jose >> garrett haake, thank you very much. >>> joe biden's projected win is significant, because more than half of today's voters are african-american, and the outcome here in south carolina could foreshadow how biden and the other candidates will do across the rest of the south. >> reporter: at this family-owned bakery in columbia, south carolina, the conversation - >> about ten minutes away from being done. >> reporter: -- isn't limited -- >> we do discuss politics >> reporter: -- to cake >> a lot >> reporter: rosa daniels has owned main street bakery almost 20 years using recipes handed down through generations. >> this one is a strawberry cake. >> reporter: working with her kids dana and billy, a united family, but a split vote >> i voted for biden i don't mind saying that. >> i'm voting today and leaning towards steyer. >> leaning towards elizabeth warren. >> reporter: rose's top concern, gun safety. >> i know you have a right to carry guns but didn't say anything about assault

let's check in with nbc news correspondent garrett haake on capitol hill.are we getting closer to a vote? >> reporter: we are getting closer, andrea. here is how it will go. we are toward the end of the debate time. kevin mccarthy is speaking now. he can take advantage of magic minutes, where they yield the floor to leaders of both parties for a minute, but they can speak as long as they want. i expect a long speech from kevin mccarthy and from speaker pelosi, then we'll have a vote. the way the democratic aides decided to get around thomas massey's objections, calling for recorded vote, they think they have a quorum. rather than mash them into the house chamber proper, they'll call them into the room, have them seated in press and guest galleries around the chamber. if you have ever been, you know what i am talking about, stadium seating for the united states house. if massey calls for a recorded vote, he won't get a second. he can then ask if there's a quorum. the chair will go and make sure the count, all those folks that have come into the room, if in f

i really believe in him and i have known him for a long time. >> garrett haake joins us from michigan garrett, how will senator harris's endorsement help biden? >> reporter: well, she's expected to appear with biden tomorrow night in detroit. a city where biden hopes to turn out large numbers of african-americans and union members. not to be outdone, bernie sanders has a top surrogate, congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez here at the university of michigan. >> thank you very much >>> across the globe, from the philippines to mexico, to the uk and france, today there were rallies, honor of internal women's day. the mood was celebratory in most locations. but in pakistan and kurdistan, protester hurled shoes and stones and effigys. >>> still ahead tonight, if you can' avoid taking a plane what you can do to stay healthy when are you in the air during the coronavirus outbreak >>> also, millions o americans qualify for free tax returns why are so many paying for the service? >>> tonight many concerned about coronavirus are wondering how to stay safe when they fly. here's nbc's sam brock

expect both campaigns to put a lot of resources into that state. >> garrett haake in chicago, thank you very much. >>> prince harry and meghan markle are back in london tonight for a round of final appearances with senior members of the royal family sarah harmon is there. >> reporter: meghan and harry giving britain a glimpse of what they'll soon be missing. meghan marking international women's day at a london school, encouraging boys to speak up during her friday visit. >> it's very easy to sometimes compartmentalize or silo this idea of international women's day solely being about women. but it's not, it's about all of us. >> reporter: and leaving students speechless tonight's stop on the whirlwind farewell tour, the royal albert hall harry's final engagement as captain general of the royal marines. the queen has requested he give up that honorary title once they step back at the end of march their departure is not the only headache for the royal family at the moment prince harry's uncle prince andrew is facing mounting questions over his links to jeffrey epstein. britain's "telegraph

we have garrett haake and mike memoli covering the race.about it for a full hour. elaina beverly is a former obama white house administration

garrett haake has more from washington for us. what can we expect >> reporter: tonight's debate will be the first debate done not in front of a live audience in 60 years. expect to see front runner joe biden trying to be a unifying figure for all americans, including publicly bracing bankruptcy plan that had originally been put forward by his former rival, elizabeth warren bernie sanders will have a choice to make does he attack biden or try to focus on the issues he cares most about like medicare for all. expect both men to talk a great deal about the coronavirus crisis, itself, which has upended this campaign forcing normal political events all online this will be the last chance for voters in four states to get one more good look at these two candidates before they vote on tuesday. after that, things get a little bit more uncertain two states, louisiana and georgia, have already announced they're pushing their primaries back until later in the summer. kate >> garrett haake, thank you. >>> still ahead tonight, schools across the

joining me now from capitol hill, garrett haake for us. garrett, my friend, good afternoon to you. thanks for joining us on this. i think the question on so many americans minds is whether we going to see the results of this, the benefits from this bill? >> yeah, look, even if the house had passed this yesterday, it will still be a couple of weeks before anybody's able to see those direct payments or the plussed up unemployment benefits promised in the bill. the best estimate is it will take three weeks for payments to come out. that's only for folks who use direct deposit when you file your tax returns. that's the mechanism that all of this is being done. if you get a check for your tax returns, this kwo take longer. we do expect to see the house act quickly tomorrow the. president's given every indication he'll sign it right away. but just a sheer scale of what we're talking about is going to take some time. >> just quickly here with regards to gig workers and freelance workers, i have a lot of those people asking me that question as to whether or not they'll be able to apply for

