Page 162 - Off Ramp News Today

Include tulsa, omaha, billings and wichita things begin to cool down tomorrow. overseas tonight, tensions between russia and ukraine are at a fever pitch with fears growing of another russian invasion as its forces mass on the border the u.s. secretary of state is trying to head off a conflict. andrea mitchell has more >> reporter: in stockholm today, secretary of state tony blinken meeting with moscows veteran foreign minister sergey lavrov. seeking a diplomatic off ramp to the emerging crisi...

Very, very concerned. but blinken making clear that there still is time for a diplomatic solution, a diplomatic off-ramp to de-escalate this entire situation, isa. >> yeah, its historical context is very important. alex marquart in stockholm, sweden there when the meeting kicks off 30 minutes from now. thanks very much, alex. now, the secretary of state also announced the u.s. is preparing new sanctions against belarus using migrants as political weapons. belarusian security officials used dir...

We cant talk about off ramp until we address those public health measures. thats through policies, not js individuals doing the right thing. but what happens on a local, state level. >> i want to add one piece to dr. blackstocks incredible analysis, which is in in addition to covid fatigue, in addition to the economic realities, you have a political party that is actively trying to stop this down. a federal judge blocked the biden administration in ten states to enforce a federal vaccine mandate...

Friends, their loved ones, their neighbors, the people they meet in the shop. you have a good portion of the american population that just refuses to take the vaccine. >> you know, katy, this is an inherent tension we talk about a lot. this tension between free will and what should you have access to if, say, you remain unvaccinated but need an icu bed. the crisis standards of care you have been hearing about for many months now, what are you entitled to as an individual if you decide to remain ...

Powers problem here first. the president doesnt get to write legislation. thats up to congress. he only gets to write rules where he has specifically delegated authority. we dont think that there is any reasonable argument, frankly, that congress intended to give him this authority. >> so im curious to get your perspective on the specifics of the rule, because it allows for private companies, for employees at private companies who were not vaccinated to remain unvaccinated as long as they contin...

Bill signing ceremony even while theyre still debating the other bill, negotiating the other bill? >> reporter: well, on the manchin question, i think thats exactly the off ramp they have chosen to take, to trust that joe biden and joe manchin are going to negotiate a final bill that looks enough like what theyre going to pass through the house today that theyre okay with it. it became increasingly clear to democrats across the spectrum that the idea they could just hold on to the bipartisan inf...

Because schools are open, but theyre still not normal. and you know, there needs to be some sort of off ramp, some sense that when we get to a certain metric that we can, that theres an exit strategy from what parents have been through for the last 18 months. >> i think thats all well put and speaks to the intersection of todays news, which is big, and what people typically want if you are forced to live through some sort of hellscape because its temporarily required as michelle says, people wan...

And also there needs to be a conversation to be had in time too about what is the layer of protection that vaccination can replace as in at some point if all the other kids in a class are vaccinated can we get rid of masks, especially if we have testing and are able to lower the level of covid in the community. >> what do you think about that? >> i think we should have that kind of conversation now, in fact, about what is the off-ramp for masking. i think that will also be a powerful incentive f...

May not be taking the same precautions in their homes. and so i think this will change things so much. and also there needs to be a conversation to be had in time too about what is the layer of protection that vaccination can replace as in at some point if all the other kids in a class are vaccinated can we get rid of masks, especially if we have testing and are able to lower the level of covid in the community. >> what do you think about that? >> i think we should have that kind of conversation...

>> yeah, look, i think theres clearly opportunity for democrats to improve their messaging, their policy making, and i think youll see a stronger joe biden a couple years from now if hes facing re-election. what it does say is donald trump very likely could be the nominee of the republican party. and he very well might win, but its a slim chance. this is a person who lost the popular vote twice, and so the catch-22 for republicans is, if he decides to run and gets the nomination, youre going int...