cancellations plague airports around the country. multiple states hitting records for new cases in the past week going back to the beginning of the pandemic. tomorrow, the cdc will release new data on how many new cases are listed as the omicron variant. meantime, the biden administration is facing growing pressure to deliver after promising to distribute half a billion free home tests and finally admitting more should have been done to prevent nationwide testing headaches. we have fox team coverage tonight. rich edson at the white house with the biden administration's response to ongoing testing troubles as new report indicates the white house ignored recommendations to ramp up tests ahead of the holidays. we begin with correspondent steve harrigan in atlanta home of the cdc. good evening, steve. >> good evening, bret. multiple states hit new records this week for the number of new covid cases. that comes as lines for testing stretch for blocks in many cities with people waiting hours to find out if they have the virus. >> we are traveling tomorrow. we want to make sure that we are clean. >> we vaccinated and everything, but we didn't feel well, so we want to get tested. >> the 7-day average for new cases in the u.s.s. is now around 200,000 a day. up 47% from one week ago. several states, including new york, new jersey, and massachusetts are hitting records, reporting more new cases in the past week than in any other week since the virus began. one positive sign, hospitalizations are unjust 3% giving some support to recent studies that the new variant, while fast spreading, causes less severe illness, especially among the vaccinated. also, the fda has approved pills for merck and pfizer that could reduce the risk of hospitalization by 30% if given early after infection. >> ultimately, it's going to be the beginning of the end of this pandemic. these medications that we now have, they are truly incredible and just a blessing. we're definitely making great, tremendous progress and it's just a matter of time before we see them actually working. we need to get them in hand. >> yet, around the world, cities are canceling or heavily scaling back plans to mark the new year. in the u.s., health officials are advising people to stay at home with their families. >> when you are talking about a new year's eve party we have 30, 40, 50 people celebrating do you not know the status of their vaccination, i would recommend strongly stay away from that this year. there will be other years to do that but not this year. >> even the college football season has been hit hard by covid with two bowls canceled so far making some fans by surprise. >> flew in this morning, got to our hotel and all of a sudden we got the cancellation about 15 minutes after rearrived. >> for those trying to return home, travel can be a nightmare. this morning 600 flights across the u.s. were canceled. by now, that number has doubled. bret? >> bret: steve harrigan in atlanta. thank you. we will have a closer look at those flight delays and some of the root causes with a live report from new york's laguardia airport later this hour. president biden and covid response team met virtually with the nation's governors today to discuss efforts to cure the omicron variant or deal with it effectively. the president maintains his administration's covid testing strategy is not a failure even as a new report says the white house rejected a plan to ramp up holiday testing before the holidays started and president biden sounds different from candidate biden when it comes to dealing with president biden on several levels. senior correspondent rich edson has the latest from the white house. >> seeing how tough it was for some folks to get a test this weekend shows we have more work to do. >> are you ready for me? >> for many americans, covid tests are difficult to find or at the end of an hour's long line. >> unfortunately we do not have enough tests. this really is something we should have been on top of for months and i'm disappointed this is where we are as a country right now. >> president biden says his administration is prepared for this omicron powered surge so he has admitted the federal government should have purchased more testing two months ago. >> if i had -- if we had known we would have gone harder and quicker if we could have. >> though a group of public health officials from the harvard th chan school of public health, the rockefeller foundation, the covid collaborative and several other organizations pitched the administration in october with a plan to secure hundreds of millions of tests. send them to americans and blunt a potential holiday covid surge. the response from the white house then, no thanks. that's according to a for the vanity fair. the white house says the story is not rooted in reality and argue there wasn't enough production capacity in october. on his way out of the white house and to the delaware shore, the president denied the report. >> president biden why did your administration reject a holiday testing surge in october? does the buck stop with you there? with respect to the surge. >> we didn't reject it. >> the administration says it will order 500 million at home tests for americans to request free online. the website isn't up yet and the tests will likely go out next month, well after the holidays. >> we are addressing the testing problem and very soon that that will be corrected 12k3w4r-z speaking to governors today, the president stressed local officials are largely responsible for