Senators. Republicans now pushing a 618 billion stimulus package, thats about a third of the size of bidens proposal and with this pretty big gap the question is, how are they going to narrow it . It was a very Good Exchange of views. I wouldnt say that we came together on a package tonight, no one expected that in a twohour meeting. But what we did agree to do is to follow up and talk further at the staff level and amongst ourselves and with the and while a number of republicans have stayed quiet on the controversy surrounding congresswoman Marjorie Taylor greene, last night the most powerful republican in the senate broke his silence in a very big way. Late last night Mitch Mcconnell released his statement writing this, loony lies and Conspiracy Theories are cancer for the Republican Party and our country. These words, a sharp contrast to the Statement Mcconnell released this morning defending House Chairwoman liz cheney who has come under fire for voting to impeach trump. Mcconnell calling her, quote, a leader with deep convictions and courage to act on them. Also today we will get the first glimpse of former president trumps Impeachment Defense when his team files their response to the impeachment charge. He may be staying away from Election Fraud claims which is what hed like to focus on and his lawyer is suggesting now the main focus will be whether its even constitutional to impeach a former president. We have a great team here to break all of a this Important News down, starting with Peter Alexander at the white house. Garrett haake on capitol hill, also joining our conversation, White House Reporter from the l. A. Times, eli stokols. Starting with covid relief, peter, how is the white house framing this thing . Reporter the challenge for the white house is whether they go big, go it alone or do something more scaled back and has some republican support. Clearly their priority is what is in this 1. 9 trillion package. They say, as youve heard repeatedly right now its much more risky to go too small than too big. The white house describing that meeting yesterday as substantive and productive, but notably the president and his aides are not gufing much ground here. They are saying the Congress Must respond boldly on this issue. Heres the key quote that came out of the white house statement from jen psaki last night. Well put that up on the screen. They say the president , that he reiterated he will not slow down work in this urgent Crisis Response and will not settle for a package that fails to meet the moment. They note that while the president wants something bipartisan, reconciliation is the way to do that, reconciliation meaning they would just need a simple majority, meaning democrats could do it alone, though the white house has expressed a desire for some republicans to come on board. You showed some of those real differences. While there are areas of agreement, like on Vaccine Distribution and testing 160 billion both sides agree on school reopening, the numbers are so far apart, 170 billion there versus 20 billion in the republican plan. No money in the republican plan in the state governments to help Support Police and fire departments, that need the money badly right now. And nothing on the minimum wij with joe biden pushing for the 15 an hour minimum wage. Garrett, what are you hearing on the hill . Reporter everything everyone is saying is the about the prospect of continued bipartisan solutions, but what people are doing suggests to me democrats are pushing forward on a reconciliation plan, trying to do this with only democratic votes. Incoming Budget Committee chairman Bernie Sanders introducing a budget resolution which essentially instructs all these Different Senate committees to spend up to 1. 9 trillion, the number that the Biden Administration laid out to try to to put this bill together. This train seems to be leaving the station, and when you talk to some of these republicans, peter touched on this, the idea of the 15 minimum wage increase, thats not going to get ten republican votes. The number you need. You could do a bipartisan bill with one or two republicans jumping on a reconciliation bill. Until something changes we should probably assume the way the democrats are acting, the way they are actually moving forward is towards passing this thing through reconciliation with just democratic votes powering the train if you will. Reconciliation, which takes time, what people in this country dont have, certainly our Health Care Workers dont, our schools dont and we need to get this vaccine rolled out. Eli, whats your take on how both sides are playing this . Reporter it does take time, steph. But the white house, from my conversations with folks there, believes that waiting for republicans watering down the bill to appease them, that will take more time and drag this out. A lot of this is driven by what a lot of these Biden White House officials learned when they were in the white house eight years ago in dealing with republicans during the obama era, they believe that the lesson of the stimulus was it was too small to address the situation at the time and the lesson of the Affordable Care act, obamacare, was that they waited way too long and never actually got republican support so they are moving because