tomorrow. now it is time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell". >> we have california assembly member mark burman who is the guy who has put into law the governor's signature on this law that now makes it law that in every election in california voters will be mailed a ballot, every single time you go to the mailbox for the election in california in the future. and, so, voter turnout there has skyrocketed with the vote by mail. and it may continue. >> you know, california is not the first state to do this. we have other states that have done this pre-pandemic. there were states that have been working this, using this policy effectively for years. they have some of the highest voter turnout in the country. not a controversial thing at all, but a huge leap into the next century for a state as big and important as california doing it. >> elizabeth warren who had very big moments in two very big hearings today. and, rachel, i'm confused. okay? i'm confused. i'm just -- i'm just watching and i'm confused. >> lawrence, you are not allowed to be confused. you are the one who explains all the congress stuff to us. you can't -- you can't allow yourself to be bewildered. >> it's wicked uncomfortable that i just don't -- never seen anything like it. so, you know, i'm a spectator. >> it will resolve, or it won't. but the person who can tell you the most right now about how it is going to resve is comin up. >> tnk yo rael. thank you. we, it was like mos senate hearings since the republican party became the trump party with one side trying to illuminate what happened a the other se sometimes in their way tryin to illuminate at happened. but all too frequently just wallowg in their own ignorance and outright stupidity. the official title of the senate armed services committee hearing was, quote, to receiveestimony on the conclusion of military operions i afghanistan. who generals testified, general mckenzie, the last commander of the united states forces in afghantan and general mark milley. the other was lloyd austin who was a four star general in the army until preside biden pointed him secretary of defense. apparently not knowing that the american mility has not won a war since world war ii. the junior senator from alabama began his questioning this way. >> thanks for being here today. you are part of the most powerful military in the world. is there any enemy that could defeat thetrongest force in the world of the united states military? and i know all of you are going to say no. >> and the junior senator from florida who was old eugh to know better said this. >> when in the history of this country have we ever had the u.s. mitary say and have a plan that we will take our military out first before we take ourcivilians? i can't imagine that. i justan't imagine ever in the history of this country ourest military would propose to leave a country without our citizens cong out rst. ha weverone that before? >> democratic senator tammy duckworth had this response. >> i do want to note that my family and i were in cambodia until the very end. i'm an american. i was born in thailand, but my father worked for the united nations. and to answer my colleagues question, my father chose to stay as long as possible to help the cambodian people as long as possible. and he left after the american troops had left. the american ambassador stayed behind. in fact, after the last military transport left. i know this because my father was on the last transport to leave cambodia. yes, we do leave americans behind. >> senator duckworth is a former army helopter pilot wounded in action in iraq and lost both of her legs. she knows more about military operations and american military history than anyone on the republican side of that committee. in previous reports of the evacuation from afghanistan, we have mentioned on this program the people we left behind in vietnam. but tonight i'd like to focus on one group that i have only mentione in passing in our previous covege. according to a 2013 report in "the new york times," quote, by some estimes tens of thousands of arican servicemen fathered chdren with vietnamese women during that long war. some of the children were a resu of long-term relationships. others we bn of one-night stands. but few of the fathers ever met their offspring and fewer still brought them home to america. after the war, those children known as amerians endured harsh discrimination and abject poverty in vietnam viewed as reminders of an invading army. congress enacted lislation in 1987 giving amasians special imgratio stat. some of those children have been lookg for their american fathers for their ente lives. i need to know where i am from said a rl estate agent in ustonho hasearched in vain for her g.i. father i always feel that without him i don't exist. those childre by law all had a righ to american citizenship. we left behd tens o thousands ofhem invietnam. people are always left behind in war, always. ando ot today's hearing was ae to point to te when themerican mitary or any her military