handling this surge. there is no federal solution. this, he says, gets solved at the state level. in that meeting president biden also said again that unvaccinated americans needed to get their shots and stay out of the hospital. bret? >> bret: you know, rich, in march the president signed the nearly $2 trillion american rescue plan dealing with covid, covid relief. how much of that went for vaccines and testing and equipment? >> well, we have kept track of about $125 billion of that for those types of things. some of the breakdown here vaccine treatment and development, about $6 billion vaccine distribution, $9 billion. detection, testing, and tracing, including this administration plan about $48 billion. genome sequencing and surveillance at $1.75 billion and covid supplies for the defense production act at $10 billion. much of that $2 trillion bill was for economic rescue tax credits, types of direct economic payments to people to try to keep the economy afloat. bret? >> bret: rich edson live on the north lawn, rich, thanks. chicago's crime crisis is not taking a holiday break. the violence now spreading into previously peaceful neighborhoods there. a problem that's also plaguing several other major cities across the u.s. senior correspondent mike tobin shows us tonight from chicago. [sirens] >> violence and petty crime have long been a part of the neighborhoods chicago's south and west sides. what you are looking at now chicago's glitzy gold coast. smash and grab robberies regularly caught on camera high end stores that drive revenue and attract tourists. >> policies in place to prevent our sphrers giving foot and car chases and criminals for this. they take full advantage of this. >> chicago's progressive mayor lori lightfoot encouraged retailers to spend money on private security. plagued with muggies and carjackings chicago's buck neighborhood did just that stated goal of deterring crime and acting as a liaison between the neighborhood and chicago police. >> i always say any extra set of eyes in the neighborhood helping out is important. our biggest concerns are the strong armed robberies and the carjackings. [sirens] >> with another three people shot and killed over the holiday weekend and gun violence total that rival cocaine wars of the 1980 aneldz 1990s, chicago will come close to 800 murders for the year. shootings and homicides increased by 60% during the two years of the pandemic. chief is a 911 dispatcher who handled the emergency the night chicago police officer ella french was shot and killed. the response is credited with saving the life of her partner carlos yanez also shot. >> this mayor does not care about chicago police officers, period. >> thornton posted a 30-minute rant on facebook in which he said police are too overwhelmed, understaffed and under supported to handle the crime wave. and he blames the mayor. >> and i pray you are watching this because you are a disgrace. and i'm tired of it. and your city is tired of it. >> chicago is not alone with the increase in crime. cities like minneapolis, portland, and philadelphia set records for homicides this year. in fact, minneapolis and portland more than doubled their homicide numbers from 2010. bret, back to you. >> bret: mike tobin live in chicago. thanks. progressives are going all hands on deck to try to resurrect and save the president's build back better bill despite senator joe manchin's opposition the democrat from west virginia. in a new year, it is set to bring a new slate of negotiating tactics for democrats. have to change it up. congressional correspondent aishah hasnie shows us how the party is shifting its strategy. >> democrats are desperately trying to save the president's massive tax and social spending plan. how they do that though is anyone's guess. mistrustful of senator joe manchin, progressives are plotting to go at it alone. in a "the washington post" op-ed sunday, house progressive caucus chair parilla jayapal again called on the president to take executive action on certain provisions of the bill to, quote: make it clear to those who hinder build back better that the white house and democrats will deliver. republicans calling foul. >> it completely erodes the power of congress. it completely unwinds our republic. >> the president still insists he wants to keep working with manchin. lawmakers know appeasing the west virginia moderate may mean trimming the bill to fewer programs that last longer. >> i suspect we will narrow it down and concentrate on three or four initiatives. >> other democrats say they are open to the idea of piece mealing bill and passing stand alones. >> that's a strategy that's being negotiated. we are open to a way to reach the finish line. >> senate majority leader wants to vote on bbb early next year even if he doesn't have the yeas to pass it. that four senators in purple states who may have been hiding behind manchin to go on the record. schumer is also threatening to force a vote to carve out what he calls the ill conceived and abused filibuster in order to pass voting rights legislation with just 50 votes as opposed to 60. even that is looking doubtful. >> we have to senators who say they are not on board for changing the filibuster. >> we will do and look at whatever is necessary to push for congress to take this issue on. >> when pressed further, vice president harris would not go as far as to say that she supports going after the filibuster, but the president has been very clear about this, bret. he fully supports an exception to the filibuster if