Is also poised to go on trial. Many advisers to President Biden say what were seeing tonight in these duelling stories is verification, a validation of his view that the government and the congress can do more than one thing. Now President Biden is talking up this new relief plan. It passed this key vote in the senate. It passed in the house. It is on its way. Take a look. If i have to choose between getting help right now to americans who are hurting so badly and getting bogged down in a lengthy negotiation or compromising on a bill thats up to the crisis, thats an easy choice. Im going to act fast. Act fast. And the major breakthrough here came with an assist from the person you see right there, an allnight Senate Debate followed by Vice PresidentHarris Casting her first ever tiebreaking vote. This occurred after 5 30 a. M. This morning. The Vice President votes in the affirmative and the concurrent resolution as amended is adopted. Heres what you need to know. This is the blueprint now, and it shows that the president has the votes with that assist from Vice President harris. Some of the key measures here, 1. 9 trillion in much needed aid. 1400 checks to millions of americans. Only the super wealthy are excluded from that benefit. Jobless benefits will be extended. That was a huge debate during the president ial campaign. New grants for restaurants and bars, some of these hard hit industries, even as theyve tried to follow safety protocols, and also funding to expand both testing, which people need to control the risk and vaccines, which people need of course to get past all this. President biden, as you heard there, says he is acting fast. These final touches on the bill could literally be done within two weeks according to the legislative process, and that is objectively a very swift rollout for a multitrillion package. Meanwhile, as mentioned, the former president bracing for the second impeachment trial. We now are getting new details on how this is going to work. It will begin formally on tuesday, and the Republican Party continues to wrestle with how to balance the trial of a former president who summoned People To Washington who attacked the capitol and what Many Democrats say in that critical vote last night is having actual sanctions for members of this congress who have also encouraged political violence. Lets get right to it tonight. Were joined by Pulitzer Prize winning column with the Washington Post eugene robinson, and tiffany cross, host of msnbcs cross connection. And author of say it louder black voters, white narratives and saving democracy. Happy friday, and thanks to you both for being here. Thanks, ari. Happy friday. Gene, it is striking to see what the congress can do if its willing to work hard, stay up late and make moves. Your thoughts here while there is a lot of things going on with such a massive package making its way. We now know this has the votes to be done. Yeah, were talking about a 1. 9 trillion package. And what we learned last night and today is that it does indeed have the votes to get done, all democrats in the senate are behind all the major components of this legislation. And there will be tinkering around the edges, what will be the upper income level for those who get the 1400 checks. At what point to start phasing those down. There might be some negotiation on that. But the basic elements are if not set in stone, theyre all set in motion, and democrats have stuck together and are behind it, and that gives this package 51 votes in the senate and has the votes in the house. So its a matter of now the slog of actually writing the legislation and getting it through the Committee Process and this and that and the other, which apparently they intend to do with some dispatch. So this was a very, very big day for President Biden. Yeah, and tiffany, there is a lot of reporting and data on how this is going work. A lot of people who can be getting these checks shortly, theyre going to be spending them on essentials and on food. So on the positive side, this is needed help. On the sad reality of it, we only know this because of how dire the situation is. I want to turn so everyone is clear on the stakes here. To what people are going through. Just looking at some footage, some local news reports, some people in their own words. Take a look. Its 150, 200 cars starting at 12 00 at night. Food is so expensive, you know, thats why we come. It is important because im on Social Security and have i bills to pay. Food insecurity is growing exponentially. The numbers are there. People are still struggling. Half a dozen eggs which is helpful. Everybody is just worried about next next meal. Tiffany, this is food assistance. It is something that people need, and they need it more than ever in a pandemic. There is no type of person who will or wont need food assistance, because we all dont know as life goes on whats going happen, whether were going to hit a pandemic or two people who held jobs for a decade find theyre ought of a job and theyve got kids. Right. I wonder if you can reflect on that part of the package for us. Yeah, i think we have to back up and say with the 1400, a lot of that wont even go to food because a lot of it will get eaten but by overdraft fees, by late fees that youre behind on. So people are going to have to choose between if theyre going eat or if theyre going to buy medication or if theyre going feed their children and starve themselves or if theyre going to have power in the house instead of having food on the table. So i think this is where