the senatorfrom kentucky, mr mcconnell. claire bisha. the senator from kentucky, mr mcconnell.entucky, mr mcconnell. senator from south dakota... kamala - from south dakota... kamala harris there leading dominic reading the list of people who will be accompanying the president as he comes into the chamber. amanda, just before we get into the politics, just to look at that image there of nancy pelosi and kamala harris, the speaker of the health and the speaker of the health and the vice president, we have never seen this before, we have never seen this before, we have never had to make such powerful women at the top of american politics. women at the top of american olitics. ., �* , women at the top of american olitics. . �* , , , politics. that's right, this is a moment _ politics. that's right, this is a moment for _ politics. that's right, this is a moment for women, - politics. that's right, this is i a moment for women, women politics. that's right, this is - a moment for women, women of colour, people of colour, to really look at this image about what it means and what you

mr. mcconnell: quote -- biden takes the easy way out of afghanistan, the likely result is disaster. this is the morning's lead editorial from one of the nation's most liberal newspapers. the administration decided to abandon u.s. efforts in afghanistan which have helped keep radical islamic terrorism in check, and bizarrely, they have decided to do so by september 11. apparently, we're to help our adversaries ring in the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by gift-wrapping the country and handing it right back to them. here's what this administration's own national intelligence threat assessment says will happen. quote -- this is a quote from this administration -- the taliban is likely to make gains on the battlefield and the afghan government will struggle to hold the taliban at bay until the coalition withdraws support. in 2019, the democratic leader and the now-chairman of the foreign relations committee expressed outrage that the previous administration considered hosting taliban officials for discussions around the date of september 11. but now a democratic administration is going

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: the situation on our southern border is bad and getting worse. last month saw overall migrant totals hit a nearly two-decade high. more unaccompanied minors arrived than during any prior month on record. these kids crowded in underequipped facilities, tended by increasingly overwhelmed personnel, have become the heart wrenching face of this crisis. yet, the most resolve, the most strength that this administration has shown on the border has been their commitment to their talking points, their refusal to call a crisis a crisis. this past weekend the president of the united states himself slipped up and used that forbidden word. but get this -- he was overruled by his own staff. yesterday the secretary said the president didn't intend to describe the situation as a crisis. fascinating. but then yesterday at last we saw this administration tak

mr. mcconnell: madam president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: time and again, prominent democrats show they are no longer content to work within the ground rules and norms of our institutions, but prefer to threaten the institutions themselves. we have seen it in presidential elections when democrats say our democracy is sacrosanct, when they win, but illegitimate and broken if republicans win. we have seen it with the senate's rules that democrats just spent four years not only praising but using the legislative filibuster, but now that they hold the majority, they say it's actually been interrapinsicly evil -- interrapinsically evil all along and must be scrapped. we're seeing it now with voting regulations where the mere fact that sometimes republicans win elections has democrats wanting to rewrite all 50 states' election laws right here in washington and turn the federal election commission into a

mr. mcconnell, the senator from south dakota mr. kuhn, the senator from wyoming mr.rought to, the senator from iowa ms. ernst, the senator from missouri mr. blunt, the senator from florida mr. scotto. >> the members of the escort committee will exit the chamber through the lobby doors to the right and left of the podium. [inaudible] >> madam speaker, the dean of the diplomatic floor. [applause] [inaudible] [gavel] >> madame speaker, the chief justice of the supreme court. [applause] [inaudible] [applause] [inaudible] [gavel] >> madame speaker, representative of the president's cabinet. [applause] [inaudible] [inaudible] [laughter] [applause] [gavel] [applause] [inaudible]