garrett haake will no how close that is to crossing the goal line. pelosi's take was that they were likely to not have a vote today but have a deal today. that's very important for markets, of course. and then with the procedural measures, if they can reach consent or at least quickly vote and have other ways to iron out the house rules, get it to the house, rather than going through an amendment stage and conference committee, which would be eles endless, but they not agreeing to remote voting. that is not in the cards right now. >> you are speaking about how this is all playing out. of course, just as it was during your hour in our special coverage we have on the screen, the indicators on the right side of the screen, you have the grim numbers, worldwide and then the u.s. the u.s. has become a larger host country for this pandemic. but beneath that the market watch which would suggest to your point, andrea, that the markets, among other things, think this is going in the right direction. at least day trading on the expectation of all this happening

garrett haake also in michigan. what are you hearing from voters? you've been talking to a number of them. >> michiganeders taking it serious. they're aware of the fact that michigan went to donald trump in a small amount of votes. the same thing shaq was talking about, trying to pick someone who reflects their values but who they think can beat donald trump. democrats have been buoyed by a couple of recent polls that show either democrat leading president trump in michigan. hitting the ceiling of 41 or 42%. every voter i talked to, as they went into the booth, they had a hard time making a choice regardless of which candidate they picked. take a listen. >> i voted for joe biden. >> it took me a few minutes because bernie, bernie sanders, biden. because i want to know who is going to beat donald trump. >> who did you vote for? >> i voted for bernie. >> tell me why. >> i like his progressive ideas. and i think he could beat trump. >> craig, this is a part of the state that did break heavily for bernie sanders during the 2016 primary. he was here a fe

msnbc's garrett haake is at his post there. there was a lot of tense finger-pointing during the negotiations, but they were able to hammer out a deal in the early morning hours, garrett. walk us through what made it into it. >> reporter: craig, they added money to just about every part of the deal, from the cash payments going out to individuals to how much money states and localities to get, how much money hospitals will get on the front lines. democrats are also pleased they were able to add more oversight to the money that will go to big corporations, making sure that money is reported out essentially as it happens and money can't go to things like the president's family businesses, for example. we're in the golden age of conference calls on capitol hill. members are getting briefed on all the details of this bill. both parties in both houses, quite frankly, as everyone is being brought up to speed quickly on what has been a marathon series of negotiations over the last several days. here is how chuck schumer, the top democra

garrett haake is live in chicago where a similar stay at home order is going into effect today. w are folks in illinois preparing for this one, garrett? >> reporter: well, alex, the city of chicago had been walking toward this stay at home order for a couple of days before the governor put it into place. they extended the break in the school year until late in april. you saw more and more people get off the streets. we had restrictions on bars, restaurants, and social gatherings for several days. the governor's order last night, which doesn't go into effect until 5:00 tonight, allowed people certainly in the greater chicagoland area, which of course is a huge percentage of the total population here in illinois to get used to this idea. you also heard from the governor and chicago's mayor last night urging people to treat today almost like any other day. to not go out and panic pie, not feel like you have to overstock, not clear out the grocery store shelves. all those services will remain open as the stay at home order goes into effect. some of those we were talking to, it seems

joining us now, nbc's garrett haake on capitol hill. garrett, can you delve more into what this package does? when you say stimulus, that makes things better and brighter, but what this does is dig out of despair. >> some of this is purely stimulus, so you can pay for your rent and your short-term needs. there is money going to hospital systems, tens of billions of dollars of it, to help them cope with the cost of treating coronavirus. think of each state spending billions of its own dollars trying to make sure people are treated and taken care of as their revenues are going down. then there's revenue for businesses both small and large to help keep their businesses open in the long term even if they have to keep them shut in the short term. this is such a massive transfusion of cash, it's hard to get your mind around. $2 trillion of money is being spent across the board here. a little something for everybody. we heard people on both sides saying nobody got exactly what they want here, but the need is urgent, the time of negotiations is

nbc news correspondent garrett haake is live in chicago where sanders is holding a rally today. garrett, how important are the next few days for sanders? i have to imagine extremely. >> oh, lindsey, they are absolutely critical. one state more than any other. sanders may be here in chicago later today for a show-of-force rally but his campaign is retrenching to michigan. that state, an all but must win for him in the face of joe biden's momentum and what's now really a two-man race. over night, bernie sanders on the attack against joe biden. >> i opposed that war. joe biden voted for that war. >> at a rally in detroit, the vermont senator took aim at biden's record on trade, the iraq war, and other issues. drawing sharp contrasts, and hoping to blunt the former vice president's surging campaign momentum. >> if we are going to defeat trump in michigan, in pennsylvania, and wisconsin, it will be very hard for a candidate who voted for these disastrous trade agreements. >> for sanders, now trailing behind in delegates, michigan is critical. michigan is the largest of six states voti

