Achievement. Biden will also face questions on a variety of other challenges now testing this administration, no doubt reporters will press him on the call for gun reform after back to back shooting rampages that left 18 people dead in atlanta and boulder, colorado. The surge of unaccompanied children arriving at the southern border. The latest Missile Launch out of north korea. And the dynamic on capitol hill, the competing interests of a Democratic House that wants to push legislation that its members feel are necessary. Though they cannot get that legislation through the u. S. Senate, unless the senate rules change. We should note President Biden has taken longer to hold a solo News Conference than any other president in nearly a century. Today marks 64 days since his inauguration. I want to bring in our team. We have abby philip, anchor of inside politics sunday, david chalian, cnn political director and cnn chief National Current affairs respondent jeff zeleny. How is biden tackling this new vaccination goal . Jake, President Biden is going to start with the optimistic news, they believe that doubling the goal of 200 million vaccinations in the first 100 days is a bit of good news. This is a sign that this vaccination rollout has really gotten through a lot of hiccups, and is working. He is, im told, going to focus on that. Yes, there are still issues out there with the vaccine. First is foremost is the Vaccine Hesitancy. Were seeing states across the country expand their age eligibility in some cases, allowing people as young as 18, and up, to get the vaccine. That is because a variety of older people, largely white men, are not interested in getting the vaccine. So that is something that President Biden is likely to address as well. But jake, there are a variety of issues on his plate, no question. We know his position on virtually all of them. The question is, specifically how he will use the power of his office to get them through. Guns, of course, first and foremost. A week ago, when this press conference was announced, the shootings had not even happened yet and they were not on the radar. The one in colorado hadnt happened yet and they were not on the radar of this president. He only addressed this earlier this week. This is something he is uniquely qualified to compare the last time the senate tried to tackle this in 2013 after the horrific sandy hook massacre until now. He has a variety of other things on his plate hes not talked as much about, that is afghanistan, for the last ten years or so he has been in favor of, often at odds with other president s, like president obama, of pulling out u. S. Troops. Now, he is facing that same decision. Weve not heard him talk about much of this at all. So he is going to start out, im told, by giving a lengthi statement on vaccines and the economy. Hell be pressed on all of these issues. The point of this is for him to expand and really build public support for many of these programs. Yeah, we might have a better idea of his position on these issues if hed held a solo News Conference before now. Historically late, and abby, let me talk to you, let me pick up where jeff just left off on guns. I had republican senator pat toomey on my show yesterday and he said they could close the gun show loophole. If you have a gun show you dont necessarily have to do a background check. He thinks there is 60 votes to get that passed in the senate but that doesnt go far enough for a lot of House Democrats and some Senate Democrats and this is the push and pull that biden is going to face. Does he want something passed or does he want a big bill that all the dmmemocratic caucus is behi but cant get through the senate. The gun show loophole, the charleston loophole. A number of priorities for democrats. Frankly there is broad public support for universal background checks but that does not have, probably, 60 votes in the senate. So yeah, as with a lot of things you can get 60 votes on piecemeal elements of this, but from a Strategic Perspective i think democrats are hesitant to chip off a little bit of this and what that inevitably does in washington is that people can then take that home and say, oh, we did something, and then not deal with broader issues until well down the road, or if ever again. And i think thats what some democrats are concerned about is that if you do a little bit you ignore the broader problem and you dont actually make a difference. I mean, this is a life or death issue from the perspective of many democrats. And david, President Biden, the white house has said that he might take some executive actions when it comes to new restrictions on gun ownership, though Vice President harris said if you really want to do something it has to be done with legislation. It was interesting that when President Biden first came out to address the shooting in boulder, he didnt go right to executive actions. His comments that day were, there are two housepassed background check bills that should pass the senate now. And he threw in that he would like to see an assault weapons ban, the since expired assault weapons ban that he helped usher through in the 90s, hed like to see that back in place. Legislation. You noted, Kamala Harris when she was asked multiple times about what kind of executive action could the administration take right now to start dealing with this gun crisis. And she put the onus on congress. She said, no, we must move through legislation because thats how you get actual permanent long Lasting Solutions to problems. Ill note, its a totally different position than she took in her own president ial campaign in 2019. Shes a Vice President now. Now she is the Vice President , yes. She has to take on bidens position on these issues. And this gets into, abby, the bigger question for joe biden which is President Biden which is whether or not he should, as many progressives want him to, support changing the senate rules. Right now democrats have 50 votes, republicans 50 votes, Kamala Harris, the Vice President , can cast the tie breaking vote and thats how they got the economy package, the recovery package through, using special rules but generally you need 60 votes in order to bring something to the floor of the senate. Its called the people shorthanded, the filibuster rules, and democrats are saying President Biden, we cant get any of your agenda through unless we change the rules so we only need 51 votes instead of 60 votes. I