jose >> kelly o'donnell at the white house. thank you. there are new concerns tonight about the start of spring break and another surge in covid cases, especially as more states do away with mask mandates morgan chesky has details. >> reporter: tonight as vaccination numbers go up a steady push for states to reopen causing issues nationwide thousands descending on beaches and piling into pool parties. and hundreds of thousands headed to daytona beach for bike week. many without masks the state one of 17 recently canceling mask mandates or not having any to begin with >> we still need to emphasize for people who are not vaccinated that masks matter taking away mask mandates or even not having them in the first place doesn't make sense from a health perspective. >> reporter: at trinity cider in dallas, owner evan kalstad says despite the governor's order to drop the mandate and open at capacity his mask required signs are staying up does the benefit to business outweigh potential concerns >> i mean, it's hard to tell. from what i've read, t

kate >> kelly o'donnell for us at the white house. lly, thank you. >>> there is massive security in place in minneapolis tonight. 2,000 national guard troops are standing by ahead of the historic murder trial for the former officer charged in connection with the death of george floyd gabe gutierrez is there for us >> reporter: tonight, barricades surround the minneapolis courthouse where jury selection is set to begin monday for the murder trial of derek chauvin, the former police officer who prosecutors say knelt on george floyd's neck for about nine minutes. >> we need to get to a point of healing in our city. >> reporter: the mayor and other city officials have been preparing for months hoping to avoid last summer's violent unrest. >> this is perhaps the most significant moment in our entire city's history. >> reporter: floyd's brother says he is dreading rewatching the video of his brother's death in court. >> blood was coming from his nose and the officer still sat down on his neck like it was okay it is never okay to hurt somebod

from republican senator james lankford on friday showing just how overcrowded the facilities are kelly o'donnell is traveling with the president in delaware. kelly, good evening. what is the administration doing about this >> reporter: good evening, jose. white house officials i'm talking to say their focus is on what can federal agencies do that means opening up more facilities to house and provide shelter for those unaccompanied migrant children and trying to speed up processing for migrants of all ages going through this bureaucracy to reduce the amount of time they're in those crowded conditions lawmakers of both parties who have been making the trip as you mentioned are posting those kinds of videos that show what they're seeing tonight democrats say what they saw was heartbreaking and lawmakers of both parties are trying to put pressure on the biden administration to do more jose >> kelly o'donnell in wilmington, thank you. >>> turning to news overseas, an increasingly dire and violent situation in the country of myanmar in southeast asia. a truly staggering number, more than 100 killed to

we're closed and late today, the president said he may go to the border himself soon kelly o'donnell is at the white house. >> reporter: an alarming human drama on the southern border now, more than 15,000 migrant children held in u.s. custody. late today, the president said more can be done to discourage asylum seekers. >> making sure that we re-establish wha existed before, which is they can stay in place and make their case from their home country. >> reporter: part of an immigration wave, the biden administration says is on pace to be the largest in 20 years. today, homeland security secretary mayorkas fanned out across television to make this claim. >> the border is closed the border is closed the border is secure the border is closed. >> reporter: republicans say that does not match reality. >> the border right now is wide open because the biden administration dismantled the very effective policies of the trump administration. >> reporter: silas martinez says he made a difficult 15-day trek from el salvador with his young family. he told us the current president said he wasn't

kate >> kelly o'donnell at the white house. if you're wondering when you could get your money go to whitehouse.gov and click get my payment >>> another major challenge for president biden tonight, the chris sis at the border and a growing number of unaccompanied children making the dangerous crossing, desperate to reach the u.s. chlt garrett haake has the latest from el paso. >> reporter: tonight, the federal government surging resources to the border, hoping to absorb a record wave of migrants, including unaccompanied minors making the dangerous journey to america more than 3,200 such children crossing the border last week alone. why are so many kids coming here to the border now >> i think two things. number one, the conditions in their homeland have become untenable and, number two, their families want to be with them. >> reporter: now the biden administration is deploying fema for 90 days to help move arriving children from overcrowded patrol stations to homes or shelters while their cases are worked through the system we c

