next week and to freight rail, uncreasing that -- look, we have the bottlenecks across the country. we're doing so much with this legislation. it's going to make it easier for companies to get goods to market more quickly and reduce supply chains, bottlenecks and now and for decades to come. you know, according to an economist this will ease inflationary pressures, ease inflationary pressures by lowering costs for working families. it will create jobs replacing lead water pipes so every american, every child can drink clean water, improving their health. how long have we been talking about that? it's a gigantic issue. jobs making high-speed internet affordable and available everywhere in america. you've heard me say this before and i apologize for repeating myself, but no parent should be sitting in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant so their child can do homework except to go off of what's going on with the internet connection from the fast food restaurant. this is going to make significant and historic strides to take on the climate crisis. some of you are with me when i was recently in scotland at the cop 26. what did people keep asking me? are you going to fund this? are you going to fund it? are you really going to do what you're saying? it's a big step along the way and doing it. we'll build out the first-ever national network of charging stations all across country with 5 hinn,000 of them so that you can make real auto companies and made a commitment that we will make 50% of vehicles electric by 2030. so you'll be able to go across the whole darn country, from east coast to west coast just like you'd stop at a gas station now and these charging stations will be available and we'll get america off the sidelines and manufacturing solar panels and wind turbines and electric vehicles from school busses to automobiles and we'll reward companies for paying good wages and for getting materials for their products from right here in america and america exporting and providing the rest of the world with these technologies that are generated here in the united states as we go green around the world. it also makes historic investments in environmental cleanup and remediation and it builds up our resilience against super storms and droughts and wildfires, hurricanes and you've heard me say it again and i apologize for repeating myself, but $99 billion in losses last year because of climate crises in america. $99 billion it costs the taxpayers in america. it represents a blinking red code out there for our nation. vice president harris and i look forward to having a formal signing ceremony for this bipartisan infrastructure soon. i'm not doing it this weekend because i want people who worked so hard to get this done, democrats and republicans to be here when we sign it. we are looking for forward to having shovels in the ground and for all of you at home who feel left behind and forgotten in an economy that's changing so rapidly, this bill is for you. the vast majority of the thousands of jobs that will be created don't require a college degree. from will be jobs in every part of the country, red states, blue states, rural communities, tribal communities and this is a blue collar blueprint to rebuild america and it's long overdue. i'm also proud that the house took a big step toward forward to pass my build back better act which for november 15th they'll take up the procedural mechanisms to make sure that occurs. let me be clear. we will pass this in the house and we'll pass it in the senate. the build back better act will be a once in a generation investment in our people. getting america back to work by reducing the cost of child care and elder care and getting millions of women back in the job who have to stay home because they cannot afford the child care for their parents. providing universal pre-k for every 3-year-old and 4-year-old child in america and increasing the academic achievement potential significantly -- significantly. making health care more affordable and lowering prescription drug costs and the tax cuts for working people in the middle class so folks are -- i know you're tired of hearing me, as my dad used to say, we just need a little breathing room. it will reduce child poverty by 50% and we're on track to do that with the child tax credit that we passed in our last piece of legislation and this bill is fiscally responsible and it's fully paid for and it actually reduces the deficit according to the leading economists in this country over the long term ask it's paid for by making sure that the wealthiest americans, the biggest corporations begin to pay their fair share. you've heard me say it 1 hun 100 times, why should they pay zero in taxes? i'm a capitalist, i'm not a socialist, but the bottom line is everybody should pay their fair share. zero in taxes? come on. and in keeping my campaign commitment it doesn't raise a single penny in tax for anybody making less than $400,000. folks, no matter what they tell you, you'll find out this will not affect your taxes one little bit than having to pay a penny more if you make less than $400,000 a year. these bills are the highest value investments that we can make to grow the economy. it will create millions of jobs, increase productivity and wages and reduce cost, and generate significant and historic economic growth. again, the press is here. they have to follow me all of the time and they've heard me say this a lot. we got out of the blue a couple of weeks ago, from 17 nobel prize winners in economics, it will ease inflationary