mean, thats very that may be the case but its an oversimplification of the problem because they have a problem among democrats. Right. The real issue, i think theyre facing right now, is that when you have other democrats who have two positions, one joe manchins position seems to be that bipartisanship is a requirement for his vote. That seems to take the 51 vote thing completely off the table because, you know, if joe manchin doesnt even you know, hes not willing to go along with something that only has 51 votes. Youve got to get to at least 52 votes. It seems like hed be fine with democrats, plus one, but you have to get at least some republican votes to get him on board and then on top of that you have other democrats who are very hesitant to roll back the filibuster on other for other reasons. And so democrats need to figure out where their caucus is before they can even have the filibuster conversation. This would all be fine if they could count on the manchins of the world and the cinemas of the world, but they cant. Until they can figure out what legislation can get just those people on board this is a moot conversation. And this is the price you pay for the majority, right, because joe manchin for a thin majority. Very thin majority. Hes a moderate democrat and probably the only West Virginia democrat that could have a senate seat, certainly the only democrat thats won statewide at that level in a long, long time. And ive seen some gun rights not gun rights, some gun control activists say, you know, nasty things about joe manchin on social media, we need to get rid of him. He doesnt get replaced by a more liberal democrat, he gets replaced by a conservative republican. No doubt about that. Heres what i think is so interesting with what abby was saying, yes, the problem is inside the Democratic House here, its not just about the 60 vote threshold but what the white house and some or i should say some advisers in the white house and activists in the world on the outside may move the needle for democrats is showing time and again key democratic priorities failing because that they cant get any republican votes and that if they show enough failure on big agenda items it will build pressure on the democrats to all get on board with changing the voting rules, the threshold, the filibuster, and coming on board with these agenda items. Now, i think thats a thats a pretty big gamble. I dont know that that strategy is actually going to produce joe manchin to come along and say, oh, okay, you showed me this wont get through and all the sudden im on board. It seems the administration is going to need to work on both sides. Move some republican votes to get all those democrats on board as well, including manchin, as well as placate a bit to the base about changing the structure of the rules in the senate because that is something that the Democratic Base is really asking for on issues that matter so critically to them, Voting Rights, gun rights. As youre saying, these issues are so front and center. And without any action on them, i think youre going to see the Biden White House concerned that they will lose some of that energy in their own base. Yeah, of course what happens when the republicans take control of the senate again, as inevitably will happen at system point in the future, and what do they do if they only need 51 votes, or 50 votes plus an incumbent republican Vice President , jeff, we also know that President Biden is going to be asked about the situation at the border, roughly 14,000 Migrant Children are currently in u. S. Custody. The Biden Administration has so far avoided calling it a crisis. Its clearly a humanitarian crisis, whatever you think of the politics of it, what do you think hes going to say today . Do you think he might actually acknowledge the horrific conditions that are going on . I think theres no doubt that he will acknowledge that the conditions that weve seen in those intake facilities are unacceptable. Weve heard his aides and his spokes people say theyre unacceptable to the president. Weve not heard in his own voice what he believes, you know, is unacceptable. Now, clearly the administration was moving very quickly in advance of this press conference to show that action was under way. And to show that this, diindeed is a priority of this white house. Yesterday, of course, President Biden appointing Vice PresidentKamala Harris in charge, really adding this to her portfolio, making this her portfolio of leading the diplomatic efforts in central america, but also overseeing some efforts on the border. So really spanning the root causes of the migrant surge as well as what happens to the children once they arrive. So i do believe that we will hear President Biden, based on the sources im talking to, speak, you know, very forcefully about how this is not something that is acceptable. But he will also point out the reason this is happening is because under his administration he is allowing his administration is allowing these children to stay here. For the last four years the Trump Administration sent them home once they crossed the border so that is the big difference. The question is, was he prepared, was his team prepared for this surge of migrants which many people predicted would happen and he has experience from this, in 2014 and 2015, as Vice President , in the second term of the obama administration, he was given this portfolio as well. He sent a lot of aid down to Central American countries and it didnt really change that much in the long term. So i do believe his words on this will be interesting. But also, this is the first time we were going to hear him talk about how he thinks things are going in todays washington. He talked so many times, in fact i was thinking back to his last News Conference as president elect in wilmington around the holidays and i asked him if he thinks hell have a honeymoon period and he essentially pushed back any suggestion hes being naive about this. He said he can work with democrats and republicans. Now we know, of course, after that covid relief bill was passed with democratic votes only, republicans are not likely to work with him, and republicans now say the white house seems unlikely to work with them. We know hes only spoken to leader Mitch Mcconnell about one time since taking office. So it will be interesting to see if he gives a sense of what bipartisan means now. Because the white house is now saying