that is what it takes to pass legislation on voting rights. bret? >> bret: they just don't have the votes. aishah, thanks. stocks were up today on easing omicron fears and strong retail sales. the dow gained 352 today. the s&p 500 added 65 to close in record territory again. the nasdaq was up 218. up next, a phrase used by president biden's critics growing in prominence and controversy. we'll explain. first, here is what some of our fox affiliates around the country are covering tonight. fox 2 in san francisco as major winter storm in lake tahoe brings white out conditions to sierra, nevada, the heavy snow caused a 20 car pile up in reno and shut down key highways in the mountains of northern california and nevada. forecasters warn that travel in that area could be difficult for several days. good for skiing though. fox 2 in assistant lewis where a missouri woman is charged with killing her boyfriend with a sword on on christmas will eve. britney wilson outside of the home blood on clothing and sword in the front yard. told authorities she and her boyfriend took methamphetamine earlier in the day. this is a live look at grand rapids michigan from fox 17, our affiliate there one of the big stories there tonight just two hours away in detroit hundreds of parakeets arrive at a detroit animal shelter, this latest delivery comes after that same shelter took in almost 500 parakeets last week. the birds were brought to the shelter by the son of an animal hoarder after a 30 day quarantine the 836 parakeets will become available for adoption. that's a lot of parakeets. that's tonight's live look outside the beltway from "special report." we'll be right back. ♪ i want to get away ♪ i want to fly away ♪ yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ i want to get away ♪♪ ♪ ♪♪ experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list event. every day in business brings something new. so get the flexibility of the new mobile service designed for your small business. introducing comcast business mobile. you get the most reliable network with nationwide 5g included. and you can get unlimited data for just $30 per line per month when you get four lines or mix and match data options. available now for comcast business internet customers with no line-activation fees or term contract required. see if you can save by switching today. comcast business. powering possibilities. ♪ >> bret: jurors have concluded deliberations for a fourth day in the sex trafficking trial of ghislaine maxwell. today jurors requested trial testimony transcripts and asked for the definition of enticement. maxwell is fighting charges she groomed teenagers to give late financier jeffrey epstein sexual massages. maxwell's lawyer say she is a scapegoat after epstein killed himself in 2019 while awaiting a sex trafficking trial. deliberations in a fraud and conspiracy trial a former then knows holmes second week. 11 criminal charges alleging she duped investors and patients while hailing her companies blood testing technology as a medical break through when in fact it was prone to many errors. holmes could face up to 20 years in prison. a judge is considering a request from prosecutors to reduce the 110 year prison sentence of a truck driver for an explosive crash that killed four people in suburban, denver in 2019. moderas says the brakes on semitrailer failed as he wax 70 foothills. his truck plowed into vehicles that had slowed because of another wreck in the denver suburb of lakewood. prosecutors are asking the judge to consider a revised sentence of between 20 to 30 years an online petition asking for clemens has also received around 5 million signatures. the phrase let's go brandon has become a rallying cry of sorts for president biden's critics. now one man says he is receiving threats after saying that expression directly to the president during a christmas call. correspondent david spunt examines this controversy behind the slogan. >> i hope you guys have a wonderful christmas as well. merry christmas and let's go brandon. >> let's go brandon, i agree. >> let's go brandon. three words that may have sounded innocent enough to the president of the united states as he spoke to children and their parents on christmas eve. but that simple phrase doesn't offer presidential praise. it disparages him indirectly. attaching the f word to his name. >> this is jared. >> oregon parent jared smek was on the other line of the call with the president and posted his recording of the exchange online where several hundred thousands have watched. >> i hope you guys have a wonderful christmas as well. merry christmas and let's go brandon. >> let's go brandon, i agree. hey, by the way, are you in oregon? >> bye-bye. >> smek has since claimed he has been threatened for exercising his free speech. he says that though he thinks the president could be doing a better job he meant the line as quote an innocent guest racing fans f joe biden. the interviewer claimed they were shouting let's go brandon. >> let's go brandon. >> brandon brown says it's been difficult to secure corporate sponsorship because of those three words. the white house previously down playing the phrase. >> what does the president make of that? >> i don't think he spends much time focused on it or thinking about it. >> the phrase has a familiar ring to it. it was actor robert deniro who said f trump at the 2018 tony awards and the audience cheered. no other comment from the white house on friday's exchange but the president continued his call with the