shameless hypocrite. as covid-relief benefits roll out, you will find republicans trying to take credit for something they, all, voted against. "velshi," starts now. good morning, i'm ali velshi. it's saturday, march 13th. just over 50 days have passed since joe biden was inaugurated as president of the united states. and now, he has successfully ushered, through congress, his most pressing priority. his $1.9 trillion american-rescue plan. >> the president promised, help is on the way. and today, help has arrived. help has arrived, for the workers who lost their jobs. help has arrived, for the students, who have been stuck at home. help has arrived, for the families that have struggled to put food on their table. and for the small businesses, that have struggled to keep their doors open, help has arrived, america. >> for the first time, in a long time, this bill puts working people, in this nation, first. it's not hyperbole. it's a fact. >> it is, indeed, a fact. and for tangible proof, american airlines told 13,000 employees that, because of biden's package, they can tear up layoff letters that they received in february, which were set to take place, starting in april. the $1,400-direct payments to some americans are set to begin showing up in bank accounts, this weekend. and it cannot, cannot come soon enough. for the tens of millions of americans, who remain out of work. first-time unemployment claims continue to be above 700,000, a week. which still, surpasses the pre-pandemic record set during the great recession. nonetheless, and rather predictably, zero members of the republican party in the house or the senate supported this rescue package, for everyday americans. from kentucky even called the relief package quote one of the worst pieces of legislation passed in the time i have been in the senate. end quote. while, adding this bit of highly-partisan logic. >> we're on the way out of this. we're about to have a boom. and if we do have a boom, it will have absolutely nothing to do with this $1.9 trillion. >> did you catch that logic? the democrats just passed an economic-rescue package. and you are about to see the economy start looking rescued. but the economy being rescued and the democrats rescuing are totally unrelated. and then, there is the curious case of republican senator, roger wicker, of mississippi, who voted against the bill, like every-other republican did. and yet, tweeted how great the bill is for small businesses and independent restaurants. this type of hypocrisy will never cease to amaze me. but there is another, urgent reason for biden's big-relief package. covid-19 continues to be a significant-and-deadly, serious problem across this country. infection-and-death numbers are, very slowly, decreasing. and seemingly, holding right around the 50,000 new cases a day. more than 1,500 americans continue to die, a day, on average. remember, a year ago? when 1,500 people died, it was shocking to us. the good news is that the number of americans across the country being vaccinated continues to increase. more than 101 million vaccine doses have, already, been administered and the biden administration is promising all-american adults will be able to sign up for a vaccine, by may the 1st. doesn't mean you will get it by then. you will be able to sign up. you get on a list by then. and the president promising more good things in the coming months. >> if we do this together, by july the 4th, there's a good chance, you, your families, and friends, will be able to get together, in your backyard or in your neighborhood, and have a cookout and a barbecue and celebrate independence day. where we not only mark our independence, as a nation, but, we begin to mark our independence from this virus. we can't let our guard down. we need everyone to keep washing their hands. stay socially distanced. and keep wearing the masks, as recommended by the cdc. because, even if we devote every resource we have, beating this virus and getting back to normal depends on national unity. >> okay. that, all, sounds amazing and hopeful. but one, potential problem for biden's plan for us all to stick it out these next few months and finally beat back the virus, in time for july-4th celebrations. is that national unity is a phrase that's not currently in the republican party's lexicon. a slew of republican-led states are ending mask mandates and other-health restrictions aimed at keeping people safe. prematurely, declaring an end to the pandemic. missing, only, a big-mission-accomplished banner as a backdrop. and don't forget, last spring, a slew of republican-led states prematurely ended mandates and health restrictions, which health and medical officials directly blamed for last year's early-summer surge in cases and deaths. joining me now, steve adler, mayor of austin, texas. mayor adler is being sued by attorney general of texas, pen ken paxton, for having the gull to maintain mask mandates. yesterday, a texas judge ruled against paxton. allowing the local-mask mandates to remain in effect for at least the next two weeks. mayor adler, good to see you. thank you for being with us. you got a bitd of a victory. bit of a reprieve for the next couple