with less than 48 hours to resolve multiple disputes. patience wearing thin among democrats who want moderate hold outs kirsten sinema and joe manchin. hardly anyone knows where either of them stands. so far neither is saying much. >> what needs to be done, i keep telling y'all, we're going to work and work in good faith. >> so, why did these two senators matter? why do they always get all the attention? well, four big issues have to be solved in the next 48 hours. hard infrastructure, that's roads and bridges. human infrastructure, that's expanding the social safety net. funding so that the government doesn't shutdown and -- and lifting the debt ceiling to avoid a government defaults. >> it is unclear how much to raise the debt ceiling without knowing how much the government is spending. so it all leaves democrats struggling to find a path forward in all four issues. american families frankly in limbo. we should point out this is about families. child care, health care, about funding the government. this is about not having a financial crisis in terms of the debt ceiling. the president has actually canceled a chicago trip here because he is working so hard on this agenda. first on infrastructure. what's the state of play there? >> reporter: christine, as you said, these are real issues that are affecting the country. this is why we should all care about this. look, progressives are really upset about this, which time line the house speaker nancy pelosi has set. she originally planned to pass these two infrastructure bills, one, of course, a human infrastructure bill that would expand the nation's social safety net and would be passed using a process that uses reconciliation. and the bipartisan infrastructure bill that has already passed the senate and has some moderate republican support. now, she has de-linked these two bills and committed to putting the bipartisan infrastructure bill on the house floor thursday, which has really angered progressives because they were hoping these bills would be passed together. now, the problem is that we are waiting to see what two moderate democratic senators joe manchin and kirsten sinema say about this economic bill, the one to expand the nation's social safety net. they have opposed this $3.5 trillion price tag since the beginning. and have been meeting with white house and president joe biden on what price tag they could actually accept. but the thing is they haven't explained any issues where they are on this, what price tag they support. we kind of understand they want a lower one, maybe 1 to $1.5 trillion. manchin said that before. they haven't said what issues they support behind this. senator joe manchin said he doesn't support from the climate change approach sproposals in t economic bill. they want this bill passed first and are threatening to withhold their thursday vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill which could really derail the white house's ability to pass both these bills and the democratic leaders and the congress, nancy pelosi and chuck schumer want to see these pass, too. they want to see biden's agenda passed. that's the problem here. >> danielle, that's infrastructure. you laid it out nicely even though it is a hot mess. on the debt ceiling, it seems senate democrats don't want reconciliation, so they don't need 60 votes. they don't want to use that to raise the debt ceiling. why not? why don't they want to go it alone if republicans aren't willing to do this? >> reporter: laura, this has been a bipartisan issue in the congress raising the debt ceiling since 2011. republicans -- excuse me. democrats want republicans to join in on this. they raised the debt ceiling, republicans, when president trump was in office, and so they see this as an issue they need to go at together. this is how democratic leaders see this, which is why they don't want to pass this using budget reconciliation that process i just mentioned, that only needs democratic support. they believe republicans should get behind this. but the problem here is senate majority leader chuck schumer is struggling with trying to figure how they are going to do this, whether they try to pass a clean debt ceiling increase bill, but take a listen to what he said yesterday during his weekly press conference on the issue. >> we want to get this done and get it done quickly without risk. the reconciliation process with debt limit goes back and forth, it ping-pongs between the house and senate. it's two or three times. it's not just adding on one amendment. this is the solution. we're asking republicans to support it. their proposal is risky, we're not doing it. >> reporter: the problem here is house leaders, democratic leaders had originally included a debt ceiling suspension with a continuing resolution also known as funding for the government to fund the government through december 3rd. funding for the government runs out at midnight tomorrow, so that is the problem here, and they included this with that bill. republicans blocked it. they said they are not going to get behind any sort of debt ceiling increase. so now democrats are scrambling to figure out how they can do this. another solution that they have is probably putting pressure on republicans as we near that october 18 deadline, which