kim brunhuber, this is "cnn newsroom." live from cnn center, this is "cnn newsroom" with kim brunhuber. president biden says that he is confident democrats will eventually put aside their differences and agree on two massive spending bills that are the center piece of his domestic agenda. the president met with democratic lawmakers on friday after party progressives blocked a vote on a bipartisan bill to fix america's roads, bridges and airports. after their meeting members of the progressive caucus said they appreciated the president's input but some came away hoping for more. >> still feel like the president ought to weigh in and make specific asks. it is his agenda. >> would i have preferred that he engage sooner on the reconciliation bill, sure. >> i think the president should be involved. very few of us have seen the president in the nine months he's been president. and i think that he should come to a caucus. >> cnn's ryan nobles has more on the message biden brought to capitol hill. >> reporter: a number of deadlines came and went this week. and we still do not have a bipartisan infrastructure bill passed into law. and that became clear after the president joe biden came here to capitol hill and met with his house democratic caucus. biden came up with a compromise between moderates and progressives that at this point everybody seems to be on board with as they move ahead to the next step. he asked the group to just take a hold, let's not vote on the bipartisan infrastructure package yet and let's continue to negotiate the much broader $3.5 trillion social safety net package with the caveat that the price tag on that social safety net package needs to come down. and it seems democrats are in a place where they agree. the other thing that the president told this group was to not be in a rush to get this done. take a listen. >> you're asking a thousand different questions and they are all legit. i'm telling you, we'll get this done. it doesn't matter when. doesn't matter six minutes, six days or six weeks. >> reporter: so biden essentially freeing democrats to not abide by the self-imposed deadline. to allows them more time to try to figure out where they will go. and the progressives that left this meeting did acknowledgeall to figure out where they will go. and the progressives that left this meeting did acknowledge the about 3.5 price tag is not a reality and they will have to figure out what they are willing to strip out to get to the price tag that everyone can agree on. moderates for their part still want the bipartisan infrastructure package passed. we'll just have to wait a little longer. democrats are roundly in agreement that they all want to get this done, but at this point they have a new direction to go into make sure that they can get to the finish line. ryan nobles, cnn, capitol hill. >> as royan reported, progressie democrats were generally upbeat following the meeting. and the chair of the progressive caucus made this prediction. >> our position is exactly the same as the president's which is we are going to get both these bills done. and we are going to send them to the president's desk and it will take us a little bit of time to negotiate because what we are clear on not doing one and leaving the other behind. the president reemphasized that today and he also said that we have to get all 50 senators on board. so we're doing the work we need to do to go back and look at our priorities and make sure that we are really thinking through what we need to have in this bill and how we can come to agreement. the speaker was in a tough position because there were nine house democrats who said that they wanted had deadline or they weren't even going to vote for the budget resolution and that is unfortunate, but these things happen. so that deadline got set. and i've said from the beginning, i think i said it on your show the other day, that is arbitrary and the president made that clear today. six minutes, six days, six weeks, we'll get it done. we need time to negotiate. there was a lot of time to negotiate the infrastructure bill and there were skeptics like me who said i don't think it will get done and i'm happy to be wrong about that. now we need time to negotiate on this build back better act and i believe that we will be able to do that. >> natasha lindstaedt is joining us from us. and i want to ask you about that quote from president biden, it doesn't matter whether it is in six minutes, six days or six weeks, we'll get it done. so the last part first. will they get it done? >> well, i think that they absolutely have to. this is one of the situations where they don't have a choice. because the democratic party appears as if they can't govern if they don't get it done. and this is also as you already mentioned, this is the cornerstone of joe biden's huge domestic agenda to really transform society by providing huge amounts of investment in infrastructure that is badly needed which we've talked about, you know, at length. all the investment in high speed internet and bridges and roads and so forth. but this social safety net bill which the progressives really have fought for to delay in order to ensure that it does get passed is going to be popular, offering support for pre-k, offering free community college tuition, expanding medicaid and offering child tax credits. all these things will be very popular. and this is really critical at this point because right now joe biden's approval ratings aren't doing that well. he is at 45%. now, that is 7 points higher than trump at this point but 7 points below obama at this point. and he is really struggling with key demographics in