biden's massive 1.9 trillion dollar covid relief bill. all of this is happening as we approach the official one year anniversary of essentially lockdown america. right now they are still debating the measure, the vote on final passage will follow. we know what will happen there. joining me is kristen welker outside the white house. i will say this. this biden white house, it does seem to want to not avoid what's happening at the border. they want to take it, at least, give the appearance they are willing to take it head on. >> that's right, chuck. we're going to hear from ambassador roberta jacobson. shooe there to try to send a message. we understand this is a serious situation. we're dealing with saurj in those unaccompanied migrants at the border. we know the administration has been looking into building more facilities and opening more facilities to house these children but, of course, the challenge becomes the fact you do have unaccompanied minor who is are being held for longer than the time allowed. that's opening this administration up from the right and the left. you have some progressive lawmakers who are saying, look, these images are reminiscent of what we saw under former administration and president biden has aimed to handle this situation more humanely. that's the word they continue to use. this is a critical test of that policy. how is it going to play out specifically. we know the administration is not using the term crisis. when you talk about the messaging that's coming from this administration, they are choosing their words very carefully, chuck. i anticipate you'll hear a will the of reporters question them on how they are vaviewing hast happening at the border. give us a reality check here. here is what the situation does seem to look like logically. essentially, the trump administration cut off all of -- basically cut off the ability to seek asylum. really sort of made this nearly impossible to cross the border. did it without any moral compass as far as or a value problem sigs here. now they are call it pent up demand to file these asylum claims. this is a backlog, number one? and who are the people that are in line here? it's not necessarily all coming from central america, is it? >> reporter: no. all very critical question, chuck. i think the best way to provide some context around this would be to first address the criticism we're hearing from the right is that the biden administration is pursuing an open borders strategy. that could not be further from the truth. let me explain a little bit. yes, the biden administration reversed title 42, that public health law that was preventing covid coming from the united states from the southern border which public health experts all dispute and still dispute it to this day. he only did it for kids. kids coming alone are the only ones after waiting at the border that are coming into the united states. it's what created this backlog inside the border patrol facilities where nobody wants the children to be in order to get them into the health and human services shelter where they can see a child welfare professional. no adults are being let in on a wide scale. no families are being let in. on the ground there are people who have been waiting an not just central americans. migrants from african nations who are not able to come into the country because of the rules that were put into place under the trump administration that are still in place to this day under the biden administration. specifically that title 42 public health law. the idea the borders are open and some wide scale, wholesale way is just not accurate in any way shape or form. it's only children, unaccompanied children and they do need more capacity to deal with these kids. >> jacob, i guess the perception or what various messaging out there is from coyotes and others is what? the border is more open today than it was last year. is that another challenge? >> sure. coyotes were saying pay me record numbers under donald trump because he's building a border wall. they will always make the message that you need to make a lot of money. the policies of the united states have been and remain to deter it. they try to keep people out of the country. i think what you'll hear from ambassador jacobson is a focus on root causes. why people leave their home country in the first place. people are leaving. >> go ahead. i got do cut you off because the briefing is about to begin. we all want to be listening in to this. we'll dip into that. >> she'll give some remarks and i'll be happy to take some questions. thank you for joining us. >> thank you, all. good afternoon. president biden has made clear from day one that he wants to change our immigration system. doing so means truly building back better because we can't undo four years of the previous administration overnight. those actions didn't just neglect our immigration system, they intentionally made it worse. when you add a pandemic to that, it's clear it will take significant time to overcome. we must build a better immigration system that reflects our values as americans, enforces our laws, safeguards public health and moves away from cycles of irregular migration. today i'm hear to talk about what we're doing with partners in mexico and central america to ensure that people don't make this dangerous journey and instead have opportunities for economic advancement and safety at home. the president has committed to seeking 4 billion dollar over four years to address the root causes of migration, including corruption, violence p and economic devastation exacerbated by climate change. as part of that plan, we will address the causes that compel individuals to migrate, including improving governance and proving foundation for investment and economic opportunity, strengthening rule of law. working across the whole of government, we'll look at access to interflashl protection and refugee resettlement and rethinking asylum processing to ensure fair and faster consideration. only by addressing those root causes can we break the cycle of desperation and provide hope for families who clearly would prefer to stay in their country and provide a better future for their children. president biden when he was vice president visits the region many times and is clear eyed about the challenge. he insists now as he did then that governments commit to being