See another penny. Jen psaki and democrats chris coons and bass join me to discuss ahead. Plus, the party of trump. The former president returns to the political arena hellbent on revenge. How far will he go to keep his maga grip on the gop . I will speak to republican center, bill cassidy, in moments. Hello. I am dana bash in washington where the state of our union is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Today theres new hope normalcy will be within reach. Late saturday the food and Drug Administration issued Emergency Use to Johnson Johnson for its single dose vaccine, giving the u. S. Three effective vaccines to fight covid19. The company says it could ship out nearly 4 million doses as early as next week and promised 100 million by the end of june. Today advisers to the cdc will meet to give their go ahead and discuss priority groups. This as the Biden Administration pushes the Covid Relief Plan in the senate this week after passing the bill with zero republican votes in the house, and suffering a blow from the Senate Parliamentarian on minimum wage, a key democratic priority that will now almost certainly be left out of the final package. This morning the country is bracing for the full return of the big lie. Former President Trump will make his first speech since leaving the white house as this nation and a new administration continues to try and move forward from what he left behind. Capital insurrection and a pandemic that has now sprinted past half a million dead americans. I want to begin with the breaking news on the vaccine and go to our expert and President Bidens chief medical adviser on covid19, dr. Anthony fauci. Thank you for joining me this morning. Lets talk about Johnson Johnson, the third vaccine and a single dose on this one, and how much impact will this half . A significant amount. Thats very good news. Now we have three important tools in our capabilities against the virus. Its a very epicatious virus. No hospitalizations or deaths and advanced disease, thats really important. We have three big important tools now and we are hopefully going to utilize them. According to Johnson Johnson, their vaccine was 72 effective in preventing moderate to severe cases in u. S. Cases, and lower than the 95 Efficacy Rate for pfizer and moderna, and what is your message to somebody that sees that and says, you know, i will wait and get moderna and pfizer and not get Johnson Johnson . You could understand that type of concern, but in order to compare vaccines, you have to compare them head to head. These were not compared head to head. The message that needs to prevail, dana, is these are three highly ef efficacy vaccines. If i were not vaccinated now and i had a choice of getting a j j vaccine now, i would take whatever vaccine is available to me because for what i said a moment ago, we want to get as many people vaccinated as quickly and expeditiously as possible. This is good news because we have a very good vaccine in the mix. Researchers in new york this week identified a new covid variant that has a mutation that could weaken the effectiveness of all the vaccines, so how dangerous is this . We take them very seriously. The thing that we do know from in vitro, test tube studies, as well as indirectly from the vaccine, and the j j study, and like places from south africa, where theres a different type of variant, when you have a variant that diminishes the capability of the vaccine, you cannot necessarily get the best possible response, but its still within the cushion of effectiveness, that tells us dont despair about the fact that there are variants. There are there and we need to take them seriously. But again, two ways and two tools you have to address them. A, continue with the types of mitigations, the Public Health measures that we do, that we talk about all the time, dana, and i dont even need to repeat them now, you know what they are, and also to vaccinate as many people as you can. Even when you have variants, the vaccines will be important in preventing the spread. You get variants when the virus has sort of like a complete field of going wherever it wants to go because the people are vulnerable. If you prevent that by Public Health measures an d vaccinations. Things are tenuous. I know people are tired and they want to get back to life, to normal, but were not there yet. As you know, dr. Fauci, many governors across the country are beginning to ease some of the restrictions you were just talking about, and new york is opening Movie Theaters and massachusetts and North Carolina are relaxing restreictions on indoor dining. Is that premature . Amen to what dr. Lewinsky said. If you look at the curve, its coming down sharply but the last several days it has plateaued around 70,000 per day. If you go back and look at the various surges, whenever we hit a peak and start coming down, understandably, totally understandably, you say lets pull back. You want to get the level of baseline infections per day very low because if you look at that little plateau, particularly in the arena of having variants such as we have in california and such as we have in new york, its really risky to say its over, were on the way out and lell back. What we can see is that we turn up. Its not hypothetical, dane looe late and early spring of 2020 and summer of 2020 when we started to pull back prematurely, we saw the rebound. So are the easing of those restrictions premature . I dont think i think, you know, obviously each individual state and city