letting us dive into your hour, and thanks to all of you for letting us into your homes during these truly extraordinary times, i'll see you tomorrow for "deadline white house." rachel we turn it over to you. >> got bless you, nicole. it has been a remarkable hour on msnbc. i'm so grateful for my colleagues and for colleagues in particular like nicole who can handle the emotional weight of what she just did there. that was just -- what a service. tomorrow night here is going to be a very big deal as well, which nicole alluded to at the end of her hour there. as you know, president biden is going to be giving his first prime time address to the nation on the issue of covid on the one-year anniversary of the declaration of the worldwide pandemic. we're going to have chris hayes at the lincoln memorial tomorrow coming out of that speech doing a special hour of his own. looking back at what we've been through the past year but also looking ahead towards us being back together again as we start to defeat this thing, hopefully as a country. it's -- it's just a remarkable -- it's a remarkable time for us as a country, and for those of us whose job it is to cover this ongoing pandemic, it's an incredible challenge, but i am super proud of nicole and chris and so many of the other -- so many of the rest of my colleagues who have done such yeoman's work covering this in the ways that we can. i think we've all approached it in our own ways. stephanie rule who have dealt with covid, who have been sick, her and her family have talked about that with her viewers, it's heavy stuff. it's heavy stuff and there's no road map how to do it. you have to approach it every day newly. so it's been a remarkable year. tomorrow as i said, it's going to be a remarkable night. we will on this show have dr. anthony fauci with us tomorrow night, which i'm very much looking forward to. that's all ahead. this is a heck of a time in the country and a heck of a time to be in the news business. it has as of today officially been 50 days of the biden presidency, which means we are halfway through to that first 100 days benchmark for the presidency of joe biden, that first 100 days benchmark that we've used for generations now to mark the initial progress and priorities of a new president. today we're halfway there, 50 days in, and what a way to spend that day celebrating the passage of truly landmark legislation that a new pew survey today says is supported by fully 70% of the american public. some other new polling actually puts the number higher than that in terms of the public support of the covid relief bill. at minimum, we can say based on the pew research center's polling this bill has 70% support from the american public, while zero republicans voted for it. that is a kind of ratio that usually doesn't end well for elected officials who put themselves in that position. we'll have more on the political aspect of that in a moment and later ahead this hour. substantively, aside from the politics, this is just a really, really big deal. about 85% of american households are about to get $1,400 stimulus checks to help dig individual american families and the american economy as a whole out of the nuclear-sized crater that covid put in our economy. health insurance premiums, one of the biggest monthly expenses for lots and lots of american families, health insurance premiums are about to go down dramatically for millions of americans because of this bill. some people are going to see their health insurance premiums go from considerable amounts, from hundreds of dollars per month down to zero. schools, particularly k through 12 schools are about to get the funding to make the changes they need to make so they can safely reopen. that is finally green lit at last, alongside the new federal program that aims to have every single teacher, every single school staff worker, every school counselor, cafeteria worker, school bus driver, every school maintenance worker and janitor, every child care worker in america to have at least one vaccine shot by the end of this month. if you work in any of those jobs in schooling or child care, regardless of your age, regardless of whether you have any comorbidicomorbidities, you eligible to get a vaccine shot no matter what state you live in, and the pharmacies getting federal government support can get you one and they should get you one by the end of this month, which means within the next three weeks. while simultaneously as of now, the schools are going to get $130 billion to fund the upgrades and adaptations they need to get the school doors open safely. the bill, of course, funds the vaccine rollout, since we now have one as a country, the largest vaccination effort ever in american history is underway. this is finally the funding for it, and if you need further motivation along those lines, this is an unexpected place to look for motivation given the hell that these facilities have been through over the past year, but look at what is happening now with nursing homes. nursing homes, of course, were the first entities targeted intensively for vaccines. nursing homes and other congregate care facilities for the elderly. that has produced such a shockingly dramatic reduction in new cases and in covid risk overall in those facilities that today the cdc and the -- part of the federal government that oversees nursing homes, they issued new recommendations today advising nursing homes to start easing their restrictions on visitors. for the first time since the pandemic started, and that may not sound like a huge change in american life, but those visitor bans have made nursing home life so scary and so unbearable for our seniors throughout this terrifying last year in those places that that finally now easing up is a huge, human step forward, and there's -- listen, there's a lot of detail to the new guidance. the new guidance isn't directed at members of the public. it's directed at nursing homes in terms of how to shape new policies that can still keep their residents safe while also taking account of the progress that we've made in making those facilities safe and in the desperate need for people to have human contact with their loved ones. there's a lot of nuance. i'm not going to go into them in detail, if you are looking for a take home message as a member of the public based on these new guidelines. if your mom or your grandpop or your great aunt or elderly friend is in a nursing home, make sure that they have been able to get vaccinated, which means fully vaccinated, which means one or two doses, depending on which vaccine they can get, and then two