his sweeping social spending bill. many in the party are blaming joe manchin for the holdup, but he isn't budging, so why do they think this will pass in the new year? i want to get straight, though, to cnn's nick watt for the very latest on the surge of covid cases and hospitalizations. >> reporter: covid-19 cases and hospitalizations climbed around 40% this past month. deaths, says the cdc, forecast to rise in the month ahead. the delta variant still rampant, omicron on the rise. >> it's here now, and it's spreading, and it's going to increase. for unvaccinated, we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death for unvaccinated. for themselves, their families, and the hospitals, they'll soon overwhelm. >> very soon, it's going to be the dominant variant. we've seen that in south africa. we're seeing it in the uk, and i'm absolutely certain that's what we're going to be seeing here relatively soon. >> reporter: for the vaccines, this variant is now the most complete escapee, say researchers in the new study. although vaccines are still highly effective at preventing severe disease or death. >> it is reassuring that these infections seem to be less severe, but that's really only true probably if you're a healthy person who's been immunized and ideally immunized with three shots. >> reporter: meantime, "hamilton" among the broadway shows canceling performances once more after cases amongst the case just two months after reopening. princeton and nyu just joined cornell and others moving what's left of the semester back online. a depressing dose of deja vu. officials in philly are warning don't party with people outside your household over the holidays. >> it's hard and it feels impossible, and it feels unfair. these gatherings when we get together with friends and family are when we infect each other with covid. >> reporter: pro sports teams demonstrating how the virus is spreading, odell beckham jr. scored monday night, next morning joined the long list of players and staff testing positive or quarantining after exposure. >> they're really a window into community spread, and kudos to the sports leagues because they are actually doing a fantastic job of surveillance testing and the rest of the country, we're driving a car down a dark road with the headlights off while looking in the rearview mirror. >> reporter: this afternoon. >> they have 15 yeses, zero noes. >> reporter: cdc vaccine advisers unanimous in recommending the cdc change its guidance to say that the pfizer and moderna vaccines are preferred over the j&j. why? well, those very rare blood clots connected to the j&j that can be fatal. nick watt, cnn, los angeles. >> thank you very much for that. joining me now is an epidemiologist and cnn medical analyst. good to see you, thank you so much for helping us out with this story. you're saying that omicron is the most transmissible virus ever? that is a scary thing to hear. it's quite a statement, but what will it mean for us in real life terms? what does that mean? >> thank you for having me, don, it's very nice to see you again. sorry it's under these circumstances. >> yeah. >> first of all, let's start off with the fact that we're already in the middle of a delta winter surge, so even if there wasn't omicron, we would be facing higher case counts, higher hospitalizations, but omicron, remember it's that variant that sort of appeared almost out of whole cloth around thanksgiving with 50 mutations simultaneously. 30 of them in the spike area and half of those in the business end of the spike. so it's a new virus, but it's spreading like we've never seen anything spread before. it's a multiple more infectious than delta. as an example, our the r value we usually talk about for delta is a little over 1, the effective r, not the are not, omicron it's five times that. it's something to be concerned about. >> what does that mean when you talk about the r and the r not. >> for most of us what that means, let's look at the doubling time, which is a little bit more helpful. it's doubling every two days. that means in -- you could start off with 100 cases and by the time you got a week from now, you've got 600, 800. by the time you start off with 10,000 cases, you could have 100,000 before the end of january, and if you remember -- >> hey, doctor, let me put this up while you're doing that, okay? i just want to graphically i want to be able to show. question three, this is a graph of coronavirus cases in england. the blue line is delta. it took time to ramp up. with omicron it's taken off right away, and according to the health authorities, england has 16 confirmed omicron hospitalizations and one death, though they warn that the real numbers are much higher than that. so that's what's happening in england. and then we have how the cases have through the numbers that you have been saying, how they have been doubling. they double how long? >> every two days. >> okay. so in real terms explain what does that mean for us? >> well, if you think back to the peak of the epidemic beginning with the very first cases of covid, in the united states we hit 100,000 cases a days, then 200,000 cases a day, then we inched towards 300,000. at that time we were watching a thousand, 2,000 deaths every day and the hospitals were overrun. it's highly that with omicron we will see hundreds of thousands of cases a day, and of those probably a little lesser percentage will