joining me from grand rapids, michigan, msnbc correspondent, garrett haake. rrett, how does it look out there? >> reporter: well, katy, we've seen pretty consistent lines of people here all day long. not lines forming for long. the ballot in michigan is pretty straight ahead today. it's just the presidential primary vote. so people have been coming in and casting ballots all day long. we're in an area that went for donald trump in november of 2016. went fairly heavily for bernie sanders in the primary. he nearly doubled up hillary clinton in this county. and most of the voters i'm talking to today are reflecting that sentiment in favor of bernie sanders, including one young man i spoke to just a short time ago. take a listen. >> i think the biggest issue for me is the health care issue. i think medicare for all is a really comprehensive plan. and i have a lot of friends and family who not all desperately need affordable health care right now or access to health care, but they need medical care and i think that it's a lot more comprehensive than just kind of mo

joining me now is garrett haake. garrett, how are chicagoans reacting? >> well, the news isn't broadly public here in chicago. we've been moving this direction arguably fairly quickly over the last couple of days. the number of cases in illinois jumped up to 422 yesterday. that might not sound like a lot compared to new york but roughly doubled from the day before and the day before that. we've seeing an increase in testing and cases around the state. and we've already seen some localities take this step. i spent the morning in oak park, a small suburb outside of downtown chicago, only about 15,000 people. they put a stay in place order in place first thing this morning trying to get ahead of this because of medical workers and elderly workers who live there. then last night chicago's mayor announced she was going furlgtder than the state had gone in ordering schools closed an additional month until the end of april. so far the state had closed until the end of march. i think we're seeing the state catching up to what some of the low kaltsing with, chica

joining me from capitol hill, msnbc correspondent garrett haake. let's start with you on this one. a lot of americans weighing the package of phase three of the stimulus bill. talk to us about the timing from what you're hearing. >> reporter: keep in mind, this is a bill that will approach a thousand pages long, $2 trillion in spending. a lot of ironing out to be done to be sure the legislative language does what senators intend it to do before they can pass it today. that could happen sometime this afternoon or this evening. senators are committed to getting it done today. a press conference is beginning as i speak with republican senators that are concerned about the way some of the unemployment insurance parts of this are structured and written, suggesting it might provide incentive for companies to layoff employees rather than to keep them. we have not seen the language for that portion of the bill, i am relying on their summary at this point. i am going to hustle there to get more information as soon as we're done speaking. then the question of what the house does with the bil

kristen welker, garrett haake, elizabeth cameron. garrett, we haven't brought new yet. give us the latest from the hill. there's some doubt what mitch mcconnell will do. tim kaine on the democratic side just now saying they've got unanimous consent. their whip is done on the senate side, at least they believe so. but it doesn't sound as though nancy pelosi has all of her troops in order from phone calls. >> yes, she may not yet. she may not yet. >> because they would let them go today and only call them back on emergency basis, right? >> that's right. andrew cuomo in the last hour may not have helped either. there's tons of conference calls going on around the capital as senate and house members are being briefed on this plan that will come in over 1,000 pages. most members have not worked on anything except the sections they were responsible for. and that's just the senate side. the house side is trying to get brought up to speed realtime. and things that could be sticking points on the you outside includes provisions around $500 million for distressed larger corporati

msnbc's garrett haake is on capitol hill. garrett, just, let's start from scratch here and pretend that we don't know what's going on between these two plans. there's a senate plan that is now reaching bipartisan agreement and a separate house plan. just tell me how that works. why there are two competing plans. >> reporter: well, because there's two competing visions about the best way to tackle this crisis. the house plan is a statement of values, essentially, by house democrats. it's the kind of thing that they would like to see enacted across the board, including those changes to election law, that you mentioned. but the reality is, the republicans still control the united states senate and the white house, which makes a democrat-only house plan more or less a non-starter. a reality that nancy pelosi acknowledged in an interview with andrea mitchell earlier today, when she talked about what house democrats options really are at this point. take a listen. >> my hope is that while we're in the red zone here, that we get acro

