which was great. but coming on my stage with my band was the most incredible endorsement of my life. >> full circle from ed sullivan to playing the guitar with him. >> absolutely. >> we only scratched the surface of the memoir. it's a must read. the story of his life, the story of rock and roll. stevie van zandt for being here. stephanie rhule picks up the coverage right now. hi, there. i'm stephanie rhule live at msnbc headquarters here in new york city. it's thursday, october 14th. this morning, new names and new deadlines. the committee investigating the january 6th insurrection now issuing a subpoena to former justice department lawyer who supported trump's effort to overturn the election. while that's happening, today is the deadline for two separate trump associates to be deposed. but one of them, steve bannon has said he's not going to appear. a major backlog impacting businesses and millions of americans, the white house and several major companies stepping in to try to clear up the log jam. here's the question, do we have the man power to fix our supply chain issues? we have to start this morning with covid and the facts we know this hour. today kicks off a two-day meeting for an fda advisory panel deciding whether to recommend booster shots. today they'll discuss moderna, tomorrow it's johnson & johnson. at the same time a new study says it is okay to mix and match covid vaccines. that means just because you got one type of the shot before, it does not mean you need to get the same type of shot as a booster. but for people who got the johnson & johnson vaccine, it's actually better if you get moderna or pfizer the second time around. that study has not yet been peer reviewed. also today, president biden will be meeting with his covid team in about 90 minutes and give an update to the public just before noon. all of this coming as covid cases keep dropping nationwide and vaccinations keep going up, which is very good news but neither happening as quickly as we like. let's dig deeper into this, starting with megan fitzgerald at a booster site in chicago. calipari is in new orleans. and dr. william shatner from vanderbilt. me gan, break down this fda meeting for us. how is it going to impact our daily lives? >> reporter: steph, this is a very long, important and methodical process here. it starts, of course, with the company, in this instance it's moderna and johnson & johnson going to the fda for authorization. then, of course, the fda will hold meetings and they will vote on these recommendations before they then issue a vote. it then will go to the cdc. of course, they'll do the same, hold meetings, vote on the vaccine before the cdc director will then issue his recommendation. but what this means for the folks at home is that the vaccine, if approved, these boosters will be more widely available to millions more americans as opposed to the pfizer vaccine for those who received pfizer. you know just last month the fda approved a booster for pfizer, steph. >> dr. schaffner, so now we're learning you can take any booster you want, it doesn't matter who you got your original shot from, what's better to take? >> well, we haven't learned that yet, because we want to wait for both the fda and the cdc to give us those recommendations. but the data would suggest, the data currently available, that if you've had the j&j you can get a better immune response if you get a booster with either pfizer or moderna. and if you've had pfizer and moderna, well, getting a booster with each of those vaccines really gives you a lot more antibody. i hope that the fda and cdc don't make their recommendations too complicated because they're difficult to communicate and there are so many people out there waiting to get their boosters. >> then let's be honest about j&j, doctor. say i'm unvaccinated right now should it be an option? it doesn't sound like it works as well as the other two, why is it out there? >> well, it's out there because a second j&j vaccine for people who have received one does give you a big boost. of course, you get more of a boost if you get either pfizer or moderna. i don't think there's much j&j vaccine currently being used, stephanie, for initiating vaccination. unless you're very remote for some reason, hard to get to the vaccine, then any vaccine is better than no vaccine. >> cal, i'm counting down the days and minutes. talk to us about where we are with kids. the news that they could be getting the vaccine as early as november, kids ages 5 to 11. where are we right now on that? cal? >> reporter: look, look at the national numbers first. if you look at nationally where we are with children and cases, they count for 24%. 24.8% of all cases right now. that is the bad news. the good news is as you laid out in your introduction, there are bright spots as cases drop around the country, new orleans is one of those cases. look at the positivity rate in new orleans, over a month ago it was 16% now it's 3%. you look at children and hospitalizations in the city, we saw upwards of 20 children hospitalized at any given time over the summer now only three children at the local children's hospital. listen to what dr. cline told us yesterday. >> we are in so much better shape today than we were a month ago or six weeks ago after the summer surge of delta that happened between really mid july and the end of august. we've seen a steady decrease in the number of new cases. and today we have just three children hospitalized for covid here. >> reporter: so that's the good news. the challenge, especially in places like louisiana is going to be actually convincing parents to have their children vaccinated. if you look at the rural areas of louisiana sometimes the vaccination number can be as low as 40, sometimes 30%. that's the parent. we heard it from physicians here on the ground, convincing parents to get