true partners in creating the conditions for growth and security. i want to emphasize that the funds we're asking for congress don't go for government leaders. they go do communities to training, to climate mitigation, to violence sprengs, to antigang programs. they go to the people who migrate in search of hope. they will have to have the participation of the private sectors in those counties who for too long have evaded tack, underpaid workers and fail to be part of the solution to creating safety democratic countcountrie. we already begun specific actions to both undo the previous administration policies and to advance a new vision of immigration. we have ended the so called migrant protection protocols that sent people back to mexico to wait sometimes for years for chance to present their asylum claims. working with the government of mexico international organizations and ngos, we have safely admitted over 140 migrants and closed the most dangerous face of the mpp. today we're announcing the restarting of the central american migrant program for children to be reunited with a parent legally in the united states. this program was ended abruptly by the prooefrs administration leaving around 3,000 children lar approved for travel, stranded. in phase two, we'll be working to improve the program to expand safe and legal avenues to the united states. i want to be clear, neither this announcement nor any of the other measures suggest that anyone, especially children and families with young children, should make the dangerous trip to try and enter the u.s. in an irregular fashion. the border is not open. we will continue to look for ways to provide legal avenues in the region for people needing protection while we continue to enforce our laws. this is a process. we have a great deal to do. this administration has made significant progress and we will continue to do so. it reflects who we are as americans. thank you. >> this 4 billion dollar, are you seek thanksgiving as part of a larger come prehence ifr package or a stand alone bill? >> what you'll see is that $4 billion in a central american northern triangle strategy will be part of our foreign assistance request and focus on the things we know that work. obviously, it's not our first rodeo. the vice president, the president when he was vice president worked on these issues. we know how to get money to communities that are most likely to send migrants but also that are suffering the greatest effect of two hurricanes this season, et cetera. it will be part of our overall foreign assistance package. we're focused on getting h humanitarian assistance to the countries. it's part of larger plan but there are parts of this that will be o the domestic side as well to fix the whole extent. >> what is the administration doing to work with the home countries, to send a message to people, don't come here, don't send your children here? >> i think one of the most important things is make sure we get communicationings right and the message right. i'm happy to repeat that. i think it's also important that we work with the international organizations that have very credible voices and have very good networks among migrant sending communities to dispel the myths and misinformation that smugglers are using. when we talk about the border not being open and the ways in which we're trying to dissuade people from making the dangerous journeys, the smugglers are conveying the opposite to people. we need to be looking at the program and how we can expand that. how we can make that eligibility greater. the next step is to look at solutions in the region. what more can we do to process people legally who really do require protection so they don't have to make they journey. we're looking at all of those things. >> you said this isn't your first rodeo. should the administration have been better prepared to handle this influx of children before it changed the policy allowing them to stay in the country? >> i think there's a couple of things. i think what we're doing now is making a difference in the home countries, beginning to work with governments. that couldn't start until january 20th. you can't start changing processes of government, building facilfacilities. all of this is part of the plan as quickly as possible to make sure that our domestic processes work more smoothly, more quickly but also to work with foreign governments and you can't do that till january 20th when you take over. there's been multiple engagements with the government of mexico, honduras within the first six weeks government. i think we have gotten off to fast start in that engagement. >> how does the government balance the need for cooperation with ongoing concerns about corruption there in honduras. federal prosecutors who say the president was working to flood the united states with cocaine? >> one of the things i made clear in the opening comments, which i want to reiterate is none of the money we're looking to get from congress or from taxpayers of the united states goes to government leaders. i don't think that means that presidents are unimportant in these countries but i think it's important to understand that we will be working with civil society, with international organizations and international ngos on the ground. we will work with officials that we can work with, but we also think it's really important that these countries make commitments, really explicit commitments to advancing on anti-corruption and in some places that will be hard to do if you've got officials for whom there is a cloud. in some places we will work with religious organizations, ngos, et cetera. it's a challenge in counties that have confronted serious corruption risks. >> what mechanism is in place? how do you safeguard the funding to make sure it stays out of the hands of corruption politicians? >> one of the things we have always done in 31 years of the state department has taught me this is we do induce monitoring. people are looked at before they are recipients of funds and we do checks and look at what's being done with the funds. we also don't deliver money in most cases. we deliver training. we deliver new lighting facile tills that reduce violence and crime. a lot of what you do, it's not handing over blank checks. i think that's really important in this. sgr new cnn reporting shows that unaccompanied migrant