let's go straight to garrett haake on capitol hill. garrett, democrats say republicans, they only want to do a deal that helps big business while republicans say democrats are putting politics before helping people. so what's the latest? >> this is a dangerous place to be for straw men today. there's a whole lot of arguments going around that aren't about the core issues. right now negotiations continue even at this moment between the treasury secretary and chuck schumer about the final elements of this bill. the sticking points remain what they were yesterday. this $500 billion fund for larger businesses and how it will be controlled. schumer said late last night the secretary of treasury had agreed to some oversight on that money. we don't know much more detail about that yet. and then there's a question of getting more money to state and local governments and to the hospitals that are on the front line of this crisis. make no mistake, the pressure is enormous on these lawmakers to get it done, whether it's from their constituents bac

msnbc garrett haake is standing by. let's talk about the scramble for members of congress to get back to the hill, garrett. how real is the worry that this package may actually be in jeopardy? >> make no mistake. this package will pass and will pass with an overwhelming bipartisan majority just like it did in the senate. the question is when and the person who controls that clock right now is thomas masse from kentucky who has signaled he wants to make sure there is a roll call vote that members stand up and have their votes counted in the actual body as opposed to doing this by voice vote, which would have only required a small fraction of members to come back to washington, d.c. for now a man who is perhaps most well known for his annual calls for open up production of raw milk is now requiring his colleagues including some from places under quarantine to come back and cast their votes. the president of the united states call ed and suggested he be kicked out of the republican party for this. can the house get above 21

. >> garrett haake is live in chicago.e're coming off what would be a busy week for that area, st. patrick's day, of course. what are you seeing right now? >> yeah. far from that scene here in chicago, as the city itself has been slowly shutting down over the last couple days. it was interesting listening to maura. i'm looking a few days ahead in chicago's future. illinois has been a couple of steps behind new york and the coastal states the way they shut down. i don't mean to say they're lagging. but with fewer cases here, about 700, in the state of illinois, most focused in the chicagoland area, they've been trying to act aggressi ivively ahead of the v. that included the stay-at-home order that went into effect at 5:00 yesterday evening. i spent yesterday in the downtown area, see how they're reacting, checking out the grocery stores. something of the nature of the slow walk towards the shutdown, helped keep down the panic buying. there was peopfood on the shelv. people handling this in an orderly fashion. there's indiv

garrett haake in illinois, thank you. gadi just mentioned one of our colleagues at 30 rock that we've lost to coronavirus. we're actually going to have more on him in just a few moments, a colleague and a friend as well. before we do that, though, let us turn for a moment to the governor of new york. this is around the time that he provides a daily briefing of course, new york hardest hit so far with regards to this coronavirus. let's listen in to governor cuomo. >> so the number of acute cases are coming in to the health care system. the growth in the number of acute cases must match the capacity of the health care syst system. that's what we've been watching. we've watched the rate of icu hospitalizations, the difference between how many beds you need versus how many icu beds. the real focal point, the rate of ventilated patients because that goes to the number of ventilators as we've been discussing. those are the three most critical points. there was a discussion with all the hospitals, of course, the state of new yor

joining us now is garrett haake from the hill. garrett, can you bring us up to date on exactly how you think this is going? because every time mitch mcconnell gets on the floor, you have a counteraction from the democrats, and both sides sniping at each other, and meanwhile, as we see, no vote on a bill that was supposed to be marked up friday night, go up for the first votes over the weekend and be ready for final passage this week. >> reporter: yeah, andrea. there's not even text of this bill that you and i could read right now if we wanted to. look, real debate on the senate floor is rare. real emotion in that debate rarer still. and that's exactly what's going on right now. senators, particularly republican senators in the last half hour, have been furious that their democratic colleagues are not allowing this procedural vote to go forward so they can win the partical lance of the senate and get on this bill so they can start debating the actual merits of what might be in it self, rather than the procedural hurdles that in the

msnbc's garrett haake joins us now from capitol hill. garrett, there have been a number of things in the last couple of days that have raised some flags. this one is with republican senators, something they're saying is a drafting error. what are they talking about? >> reporter: ali, this is an enormously complicated bill with a lot of money in play. republicans and democrats alike are going over it with a fine-tooth comb. in their review this morning, some republican senators found what they thought is either a drafting error or a case where the language of the bill doesn't do what they thought it was going to do related to bonuses and unemployment insurance. the idea is for folks to get not what they normally get from unemployment insurance, but additional moneys on top of that. these republican senators discovered in some of their states, based on the way unemployment insurance is calculated there, that additional money on top could make it so people would make more money from collecting unemployment than they would have from the jobs

garrett haake in grand rapids, michigan. a cnn poll shows the former vice president with a double digit lead, picked up another endorsement from a former rival, from new jersey senator cory booker. senator kamala harris over the weekend, more on that in a moment. how is the campaign feeling heading into tomorrow? >> nationally you have all those indicators coming up biden. in michigan the biden campaign is aware that bernie sanders in the past has erased a significant polling lead to beat a front runner, did it against hillary clinton in 2016. the polls show the former vice president with a comfortable lead in michigan, not taking anything for granted. that being said biden is campaigning like he's got a comfortable lead in michigan. he spent the weekend in missouri and mississippi, other states that are voting on tuesday. he will be here today for a series of events in grand rap his, in flint and then closing things out in detroit, he'll be joined on stage by two former rivals who are now endorsing him. it's a similar playb

