leigh ann caldwell for us there from the capitol rotunda. leigh ann, thank you. joining me. that will do it for me this hour. special presidential envoy for climate john kerry will join andrea mitchell right now on "andrea mitchell reports." >>> and good day. this is "andrea mitchell reports" in washington where president biden is calling on business and university leaders to mandate vaccine requirements in the ongoing fight against the delta variant slamming communities and hospitals across

leigh ann caldwell snapped a photo of the bill as it made the first rounds of the hill, and that stackor roads and brejs and broadband access and billions more for clean water, and dealing with climate change. the focus now turns to getting it passed in the senate. majority leader chuck schumer is eyeing votes as soon as possible, but the august recess set to begin next week, but today, the minority leader mitch mcconnell insisted they should not be in a rush. >> i encourage the senators from both sides of the aisle to submit the potential amendments on the bill. let's start voting on the amendments, because the longer it takes to finish the bill, the longer we will be here. >> the artificial timetable of the bill will not be penciled out for the colleagues across the aisle for political purposes. >> and joining us is our colleague from politico, and eugene daniels as well, and so i will urge to not say that it is infrastructure bill and say it is infrastructure week, but walk us through what we will see on this bill, and when we could see some votes on this. >> sure. the bill is to be

shannon pettypiece, leigh ann caldwell, thank you both.ait president biden's remarks, i'm going to turn now very quickly to the dire situation in afghanistan. the taliban continues to gain territory there at an alarming rate. now capturing six of the country's 34 provincial capitals since friday. that's right. six since friday. taliban advances have forced thousands of afghans to flee. with nowhere else to go, really, many are now homeless in kabul. the u.s. is providing? air support to afghan forces but no ground troops. and the pentagon says the responsibility lies with afghanistan's government and military to defend itself, something that doesn't appear to be happening. joined now by the president press secretary john kirby. john, it's good to talk with you. i'm sorry it's on these dire conditions. but look, there's a cliche out there that sometimes things go south quickly. everybody thought this was going to eventually look bad. are you guys alarmed at how fast the taliban is advancing? >> we're certainly watching, chuck, with great co

leigh ann caldwell has been covering this for us. where do things stand at this hour?een awhile and we're close to the finish line, at least in this step of the process where the senate is expected to vote on final passage as early as today but more likely tomorrow morning. the senate worked through the weekend. it took longer than planned because bill haggardy slowed down the process. he got a congratulations from the president. he put the bill on the regional amtrak instead of acela. both trains get to the finish line, get to their destination, but one takes longer than the other. so it has been drawn out, but on a key procedural vote, it gained the support of 19 republicans and that is a sign of how the vote in the final passage will come down with at least the support of 19 republicans. that mean it's will be a big bipartisan accomplishment. the senate work is not done before they leave for august recess. the senate just unveiled this morning the outlines of their 3.5 trillion reconciliation human infrastructure bill and that is a process they are going to start im

joining me is capitol hill correspondent, leigh ann caldwell and peter baker.you've had endless hours waiting with basically nothing happening because of bill haggerty from tennessee. but now we're about to get to final debate and a vote. >> reporter: that's right, andrea. this first track that senator schumer just mentioned regarding the bipartisan infrastructure bill, well, that train is about to reach its destination in the senate, regardless of the fact that senator bill haggerty slowed down this process for several days. he wasn't able to stop it, but just make it painfully longer. the senate could vote on final passage as early as 4:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. well, actually, i should back up. they could vote as early as today if senator haggerty and others allow them to do so, but time runs out on the clock at 4:00 a.m. tuesday morning when they can vote on this final passage. if they have an agreement, it could actually be in the daylight hours tomorrow as well. immediately after, they are going to move to this $3.5 trillion resolution, which is the first