weeks after the last shot that's fully vaccinated, make sure they are fully vaccinated and then make sure you're fully vaccinated, and then if nursing homes, in fact, change their rules to account for this new advice from the federal agency that oversees nursing homes, if your family member or loved one is fully vaccinated and you are, too, soon you should be able to get in there and go see them. if we can get this together now, you'll be able to go visit, bring presents, be prepared to give hugs. the toll on our american seniors has been so horrific. i mean, we're the worst hit country in the world. we've had more deaths than any other country in the world. we've had the worst epidemic of any country on earth, and the people who have paid the most for it are our seniors. nearly 1% of all american grandparents have died from covid in the past year. almost unimaginable. we talk about there being more than a half a million deaths in this country. well, more than a third of our deaths in this country were in congregate care facilities. just an unimaginable, unceasing tide of death, and then we worked on it, and we made that better with vaccines because vaccines work. death and new infections have plummeted in nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities and other care facilities like that so much so that we can start to change the rules. it's working. it's working even in the worst hit parts of our country, the worst hit facilities, the places that have been through the deepest of the bottom lens. it's working. we really can be together again if we finish out strong. on vaccines today also on top of everything else was also the day that president biden announced we'll be getting another 100 million doses of the johnson & johnson vaccine. and remember, the johnson & johnson vaccine is one shot and you're done. so the new 100 million doses means enough vaccines for another 100 million people. we're going to be getting that vaccine from johnson & johnson this year. that's over and above what we were otherwise planning on buying as a country. and for the first time, if you do that math, this raises the prospect that the united states of america may have a surplus, maybe a considerable surplus of covid vaccines by this summer. president biden said today that once americans are vaccinated first with our supply, if we do then have a surplus, we will share it with the rest of the world because he says we're not ultimately safe from the virus until the world is safe from the virus, and that is not just hippy dippy happy talk, that is true. that is math, that is virology. if this thing does run wild in big parts of the world that aren't vaccinated, new variants will develop in those parts of the world that ultimately may defeat our vaccines and our vaccine immunity and mean that we never get out from under this thing. it really is just mathematically speaking in every country's interest that every country around the world gets vaccinated. with a vaccine like this, you cannot have unvaccinated large population pockets around the world, no matter whether we like those countries or don't like those countries or have good relations with them or bad relations with them, for everybody in the world including us, everybody in the world needs to get vaccinated. and now for the first time today, it looks like we are going to be in a position to help with that finally. here's what president biden said about it today. he was wrapping up his comments to reporters about this new 100 million doses, about his prime time address to the country tomorrow. and then he took a question about this new idea that we never had before today, the idea of us having a vaccine surplus. just watch this, and while you watch this, keep in the back of your mind that only 50 days ago the president was donald trump but, boy, what a difference a president makes. just watch. >> tomorrow night i'm going in prime time to address the american people and talk about what we've been through as a nation this past year, but more importantly, i'm going to talk about what comes next. i'm going to launch the next phase of the covid response and explain what we will do as a government, and what we will ask of the american people. there is light at the end of this dark tunnel in the past year, but we cannot let our guard down now or assume that a victory is inevitable. together we're going to get through this pandemic and usher in a healthier and more hopeful future. there's real reason for hope folks. there's real reason for hope. i promise you. may god bless you all. may god protect our troops, and may god ease the pain in the heart of so many who have lost so many people in this pandemic. thank you and i really -- we're going to do this. we're going to get it done. thank you. >> mr. president, what do you plan to do with the surplus? what will you do with the surplus? >> mr. president, when will you do a press conference? >> the surplus will -- if we have a surplus, we're going to share it with the rest of the world. this is not something that can be stopped by a fence, no matter how high you build a fence o'or a wall, so we're not going to be ultimately safe until the world is safe, so we're going to start off making sure americans are taken care of first, but we're then going to try to help the rest of the world. thank you. >> but we're then going to try to help the rest of the world. talk about a pivot. from the u.s. having the worst epidemic on earth, the most deaths on earth, the most poorly managed response to the crisis of any major nation on earth to 50 days later we've now got a brand new national vaccination program that is vaccinating our people at a rate faster than any other major nation on earth. we just passed legislation in 50 days from stem to stern that is expected to add 7 million jobs back to the economy, which covid collapsed and which is expected to cut poverty in our country by a third. soon we are going to be in a position -- soon, i mean like within a few months, we're not only going to be in a position -- not only going to be in a position to vaccinate all of our own people, we will then be able to help other countries get to that point, too. to help ourselves and the whole world beat it once and for all. from last in the world to world leader once again. that would be nice. today american airlines sent out this notice to all of its employees nationwide telling them because the covid relief bill was signed today, was passed today by congress, the 13,000 employees of american who just got furlough notices last month warning them they were going to be laid off in april, those 