strong. hospitalizations are dropping, but defense is dragging. the pace of vaccinations now down 35% from earlier this month. so where does all this leave us? let's begin with cnn chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta. let's just start with what's happening right now. the cdc meeting under way. what happens today and then what's next? >> well, we know that the vaccine's beefrpts have been emergency use authorized by the fda. now the cdc has to officially recommend them, make them part of the vaccine schedule. anyone who has kids knows about vaccine schedules and this would become part of the schedule as well and some specifics as well, ana. you talk about people at high risk for severe covid but that could be a vague term to some people. what does that mean exactly? what are the conditions? so who all specifically will this booster be recommended for? one thing i'll tell you in terms of the timing. if you go back six months ago from now, because they are saying these boosters will be for people six months out. six months ago back in march there was about 22 million people roughly, 23 million people who had received the pfizer vaccine in the united states so, you know, we don't know that all of them will come under these umbrella groups of who should need a of the booster but you'll get an idea how many people will be showing. it's going to be a lot of people. >> the fda authorized the pfizer vaccine booster for people 56 and older, people at high risk of severe disease and people whose jobs put them at a high risk of infection, day care workers, votes in -- going back to the high risk of disease, how is that group from different immunocompromises who can get the dose. a transplant recipient would be the clearest example, someone who takes medications to suppress their immune suppress so they don't reject their organ transplant and chemotherapy will often weaken your immune people as well so there's clear definitions of who is immune compromised and there can be overlap, ana, with people who are vulnerable but that could be different reasons, someone who is type 2 diabetic, for example, someone with cardiac issues, not necessarily immune compromised but you is vulnerable to becoming very sick if they contract covid so, you know, when you look back and you say, okay, the vast majority of people who are hospitalized with covid run vaccinated, but of the 5% or so who are vaccinated and hospitalized, who are they, that's what they are going to define specifically. they are the most vulnerable. >> okay. obviously this has been an ongoing discussion for some time. there was initially the september 20th date that was set for the boosters to be going into people's arms. that has come and passed so how soon until shots are actually being administered? >> well, i think it can be very soon. if you go back and look at what vaccines were initially authorized. people started to be able to get shots quickly and at that point in the pandemic there was a greater supply issue. there was more demand than supply. right now it's sort of an opposite problem. there's plenty of vaccine doses available, so to answer your question directly. if the cdc officially recommends this, the cdc director signs off on this today, thursday, potentially by tomorrow or -- or over the weekend or by monday people could start getting those boosters. >> okay. let's move on to some news that we've learned about women who are pregnant and the vaccine because there are a lot of myths surrounding this issue. we busted a few of them on this show before, but today there's more promising news from a small study out of nyu. what did it find? >> this -- this found something that we have sort of been keeping an eye on for a while and it's very interesting. women who have antibodies during pregnancy, especially the second half of pregnancy, so let's say you get vaccinated during the second half pregnancy, we know that that does a good job based on all the job of protecting the pregnant mom. what this data is showing, a small study, but part of many studies showing that those antibodies can also cross over into the fetus and provide immunity for the fetus, provide some antibodies for the fetus so by the time they are born they may have protection. obviously there's no vaccine available for a young baby like that right now so it's a potential opportunity for the vaccine to protect not only pregnant mom but also baby as well. >> that is huge news i would think, especially as a mom myself. if i were pregnant right now i'd be so excited to hear that information. >> let's just discussing big picture here, sanjay, as we look at where we are in this fight. former fda commissioner scott gotlieb was on saying after this delta wave the u.s. is likely done with big waters. let's listen. >> this delta wave maybe the last major wave of infection assuming that nothing unexpected happens this. becomes a more persistent endemic risk so you continue to have coronavirus spread but not at same rates we're seeing right now and it settles into a pattern, more of a seasonal pattern and basically becomes a second flu. >> first, do you agree, and, second, if it becomes like a second flu, what does that really mean? >> yeah. i mean, it's really just tough to make predictions, ana. i think we're all humble and i've talked to scott since that as well and he even coucheded it this morning, may be the last wave which is true. let me show you. part of this is based on modeling data. if you go back and look at h1n1. the big concern is we're going into a season where respiratory viruses spread more, right? that's cooler and dryer weather is always going to be the case but if you go back and look in 2009, the last big wave there, that was the last big pandemic, it was sort of around this time of year and then it sort of flattened out after, that so there wasn't a big sort of winter surge. you go back even further and look at another pandemic, 1918 and 1919, that