And julia coronado, former economist at the federal reserve. Good morning to you both. We are 30 minutes from President Biden making remarks on the economy. Mon, these numbers are not what economists thought wed be seeing. What are you hearing from the White House pokes behind the scenes . Reporter theyre trying to highlight some of the good signals of hope in this jobs report, for instance the fact that the Unemployment Rate fell to 5. 2 , which is the lowest it has been since march of 2020, when the pandemic of course kicked off in full swing, and so many jobs were lost, and the fact that so far, 76 of those since the pandemic began have been recovered, leaving more than 5 Million jobs still to go. This is something we really got a preview of about a month ago when the president spoke on the July Jobs report. He wasnt ringing a note of celebration, he was worried about the hard work to come and the potential impact of the delta virant. You can expect a repeat of those things today. The White House is also going to be framing this as they still need, theyre going to argue, more People to get vaccinated. That that is a huge thing that can contribute to more steady growth for the economy, and they really were touting those numbers earlier in the year when more People were getting their shots in arms and of Course Weve seen since then a decrease, now slowly ramping up again. Expect the president to tie these things together and saying the road ahead is a long One And Plenty of speed bumps On The Road to recovery, hallie. Mon, thank you for that. I should correct myself, were expecting the president any minute, his departure for minnesota is later on this hour. Julia, lets talk about the Delta Factor here, right, because you saw some gains in Business Services and transportation and manufacturing, but you know what took a hit, retail and specifically Leisure And Hospitality. Does that tell you that covid and the pandemic is absolutely still playing a part here . Without a doubt. We are moving in the right direction. Where we expected to see the strongest hiring, Leisure And Hospitality and teachers did not post the gains we expected, and we can look through the details and see that yes, probably the rise of the Delta Variant, the delay of return to office, the cancellation of Business Travel and Business Events is going to hit the Leisure And Hospitality sector and its probably throwing sand in the gears of reopening schools, affecting Womens Ability to return to work, so theres a lot of frictions that are coming from the rise of the Delta Variant. Black and latino workers have a higher amount than others, given some of the increased Unemployment Benefits are going away. Absolutely, those workers tend to be disproportionately employed in the Service Sector in the Leisure And Hospitality sector, women in particular, so theyve borne the brunt of the pandemic so as the pandemic surges again the workers that will get hit the hardest. Weve made progress as has been the case for the last year and a half, the Economys Progress is tied to the, to covid and the progress in the pandemic. We need to see continuing moving forward on that front. Julia and monica, thank you. Well see you as soon as the president wraps up his remarks. The president is headed to louisiana to get a look firsthand at the damage from Hurricane Ida and this follows the Devastation Weve seen in the northeast, in New Jersey, in pennsylvania from the remnants of ida. 48 People have been killed over the last 24 hours. I bring in Yasmin Vossoughian in manville, New Jersey, gary is in Mullica Hill and Vaughn Hillyard ahead of the visit to louisiana. Yasmin we showed a little bit of governor in you are fee looking at some of the extreme flooding where you are and hes issued this warning now. He was out on the today show this morning, said we are not Out Of The Woods yet. What are you seeing . Reporter not Out Of The Woods yet. Hes exactly right because a lot of the homes and ill show you one of them a lot of flooding in the basement. Pse g wanted to shut off all the electric in the homes surrounding this area where im standing. The two homes behind me, one of them completely blew up. The other one in front of it, the smoke still smoking. Reporter its actually bothering my eyes. It happened overnight. The one in front lit on fire because of the electric that was still there obviously with the flooding and then pouring onto the electric system thats why these houses actually lit up. Why the governor says this, so many of the homes still have a lot of water inside them and the Electricity Hasnt been shut off as of yet. If you think about it, thats a really bad combination, so we do need to be cautious as were showing you some of this stuff that we are seeing. This family here, they evacuated 2 30 in the morning because their neighbor came and knocked on the door and said you got to get out. They didnt know and this is the theme that ive been hearing over and over again. They didnt know the water got so bad at midnight. Hi, how are you . Hello. Reporter midnight when you went to bed, there was no water. No. Reporter just rain. Around 12 00 a. M. In the morning. After two Hours Someone knocking on my door, you guys got to get out. I opened the door the water was