children on christmas eve and delivered a special message to the troops on christmas day. bret? >> bret: all right, david, thank you. up next, the holiday travel woes continue amid a new covid surge plus ukraine takes drastic steps to prepare for a potential russian invasion. we will bring you there first, beyond our borders tonight, indirect talks resumed between the u.s. and iran on trying to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal. iran says his top priority is lifting sanctions despite little progress on reigning in its economic activities. iran added new demands to a working test. western powers say progress was too slow. elon musk is facing intense blow back online from chinese citizens. china says its space station was forced to take evasive action to avoid satellites launched by musk's star linked program. users on china's social media platforms lashed out at musk for the near collisions. and south africans are mourning the loss of one of the country's most prominent human rights. desmond tutu. he was awarded the nobel peace prize for his efforts full rights for the nation's black majority. south africa is holding a week of mourning. archbishop desmond tutu died sunday at the age of 90. >> bret: airlines are still working to try to get people back home after thousands of flights were canceled or delayed over the christmas weekend and the problems might not stop any time soon, we're told. some airlines are blaming staffing shortages on the omicron covid variant. fox business correspondent madison alworth is live at laguardia, new york. good evening, madison. >> good evening, bret. thousands of cancellations over the last four days, the spread of the covid-19 variant omicron is creating problems for these airlines that are trying to staff these flights. take a look at this. today alone over 1,200 flights have been canceled getting dangerously close to yesterday's eye-opening 1500 cancellations. there are now also over 5,000 delays just today across the united states. southwest airlines accounting for 1,000 of those. passengers they have been paying attention they are arriving early to airports to try to avoid problems. >> so we got to the airport early for that reason in case it does get canceled, hopefully we can catch another flight out from a different airline or whatever. >> come here and find out the flight had been canceled after struggling to get here. so we checked it and made sure it was on time. it is. >> and as the travel industry struggles to rebound what is the busiest travel time of the year dr. anthony fauci says this shows a need for vaccine mandates for flying. >> when you make vaccination requirement that's another incentive to get other people vaccinated. if you want to do that with domestic flights, i think that's something that should be seriously considered. >> fauci was unclear when he was asked if he had brought that up to president biden. critics of this mandate say it would just make our current staffing issues worse because if employees don't get vaccinated we would have an even bigger short tang. regardless, new year's eve is around the corner, bret, travel is not slowing down, things could get worse before it gets better. >> bret: madison al worth live in laguardia. madison, thanks. it was busy christmas weekend on the southern border as well in the dell rio sector alone. agents apprehended more than 2700 migrants. of that group three sex offenders were arrested. also 15 cases of human smuggling and 16 illegal immigrants needed to be rescued by border agents along that stretch. tensions overseas running high on the ukraine border as u.s. and russian officials prepare for security talks early next month. while moscow is reportedly withdrawing 10,000 troops from the border area, roughly 90,000 will remain and ukraine isn't taking any chances. country now tapping civilians to receive combat skills training in case of an invasion. correspondent alex hogan shows us tonight from london. >> ukraine ramping up its defense tactics in preparation for a possible russian invasion. the country's generals acknowledge that their current forces would stand little chance. thousands of private citizens volunteering to fight if needed. their training is well underway in the woods outside of kiev with men and women learning combat and weaponry skills. the country's strategic defense plan aims to prepare about 100,000 civilian fighters. that's roughly the same number of russian armed forces amassed near the border. on saturday, russia announced the withdrawal of 10,000 troops and have denied plans to invade. >> we have only one goal to reach an agreement that would provide security to russia and its citizens today and in the future. >> amid soaring tensions, the kremlin wants a guarantee that ukraine would not receive a nato membership and the weapons system also not get placed closer to russian soil. moscow also accuses kiev of troop build-up and claims to rebuild areas by force. >> missile system unless ukraine can meet moscow in four to five minutes. where should they move. taken to the point where we simply must tell them to stop. >> on friday russia announced it tested a hypersonic missile, one that russian president vladimir putin spokesperson says will make their demands even more convincing. international negotiations will continue in the new year. the u.s. and russia are set to hold security talks in january. bret? >> bret: alex hogan in london. alex, thank you. up next the panel on the omicron surge. vaccine mandates and the testing