was sort of characteristically four waves but sort same thing. there was another wave sort of in the early part of the following year, you know. february into march a little bit, but big wave as scott mentioned was sort of this time of year as well so if you look at models and you look at history hundred can make the argument that this should be the last big wave. we'll see if there's any other variants out there of concern. we'll see how much of an impact on overall immunity, you know, vaccines make. more people get vaccinated, but, i mean, if you look at the models it's potentially good news. >> there's reason to be hopeful. >> dr. sanjay gupta, so nice to see you. thank you for taking the time. to florida now and the debate over covid protocols in schools just keeps heating up. that state revisiting a rule on quarantines now saying parents can send their kids who may have been exposed to covid-19 but don't have any symptoms back to school. one school district in north carolina tried this but then backtracked. cnn's nick valencia is in palm beach with reaction to the new move and the fights continuing over masks. >> reporter: anti-maskers were upset over the no opt-out, a mandate in place despite the governor's ban on masks in schools and some parents showed up here last night couldn't contain their outrage. >> today was my son's last day in public school with the school district of palm beach county and i couldn't be happier! >> upset parents confronted the palm beach county school board wednesday night over the district's mask mandate. a crowd of parents, some who sat for hours to be heard, blasted the school board for defying florida's republican governor with a no op tr-out mask mandate and instituting scientifically proven covid mitigation protocols. no one spoke in favor of masking and some who did speak couldn't contain their anger. >> you need to step up and shine your own [ bleep ] light. this is ridiculous! >> turn off the microphone. >> watch the language, ma'am. >> desantis issued an executive order blocking mask mandates in school. that order was upheld in a federal court earlier this month. >> sir. >> at least two people were escorted out for disrupting the meeting including this woman who says the decision of masking students should be left up to parents. >> do you worry at all that your child might get the virus not wearing a mask might spread the virus. >> >> i feel that from what i can gather that if they did catch the virus it's not so bad in children. >> according to the american academy of peeved tricks, nationwide there were nearly 226,000 new cases of covid-19 reported among children during the week that ended september 16th. public health officials warn covid-19 cases could continue to rise now that so many schools have returned to in-person learning. about 30 police officers were on hand at the meeting which included comments from some small children in the district eager to return to normal. >> it's just ridiculous that we shouldn't have to wear if we don't want to. you are all not my parent and you shouldn't be the ones making my health decisions. thank you. >> and it was last night that the palm beach county school board voted to adopt a new surgeon general's policy about a symptom-based approach to quarantining meaning that even if a student section posed to somebody who is positive for the coronavirus, that they don't have to quarantine if they are not showing any symptoms. one of those that disagreed with the decision on the school board who is a medical doctor said that she disagreed with the surgeon general calling it bad public health. ana. >> so eye-opening to go inside that school board meeting. thank you so much, nick valencia. cooler heads have apparently prevailed. or have they? after days of party in fighting top democrats are touting an agreement, but the sdefldevil i the details. is the biden agenda back on track? plus, what appears to be a funeral home ad is encouraging people not to get vaccinated. the company behind this ad, this billboard, joins us live. and a career u.s. diplomat quits over the treatment of haitian immigrants at the border. you're live in the cnn newsroom. i wonder how the firm's doing without its fearless leader. you sure you want to leave that all behind? yeah. stay restless with the rx. crafted by lexus. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. think of what peanuts have given humanity! fuel for vast migrations! sustenance for mountaineering expeditions and long journeys across the world! but most importantly? they give us something to eat when we drink beer. planters. a nut above. in 2016, i was working at the amazon warehouse when my brother passed away. and a couple of years later, my mother passed away. after taking care of them, i knew that i really wanted to become a nurse. amazon helped me with training and tuition. today, i'm a medical assistant and i'm studying to become a registered nurse. in filipino: you'll always be in my heart. that delicious scramble was microwaved? get outta here. everybody's a skeptic. wright brothers? more like, yeah right, brothers! get outta here! it's not crazy. it's a scramble. just crack an egg. ok everyone, our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy. whoo hoo! ensure, with 27 vitamins and minerals, now introducing ensure complete! with 30 grams of protein. herding cats on capitol hill. welcome to president biden's nightmare. lawmakers have just one week to reach a deal to fund the government and prevent a shutdown that could push the nation closer to an economic crisis. that's really just the beginning of it all. the president's problems are coming from within his own party. moderate democrats say they won't accept the $3.5 trillion spending bill. progressive democrats say they won't back his infrastructure deal with republicans. now, the president scrambling to unite his party and salvage his economic agenda, but a short time ago a potential break. democrats