and as tony blinken said earlier in the day, this is truly a new day.e fact that he was just so calm and reasonable in discussing the policy options before them and, in some ways, he was quite different from the trump administration. for example, fairly tough on russia. on the other hand, he also said -- and i think this was the news item from the press conference, that he would keep zalil on to the u.s. envoy to the taliban and endorsed the abraham accords that the trump administration was involved in. he made it clear he will not reflexively reject what the previous administration did just because they did it in the way that the trump administration rejected everything that the obama administration did. great start. lot of hard work ahead, obviously. >> fred, to you in moscow. the first question out of the gate, of course, on the relationship between this administration and vladimir putin and alexey navalny, of course, came up, who is behind bars. you've been covering him. >> yep. >> so much. to hear him say, his voice, alexey navalny's voice is a voi

tony blinken did agree with your assessment, did call out the. and what's happening with them right now. >> i was very pleased to see the statement that i'd made, the determination i've made about this was concurred with by secretary blinken. i think that's fantastic and true read these are real facts and real people being truly impacted by things that we haven't seen since the 1930s, the atrocities that have taken place there in the actions of sterilization, forced abortion continuing to take place there for a historic proportion and the world, not just the united states on the whole world needs to unite and put cost on the chinese communist party edges they change and stop these atrocities that are taking place there. >> i want to move on to the middle east and the great work you did in terms of the abraham accord and the normalization with israel but before i get there, taiwan. it feels like beijing is testing this administration. they are testing them with taiwan, obviously 12 aircraft's on saturday, 15 on sunday, fighters and bombers into ta

tony blinken. i turn it over to him. sec. blinken: thank you, good afternoon. let me start by saying my first ambition is to be known as the man who wrought net price to the state briefing room. that is a mission accomplished. in all seriousness, thank you everyone for coming here today. this is my first full day on the job as secretary of state. and to restate what i said before, it is an honor to be in this job, and i am gratified that the president seemed to fit to entrust me with this responsibility. i am incredibly excited about the work ahead. especially working with the men and women of the state department. to serve the american people and represent our country to the world. i want to spend a few minutes with all of you today. i want to say how important i see the work that each and every one of you does. some of you may know that i started my career as a journalist. it was something that i took tremendous pride and pleasure in, and something i have deep respect for as a result of my own experience for being on both sides. you keep the american people i

you just heard tony blinken. it's a more nuanced assessment.osition remains largely unchanged. if xi is expecting the biden white house to abandon many of mr. trump's tough policies any time soon, they may be in for a big disappointment. remember mr. biden himself during a campaign said there is a need to get tough on china and that sentiment is now being echoed by his cabinet secretaries, not just blinken but also treasury secretary yellen and defense secretary austin. there is this consensus or continuity really emerging from washington in terms of how to deal with an increasingly powerful and aggressive china and/or a strongman leadership of xi jinping. what tony blinken also said during his confirmation hearing, he actually agreed with trump's tough on china principle. what he rejected is the approach. we expect tony blinken and other senior officials to use some of trump's policies but with finesse. they're going to rally u.s. partners and allies to form a united front against china on trade and policies. so this multi-lateral approach is

it is directly a response to the trump administration's approach, so we can see his choice of tony blinkens a good relationship, much like george h w bush and james baker enjoyed, which is close, since the chinese will know that tony blinken is speaking for the president. the approach from this new government will be one that is reliable, that they can trust, and the two nations need to build this trust. for joe biden, his experience and the emphasis on personal relationships and building that trust is something that will work in the favor of those countries going forward. >> front and center in u.s.-china relations is technology. when it comes to technology, we have seen a clamp on big tech in china, in the u.s. how will the joe biden administration view this issue? >> there is a myriad of issues in which the two countries. trust each other, starting with the coronavirus, and the lack of total transparency on the part of the chinese with the who and other nations in looking at exactly what happened with the outbreak. as you say, intellectual property, cybersecurity, the trade issues, not