kelly o'donnell is at the white house with when your money will arrive >> reporter: covid relief is now showing up as money in the bank and lighting up social media. $1,400 for steve martinez in san antonio. >> it was a nice surprise to see that it came so soon, and it couldn't come at a better time. >> reporter: the key to fast delivery, this first wave of direct payments going to qualified americans who filed tax returns that linked their bank accounts to the irs. >> my phone got a notification saying that the irs had direct deposited. i was on the phone with my mom. i'm like, mom, i got money. >> reporter: $5,600 for 25-year-old mom brianna raines, who is out of work in casper, wyoming. >> i have some bills that are behind obviously so those are all already caught up i got all of those caught up this morning >> reporter: in springfield, missouri the covid relief math means faith perdue's family of five qualified for $7,000 they received today >> to have a little bit of weight lifted off of our shoulders, to not have to worry as much as maybe what the next few months hold. >> reporter

nbc's kelly o'donnell has the latest. >> reporter: an alarming human drama on the southern border now more than 15,000 migrant children held in u.s. custody. the president said more can be done to discourage asylum seekers. >> making sure that we reestablish. they can stay in place and make their case from their home country. >> reporter: part of an immigration wave the biden administration says is on pace to be the largest in 20 years. homeland security secretary mayorkas fanned out across television to make this claim. >> the border is closed. >> the border is closed. >> the border is secure. >> the border is closed. >> reporter: republicans say that does not match reality. >> the border wight now is wide open because the biden administration dismantled the very effective policies of the trump administration. >> reporter: silas martinez says he made a difficult 15-day trek from el salvador with his young family he told us the current president said he wasn't going to separate families, and here we are. the white house struggles over how to describe what's happening. when the press s

kelly o'donnell, thank you. enjoy the weekend. >>> the path is clear for businesses to completely reopen in texas. should they? the impossible decisions facing families and businesses right now. >>> also, to georgia we go. the fight over voting rights continues in that state. how the escalating battle there is affecting voters and even pushed one lawmaker to tears on the floor of the state senate. >> i didn't think i had to come to here after 45 years being in this body. i want to tell you, we're going to fight. you can't plan for your period's... what the gush moments. but the right pad can. only always ultra thins have rapiddry technology and, they absorb 40% faster. the gush happens fast. that's why always absorbs faster. i'm draymond green with my subway sub with tender steak and melty cheese. my sub is gonna dunk all over your sub. excuse me? my sub has bacon. choose better be better and now save when you order in the app. subway eat fresh. but not jayson's sub. never run dry of... subway eat fresh. killer

smaller check for individuals making up to $80,000 >> but there is more work to be done nbc's kelly o'donnell has been following all of the developments overnight kelly, good morning to you what's the latest? >> good morning, kristin and peter. president biden could be just hours away from clearing a major hurdle on his top priority, this covid relief senators have been sleepless, working to debate and vote on a rapid fire series of amendments. most of them offered by republicans who want to shift money that they believe should not be going to certain projects if they don't think it qualifies as covid relief. most of those efforts are failing. and there was an hour's long back and forth over how best to fund and set up federal enhanced unemployment benefits. a washington all nighter for covid relief >> america needs the american rescue plan and they need it now. >> still at work this morning with hours to go the senate slowly grinding on the massive $1.9 trillion package. >> we are going to power through and finish this bill, however long it takes. >> but urgency did not make it any easier an

kelly o'donnell, let me go to you.s is becoming -- is a crisis that the biden administration is having to grapple with both humanitarian, but also politically. clearly, there are -- this has been an incredibly charged, difficult, emotional issue for many, many years in our politics. republicans have been seizing on what we are seeing at the border. we have had concerned democrats talking about it as well. what are the options for the biden administration? what are they thinking about doing about it? >> reporter: well, notable right off the bat is you used the word crisis. it seems like a simple, appropriate word given all that has just unfolded. yet that is a word that the administration will not use. i had an exchange with general psaki. she said it's not a crisis, having unaccompanied children coming to the u.s. border. in terms of options, some of the things that we were trying to extract from the white house is to understand what will the president do. he talked about making a visit. there are no immediate plans fo

kelly o'donnell is at the white house with us with more this morning. kelly, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, kristin. the president's message combined a personal outreach with empathy and understanding for those that suffered this painful loss of life with a larger call to action. while the president was not clawing conclusions on the shooting spree, he urges all americans to recognize and stop incidents of intimidation and violence towards asian americans that have been on the rise during the pandemic. on the road together for the first time since taking office. their atlanta visit agenda reset. >> racism is real in america. >> pointed and indirect criticism from the president and vice president that appeared to call out donald trump's use of racist terms to describe the chinese source of covid-19. >> words have consequences. it is the coronavirus. full stop. >> asian americans, people with the biggest pulpit spreading this kind of hate. >> reporter: out of public view, the president and vice president met with asian american community l