and fingers are crossed in washington right now, and joining me is white house correspondent leigh ann caldwellis as if we are getting beyond the 30-hour window at this point when it is coming to the debate, and so where are we in the time line and when can we be expecting this vote? >> hi, yasmin. yes, the 30 hours runs out at 4:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. so, there is a chance that the senate will vote on final passage of this infrastructure bill very early tomorrow morning. of course, anything can happen in the senate if there is a support of all 100 senators, so perhaps there is some sort of agreement to move that vote into daylight hours, but, agreement among all senators has been difficult to come by, and that is why this process over the fast -- past few days has been taking so long. and senator hagerty has been holding up any time lines to move quickly through the process, because he is not liking that the bill is not completely paid for according to the congressional budget office official score. but senator hagerty could not stop the bill, but slow it down. it looks like it is going to

joining us now, nbc news correspondent leigh ann caldwell. the senate passing the infrastructure bill, of course, a huge win for president biden. it will be a long road before the bill actually gets to his desk. what do you expect next? >> it sure is a long road, alicia. the senate on that long road of $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill. now, both of those measures go over the house of representatives, the bipartisan bill and the process. now speaker pelosi says she's only going to take up when they come back to session later this month. the 3.5 trillion first step process. she is holding up on that bipartisan bill, until the senate completes the rest of the process on this human infrastructure bill. they still have to write the legislation. and then they have to vote on it again. and now that is going to be a large block of moderates in the party who say they will not support this bipartisan bill until they see every single line of legislative text of this human infrastructure bill. and that's why speaker pelosi is waiting. so, we might not g

joining me is leigh ann caldwell. this has implications to the process. tell us what they are and give us the reality check whether pelosi is at risk of being somewhat derailed here. >> reporter: hey, hallie. there is a big risk here. we always knew that it was going to be a difficult task for speaker pelosi to keep all of her members united, because remember, she can only lose three democrats for anything to pass the house of representatives. so when nine members sign a letter saying they are not going to vote for something, that matters and she has to pay attention. now, what these nine moderate democrats are saying is that when the house comes back into session in a couple weeks to vote on that $3.5 trillion budget framework on their big human infrastructure bill, they say they they aren't going to vote for it. they want the bipartisan traditional infrastructure bill to be signed into law first. this puts pelosi in a difficult position because there are moderates, three of whom on their front line districts, meaning they are at risk of losing their re-

. >> nbc's leigh ann caldwell is on capitol hill. how soon are we talking here?de the ten republican votes necessary to pass the bill if schumer cuts off debate and stops offering amendments. republicans say it's a 2,700 page bill and they need time to go through it to know how to amend it. democrats are getting extremely anxious, wanting to move pass this on to their reconciliation bill, $3.5 trillion. i caught up with senator roy blunt, a republican member of leadership and he explained what's going on here and says it's not just the democratic party. there's some issues with his own party, too. let's listen. there are enough amendments, is it moving too quickly for you? >> i think we're having amendment votes. we could have more, big problems on the other side allowing us to move forward with amendments. >> reporter: the senate has so far voted on eight amendments. our team caught up with senator rob portman who says they'd like 19 amendments, that could last a couple more days. some are frustrated. another way to look at this, hallie, at least the senate is l

leigh ann caldwell, thank you.>>> new today signs donald trump could be planning his next political move. according to a new report from "the new york times," trump has built a war chest of more than $100 million. this comes as trump's former chief of staff, mark meadows, says trump has been meeting with cabinet members to discuss the future. >> we met with some of our cabinet members tonight. we had a follow-up member meeting with some of our cabinet meters. as we were looking at that, we were looking at what does come next. i'm not authorized to speak on behalf of the president. i can tell you this, steve, we wouldn't be meeting tonight if we weren't making plans to move forward in a real way and with president trump at the head of that ticket. >> joining me is katty kay, washington editor. how do you interpret what meadows said? he talks about the president. he talks about the cabinet. >> unofficially donald trump is running, right? and while he's running unofficially it's impossible for other candidates like ro