needs to look at the situation in their own location where they are, but in general, to think just because the cases are coming down on a daily basis, take a look at the pattern and just watch over the next several days to a week. If we do this and start coming up, then we are going to go right back to the road of rebounding. Thats the reason why i agree completely with what dr. Lewinsky has said. Lets talk about people vaccinated. Again, 23 million americans are fully vaccinated, but theres still so much uncertainty as you know about what they can and cant do. You told me last week you dont want to get out of the guidance, more information is coming but people are anxious and confused so when are the guidelines for how people who are vaccinated can act in their life going to come out . We have been in intensive discussions, you know, as recently as yesterday evening about this. The cdc will be coming out within the next few weeks, and maybe even sooner with some guidelines about what people who are vaccinated and i know you are referring, dana to, people doubly vaccinated 14 days out, and they are protected and they have the 94 to 95 protection. What can they do . I am very certain, and we discussed this you are right, i dont want to get ahead of the guidelines because the cdc wants to do things that are science based. If you cant get the science you have to maybe use phaoeulgtsing a modeling, and in addition you use good judgment. One of the things i think will become clear f. You have individuals, adults who are vaccinated, two people that are doubly vaccinated and protected, you can do things we were not talking about before, dinner in a home without a mask on, and you can friends who are doubly vaccinated together with you. You can start doing things essentially in the home n, in a setting where you are not out in the community where there are 70,000 new infections a day, and you can start doing things you were not able to do before. Thats good to know. Quick, i want to ask you about the school situation. I spoke to a superintendent of Fairfax County public schools, and we will show more of that later in the show, and i want you to hear what he told me about reopening his schools. Its not realistic if we are going to stay with sixfoot Social Distancing. What would you need in terms of guidance for shorter Social Distancing to get everybody Back To School. Certainly at three feet we could make that in our Elementary Schools and probably middle schools. The cdc recommends keeping six feet of distance to the greatest extent possible. Can you clarify if a School District like that says to bring everybody back they would have to shrink it to three feet of Social Distancing with other Mitigation Efforts as well. Would that be safe . You know, i am not going to make a judgment about that because i dont know that specific situation, dana. I can tell you the cdc continually looks at things and reevaluates, and one of the things i think is important is we have to get resources to the schools to perhaps have the capability of having more spacing, to have better ventilation, to make sure they have the masks and all the other ppe that would make it less likely that children would get infected or that the teachers and other dr. Fauci, we are out of time. Do you think it could be less than six feet, the Social Distancing in schools . You know, dana, i dont want to jump ahead of that because i need to see the specific situation, and i dont want to go back and forth with the cdc. Lets take a look. The cdc continually reevaluates things according to the data. Thank you for this and everything else. Appreciate it. I want to go now to the White House Press secretary, jen psaki. Thank you for joining me this morning. It was called a mandate from the American People, and he got zero republican votes in the house. Looks like he may get zero in the senate. Can you point to one concession that President Biden is making to the package to try and win republican support . Well, first i can say, dana, i think there have been more republicans in the house and Senate Sitting in the oval office in the last month having a discussion and debate at times with the president about what they want to see in this package and what we can work on than perhaps over the last four years. The president has been open to hearing good ideas from democrats and republicans on how to make it better but at this point in time what the proposal is going to address is how we are going to help people bridge through this period of time and get them direct checks and get more vaccines in the arms of americans. We have not seen a substantive big proposal in response back from the republicans and this is the scope of the problem and the kind of package we need to address that. Hes definitely had discussions with republicans but and hes heard their concerns, so is he open to actually acting on that and changing his proposal changing the legislation to address those concerns . Hes been open from the beginning. There has been more targeting of the direct checks. He has not been willing to negotiate on the size of the checks, but there has been a targeting to ensure that it hits the americans that need that help the most. Thats an idea that has come up in meetings with democrats and republicans, and hes certainly open to hearing from their ideas. What he will not do is make this a washington political partisan issue and prevent the American People from getting the relief 70 of the public wants this bill to pass. Its going