be serious enough to go to the hospital and hopefully a much lesser percentage now that we're vaccinated and many people have three doses will be sick enough to go on a ventilator or god forbid die, but the hospitals are still going to be overrun. the health care industry, the doctors and nurses who are already exhausted from alpha, beta, gamma, and delta are now going to have to face in the middle of the holiday season hospital s being overrun. we may get lucky. because this disease is start so quickly and has such an exaggerated upward curve, we might get lucky and it has an exaggerated downward curve. the problem is we probably have 100 million people in the united states who are susceptible, and that's because they either weren't vaccinated or they were vaccinated with one dose a long time ago and have waning immunity. >> let's talk about that then. there's -- and as you're saying, there's a lot of data out there. you said it's an exaggerated curve. there's a lot of data out there suggesting that omicron is less severe. does that line up with what you are seeing, and what does that mean for, as you said, the unvaccinated, and what does it mean for the vaccinated? >> so we've got two different kinds of data. we've got really good data on how transmissible it is. remember, it didn't exist until thanksgiving. we're hardly three weeks into this, so we can't possibly know what will happen after six weeks if somebody got the disease, got sick, got in the hospital and died. so what we're looking at is we're extrapolating from laboratory data and from early case data from south africa. but south africa doesn't look like the united states. it only has 6% of the population over 65 and 3/4 who had been infected and it has less than a third vaccinated. so we're trying to project against the data that we have, the solid data is on how many cases there would be. where we're hopeful is based on laboratory data. it's based on t cell studies, so we're hopeful that it will be less lethal, less veirulent, we know it will be more transmissible. those are the two things we have to juggle through the holiday season. >> you have been writing about this, fighting covid in "the wall street journal." americans need to recognize we cannot succeed locally if we fail globally. talk to me about that. what should the u.s. be doing that we aren't doing right now? >> well, i mean, if you just look at the fact that we've got now 30, 40% of the people who have had two doses have now had a third dose, and maybe there will be a fourth dose, it may very well be that six months from now we have 100 million people who have had four doses of vaccine, whereas there's a billion and a half or 2 billion people in the low income countries who have not had dose one. that's not sustainable. it's not equitable, it's not moral, and it's terrible epidemiology. >> right. >> to put a ring of immunity around our community is a good thing, but to leave the rest of the world uncovered to get infected and god forbid to create super spreader events or super variants, that's the way i look at the world right now. we've got to come back to the reality that in a global pandemic, it's not kumbaya to say we're all in it together, we literally are in it together. >> we are. >> we need to take a look at w.h.o. we need to organize ourselves so that we can get vaccine everywhere, and we're not doing it. we're just not doing it, don. >> well, let's look back at other, you know, epidemics and other pandemics that we've been involved with with the spread of different viruss and such. you helped to eradicate smallpox. what are the lessons from that, and is the challenge even bigger now when the united states can't even get everyone here -- you're talking about around the world, but we can't even get everyone here vaccinated. >> i think there's a lot of technical lessons from small box that may be unique to that vaccine and that virus, but even the smallpox or polio,' bebola, the world came together. russians and americans, the soviet union and the united states, that was the cold war. we had 25,000 nuclear weapons pointed at each other, but we buried the hatchet long enough to collaborate on getting rid of smallpox so we could prove that the world could work together. we are not working together in the way that we need to. i have to say that nationalism and provincialism has caused us to sort of take sides and pull apart instead of coming together. if there's ever been a moment that countries should come together, we should use the vehicles we have, w.h.o., the security council, the general assembly. we should really look at this as a global threat, and we've got to work together. we have the tools. we have to use them as a body politic, as a world. >> doctor, it's a pleasure having you on. i wish i didn't have to have you on. i think you know what i mean, that's not an insult, and if we did that we were talking about something else. you be safe, be well, and happy holidays. thank you so much. >> and to you, don, it's really a pleasure to see you again. i'm sorry it's under these circumstances. >> to you as well, sir. thank you. president biden's agenda stalling in congress, he's admitting that his build back better plan will miss a christmas deadline and be taken up in the new year, and voting rights is going nowhere in the senate blocked by the gop. will these key pieces of legislation ever get passed? 