this high. I was like oh my god, i have no time. Grabbed my kids, a backpack, went out. Reporter you have a 6yearold and a 2yearold. And a 2yearold. Reporter imagine that, hallie, youre a mom, how anxietyinducing is, middle of the night, you got to get out of your house, kids, waking them up, hard enough to get them to sleep. Right. Reporter middle of the night get them up and out to somewhere thats comfortable enough to lower the level of anxiety and now your home is completely gone because of the flooding. Can we go inside to see things . Yes. Reporter stick with me one more moment. Its important as ive been showing folks its really bad. Reporter its really bad and the images are telling the story of what has gone on here with the flooding and so many People were caught off guard going to bed at night and waking up a couple hours later and inundated with water. Ill follow you. This is a mess. Reporter are you seeing t hallie, are you able to see it . Is the Lighting Good . Completely done. Its uninhabitable. This is why you hear the governor saying were in bad shape. Look at the basement. Look at this. Its still completely full. They have to empty this water out. Thats up to my waist. Im not going to try to go down there and figure it out but thats water up to my waist at this point. Lets back out, tim, i dont want to be in here for too long. So ill tell you this. Shes telling me that, and i dont want to stay in here too long. I want to show your kids bedrooms but important we get back ought because were safe because the electric is not turned off in this house. I was told, hallie, that in order to file for the insurance claims, the Insurance Company says you need to take all the water out of your house. Think about it. Do you have a Water Pump right now . Yes, im trying to get another one. Reporter youre trying to get another one. In order to file a claim you got to get the water out of the basement. A reason as to why . I filed a claim. We need to empty the basement in order for them to go inside the property, inspect the property. Reporter got it. Im so sorry for your Loss Youve dealt with in the last 48 hours or so. I imagine its heartbreaking for you and your family. Thank you for allowing us to go inside your home. Thank you. Reporter this is up front and personal as to what folks are experiencing here. The governor saying theyre allowing 10 Million in grants going forward because a lot of People are needing help, Infravukt Tour thematically not being able to withstand this incredible storm we experienced here in the northeast. Thank you. Well see if they get the electric turned off. Gary is in New Jersey, behind you it looks very similar, a total mess. Reporter hey there, hallie. It is. Residents are arriving back at their homes to continue to clean up. Yesterday was more for them about salvaging what they could of their personal belongings. Today we see more contractors on the street, dumpsters here in the area, were hearing the sounds of chainsaws. This was a tornado, the strongest tornado to hit New Jersey in more than 30 years. Were talking about 150mileanhour winds, and it spanned 12 miles across south jersey, at times the width of four football fields. I want to show you what some of the damage looks like here. See the garage that collapsed on top of that car, and of course, there isnt a second floor to this home anymore. You see this surrounding neighborhood at various degrees of Damage And Governor murphy does say the aid is coming. He says he has a federal Emergency Declaration through the White House and with fema, theyll bring in financial aid and also in terms of the equipment that they need to make this, to clean this place up both in Mullica Hill and across the state of New Jersey. Financial aid he announced a 10 Million Grant Program for small businesses impacted by flooding and tornadoes. Here in Mullica Hill no injuries or casualties reported from the tornado but a long way to go on the cleanup. Gary grumbach live in New Jersey. Talk about what president Bide Listen See in louisiana . You are sweating it out along with so many People in this blistering heat. Reporter hallie, hes going to see thousands of individuals who are on Day Number six of having essentially almost no access to Water Or Food or power, electricity here and that is when youre talking about a situation here in houma, we drove in at the one Gas Station down the road, 111 cars were waiting at sunrise to get gas. This line here, theyre coming to get tarps, coming to get water, coming to get ice, mres from the national guard because were talking to folks here, one gentleman who drove away this morning, at 4 20 a. M. This morning hoping for ice, they dont have any ice here at this particular location. To give you a sense what Joe Biden is going to see as such an expansive area that was hit here, were about 60 miles from New Orleans, the heart of New Orleans where we were yesterday and there were folks coming up to this one particular Street Corner there in New Orleans where local chefs and Restaurant Owners have put together all of their items from the kitchen, all of their Leftover Meat and perishables and just distributing them to the best of their abilities because People are coming up that were sticking it out there in