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? t in the new year? i want to get straight 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 if you're 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 seeiinhe uk, a 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 a new pre-print 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 cast. 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. in 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 -- >> we have 15 yeses, zero noes. >> reporter: recommending that 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. >> nick, thank you very much for that. joining me now is an epidemiologist and cnn medical analyst. doctor, 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 the r value that we usually talk about for delta is a little bit over 1, the effective "r,". for omicron, it's five times that. so it's something really to be concerned about. >> so what does that mean when you talk about the "r" and the "r"-not? >> i think for most of us, what that means is let's look at the doubling time, which is a little bit more helpful. it's doubling every two days. that means 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? 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. according to the health authorities, england has 16 confirmed omicron hospitalizations and 1 death, though they warn that the real numbers are much higher than that. so that's what's happening in england. then we have how the cases have, through the numbers that you have been saying, how they have been doubling. what did you say, they double how long? >> every two days. >> okay. 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 had 100,000 cases a day, then 200,000 cases a day. then we inched towards 300,000. at that time we were watching 1,000, 2,000 deaths every day and the hospitals were overrun. it's highly likely 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, hospitals being overrun. we may get lucky. because this disease is starting 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, because as you're saying, there's a lot of data out there. you said it's an exaggerated curve upward. maybe it will be down as well. there's a lot of data out there suggesting 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. it had three-quarters 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 virulent. we know it will be more transmissible, and those are the two things we have to juggle as we go through a holiday season. >> you have been writing about this, fighting covid in "the wall street journal." you said, americans need to recognize we cannot succeed locally if we fail globally. what should be 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% or 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, 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 superspreader events or variants, that's the way i look at the world right now. so 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. >> let's look back at other -- you know, other epidemics and other pandemics that we've been involved with, with the spread of different viruses 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, doctor. >> yeah, i think there's a lot of technical lessons from smallpox that may be unique to that vaccine and that virus. but even with smallpox or polio, or ebola, the world came together. in smallpox, doctors from 100 different countries all came together, russians and americans, the soviet union and the united states. it 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 have 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. >> you too. >> 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. >> 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? former democratic senator al franken knows how washington works. we're going to get some answers when he joins me next. do you have a life insurance policy you no longer need? now you can sell your policy - even a term policy - for an immediate cash payment. call coventry direct to learn more. we thought we had planned carefully for our retirement. but we quickly realized we needed a way to supplement our income. our friend sold their policy to help pay their medical bills, and that got me thinking. maybe selling our policy could help with our retirement. i'm skeptical, so i did some research and called coventry direct. they explained life insurance is a valuable asset that can be sold. we learned we could sell all of our policy, or keep part of it with no future payments. who knew? we sold our policy. now we can relax and enjoy our retirement as we had planned. if you have $100,000 or more of life insurance, you may qualify to sell your policy. don't cancel or let your policy lapse without finding out what it's worth. visit coventrydirect.com to find out if your policy qualifies. or call the number on your screen. coventry direct, redefining insurance. 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. >> good to see you, don. >> you're very brave to come in considering what's happening. that's what i want to start with you about. >> wore the mask till here. >> did you see me? you had to remind me to take it off. 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? 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 they workplace mandates are absolutely essential. this is life or death, and these people who are making political hay out of this, it's irresponsible, and they do this elsewhere, and it works. it's just -- also the virus wouldn't continue to 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 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 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. 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. people need it to be able to go to work, and they want to be able to know their child is being taken care of in a nurturing environment. >> but you know the pushback from republicans about that would be, this is socialism. this is america. we don't do that because we're not a socialist country. >> yeah, well they've said that about, oh, medicare, and i think they're for that now. 