sahil: the g.o.p. response was expected. the white house was caught off guard by how forceful some of the democrats were, including gregory meeks who promised an investigation. as far as mccarthy's comments, there is -- there's a bifurcated dynamic where in the short term, they smell blood in the water politically. they sense this is a moment of possible weakness for president biden and they want to use that to weaken the president politically but then there's the more complicated question of what mccarthy and his allies would do instead and that's where we saw him tripped up friday when he was asked questions about, for instance, the troop presence. does he want a longer, more permanent troop presence? he didn't have a clear issue. the issue of negotiating with the taliban which experts think is inevitable. they are a powerful force in afghanistan. he faulted president biden for that in the negotiation but didn't fault president trump for initiating that negotiation to begin with. complicated dynamics. yamiche: the g.o.p. i

, can i just -- i want to hear, but what does she gain by doing that, sahil? >> there are a couple theories about this. and the most compelling one i have heard is that she's trying to grease the wheels for republicans on this bipartisan deal. there's a school of thought in the gop right now that if they advance this bipartisan infrastructure deal, it would make it easier for democrats to pass that big reconciliation bill, which conservatives are very determined to scuttle. there is another view which is that republicans should go along with the bipartisan deal, say they did something, say they're not just a party of no, and let democrats fight it out over the rec reconciliation bill. sinema seems to believe the republicans need an extra carrot to go along with the deal and she's saying i'm not entirely with my progressive flank on that $3.5 trillion price tag. of course, as i mentioned, not really going over well with a lot of democrats, but we're just at the beginning of this process. this is going to be a very grueling, long, grueling battle for democrats t

nbc's sahil kapur. how are they divvying up this money?shep, it's finally infrastructure week. $555 billion bill. $110 billion will go to roads, bridges, and highways. that is the core of this about $73 billion will go to modernizing the electricity grids.r rail about 39 billion o $66 billion on passenger rail. about $39 billion on public transit. $5 billion to upgrade the water. the only debate how much to spend and how this is going to be paid for. some of these numbers may not be the final version. the congressional budget office is still scoring some of the provisions as we speak, but this is the crux of it. the votes have begun today chuck schumer is in a hurry. wants to get this done this week so they can move onto the separate multi-trillion dollar bill all before they leave for recess for august mitch mcconnell has said there's no rush and that the senate should take its time and do what he calls a robust amendment process. of course, shep, the threat of keeping senators in town for the august recess tends to be a motivator to get

nbc's sahil kapur is following this story for us. sahil, where do things stand?craig, democratic leaders have hatched a plan that they believe will break this logjam between speaker pelosi and allow the house to move forward on president biden's multitrillion dollar reconciliation package. essentially what they're offering the moderates is a guarantee that by september 27th the house will vote on that senate-passed infrastructure bill that moderates are insisting that that come up before the reconciliation bill is passed and pelosi is offering this as a measure to get them onboard to begin work on the $3.5 trillion bill. as this happens, president biden has also been making calls along with senior white house staff, we are told, to democrats a wide variety of democrats in the caucus including members of this group of ten moderates. let's put their names up on the screen. led by josh gottheimer the centrist democrat from new jersey. these are the democrats demanding pelosi change course. they've not finalized this, but the rules committee earlier today approved a

sahil, thank you very much. we'll leave it there. coming up, the white house and the cdc are saying two different things when it comes to the coronavirus delta variant. so who's right and why aren't they on the same page? >>> but first, exciting news for team usa. not just them, but us. simone biles set to compete in her last event tomorrow. we'll bring you all the latest from tokyo. omorrow. we'll bring you all the latest from tokyo for weeks? now they can! this towel has already been used and it still smells fresh. pour a cap of downy unstopables into your washing machine before each load and enjoy fresher smelling laundry for up to 12-weeks. it's dry. there's no dry time. makes us wonder why we booked fifteen second ad slots. my auntie called me. she said uncle's had th a heart attack.e. i needed him to be here. your heart isn't just yours. protect it with bayer aspirin. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. at pnc bank, we believe in the power of the watch out. that's why we created low cash mode, th

i have to leave it there, sahil.olitics. by the way, what is the democratic base when we talk about turning that out. a little test of what that might look like in an akron, what these special elections in ohio tell us about what we could be expecting in the mid terms. that's next. t. still fresh unstopables in-wash scent booster downy unstopables - [narrator] this is steve. he used to have gum problems. now, he uses therabreath healthy gums oral rinse with clinically-proven ingredients and his gum problems have vanished. (crowd applauding) therabreath, it's a better mouthwash. at walmart, target and other fine stores. from prom dresses to workouts and new adventures you hope the more you give the less they'll miss. but even if your teen was vaccinated against meningitis in the past they may be missing vaccination for meningitis b. although uncommon, up to 1 in 5 survivors of meningitis will have long term consequences. now as you're thinking about all the vaccines your teen might need make sure you ask your doctor i

