. they can use any number of the more than 4450 federal crimes that are still on the books, as well as tens of thousands of state statutes, including

conspiracy, and a couple of statutes to subject pregnant people and abortion providers to criminal penalties. not to mention, the more than three dozen states that have criminal laws that fertilized eggs, embryos, and fetuses the status of a separate crime victim. make no mistake, we are in the middle of a great civil rights struggle. struggle. ce the carbon intensity of the fuels that keep things moving. today, we're producing renewable diesel that can be used in existing diesel tanks. and we're committed to increasing our renewable fuels production. because as we work toward a lower carbon future, it's only human to keep moving forward. i'd like to thank our sponsor liberty mutual. they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. contestants ready? go! only pay for what you need. jingle: liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty.

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month, no strings attached town? pretty great, right? it's a concept that is guaranteed income, it's not a new theory, but the notions at has a time's been criticized. more programs are popping up around the country and hoping to change the conversation, my colleagues nbc shaquille brewster has more from chicago, high, jack. >> hi there, ali. the idea of universal basic income was front and center in the 2020 democratic presidential primary. i know you have plenty of interviews with andrew yang, he proposed the freedom dividend. about $1,000 a month for every american, while that basic concept is now a temporary reality for thousands across the country, including families right here in chicago. >> every month, she gets a puck catch the pilot from a city of chicago. no strings attached. >> it did take a lot of worry off of me. a lot of stress. >> more is a single mother of three working to retail jobs, seven days a week. >> yeah, i come from perfect attendance, or other activity

in school. >> she's a participant in chicago is resilient community pilot, a guaranteed income program that, for one year, gets $500 a month to 5000 city residents. >> what is the impact of the $500 every month? >> relief. my bills are caught up. it helps me do everything, whether it's bills, whether it's an activity, whether it's grocery shopping. >> the 31.5 million dollar program funded by federal covid relief dollars is one of the largest cast as a cash assistant programs in the country. >> cash is a simple and powerful way for governments to support residents who are working hard to regain stability, and build a better life for themselves and their families. >> according to the city, 71% of participants are women. 68% identify as black. 24% latino or hispanic. and a new first look report from the university of chicago researchers, say the average household income roots for recipients is just over $15,000. >> was there anything in here

that surprise you? >> i think the one thing that really surprised me is the mental health and the psychological distress results. >> one in three applicants, according to the research, experiencing psychological distress for more than half of the previous month, five times more than a comparable national population. >> this was not during 2020. this was not during 2021. this was april of 2022. across the country, there were more than 100 cash assistance and guaranteed income programs launched. most on a temporary basis. an independent preliminary analysis of a small program out of stockton, california found that after one year, recipients had reduced income volatility, we're able to find full-time employment, and we're healthier, with lower levels of depression and anxiety. opponents say this program is unsustainable and misguided. >> they won all the programs want to keep the heating assistance, want to keep the housing assistance, the food, and just topped off with another $500 as if it was the

last $500 that is stopping the progress we want to see. >> there is a stigma out there that is working people, you got it. they don't need any help, we do, we need help, we might seem like we found something. everybody needs help and zip tip of aspect of their life. >> that help is moments away from coming to an end, but advocates say the impact of cash assistance programs will be studied for years to come, the hope for them is that these programs laid the foundation for a permanent, and even if federal progress the full report from the university of chicago is said to be released next week. ali? >> great report, thank you, my friend. shock is in chicago. straight ahead, representative -- of the u.s. virgin islands top democrat on the gop's new investigative subcommittee helps us understand what government oversight means and then you pump a -- republican-led health. and how she plans to count the republican attacks. another powerful hour of velshi

starts right now. r of velsh starts right now >> good morning, it is saturday, federer iv. it's a tighter month has passed since the new congress began. or least it was scheduled to begin. as you remember, the start of the 118th congress was delayed by a contentious and prolonged battle amongst house republicans over who would be elected the next speaker of the house. the fight dragged on for 15 rounds of voting over three and a half days, during which time, house members cannot be sworn in, or do anything other than cast into the respeaker over, and over, and over again. it was a historic deadlock, that also exposed rifts within the republican party as the far-right faction, jockey for power in the new congress. forcing kevin mccarthy to make concessions in exchange for the votes to make him the speaker. mccarthy eventually pulled through, but there are big questions ever since about exactly what kind of deals he made in order to secure those elusive votes. it is believed that among the list of concessions he made, they were promises of the committee assignments.

you only hear about the shuffling of committee assignments now and then. there is a coveted positions and powerful committees the congressman or members lobby for. in order to gain influence and prestige, that's exactly how the far-right members of the gop i wanted that leverage. some of the 21 members who initially voted against mccarthy as brokers -- were voted to plump additions. for example, conspiracy theorist andy biggs, paul gosar, honor paula, and scott perry, the chairman of the far-right freedom caucus who was also a subject of the january 6th investigation himself. all five of them were appointed to the oversight committee. considered one of the most important panels in the house, expected to launch numerous investigations into the biden administration over the next two years. meanwhile, this process is allowed republicans to exact political revenge on democrats for previously voting marjorie taylor greene and paul costar from their committee assignments after the east made threatening posts against some of their democratic colleagues. last, week speaker mccarthy