south carolina as a springboard to revitalize his campaign and challenge bernie sanders nbc's garrett haake is in south carolina for us. good morning >> hey, willie, good morning yeah, joe biden's victory was more than 30 years in the making in three runs for the presidency was thank a resounding one and it could have major implications on the rest of this race. >> thank you, thank you, south carolina >> reporter: overnight joe biden claiming an overwhelming win in south carolina. >> you launched bill clinton and barack obama into the presidency now you launched our campaign on the path to defeating trump. >> reporter: it revived what had been a sputtering campaign he has new momentum headed into super tuesday. >> let's go! >> just days ago the press and the pundits had declared this candidacy dead know thanks to all of you, the heart of the democratic party we have won big because of you. >> reporter: nbc news exit polls showing 57% of the palmetto state voters were african-american they broke decisively for biden. >> i feel there's a level of comfort there that i know. >> reporter: the so

garrett haake is on capitol hill, hans nichols at the white house, david gura on wall street and we'reoing to start with garrett on capitol hill. you and i have been speaking offline a little bit. a lot of moving pieces. are we seeing this move towards some kind of compromise before noon? >> reporter: that's certainly the hope. the treasury secretary is on the hill right now. he's going back and forth between the democratic and republican leaders' offices trying to hammer out this massive spending bill that could be passed through the senate as early as today. the sticking points that remain, democrats would like to see more money earmarked for opt systems and to protect workers. but the biggest issue seems to be this 500 billion bailout fund. democrats thinks there aren't enough springs attached. that is probably the single largest hangup now. as these negotiations go on, as we get closer to potentially a next vote here sometime after noon. things are getting a little bit chippy. we're seeing republicans accusing democrats of putting campaign items in the bill. the hope is that this v

. >> joining me now is university professor at the new school, maya wiley, and garrett haake in houstonxas, who saw some of those lines for himself. you were at the polling place, garrett, at texas southern. what was it like there? it just sounded ridiculous, actually. >> ridiculous is a good word for it, chris. we were wrapping up our coverage. it was 11:30 at night here and we heard there were still people who had been waiting to vote since the polls had closed more than 4.5 hours earlier. we went to the campus of texas southern and found maybe a hundred people still in line. some of them told me they had been waiting there five and a half, six hours to get in line. so many things had gone wrong at this polling place, whether it was machines that weren't working, staffers that hadn't shown up. and the people i spoke to were furious. take a listen. >> the whole time we've been out here, none of the machines have been functioning the way they said there was. and there was only two people signing people up. >> it made me think, this must be what voter suppression looks like. that's the o

garrett haake has been on capitol hill for us all week, hans nichols at the white house. garrett, i'm going to begin with you. it's probably safe to say that many house members not too happy with their fellow congressman thomas massie of kentucky who has had to force all of them back to washington, d.c., to pass what is expected to be a very, i would say, routine procedure. where do you think it stands this hour? >> reporter: it's pretty rare that you have one single individual unite both parties and become the most disliked man in washington and that's what kentucky republican thomas massie has managed to do with the threat looming he might call for a roll call vote on this $2 trillion relief bill set to be voted on around noon today. the hope had been that this could be done via voice vote. but he's indicated he might call for a roll call vote. his colleagues are expressing their displeasure with him. we saw a number of tweets overnight from fellow members of congress complaining about having to come back to washington on short notice at a time where a lot of people are

nbc road warrior garrett haake has more from grand rapids. >> joel: he. >> reporter: hey, guys, bernie sanders has been all in. today it's all about michigan. he's got one of his biggest endorsers. tonight in ocasio-cortez rallying with him. that should be a huge endorsement. the endorsement they're talking about is reverend jess and jackson. bernie has been struggling with african-american voters in the early primary states and getting really the first african-american candidate to run a serious presidential campaign who, oh, by the way, won in michigan back in 1988 when the state was still a caucus state is something that the bernie sanders campaign is very proud of. sanders talked effusively about the reverend jackson today on stage. reverend jackson was here as well. one name we didn't hear from sanders today was joe biden's. it was such a departure from yesterday where at every stop sanders really went after biden on his record on things like the iraq war, on trade. today he was much more circumspect about that, not going after biden, but more talking about those issues he shares