New Orleans who again yesterday was day five. Today day six and still there are a lot of questions of where is that backup, where are the supplies, because there are folks, hundreds of them that are waiting for backup here and its Day Number six. Vaughn hillyard live for us in louisiana, thank you. Yasmin, gary, we appreciate your reporting. Well stay close to the White House where the action is this hour, really any minute we expect to see President Biden pop up at a podium to deliver remarks on the economy before heading to right houma, where vaughn just was. First a update in the most highprofile Capitol Riot Case the Qanon Shahman expected in a d. C. Courtroom about 45 minutes from now, were previewing the hearing with one of the reporters who has been all over this case. You dont want to miss it. Progressives threatening to sink the bill Joe Manchin worked on for months now thats caused for a pause on their top priority. Were live on capitol hill. And screening for Colon Cancer. Yep. 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A lot of the anticipation around this hearing is finding out whether or not chansley will cooperate with the feds to help them get to other folks at the riot. That is the heart of the matter. Does he flip and plead guilty to a felony . Other defendants will watch that closely as well and perhaps follow suit. Its a distinctive case in part because of the distinctive clothes he was wearing, the horns, the head dress, the red, white and blue face paint, the lack of a shirt but also the allegations. A Metal Pole with a Metal Spearhead banging and called Mike Pence a Vulgarity And Traitor and left a note at Mike Pences desk in the Senate Chamber that justice is coming. This is a significant case, its a felony case. Weve seen this parade of Misdemeanor Defendants come forward in the past two weeks and plead guilty to misdemeanors likely avoiding jail time. Jacob chansley faces a felony account. Acknowledge and take the felony in his Plea Agreement which would almost guarantee prison time and does that send a message to other Felony Defendants . 160 accused of assaulting police, dotzs more accused of other felonies. Do they see the chansley takes and run toward Plea Agreements of their own or run away and take their chances at trial . Well have the latest on nbc. Thank you. We have developing news from capitol hill. Senator Dick Durbin announces as it relates to the controversial, new Texas Abortion Law there will be and looking at our notes coming in, there will be a hearing in the Judiciary Committee about this. I bring in Sahil Kapur on capitol hill. The senator is describing the law as a devastating blow to americans constitutional rights. Let me ask you this. Is this a first step to something more or a step to satisfy those on the left who are really demanding, and i talked to some of the Abortion Rights advocates who say we want congress to do something to step up here. A first step to examining what Senator Durbin the chairman calls the supreme Courts Abuse of the shadow docket, after the court has used that process to deliver meaningful consequential decisions on the Texas Abortion Law and President Bidens Eviction Moratorium and the remain in mexico policy. Growing concern among figures like durbin and other experts the Supreme Court is avoiding hearing oral arguments and going through the arguments for and against big issues, so yes, the Supreme Court is an independent branch of Government But Congress has the power of the pours. Thats the thing Senator Durbin and other members will be looking at when they examine this. Let me ask you this for broadly. Senator warren and others have in the wake of the Texas Law and before that for Years Congress can and should codify the protections under Roe Versus wade in law. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced she plans to bring a bill to the floor as soon as the house gets back from recess that would do just that. Thats the house. Harder to do in the senate. Is there a congressional path . The answer is probably not almost certainly not right now. There is a path in the house and difficult path in the senate. Democrats can use majority to pass a piece of legislation that would codify the protections of Roe Versus wade and subsequent precedence into law. Speaker pelosi announced plans to do just that. In the senate it is a 50 50 chamber. There is a similar bill that has cosponsorships from 48 senators, all of them democrats. It could potentially get those final two holdouts, Joe Manchin and bob casey. There are prochoice republicans including Lisa Murkowski and susan collins. It needs to get around the filibuster and theres no indication the two Holdouts Manchin and sinema are moving on that. The likely scenario is they can move this through the house but probably going to get stranded in the senate. Sahil, you brought up senator Joe Manchin, hes in the news for a different reason this morning because he on this issue of Reconciliation And Infrastructure he wants a strategic pause on the movement of that front. He has this oped. Chuck schumer needs a yes from him and every other democrat to pass the bill of reconciliation. Pull out your manchin English Dictionary and explain what a strategic pause means and what youre hearing from your sources in leadership and democratic side whether that can even happen. That all depends on what is going on in the mind of Joe Manchin. He did not define these terms and did not say what a strategic pause means. The thing to know in the oped the only Red Line hes not supporting a 3. 