that to them bipartisanship is supporting things that the vast majority of the American People support, not necessarily republicans voting on it here in washington. So having him take stock of what he believes this moment is, also is so important in assessing the rest of his presidency. Yeah, thats traditionally not what people have meant when they refer to bipartisan support for legislation. They traditionally mean democrats and republicans supporting a piece of legislation, not Public Opinion polls. Abby, we learned today that 684,000 people filed for unemployment last week. Now, the good news in that number is that thats the lowest since the pandemic began but for context its still higher that any week in american history, in recent american history, until the last recession, how long does biden have, do you think, to get the economy turned around before voters Start Holding him accountable . Well, i certainly think by the end of this year there needs to be a lot of progress on the economy because, remember, the argument, in favor of this gigantic covid stimulus bill was that if we dont act now and if we dont act aggressively we will have a slow and stalled recovery. And so i think, you know, this year is going to be crucial for that. And its likely we could see some progress. Youve seen economists saying we could see gdp growth in the 7 or 8 , which would be an astronomical number, if thats the case, biden is probably in a much better place than he would otherwise have been. And i think that, you know, look, its not just about the numbers. Its also about people and their families, and their livelihoods. So yes, people might be employed but theyre in the hole for rent. Tens of thousands of dollars. And making people feel whole again is actually bigger than just making sure that they have a job again. And i think thats the other part of this challenge. That theyve also faced back in 20082009 was that people the economy was doing better. People didnt actually feel that in their pocketbooks and their homes and in their home economies. Okay. Abby and david and jeff, stand by. Again, President Biden will announce that new vaccination goal in just a matter of minutes. Heres what the cdc director said today about the rollout of the vaccine so far. What we do know is that were vaccinating people at 2. 5 Million People per day, and were really starting to see the positive effects of that vaccination. We know that people who are over the age of 65, their mortality rates have come down dramatically from 16 and 100,000 in january to 1 in 100,000 now, were getting early evidence this vaccine is working. Cnn medical analyst and professor of medicine in surgery, dr. Jonathan reiner joins us now. Good to see you, 2. 5 million doses a day, a vast improvement where we were a few months ago. But obviously more needs to be done. Do you think President Biden can hit this new target, 200 million shots in arms within his first 100 days . He certainly will. This administration has shown a practice of underpromising and overdelivering. When they announced their initial goal of basically a million shots per day, 100 million vaccinations in 100 days, we were already giving 900,000 shots per day. So that wasnt a big aspirational goal. Now were giving 2. 5 million shots per day, some days 3 million shots per day. We will probably beat that 200 million goal with about a week to spare. So were already doing that. The problem is that at 2. 5 million shots per day were still five months away from herd immunity if were using 75 of the population as a goal. Weve made great strides. About a third of the population, a third of the Adult Population has had at least one vaccination, and almost twothirds of people over the age of 65. So were really moving in the right direction. But we need to go further and faster. I think we probably need to go more than 3 million shots per day, and we need to start vaccinating the young people. That thats the group that is propagating the virus in the United States. The people right now who have not been vaccinated. Right. And well first of all were still waiting for data when it comes to how safe the vaccines are for children. Under the age of 16. But youre right about the underpromising, overdelivering, biden saying just a few weeks ago, when i said 100 million shots in arms within the first 100 days you all said i was crazy. Nobody said he was crazy, as you pointed out. They were already at 900,000 a day under a trump. In that same interview we just aired that clip from, the cdc director said shes seeing about 1,000 covid deaths a day. In her words, its too many. How concerned are you the new variants might outpace the rate of vaccination . Im concerned but i dont think thats going to happen. What were seeing right now is its a little bit uneven in the United States in the southeast and southwest in california, cases are way down. Weve seen a pretty big surge in michigan, a little bit in the northeast, which seems to be stabilizing a bit. So i think were going to have this sort of plateau for a little while until the states that have been surging get more vaccines in arms. And then i think well start to go down even further. The good news is, that even if we see a surge in cases, we have so much vaccine in our most vulnerable population, particularly the folks who live in longterm care facilities in Nursing Homes where fully a third of our deaths happened during this pandemic. I dont think were going to see the big surge in deaths. So well need to sort of keep an eye on how this is spreading out in the United States. But i think well see sort of up and down over the next several weeks, and then finally way down as we start to get the majority of the population of this country vaccinated. Pfizer Just Announced that they started a vaccine trial for children ages 5 to 11. How long do you think it will be before all children are able and eligible to be vaccinated . Probably not before some time this fall. I think, probably, well start to get shots in the arms to teenagers, probably sometime during the summer and early fall. But it will be several months, i think, before we have data on the youngest children. But hopefully certainly by new years of next year, hopefully every american of every age should be eligible for a vaccine. The important thing about this is that the fda and the cdc are doing this right. You dont want to extrapolate adult data to kids, theyre not just little