announcing they have managed to find at least one area of agreement. let's bring in cnn's manu raju on capitol hill. manu, how big of a deal is this? tell us about this new development. >> reporter: there's a lot of questions here, ana. there is an agreement as to what chuck schumer said, an agreement -- they have reached an agreement on a framework that will pay for a negotiated agreement, so what does that exactly mean has been the question that we've been asking over the last hour or so since chuck schumer and nancy pelosi and treasury secretary janet yellen said they have signed off on this. what they are talking about here is how to pay for this massive expansion of the social safety net, raising taxes, namely on corporations, and a high-earning individuals. they -- there's an agreement among the leadership in the house and senate and democratic side as well as a key chairman of the tax-writing committees and the administration about how they would also want to finance this plan. this is the catch. they they'd to actually sell this to moderate democrats, to progressive democrats and all the democrats who have to cast some of the key votes and then make some decisions including what else to include in this major plan and exactly all the details that come with that, and none of that is there yet. one of the big questions, too, is the price tag. i asked pelosi directly in her press conference earlier whether they had an agreement yet and she made clear there isn't one on how much it will cost. >> have you settled on an overall price tag? >> no, no. we didn't talk about that. this is got a price tag. this is about what's in the bill, what's in the bill for children, what's in the bill. universal pre-"k," child care, child tax credit, family medical leave for their families, protecting the planet for them. it's about specific legislation. how much does that cost? how do we pay for it? >> ana, this is why this is are urgent for the democrats is they have set a vote for monday on that separate infrastructure plan that passed the senate last month and the progressives in the house are threatening to sink that unless the larger bill is completed by then and the question is can they even get an agreement by themselves within the democratic caucus by monday? still uncertain as they try to sell their members on this. >> it's becoming a nail biter. manu, thank you. want to bring in someone who knows the president well, biden's biographer, the author of "joe biden, the life, the run "and what happens now" and he's also a contributing a for the "new yorker." the problem now lies within the president's own party, right? he needs every one of them essentially on board with this plan, and he has spent hours in meetings with both progressives and moderates. it seemed to lower the temperature, maybe some progress but no overarching deal so what's biden's next move? >> you know. he is trying in his own way, anna, to figure out how to show respect to both sides of this very diverse party, recognize that they have real issues, some of them are fundamental to their districts and some of them also get to the larger question of what does the democrat inparty stand for, and he's trying to do it without making it feel as if he's -- this is not easy stuff. after all, this is what he has always sold as his skill. this is the thing he worked on for decades in the senate, and you're seeing him deploy this in this kind of meeting after meeting, five hours yesterday and more in the days to come. >> who do you think president biden has more of an aloneliance to, progressives or moderates in these negotiations? >> well, the interesting thing is for much of his career he was much of a moderate figure and yet he finds himself in a moment now where the things that progressives are pushing for are exactly the things he has been touting. i mean, this is, after all, biden's bill, $3.5 trillion bill that encompasses all of these enormously important and from his perspective urgent issues, but you have -- temperamentally he's also on sort of very close in some ways to a joe manchin, somebody who operates close to the republicans, so that could be a skill. it also makes it harder for him because he has to decide in effect had a specifically is he willing to take out of this bill and that's the message that were coming out of those meetings yesterday, what you can live with and can't live with. >> and coming to a conclusion. some kind of solutions have got to be incredibly important for him because as you point out the president sold himself to the american people as a master negotiator who would bring about unity. he also made all these promises to working class americans which he's trying to accomplish with this $3.5 trillion package but even his smaller infrastructure package is wobbling. the government is facing a potential governmentdown and defaulting on the debt. biden and his reputation are owl on the line. what's at stake if you just boil it down? >> the mid terms are coming up not too far away and then he has the question of re-election and legacy and the good news. this is encouraging. it's actually that the thing they are fighting over right now is popular. if you look around the country, surveys tell us thanks to data for progress, axios highlighted, that even in places like west virginia and arizona where you have senators who are holding back, these bills are in fact popular, so they have to figure out how to get the negotiations done, but it's not as if they are trying to pass something that the american public doesn't want. that makes it a little bit easier. >> great to have you here. thank you so much and i want to mention your new book "wildland, the making of america's fir." talk to you soon. >> thanks. >> still ahead, it's hard to forgot these images of border patrol agents mounted on horseback chasing haitian migrants at the border and now outrage has led to action to end this practice. 