" katherine wu, staff writer for the "atlantic" covering science, and joining me in studio, leigh ann caldwell, capitol hill correspondent for nbc news and josh dawsey, political enterprise and investigations reporter for "the washington post." katherine, the white house is continuing to urge people to get vaccinated and pointing out that vaccination rates are going up in critical areas. what's the latest on what is working in terms of getting more people vaccinated and what more do we know about how the virus has been evoing? kathy: thank you for that question. it's been really encouraging to see an uptick in vaccinations in the past couple of weeks but it is not nearly enough. i think it really did take a little bit of fear to get people moving and rolling up their sleeves in the past couple of weeks. we've seen the new variant surge immensely especially in places where vaccination rates are low and i really hope that unfortunately through difficult means that is encouraging people to protect themselves. i wish it hadn't taken more deaths and hospitalizations to do so. what's critical at thi

let's go to leigh ann caldwell who's waiting for any updates. orter: i wish there was a big update, yasmin, but i can say a source sent me the text of the latest draft of this bill. it runs about 2,700 pages. other sources are still cautioning me that this is still an active negotiation and that there could still be some substantial changes made to this. so even as senate majority leader chuck schumer said a couple of hours ago, a few hours ago now that a deal is imminent, it still seems like they are still working on it. leader schumer created and had the senate in session to try to move things along. perhaps it was necessary to get everyone to finally agree to things, but it's still taking quite a bit of time and much longer than expected, yasmin. >> i want to get to this mccarthy news real quick, but just update folks while i have you kind of on what happens next once this text actually drops? >> reporter: yeah. so what happens next is that there will be some official filing of this legislation on the senate floor. it doesn't take any votes. b

leigh ann caldwell joins me now. >> this is not a blanket eviction moratorium for everybody.ead and transmission from the delta variant. but they also say it will impact 90% of renters. now, how this came about because of course the regular moratorium expired last saturday, there was a protest by representative corey bush on the steps of the capital. he is was furious this came and went with no action by the white house. and her refusal as she was joined by other progressive members to leave those capital steps put a lot of pressure on the white house and on speaker pelosi. speaker pelosi had multiple conversations with president biden, many conversations with his aids saying there was a health emergency and together the leadership pressure and the pressure by representative bush got the white house to act and to do this direct, but targeted eviction moratorium extension at least for the next 60 days, jose. >> thank you very much for that explanation. >>> burned out and overwhelmed. the delta variant is surging in all 50 states and there is nearly 3.2 million cases in texas.

leigh ann caldwell for us there from the capitol rotunda. leigh ann, thank you. and thank you for joining me. that will do it for me this hour. special presidential envoy for climate john kerry will join andrea mitchell right now on "andrea mitchell reports." >>> and good day. this is "andrea mitchell reports" in washington where president biden is calling on business and university leaders to mandate vaccine requirements in the ongoing fight against the delta variant slamming communities and hospitals across the country. that discussion this hour is the president and leading republican governors continue their fight over mask mandates for schools. >> people should not be dying from a viral illness. period. they shouldn't be dying from covid-19. we're seeing pretty rapid changes to the health of the individuals that are infected with the virus. >> and a day after andrew cuomo's announcement that he's going to resign we will hear for the first time from his successor lieutenant governor kathy hochul who in the 13 days will make history as new york's first woman go

let's check in on leigh ann caldwell.but walk me through is there anything that could derail this? >> not really, chuck. things last night broke down, but it just slowed down the process. it's not going to stop it or derail it. there is opposition over a crypto currency. and then one senator objected to how the cbo scored the infrastructure bill. he didn't take into account they think the economy, the economic growth, will help to pay for it. so these objections are not stopping anything. things will pass, it will just take more time. they hoped to wrap up last night, the process will continue on saturday. they need the support of all 100 senators to agree on times of folks. so we'll see but by the end of the weekend it should be wrapped up, but then a lot of americans want to take on that $3.5 million partisan bill. >> there was another story you were scooping us on. they said there would be voting rights bills voted on next week. will that be amendments to the reconciliation package? if it is, forgive me for being cynic