pressures, and not create them, ease them. ease those pressures and for the economy, recognizes that we face an inflexion point. for most of the 20th century, we led the world by a significant margin because we invested in our people, we invested in ourselves. you've heard me say it a thousand times, jill would say, my wife says any country will outcompete us. we invested in education. we invested in health and invested in things that affect people's opportunities to succeed. we built an interstate highway system which led to the bridges, roads and systems in the world. these are the arteries of commerce that have moved goods from coast to coast quickly. that's why people decide to build facilities here in the united states. we empowered our companies to outcompete the world and we created jobs and untold opportunities for our people to travel, to live and to work, but somewhere along the way, we stopped investing in ourselves, we stopped investing in our people, and we risk losing our edge as a nation. i don't even think it was conscious, but this is what's happened. china and the rest of the world are moving to catch up and some cases in certain areas move ahead. our infrastructure used to be rated the best in the world. today -- today according to the world economic forum we rank 13th in the world. the united states of america ranks 13th in the world in infrastructure. come on. we used to lead the world in education achievement. now the organization for economic cooperation and development they always see it, it ranks america 35th out of 37 major countries when it comes to investing in early education for a childhood education and care. think about that. those of you that are parents know, you start kids early and you give them the basis, and you give them the material to be able to go on. it's simply unacceptable that we rank 35. we are turning it around in a big way. every single element of this plan will be a fundamental change in america, but taken together they're truly consequential. again, i'll have more to say about this soon, but when we have the bill signing i'll be able to thank everyone in the senate and the house for their leadership. i hesitate to start now and i want to make sure everyone who is a part of this gets credit for it. for now i want to quickly thank members of the house who worked to get this done, speaker pelosi, steny hoyer, democrats, republicans, they, in fact, worked together. it was like i thought, someone told me, my staff this morning on one of the programs this morning, well, the sausage is made. well, it is a process. you all know it. you're all pros and you cover it. the american people have made clear one overwhelming thing, i think. all of the talk about the elections and what do they mean? they want us to deliver. they want us to deliver. democrats, they want us to deliver. last night, we can on one big item we delivered. i want to close with this. for much too long, working people in the middle class of this country have been dealt out of the promise of america and it sounds like hyperbole. some of you may remember when i ran i was legitimately, and is appropriate to be criticized and when i said i was running for three reasons, one to restore the soul of america and bring back some decency and honor in the way in which we dealt with one another. the second reason was to rebuild the backbone of the country and the middle class. the wealthy are value added to the country. they didn't build the country. hard work and middle-class folks are the ones who built the country. they're the ones who built the backbone of the country and what i decided to do was i said we have to begin to grow the economy from the bottom up and the middle out. that hasn't been the case. i am so tired of trickledown economic theory that i'm trickled out. the idea, and i asked a rhetorical question. when have the wealthy not done extremely well with wealth? come on, we have to give working folks a real chance, a chance. and so folks, there's an awful lot more to say about this, but today i think has just been a good day. it's time to deal folks back in. as you've heard me say, i make no apologies for it. these bills, in fact, are the two bills weir talking about, build back better bill which we'll be working on now and this bill are all designed to gifford near people a fighting chance to begin and not punish everybody. it's never been a good bet to bet against the american people. what it means is bet on the american people, give them a shot. give them a shot. that's what these plans do. they bet on average americans they believe in america and they believe in the limitless capacity of the american people. if you look at the history and the journey of this nation, what becomes crystal clear, not a joke, given half a chance, the american people have never, ever, ever, ever, ever let their country down. we're about giving them a full chance this time and when we do, there will be no stopping us. i truly believe that 50 years from now folks will look back and say this was the moment, this was the period and this year and the next couple of years when america decided to win the competition of the 21st century to get in the game full bore. so my message to the american people is let's get to work. let's get this done. god bless you all and may god protect the troops. i'll take some questions. [ inaudible question ] >> well, you know, i'm not being facetious with the answer i'm about to give you, but i don't -- i'm not going to be a prognosticator and make a judgement on how the election could or