in eorld conducd an horablend orderl evacuation from war that they st. that has neverappened in history. theost sucssful acuati fr a lost war was the o we actually sawhis year fm afghantan. afterhe vtnames capal came uer theullontrol of the nth vtnamese mitary, the unitestates evacuated exactl zero peoe fromouth vinam. ze. d aer the presint of afghanistan fled the country and th capital cy of kabul fell to t taliban, the united states evacued 124,000 peop. today'searing lasted six hours. senato elizabeth warren managed to cov ery important pnt about the acuati fm afghistann tee and half nutes. once predentidenade the cision to have.s. forces leave the couny, who desned e evuation >>ll, senator, agai i w't addreshat i advis --he adce i ge theprident. would jt say that in his lculushis w not ris fre an the earlie in thi hearg, wer commted t recommenngheir operions ainst ourfoes. hissessmt was tt in oer to susta that a connue to do this tha benefted the afans, tt would ruire a so pointhate incase our presce the i afghistan. so onc he made t decisn and of cours from a militar rspecten ter of e retrogde of e people and the equient, tt was - tha anningasone by ctral comman andertain prcipall by genal mill. ry detaed pnning andhe we came back andriefed the entireintegency on the details of that plan. >> okay. so the mitarylanned the evacuation. d predent ben follo yr advi onxecuti onhe evuationplan? h did. >> did presint ben give y l theresoces tt you need? fromy ew,ed. >> did predentiden ignor ur advic onhe evaction at any poin >> no, senator, h did not. >> d he fusenyequest for anhing tt you neededr ked for? no >> so the psident followedhe advicefis mility adviss in pnningnd ecuting thi withdral. as w hav alreaesblishe e see for ourailure in ghanisnwerelantedmany, ma yearsag let m a y o mor queson, sator aust. owing wha wenow now, if we would ve stad forne mor year, wld itave mad fundentaldifferce? >> agai it depends onhat si you remain intnd what your objectives e. therare aange of ssibilies, but if youtayed ther at postu of 2,0, rtainl you wld ben a figh with the talib andou would ve toinforc yourlf. >> ipprecieour lking a it as fighte but wldlso add o me year of proingp a crupt govement a an ayhat woul not fht on iwn would t giv us a bterouomend anyone who this difrentlys eier foong themsves o trng toool the res ofus withawingasong overe. theithdral was cducted in accordance witthe advic of his mility aisers who planned and execute every step this withdrawal. thank you. >> joining us now is democratic senator elizabeth warren of massachusetts. thank you very much for jning us tonight, senator. really appreciate it. what was you takeaway from th hearg about the evacuation from afghanistan? >> that it was actually an amazing undertaking. it was done under chaotic circumstances because the government had collapsed, because the party had melted away the afghan army and that even in the midst of all of that, our military was able to get about 124,000 people out. they left no american-owned equipment behind. they managed to execute that. and, yes, it was at risk. we lost a young woman from massachusetts. i'm working now on trying to get the congressional medal of honor for the people who we lost right at the end. but we knew it was a risky undertaking and the military performed. we should be proud president biden and proud of our military. >> want to get yr reacon to another aspect of the heing, a thatas general milley, who was taking on some questions and was making his points about t reports of bob woodrd and robert costa's book, about him making cal to china in the final days of the trump presidency trying to assure them that the was n plan, china. let's listen to what theeneral said. >> i am certain that predent trp did not intend to attack the chinese. an it is my directed responsibility and it was my directed responsibility by the secretary to convey that intent to the chinese. my task at that time was to deescalate. my message againas consistent. stay calm steady and deescalate. we are not going to attack you. >> senator, i imane that was one of the stranger cases o testimony you have heard on the armed services committee. a chairman of the joint chiefs basically talking about having to calm a maj power about t mental stability o the president of the united states. >> yes. although, remember the context he put this in. he said he was operating within his chain of command and he said he was making clear the intent of the president of the united states. that is that the president of the united states had not intended any ill will -- i shouldn't say ill will. did not intdo attac china and was making that clear. that was the general's testimony. >> i want to go to the other hearing you were in today where you had the chair of the federal reserve, and you had a confrontation with him that i ve never seen at one of these arings before. t's lten to this. >> the elephant in the room is whether you are goingo be renominated for a second terms fed chair. renominating you means gambing that the next five