through the senate process. As you know its democracy in action. We know the bill will look different on the way out as it did when he presented it in his primetime address. Theres an urgency here, as you know, because by the middle of march 11 million americans will loosen Employment Insu lose unEmployment Insurance. We know the 15 minimum wage increase will not be in there, according to the Senate Parliamentarian. Uhhuh. It should not fit into this package. Because of that can you promise americans that President Biden will raise the minimum wage to 15 an hour by the end of his first term . Well, he cant do it on his own but he is absolutely committed to raising the minimum wage to 15 an hour. He thinks its long overdue. He believes Men And Women Working Hard and trying to make ends meet should not be living at the Poverty Level and we will spend the next few days and weeks looking for a path forward and working with democrats and republicans to do that. Lets to the u. S. Intelligence report declassified on friday said that the crowned prince was responsible for approving the operation that killed the journalist, khashoggi. I want you to listen to what candidate joe biden said on the debate stage about this. President trump has not punished senior saudi leaders. Would you . Yes. I would make it clear we are not in fact going to sell more weapons to them and we were, in fact, going to make them pay the price and make them the poriah they are. They have to be held accountable. Candidate biden, you heard there, said he would hold saudi arabia accountable, and he has had no sanctions directly on the crowned prince himself. Why not . From the first day of the administration we have been Crystal Clear at every level from the president on down and we will recalibrate the relationship and turn the page from the last four years and that means ending support for the war in yemen, and making sure we are holding to account the actions and Human Rights Abuses by this government by word and action. The release of the report which was held back over the last four years was clear and making it clear to the public, and we will sanction the deputy head of intelligence and the forces in saudi arabia, and to make sure we will never let this happen again. Thats a message we have clearly sent over the last few days. Youre talking about the people under the crown prince, and they are being punished. Isnt punishing them like punishing the hitman and not the mob boss that actually put out the hit . First, dana, historically, and even in recent history democratic and republican administrations, there have not been sanctions put on the leaders of foreign governments where we have diplomatic relations and even where we dont have diplomatic relations and we believe theres more effective ways to make sure this doesnt happen again and to be able to leave room and work with the saudis in areas where theres mutual agreement and National Interests for the United States. Thats what diplomacy looks like and thats what a complicated Engagement Global jen. Jen. Yeah, i hear you. You say hold them accountable and it just doesnt look like that when it comes to the notion of justice. The question is, do you feel like justice has really been done when it comes specifically to the crowned prince and his role and the brutal murder of a journalist because the journalist was working on stories that were challenging him . This is a horrific crime. The president has said that himself. I will reiterate that here today. One of the reasons the State Department Put in place what we are calling the khashoggi rule, because we believe anybody that threat threatens dissidence should be held to account, and thats a global issue and one we took action on on friday. At the same time it needs to be clear our relationship is saudi arabia is one that is in the interests of the United States, and we are going to hold them accountable for Human Rights Abuses and we will take actions, including actions announced by the state department and Treasury Department on friday. I hear a lot of things that sound like the Biden Administration is showing the saudis in general some, you know, outrage and some consequences, but not specifically for the crowned prince, and, you know, there are a lot of questions we continue to ask about that including President Biden promising america is back and the question of whether or not the world will see that america is back if somebody who directs the brutal murder of a journalist is not specifically held accountable. But we have a lot of things to get to, jen, and one of the things is the New York Times is reporting last night that a second allegation of Sexual Harassment against new york governor chris cuomo, this is a report from a former aide, charlo Charlotte Bennett that he asked her about her sex life, including if she had sex with older men and other questions as well, and does President Biden believe Governor Cuomo or Charlotte Bennett . Well, first President Biden has been consistent that he believes that every woman should be heard and treated with respect and dignity. Charlotte should be treated with respect and dignity, and so should lindsay, and thats something he supports and we believe it should move forward governor andrew cuomo, i should say, obviously. Governor biden told reporters in 2018. For a woman to come forward in the glaring lights of focus nationally, you have to start off with the presumption that at least the essence of what shes talking about is real. Does