children are being held for on average 107 hours. that's up from 77 hours on average last week. what is the biden administration doing right now to fix that? >> my part of this focuses much more on what we're doing at the end of this process in central america and mexico. i think all of us, at every stage of this process are doing everything we can to make sure that children are well cared for and moved into facilities that are appropriate for them. i want to make a point, again, that it's really important that people not make the dangerous journey in first place. that we provide them with alternatives to maing that journey because it's not safe on route. if i could just emphasize that it's really important that that message get out because the perception is not the same as the reality in terms of the border not being open but we want to provide through other mechanisms ways for some of these young people to be reunited with family members in the united states. [ speaking spanish ] >> you're telling them not to come, would you describe what's happening on the border as a crisis given how these numbers are spiking so much week by week? >> i'm not trying to be cute here but i think the fact of the matter is we have to do what we do regardless of what anybody calls the situation. the fact is, we are all focused on improving the situation, on changing to a more humane and efficient system and whatever you call it, wouldn't change what we're doing because we have urgency from the president on down to fix our system and make sure that we are better at dealing with the hopes and the dreams of these migrants in their home country. >> do you think it's a coincidence as soon as trump and his immigration policy were on the way out and biden and his stated policy were on their way in, this surge at the border started? >> one of the things i think is important is we have seen surges before. surges tend to respond to hope and there was a significant hope for a more humane policy after four years of pent up demand. i don't know whether i would call that a coincidence but i think the idea that a more humane policy would be in place may have driven people to that decision but perhaps more importantly, it definitely drove smugglers to express disinformation, to spread disinformation about what was now possible we know that. >> if the change brought hope, is this surge good? >> i don't think that's what i just said. i think it's a reflection of how migrants feel at a particular time. i think what we are doing is making sure that we respond to that hope for people who need protection. we respond to that hope in a way that their cases can be adjudicated more quickly. i don't think anybody would say that coming to the united states in an irregular fashion is a good thing. that's why i've tried repeatedly to dissuade people from listening to those smugglers. we're going to try our best to do everything we can at each end of this in the united states but especially in central america and mexico to ensure we have safe orderly and legal migration. >> the president was active working with the countries in the triangle. was there lessons you were in the job in this administration have learned about how to deal with those countries or how to deal with foreign aid to them that are informing how you're approach things now and just to follow up a little on what peter was asking, are you concerned about mix ed messaging that you're telling people not to come that the journey is dangerous, that because you are offering this talk about more humanitarian process that people will not pay attention to the fact they could apply from home, from their home country, they would still come. they are still so hopeful there really is kind of a conflicting messaging coming from washington? >> on the first question, the question of learning things from when the vice president was leading a lot of our efforts previously, i think, yes. that's a resounding yes. both the president and all of us who worked with him on that, for him on that, learned a great deal. i think that it's really important that we put that to use now. one of the things he thinks is so important is being really explicit with leadership in the countries from which migrants are coming about commitments that they need to make because overcoming the reasons people migrate is not going to be the united states job alone. if we realize it's lack of good governance, economic opportunity and security issues or violence then some of those require commitments by the governments on anti-corruption and transparency and creating governments that function better to provide services for their country. he's clear on being sure we get the commitment from leaders and holding them to it. the money is not a tap that gets turned on all at once. you have to make sure you're continuing to follow the issues. i think there's a lot of things we learned and a lot of things about ensuring that funds get to the communities that are really in need whether it's post hurricane or coffee rust which was averaging guatemala. when you look at mixed messages, it is difficult at times to convey both hope in the future and the danger. that's what we're trying to do. i will agree that we are trying to walk and chew gum at the same time. we're trying to convey to everybody in the region that we will have legal processes for people in the future and we're standing those up as soon as we can but at the same time, you cannot come through irregular means. it's dangerous and the majority of people will be sent out of the united states because that is the truth of it. we want to be honest with people. we're trying to send both messages. smugglers are trying to send one message. we're relying on every means we can to get that message out there and that leads me to want to reiterate, as i did before. [ speaking spanish ] >> can you say a word more about what you're talking about in terms of the private sector? can you explain what you're invisioning there and what do you need? just the second question. you're talk about being really explicit with these countries but what sort of leverage does the united states actually have to affect change in those countries? what can you do? >> let me take that second one first. in the end, i think the implication of your question, which is quite right is we can't make the changes. we can encourage