they are thinking about this in The Big Picture as to what will actually meet the needs, meet the moment of this crisis. And they believe that, you know, theyve been Reading Books about fdr. They believe that they have to actually respond to the crisis and that good policy here is good politics and its a huge contrast from what we saw for the last four years in a white house that was driven by shortterm myopic thinking, responding to every news cycle, every attack and just trying to win the day. The Biden White House, theyre not worried about the headlines, about whether this is bipartisan now or whether theres reconciliation used or not, they believe that what Americans Care about is whether or not theyre getting these checks in peoples pockets, whether theyre getting the vaccines in peoples arms, and they believe that their plan is actually going to do that and so theyre acting as if they have the better hand and i think, you know, republicans, you saw them come out of the white house last night, they didnt criticize the president. They didnt really publicly take issue with this plan yet theyre still figuring out how to play this because they do sense that democrats are going to move on this, and they feel like theyre in a stronger position, the democrats. Well, in terms of publicly criticizing, some republicans, Mitch Mcconnell, most Senior Member of the gop in the senate, very clearly criticizing Marjorie Taylor greene. Garrett, when are we going to hear from Kevin Mccarthy, his counterpart in congress . Reporter mccarthy is back on the hill today, expected to get back into town before votes tonight. Hes expected to meet with congresswoman greene in the next couple of days, could be as early as tonight. This statement by mcconnell going after Taylor Greene is extraordinary for two reasons. Number one, the senator minority leader in this case usually doesnt have anything to say about politics in the house. Its incredibly unusual for him to weigh in on politics in the other chamber. Thats just not the way he operates and this is also someone who spends most of his time and energy trying to make sure that his conference, the Senate Republicans and the Republican Party in general are as unified as possible. To go out of his way to attack a house member, to essentially try to knock her back down a peg, suggests to me that Mitch Mcconnell is putting his thumb on the scale here, potentially trying to box in Kevin Mccarthy to have to act as well, and to make clear sort of where he stands on this intramural battle for what the Republican Party is going to be in the posttrump era. Garrett, eli, peter, thank you for giving us an update of where we are in d. C. This morning. But moving on to later today. The u. S. Capitol Police Officer who died from injuries in that january 6th protrump riot in the u. S. Capitol will lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda later this evening. A ceremonial arrival for Brian Sicknick will take place at 9 30 p. M. Followed by a viewing that will continue overnight and a tribute from lawmakers tomorrow morning. He will be buried at Arlington National cemetery, the 42yearold served in the new Jersey Air National guard before joining the Capitol Police in 08 and losing his life just a few weeks ago. Now lets turn to the Breaking News happening right outside my window here in new york city, we are in the midst of a massive snowstorm here across the northeast its the worst we have seen in five years and since today, of course, is groundhog day, we were hoping for some good news but didnt get it. Unfortunately Punxsutawney Phil did see his shadow this morning. So if you believe in him, get ready for six more weeks of winter. Well, winter is definitely here today, that is what people in my parts of the country didnt want to hear after seeing two feet of snowfall in parts of new york, new jersey and pennsylvania, as much of a foot on the ground from West Virginia all the way to connecticut. The storm also turned deadly though. At least four people have lost their lives. Priscilla thompson is in central park in new york city. Priscilla, yesterday central park was a bit of a Winter Wonderland for kids. But its very dangerous and very serious. Whats going on . Reporter yeah. Well, the snow has stopped for now, stephanie, but there is still a ton of accumulation out here. 16. 8 inches so definitely getting that sinking feeling if youre walking through the snow right now. But that hasnt stopped people from coming back out this morning, lots of folks out working out, bike riding, the dogs are getting an opportunity to play in some of the snow. Were not seeing a ton of kids out today, likely because school is still in session virtually. So a number of those students are probably at home continuing to learn today. But things are working to get back up and running. We heard from Governor Cuomo last hour saying that the focus now is really on digging out and cleaning up trains, subways and buses, all back up and running. Weve seen snowplows coming through here, every couple of hours, continuing to clear snow, and thats something that is happening throughout the city. Unfortunately, there are still hundreds of flights that are cancelled, crews here in the three airports in the new york area working to get those