is when treasury secretary janet yellen said that we, the nation, will default on its debt. so that is the problem here and democratic leaders are scrambling to figure out how they're going to handle this. i should mention it does look like we are going to pass -- congress is going to pass a bill to fund the government, so that is what the senate is working on right now. a clean bill with no debt ceiling increase included in it and it looks like that could happen as soon as today. >> part of the challenge here is all of these seem to have been coupled. now they want to de-couple them in order to get something done. and that seems to be one of the sticking points. >> i think political assessment hot mess is still the best political assessment i've heard. >> it works with everything in washington. daniela, thank you. >> you heard daniela say janet yellen sounding the alarm when the u.s. government will run out of money by october 18 unless congress raises the debt ceiling. she told congress it is a self-made crisis that risks a financial one. >> this would be a manufactured crisis we had imposed on this country, which has been going through a very difficult period is on the road to recovery. and it would be a self-inflected wound of tee nenormous proporti. >> jamie diamond told reuters how a possible default would affect markets, contracts and america's stolen credit rating. diamond does expect congress to lift the debt ceiling but said this. quote, we should one day have a bipartisan bill and get rid of debt ceiling. it's all about politics. jamie roman dough criticized the gridlock over the debt limit. >> i'm not shocked because i've been in elected politics for ten years. but it's in excusable. >> in excusable, but it happens again, she sadded raising the debt limit should be a no-brainer. >> she makes it clear. this is self-inflicted. it didn't have to be this way. it's all about politics. it's not about the economy. >> not about the economy. it risks hurting -- serious damage. >> yes. the push to transform the u.s. economy played a big role in that gubernatorial debate in virginia last night. the democratic nominee former governor terri mcauliffe, a top biden ally, by the way, he thinks conceding on the president's safety package needs to come down. >> i think the 3.5 is too high. >> do you? >> sure. but here's my message to congress. i am really sick and tired of all of them. they have to stop their little chitty chat up there and it's time for them to pass it. let's get this infrastructure bill -- >> virginia is considered a bellwether for the country in this off-year election. republican glenn youngkin tried to keep former president trump at arms length last night, trying to have it both ways on covid vaccinations, both in favor of the shots but against mandates. >> president biden said military advisers never said keeping the troop presence in afghanistan. that is now contradicted in public by the advisers themselves. bipolar depression. it made me feel like i was trapped in a fog. this is art inspired by real stories of people living with bipolar depression. i just couldn't find my way out of it. the lows of bipolar depression can take you to a dark place... ...and be hard to manage. latuda could make a real difference in your symptoms. latuda was proven to significantly reduce bipolar depression symptoms and in clinical studies, had no substantial impact on weight. this is where i want to be. latuda is not for everyone. call your doctor about unusual mood changes, behaviors, or suicidal thoughts. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. elderly dementia patients on 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the quick collapse of afghan forces. the generals walking a fine line, trying not to blame president biden, but also saying the withdrawal that began under president trump demoralized afghan forces and ensured the country's fall to the taliban. top pentagon brass did, however, contradict mr. biden on one critical strategic point. we get more on all of this from cnn's alex marquart. >> reporter: good morning, laura and christine. the u.s. military's most senior leadership in charge of the war in afghanistan faced tough questions from a senate committee. secretary of defense lloyd austin, chairman of joint chiefs of staff and frank mackenzie told senators the collapse of the afghan army and the afghan government in 11 days was a surprise. intelligence reports, they said, indicated that was likely in the coming months, but not to happen that fast. the hearing highlighted that the top jens generals 2,500 u.s. tr should remain in afghanistan putting them at odds with president biden. >> i will give you my honest opinion, and my honest opinion and view shaped my recommendation. i recommended that we maintain 2,500 troops in afghanistan. >> general milley, i assume you agree with that in terms of 2,500? >> i do agree with that. >> top military advisers were against withdrawal 2,500 troops. >> that wasn't true. >> your military advisers didn't tell you we should keep 2,500 troops, it's been a stable situation the last five years, we should do that? >> no, no one said that to me that i can recall. >> reporter: white house press secretary jen psaki said there were a range of viewpoints presented to biden