. >> shannon: new secretary of state tony blinken is standing by his view that has been committed against the uighur people in china. presidential climate envoy john kerry says getting china to the table is key. so, blinken's view on human rights makes complicate the effort on climate. >> how do you cooperate with china in climate change when you say you agree that it engaged in? >> the interest of china and the interest of the united states and countries around the world to make concrete progress in combating global warming. >> close to 90%, about 88, i guess, of all of the missions come from outside our borders, too. so the whole world has to come to this table together to solve this problem. >> shannon: by the way, tonight, foxnews.com is reporting that the kerry family

andrea, we saw secretary of state tony blinken arriving for his first day on the job. this is a new day for diplomacy in the biden administration i want to play for you the message he had to every single state employee. >> the state department i'm walking into today is not the same one i left four years ago. we at state have a role to play in all of this. and i believe it starts with rebuilding morale and trust. this is a priority for me. >> andrea, what are your sources telling you about the diplomatic attitude now, moving forward in the biden administration, particularly after that phone call, very significant, between president biden and vladimir putin? >> well, actually, that was front and center, because the first phone call with vladimir putin was completely different than any phone call, any meeting, in fact, that donald trump had ever had with vladimir putin so that the importance of it was that there is a deadline, a hard deadline today, their parliament in moscow voting to extend the long range missile treaty, the new start treaty, obama-era treaty, that was

honor and privilege today to welcome back to the department of state our new secretary of state tony blinken. secretary blinken is a familiar face in these halls, having served previously in the bureau of european and canadian affairs. as recently as deputy secretary of state. he is well-known to the department of state in our career professionals. we are excited to have him as our new secretary of state. this is an unusual event today. normally this room would be packed with thousands of cheering state department employees. i assure you we had to take extraordinary measures in order to keep them away at this time, but don't let that deceive you in anyway, there is enormous enthusiasm on the part of the career professionals who have known and worked with sec. blinken over the course of his career. he is a man of honor and integrity, vision and character, and he will lead this department and advance the american people with great vigor and great passion. so on behalf of the career professionals of the department of state, foreign service, civil service, our locally employed staff around the w

tony blinken for secretary of state. jake sullivan for national security adviser.da thomas greenfield at the u.n. all served under president obama. senator chris murphy, the foreign relations committee, said the difference from the trump administration will be night and day. >> i just got off the phone with the nominee to the ambassador to the u.n. as soon as i hung up with the zoom call i said to my staff, my god, it's so refreshing to start with somebody who knows what they're talking about. >> reporter: former press secretary for president obama, is one of tony blinken's best friends. what do you think will be his guiding principle? >> he believes both in america's exceptional role in the world and in the truth that america can't be effective, the united states can't be effect iive on behalf of american citizens unless it works collaboratively with our allies. >> reporter: president biden's foreign policy will partly depend on congress and a wafer-thin majority in the senate. senators like chris murphy will be power brokers. and the role congress is supposed to

blinken: it is my honor and privilege to welcome back our new secretary of state, tony blinken. he has a familiar face in these halls, having served previously first and the bureau of european and canadian affairs and most recently as deputy harry secretary of state. he is well and favorably known to the department of state and career professionals. we are excited to have him as our new secretary of state. this is an unusual event. normally this room would be packed with thousands of cheering employees, i assure you that we had to take extraordinary measures to keep them away at this time. but, do not let that deceive you in any way, there is enormous enthusiasm from the career professionals who have worked with sec. blinken over the course of this year. he has a man of honor, integrity, vision, and character. he will lead this department and advance the -- on behalf of the career professionals, are locally employed staff around the world. it is my great honor and privilege to present the first -- the secretary of state, antony blinken. sec. blinken: thank you so much for that i