. >> let's bring in kelly o'donnell at white house. kelly, first of all, how challenging has it been for the white house to address the previous administration's policies and try to implement its own immigration priorities? >> reporter: one of the big challenges is that there are -- there's a desire from the biden administration, to distinguish trump policies from biden policies. there are complicating factors that make this very challenging when it comes to the reality that they have to have facilities to care for children who come here without an adult. if people on the surface view that as somehow similar to the government holding and processing young people in some form of care, that that can look like what was going on during the trump administration even though the backdrop is different in terms of intention and policy. you add to it the issue of being much more mindful of covid precautions and needing more space in order to accomplish that. you see the addition of bed space, housing space for young people who have come to the cou

>> kelly o'donnell starting us off at the white house. thanks so much. >>> chuck todd is nbc's political director and moderator of "meet the press." great to see you. this big bill gets through on a straight party line vote. not a single republican voted for it. the content of the bill is great news for millions of americans. what does it tell you about the future of washington right now under joe biden? a bill that had 70% to 75% national approval, depending on which poll you looked at, was this tough to get through and that he couldn't get a single republican on board. >> i think this is sort of how we are going to length late. let's not forget, donald trump passed his tax cut plan without any democratic support. this is the era we are living in, of this polarized sort of -- in our elected world. you point out, the polling shows we're not as polarized as the politicians act. this is where we are. with political power on a razor edge in the house and senate, and you could argue even in our battle for the presidency every four years, i th

kelly o'donnell is at white house for us. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, willie.en team getting out in the country and on the road. they will be doing that to promote various programs and benefits supported by this new law. for millions of americans, the first real impact will be those direct payments already landing in some bank accounts. the white house shifting to promotion of the covid relief law. >> help is here and we will not stop working for you. >> reporter: saturday, this official release touts a collection of thank you tweets from americans who have cash in hand. >> i logged into my account. i saw the direct deposit from the government. i was surprised. >> reporter: this 37-year-old of texas says the $1,400 will help him recover financially from a covid related pay cut. >> it couldn't come at a better time. i think what i would like to do is save most of it for a rainy day but use that to help pay for credit cards and debt. >> reporter: out of work in wyoming. >> i was on the phone with my mom. i'm like, mom, i got money. >> reporter: 24-year-old breann

nbc's kelly o'donnell is here this morning. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, kristin. this will get real for millions of americans who have been waiting for that extra financial help. those checks are rolling out now and will continue to be sent out in batches over the next couple of weeks and so they can expect to start seeing that in their bank accounts. and now the work shifts to a new promotional tour for the president to try to tell americans what is in this new law and how it will work. covid. rolling out results. >> we have to get this right. details matter because we have to continue to build confidence in the moern people that their government can function for them. >> reporter: the irs says the first wave of $1400 direct payments hit bank accounts this weekend and will continue over the next few weeks. >> help has arrived. >> reporter: with real impact for faith purdue of missouri. >> it's a relief. finanially it was hard. >> reporter: as a married mother of three teenagers, her family can expect $7,000

kelly o'donnell joins us from the white house with that part of the story. kelly, why does this administration feel it's so important to sell this plan on the road? >> reporter: there are a few components to that. part of it is about wanting to be certain americans can access the benefits that will be available to them, to understand those benefits that are there. certainly, if a direct deposit hits their bank account with the 1,400 direct payment, they are aware of that. it goes beyond that. getting the vaccine. seeing schools in their home community refurbished and using resources. making people know what's accomplished. part is a political credit seeking opportunity for the biden administration. this was a hard process to get through congress. a big achievement legislatively. the first big piece of legislation. wanting to savor that win for as long as possible. to some degree, making certain that there is a positive reaction to the bill in the face of complete rejection by republicans and a lot of criticism about the scale, the cost, the priorities in the