President Biden still believe what candidate biden said, that the essence of the allegations are real . Of course, dana. He believes thats why i said he believes every woman that comes forward should be treated with dignity and respect. They should be able to tell their story. There should be an independent review of the allegations. They are serious. It was hard to read that story as a woman. That process should move forward as quickly as possible and thats something we all support and the president supports. Jen psaki, White House Press secretary, thank you so much for your time this morning. Thank you, dana. Pleasure to be here. President trump set to headline the big weekend for conservatives, as many gop faithful and some leaders make clear they just cant quit him. Senator cassidy is up next to talk about the future of his party. We go to one of the Largest School distributes in the country talking about some students returning after more than a year. Germ proof your car with armor all disinfectant. Kills 99. 9 of bacteria and viruses. Woo you are busy. Working, parenting, problem solving. At new Chapter Vitamins weve been busy too. Innovating, sourcing organic ingredients, testing them and fermenting. Fermenting . Yeah like kombucha or yogurt. And we formulate everything so your body can really truly absorb the natural goodness. Thats what we do, so you can do you. 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I am dana bash. In a few hours President Trump will take the stage at the political conservative Action Conference in orlando that so far featured a golden icon of the former president and masks prot prot protecting chins, as the speaker tries to continue the big lie. Senator and dr. Bill cassidy, senator of louisiana. President trump is speaking about the future of your party, and i am sure you have heard congresswoman liz cheney say President Trump should not have a role in the Republican Party moving forward. What do you think . You had a lot in that question. Let me put it this way. Weve got to win in two years, weve got to win in four years. If we do that, well do that by speaking to those issues important to the American People, and theres a lot of issues important to them right now, not by putting one person on a pedestal and making that one person our focal point. If we speak to those issues, to those families, to those individuals, we win. Thats where our focus should be. It doesnt sound like the former president s influence is diminishing. You talked about putting him on a pedestal. He was literally, his face was enbronzed at this cpac event. Top republicans are flying down to maralago to meet with him. My understanding is that the essence of his speech is that hes not going anywhere. So can the gop move forward in the direction that youre talking about with trump still very much in the spotlight . First, cpac is not the entirety of the Republican Party. Thats number one. Number two, political organizations and campaigns are about winning. Over the last four years, we lost the house of representatives, the senate and the presidency. That has not happened in a single four years under a president since herbert hoover. If we plan to win in 2022 and 2024, we have to listen to the voters. Not just those who really like President Trump, but also those who perhaps are less sure. If we do, if we speak to the voters who are less sure who went from President Trump to President Biden, we win. If we dont, we lose. That is a reality that we have to confront. Can you just clarify that . Are you saying that the party should try to sideline or ignore the former president in order to achieve what you just described . Is he at fault for losing obviously hes at fault for losing the white house, but congress too . If youre going to win in 2022 and 2024, youve got to speak to voters who didnt vote for us last time. Now, our policies are great. Before the covid crisis hit, we had Record Employment for every group. Hispanics, africanamericans, women, the disabled, high school dropouts, veterans, you name it. We had economic policies that were working. So if thats the case, and we can speak to those policies and those families, then well win. But if we idolize one person, we will lose. And thats kind of clear from the last election. I want to get to covid relief. One more question on this. Your leader, senator mitch mcconnell, said this week that he would support former President Trump if he wins the nomination in 2024. You are one of those who voted to convict him. But looking ahead, do you think donald trump is fit to be president again . I dont think, one, hell be 78 years old, but i dont think hell be our nominee for the reasons ive said. Over the last four years, weve lost the house, the senate and the presidency. Political campaigns are about winning. Our agenda does not move forward unless we win. We need a candidate that cannot only win himself or herself, but we have to have someone who lifts all boats. And thats clearly not happened over the last four years so thats a theoretical that i dont think will come to pass. Is he fit to be president . Im sorry . Is he fit to be president again . Youre asking me a question for four years from now, which, again, i dont mean to duck, but you could ask a lot of people if theyre fit. The point is i dont think hell be our nominee for the reasons i described. Lets turn to coronavirus relief. The house just passed a 1. 