the president will announce the u.s. is buying another 100 million doses and bring you his remarks live when they start. moments ago, the senate confirmed merrick garland to be u.s. attorney general by 70-30 with republican leader mitch mcconnell voting yes after he spent close to a year blocking garland's 2016 nomination to the supreme court. earlier today the senate confirmed marcia fudge who last vote as a member of congress would be passing the relief which cull if i mated in this moment on the house floor. >> yay are 220. the nays are 211. the motion is adopted. >> joining us now to start the coverage as we await the president, punch bowl news founder anna palmer and mike memoli covering the white house. the covid relief bill heading to the president's desk to be signed this friday. wasn't too long ago i recall and correct me if i'm wrong the chief of staff saying that they expected to be signing this early march. here we are. the president expected to sign it and we're only on day 50. are they happy about where things are as of today? >> reporter: yeah. if anything they're ahead of schedule. the newly sworn in president biden marching down pennsylvania avenue seven weeks ago to walk inside the white house and white house officials set mid-march as the timetable for this priority. and so this is a certainly real victory the first legislative and you mentioned the president's tweet saying help is here. what he's saying since being declared the winner that help is on the way and a longer statement the president calling this a victory for the essential workers who he called the backbone of this country and calling notary public the most important speaker in the history of this country and very soon hearing from the president in public for the first time with an event with the ceos of johnson & johnson and merck as a beginning of what to expect a sales campaign from the president even after the legislation is passed leading up to the prime time address tomorrow night and marching the progress this country made since the lockdowns a year ago and then a signing ceremony potentially on the south lawn friday. >> we'll get the remarks to you when they get under way. anna, the big ticket item ahead, infrastructure. you and jake sherman had a chat with the white house chief of staff. here's what he had to say to you guys. >> we've had republicans at the white house and the house and the senate tell us that they also share if not exactly the same way to do it an idea that we need to do something big on infrastructure and i'm cautiously optimistic to find a path forward on infrastructure that is substantial and bipartisan. >> the key words there cautiously optimistic. president biden trying to find a way forward with republicans on this relief package. he got nowhere getting that support. are republicans as optimistic on infrastructure as ron klain was last night? >> i think that there's a lot of hesitancy in there terms of trying to think about republicans and democrats come together. infrastructure is a lot of things to different people. you can be sure that democrats are going to want to spend a lot of money, maybe another trillion dollars, on infrastructure which will go to the realm of green jobs, electric grid. so while there is certainly different priorities that democrats and republicans probably agree upon, right? they have bridges and roads in the district crumbling. the infrastructure of this country didn't have a big infusion in a very long time. i think it will be a big, big lift to think to get many republicans to go along with a mass i package. >> to that point, what is your reaction to the votes on this covid relief bill as well as the confirmation of merrick garland? we are waiting the signing ceremony on capitol hill. that will be happening any moment now, covid relief bill. what is your reaction to how the votes played out? >> we all knew on covid relief based on how fast the president wanted to get it done they would not wait around for republicans. they learned the lessons of 2009. i think democrats said they tried to get republicans on board with the early days of the obama administration and didn't happen. i think as far as merrick garland, it is interesting to have mcconnell choosing to vote in favor of him as the attorney general, a respected jurist and republicans blocked him for that supreme court even hearing at that point but he had a lot of support in the chamber that republicans really did decide to support him for the attorney general position. >> we see the -- both the speaker of the house nancy pelosi and senate majority leader chuck schumer flanked by other members of the membership taking to the -- i guess right there on the hill and seeing obviously behind them. expected to be signing that bill any moment now. we are going to bring it to you live when it gets under way. anna, let's talk about the covid relief bill and supposed to be signed by the white house on friday. how soon do they expect to get the payments to ordinary americans? >> they have been working behind the scenes to try to make sure that this moves faster than previous iterations. some decisions were still being figured out for how soon the texts to -- >> i'm sorry. i want to hear the house speaker nancy pelosi. >> because we have passed the start consequential and transformative legislation. we are here today to sign the enrollment -- enroll the bill before it goes to the white house. though, the ceremonies are occasions to express appreciation. first i want to express recognition to the president of the united states. joe biden. [ applause ] president biden's vision and his determination were so apparent to the american people and the reason why this legislation enjoys this support of 75% of the american people and a strong bipartisan way across the country. we thank him for his leadership. and also, for his contribution to the substance of the legislation as well as his signature when that comes. it would not have happened without a very collaborative spirit among our members. on the house side i commend our chairs and members of the committees of jurisdiction for working together. the relentless work of our staffs to make it possible to go over to the senate. i know that the senate chirs and members of their committees had a commiserate effort going there so it was collaborative. we had the leadership of the chairs, house and senate and resources of the commit tee members with the help of the staff which would not had been possible without the staff working so hard. so on this occasion and i think i can safely say and i've said to this my