people. We need to make sure we have the dose right for children, and both in terms of safety and efficacy, and the only way to do that is with a clinical trial. So the data will come. I have no question that well find the right dose for children. And that will really be how we put an end to this pandemic once and for all. I know its not the same. But for example, are flu shots different for adults than they are for children and if so how . No, theyre not different. But these are different vaccines. Right. And particularly this is the first time were administering mrna vaccines. And we dont have decades of precedents the way we do with flu vaccines to understand how these will behave in children we need to trial it, particularly for safety. Absolutely. Recently you tweeted quote during a clinic session nearly every patient had received at least one vaccine dose, the only exceptions were two patients with disabilities and no access to computers. We need the j j, thats the Johnson Johnson vaccine, in clinics for these people. These are our most vulnerable patients and we need to do better, unquote. J j likely to fall short of its goal. 20 million vaccine doses ready in march. How does that figure into the disparity . If you think about it, getting vaccinated in the United States has been a little bit of a real world hunger games with people on multiple browsers, getting up at the crack of dawn, looking for multiple sites to try and get in the queue. Our most vulnerable population, the oldest people in this country, people with learning disabilities and other disabilities dont have the ability to do that, economic disabilities. So we need to take vaccine to them. We need to first of all, we should be vaccinating every person hospitalized in the United States right now. You should not be discharged from the hospital without receiving a dose of a vaccine and last week was the first time i was actually able to do that. I vaccinated two patients in the hospital who had special needs. Likewise in clinic, sometimes the only access you have to a patient is when theyre in your office. We need to have availability of vaccine, particularly p one shot Johnson Johnson vaccine, which doesnt require patients to come back to get the most vulnerable patients and then we need to go in to our communities that have been the most vaccine hesitant. All right, communities of color. As weve spoken about it at great length, the conservative communities in this country and also young you know, young people. You know, we need to and we need to take vaccine to them. Thats what i want to see this administration doing, getting being very, very proactive, not just making more vaccine available to states. We have tons of vaccine available. For almost 40 million delivered, but not yet administered doses in the community, i want to see us really taking vaccines to churches and Community Centers and meeting people where they are, talking to them and getting them vaccinated. Because i think the biggest hurdle to herd immunity is not the amount of vaccine, or even the number of vaccinators, its going to be convincing people to take the shot. And thats what this Administration Needs to do. We need to get down to the grassroots and do that. Will the Biden Administration announcement of nearly 10 billion to expand vaccinations address these problems . Sara sidner, cnn correspondent, did a story for my show yesterday talking about an effort in one native american nation in oklahoma to go on the road and go meet the people where they are. Meet the members of i think it was the osage nation where they are. Does the Biden Administration need to be doing that more for inner city communities, for native american communities, for the trump supporting communities as you just referred to, where they are also vaccine hesitant, does there need to be more of an effort there to get church leaders, Community Leaders and others to get the shot and set a leadership role . Absolutely. I had these conversations with people every single day and the way it starts is by listening to people. Tell me why youre hesitant to take the shot. You know, if you poll hospitals around the United States, and ask hospitals, what percent of their staff have been vaccinated you might be shocked. In many places around the country, only between 5 and 65 of hospital staffs have been vaccinated. Not because the vaccine hasnt been available. But because theres still great amount of Vaccine Hesitancy and it all comes down to getting people who the employees and the Population Trust to talk to them about this. And we just havent seen enough of that in mass media now. We need to Massive Campaign to educate people about the safety and efficacy of these vaccines because theres a tremendous amount of disinformation circulating in these communities. Disinformation circulating, and certainly with some communities historical reasons to mistrust the u. S. Government coming to them and saying, hey, trust me. Doctor, thanks so much, appreciate it. We have a twominute warning now to the president speaking. Lets bring the panel back in to discuss while we wait for the president to come out. And david chalian, these moments are high stakes for every president , low reward, and high risk . Hopefully really instructive for the public because you get to see the president of the United States think on his feet in realtime in these unscripted moments and of course coming at a time when some unexpected challenges, guns, moments in the history that are not part of the preplanned strategy of the white house intercede, and how he responds to that. How he handles questions and the poking and prodding of his policies, his agenda, his priorities, all of that in realtime, we just havent had that opportunity with President Biden yet and now the publics going to be able to see him think through these major challenges in realtime. And abby, when he was the Vice President ial nominee in 2008 we had a running blog in which we covered his gaffes, well, never mind, here he is, lets listen to him, the 46th president of the United States. I want to give you a Progress Report to the nation on where we stand 65 days into office here. On vaccinations and a few other Top Priorities for the American People. First, on vaccinations. On december 8th i indicated that i hoped to get 100 million shots in peoples arms in my first 100 days. We met that goal last week by day 58. 