i'm joined by kelly o'donnell. it's good to see you all. garrett, let me start with you.are waiting on this press conference in house republicans. what have you seen so far as you have been down there at the border in el paso? what are you expecting to hear from republican leaders today? >> reporter: on the ground in el paso, the reality of migration is well-known. this is a recurring issue. it's a seasonal issue. you see more and more people start to come every year as the spring and summer begin. the numbers, as you pointed out, particularly of unaccompanied minors are on a track, ahead of where we should be for february and march, suggesting this problem could get worse and worse into the spring and summer months. people here are i think relieves fema is now getting involved. the emergency disaster specialists, logistic specialists for the federal government who can help alleviate some of the problem. on the politics end, this is an easy to understand why republicans are coming after this issue. this is something that they feel like the biden administration has made me

kelly o'donnell is outside the white house. garrett, let me start with you.ad of the hearing this morning, dr. fauci says she concerned the u.s. could end up facing another wave of this virus like they have in europe. >> reporter: yeah, that's right. that's one of the topics dr. fauci will be pressed on. health and education, expect to hear questions for faup and these other public health officials on things like the best beth methods to reopen schools. how children who are eligible are taking the vaccine and there is that warning as has been the case through much of the last year, europe is often a little bit ahead of where the united states is, in the progress of the virus and dr. fauci warning this morning on the "today" show, that if we're not careful, we could follow them into another very trouble round of potential lockdowns. here's what he said this morning. >> if you pull back on public health measures when you have a high background dynamics, the virus in the community, there is the risk that are you going to rebound. this is exactly what happened in

>> kelly o'donnell, jo ling kent, leigh ann caldwell. thanks for your great reporting. >>> there are new developments as far as what happened in the january 6th riots and investigation into the insurrection. a political appointee of former president trump has been arrested in connection with that attack on the capitol and was allegedly still working in the administration with top secret security clearance at the time. federico klein worked as an aide in the state department. in court documents it is alleged that he was seen on video assaulting police officers that day. let me bring in nbc's pete williams on this one. pete, this seems to be so far the most direct known link yet between the trump administration and at least one of the rioters that was there. what more are you learning from the documents? >> he was a low level campaign worker, worked on the trump campaign and apparently as a reward for that he was given a low level political job working on south american affairs at the state department. frederico klein, 40 years old, came t

nbc's kelly o'donnell has the latest from d.c. >> reporter: the span of history connecting selma's edmund pettus bridge and the biden agenda to renew the calls for expanding voting rights. >> i'm signing an executive order to make it easier for eligible voters to register to vote and improve access to voting >> reporter: choosing this 56th anniversary of bloody sunday when peaceful african-american marchers were attacked by state troopers that led to the landmark voting rights act of 1965 >> america was forced to confront the denial of democracy. >> reporter: over the years joe biden retraced the march with civil rights icon, the late john lewis. >> he said we've just got to get this done. >> reporter: president biden using the power of the pen to direct federal agencies to make voting more accessible with new urgency after the capitol insurrection, lies about voter fraud and many republican led states tightening rules. democrats want to restore protections struck down by the supreme court. congresswoman terry sule represents selma >> all we see are republican legislatures trying to roll

kelly o'donnell has more >> reporter: cash deposits to the rescue $422 billion in covid checks now flowingo americans, like 70-year-old dorothy donahey, at work today in her virginia studio >> i cheered and i cried. >> reporter: that emotion over what the direct payment means with $1,400 now in her bank account. >> i knew immediately i would be able to get cataract surgery finally, because it will pay for most of the part that medicare won't cover. >> reporter: improved vision essential to her art, but it's been unaffordable until now. >> it will change my life for the better. >> reporter: in las vegas, covid has crushed many jobs linked to tourism. hospitality workers welcome the help but say economic recovery is needed most. >> the stimulus checks has been a great band-aid, but band-aids don't last. >> reporter: las vegas is among seven destinations in the next five days for the biden team road tour. vice president harris there tomorrow to promote the $1.9 trillion package, which includes funds for vaccines, schools, unemployment benefits and more, including programs not clearly tied to