would have been different. each state is different and i don't know, but the one message that came across was get something done. it's time to get something done. stop talking. get something done. and so, i think, again, that's what the american people are looking for and i think it's legitimate and when you ask how were you able to bring things together? >> well, you know -- [ laughter ] look, all kidding aside, i have -- i believe everybody in the process is entitled to be treated with respect, and i've been doing this kind of thing -- it's not all me, but i've been doing this thing my whole life and i've been able to in the senate put things together just by making the overwhelming point that you can't have all you want. it's a process. there's no one piece of legislation that will solve everybody's problems. so i spent a lot of time, as you probably heard, with a lot of people, both political parties and my party saying, look, if we move on what's here in this bill, and that is the infrastructure bill, it is a game changer in a half a dozen ways and the fact that it has too much of what you don't want and not enough of what you don't want, let's be reasonable. let's take a look at this. let's do what we all agree in a minimum is in the interest of american people and if you want to add more, we can fight about it later and we can subtract from it. i've never voted on a major piece of legislation and i was for every piece of it. people say, how do i explain this? well, you explained to your constituency and i'm not telling you how to do it, but you go home and say this is what it did. there's one piece in here that's not enough for this, or too much for that, but overall it's a huge benefit to my congressional district. so i spent a lot of time taking questions from both, and everybody at the end of the day i have to admit dealt with me fairly. i mean, they were -- -- and part of the process and it's probably more than you need to know, but part of the process is getting to know all of the people personal he again. i've been out of the government for four years. i used to do this every day. i used to know about everybody's district i was working with when i was vice president and i know them and call up and say hey, charlie or mary and it's getting to know a lot of these people, to build trust because everything i say i'm going to try to do, i'll try to do, and i think that's also part of the process and so hopefully it can continue. >> you just alluded to it there, mr. president. two questions. you are arguably the most legislatively experienced president we have ever seen, but to get this first agenda item over the finish line you need republican votes. >> sure. you will not have republican votes for your build back better agenda, isn't it doomed? my second question, mr. president, opec plus has snubbed your calls to pump more oil. when will you respond with an spr release? >> first of all, i'm not anticipating that opec would respond. they're going to pump oil, and whether they pump more oil is a different thing. there are other tools in the arsenal and i'm dealing with other countries at an appropriate time. i will talk about it that we can get more energy in the pipeline figuratively and literally speaking and i don't start off with an assumption that i can't get anybody to vote for anything. i mean that sincerely. i think what's going to happen is we'll see what happens in the senate and whether or not i need only democratic votes which is likely, which is a likely outcome and the question is can i get all of those votes? this is a process, and all along you told me i can't do anything with it anyway, from the very beginning. be honest, okay? and i don't blame you because if you look at the facts you oner how is this going to get done? but i think there's a -- i think there is a dawning on the part of a lot of people that hold elective office that if you get some of this done things are better for them as well as anybody else, and i'm sure there's some calculation saying biden gets this other bill and he'll be moving too fast and it will hurt, the democrats won't be doing too well. that's why i think we have to try to figure out how to make the case across the board as to -- there are a lot of things we have to tackle. >> mr. president, have you gotten assurances from moderate democrats in the house and senate that they are going to vote for your build back better plan now that what they really wanted, the infrastructure bill, has passed. >> you know i'm not going to answer that question for you because i'm not going to get into who or what made what commitments to me. i don't negotiate in public, but i feel confident that we will have enough votes to pass the build back better plan. >> what gives you that confidence? >> me. [ laughter ] >> you were forced to scrub paid family leave from your framework -- >> i'm sorry? >> you were forced to leave paid family leave. can you keep it in this bill when it makes its way to the senate? >> time will tell. >> where do you stand? you said last week that this report about migrant families at the border getting payments was garbage. >> i didn't say that. let's get it straight. you said everybody coming across the border gets $450,000. >> the number -- >> if in fact, because of the outrageous behavior of the last administration, you coming across the border whether it was legal or illegal and you lost your child, you lost your child, he's gone, you deserve some kind of compensation no matter what the circumstance. what that will be, i have no idea. i have no