we have shannon pettypiece here with more. what do you make of the approval rating there?country is doing in general. right track and wrong track numbers. strong approval for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the economy and vaccine rollout. you see the poll numbers and that says people are feeling good about the country, but the biden administration is doing a good job trying to take credit for it. the white house has been disciplined about staying on message. they really schedule a lot of events and speeches on the coronavirus pandemic and the economy. the president is out there on those two issues publicly. just as important as being out there publicly, they are not creating distractions that distract from what the president and white house is doing on the pandemic and economy which is what former president trump struggled with daily. you see the poll numbers never reflected that. >> i want to circle back to the $6 trillion budget proposal. i want to know what is sticking out to you and how it ties together with the favorability ratings? does the president ta

we're joined now by nbc news chief correspondent richard engel, also shannon pettypiece and nbc anchor omar aldean. richard, what have you been seeing and hearing? >> reporter: so people in gaza are still celebrating but they're celebrating amid reunions. the city is not destroyed, gaza city is the city in the main strip. it is still a functioning city, there are restaurants that are open, people are walking around. but we're talking roughly 8,000 homes or apartments that were either partially damaged or destroyed, according to local officials, about 150 tall buildings that were completely flattened. 100 miles of roads and critical infrastructure that no longer existing according to the mayor. a significant set back for hamas because hamas uses this area for military operations, as its base of operations, but also to the people who live here, for the 2 million gazans who have a terrible infrastructure to deal with, no way to leave the gaza strip. they are now more than ever dependent on foreign aid to rebuild, and told they are mourning the dead. they say there are about 240 palestinia

shannon pettypiece, to that point, how does white house grapple with this going forward?iously, president biden was deeply involved personally in making phone calls to benjamin netanyahu who he has known for many years, as well as to the palestinians and the egyptians. they have been wanting to turn the focus back to what's going on here at home where we still have a lengthy recovery post pandemic in front of us. what is white house's sense of how long this may lost and how much breathing room they will have? >> reporter: absolutely. people involved in this negotiation process told nbc news that one of the president's key priorities was getting this resolved quickly so the president could move back to his foreign policy agenda. of course, as you mentioned there -- i'm sorry, his domestic policy agenda. there's the foreign policy agenda that he hopes to get back to when it comes to china and southeast asia and this meeting with the south korean president today. those are the items that the white house has been wanting to focus on since day one. the foreign policy focus has

. >> nbc's senior white house reporter shannon pettypiece is at white house for us. nbc's pentagon correspondent courtney qube is with us. what stood out about what the president said, the reverence of this event? >> reporter: craig, it wasn't just what he said but it was the way in which he said it. it was an impassioned speech. he started out in a very personal way. he spoke about the death of his son who was a delaware national guard soldier. he died of cancer six years ago this past weekend. he spoke directly to the gold star parents who may be listening today. those are mothers and fathers of service members who have been killed in action. he talked about -- took a very personal tone about loss today. then he also went through a myriad of other issues. he spoke about the history of this day, referencing general john logan who was the union soldier who called on men and women to decorate the graves of service members killed in action, what we know as memorial day, the last monday of every may. he also spoke current issues, voting rights, the freedom of the press.

that will also be determinedso. >> shannon pettypiece, thank you for getting up early with us. >> the not all 5g networks are created equal. ♪ t-mobile. america's largest, fastest, most reliable 5g network. [ suspenseful music ] hey, you wanna get out of here? ah ha. we've got you. during expedia travel week, save 20% or more on thousands of hotels. expedia. it matters who you travel with. my nunormal? fewer asthma attacks with nucala. a once-monthly add-on injection for severe eosinophilic asthma. nucala reduces eosinophils, a key cause of severe asthma. nucala is not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occurred. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. ask your doctor about nucala. find your nunormal with nucala. my name is douglas. i'm a writer/director ask your doctor about nucala. and i'm still working. in the ki

