From the Maga Pillow Man to the cracken lawyer, real world consequences for spreading election lies. Dr. Hotez on what might be really good vaccine news and the race to get more shots in arms is never more important. Why is it the democrats are just getting control of the senate from Mitch Mcconnell today . When all in starts right now. Good evening from new york. Im chris hayes. Tonight it seems mccarthy and the House Republicans refuse to discipline a member of their caucus who openly called for violence and proving theres no real civil war between the trump republicans and the establishment, bush era holdovers. If there ever was, its over. One side absolutely walloped the other. Not only did the republicans not discipline this member according to reports, a lot of the people in the caucus apparently gave her a Standing Ovation. The division in the party is amplified because of two figures that the gop house caucus trying to figure out what to do with. The first is Marjorie Taylor greene. Shes a wealthy Construction Heiress who shifted to the district he didnt live in and she has spent years posting insanely offensive violent conspire toirl nonsense on the internet from saying that a space laser started the california wildfire to claiming muslims should not serve in the congress and support of executing prominent democrats. Just today mother jones reported she was a moderator of a Facebook Group with Death Threats and racist memes. This afternoon the House Rules Committee under the control of democrat passed a resolution to strip greene of Committee Assignments because republicans wouldnt do anything. Mccarthy declined to take care of it within the Republican Caucus. Speaker pelosi responded with a Press Release Blasting Mccarthy for handing the keys to greene and referring of mccarthy q california. According to multiple reports greene apologized to the colleagues for past comments tonight and the exteptd of the apology is unclear. But perhaps more importantly half the caucus reportedly gave her a Standing Ovation when she was finished speaking. Her public rhetoric is growing increasingly hostile. Thats Marjorie Taylor greene on the other side of this socalled civil war in the Republican Party and liz cheney, of course, another heiress n. This case, the heiress to the Dick Cheney Political Loon and also like greene she moved to run for office in this case from Virginia To Wyoming and cheney represents a sort of Chamber Of Commerce knee owe conservative money party of the bush years. To cheneys real credit she voted to impeach the leader of the Republican Party and the President Donald Trump with a very, very strong statement of him inciting a mob of insurrection on the capitol. For that liz cheney is facing the possibility of being voted out of House Leadership and House Republicans are meeting about this right now. She has fellow matt gaetz showing up in wyoming to attack her leading the republican civil war against her. Ask this question. If liz cheney ran against Marjorie Taylor greene in a president ial primary for the republican nomination, who the heck do you think would win between the two of them . I think we know the answer. In fact, in 2016 we had a near proximation of it in trump versus jeb and look what happened there. The reason for that is because donald trump and Marjorie Taylor greene are closer to the primary voting base of the Republican Party than liz cheney. And the problem for the Cheney Faction if you can even call it is that is they have nothing to offer. The Republican Party right now faces a choice between being the loyal opposition and being essentially a seditionist caucus against democracy. Right now the majority of republican members of congress is on the record voting for the latter, voting to overturn a democratic election. Okay . So those in the Republican Party who again to their credit want to at least stay on this side of that line, to stay loyal opposition, they have no affirmative argument for what the Republican Party should be that has any appeal whatsoever to republican primary voters, forget other voters. Senate minority whip thune had a condemnation of greene. Quote, asking the house gop did they want to be the party of limited government, fiscal responsibility, prolife or do they want to be the party of Conspiracy Theories and qanon . I got news for you, senator thune. No one wants those first things that you listed as a Republican Party. The Republican Party doesnt stand for that. The trump years were not free markets handing out tens of millions of dollars to farmers and limited government with end runs to stop them from funding the wall and adding a whole new space force and deficits to corporations. No one is buying what youre selling, Chamber Of Commerce republicans. You cannot win the battle for the soul of your party with that platform because no one actually wants it, no one in the base wants it, swing voters dont want it. The people in the base of the Republican Party want to destroy the opposition. No matter what. And if that takes overturning elections and changing the law or whipping a mob up to intimidate members of congress, so be it. The Republican Base wants the government to help them when they need it. They dont oppose Big Government in any way at all but to keep power away