weeks. what happens next? >> don't move past those two weeks because that is a pretty big victory. every day we can keep this mask mandate in effect is a -- is a victory. one of the things that -- that just shocked us about the timing of the governor's action is it was to go into effect two days before spring break. here, in austin, with the university of texas, we now have a mask mandate that's going to take us through spring break. and watching what happened, a year ago, with the holiday. or watching what happens when families move at thanksgiving are really important two weeks. and we will just continue to fight for this as long as we can. remember, what we are fighting to do is to keep, enforced, the rules of our health authority. we are going to be guided by the doctors and the data for as long as we can. >> so, is there -- have you got information? this is what i keep wanting to find out. these states that are lifting these mandates. do they have some medical or scientific information, issued by somebody who works for the state, that you have received to say it's okay to do this for -- for the state of texas to remove these -- these restrictions? >> none, that we have been able to see. in fact, i think, a lot of the same-medical advisers that the governor is hearing from are the ones that we hear from at the university of texas and here in austin and other places. you know, the doctors and the data are virtually unanimous. in suggesting and saying that masking is the single-most important thing we can do. you know, we can continue to open up businesses and wear a mask. we can have more and more children, in school, in-person learning with a mask. we are so close. we just need to hang on, a little bit longer, and keep wearing this mask. >> so, here's what some people, in other states, may not realize. because they might say, i mean, we have talked to so many mayors in the last year who said my governor won't do it, it's complicated because people move from city to city. but at least, in some cases, they were able to do in their own states. in texas, that is a problem. in arizona, that's a problem. there are a number of states where the -- the state government has said we don't want mask mandates. but the mayors, municipalities, can do it. in texas, they're saying you can't do it, as the mayor of austin. >> that's what they say. and the governor says his powers trump the city powers. but going back to last spring, it was the cities that stepped forward. houston, san antonio, dallas, and -- and -- and we forced that issue. we finally got the ability to do it, by individual-city decision. once it started working, the governor went along with it, and made it statewide. but then, pulled it down. again, it was the city stepping forward to try to put it back. i mean, ultimately, this is a question for the courts to decide. but we can't find an instant in texas history when a state leader's been able to tell a local-health authority that it can't adopt local rules to protect its community. >> mayor, good to see you. thank you for joining us so early this morning. steve adler is the mayor of austin, texas. for at least two weeks they get to keep their mask mandate in place. we will check in with you again, mayor, as this gets closer. thank you again for joining us. joining me now, dr. francis collins. he is director of the national institutes of health. dr. collins is the only presidentially-appointed nih director to serve more than one administration. getting sworn in august 2009 under president obama. he served under president trump. and now, he is serving under president biden. thank you, dr. collins, as always, for joining us. i want to tell you what happened on my team. after joe biden's speech, i had a response. nothing to do with biden but having to do with the july 4th, independence day stuff. to say i can, for the first time, start thinking about what life looks like maybe around summer, labor day, maybe normalcy, maybe going back to the office. and one of my producers, on my team, said what -- is it right to base things that are dependent on science and medicine, on political schedules? or a schedule that the president wants to talk about, like independence day? does the science support the idea that we might get back to some sort of normalcy around independence day? so, i said, perfect. let's put it to francis collins. >> okay. so you are putting it to me. i think, there is real advantage to actually laying out some kind of a timetable. even though there's risk involved there because there is a lot what's going to happen the next two or three months we don't completely control. but i do think it is a good idea to get in people's minds what we might be able to achieve of the but notice, the president also said that is going to take americans, not just, you know, a few people in the government. all of us, kind of, committed to the kind of public-health measures to make july 4th possible. let's be clear. we have made amazing progress in vaccinations. we -- we just passed, this week, the one-year anniversary of the declaration of a global pandemic. and we have, now, also, in the united states, administered over-100 million doses