runways cleared and begin getting folks out. But the governor continuing to urge that if you dont absolutely have to travel today it might be a good idea to stay inside as things work to get back up and running normally. And, of course, Power Outages is the other thing that we worry about when these storms hit. Right now, still more than 1,500 people throughout the state without power. So still some work to be done as this storm moves out of the city and the area. Stephanie . Priscilla, thank you. Stay warm, stay safe where you are. Im just a few blocks away from you, so come on in if you want to warm up. Weve got Breaking News right now in South Florida where local police say fbi and other federal agents were shot as they were serving a Search Warrant early this morning in the city of sunrise. Sources tell the local nbc station up to five agents were involved, no details yet on their conditions or the warrant they were serving. Police say there are reports that at least one person involved is still inside the home. Coming up next right here on msnbc some Vaccine Centers are closed and rollouts are delayed because of the snow across the northeast. After this break, what happens to all of those people who planned on getting their vaccines yesterday . Plus, we have been talking about gamestop for days. This david and goliath battle, but who is david . Who is goliath . Why are hedge fundsti hurt potentially the reason why Everyday Americans are going to get hurt . Look at your 401 k , your retirement fund. Better check on who its invested with. [ Engines Revving ] its amazing to see them in the wild like th shhh. [ engine revs ] for those who were born to ride, theres progressive. [ engine revs ] announcer welcome to the next, next level. This phone paired with 5g ultra wideband, wow announcer the new Samsung Galaxy s21 is here and its on verizon 5g ultra wideband, the fastest 5g in the world. Available in parts of many cities. Its not just a great network. Its ridiculously fast. announcer stream your favorite shows in ultra hd. Im so excited about this. Streaming is crystal clear. announcer select unlimited plans get the disney bundle and 5g included at no extra cost. Yes announcer switch and get Samsung Galaxy s21 5g on us. Only on verizon. Welcome back, with a bit of good news the Biden Administration says the number of covid vaccines getting into peoples arms is slowly but surely ramping up. Theyre averaging now 1. 3 Million People a day, up from a million just a few weeks ago but the big snowstorm that has swept across the northeast meant thousands of people who have been waiting months to get their shots are going to have to wait a little longer. I want to bring in my two colleagues, Ellison Barber at the metlife stadium, one of six mega vaccine sites in my home state of new jersey, and miguel almaguer. Ellen, what happens to all those people freaking out that things were shut down yesterday . Reporter so most of them, all of them will have their cancelled appointments rescheduled, most of them have already been able to reschedule. Thats what were being told by State Officials here. These guys, theyve been out here since 6 00 a. M. This morning working to plow and throw ice down on these entire area so that this Vaccination Site can reopen. At least 3,000, possibly up to 4,000 people who live in new jersey had their Vaccination Appointments cancelled on monday or today. Some, because of Vaccine Shortages in this state. But most because of this weather. Heres a little bit more about what we were told in terms of the initial notification for the cancellization and how the rescheduling is going. Listen here. I think we made that determination by 2 00 or earlier on sunday and then its my understanding that in that notification that that was also the opportunity for those folks to reschedule their second appointment. I dont think the storm will have a domino effect. I think, you know, our goal, which is a lofty one to get to 4. 7 million new jerseyians within six months i think is still attainable. At least eight states cancelled or postponed Vaccination Appointments yesterday because of the Winter Weather here in new jersey. They expect to have all six mega sites reopened by tomorrow morning. Miguel, not good news where you are, Southern California appears to be one of the areas where this uk variant is starting to spread. What are they doing about it . Reporter yeah, stephanie, theyre not surprised theyve discovered that uk variant in so many states. Its now in more than 33 states. As we know by march its said to be the most predominant strain likely to be in this country and theres growing concern about the South African strain as well as the brazilian strain. Officials here in los angeles are really asking the public to double down on Safety Measures, to wear two masks when they can for an extra layer of protection to continue to keep their social distance and to stay home whenever possible but of course this is a big weekend for many gatherings with the super bowl and officials are pleading with the public not to gather with people who live outside of their household for this event. Again, theyre asking the public to double down on those Safety Measures as more of those variants, which are said to be highly contagious, and potentially