5 trillion Budget Reconciliation Bill likely going to come down that number because manchins fellow Democrat Kyrsten Sinema will not support a 3. 5 trillion bill. Manchin raised concerns about the debt and about inflation, which means hes created a bit of an Obstacle Course for himself. Having covered manchin, when he wants to get to yes he finds his way there. How determined is he and is he willing to make the compromises necessary with other democrats to get this to President Bidens desk . This is a centerpiece of President Bidens Agenda And Defeat for this would be a devastating blow to the president. As you can badge, hallie, progressives in the House And Senate are not happy with manchin. Many want the Reconciliation Bill as a top priority to deal with Climate Change and make investments in health care, Child Care and paid leave and threatening to sink the Infrastructure Bill Joe Manchin helped write, passed the senate and sitting in the house, still needs a vote in the house, threatening to sink that if Manchin Curtails or tries to kill the Reconciliation Bill. Senator Bernie Sanders responded to his colleague from West Virginia saying if the Reconciliation Bill goes down then hes going to fight to take down the infrainstruct tire bill, that they have to move at the same time. That is a standoff right now. That is where the two sides are at odds and some of the tension is natural, these two wings want to be opposed to Each Other. Ultimately they need Each Other to get their priorities into law, where this is a messy process over the coming weeks. So sa hill, juggling a lot. Thank you. Come up on the show, new reporting from overseas on the talibans new government, and update on The Americans still stranded in afghanistan, with the chair of the house armed services committee, Congressman Adam Smith joining us next. Baaam. Internet that doesnt Miss A beat. Thats cute, but my internet streams to my ride. Pshh, mines so fast, No One can catch me. Thats because you both have the same internet. Xfinity xfi. So powerful, it keeps oneupping itself. Can your internet do that . What happens when we Welcome Change . We can transform our workforce overnight out of convenience, or necessity. We can explore uncharted waters, and not only make new discoveries, but get there faster, with better outcomes. With app, cloud and anywhere workspace solutions, vmware helps companies navigate change meeting them where they are, and getting them where they want to be. Faster. Vmware. Welcome change. Sales are down from last quarter but we are hoping things will pick up by q3. Yeah. Uh. 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How about we get back to the savings . [ everyone agreeing ] any minute we expect to hear from Homeland Security Secretary talking about the effort to resettle afghan evacuees in the u. S. , hell be speaking from the podium on the left side of your screen, comes as Tens Of Thousands of others who would qualify are still trapped, still stuck in afghanistan. The Wall Street Journal reporting that Land Borders are closed, some afghans are turning to smugglers. The Kabul Airport is still back up and running. The taliban is working on that and have to announce a new government. Theyve again postponed that announcement, bringing up new questions about what the deal is there. Nbcs Julia Ainsley is covering the News Conference and Raph Sanchez is in doha. Julia, talk about what youre listening for on this operation from the Homeland Security Secretary and latest on progress about getting the People stuck in afghanistan out soon. We can imagine the secretary mayorkas will want to focus on the afghan allies evacuated to the united states and the efforts that are under way to not only process them but also to test them for covid, all of that happens on the State Side and any quarantining happening on u. S. Military bases but also important and ngos asked for this from the administration that they commit to allowing these People to work, a lot of these People left with absolutely nothing. The afghan banks are closed, coming here with the clothes on their backs many times with families they need to take Care Of. Theres usually a months long heads up, the u. S. Gets before they have refugees saying theyre ready to be resettled. These were quickly dropped overnight. So its not always likely the Resettlement Agencies will be ready for them. Ngos asked for some guarantee these People can have Work Authorization and a lot of support as they try to get resettled into the united states. Its not always easy to do. But of course the Big Question will be what happens to People who are still there . We know there are about 100 to 200 americans according to White House estimates, and far more of those afghan allies, many of those who worked with the united states, Tens Of Thousands who may never be able to get out and are now trying to decide if they should risk their fate to try to go to a border when what used to be a ticket