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 was 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 west virginian, and it's a tough road, but i -- you know, trump won it by 39 points. i think joe will stay where he is. >> he and senator sinema 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 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. 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. >> 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 stolen. >> mm-hmm. >> and a lot of those people are now election officials, are being chosen as election officials, and you know they're not going to play it honestly, and you know gerrymandering -- it is -- we are facing a crisis here. >> it's a huge threat if not the biggest threat to our democracy. i want to hold that thought. after this, we're going to continue to talk about this and what happened on january 6th with al franken. >> okay. show your sore throat who's boss. new mucinex instasoothe. works in seconds, lasts for hours. age before beauty? why not both? visibly diminish wrinkled skin in... crepe corrector lotion... only from gold bond. tony here from creditrepair.com taking to the streets to talk about credit. can you repair your credit yourself? 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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. back with me now, former u.s. senator al franken. so you believe that 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 the infrastructure? >> believe me, i've been involved in discussions about -- joe won't do a -- get rid of the filibuster, but he will do a modification, at least he has said that, joe manchin. and norm ornstein and i have a proposal which would do a number of things. one, right now you need 60 to end the filibuster, right? well, we have 50, they filibuster anything, and it's over. part of what we're saying is you need 41 on the floor to sustain a filibuster. so at least they got to show up. but then they have to stay on the floor, and it has to be what's called a talking filibuster. >> i've heard that. how does that change anything? >> well -- >> except to just hold things up for longer because it seems like these people are just -- >> i'll tell you because i've been there, and you 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 9 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 on line, who is waiting to vote. so they have to be there, and they have to talk. and what they -- what that would do is joe wants bipartisanship, right? that's what he keeps saying. >> mm-hmm. >> 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 our business. so to me, that -- norm ornstein has been watching this for a long, long time. you know norm. this would restore the filibuster to what it was. >> yeah. >> which is something that's rare. >> well, we'll see. look, i don't even think it's the senate -- no disrespect to you or the former president. it's not the senate, the same senate as when you were in there. >> well, that's because i'm not there. >> let's talk about what -- >> but part of that is mitch mcconnell filibustering all the damn time. >> yeah. >> 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. >> republicans aren't even trying to do anything as far as legislation now. >> there's not much they want 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. >> part of the struggle for democrats is dealing with their own messaging. they have an issue when it comes to messaging. >> yes. >> you're talking about it in your new stand-up set. let's play it. >> we are just so bad at messaging. how did this guy become -- we just -- we democrats are just so bad at messaging. [ applause ] they turn the estate tax into the death tax, right? every one of our bumper stickers ends with "continued on next bumper sticker." [ laughter ] >> how do democrats get better at the messaging game? >> well, i don't know. >> what you said is true. democrats are terrible as messaging. >> and we try. believe we, we spend more time on it than we probably should. we would go -- we would have democrat senator retreats. we'd go to a conference and 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 pre-k. people like that. >> yeah. >> we should have been talking about child care. we should have been talking about bringing down the cost on drugs, on pharmaceuticals. >> yeah. >> we should be talking about the things that really appeal to people and 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. 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's crime here. there's -- i mean basically there's no question that they were trying to overturn a democratic election. when it comes to everything they were doing, the president was doing it, his tapes with raffensperger, that's what that is. and president had three hours -- it took him more than three hours for him to stop that, and people got killed and got hurt. >> senator, thank you so much. >> thank you, don. >> i can still call you senator, right? >> you can. >> he's out on tour across the country with his new stand-up, 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. >> technically correct. >> we'll be right back. get charmin ultra strong. go get 'em. it just cleans better. with a diamond weave texture, your family can use less while still getting clean. goodbye itchy squirm. hello clean bottom! we all go. why not enjoy the go with charmin. ♪ after a night like this, crest has you covered. crest, the official toothpaste of santa. follow us @crest to celebrate the 12 days of crest smiles. hey hun hey, get your own vapors relax with vicks vapobath or with vicks vaposhower. take a soothing vicks vapo moment wherever you chose. so we have some breaking news for you at this hour. espn is reporting that the nba is updating its covid protocols for the holidays. this move coming after the nfl did the same thing earlier today. joining me now to discuss, cnn sports analyst christine brennan and medical analyst dr. jonathan reiner. good evening to both of you. interesting. so, dr. reiner, both of these leagues updating their covid protocols after dozens of players have tested positive. the nba adding more testing and increasing mask use. the nfl is making masks mandatory indoors and social distancing. the nfl also has new testing options using rapid tests. i mean that's a lot. talk to me about