even deadlier, are discovered all across the nation, stephanie. Miguel, ellison, stay safe where you are. Lets bring in the expert dr. Badelia, director of the Special Pathogens Unit at boston medical center. As we see the variants spread across the country how will we know when theyre taking hold . What do we do about it . Good morning, stephanie. I mean, i think we have to assume that theyre already doing their best to take hold given the fact weve now discovered them in 33 states. I think whats happening right now is that every time you encounter somebody who has an infection or one of those variants youre much more likely to get infected. Thats what we mean when we say these strains are more transmissible and then you in turn are more likely to spread it. Activities carry more risk than before. The other thing that make the variants concerning, the variant that was initially discovered in uk, the b 117. More data is coming from that country now about the fact that it might actually be more deadly. We know the variants discovered in brazil and south africa, the b 351 and p 1 reduce efficacy of our therapies. And heres the scariest part, at least with the South African variant we know that it might have made natural immunity, so there may be increased risk for reinfections. All of this scenario, when we say what does it mean the variants are becoming predominant in march, this month they are spreading and they may lead to a surge of hospitalizations and deaths in the next six or eight weeks. When you say these variants could decrease the efficacy of our therapies, does that mean the vaccine wont work . Well, the Monoclonal Antibodies and plasma are the ones were concerned the variants discovered in brazil and south africa. What we know with vaccines is that, you know, from the data we got from both novavax and johnson johnson, although it affects the overall efficacy of the South African variant of the vaccines in terms of all infections they have very good protection against severe disease in hospitals. Thats why they remain all vaikss of all platforms look like theyre going to provide very good protection against that and thats what were concerned about in this setting of a potential Public Health emergency is not overwhelming Health Care Systems and keeping people healthy enough so that they dont get to need to go to the hospital. One of the reasons coronavirus has continued to spread, i dont know how else to say it, testing has been a disaster in this country, access to testing, turnaround time for testing results. The United States government just cut a deal with an Australian Company to get 15minute at home tests to the general public starting later this month. How big of a deal is that . So rapid tests, i think, are another tool, right, i think the good thing about this test is that it offers sort of at home results, its fast. Its thought to be about 96 accurate when compared to the pcr, potentially a little less accurate in at least the Laboratory Testing they did in patients who dont have symptoms. Heres why its helpful. Its helpful if its positive because if you get a positive test you know that you shouldnt go to work that day, or you shouldnt travel or you shouldnt go to school. Its a little less helpful if it comes back to be negative. I think the guidance should still be, you should not change your behavior, you should wear those masks, keep those distances partly because, you know, weve learned, even in the last fall with the experience of the white house, right, tests are one layer of protection. Wear the mask, get the test, get the vaccines, and keep those distances is how we continue to decrease the cases. All right, dr. Bhadelia, good to have you here, you always make us smarter and hopefully a little bit safer. The markets are set to open any minute now. In the last week everybody is looking at the markets with gamestop stock continuing to drop from last weeks mega high, were going to explain why the crusade against hedge funds could hurt millions of americans with their pensions and retirement accounts. If youre cheering on david beating goliath, you better have a better understanding of whos who. At philadelphia, we know what makes the perfect schmear of cream cheese. The recipe we invented over 145 years ago and me. The worlds best, and possibly only, schmelier. Philadelphia. Schmear perfection. Up at 2 00am again . Tonight, Try Pure Zzzs all night. Unlike other sleep aids, our extended release melatonin helps you sleep longer. And longer. Zzzquil pure zzzs all night. Fall asleep. Stay asleep. Tmobile is upgrading its network at a record pace. We were the first to bring 5g nationwide. And now that sprint is a part of tmobile were turning up the speed. Upgrading over a thousand towers a month with ultra capacity 5g. To bring speeds as fast as wifi to cities and towns across america. And were adding more every week. Coverage and speed. Who says you cant have it all . If you smell gas, youre too close. Leave the structure, call 911, keep people away, and call pg e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. If you see wires down, treat them all as if theyre hot and energized. Stay away from any downed wire, call 911, and call pg e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. Markets are