. >>> joining us now senior white house reporter for nbc news digital shannon pettypiece. rning. thanks so much for being with us. let's start with the infrastructure talks because the white house did come down in the top lines, but the reality is that the concessions that they made were basically around areas where republicans say, well, actually, we do want to spend more money, hard infrastructure, broadband, other places. they kept the tax-related provisions in there, which republicans have basically said are a nonstarter and they also kept a lot of susan collins was talking about what democrats are calling care infrastructure. so after this past week, i mean, i was really optimistic there would be a bipartisan deal on about monday and by friday it was looking much, much less likely. what's your take and reporting telling you? >> i mean, i think the white house seemed pretty optimistic sounding when i talked to folks on wednesday and thursday as well that there would be a deal. i suppose i will say they still sound optimistic. i talked to one official on friday who said

. >> shannon pettypiece is near the white house.mber one, we know that a budget proposal is largely symbolic from any white house. it's a statement of initiatives and position. the president and white house are saying, we believe in big government. you have republicans who after four years of saying very little about the debt and the deficit now are saying quite a bit about it. third, on top of that, people's taxes, the money that people pay to the u.s. government might change depending on how much money you make if this were to become reality. >> reporter: right. absolutely. the white house is defending this saying that this spending, needed to rebuild the economy to help the lower and middle class workers who they say even before the pandemic were struggling. it's aimed at a broad change in thinking about what role the federal government plays in people's lives. it also, as you mentioned, raises taxes. the white house believes there's public support when it comes to raising taxes on the wealthiest americans and corporations. one o

joining me now, senior white house reporter shannon pettypiece. shannon, every time the president gets out there and starts talking about this plan, he makes sure to reiterate that the taxes will be on the very wealthiest. they'll be on the loopholes for millionaires, they'll be in on capital gains, they'll be on corporations. he mentioned the tax rate that was in place under george w. bush. at the same time, though, mitch mcconnell is saying absolutely no way am i going to get behind any bill that raises taxes or repeals the donald trump tax cut. so are there other republicans that this white house is targeting to try and get them on board, or is this aimed, again, at joe manchin, at kyrsten sinema? >> i will say what we'll see from the president's remarks or what we'll see later this week when he goes to louisiana, the vice president will be on the road, is this traditional white house roadshow where you send them out to try to build up public support. a visit by the president can generate days of local media coverage, so that's what they're tryi

shannon pettypiece joins me with more on that. nbc news senior business correspondent stephanie ruhle. shannon, i will start with you. we have new reporting in the last hour on what to expect from president biden this afternoon, including an appearance with the republican mayor in louisiana. what more can you tell us about that? >> reporter: white house officials are saying we can expect to see the president make a stop at a bridge and a water treatment facility and use these as examples of the type of projects his infrastructure bill would pay for. as much as the president will talk about what this spending package, this $2 trillion would go toward, look for the president to also talk about how to pay for that and to really lay out and make the argument about paying for this by increasing taxes on the wealthy and corporations. i think that is interesting. it gets more into an ideological argument. it's not just about nuts and bolts and what you are in should be paid for or what shouldn't, but this argument about whether the wealth

nbc senior white house reporter shannon pettypiece at her post ahead of the president's remarks. ormer white house deputy chief of staff under president obama. shannon, we will start with you. the last time we heard from the president, he was trying to ease concerns over the jobs report. what do we expect to hear from him today? >> white house officials are saying the president is likely to announce new steps he will put in place to try to help remove barriers for people getting back into the workplace and to tout the progress over the past three months. one thing we do expect to hear from the president is to push back on this notion that people are not going back to the workforce because of the enhanced unemployment benefits. basically, this idea some economists and republican lawmakers have been making that people can make more on unemployment than going back to work. the president is going to push back on that and really attribute a lot of people sitting on the sidelines of the labor force to a lack of childcare or to concerns about their health and safety in going back to the