the democratic party, namely women, hispanics, african-americans and younger people. hanging on okay with older people. men and white college educated. but people have this perception that the one big thing he said that he was going to deliver was he's going to improve people's trust in government and make people feel like government can help them. and at the moment, the optics weren't very good. so they needed to come back to the table and at least ensure that they get these two big pieces of agenda passed. >> yeah, because i wonder about that first part of the president's comments about the when, if it takes six days, six weeks and so on, because you touched on it, the issue of governance, the longer it goes on, the impression grows among voters that democrats can't xwof govern and the more that they might leak republican support. we've heard rumblings already directly from republicans who first supported the infrastructure bill who now say, well, you know, i don't think that we're going to do that anymore. so is it possible that the more democrats dither here, they could lose vital support from the few republicans that they have on side? >> well, i would agree with you that they can't wait forever here because this was a bill that had huge bipartisan support. it had 69 votes of support in the senate, which is unheard of right now because the country is so polarized. and there could be a chance that republicans will seize upon these very visible divisions in the democratic party and basically try to undermine things that might really help the american public. and we know that the republican party is far more united, it is basically the party of trump with the exception of a few never trumpers or those that oppose trump. but it has a much more united front at this moment and the democrats don't. and they will have to work on this because there is the perception that the democrats don't trust one another. and that was why the progressives wouldn't help support that infrastructure bill unless they got some sort of assurances from the president that they would get support for their big safety net package. so this is something that the democrats will have to work on. >> so on that big social safety net package, they have to got the cost down to please the key moderates, from the $3.5 trillion to maybe half that let's say. so what is on the chopping block here, what are they likely to lose? >> i think what they are likely to lose is how long the support goes for. they are going to have to limit also the eligibility of who is going to receive this. and that was one of the things that joe manchin had talked about. he is one of the key holdouts of course in the senate, that he wanted the support to really be directed at those that are truly impoverished. and not necessarily to the middle classes. now, he was on board with some tax increases to corporations, but he also is a holdout in how much this big safety net bill affects the coal industry because of his interests there in west virginia. now, the other issue is kyrsten sinema of arizona who doesn't want any kind of tax increases to corporations. and it is very difficult to figure out what she wants. i think with both these two cases, you are not really working with people who have been that committed to the democratic party. and it is almost better to think of them as independents because it is kind of hard to figure out what exactly they want. but for the most part, i think that they will have to cut the length of the support that is offered and eligibility. >> yeah, and then the advantage of that is when these things run out in 2024, democrats can run on this and say, you know, listen, these things are popular, vote for us, we'll keep them going. we'll have to leave it there natasha lindstaedt, thanks so much. and in an exclusive interview, cnn goes one-on-one with europe's last dictator. alexander lukashenko has been accused of human rights abuses following last year's disputed re-election but he says he has nothing to be sorry for. listen to this. >> you say you have nothing to apologize for, but human rights watch says multiple detainees have reported broken bones, broken teeth, brain injuries, skin wounds, electrical burns. and also detention centers becoming torture chambers were protestors were forced to lie in the dirt, stripped naked, while police kicked and beat them. you don't think that is worth apologizing for? >> matthew chance's exclusive interview coming up in about half an hour. and coronavirus might be soon treatable with a little pill. we'll speak with a medical expert about hopes behind the new merck antiviral drug. and while democrats in alabama are crying foul after a state's governor signed a new bill into law, and how they plan to use federal covid dollars. stay with us. . i just have to ask. does my aveeno® daily moisturizer really make my dry skin healthier in one day? - it's true jen. - really?! this nourishing prebiotic oat formula moisturizes to help prevent dry skin. - one day? - for real! wow! aveeno®. healthy. it's our nature.™ and for twice the moisture, try the prebiotic oat body wash, too. i gotta say i'm still impressed. very impressed. hi. so you're the scientist here. does my aveeno® daily 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122 days later, 200,000 american lives were lost. 81 days after that, the toll hit 300,000. 