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: quote -- biden takes the easy way out of afghanistan, the likely result is disaster. this is the morning's lead editorial from one of the nation's most liberal newspapers. the administration decided to abandon u.s. efforts in afghanistan which have helped keep radical islamic terrorism in check, and bizarrely, they have decided to do so by september 11. apparently, we're to help our adversaries ring in the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by gift-wrapping the country and handing it right back to them. here's what this administration's own national intelligence threat assessment says will happen. quote -- this is a quote from this administration -- the taliban is likely to make gains on the battlefield and the afghan government will struggle to hold the taliban at bay until the coalition withdraws support. in 2019, the democratic leader and t

already hearing from republicans in washington who were critical of this plan we've heard from mr mcconnell the senate minority leader saying that the u.s. is just handed the teller by the entire country of afghanistan and what do you say to that. well it is interesting interesting that the republicans say that now because they supported the entire country of afghanistan what do you say to that. well it is interesting interesting that the republicans say that now because they supported president trump's plans to move the troops out without any negotiation with his nato for example i mean this is typical of washington politics that people just criticize whoever is leaving the white house but i think what we really saw today so the obvious legacy of this really 2 decades long war in afghanistan is really that the united states recognizing. limits to the u.s. military power especially when it comes really to altering the culture and internal politics of countries like afghanistan and i'm sure that we will hear that analysis quite a bit over the not the next days and weeks here in the united st

mr. mcconnell: madam president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. l: last night, president biden delivered his first address to a joint session of congress, and today marks his 100th day in office. president biden is a likable person. many of us remember serving with him in this chamber. but while the tone of his remarks were understated, the content was anything but. he talked at length about competing with china without mentioning that he wants to cut u.s. defense spending after inflation, exactly what we cannot do if we want to keep pace. he talked about immigration without taking any responsibility for the border crisis that has his administration packing unaccompanied children into facilities and releasing arrivals into our country. and the president talked about togetherness while reading off a multitrillion-dollar shopping list that was neither designed nor intended to earn bipartisan buy-in. a blueprint for giving washington even more money and even more power to micromanage american families and build a country's liberal want instead of the

mr. mcconnell: madam president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: on good friday, the united states capitol police were subjected to another violent attack. once again our uniformed heroes wound up in harm's way and officer billy evans, a friend and favorite of many here on the senate side, a faithful proctor of the capitol, was killed. investigators are still assessing what drove the perpetrator to attempt this attack on the capitol and whether domestic violent extremism played a role. it appears he was captivated by islam, an extreme group under the openly hateful leader louis far r are aka -- it stole away the life of officer evans from his wife, his children, his mother and all of his friends and family decades too soon. officer evans was famous within the senate for his friendly spirit and easy manner. he was the first face that many would see on their way to work here in the capitol every day. his p

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: tonight, mr. president, president biden will deliver his first address to the joint session of congress. i'll be there, and like my fellow kentuckians watching at home, i'll be curious to hear how the president tries to square his rhetoric with the administration's actions over the past hundred days. back in january, many americans hoped they could take the incoming president at his word. after a year spent beating back an historic pandemic and grappling with civil unrest, president biden pledged he would be, quote, a president for all americans, end quote, with plans to repair, restore, and heal. the american people elected a 50-50 senate, a closely divided house, and a president who preached moderation. he promised that his whole soul was committed to uniting our people. many hoped his administration would reflect that promise, but the first hundred days have left much to be desired. over a few short months, the biden administration seems to have given up on selling actual unity in favor of catn

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: early on a major theme of the biden administration has been false advertising. we have the so-called covid relief bill that broke a long, bipartisan streak on pandemic response and only spent 1% of the money on vaccinations. we have the reintroduction of a sprawling election takeover bill that democrats wrote years ago under the guise that it's a commonsense voting rights bill. we have a president who ran on protecting norms, flirting with proposals to hot-wire the senate rules, and pack the supreme court. and then we have the latest example where even one ivy league expert says democrats spend does a bit of violence to the english language. they've assembled a patchwork of left-wing social engineering programs and want to label it infrastructure. now, as i pointed out before, the first notable thing about the biden administration's plan is

mr. mcconnell blasting corporations for taking a stand on voting rights. the same mitch mcconnell who, for years, has defended the first amendment right of corporations to hand over millions of dollars in political spending. remember citizens united? but now mitch mcconnell says this. >> i am not talking about political contributions. most of them contribute to both sides. they have political action committees. that's fine. it's legal. it's appropriate. i support that. i'm talking about taking a position on a highly incendiary issue like this and punishing a community or a state because you don't like a particular law they passed. i just think it's stupid. >> it's stupid. suddenly, corporations don't have first amendment rights after all? hmm? not many disagree with them. tim scott tweeting this misleading comparison of a vote in georgia the vote in colorado and blaming, wait for it, the woks who are moving the all-star game out of atlanta. again, facts first. daniel dale, who points out georgia's voting i.d. requirements are much stricter than colorado's,

mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: over the weekend the university of kentucky women's basketball team made history. the wildcats ncaa p championship trophy after defeating texas on saturday night. the falling confetti in omaha closed out a 24 win season. the wildcats' unmatched athleticism and resilience fueled their path to the title. yesterday afternoon at u.k.'s memorial coliseum, fans welcomed home their champions including madison lilly, named the most outstanding player. i would like to extend congratulations to the head coach craig skinner and the entire program. kentucky and all of big blue nation couldn't be prouder. on another matter, it's been nearly a month since the biden administration rolled out its so-called infrastructure plan. it quickly became clear their proposal mainly focused on everything but the things normal people call infrastructure. the day this plan was introduced, the white house messaging document mentioned the words climate and un

mr. mcconnell. the senator from south dakota. the senator from wyoming the senator from iowa. ator from missouri, mr. blunt. the senator from florida, mr. scott. >> the members of the escort committee will exit the chamber through the lobby door right and left of the podium. >> the gentleman now from the brookings institution we'll go back as the proceedings continue it's great to have you so many foreign policy challenges at the moment we're all told china is at the top of the list. what can the president accomplish in that lane tonight? >> i'm sort of hoping he doesn't really go into my area of foreign policy i like speeches that have more focus. what he should do in regard to national security is explain the stakes for our own domestic economy. infrastructure, science and education. leave the actual foreign policy discussion for a different cay except to say we're in competition with china we hope it won't be a confrontation or lead to war one of the key lpts will be the strength of the society, economy. long term education and science base and if therefore we'll be interest

mr. mcconnell, help us -- >> i think the republican voters are going to have a lot to say about whether we get a lot of this done. >> while most democrats are praising the president, some have concern. >> i'll be sensitive to any tax increases that hurt the families in my district. >> it's not clear whether the white house can unite progressives and moderates around the plan. >> we need to go way higher. we can do $10 trillion. >> to get onto reconciliation, you have to vote to proceed. i told them i will not vote to proceed until we try. >> you believe you can get ten republicans on an infrastructure bill? >> i sure do. >> joining me is the secretary of transportation, pete buttigieg. mr. secretary, welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you. good to be back. >> i want to start with yourself and senator wicker i have later, define infrastructure as this administration sees it. we're already having a debate of bridge, roads, that's infrastructure, elder care is not. define infrastructure view in your view. >> infrastructure is the foundation that makes it possible for americans to thri

mr. davis: is there -- caller: is there any way to hold mitch mcconnell accountable to prevent polarization between the partisan sides? and is there any way to prevent the court from being politicized going forward? mr. davis: on mcconnell, remember back in 2013, democrats nuked the filibuster, meaning they lowered the vote threshold from 60 to 51 so they could add four obama-appointed liberals to the d.c. circuit judge the second-highest court. so -- d.c. circuit judge judges, the second-highest court. so saying mitch mcconnell prevented senator obama's judges is wrong. we followed historical precedent and norms. democrats thought it was unreasonable to require 60 votes to confirm president obama's nominees, yet you have groups like demand justice out there telling democrats to #resist every one of president trump's judicial nominees. so it is political games we are hearing about. and how you depoliticize the federal judiciary is let judges do their job. you don't threaten to pack the judiciary, you don't threaten to impeach them like justice kavanaugh, you don't threaten term limits, you