from the people that say as their enemies. Own the libs. Fight cancel culture. Thats the sum total of what the base wants. The substantive agenda and ban abortion, i should say. A new Quinnipiac Poll shows nearly two thirds of republican support 1,400 stimulus payments to americans because theyre right, it would help everyone but, john thune, they dont care about whatever principles you have about the free market and like helping yourself and that nonsense. All this wrestling about what the party is and isnt is somewhat bizarre in the sense that donald trump was a president for four years. He was the head of the Republican Party. And days before he left office his Approval Rating among republicans was 87 and thats even after he got hundreds of thousands of People Killed in a plague. And tried to overturn 240 straight years of american democracy. 87 , donald trump one exactly what the Republican Base wants. Lets talk about the current state of the gop and joined by carlos carbell o. Former congressman from florida. You kind of lived this in some ways. What do you think about my analysis of the civil war stance . Chris, look. You are right. This is not a debate about policy within the House Republican conference anymore. This is a debate about the truth versus lies. Marjorie Taylor Greene apparently has been applauded for embracing a series of lies and Liz Cheney Who by the way i have heard is not apologizing for the decision she made right now as she meets with her fellow House Republicans. She is under attack simply for recognizing the truth, for recognizing what happened on the 6th Of January and who was responsible for that primarily, of course, the former president of the United States mr. Trump. So thats the dynamic. This is not about low taxes versus high taxes. Back in the good old days republicans get in trouble for breaking tax pledges. Now apparently they get in trouble for recognizing the truth. Two things have happened. One is that i think the modern conservative orthodox brought into a political majority by Ronald Reagan is in some ways a victim of its own success, taxes have been cut a ton since 1980. Has diminishing returns. Two has completely ideologically crumbled. I just think this notion of it and the context that reganism isnt there anymore. You see it across the west. Theres nothing replacing it other than resentiment. Its like the liz cheneys or Carlos Kurbellos saying go with us because why . What do you got . Well, chris, i think thats a good point that maybe it is a victim of its own success and thats why about ten years ago the Republican Party essentially became the party of no. They just started saying no to everything and donald trump being an opportunistic person saw that party, saw that it really didnt start standing for nothing and decided to hijack it and here we are today where the party cannot even accept Simple Truths and a party that cannot Simple Truths, that cannot condemn lies cannot really put out there an agenda or a set of proposals for people to follow or to embrace. People that dont recognize the truth and express simple truth, it is very difficult for them to lead so right now and to their credit Mitch Mcconnell and jon thune and liz cheney and others are trying to wage this war but it seems like they will come up short. It was interesting to me the governor of West Virginia, a trumpiest, right . The reddest states in the yung is pushing for this relief bill saying dont worry about the deficits. Its like, if the choice of the Republican Party is 1,400 checks and qanon and possibly the execution of the political enemies, thats one way to go. Or its bad and we should uphold democracy and worry about the deficit and dont give the checks, that second wing is not in good shape. Like thats not the winning wing right now. The lessons for republicans in the last four years is that as long as youre okay with trump right. You can pretty much be for anything. Anything, right. You want. And that is not a coherent way forward that consistently win a majority of the public support. You are right. Its trump but its sort against the libs. Right . If youre fighting the other side i think abortion continues to be a litmus test and cant be like a prochoice justice but those that it. Its a free loving field ideologically after that which is part of what were seeing in this. Thank you for giving us a little bit of expertise tonight. Thank you, chris. Good night. Theres a strategy of the right wing Media Returns to again and again. Which is, to point to Something Else and say, well hey, what about that . All the time. For example, in a republican president whipped up and Incited A Mob and then they attacked the u. S. Capitol in pursuit of overturning a legitimate media they went to the playbook and ab instead of reckoning with what had happened, what about antifa . Theyre now doing this again with Marjorie Taylor greene, a member of congress who has literally signaled support for the murder of democratic lawmakers. I think she says thats someone that managed the page but that happened. This is fox news today, suggesting a double standard of greene and omar, someone who does not have public support for killing her fellow lawmakers. House republicans are using the same tactic as their media allies so this afternoon in