400,000 had died 35 days later during the peak of the winter surge with another 100,000 dead 36 days later. and it took an additional 114 days for the u.s. to hit 600,000 deaths. and now 108 days later, the death toll has topped 700,000. but a new type of covid treatment could soon be de deployed. the merck antiviral drug is seen as a potential major breakthrough. jason carroll has more. >> reporter: it could be a game changer in the battle against covid-19. the pharmaceutical company merck says it has developed a pill that interim results show cuts the risk of hospitalization and death in half if you get infected. if authorized by the fda, it would become the first antiviral pill to treat covid-19. >> the way it would work, if you start having symptoms and you are identified as having covid, then you could take the pill and it will reduce your risk of hospitalization and potentially death. but as i say, it is reduced. this is nothing nearly as powerful as getting a vaccine. >> reporter: merck says that it will seek emergency use authorization as soon as possible. the development was welcome news at today's white house covid-19 briefing where medical experts cautioned that the pill would not be a stand-in for getting vaccinated. >> if approved, the right way to think about this, this is a potential additional tool in our tool box to protect people from the worst outcomes of covid. i think it is important to remember that vaccination as we've talked about today remains far and away our best tool against covid-19. >> reporter: the battle over vaccine mandates is about to shift to california which just became the first state in the country that will require all eligible public and private school students to be vaccinated to attend in-person. >> i want to get this behind us, get this economy moving again, make sure our kids never have to worry about getting a call saying they can't go to school the next day because one of the kids or a staff member were tested positive. >> reporter: the new rule will be phase thisd in by grades onc fda grants full approval for kids 12 and older. and the fda announced friday that its advisory committee will be meeting to discuss boosters for both the moderna and the johnson & johnson vaccine, those meetings are expected to take place on october 14th and 15th. to date the fda has only approved boosters for the pfizer vaccine and that is is only for certain adults. jason carroll, cnn, new york. dr. peroni is with the perm permanente group and is joining me from san francisco. your hospital system treats millions of patients. during this pandemic you've dealt with countless cases of covid, unfortunately many of them fatal. it is early days yet, but just want to get your reaction to the potential of this treatment. >> so i think that it is good news that there is potentially a new medication that we'll have available to us particularly if it is in oral form. right now the treatments consist of iv forms, they are a lot harder to give. and of course the data we eagerly a wait to see it because right now we're working off a press release. but reduction in the number of hospitalizations by half and no deaths in the group that actually got the medication is certainly promising as an early oral treatment that that we could give on an outpatient basis. >> of course the best defense against this is still the vaccine. but do you think that news of a pill might discourage people from getting vaccinated? i can imagine plenty of people saying that it is easier to take a pill when you get shot than to get a shot when you feel fine. >> well, prevention is still the best medicine. vaccines work. and particularly in our experience now with the vaccinated population, less than 1% of all those people are actually requiring hospitalization and/or experiencing complications. so that pales in comparison to any kind of pill or intravenous treatment. so by far and away our best defense against this in stopping the pandemic will be the vaccines. >> and on that theme, i mean california where you are is leading the way with vaccine mandates across many industries. we saw teachers, now students as we saw, and health care of course, deadline for health care workers in the state to get vaccinated was thursday. so what is the state of play across your hospital system, has it pushed your staff to get vaccinated? >> we have had an incredible response. so before the mandate was put in place, we were at about 78% vaccinate rates. in california now, we're up above 96% for employees and 98% for our physicians. tremendous uptick. and i'll tell you, it is three things. one, there is nothing like a requirement. but two, it encourages these conversations, critical conversations about disinformation. and i have to call out our managers and actually our labor unions that have leaned into actually dispel that disinformation. and then the third thing is you can't really dismiss the delta effect. i think delta, that variant, really galvanized people. it scared people too. and so all those things put together i think has led to these incredibly high percentages of vaccinations. >> and then those who haven't, i mean what have you done or what are you planning do with those who have refused, do you suspend them, fire them? >> so a number of people have applied for exemptions. and so of course we're verifying those exemptions. there are a few people that have declined to get an exemption or get vaccinated and they have been put on administrative leave. and never the opportunity over the next couple months to engage in further conversation. but, yes, if necessary we'll terminate people. that is not our goal though. absolutely not our goal. our goal is to protect the workforce, protect our patients and protect our communities. and i'm just so heartened by the fact that we saw this tremendous uptake. and i'll just tell you, when you have percentages above 90%, our communities are not seeing