them. we can help support them with resources, both technical assistance and funding but we can't make the changes. the changes have to come in the northern triangle countries. there's a myriad of people in organizations who are trying to make those changes. part of what we want to do is empower them. whether that's more effective economic support. whether it's training for young people. whether it's anti-gang programs. whether it's mother's clubs and empowering local communities. all of that gets done through people on the ground, not by the united states. i think it's really important when you say what leverage do you have? i think working as partners with the countries means sitting down and talking about what we can do together but also if american taxpayers funds are going to be used then that is a certain amount of leverage. the president really wants to move forward on this but he won't unless he feels he has the commitments on an ongoing basis. is that leverage. funds are important means of having that conversation. your first question was on, remind me? >> let me follow up. >> you can't follow up. you have to come back to first one. >> are you saying explicitly the u.s. could withhold funding? >> i think the really important thing to know is we're looking forward to getting this proposal before congress and having congress act on it and what comes after that, i just don't know. an executive branch can always adjust things like that. i also think it's really important to understand, you asked about the private sector. the private sector in all of these countries, central america is really important player here. i think to be very honest, we have not seen them step up. one of the mechanisms that was really effective under the obama/biden administration was for every dollar that the u.s. put into an assistance program, we asked for private sector organizations, local chambers of commerce or business organizations to either match us or exceed us. this gives the private sector skin in the game. it makes sure they are part of the solution. if the governments don't have enough resources, there are private sector organizations and members of the private sector, the business community who need to be part of that solution. we feel it's an important element to this. we talked about international organizations, governments, ngos. i don't want to lever out the business community as a participant. >> last three. >> just to follow up on the question. i understand you want to empower the civil societies and these countries, but can you make the laing between empowering them and eliminating the push back to stop them from coming to this country? how much is an international aid policy versus an immigration policy? that's my first question. the second one, if you can speak more specifically about the requirements that you're making to these countries in terms of anti-corruption practices, what have the specific measures of success and how to ensure they are take it? >> i think this is an international aid issue as well as a policy issue both for us and the countries we're working with. on the one hand, it's clearly a resource issue. you have two greater category four hurricanes within a 15-day period. you have reports that suggest that literally multiple millions of people in guatemala and honduras is food insecure now. that's something you need to be looking at to try to remedy. in the longer term, when you're looking at increased pace of natural disasters because of climate change or you're looking at ways to ensure that agricultural policy changes in countries or that training is given or that students, including girls remain in school, those are longer term policy questions that need to be addressed with our partners in the region because they all have an impact on whether migration flows increase or not. a lot is policy and aid together making sure that you tackle the root causes of migration. otherwise, what you see is continued cycles. to break that cycle of migration, sustainablely you have to work both. on the specific commitments for government, i think that's something we would want to discuss with the countries involved before we discuss it publicly. >> the president's executive policy, do you think the president will consider using his executive powers to reunite family who is have been separated under zero tolerance? >> outside of the family reunification task force that was created which is exactly to do that? are you talk about people not in the same country? >> the families that were separated, would the president use anymore executive powers? >> do you mean families separated when in the united states? >> during zero tolerance in the past. >> that's what the family reyun -- reunification task force is doing. >> nothing beyond that? >> it deals with the people separated during that policy. >> last two in the back. >> couple of questions. congress appropriated almost $1.4 billion for this fiscal year for a border wall that you're not building. how much of that is left? are you redirecting it and to what along the border now? secondly, you discuss messaging. your predecessors entire theory of the immigration agenda is they were trying to send this message, don't come. america is closed to migration. you're pursuing different policies but what can you do differently than they did to try to get that message if it wasn't fixed already with that kind of a messaging? >> on the first question regarding the border wall. the president has been clear about ending the national emergency or the emergency of the border that was used to justify the wall and obviously not proceeding with it. the exact legal requirements and where that -- those funds might go, i just don't know. i'm sorry. let me talk about the message issue. i think -- i think it's really important to understand that you can't and shouldn't say in this administration's opinion that the only way to message do not come in an irregular fashion is to act as cruelly as you possibly can, separate children from their parents, return people to places that, like the camp migrant camp for up to two plus years at a time. that's the only way that you can get your message across. this administration's belief is that we can get our message across that it is a more humane policy but opening up avenues of legal migration which will encourage people to take