garrett haake is joining us from chicago.n hillyard is in phoenix, arizona, for us with the latest. garrett, i'm going to start with you. walk us through basically what you're seeing out there. >> well, the long and short of it is, the turnout was very low this morning, but it seems to be bouncing back now. a lot of that is based on concern and confusion overnight about whether or not this election would happen and where it would happen. there were dozens, if not hundreds of election judges all around the state, but especially here in chicago, who essentially called out, said they wouldn't show up or simply didn't show up at all. there were also polling places that were closed because the judges didn't show up or because they were in private businesses that no longer wanted the foot traffic in their buildings that having an election would require. so as things have gone on throughout the course of the day, it's gotten a lot of smoothner most polling places like the one i'm at here. they've got some hand sanitizer, trying to w

garrett haake in chicago for us, thank you. please stay safe and healthy, sir.hat's all we have for tonight. obviously on sunday we'll have "meet the press" on nbc as america shuts down, we're going to be covering the covid-19 story from various angles. among my guest will be two governors who are on the front lines of this coronavirus crisis. we'll also hear as well from the task force at the federal level. "the beat with ari melber" starts right now. good evening, ari. >> good evening, chuck. thank you very much. and thanks for joining us at home. we have more reporting on this pandemic on decisions you make for safety. we begin with the fax and the latest numbers to try to cut through any rhetoric and potential panic out there to focus on what we know at this hour. there are more than 16,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the united states, and 211 total fatalities. cases soaring upward right now, partially from the way this infection spreads,

bernie sanders and joe biden will head to the polls as they pick up key endorsements garrett haake has more >> reporter: as you can see by the crowd behind me, so far the virus not slowing down these massive rallies. at lunch in mississippi, joe biden cleaning his hands, acknowledging the possibility that coronavirus could lead to the cancellation of large political events, even as the democratic race narrows. >> we're listening to the experts. whatever break they give me we'll take >> reporter: in michigan bernie sanders said he'll hold a round table on the virus today and criticizing the president's response to this thus far. >> we have a president who tells us that he is a great genius ev in science [ cheers and applause >> reporter: sanders supporters more concerned about his campaign's political health ahead of tuesday's primaries >> i'm a respiratory therapist i'm not worried about what's happening in michigan. >> reporter: how important is michigan for bernie sanders right now? >> very, very important. i mean, obviously biden picked up a lot of momentum >> reporter: on stage san

you heard garrett haake talking about the drive-thru centers.uld go through the drive-thru center. >> in a lot of cases this is employer sponsors and so hopefully you had access to information and modeling material that said where you could go to gret a drive-thru test. this is not information that is demmock rattized because you have to know it is happening and have a benefit for this is not broadly available to the public yet and hopefully that will change soon and will be relief soon for testing. to your question about how determines are determining who should and should not be tested, we're testing people with a high pre-test probability of having symptoms, shortness of breath, fever, cough, symptoms we know are consistent with the virus. did you travel to an area because nowadays the united states is a global epicenter but we frame who gets a test and who doesn't. it is imperfect. the way we're approaching this is completely imperfect and i would push and challenge really the utility of broadcast testing at this point as dr. fauci and other

and now joining us from capitol hill is correspondent garrett haa haake. tell me what it is like going on up there? >> well, it is a ghost town. it is a bizarre atmosphere up here. there are fewer reporters, and a fewer lawmakers and fewer staff. with one house in operation right now, the senate, you would expect to see a lot more people up here than you would on a weekday of a major major piece of legislation is worked on. that is not the case up here. it is an absolute feel that is going on here is unlike anything they have ever experienced covering capitol hill. and now, as to where we are in this all of this, the negotiations are continuing. and secretary mnuchin is going back and forth between schumer and mcconnell's offices all day long and continuing to try to hammer out the bigger points in this which is coming back to the $500 billion fund to bailout or help to provide the loans to larger businesses that don't have enough transparency or oversight for democrats, and getting more money to the state and local governments and hospitals. those are the

joining me from the hill, msnbc correspondent, garrett haake. garrett, what are the big sticking points? >> stephanie, i just got back to talking from senator marco rubio, who told me that one of the biggest sticking points left is what to do about the airlines. there is bipartisan agreement that domestic air carriers need some kind of help if they're going to stay afloat while we're all not traveling, but the best way to do it is a point of contention, are these grants, are they loans? how does the government make sure that money gets paid back? and the airlines that made plenty of money are handling the money that would be given to them by taxpayers in a responsible way. that's one of the big sticking points. one of the other minor sticking points, but they're not minor if you're waiting impatiently for this bill to get done is the legislative language. a lot of people can agree on an idea, but like in any other context, only one person can type it. and when you're dealing with perhaps $2 trillion worth of spend welcome they want to make sure a