set to open in less than two minutes and all eyes are on gamestop stock, the trading app robinhood but its not like investors are the only ones keeping a close eye on the wild ride we have seen over the last week. Now the House Financial Services committee announcing they will be holding a hearing to take a closer look at what specifically happened with this stock and a few others last week. Political reporting that the key witness that will be called to this hearing is robinhoods ceo vlad tenev. Gamestop stock price continued to drop, half of what it was during peak trading last thursday. I want to bring in josh brown, ceo of ritthouse wealth management. Hedge funds have become the bad guy year and loads of reasons to take issue with hedge funds, the way they run their business and the advantages they get. Help us understand, a hedge fund isnt just some rich guy managing his own money and he lost all that money this week. Help us understand who hes managing money for, he or she, excuse me. So, in general, hedge funds have money that comes everywhere from sovereign wealth funds to literally Pension Funds and retirement systems, and that would depend on the hedge fund, the strategy, the size of the fund but they Say Something like 7 , for example, of all public pensions, government pensions, state and local, is allocated to hedge funds. So yes, of course, anytime you see large pools of capital theres going to be money in there thatachers, policemen. Thats just the nature of any asset class dealing with 3 trillion. Congress wants answers for what happened. What do you think they should be asking . So i actually put together a list of five questions that i think should be the focal point of the congressional hearings. And i wont get deep into any one of them individually. But i would just ask, is there any evidence that there are professional operators who have infiltrated these Message Boards and orchestrated these wild short squeezes or are we truly talking about a Grassroots Phenomenon among young people discovering investing and trading for the first time. We should ask if there are records of hedge funds applying pressure to the robinhood ceo to slow down or halt trading in securities that were hurting large powerful interests in the hedge fund community. We should want to know if there are aspects of the robinhood app that lend themselves to reckless speculation. For example, we already know that millions of people are going to be hurt by the collapse in gamestop. The people that came into this trade late because their friends were doing it almost like the als challenge, they saw their whole Family Dumping Buckets of ice water on their head, they wanted to get in on it. How many people who couldnt afford to lose money just lost money does the app bear any responsibility . And then the last two. What does it say about the state of our society and the state of the current Wealth Inequality Chasm that exists in this country that young people are so angry they feel the need to express that rage via brokage account. And i want to know, did any hedge funds or Market Makers or broker dealers or any sophisticated players profiteer as a result of this situation. Were there extraordinary profits in either the rise or the fall of these meme stocks . I think thats a question that people should be answering, or at least asking at these hearings. Those are all fantastic questions. When you look at the robinhood app and all of these first time investors who are using it should they bear more responsibility in terms of safeguards, or even Financial Education . I think back to 2008 and all of whether it was wrongdoing or mistakes that were made, with so many people unsuspectingly signed on for subprime mortgages and, yes, they signed on for them from the through their own volition but they didnt realize what they were doing. Could we be in that same situation now . I know when i say this out loud i have all these redditers saying dont tell me how to trade, i can do whatever i want but weve seen these things happen historically and the little guy has gotten crushed and the institution keeps on rocking. Steph, you and i are roughly the same age. When we were 21, 2 im way younger. We were absolutely in the late 90s when we learned to trade and speculate and we were involved in Dotcom Stocks and Anna Cornicova was doing commercials for td and the truck driver who bought an island, we were every bit as naive and innocent and we made our mistakes and this generation should not be spoken down to and told they dont have the right to learn how to trade. And unfortunately, and ive written three books on investing, so im not talking my book here, you really cant learn anything about Risk Management about trading and investing until youve lost like a lot of money. And you can do that really fast, which i think is in the process of happening right now for millions of people or you can do that really slowly over a decade but in the end you cant read about loss. You have to experience it yourself, and its not on us to tell the next generation that theyve got to be like swaddled in blankets. Theyre going to make money. Theyre going to lose money. Hopefully they take away the right lessons and discover the way they want to carry themselves and manage their money in