any russian aggression could spell doom for the nord stream 2 gas pipeline which goes from russia to germany and is crucial to russian leaders. norah. o donnell: and that is significant. thank you, nancy cordes, at the white house. and we re going it turn now to the other big story here in america, the covid pandemic, closing in on 50 million confirmed cases, public health officials believe the actual number is significantly higher. a new surge of infections and hospitalizations is being driven by the delta variant as tonight we re learning more about the new omicron strain from the scientists who first detected it. here s cbs nikki battiste. reporter: tonight, the cbs news bureau in south africa has learned the pfizer vaccine may only offer a partial shield against the new omicron variant. an early study by the south african scientist who first detected the variant shows omicron s ability to eveiled the pfizer vaccine is robust, but not complete, and that a booster
that includes germany. i would urge the senate to think about that. if you get satisfaction on nord stream 2, i undermined the effectiveness of the sanctions the president is threatening to put in place against boom. chris: there s other foreign-policy threats. senator ernst, china is involved in a huge military buildup now, both on the ground and also in space. the hypersonic missile. how should we deal with the growing threat from china. there are so many ways we should be dealing with the threat in china, whether it s a cyberspace, cyber domain, whether it is disruption to the belton road initiatives all around the globe. certainly there buildup of man-made islands in the south china sea. they re encouraging taiwan and taiwanese airspace. all of this we can do in a number of manners but of course
vladimir putin really wants now. it is the completion of the nord stream 2 gas pipeline to germany. here is what senator tom cotton, your republican colleague had to say about that last week. take a look. were in a situation where all western europe is flipped on german gas and vladimir putin is about you invade ukraine. the best we can get stern words. chris: what do you think of the chances that congress could override the president and block the pipeline and you can get democrats and republicans joining together to override president biden. recently cannot speak for the house but i do believe there is a coalescence around these types of actions in the united states senate. democrats are concerned and republicans are concerned. what we don t want to do is allow president putin to continue with the pipeline.
vladimir putin really wants now. it is the completion of the nord stream 2 gas pipeline to germany. here is what senator tom cotton, your republican colleague had to say about that last week. take a look. were in a situation where all western europe is flipped on german gas and vladimir putin is about you invade ukraine. the best we can get stern words. chris: what do you think of the chances that congress could override the president and block the pipeline and you can get democrats and republicans joining together to override president biden. recently cannot speak for the house but i do believe there is a coalescence around these types of actions in the united states senate. democrats are concerned and republicans are concerned. what we don t want to do is allow president putin to continue with the pipeline.
i would urge the senate to think about that. if you get satisfaction on nord stream 2, i undermined the effectiveness of the sanctions the president is threatening to put in place against boom. chris: there s other foreign-policy threats. senator ernst, china is involved in a huge military buildup now, both on the ground and also in space. the hypersonic missile. how should we deal with the growing threat from china. there are so many ways we should be dealing with the threat in china, whether it s a cyberspace, cyber domain, whether it is disruption to the belton road initiatives all around the globe. certainly there buildup of man-made islands in the south china sea. they re encouraging taiwan and taiwanese airspace. all of this we can do in a number of manners but of course