let's go to kelly o'donnell. great to see you as always. what are we going to hear today as other surrogates hit the road? >> trying to keep the attention on this first accomplishment. now we're moving into the implementation faze. president biden will talk about some of the nitty gritty of what is going on here. now that that is on paper, it has to be put into action and the specifics need to roll out. so he knows firsthand how difficult that can be. having been the one in charge of the obama period recovery act. there are a lot of pitfalls that can happen and he has been really acknowledging that his takes can take place and things can go wrong. now it's about how do you get that done? how do people know when they're checks are coming? how do you disburse all of the other kinds of aides and how does a school, for example, qualify? going on the road is part of the promotional tour. they're calling it "help is here" tour. some branding for sure. the vice president in las vegas today. the first lady going to do a

kelly o'donnell is with the president who is spending the weekend at his home in wilmington, delaware good morning >> reporter: good morning, peter. president biden let his anger and disappointment show over the new election law in effect in georgia. the president says his administration and department of justice will take a look to see if they have any authority to respond over what he calls an assault on the constitution. georgia's new voting law is the next political flashpoint. >> it is an atrocity. >> >> reporter: president biden condemned new rules signed by georgia's republican governor thursday brian kemp describes as election security the president called out one new provision that forbids providing food and water to voters waiting in line. >> this is designed to keep people from voting you can't provide water for people about to vote give me a break. >> reporter: georgia's electoral flip from traditional red to 2020 blue gave president biden and two senate democrats victories. the new law will also require photo id to request an absentee ballot like voting in person >> i thi

joining me now is kelly o'donnell. also dr. van gupta. and also dr. paul ofet. everyone welcome. so kelly, in doing this rose garden signing, he is having a celebratory moment from what we saw last night. what more should we expect from the president? >> these are staged events that are a reason to draw coverage and keep a conversation going. so the white house is beginning what is now an education and information stage. it has been passed. the political fight is over and what is next is about explaining to the public what is in it in terms of specific benefits that they may receive and bigger picture benefits for state, vaccine and availability and all the different component parts. and certainly politically democrats want to celebrate this moment that the accomplishment was achieved, the first big piece oflegislation. but also the president is trying to get the american public buy-in. last night he talked about the president meeting each american citizen to do his or her part to follow these guidelines, to achieve the goal that you outlined, the idea that there would be sort of

hotez, kelly o'donnell, peter baker, this is you know 51 days, i believe, into the presidency where he is signing a really major piece of legislation. what does this mean? >> i think this is big deal. he used a more earthy term in there. but getting the spending on narrow partisan votes is a states and cities that lost some revenue as a result. he is doing other things with this bill. it is a three-part bill. the covid relief part, an economic stimulus to pump in a lot of money, and it is an anti-poverty bill. some of this will disappear and congress will have to revisit it to see if they will make some of this permanent. but for a president that came in in the middle of a crisis and promised to act quickly, this is a sweet day. >> dr. emanuel, in this bill there is a lot of relief for state and local governments. also hospitals for those who are still treating the people who are suffering from this virus. what is this money going to mean for our ability to get on top of this? >> it will be enormously helpful. i think if your goal is to open up schools, having $130 billion for schools

. >> blayne alexander, a busy day for you, you too, kelly o'donnell. we're going to talk with one of the stay lawmakers including an escalating war of words between president biden and vladimir putin. new details on russia's respo response. will the tough talk backfire? and the president considers e keeping troops in afghanistan for another six months. we'll have reporting you will only see here, next. reporting only see here, next. antibacterial can i have both? new dove care & protect body wash eliminates 99% of bacteria and moisturizes for hours two for one! can i keep it? new dove care & protect, zero compromise! i'm still going for what's next. even with higher stroke risk due to... afib not caused by a heart valve problem. so if there's a better treatment than warfarin,... i want that. eliquis. eliquis reduces stroke risk better than warfarin. and has less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis has both. don't stop taking eliquis without talking to your doctor as this may increase your risk of stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fa

kelly o'donnell in the white house, the co-founders of punchbowl news and the editor of the nevada independence. kelly, what are the president and vice president going to say about this bill that hasn't always been said? >> a lot of it will be a focus on the real underpinning of this. the biden administration, president in particular, wants to sell to the public that government can work for them. that they can accomplish golds that were campaigned on, promises that were made. in the specifics today president biden will talk about the limitation phase. it's not the sexiest part of this kind of a law but it is critically important and also one of the areas where there's all kind of land mines and things that could go wrong. president biden knows this firsthand because he had been in charge back in the obama administration of implementing the recovery plan at that time so he knows there are a lot of things that can affect how people will experience this law, and how they will ultimately be judged. all of the money we've been talking about, things that go to vaccines and schools, the direct financi