42 days ahead of schedule. Now today im setting a second goal, and that is we will, by my 100th day in office, have administered 200 million shots in peoples arms. Thats right. 200 million shots, in 100 days. I know its ambitious. Twice our original goal. But no other country in the world has even come close, not even close to what we are doing. I believe we can do it. And today we made a historic investment in reaching the hardest hit and the most vulnerable communities, the highest Risk Communities as a consequence of the virus. By investing an additional 10 billion in being able to reach them. I also set a goal before i took office of getting a majority of schools in k through 8 fully open in the first 100 days. Now, thanks to the enormous amount of work done by our administration, educators, parents, local state education officials and leaders, recent department of Education Survey those that nearly half of the k through 8 schools are open now fulltime, five days a week for inperson learning. Not yet a majority. But were really close and i believe in the 35 days left to go well meet that goal as well. As of yesterday more than 100 million payments of 1,400 have gone into peoples bank accounts. Thats really money in peoples pockets bringing relief instantly, almost. And millions more will be getting their money very soon. One final note. Since we passed the American Rescue plan were starting to see new signs of hope in our economy. Since it was passed a majority of Economic Forecasters have significantly increased their projections on the Economic Growth thats going to take place this year. Theyre now projecting it will exceed 6 , a 6 growth in gdp and just this morning we learned that the number of people filing for weekly Unemployment Insurance fell by nearly 100,000 persons. Its the first time in a year the numbers have fallen below the prepandemic high. So there are still too Many Americans out of work, too many families hurting. And theres still a lot of work to do. But i can say to you the American People help is here and hope is on the way. Now ill be happy to take your questions. Zeke of the associated press. Thank you, mr. President. You mentioned your progress on covid19, id like to ask you about some of the other issues facing your presidency, one of the defining challenges you face in the comes months is how to deliver on your promises to americans on Voting Rights and climate change. All of those are facing stiff opposition from republicans on capitol hill. How far are you willing to go to achieve those promises that you made to the American People . Well, look, when i took office i decided that it was a fairly basic simple proposition. And that is i got elected to solve problems and the most urgent problem facing the American People i stated from the outset was covid19 and the economic dislocation for millions and millions of americans. And so thats why i put all my focus in the beginning. There are a lot of problems but all my focus on dealing with those particular problems. And the other problems were talking about from immigration to guns and the other things you mentioned are longterm problems. Theyve been around a long time. And what were going to be able to do, god willing, is now begin one at a time to focus on those as well. And whether its immigration or guns or a number of other problems that face the country. But the fundamental problem is getting people some peace of mind so they can go to bed at night and not stare at the ceiling wondering whether they lost their health insurance, whether theyre going to lose a family member, whether theyre going to be in a position where theyre going to lose their home because they cant pay their mortgage or the millions of people are going to get thrown out of their homes because of the inability to pay their rent. So were going to move on these, one at a time, try to do as many simultaneous as we can. But thats the reason why i focused as i have. And heres the deal. I think my republican colleagues are going to have to determine whether or not we want to Work Together or decide that the way in which they want to proceed is to is to just decide to divide the country, continue the politics of division but im not going to do that. Im just going to move forward and take these things as they come. To follow up, mr. President , can your presidency be a success if you cant make progress on those four challenges, climate change, immigration reform, gun control, Voting Rights . Well, i plan on making progress an all of them but thats going to be for the American People to decide. I doubt whether maybe you did, maybe others did, i thought many of you thought there was no possibility of my getting the plan i got passed, passed without any republican votes. Pretty big deal. Got passed. Growing the economy. Peoples lives are changing. So lets see what happens. All i know, ive been hired to solve problems, to solve problems, not create division. Okay, how about yamish. Thanks so much, mr. President. Youve said over and over again that immigrants shouldnt come to this country right now, this isnt the time to come. That message is not being received. The reason a lot of immigrants are coming to this country are trusting you with accompanied minors, how do you resolve this tension and how are you choosing this families can stay and which have to go given the fact that even with title 42 there are some families staying and is there a timeline when we wont be seeing these overcrowded facilities run by cpp when it comes to unaccompanied minors. I guess i should be flattered people are coming because im the nice guy. Thats the reason why its happening. That im a decent man, or however its phrased. Thats why theyre coming because they know bidens a good guy. Truth of the matter is. Nothing has changed. As many people came, 28 increase in the children in the border in my administration, 31 in the last year in 2019 before the pandemic in the Trump Administration. It happens every single solitary year. There is a significant increase in the number of people coming to the border in the winter months of january, february, march. It happens every year. In addition to that there is and nobody and by the way, does anybody suggest that there was a 31 increase under trump because he was a nice guy . And he was doing good things at the border . Thats not the reason theyre coming. The reason theyre coming is that its the time they can travel with the least likelihood of dying