years with a republican chair who has regularly voted to deregulate wall street won't drive this economy over a financial cliff again. >> so the fed chair is up for -- the appointment runs up next year. we're either going to -- the president will reappoint the chair or a new one. what do you think is at stake in that question? >> you remember what happened in the early 2000s. and that is we had federal reserve that was unwilling to reign the gnt financial institutions. so a bit at a time they deregulate here, they turn a blind eye there. and those financial institutions very quietly just loaded up on more and more and more and more risk until they blew up the entire economy and the u.s. task payer was called on to bail them out. millions of people lost their jobs. millions of people lost their homes. millions of people lost their savings. i came to washington guaranteeing that will never happen again if i can help it. and what's happened? we have had a federal reserve chair for five yearsow who has demonstrated over and over again that he is not willing to reign in the biginancial institutions. and he has taken one regulatory step after another, small steps, but always in theame direction, and that is the direction toward weakening the regulations over the biggest financial institutions. and the thing is, that's cumulative or time. and it puts american consumers, it puts american workers, it puts american taxpayers, it puts the american economy at risk, and i can't support someone like that for chairman of the federal reserve. >> senator, there is something very different abo what you're saying about the federalreserve appointment and what we're seeing in the legislative process now in the senate. you are telling the president a year ahead of time what you position is on this. you ar saying, i cannot vote for this nominatn. with senator kyrsten sinema and manchin at the end of a legislative proce that they apparently have dissatisfactions with a deal they appeared to agree to months ago and a structure tt they voted for in the senate budget resolution of $3.5 trillion. and, so, where are we now? these two senators have, in effect, stopped progress in the house and speaker pelosi is now trying to put somhing together with these two sators as what appears to beither the roadblock or the final pieces that have to be put together on this bill. >> right. well, literally for months now, democrats in the senate, democrats in the house have been operating with one goal in mind and one understanding, and that is there is going to be a lot that needs to be done in the reconciliation, this whole package. yes, we need roads and bridges. we need water and sewers. but we also need child care and broadband. we need health care. we need housing. and most of all, we need to make a big down payment in the fight against climate change. all of it has been out there. and the agreement has been we're going to move it altogether. and i hope that's the direction we're still going in. the house progressives have been terrific on this. they said we had an agreement, and we expect everyone to stick with the agreement. the progressives are not backing out. the house democrats are not backing out, i hope, and that means we got to move everything together. we cannot have the train leave the station and leave a whole lot of pieces of what american families need back on the platform. not child care, not housing, not health care, not climate. we can't do that. >> senator, there is video from the senate floor today where you and senator schumer and senator sanders were all gathered together talking. and that's not going to be in the congressional record. could you please tell us word for word what was said in that discussion? >> oh, i could but i won't. not going to talk about private conversations. >> okay. thank you very ch, senator. really appreciate you joing us tonight. >> good to b with yo >> thank you. coming ,resident joe biden clearing his schedule tomorrow, skipping a trip to chicago to try to push his infrastrtu package forward in congress. scientific clean here. and you need it here. and here. and here. which is why the scientific expertise that helps operating rooms stay clean is now helping the places you go every day too. seek a commitment to clean. look for the ecolab science certified seal. ray loves vacatis. but his diabetes never seemed to take one. everything felt like a 'no.' everything. but then ray went from no to know. with freestyle libre 14 day, now he knows his glucose levels when he needs to... and...when he wants to. so ray...can be ray. ke the mystery out of your glucose levels, and lower your a1c. now you know. try it for free. visit eestylelibre.u [sfx: radibeing ned] lcome allste. now you know. try it for free. and even when things go a bit wrong, we' got your back here, things work the way you wish they would. you're in good hands wi allste. clicor cal r a lower auto rate today. therilliant jonatha kay pt used a phra, the stormefore th ca, to descre wha decratsre doing in th house d sene in e leadp