out, which would be proof of your work with the u. S. , is now a target on your back, hallie. Julia, thank you. Raph, let me go to you. We expected potentially this announcement from the taliban on the new effectively governing force in afghanistan. That announcement was again postponed, why . Reporter we were expecting the taliban to gather at the president ial palace in Kabul Today to unveil their new government. Its now looking like thats being delayed at least for a couple of days. But two taliban commanders tell nbc news they expect when the announcement is made Mullah Baradar will be the new leader of talibancontrolled afghanistan. Is he not a Household Name in the united states but he is very wellknown to the u. S. Government. He is a veteran Taliban Leader who was captured in pakistan in 2010, but then released from prison in 2018 at the request of the trump administration, because it was looking for somebody to make a Peace Deal with, and ever since then, he has been the u. S. Governments Goto Person in the taliban. He sat across from the u. S. Peace negotiators here in doha, qatar during the Peace Talks and Bill Burns flew to kabul two weeks ago for a Facetoface Meeting with him as the city was falling. There had been so question about whether when the taliban unveils this new government they might include women, whether they might try to signal to the world they moved on from where they were in 2001 but a taliban spokesman telling an italian newspaper this morning, that is not going to happen. Women can have administrative goals in government but hallie, they will not be ministers and they will not be leaders. Raph sanchez, thank you for that report from doha, qatar. Julia ainsley, Thank Youfor your reporting. I want to bring in democratic Congressman Adam Smith of washington, chairman of the armed services committee. Thank you for being with us and good morning. Thank you, appreciate the chance. Bring us up to speed if you will about what youre hearing from your contacts at the State Department about the push to get remaining americans out of afghanistan, what are they telling you and are you satisfied with what theyre telling you . Its a chaotic situation, and i dont think anyone should be satisfied with where were at right now. Your reporting demonstrates that and as a member of congress were getting a deluge of People saying we still have Siv Holders and afghans who want to get out, families of People who have gotten out and its chaotic. As you noted the Airport Isnt open, People trying to figure out whether or not they should run to the border. Also a number of our allies, germany and uk who are involved in this, trying to be helpful as well. There is no clear path at the moment. It does say youre an Siv Holder in afghanistan, what is your path to getting out. It is not clear. At the moment im not satisfied with the answers from the State Department about heres what were going to do. Its not an easy situation. Im not going to pretend it is but we need a lot of clarity on that to say here is what were going to get to, to get the People out and we do not have that at the moment. Congressman i got word two minutes to President Biden making remarks at the White House. I want to stay with you until he begin speaking. We heard from Raph Sanchez the announcement on the new leadership is formerly postponed. I wonder what that relationship looks like. Would you support a formal recognition . Under what condition . Not right now. Thats the other form of the chaos. Not like the taliban won an election and now installed as the government. Anti taliban forces are fighting back, obviously we know about isisk but also the taliban they didnt have a government in waiting. It adds to the chaos. The u. S. Needs to look at Theical Ban with a wary eye and not recognize them. I dont know, a high Amount Percentage of the economy of afghanistan was dependent upon our presence in and the western presence, where they got so much of their money, and now [ snaps finger ] thats gone. Sadly, the way it is most likely to play out, china is looking very closely at this and trying to build a relationship with the taliban, primarily so that they can get access to the minerals and precious resources available in afghanistan, so in the short term the most likely thing is the taliban are going to do deals with china and try to take their money to get the economy going. Let me ask you, you talk about the short term. Lets talk about the short term as it relates to the Diplomatic Mission that you reference at the beginning of our discussion mere. Do you get the sense or are you concerned that now it is no longer a military mission, things are moving slower, have started to move slower, will continue to be slower . Absolutely. Its just much more difficult. As difficult as it was during i forget how many days, 15, 16 dis doing the evacuation, we had 4,000, 5,000 u. S. Troops on the ground controlling the airport that could at least help and guide and steer People. Now we are completely dependent upon the taliban or new afghan government to get that done, that makes it much more difficult without question. President bide bes Approval Rating around 44 . Trying to give you short quick answers and its tough to give a short quick answer to