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(sha bop sha bop) ♪ ♪ ♪ alexa, play our favorite song again. ok. ♪ i only have eyes for you ♪ just getting by. it's an ongoing struggle. that's why president biden and democrats in congress have a plan to lower costs for america's working families. lower costs of health care premiums. and the price of prescription drugs. pay less for electric bills by moving to clean energy. we do it all by making the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share of taxes. it'd be a win for the everyday american family. right when they could really use one. congress, let's get this done. start your day with crest 3d white and from mochaccinos to merlot, your smile will always be brilliant. crest 3d white brilliance. 100% stain removal, 24 hour stain resistance to lock in your whitest smile. crest. the #1 toothpaste brand in america. in washington a standstill on the president's agenda and voting rights and across the country the omicron variant is set to become the dominant covid strain while 72 million americans are still unvaccinated. joining me now, former democratic senator al franken, the host of the al franken podcast. >> good to see you. you're very brave to come in considering what's happening. >> i wore the mask until here. >> did you see me? i had the mask -- >> you had to remind me to take it off. >> people who got the vaccine, right, people who got the vaccine are doing the right thing, but you have so many people who are not doing the right thing. do you think it's time to start treating people differently when, you know, if you have the vaccine, you can go certain places. if you don't, you can't. what do you think we do? >> yeah, i don't think you should be able to get on a plane unless you've been vaccinated. i think these workplace mandates are absolutely essential. this is life or death, and these people who are making political hay out of this, they're -- it's irresponsible, and they do this elsewhere, and it works. and it's just -- also, the virus wouldn't don't mutate if we didn't let it by people getting sick. now that would be the entire world. >> you still pay attention to what's happening in washington? >> absolutely. every day. >> yeah. so president biden acknowledging tonight that his key domestic plan, the build back better plan, that it's going to be delayed past christmas because negotiations with senator joe manchin didn't go through. do you think build back better is dead? >> no. i think it's delayed, and i hope they get to it in the beginning of the year. i know that joe cares about the child tax credit. he has said as much. those start to expire, the checks start -- stop getting to people in january, so i'm hoping that will help, and i don't know. there might be different ways of approaching it. dividing it into things, making republicans have to vote on child care whether to expand child care, and all that does is supplement people's child care. in europe per child the average european country subsidizes each child $14,000 for child care. it's too expensive here, and also, people need it to be able to go to workment t. they want to be able to know their child is being taken care of in a nurturing environment, they're safe. >> you know the pushback from republicans would be this is socialism. this is america. we don't do that. this is not a socialist country. >> they've said that about medicare. i think they're for that now. and they said it about social security. so both parents tend to work now, if there are two parents, and that's why child care is needed. >> yeah. >> this is mitch mcconnell, what he said tonight about the west virginia democrat. watch this. >> well, senator manchin comes in frequently, as you know, he likes to talk to you guys. he likes to talk to everybody, and i enjoy our conversations. it would not surprise you to know that i've suggested for years it would be a great idea representing a deep red state like west virginia for him to come over to our side. >> so did you hear that? >> that was kind of cheeky, wasn't it? >> yeah. >> what do you think? do you think manchin is on the democrats' side? >> yeah, he's a democrat. >> why? >> i've known joe for a long time. he's a colleague for a long time. he's a democrat. he was governor as a democrat. he was secretary of state as a democrat. he's beloved by the people there, but he's also a west virginian, and it's a tough row, but trump won it by 39 points. but i think joe will stay where he is. >> he and senator sinema are -- have been holding up the passing of voting rights in this country. do you think they're standing in the way because who this really affects, i mean, it affects all of us, but especially black and brown and people of color and ma marginalized groups. >> well, that's their target. republicans are suppressing the votes of those people, poor people deliberately. it is making it harder to register, keeping the polls open fewer hours, having one drop box in each county, whether the county has 3 million people in it or 5,000 people in it. they're doing that deliberately. and plus, on top of that, they are choosing election officials that are people that believe the election was stolen. >> i want to talk to you about that, but i mean, you're saying that you believe that he -- do you believe sinema is a democrat as well? >> yes. >> okay. but they're holding this up. if they don't get voting rights, they probably can't