Viewers in the United States and right around the world. Im isa soares. Cnn newsroom begins right now. A very good morning to you. Now, the u. S. House of representatives voted monday to increase covid stimulus checks to 2,000 for millions of americans. The democrat controlled house sei seized on president Donald Trumps demand for larger direct payments and that pushed republicans to decide between their loyalty to the president or their concern over the bills cost. Stimulus checks are expected to begin going out later this week. The house also voted to override the president s veto of a sweeping defense spending bill. Both the stimulus and defense bills head to the republican led senate. Thats putting the party in a tough spot with the president. Phil mattingly explains from capitol hill. Reporter it was just two votes on the house floor but also two specific demonstrations of where donald trump sits right now in the Republican Party. You dont want to read too much into a vote to override his veto or a vote to sustain his request to increase direct payments in the covid relief package from 600 to 2,000. It was hard not to Pay Attention to where republicans came down. On the stimulus checks, 130 people voted against what the president sent. A bill that has been signed into law 59 years, passed by congress with widespread bipartisan support, the majority of republicans sticking with their original vote in favor of the bill against President Trump. What does it all mean . Its not an easy question to necessarily understand. When it came to the defense policy bill, take a listen to what the Top Republican on the House Armed Services committee said. I would ask that as members vote, they put the best interests of the country first. There is no consideration that should matter. Theres no question that President Trump still demands loyalty, and House Republicans in particular are willing to give it to him in spades. However, with some issues, whether its defense policy, in this case, Economic Policy as well, they appear more willing to split from the president than they have been in the past. How is that going to play out in the weeks ahead. Both measures will ahead over to the United States senate. The senate is expected to vote to override the president s veto as well. Republicans on board with democrats. What happens with the 2,000 stimulus checks. Mcconnell hasnt said what hes going to do. That will be the next interesting test from where the president sits on a daily basis. The speaker of the house is criticizing President Trump for vetoing the crucial defense spending bill. The top democrat is calling the veto reckless, adding quote im going to read it for you, the president must end his 11th hour of chaos, and stop using his final moments in congress to independent senator Bernie Sanders said he hopes to force republican colleagues to vote on the increased payouts. Sanders says he will delay a vote on the defense spending bill, something republicans want, unless Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell brings the vote on the 2,000 checks. Meanwhile, u. S. President elect joe biden says the Trump Administration is blocking his Transition Team from getting information from key agencies, including the defense department. After the election, President Trump fired his defense secretary and purged other leaders, leaving loyalists in political control of the pentagon. Mg lee reports on bidens blocked response. Its nothing short in my view of irresponsibility. Reporter president elect joe biden slamming the Trump Administration for what he says has been far short of full cooperation during the transition process. We have krounencountered roa blocks with the Political Leadership of the department of defense. Reporter after getting briefed by members of his National Security and Foreign Policy agents. For some agencies, our teams we see cooperation, from career staff and agencies, from others, most notably, the department of defense, we encountered obstruction from the Political Leadership of that department. Reporter biden laying out some of the most urgent Foreign Policy challenges his administration will confront come january saying major federal agencies have been handicapped under President Trump. Many have been hollowed out in personnel, capacity is in morale. In the policy process, either atrophy or have been sidelined. In the despair of our alliances and disrepair of those alliances. Reporter this as the country braces for post christmas spikes in covid19 cases across the country. Dr. Anthony fauci saying he agrees with bidens earlier prediction. Reporter our darkest days in the battle against covid are ahead of us, not behind us. Reporter that the worst of the pandemic is still to come. We very well might see a post seasonal in the sense of christmas, new years surge. I share the concern of president elect biden that as we get into the next few beeweeks, might actually get worse. Reporter a little over three weeks out from inauguration day, biden building out the rest of his administration. The most prominent cabinet positions still outstanding, attorney general, the top two contenders for the role remain judge Merrick Garland and senator doug jones. Other major appointments to come, cia director, secretary of commerce, secretary of labor, and sba administrator. Now, as biden was leaving his speech here in wilmington, he was asked whether he supports the 2,000 in direct payments for covid19 relief, and he said, yes, that he does. As for tuesday, he is going to be giving a speech about covid19 as experts are worried that cases are going to spike across the