troubles plaguing the biden administration. >> we went from no over-the-counter tests in january to 46 million in october, 100 million in november and almost 200 million in december. but it's not enough. it's clearly not enough. ♪ [coughing] ♪ birds flyin' high, you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ breeze driftin' on by... ♪ if you've been playing down your copd,... ♪ it's a new dawn, it's a new day,... ♪ ...it's time to make a stand. start a new day with trelegy. ♪...and i'm feelin' good. ♪ 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pandemic we still don't have enough testing. that's a travesty. >> seeing how tough it was for some folks to get a test this weekend shows that we have more work to do. we're doing it provided we known we would have gone harder quicker if we could have. look, there is no federal solution. let's get solved state level. >> bret: well, that meeting between president biden and the nation's governors about covid-19 and his administration's response was really eye-opening if you think about what candidate biden had said for quite a long time on the trail and then president-elect biden said. you heard some of that. here's a tweet from august. donald trump is not responsible for covid-19 but he does bear full responsibility for the failed national response. we have got to hold him accountable this november. you heard president biden with the governors saying today that there is no federal solution, that it is -- it needs to be solved at a state level. bring in panel syndicated radio host hugh hewitt. susan page washington bureau chief at "u.s.a. today" and byron york chief political correspondent at the washington examiner. hugh, is that just me or stunning juxtaposition of those two things? >> it's not just you, bret. that was quite the hun taj and quite the retreat that the president has had to mount. i was reading the telegraph before coming on tonight, that's the unite the kingdom paper. they are up 300 percent in cases. the good news hospitalizations are down 50% over the last year. the president is being overwhelmed by, i would call it a hoard out of the asian. sweeping all of his promises are being trampled unneath that sweep. >> bret: susan, politically, how covid is handled is really the biggest political challenge for this president considering all the things he is facing inflation and build back better and repercussions from afghanistan but really this is the biggest. >> i agree no other issue more important that got president biden elected. there is no issue on which his presidency is going to be judged more first and foremost than getting a handle on the pandemic. one problem is he declared, i think, vink tri prematurely. remember july 4th he said independence day from wearing mask we had beaten the virus. that turned out not to be true. then this latest issue of not having enough rapid tests is one i think that is very serious because it's made the administration look so reactive to events that something we had hoped we had put behind us by now. >> bret: yeah. we heard the soundbite back from december, byron, there is a travesty there aren't tests. now there is another report from vanity fair that says the biden administration rejected proposal for pretests for the holidays. told vanity fair while everyone present shared the same goal of rapid testing as soon as possible the plan could not be implemented at that time. would did not have the capacity to manufacture over-the-counter test in that scale. the problem was two fold the fda had authorized only a handful of different home tests and those had it authorized could not increase manufacturing fast enough. byron? >> yeah, well, you know, the idea of mailing out rapid tests has been around for quite a while. president biden himself admitted that he was surprised by how many tests were needed so i think the vanity fair report, which the white house denies really gets at the idea that biden was not prepared. now, what's happening here is reality has intruded again on the biden presidency. you know, his disastrous handling of the u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan revealed joe biden was not the expert in handling foreign affairs that he claimed to be during the campaign. he had been in the senate a million years. and said he knew how to do this stuff. now this latest turn in the covid crisis has shown that he was not the expert that he claimed to be during the campaign. this has shown an extraordinary contrast between candidate biden and president biden and for president biden to say there is no federal solution, that is the kind of thing he would have blasted president donald trump for saying and now he is saying it himself. >> bret: well, i think he may have, if i go back to the tape, about the ventilators and a meeting that president trump had with the governors talking about states needed to get the ventilators. there was a lot of headlines and repercussions from that. that statement. meantime, hugh, there is good news in that the cdc has announced a quarantine time from 10 days to five days if you are asymptomatic and you have to then wear masks or it's recommended around folks but, i mean, this potentially deals with what we're seeing massive numbers of people leaving work because they have to quarantine. >> it's very good news especially if you want an airline to be staffed adequately so that they can a k. make their takeoff and touchdown times. the problem with overpromising and under delivering has crippled a lot of employers, crippled