13,000 people can rip up those furlough notices because thanks to this bill, they're going to be able to keep their jobs. they sent out this letter, all across the company and then the ceo posted this to instagram right after the bill was passed. >> i have fantastic news to share. so if you have one of those war knack notices we sent out in february, tear it up. there aren't going to be any furloughs at american airlines in april and with vaccinations on the rise, hopefully never again. >> the letter that american sent out to its employees also told them if you see your local congressional representative on a flight, be sure to thank her or him for their work this past year, and for recognizing the noble work you all do every day. which is smart, honestly, it might be worth knowing whether your local representative actually voted for this help before you thank them because, in fact, not a single republican voted for covid relief, but still, i understand the spirit of the thing. i should also tell you that incidentally mississippi republican senator roger wicker today started publicly crowing about all the good that the covid relief bill is going to do for people in mississippi, as if he voted for the bill. he's crowing about what's in the bill. he voted against the bill just like every single other republican in the senate and the house, but he is already publicly trying to take credit for it in mississippi. of course he is. on that american airlines thing, though, there definitely is -- it's striking. how often do you see a company of any size able to tell its employees this thing passed today. we expect it's going to be signed into law presently by the president and so all of you who we were going to furlough will no longer be furloughed. i mean, that just doesn't happen that definitively like that, but this is definitive, and there is targeted help in this bill for industries hit particularly hard by the pandemic including transportation companies like airlines. also, amtrak has just announced they are going to be able to bring back a bunch of their employees who were furloughed because now they're going to be able to restart service as the country gets vaccinated and people are able to start traveling again. they can restart, for example, long haul trains and the auto train and things like that, so they're able to bring back their employees now because this bill has passed. restaurants as well, like senator wicker was bragging about as if he had voted yes for the bill, restaurants are getting targeted help. nonprofits also will now be able to get the kind of ppp paycheck protection loans that for profit businesses got before. there are a lot of targeted elements of help here for organizations, entities and businesses. but what is different about this covid relief bill is that more than anything done before, radically more than anything done before, this bill targets help to individual american families. because of this bill, the poorest 20% -- the poorest 20% of americans will see their income boosted by 20%. think about that for a second. we're talking about the bottom fifth of the country in terms of income, on average their income will rise 20% per household because of this bill. what else has ever been done in our lifetime to help struggling american working families that much? families with kids in particular will start to see real benefits really soon, in addition to the stimulus payments those $1,400 checks that are about to be going out. if you have a child in your family between the ages of 6 and 17, you're going to get $3,000 because of this bill. if your child is under the age of 6, it's more than that, it's $3,600. it will come in monthly installments which means you're going to see a difference every month in what your family is taking in. if you're a working class or middle class family with let's say two small kids, say a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old, you will get several hundred dollars a month every month as a check from here on out in addition to the $1,400 stimulus payment that's going out right away. that is going to help a lot of american families, and it is going to help them a lot directly right away in a very uncomplicated way. you want to deal with the root causes of poverty, give people money, and having more money will make you less poor. and as a matter of policy, it's often treated as much more complicated than that, but from the perspective of an individual american family that does not have enough money to make ends meet, many of them because of this covid crisis, this bill will give you more money than you had before, and it will send it to you every month. you will get a chunk with the stimulus payment upfront, and if you've got kids you will get a check for several hundred dollars every month from here on out to help you. and that is the most direct way to alleviate child poverty and poverty. this -- if you want to think about this bill in the very big picture, this bill spends the same amount of money that republicans spent on the tax cuts during the trump years, and what did that do? the vast majority of that spending -- again, it's the same amount of spending as this bill -- the vast majority of that was targeted to the people who are already among the richest people in the country, the top 5%, the top 1%. this bill that just passed today spends the same amount of money as republicans did on the top earners needing tax cuts under trump. except this time we're spending the same amount of money, but we are targeting it to 85% of americans. we're only excluding the very well off, and we are especially helping the people who need the most help including american kids growing up in poverty. this bill will cut child poverty in half in this country. it will cut poverty overall in this country by one-third, and they did it in 50 days. and now the biden administration will set out to promote the benefits of the bill. white house spokeswoman general psaki saying there will be plentiful travel by the president and vice president and officials to promote the new plan. the president himself may spend enough time doing that that his first state of the union address might be pushed back all the way to april. jen psaki also interestingly said today that president biden will likely pick a point person to be in charge of the implementation of this bill, and you might remember that when he and president obama started their administration in 2009 and the democratic controlled congress passed their much smaller stimulus bill to deal with the financial crisis, president obama picked a point person to