response congresswoman omar released a statement that reads in part, quote, lets be clear. This is a desperate smear rooted in racism. The House Republican caucus instead of holding her accountable is now flaming the flames. Republicans will do anything to distract from the fact that they have only allowed but elevated the members of their own ku kus. It is an immediate threat to the members of the congress and the fundamental democratic processes. Joining me now for her first interview on is representative omar of minnesota. Representative, congresswoman, did you expect that you would be pulled into this . Because you have become kind of the a goto figure in these moments for the Republican Party. Sadly, this is the republican playbook. We saw it with donald trump that any time they are faced with consequences for their actions to undermine our democracy, they blame muslims, immigrants, they blame black people, they blame women. I just happen to embody all of these identities and i want to make sure that we are clear on this. This is not about me and it should not be about me. This is about a member of the Republican Caucus who has repeatedly incited violence and republicans cant just wave a magic wand and attack the black congresswoman. It was notable that theres a Fund Raising Effort using you. That fund raising, the democrats are trying to expel me from congress and the democrat behind her there is you. Not Speaker Pelosi or House Leadership. I think everyone understands what that is about. Theres this dynamic that functions now where she will use the attention. Right . And the opposition to fund raise. Like, do you think about breaking out of this cycle and how to do it if theres any way out of it . No. I mean, you know, the republicans truly have lost their way. Their party is destroyed. Their base now is conspiracy theorists. Its cowards, opportunists, grifters and sadly theyre becoming the looney tunes. These are people we cant take serious. Thighre not here to do the peoples business. They are here to just be obstructionists and make a mockery of not just our government but our country. There is of course this individual congresswoman whos the subject of this question today in this House Rules Committee attracted attention and ran with this ad with a gun next to you and other democratic lawmakers. And, you know, it just seems to me you tweeted about this, about feeling like this sense of threat or menace. Representative alexandria ocasiocortez talked about this. This is not theoretical and the menace of armed people entered into the oxygen, the atmosphere of the building and the place you work that should be a question of sort of debating politics. Yeah. So many people have asked, you know, could there be violence . Could this lead to violence . They seem to forget that five people have already lost their lives on in the events of january 6, including a Capitol Police officer. Hundreds more people could have. We currently have members of congress who are moving their offices away because they fear for their lives. Alex talked about the trauma she is living with and has lived with since january 6. I sent a text message to my exhusband and told him, you know, if i dont make it out, please make sure you tell my children i love them. This is not a joke. This is not a game. These people are threatening to our environment. They are threatening our ability to do our work. They are really making it hard for people to survive and exist in a free democracy where debate and discourse is supposed to be celebrated. We are now living in a situation where every single caucus conversation is about, you know, where can we find resources for security. How are we supposed to check for Panic Buttons are working . Can we buddy up and walk the hallways because we are afraid of colleagues. This is insane. No other Work Environment that is this toxic would sustain itself and we cant sustain ourselves as members of congress in this situation. The final question is, is there something that these members can do to cross back over the line . Whether its Marjorie Taylor greene, the others that voted to overturn this election, like what would do that . What would be a way when you say its unsustainable short of removing them from congress. What could happen . They can show leadership. They can decide not to turn the key over, the key of their party over to this conspiracy theorist. White supremacist, violent and dangerous member of congress. They can hold her accountable. They can hold so many of their members who have incited insurrection and helped lead a rebellion against our democracy on january 6th accountable. It is going to be a long road because these are the children that are born out of a White Supremacist Movement that is taking over the base of the Republican Party and we have to wait and see if they are willing to do the hard work of dealing with this awful toxic really deadly White Supremacist america. Thank you so much for being with us. Thank you. Next, what may be some good news on the vaccine front and a warning of who will suffer most if we dont speed up vaccinations quickly. Dr. Hotez explains after this. Heinz ketchup. Because you cant be everyones Favorite Ketchup Without Making A ketchup for everyone. 