. >> senate republican leader mitch mcconnell accuse mr. biden of planning to tuck tail and run.cans actually support the decision to leave. >> is the president handing the victory on the way up to the door? >> media coverage of biden's decision has been markedly different. from that of former president trump's call to remove troops from the war torn country. reflection perhaps of the media, demand, or maybe the moment as america's longest war finally nears an end. that is possibly. after all, mr. biden previously promised american troops would be gone from the country by 2014. of course, he made those comments as vice president. he's hoping to deliver as president. now, one of the main considerations, shannon, for many american is actually back in the idea of a withdrawal in addition to the lost of thousands of american lives is the excruciating financial costs. we the taxpayers have spent well over $2 trillion by some government estimates on the war in afghanistan with possibly billions more to be spent before years end. now, that is money that given our current economic condit

mr. mcconnell, by mr. graham, and others who was the chairman of the judiciary committee, that deep principle was abandoned immediately when it became politically pragmatic for the republican party to do so and steal a supreme court justice. so he can talk about socialism all he wants. what a distraction that is. a fair to discuss on the merits the issues. what do they do? they talk about, madam speaker, socialism or communism or dictatorship. none of which we have in the united states of america. now, we just lost a president of the united states, that in my experience, and i served with many presidents of the united states, was the most authoritarian seeking president with whom i have served. so i tell my friend, madam speaker, we are going to focus on issues important to the american people. we want to pass a jobs bill. to make sure that america's competitive in the 21st century. we want to pass a jobs bill to make sure families have good jobs, good-paying that they can support themselves and their fami

mr. trump reportedly unloaded calling senate minority leader mitch mcconnell "a dumb son of a bitch" at mar-a-lagogreat and stopping the democrat socialist agenda. >> i think that he and mitch mcconnell have a common goal which is getting the majority back in 2022 and in the end hopefully that will be the thing that unites us. >> with issues g.o.p. leaders to message campaign against such as the situation at the border, trillions of dollars in new spending and a crackdown on traditional energy in favor of going green, republican sources predict money will continue to flow to their campaign committees. bret. >> bret: we will watch that. embattled republican matt gaetz from four to reportedly was turned down by former president trump when he recently requested a meeting at mar-a-lago, published in broadcast reports. that story stating aid to president trump after matt gaetz was embroiled in the scandal over alleged relationships with underage women. the scandal that he denies and denies any wrongdoing. up next, the panel on president biden's latest attempt at bipartisanship as he tries to sell his s

mr. trump cursed about mitch mcconnell, also calling the republican leader a stone cold loser and said he was disappointed in his own vice president mike pence attacking both men for not overturning the election outcome. trump persisted in his false claims that he had won. republican liz cheney says trump's rhetoric is still dangerous. >> the former president is using the same language that he knows provoked violence on january 6th. you know, as a party, we need to be focused on the future. >> reporter: back here at the white house, one name is missing from today's bipartisan meeting, west virginia democrat senator joe manchin who's become a pivotal swing vote with an outside level of influence. officials say the president will hold a series of these meetings so more invitations to come. hoda. >> all right, kelly o'donnell for us there at the white house. kelly, thanks. >>> quarter after the hour, let's get our first check of the weather. dylan is in for al this morning. hello dylan. >> good morning, so nice to see you both. hope you had a great weekend. we are seeing things take a turn i

mcconnell plays a role, kevin mccarthy plays a role. clearly donald trump is retired, unemployed, and appears to want to play some type of a role. >> over the weekend, mrpting the election results. what do you think -- what do you think rhetoric like that does to the republican party? >> well, i think rhetoric that inflames people is wrong. i don't care whether it's from the right or from the left. it just doesn't help our country in any way, shape, or form. and so republicans need to go back to being the principals as a republican -- the principles of the republican party. and frankly, i think the party will be much, much better off in the long run. >> all right. you watch golf over the weekend? what do you think about the results? happy? >> listen, for the last 48 years i've planted myself every masters weekend, i've watched every moment of it. and i'm real proud of him. he played great. it's always great theater. but it was just as great yesterday. >> all right. john boehner, you say you went from a regular guy working to a bar to holding a pretty big job. i want to end with this -- my favorite boehner-ism, no media to murder your opponent -- need t