it. >> well, covid is surging now in the united states, both delta and omicron. and, you know, this week the nfl has had, you know, almost 100 players test positive for covid, and they're starting to worry that the rest of their season and the playoffs and the super bowl are in jeopardy. so they are trying to stem the tide. the problem is the nfl is the nfl never mandated vaccines although the vast majority of players are vaccinated or at least have documented that they're vaccinated. and the nfl has not mandated boosters for players. i don't know how many players in the nfl are boosted although they do have a requirement for coaches and staff. so they're a little bit late to the game to try and stem this tide, and i think they're going to be lucky to get the rest of the season in. >> i see you shaking your head. am i right, christine. >> yes, i think so. the doctor certainly has excellent points and of course he knows what he's talking about. you know, the face of your league this year is aaron rodgers, who of course was unvaccinated and lied about it, 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 it is amazing to me that there is anyone in any of these leagues who is not vaccinated. and as the doctor pointed out, the booster is the thing, right? we're hearing this over and over. 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 players like baker mayfield who are very concerned and going public about whether this game should be postponed. >> let me put up what he said and let you finish talking about it. you're talking about the cleveland browns, hit hard by covid in the last few days. baker mayfield writes, make up your damn mind on protocol. showing up and making only three teams test. all so you can keep the game as scheduled to make money. actually caring about players' safety would mean delaying the game with this continuing at the rate that it is. he is clearly frustrated. go on. sorry to interrupt. >> no problem at all. yeah, he's clearly frustrated. there are two browns quarterbacks that are out. there's real concerns. i mean the quality of the game. 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, yuou've got team like washington and cleveland and the rams in l.a. that are decimated right now by players being out because of covid, don, that obviously it waters down just the actual talent and the quality of the play. that's lhardly the big issue hee 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 of last year. >> i only have about 15 seconds here, doctor, sorry. it's not just sports. it's broadway, 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. 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 so much. a group of moms say they are fighting for parental rights and building a movement. critics say they're only hurting the community. >> the disinformation that they have been putting out and the vitriol towards marginalized groups is a true danger to society because we need to -- we need to work together. it's non habit forming and powered by the makers of nyquil. new zzzquil ultra. when you really really need to sleep. i've been telling everyone... the secret to great teeth is having healthy gums. crest advanced gum restore. detoxifies below the gumline... and restores by helping heal gums in as little as 7 days. crest. the #1 toothpaste brand in america. ♪ wait, oh, yes ♪ wait a minute, mr. postman ♪ yeah, yeah, mr. postman - "dear michael, i appreciate your help, patience, and support through the reverse mortgage loan process. you are an asset to aag." this is from helen, a happy customer, who got a reverse mortgage loan from aag. you see, a lot of people aren't sure if a reverse mortgage is really right for them. so michael and all the experts at aag work hard to make sure you understand exactly what you're getting. they want to make sure you're happy. - [announcer] call aag today and find out how a reverse mortgage can help you eliminate monthly mortgage payments, pay for living expenses, and even high interest credit card bills. call now at the number shown on your screen. - a reverse mortgage with aag can be easier than you might think. or as ann says, "working with folks at aag was like dealing with a friend who had our interests at heart". whether that's for paying off medical costs, or as dennis says, "finally getting that new truck i needed". reverse mortgage loans have helped over a million families get tax-free cash for a better retirement. - [announcer] if you're 62 and own your home, aag could help you get the right loan for extra retirement money. call today for your free no hassle reverse mortgage guide. call the number on your screen. - these letters show why aag has such a high customer satisfaction rating. 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"it's like a savior to me." so you wrote this. - yes. - thank you, edna. - [announcer] don't wait. see if a reverse mortgage is right for you. call now, the number is on your screen. all over the country, schools have become a flash point for a new culture war over issues like masking and the boogeyman of critical race theory. but the anger from some parents has been turned into organizing, and in florida, a group called moms for liberty has begun to spread nationwide. cnn's leyla santiago has the story. >> re >> paper and cloth masks do not work. >> be aware of terms like social justice, equity, inclusion. >> if they ignore our input, we will vote them out. >> reporter: at rallies and school board meetings across the country, heated debates on everything from masks to critical race theory to book banning or being hashed out. >> i think covid has allowed all of america to see behind the education curtain. >> reporter: turns out one of the driving forces stems from a group founded by these two florida moms. tiffany justice and tina december kovich. they launched moms for liberty in january, a group they say is designed to fight for parental rights in schools and in government. >> we just thought we could take the skills we had learned and the inside information we had learned about the public education system to help parents advocate more effectively. >> reporter: the founders say the group is conservative but nonpartisan. yet many of the issues