colleagues in the house on the democratic side, this is the most consequential legislation that many of us will ever be a party to. who knows what the future may bring? but nonetheless on this day we celebrate because we are honoring a promise made by our president as we joined with him in promising that help is on the way. and with that, i'm pleased as aulsz to welcome back to the house, a former member, now the leader, the majority leader of the united states senate, senator chuck schumer with appreciation for the great work that he did in the senate to bring all of that beautiful exuberance together to send back to us so that we could have this success today. mr. leader, welcome back to the house. >> thank you. >> let me thank you for your beautiful exuberance, as well and thanks to senators standing here, our great committee chairs and all of our senators who pulled together as one unit beating back killer amendments, making sure the bill was as strong as possible. and i want to salute them. all of those who are here and some who couldn't be here. i want to salute the house, as well. we were a seamless web. and we worked together, democrats on the house side, democrats on the senate side. altogether because we knew how important this was to america. what do we say to america? we say to america, help is on the way. you will receive $1,400 by the end of the march. help is on the way. vaccines will be available far more quickly to far more people at a -- in a shorter time. help is on the way. the schools will open safely and more quickly than we thought. help is on the way. half of america's children who are in poverty will not be in poverty because of this bill. help is on the way. snchl applause ] we democrats made promises, particularly we did in the senate. we said if we won those two seats in georgia, we would get things done. mitch mcconnell blocked bills four times in a row and mr. ossoff and mr. warnock said they would make sure that the actual promises made would be promises kept and they have been. so this is a wonderful day for america. this is one of the most consequential pieces of legislation we have passed in decades. you know what we can show america? that we can get things done to make their lives better and we will continue to do that through the rest of this session. help is on the way. [ applause ] >> now the distinguished majority leader of the senate and i will sign the bill and begin the course to the white house. with that we thank the members who are here, house and senate. i want to acknowledge make ma williams who is here because in ways she made today possible. president of the freshman class. >> bernie sanders, our chairman, of the budget committee, did a great, great job in getting this done as did -- >> as did john yar mouth of kentucky with a little help of bourbon. i see neil and widen and between the two of them they put nearly a trillion dollars into the pockets of the american people. but we are here to soon the bill so thank you all very much for joining us. thank you to the chairs, the house and senate chairs and as you said so correctly all those who are not here, as well. thank you. shall we? >> all right. there you have it. with a little help as the speaker out house said with bourbon. the american rescue plan gets signed on capitol hill and makes the way to the president's desk for signature and taking place friday afternoon. that was the house speaker nancy pelosi. senate majority leader chuck schumer. mike memoli, anna palmer with us. mike, i have a question for you, as well. beautiful exuberance is the way it's described. the most consequential legislation passed in decades as both the speaker and the senate majority leader said there. your reaction to those descriptions, anna? >> clearly democrats taking a victory lap here. this is a most consequential legislation the speaker has been a part of since obamacare. legacy making piece of legislation and for chuck schumer, he called out bernie sanders, the budget committee chairman, who could have settled this for democrats once the $15 minimum wage was taken out but each leaders thanking the members that stuck in line and leaders on this bill. democrats very excited that they were able to deliver on such a short timeline. >> mike, two parts for you. they pay tribute to joe biden for the vision and determination. how hands on was he in this process? republicans early on didn't meet him halfway. he had to work with the party and the caucus and senators like joe manchin come to mind and why wait until friday to sign this? >> in terms of the president's involvement in this process he is very hands on. the former legislator himself, the white house essentially has cleared the schedule over the last four or five days especially when the senate vote was happening over the weekend. he spent time on the phone specifically with senator joe manchin to resolve the last-minute snags there and in terms of why friday for the signing ceremony, the white house press secretary said that the paper work process they expect to get the bill actually transferred over to the white house sometime tomorrow and don't have a specific timeline and the focus tomorrow on the president's prime time address and not knowing when the bill will show up they want to make a schedule on friday for lawmakers like many of those on stage there outside the capitol to be able to join the president at the white house to celebrate what obviously you can tell by the mood there is a very xub rantd exuberant mood. >> thank you both for starting us off. joining me now is washington democratic congress adam smith. congressman, thank you so much for joining us. my apologies if we have to interrupt you awaiting the president's comments on this. speaker pelosi said the bill was passed with a little help from bourbon. what do you make of this historic day? >> it is an incredible accomplishment and a testimony to the leadership of majority leader schumer, speaker pelosi and joe biden. the approach working with all of the senators, this is not easy. to have gotten it done this quickly is an enormous accomplishment and we need it. the xli is crushed and people are -- don't have access to the food they need. facing eviction. they need this support to deal with the economic impacts of the pandemic. and we also need this money to help bring us to the end of the pandemic, to get the vaccinings out and to give the health care support we need to get it done so it's a great day for the country and i don't say that lightly. >> a milestone on so many different fronts with the vaccine rollout continuing. let's