joining us, shannon pettypiece. dr. ashish aja of brown university. and shannon, i'll begin with you, the president set a goal of getting at least one dose of the vaccine to 70% of adults by independence day. how does the white house intend to achieve that goal, given what we're seeing play out in a decline of number of vaccinations being administered? >> well, so, to do this, they're going to need to give 100 million shots between now and july 4th. so, over the next 60 days. that is significantly slower pace than we have been seeing. of course, we have been seeing the vaccination rate slow down. so, those huge mass vaccination centers where you're turning out 1,000 shots a day. that's not what they need to do to get to this next goal. to get to this next goal, they say they're going to make it as easy and convenient as possible. give people incentives, the president mentioned having grocers offered discounts to people who get vaccinated. they talked about sending mobile clinics in hard-to-reach communities particularly rural communities. the president

shannon pettypiece, shaquille brewster, the short straw on the beach there in miami, allegedly workingd blayne alexander live at atlanta airport, the busiest. shannon, at the white house, president biden at last check is on his way to virginia. short trip there. first one is about how far we have come in the fight against covid. what's the president's message heading into this weekend? >> reporter: this visit coming hours after virginia lifted restrictions on social distancing and capacity limits. the white house says the president is going there to talk about the progress that state has made. they say that cases are down about 13% over the past week on average. this is all part of a bigger effort by the white house, by president biden, to emphasize the country's getting back to normal, to try and start moving people past this pandemic, talking about this reopening of the country and hopes it's going to stimulate more. the white house and administration officials say they are not necessarily concerned about a surge of cases after memorial day. you see those numbers and those ill an ima

. >> joining me now is nbc news shannon pettypiece.escue plan and this restaurant revitalization fund? and does the white house feel confident that their messaging is working on this? >> reporter: yeah. well, you're hearing the president still trying to sell this covid stimulus bill passed back in march and this program for restaurants is a $20 billion fund that would provide assistance to restaurants, primarily those that are majority-owned by women and minorities and give them up to $10 million in assistance. it could provide a big boost to an industry that's really been the hardest hit, even though the industry says that's not nearly enough money for them. but this, of course, comes as he's trying to sell two more stimulus plans in the white house's description, infrastructure plan and then this child care plan. the president indicating he's open to negotiating a bit, a few moments ago on one of the key sticking points among republicans is the corporate tax rate. have a listen to what he had to say there. >> on the corporate tax rat

in the united states, nbc news white house reporter shannon pettypiece. i know the area has been closed off. what have you been hearing and seeing? >> reporter: well, we he came through this morning. it had been closed. we had been coming down every single day hoping there would be an opening and the israelis who control the border between israel and gaza would open it up. they did. you go through the israeli side and then the hamas side. there were procedures. we got through and then we were driving through and walking through gaza city today. there is a lot of destruction. 8,000 homes were destroyed. more than is 150 buildings destroyed. many people out sweeping up. it is a city still functioning. the infrastructure has been set back a very long way. this was a they will need to do a lot of rebuilding here. that's the physical damage. on the political or emotional side, spirits are pretty good. this is not a city that feels demoralized. many here claim victory. they think they showed a lot of strength. they are largely supportive of what hamas was doing

we begin with shannon pettypiece in washington. president spent the last few days selling his jobs plan to americans and how does he plan to get it through congress. >> alex, expect him to continue this roadshow. he's got stops in virginia and louisiana this week, and of course, that is about building public support and that public support the white house is hoping will put pressure republicans and democrats in congress to work together on something, but he is under a lot of pressure from democrats to move quickly and to move even without republican support. here's what one democratic congressman had to say about that. >> i am not of the mind that we should be delaying progress for the purpose of getting one or two republican co-sponsors when it's very clear that their objective for the most part is to obstruct the progress that president biden would like to see. >> that was representative jones of new york and the white house is onboard with this urgency, too. they want to see counter proposals in the next two weeks. so by mid-may

i want to bring shannon pettypiece into the conversation from the white house. garrett haake is standing by for us on capitol hill. we understand the members of george floyd's family will be meeting with president biden in a few hours. what do we expect to come from that conversation, shannon? >> reporter: we expect this to be a closed door meeting. the white house said they didn't want to bring in an enormous amount of publicity to it. we do know in attendants will be george floyd's daughter, his mother, siblings as well as some other relatives. and the white house says that the president has developed a bit -- quite a relationship with the floyd family over the past year. he met with them shortly after george floyd's killing. he has had a number of conversations with the family including a call to them just moments after the verdict in the chauvin trial. so a connection there and some momentum that the white house is hoping to get out of this meeting as well. president biden had said he wanted to sign a police reform bill named after george floyd by this one-y