sahil kapur. >> reporter: they're not panicking but already are taking precautions.ip meeting virtually by zoom, sources say democrats intend to hold weekly lunch meeting by zoom. senators from both parties were on joe manchin's houseboat, where he lives in washington. put that up on the screen. none of them other than lindsey graham tested positive. break through infections are rare. we are told they're testing to make sure they are in fact negative. senator manchin spoke to reporters on this. this is what he had to say. >> we were outside, okay, and we were all vaccinated. i mean, i talked to lindsey today, he is fine. >> how long did you all go? how long was the event? >> i don't know. >> couple hours? >> whatever it takes to eat a hamburger or two. >> reporter: manchin was trying to say they didn't do anything wrong. it appears to be correct, outdoors, hanging out, doing a barbeque. as far as the infrastructure bill goes, they have a significant question. 67 senators voted to move it forward. lindsey graham in quarantine, that's not imminent danger unless there's

nbc's sahil is on capitol hill. nancy pelosi thinks they are close to landing the plane on this.t do we know about breakthroughs or the possibility we may see a deal. >> that's right, garrett. no white smoke to report just yet. the democrats have been meeting over the last hour. i believe they are still in that meeting trying to hash out a solution. speaker pelosi, according to a democratic aide telling colleagues she's sorry they couldn't land the plane last night. she believes they are close and here is the situation just to catch our viewers up to speed if they are only tuning in now. she's been locked in a standoff with the centrist democrats for days because they're demanding an immediate vote on that senate-passed infrastructure bill. they want to wrap it up in the house of representatives, send it to president biden's desk and get it done. speaker pelosi has had a plan for months to bring that up in tandem with the separate multitrillion-dollar budget bill that includes the rest of president biden's agenda. the negotiations now appear to be revolving around the idea of a d

sahil, you and i talked about this before. speaker pelosi can't afford to lose any votes here. not, aaron. the vote is not right now. it's next week. she and her team are working feverishly to rally democrats around a unity point to move this forward. let's take a step back and look at what will happen next week. they'll vote on this so-called rule, this process that sets up a series of votes, including the john lewis voting rights advancement act. that should pass easily without much of a problem. democrats are united on that. next they move to a budget resolution that begins the process of the $3.5 trillion budget bill that biden wants to pass. this is where pell owescy struggling to get moderates on board. there's a lot of discontent, many of whom are in swing districts, about the fact that she's holding up the infrastructure bill until this budget resolution can move forward. many moderates are insisting that the infrastructure bill come to a vote, they pass that, send it to president biden's desk and move to that separate, larger bill. progressives are not allowing that. t

that is a real agenda to run on and it's one to win on. >> yeah and, sahil, i have to say, we've beenng this for a long time you and i, in the same window, i don't know if they're gonna pull this off, but if they do it will be one of the most remarkable bits of legislative magic i have ever seen. >> that is true. i think, chris, the fight that tiny narrow democratic majority just agreed to move on this budget bill under president joe biden who a year go no one really thought of as a progressive, that is a remarkable thing in and of itself. when you think about presidential popularity in midterms, here is an interesting bit of history, the last democratic president to win seats in the first midterm election was franklin roosevelt in 1934, there's a reason why he likes to encourage occurrence bears, and what he likes to talk about his agenda as the kind of parallel fdr agenda, because the democrats do have a shot at holding power in 2022, they're gonna have to give voters a very good reason to keep them there. and biden believes, and many strategists believe that this could be, i stress

sahil kapur is on capitol hill.hat they're doing what joe biden wants, but you suggest that is not the case at all. >> that is right there is a straight shadow boxes match going on. ing that we're on president biden's side and we're asking for swift passage of this bill. because they want to vote on it before going to the budget bill. he has not take an position on the sequencing, and andrew baits saying he sports the approach to the rule. they are looking forward to signing both pieces of the legislation. the moderates are positioning themselves on the side of president biden and the president is saying that is not really the case. they are not weighing in on the sequencing of this. at the end of the day the white house is not about to second guess speaker pelosi. and i keep waiting for the president to weigh in, it feels like speaker pelosi has a limited tool kit here. one of the tools is a still popular president of the united states that all of the moderates need to be popular and to have gotten things done for