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Plus, for a limited time, ask how to get a 500 prepaid card when you upgrade. Switch today. While the United States is slowly pushing up the average number of vaccines administered per days we need more shots in more arms much faster especially in communities december mated by the disease. One politico analysis found 5 of vaccinations total have gone to black americans, even though black people account for at least 15 of all covid deaths in america and it could be about to get so much worse. As dr. Peter hotez lays out in an oped for the daily beast if more contagious mutant variant across the country could be absolutely catastrophic for black americans. Dr. Peter hotez, the dean of the National School of tropical medicine at baylor university, codirector of Childrens Hospital for Vaccine Development is working on a covid19 vaccine and joins me now. Lay out the argument you make in the oped about the need to target specifically africanamericans for vaccinations as quickly as possible. Yeah. Chris, its really born out of the fact now especially because we have got the new variants coming, the ones from the united kingdom, south africa and now brazil and we know that theyre highly contagious, much more transmissible than the others we have had in north america so theyll race through this population very quickly. Theirre already here. The uk at least 540 isolates, 3 dm south africa, 1 in brazil and only really just started now doing Ge Gnomic Sequencing so this thing is going to sweep through the country even though were on a decline right now from 250,000 new cases to 150,000. This is going to sweep through and what we have learned in 2020 is that this virus, disproportionately affects certain groups. And really worried particularly about the africanamerican population for a number of reasons, they seem to be losing their life at a younger age, about a third of the deaths in the africanamerican nonwhite populations occurring under the age of 60 of hispanics so we are losing a generation of 40, 50yearold africanamerican moms and dads and im worried about that and the fact were seeing now we are not doing such a great job in vaccinating in low income neighborhoods and then we have done two studies to show high rates of Vaccine Hesitancy and looking at the perfect storm. If this virus races through this is going to hit hardest. We should note that there is we are doing very little sequencing in terms of surveilling where the new straining are. An individual in alabama, a man of 35 with the strain from the uk has died, succumbed to the virus. You can see him right there, 35 years old. Of course, we saw the fatalities go up in the uk, combined with the fact hitting african americans. Heres my frustration of the vaccine discussion. The cdc putt up a metric, a matrix for Decision Making about tiers and ordering vaccines and it prioritized equity, particularly Racial Equity and got a lot of criticism for that, saying stop thinking about that. Get shots in arms. But now that we have moved to just shots in arms, guess what, america. We have managed to recreate the problem from equity stand point. We have tons of evidence coming in. Wealthier getting more vaccines. We have racial disparities. How do we fix that . I think one of the major ways is making vaccines more accessible in some low income neighborhoods. We dont really have much of a Health System for giving adult vaccinations, rely on the Hospital Chains and the pharmacy chains but many neighborhoods are pharmacy deserts. And same with a number of Community Hospitals that have folded in poor urban areas so as a consequence theres no place to get vaccinated so we have got to specifically open up community centers. We have been doing that in houston. Mayor turner has been opening up centers in some low income neighborhoods. But he also in parallel what we are finding is that when we look at groups going to refuse vaccines it is pretty high among the africanamerican population because they dont trust whats been going on, theyre not spoken to. Theres some absence of communication and that horrific legacy of Tuskegee Experimentation and targeting of groups by the antivaccine lobby so we have one of the things im doing now is going on africanamerican Radio Broadcasts and Talk Radio Shows and podcasts every chance i get because the message theyre not heing is how were losing the lives of so many moms and dads and Brothers And Sisters and that message has to get across in a big way and if no one will do it ill do the best i can. I talk to people some of the people in the biden camp. They understand. They get it, ramping up. But before we thought we had time. We thought we had to the fall to fully vaccinate the American People but now with the new variants here in the last couple of weeks we realize we have to call an audible and get it done by june and so its not only going to be about getting the vaccination hubs, we need more vaccines and were learning in Operation Warp Speed we dont have all the vaccines that are not being made. Supply right now is a bigger issue but i think lots of people to note who are working on the demand side of this issue among communities across the country. Dr. Peter hotez, thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. Next, the unreal exchange