i want to bring back in my colleague, leigh ann caldwell, and what else are we watching in these lastght. we are watching to see where these republicans stand. we know 50 democrats will support the legislation and we know that there is going to be at least ten republicans moving forward. there are key procedural votes where 19 republicans voted for it, but final passage, of course, is a different thing. senator thune just caught up with members of our team and said the reason he is not voting for it is because it's not fully paid for, and senator thune is somebody that is up for re-election and has not announced if he is running again yet, and he's been on the wrong side of the former president recently and he decided to be a "no" vote on this legislation. his colleague also from the same state, senator rounds, who is not here and able to vote was his wife is sick, and he put out a statement, he too, would be opposed if he were here. the number we are watching is exactly how many republicans will come down for it, and if the senate minority leader, mitch mcconnell, will vote for it, a

joining us, nbc's leigh ann caldwell and columnist for real clear politics and phil rucker, senior correspondentimes" best seller list, number one. congratulations. and leigh ann, how does chuck schumer plan to do both of these bills at the same time with everything else at stake, and all of the disagreements we know that have even emerged from the house side as to the bipartisan bill? >> reporter: it's going to be complicated, andrea. this bipartisan infrastructure bill is big, it's $550 billion. it repairs roads and bridges, it creates a new electric vehicle infrastructure, it provides money for amtrak, it aims to replace every led water pipe in the country. many progressives say this bill does not go far enough, that it doesn't do enough for climate and, of course, that it does not do enough for the human infrastructure components of our economy, like childcare, paid family leave, elder care, et cetera, and that is why leader schumer has promised to immediately move to this human infrastructure, $3.5 trillion bill, immediately after the bipartisan bill is dispensed with. now, the timeline is

." >>> joining us now nbc capitol news correspondent leigh ann caldwell, and she's here on set. >> yay of immigration. we have democratic congressman, republican senator. where does that stand? is there any sort of sense the administration is receptive to this, and right now how much danger does covid pose at theboarder? >> republicans have made a big deal about covid at the border especially on capitol hill when they were talking about nancy pelosi demanding they wear a mask again and then they're putting it back on them and saying, what about what's happening at the border? these people are spreading covid into the united states, but it is a serious problem. secretary quay rar, although he's a democrat, he's been the most critical on how they've been handing the border. his district lines the border, so he sees it firsthand, and there's been a lot of debate on capitol hill about what to do with it. of course, they're focusing the debate on legalization and the republicans are focusing on border security and the ages old debate intention still exists. >> certainly the republicans are

and leigh ann caldwell has been following the story from the hill. and also with us, co-founder of punch bowl news. how will this whole thing go down? >> and it is not just infrastructure week, it is actually infrastructure day because the senate is going to pass this $1 trillion bipartisan traditional infrastructure bill later this morning. what i'm going to be watching for, we know that all 50 democrats will support it, but how many republicans actually vote for this legislation. we got a bit of a preview the other day, that key procedural vote, when 19 republicans voted for this legislation. we expect that number to be similar today. but i'm going to watch if that number increases and also if republicans running for re-election in 2022 come down in favor of this legislation including senator john thune who is the senate's number two, a member of mcconnell's leadership team. we know mcconnell voted for the procedural motion and we expect him to vote for final passage today. but the senate will complete its work today on the piece of legislation and

i'm hallie jackson in washington joined by kerry sanders, leigh ann caldwell and shannon pettypiece andiew what's happening in new york city but as a medical professional, i have to ask you about it. this is just coming in to us reporting out of the "new york times" this big move potentially by mayor de blasio who,

i'm hallie jackson in washington joined by kerry sanders, leigh ann caldwell and shannon pettypiece and dr. bernard ashby, florida state lead for the committee to protect health care. dr. ashby, i want to start with you and this is not your purview what's happening in new york city but as a medical professional, i have to ask you about it. this is just coming in to us reporting out of the "new york times" this big move potentially by mayor de blasio who, according to the paper, is set to announce any minute, i don't think we have that live stream up just yet but we'll bring it up in a second as it gets going set to announce vaccine requirement indoors in the nation's biggest city. i believe this would be the first of its kind mandate in this country, similar mandates have been put in place at areas overseas. i wondered just initially hearing this, dr. ashby, what your take on this is, and what the impact could be. >> that's a loaded, loaded question. so let me start with the fact that -- >> break it down then. pick apart where you want to go with that, doc. >> let's establish the fact v