they're fighting for align with beliefs of republican lawmakers like florida governor ron desantis, including eliminating mask mandates in schools. >> i don't think they work. >> 520 counties and they looked at schools and had mask mandates and didn't and showed that the masks did work. there are multiple studies that show this. happy to let you look at them if you would like. they're right here. but when moms for liberty are going into the school board meetings to voice their frustration and citing things like masks don't work -- >> because they don't. >> reporter: that's not what the science shows. >> okay. i'm going to have to disagree with you on that. masks are not source control. they do not stop transmission. >> reporter: but later, she did acknowledge that certain masks do work to a degree. >> i mean we all know that n95 masks do have a level of protection. >> reporter: another cdc study in arizona shows schools without mask mandates were about 3 1/2 times more likely to have a covid-19 outbreak over schools with a mask mandate. another big concern for moms for liberty, critical race theory, a concept typically taught in law school that seeks to understand and address inequality and racism in the u.s. the moms for liberty new hampshire chapter offering a $500 bounty for anyone who turns in a teacher using crt in the classroom. the governor of new hampshire signed a law in june banning crt in the k through 12 curriculum. >> you support or do not support the $500 reward? >> do i think it was the best way to handle the situation? personally, probably not. >> reporter: but ultimately they say they stand by the moms fighting against crt. >> where is this actually being taught? >> mek lynnburg, north carolina. i hear in the news it's not being taught. it's not in k through 12 schools. >> i had a hard time finding it. did you? >> i'll help you after this interview. >> reporter: after the interview, they provided us with reports from conservative media outlets. they also pointed to this mom appearing at the a charlotte, mecklenburg school meeting, discussing a lesson plan. >> that requires my son to examine his white privilege and male privilege. >> reporter: but in a statement to cnn, the superintendent of charlotte, mecklenburg schools, told us, quote, our schools do not teach and do not promote a doctrine of critical race theory. so what is moms for liberty's goal? a chapter in every school district showing up at every school board meeting across the country. and in 11 short months, they're on their way. they say they're now in more than 30 states with more than 160 chapters, mobilizing 70,000-plus members. >> do you consider your organization a force to be reckoned with for the next election? >> yes. >> yes. >> would you consider yourself a political machine? >> no. >> reporter: as for funding, they'll tell you t-shirt sales. >> at this point, it's about half of our funding. >> reporter: and small donations. because their organization is so new, tax records still are not available. >> it's truly just organic word of mouth and some gentle marketing with the t-shirts. >> reporter: but word of mouth will only get you so far. this does take money. where does the money come from? >> what do you think we're spending money on? >> you tell me. >> you're saying this takes money. we're telling you this is world of mouth. >> reporter: to meet the financial needs, the organization has been open about its need to raise money. they've established three political action committees, and at one of their major fund-raising events, sponsors included florida republicans running for office. still, they insist they are not pushing the republican agenda. rather, a parent agenda, one that's against mask and vaccine mandates as well as crt. >> i liken it back to the growth of the tea party movement. >> reporter: political commentator ca prix ca farro. >> it's possible that an organization like moms for liberty could have an impact on the midterm elections and maybe even going into 2024, particularly because it is encapsulating a very impo important -- in the electorate, which are women and mothers. >> reporter: support our schools a i new group of parents in florida, calls moms for liberty a danger to democracy. >> the disinformation that they have been putting out and the vitriol towards marginalized groups is -- is a true danger to society because we need to -- we need to work together. >> reporter: moms for liberty arguing they're not alone. it's an entire movement of parents organizing with eyes on election day. >> 2022 is going to be the year of the parent at the ballot box. so if legislators are watching this, hopefuls are watching this, start paying attention to parents. >> reporter: leyla santiago, cnn, brevard county, florida. >> thank you so much. and thank you for watching. our coverage continues. the relief you need. the cash you want. nurse mariyam sabo knows a moment this pure... ...demands a lotion this pure. new gold bond pure moisture lotion. 24-hour hydration. no parabens, dyes, or fragrances. gold bond. champion your skin. blendjet's holiday sale is on now for the #1 gift this holiday season, the blendjet 2 portable blender. it packs the power of a big blender on the go, and it crushes right through ice. just drop in your favorite ingredients, even frozen fruit, and make a smoothie any time, anywhere. blendjet cleans itself. just add a drop of soap, water, and blend. recharge quickly with any usb port. order now on blendjet.com and get our best deal ever! facing expensive vitamin c creams with dull results? olay brightens it up with new olay vitamin c. gives you two times brighter skin. hydrates better than the $400 cream. hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the united states and right around the world. i'm isa soares in london. just ahead right here on "cnn newsroom." >> it's here now and it's spreading, and it's going to increase. >> i think we're really just about to experience a viral blizzard. >> i would urge people to be extremely cautious, especially because we already had a surge of delta, and now we have a surge of omicron on top of that. and we really don't know what's going to happen with

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