on the way because of the heat in the desert, number one. Number two, theyre coming because of the circumstances in country, in country. The way to deal with this problem, and i started to deal with it back i was a United States senator i mean, Vice President , putting together a bipartisan plan of over 700 million to do the root causes of why people are leaving. What did trump do . He eliminated that funding. He didnt use it. He didnt do it. And in addition to that, what he did, he dismantled all the elements that exist to deal with what had been a problem, and has been continuing to be a problem for a long time. He, in fact, shut down the number of beds available. He did not fund hhs to get people to get the children out of those Border Patrol facilities where they should not be and not supposed to be more than a few days, a little while but he dismantled all of that. So what were doing now is attempting to rebuild, rebuild the system that can accommodate what is happening today. And id like to think its because im a nice guy, but its not, its because of whats happened every year. Let me say one other thing on this. If you take a look at the number of people who are coming, the vast majority, the overwhelming majority of people coming to the border and crossing are being sent back, are being sent back. Thousands, tens of thousands of people who are over 18 years of age and single people, one at a time coming have been sent back, sent home. Were sending back the vast majority of the families that are coming, were trying to work out now with mexico, their willingness to take more of those families back. But thats whats happening. Theyre not getting across the border. And those coming across the border who are unaccompanied children were moving rapidly to try to put in place what was dismantled, as i said. For example, of all the children coming across the border, over 70 are either 16 or 17 years old. Were not talking about people ripping babies from mothers arms or little 3yearolds standing on the border, less than i think 1. 5 fall in the category of the very young. So what were doing is were providing for the space, again, to be able to get these kids out of the Border Patrol facilities which no child, no one should be in, any longer than 72 hours. And today i went to, for example, i used all the Resources Available to me, went to the defense department, and the secretary of defense has just made available fort bliss, 5,000 beds being made immediately available, 5,000 beds on the texas border. So were Building Back up the capacity that should have been maintained and built upon, that trump dismantled. Its going to take time. And the other thing were doing, i might add, am i giving you too long an answer, if you dont want the details i dont know how much detail you want about immigration. Maybe ill stop there. My followup question is, if you could talk about which families, the families being allowed to stay, why theyre being allowed to stay and in addition to that, when it comes to the filibuster, what zeke was asking about, immigration is a big issue when it relates to the filibuster but also republicans who are passing bill after bill trying to restrict Voting Rights, Chuck Schumer is calling it an existential threat to democracy, why not back a filibuster rule that gets around issues that include Voting Rights or immigration, jim clyburn, who you know very well, has backed the idea of a filibuster rule when it comes to civil rights and Voting Rights. Well, look, im going to deal with all those problems. The question is, the priorities as they come and land on my plate. Lets go to the first question you asked, the first of the second questions youve asked. And that is what about dealing with families . Why are some not going back . Because mexico is refusing to take them back. Theyre saying they wont take them back, not all of them. Were in negotiations with the president of mexico. I think were going to see that change. They should all be going back. All be going back. The only people were not going to let sitting there on the other side of the rio grande by themselves with no help are children. And what were doing there, and its important point to understand, i know you understand it, i dont mean to say it that way, an important point to focus on, the vast majority of people under the age of 18 coming to the United States come with a telephone number on them, on a wristband or come with a telephone number in their pocket in the United States, a mother, a father, a close relative, a grandmom or grandpa. Whats happening before is its taking weeks and weeks or months and months to pick up the phone and call to see if there really was someone there. Weve set up a system now where within 24 hours theres a phone call made as that person that child crosses the border. And then a verification system being put in place as of today to determine quickly whether or not that is a trafficker being called, or that is actually a mom, a dad and or a close relative. Theyre establishing that right off the bat. If, in fact, it is mom or dad, dad says to take the extreme case, ive got a birth certificate, then guess what . Were getting that kid directly to that parent immediately. And so thats going to reduce significantly, theres two ways to reduce the child populations in circumstances that are not acceptable, like being held at a Border Patrol station. One is to get them to the place where they have a relative and set a date as to when the hearing can be held. The second way to do it is put them in a health and Human Services facility that were occupying now, both licensed beds around the country, that exist. As well as, for example, federal resources like fort bliss. To get them safely in a place where they can be taken care of while their fate is determined. Are you going to answer the filibuster . Filibuster. You know, with regard to the filibuster, i believe we should go back to a position in the filibuster that existed just when i came to the United States senate 120 years ago. And that is that it used to be required for the filibuster, and i had a card on this, i was going to give you the statistics, but you probably know them, that it used to be that the that between 1917 and 1971 the filibuster existed, there were a total of 58 motions to break a filibuster. That whole time. Last year alone there were five times that many. So its being abused in gigantic way. And for example, it