and that keeping 2,500 troops would have meant sending more reinforcements. now with the taliban ruling afghanistan, general milley was blunt about isis and al qaeda's ability to use the country to grow and target the u.s., saying that those conditions could come about in just one to three years. laura, christine? >> all right, alex, thanks for that. general milley rejected republican calls that he resign after president biden chose ton take his advice of keeping troops in afghanistan. >> my job is to provide advice. my secretary's job is to provide legal advice or best military advice to the president. and that's my legal requirement. that's what the law is. the president doesn't have to agree with that advice. he doesn't have to make those decisions just because we're generals. and it would be an incredible act of political defiance for a commissioned officer to just resign because my advice is not taken. this country doesn't want generals figuring out what orders we are going to accept and do or not. that's not our job. the principals in control of the military is critical to this republic. in addition to that, just from a personal standpoint, my dad didn't get a choice to resign at iwo jima. i'm not going to turn my back on them. i'm not going to -- they can't resign so i'm not going to resign. there's no way. >> milley also addressed recent revelations he called his chinese counterpart before the 2020 election. after january 6th to assure china president trump would not launch a surprise attack. milley said such calls are routine. it's part of keeping conversation lines open so you don't have mistakes or misunderstandings. he was trying to de-escalate, and that the secretaries of state and defense and the white house chief of staff all knew about those calls. a scary scene in spain. lava from a volcano in the canary islands is flowing into the atlantic east. it's triggering the release of toxic gas now. residents of the la palma island are being warned now to shelter-in-place. the volcano has been spewing lava for ten consecutive days, destroying nearly 600 homes and banana plantations, and forcing thousands to evacuate. >> interesting to see the lava go all the way to the sea. mask mandates in schools thrown out of court again. we'll tell you where. some good news in the fight against covid. coronavirus cases are finally coming down consistently. they are now at their lowest in almost two months. but heading into the colder months, the former fda commissioner says a winter with the virus and flu, that's going to require some adjustments to daily life. >> this pathogen and the flu circulating every winter as coronaviruses settle into a more seasonal pattern is going to be too much for society to bear. we're going to probably dedensify offices in the winter. i think we're going to do things differently. we're going to have to do things differently. we've been too complacent about the spread of respiratory disease the in the wintertime. with flu and coronavirus circulating, we won't be able to be that complacent any more. >> pfizer submitted a vaccine for children hopefully in a week. south carolina's ban requiring masks in schools, the ruling discriminates against students with disabilities. it's the latest example of courts siding with schools following arkansas, oklahoma and tennessee. >> but in iowa, money is at stake for one school district. families in the ankeny school district angry over a new mask mandate. they are threatening to pull their kids out of school to unenroll just before a student head count used for funding is taken on friday. >> i have personally confirmed 66 students that will be unenrolled through a personal survey. we unenrolled our kids last year, and plan to do this again. if you mandate masks without reasonable exemptions. >> medical staff are bearing the brunt of the unvaccinated being rushed to the hospital. there have been reports of assaults even at several facilities. it's so bad that in one hospital in missouri, it's giving its staff panic buttons to protect them from patients. >> working in the emergency department a lot of times, our patients are becoming increasingly violent lately. what's nice, we have the chance to press our button and security knows exactly where we are. and if we end up having to chase a patient down, they know where our last location is. they have to sit in here because everywhere is full. we have no placement to put anybody and that's just frustrating on the patients, it's frustrating on us. it's increasing a lot of violence towards everyone. >> panic buttons for health care providers. some health care workers refuse to be vaccinated themselves. in new york, hundreds of holdout have been suspended. mandates do seem to work. as of monday evening 92% of hospital staff, 92% of nursing home staff, 89% of adult care facility staff have had at least one vaccine. in new orth carolina, nova fired 175 employees who did not get the vaccine. now 96% of united's employees met monday's midnight deadline. >> mandates work. in new york they're bracing for disruptions in schools well. the vast majority of people have had at least one shots. the vaccines work. you are now clearly in the minority if you are bucking public health trends here. all right. 