jacobin let's just go through then some of his picks so the 1st one i actually before we get to tony blinken these actors dave is this woman avril haynes who apparently hacked into the senate computers and. trying to sabotage investigations into torture why would avril hames be appointed director of national intelligence if you look at the histories of these people you'll find that they're just drawn from a very small coterie of a log on to the same couple schools in d.c. schools for foreign policy they all have the same experience at places like langley and elsewhere it's become a very common thing for democratic candidates even for the house of representatives to trumpet their past this edition cia analyst and what you're also seeing in the by the ministration is military appointments at a very alarming. level so obviously these are people who have recently retired from the u.s. military but are now shuffled into government posts and traditionally that was frowned upon it's not it's not illegal anyway because they're they're retired figures but. what it does is it erodes the civilian basis

there's a new reality in the world and to hear tony blinken use the word "adversarial," it's strikingm the late biden administration. excuse me, obama. >> kylie, what else has the nominee for secretary of state been saying? >> well, largely, brianna, secretary of state nominee tone kr blinken has been trying to revitalize the state department, to bring back u.s. working with allies to push forth american foreign policy. that's something that, obviously, fell apart in large part because president trump did not get behind u.s. allies and work with them. i think that is one of the things that we are seeing here, where he is trying to draw some division with the trump administration on china, because he says that, you know, working with china on the world stage is only going to be as effective as possible if the u.s. does it from a position of strength. working with allies on that. but you are right, it is very significant that he has come out today and say that trump was largely correct in having a tougher approach on china. i think this also gives democrats, democratic senators some abi

well tony blinken his return to the public sector he's the secretary of state if they in the senate. really value civil service i'm sure tell me about his record and whether he is appointment does signal the return of your intelligence agencies backing de facto al qaeda isis diane in syria because i'm hearing reports going on the ground hearing reports of troop deployments being made into syria already so i can't confirm anything about about troop deployments i've certainly heard those those rumors as well we have to see what the what the future holds for for syria i would say this the american people not our intelligence leads not our officers and our military not our kind of foreign policy or whizzes in washington are strongly against interventions abroad the member of the iraq catastrophe is still very fresh i think there's no public appetite for this expansion i think even trump space held intact count and forced a drawdown of u.s. troops and afghanistan obama was from his base obviously forced to do the same and iraq and i think this should give us hope so what i asked for peopl

>> first, i know tony blinken very well. he is an experienced diplomat. he was deputy secretary of state. he served on the national security council. he knows our challenges. first we need to prepare america's global leadership. we need to restore our values which are our strength and standing up for democracy, for good governance, and standing working with our allies with the challenges we have globally, whether it is our national security challenges through rogue states or the climate challenge. so what i want to hear from tony blinken is how he will go about prioritizing the repair of america's global leadership, what will be his top priorities, and how can we work together with the congress and the administration to protect our democracy and promote our values. >> let me ask but one of the issues most likely to come up in the new administration. that is the issue of will iran and the nuclear agreement. nbc news has learned in late november, iranian authorities convicted an iranian businessman of espionage, sentencing him to ten years in prison. presid

to me it was a mistake that the senate did not confirm tony blinken.that we should be without a secretary of state who is the designee for president biden. i suspect you'll be hearing from them very shortly on that. i just think they want their team in place first before they make these kind of policy decisions. >> let me finally, if i can ask you quickly, about the team that's shaping up so far. how confident are you that they perhaps are not going to repeat some mistakes we had seen in previous administration, particularly the ones in 2008 with obama and biden the first time around. >> we would need a whole shoot to talk about that. i wrote a whole book about it, in fact, because they were also part of many successes in the obama administration. i do know all these people well. almost all of them i served with in the obama administration. it's a complicated history. my book about it was not all rose-colored glasses. i talked about our mistakes, but i think all americans and the rest of the world should be assured these are highly competent people, ve