the markets going forward. We cannot deprive them of that opportunity. I understand the mindset. People see a huge amount of money being made or lost and their initial instinct is, lets regulate it. They dont know what they want to regulate. They know they want to be on camera screaming. We cannot stop this process of people coming into their own. I think its healthy. I just hope people are being careful and theyre not using money they need like to eat or buy medicine. Thats a great point. If youre going to invest in the markets, make sure every dollar you are spending on this is a dollar you can lose. Always great to see you, thank you for joining us and you do always make us smarter. Apps like Robinhood Have tried to open up the stock market to more people. That is great if people know what theyre doing. But a huge struggle for Many Americans is basic Financial Literacy. We dont offer it in our Public School curriculums. Im talking about opening a Savings Account, paying your bills, paying your taxes, getting a mortgage. We do not teach these things, at least outside the home. I want to bring in my next guest trying to change that, at least in his community. Hes known for his Work Object Field as a safety for the houston texans, but he also run as free Youth Football Camp but also teaches kids how to apply to college, budgeting, investing. He will be earning the Walter Payton award given on saturday, hes the person im rooting for. The nfl star joins us now. Michael, thank you for all that youre doing. Tell us about this camp off the field, what youre doing for these kids and why. Right. First off, thank you for having me. And, yeah, i have a youth camp that i put on every single summer called camp mike t and obviously the kids are excited. They want to come in and compete with seven on seven and win awards and trophies but early in the morning we start with the academic component. Man, youre putting these kids through academics, but we keep it fun. We go from 8 30 in the morning to 11 30 and then feed them. From the very beginning at 8 30 theyre learning about s. A. T. , a. C. T. Prep and how to apply for colleges. One of the speakers might start off and ask a question and a kid will raise their hand and give an answer. Well give them an xbox or ps 5, and gift card, and next thing you know the kids are raising their hands, its engaging and back and forth. And they take a lot out of it. The main part they enjoy is the Financial Literacy part. Well go through really just a whole breakdown of, hey, how many of yall know if somebody signed for a 1 million contract, how much theyre really taking home. We break it down from taxes, to the fees they might have to pay, the union dues, and then it just helps them open their minds and take away a lot from it and theyre leaving that camp with way more knowledge about, you know, life and what it takes to actually, you know, balance, you know, a checkbook and having a Savings Account and stuff like that. And i think we pour into them and its way more impactful for those kids when they leave. What made you decide to do this . Youre a father yourself. Absolutely. For me, it was just the fact that i had my parents home and, you know, they were present and they made sure that they poured into, you know, our lives and gave us a whole bunch of tools that will help us be successful. You know, outside of, you know, whatever our profession may be. But not every kid growing up in my neighborhood had that and my parents actually were mothers and fathers to those kids as well. My thing was i always wanted to make sure if i ever got the opportunity i would pour back into kids in the neighborhoods where im from because i know they dont have the access ive had. Any type of knowledge ive gotten i want to make sure i give back to those kids and communities i come from. How about your prediction for sunday . Weve got your knowledge. We know about your skills. Any prediction for sundays big game . Man, look, you trying to get me in trouble this morning. Its hard to Bet Against Brady. I was listening to the segment you all were talking about reddit and everything going on with gamestop, its hard to tell people not to Bet Against Brady but i think the chiefs and those young up and rising stars with mahomes and tyreek hill, kelce, i think theyre going to find a way to pull it off. Well see. Michael, thank you for joining us and thank you for everything that youre doing. Your camp needs to be spread across this country. Every kid deserves it. Oh, thank you so much. Have a great day. Thank you all for having me. You too. Coming up next, this pandemic is raging on across this country and weve got to think about the Health Care Workers because the Health Care Industry is now facing a Nursing Shortage. They were facing one before the pandemic. And it has gotten so much worse. What we need to do right now to make sure we do not run out of our most vital frontline workers. Americas nurses. Dry, distressed skin that struggles . New aveeno® restorative skin therapy. With our highest concentration of prebiotic oat intensely moisturizes over time to improve skins resilience. Aveeno® healthy. Its our nature™. Sure, your Health Insurance tells you to see a doctor but, um, look around. These days its not that easy. Youre telling