folks, people who built the country, a fighting chance. >> the white house says the $1,400 checks if many americans are stand landing in bank accounts as soon as this weekend. the law includes a boost to federal unemployment benefits and more funding for coronavirus vaccine and testing programs. later tonight, biden will deliver his first prime time address to the nation as president of the united states to chart a course out of this def devastating pandemic. almost 33 million fully vaccinated, which is the gad news, but not to mention, the nation is still down almost 10 million jobs. and as cnn phil mattingly reports, the white house plans to try to sell this new legislation to every corner of the country. >> i'm going to have a lot more to say about that tonight and the next couple of days. >> reporter: for president joe biden, a day of major moments. >> this historic legislation is about rebuilding the backbone of this country. >> reporter: with major challenges still ahead. biden signing his cornerstone legislative achievement into law. the $1.9 trillion covid relief bill. >> it's clear that an overwhelming percentage of the american people, democrats, independents, our republican friends, have made it clear, the people out there, have made it clear they strongly support the american rescue plan. >> reporter: just hours before his first prime time address to the nation. >> what i'm talking about tonight is the impact on the virus and how we're going to end this pandemic. >> reporter: where officials tell cnn he will talk about the sacrifices made by americans over the last year. a symbolic moment, just one year to the day after this from his predecessor. >> this is just a temporary moment of time that we will overcome together as a nation and as a world. >> reporter: with the coronavirus death toll now topping a staggering 525,000, nearly 2,000 still dying each day, biden will drill into the linchpin of his administration's plan to beat the pandemic -- vaccines, their distribution and what's next. >> he plans to provide a clear outline of his approach, level with the american people about what is required of them, but also provide a sense of hope. >> reporter: biden's bill signing serving as the starting gun to an all-out administration-wide blitz to promote the measure. with top administration officials from the president to the first lady, jil bl biden, ve president kamala harris and the cabinet heading out into the country. the message to be hammered home, according to an intern white house memo, that help is here for them and their families. at its core, an effort to maintain the law's current popularity. >> it is historic, it is monumental, it is consequential. >> reporter: even in the face of unified gop opposition on capitol hill. >> 2021 is set to be an historic comeback year, not because of the far left legislation that was passed after the tide had already turned, but because of the resilience of the american people. >> reporter: and jake, one of the places the president and the vice president will be traveling together to promote this legislation will be atlanta, georgia, and white house officials made clear the symbolism there is very real. were it not for victories in the two senate runoffs in that state on january 5th, as one white house official put it to me, $1.9 trillion wouldn't have even been remotely possible, jake. >> that's right. phil, thank you so much. democratic senator mark warner of virginia joins us now. senator warner, thank you for joining us. president biden just signed this legislation. he has a prime time address tonight. how should biden tow the line between celebrating these accomplishments and making sure americans don't let their guard down, given that the pandemic is still out there killing more than 1,000 americans every day? >> well, jake, i think you hit the nail on the head. you don't want to go out with a mission accomplished kind of banner, you want to say, we see the light at the end of the tunnel. i think we're all tired of the masks, were all tired of social distancing, but you can feel the economy coming back, you can see the numbers get so much better, we're up to almost 2 million vaccinations a day. i think if we hang in another 60 days, we're going to have been way over the hump and if you can couple that with this major package, which will put money in the pockets of americans, it will get us -- get those schools back reopened in a safe way and there are a whole series of smaller parts of the bill that are big deals on any individual basis, for example, the child tax credit. could take down child poverty by 40%, something i got into the bill, $17 billion on broadband deployment. what we've all learned from the last year of covid, high speed internet connectivity, broadband, is an economic necessity. we've made a giant down payment on that issue. and the state and local government assistance. i say this as a former governor, is very generous, but in the second round of this money, there's some of these funds can be used for much-needed in infrastructure, as well. so, i hope they continue to lay out what's in this bill, well beyond just the checks that are going into people's pockets. >> i want you to take a listen to kevin mccarthy, the republican from california, criticizing this bill earlier today. >> as you know, less than 9% is used to defeat the virus. it doesn't prioritize school openings. most of the money for schools doesn't even go out until 2023. this isn't a