beijing is not waiting for tony blinken's reviews.t it is a strong geopolitical force and it tends to flex its muscles. aman? >> we have about 25 seconds on the topic of iran. most people anticipating that this administration would rush to join the jcpoa. that's not what we heard. he's putting the onus on iran to get back into the jcpoa, but it was the trump administration that broke out of it. >> reporter: that's right. look, this is where this diplomatic three-dimensional chess fits together. i think it's america's allies in europe that may be the key to this. they have stuck with iran to try to keep the jcpoa going, and i think there will be behind the scenes negotiations going on. >> he promises to speak to the press regularly. keir simmons, thank you. >>> i'll see you right back here tomorrow for 3:00 p.m., and bill gates joins ari memelber tonigh at 6:00. "deadline: white house" begin right after this quick break. "deadline: white house" begin right after this quick break a majority of adults who took ozempic® reached an a1c und

it's almost as if or key iran saying we will come back to compliance when america signs up but tony blinken seems to be suggesting compliance farce then we get back into the deal and also we had from marvel hines who is the new director of national intelligence here in the united states who said in the last 48 hours or so that nothing with the iran nuclear deal was imminent the united states wasn't ready to jump in to that no joe biden has got other priorities he believes that covered relief is a huge priority for him at the moment he's talking about a covert relief bill in the next hour or so he's talking about getting more vaccines out into the country to lifting the level of vaccinations that are being carried out it's so foreign policy and in particular the g.c. the iran nuclear deal isn't close to the top of his agenda clearly something will be keeping. is iowa and if we get any comment from the white house of the national security council which sheds any more light on the position we'll let you know but it would seem that joe biden isn't ready to make any sort of knee jerk reaction be

murphy: i am of big supporter of tony blinken. i am glad we are moving forward with a confirmation hearing prior to inauguration. i hope that on wednesday or thursday we will get him at the department of state, and i believe he is going to have strong bipartisan support. i have been talking to my republican colleagues, on his behalf, and i do not know what that number will be. major: he is a known entity across both party lines, and in the senate itself. sen. murphy: i mean, listen, he had a huge job ahead of him, amount he was going to have to climb to restore america's credibility was a 14,000 footer. it just became a 15,000 footer. either way, he and his team is going to have a long climb ahead of it. and i do think this is a moment for democrats and republicans who did the right thing, over the course of the last two weeks, to join with the secretary of state designate and his team. i have said this to tony, i think he should deploy republicans and democrats in the senate, who voted to certify the elections. and condemn those

it was at tony blinken's confirmation hearing that he talked about some of these issues we have brought up already. here's a portion from his comments. >> working across government and with partners around the world, we will revitalize our diplomacy, take on the most pressing challenges of our time. we will show up again day in and day out, whenever and wherever. americans' prosperity and security is at stake. we will engage the world not as it was but as it is, a world of rising nationalism, growing rivalry from china and russia, mounting threats to a stable international system, and a technological revolution reshaping every aspect of our lives, especially in cyberspace. for all that has changed, some things remain constant. american leadership still matters. the reality is the world simply does not organize itself. when we are not engaged, when we are not leading, then one of two things is likely to happen. either some country tries to take our place but not in a way likely to advance our interests and values, or no one does and then you have chaos. either way, that does not serve th

maria: dagen mcdowell, secretary of state nominee tony blinken said president trump was right to takebeen making this spotlighting this issue now for several years. it was encouraging to hear blinken agree that president trump's actions being tough on china were the right actions. how do you see things? dagen: the biden administration has a statement in august, also used that word, genocide. but this designation by the outgoing secretary of state could bring other nations together, to crack down and punish china for the treatment of the uyghur muslims. tony blinken, the incoming secretary of state, told of senators that the biden administration would also look at ways to punish china, punish not his word, including barring the import of products that are made with forced labor in china, also not exporting technology that china could use for further repression. however, i'll note that the trump administration just last week banned imports of cotton and tomato products from xinjiang. but this is i think where there might be sort of seamless transition between the trump administration an