in an interview with the my pillow dude that tells you just about everything you need to know about this political moment. One of these people is apologizing to. Stick around to find out who. Wo. Visionworks. See the difference. Nicorette knows, quitting smoking is freaking hard. You get advice like try hypnosis. Or. Quit cold turkey. Kidding me . instead, start small. With nicorette. Which can lead to something big. Start stopping with nicorette i think the sketchy website i bought this turtle from stole all of my info. Ooh, have you looked on the bright side . Discover never holds you responsible for unauthorized purchases on your card. giggling thats my turtle. Fraud protection. Discover. Something brighter. Yesterdays thinking is done giggling thats my turtle. New ideas we have a ton so keep pushing forward toward a better world for everyone. Make a different future start different at godaddy. Com its time for the ultimate sleep number event on the new sleep number 360 smart bed what if i sleep hot . Or cold . No problem, with temperature balancing you can sleep better together. Can it help keep me asleep . Absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable. Will it help me keep up with mom . You got this. So you can really promise better sleep . Not promise. Prove. And now, save up to 800 on new sleep number 360 smart beds. Plus, 0 interest for 24 months. Only for a limited time. [female narrator] five billion people lack access to safe surgery. Thousands of children are suffering and dying from treatable causes. For 40 years, mercy ships has deployed floating hospitals to provide the free surgeries these children need. Join us. Together, we can give children the hope and healing they never thought possible. Its a mission powered by love, made possible by you. Give today. 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. Just a second ill play for you two of the greatest minutes that have ever aired of cable news. For understanding everything about the politics in this moment. But first, i need to give you context for what you are going to see. The network here is called news max, sort of fringe right wng very pro trump channel even more than fox and gained a huge following eating into foxs ratings by vaeshl going all in on the former president s big lie about the election being stolen. Of course, that included lots of segments of a company of Dominion Voting Systems and Conspiracy Theories of them deleting or changing votes. That didnt actually happen but the network went along with the false story until dominion threatened them with a Defamation Lawsuit and then news max quickly changed the tune after that. They started to run the bizarre quasi Hostage Video Segments with the Host Reading Statements to set the record straight about dominion. Thats the network to watch. The guest is the maga Pillow Guy Mike Lindell all in on the Conspiracy Theory to the point he went to the white house january 15th to try to convince donald trump to stage a full coup. Because he himself was spreading the lie about the Voting Machines and the election being stolen the Maga Pillow Man like trump was kicked off of twitter which gave news max the bright idea to bring him on to rant against the woke mob mob and he was deplatformed for telling the kinds of lies that got news max into potential legal trouble and those lies were all the Maga Pillow Guy wanted to talk about. So this is what that looked like. So what happened . What happened with your twitter account and the company page . Well, first, mine was taken down because we have all the election properties, dominion machines, 100 proof and when they took it down mike, mike . Mike . Put it back up, my personal it was a mike, thank you very much. Mike, mike youre talking about machines that we at news max have not been able to verify any of those kinds of allegations. We want to let people know theres nothing substantive that we have seen. Let me read you something there. While there were some clear evidence of vote fraud and Election Irregularities the results in every state were set if ied and news max accepts the results as legal and final. The courts have also supported that view so right. We wanted to talk to you about canceling culture, if you will. We dont want to relitigate wait, wait, wait. Wait, wait. We understand where you are. So let me ask you this. Do you think this should be temporary because it appears to be permanent . Could you make an argument that it is temporary . What . Could you make an argument that this could be a temporary banning rather than permanent . No. I want it to be a permanent because know what . Because im reviewing the evidence on friday of all the Election Fraud that these machines so im sorry if you think okay. Mike, can i ask our producers . Can we get out of here . I dont want to keep going over this. Wait. We have not been able to verify the allegations. Hold on a second. Mike, mike. Hold on a second. Lets talk a little bit of whats happening overall in terms of censorship of cancel my company and myself in this current. Cancel culture. So good. He was back on News Max Today and the host apologized saying he could have handled it differently as the Maga Pillow Man is an important guest on the network. A very important guest who happens to spend