. >>> let's go straight to msnbc's garrett haake on the hill. garrett, how did they get to yes? >> reporter: stephanie, really the only part of this package that wasn't at least tinkered with was the small business portion. every other element had some kind of changes imposed on it. i think some of the big sticking points in the end are how to take care of airlines and airlines workers, how to make sure the money for state and local governments was going to be enough, at least to bridge them through to a phase 4 deal, which make no mistake another package will come down the pipe eventually. and how to access that $500 billion set aside for the companies. i'm told there's an advisory board put in place. companies will have to disclose fairly quickly if and when they receive money. the full text is not even out yet, with the bill this massive, with spending this high, republican senators in particular wanted to make sure they went over it with a fine-toothed comb. there was nothing in this bill that wasn't intentional, and when they take this to the floor this afternoon, they can

we have garrett haake in houston, david gura, trymaine lee in alabama. ett, this is my favorite part of where you are. you're at a polling station in houston, but at a stochools whe you went to high school. you may run into an ex-girlfriend voting today. tell us about last night's endorsement. you might. last night's endorsement of biden, did it do anything to change things in the lone star state? >> reporter: oh, boy, i certainly hope that doesn't happen. look, this is an area that should be good for candidates like joe biden, and it seems like last night and the last couple of days have been good for him. i talked to a couple of voters that said they didn't vote early for this express purpose, making sure joe biden was around by the time they got to vote, made sure he was in the fight. and in fact he is. i talked to a voter that told me he was going to vote for pete buttigieg, he loved that buttigieg got out and immediately turned around, voted for joe biden. he thought that sealed the deal for his biden vote. an illustration how imperfect it is that pe

i want to take you now down to capitol hill where garrett haake is standing by. arrett, people are anxious to get these checks. how fast does this thing get signed? >> it could get signed as early as this weekend but that doesn't mean the checks will get to you that fast. it's our understanding for folks -- the amount of money individuals will get, the direct money that will go to families and people out of the country is based on your tax filings over the last couple of years. if you have direct deposit, if you get your tax return deposited directly into your checking account you could see your money in three to four weeks. that's not in time to help you with april rent but it's the fastest way they can get it to you. if you don't have direct deposit and they have to cut you a physical check, you are looking at a couple of months. if you don't have a physical bank they are looking at sending out debit cards preloaded with the money. but given the sheer number of people who will be getting some kind of financial assistance from the federal government here, this is

i want to bring in my colleague garrett haake on capitol hill. garrett, what more are you learning about this? >> reporter: stephanie, still no text of a ball and still no official announcement of a deal yet. we are hearing more and more details about what's been worked out in this package including significantly expanding unemployment insurance for workers, possibly lasting for several months at the full amount of their pay. we're also hearing about additional assistance for hospitals, 100 billion in total including as much as $75 billion in pure cash payments. then the question you were talking about, as assistance for larger companies. democrats have been concerned about the oversight of that into how that money would be spent. one of the solutions that appears to be emerging is essentially an oversight board that would work with the treasury secretary on how those decisions are made and having the secretary himself potentially come and testify about how and when he's planning to spend that money to help larger companies. there's a significant

i want to take you first to garrett haake on capitol hill. okay, garrett. there is no way, let's be honest, there is no way that the house is not going to pass a bill that the senate passed 96-0. so besides political drama, which is the last thing we need in the midst of a crisis, what's going on here? >> stephanie, if there is drama today it will be drama of the very dumbest congressional kind. one or two members grandstanding to prove a point about calling for a vote today. here's how things can and should go today. we're expecting up to three hours of debate on this bill. members who made their way back to washington, many of them have, have an opportunity to debate this bill, to talk about it in public on the floor under social distancing conditions. after that three hours are up, the leadership in both parties are hoping to call a voice vote wherein, however members may be present on the floor at that time can shout out aye or nay if they oppose or are in favor of the bill and the chair would make a ruling. at that moment, it's possible that any member

garrett haake in chicago, kerry sanders in orlando. you're in the country's third largest city. hundreds of thousands of people could show up to the polls today. the city decided a few days ago it was too risky to have a st. patrick's parade but not so risky to send people to what could be very crowded polling stations. >> i can tell you at least there are not crowds here at this polling station. i was just inside. we're not allowed to go live from inside the polling station here but it's been a steady trickle of folks coming here to vote. officials in illinois made the difficult decision to keep this primary going today in part because of the open acknowledgment they don't know a date at which it would be safe to reschedule it. unlike in other states like michigan, where i was last week, look at all these signs behind me. there are dozens of offices on the primary. the democratic primary is the whole enchilada. they are struggling to get this off the ground here. hundreds of election judges across the state have called out. said they'