idea. yes, the doj negotiating settlement. >> we haven't heard anything about the china bill which is really the third element of what you're hoping to do here. it's been through the senate and has not yet come up to the house and it would seem that that is the one that is more key to our competitiveness and i was wondering, if you were talking about that and also tell us how you're feeling right now about the iran deal since it looks like you're going to go back to discussion at the end of the month, but the iranians have made it pretty clear at this point they plan to rip up most of what was done so far. so are you into plan b at this point? >> i'm not going to comment on iran now and the china bill you refer, to everything in good time. we have to get this through and the next thing is build back better. i'll take one more question. >> sir, may i follow up on paid leave? >> abigail stamberger said this week, nobody elected him to be fdr and they elected him to be normal and stop the chaos. after tuesday's election losses for democrats and is she wrong? abigail is a friend and we joked and she said i have a picture of roosevelt hanging in my office, her office, okay? i don't intend to be anybody, but joe biden. that's who i am and what i'm trying to do is do the things that i ran on to do, and, look, people out there are ordinary, hardworking americans and are really, really put through the ringer the last couple of years, starting with covid. covid has disrupted almost every family one way or another whether it's wearing a mask or losing a family member. 750,000 plus americans dead? 750,000 and so people are worried. people are worried about coming up and they don't understand them. why is the price of agriculture products, why is it higher? if we had gone out and had lunch together and i said let's ask whoever is in the next table no matter how -- what restaurant we're in, have them explain the supply chain to us. will they understand what we're talking about? they're smart people with supply chain. why is everything backed up? it's backed up because the people who supply the materials that end up being on our kitchen table or in our -- or our life, guess what? they'll close those plants because they have covid. they're not -- so it's a complicated world that people are facing. we've never faced anything like this before. i mean, i'm not saying it's the worst of any time in american history, but we never faced anything with this sort of understanding and what's going on. you can understand why people are upset and whether you have a ph.d or you're working, you know, in a restaurant. it's confusing and so people are understandabliy worrieded. they're worried and so all i can say is what i'll try to do is explain to the american people, as best i can, and by the way, you all write for a living. i haven't seen any of you explain supply chain very well. when your editor says explain the supply chain. lots of luck in your senior year my coach used to say, but i sincerely mean it. this is a confusing time, confusing time. think of all those children, all those children who may have lost more than a year of education by only being out one semester. think of everything that's going on from access when you go back to college, if you're in college. you have to wear your mask or who is your rm mate and this is a confusing moment and it seems to me that my job as the president of the united states is to try to figure out myself as well what is most needed to put people at ease and let them know there is a way through this. there is a way through this. the world has never been here before, that sounds like hyperbole, but think about it. this truly is one of those inflexion points in history. all of the pieces of the board are moving both in terms the relationships among and between nations as well as the pieces of what employment people have. how do we do this? and so this is a confusing time, but i promise, i promise the american people i have one focus, how do we give you some breathing room? how do we get you to the point where we take pressure off you so you can begin to get back to the degree of normality and we move to a different place? by the way, everybody internationally use build back better. when i use the phrase build back better. we're the only country in the world that goes through a crisis and comes out better than where we were before the crisis occurred and that's building back better than it was before and this is a process and we'll see take it every day at one moment in time. i can take. i'll get in real trouble. this is the last question i'm taking. you can decide who i'm pointing to. >> when do you think the build back better bill will be passed by thanksgiving, christmas? >> i don't want to make your job easier. i know when it will be passed and i know exactly -- >> when you see the effects of the bill, this bill, probably started within the next two to three months as we get shovels in the ground and people being told they'll be working on the following things and things are going to move. it is a bill that's paid out over a number of years and so the biggest thing it does, you'll have people going, oh, okay. i guess i'll be able to keep my job or i'll get a job doing that, or i'm moving. so i can't tell you that with precision. if anybody can, then they ought to go into fortune telling, but it will be a provision, a bill that is going have a profound impact over time. it's a little like -- and i'll end with this, a little like when i -- we came to office and it has to do with this lady here, the