relief bill, it's a payoff for pelosi's political allies. >> now, leader mccarthy says a lot of things that aren't true, especially the big election lie that he led the charge on, but he's not far off when he describes some of the spending and when it's spent. a cnn analysis suggests that only about 7% of the bill's funding is directly for the pandemic and only 5% of the 1$10 billion allocated k through 12 schools, only 5% expected to be used this year, 2021. what is your response? >> well, my response is, jake, and again, you know, nobody's got a monopoly of hypocrisy in politics, but remember, kevin mccarthy was for the $1.9 trillion to $2 trillion that donald trump offered at the end of october. so we did $900 billion of that in a bipartisan way in december, i was proud to be one of the eight folks that put that bill together, but there was another trillion dollars he was for in october that now it's getting spent out in this bill. when it came out of trump, he was for it. now that it's out of biden, he's against it. and with the school money, there is a generous pot of school money, it will not all be spent out before the end of this school year, but we're going to need kids back in summer school at a rate that we've never seen before in this country, to catch up and we're going to need additional afterschool services as kids return into next school year to make up for what, for many kids, particularly underprivileged kids, has been a lost year of education and particular to those kids that did not have access to broadband. >> but do you understand why so much of the money is not spent this year when it comes to the k through 12 school dollars? i mean, 5%. 5% of the $130 billion this year, why only 5% of that, why not 50% of it? why is it spread out over four years? >> i believe that this is because a lot of these dollars were also going to normal formulas, to state and local government. there's at $350 billion going to state and local government. very generous and part of that also can be used for in infrastructure, which we pushed for, because those numbers are pretty high. most school budgets s had alrea been put in place at this time of the year. but remember, we're talking about the school year, which for most kids, ends in june. this doesn't talk about the summer school that will have to be at a level that we've never seen before and the much-needed dollars that start into september, next year, that 5% is just for the balance of literally the next 2 1/2 to 3 months under this school year. >> all right, democratic senator mark warner of the great commonwealth of virginia, thank you so much, appreciate your time today, sir. >> thank you, jake. a year ago today, one year ago today, quarantine became a household word. up next, a look at the progress we've made and some unexpected good news about one of the vaccines. plus, new information about one of the capitol hill attack terrorists and his ties to the president's helicopter, marine one. that's ahead. tter? 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>> yes, it is. i can say, we will see more cases and things will get worse than they are right now. bottom line, it's going to get worse. >> today, dr. fauci said it would have shocked him back then just how much worse it would get. on this day, one year ago, we reported that 33 americans -- 33 -- had died because of coronavirus. and now -- >> i did not in my mind think that much worse was going to be 525,000 deaths. >> 525,000, a devastating toll that continues to grow every day. right now, an average of about 1,400 americans are dying every day from covid-19. and now, with more mandates lifting and more people vaccinated, the united states is coming out of a very dark place and heading into a new phase of this pandemic, as cnn's erica hill reports. >> we've got breaking news. the nba has just announced that the season is going to be suspended. >> reporter: the nba coming to a screeching halt as the reality of this virus took hold. >> i never would have imagined even though i've been through multiple outbreaks of different diseases, the thought that you would have 525,000 people in america to have died -- this virus is a very formidable enemy. >> reporter: and yet, here we are. in the course of a year, more than 29 million confirmed cases in the u.s. 530,000 lives lost. >> grieving in isolation is a very difficult thing. >> reporter: cdc director dr. rochelle walensky calling the toll of the past year heartbreaking. we are tiered, we are lonely, w are impatient, she writes, while also focusing on hope. both deaths and average new cases down in the last week. 10% of the population is now fully vaccinated. four former presidents teaming up to boost that number. >> roll up your sleeve and do your part. >> this is our shot. >> now it's up to you. >> reporter: notably absent, donald trump, who we recently learned was vaccinated offcamera in january. meantime, encouraging new data from israel shows the pfizer vaccine appears to be 94% effective against asymptomatic spread. >> it means that not just you're protected from getting sick, but you are also protected from potentially catching it and then spreading it to others. >> reporter: the same studies show it is also highly effective against the variant first identified in the uk, which is the dominant variant in israel and which has been confirmed in all but three u.s. states. >> this is coming at us at the very same time we're opening up america as if there's nothing else