rescue bill of my lifetime is now very likely to be signed into law. saturday after an all-night session, senate democrats passed the $1.9 trillion covid relief package in a strict party line vote. democrats all voted yes. republicans all voted no. because senators made some changes to the bill, it now has to go back to the democratic controlled house which is expected to pass the identical senate version this week, possibly as early as tomorrow. so the bill would then go to the president, president biden for his signature. take a step back. we're in the early part of march. right? we're not at the 100-day marker yet. this is an incredible victory for both the country, the biden administration, the democratic party, which held together. amid unified opposition from congressional republicans. they didn't get a vote in either house. they tried to break the party apart. that's republicans did. by forcing tough votes on amendments and arguing against the bill in public. but in the end it didn't work. democrats won. and as a result, a lot of people's lives are going to get better. >> by passing this plan we would have delivered real tangible results for the american people and their families. they'll be able to see and know and feel the change in their own lives. >> there is a lot in this bill. including for starters $350 billion for state and local governments that some of whom have been really hobbled by the pandemic with their tax revenue and added expenses. there's $130 billion for k-12 schools. $25 billion in relief for hard-hit restaurants. that's part of the bill we've been focused on here on this program for months now. there's tens of billions for covid testing, which by the way is still important. still vital even as we vaccinate. there's also a ton of money for vaccine distribution, other measures to fight and suppress the virus. and then that's the sort of programmatic money. then there's the money that's just going to go directly to americans. struggling americans. that includes an extension of the $300 weekly federal unemployment payment bonus that gets paid above what you would normally make for unemployment. there's also a tax break on unemployment benefits so people do not get some shocking surprise tax bill, which is key. $1,400 stimulus checks for low and middle income americans coupled with an additional $1,400 checks for their adult dependents and children and a child tax credit of either $3,000 or $3,600 per child depending on the child's age. the child tax credit alone for one year could benefit as many as 83 million children in this country. here's the impact. >> taken altogether, this plan is going to make it possible to cut child poverty in half. let me say it again. it's significant. historic. will cut child poverty in half. >> advances like this, this piece of legislation, they don't come along very often. and not only is it going to impact child poverty, let's look at the $1,400 check on top of the $600 passed in the last relief package. so let's say you are a married couple, makes less than $150,000 per year, you've got two kids along with an adult dependent, say, a child in college or a disabled adult who lives with you. you're looking at $7,000 in direct payments from the government? $1,400 for each person in the family. that's a real game changer after the year that all of us have had. the white house says many americans will get that money by the end of this month. so how did we get here? right? one thing that strikes me as i look at this, right? both parties have tons of corporate donors. there's k street lobbyists on both sides working over congress. there are ways in which both republicans and democrats are both overly influenced by big money, by corporate interests, by the rich. right? and yet look at the difference in the distributional priorities. when donald trump's republican party got elected they tried to gut the aca twice and then successfully passed a massive tax cut primarily for the rich and corporations. first thing out of the gate, biden and the democrats passed a bill in which the poorest 20% of americans are expected to see a 20% boost in income according to a new analysis while the richest 1% will receive an income boost of 0. 0%. and then take -- think about that. think about the difference in the distributional effects here and then think about the fact that republicans these days keep insisting in the words of josh hawley they are a working-class party. and the thing is it is true. the 2020 election suggested the gop is actually increasingly relying on less affluent voters while the democratic coalition is actually getting more professional and more affluent. but the republican rhetoric around standing for the working class is just not reflected in policy. i think that's why republicans would rather talk about dr. seuss. try to stoke culture wars. because they don't particularly seem to actually have a policy agenda to help the working class. republicans would rather enflame resentments in hopes of increasing their power. >> when i was elected, i said we were going to get the government out of the business of battling on twitter. and back in the business of delivering for the american people. of making a difference in their lives. giving everyone a chance, a fighting chance of showing the american people that their government can work for them. and passing the american rescue plan will do that. >> there is a notion, right? that the two parties are increasingly hopelessly polarized. each side has retreated to its corner. and while that's partly true it is not the whole truth. because what's happening is not symmetrical. it's true, not a single republican has backed the new covid relief bill. but just think back over the past year. when donald trump, the republican president, was president and the economy cratered and the republicans were essentially forced to pass stimulus bills, democrats backed that legislation. they voted for economic stimulus multiple times in an election year even though they had to know and it probably did help donald trump's re-election bid. even though donald trump literally put his name on the checks. democrats i guess if they wanted to play hardball, if they were psychos back in the spring and they thought, look, the better the economy's doing the better donald trump's going to do in re-election, they could have refused to back the stimulus. when trump was president. they could have acted the way republicans are acting now. but for a bunch of different complicated fascinating reasons democratic politicians really are committed to the project of using government