vice president, i used to stand there and listen to the president. she has to stand there and listen to the president and she deserves an enormous amount of credit, but here's the deal, when we came to office we were told virtually by everybody you can't get this economy moving -- remember when they told me there's no way i can get 2 million shots a day in the beginning. no way i can get the vaccine, there's no way, no way, no way. it's understandable. i'm not criticizing people who said that because these things have never been done before. it's never happened before and so we have to get to work. i agree, i am a congenital optimist. i really mean this. i have enormous faith in the ingenuity and the integ ret of the american people. i'm not joking. i have enormous faith in them because i'm convinced we're the most unique country in the world and not because we're all so smart, and because we're the only country that's organized based on an idea. we mean it. we hold these truths to be self-evident, all men are created equal. basically, give everybody a shot, and i really have faith in the american people. i know we're divided. i know how mean it can get, and i know there are extremes on both ends that make it more difficult than it's been in a long, long time, but i am convinced, let the american people know that we're committed to enhancing their ability to make their way to all do better. thank you all so very much. [ inaudible question ] >> all right, good morning, everybody, and welcome to "the cross connection." you've been listening to president joe biden flanked by madam vice president kamala harris passing an infrastructure bill and paved wait forred bien's ambitious social spending bill to be passed later this month. the infrastructure bill and the rule that will allow the passage of the now $1.75 trillion build back better act was passed in a pair of midnight votes. one known as biff, and you probably heard that term a lot that passed with 13 republicans voting yes and six members of the progressive squad voting no, and then the rule on build back better and a social spending bill on party lines. that bill is now on its way back to the senate for further deliberations with leadership hoping are if i final vote by thanksgiving. the senate is out until november, and until the senate resoups. joining me now is lucy caldwell and msnbc condition tributor, and former columnist and msnbc dr. cebello and the professor will kick us off. there is a lot in this bill, and i do think that we have to acknowledge that. you know, there is a lot in here for pipes to replace pipes across the country. we know that's a big deal for folks in benton harbor, michigan, right now who are still without drirpging water and $65 billion for expanding broadband. i'll tell you in 2009, i remember the american recovery and reinvestment act and you saw the signs on the highway everywhere during obama's administration. do you think that the trillion dollar bipartisan infrastructure bill would have the same effect when it comes to retail politics as we go into midterms next year? >> slapping your name on something is a good way to get credit for it, just ask donald trump. he put ts on everything and people thought he was rich and barack obama put everything on the recovery act and i specifically remember highway 90 in cleveland having the recovery act on it and that had a huge impact. people were thinking barack obama every single day. i think this policy will help the same way. i think what's important though, is not just president biden coming out and discussing the bill today and also making sure as he said in his speech that democrats go out and that they promote this and that they talk about it and that whatever ends up coming forward for the build back better act that they promote what's in that bill and not what's out of it, this is a step in the right direction and this is what president biden ran on all along and he has to make sure he sells these things and sells them for what they're going to do and not the process that we had to go through to get here and that might end up being something successful for him that he can head into the new year instead of being six feet under in the polls. >> i want to bring you in, congressman, because you saw what happened this week. republicans overwhelmingly stuck with the party. what's in this infrastructure bill? this will impact the republican voter base, as well. i don't know that republican voters always prioritized that, quite frankly when they were in the ballot box and will this infrastructure bill impact the republican voting base when it comes to midterms as we go into 2022? >> tiffany, this will help the senators and congressmen who voted for the bill because as you said they'll go home and point to spike projects and say i made this happen. this would help the administration, remember, joe biden campaigned as someone who had a long record of getting things done in congress, working with democrats and republicans. he's celebrating a bill today that mitch mcconnell voted for and this is a big deal for him when it comes to the swing voters and key states like virginia and others who ended up providing close elections and this is specifically what he was looking for on the bipartisan that he spoke about on healing the campaign and it is something that he would say. this is good for congress and the big winners today are joe biden and kamala harris. >> i hear you, but i don't know that those voters in virginia, they weren't talking about supply chain and the infrastructure bill. they