used to be you had to stand there and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk until you collapsed. And guess what . People got tired of talking and tired of collapsing. Filibusters broke down and were able to break the filibuster and get a quorum and vote. So i strongly support moving in that direction. In addition to having an open mind about dealing with certain things that are just elemental to the functioning of our democracy, like the right to vote. Like the basic right to vote. We have amended the filibuster in the past. But heres the deal. As you observed, im a fairly practical guy. I want to get things done. I want to get them done consistent with what we promised the American People. And in order to do that in a 50 50 senate weve got to get to the place where i get 50 votes so that the Vice President of the United States can break the tie or i get 51 votes without her. And so im going to Say Something outrageous. I have never been particularly poor at calculating how to get things done in the United States senate. So the best way to get something done, if you hold near and dear to you that you like to be able to anyway. Were going to get a lot done. If we have to, if theres complete lockdown and chaos as a consequence of the filibuster, then well have to go beyond what im talking about. Thank you. Okay, hang on. Sorry. Oh, ms. Kim. Thank you, mr. President. To follow up on the filibuster, do you believe it should take 60 votes to end a filibuster on legislation, or 51 . If we could end it with 51 we would have no problem. Youre going to have the existing rule its going to be hard to get a parliamentary ruling that allows 50 votes to end the filibuster, the existence of a filibuster. But its not my expertise in what the parliamentary rules in how to get there are. But our preoccupation with the filibuster is totally legitimate. But in the meantime weve got a lot we can do while were talking about what were going to do about the filibuster. Let me get here. Okay, cecilia vega. Id like to circle back to immigration, please. You just listed the reasons that people are coming talking about in country problems, saying that it happens every year. You blamed the last administration. Sir, i just got back last night from a reporting trip to the border where i met 9yearold who walked here from honduras by himself with another little boy. He had that phone number on him and we were able to call his family. His mother said she sent her son to this country because she believes that you are not deporting unaccompanied minors like her son. Thats why she sent him alone from honduras. You blamed the last administration but is your messaging in saying these children will be allowed to stay in the country will be allowed to work their way through the process, encouraging these families to come . Well, look, the idea that im going to say, which i would never do, if an unaccompanied child ends up at the border were going to let them starve to death and stay on the other side, no Previous Administration did that either, except trump. Im not going to do it. Im not going to do it. Thats why ive asked the Vice President of the United States yesterday to be the lead person on dealing with focusing on the fundamental reasons why people leave honduras, guatemala, el salvador in the first place. Its because of earthquakes, floods, its because of lack of food, its because of gang violence, its because of a whole range of things that when i was Vice President had the same obligation to deal with unaccompanied children. I was able to get it slowed up significantly by working with the heads of state of those communities. To do things like, in one of the major cities, the reason people are leaving is because they couldnt walk the street because their kids were getting beat up or shot or in gang violence. Well, what i was able to do is not give money to the head of state because so many are corrupt, but i was able to say, okay, you need lighting in the streets to change things . Ill put the lighting in. We got a contractor. We got the type of lighting. We paid directly the contractor, did not go through the government. And Violent Crimes significantly was reduced in that city, fewer people sought to leave. When this hurricane occurred, two hurricanes, instead of us going down and helping in a major way, so that people would not have a reason to want to leave in the first place because they didnt have housing or water, or sustenance, we did nothing. Were going to do a lot in our administration. Were going to be spending that 700 million plus a year to change the life and circumstances of why people leave in the first place. That mother did not sit around with on the Kitchen Table and say, you know, ive got a great idea. Great idea. Im going to put how old was he or she . Hes nine. I also met a 10yearold. A 9yearold, im going to send him on a thousandmile journey across the desert and up to the United States because i know joe bidens a nice guy. And hell take care of him. What a desperate act to have to take. The circumstances must be horrible. So, we can do something about that. Thats what the Vice President s going to be doing. What i did when president obama asked me to come and deal, i was in i was in turkey at the time. He said, you got to come home and take care of this. So we put together a plan and it had an impact. And so the question here is, whether how we go ahead and do this. What we do. Theres no easy answer. Quick followup, if i may. Do you want to see these unaccompanied minors staying in this country, or should they be deported eventually . Well, the judgment has to be made whether or not and this young mans case, he has a mom at home. Theres an overwhelming reason why hed be put on a plane and flown back to his mom. Final follow, sir. You mentioned circumstances that must be horrific. The customs and Border Protection facility in donna, texas, i was there, is at 1,556 capacity right now with mostly unaccompanied minors. There are kids that are sleeping on floors. They are packed into these pods. Ive spoken to lawyers who say that some of these children have not seen the sun in days. Whats your reaction what is your reaction to these images that have come out from that particular facility . Is whats happening inside acceptable to you, and when is this going to be fixed . Thats a serious question, right . Is it acceptable to me . Come on. Thats why were going to be moving a