25 minutes past the hour. a plea from the family of gabby petito as the fbi takes the lead in the search for her missing fiancee, brian laundrie. >> the laundries did not help us find gabby. they sure is not going to help us find brian. for brian, we're asking you to turn yourself in to the fbi or law enforcement agency. >> brian laundrie was seen september 14. the family stayed at a campground 75 miles from their home in early september after brian laundrie returned to florida without gabby petito. still ahead for you, lebron james finally confirming he has been vaccinated, but he's still not endorsing it for everyone else. hear why next. i've lost count of how many asthma attacks i've had. but my nunormal with nucala? fewer asthma attacks. nucala is a once-monthly add-on injection for severe eosinophilic asthma. not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occurred. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell 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vitamins and minerals, now introducing ensure complete! with 30 grams of protein. good morning, everyone. this is "early start," i'm christine romans. >> i'm laura jarrett. progressives furious about separating the hard infrastructure plan and social safety plan. the government is on the verge of a shutdown unless there is a funding bill, and, and there is no agreement to lifting the debt ceiling to avoid a government default. all of this ahead. the house voting overwhelmingly in favor of the equal act. it would eliminate sentencing disparities between crack and powder cocaine that have disproportionately imprisoned black americans. the measure goes before the senate. later a judge in los angeles will take up britney spears request to remove her father as conservator of the estate. the lawyer is calling for an investigation to determine whether jaime spears planted recording die vices in his daughter's home and cell phone. lori loughlin returning to acting since the college admission scandal in 2019. she will guest star, when hope calls. she was imprisoned after serving a two-month sentence in a bribery scheme. air traffic controllers are the nation's busiest airport wills begin using nasa technology to reduce flight delays and save millions of gallons of fuel. the faa is rolling it out in atlanta, washington, d.c. and 23 other airports. >> these are their stories. >> more than 11 years after nbc pulled the plug on the original law and order, the emmy winning series is coming back for a 21st season. no announcement on cast members, although they are said to be talking to former stars about reprizing their roles. 48 hours, four big issues and no clear answers here. congress barrelling towards the mid october deadline to raise the national debt limit. the parties locked in a stalemate. democrats want to avoid using this budget maneuver to raise it alone, but there is no other clear way to get to the finish line and the government could still shutdown if no spending bill is passed by tomorrow night. >> yeah, a lot of washington process and sausage making that matters to your family budget, democrats are wrestling over decoupling the spending bill from the debt limit and separating the economic packages, hard and human infrastructure. the two moderate senators who do decide the fate of all this remain tight lipped. patience even among the democrats is waning with kirsten sinema and joe manchin over one basic question. what is it they want? cnn's kaitlan collins reports from the white house. >> reporter: good morning, christine and laura. despite the two meetings president biden had at the white house on tuesday with those two moderate democratic senators who are at the center of these intense negotiations over the path forward for his agenda, there is still no clear agreement between the two sides, and they are still deeply divided over what that path forward should look like even though they are running up against some time lines, including that vote that house speaker nancy pelosi has said they will have on the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan on thursday. that's now something that a lot of house progressives are threatening to vote no on because they don't say that they have firm enough commitments from manchin, from sinema, from those moderate democrats on what that price tag is going to look like for the bigger reconciliation package. that'sed one that's expected to be the social policy bill that also addresses climate change. the democrats have been arguing about for several months, but now the time lines are creeping in and they are essentially becoming more intense by the hour. and so president biden feeling the need to cancel his trip to chicago today, which was expected to be a pretty brief trip on vaccines so he can stay back in washington and shepherd these negotiations, and whether or not that includes a trip to capitol hill remains to be seen, but this is something they are arguing about because you saw senator manchin emerge from the meeting, 90-minute meeting at the white house saying they had not agreed on a top line number. essentially a price tag for the bigger reconciliation package, and also saying he had not made any agreements to a time line over how this is going to proceed. senator sinema returned to the hill. she also was pretty quiet