mr. secretary, thanks so much for joining us. as you know, the senate minority leader mitch mcconnell says president biden's infrastructure plan woulds words, completely recrafted to win any republican votes at all. democrat joe manchin, as you just heard, he also says the bill needs to be changed. how much is president biden, mr. secretary, willing to compromise? >> you know, president biden cares about a bipartisan approach and he cares about what members of the senate and the house and the public thinks. i think you'll see a lot of listening. but at the end of the day, there's a clear vision from the president. it's a good vision. it's supported by the american people. it will contribute to the creation of millions of jobs and we feel great about it. of course, this is the beginning of a legislative process that will have a lot of back and forth. i'm sure more ideas will come into the mix and that's a good thing. >> so he is willing to compromise, is that what you're saying? >> at the end to have day, he'll decide what the right balance is, but i'll tell you the vision that he already put forward, in my view it's pretty hard to i

mr. mccarthy: bunch bowl news. i'm sorry. i'm getting it wrong. i just became a subscriber last week. i was clear with the speaker early on, so was leader mcconnell, so were those that did the 9/11 commission. for any commission to work or for any ability, it has to be a fair process, equal number of republicans, subpoena, and a number of others. we said that was the minimum to sit down to negotiate. she hasn't responded to us or sat down and talked with us. she has to talk to us, not even saying she's talking to some blirnings don't know if they're elected, whoever she's talking to. reporter: have you seen the senate infrastructure proposal? are you negotiating at all with senators on what you want? mr. mccarthy: i have not seen what the senate proposed, we are working on our own bill. i have talked to one person in the white house about that as well. reporter: do you have an idea when your bill might be proposed? mr. mccarthy: very soon. we'll show it to all of you. reporter: president biden plans to address a joint session of congress, have you been briefed by capitol police or relevant law enforcement affiliates on the posture for the joint s

look, mitch mcconnell has a point in that some democrats, including the president of the united states, mren, have gotten some of the details wrong. but bill clinton used to have this thing, anderson, if you see a turtle on a fence post, it didn't get there by accident. most laws in the states do restrict voting rights and republicans are pushing them. there have been some exaggeration and hype about the georgia law but these conversation in more than 40 states are real. >> john king, toluse olorunnipa, thank you very much. appreciate it. >>> has the identity of q, the person behind the extremist ideology, qanon, that's attracted followers with its bizarre-and-false conspiracy theories. has the -- has q actually been discovered? up next, i will talk with the filmmaker behind a fascinating, new hbo documentary. examining qanon about why he is convinced he solved the puzzle. #. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ hey google, turn up the heat. ♪ ♪ ♪ hey xfinity, show me disney plus... i'm here on business. i need your help. i've been quested to bring this one back to its kind. now you can access exclusive disney ori

mr. sonnenfeld got the message from mitch mcconnell.litics. >> ridiculous. jeffrey -- i'm going to talk to tom about this in one second. tom and i former republicans, we are quite amused by republicans claiming that private businesses don't have the right to run their businesses the way they want to, whether it's how they manage their platforms or whether they speak out against social injustices that they believe, whether for the right reason or because they believe it will affect their bottom line, they believe their stance they need to take as a company. explain. >> that's exactly right. it might seem like an odd segue to some to come at this after the masters. that's a historic milestone and so is this. we had three or four ceos call in from augusta to join the event. you nailed it. what's different here is that these business leaders don't want to be defined by any political identity. it's almost like a gangly adolescence. they are cutting their own path. they don't go for the left. they don't go for the right. they are not isolatio

mr. trump repeating false claims the election was stollen, and lamb pasting dr. anthony fauci, mike pence and mitch mcconnell. even calling the senate minority leader a quote dumb s.o.b. and stone cold loser. we are holding back here. and secretary of state anthony blinken calling out china's handling of the coronavirus pandemic arguing the country's quote failure to cooperate in the early stages that led to the situation getting out of hand. coming up, reaction from congressman mark pocan. >>> first, in washington, infrastructure stays center stage as president biden is set to meet with democrats and republicans tomorrow to discuss his the trillion dollar plan hoping to deal on his promise of bipartisanship. the parties are likely to debate what is infrastructure. >> if they are interested in roads and bridges and highways and perhaps broadband there is a deal to be had. the sort of big, bold, utopian, european-style socialism proposal that they have laid out there is something they can try and do another time. >> infrastructure evolves to meet the american people's aspirations. and it's not static. in 1990