Tens Of Thousands of dollars running ads on that network and there might be possible legal consequences. State officials in michigan pushing to disbar Trump Lawyers that played along. Ill talk to two of those officials, next. Almost a year the situation in the state of michigan has served as a coming attraction for the country at large. Last spring armed right wing groups marched on the State Capitol protesting the Public Health lockdowns essentially cheered on by president trump. Months later the fbi uncovered a plot to kidnap the governor leading to more than a dozen arrests and then by november with joe bidens victory in michigan, massive Election Fraud, documented in a legal filing riddled with errors. Now michigans top elected officials pushing for accountability. Monday the state Attorney General filed grievances Against Powell and three michigan attorneys that aided hereby saying a line is drawn from the fabrications of powell and associates, the insurrection that sought to topple the national government. Nothing short of Permanent Disbarment would be appropriate under these circumstances. Dana nessle filed the complaints along the lawsuit suing the four lawyers and Jocelyn Beenson is Secretary Of State in michigan responsible for the integrity of the state elections. Ill begin with you, Attorney General. What is the procedure here . How often is it used and why use it here . Its not terribly uncommon that some sort of complaint is made against an attorney. The attorney grievance commission. But it is fairly unusual to ask for disbarment as the remedy so we thought that it was entirely appropriate given the set of circumstances. These are not just any cases. These are cases that sought to overturn the will of the people and the president ial election in michigan and sought really to undermine peoples faith in the integrity of our Electoral System so we thought it would be an appropriate remedy and we hope they and the State Of Texas will take consideration into what we have said. Secretary of state benson, what have the effects been . We have polling now that shows a huge part of the National Electorate believes that the election was stolen as tharve repeatedly told by, you know, leaders in the Republican Party, conservative media. Theres some argument that actually having these lawsuits in your state allowed courts to say this is nonsense and were better for trust in the system but i wonder how you see it. Interestingly, first, we have to recognize last year more people voted in michigan and elsewhere than ever before so some ways in the court and through the court of Public Opinion really covered that truth. And to the point that to the extent to be worried of the security of the elections last year we found that the greatest Security Threat is not interference but the domestic attacks in the form of lies and misinformation spread in an intentional calculated way to intentionally mislead people and sow doubt in our elections and the misuse and abuse of those who have the very privilege to present arguments in a court of law, for them to abuse that privilege, to intentionally try to undermine the will of the people is particularly pernicious and unprecedented and was particularly challenging and disappointing given the fact that it was in line with a very successful election that saw so many people on both sides of the aisle engaged in the process and believing in the process through deciding to cast the votes in november. Attorney general, there have been responses from some of the lawyers named, a lawyer for cindy powell saying its improper using the color of your office to trying to unlaw firmly influence the District Judge on pending motions and accusing of a political vendetta and not the substance of the actions taken but behalf of a political cause you oppose that youre trying to mete out this punishment. Chris, these attorneys sought to undermine the vote of the people of the state of michigan. Secretary benson and i represent the people of the state of michigan as does Governor Whitmer and it just so happens that all three of us are licensed attorneys. So its not us. If we are not the ones to fight back against these types of lies in this effort to undermine this election and undermine our democracy then who are the proper and appropriate authorities who should bring such a case or such a complaint . I would argue that we are entirely the appropriate actors to do that and i would say this further. If those individuals that were involved in the insurrection at the capitol, they real he believed what was in these lawsuits, they truly drank the koolaid and if they drank the koolaid then it was these lawyers that mixed it, stirred it and sempbed it up in dixie cups to the individuals and fanned the flames of this horrific fire. Theyre responsible and they ought to be held accountable. Michigan Attorney General ne isses and Secretary Of State jocelyn benson, thank you both for making time tonight. Our pleasure. We talked about how republicans are voting on whether or not to strip liz cheney of a Leadership Position Voting to impeach donald trump. The vote is in. They voted to let her keep her job. Wlee ann cold well is at the capitol and joins me now. How did the vote go down . Do we have a tally . Reporter hey, chris. We do. The vote just took place in this room right behind me down a flight of stairs. The tally was pretty significant in favor of liz cheney. 