we hope to be able to consider tony blinken to be the secretary of state asked again today we are considering floyd -- lloyd austin president biden's nominee to serve as secretary of defense. i voted to approve a waiver that would allow yesterday notwithstanding the cooling off period after a military service and i will be voting in favor of his confirmation. i'm voting yes because the nominee is clearly qualified and they should give latitude to fill their terms of qualified mainstream people of their choosing. at the same time the senate should request -- reflect on the fact that we will have two executive demonstrations issuing a waiver to a four-star general and former centcom commander to lead the pentagon. the armed services committee held a hearing last week to examine the waiver and the current state of civil military relations at the pentagon but expect the committee will continue to pay close attention to this important issuess in the months ahead. we willti investigate restoring balance at the pentagon for the longer we keep waiting it exempts for good reason. the control of the mi

among his decision-making team, incoming secretary of state tony blinken.already indicated the pressure on china will continue, at least over the crackdown on democracy in hong kong. commerce secretary gina raimondo is another. mainland mouthpiece global times notes a moderate stance on beijing in the past. and trade rep nominee whose a fluent mandarin speaker and was to confront china over trade practices. joe biden wants unity among western powers amid concern beijing could divide them by providing preferential market access. he could have a tough time convincing traditional allies. the eu is the latest to reach its own investment deal with china. beijing says the plan is to ease tensions. the foreign minister is calling for dialogue to restart. and high-ranking diplomats will reportedly be sent to washington to export areas for cooperation. if u.s. restrictions are not repealed, beijing is ready. new rules mean the government can prohibit the application of foreign rules to its companies, including those issued by the united states. joe biden says he's n

biden's secretary of state, tony blinken. >> what are the red lines that the united states considering sanction to russia if any harm comes to mr. navalny >> we are reviewing -- in attempt to assassinate him >> navalny speaks for many russians and should not be muzzled. >>> a tornado striking the tallahassee airport in florida causing damage and flipping over this plane and in the west a powerful winter storm is bringing up 10 feet of snow to the sierras. i want to tell you more on the trouble covid-19 roll-out and difficulties health officials are having and building trust among the community. morgan radford with the latest at our nbc news telemundo collaboration. >>> as an essential worker, ruiz ruiz, should soon be eligible for the covid vaccine. >> i am just scared because it has not been tested enough >> reporter: what are you hearing from family and friends, are they willing to take it? >> no, they're not willing to take it. >> reporter: one poll found only 20% of hispanics would get the vaccine compares to whites of 40%. the pastor whose church is 80% hispanics is meeting people

biden's secretary of state, tony blinken. >> what are the red line which the united states consider sanction russia if there is any harm that comes to navalny >> we are reviewing this, and the apparent use of chemical weapon and attempt to assassinate him. >> andrea, mi mitchell thanks >>> dangerous storms are on the move of a tornado. a powerful winter storm is bringing 10 feet of snow to t sierras. >>> more now on the covid vaccine roll-out health officials are billing trust among the community of color. morgan radford with our nbc news telemundo collaboration. >>> as an essential worker serving worker, riuz, should be eligible for the covid-19 vaccine but she has some concerns >> i am scared because it is not tested enough. >> reporter: what are you hearing from your friends and family, are people willing to take it? >> no. >> reporter: only 26% of hispanics said they would get the vaccine as soon as possible compares to 40% of whites. >> reporter: which is why this pastor is meeting people where will they are. >> reporter: this is a food bank but you are passing out these flyers >> yesd

and what's so striking about what we saw with figures like tony blinken speaking from the podium and these covid briefings is this sense of business as usual and the government getting back to what we thought of as the government before the trump years. sort of clashing with the reality on the ground, that it really is not that simple. it is why the republicans and their handling of donald trump is so vital in the next couple months is so vital, including during this impeachment time. how they deal with him both as the leader of their party, which he still is. he has a lot of sway. how they deal with his ability to run for president again, how they deal with his influence will directly impact our national security. increasingly law enforcement will be caught in the middle. and if politicians abdicate their responsibility around what's becoming a national security threat you're going to see law enforcement folks including like chuck's former colleagues becoming thrust again into the spotlight, again to the fore, because they will be responsible for keeping in check a person who you wo