9 trillion package. I know you think it is too much money. There is a lot in here that you do support, direct payments to americans, money for vaccinations. It appears it wont include a 15 minimum wage hike that you opposed. Are you open to voting yes on that plan . I have no clue how it will come out of the senate. Republicans have not been involved. I listened to press secretary jen psaki talking about how weve been listened to. I started laughing. That is such a joke. You can finding one thing where, oh, gosh, well get criticized on that so well adapt. But the reality is they put forward a package which reflects the interests of the democratic constituencies that elected the president. Yes, it has things for broader americans but much of it is only for those. I can give you the examples. 112 for the San Francisco transit system. Where did that come from . And so reality is, is that we have something that addresses concerns that republicans and all americans have, but disproportionately benefits those of one party. We started off in it together. It ends up being, yeah, but were going to take some off the top for our folks. Thats not a way to proceed. Im sorry this is the direction theyre going. Youre saying its a joke President Biden is listening to you, but you were one of ten republican senators who met with President Biden in the white house. Has the president or anybody in the white house given you any indication at all that theyre open to any negotiations . No. And as you may recall, it was reported afterwards that as President Biden would be speaking to us, his staff would be in the background shaking their head no, as a signal to him to, no, dont concede on this point. So thats too bad. Weve had five different covid Relief Packages which passed overwhelmingly on a bipartisan basis. All five when President Trump was president and republicans controlled the senate. We have demonstrated that we can come together in a way in which the interests of all americans are represented and you come up with a better package than if you only have one partys interests represented. My fear this becomes a trojan horse for things which actually injure our country. Left of center economists, democratic economists like larry summers, have pointed to the danger that this will ignite inflation. It hurts working class families, chewing up their savings. This could be the trojan horse that destroys the future for families, but it sneaks in because it gives these initial benefits. Thats my concern. It would have been better had they actually listened to us in fact as opposed to merely in rhetoric. So as the president was talking to you in that white house meeting and you saw the staff, as you report, shaking their heads no, was your sense that he was interested in making a deal but hes being pushed not to . You know, i cant speak of their internal dynamics. Of course the president presented himself as he did in his inaugural address. Yes, he was open to unity and bipartisanship. That has not been this legislation. There has not been any significant input from republicans beyond, hey, do you really want to give Stimulus Checks to people making 290,000 a year . Now they have cut it to 200,000 a year. Is that the focus American People would want . I think they would want a little bit more focus. So the president so far has been about rhetoric. And by the way, we can work together. I have another big issue facing our country is privacy. I just introduced a bipartisan bill with jacky rosen from nevada, democrat, to address privacy issues related to smartwatches. Republicans remain willing and are working on issues that require bipartisan cooperation. Weve done five on covid Relief Packages in the past. It could have happened here. They made a conscious decision not to include us. Senator bill cassidy, thank you. I look forward to talking to you more about mows bipartisan issues that you clearly want to talk about and you want to get done across the aisle separate and apart from this bill. Appreciate you coming on this morning. Thank you, dana. And i want to now turn to one of President Bidens closest supporters in the senate, democratic senator chris coons of delaware, also a member of the Foreign Relations committee. You just heard your colleague across the aisle talking about the fact that he doesnt feel like joe biden and the white house is really negotiating in earnest with them. I want to talk about that in a second. But start by asking you specifically about the push to increase the minimum wage inside that package, the 15 minimum wage was included in the house bill. The Senate Parliamentarian says it doesnt work as part of the covid bill. So as an alternative, senators Bernie Sanders and ron wyden are pushing proposals that would penalize companies that pay their employees less than 15 an hour. Is that something that you support . Well, dana, i havent seen the details of that proposal yet. If im someone who is always willing to negotiate with republicans, im willing to negotiate with democrats as well. Lets start with what we all agree on, that the federal minimum wage of 7. 