a lot of people who want to go back to work. moving to five days is a recognition of what most of us have heard from friends and family. that these cases are milder, that they go away much more quickly now antidotal secretary of defense evidence of antidotes you can't extrapolate from it but increasingly the cdc is coming around to the idea that has generally held that this omicron may be far more virulent and contagious. it's just not as bad. it's good news and the cdc is recognizing it tonight. >> bret: susan, some health experts say r. saying that's how you get to enitem nic stage is omicron over time it just gets less severe and we eventually don't have to deal with covid the same way we have been dealing with it let's hope. >> we are going into what year three of covid in few months and i think we have begun to learn what we need to do to try to balance living our lives with being healthy and keeping people safe. you see that on nothing more seriously than do you on education where you know the initial instinct was to shut down schools and we have seen the costs that can have to kids and to their families and the way that schools can be opened in a way that it keeps kids safe and doesn't subject them to too much danger with covid. all of these are things that we are sorting out because you know what? there is no sign that covid is going to go away any time soon. >> bret: that's right. up next, panel, thank you. stand by if you would. the fate of president biden's build back better agenda and its impact potentially on the midterm elections. ♪ ♪ and i'm still working. in the kind of work that i do, you are surrounded by people who are all younger than you. i had to get help somewhere along the line to stay competitive. i discovered prevagen. i started taking it and after a period of time, my memory improved. it was a game-changer for me. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. small businesses like yours make gift-giving possible. now, comcast business has an exclusive 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way to get this across the finish line. the president's tax and spending bill call it build back better basically dead because senator joe manchin said he is not going to vote for it in current term. efforts another way. two podesta, opinion editorials one from progressive representative jayapal "the washington post" cannot determine the path from build back better. senator manchin went back to commitment of the president. in a town where word was everything. this is a stunning rebuke of his own party's president. calling on the president to use executive action to immediately improve people's lives. taking executive action will also make clear to those who hindered guild back better that the white house and democrats will deliver for americans. and then in the "wall street journal" editorial, joe manchin and child poverty, democrats 2r50eu8d to rush build back better into law without policy debate or compromise, the left thought it could do beating the crap interview. he has no treason apologize. asking that a bill to transform america be subject to regular congressional order, two different takes, back with the panel. byron, what about this executive action push, i mean, there is a bill where you are actually spending money, that's the job of congress. what do progressives think can be done with executive action? >> well, first of all, we are seeing that no magical solution presented itself over christmas. the problem remains the problem. a number of progressive thinkers have proposed ways to use executive authority to solve problems that they have not been able to solve legislatively. for example, elizabeth warren, senator elizabeth warren and others have suggested that the president could unilaterally with the spoke stroke of his pen forgive a large amount, not all, but a large amount of student debt in this country. so they are fighting for that to relieve student debt or cancel large amounts of student debt. there are other areas in which they believe joe biden can stretch the limits of executive authority and do that that would, of course, be an admission that they have failed to actually pass it through congress. i'm not sure that biden, who does have an essential caution in him would be willing to go along with some of these plans. >> susan, we saw on president obama's term the pen and the phone. that effort some of them were challenged in court. his or hers were ereyesed in another president, president trump came along and that executive chose differently. most likely do you think that it's a scaled back versions of build back better that starts anew after the new year? >> yeah, maybe after this cooling off period of the holidays because the one legislation that they could get passed is legislation that gets that fitsjoe biden's parameters. it still could be a significant package of $1.75 trillion. that is not 3.5 trillion but it is still a lot of money that would enable you to do some big programs. and the question is, will democrats -- will there be a vin diagram where the most that joe manchin accepts is the same as the least that the progressive also accept because that's what could get through congress, the fact is you executive find yourself 1.75 trillion money. meantime, susan, you have got this battle for voting rights, and talking about changing the filibuster in some way they don't have manchin and sinema from arizona saying they don't want to do it that way. here is john yarmuth speaking about this. >> founding