tohe vos on t bideni infrtructu bill toda the stormottormie withenator berni sande dog wha senats are by aditio never suppose todo heade nancy pelosi's lifore diffict by cometing losing patience, apparently, and telling democrats in the house how they should vote. senator sanders said in a written statement, let's be crystal clear. if the bipartisan infrastructure bill is passed on its own on thursday, this will be in violation of an agreement that was reached within the democratic caucus in congress. i strongly urge my house colleagues to vote against the bipartisan infrastructure bill until congress passes atrong renciliaon bi. w, thacould a firn setor histy, a senatho has alrea voted for a bill urging other senators to vote against that bill that he already voted for. former house speaker john boehner rail against ted cruz for today for urging house republans t votegainst an creasen the bt ceing. weait speak losi's méires tind out howhe relyfeels. whakesenatoranders reaching into houseusines evenore usual is tha the positi hedvocat is aeady beingell repsented by t ader of therogresve ccus thehoe. our next guest, pramila jayal. speaker peli is n dbt ls troubly senator sands otoco reach tn she is by the reltance to come t agreent wh theest othe senate democratsnd the present. once ainoday president ben had to have indidual one-on-one meetings with them who are fast becoming the senatorsith th most entri the bidenhite hse visor cords and oncgain frustring a t rest othe democrats, sator manchin and senato kyrst sinem hav not saidnythin pubcally that indites w their negiation eoing on so lg or wt theye eve negotiating abt. today senor nchin sai exactly the same kind of thing he said the very first time he discussed this legislation at the white house months ago. he said we understand getting to know each other better and being understanng what his vision for the country is and the things he wants too and i respect and appreciate all that. he's very good and listening, ah, blah, blah wh asked when h disssed an acalumber with the president, senatormanchin said, no, we hav't talked about that, no. joining us n is democratic congressman pramila jayapal of washington state. she is the chair of the washgton congressional congress. ere is frustration breing out in the congress with senator sanders, with other members and right here at thisesk that i am sitting at in trying to figure out what is going on with senator manchin and senator kyrsten nema. do you have more insight into this? >> well, lawrence, it is great to see you. i will start by saying the position of the caucus. we are 96-member strong caucus, has been for three and a half months that we are not going to move one piece of the president's agenda without the much bigger piece of the president's agenda. and i just want to take you back just for a moment to five months ago, august 2th, 2021. what happened on that night, lawrence, is president biden came out of the white hoe. he went down pennsylvania avenue. he came to the capital, and he delivered a speech. he delivered a sech to congress. i happen to be one of the few that was invited to that speec because it was covid times and not all of us could go. i was sitting towards the back of that chamber and i listened to this newly-elected democratic president with a democratic house majority and a democratic senate majority in that chamber, not all of us but representative of us listen to the president of the united states lay out an agenda. that agenda was for child care for everyone. it was for paid leave. it was for universal community college. it was for getti led out of waters and having clean water everywhere no matter what zip code you live in. it was for health care, lowerin prescription drug pricing. it was to house the unhoused people. and,yes, it was also for roads and bridges. now here we are today, and people want to frame this as progressives versus moderates, but let me just tell you 96% of democrats in the house and the senate support the president's agenda, which is the build back better agenda. and what we know is that 4% of members of the house and the senate are not supporting the president's agenda, the democratic agenda andant to make some changes. we have been staying for some time, we put o vision out there. it is the president's agenda. it is not se crazy left wing agenda. it is the president's agenda we are fighting to deliver to the people. so we still have had no interaction, no negotiation with senators manchin and nema on what is it that they do like. we know what they don't like. that's been made quite clear over and over again, but do they want to do of the president's agenda? we're waiting f that. but until then, lawrence, house progressives are very clear. we are not going to leave behind women. we are not going to leave behind peopleho need housing. we are not going to leave behind climate change. onef the most important issues that we are facing today and the president is going to have to go to cop 46 in just a little bit, and he's going to have to explain