their children vaccinated, especially in rural parts of louisiana, that's going to be the issue. >> thank you all so much. we'll leave it there. we have breaking news from capitol hill. it looks like voting rights legislation is not dead after all. senator chuck schumer telling his fellow democrats he does plan to move forward with the bill. sahil kapur joins us now. they're going to vote on this thing? i have to be honest, i hadn't thought about it for weeks. >> reporter: stephanie, this bill is coming back, it's not debt. it's coming to the senate for a vote. this is the compromised legislation that democrats worked amongst themselves to get all 50 members on board. it's a compromise within the party. it does include major voting rights provisions including national voter right legislation, makes voting day a national holiday, it would reverse a number of restrictive voting laws being pursued in conservative states around the country. key to this is the fact that senator joe manchin who was a hold out on the previous democratic voting rights bill is on board with this. so there are 50 votes to make this happen. the big question, of course, is what happens when that fails to get to 60 votes? still not the 50 votes needed to break the filibuster and move forward without it. but this is a significant step for democrats. at least get their members on board, call that vote and put pressure on their members. that's the theory here. what chuck schumer told colleagues in a letter this morning is that he plans to file cloture, setting up a procedural vote for next wednesday. circle that day. that's going to be a big one. >> all right. wednesday is the day we'll be watching. still ahead, subpoenaed but defiant. two of trump's aids are supposed to be questioned today about january 6th but are they going to show up? if they don't, what is the committee going to do about it? plus we'll take a look at trump's hold on the republican party with someone who's experienced it from the inside. fiona hill joins us live next. later, inequality in the work place, we talk about it often but it goes far beyond race and gender. people with disabilities often get left out of the conversation and one organization is looking to change that. it's a story you don't want to miss. 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just ask the employee owners of recology. we built the recycling system from the ground up, helping san francisco become the first city in the country to have a universal recycling and composting program for residents and businesses. but it all starts with you. let's keep making a differene together. now to the latest on the house investigation into the january 6th insurrection. here's what you need to know. jeffrey clark, that's a name you might not be familiar with but look at this man, remember this name. he's now been subpoenaed by the bipartisan committee, he's a former department of justice official who tried to help trump overturn the 2020 election. his subpoena comes on the same day the committee met with jeffrey rosen, the former act attorney general who stood in the way of trump's plot. today is the day that steve bannon and kash patel are supposed to show up for depositions but bannon won't. no word on patel. the question we need answered, what is the committee going to do about it? i want to bring in eugene daniels political white house correspondent. sahil, i'm so over it. steve bannon ends up looking like he's the king, you want me i ain't showing. what is the committee going to do? >> reporter: stephanie, the committee is coming up on decision time here in terms of how to enforce these subpoenas when a number of men in trump's inner circle appear to be blowing past deadlines and not come playing. last week it was the deadline for documents from steve bannon and others, today he and kash patel are scheduled to testify before deposition testimony before the committee. steve bannon made clear through his legal team he's not going to show up today, citing executive privilege claims by former president trump. we have no indication that kash patel is going to show up either. tomorrow, two others, mark meadows and dan scavino are supposed to testify before the committee, unclear if they're going to show up. last night at midnight there was a deadline for 11 people whose names were on the permits who helped organize rallies, they were all subpoenaed. and now we have jeffrey rosen, a deadline of october 29th to appear for deposition testimony as well as submit documents. the committee is going to have to make decisions soon on how it intends to enforce the subpoenas and show these hostile witnesses how effective it's going to be. the committee members have said they're leaning toward the idea of a criminal referral, asking the justice to prosecute these individuals until they comply, that could include fines and jail time. some of them at least they want these people to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. they have to make moves soon. they could do it in a block, the committee has to vote on it and the house has to approve it. coulda, woulda, shoulda, so far have not done anything. what's the hold up? >> i think they're trying to be careful -- >> careful about what? hold on. what are they trying to be careful about? they don't want to offend steve bannon? >> they don't want to seem too political, play their hand too early. we're still at the beginning of the subpoenas asking people to appear. so i think they're trying to keep all the things on the table. but they don't want to overplay their hand. i think one thing we do know with steve bannon, even if he does come they're probably not going to get a lot of new information about him. look at the way adam schiff has talked about this in public in the russia investigation there wasn't a lot of information he gave them, he came