there is a disconnect with lawmakers. And i know that were saying, you know, the basic tenets of this are met, but i still think there is something about having this policy talked about on capitol hill being disconnected from the people who are actually experiencing it. For example, how are we defining the super wealthy . Im very interested in seeing that. You know, if somebody makes 100,000 in new york city, you are not super wealthy. However, if youre making that in south dakota, sure, maybe youre not eligible for those checks. But what happens there, you have the potential of red state people benefitting disproportionately for more heavily populated cities. Then there is also the politics of this, ari. So because we have such democrats have such a slim majority in congress, you have to wonder everybodys vote counts on everything. So when you get to senators like Kyrsten Sinema or joe man chon, they are 49 and 50. They are already broken ranks with the party, particularly joe manchin onge. What will democrats do there . They didnt pass the bill. Now you get into the nuts and bolts of writing the legislation. So whats actually going to be in there . Will we see democrats try to slip the minimum wage in there on who is going to support a 15 minimum wage at risk of opposing the Stimulus Bill altogether . So this isnt necessarily done, particularly given some of the dissent weve already seen within the democratic party. But i hear you, ari. I think first and foremost, its suffering of the american people. This is about the virus and the vaccine. And until we get on the other side of that, people are going to need help and funding from their government. And im at least happy that there is some light at the end of the tunnel, and i hope that light is hope and not a train. Yeah, and i appreciate your point, tiffany, that its both. There is meeting the Emergency Needs and then Big Questions of minimum wage being a good example where the votearama as they call on the hill was the action. I think that biden and harris showed they get action. As you say, there is a lot of other important and populous priorities to still be dealt with. Before i lose both of you, because i told viewers have i dr. Fauci coming up, gene, take a look at this new footage from the morning of january 6th. We know what went on to happen that day. Donald trumps former adviser roger stone, who is a convicted felon, who was pardoned by donald trump, youll see in this video is there with these rightwing militia groups. This is the oath keepers. Theyre surrounding him, providing what appears to be a kind of support. People can look at the video themselves. And gene, it goes to how much plotting was going on and how much direct it goes back up to the president when someone he has endorsed enough to recently pardon is here with these armed people outside a hotel, gearing up for whatever they were planning that day, gene. Right. Id love to be able to look at some Cell Phone Records and see who was talking to whom at what point in the days and hours leading up to the insurrection. And also, during the insurrection itself, i think with all that could bear heavily on President Trumps guilt or innocence. But i think its guilt on incitement here, and that would all be interesting to be able to look at. I dont know how much access the house Impeachment Managers are going to have to some of that data, some of that information. But i think it would be useful if they could get it. Yeah. All great points. As i told viewers, we have our shortest break. We have break coming up and then we go to dr. Fauci. Gene robinson and tiffany cross, my thanks to both of you. If you want to hear more, i know i do, you have v to get up tomorrow. Big booking tomorrow, senator booker with tiffany. Check that out. Up next, we have as promised dr. Fauci joining us. Were going get into the vaccines, the Conspiracy Theories, covid inequality. Dr. Fauci has returned to the beat right after this break. Helps you brush in Vital Minerals to actively repair and strengthen enamel. So you dont just brush to clean, you brush to build. Pronamel intensive enamel repair. So you want to make the best burger ever . Then make it that means selling everything. And eating nothing but cheese till you find the perfect slice. Even if everyone asks you. Another burger truck . Dont listen to them that means cooking day and night until you get. [ ding ] you got paid that means adding people to the payroll. Hi mom. That means. Best burger ever. Intuit quickbooks helps Small Businesses be more successful with payments, payroll, banking and live bookkeeping. My body is truly powerful. I have the power to lower my a1c. Because my body can still make its own insulin. And trulicity activates my body to release it, lowering my blood sugar from the first dose. 