people get hospitalized. this latest surge, we have communities within california particularly the san francisco bay area where the vaccination rates are 90% and higher for the eligible population. and their hospitalization rates were 20% comparable to other places with lower vaccination rates. >> let me ask you about that. the areas like rural parts of the state, vaccination rate is much less. i was reading that the busiest hospital in one very republican part of the state said that about more than 30% of the workers had been granted those religious exemptions that you were talking about, another saying the same thing, that they are granting religious exe exemptions for anyone who asked for them to avoid the mass exodus of staff and to avoid lawsuits. but we're seeing more covid patients and covid deaths in areas where more people are refusing to get vaccinated and yet that seems to be where hospitals are letting their staff keep working without getting vaccinated. how do you deal with that in those types of areas? >> i think one of the most important things here is to actually show people the outcomes. and to show that you don't get sick. you don't have your hospitals overrun with covid when you do this. for kaiser permanente, we've been challenging our vendors, our contractors to also participate in the vaccination effort and actually asking them to mandate vaccination. we're also reaching out to community benefit organizations that we provide grants and funding to to also participate in mandatory vaccination. and the other thing i'll just say is that we need to get the business community to rally around this. the airline industry is one in particular that has moved in the route of mandating vaccination. if you look at the country as a whole in the united states, you know, more than two-thirds of all workers now have some form of a mandate. so i think that the momentum is on the side of getting our workers vaccinated. >> all right. that is all the time we have. doctor, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you. good to be with you. controversial move by alabama's republican governor is drawing swift condemnation by democrats in her state as well as in washington. governor kay ivey signed bills in to law that allow the state to use federal covid relief funds to build new prisons. this is money the federal government earmarked for states to help plug budget shortfalls caused by the pandemic. dianne gallagher has details. >> reporter: the state of alabama planning to use hundreds of millions of dollars in covid relief funds to build new prisons. >> we've got an alabama problem and we're going to give it an alabama solution. >> reporter: that solution? a roughly $1.3 billion package laid out in a series of bills to build two new prisons while closing or renovating the existing ones. the majority is paid for in bonds and through the state general fund. but up to $400 million, more than 30% of the total cost, would come from the money issued to alabama under the american rescue plan. a move republicans say is legal under the broad federal guidelines. >> only two hoe proper highway businesses, you can't intend the funds on a tax cut and you can't use the funds to prop up your pension program. >> reporter: but opponents say just because it might be legal doesn't mean it is the right thing to do. >> we haven't done our due diligence in terms of responding to the covid crisis. it is in my view morally reprehensible for us to even consider using those funds. >> reporter: alabama is among the states that get more federal funding than they provide in federal taxes. the state currently has the fourth highest covid death rate in the nation and in the top ten when it comes to the covid case rate per 100,000 people. >> our nursing homes need this money, our rural hospitals especially need this money and because our rural hospitals are failing, our urban hospitals need this money. >> we had meetings yesterday regarding people who still need rent assistance on a massive level. those funds were earmarked for things like that. >> reporter: the governor's urgency to address the prison problem stemming in part by a lawsuit filed by the trump department of justice last year that alleged that conditions and violence in alabama's prisons violate the u.s. constitution. this week the new york congressman jerry nadler asked the u.s. treasury department to block alabama from using federal covid funds to build prisons. writing, quote, the american rescue plan is a historic effort to provide urgent assistance in a time of great suffering, it should not be used to worsen our national problem of overincarceration. governor ivy shot back on twitter accusing nadler of overstepping and insisting the funds can be used for, quote, lost revenue. >> nothing about this is going to be easy. >> reporter: dianne gallagher, cnn, montmontgomery, alabama. a north carolina sheriff says they are monitoring tips of sightings of brian laundrie, this as we are getting a look at new body cam video about what petito told police about a dispute she had with her fiance just weeks before her remains were found. >> did he hit you, though? i mean, it is okay if you are saying you hit him, but we want to know the truth if he actually hit you. because, you know -- >> i guess, yeah, but i hit him first. >> where did he hit you? don't worry. just be honest. >> he grabbed my face like this. he didn't like hit me in the face. he doesn't punch me in the face or anything. >> did he slap your face? >> well, yeah, he grabbed me with his nail and i guess that was -- and then it was cut and it burns. >> these videos were taken after a witness in