later today we'll hold the confirmation hearing for tony blinken to be his secretary of state, and i am working hard to make sure there's a window for his core cabinet members to be confirmed later this week after the inauguration. that is one important way that leader mitch mcconnell and leader schumer can show that we are indeed coming together and moving forward. >> yeah, you talk about the confirmation hearing for tony blinken today. we do not believe that he will be confirmed tomorrow which would mean that joe biden very well might likely be the first president in a long time not have any cabinet members confirmed his first day in office. can you give me a sense of what day you think we will get some confirmations? >> i'm hopeful by later this week we'll see a core team of his secretary of defense, secretary of homeland security, secretary of the treasury, secretary of state confirmed. we don't have exact days on each of them because, as you know, the power-sharing agreement for a 50/50 senate and the terms of when and how an impeachment trial may begin are just being hammered o

white house press secretary jen psaki as well as the secretary of state tony blinken saying tht thisey have called on pakistan to review all of their legal options including having the u.s. prosecute sheikh for the murder of daniel pearl. we got a statement just a short time ago from the secretary of state tony blinken which says that, "we are also prepared to prosecute sheikh in the united states for his horrific crimes against an american citizen. we are committed to securing justice for daniel pearl's family and holding terrorists accountable." jake? >> all right, alex marquardt, thanks so much. stay on this story, please, because the pearl family deserves justice at the very, very least. >>> before we go, we want to remember one of the 431,000 people who have died of covid in the u.s. corky lee was a legendary photographer known for documenting the life of asian-americans. he was born and raised in queens, new york. he was a founding member of the local chapter of the asian-american journalists association. the organize says that old photos of the trans-continental railroad inspi

i think you'll see tony blinken and curt campbell and jake sullivan come out and tell us how it is. all we need is the truth we don't need any political smearing either way. we just need to hear about what is exactly happening and what the united states is going to do to protect itself. i think the new team coming in is incredibly capable of doing so >> there are still tariffs on $370 billion worth of chinese exports that come into this country costing american consumers and american companies. are they accomplishing anything, kyle should they stay >> yeah, i think, let me give you an example of a tariff that is absolutely necessary. if the chinese nation state decided they wanted to put our aluminum business out of business the number one import into aluminum smelting is power. they can just give free power and real estate to the smelters which they did and took our capacity utilization from 85 to below 60% in one year our entire aluminum business was about to go out ofbusiness, sara so there are certain tariffs that must be enacted against nation state actors that aren't acting ec

tony blinken was in that room. it tells you he was more than just a peripheral staffer. he was an integral part of the security decisions of the united states of america. he's ready for this job and we know it. there's one thing that we discussed before we walked in here that i think is critical element, that is the fact that he inherits a great department and many, many women have dedicated their lives to the security of the united states of america. we need them. we see their expertise wherever we travel, and every corner of the world. sometimes at great personal sacrifice they are representing this country and literally risking their lives to do so. it is his job and he understands it. to thank them for their efforts and to make sure that the morale is at the highest level so that america continues to be well represented around the world, it is my honor to introduce tony blinken today as the next secretary of state. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you very much, senator durbin pic i know you of other things to do so we will excuse you and what were going to do here

you mentioned tony blinken. t, in an exclusive one-on-one andrea mitchell will sit down with antony blinken in his first interview as secretary of state. watch that tomorrow here on bz msnbc. >>> drawing the line on who gets a covid relief payment. should people making $75,000 a year get a check? >>> the future of another round of relief checks will be the focus of washington this week. democrats are probing to move forward with president biden's trillion dollar plan. republicans today calling for a more limited bill. joining me now is heather long, economics correspondent for "the washington post." heather, big welcome to you. first question out of the gate here. how likely is it that will be any movement on this relief bill any time soon? >> well, the president has said speed is the top priority for him, and i think he'll have to make a big decision in the next week or two. does he want to play ball with republicans or not? obviously we got the big news today, ten republican senators have hitched biden their ow