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The nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever best sleep with a cold medicine. Oh, you think this is just a Community Center . No. Its way more than that. Cause when you hook our community up with the internet. Boom look at ariana, crushing virtual class. Jamol, chasing that college dream. Michael, doing something crazy. This is the place where we can show the world what we can do. Comcast is partnering with 1000 Community Centers to create wifienabled lift zones, so students from lowincome families can get the tools they need to be ready for anything. Oh were ready. Joining us now is dr. Anthony fauci, director of the federal governments institute of Infectious Diseases since 1984. Dr. Faucis career spans combatting Health Crises from hiv to sars to covid. He is the medical director for President Bidens covid team. Dr. Fauci, thanks for being here. Good to be with you. Thanks for having me, ari. Great to have you. Much of what you do is serious, sometimes somber. We will begin tonight, sir, with a sliver of good news. Were seeing covid cases drop about 30 since the holiday peak. Tell us why, and is the United States on track to continue those trends or not . Well, hopefully it will continue. Whenever you see such a sharp surge that we unfortunately experienced over the prior several weeks, it was really very bad. The inflection of it was like this. And we were up to sometimes 300 ,000 to 400,000 infections a day. Youre going to have to have a peak, because the cause of that surge was very likely three or four factors, the cold weather, the Holiday Season with thanksgiving followed by christmas followed by new years, and then once you stabilize, then you just plateau off and start coming down. I dont think that the fact that were beginning to vaccinate people has yet contributed to that slight decline because we havent vaccinated enough people yet. So what it likely is the natural course of a very high sharp inflection, which naturally will start to peak. A combination by people probably when they were hearing about the very disturbing numbers likely doubled down a bit more with masking, physical distancing, and avoiding congregate setting. Thats what i think is going on. A natural peaking as well as people doubling down on the measures. A combination of continuing with that trend as well as get more and more people vaccinated as we go from february to march to april, i think youre going see that continue to come way down. The only wild card in that that we have to watch is the fact that we now have variants in this country that we know in other countries like uk are associated with an increased efficiency in transmitting from one person to another. So we have to keep an eye out on the evolution of those mutants and make sure they do not become dominant in this country. Well, its very helpful to hear you break it down that way, that youre envisioning a onetwo punch, two being the vaccine which we hear about, but the numbers that may be going down, as you say are from the first punch, which is what we do collectively matters. And that if people pulled back from gatherings or got more serious about everything that youve recommended and the experts have recommended, then that can work. On the variance, you have the South African One thats getting attention because its seen as more infectious and resistant to vaccines. Thats here in the u. S. Meanwhile, a Top Epidemiologist who advised joe biden is offering this warning about the british strain today. The surge that is likely to occur with this new variant from england is going to happen in the next six to 14 weeks. We are going to see Something Like we have not seen yet in this country. I see that hurricane 5, category 5 or higher 450 miles offshore. Telling people to evacuate in that nice blue sky day is going to be hard. But i can also tell you that hurricane is coming. Does that sound right to you, or is it possibly overblown . Well, lets put it this way. That certainly that is a possibility, but i think if we do the things that you and i have just mentioned a moment ago, that doesnt necessarily have to happen. So what dr. Osterholm, who is a good friend, is saying, he tends to think in terms of the worst Case Scenario. Now the worst Case Scenario may occur, but i think we have the power within us to do things to prevent that from occurring. So if you get a dominant strain, and he is quite correct in saying that if you do modeling, the uk strain, which is the b117, which shows to be more transmissible in the uk leading to their surge, if it becomes dominant in the United States, we will be challenged with a virus that has a degree of transmissibility thats more efficient than what weve been dealing with. And because of that, that should be an impetus for us to double down so that uniformly, not spot ly ly spottily, but uniformly throughout the country we do have adherence to those measures that we know work. So he is correct in saying that this is a possibility, and it might be, but i think it doesnt have to be an inevitability. A possibility but not necessarily an inevitability. Thats, if i may say so, thats very dr. Fauci the way youre putting it. Youve also said Herd Immunity would be getting somewhere around roughly 75 vaccination rates. If, though, these other variants spread enough, does that prior advice hold or does it become more complicated . Well, thats very interesting. So it gets a little complicated, but i think i can simplify it. Ive said, and this is purely an estimate, because we dont have the data to prove it, but i think its a reasonably accurate estimate, that if we get 70 to 85 of the population vaccinated, that we will in fact get a degree of Herd Immunity,ably be represented by kind of an umbrella or a blanket of protection so that the level of virus is so low that it is not threatening anymore. Now, the point is that if you get these variants that dominate, the ones that you need to be concerned about more so than the british one is the one in south africa, because the one in south africa, which is 351, thats just the name of the lineage, we dont like to call it by the country. It gets to be a little stigmatizing the country which we shouldnt be doing. But if that becomes dominant in