that. Congressman, we got the twominute warning, blown past it. We dont know when the president will speak. Feel free to deliver your full answer. Ill try to be concise and say Joe Biden made the right decision to get us out of afghanistan. Number one. Number two ton of unfair criticism by the Armchair Quarterbacks who want to believe there was some easy solution. The alternative is presented, gosh, if we just stayed we could have stayed in a peaceful situation, you know, and had a minimal presence. None of that is true. If we had stayed, we would have been continuing the war. Everyone forgets there was this Peace Deal that President Trump negotiated, that ended on may 1st. If we announced we were staying, we would have been back in a war and it would have been irresponsible to put 2,500 u. S. Troops in afghan they wouldnt have the protection. They would have had to have had more. Im with ruben gallegos, the congressman from arizona with the generals who couldnt figure out how to get the government in afghanistan to work on afghanistan for 20 years and saying biden made the wrong call, he should have stayed. Either those People are incredibly incompetent and couldnt accomplish what theyre saying biden should try to accomplish or it wasnt accomplishable. So i feel very strongly theres a lot of unfair criticism coming down on President Biden but the other thing i feel strongly about, our committee held a series of hearings in february and march what was happening in afghanistan. The dominant Theme Led by Congressman Crowe from colorado and others is what is your plan to get the sivs out. And very early on the answer was eh, the State Departments working on that. We said thats not good enough. This is a major problem. They did not develop a plan to get the sivs out and the last point, The Point that President Biden and his team will play. Say they made that decision sorry, speaking of President Biden, he is taking to the microphone now than fou for being with us. Down to louisiana and a few things i had to do. Look, as we head into Labor Day weekend, we have more evidence of the progress of our economy from last years economic calamity. The economy created 285,000 jobs in august and unemployment fell to 5. 2 , the lowest in 18 months. Despite the impact of the Delta Variant and ill talk a little more about that in a minute were seeing an economic recovery thats durable and strong. The Biden Plan is working. Were getting results. America is on the move again and Todays Revision of previous Months Job gains with the revision of July Numbers this report means that we have been adding an average of 750,000 jobs per month on average during the past three months. In the three months before i became president , well, we were adding 60,000 jobs a month. Total Job Creation in the first seven months of my career is double any prior first Year President. While i know some wanted to see a larger Number Today and so did i, what weve seen this year is the continued Growth Month after month in Job Creation. Its not just that ive added more jobs than any first Year President , in the first year of any president , its that weve added jobs in every single one of my first seven Job Reports and wages are going up. Some more jobs, some months are fewer, some months more but always adding jobs. This is the growth that makes our economy stronger and consistent progress and not boom or bust. Our economy grew the first half of this year at the fastest rate in about 40 years, where the only developed country in the world, say that again, the only developed country in the world whose economy is now bigger than it was before the pandemic, because the Ground Work we laid with The American Rescue Plan, our vaccination and our Vaccination Strategy were seeing an economy and a Job Market that can weather the ups and downs of the Delta Variant and anything else that comes our way. We have a lot more work to do, as i will discuss shortly, but the facts speak for themselves. Think of where this country stood on the day i was sworn in as president and compare it to where we are today. A number of People filing new claims for unemployment is down 57 , down 57 . Child poverty is down nearly 50 . Were no longer seeing long lines of People waiting for boxes of food to be put in their trunk after waiting for hours, sometimes up to two hours. The Unemployment Rate is down from 6. 3 to 5. 2 and i believe it will continue to go down and its no wonder last weeks Gallop Poll found 72 of americans think now is a good time to find a quality job. At this time last year that number was 30 , thats the mark of an economy where regular People can see a place for themselves in the economy. The holidays we celebrate this weekend, the holiday, Labor Day is about honoring the dignity of work, honoring The American worker. Thats what our economic strategy is all about as well. Its about growing our economy from the Bottom Up and the middle out, providing some extra Breathing Room. My dad would just say just a little Breathing Room, creating an environment where employers have a truly, have to compete, compete for workers providing higher wages and better benefits. Thats whats happening. Wages are up especially for working class americans. Even so, even with the Progress Weve