me. But humana helps make it easy. Human care gives you tons of ways to talk to your doctor phone, computer, in person, or tablet. Hey jean hi this is just a quick follow up. Your numbers are looking great. You dont even have to put on shoes. Ooo easy peasy. You like that, huh . Mhm. Humana. A more human way to healthcare. Humana. The calming scent of lavender by downy infusions calm. Laundry isnt done until its done with downy. Reing news, pfizer is moving up their goal from when they can deliver an extra 200 million vaccine doses, it expects to deliver them to the United States by the end of may. Pfizer says its already supplied 29 million doses by the end of january. One other major challenge in the middle of this Coronavirus Crisis is a shortage of nurses across this country. ve day new headlines highlight the growing problem. Before we faced this pandemic, experts warned us this was coming. By 2030 there will reportedly be a shortage of nearly half a million qualified nurses. Whats driving this . Several factors. One, an aging workforce, many current nurses are reaching retirement age. Half of registered nurses in this country are over the age of 50. Two, Nursing School enrollment is not keeping pace, lack of faculty, teachers and classrooms, forced Nursing Schools to turn away more than 80,000 qualified applicants in 2019 alone. Not to mention all the training required after new nurses get that degree. And three, extraordinary Stress Levels are driving nurses to leave the profession entirely, especially during this pandemic. The struggle to breathe every da with tons of oxygen, and then you just see them die. They just die. And they fight dying. And its so sad. Its been rough. You know, seeing all these sick people coming in. The nurses are tired. And, you know, its hard. Its hard. I have seen more people pass away in the past week in the past couple weeks, really, than i almost say combined in all of my career as a nurse. And that has been the plight of nurses for the last year. Joining us now to discuss laurie armstrong, ceo and Chief Clinical Officer of inspire nurse leaders. Lori, first i want to thank you for all the work you do. How bad is the situation right now . Its bad, stephanie, with the prolonged pandemic, the Nursing Shortage keeps increasing. As you said, and im thankful youre bringing attention to this such, such important issue. Yes, there were warnings. Yes, there were warnings not only in the United States but across the globe of the growing Nursing Shortage. But as things continue thousands and thousands of shifts remain unfilled. Care is being rationed. Yes. What are these nurses telling you about their mental state, their physical state . How do they have the stamina to get to work every day . Well, you know, they keep on they get up each morning and they keep going. Thats what nurses do. But they are both physically and emotionally exhausted. And the numbers, the reported numbers of stress and depression and anxiety are higher than theyve ever been. Ive actually recently read a report where 60 of nurses are actually reporting clinical depression. This is higher than in any other discipline, including physicians. This is its own crisis. What can be done about it right now . At least from a lawmakers perspective. Well, i from a lawmakers perspective, they have to have a laser focus on investing in nursing. Late last year in November 2020 an act called the future of advancement of academic nursing was introduced in congress that would release the funding necessary, 1 billion necessary to fund nursing. The shortage is twofold, stephanie. The shortage is at the bedside, those unfilled shifts but the shortage is at our training centers, our colleges of nursing. The demand for nurses is not keeping up the demand for nurses is being out is being undersupplied. The supply is outpacing the demand. Help me understand this. Almost 100,000 Nurse Applicants were turned away because there simply isnt the classrooms, the teachers. In order for a clinical nurse to leave her job, or his job to become an instructor, they have to take a pay cut. These arent high paying jobs. Exactly. They have to take at least a 30 pay cut. And so theres no incentive. Remember, despite gains in the diversity of nursing, over 90 of nurses are females. Often the main breadwinner of the family, theres no economic incentives to leave. Yes, you could have a heart for nursing. I am adjunct professor, just an opportunity for me to give back. But the budgets are small in schools of nursing and the schools of nursing cannot increase their capacity to keep up with the demand for nurses. And the act that i spoke of this is a crisis. The fann act that will release A Billion Dollars will aid schools of nursing to increase their capacity. Its a little early on the west coast here, stephanie. The supply, the supply is not keeping pace with the demand. I got a little tongue tied. Thats all right. This is a crisis that was brewing before the pandemic and now it has gotten so much worse. Weve got to address it. Lori, always good to see you, thank you for your work and thank you for joining us this morning. Thanks for having me. Up next, news out of this world, four civilians getting closer than ever to a mission where they will be orbiting the earth and it is all for a good cause. Our own tom costello has an exclusive interview tell you who that man is. You could guess. It is elon musk. Elon musk. When i needed to create a better visitor experience. Improve our workflow. Attract new customers. Thats when fastsigns recommended fleet graphics yeah, and now business is rolling in. Get started at fastsigns. Com man whats my safelite story . Yeah, and now business my truck. Is my livelihood. So when my windshield cracked. The experts at Safelite Autoglass came right to me. With service i could trust. Right, girl . Singers safelite repair, safelite replace. 