garrett haake. i want to continue with our coverage of the house vote coming two days after the senate unanimously approved that package. jo joining us now is jeff merkley, senator, your sense of what this bill is going to do. the market is off today. we have had a couple of record-breaking days. so, clearly, some people are getting the impression that this may have some meaningful effect, but a lot of people say, it can't possibly be enough. >> ali, it's a massive infusion of funds into the economy and it's for those workers who are laid off, it will give them 100% of their income u it encourages small businesses, really up to 500 people to keep their employees employed which will allow the businesses recover faster when we get to the other side of this. this has a lot in it that's going to help on the large and medi medium-size business and a massive investment in health care. stabilization fund for state and local governments. that's just the headlines. there is a lot more things beyond that on h

garrett haake is on capitol hill, hans nichols is at the white house, rehema ellis and sam brock is inouston, texas, where a new stay-at-home order begins today. garrett, let's go back to capitol hill. we've been speaking over the past couple of days. you've been using the football analogy which seems to have been stalled on the two-yard line for the last couple of days. senators burned the midnight oil then some. what is in this deal and where does it go next? >> i guess if we're going to continue the football analogy, the touchdown has been scored but it's in replay review right now. the deal has been agreed to here and we know some of what's in this $2 trillion spending bill. the most important top lines, direct payments to families, expansion of unemployment insurance, an extra month of unemployment insurance for folks who are eligible and an expansion for those who are eligible. and then tens of billions of dollars for folks who need it, whether they be in the hospital industry to state and local governments, to small business, and some additional oversight has been added for that

thank you so much, garrett haake from grand rapids.pi, following joe biden. big good day to you. how big is the kamala harris endorsement for the biden campaign and how is it being perceived. >> reporter: well the biden campaign for the last week since they had the big victory in south carolina followed by a series of big victories on super tuesday has been in really consolidation and unity mode. they're trying to send the message to democrats across the country, especially those in the states that haven't voted yet, the candidate with the momentum and generating the most enthusiasm is joe biden and the last thing this party needs is a bitter contested fight through the convention and that is the mention focused on bernie sanders who is on the attack. so kamala harris's endorsement is further evidence to them from a former rival that this party is ready to unite. it is sunday in the south so you better believe that joe biden started the day at new hope baptist church where he was introduced as the comeback kid and his strength with afr

let me, with the latest details on this, go to one of our capitol hill correspondents, garrett haake.t a vote tonight? and then the little game of trying to get the house to unanimously consent to the bill on their end? put it this way, are we going to see checks go out on april 1st or 2nd? >> i try to stay out of the prediction business, chuck, but it's looking like if there is a vote tonight, it will be very late tonight. they're still working to iron out a couple of details in here. i'm told some of the sticking points include money for the airlines and exactly how that will be structured and what qualifies as an airline employee who might be able to get it, whether it's a contractor or how far down the chain that that goes. and questions about how state and local governments will get the money that will be partitioned out to them. some of this is also just the sheer matter of putting together a bill of this massive scope. you know, a bunch of senators can agree to something in principle, but only one person can sit down and type out the legislative language, which then has to look

louis and garrett haake is in grand rapids, michigan, with joe biden.n seems to really be make or break for the sanders campaign. he won there last time. what is the -- what does joe biden need to accomplish ahead of tuesday in the state of michigan? what's a win look like for him? >> reporter: i can't believe you passed up super tuesday, but i guess that's hard to do on tv. biden is putting together the same coalition that delivered this state to the democrats in the midterms in 2018. he's going to have both kamala harris and cory booker with him in detroit tonight and trying to appeal to moderate women, the same voters who helped carry this state. and recent polls show he's doing it. he's up by a considerable margin and up by 20 points as we've seen this rapid consolidation. he's done this without being present on the ground here. he's had amy klobuchar campaigning here over the weekend and the governor campaigning on his behalf. biden has been in missouri. he's been in mississippi. he's been trying to seal up wins in other states even as bernie sande

msnbc's garrett haake joins us now from capitol hill. garrett, we've had a couple of near misses on this bill. it nearly got derailed by some senate republicans. is there any chance that it gets derailed when the house takes the measure up tomorrow because as of now this bill is not passed? >> reporter: that's right. highly unlikely this thing gets derailed tomorrow although it will go through voice vote, not unanimous consent which is fast but not the fastest option available. it is the goldy locks option available because they know there are some republican members who want to come to washington and vote against it. i asked speaker pelosi about this earlier this morning and here's what she told me. >> unanimous support from your democrats tomorrow on this bill? >> yes. well, let me say this, i'm not asking -- we will have a victory tomorrow for america's workers. if somebody has a different point of view they can put it in the record, but we're not worried about that. >> reporter: ali, for process nerds, voice voting is pretty old schoo

i'm lindsey riser with garrett haake.ning. it's saturday, march 14th. i'm ali velshi. it has been two months since covid-19 first arrived in the united states. since then it has wrought half in the united states and the world. overnight, the covid-19 aid package provides emergency leave and unemployment insurance and other measures. >> we thought it would be important to sho