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>> yeah. you know, those images of those agents on horseback caution a lot of controversy there where you see the horses aggressively confronting the migrants. at one point one of the migrants appeared to fall back into the water and another video you saw an agent disparaging one of the migrants leading the department of homeland security to not only investigate that incident but we're also told the dhs is suspending temporarily the use of force horse patrol in del rio. as far as the processing, ana, we've seen the buses coming and going, care advance of buses as migrants have been loaded on to them from this bridge and taken to processing centers. i want to take you live to our live shot at the bridge over this hour. you can see one of the buses there beginning to be loaded up. as that continues, we're told that authorities have thousands that they still have to contend with. there were about 35,000 that were there. we've seen some protesters show up here as well talking about different sides, but bottom line here we're continuing to seat processing continue as they move migrants up and down the different areas. of course, there's been some controversy here about the expulsion of certain migrants. initially the biden administration has said that people would be quickly expelled and now we're hearing some are being allowed to go through the process and we expect that to continue in the days to come. >> josh, we're learning theation on the ground where you rex pressed their concern months ago about their ability to handle this kind of crisis. what else do we know? yeah. that's right. we're learning from our colleagues at cnn washington that as far back as june some of the august here on the ground at the border had actually expressed a concern to their bosses that they needed more resources. that's because in the june -- in june they began to see an uptick in the number of migrants coming across, and in one instance they requested something as simple as an ipad in order to try to process migrants quickly. we're told they didn't get those resources. that was why we saw that concern. ana? >> great reporting, josh, and especially dealing with some of those distractions with the protesters that just showed up. appreciate it, josh. new today, a career u.s. diplomat serving as a special envoy to haiti for just two months abruptly resigned in protest of how the u.s. is handling this current surge of haitian migrants in del rio, texas. in his resignation letter daniel foote says, quote, i will not be associated with the united states' inhumane counterproductive decision to deport thousand of haitian refugees. our next guest is a longtime advocate for immigrants from haiti, her homeland. and she's the executive director of family action network movement. thank you for being with us. you've been very critical of what is happening to haitian migrants at the border so as a haitian immigrant to the u.s. yourself, how do these images impact you. what's going through your mind right now? >> thank you, ana, for having me. these images brought back memories of 40 years ago when we were fighting for the basic rights of due process of haitian refugees who were coming en masse in the early '80s. we witnessed, i witnessed, and i can still see it in my mind's eye, police officers mounted on the big horses and basically pelting those of white house were demonstrating on the street and oftentimes people had to fall back, you know, in order not to be trampled by the horses, so this -- these images brought back painful memories of the past. >> as you know, the immigration system here in the u.s. is incredibly complex. it is dysfunctional right now. are haitian refugees though being treated differently than other immigrant groups? >> when we know that of the total amount of encounters at the border in 2020, for example, 646,000 and only 5,000, you know, were -- plus were from haiti, which made up .8% of those encounters at border, so 2021 the total was 1.5 million and only 30,000 from haiti which is less than 2%, so when we see these numbers we can say that the haitians are being singled out for discriminatory treatment by the u.s. government. >> but explain more than that, beyond the numbers, why do you mean that their treatment is different? >> because haitians are only a small minority at the border and yet they are the ones being expelled illegally under title 42 which was a racist policy enacted by the trump administration, a policy that we thought the biden administration will eliminate, will stop use and that not only that is he using, it a judge ordered them stopped -- to stop it and -- and but the biden administration appealed and as a result over a thousand haitian refugees have been, you know, sent to haiti in complete denial of their basic rights of due process. the u.s. is abusing and ignoring both domestic and international treaties that they are supposed to respect in treating haitian refugees. the haitian refugees should be allowed to state why they are here and the u.s. is not doing that. they are expelling them illegally in complete denial of due proses. >> we do know some have been allowed to stay and have actually been released with court dates into the u.s. i know you met with the dhs secretary earlier this week, and as we look at what's happening there, you know, in del rio, clearly they are overwhelmed. the border agents are overwhelmed and the processing isn't happening fast enough so what did you tell dhs secretary mayorkas and what do you think this administration should be doing? >> well, as i told him when i met him, and he was very gracious to listen to us, and we do hope that he'll do the right thing. the haitian refugees, bona fide refugees came here because for the past 30 years the u.s. has used failed and corrupt policies that create conditions for the haitians to leave en masse and that's -- that's what we're seeing. this is the result of 30 years of