25 is too low. It has to be raised. Every democrat and many republicans agree with that. President biden has called for us to raise it to 15 an hour. Senator sanders bill would have done it over four years to 2025. We havent seen the new proposal. This isnt the last bill we will adopt this year. There may be several other chances for us to move a minimum wage bill but i look forward to hearing from Senators Sanders and wyden this week. Lets talk about what you just heard from senator bill cassidy, that its a joke that the white house has actually reached out in earnest to republicans to negotiate on this covid relief bill. Whats your response to that . Well, as you know, there were ten republican senators who were the first senators to sit down in the oval office with President Biden. This bill has the support not just of 76 of all americans, but 60 of all republicans in recent polling. So as Senator Cassidy said, we should listen to our voters. The majority of the American People, the overwhelming majority of the American People and of both parties are urging us to act. President biden is someone who will work across the aisle. I was encouraged to hear Senator Cassidy say regardless of the outcome of this stimulus bill, this Covid Response bill, he is going to work across the aisle. Ive been a good friend and partner with him working on National Service issues, for example. So i think President Biden challenged us to do two things, to deliver relief to the American People to this ongoing pandemic and to find ways to work across the aisle. The urgency of this issue means that hes moving ahead and were moving ahead with this 1. 9 trillion bill that has broad support amongst voters of all backgrounds and parties. I hear you on that and talking is big, because there hasnt been enough of that in this town. But talking is one thing and actually making concessions and doing deals on Something Like this is a different thing. Hes saying there was no real effort on that. Thats fair, dont you think . What is fair is that President Biden and the democrats in Congress Gave several weeks for there to be a serious negotiation that came close to the scope and range of this challenge. The proposals that came forward werent anything like the scale of the challenge, and so frankly, were moving ahead with a bill that probably will get no republican votes in the senate but will have broad republican support in the country. My hope is that after we pass this bill, we will then move towards bipartisan legislating on a whole range of other issues, whether its immigration or Criminal Justice reform, National Service or other topics that you know well, dana, ive worked hard across the aisle on in the last congress and intend to in this congress. Last summer you told politico that i will not stand idly by and watch the Biden Administrations initiatives being blocked at every turn. Progressives say thats exactly whats happening with the minimum wage increase. How do you respond to that . Well, this is the first major bill to come through congress during the Biden Administration. I am certain that President Biden is committed to raising the minimum wage, to raising it to 15 an hour. Well see what proposal Senator Sanders has this week. But i dont think we should throw up the white flag and say, well, theres no way that we can work with republicans when this is literally the first major piece of legislation to come through. We will have other chances to pass bold legislation in this congress, in this year, but we have to give bipartisanship a chance. I want to turn to Foreign Policy and the white house report that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman approved the operation that killed journalist jamal khashoggi. Despite that conclusion, President Biden is not directly punishing him. In 2018, senator, you introduced a resolution to hold the crown prince personally accountable and said at the time that failure to do so would, quote, profoundly weaken our country. So does bidens failure to hold the crown prince accountable weaken america . From his first day as president , President Biden and his Foreign Policy team have been working to recalibrate our relationship with the saudi kingdom. I was one of a group of senators who pressed for the release of the director of National Intelligence Office Report on khashoggis responsibility, on the responsibility of mbs for the murder of khashoggi to be released. President trump refused to do that. Republicans in the senate refused to press him successfully to do that. President biden has now done that. And hes imposed a new rule, a new Visa Sanction against 76 saudis, some senior saudis, because of their role and set a new standard for those who would go after dissidents and journalists Around The World. But the coons standard in 2018 was that the crown prince specifically needs to be held to justice. Is he getting away with murder now . We are not yet done with recalibrating the relationship between the United States and the saudi kingdom, and i respect the way that President Biden has elevated human rights. President trump was someone who frankly put arms deals and their willingness to work with us to confront a dangerous regime in iran far ahead of any human rights concerns. I am optimistic that our role in terms of the war in yemen, the accountability here for khashoggis murder and other ways in which the u. S. saudi relationship may change will in fact deliver the accountability that i called for. But i also recognize the reality, that the crown prince is largely in control of the saudi kingdom and may well be so for decades. This is a critical relationship. Balancing human rights and our regional interests and security is part of the hard work of diplomacy, but i think President Biden and his senior team have already taken bolder steps than ever were seen in the last four years. So youre comfortable with where they are now . You dont think that the crown prince should be punished specifically and directly . I look forward to having ongoing conversations with the administration about this issue as the u. S. saudi relationship is recalibrated. Senator chris coons, thank you so much for joining me this morning. I appreciate it. Thank you, dana. And it is near the top of the Priority List for democrats, reforming the nations policing systems. But even with total control in washington, democrats have an uphill climb to get it done. Congresswoman karen bass, a leader on this issue, joins me next. And even when the wealthiest School System isnt ready for return to classrooms, their message to President Biden and what lunchtime and recess looks like for students who will come back. Thats next. So, if you havent tried botox® for your chronic migraine,. Check with your doctor if botox® is right for you, and if samples are available. 