moab, utah reported seeing a couple fighting. no charges were filed at the time. the couple was separated for the night. laundrie stayed in a hotel and gabby stayed in their van. president biden returned to his old stomping grounds friday, chill. we'll look at how he is trying to rally democrats to support his economic agenda. and taiwan says it has now witnessed the largest air incursion by china's air force yet. so what kind of message is beijing trying to send? we'll have the latest coming up from taipei. what's the #1 retinol brand used most by dermatologists? it's neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair® smooths the look of fine lines in 1-week, deep wrinkles in 4. so you can kiss wrinkles goodbye! neutrogena® ♪ ♪ ♪ aloha! isn't this a cozy little room? sorry your vacation request took so long to get approved, so you missed out on the suite special. but lucky for you, they had this. when employees are forced to wait for vacation request approvals,it can really cramp their style. i'm gonna leave you to it. um, just— with paycom, employees enter and manage their own hr data in a single, easy-to-use software. visit paycom.com and schedule a demo today. it's another day. and anything could happen. it could be 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involved. this is his agenda. these are the issues that are critical to the president and he believes that they are critical to the country. so the white house at the highest level ought to be sitting down at the table on capitol hill or at the white house trying to work these details through. now, you don't necessarily need the president at the table to drive that, but the president has to be encouraging people to move towards an answer. i'm glad that he went up and talked to the caucus. i think it is important for the president to be able to try to pull the party together. but what is needed right now is the hard work of resolving these issues. >> so it is not clear when the house might vote on the bipartisan bill and status of negotiations on the budget reconciliation package also unknown. taiwan's defense ministry is reporting the largest ever incursion by china's air force. the self-governing island says more than 3 dozen military aircraft entered its air defense identification zone friday, as beijing unveils its new electronic warfare jet capable of jamming enemy radar and anti-aircraft systems. will ripley is following the story for us. so what are we do to make of t? >> reporter: this is part of an ongoing pattern and an escalating series of events from the view of the government here in taipei to have these large numbers of chinese warplanes entering the air defense identification zone. if we put up a man, it is not what is considered taiwanese air space which is 12 nautical miles from the coast. takes it is a buffer zone beyond that. but when they enter, they will be asked to identify themselves and alert the military of a possible incoming threat. in this case you had 38 warplanes, largest number ever recorded in two different waves on friday entering the adiz. and if yyou bring up the list o what was in the skies, you had 32 fighters, four nuclear capable bombers, one anti-submarine warfare aircraft and one early warning aircraft. and even though they didn't violate taiwanese air space, the taiwanese feels this is a clear case of bullying and that the timing is not a coincidence because this later incursion, this record high number of warplanes in a single day, happened on national day in the mainland, a day that the communist party celebrating 72 years sincefounding of the people's republic of china. and xi jinping was front and center in the celebrations and one analyst says that this is tantamount to political and prop be propaganda wear fararfare, tryi intimidate but also provides military training. and with all the hardware moving around and new weapons being introduced it feels like every week, then we wonder if there is some sort of a miscalculation here. the taiwanese ministry of foreign affairs put out a pretty clear statement about how they feel about all of this saying that taiwan is taiwan. and it is not part of the peoples republic of china. peoples republic of china has never ruled taiwan for a single day even though beijing does claim this island of about 24 million people as its own sovereign territory and beijing does not recommend noise the democratically l ally elected government here. beijing has claimed it for more than 70 years even though the island has ruled itself for 70 years. so this seems to be something that will continue and in fact just in a matter of days taiwan will be demonstrating its own show of force showing off new domestically produced missiles and aircraft that they say would be used if there were some sort of an invasion, if you will, by the mainland. >> reciprocal message there. will ripley, thanks so much. still ahead, the president of belarus grilled on allegations of widespread human rights abuses following his disputed re-election win. we'll have an exclusive interview with alexander lukashenko coming up, stay with us. baaam. internet that doesn't miss a beat. that's cute, but my internet streams to my ride. adorable, but does yours block malware? nope. -it crushes 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last year's re-election was highly disputed and provoked huge protests by the opposition which his forces brutally put down. now in an exclusive interview with matthew chance, lukashenko is dismissing reports of human rights abuses and insists he has nothing to be sorry for. >> reporter: this is what the brutal crackdown in belarus looks like. opposition