leigh ann caldwell is there. where do we stand? >> the senate worked through the weekend to continue this bipartisan infrastructure bill and they took another key procedural vote last night that could look very like the vote on final passage. and on that vote, there are 19 republicans who supported this bipartisan bill. there were two republicans who were absent who were likely to vote for it. so that would make the number to 21. you have members of mcconnell's leadership team, including senator roy blunt and mcconnell himself who voted for it. including members of this g22 bipartisan group who came up with this legislation. but i will say the republicans are divided on this issue. not only on the vote itself and the legislation itself, but also on messaging. you had members like senator todd young of indiana who came out last night saying he's not going to vote for it because it's tied too closely to the $3.5 trillion human infrastructure bill. well, they are divided on messaging because people like leader mcconnell saying, no, th

leigh ann caldwell is on capitol hill and peter baker, of course, an msnbc political analyst.ident biden is about to make his first sales pitch on reconciliation, and many of seeing the price tag on this signature bill. so how is he going to sell this especially to those senate moderates and active moderates in the house, as we know, nancy pelosi only has a three-seat margin. >> exactly right. you know, basically, president biden has lumped his entire domestic agenda practically into this one package. it's as if we're doing the entire society with one bill. and doing it, as you point out correctly. climate, immigration, medicare. universal pre-k. community college for free. all of these big priorities wrapped into one. very big, expensive package. back to this sort of kind of defining debate that washington used to have over the size and scale of government. right? very, very familiar, those of us who covered this going back decades, democrats advocate for a more robust view and republicans say tax and spending gone amok. the problem for president biden, barely a margin in the

leigh ann caldwell is on capitol hill., representative madison cawthorn found himself in multiple controversies since he entered congress just about a year ago. he's a freshman from the western part of north carolina. as you said, he's one of the people who is caught up in the record preservation process of the january 6th select committee and that's because he is one of the speakers on the rally on january 6th at the white house, at the white house ellipse earlier that day but the latest controversy comes when he was speaking at a republican party north carolina county office over the weekend, when he said that fraudulent elections must be taken care of, and it's going to lead to one place if it's not, and he says it's bloodshed. his spokesperson has told "the washington post" that he did not mean that there was going to be any violence from it, and said he was saying that instead, things have to be settled without violence but hallie, representative cawthorn is someone who was elected to replace the former congressman an

leigh ann caldwell, democrats are upset, some calling on him to apologize. are you hearing on your end there? >> reporter: hey, hallie. it's silence from republicans, the only republican we've heard from is the republican you mentioned, the spokesman to leader mccarthy who says leader mccarthy was joking when he made those remarks. there are many democrats who are coming to speaker pelosi's defense, taking to twitter and tweeting things like "america suffered enough violence around politics. gop mccarthy is now a would-be assailant. he needs to resign. another "violence against women is no laughing matter." drew hamel "a threat of violence to someone a target of a january 6th assassination attempt from your fellow trump supporters is irresponsible and disgusting." some of these members are calling on leader mccarthy to in fact resign, something that we do not expect him to do, but hallie, the relationship between pelosi and mccarthy was never good, but after january 6th, it has just disintegrated into something where they don't speech to each other. speaker

nbc's leigh ann caldwell is on capitol hill. even getting this bipartisan bill through is massive. one could say this is the crowning achievement of the biden white house, but already all 50 democrats have voted to move the $3.5 trillion bill forward. that does not mean they're definitely voting for it. joe manchin has already said it's way too much money. can you explain what's going on? >> reporter: that's right, stephanie. this is just the first of several steps that democrats have to take to pass this $3.5 trillion bill. what they did last night is they passed an outline and now they have to go back and write the legislation, and the senate vote on that was at about 4:30 this morning and there was barely time for senators to clear the chamber when senator joe manchin dropped a bombshell, saying that he has a lot of concerns about the $3.5 trillion price tag. in a statement he says he worries about the economy overheating and that the country will not be able to adequately prepare for future crises if they spend that money now. now, this is not a new position of senator manchin.