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Maybe i should workflow my swing. Servicenow. Discomfort back there . Instead of using aloe, or baby wipes, or powders, try the cooling, soothing relief of preparation h, because your derriere deserves expert care. Preparation h. Get comfortable with it. This morning we could soon be one step closer to exploring the final frontier. Spacex Just Announced plans for the first all civilian space mission. Our own tom costello has been exploring this story. Tom, i dont want to go into outer space, but you know all about t what can we expect . Reporter stephanie, good morning. Yeah, this is going to be the First Time Ever that four civilians will climb into a spaceship just like this one here without veteran astronauts on board for a trip around the earth. Its also a massive fundraising effort for st. Jude Childrens Hospital and its all because of the generosity of a very rich man who is determined to do some good. Hes the billionaire you have probably never heard of, 37yearold Jerric Isaacman is about to become the worlds first true civilian astronaut, already undergoing physicals and getting measured for a spacesuit. By the end of the year he and three other every day folks will climb into a spacex rocket for a multiday trip orbiting the earth, their mission dubbed inspiration 4. Making it happen, another billionaire, spacex founder and ceo elon musk. Elon, this almost sounds like a joyride for somebody and for the people who can afford it. Is that what this is or is it something more substantive than that . Its much more substantive. Its like america went to the moon in 69 it wasnt just a few people, humanity went to the moon. Reporter isaacman wont say how much hes paying for the trip but its also a massive fundraising effort to raise an astonishing 200 million for Cancer Research at st. Jude Childrens Hospital and he is riding the first personal check for 100 million. After years of supporting the make a Wish Foundation he says it makes sense. My crazy thought process, if st. Jude succeeds, you dont need a make a wish. And thats what kind of graph dated me towards st. Judes mission for our inspiration for endeavor. Isaacman who founded shift for payments to process hotel and restaurant transactions is an accomplished pilot, holding several world records. Commit the vehicle as well as ensuring you have a safe return to earth. Reporter now going through Simulator Training at spacex. The three others joining isaac dast man a former patient at st. Jude who is now a medical staffer at the hospital. Someone to be selected from among those who donate to st. Jude, no minimum or maximum contribution required. And someone with an entrepreneurial vision and passion to make a positive contribution. After years of racing planes, even start his own private air force isaacman says this mission is much more than fulfilling a childhood dream. I do want to see us live in a world where everyone can jump this their rocket ships like the jet sons to journey among the stars but we have responsibilities to deal with here on earth and certainly conquering Childhood Cancer is one of them. Does it make you nervous because you have civilians on this mission . Any mission where there is crew on board makes me nervous because the risk is not zero. We will do everything we can to get as close as possible to zero risk snsh this all kicks off on sunday with a big Super Bowl Ad and the Big Fundraising Effort gets under way for st. Jude. If you want to be considered for this mission, donate whatever you can to st. Jude, throw your hat in the ring and you will be considered. By the way, stephanie, i did ask elon about an ongoing controversy right now, that is, as you know, hes been weighing in on the gamestop and robinhood trading platform. Hes declined to comment to us On Cam Ration but as you know hes been very much on the side of the Retail Investor and against those hem funds that are shorting stocks. He has a history with that problem at tesla. Stephanie, back to you. Tom, thank you. That was a lot. That was extraordinary. Everything about that, outer space, st. Jude, space exploration, entrepreneurship, thats what makes america great. That wraps up this hour. Im stephanie ruhle. Hallie jackson picks up coverage on the other side of the break. E on the other side of the break re doing . For sure. Seriously . One up the power of liquid, one up the toughest stains. Any further questions . Uh uh one up the power of liquid with tide pods ultra oxi. Dont you tell me that im crazy. Dont you say that im losing my mind. Im in love. Love, love. Celebrate your love with a gift from Pandora Jewelry and discover all the ways to shop