activists detained, then beaten by police. after disputed elections last year, the mass protests that followed were crushed. human rights groups called it a catastrophe and there were reportings of killings in police custody. now cnn is confronting the man responsible dubbed europe's last dictator. would you take this opportunity now to apologize to the people of belarus for the human rights abuses that they have suffered at your hands? >> translator: no, i would not like to take this opportunity. i don't think that this is even a relevant question and in principle i have nothing to apologize for. >> reporter: you say you have nothing to apologize for, but human rights watch says multiple detainees have reported broken bones, broken teeth, brain injuries, skin wounds, electrical burns. amnesty international speaks of detention centers becoming torture chambers where protestors were forced to lie in the dirt, stripped naked while police kicked and beat them. you don't think that is worth apologizing for? >> translator: you know, we don't have a single detention center as you say like guantanamo or the bases that the united states and your country created in eastern europe. as regards to our own detention center, they are no worse than in britain or the united states. i discuss that he discuss concrete facts and not statements from human rights organizations. >> reporter: they are internationally recognized standards in human rights activism and they all have testimony of former detainees in your prison detention centers, both men and women, who have spoken of sexual violence against them including rape and threats of rape. are you saying that that is just made up, that it is fake? >> translator: everything that you just said is fake and fantasy. >> reporter: for the past 27 years, lukashenko, former soviet collective farm boss, has ruled belarus with an iron fist as its first and only president. he is known as a maverick who makes controversial remarks on issues like covid-19. which he famously dismissed as a western psychosis that could be battled with vodka and soreness. he told cnn those remarks were just a joke. but only after he'd become infected himself and more than 4,000 bella russians have died. but no one is laughing on the streets of the capitol minsk where people are reluctant to speak out. what do you think about lukashenko, are you happy with your president? >> it is a very interesting question. i can't tell you the truth. >> reporter: it is understood here that openly crediticizing e regime can have life-changing consequences. is it a free country? it was a lesson passengers on board this flight flying over belarus in may learned the hard way. it made an emergency landing in minsk after local air traffic control told the pilot there was a bomb threat. once on the ground, bella russian police arrested a dissident on board along with his girlfriend before allowing the aircraft to depart. do you continue to insist that there was a genuine bomb threat or do you now admit that the whole incident was manufactured by you and your security forces in order to capture a critic that you wanted in jail? >> translator: matthew, i'm not going to admit to anything in front of you. i'm not under investigation. so please choose your words carefully. but if this had been a premeditation action planned by our security services, you would be flat tering me because for security services to carry out such an operation without breaking a single international law or even instruction, that would have cost a lot. so this is your fantasy. >> reporter: but it is not just me that doesn't believe your story. most airlines in the world have stopped flying here. isn't it true that you will do anything even violate international laws in the skies in order to get the people you want to get your critics into custody? that is the truth, isn't it? >> translator: if you are afraid to fly over our territory, i can personally guarantee your safety. but if i or the law enforcement authorities see any threat to the belarusian state, we'll force any plane to land be it from the united kingdom or the united states. >> reporter: there is growing evidence of international norms being violated on the ground as well. european officials including belarus of using migrants as a weapon encouraging them to cross its borders with the eu, an act of revenge they say for sanctions and support for dissidents. >> translator: do you take me for a mad man? only weak people care about revenge and i don't consider myself a weak link. >> reporter: but it is weakness that his critics say is pushing him ever closer to another strong man next door, vladimir putin oigf russia has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in financial aid. and support like that is likely to come with strings. this talk of closer integration, closer economic, political, as well as military ties, isn't that the real price of vladimir putin's support that this country of belarus will be slowly absorbed into russia? isn't that what you have agreed to pay? ? >> translator: to say that belarus would become part of the united states, britain or russia is an absolutely fallacy. putin and i are intelligent enough to create a union of two independent states that would be stronger together than separate. sovereignty is not for sale. but >> reporter: but it is unclear if belarus has much of a choice. already russia is stepping up joint military drills and adding to its permanent presence in the country. fueling concerns that with belarus, russia is gaining a new western outpost. matthew chance, cnn, minsk. 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