thousand of those kids out quickly. Thats why i got fort bliss opened up. Thats why ive been working from the moment this started happening to try to find additional access for children to be able to safely, not just children, but particularly children to be able to safely be housed while we follow through on the rest of whats happening. That is totally unacceptable. Ken. Thank you, mr. President. I wanted to ask you about afghanistan. You face a may 1st deadline for the withdrawal of u. S. Troops from that country. As a candidate in foreign affairs, you wrote that it is past time to end these forever wars. Can you commit to the American People that by may 2nd, the u. S. Will no longer have forces in afghanistan . The answer is that its going to be hard to meet the may 1 deadline. Just in terms of tactical reasons, hard to get those troops out. So, what weve been doing, what i have been doing and what secretary blinken has been doing has been weve been meeting with our allies, those other nations that have nato allies that have troops in afghanistan as well, and if we leave, were going to do so in a safe and orderly way. Were in consultation, i said, with our allies and partners, and how to proceed. And secretary blinken is meeting in brussels this week with our nato allies, particularly those who have forces there. And general austin is just met with kayyani and im waiting for the briefing on that. Hes the leader, quote, in afghanistan and kabul and theres a u. N. Led process thats beginning shortly on how to mechanically get people how to end this war. But it is not my intention to stay there for a long time, but the question is, how and in what circumstances do we meet that agreement that was made by President Trump to leave under a deal that looks like its not being able to be worked out to begin with, hows that done. But were not staying a long time. You just said do you think its possible that we we will leave. The question is when we leave. Sorry, do you believe, though, its possible we could have troops there next year . I cant picture that being the case. Okay. Kristen. Thank you very much, mr. President. Given the conditions that were just laid out at the migrant facilities at the u. S. Border, will you commit to allowing journalists to have access to the facilities that are overcrowded moving forward . I will commit when my plan very shortly is under way to let you have access to not just them but the other facilities as well. How soon will journalists be able to have access to the facilities . Weve obviously been allowed to be inside one, but we havent seen the facilities in which children are packed together to really give the American People a chance to see that. Will you commit to transparency on this issue . I will commit to transparency, and as soon as im in a position to be able to implement what were doing right now. One of the reasons i havent gone down, my chief folks have gone down, is i dont want to become the issue. I dont want to be, you know, bringing all the secret service and everybody with me to get in the way. So, this is being set up and youll have full access to everything once we get this thing moving. Okay, just to be clear, how soon will that be, mr. President . I dont know. To be clear. Do you bear a responsibility for everything thats happening at the border now . I hear you talking a lot about the past administration. You decided to roll back some of those policies. Did you move too quickly . To roll back what, im sorry . Policies. Did you move too quickly to roll back some of the executive orders of your predecessor . First of all, all the policies are under way were not helping at all, did not slow up the amount of immigration, and as many people coming. And rolling back the policies of separating children from their mothers, i make no apology for that. Rolling back the policies of remain in mexico, sitting on the edge of the rio grande in the muddy circumstance with not enough to eat, i make no apologies for that. I make no apologies for ending programs that did not exist before trump became president that have an incredibly negative impact on the law, international law, as well as on human dignity. And so, i make no apologies for that. I must ask you about Foreign Policy, mr. President. Overnight, we learned that north korea tested two ballistic missiles. What if what, if any, actions will you take and what is your red line on north korea . Let me say that number one, u. N. Resolution 1718 was violated by those particular missiles that were tested. Number one. Were consulting with our allies and partners and there will be responses if they choose to escalate. We will respond accordingly. But im also prepared for some form of diplomacy, but it has to be conditioned upon the end result of denuclearization. So, thats what were doing right now, consulting with our allies. Just very quick followup. Youve only got another hour now, okay . Diplomacy. Can you define what you mean and former president obama warned the incoming President Trump that north korea was the top Foreign Policy issue that he was watching. Is that how you assess the crisis in north korea . Yes. Okay. Hang on a second here. Kristen. Nancy. Cbs . Thank you very much, mr. President. I want to go back to Voting Rights, and as was mentioned, republican legislatures across the country are working to pass bills that would restrict voting, particularly democrats fear impacting minority voters and young voters, the very people who helped to get you elected in november. Are you worried that if you dont manage to pass Voting Rights legislation that your party is going to lose seats and possibly lose control of the house and the senate in 2022 . What im worried about is how unamerican this whole initiative is. Its sick. Its sick. Deciding in some states that you can not bring water to people standing in line waiting to vote . Deciding that youre going to end voting at 5 00 when working people are just getting off work . Deciding that there will be no absentee ballots under the most rigid circumstances . Its all designed, and im going to spend my time doing three things. One, trying to figure out how to pass the legislation pass bed b the house, number one. Number two, educating the american public. The Republican Voters i know find this despicable. Republican voters. The folks out in the outside this white house. Im not talking about the elected officials. Im talking about voters. Voters