once, didn't give them anything and when he came again he had a bunch of questions he had already answered and said he's not answering anything outside of that. but on patel, scavino and others they're hoping a carrot, stick approach is going to work. but this is the time for them to prove that they're going to use the stick. that is something that people are watching. if they're not, that sets the precedent for the rest of the investigation. if they're not going to do it now, when are they going to do it? >> thank you both. i want to bring in a woman who watched the trump presidency close up. she was part of it. fiona hill, she was deputy assistant to president trump. she's currently a senior feel low at the brookings institution and author of the book "there is nothing for you here". i'm glad you're here. there's no one i want to ask this question to more. what is your reaction when you watch the defiance from these former trump aides to the congressional subpoenas and at the same time trump is out there repeating lie after lie about the election and he's getting cheered on. >> for me, and i'm sure many people watching this, it's a sad day for u.s. democracy, stephanie. i think part of the problem is in the case of most of these individuals who have been requested and subpoenaed to come, they see themselves tied with personal loyalty to truch. they didn't see themselves in the public service of the united states. in some cases they were acting in their capacity so they weren't taking an oath to the constitution. this is a loyalty test to an individual, this is not them standing up or contemplaing standing up for loyalty to the united states. this is a sad day and like everyone else i'm disappointed to see they wouldn't come forward to at least set the record straight. as you're saying and your colleague is saying, this is still very early in the conversation here. >> you have a unique perspective. you come from europe, studied russia for many, many years. what is your take on what's happening in america right now? where are we headed? >> down a path so many other countries have done, including europe, russia, italy and germany difficult times in their histories. i can just tell you that most immigrants that i know from europe and many who have come from war torn societies around the middle east in latin america, south asia, have said to me and have been trying to share their views on internet chat sites that the united states is in trouble. we have all seen it before, and this is a path hard to turn back on. once people start to forget they're supposed to be in the service of the country, once they forget the loyalty of a country and put loyalty of an individual or their own personal position and power that they're trying to pull that power from, once they put all of that first we're in really big trouble. >> if we've seen it before, why are we on the path now? you watched trump up close and personal. why do you think, after all that has happened, including losing the election, losing congress, he still has such a hold on his party and a huge chunk of the american people? >> he's one of these a riz mast ik individual. no surprise about quirks in his personality, his narcissism, thin skinned approach to things, quickness to take insults but he can fire up a crowd. this is a guy who's a showman, basically rose more on reality tv than his own business success. he's selling people something and also making a connection to people ignored by the main stream parties. donald trump is not a republican. he's not a conservative. he wasn't part of the party. he hijacked the party. he's pullied members of congress into submission and making a direct connection with his voters. he's made it clear it's all about him. people like him have thrived throughout history and even, you know, current times in other countries. i think it's very hard for americans to step back and realize they have themselves enthralled to an individual. they don't want to admit it and any criticism about trump is a criticism about them. he's like an avatar in a video game. but in real life, president trump is taking us in the direction of tyranny. it's no joke. >> he connects with the voters emotionally, but a reminder for our audience, that forgotten voter that feels represented by trump his policies didn't represent their interest. i want to ask before you go. this committee, this january 6th committee, do you think it's going to change anything? >> i hope it will because we need a good accounting of what happened, of all the events that led up to this. i and many others have called this a slow motion coup. obviously what happened january fth was a culmination of events going back before the first impeachment trial where president trump tried to keep himself in power by subverting the electoral process. january 6th commission is an effort, and a possibility for setting the record straight before we move on. before the 2022 midterm elections and before the next round of presidential elections. it's extremely important to have some accountability and for people to take responsibility for their actions. and that's exactly what congress is there for, it's a check on unbridled presidential executive power. so i hope the members of congress start to take this seriously and all the people called don't just take this as a political game with their own personal interest at heart. >> the truth matters, facts matter but only if people hear them. fiona hill thank you for joining us this morning. >> thank you. it is a 24/7 nonstop sprint to get goods back on shelves and prices back down. but there are bigger problems at play. we're going to untangle the economic quagmire that we are in right now. e economic quagmire that we are in right now. are you ready to meet the new class of subway's eat fresh refresh™? 