mr. trump is morally and practically responsible for the offense of that day. that was mitch mcconnell, senator mitch mcconnell, who said this -- former president trump inside of that bloody insurrection for nothing but selfish reasons. he claimed voter fraud without any evidence and repeated those claims, taking advantage of the trust placed in him by his supporters and ultimately betraying that trust. that is former speaker john boehner. who said this -- january 6 was clearly an attack that was attempted to stop the counting of electoral votes. it is important for people to realize that who we are as americans is the rule of law. the judicious product chest. -- the dishes process. there was a judicial process in place. if you attack it, you attack the rule of law. if you're not defending the constitution, you are at war with the constitution. that was liz cheney. those descriptions of the attack and its significance are the recent words of senate and house republicans leaders, not democrats. former president trump's action, inciting and encouraging the domestic terrors -- to semester

mcconnell has a point. republicans have a point some democrats have exaggerated the point of the georgia law and the president of the united states mrclinton said if you see a turtle on a fence post that didn't get there by accident, we're not having this conversation by accident. most of these laws in the states do restrict voting rights and republicans are pushing them. there have been some exaggeration and hype about the georgia law but these conversations in more than 40 states are real. >> thank you so much. appreciate it. >>> has the identity of q, the person behind the extremists ideology qanon attracted followers with the bizarre and false conspiracy theories has q actually been discovered? up next, i'll talk with the film maker behind a fascinating documentary examining qanon why he's convinced he solved the puzzle. vo: calling all builders, all welders, and roofers. engineers and electricians. calling all brick masons and boiler makers. steel workers and steam fitters your country is calling you to rebuild america. to create a cleaner, safer, more prosperous future for all. tackling climate change, this is the job of our l

police and litter includes mr the team caused the british to enter into more secret dealings over the middle east. coming up how the british conspired which should be 1st seen mcconnell to strike back at the ottomans through an arab revolt. the british adopt the sharifs of mecca as the partners that were essential in the propaganda war with the ottomans to demonstrate that the muslim world was better off on the allied side that fight the odds let me explain why we must have and sikes. negotiate face to face to get what they both want from the middle east well if we cannot have palestinian my government was suddenly not allow britain to control my government would take the same view of french palestine would be an outrage but then we need to find another solution. we come to blows. and so. now we can draw. a century ago they were called colonials. 50 years ago and they were known as immigrants today they are citizens. in the light of france's 2021 contentious so-called separatism laws look back at the history of muslim immigration in france in a 3 part series. muslims of france episode one on al-jazeera. port moresby the capital of poppy in getting is ranked one of th

mcconnell. and we definitely need -- but i think that if i get behind senators and if i get behind congressmen, i just endorsed as you know mrs. wright in texas. i think she's going to be great. she's really going to be tremendous. her husband passed away. he was a great supporter of mine. and she's running for his seat. and i think she's going to be great. and just a person of wonderful person in louisiana who just won her election, as you know, a lot of people running. she was hoping to get into the runoffs and she not only got into the runoffs, she got 65% of the vote and she won. so you know, i'm looking at the right people to endorse and i think that when i endorse people, it means a lot. and i think we're going to have a great victory in '22. i think we're going to take back the house. everybody is working very hard. i'm working in conjunction with kevin mccarthy and the group and i think we're going to take back the house. you know, we're only literally a few votes short and when they look at the open borders, when they look at the second amendment being decimated which is going to be one of their next steps, when they

it's a complicated world we live in >> mitch mcconnell may not want to hear from ceos, but the sense is i think certainly when you listen to mr that you are going to continue to see many corporations engega we'll be right back on "squawk on the street. the aflac post-pain show! aflac! what a day of upsets. ha ha. jill is certainly upset with that unexpected bill from her back surgery. aflac! let's see that one more time. ♪ ♪ (bleep) (wincing) oooh, right in the wallet! ouch! aflac! aflac would have paid jill cash directly to help with expenses health insurance doesn't cover. hold on, i think she's trying to give us a side-eye... because she can't turn her head! (laugh) get help with expenses health insurance doesn't cover. get to know us at aflac.com so you're a small business, or a big one. you were thriving, but then... oh. ah. okay. plan, pivot. how do you bounce back? you don't, you bounce forward, with serious and reliable internet. powered by the largest gig speed network in america. but is it secure? sure it's secure. and even if the power goes down, your connection doesn't. so how do i do this? you don't do this. we d