a warning underscored today by tony blinken, biden's nominee for secretary of state. >> there is no doubt that it poses the most significant challenge of any nation state to the united states. >> reporter: but he must also restore the morale of diplomats after the trump years. >> they have been treated with disdain, smeared, and forced out of public service. there has been a stunning loss of expertise, steep declines in morale. >> reporter: because of the insurrection, the biden team is hoping to get its national security cabinet in place this week late today, republican senator josh hawley who led the electoral college challenge is blocking the homeland security nominee over immigration policy even though homeland security is the lead agency for the inaugural. lester >> all right, andrea, thanks. >>> and a programming note, joe biden's grandchildren talk exclusively with jenna bush hager tomorrow on "today." >>> up next, big changes to the s.a.t.s just announced. what your kids need to know >>> a sexting scandal has rocked an mlb team. the mets firing recently hired general manage porter

>> well, you know, as our secretary of state tony blinken testified before congress last week as partsult with our allies, we consult with people on the hill, we'll consult with israelis, with others before we make a final decision how to proceed with reengaging with iran, reengaging around this -- the nuclear challenge. he also made it quite clear president biden is not going to allow iran to acquire nuclear capabilities, but we're going to be consulting widely before we move forward on that. >> to have john kerry back in the administration after having been secretary of state and being the key negotiator of the iran deal suggests he's going to be able to have something to say about this advice for tony blinken as things go along. it's very unusual to have a former secretary of state like that in an administration with a new secretary of state working on something he already did. how are those jurisdictions going to be sorted out to everyone's satisfaction? >> you know, lawrence, secretary of state kerry came back to on a very specific assignment. to be the first ever presidential en

. >>> we have a final vote in less than two hours to confirm tony blinken as secretary of state.canned well is on capitol hill. there is a committee vote on the head of the homeland security division. leigh ann, talk about what we can expect today. >> reporter: hallie, biden's cabinet is slowly but surely being put into place. after tony blinken is confirmed could be secretary of state in just a couple hours which he is well expected to do biden will have four big cabinet secretaries in place regarding national security and the cabinet secretaries who will help to implement the biden agenda. before that was janet yellen who was confirmed last night to be treasury secretary, last week was avril haines to be director of national intelligence and lloyd austin to be the defense secretary. one thing that's notable, hallie, is that most of these -- all of these nominees so far have been confirmed with overwhelming bipartisan support. biden has not had to face the controversy with any of these nominees just yet, none of them have had to withdraw. the most controversial so mar is mayorka

tony blinken is in front of the for defense committee right now.med services committee is just about to begin ohas already begun its hearing for lloyd austin, the defense secretary. those will be pretty important national security posts. janet yellen in particular. should be a pretty straightfoard one, and they need her imposed soon because one of joe biden's key priorities is the stimulus bill, $1.9 trillion that will put $1400 in a lot of americans's pockets and extend a lot of programs and create a lot of extra capacity in terms of delivering vaccinations to try to meet that 100 million doses in his first 100 days that he promised to do. there is a lot to be done. some of the others may be trickier. they have the security nominee who may have difficulties because of his background. they are expecting some of these to be confirmed in votes on the senate floor this week. >> ok. thank you very much. one of joe bide's first tests as president is playing out in guatemala with thousands of honduran migrants being blocked from traveling north towards t