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i want to bring in mario, the executive director of the port of long beach also with us mark zandy and austin gooseby. marrow, half of our goods get here through ports like the one you run. how did we reach a point where the white house had to step in? where were the california lawmakers? we've been covering this story for months. >> thank you, stephanie. first of all, there were a confluence of factors that led us to this situation. the good news is, as you mentioned, president biden has weighed in on this issue and we appreciate the president's leadership, particularly with regard to what the port of long beach has been talking about for a if few years and that is a transformation to a 24/7 concept. >> do you have the man power to handle it? you have an extra 60 hours a week but we have a labor shortage. can you flip a switch and have people unloading all those cargo ships? >> first of all, it is a supply chain issue. so it's complex. as it relates to the men and women on the docks at the harbor here at the port of long beach, they've been working day in, day out since the covid pandemic started spring of last year. so we have the labor on the docks. this is a supply chain issue and clearly the supply chain has been disrupted. not only with regard to the national supply chain but the global supply chain. so this is a bigger issue than just the port of long beach, los angeles and/or the united states. >> mark, people are freaking out. everything is running out, everything is costing more money. and at the same time millions of people are quitting their jobs. this makes the supply chain issues worse. how can people afford to just quit their jobs in the face of this, and what's the solution? it's like we're in a vicious cycle? >> there's plenty of open job positions out there, a record number. so folks rightly believe this is a good time to find the best job for them. the appropriate job. so this is the great reshuffling. they're figuring out what they want to do and making decisions that are in their best interests. so, you know, at lot of people saved money during the pandemic, they weren't out buying and they were saving and got some help from the government in many cases through stimulus checks and other forms of support. so they have time and they're trying to figure it out. they'll come back in as the pandemic winds down and, you know, people get healthy again and are less fearful of going to work. we'll see people taking those open positions. i suspect the supply chain issues will iron themselves out, too. this is a matter of time. we have to be patient. obviously a lot of financial pain and suffering for folks that have to pay higher prices and can't get what they want, when they want it. but i think six, 12 months from now we'll be in a better spot. >> it was the financial pain and suffering which is why the government stepped in with so much stimulus and now the stimulus and the savings people were able to accrue has now put them in a position they can quit their jobs, which only worsens the shortage problem? >> i would be a little careful with that. i don't think that the stimulus payments or the rescues to get us through the pandemic is what's causing the supply shortage. this is a global shortage. there's tanker -- there are tankers backed up in the english channel, there are tankers backed up in asia. this is affecting all the economies of the world. the basic thing that's happening is when you have a reshuffling that takes place rapidly you get problems. we went in a very short period of time from us, we the american people mostly spending our money on services to mostly spending our money on physical goods. and this system cannot handle a massive shift like that in a short period of time. but over the course of a few months, we will work that out. it's just going to be a bumpy and unpleasant ride while we do that. >> jamie dimon, ceo of j.p. morgan reminded us yesterday a year and a half ago we were facing a pandemic, possibly a great recession, and all of this are just uncomfortable but bumps in the road through a pretty healthy, in his words, economic recovery. do you agree with that, mark? >> i do. do the counter factual, what if we didn't get that help and support and unemployment is still very high, people are stepping out of the workforce, more people sick that's a discharger scenario than the one we are in. this is the side effects of trying to get through to the other side of this pandemic, i think. i think we have to completely reenforce the point the supply chain issues are global issues. that, you know, in fact, the delta variant of the virus did a lot more damage to asia, particularly southeast asia, which is important because that's where a lot of these supply chains begin. for example, malaysian chip plants, semiconductor plants shut down because everyone got sick and that affected the vehicle industry, we can't produce enough vehicles, vehicle prices have gone skyward. this is a global problem. we have to work through it, but we will, the pandemic will wind down and we'll get back up and running. on board with jamie dimon's sentiment this is something we're going to work through and we'll be fine, six, 12 months down the road. >> mario, what do you think the time line is? it is a global problem even if you get the log jam sorted at your port. how long before things are getting closer to normal? >> we're looking to the spring of 2022. but let me just be clear with regard to one simple fact. in terms of the containers we move at the nation's largest port of complex here. we're moving for 2021 between long beach and los angeles, 20 million containers. that number is not going to get reduced even after this crisis. we have a healthy economy, 6% gdp growth estimated going forward. so this extreme elevated concepts of ecommerce 20% of americans now have increased their