joining me now from tel aviv, erin mclaughlin and digital white house reporter shannon pettypiece. walk us through any movements on the diplomatic front. are we likely to see a cease fire happen in the next 24 to 48 hours? >> reporter: well, ayman, that is the subject of intense speculation here in israel, especially considering the amount of international pressure being applied to the situation. but, as you say, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu issuing a statement seemingly in response to the white house readout of the call between himself and president biden. that statement saying he's determined to continue with this operation until security and safety of israelis is in place. also behind closed doors reportedly telling a group of foreign diplomats that israel does not have a stop watch for the operations, saying it's not possible at this point to provide a timeframe for its conclusion. this, despite growing pressure from the international community, given the scenes that we're seeing out of gaza, the civilian casualties, more than 220 palestinians killed. half of them,

shannon pettypiece is with us, so is senior business correspondent stephanie ruhle as well. annon, i will start with you. the jobs report, way below expectations. economists expecting them to top one million. how is this landing in the white house? how are they going to try to explain this when we hear from the president this hour? >> right. i will add, we were expecting to hear from the president all along, before we even got these numbers. the white house put that announcement out last night. it's not any indication that he feels the need to respond. he was planning to respond all along. as far as the way white house officials are indicating they are going to handle these numbers, they expect to hear the president say that these show the economic recovery is going to take time, it's going to be a slow process, that these show the economy is still suffering the effects from this pandemic and to also make the case for why congress now needs to pass the $4 trillion in spending biden is proposing on everything from clean energy and roads and bridges and child care and elder car

shannon pettypiece, thank you as always. good to see you this afternoon. >>> tomorrow an exclusive interview tomorrow with vice president kamala harris. >>> still ahead, a tale of two memorial days as we embrace life after the lockdown. a seaside town hit hard by the pandemic is now using beach traffic to its advantage to get more people vaccinated. >>> we're going to go to one of the oldest memorial day parades in the country, originally canceled because of covid. today, to the joy of many, it's back. >>> we'll be right back. it's back >>> we'll be right back. [ footsteps] [ suspenseful music ] ♪♪ hey, you wanna get out of here? ah ha. we've got you. during expedia travel week, save 20% or more on thousands of hotels. just book between june 8th and 12th to plan your escape with expedia. expedia. it matters who you travel with. there's interest you accrue, and interests you pursue. plans for the long term, and plans for a long weekend. at thrivent, we believe money is a tool, not a goal. to learn more, text thrive to 444555,

. >> let's go to shannon pettypiece in washington. welcome. he has the first hundred days behind him and how are the next 100 days shaping up for the president? >> this is marked by the infrastructure push. you are talking about the police reform bill. the president, and that's something he supports and wants to see through. a lot of that is largely going to be in the hands of the senate for them to hammer out a deal. the white house focus remains on the $2 trillion infrastructure bill the president wants to get through. he has a number of stops planned this week to promote that to the american public. he'll be in virginia on monday. on thursday, he's going to louisiana and trying to build that public support, he hopes and the white house hopes will built that support in congress because right now while the president is pushing for some type of republican deal they're not close to that. the republicans and the democrats are trying to figure out if there is some compromise. he has talked to a number of senators involved. the white house says to

let's go to nbc's shannon pettypiece joining us from washington. welcome. what's next on tap for the administration? >> reporter: well, this sales pitch continues for this $2 trillion infrastructure plan. the president is going to be making stops in virginia and louisiana next week and the hope is that this public pressure, the white house is trying to build will translate into pressure on members of congress who still haven't been able to get a bipartisan deal together to counter this $2 trillion infrastructure proposal which does not have enough support as it currently stands. now, it does seem to be a matter of when, not if, and that's something that the president has reiterated, and alex, i know you asked representative clyburn about this a couple of hours ago and here's what he had to say about the timing and the decision to move on this. >> the price tag is big, but the price tag of not doing this is much, much bigger. and i think we ought to take that into account as we talk about what the cost is to this country. >> reporter: so, there is growing pr