supporting dictators, autocrats and corrupt leaders and ignoring the plight of the haitian people, so unless we address the root causes of migration, we will continue to see this crisis, so what we are asking right now is for the u.s. to allow these refugees n.give them political as plum interviews to determine whether they have a right to come here. we are grateful that they are letting some people out but at the same time they have -- they have deported hundreds of people. the haitian -- well, there is no legal haitian government as we speak. the de facto prime minister did indicate that they could not absorb these people because haiti is in crisis. haiti's going through one of the worst crises in recent history, so it can't absorb these people so they are telling us that they can't, so these people should be allowed in and you see my humanitarian bill out and receive humanitarian relief. >> okay. . i wanted to give you a chance to finish that. i do want to at least acknowledge that the administration did extend temporary protected status for haitians which i think is one of the reasons that we've been told this surge of haitians is happening right now following that extension of the tpp for haitians specifically to the biden administration. marlene bastian, thanks so much for sharing your perspective luis aparicioiate you. >> thank you for having me, aina. one week. that's how long it's been since anyone has seen blaundry, and more witnesses are now coming forward, so where does the search stand? 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>> reporter: no, none that we know of right now, and ana, this is a fifth day that search teams have descended upon the carlton rugged reserve here and still no sign of brian laundrie. no dive teams have asked out after divers spent much of the day yesterday searching but their search turned up nothing. i guess the question now is how long will law enforcement continue to focus on this reserve? i can tell you that a few hours ago we saw about three all-terrain vehicles leaving the sight. we don't know what that means or if it signifies anything about the scale of this operation, and you also mentioned one of the last sightings of gabby petito. august 27th. that is the date that we're getting from a witness named nina angelo. she spoke with cnn, and she said that on that day in jackson, wiling, she was sitting with per boyfriend at a restaurant called the merry piglet and there there was some kind of incident that put gabby petito in tears, and she said that brian laundrie was also visibly angry, so much so that he was walking in and out of the restaurant directing his anger at some of the staff and that even the waitress that was serving her and her boyfriend was visibly shaken. the manager also talking to cnn saying that she reported the incident to the fbi on wednesday after the remains of gabby petito were found on sunday. we didn't know that confirmation until tuesday, the fbi not commenting on this but another piece of the puzzle that we're all trying to piece together now. >> appreciate that update. an ad for a funeral home is telling people in north carolina don't get vaccinated, but there's a twist. the man behind the viral ad is going to join us next. that's a nice truck. yeah, it's the chevy silverado. ness mom, dad's flexing again. that's not all. you can extend the bed for longer stuff. is he still... still flexing. that's right! and, it becomes a workspace... you can put your laptop here. i'm sending an imaginay email. hey dad, dinner! hey! look who stopped by daddy's office. wait, you work here? 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[sfx: radio being tuned] welcome to allstate. ♪ [band plays] ♪ a place where everyone lives life well-protected. ♪ and even when things go a bit wrong, we've got your back. here, things work the way you wish they would. and better protection costs a whole lot less. you're in good hands with allstate. click or call for a lower auto rate today. call it clever, call it reverse psychology, whatever you call it, the message may be getting through to the unvaccinated. have you seen this yet? a digital billboard driving around charlotte with this message. don't get vaccinated. and then there's a link to wilmore funeral home. but here's the thing. wilmore isn't actually a funeral home, and when you visit the website, this is the message you see. get vaccinated now with a link to an area urgent care where you can make a vaccine appointment. all of this, the creative brain child of a local ad agency, moon oakley and the creative director and president of that agency, david oakley, joins us now. david, this is a pretty creative idea. it's got a lot of people talking, that's for sure. how did you come up with the idea, and what was your goal? >> well, first of all, ana, thanks for having me on today. i'm very proud of the work that our team has come up with. they did a great job on it. yeah. >> so, how did you come up with this idea? what was the goal? >> well, our whole goal was we noticed how the vaccination rate had really flattened in north carolina and we were having a creative meeting about three weeks ago and we decided that maybe we should take this on as a passion project. we are all vaccinated and we believe that we've got to do something about it that maybe traditional messaging like, get the shot, get vaccinated really weren't moving the needle, no pun intended. but we -- so, we decided that, like, who's really benefitting from all these people that aren't getting vaccinated? what businesses are doing well because of it? and i think mary gross said, wow, what about a funeral home? we started laughing about it and h then we said, that's right, they wouldn't want you to get vaccinated because it's good for their business, so that's how the idea was born, and over a couple of days, we decided to do it as a mobile billboard, and debut it during the carolina panthers-saints game on sunday. >> i