of vaccines, which is just amazing to be able to say. 61% of people over 65 have gotten at least one dose. i know, it made people frustrated and it still does because the delivery system has had lots of glitches. but look at the trajectory we're on. and if, in fact, by may 1st, everybody can start signing up. and by the end of june, the majority of americans will be immunized. then, this july-4th gathering, at least with other people who have been vaccinated, in small groups, seems like a goal we should aim for. but there are clouds on that horizon. again, you just had this bit about mask mandates being taken away. boy, is that the wrong time to do that. we have this slightly troubling, maybe more than slightly troubling variant called b.1.1.7 that is now about 30% of the isolates in the u.s. and we know is more contagious. so, if there is ever a time to put on the mask, this is it. with all that said, i am hopeful. i wear this button on my lapel that talks about hope. national institutes of health. maybe, we are the national institutes of hope but hope's not a strategy. hope is something that attaches to action. we need that action, from everybody. >> i knew you'd give me an honest answer. dr. collins, all through the last year, when we haven't sometimes had honest answers from the administration, we could count on you to do that so i want to parse what you have said. you have sort of divided this into three buckets. success about getting back to normalcy depends on some medical and scientific stuff about variants and what happens. it depends on some behavioral stuff about us, all, taking this seriously. and then, there is a third thing you mentioned which is kind of behavioral but it's these states that are removing mask mandates. if we have learned one thing in the last year is that, if we had solid, clear, consistent direction, at the highest levels. some of these deaths would, probably, have been avoided. once again, a year in, we are getting muddled messages. how do you, as a -- as a health leader in this country, without being political because you have done a good job of -- of avoiding that. what message do you send to these governors to say, please, don't do this. this isn't -- just get politics out of this. do the right stuff, by science. >> i'm just naive enough to think that data and evidence and facts ought to be sufficient to convince people to make the right decisions. i'm not sure that's always been the case. but if america has a future, we have to get back to that, don't we? decisions about public health, about saving lives, cannot be on the basis of what party you're in or what poll you just read. it has to be on what the data says and the data is incontrovertible. every bit of data proves mask wearing reduces infections, reduces deaths. and we are, still, seeing 50 to 60,000 cases, a day, right now. it's not like this is trickling down to zero, very quickly. this is the time. so, yes, i would just appeal to all of those leaders who have people's lives in their hands. look at the data. take some risks with your political base, if you need to. but do the right thing. >> uh-huh. dr. collins, you have always been frank when you are on this show. tell me, frankly, what's different now for -- for people -- you're not a government, you're not an agency, the national institute of health. you are a little bit removed but how is it different now than it has been in the last year? >> well, if you listened to the president's speech, it was all about science. he must have brought up science at least three or four times. this is a very different approach to national questions. not just covid-19 but many, other things, as well. it is wonderful, to be able to have that kind of input. to be able to provide the kind of answers, based on science, that our nation needs to go forward. and to have those kinds of decisions, driven by the weight of the evidence and not by anecdotal comments by one or two people. it's quite a different scene, indeed. and in the scientific community, find this to be extremely encouraging. although we have got lots of problems as a nice and not just covid. we have got climate. health disparities. we have seen the last year about the way in which racial inequities are still with us and we have to face those. but at least, we can look at the evidence. we can depend on the facts. we can decide that we care about objective truths and that's a nice place to be. >> dr. collins, we thank you, as always for joining us, and on behalf of my producer, mark katz, we thank you for engaging in this discussion about whether we should believe and -- and be hopeful about this summer date. thank you, sir, as always, we will talk again. dr. francis collins is the director of the national institutes of health. senator lindsey graham recently said he is just trying to quote harness trump's magic. after having lost the election. i guess, that's kind of impressive. the relationship between grant and trump reminds me of that, between a shark and a pilot fish. you can guess which one the shark is. which one the shark is ever notice how stiff clothes can feel rough on your skin? 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