country after the holidays. Mj lee, cnn, wilmington, delaware. Joining me now with a perspective is judy norman, lecturer at university of college london. It was great to get you on the show. Lets start with a multibillion dollar highly bipartisan bill. The house of representatives made themselves heard. Now it goes to the senate. Here the republicans must be forced to choose between the loyalty of the president , and the legislation that sets the defense policy for the country. How do you see it playing out . Well, isa, this is a bill that has passed annually for the last 60 years. Its a very important bill for raising the salary for service members, for funding overseas operations. It really is a very key bill for the military. So its one that does put republicans in a difficult position in terms of being forced to override trumps veto, but at the same time, this is just such a crucial issue, not only for the Republican Party but really for the country and the military more broadly, and most republicans will not want to be seen as voting against that measure. I think youre right because i remember hearing House Minority leader Kevin Mccarthy indicating that many republicans will not vote against, actually vote against the president , although they supported the bill the first time around, but with, you know, three weeks left or so, the president s time in office, what pressures is he pushing on his own party. Well, we obviously see the president sowing a lot of chaos right now, putting a lot of different kinds of pressure on his own party within congress, partly in a way to keep himself relevant so that hes still pulling some of the strings, still very much in the headlines. Again, the fact that trump is only in office for three more weeks, its true that he will continue to have a very large sway over the party. He will not be president after three weeks, and House Republicans are starting to acknowledge that, and again, a bill like the military bill in particular is one that theres kind of a cost benefit analysis, yes, there might be some pushback for trump for supporting it, but probably stronger pushback in terms of rejecting a bill like that. Theres also strength in numbers on this bill as well. Theres a Critical Mass of republicans who have shown support, it would be hard for trump to undercut individuals, even if he can point fingers at congress more broadly. Remind our viewers around the world, why is the president so posed to this bill . Well, theres Different Reasons that trump has given over the past few weeks in terms of his rejection of the bill. First it was in regards to the fact that the bill includes a provision for renaming some of the u. S. Military bases that were named after confederate generals and leaders with new names, and trump opposed that provision, and thats one that will appeal to some of his base, his opposition to that. He also opposed some of the other measures that were really more directed to him in terms of restrictions on fast troop wrau withdrawals from places ranging from germany to afghanistan, as well as restrictions on the amount of funding that could be diverted to his border wall. Finally, trump was hoping to insert a repeal of section 230, the legislation that gives protection to social media companies, completely irrelevant to the military bill but one that trump was hoping congress would shoe horn in there for him before the end of his term. Lets talk about the other bill, the stimulus relief bill, financial help desperately on the way for millions of americans, as they battle, but theres still a battle, i believe, between the president and congressional leaders and that doesnt seem to be dying down as we head from our phil mattingly, very much at odds over the amount of stimulus. Why is that . Well, we obviously heard from trump over the Christmas Holiday that he wanted to push the bill back to congress to increase the stimulus check amount from 600 for each recipient to 2,000 to each recipient. This was passed last night by the house on a floor vote that included 44 republicans voting for this increase, and it will now go to the senate where it will be up to Mitch Mcconnell to decide how to move this forward. Again, putting republicans in a very difficult position, this would increase the spending on the bill by about 460 billion. So this was a bill that republicans were trying for months to keep under a 1 trillion threshold, would really increase the spending. Its not a direction that mcconnell and many republicans want to go. Thanks to julie norman, a lecturer. The United States breaks another covid19 record and to make matters worse, vaccines may take longer to reach the masses than previously thought. And police are learning more about the nashville, tennessee, bomber, but theyre still struggling to find a motive. The latest, just ahead. Now, the number of covid19 patients in u. S. Hospitals hit another record high on monday. Last week, more americans were admitted to hospitals than any week of the pandemic so far. And for 27 straight days, the u. S. Has had more than 100,000 people in the hospital for coronavirus. Simply staggering. Well, californias governor says a stayathome order will likely stay in place because of low icu capacity as well as rising cases. Cnns nick watt looks at the state of covid19 in the United States. Reporter sunday was the busiest air travel day of this pandemic. We have gone to utah in the past to ski, so it was a good idea to try to get out of the house. Reporter the search for normalcy will be fatal for some. Were very concerned and we always see a little bit of a bump after holidays, and