. >>> more on all of that coming up but first i want to bring in my colleague kelly o'donnell at the white house and blayne alexander in atlanta. kelly, this trip has taken a whole different meeting since the shooting. what is the focus going to be? >> there are definitely dimensions to this day. it's the first time the president and vice president are traveling together. given the tragedy that unfolded in atlanta and wider reaction, especially in the u.s. asian american community, the white house decided to add a component to speak to those issues and the president and vice president will have a private leader with the leaders of the asian community and be making remarks this afternoon in the evening at emory university. that's on top of the original purpose, which is about this rollout of covid relief and stopping at the cdc. but when you're in the white house, it's something president biden certainly understands and is now confronting, events can change the course of even the best-laid plans. so while this was a part of the larger rollout of covid relief, they're making a point tod

. >> joining me now, nbc news chief white house correspondent and "weekend today" co-anchor, kelly o'donnell, yamiche alcindor, former deputy white house chief of staff to president obama, jim messina and former rnc chair, michael steele. welcome, all. kristen, let me start with you. if big primetime address last night after a major legislative win. now of course the challenge to make sure that americans understand why it is that they are receiving the help that they have. what's the plan going forward? >> reporter: that's right. now the president and vice president are going to be focused on selling this massive piece of legislation that just passed, $1.9 trillion covid relief and of course one of the centerpieces, those $1,400 direct payments that are going to go out as soon as this weekend. also billions of dollars in aid to state and local governments and for the vaccine distribution. now, of course, this is a piece of legislation that didn't win any republican support. and so today in the rose garden, when the president officially signs this bill into law or i should say it's sort of th

some new reporting from my colleagues carol lee and kelly o'donnell.ch with senator joe manchin of west virginia, throughout the ongoing debates for -- for unemployment benefits that we saw play out over the course of yesterday. we remember that nearly-12-hour delay during the vote-a-rama where manchin was wavering whether or not he would support, ultimately, a democratic plan for unemployment benefits. was leaning toward the republican version of that. and ultimately, what ended up happening was that $300 a week jobless benefits, down a hundred dollars. in addition, $200 of a tax break that was nontaxable for those benefits, as well. so, we are waiting to see on the timing. the votes are ongoing. senate staffers are, also, incredibly tired and want to see this continue to wrap up, soon. numerous are telling me, though, they are optimistic this could come to a head to a final vote, within the next couple of hours but again, things continue to change and we are seeing this move along at a snail's pace. >> yeah, a lot of these amendments they are voting

chief white house correspondent and "weekend today" co-host, kelly o'donnell, garrett haake on capitol hill, chris lieu, former deputy secretary of labor in the obama administration and david jolly, former republican. garrett, you've been chasing this senate vote since they gavelled into session today after their long night of reading, the reading marathon. how long is the process going to take? any way to estimate? >> reporter: this could be a very long process. sort of a popular parlor game on the hill to ask senators when they think they'll be done. the ones i've talked to expect it will be well after midnight. so far there have been more than 250 amendments filed although in contrast, the last time we did one of these there were more than 900 amendments filed and only about 40 got voted. we're till looking at dozens of amendment votes and debates on each one of those that could take us well into the wee hours of saturday morning, andrea. >> david jolly, we're at a point -- a day behind schedule because of ron johnson demanding a reading of that 628-page bill give or take few pages,

i want to bring in kelly o'donnell at the white house. we know president biden is not happy with the governors of those states. but is there anything he plans to do about it? think back to former president trump when he wasn't happy with governors he looked for ways to punish them. >> reporter: well, it's a different style, certainly, from president biden, but what dr. anthony fauci is talking about is a timeline of six to nine more months before that getting back to normal thing. so for president biden one of the frustrations here is the tension between states that are obviously eager to get businesses back open and there's a lot of frustration and understanding about why that's important but rolling back things like a mask mandate at a time when people are certainly seeing the benefits of mask wearing as a great frustration to this administration when president biden specifically asked for americans to give him 100 days. he has the power and has used the power to require mask wearing on federal property but states have a lot of discreti