happening. >> reporter: the texas attorney general now threatening to sue officials in austin for keeping the city's mask mandate in place. >> the science and the data very clear that the single most important thing we can all be doing at this point is wearing masks. >> reporter: and yet, from maryland to oklahoma, more states are easing restrictions. >> the standard for normal cannot be zero cases. in oklahoma, the standard for normal is freedom. >> reporter: prompting celebration and concern. and breaking news just coming into cnn here, that threat of a lawsuit from the texas attorney general is now a reality, jake. so, we've learned the lawsuit has been filed because of this mask mandate against officials in austin, saying it undercuts reopening efforts. in that lawsuit, the a.g. says the governor's orders preement more restrictive local energy orders and it is asking for a stay. cnn has reached out to the mayor of austin and other health officials for comment. we have not yet heard back. >> erica hill, thank you so much. let's bring in sanjay gupta. sanjay, we're now averaging 1,400 deaths every day, compared to the peak just two months ago, which was around 3,400. hospitalizations are now under 43,000. in january, they were three times that, around 130,000. new cases now average about 56,000 a day, compared to 250,000 only two months ago. what do you make of where we are now? >> well, you know, things are obviously heading in the right direction, jake. the numbers are still just remarkably high, i mean you i think we think of them as low because of where we've been and what these peaks have shown. i'm optimistic, jake, about the next few months. you know, it's been a tough year, and you and i have had some times where we've had to give tough news to the audience, but i am more optimistic. here's what i'm concerned about a little bit, jake. i think things will likely continue to improve, we'll go into the warmer months, viral transmission goes down. and if people stop, you know, being serious about vaccinations, we may not get the amount of vaccinated people that we need, the percentage that we need, and then going back into the fall again, you could have more significant resurgences. so, people are already starting to look at this in the rear view mirror, saying, it's over, and as a result, aside from not abiding by good public health practices, if they slow down the vaccinations, as well, that could set us up for some trouble in the fall. so, pedal to the metal still for a little bit more. >> we're one year into the pandemic. there are three vaccines available in the u.s. and we got this message today from four of the five members of the former president's club. take a listen. >> i want to go back to work and i want to be able to move around. >> to hug michelle's mom, hug her, see her on her birthday. >> i'm looking forward to going to opening day at texas rangers stadium with a full stadium. >> that's part of the new ad campaign from every living president except one, donald trump. given that 28% of republicans say they're reluctant to get the vaccine, this does seem a missed opportunity. i don't know whether because donald trump didn't want to participate or because the people who made the psa started while trump was president and then ended up just not bringing him in, i don't know why, buzz there is this missed opportunity to get trump supporters to hear the message. >> yeah. no doubt. and it is interesting, as erica hill just mentioned, that president trump did get vaccinated. so, you know, do not what i say, i guess, whatever that saying is -- >> right. >> he obviously thought it was the right thing to do for him and to the extent that people will then follow his example, they should know that. but you know, 28%, we've sort of hovered around this 20% to 30% vaccine hesitancy for some time, i think as more and more people do get vaccinated, the numbers will go up. we talked about communities of color. you saw lebron james yesterday sort of hedging on, you know, vaccinations, saying it was a private conversation between him and his family. of course, he's right, it is a private conversation, but when you look at vaccine distribution overall, 67% of the vaccines going to white americans, between 6% and 7% going to black americans, despite the fact they are far more likely to be hospitalized and die from this. so, that's probably the biggest area that needs to be addressed in terms of hesitancy. >> we had karen bass on the show yesterday and she said she thinks the biggest issue when it comes to the minority community is access. the ability to take a day off, go to the hospital, wait in line, et cetera you as opposed to willingness, it's probably a combination of both. i want to ask you, sanjay, new guidance allows for indoor visitation at nursing homes, regardless if the visitor or resident has been vags ccivacci. explain the reasoning here if you could. i don't really fully understand it. if seniors are supposed to be one of our most vulnerable groups at risk, especially people in nursing homes. >> i could see the confusion, especially given when we were talking about the idea that we are still seeing people that are not vaccinated, they shouldn't be getting on planes and visitations can occur in the most vulnerable areas in our community. first of all, there is dissonance here and people are going to have to explain, why no travel, why yes to nursing homes? long-term care facilities, 70%, roughly, have been vaccina