145161 so that means theres just about 60 members who voted to strip her from her position as a number three republican in the house conference. So it was a Secret Ballot so we dont know exactly how people voted but i will say that it was it was a lot less than i expected. There was hours of debate about liz cheney and her role and the conference. Everyone was talking about it was a Family Discussion so we didnt get a lot of detail. There seems to be a big muzzle around what did happen there but we do know that Marjorie Taylor greene who there was not a vote about ovation. She was well received, i am told. 14561, in a Secret Ballot, that is, i mean, that is i suppose encouraging in so far as the caucus has decided that they will not cast out a member for the sheer voting to impeach the president of the United States, and thats a fairly wide margin, although deposing leadership is a big deal. If it had gone the other way, it would have been an enormous earthquake, right . It would have been extremely significant. Especially on the same day that they were having this big discussion about Marjorie Taylor greene, who has said in the past that parkland was a false flag operation. She had been a supporter of qanon. And mccarthy earlier in the day, the republican leader, had come out and said that he was not going to support stripping her of her Committee Assignments. So if the conference after that news then voted to strip liz cheney right. Of her number three position, that would have been extremely significant and a very big signal to the country of what the Republican Party stands for. Right now, theyre keeping it as status quo. Right. Thats well said. What ended up getting set up here was a kind of, well, lets not do anything about either equilibrium that essentially prevailed in both cases in terms of the caucus. Thats absolutely right. They are going to try to live to fight another day. And now, tomorrow, the democrats are planning on moving forward on a resolution to strip Marjorie Taylor greene from her Committee Assignments. That is pretty unprecedented that one party would try to strip another partys members from Committee Assignments, so what republicans are leaning into is democratic overreach. They are saying that they are mccarthy in his statement said theyre raising the temperature of partisanship and politics on capitol hill by democrats forcing this vote. So it now looks like theyre going to shift the focus and try to, you know, i just keep hearing this term from republican members over and over again, democratic overreach. They think that the impeachment is democratic overreach. They think that the thing that saves republicans over and over again is overreaction from democrats, and theyre going to try to play into that tomorrow when the house takes this vote because republicans did not act regarding Marjorie Taylor greene, and theyre keeping cheney in her position. Theyre going to try to change the topic, chris. Yeah, like the law of unintended consequences. Like when you aim your space laser down to pursue your plans of world domination, you end up with a forest fire. Nbc news correspondent Leigh Ann Caldwell live at the capitol, thank you very much. Thank you. In the senate, democrats won the majority on january 6th, and almost one month and one insurrection later, theyre finally taking their committee chairs, their precious gavels, members of Congress Love to chair things. And this happened after Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer and minority leader Mitch Mcconnell reached an agreement earlier today on how to run a 50 50 senate, allowing democrats to pass the organizing resolution and take Majority Control of the upper chamber. Now, the question becomes, can democrats advance the president s agenda, particularly on major legislation and nominees with their razor thin majority . Im joined by senator tim kaine, democrat from virginia. I guess, first, it finally happened. Today was the day, you guys now have control. Congratulations. Thank you, chris. We feel very, very good about it. You control the agenda, so its 50, but once youre the majority, you can determine what hearings will happen. You can determine what bills get marked up in committee. You can determine what bills get attention on the floor. And that is a very, very good thing. So lets talk about that. There have been a number of committees that have moved forward with republicans chairing them, essentially, to confirm a number of members of the cabinet. There are some notable exceptions, including Merrick Garland, a man who is familiar with Senatorial Dithering and was probably hoping not to experience it again, but has not yet had a hearing in the Justice Committee the judicial committee, and is not clear when hes going to be confirmed. Whats up with that . Well, no surprise, chris, the republicans arent wild about the department of justice. And so theyre glad to dither and not have a hearing on the Attorney General who by all accounts is one of the foremost consequential cabinet secretaries. But as of today, we have named the Democratic Committee chairs, dick durbin is the chair of judiciary, and we feel very