made, were not where we need to be in our economic recovery. There are two critical tasks ahead this month to get us closer to our goal and to take the next steps in our recovery. First, we need to make more progress in fighting the Delta Variant of covid19. This is a continuing pandemic of the unvaccinated. Since becoming president ive ramped up testing, secured enough vaccine for every single american, and gotten 175 Million americans fully vaccinated. Still, still too many have not gotten vaccinated, and its creating a lot of unease in our economy and around our kitchen tables. Todays report shows that steps weve taken passing the Rescue Plan and vaccinating 175 Million People make our economy capable of growing and adding jobs, even in the face of this continuing delta surge. Strength in our economy very different from the way things were last winter. Theres no question the Delta Variant is why Todays Job Report isnt stronger. I know People were looking and i was hoping for a higher number, but next week, ill lay out the next steps that are going to, were going to need to combat the Delta Variant to address some of those fears and concerns. I want to talk about how to further protect our schools, our businesses, our economy, and our families from the threat of delta. As we continue to fight the Delta Variant, The American Rescue Plan we pass continues to support families, businesses and communities. Even as some of the benefits that were provided are set to expire next week, states have the option to extend those benefits, and the federal resources from the Rescue Plan to do so, not more federal taxes, state taxes, but they have the federal money to be able to do that. States continue to have access to a wide array of support like help for schools that are reopening, help for Child Care centers, make them available, and affordable, and other resources to help our economy get back to normal. The measures weve taken so far have brought america out of an economic freefall, steadied us and enabled to us grow our economy even as we continue to combat covid. We are adding jobs, not losing them. The fight against Covid Today is far different from the fight we were waging last winter. The second thing that has to happen in september is for the congress, the House And Senate, to finish the job of passing my economic agenda, so that we can keep up the historic Momentum Weve been building these last seven months. Its about investing in americas future. Not about short term stimulus. Thats not what were talking about. These are longterm prosperity were talking about, lowering the cost of living for families, creating millions of good paying job for Hard Working Americans, its about reducing bottlenecks in our economy, reducing longterm price pressures, allowing more People to work and helping ease the burden that parents bear. The senate and the house have taken important steps forward to pass my bipartisan infrastructure plan. This bill is going to end years of gridlock. We always had, you know, the whole notion we had i guess it was every week was going to be infrastructure week. Both literally and figuratively, its going to change things on our streets across the country, and figuratively as it relates to washington. Well create millions of jobs and ease the pleasure and allow us to win the competition of the 21st century in a global economy where the competition has become more intense. Look, its historic investment in roads and Rail And Transit and bridges, and clean energy, clean water, universal broadband, its going to modernize our energy grid, you need not go any further, look whats happening across the country now in terms of the energy grid. Its about resilience, make our roads and highways safer. Make us more resilient to the kinds of devastating impacts from extreme weather were seeing in so many parts of the country. And look, this is about goodpaying jobs for ordinary People, blue collar workers, jobs at prevailing wage, not 15 an hour or 20 or 30 but for the carpenters and pipefitter, plumbers, electrical workers and so many other americans, about 90 of the jobs we create with this Plan Wont require a College Degree but fundamentally transform the lives of millions of People. Its going to transform america and propel us into the future just as we did when we built the transcontinental rail road andr. Look, at the same time the House And Senate have two advance my build back better agenda. Childcare making it easier for families to go to work and assure their family is being taken Care Of. Your greatest concern is for your child. Taking Care Of them without risking losing their paycheck. Not indefinitely, but for a time period they can make a different. It is increasing our competitive edge globally, around the world, over time. And well combat Climate Change by building our clean energy future. Creating millions of jobs and building windmills and Solar Panels all around the country and transmitting it to areas that dont have that capacity. Well bring down the cost of Prescription Drugs by allowing medicare to final i will be able to negotiate Drug Prices with producers. Here is the thing that you need to know. Were going to deliver these investments without raising taxes one cent on anyone making less than 400,000 a year. How do we do that . By leveling the playing field. By just having a fair system. Where we ask the largest corporations and the wealthiest americans to pay their fair share, not more. They can still make millions of dollars. They will still have three homes, its not going to affect anything. The fact of the matter is that it is about time they begin to pay their fair share. For example, you heard me say it before and i will say it again, its the best example of what to say to People. 