ecommerce purchasing, i'm talking about online. so much of this is consumer driven. but this is a global issue with regard to what covid brought on us going back a year ago in terms of labor issues and short term place and the shutdowns in manufacturing in asia and so forth. >> austin, did we make a miscalculation before the pandemic? pre-pandemic when we talk about truckers in the u.s., we talked about how trucking was going to be automated and these truckers were going to be out of work. here we are with a massive truck shortage, before the pandemic talking about creating retraining programs for seniors who are living longer and outliving their savings and they needed to keep working. here we are after people were able to save money during the pandemic and more and more people are retiring early. were we miscalculating this stuff before the pandemic or did it just change things so much? >> a little of both. i think we did miscalculate the technology is going to come in and solve all of whatever shortage problem. we had a truck driver shortage before the pandemic and the pandemic is clearly making that worse now that we're coming out of the pandemic. and autonomous vehicles are not going to solve that problem in the next six months for sure. so anybody who was thinking that that job occupation was going to go away is totally mistaken and is probably bewildered by what's happening. >> bewildered indeed. thank you all for joining us this morning. you absolutely made us a little bit smarter. coming up next, as negotiations over the democrat human infrastructure bill roll on, we're going to tell you what experts say needs to be in that bill most. and later, this matters. one nonprofit is ponying up millions of dollars to fight inequality for people with disabilities. we're going to breakdown how this impacts everyone. rye. arthritis gel so good for arthritis pain? salonpas contains the most prescribed topical pain relief ingredient. it's clinically proven, reduces inflammation and comes in original prescription strength. salonpas. it's good medicine. ♪ i'm a reporter for the new york times. if you just hold it like this. yeah. ♪ i love finding out things that other people don't want me to know. mm-hmm. [beep] i just wanted to say... ♪ find yourself in these situations and see who you are. and that's just part of the bargain. ♪ many say president biden's agenda is hanging in the balance and democrats need to make some tough calls on how to pass the infrastructure bill. moderate senator joe manchin won't sign a bill that's over 1.5 trillion bucks. so progressives need to prioritize. speaker nancy pelosi says her members want to do fewer things and they want to do them well. right now there's a lot in the bill. one major focus is on benefits for families. specifically paid leave, child care, pre-k, child tax credits but which has the biggest impact? the "the new york times" talked to 18 family policy experts and asked which they would pick if they could only pick one. a few prioritized extending the tax credits started six months ago. experts say making say child carefree. and one expert said paid family leave should be kept no matter what. but the winner which more than half the experts put number one on the list was universal pre-k for kids ages 3 and 4. it could help decrease long-term inequality on our education system which will largely get parents back to the work place. across the board the experts agreed it's a tough choice. joining me to discuss, congressman tim ryan. he's running for senate. out of the programs i went through, which one do you want to keep most? >> it's like picking your favorite kid. >> but it's not. hold on. it's not like picking your favorite kid. because you're going to have to make tough choices you have to leave things on the floor. what do you want the most? >> well, i think those experts had a good point, the universal pre-k the two goals stephanie, i think are, how do we take on china and out compete them in the next generation and how do we put money in people's pockets when you take things like universal pre-k they actually hit both of those boxes because you will both start preparing our workforce and our kids, prepare them to compete against china and you will also reduce one year of child care that the parents need to pay for. so that's a good choice. i think where you're trying to hit both of those buttons. as we go through this and check both of those boxes as we go through this, i think it's important that should be the standard. what helps us take on china, what's going to help put money in the pockets of average families. >> a lot of people don't know what human infrastructure means. so why not break it up and put a name on it. why not lock in the bipartisan hard infrastructure deal and get it passed and breakout parts of the human infrastructure, the things that are most popular that most people want and get a vote on that? >> well, i think, actually, doing the bipartisan bill would have been fine. i think it's important too to show the country that we can actually function and pass things. and while i didn't think that was anywhere close to being big enough, i thought it would have been a good signal to send to the country and get the ball rolling here. i think you're right, let's talk about putting money in the pockets of people. we don't need to complicate this, be straightforward. the bill wants to limit how much people pay in child care. that's money in their pockets for working people. we want to extend the tax cut. that's money in their pockets. we want to do paid family medical leave. that's money in their pockets. if you're a senior, the medicare program we want to pay for hearing aids, glasses, dental work, that's money in their pocket. i think if you present that straightforward to the american people, regardless if you're republican, democrat, urban, rural. say