everything we had in this bill. and i believe, and i think most people do as well, this historic legislation is about rebuilding the backbone of this country and giving working people in this nation, middle class folks a fighting chance. that s what the essence of it is. now, this signing today comes exactly one year after the world health organization declared the covid-19 outbreak a pandemic that has since claimed nearly 530,000 american lives. it has crippled the economy and really changed life as we all know it. tonight, the president will assess where the country has been and chart our path forward in his very first prime time address. and our cnn senior white house correspondent phil mattingly is with me with more on that in just a second. but we know the president was initially planning on signing this thing into law tomorrow. why the change? they got the bill. [ laughter ] simple as that. without wandering down the rabbit hole of enrollment and engrossment pro