those legal options and go through the asylum process if they are seeming that. and not take the irregular road. you have to find different ways to message. if messaging reflects your action, that's why we're increasing the actions for legal migration so messages you have another option. >> last one in the back. >> if i may ask a question in spanish for our audience. [ speaking spanish ] [ speaking spanish ] [ speaking spanish ] [ question in spanish ] [ speaking spanish ] . >> thank you. >> thank you so much. we appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> you just heard there from ambassador roberta jacobson. the house, by the way, officially began voting on final passage of covid relief. we're keeping an eye on that. you can watch the numbers. i want to bring back jacob and kristen. jacob, there's a ton to unpack here. i would say the headline, one interesting headline for me is she went out of her way to say the border is not open. that was interesting. i'm curious of your thoughts on that. the second thing that i would like you to deal with is, this idea of investing in the central american countries directly has been the democratic policy answer for years. we have thrown some money down there. it hasn't worked. why? >> we heard ambassador say in english and spanish, repeatedly, the border is closed. as a reporter who goes on the ground to look at this stuff, myself. other than children who come to this country unaccompanied and there are a record number of children coming because they were kept out of country by president trump and part after their new humane, fair and orderly proses, the biden administration has started letting them in. the border is closed to nin who is not an unaccompanied migrant child. i saw a back up of haitians, central american, families, people wanti and they are not able to get into the country at this point. the idea there are open borders. take it from me, not based on what i saw myself. you're looking at footage in tijuana, the port of entry. those are people camping there because they can't get into the united states under the biden administration. when it comes to foreign aid, i think some people would argue united states interference and central america has contributed to irregular migration to the united states. there are other who is have said aid that is intended to mitigate some of the challenges on the ground there, particularly climate change, food insecurity, hunger and starvation in certain instances which i've seen myself as well, i was saying to you before, they do stop people from coming because they provide opportunity on the ground. don't forget, the trump administration pulled that foreign aid to stop mitigating the affects of climate change knowing that this stop people from coming to the country. they did it to further their policy goals. now you're seeing the biden administration reproach this in an attempt to help people where they are. that's what you heard there. >> kristen, i thought the messaging of the border is closed, i'm guessing if the white house could have a headline that they wanted more people to see, it would be that one. i do find it, again, i go back to, you know the previous administration -- the obama administration sometimes would fight back at the media perception they weren't dealing with an issue enough. i noticed if there's one slight change many the biden white house, versus the obama white house is they are like we're not going to fight the narrative on this one. they want to shape it. >> i thought that was what stood out as well, chuck. you basically heard the ambassador there embrace the fact that yes, this messaging is complicated. when she was pressed on whether it was a coincidence that there is now a surge in unaccompanied migrants coming to the border instead of disputing that or in some ways trying to pivot away from that reality, she said the reason she believes that's happening is because the administration is giving these people hope. that then opened up a range of questions about mixed messaging. what you saw her say is this a complicated. we disagree with the former administration, the trump administration's message on this. they weren't going to deal with this humanely. we're saying yes the goal is to deal with it hhumanely. that is giving people hope. the same time the problem remains entrenched and just as comp complicated. that's why you heard her say they need more funds to invest in things that jacob laid out. i think it's instructive she made a point of saying we have been in contact with these governments of mexico, honduras, governments tlouts central america to try to coordinate this response with them. trying the work in concert with them to deal with the root issues of this crisis. then we know this all comes as president biden is proposing a sweeping immigration overall. so many administrations past have failed to get an immigration overall passed. it's really tough to see how it happens now. particularly, when you're seeing this covid relief bill, something that arguably might have some bipartisan support but it will pass, we believe, along party lines. i know the vote is coming in now. we'll have to test that narrative. bottom line it only gets tougher from here. what you heard is an acknowledge of just how complicated this problem really is. >> there's no political incentive for the republicans to work with biden on this. they prefer the issue because it's one of the few issue areas that unite -- that keeps the party from fracturing. we'll try to set up asylum process in these countries. in honduras. try to have -- deal with it there and essentially send the message if the best way to succeed in your asylum claim is to do it in country. is that what you heard? sounded like that what we're going to develop but she didn't quite say it directly. >> that's right. referring specifically to something called the central american minors program which was used under the obama administration but terminated under the trump administration to allow children to seek refugee status in their home country before they make the journey so it can be worked out before anyone leaves their home country to take a journey to may a smuggler or coyote to risk their life. that's what they are calling this more humane approach to immigration and stemming what they call irregular. it doesn't mean the borders