reduction act, would be the largest investment in energy and climate programs in u.s. history. for the first time it would give medicare the power to negotiate prescription drug prices, cap medicare out-of-pocket costs at $2,000, and extend expiring health care subsidies for three years. but before any of that happens, it must get approval from the senate parliamentarian to proceed with a filibuster-proof reconciliation process, allowing democrats to pass the bill with just 50 votes. cnn s jessica dean is on capitol hill for us. jessica, where does the bill stand right now? reporter: well, now we are sitting around and waiting for it to make its way through this very complex budget procedure that you just kind of outlined there, frederica. but what we are anticipating is that the senate will gavel in in about an hour around noon. from there, they re going to they have to kind of get through all of these procedures. so what we ve learned in the last couple of hours, the
frankly the headline number, matt, is a big one here. also it shows healthy growth in several sectors of the economy. yeah, jim. this is blockbuster growth. and it is pretty remarkable. this number is going to go a long way towards shutting down this idea that the u.s. economy is already in recession. to be adding more than half a million jobs, in a month, at this stage of the recovery, is pretty impressive. let me give you some context around this 528,000 job figure. this is twice as much as the consensus from economists. not only that, but it is 200,000 more than even the most optimistic forecaster had pencilled in. two big milestones that came out of this report, the labor market has now fully recovered all of the jobs lost during covid. total nonfarm payroll is back to february 2020 levels. the unemployment rate is now down to 3.5%. that matches the half century low set before covid. again, none of this suggests an imminent or ongoing recession. but here is the problem,
welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. surprisingly strong new jobs numbers are capping off what has been a big week for the biden administration. let s go straight to jeremy diamond. amid fears of a recession, the president has some momentum when it comes to the u.s. economy. at least in the short term. give us the latest. no doubt about it, this jobs report which the president called outstanding is more evidence that the u.s. is not in a recession. we saw the unemployment rate tick down to 3.5%. more than half a million jobs created last month. all of that painting a picture of a very strong and resilient jobs market. now of course, this strong jobs market doesn t do anything to address americans chief concern. and that is inflation. and the president and the white house very much aware of that. we heard the president talking about americans who may still feel they re struggling december fate st
up early on way too early. morning joe starts right now. relief. excitement. joy. i m very proud of our fellow kansans. we were telling people in neighboring states that their rights were no longer intact. they had to flee their states to get care. the cards were set against us from the start. as a husband i do not look forward to trusting the legislature to protect the rights of my wife. we re avoiding a huge horror that would have come to kansas. one of the things i heard, you may be against abortion for yourself, but you can t be against it and make it for someone else. this is my life on the line, too, is this my right. tonight, we get to say to kansans, you can still get care here, you re still recognized and make your own medical decisions. reaction from kansas last night, as voters turned out in high numbers to protect abortion rights in that conservative state. it was the country s first best of the issue since the supreme court overturned roe v.
8.6%. americans, you, we, are feeling this nearly everywhere, nearly everything is more expensive, including the cost of gas which remains at historic highs. the biden administration taking new steps to lower those gas prices. this morning presidentiesident calling on energy companies to do more. also this morning, the january 6th committee is teasing ahead to its next hearing, tomorrow, they released a portion of a taped deposition with a former white house lawyer. now the committee is saying that thursday s hearing will focus on president trump s effort to pressure then vice president mike pence to block the certification of the election. we will have much more on that, in just a moment. let s begin this morning with cnn white house correspondent arlette saenz. arlette, president biden is making strong demands from oil companies, this morning, as he tries to do something about the soaring gas prices. reporter: yeah, president biden is trying to ramp up the pressure on