55 of the largest corporations in america last year paid zero, zero, in federal taxes. I dont care what your position is. It just time to pay their fair chair. The recession and the pandemic, you heard me say this before, the vast majority of age the number of americans actually grew. I want to hold here for just a second. If, you know, there is so many records in the Stock Market, imagine if the other guy was here. Were doing great. Its wonderful, the Stock Market is surging. Gone up higher for me than anyone. That doesnt mean that is best for the economy. They are starting record highs this year. The house and the senate are working on my plan to generate a fair tax system. Closing big loopholes. There is a group of experts left, right, and center from the top 1 of taxpayers alone. Not because of low tax rates, but because the wealthy People are not paying the taxes they owe. Were going to change that so they pay like typical Hard Working Americans right now. We will use the money we collect to give Tax Cuts to middle class families. To make it easier. And so much more. What is going on in congress . Not a single republican supports this plan. They support the bipartisan plan, but not this plan. Not one. And some big corporations are spending billions to try to skate through what they oh. Somebody has to pay. And when those who can afford to pay arent paying near their fair share, it means you all pay more. This is worked in the past, but i dont think it is going to work for me. My message is this. Its time for working families. Folks that built this country. To have their taxes cut. And those corporate interests doing everything they can to let congress keep that from happening. Im going to take them on. When corporations and the wealthy start to pay their fair share, its going to help millions of People punch their ticket to the middle class and stay in the middle class. Everyone will do better including Corporate America. Throughout our history, when the middle class prospers, is there ever a time that the wealthy and Corporate America didnt do well . I Cant Think of one. Our country needs these investments. Liex i said, if you hold here the fact is that you know the very wealthy will still have three or four homes if they want. Its not going to change what schools they send their kids to, its not changing their standard of living. Just pay a fair share. I have not seen that it will cost jobs or anything, you know . And making sure the can economy continues to gain Strength And Stability to move forward. The third thing we need to do, all of us, is to stick together. We have to put ourselves on track to accomplish extraordinary things. Strong, inclusive, historic economic growth. Landmark investments to creating more jobs and Breathing Room for millions of families. A giant step forward, the crisis made more evident than ever by the Death And Destruction caused by extreme weather just these past few days. My agenda, i believe, is one that every american can get behind because of the work we have all put in. Every one of those goals is u now in our reach. Coming together is part of the dna of americans. If we summon that there is nothing beyond our capacity. Lets remember who we are. Were the united states of america. The rest of the world is looking to us. Were the most prosperous in the world right now. Were growing and there is a fairness to what were doing. We will still have millionaires and billionaires. But everybody has to start paying their fair share. Thank you very much. What is your message to women in texas and what can your administration do to protect Abortion Rights on the federal level. Im going to talk about these things from louisiana, but i have been and continue to be a strong supporter of Roe V wade, number one. And the most pernicious thing about the Texas Law is sort of creating a vigilante system, and it just seems unamerican, what were talking about. Not the debate about i respect People who think that, who dont support Roe V wade. I respect their views. They believe life begins the moment of conception. I dont agree, but i respect that. What i was told and i must tell you, im not is your honor, i was told that there is possibilities within the existing law to have the Justice Department Look and see whether or not there are thing thats can be done that can limit the independent Ax Enforcing A state law. I dont know enough to give you an answer yet. I asked that to be checked. Thank you very much. Mr. President what about booster shots. Good morning, everybody. We have been listening to Plt Biden on todays underwhelming jobs in your opinions. We gained 235,000 jobs. Half A Million fewer than experts hoped. The president admitted they were not as high as he would like but he insists that