compelled to move forward with Merrick Garland as promptly as we can. We have got to battle White Supremacy and domestic terrorism. We have to keep america safe from the crimes that an Attorney General has always focused on. And not on the judiciary committee, but i have a feeling its going to bring this up pretty quickly. The biggest priority right now is covid relief. And you know, theres very a few dynamics here. One, you have polling showing 65 , 70 of americans support it. Even large percentages of republicans. You have got governor justice down in West Virginia state that trump won by 50 points, saying for heavens sake, go big. What is the sentiment about how quickly to move and whether you need to negotiate with yourselves, which im going to get to in a second in the Democratic Caucus . Chris, this is inside baseball, but democrats are focused on the tool of Budget Reconciliation, which is a tool available to both parties. Its been used to do some of the most Bipartisan Legislation we have done in the last few decades, like the chip bill, the Childrens Health insurance bill, or the earned income tax credit, but the good news is you can use Budget Reconciliation to do big, important things propertily with a simple majority vote. Thats what were setting up to do because the death toll is staggering every day. We see death tolls in excess of the number of americans killed on 9 11. The economic consequence is staggering. The American Public is suffering. And they need big action, and they need big action soon. Were in dialogue with republicans bah we want to put into that bill priorities that they think are important, priorities that matter to their voters and their states. But were not interested in slowing down and letting americans suffer slowly over this raging fire. We have to provide relief, and we have to provide it fast. Theres a lot in the relief package. Money for states and municipalities, expanded tax credit for families with children. Theres a whole bunch. Theres been lot of focus on direct cash relief, partly because it was a big part of the campaign down the stretch in georgia that won the majority. I want to play you something that the press secretary jen psaki said today about considerations in negotiations that i think are happening within the Democratic Party about paring Back Eligibility on those checks. Take a listen. Today, the president talked about better targeting the stimulus checks. I wunldfer you could just explain what he meant by that and what might be under consideration. Further targeting means not the size of the check. It means the income level of people who receive the check. And thats something that has been under discussion. There hasnt been a discussion, but hes open to having that discussion. Heres my pitch to you, senator. Then ill shut up. Dont do this, a. B, if you have to do it, and you need 50 votes, so whatever, just give people checks and tax it back next year, if they had a good year and didnt need it. This idea that youre going to means test all 2019 income, which does not capture the need, please dont do this. Okay. You respond. Ill shut up now. Chris, so heres what, i absolutely agree with the white house. We shouldnt shrink the check amount, but i do think what the white house is talking about, the 1. 9 trillion, thats what we need to do. And look, if we target the check a little bit more in terms of the means, but we take the money we save and we put it into more vaccines, or more unemployment insurance, or more housing aid, or more s. N. A. P. Benefits, we can meet the needs. So the issue about the 1400 check, it connects with a whole lot of other priorities in this bill that are about helping americans. I think the Targeting Thing is not a bad discussion to get into. As long as we are going big and going prompt, because americans are still suffering. Well, i would agree that dont, you know, dont hold it up over that. I just think, again, the logic of Means Testing gets complicated and people, their income in 2019 isnt relevant. All i would say is the tax code next year is a great means, and it will score the same, by the way, for cbo purposes, it will score the same if you just tax it back next year. Thats my little piece here, senator tim kaine, im not a senator, but i cant help but offer my opinion. Thank you so much for making time tonight. You could be a Budget Committee staffer, chris, with that comment. Its true, though. One of the Big Questions facing democrats in the senate is whether they should eliminate the filibuster. Thats the topic of the latest episode of my podcast, why is this happening. Adam lays out how we got the filibuster in the first place and why it became Mitch Mcconnells first move. Rachel maddow show starts right now. Good evening. Any Budget Committee staffer that included you would make me sign up for that budget. Such an amazing compliment to get on national television. You would make a good Budget Committee staffer. Budget committee staffer. Pardon me, felt a little serotonin, thank you. Good. Also, i am sending you some personal Financial Information later that i would like you to help me with, because you alone could get that compliment. All right, thanks, my friend. And thanks to you at home for
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