0 and once it does start we will take you to the briefing there. also right now, the senate on the cusp of a blockbuster bipartisan break through. it s a big step for president joe biden and something he promised and a lot of folks doubted would actually happen. a major infrastructure bill. in seconds the senate will be holding a final vote to pass, and a live look on the senate floor right now. this is senator tom carper of delaware speaking. we expect senator chuck schumer to address the bill in just a moment. breaking news from the upper chamber. we will go there as well. also, the pandemic intensifying in new dangerous ways. we just crossed 36 million covid cases in our country since all of this started by nbc s tally, and it only took eight days to add 1 million new cases. coming up we will talk to health and human services secretary becerra is tackling the new challenges. but we are going to start with the infrastructure vote in the senate, and monica alba is in wilmington, del
while we re paying attention to the tweets and what he says, there s so many things. the biggest untold story about the trump administration is how they are changing rules and regulations at departments and agencies. so, firearm restrictions, you know, environmental protection, all these things that are getting looser and different, that people aren t really paying attention because it s the work done in the agencies. if you remember, hallie, who was the most controversial nominee in the confirmation process? who had to have mike pence come and cast the tiebreaking vote? it was betsy devos because of her attitudes on charter schools. heidi, thank you for coming on. anita and aaron, thank you. we want to talk about an nbc exclusive. the new story from nbcnews.com about allegations involving jim jordan of ohio. three former wrestlers at ohio state university are accusing him of turning a blind eye to sexual abuse when he was a coach
tiebreaking vote. there is the delicate issue of the health of senators john mccain and thad cochran. they re wild cards, x-factors and then the question of how you come up with the money for the extent of the changes senators lee and rubio want. that s $80 billion, not easy to find. they $80 billion change and the whole thing scored to add trillion and a half dollars to the deficit anyway. are they constrained fiscally they can t add more to the debt without changing something else fundamental about the bill or couldn t they just put that on the tab? no. you are right. they re constraint is 1.5 trillion and held themselves to that and now stuck with that number so they have to take something away from somebody else and you can imagine it ruffles feathers and don t know where they ll get the money to appease people. we ve been watching protesters and constituents making heartfelt, very compelling to my mind at least
and started greeting him individually including a whole slew of democrats nearly all of them coming over from their side of the senate to greet him. there s no doubt also that mccain s return had a psychological impact on the vote you were talking about. obviously, arranging with mitch mcconnell to come back here for this key vote certainly will helped the effort to get the final last folks who may have hurdled to jump over to get to 50 votes and allow mike pence to cast the tiebreaking vote. on the matter of health care, this is now just the beginning. they get on it a bill and start debating and we re already seeing that the ideological divide inside the republican conference that has proven so impossible for them to overcome in terms of coming up with a replacement plan still remains. that divide remains, that gap is unfilled. and they still don t have a consensus plan on what to do once they repeal obamacare.
captured but you called him brave when you got the vote you needed to move at bill forward. senator john mccain walking out onto the senate floor against doctor s orders just 11 days after brain surgery casting his crucial vote on health care and bringing a message for his colleagues in washington. i hope we can again rely on humility on our need to cooperate, on our dependence on each other to, learn how to trust each other again and by so doing better serve the people who elected us. that s a true american hero. captured or not. a real american hero. now i want to bring in political director david chalian and legal analyst laura coats. david, you first. another extraordinary day in politics. who is more allies right now, president trump or attorney general jeff sessions? if you look at the statements of support that sessions has been receiving from former colleagues in the senate, none