joining me now is sahil kapur. pete, i know you have been working the phones, what can you tell us? >> a pickup truck was stopped near the capitol and it drove on to the library of congress. it is hard to tell, but that on the upper right-hand corner of your screen you can see the foot of the capitol hill, you can see how widely an area has been blocked off. it is now in front of the library of congress, this is a block away from the u.s. capital. it's right near the cannon house office building, and the main library of congress building, the jefferson building, and they have both been evacuated. the reason for this is according to several law enforcement officials is the driver of the truck claims that he has an explosive device. we have been told by several officials that those near the truck have not seen a device. this is all based on what driver of the vehicle is claiming to have. you have to treat it like it is real and that's why you're seeing this response. it's based entirely of the claim of the driver. according to law enforcement officials they have not seen anything in t

sahil kapur on capitol hill for us, thank you.id task force briefing is under way. an important one. >> we won't let up. we're now in a pandemic of the unvaccinated. and the way to end the pandemic is more vaccinations. more vaccinations. that's exactly what we're getting done. nationwide, we have gotten 6 million shots in arms in the last seven days. that's the highest seven day total in over a month and a half. and at the end of last week, for three straight days, we got more than 1 million shots in arms each day. that's the first time that happened since june. importantly, we dramatically increased the number of people getting first shots each day. back in mid july, we were averaging 260,000 first shots in arms per day. today we are getting a more than 70% increase. we're seeing the greatest increases in states that had been lagging on vaccinations, alabama, arkansas, louisiana, mississippi, more people got shots in the past month than prior two months combined. this is critical progress in the face of the delta variant, more a

i want to bring in sahil kapur on capitol hill. speaker pelosi is facing a squeeze from progressives who will not support the bill unless the house links it to the separate multi-trillion-dollar about thal holds the keys to the rest of president biden's agenda. a group of moderates nine house democrats say they will not vote to begin the process of the multi-trillion-dollar bill until the house passes the senate infrastructure bill and sends it to president biden's desk. you see their names up here on the screen. pelosi has tried to navigate this by suggesting that rules committee process where both bills advance at the same time, her office says her position has not changed that she still wants the senate to pass that reconciliation bill before the house considers either bill. this is a big problem for her, because the votes aren't there in the house of representatives to pass the senate bill without that budget bill. progressives are going to bolt en masse because they like the physical infrastructure part but more interested in

>> joining me now is mohammed sahil who worked for 11 years as an interpreter in afghanistan and still has family in the country. hamid, thank you for being with us. i know you're in nebraska, i think, living here in the u.s. your family is back in afghanistan. what are you hearing from them? have they tried to get to kabul? >> thank you so much for having me, andrea, on your show. so, yeah, it is a very dire situation over there. it is very difficult right now for the people. i've been talking to my family. i talked to them this morning, as well, and i actually have been watching stuff on social media and also in the media, and actually, it's a very tough situation over there. it is very hard for everybody to deal with these situations. >> what are they being told about how safe it is? have they had to go through taliban checkpoints? have they tried to do this and been turned back? what have you learned? >> i talked to my brothers is there any way that you can get to the airport to see if you can look for a possible evacuation? they are saying they cannot get out from their home, but

sahil? >> that's right.a showdown over afghan refugees, just how many to take in and we're already seeing some disagreements emerge on capitol hill democrats are generally unified in saying the united states needs to do more to take in those refugees and unlike caucus chair is calling for expanding immigrant visas that would allow more to come in. among republicans it's more complicated. there's a difference there's some like senator mitch mcconnell and mike gallagher said the u.s. absolutely should do more to resettle refugees boets in the u.s. and in the region there's another faction, led by individuals like congressman paul gosar and backed by influential voices in right wing media that are objecting to any effort to take in more afghan refugees in the foreseeable future 47 republicans and calling for visa category for women who are now facing a grim future under the taliban. these are the difficult questions that congress has to grapple starting next week when the house returns to session frank? >> we a

nbc's sahil kapur is on capitol hill. let me start with a second part of those two questions, which is where does this go from here? what are you looking at to now and is it possible that this all gets wrapped up, the infrastructure really only lasts through the end of this week and they can get something done before they head out on friday are? >> infrastructure week finally arrived in the senate. there's a 2700 page bill worth about $555 billion, that senators have finally released after more than a month of negotiating and are ready to begin votes on this. two parties have to agree on a process, specific amendments, which come up, what order and where they go from here. the senate is a funny place t can do things very quickly, if there is unanimous consent. if a single senator objects to the process, they could be forced jump through hoops and this could drag out pretty much all week. the one big thing that senator chuck schumer the majority leader of the house is the fact august recess is scheduled to begin this frida

lawmakers are debating how many more to take in and where else to send them nbc sahil kapur. >> that's path to a showdown over afghan refugees, how many to take in. we're already seeing some agreements emerge on capitol hill jats are generally unified saying the united states needs to do more to take in refugees and some like the progressive chair in the house is calling for expanding special immigrant visas substantially to allow more refugees to come in among republicans, it is more complicated. there are some like senator mitch mcconnell and mike gallagher that say the u.s. absolutely should do more to resettle refugees in the u.s. and in the region. and another faction led by congressman paul gosar, backed by influential voices and right wing media objecting to any effort to take in more afghan refugees in the foreseeable future there are 47 senators, including three republicans, calling for a special category for visas for women under the taliban. these are difficult questions congress has to grapple with starting next week when the house returns to session frank? >> we appreciate