were focused on things like critical race theory in virginia. so i wonder when it comes trot voting base how much this will carry. something interesting during this press conference. president biden threw shade at the press there saying, look, i haven't seen any of you guys write about the supply chain in a comprehensive way. i have to say, you and i talked about this a lot. there are a lot of times that the beltway press talks to and for each other and isn't speaking to the masses of the american people and explaining these things without getting mired in the minutia of beltway politics. do you think that the american people have a good grasp and understanding on what's in this bill and how it will impact their lives as we go into another election cycle? >> well, no, tiffany, i don't think they have that good of an understanding of what is in either the biff or build back better which is still taking shape, but now that this has passed, i think that once president biden gets past the symbolism of what last night meant which i think he spent a lot of time today talking about it and he didn't get to talking about the supply chain issue until nearly the end of that half-hour press conference and today it was about, to carlos' point, the idea that they were elected a year ago this week on that message of unietty and bipartisanship, both of which have been in short supply for his first year in office, but what has been in short supply i back better bill. the money in major bills and projects and the job creation that will come out of this. the focus clean water, airports and broadband. and this these things will help a lot of, frankly, the diverse coalition of democrats who delivered the white house and congress to this party a year ago. many of those same voters have very much been looking to this administration to remember their priorities as this administration is governing and while the president remains committed to the sausage making, deal making kind of collegial process that was the hallmark of his tenure, i think as he is going out and democrats are going out and telling people what is in this bill and how it will have an impact on their lives, that was certainly something that candidates in virginia wished that they'd had this week, but it is certainly something that democrats whether they are moderate, progressive or in between are going to be taking out on the campaign trail in the next year. >> you make a good point, aaron talking about the jobs. this is something that would impact republican voters. you were once in the party. i know you're no longer a republican, but you probably talk to more republicans than do i. joe biden talked about jobs and he said the majority of the jobs that the infrastructure will create does not require a college degree, he called it the blue collar blueprint, non-college educated people were hard core sticking with the republican party and when you look at this bill that would certainly impact them, only 13 members of the house voted for it. how do you explain that in. >> yeah. i think it's an odd coalition because i looked at the republicans, are we going to see that overlap with four republicans. you heard don bacon, a republican congressman from nebraska expressing the sentiment well, that if he thought about what to do with this bill, he thought, well, i was part of helping to draft this bill and if you vote no, you know, you doing favors for yourself in the primary, but you're hurting yourself in the general and that's almost like the most honest thing we've heard any member of congress say in a long time, but joe biden is helping republicans like that because in the messaging in his speech, he is doing a reset. as you mentioned, he talked about a blue collar blueprint and he talked about the idea that this is a confusing time. he talked how trickle down has not worked and he advocated for the idea of trickle up and he took on, head-on the joe manchin idea that this is a center right country, and a lot of democrats' messaging problems has revolved around the back that they've decided to be the party of nuance in the virginia race this week, when we heard about critical race theory. terry mcauliffe was saying that's a law sool concept, well, it was an activating issue because parents feel like the way their children are learning is a the bit different and instead of o dressing that head on and let me, plain how this is a good thing for our children. i think we're seeing the biden administration at its best which is really getting to the core issues that matter to people not insulting the american people and talking about the coming agenda and the vote on november 15th as part of this works that they just laid the groundwork for today and in a way that makes it very, very hard for republicans to take a hard line against that second piece of the administration's agenda. >> hard, but not impossible. we'll see. take a listen because the president was kind of beating his chest here and said you asked me to deliver, i delivered. take a listen to him talking about what he delivered today. >> the american people have made clear one overwhelming thing, i think, and i mean it. all of the talk about the elections and what do they mean? they want us to deliver. they want us to deliver. democrat, they want us to deliver. last night we proved we can on one big item, we delivered. >> so they did deliver on this item, jason, but people are still looking to this big social spending bill that would have the most impact on the american people, something that he said struck me as