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His death led to protests across the country and Around The World demanding an end to systemic racism and Police Brutality, but this is hardly a slam dunk. Joining me now democratic congresswoman, you reintroduced your bill named after george floyd and it could be voted on this week and there are moderate democrats, though, that want change in this bill. The big change they are talking about is the part that ends legal immunity for Police Officers accused of misconduct. Is that something you are willing to compromise on to get the votes needed to pass this . What we plan on doing this week is passing it out of the house and when it goes over to the senate it will take 60 votes and we will absolutely be to the senate, it will take 60 votes. We will absolutely be sitting down and talking, both democrats and republicans in the house and in the senate. Ive had conversations with senator tim scott and of course senator cory booker. And i think the stage is set for real reform to hit the president s desk. Youre confident, though, that you will get enough votes in the house as is . I am confident that we will get enough votes in the house. I have been having many discussions with people and of course my colleagues are concerned because they were all hit very hard in the elections in november. But, you know, since George Floyds murder, over 100 people have been murdered or brutalized by police. And, you know, the person that the officer that killed george floyd will go on trial soon. There was just a decision the other day out of rochester, new york, where charges wont be filed where officers killed the individual there. And clearly we have to do something that holds Police Officers accountable. Qualified immunity and lowering the standard for prosecution are two of the most effective ways to do this. You know other states have taken the lead. I spoke to the governor from colorado and they have already taken the lead on reforming qualified immunity. It can be done. There wont be the dramatic departure of Police Officers around the country if we hold Police Officers accountable. After the capitol attack, you criticized the Police Response and said, quote, if that had been a protest over Police Brutality with a large number of africanamericans, you said that you believe blood would have been flowing down the halls of the capitol. I want you to listen to what acting Capitol Police chief said this week about that very issue. Sure. I have no evidence whatsoever that suggests that there was any discrepancy based on our Security Posture and as it relates to Making Enhancements or not based upon race. Are you satisfied with that . No. And i mean personally i still believe as i said in that quote before if there were 10,000 protesters with black lives matter, africanamericans, latinos, et cetera, who were marching on the capitol, i have no doubt the response would have been completely different. I want to talk about the covid relief and specifically the question about vaccines. Thank you. Until january you were the chair of the congressional black caucus. There is new data from kaiser that came out last week showing that white americans are getting vaccinated at double the pace of black americans, triple the pace of americans. Do you think systemic racism is playing a role in Vaccine Distribution . Yes, i do. But it doesnt mean people are deliberately holding vaccines. The greatest problem is access. Now, there is vaccine hesitancy, but the access i believe is the number one problem. And we just finished a survey with the congressional black caucus, hispanic caucus, Native Americans and asians. We reached out to researchers, ethnic researchers. They just completed a survey and amongst africanamericans, the majority said that their hesitancy was because they think the vaccine has been rushed. But many, many, many other people said they would be willing to get the vaccine. So if you focus on access and people are vaccinated, youre talking about friends and Family Members who will see others vaccinated and see that everything is fine. And, so, we have access as a serious problem even in los angeles because people are having difficulties getting online. And then individuals from other parts of the community who are white are coming into inner city areas they probably have never been in before seeking vaccines. So real quick, dr. Fauci has said he doesnt think the Vaccine Rollout is failing africanamericans. Is he wrong . He doesnt feel what . He doesnt think the Vaccine Rollout is failing americans. I mean, there are problems, and there are problems because of access. Because the way you access the vaccine is online. So it