think everybody's wondering, did it work? here's what we've discovered. star med, the urgent medical care facility tells us they have seen a 22% increase in vaccine appointment registrations this week compared to last week. and that this is at a time when nationally, the vaccine rates are declining. so, what's your reaction to that? >> well, that makes me really happy. when we went into it, our goal was, if we can get one person vaccinated because of this message, it's a total success. just one person. so, to hear that they had a 22% increase so far is -- i'm very proud of that and happy, and hopefully it will continue trending in that direction. >> it's kind of an edgy idea, right? has there been any backlash to your ad? >> well, it's kind of funny. the arc of when you see it. it's so stark to see a message that actually is so blatant to say, don't get vaccinated, and at first you think it's from an anti-vaxxer group and you read a little farther and you're like, what? it's from a funeral home? huh? we've gotten a little feedback. we've gotten a couple of, shall i say, crazy people calling boone oakley about it, but other than that, i'm very happy with the result. >> so, if it's a success, and given, just under 49% of residents are fully vaccinated in north carolina, are you thinking maybe doing a take two or have you thought about expanding it to other cities or statewide? >> it's funny you ask, ana, because we have had questions all morning from different cities about different football events, different things happening in the next couple weeks and asking if we could bring the truck back out and it's something we are talking about doing right now. >> well, keep us posted. david oakley, appreciate your efforts and thanks for taking the time to share with us today. >> thank you very much. it's a pleasure to get to be here with you, and get the shot, everybody. do it. >> all right. just do it. to use a different lingo from a different slogan from a different company. >> right on. coming up for us, the videos are unbelievable. people on planes fighting and harassing flight attendants. but harsher punishments could be coming for these passengers behaving badly. stay with us. why bother mastering something? why hand-tune an audio system? why include the most advanced active safety system in its class...standard? because when you want to create an entirely new feeling, the difference between excellence and mastery is all the difference in the world. the lexus es. every curve, every innovation, every feeling... a product of mastery. get 1.9% apr financing on the 2021 es 350. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. it's another day. and anything could happen. it could be the day you welcome 1,200 guests and all their devices. or it could be the day there's a cyberthreat. get ready for it all with an advanced network and managed services from comcast business. and get cybersecurity solutions that let you see everything on your network. plus an expert team looking ahead 24/7 to help prevent threats. every day in business is a big day. we'll keep you ready for what's next. comcast business powering possibilities. we've all seen the video of those unruly passengers on airplanes, and today, flight attendants are calling on lawmakers to consider even harsher penalties to stop it from happening. cnn's pete muntean is following today's hearing. pete, what are you learning? >> reporter: we're learning, ana, that there is layer after layer to this really ugly issue and what's so interesting is that flight attendants say there's a way to stop this problem before a problem passenger ever really gets on board. they are looking to airports to curb the sale of to-go alcohol. remember, it's illegal to bring you own alcohol on board a commercial airliner, and flight attendants say that many of these passengers are already showing up drunk and causing problems, which is contributing to these super high numbers, 4,385 incidents of unruly passengers reported by flight crews to the faa since the start of this year. 101 new skincidents in the last week. the faa says the rate of these incidents is tapering off a little bit but i want you to listen to one of these flight attendants who just spoke to congress. his name is teddy ander. he's a flight attendant for american airlines. he's been doing that for about a decade but he says he dreads coming to work now. >> but now, our most immediate danger is air rage. these days, i come to work, anticipating disruptive behavior. it feels like flight attendants have become the target for all kinds of frustration. but every day, flight attendants are disrespected for the job we're trained to do. >> now, flight attendants say the faa's zero tolerance policy that went into place at the beginning of this year needs to be made permanent now. they say too many of these passengers are walking free, not facing anything in the way of prosecution, not facing even civil fines, which can be as high as $37,000 from the faa, ana. >> pete muntean, appreciate you bringing that to us. thank you all for being with us today. we'll be back tomorrow at 1:00 eastern. and as always, please follow me on twitter, @ana cabrera. the news continues now with alisyn and victor. ♪ -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com i'm alisyn camerota. >> i'm victor blackwell. today, democrats are trying to present this unified front but there are major divisions in the party and they could cost the president his top legislative priorities, including a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and a $3.5 trillion reconciliation package to better fund social needs like child care and college tuition. >> so, president biden met with both sides separately on wednesday. the moderates, who say $3.5 trillion is too expensive, and the progressives who say they've already conceded enough and will not support the smaller bill unless the bigger bill comes with it. no specifics yet on if the gap