win another election. someh how is that being a democrat? >> well, i would say that to them that -- i think joe will win his next election in west virginia, but -- >> but what about other democrats? >> i think it is a threat. i think it's a threat to our democracy. this -- you know, 60% at least of republicans think the election was potstolen, and a l of these people are now election officials. they're being chosen as election officials, and you know they're not going to play it honestly. and you know, gerrymandering, we're facing a crisis here. >> it's a huge threat if not the biggest threat to our democracy. immate i want you to hold that thought. we're going to continue to talk about this and what happened on january 6th with al franken. >> okay. ce i could trust. right, girl? >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ (vo) for fourteen years, subaru and our retailers have been sharing the love with those who need it most. now subaru is the largest automotive donor to make-a-wish and meals on wheels. and the largest corporate donor to the aspca and national park foundation. get a new subaru during the share the love event and subaru will donate two hundred and fifty dollars to charity. - oh...oh. - what's going on? - oh, darn! - let me help. lift and push and push! there... it's up there. hey joshie... wrinkles send the wrong message. help prevent them with downy wrinkleguard. feel the difference with downy. bye mom. my helpers abound, i'll need you today. our sleigh is now ready, let's get on our way. a mountain of toys to fulfill many wishes. must be carried across all roads and all bridges. and when everyone is smiling and having their fun i can turn my sleigh north because my job here is done. it's not magic that makes more holiday deliveries to homes in the us than anyone else, it's the hardworking people of the united states postal service. mom, hurry! our show's gonna start soon! i promised i wouldn't miss the show and mommy always keeps her promises. oh, no! seriously? hmm! it's not the same if she's not here. oh. -what the. oh my goodness! i don't suppose you can sing, can you? ♪ the snow's comin' down ♪ -mommy? ♪ i'm watching it fall ♪ watch the full story at www.xfinity.com/sing2 back with me now former u.s. senator al franken, so you believe this is the biggest threat to our democracy, and what's the deal? why won't they do a carveout for the filibuster like they did with -- >> it has to do -- believe me, i've been involved in discussions about -- joe won't do -- get rid of the filibuster, but he will do a modification or at least he has said that. >> joe manchin. >> joe manchin. >> and norm orgnstein and i hav a proposal that would do a number of things. right now you need 60 to end the filibuster, well, we have 50 so they filibuster anything and it's over. part of what we're saying is you need 41 on the floor to sustain a filibuster. at least they have to show up. then they have to stay on the floor and it has to be what they call a talking filibuster. >> i've heard that. how does that change anything except to just hold things up for longer? it seems like these people are just -- >> i'll tell you because i've been there, and i know how hard it is to get people to stay there. they would have to stay there until it's over, so that's 41 -- they have 50, you do the math, it's nine of them at one time can be off the floor. that's 19 hours a day that each one would have to be on the floor. power to them, more power to them if they're willing to stay there, but you have to talk. it has to be germane. it has to be a germane debate, and i'd like to see that on voting rights. i'd like to see them explain why you can't give someone water online waiting to vote. they have to be there, and they have to talk, and what they, what that would do is joe wants bipartisan, right? that's what he keeps saying. if they would have to do that, they'd be more willing to compromise, and we'd be more willing to compromise too if they're just staying there because that holds up. -- we're in the majority, that holds up our business. so to me that restores and to norm ornstein who's been watching this for a long time, you know norm, this would resto restore the filibuster to what it was, which is something that's rare. >> we'll see. i don't even think it's the senate, no disrespect to you or to the former president or to -- it's not the senate, the same senate as when you were in there. i mean, what is happening now -- >> that's not disrespect to me, that's because i'm not there. >> let's talk about what -- >> but part of that is mitch mcconnell filibustering all the damn time. when obama got in there, he just -- he filibustered more, the republicans filibustered more during the obama administration than they had in terms of executive nominations, more than they had in the previous history of the country. mcconnell broke the senate. >> yeah, but it's not -- republicans aren't even trying to do anything as far as legislation now. >> there's not much they want to do. >> there's nothing to do. >> that's why the filibuster, they didn't -- when they had both houses and the president, they didn't change the filibuster because all they wanted to do was two things, cut taxes and confirm judges, and both of those you can do with 50. >> i want to talk to you about part of the struggle for democrats who are dealing with their own messaging. they have an issue when it