as a means of helping people that are struggling. the proof is in the pudding in this bill. and republicans, well, let's just say they're making a very different calculation. why senate maisie hirono was part of the legislative session that led to the passage of the largest stimulus bill in history. and she joins me now. it was a rare all-nighter for the members of the united states senate. >> yes. >> but how are you feeling now that you've come out of it with a bill? >> at the end of the day, although the republicans tried, they spent many, many hours trying to weaken the bill and ultimately not a single one of them voted for it. at the end of the day we democrats knew we were going to get a bill that was going to help millions of people, and that's what our commitment was. and we -- it was worth it. >> was there any wavering? it was a long session, a back and forth. a vote held open. joe manchin on the phone with the white house. i guess inside the caucus, you've got the thinnest possible margin, a one-vote margin. >> yes. >> did everyone -- was there like a huddle? did you guys get together physically? i don't know if you can do that in covid times. does everyone know we have to do this and we are going to do this or are there moments where you're like this might go sideways? >> i had little doubt we were going to get this done because all of the democrats voted to use the reconciliation process. we all voted for the reconciliation bill. so that was a commitment to get things done and we did. it goes to show that we have a diverse caucus but at the end of the day we are here to help people. we believe government can do good for people. that's our belief and we act on that. >> are you surprised you didn't get a single republican vote? particularly because there's extended negotiations with ohio senator portman about adding changes to the bill that he wanted to see made. it i think is polling at between 65% and 75%. it's very popular. it's going to put money in people's pockets. are you surprised not one republican voted for it? >> i'm very disappointed that not one republican voted for it. and neither did any republican in the house. my hope is that the american people will hold them to account and that they'll have to go back to their constituents and explain to them why they did not, as you put it, lift a finger to get those checks into people's hands, to extend unemployment benefits, to help the state and counties get out of the economic crisis that they're in due to the pandemic. they should have to explain to their constituents why not a single one of them deserved their help and their vote. >> what lessons have democrats learned about legislating in this era of hyperpolarization, particularly in the wake of 2009, the last time democrats controlled both houses of congress and the white house? >> understanding that mitch mcconnell's goal is to retake the senate, which means that he is not going to be with us and pushing legislation that joe biden wants. and so that reality and recognition should hit us pretty soon, which means that we are going to need to do filibuster reform. >> i want to follow up on that but first to go back it is striking looking at the two big domestic priorities of the republican administration, right? when they came in in 2017. there were no democrats who voted their way on either the aca or tax cuts, right? but on spending, on the big omnibuses and things like that, it was a much more for lack of a better word normal legislative process. there were negotiations, bipartisan working groups that were sort of working out what was going to be in the big must-pass spending bills. it kind of rolled along in the background. do you think those days are dead now because there's a republican -- there's a democratic president and mitch mcconnell has the goals you say he does? >> i think it makes a huge difference in mitch mcconnell's calculation that we have the house, the senate, and the presidency. his goal is to take back everything. that makes him very ruthless and frankly he doesn't have a philosophy of helping people that guides him. his guidepost is we need to take back the power so that's what we're up against and sadly we're going to need to do voting rights bills. we're going to need to do infrastructure. there are a lot of bills that we need to do. and for the time that mcconnell was in power he did not bring a lot of legislation to the floor where the democrats were in the minority to exercise the vote powers. that's why he wants that filibuster to remain intact because we democrats are going to bring to the floor bills for debate that will help people and that's not where the republicans want to be, certainly not mitch mcconnell. but i believe the reality of not getting things done for the american people will hit us pretty soon and we're all going to be talking about filibuster reform. that's my hope. >> you know, you point to something, another important asymmetry here. we would remark all the time in the last four years during the trump administration when mcconnell controlled the senate that after those two big legislative priorities, one of which failed miserably, the aca repeal, and one of which succeeded in the corporate tax cut, right? mcconnell stopped legislating. there was just nothing left on the to-do list. you guys just confirmed judges all day. you'd come on my program and it was driving you all insane. >> yes. >> senate democrats have a very, very -- i mean, you can list eight to ten bills that you guys want in that body. >> yes. and mitch mcconnell wants to be able to be the guy that stops all of them. and that is why he's so intent on keeping filibuster intact and why in my view we're going to need to change that if we want to accomplish things. >> how active is that conversation inside the caucus? i've seen amy klobuchar. i've seen tina smith. you've been on this for a while. but i know a lot of senators worry about protecting the role of the minority in a sort of partisan sense in our hyperpolarized time. how much is that conversation developing inside the democratic caucus in the senate? >> it's very much developing. when you hear even joe manchin say that maybe we should do filibuster reform requiring anybody against a measure to come to the floor and have to talk all night and all day if possible, that is an opening on joe manchin's part for filibuster reform. >> yeah. he made those comments this week and it is true that we don't have any talking required. we saw ron johnson doing sort of a version of it with the objection to the reading. he had to kind of sit there. and as