sometimes a large bump. Reporter december is already the deadliest month of the pandemic. More than 65,000 lives lost. And. Reporter as we get into the next few weeks, it might actually get worse. Reporter more than one in a thousand americans are already dead, killed by covid19. Up in canada, by the way, that number is around 1 in 2 1 2 thousand. Six states now with Record Numbers of Covid Patients in the hospital. We have a limited number of ventilators. We have a limited number of icu beds. Reporter and california is now suffering the highest rate of new cases per capita in the country. Now, remember that seattle area nursing home. Why dont you guys cover his legs up. Reporter the nations first hot spot, today residents and staff are getting vaccinated. That feels good. Reporter just over 2 million americans have now had their first dose. The 2 million number is probably an under estimate. Reporter the goal was to vaccinate 20 Million People by years end. The pace is slower than what was stated. Thats probably unrealistic at this point. Reporter novavax is now starting phrase 3 trials of its vaccine in the u. S. , and mexico, Oxford Astrazeneca could receive approval for its vaccine in the u. K. Within days, but the current rocky vaccine rollout proves a painful point. These elixirs will take time. Nick watt, cnn, los angeles. Well, you heard nick watt saying that it will take time. But how much time will it take for the majority of americans to get a covid vaccine. Cnns medical analyst, dr. L dr. Lee at that rate for a two dose vaccine, for us to reach 80 herd immunity in the u. S. For vaccination, it will take us ten years. This is a scarce resource right now in vaccines, and vaccine production is certainly a limiting factor, and so im glad that novavax is starting their phrase 3 trials in the u. S. Johnson johnson and astrazeneca are two other companies that have progressed quite far in their phrase 3 trials as well. So the more vaccines we have come online, the better, that means the sooner we can reach herd immunity in this country and around the world. Important perspective from dr. Leana wen. Kamala harris will receive her first covid19 vaccine today in washington, d. C. Her husband doug emhoff is expected to receive separately from his wife. Its been one week since u. S. President elect joe biden received his first dose in thhi hometown of wilmington, delaware. Some residents and Business Owners affected by the Christmas Day bombing will be allowed to inspect their property in the coming hours. Some of the buildings are damaged beyond repair. Well get more on the investigation from cnns shimon prokupecz. Reporter days after the explosion that rocked downtown nashville, investigators are still trying to determine the motive of 63yearold Anthony Quinn warner. This dramatic video showing the rv exploding shattering windows, damaging more than 40 store fronts and injuring at least eight people. None of them seriously. New cnn video from the scene shows the destruction. Fbi agents and atf agents sifting through mountains of debris in the street, fire alarms still sounding within buildings. He was not on our radar. He was not someone that was identified as a person of interest for the bureau. And so we were not familiar with this individual. Reporter warner was killed in the blast. Investigators identified him by matching dna collected at the scene with gloves and a hat found in a vehicle warner owned. According to authorities, the rvs vehicle Identification Number recovered from the scene was a key piece of evidence that led them to identify warner. Authorities searched warners home over the weekend. Warner was a computer consultant and said he planned to retire this month one of his clients told cnn. A neighbor described him as a hermit who sort of kept to himself. The Tennessee Bureau of investigation confirmed that warners mother has been cooperating with investigators. Garners father was once employed by at t, and the agency is looking into whether that may be relevant to the motive. At and at t is the Parent Company of cnn. The rv had been parked outside of an at t building in the Early Morning hours of christmas morning. When it began to play the song downtown by petula clark, broadcasting a message that a bomb would be detonating in a couple of minutes. Police responded to the scene because of reports of gunfire, and quickly evacuated residents after hearing the rvs message. I see orange and hear a loud boom, and im stumbling, it rocked me that hard. Im telling myself, stay on your feet, stay alive. Reporter fbi agents and atf agents spent the day monday sifting through the debris at the blast site looking for evidence of the bomb. They were literally on their hands and needs going through dirt and different debris throughout the blast site. So much devastation, we can see at the blast site, buildings collapsed, cars all burned out. The fbi says theyre still working on that motive, and theyre also trying to figure out how warner got his hands on the chemicals and some of the bomb making materials used in this explosion. Shimon prokupecz, cnn, nashville, tennessee. To russia now, where prison authorities are threatening to jail Opposition LeaderAlexey Navalny. He fled russia after he was poisoned in august. Fled polite beg Fred Pleitgen has more. Reporter he needs to return to russia by the morning of tuesday or being face being put in jail. This stems from a case in 2014 which Alexey Navalny said was politically motivated. Essentially what the russian authorities are saying if he doesnt show up to the hearing on Tuesday Morning that he will have violated his proba