. >> sahill, thank you. >>> tonight bad news and good news about bust.the bad news, another kind of cicada is taking its place we go to the expert next. >> it's safe to go into the water but it might be crowded. part of the east coast lighting up with rather large activity. sharks, and we introduce you to some of them . no foods you love. stressed? no stress. exercise. but no days off! easy, no? no. no. no. no. but with freestyle libre 14 day, you can take the mystery out of your diabetes. now you know. sir, do you know what you want to order? yes. freestyle libre 14 day. try it for free. (struggling vehicle sounds) yes. think premium can't be capable? think again. ♪ (energetic music) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ introducing the first ever at4 lineup. premium and capable. that's professional grade from gmc. gentle >>> well, just as we're starting to think we're done with cicadas, skype 'tises says there's a new brood in town. they're bigger, may be uglier and listen to what they sound like brood x plagued areas from pennsylvania to tennessee from late spring into the summe

sahil capor and donna edwards.ives that makes democratic moderates go nuts? donna, i thought your piece was interesting. you experienced this. you have this caucus that said, we don't want to do the big budget thing. we want the bipartisan deal. we want it on its own. we don't like the budget framework and all the things in there. in doing so, it seems to me there's political risk they run for themselves and the party. >> let's be clear. the proposal that's before the congress, both the reconciliation and infrastructure package, are the president's agenda. it happens that it's a very progressive agenda, but it is joe biden's agenda. by trying to distance themselves or separate themselves from the president's agenda is like the kiss of death going into a mid-term election. it was hard to understand, what were they shooting for? i always thought that it was doomed anyway, because nine moderate democrats was not going to hold up nancy pelosi from delivering her entire caucus. maybe it was a play for headlines. it wasn

want to bring in sahil kapur on capitol hill with us, defense one executive editor.l of this as backdrop, lawmakers are quick to play the blame game. the house and senate are playing the blame game from home, they're both on recess. is congress actually doing anything here? >> reporter: in terms of concrete action, no. you point out they are on recess, still absorbing information, being briefed. most of them informally, the house intelligence committee expects to brief members soon, according to chairman adam schiff. now the reaction. among democrats, the reaction is split. some have been very critical of president biden and decision to withdraw american troops, essentially blaming him in large part for what happened, that includes the congressman from texas that said this is a shame on the administration. then there are others like chris murphy of connecticut that said president biden was right to withdraw american troops, sticking to former president trump's timetable which he extended by several months and said there's hubris at play to think the united states can

. >> we're going to continue to listen to nancy pelosi, but i want to go to sahil on the hill, and clearly she didn't want to specifically target moulton and meijer on their trip to kabul, but she also says we don't want anyone else to think this is a good idea. she's been pretty clear about the fact, she said, that they didn't have any congressional approval, even though she hasn't spoken to them. what is your twae takeaway? >> reporter: she did refer to her letter yesterday and she said she believes it is not a good idea. she says she has not spoken to those two men, but she believes they are back now. they, of course, voted by proxy yesterday in the series of votes that the house of representatives took, and she said it was not just about them going to afghanistan. she said it was deadly serious and she wants everyone to know that this is not something that members of congress should be doing. and i think based on the backlash that we've seen from their colleagues, that appears to be a message that they're getting. pelosi got a little bit into the august 31st deadline for withdraw, said

joining me from capitol hill, nbc news national political reporter sahil kapur.how big a throu of a roadblock the nine pose. >> yeah, big week coming up for president biden's legislative agenda. the house is planning to move that bill and that's a tax hike on the upper earners. as you mentioned, speaker pelosi is facing a rebellion who said they don't want to begin work on the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package until the bill is passed into the house and signed into law by president biden. they have a new op-ed today in "the washington post" digging in on the position. nine of them saying they oppose holding that infrastructure bill hostage. their word to the reconciliation bill. now speaker pelosi has said for months that they have to move in tandem because the votes aren't there to pass one without the other. to that end there's a new ad campaign targeting the nine moderate democrats led by congressman josh gottheimer of new jersey, accusing them of obstructing president biden and his agenda. of course, here this is a high-stakes standoff between the progress

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