soon as he left chris van hollen was able to swoop in. there's only so long senators are willing to sit in that chamber, senator maisie hirono of hawaii. thank you so much for coming on the program. >> thank you. stay safe. be kind. the two georgia senate races, the ones that just happened the special election january 5th, right? that gave democrats control of the senate. they were the most expensive congressional races of all time. combined, $800 million spent on those two races. the truth is, though, democrats could have spent a lot more and it still would have been worth it. because those two wins basically paved the way for at least $1.5 trillion, conservatively estimated, more in aid for desperate americans. the lessons democrats have learned about going big, with paul krugman, who was there the last time around, next. st time t overspending on a retinol cream? just one jar of olay retinol24 hydrates better than the $100 retinol cream. for smooth, bright skin or your money back. olay. face anything. and try new retinol24 max. for skin that never holds you back don't settle for silver #1 for diabetic dry skin* #1 for psoriasis symptom relief* and #1 for eczema symptom relief* gold bond champion your skin when you switch to xfinity mobile, you're choosing to get connected to the most reliable network nationwide, now with 5g included. discover how to save up to $300 a year with shared data starting at $15 a month, or get the lowest price for one line of unlimited. come into your local xfinity store to make the most of your mobile experience. you can shop the latest phones, bring your own device, or trade in for extra savings. stop in or book an appointment to shop safely with peace of mind at your local xfinity store. the dangers of undershooting our response are far greater than overshooting. we should have learned the lesson, we should learn the lesson of 2008 and '09 when congress was too timid and it took years, years for the economy to get out of recession. >> the moment they took the senate majority this year democrats made it clear that one of the reasons why they were insisting on a big covid relief package is because of what happened during the last big crisis. right? the financial crisis around 12 years ago. that is the last crisis precipitated by a republican president that a democratic administration immediately had to try to get out of. despite having both houses of congress and the white house the rescue package from the obama administration was in retrospect i think it's quite clear simply too small to do what was needed. and one of the loudest voices calling for more stimulus back then was nobel prize-winning economist paul krugman. and professor krugman himself joins me now. i have been covering this since back then. i was writing about the debates over the recovery act back then and the stimulus. and now. what has changed? how do you account for the massive different between the approach this time around and last time? >> well, first of all, i think democrats have learned two things. one economic and one political. they have learned that when you're kind of at bottom, particularly when interest rates are already zero, there's a tremendous economic asymmetry. if you overshoot, okay, the federal reserve can raise interest rates and inflation can be contained. if you undershoot they can't cut interest rates which they're already zero, so there's a tremendous asymmetry there. but even more important, they've learned about the political. they've learned about the nature of their opposition. apparently according to accounts there were people in the obama inner circle who thought that if the first stimulus turned out not to be big enough they could go back for more. and that may have been true when everett dirksen was the leader of senate republicans but it's not true when mitch mcconnell is the leader. if it's not big enough the first time around then the other guys are going to say a-ha, see? your economic philosophy doesn't work. and so you don't get a second chance. and they learned that, you know, some of us did warn about the fact back then but now i think everybody gets it. >> yeah. i also think on the political level it was interesting to see the republican governor of west virginia -- again, this is a state trump carried by 40 points. jim justice. saying things like this, right? this sounds like paul krugman circa 2009. he says, "i just keep going back to the exact same thing. it's this. at the end of the day if we overdo it a little bit, down side risk is minimal. if we underdo it the down side risk is enormous." that really did sink in broadly past just like little -- you know, the corner of econ twitter where people debate this. it really did sink in. >> yeah. i have to say, i spent most of my career as a pundit, you know, making arguments that turn out -- i'm not always right but making arguments that turn out to be right and end up being vindicated in principle but never having a chance to get it right in real time. this time the democrats actually acted on it. people actually learned the lesson. and did the right thing. so i mean, it is -- i'm pinches myself wondering if this is a dream because we are responding more or less adequately to the crisis at hand. >> one thing i think about now as we watch the vaccinations which are right around 2.2 million a day, we conceive of a possibility of getting to some kind of herd immunity plus this rescue money. i'm certainly not an economic prognosticator but the second half of this year, particularly the last quarter, it could be really good. there's a lot of pent-up demand. we haven't lost -- it's not a natural disaster that took out huge amounts of physical capital like the airplanes are all there, the hotels are all there, broadway's still there. you've just got to -- you know, we could have a pretty good second half of this year. >> yeah, there isn't even the overhang of kind of bad debt that we had last time around. >> right. >> so we really are -- to coin a phrase, this could very well be morning in america. goldman sachs, and they have a very good team of economists, whatever else you may think of them, they are predicting that we really are going to have close to 8% growth this year, which is a morning in america level of growth, enough to get the economy more or less back to full employment by early next year. now, that's not the end of the story. you know, there's a tremendous amount of stuff we need to do down the line. but i'm expecting that you know, a year from now we're going to be looking and saying wow, incredible how much better things have gotten. >>