why the united states feels like we can make any kind of agreement with the rest of the world or force theest of the world to address climate change as a real issue. so we're not leaving that behind. and that's why we can't ve for the bipartisan infraructure bill until we pass the build back betr act, which is 70% or more of thepresident's agenda. >> okay. heres my theory about what the game is on the sinema/manchin side of that, ishat ty or she or both of them arerying to drag out this negotiation to th point where speaker pelosi does move forward and ask you all to vote on the bipartisan bill that the senate has already voted on so that their bill they supported in the senate, they watch that ps in the house. and only after that do they, for the first time ever, say something concrete in a negotiation with president biden. only afterheir bill that they want passed is passed. then they feel they will be in a much stronger position to chip away at the legislation that you are ready to vote for. >> that's exactly right. and that's why we do not have the votes in the house for the bipartisan infrastructure bill. and as senator warren said, this was a deal that the senators made that we were going to move both pieces together. it's something we have all been saying for some time. it was the deal that was made. and unfortunately, lawrence, we are not -- we are now in the verify stage. this isn't about trust. this is about verify. and the only way to verify is to pass the reconciliation bill first as was articulated and then we will happily come back and vote for the infrastructure bill. i will tell you,lawrence, not every one of my members likes that infrastructurebill some believ and i hpen to be a part of this, that the are actually bad things in this bill that hurt us on climate change. but you know what? every one of the progressive caucus members has said, i understand i play on the sam team as the democrati party and the demratic president, and we will vote for that bill even though we don't like it. we will vote for it. but we wan the reconciliation bill first, and then we will go and we will happily do our duty of voting for the rest of the esident's agenda, which is the small piece in the infrastructure bill. >> thank you very much for joining us for tonight's episode of the storm before the calm. ank you very much. >> that' a good thing to remember. >> thank you very much. really appreciate it. coming up, today the trsury secretary said that the united states of ameca will for the first time i history crash int its debt ceiling and default on i debts on or about october 18th. that's next. it's a wishlist on wheels. a choice that requires no explanation. it's where safe and daring seamlessly intersect. it's understated, yet over-delivers. it is truly the mercedes-benz of sports sedans. lease the 2021 c 300 sedan for just $449 a month at your cal merces-benz dealer. tonight, i'll be eating a buffalo chicken panini with extra hot sauce. tonight, i'll be eating salmon sushi with a japanese jiggly cheesecake. 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yes, please! neuriva. think bigger. and,ettine for colon cancer. that's big because when caught in early stages, it's more treatable. hey, cologuard! hi. i'm noninvasive and i detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers, en in rly stes. early stages! yep, it's for people 45 plus at average rk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative sults may occur. ask your provir if cologuard is right for you. count me in! ask your provir if cologuard is right for you. me too! ♪ i see trees of green ♪ count me in! ♪ red roses too ♪ ♪ i see them bloom for me and you ♪ (music) ♪ so i think to myself ♪ ♪ oh what a wonderful world ♪ today janet yeln said is. >> it ierativ that congress address theebt limit. if not, o current estime is the treasuryill likely exhau its extradinary measures by october8th at tha point, we expec treary wou be left wh vy limited resours that would be deeted quickly. americaould deult for the first time in history. theull fth a creditf the united stas wou be impair and our country would likely face a financial crisis and economic recession as a result. >> and to make matters worse, today mitch mcconnell blocked an attempt by chuck schumer to pass an increase in the debt ceiling by a similarable majority vote of the democrats in the senate. joining us now is the deputy director of e national economic council. he previously served on the staff of senator elizabeth warren. thank you very much for joining us tonight. october 18th is the new deadline for debt ceiling action. what would it mean to the economy? what would it mean to the economy of the world if for the first time in history the american government defaults on its debt? >> well, it would be catastrophic, and that's what seetary yellen's view is. that's the view of outside experts, wall stree experts who have looked at it. it would cost millions of jobs. it would throw the financial system into panic and crisis. it would throw us back into a