comes to messaging. you're talking about it in your new standup set. let's play it. >> we are just so bad at messaging. how did this guy become president? we democrats are just so bad at messaging. [ applause ] so they turn the estate tax into the death tax, right? right. we -- every one of our bumper stickers ends with continued on next bumper sticker. >> how do democrats get better at selling their -- at the messaging game? >> well, i don't know. >> what you said is true, democrats are terrible at messaging. >> and we try. believe me, we spent more time on than we probably should. we'd have senatorial, democrat senate retreats. we'd go to a conference, and we'd spend the whole weekend trying to message, and we're just not great at it. for example, in build back better, i think we should have been talking about universal pr pre-k. people like that. we should have been talking about child care, should have been talking about bringing down the costs on drugs, on pharmaceuticals. we should be talking about the things that really appeal to people that will improve their lives. that's the point of this thing. >> before we run out of time, i want to ask you about what's happened with january 6th, and you know, you've seen the text messages, you've seen all the evidence for people. you know what's happening with mark meadows. what's your idea of what's going on, what's going to happen? people are defying subpoenas. will anything come of this commission? >> if i were part of the commission now, i would send a letter to doj, to merrick garland and say, you know, charge these guys. there is crime here. there is -- i mean, basically there's no question that they were trying to overturn a democratic election. when it comes down to everything they were doing, the president was doing it. his tapes with rafensberger, that's what that is, but everything -- and the president had three hours, it took him more than three hours for him to stop that, and people got killed, got hurt. >> senator, thank you so much. >> thank you, don. >> i can still call you senator, right? >> you can. >> as you saw with some of the video there is out on tour across the country with his new standup, and he just added more dates. you can check them out at alfranken.com. he calls it the only former u.s. senator currently on tour tour. >> that's right. >> thank you. >> technically correct. >> we'll be right back. 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>> i think so. the doctor certainly has excellent points. of course he knows what he's talking about. you know, when you're the face of your league this year is aaron rodgers, who of course was unvaccinated and lied about it and misled people, and really he is the story so far of covid and the nfl this year, don. i don't know how you escape the fact that there are people in the league who are not taking this seriously. now, clearly most of the players are, but when you consider that the number one thing that any athlete wants to do, high school, college pro is win, and the last thing anyone wants, coaches, players, is distractions. well, if you are not vaccinated of course you have much higher risk of missing games, and if you are not vaccinated, then, you know, as we know, covid is the mother of all distractions, and ist sayis amazing to me tha there's anyone in any of these leagues who is not vaccinated. as the doctor pointed out, the booster is the thing. the booster is everything, and yet the reality is so many of these players are not boostered. they have not had the third shot, and there is no mandate in the nfl to have it, yet those who are close to the players are mandated to be boostered. that makes no sense to me, and there are mplayers like baker mayfield who are very concerned and going public about whether this game should be postponed and here we are. >> let me put up what he said and let you finish talking about it. you're talking about cleveland browns have been hit hard by covid in the past few days, baker mayfield, one of several browns to test positive. he writes, make up your damn mind on protocols. showing up and making only three teams test, all you can keep the game -- all so you can keep the game as scheduled to make money. actually caring about players' safety would mean delaying the game with thiscontinuing at thee that it is. he is clearly frustrated. go on, i just wanted to get out what he said. >> no problem at all. he's clearly frustrated. there are two browns quarterbacks who are out. there's real concerns, i mean, the quality of the game, you know, fans do pay to see the best, and when you've got 100 players or so in the nfl who aren't going to be playing, you've got teams like washington and cleveland and the rams and l.a. that are decimated right now with -- by players being out because of covid, don, that it's obviously it waters down just the actual tall ent and the quality of the play. that's hardly the big issue here as we're facing this onslaught now of omicron and delta and covid in general, but it is a great concern for these players and, you wonder if we're having a repeat almost of last year. >> i remember, i recall that, hey, i only have about 15 seconds here, doctor, sorry, it's not just sports. it's probroadway, restaurants, universities all shutting down. >> yeah, it's going to be a tough six to eight weeks. we'll get through it, but everyone needs to boost and by god, if you're not vaccinated, please get vaccinated now. we'll get through it, but we may need to close down. we just need to face facts. >> dr. reiner, christine brennan, thank you both so much. i appreciate it. a group of moms say that they are fighting for parental rights and building a movement. critics say they're only hurting the community. >> the adddisinformation that t have been putting out and the veto r vitriol towards marginalized fw groups is a true danger to society because we need to work together. and automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable. so, you can really promise better sleep? 