look i'm not going to apologize for making these investments ceo pay went up 1300% in the last 30 or 40 years and the average wage went up 18%. we don't need to apologize for making these investments into working families. >> why not just say it like that? people don't know what human infrastructure means, what reconciliation means. why not say we're doing this to make your eyeglasses cost less? >> that's what i say. that's why i'm glad you had me on this morning so i could be straightforward. i don't think you need to complicate this thing. i think you should have done this 30 or 40 years ago but we get caught up in the details, phrases like human infrastructure instead of just talk straight to the american people like your neighbor, your family member at thanksgiving. and they're -- they agree with us on these policies. so there's no reason to complicate it, money in the pockets of people and all these things. you talk about community college, early childhood investments. how are we going to possibly take on china if we don't make these investments? and the last piece here, i've been doing this a little while, steph. this is the most pro business bill i've seen in my career. with the infrastructure investments, broadband, making sure the workforce gets developed in a way to be able to dominate the industries of the future. electric vehicles, batteries, charging stations, wind solar, we have to out compete china. that's what this does. this is pro worker and pro business. it needs to be robust. let's get moving and don't apologize to anybody for it. because it's all paid for, too. it's all paid for, no one under $400,000 a year is going to pay a dime in taxes. >> we have to get practical. tim ryan, always good to see you, thanks for joining me. >> thanks, steph. coming up, people with disabilities are often left out of the conversation. but an exclusive new program could change that and impact millions and millions of people. next, we're going to talk to the woman at the center of the movement. a story you don't want to miss. you can't afford to. to miss you can't afford to. ♪ there are beautiful ideas that remain in the dark. but with our new multi-cloud experience, you have the flexibility you need to unveil them to the world. ♪ what can i du with less asthma? with dupixent, i can du more....beginners' yoga. to unveil them to the world. namaste... ...surprise parties. aww, you guys. dupixent helps prevent asthma attacks... ...for 3!... ...so i can du more of the things i love. dupixent is not for sudden breathing problems. it's an add-on-treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma that can improve lung function for better breathing in as little as two weeks. and can reduce, or even eliminate, oral steroids. and here's something important. dupixent can cause serious allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. get help right away if you have rash, shortness of breath, chest pain, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection, and don't change or stop your asthma treatments, including steroids, without talking to your doctor. are you ready to du more with less asthma? just ask your asthma specialist about dupixent. it's disability employment awareness month and this morning we are shining a light on one organization that's making a difference. one in five americans have a disability. but people living with them still face systemic challenges that make inequality worse. now the nonprofit ford foundation is doing something big about it, putting $10 million behind the first ever grant making program to advance disability rights across the nation. joining me now the person behind all of this, rebecca cokely, a disability rights officer for the ford foundation. why is this program important? what tangible results do you want to see from it? >> stephanie, this is not about charity or inspiration. it's about justice. for centuries foundations have completely ignored the disability rights community yet we make up a majority of low has been left to ask for scraps and told to be thankful for crumbs. >> this isn't just for the disabled community. explain to us why this is good for everyone, specifically economically, while we're sitting here with the labor shortage. >> this is massive for everyone. people with disabilities exist in one-third of american households so if it's not someone in your residence, it's your neighbor to the right or the left. the key focuses of this initiative is going to be focusing on building the field, building the next generation of disability advocates, taking what we saw in crip camp and creating a leadership structure more representative of who the disability is and meets people where they are. the second key piece of this, near and dear to your heart is the need to drive an economic agenda. we are so excited to invest in policy reform and advocacy to drive the kind of changes we need. people don't understand that while the new deal and the fair labor standards act were groundbreaking for so many, it codified a life of poverty for disabled people by putting in place arcane asset limits that haven't been raised in decades, meaning you cannot have more than $2,000 in a savings account or you lose your health insurance. you can't live at home on your parent's couch or that counts against your income and it's still legal through a loophole to pay so many hundreds of thousands of disabled people in this country less than minimum wage. >> time to change that. i want you to talk to us for a moment about what this pandemic has been like for disabled people. we talk all the time about how the pandemic has shined a spotlight on inequalities in our society, but i don't think we talk about what it has done to the disabled community. what has the last year and a half been like? >> we saw this coming the minute we started seeing infection