shannon pettypiece has the latest. more about this group. >> it is a russian criminal group by the name of dark side and this is it's business model. it engages in ransomware attacks. and they are targeting companies and entities that can make money. it hires freelancers. give them the training, and they go out and get a percentage. darkside has a website and a customer service number to call if you have been hacked. here is the problem, they apparently have hacked colonial pipeline. a $2.5 million pipeline. we should say gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, that pipeline is shut down. so the question becomes how quickly might that start to effect gas prices. how quickly can they get up back up and running again. we don't know but two are clearly interconnected. experts say it could only be hours or days away because this pipeline remains shut down. it's a high priority to get that pipe, pipes, up and running again. it is also top priority for the administration with an all hands on deck response to get them back up and run

i'm with richard engel in the west bank, shannon pettypiece joining us. richard, what are you seeing in the west bank? >> the demonstrations started with palestinians throwing stones that are still stationed on a hill behind me and these are some of the protestors who are still here. it started with the palestinians throwing stones. they responded with tear gas. it escalated just a little while ago. there was gun fire it seems like from the palestinian side. they responded with live ammunition from their side, and a young palestinian was just shot in the leg and taken away by ambulance. this has escalated. not just a protest movement. there are violent and potentially deadly clashes here in the west bank here. all of this has to do with what is going on in gaza. they came out here to protest, to clash, because they say they want the world to see that the palestinian situation has reached a breaking point. that they can no longer accept years of humiliation and occupation. many here don't support hamas but they think they had the impetus to come out and ma

. >> shannon pettypiece is at the white house. shannon, let's start with you. president biden noted four other times that he has lowered the flags at the white house for a mass shooting. he has been in office a little more than four months. what's he calling for congress to do this time? >> reporter: that's right. one more time the flags behind me are flying at half staff at the white house. the president calling for action from congress. urging congress to do something. white house officials know there's only so much the white house can do, because there are concerns about disrupting this balance in congress right now that has been going on for years to try and reach some sort of bipartisan agreement that's being led by senator murphy. there's some indications they might be making progress on there. the president would like to see congress go further, including an assault weapons ban. one thing in the interim, the s re -- the president would like congress to confirm a director of the atf. his nominee was actually testifying before congress as the shooting was

. >> joining us is my colleague shannon pettypiece, senior white house correspondent. why is president biden making human rights a key part of his discussions with vladimir putin on top of everything else they have to talk about? >> reporter: such a departure from the trump administration, which intentionally was very hands off on human rights issues because they were concerned it could interfere in other issues where former president trump felt the u.s. had a greater interest. biden obviously taking a different approach saying that human rights is an american issue, it's the job of the united states to uphold and signaling this is one among many tough issues president biden plans to raise with president putin in this meeting. we have had this recent hacking issue with a russian-based hacker group that will certainly be a topic of interest. there is the aggression amongst ukraine. there's election interference. the list goes on and on. the administration says there are also areas of agreement with russia, or at least where there's common ground they can explore. like o

i want to bring in here shannon pettypiece. you invoked the name of kevin mccar think, he has a meeting in 28 minutes, but the ousting of liz cheney was more than expected. and i will tell you this i spoke with a source close to the process that suggested that the expectations are very low for the meeting that is set to happen at the top of the program here. >> yeah, the timing of this really drives home what a different republican party president biden is having to work with now compared to the republican party just a decade ago. white house officials will say that the president worked with the republican party in the rise of the tea party and he can work with them now. certainly it is not lost less than an hour or two after ousting liz whenny arguing that it was valid. all of that aside, they're looking to find common ground to started this bipartisan effort to get an agreement on infrastructure. everything aside, let's focus on infrastructure. where is the common ground. how can they get something done. mitch mcconnell says