is failing africanamericans. And what i believe we need to do is we need to move and expand beyond online registration. There needs to be community registration. There needs to be mobile sites. There is a City Councilman who is in los angeles, marqueis dawson, he does Phone Banking in a specific neighborhood so only those people in the neighborhood know when and where to show up for the vaccine, and he is having no problem vaccinating africanamericans. Before i let you go, real quick, in your home state, the governor gavin newsom is facing a well financed Recall Effort over his handling of the coronavirus there. How real of a threat do you think this recall is . Well, i do think that its a threat. I think its very sad. I think its inappropriate. He does not deserve to be recalled. I believe that he has done the best he could. Hes having difficulty in the state because you have places in our state where people are covid deniers. And, so, the i am hoping that the recall does not qualify. If it does, we will do everything we can to defeat it. Congresswoman karen bass, thank you so much. Appreciate your time this morning. Thank you. And one of the biggest School Districts in the country is starting to send students back into schools beginning this tuesday after nearly a year at home. Over the summer, i got a look at the struggle inside the suburban d. C. s School System, and this week i returned to get a firsthand look at what it takes to prep for the bell to ring again. You have the screen for you, the plexiglass screen to keep you safe. At Holmes Middle School in Fairfax County, virginia, teachers are training for some students to return to school for the first time in almost a year. You can still have the interaction with the kids, the oneonone at my desk. It will be hybrid, just two days a week in person. Firstyear math teacher leon riddick says hes ready to see his students. Some of them go on there, chat and theyre telling me how frustrated they are. I try to get them to calm down saying, hey, it is not going to be long until we come back to the classroom again. Riddick is fully vaccinated, which makes him comfortable. School principal Margaret Barnes concedes other teachers are still concerned. Before i talk about anything, we talk about safety. Were still tightening up procedures. Thats what keeps me up at night is how are we going to keep the kids distanced when theyre coming off the bus. The first week 80 8th Grade Students will be here per day, climbing in the weeks that follow to 240. This is one of your concerns . It absolutely is. A big worry is one place masks are off, the cafeteria. Social distancing is district. So any place where there is an x, they should not sit. For example, at this table, somebody is going to only sit here and all the way down there. On that corner. They did a dry run with students who came in early for testing. That has been a real shift because, you know, lunch is kind of where you can let your hair down as a sixth or seven grader and talk to your friends. Were trying to make sure even during the hallway time youre going to space it. We are going to try to space it out. Fairfax County School superintendent says mixed messages from all levels of government slowed reopening. They tried last year but reversed course because of High Community covid cases. This is one of the wealthiest School Districts in the country. Why has it been almost a year for you to feel comfortable getting to this place where you are going to have eight graders here for the first time in a year . Its been a long time not having our students back in school for in person instruction. Weve had community conversations, and we have not had the unity that the president has talked about across the country about returning to school safely. The former president s education secretary betsy devos attacked this county last summer for not opening schools. Being shamed to return to school is not a strategy for how to return kids and staff safely. And i think now we have a partnership. The Biden Administration has said grades k through 8 should be back in school five days a week by the end of his first 100 days, so in april. Is that realistic here . Its not realistic if were going to stay with six foot Social Distancing. What would you need in terms of guidance for shorter Social Distancing to get everybody Back To School . We certainly know that at three feet we could make that work in our Elementary Schools and probably in our middle schools. Despite Virtual Learning frustrations, there is a divide here on whether they will go back at all. In fact, just 45 of students opted to return to school. That split runs right through the porter family. Sixth grade twins, different decisions. Each child has their own personality. Each child has an environment they thrive in. Elizabeth is going. I want to socialize with more people, and i have made some friends on Online School and i want to meet them. Her twin sister katherine is more cautious. I dont want my time worrying about their exposure risk than actually focusing on the education. But i equality feel like were just gutting it out. I dont think that the education this year is anything close to what they would have been receiving in the classroom. And every parent across the country understands exactly what she means there. Thank you so much for spending your Sunday Morning with us. The latest on what the new Johnson Johnson vaccine could mean for the fight against the pandemic. That and more when the news continues next