control standards reduced and eliminated in nursing homes and other congregate settings under the trump administration. within the community, we literally buckled our seatbelts and held on, it's a bumpy ride ahead. what we've seen is over two-thirds of the deaths of the coronavirus and many states the first deaths were people with disabilities. we continue to see people with disabilities struggle to be able to acsets regular health care, but even health care related to the coronavirus. we watched states put standards of care in place, if you're disabled your life is determined as less worthy and less valuable and they'll pull resources from you and provide them to non-disabled people. this is what we always feared but this is also why we know our community is strong, because we are still here, we are still fighting and we're not just fighting for our community. just like the aca fight, we're continuing to fight for everyone. >> rebecca, always good to see you. thank you for everything that you do. >> thank you so much, stephanie. coming up next, excruciating headaches, loss of balance and severe brain damage, the first victims of the so-called havana syndrome speak out exclusively to nbc news. you gotta hear this. ♪ ♪ traveling has always been our passion, even with his parkinson's. but then he started seeing things that weren't there and believing things that weren't true. that worried us. during the course of their disease, around 50% of people with parkinson's may experience hallucinations or delusions. and these symptoms can get worse over time. nuplazid is the only approved medicine prescribed to significantly reduce hallucinations and delusions related to parkinson's. don't take nuplazid if you are allergic to its ingredients. nuplazid can increase the risk of death in elderly people with dementia-related psychosis and is not for treating symptoms unrelated to parkinson's disease. nuplazid can cause changes in heart rhythm and should not be taken if you have certain abnormal heart rhythms or take other drugs that are known to cause changes in heart rhythm. tell your doctor about any changes in medicines you're taking. the common side effects are swelling of the arms and legs and confusion. now this is something we want to see. don't wait. ask your healthcare provider about nuplazid. baaam. internet that doesn't miss a beat. don't wait. 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? let's turn to the stories you need to know right now. this morning, stewart sheller the marine officer who criticized general milley and others for their role in the withdrawal of afghanistan is expected to plead guilty at a court-martial hearing today, charged with disrespecting superior officers. a danish man is in custody following a bow and arrow attack near the country's capital wednesday that left five people dead and two others injured. officials saying wednesday's incident appears to be a terrorist attack. also an nbc news exclusive, five years after diplomats and spies began suffering from the so-called havana syndrome the cause behind their illness a mystery. for the first time, three of the first victims are breaking their size speaking to andrea mitchell. >> in march of 2017, tina, a career foreign service officer stationed in cuba was standing in her kitchen window washing dishes when she felt a force. >> all of a sudden with no reason or explanation i felt i was being struck with something, gripping. like i had been seized by some incountriesible hand and i couldn't move. >> reporter: kate and doug ferguson were stationed in havana experiencing a piercing sound from outside their home. >> at the same level all the time, very, very loud. it's nothing you could sit with. >> kate, doug and tina would become three of the original u.s. diplomats diagnosed with neurological symptoms after experiencing mysterious episodes in havana. >> related to a directional phenomenon exposure. what do the neurologists tell you about the changes in your brain? >> he said well, it's like you aged 20, 25 years all at once. >> cases like theirs are on the rise across the globe. who or what is to blame? is it a device or a weapon? while some remain skeptical these are attacks a top scientific panel found the most likely explanation for the havana cases was directed pulsed radial frequency energy. >> one of the reasons i haven't talked to the news is that i'm telling these bad actors how their weapon worked on me, getting intel on what they can use it for and how they can use it. are we guinea pigs? test mice? a little bit. i don't like it. >> reporter: while doug recovered and is back at work, kate's diplomatic career is over and tee into's is sidelined. >> this is the heartbreaker, the document says maximum medical improvement which means i won't get any better. >> that's the great loss. all these people who have so much to offer who are not going to be the same. >> not just us. >> their lives forever altered speaking out now so americans can understand the impact of the miss curious episodes. >> it's easy for people to be dismissive and say you look fine but the real sit i'm not and i don't think very many of us are. and we just want to have our lives back. >> the leading theory is that this could be similar to a technology that russia had used during the cold war to spy on the u.s. embassy. later used to collect data from computers and cell phones, but now a hostile country may have turned it into a weapon. russia as well as cuba deny any involvement. andrea mitchell, nbc news, washington. >> wow. that wraps up this hour. i'm stephanie ruehl. >> good morning it's 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. we're following the latest developments on coronavirus booster shots. fda officials are reviewing data for moderna and johnson & johnson and in the next hour, president biden will give us an update on the