on what her talks with the white house looked like. this comes as you are hearing house progressives become increasingly louder they are unhappy they have no firm commitments yet. kaitlan collins, cnn, the white house. >> kaitlan, thank you so much. i it's time for three questions in three minutes. let's bring in the washington bureau chief. someone who knows about sausage making which is sadly what we need right now. jackie, let's start with infrastructure first, take it in pieces and go slow here. >> on infrastructure, it seemed like the plan all along from progressives was to have some sort of leverage here. that now seems to be slipping away if they go ahead with hard infrastructure before human infrastructure. bernie sanders weighing in here for a lot of progressives. listen to what he said. >> we have to pass the reconciliation bill. and my fear is that if the dual track agreement is broken and we only pass the infrastructure bill in the house, i suspect we will never get to reconciliation or that will be significantly watered down. the infrastructure bill is passed alone in the house, we lose whatever leverage we now have and that would be a big mistake. >> so, you heard him right there, leverage. how do they get out of this mess? >> that is an excellent question. i think it has to deal with -- no. i think we're waiting to see the answer to that question. we have a story in the daily beast today about how a lot of lawmakers are taking the yolo approach to these negotiations. it's you only live once, you only legislate once because they know the midterms are not looking great. they might not be able to have the numbers to pass any of this come next year. so the fact that, as bernie sanders said, we might never get to this, that might be -- it's not only a time game, it's a numbers game. but they only -- they might only have the stars aligned with the house, the senate and the white house for so long, so there's a lot riding on this. where you have moderates saying, let's just take the w so we have something to run on. we know we have the numbers to pass this bipartisan infrastructure bill. let's just do it, and progressives are not willing to give up yet. we'll have to see. i wouldn't count nancy pelosi out. a lot of us, all of us here i think covered the affordable care act and the rabbits that were pulled out of the hat at the last minutes in that particular debate. we'll have to see. don't count nancy pelosi out. man, it is going to be a tough couple days here as we are looking, we're looking at this thursday vote on the infrastructure bill if that's not pushed. >> and then there is the debt ceiling, right? we know that is looming and incredibly important. senate democrats are going to need to raise it alone. republicans will not help. pressuring the gop is not working. how do they get that across the finish line? >> that's another great question. i'm sorry i'm not coming up with a lot of answers. >> you're being honest. i don't remember so much deep uncertainty about a legislative outlook. >> no, it's so true, christine, because one of the things they don't want to do is use reconciliation to do this because that's going to cost time. it will be very lengthy, arcane process, too, that involves the house and the senate and parliamentarian. they don't want to use that process to raise the debt ceiling. mitch mcconnell is trying to exact as much pound of flesh as he can from democrats and cause as much political pain as humanly possible. republicans are sort of just watching democrats toil in this and saying, you know, they'll figure it out. they'll get it done. where as democrats are saying, we want your help, and they're trying to use the hypocrisy and the shame tactics and it's just not going to work. >> you know, for a lot of folks at home, this may seem like a lot of process, a lot of political wrangling. >> true. >> the in fighting does have a direct effect on the lives of everyone as we've tried to point out here. if congress can't get this all done, can't actually do their jobs, what's at stake for everyone at home? >> oh, man. so, we didn't even talk about a potential government shutdown which we're looking at if they don't pass a continuing resolution to keep the government funded which we all covered just a couple years ago, where federal workers were missing paychecks. that has a cascading effect. the stock market tanking, that has a cascading effect. we're looking at a real financial crisis if this doesn't get done. you heard janet yellen testify to that fact just yesterday. so really we're kind of all at the edge of our seats as washington tries to get its act together, which frankly isn't in great position. >> the core of all this is really what is the democratic agenda, right, which is the biggest social reform since lbj's great society or the new deal. they say, look, this is the biggest chance we have to remake the american economy twilted towards american family. that's what republicans say, this is the first chance they have to shift -- they both love and hate -- >> jackie kucinich, nice to see you. >> thanks, jackie. also in washington yesterday, senator elizabeth warren, did you see this? sharply criticizing the fed chief jerome powell saying she will not support his renomination. >> your record