phil john podhoretz. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press". >>> good sunday morning. it's beginning to look a lot like a covid christmas. and beyond for millions of americans this winter could resemble a rerun of the awful previous covid surges as the omicron variant speeds across the country. nfl games are being rescheduled. back to work plans being rescrapped and some schools including harvard are returning to remote learning. deaths are occurring at a faster rate than at any other time other than last winter's surge. in fact, the 7 -day case average is 130,000 nearly. that's nearly a 35 % increase over the case average since thanksgiving. omicron appears to be far more contagious than delta, meaning a spike in cases could once again overwhelm hospitals. hospitals that are already a bit overwhelmed in some parts of this country. >>> at the same time, months after president biden all but declared independence from covid, americans are simply fatigued with being fatigued. >>> his administration felt deflated, begging the unvaccinated to get shots. they're not even doi

phil rucker from "the washington post," former democratic congresswoman donna edwards, and john podhoretz, editor of the "commentary." we have a lot to get to. amna, i'm going to begin with you. it already was arguably a deflating political end for the biden administration, and an explanation this morning from joe manchin saying he's done with build back better. now we have omicron. when you think about the first six weeks of 2022, i don't know how the biden administration focuses on anything else. >> you're absolutely right, chuck. i mean, this latest news from senator manchin, this latest statement, is a massive blow. we know the president wanted build back better done as quickly as possible. we know the senate democrats have been saying we wanted it done by christmas. but, look, even if you look in the last few days, none of those really self-imposed deadlines made a difference to senator manchin, not the holiday deadline, not the imminent expiration of the child tax credit, even though some experts say it could push children back into poverty. senator manchin's concerns, to be clear a