mr. howe, faith groups are partnering, and vaccination with republicans, especially republican men, is something that national party leaders are trying to address. you've got the senate minority leader, mitch mcconnell >> we need to take this vaccine. these reservations need to be put aside. >> reporter: former president trump said this -- >> it's a great vaccine. it's a safe vaccine, and it's something that works. >> reporter: now mr. howe says he hasn't heard enough information from sources that he trusts to make him want to get the shot. and even though the vaccines have been deemed safe and effective by doctors around the world consistently, mr. howe says he's not moved by it. >> when i go into stores, i'm civil, and i wear a mask and everything like that. the mask is nice. the social distancing -- i'll do that. what would change my mind to say if you get this vaccine, you're not going to give it to someone else, if you get this vaccine, you're not going to get it. if it comes down to where i think that i'm hurting the rest of the populace, then i will get a shot. if i have to travel and go somewhere then i'll get the shot. >> reporter: but to be -- chris -- >> i feel fine. >> reporter: you feel

mr. mcconnell: mr. president. i ask that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: as we speak for the second time this year, a fallen officer of the united states capitol police lies in honor under the capitol dome. this morning, officer billy evans was greeted here by those who are grateful for his friendship and ultimate sacrifice. he died defending the capitol, this institution and the thousands of people who come here to do the people's business. the circumstances of his killing remind us of the dangers that uscp officers swear, train, and prepare to meet whenever it might arise. yet, to that serious task to his intense responsibilities, officer evans brought a spirit and strength of capitol that leaves us all at the capitol with memories of kindness and friendship. today i know our colleagues are holding officer evans and the family he leaves behind close in our thoughts an our -- and our prayers, his sacrifice will not be forgotten. now on a completely different matter. just moments ago new reporting su

mr. mcconnell: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask that the order be executed with respect to the reporting of the three amendments under the consent agreement. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report the amendments by number. the clerk: the senator from texas, mr. cruz, opposes -- poses an amendment 1456 to amendment numbered 1445. the senator from kentucky mr. mcconnell for mr. lee proposes an amendment numbered 1425 to amendment number 1445. mrs. blackburn proposes an amendment numbered 1458 to amendment numbered 1445. mr. mcconnell: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: mr. durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. durbin: i ask that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: today is earth day, our nation's annual largest civic event, more than one billion people and 192 nations are expected to participate in activities to draw attention to the ur

mr. mcconnell: madam president. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: last week the senate began consideration of the covid-19 hate crimes act. it's my understanding the democratic leader hopes be a final vote on the bill will occur on wednesday. earnest bipartisan conversations have improved this legislation considerably behind the scenes. senate republicans have helped make the bill better, and i am confident that with a bipartisan process this week that also includes votes on republican amendments, we'll be able to continue moving forward toward the outcome the country deserves. now, on an entirely different matter, last summer, our nation began grappling in a renewed way with anger and pain at the fact that our progress toward racial justice remains unfinished. rightly understood, this is not a struggle against our nation's founding principles and central pillars. rather, it is a journey to make america e

mr. mcconnell: as i noted here on the floor last week, the unaccompanied children packed into overflowing facilities are not the only tragic consequence of our failure to secure the border. in addition to the u.s., our southern border is the mainstream of illegal drugs that continues to pour into our country. according to the c.d.c., more americans died of overdoses last year than ever before. this health crisis predated covid-19 and will outlast it. and customs and border protection data tell us a major cause has been a spike in the flow of fentanyl and its analogue -- analogs produced by chemical companies in places like china. these drugs which can be hundreds of thousands of times stronger than morphine are rightly classified on the schedule of controlled substances. there are severe penalties for those caught trafficking them. it's the least we can do to protect american lives, families, and communities. clearly, on its own, this step hasn't been sufficient. but in a few weeks, even this obvious step is set to expire. fentanyl analogs would cease being controlled substances in federa