recession. it would reverse all the progress we made under predent biden. i just want to review how we got to this point. republicans claimed a week ago that what they wanted was a bill that would fund the government, that would avoid a default and that would provide important disaster aid to people in louisiana and elsewhere. the democrats put that exact bill on the floor of the senate and republicans responded by filibustering it. and today senator schumer said, okay, democrats will address it by ourselves and republicans blocked that, too. so really it is extremely irresponsible what the republican party is doing here and it is threatening not just the u.s. economy but the global economy and really putting our economic recovery in peril. >> what is the next -- what's the current republican demand? or is there a republican demand for increasing the debt limit? >> no. you would think that maybe they're saying, okay, maybe can you guys do something to address e debt? can you change something on the spending side? no. there is no dend. it is just do it by yourself, but do it in a particular way. and like i said, it is not based, as far as i can tell, on a policy concern. it is purely about making things as difficult as possible for the democratic party and pushing the united states to the brink of a devastating defaul and remember secretary yellen ted this as well. even if we get close to the default, to a default, close to that october 18th date, it does real harm tohe ecomy, the cost of borrong goes up as investors view that as more risky and that does real harm to the economy. so, you kn, i think what we are seeing here is a republican party that's taking a very nihilistic vw and really pushing the united states into an unprecedented situation. >> is mcconnell trying to force this into the democrats reconciltion package? >> you know, look, i think what nority leader mcconnell is trying to do is make this as complicated as possible for the democrats. and like i said, it is not based on anyolicy concern. it is just trying to throw a wrench into the system. it's important to remember, though, right, that the debt limit is about borrowing to cover spending and tax decisions that congress has already made. and if you look back on the four years of the tmp presidency when mitch mcconnell was the senate majority leader trump and mcconnell racked up nearly $8 trillion worth of debt. if you remember that 2017 tax bill that they passed to big corporations and to the wealthy, that is projected by the nonpartisan cpo to generate just by itself nearly a quarter of a trillion worth of debt next year and over the next four years. who debt are we borrowing here? they're unwilling to step up to thelate and help democratso that work as i sai is irresponsible. >> thankou very muchor joining us tonight. really appreciate it >> tha you. and joining us now is a congressional historian, the emeritus scholar at the american terpri institute. norm, it sounds like the debt lit would probably have to go into t reconciliation bill. is that where we are? >>hat's clearly what mcconnell is trying to achieve. and there is something perverse about it from his perspective. as we know jmanchin and kyrsten sinema said, what's the rush here? let's take our time with this. what this debt limit hostage taking a reckless bavior does on theart of every senar adds an urgency to getting that reconciliation package ne. i would aume today whe president biden met with sinema and manchin, he let them know it is not just about a notiation over what we do with these two bills that affect different kinds of infrastructure. it is also about preventing recession or something worse. socconnell has de this before, using this debt limit as a hostage. that may have a preverse impact if we get this taken to a point where they deal with it in reconciliation. and i just want to make the point, lawrence, that if we do it that way, let's end this ridiculous thing once and for all by adopting the wonderfully named mcconnell rule, meaning the president raids the debt ceiling. congress could disapprove. he could prevail at any time. no more of these hostage taking reckless elements run by republicans. democrats have always avoided them. >> so this strategy could mean that the debt ceiling goes from being a legislative hostage to being a legislative engine pushing the reconciliation bill forward. >> and if that happens and we ge rid of the debteiling ridiculous process oe and for all and get both of these bills, reconciltion and the bipartisan infrastructurebill, i will takehat btle of wine sitting behind me to mitch mcconnell. >> norm teaches me somhing every time he comes on here. thank you for joining us tonight, norm. really appreciate it. >> thank you. coming up, the man who made sure that every california voter will always from now on receive a ballot in the mail for every ection. he's coming up next. ing up next. people everywhere living with type 2 diabetes are waking up what's possib with rybelsus®. ♪ youre my nshine ♪ ♪ my only sunshine... ♪ rybelsus® ia pill that lowers blood sugar in tee way ineases sulin when you need it... decreases sugar... and slows food. the majority of people taking rybelsus® lowed the bld sugaand rehed an a1c of less tha7. rybelsus® isn't for people wi type 1 diabet. don't take rybelsus® if y or yo famil everad medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if lergic to it. stopybelsu® a get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe smach pn, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may includpancreatitis. tell your provider about vision problems or chang. de effts like nausea,es vomiti, and arrheask. may lead tdehydration, wch may rsen kidney problems. wake up to wt's possible with rybelsus®. ♪ please don't take my sunshine away ♪ you may pay asittle as $10 per prescription. ask your healthcare provider about rybelsus® today. ouretirement plawith voya, eps us moving forward. hey, kevin! hey, guys! they have customized solutions to help our family's special needs... giving us confidence in our future... ...and in kevin's. voya. well planned. well invested. well protected. bipolar depression. it made me feel like i was trapped in a fog. this is art inspired by real stories of people living with bipolar depression. i just couldn't find my way out of it. the lows of bipolar depression can take you to a dark place... ...and be hard to manage. latuda cou make a real difference inousymptoms. tuda was proveto gnifictly rece inousymptoms. bipolar depression symptoms and in clinical studies, had no substantial impact on weight. this is where i want to be. latuda is not for everyone. call your doctor about unusual mood changes, behaviors, or suicidal thoughts. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. elrly dementia patients on latuda have an increased risk of death or stroke. callour doctor about fever, stiff muscles, and confusion, as these may be life threatening... ...or uncontrollable muscle movements, as these may be permanent. these are not all the serious side effects. now i'm back where i belong. ask your doctor about latuda and pay as little as $0 for your first prescription. oh! are you using liberty mutual's coverage customizer tool? and pay as little as $0 so you only pay for what you need. sorry? limu, you're an animal! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ one of the things that we have to do is to remind people that elections matter. literally in their life. because it is not only about who is president. it's who's governor. it's who's a mayor. it's who's a judge. it's who's the sheriff. the decisions people make in those positions impact your life every day. and, so, the importance o voting is because elections are about issues. >> that was ve president harris today at georgemason university. the highest voter turnout in that state in 50 years. the los angeles tes attributes the high voter turnout to, quote, the pandemic inspired decision to mail a ballot to each of california's 22.3 million voters. that process has now become the law of the land in california. yesterday,california's democratic governor gavin newsom signed into law bill that permanently requires a vote-by-mail ballot be mailed to every active registered voter in the state of california. joining us now is the california democratic assembly member mark berman, chairman of the elections committee. he wrote the law that governo newsom signed yesterda thank you very much for joining us tonight. we really appreciate it. this turnout that you got throw the mail-in process in this last election was a real lesson in voter partipation, record highs. i think it was somewhere aroun 80%. 87% of those ballots were the mail-in ballots. >> that's right. what we saw is when we make it easier for voters to participate in their democracy, they vote. when we send them a ballot in the mail, they'll vote. that's what we should want. we want our voting systems to be safe, secure, and accessible, and that's what we tried to accomplish here in california. >> does the legislation include provisions for drop boxes and the additional infrastructure to support this massive voting by mail? >> absolutely. because that we know some people and some communities feel more comfortable voting in person. and so we want to make sure that people are able to participate and able to vote in whichever way they're most comfortable. so every county still has to have drop boxes and in-person voting opportunities up to four days before election day. but we also mail all 22.3 million voters in california a ballot so that they can ve in person -- excuse me, so they can vote by mail. >> this comes at the same time we're aring of further degradation in u.s. postal service. and so how much time do people have for maili in their ballots according to this law? >> it's a great question. so during the pandemic last year we phed that back so that the ballots could be received 18 days after election day as long as it was post marked on election day. moving forward where we hope and expect that the pandemic won't impact our postal service