gives me grave concern over and over. you have acted to make our banking system less safe, and that makes you a dangerous man to head up the fed. >> warren is now the highest profile lawmaker to oppose his renomination. powell, remember, was appointed by the former president trump. warren argued powell's renomination would mean gambling the next five years with the republican chair who has voted to deregulate wall street and that deregulation raises the risk of repeating the great recession. the white house has not said whether president biden will move to renominate powell. his term ends in february. we'll be right back. ® daily moisturizer really make my dry skin healthier in one day? it's true jen. this prebiotic oat formula moisturizes to help prevent dry skin. impressive! aveeno® healthy. it's our nature.™ try the body wash, too. bipolar depression. it made me feel like i was trapped in a fog. this is art inspired by real stories of people living with bipolar depression. i just couldn't find my way out of it. the lows of bipolar depression can take you to a dark place... ...and be hard to manage. latuda could make a real difference in your symptoms. latuda was proven to significantly reduce bipolar depression symptoms and in clinical studies, had no substantial impact on weight. this is where i want to be. latuda is not for everyone. call your doctor about unusual mood changes, behaviors, or suicidal thoughts. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. elderly dementia patients on latuda have an increased risk of death or stroke. call your doctor about fever, stiff muscles, and confusion, as these may be life threatening... ...or uncontrollable muscle movements, as these may be permanent. these are not all the serious side effects. now i'm back where i belong. ask your doctor about latuda and pay as little as $0 for your first prescription. all right. to china now where there is a growing power supply crunch triggering blackouts for households, and forcing factories to cut production. this has big implications for global supply chains which are already really stretched. cnn's steven zhang live in beijing with more. watching what's been happening over the past weeks and months has been fascinating. these power supply issues, they will have implications for the global supply chain, no doubt. they are also part of president xi's broader strategy, right, for controlling and remaking china's economy? >> reporter: that's right, christine. but it's also attracting zbgrowg attention here because it is affecting life and traffic lights in some cities, skyrocketing sales of candles in many places. this is the results of a perfect storm. on one hand you have soaring demand because of the country's, you know, economic recovery driven by export and industries. so a lot of power hungry manufacturing in construction. on the power side you have power plants generating less power than usual because of a coal shortage thanks to soaring prices now helped by the government's import ban of australian coal because of geopolitical tensions. then you have local authorities launching these political campaign-style efforts to cut energy consumption towards the end towards the year-end to meet the annual emissions reductions target because president xi jinping has made this a priority. all the factors leading to an unthinkable scenario of the world's power seemingly running out of power. it's going to put further strain on the global supply chain already facing a shipping prices. factories making everything from gadgets to clothes being forced to halt production several days a week. that is potentially going to translate into a shortage of consumer goods in the u.s. if you're looking for an iphone 13 for christmas, you could be in trouble. >> we could draw a direct line from christmas shopping list. i read president xi wants blue skies for the 2022 olympics. that may be a factor for the targets. he's tightening his grip on most aspects of the economy, from big business to cartoons, what kind of cartoons are appropriate to video game time for children. a new phase here for businesses who had thought that capitalism was going to open up china, but it seems as though the communist regime is really using business to clamp down. >> reporter: that's right. you hit the nail on the head here, because all those recent crackdowns on a growing number of industries, it's not just policy changes. it's a reflection of the paradigm shift. it is truly the case in this instance, for too long people think of china as a society ruled by a bunch of people who call themselves communists. xi jinping is proving them wrong. he's proving to be a true believer of his brand of communism, going back to the mao-ist roots. superior to the western alternatives. that's why you see the party reasserting itself to play a dominant role in every aspects of economy and society in the process, of course, as we say cracking down the private sector that had been driving its innovation and growth, also rolling back a lot of personal freedoms people had been enjoying for decades. not just limiting children's video game play time, but dictating how men should behave and look in public because now one of their main targets is this so-called sickly esthetics of world view. >> my household