should take an aggressive stance toward china, a warning underscored by tony blinken. >> there's no doubt it poses the biggest challenge of any state to the united states. >> reporter: he must also restore the morral of diplomats after the trump years. >> they have been treated with disdain, smeared, and forced out of public service. there's been a stunning loss of expertise, steep declines in morral. >> because of the insurrection, the biden team was hoping to get its security staff in place this week but josh holly is blocking the homeland security nominee over immigration policy even though homeland security is the lead agency for today's inaugural phillip? >> all right, andrea thank you so much. >>> so another question here will the stockmarket see a boost under the new president? cnbc's steve sedgwick is next. >> if you were hoping to win big, there's still a chance. the jackpots continue to skyrocket. eighs you down. it also helps lower cholesterol and slow sugar absorption to promote healthy blood sugar levels. so you can feel lighter and more energetic. metamucil. support your dai

tony blinken to lead the state department later today. you heard him speak about his legislative package, the american reese c rescue plan, $1.5 trillion pushed into the economy. d.p.s. and republicans meeting to talk about it this week. a lot of skepticism about the price tag and whether it's needed. >> o'donnell: and for the 8 million americans who never got their stimulus check, president bush said he's looking into it and will move forward to try to make sure the money gets dispersed. ed o'keefe, nancy cordes, thank you so much, there will be more on your local news on this cbs station. we'll have a full wrap-up on the "cbs evening news." this has b >>> let's get to mary lee now with more on the weekend weather. it looks like it's going to be a wet one, mary. >>> yes. we are tracking those showers on high def doppler, really picking up and also looking at the chance for an isolated thunderstorm. you see that light to moderate rain across the golden gate into san francisco, across bay bridge, into east bay at this lunchtime hour. you s

we hope to be able to consider tony blinken to be the secretary of state early next week. today we're considering general lloyd austin, president bush -- biden's nominee to serve as secretary of defense. i voted to approve the waiver that would allow him to serve in this post yesterday notwithstanding the seven year cooling off period after military service. and i will be voting in favor of his confirmation. i'm voting yes because the nominee is clearly qualified and because presidents should get real latitude to fill their terms with qualified mainstream people of their choosing. at the same time the senate should pause and reflect on the fact that we will have begun two consecutive presidential administrations by issuing a waiver to a four-star general and former centcom commander to lead the pentagon. the armed services committee held a hearing last week to examine the waiver and the current state of civil military relations at the pentagon. i expect the committee will continue to pay close attention to this important issue in the months ahead. and we will investigate s

awaiting decisions on pete buttigieg for transportation secretary janet yellen as treasury secretary tony blinken as secretary of state and merrick garland as attorney general. >>and as part of his immigration reform plan president biden is calling on congress to preserve dhaka that's the deferred action for childhood arrivals program daca has protected. thousands of young people who came to america as young people from deportation. as our kron four's rob fladeboe reports tonight, a leading south bay proponent of the program and a dreamer himself us hopeful that the program can be saved. >>these dhaka recipients are called dreamers because up until now being allowed to stay in this country and become us citizens, the seem like a dream. but now that dream may be one step closer to reality and the dreamers are excited. here's more. >>as we've had a lot of anxiety on whether we're going to have to go back to move working under the table or. >>mario lopez has been on the front lines of the effort to stop the trump administration from ending the deferred action for childhood arrivals program which is

tony blinken. i said him will you be a change or more of the same?advocated for wars and said we learned from the libyan wars there were not good replacements. then why did you go into syria? he said our main regret is we did not go far enough. if you had regime change in syria you would have gotten jihaddists. this administration is putting people in place they say in favor of internationalism but they are in favor of military intervention. >> laura: i think that -- what is behind dr. fauci's obsession against hydroxychloroquine? he reveals a new study proving its efficacy. our medicine panel is here in a moment. type 2 diabetes can have a big impact on your life. but how can it be prevented? well, the first step is knowing if you something called prediabetes. take the 1-minute risk test today at doihaveprediabetes.org >> laura: as chinese president xi also for unity they are engageing in an online misogyny campaign for vaccine we developed to stop covid-19. they are known as wolf warriors added vaccine conspiracy theories to their rep story. claimi