spanning two continents throughout this entire hour, beginning with nbc news correspondents, kelly o'donnell covering the white house, sarah harmon in munich, germany, and joelene kent in los angeles. i'll begin with you at the white house. the president signed the american rescue plan moments ago. one day earlier than what was scheduled. did the white house realize waiting two days did not reflect the urgency of the crisis that millions of americans need that had money? >> reporter: well, the white house decided to act as quickly as they received the bill from capitol hill. so that's a standard part of how it works. it takes a few days to turn even a just passed piece of legislation into a document for the president's signature. so they hurried it up. by doing so, it now starts the clock for, for example, the department. treasury to begin sending out checks. those economic impact payments to americans who qualified based on income. and press secretary jen psaki tells us this weekend, the first wave of those checks could be received via direct deposit for americans who have either received a

yesterday, nbc's kelly o'donnell pressed white house press secretary jen psaki on what it will take for the administration to consider the situation a crisis. >> now that the public is seeing some of the images, because the congressional delegation provided some photos and descriptions about what they witnessed -- children were frightened and crying, overcrowded conditions. now that the public has seen that, is that not a crisis, and what conditions or situations, what metrics would have to be in place for the administration to call it that? >> well, children presenting at our border who are fleeing violence, who are fleeing prosecution, who are fleeing terrible situations is not a crisis. we feel that it is our responsibility to humanely approach this circumstance and make sure they are treated with -- treated and put in conditions that are safe. i will say that, you know, these photos show what we've long been saying, which is that these border patrol facilities are not places made for children. they are not places that we want children to be staying for an extended period of time. ou

yesterday, nbc's kelly o'donnell pressed white house press secretary jen psaki on what it will take for the administration to consider the situation a crisis. >> now that the public is seeing some of the images, because the congressional delegation provided some photos and descriptions about what they witnessed, children were frightened and crying, overcrowded conditions. now that the public has seen that, is that not a crisis and what conditions or situation -- what metrics would have to be in place for the administration to call it that? >> well, children presenting at our border who are fleeing violence, who are fleeing prosecution, who are fleeing terrible situations is not a crisis. we feel that it is our responsibility to humanely approach this circumstance and make sure they are treated with -- treated and put in conditions that are safe. i will say that, you know, these photos show what we've long been saying, which is that these border patrol facilities are not places made for children. they are not places that we want children to be staying for an extended period of time. our

nbc's white house correspondent kelly o'donnell joins us with more on this one. ly's on the beat. hey, kelly. >> reporter: morning to all of you. you've got to think the treat jar is off limits at the moment. the official word here is these two incidents did not cause injury or break the skin, and both involve people working here at the white house. a bone of contention around the white house. a second biting incident. all seemed fine monday when the president's 3-year-old german shepherd, major, was out for a walk on the south lawn. major got in minor trouble again. major is adjusting to his new surroundings, and he nipped someone while on a walk. the office of the first lady added out of an abundance of caution, the individual was seen by the white house medical unit and then returned to work without injury. the first dog's transition here has been in the spotlight. >> i've been obsessed with getting our dogs settled because we have an old dog and we have a very young dog. getting everybody settled and calm. >> reporter: earlier this month, major nipped a secret

agent rkts so they sent him away, and poor champ did nothing but they had to sent him away too kelly o'donnellhite house was put on pause earlier this month the president said major was just being protective of him, just a good boy, not understanding that around here that job belongs to the secret service, so the dog spent time in wilmington for some extra training >> the bark is back. >> champ and major are here at >> reporter: an official first dogs update at the tail end of the white house briefing wednesday. >> they joined the first family at camp david last weekend and returned with them on sunday. >> reporter: out of the delaware dog house and spotted on the truman balcony when the president returned tuesday night. >> all he does is lick them and wag his tail. >> reporter: 3-year-old major is home again after he nipped the hand of a secret service agent a few weeks ago leaving a mark described as extremely minor >> major did not bite someone and penetrate the skill. >> reporter: treated to what must be a presidential pardon, major got a behavior refresher course >> dog's being trained no