shannon pettypiece is outside of the white house, and we're joined by the federal prosecutor insore new york. the scoop that you have, the details you learned about the process that is technically we're not supposed to know about. i thought that was a tech issue on my end, i don't know if the viewers can hear you either. let me go to you, kahn, to set the scene here and shannon to you as well. we know at this point, let me just give a quick summary here. we may here this this special grand jury that is now empanelled. can you tell me how significant it is. >> first off it is significant but it's not. what i mean by that is the next logical step in the general investigation that the da is bringing now and the manhattan da is bringing. a special grand jury is sitting longer. it's more complexion, that's where the investigation lasts a little longer. what i caution everyone out there to think about will anyone reach a quick question and will they indict somebody. the cases are coplex and difficult to bring. >> shanna, talk to us about what you learned through the course of your reporting.

shannon pettypiece is at the white house. they hoped to have a police reform bill passed.day deadline behind the scenes. how is the administration managing this and handling this when they're coming up short? >> like so many things in washington right now, both of these pieces of legislation are stuck in the senate. on the george floyd bill you mentioned the president laid out a pretty aggressive timeline of trying to get this passed by the one year timeline. they wanted to mark this solem occasion. there was concern that that could upset these fragile negotiations going on in the senate. lead by tim scott to try to get a deal done. there seems to be a lot of optimism that there is a deal, that the talks continue on that front. but i will say i have been talking about it for a year now that there is optimism around getting a police reform legislation passed. we have yet to see it and we're entering an election year next year that means it will be even more difficult to get something through there. the infrastructure, the two parties seem wide apart. the white house is wait

shannon pettypiece, garrett haake, we will be checking in with you. >>> right now in the race to vaccinate, new york city is bringing a whole new meaning to the phrase faster than a new york minute. vaccination rates are sinking. the city is now offering the one-shot johnson & johnson vaccine to tourists. and that is where we find chris jansing, at one of the vaccination sites in times square. so tell us about this pop-up site, chris. >> reporter: they're working it in new york city trying to bring back what has been places like this. go to where the tourists want to be. times square, brooklyn bridge park, the places where if you are 16 or older and are a resident of the united states you can walk in and will leave vaccinated and other enticements, free tickets to the brooklyn bow tannic garden, the zoo, lincoln center. listen to what one tourist center told me. >> kill two birds with one stone, one of the most exciting destinations and, by the way, get vaccinated while you're here and we'll take care of anything. one more thing that can make the trip more appealing. >> reporter: when you

shannon pettypiece is with numbers news and the economics editor for "the wash wish post," shannon, even is all predictable and logical, which it is. in the short term, it's an obstacle for this white house. how are they spending it? >> it's certainly something that republicans have been seizing on as one more thing to a long list of reasons that republicans oppose a spending bill. we will see what the administration has to say after this big jump today. we will hear from the president a bit later, in a couple of hours and maybe he'll address this then. so far administration officials have been downplaying this risk of inflation. we heard the fed chairman jay powell was pressed on this by republicans in congress. he said that he did not think inflation would be particularly large or persistent. we just heard last week treasury secretary janet yellen seeming to walk back remarks that interest rates might have to go up to cool down the economy. later on she said she didn't think inflation would be a big risk and the case that she and others have been making is that this infrastructure spen

i'm joined by shannon pettypiece and leigh ann caldwell and carlos corbelo. it's good to see you.gh ann, let me start with you. so much is playing out on capitol hill. there was, for many republicans earlier in the year, something of a sigh of relief, even if they wouldn't say that in public that president trump was leaving the stage. there was anger about what happened on january 6th. there was an interest in getting back on track after a year of the pandemic. in the intervening five months, a lot has changed. i struggle to see how exactly they end up in a place of sweeping bipartisanship or incremental bipartisanship on some of the signature issues. what's your latest reporting on how relationships are between republicans on capitol hill but also at the white house? >> reporter: well, i have to start by wishing you happy birthday. >> thank you very much. that's very sweet. >> reporter: now we will talk news. my reporting is that the negotiations -- let's start with infrastructure, which is the biggest bipartisan negotiation that has been going on. you put it so well that talks s