has been outvoted. we are playing video games during the week. i only have one vote in the five. really nice to see you. thank you very much. let's talk about common prosperity. that's what his mission is. we're going to be hearing a lot about this in the days and months ahead. thank you, steven. let's get a check of the markets around the world. you can see a mixed performance really in asia. tokyo fell 2% there. europe has opened up here. wall street stock index futures this hour, they are also leaning higher. it was a choppy day, trading day for investors. inflation concerns, the debt ceiling. that's rattling the markets. the dow closed up more than 550 points lower. s&p and nasdaq also down. natural gas prices, by the way, watching those. they're going to be ugly for people who heat their homes with gas. prices surged more than 180% the past year. this feeds into the inflation story we've been following. natural gas hasn't been this expensive since 2014. supply just can't catch up with the demand and shortage of truck drivers only making things worse. to pandemic burnout, the covid crisis has been tough on workers across the board. a new study finds especially for women, 42% of women say they were often or almost always burned out this year compared to 35% of men. that is according to a new report from mackenzie and company and lean-in.org. more than one in three women considered leaving the work force or scaling back their careers. >> they're backing up on what we knew based on anecdotal reports. finally, nba superstar lebron james said he has been vaccinated against covid-19 after initially having reservations about it. andy scholes has this morning's bleacher report. i asked you about this yesterday and he responds. >> you did, laura. you got him to give out his answer. it was going to be a hot topic on media day for the lakers. lebron was asked if he was going to get the vaccine. during media day for the lakers, media mvp said he was vaccinated after deciding it was best for him and his family. but lebron added he doesn't feel comfortable trying to convince anyone else to get it. >> we're talking about individual's bodies. we're not talking about something that's, you know, political or racism or police brutality and things of that nature. we're talking about like people's bodies and well-beings so i don't feel like for me personally that i should get involved in what other people should do for their bodies and their livelihoods. it would be me talking about somebody if they should, you know, take this job or not. listen, you have to do what's best for you and your family. >> lakers gm rob said they will be fully vaccinated when the season tips off. 90% of players are vaccinated. lakers open preseason sunday against the nets. baseball, the st. louis cardinals ever lose again? the team winning their 17th straight yesterday. in the process, clinch the national league second wild card spot. just an incredible run. the cardinals celebrating with the party in the clubhouse after beating 6-2. st. louis will face either the dodgers or giants in the national league wild card games a week from today. all right. for months now, everyone's been talking about the yankees, red sox and blue jays vying for the two american wild league spots. look out, because after winning nine of their last two, the seattle mariners are a half game behind the red sox for that second wild card. seattle beating the a's 4-2 last night. they have the longest active postseason drought. 19 years since they made it. with the red sox losing to the last-place orioles last night, this race couldn't be any closer. boston with the blue jays hosting the yankees and the yankees catching fire again at the right time. stanton homering a fourth straight game. leaving the yard in a 7-2 win. clinching a wild card spot is 3 with five games to go. yankees have not lost. winning seven in a row since the team got a turtle. that's right, a turtle. pitch pitcher nestor cortez got bronxie. we know baseball players are superstitious. i imagine he'll be around as long as the team keeps winning. we should get an early start turtle. have him crawl across the desk all news long. >> they're kind of messy. andy, sorry. thank you. >> all right. >> appreciate it. all right. finally, a new york couple refusing to let covid-19 travel restrictions ruin their wedding plans. karen mahoney and brian ray got married at the u.s./canada border so that the bride's family who lives in canada could see them tie the knot. >> our fingers, toes, everything was crossed in august, august 21st. and then they announced that it was closed. we knew we had to do something to have mom, dad ask them here. >> to have them here to be part of it meant everything to her and to me. >> so cool. the couple says a friend who works for the border patrol helped to arrange the makeshift ceremony. having a u.s./canadian alliance in my own household, i very much appreciate that story. >> i love it when love prevails. >> and love prevailed, all right. 54 minutes past the hour. the president cann 1e8d a trip to chicago to push his transformative agenda over the line. we have a critical 48 hours ahead. thanks for joining us. i'm christine romans. >> i'm laura jarrett. 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