fathers never thought that the minority should prevail. that's what we are dealing with right now. we want to move this country forward, and if we want to save the democracy we have to make a change. do you think that you have the right to deny progress to the other 331 million people based on your assessment of what west virginians need or want? >> bret: i mean, i have heard a lot of arguments for the filibuster changes, but one of them not being that he is representing west virginia and joe manchin he is talking about and is he representing what he thinks his voters want. and he looks like, according to the polls is right. >> he is representing what his votersment. i went back and read your transcript of senator manchin's interview on december 19th. he was very clear the filibuster is not on the table. senator sinema says it's not on the table. like the filibuster, as with build back better there are stages of political grief. there is anger, denial, bargaining, depression and eventually get to acceptance. democrats aren't going to get anywhere until they actually accept the fact that on rights which are not voting rights but massive expansion of federal power and build back better the ball is in the court of their two democratic friends joe manchin and kyrsten sinema. i think susan and byron would be as hard-pressed as i am to recall. i never remembered two senators with this much authority. they ought to just ask them what will you do because you've got the ball. take a shot. otherwise, nothing is going to happen and they will never get to accept it. >> bret: and, by nothing happening, byron, that is a dramatic impact, potentially on the 2022 elections. >> it is. the basic problem that he is referring to is the fact that democrats do not control a majority of seats in the u.s. senate. it's 50/50. they have to get a perfectly unanimous democratic party to get to a tie which then the vice president can break in their favor. and i think one thing they have to worry about and this connects to what we were talking about the covid in the earlier segment is presidential job approval is a major predictor of how a party does in midterm elections. joe biden's is going downward. it's probably going to go downward on covid as well and if he does not have these legislative achievements to talk, about it will probably go downward further. this is something that is a major, major worry for democrats right now. >> bret: susan, last thing quickly. and i have asked this to a number of panels. what do you think the biden administration is doing well or very well right now? >> you know, i think they have made some progress on covid. we shouldn't discount that they have brought some sense of normalcy back to the government after the time of great turmoil and tumult during the trump administration. so i think there are some things that they have -- they also got through the infrastructure bill with a bipartisan vote. in that early covid relief bill last march. so, you can't say they have done nothing. but the problem is they there are still some more things to be done. >> bret: yeah, they really never got credit to the bipartisan infrastructure bill because they tied it to the other bill which doesn't seem. panel, when we come back, tomorrow's headlines. ♪ age is just a number. and mine's unlisted. try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health. versus 16 grams in ensure high protein. boost® high protein also has key nutrients for immune support. boost® high protein. priceline works with top hotels to sell their unsold rooms, saving you up to 60%. ah, yes. the parental delegation? you should stay with us. it's no trouble. it's no trouble for him. fine, don't stay with us. i didn't really ask to... okay. superpowers from a spider bite? i could use some help showing the world how liberty mutual customizes their car insurance. ow! i'm ok! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ only in theaters december 17th. >> bret: finally tonight, a look at tomorrow's headlines with the panel. hugh, first to you. of. >> ominous news out of china, bret. 13 million chinese in the city of pyongyang strictest very bad news. >> bret: byron? >> mine is coming off the president's surprising no federal solution statement today. biden to governors, not my problem. you guys deal with it. >> bret: susan? >> my headline americans divided about almost everything agree they are glad that 2021 is almost over. >> bret: i hear you there. that's a big headline. all right. panel, thanks so much. have great night. tomorrow on "special report" ongoing coverage of the biden administration's response to the omicron surge plus we fact checked the heated rhetoric behind democrats' voting rights bill. what's in there? we will show you. thanks for inviting us into your home tonight again. that's it for this "special report" faired, balanced and still unafraid. this week freedom is hosted by katie pavlich and that starts right now with six seconds to spare. hey, katie. >> katie: hey, bret. thank you very much. all right. good evening and welcome "fox news primetime." i'm katie pavlich. tonight we start with democracy. for months the left has been sounding the alarm that american democracy is dying. >> i do think that we are facing a crisis of democracy. >> a demise much democracy. it's happening before our eyes. >> they reward those, the republicans not all but most republicans with power which puts us one step closer to ending this democracy.

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