joining me is stephanie gosk in new york, shannon pettypiece and rick stangel, former undersecretary of state for public diplomacy for john kerry at the state department. the anti-defamation league is just one of many organizations calling for a statement from the president after some of the attacks you've been reporting on in recent days. what more do we know about these incidents? >> well, garrett, we know we have seen in the past when there's been an increase in the violence in the middle east and a conflict like this in the middle east. there's been an uptick in anti-semitic violence back here at home, but this is significant. nothing quite like this. the anti-defamation league says it's a 50% increase in the number of anti-semitic attacks in the u.s. since the conflict broke out in the middle east and the new violence and it's not just in one spot. it is across the country and here in new york there was this dueling protest and pro-palestinian and israeli protesters and during that moment there was a 29-year-old jewish man who was attacked and the moment was caught on someone's

of this off nbc news political reporter vaughn hillyard, digital white house correspondent shannon pettypiece. give us the message the president was making today, what was the main point? >> this was his third stop on the getting america back on tour for joe biden here. today's focus was education. that's why you saw him with first lady jill biden at this community college in plymouth, virginia, making the case for two years of free community college access for every student in america. at an elementary school today, making the case for universal pre-k, access for every 3 and 4-year-old to get a free preschool education. that is, again, why you saw jill biden here on the road in this virginia stop honing in on the education as part of this two-part package here. i want you to hear from joe biden who is trying to make the case on the road about the -- to the american public about the intimacy and relatibility, about why this is important to their lives and through the lens of his own. take a listen. >> the cost of child care is extraordinary. i was a single father when i first got elected to t

i want to bring in shannon pettypiece from d.c.ed a lot of these shootings in his statement yesterday when he again called for gun reform. what is he going to do to try to make things happen? how many times have we said enough is enough? >> right. and, steph, behind me the flags at the white house are once again flying at half-staff. once again we heard the president calling for congress to take some action. the white house is not getting heavily involved though at this point in congressional negotiations. part of that is because they do not want to upset the balance. senator chris murphy, who's been taking the lead on this for years, he's been trying to strike between republicans and democrats. while there's optimism on the hill around things like infrastructure, police reform, we're not hearing optimism about gun reform legislation. at least not in the coming months. so the white house has been trying to do things behind the scenes. there are executive actions the president passed back in april. he has the head of the atf he nomi

. >> let's bring in senior white house reporter for nbc news digital, shannon pettypiece. re? again, we should point out, ths is not the white house saying, the lab leak theory is the one. he still believes the theory about animal transmission is more likely. but they are open to the possibility that it did leak out of this lab in wuhan. why did it change so quickly on tuesday after leaving this investigation to the w.h.o? >> you can see how this has been building for a number of weeks and months now, within the white house. president biden said that back in march, he asked the intelligence community to conduct this review. they got back to him earlier this month, several weeks ago with their findings of that review, which you outlined. and essentially, it goes further than i think we have been hearing from some public health officials, when you hear anthony fauci say, we're not 100% sure. this report says, this intelligence community is basically conflicted over this. you have two parts that think that the animal origin theory is most likely, they lean towards that, though

. >> joining us now is shannon pettypiece for nbc news digit. and shannon, what is the order, the sequential order of the biden legislative agenda when congress comes back from recess. >> reporter: well here is the time line at least as the white house sees it. they are going to be having conversations this week back and forth between congressional staff and white house staff. their goal is by january 7th they want to have a clear path forward, some path forward on a piece of legislation. the house has said they want to act by august -- i'm sorry by july 4th and then the senate could pass something in august. that is on the infrastructure front. white house democrats know that everything they want might not be in that infrastructure bill if they are able to get some bipartisan deal. if t might be infrastructure light, it might be looking like a big highways bill, not everything the president would like to see. then there is the reconciliation path. they could do both. they could do a infrastructure deal with republicans and their own reconciliati