widen the conversation for a moment to ask you about one of the many challenges that remain before president biden and that is rewriting the current rules of warfare. the white house wants to replace the authorization for military use of force and that passed after the september 11th attacks going into iraq and since been used to allow combat against military groups spanning decades and continents. brown university cost of the war project accounting for the toll of post-9/11 wars and related violence measured over 800,000 people killed, over 300,000 people displaced and a price tag over $6.4 trillion. i know that you and the president both agree something has to be done to update the aumf. what happens now? have you had any conversations with the white house about specific proposals? >> i have, yes. this is not just about updating the aumf but narrowing the scope of the effort. congress has a role to play and we could get into a very confusing debate about how congress plays that role in military action but the important thick is the outcome. what does the military do? i think it's a vehicle for the congress to express to the president how we want to see that narrowed and then the president himself has to make the decisions. many times the president has gone around congress after we say we don't want to do something militarily. we need to understand both where it's worked and not. 20 years on to be operates on the same aumf doesn't reflect the changes and hopefully what we have learned about the pluses ab minuses of the efforts to under take. >> something as well foreign policy related. a saudi court denied a woman's right to appeal on the sentence for which she served over 1,000 days in prison and subject to a five-year travel ban among other restrictions. critics call it an effort to silence activists. looking at this, taken together with mohammed bin salman's role approving the killing of the intelligence community's assessment, should the u.s. still do business with saudi arabia? >> i think president biden has taken steps that president trump did not take. he acknowledged that mbf is responsible for the killing and sanctioned a number of people and entities associated with saudi arabia and he has responded to it but when you bring the question down the way you did, should we still do business with saudi arabia, we don't really have a choice. there's no way to cut them off given the interests in the region, the threat from iran, rebuilding iraq, dealing with isis. we are not in a position to just say we won't have anything to do with saudi arabia but hold them accountable and president biden started to do and the most important thing to me is to put pressure on saudi arabia to get a peace agreement in yemen. that is what we need to be focused on so i think we should have a very clear-eyed approach to the relationship. he wants to have a very strong authoritarian regime with him in charge and we need to deal with that but there's other interests and will interact with them and put pressure on them, especially for what's going on in yemen. >> congressman smith, thank you for allowing us to ask you questions on a few fronts there. appreciate it, sir. >> thank you for the chat. we are awaiting for president biden's white house event with the ceos of johnson & johnson and merck to begin. when that starts we'll bring fewer medicines with dovato. who are starting hiv-1 treatment or replacing their current hiv-1 regimen. to help you reach and stay undetectable. research shows people who take hiv treatment as prescribed... and get to and stay undetectable... can no longer transmit hiv through sex. don't take dovato if you're allergic to any of its ingredients... or if you take dofetilide. hepatitis b can become harder to treat while taking dovato. do not stop dovato without talking to your doctor,... as your hepatitis b may worsen or become life-threatening. serious or life-threatening side effects can occur, including... allergic reactions, lactic acid buildup, and liver problems. if you have a rash and other symptoms of an allergic reaction,... stop taking dovato and get medical help right away. tell your doctor if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis b or c,... or if you are, may be, or plan to be pregnant. your doctor may prescribe a different medicine... than dovato if you plan to be pregnant or if pregnancy is confirmed during the first trimester. dovato may harm your unborn baby. use effective birth control... while taking dovato. most common side effects are headache, nausea,... diarrhea, trouble sleeping, tiredness, and anxiety. so much goes... into who i am. hiv medicine is one part of it. ask your doctor about dovato—i did. hiv medicine is one part of it. (man) i'm a verizon engineer, part of the team that built 5g right, the only one from america's most reliable network. we designed our 5g to make the things you do every day better. with 5g nationwide, millions of people can now work, listen, and stream in verizon 5g quality. and in parts of many cities where people can use massive capacity, we have ultra wideband, the fastest 5g in the world. this is the 5g that's built for you. this is 5g built right. only from verizon. the u.s. surpassed 100,000 new cases of the coronavirus yesterday but the 7-day average is below 70,000 cases. here are the facts as we know them at this hour. as the white house announces plans to buy 100 million more johnson & johnson doses, the covid team urged americans to be vigilant despite the positive news. >> while these trends are starting to head in the right direction, the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths still remain too high and are somber reminders that we must remain vigilant. >> maryland governor announced restaurants and bars will not be subject to capacity limits starting friday and lifting quarantine restrictions. alaska's the first state to stop requirements for vaccines. this means that beginning today anyone 16 or older can get vaccinated in the state. joining me now is a family physician and associate dean of graduate medicine in cincinnati. thank you for joining us. texas ending the mask mandate. businesses are open with no restrictions. what if more states follow texas' lead? >> i'm concerned they need to pay attention to the cdc guidelines and those vaccinated with two weeks since the last dose, those individuals can meet together without masks and without any socially distancing but those patients who have not been vaccinated need to be very careful about who they're exposed to. >> speaking of vaccines, the white house says it struck a deal for