are open. that was the message today. >> it was. i thought, again, i go back to that -- i believe that's the headline which is the biden administration reiterated the border is not open. kristen welker at the white house. jacob, thank you. the house is voting on final passage of president biden's 1.9 trillion dollar covid ri relief bill. we'll see how it's going and how part line it is raert after this. ng and how part line it is raert after this taking you back... ...since way back. freshness and softness you never forget, with downy. as carla wonders if she can retire sooner, she'll revisit her plan with fidelity. and with a scenario that makes it a possibility, she'll enjoy her dream right now. that's the planning effect, from fidelity. she'll enjoy her dream right now. t-mobile is the leader in 5g. we also believe in putting people first by treating them right. so we're upping the benefits without upping the price. introducing 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want to save hundreds on your wireless bill? with xfinity mobile, you can. how about saving hundreds on the new samsung galaxy s21 ultra 5g? you can do that too. all on the most reliable network? sure thing! and with fast, nationwide 5g included - at no extra cost? we've got you covered. so join the carrier rated #1 in customer satisfaction... ...and learn how much you can save at xfinitymobile.com/mysavings. welcome back. right now the house is voting on final passage of one of the largest emergency aid packages in american history. it is expected to pass. the white house just said they expect the president to sign it as soon as friday. the house vote right now is coming at a moment when this country looks back at one hellish year that we all experienced together. we also look ahead to what will be a long and frot road to recovery. in a year, more than half a million americans have died. roughly ten million jobs have been lost. the u.s. has been $6 trillion trying to plug all these holes. it's more than this country spent fighting in world war ii. the slow process of remote voting ishere. looks like the contour and the rhetoric has not changed. waiting for the official world that democrats passed this largely on their own losing maybe a defection or two but not gaining a single goper? >> yes, we think one of those two democrats that voted against it will join democrats today to vote for it so their probably just kurt shader of oregon. they say the changes in the senate bill were enough to get him on board this time around. so there will probably only be one democratic defection. we don't expect any republicans to vote for it. but one new argument that i'm hearing is that republicans who are going to oppose this should not show up at ribbon cuttings and take credit for components of this legislation after slamming it, after voting against it. and that is something that we also saw in 2009 during the stimulus bills that were passed, during the recovery. so democrats are forshadowing that that could happen as this comes into a political issue. closer to the midterm elections. we also know that some republicans were working behind the scenes to make changes to the bill. ultimately they voted against it, but several others got changes into the bill that they wanted, chuck. >> i want to ask you about the atmospherics. congressman charlie said he thinks that biden will regret this, is that how you see things right now? is there that kind of both optimism about the bill, but pessimism about much else getting don't after this bill? >> yeah, we're seeing it in multiple ways. you know democrats are thrilled about this bill. this bill wraps up so many of their priorities that they have not been able to get done for years putting it through the lens of covid relief. most of it is through the lens of covid relief and they're risking the lack of bipartisanship moving forward. we're going to see a nur ri of house bills. we have already seen some of them where they're moving forward legislation on gun bills, on, you know, lbgtq rights, the list goes on. there is so many of them and i can't even remember right now in a very partisan way not working with republicans. so we're going to see a lot of these bills die in the senate unless the senate can get it together and i don't see that happening. >> i think there is certainly weakening of the filibuster but i don't think massive changes there. leann caldwell on capitol hill with us. starting today texas no longer has any covid related restrictions including that mask mandate. he is ending a statewide mask mandate. precilla thompl is worried that the rollbacks will roll back this recovery, there is an issue of no mask mandate at all. people warning still take some precautions. >> chuck, exactly, and i spoke a number of residents here that not only know someone that had the kfrs, but know people that died from the virus. they were experiencing a peek in july, they were running out of places to transfer patients and that's what community leaders and residents alike are afraid of. that is not something that folks here want to relive. so they plan on continuing to wear the masking even though the governor lifted the mandate. the major here saying that the governor's move is irresponsible and premature. and so he met with business leaders and he agreed to continue to implement that mask mandate. and it is really the state of things. i ask him where he expects cases to be in two weeks and he tells he he honestly doesn't know, but he hopes it will not set back all of the work that this community has done to contain this virus. >> texas still in a sting e single digit percentage of people that are fully vaccinated, but how did they say they would help businesses and fort, say a business mask mandate. and i believe businesses still have that right. >> yeah, that was one of the big questions. so they talked about training employees for how to deescalate conflicts and have those conversations, but that is what we're going to be watching here. we have seen that happening in places where there are mask mandates, chuck? >> precilla thomas in rio grand city for us, thank you. come back tomorrow, we'll have more "meet the press daily" after this break. press daily" after this break mr. charles, we made you dinner. ahh, thank you! ready to eat? yes i am! 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