as much, we're saying it's seven days. prior was three days, but talking with elections officials across the state , we decided that seven days is long enough to make sure that everybody ballot gets counted. if people voted according to the law, they put that ballot in the mail by election day. >> and i ask about the drop boxes because as a california voter and thank you for mailing my ballot in the future, i spoke to many people last time who were concerned because of what they were reading about the postal service, concerned about putting that ballot in a mailbox and were looking for the vote deposit boxes specifically because they preferred those, trusting the collection process for that. and so it seems that's probably a tendency that will continue. >> it is, but another part of this bill, class follow-up bill i introduced a few years ago is that in california we've created a track my ballot service where you can follow your ballot from when it's mailed by the registrar of voters to you reiving the ballot,nd the you putting i back in the mail and going back and being processed appropriately. either use the track my ballot syem or take it to your local dr box and put it in directly, whatever makes you most comfortable. >> what is the quick argument you would make to other states why they should do this? >> it's easy, safe, and secure. it's accessible and it works. california had the highest voter turn it we had in 70 years, and elections officials up and down the state, you know, swear that it was a remarkably smooth system. so the system works, and our goal should be to make it as easy as possible for people to vote. and that's what this does. and for some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, republicans picked up seats, so it's not fraudulent, it just makes it easier for people to participate in their democry and that makes our democracy long. >> assembly member mark berman making sure all californians receive the ballots in the mail. thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> thank you so much for having me. >> we'll be right back with tonight's last word. u need! with customized car insurance from liberty mutual! nothing rhymes with liberty mutual. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ helps get you off your couch. of old spice dynasty and into the driver's seat. helen knew exercise could help her diabetes... but she didn't know what was right for her. no. nope. noay. but then helen went from no to know with freestyle libre 14 day, now she knows what activity helps lower her glucose. and can see what works best for her. take the mystery out of your glucose levels, and lower your a1c. now you know. freestyle bre 14 day. and lower your a1c. now covered by medicare for those who qualify. working at recology is more than a job for jesus. it's a family tradition. freestyle bre 14 day. and lower your a1c. jesus took over his dad's roue when he retired after 47 year. now he's showing a new generation what recology is all about. as an employee-owned company, recology provides good-paying local jobs for san franciscans. we're proud to have built the city's recycling system from the ground up, helping to make san francisco the greenest big city in america. let's keep making a differene together. baaam. internet that doesn't miss a beat. that's cute, but my internet streams to my ride. adorable, but does yours block malware? nope. -it crushes it. pshh, mine's so fast, no one can catch me. big whoop! mine gives me a 4k streaming box. -for free! that's because you all have the same internet. xfinity xfi. so powerful, it keeps one-upping itself. can your internet do that? > here's something we didn't get to with senator elizabeth waen earlier tonight. in tod's senate hearing, general mark milley described his pne cal with speaker nancy pelosi that was first reported in thef you best-selling book "peril >> on 8 january, speaker of the hous pelos called me to inquire about the president's ability to launch nuclear weapons. i sought to ensure her that it's governed by a specific and deberate process she was concned and made various personal references characterizing the psident. i explained t her that e president is the sole nuclear launch authority and he doesn't launch them alone and that i am not qualified to determine the mental health of the president of the united states. there are processes, protocols, and procedures in place, and i repeatedly assured her that there was no chance of an illegal, authored, or accidental launch. >> that is tonight's last rd. "the 11th hour with brian williams" starts now. good evening once again, day 252 othe biden administration. today for the first time since u.s. fces puld out of afghanisn, the nation'top military leaders appeared under oath to tesfy about that chaotic and ultately deadly ex jt las month. eay onn theearly six hours of ttimony that e senate med seices committee,oint ief of staff mark milley and nerally fra mckene knowledged the previously urgediden noto pul out all amican troops and secretary of defee llo