schumer on a major reconciliation bill that would lower prescription drug costs and invest hundreds of billions of dollars to combat climate change and clean energy programs. sinema s support is crucial to get the bill through a 50/50 senate and to the democratic house for a vote. vladimir putin s top spokesman was annoyed the u.s. had gone public about ongoing talks for a prisoner swap to free brittney griner and paul whelan. tony blinken is expected to call sergei lavrov for the first time since the ukraine invasion after shunning him since the invasion in february to talk about a possible swap. president biden spoke with china s president xi this morning as tensions have risen over potential congressional trip to taiwan led by nancy pelosi and the passage of a senate bill increasing competition with china in the semiconductor market. we begin with the president and the economy. joining me now, nbc white house correspondent carol lee, nbc capitol hill correspondent ali vi
any tax suspension would require of course action by congress. but the president will give a speech today throwing the administration support behind a three month gas tax holiday which would breathe new life into an issue that has so far been stalled on capitol hill. kevin liptak is live for us with this news. what is the administration saying about this? reporter: officials are certainly very bullish on this move. and it is something that the white house had been considering for months. they held off until now, but clearly president biden wants to show that he is taking some initiative on this issue and so in a speech later today the president will call on congress to pass a three month suspension of the gas and diesel tax. he wants to go until the end of september. he will also call on states to temporarily suspend their own gas taxes and he will renew these calls for oil and gas companies to up their refining capacity. and so administration officials claim that taken tog
an odd position for them to be in. it suggests they are letting hurt feelings over a process of a separate piece of legislation determine how they vote open policy in a different piece of legislation. the first time in recent memory that i can recall that mitch mcconnell seems to have been outmaneuvered. they let the chips bill pass and then announced the deal. it does strike me as untenable to whip against a bill you have come out in support. keep in mind, there s another piece of legislation in limbo which is legislation to address veterans who have been harmed by burn pits, which is near and dear to the president s heart. it came it a vote yet in the senate. it didn t pass. the question then becomes, will republicans hold up these two pieces of legislation because they feel burned by the fact that manchin came to some climate agreement with chuck schumer and the white house? god forbid there be a climate agreement.
schumer on a major reconciliation bill that would lower prescription drug costs and invest hundreds of billions of dollars to combat climate change and clean energy programs. sinema s support is crucial to get the bill through a 50/50 senate and to the democratic house for a vote. vladimir putin s top spokesman was annoyed the u.s. had gone public about ongoing talks for a prisoner swap to free brittney griner and paul whelan. tony blinken is expected to call sergei lavrov for the first time since the ukraine invasion after shunning him since the invasion in february to talk about a possible swap. president biden spoke with china s president xi this morning as tensions have risen over potential congressional trip to taiwan led by nancy pelosi and the passage of a senate bill increasing competition with china in the semiconductor market. we begin with the president and the economy. joining me now, nbc white house correspondent carol lee, nbc
you know, it s politics and unfortunate. you shouldn t play politics with our country s national security. frankly, they are playing into china s hand. this is exactly what china would want. it s frustrating. republicans with whom i spoke yesterday, they were solid yes votes. they are getting afraid. they may be a no vote today. having said that, the vote will be today. it will be a very strong vote. it will be a bipartisan vote. i think everyone realizes that we need to do it. we need to do it to strength our economy. we need to do it to compete and outcompete with china. we talk about inflation. the best way to make sure we don t have long-term inflation is to increase supply. increasing supply of chips will in the long run bring down prices. i hope i m wrong. i hope i m surprised. i hope more republicans do the right thing for their country and vote yes. but i also feel confident that we have the votes and we re