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>> i do think it was the best, probably not. >> reporter: they stand by the moms. >> where it caught? >> meklinburg, north carolina. i hear in the news, it's not being caught. it's not in k through 12 schools. >> i had a hard time finding it. >> i will help you after the interview. >> reporter: after the interview, they provided reports from conservative media. and they had this mom discussing a lesson plan. >> it requires my son to examine his white privilege and male privilege. >> reporter: but someone from the school says, our schools do not teach and promote a doctrine for critical race theory. and a 11 short months, they are on their way. they say they are in more than 30 states with more than 160 chapter, mobilizing 70,000 plus members. >> do you consider your organization a force to be reckoned with for the next election? >> yes. >> reporter: could you consider yourself a political machine? >> no. >> reporter: as for funding, they will tell you t-shirt sales and small donations. because it's so new, tax records are not available. >> it's truly organic word of mouth and gentle marketing with t-shirts. >> reporter: word of mouth will only get you so far. it does take money. where does it come from. >> what do you think we are spending money on? we are telling you, it's word of mouth. >> reporter: the organization has been open about the need to raise money. they established three political action committees and one of the major fund-raising events, sponsors include florida republicans running for office. still, they insist they are not pushing a republican agenda, rather, a parent agenda that are against mask and vaccine man dates and crt. >> i liken it back to the growth of the tea party movement. it is possible that an organization like moms for liberty can have an impact on the midterm elections and maybe going in 2024, particularly because it's encapsulating a very important democratic electorate, women and mothers. >> reporter: a new group in florida calls moms for liberty a threat. >> the misinformation, and marginalized groups is a true danger to society, because we need to work together. >> reporter: the moms for liberty arguing they are not alone. it's an entire movement of parent organizing with eyes on election day. >> 2022 is going to be the year at the parent at the ballot box. so if legislators are watching this, start paying attention to parents. >> reporter: cnn, brevard county, florida. >> laically, y la, thank you so and thank you for watching. our coverage continues. for the gifts you won't forget. the mercedes-benz winter event. get help managing your money for the life -- and years -- ahead. with fidelity income planning, we'll look at what you've saved, what you'll need, and build a straightforward plan to generate income, even when you're not working. a plan that gives you the chance to grow your savings and create cash flow that lasts. along the way, we'll give you ways to be tax efficient. and you can start, stop or adjust your plan at any time without the unnecessary fees. we'll help you go from saving... to living. ♪ play all day ♪ i suffered with psoriasis for so long. it was kind of a shock after i started cosentyx. i'm still clear, five years now. cosentyx works fast to give you clear skin that can last. real people with psoriasis look and feel better with cosentyx. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections --some serious-- and the lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms, or if you've had a vaccine or plan to. tell your doctor if your crohn's disease symptoms develop or worsen. serious allergic reactions may occur. i look and feel so much better. see me. ask your dermatologist if cosentyx could help you move past the pain of psoriasis. hey, angie! you forgot your phone! hey lou! angie forget her phone again? yep. lou! mom said she could save up to $400 on her wireless bill by switching to xfinity internet and mobile. with nationwide 5g at no extra cost. and lou! on the most reliable network, lou! smart kid, bill. oh oh so true. and now, the moon christmas special. gotta go! take the savings challenge at xfinitymobile.com/mysavings or visit an xfinity store to learn how our switch squad makes switching fast and easy this holiday season. good evening. covid cases are spiking. the new strain is surging. and so are concerns that winter of 2021 could soon look like march of 2020. concerns we should say up front but not a cause for panic. certainly, though, a new call to action. already in new york where the positivity rate has doubled in just four days. long lines are forming at test centers. the same in other big cities. that's miami there on the right. the mayor in miami reinstating emergency hospital provisions last seen at the start of the delta surge.