really interesting. when he said look, the build back better plan does not raise the deficit by a single penny and he said it does not raise taxes on anybody who is making less than $400,000 a year. jason, you remember this was a sticking point and according to the scuttle butt is still a sticking point for senator sinema. while he was talking, the average income in arizona, the average household income is $58,000 a year. president biden is saying this won't raise taxes on anyone making over $400,000 a year and he's talking about corporations that makes $50,000 a year, if her constituent's average income is $58,000, why is this such a sticking point and who is she advocating for in. >> this is about who is filling sinema's pockets and who is felling -- it was about the senators who were still holing out to cut back the build back better plan. most people know how poor the los of people are in west virginia. joe manchin said i don't want an entitlement culture. crist en sinema is representing sommelier and big business interests and we know that they're not necessarily representing their constituents. whatever ends up coming out of the senate because you know that manchin will cut it down and sinema will cut it down and all of the other six or seven democrat depps who are hiding behind them who are just as conservative will cut it down. at end of the day they have got to be able to sell people on what they have getting past being valuable. one of the biggest mistakes that democrats have made so far is what most people ended up hearing about build back better. i don't blame the press. it's the problem with the administration and the press. you can't tell me what we're not having for dinner. you ain't getting no wine, you ain't getting no chicken, you ain't getting no rolls. tell me when i'm getting. nobody would care about joe manchin and what crist en sinema. >> let's talk about why we tear about manchin, am i right? >> congressman, i'll toss this to you. they matter so much because it's a narrow majority. if democrat his more seats in the senate they would not be as important. >> there are essentially votes 49 and 50. biden is an institutionalist and he is an optimist and he likes to be collegial. i imagine you fancy yourself that way, as when you were in congress. given where we are, though, and given that people are voting strictly down a party line. there's been no republican support for the build back better plan do you think there is even a possibility that republicans would cross the line and render sinema less important given that these policies would impact their voting base, as well? >> tiffany, i don't anticipate that any republicans will join democrats for a reconciliation process. so this is how it's worked historically. republicans did a big tax reform bill through reconciliation in 2017. no democrats par took in that. of course, the aca was ultimately done through reconciliation and republicans did participate there. what i will say about manchin and sinema is that i do think they're trying to protect their party from the violent swings we've seen in the electorate. i mean, think about it. in 2009 and '10, democrats did health care alone and they tried to do policy alone. they got punished bug toum in the elections and they tried to rerepeal a len, and they got punished in 2018 and they just want to prevent the pendulum from swinging so drastically back and forth and that's why they're so committed to bipartisanship and i would say it's far beyond who is supporting them and it's about a commitment to working within the system in a way that doesn't provoke this type of violent reaction from the electorate. >> i think when they're prioritizing republican and let's be honest, trump acolytes in congress over priorities of the people that perhaps they should be more concerned about that, but unfortunately, we are out of time and we'll have to save that discussion for another time. thank you so much. lucy caldwell, aaron haynes and carlos cur bello, stay with us for more "cross connection." stay with us. bello, stay with u for more "cross connection." stay with us. s connection." stay with us align. fast acting biotic gummies helps soothes occasional abdominal discomfort, gas, and bloating and it works fast. in as little as 7 days try fast acting biotic gummies from align. the #1 doctor recommended probiotic brand. mm. 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the court is scheduled to hear that strikes at the heart of roe v. wade. the high court also took up its first second amendment case in more than a decade. and this case could decimate the power of states to regulate guns within their borders. joining me now to talk about all of this and more, our audience favorite, justice correspondent and my pal, ellie mystal. i'm so happy that you're here. i've wanted to talk about these supreme court cases. i feel like the gun case is a big deal. i'm going to leapfrog over that for a second because in this ahmaud arbery case where the jury is all white and you have these men declaring themselves dep ewetizing themselves, i thought about the supreme court second amendment case and expanding gun rights and i think about the three men who are accused of killing ahmaud arbery having more access to guns. it does not seem like a good combination. >> yeah, i think this actually links up with your prior segment and the biden press conference because what the democrats theory of the case is is that the white non-college educated voter cares about things like kitchen table issues like infrastructure and pipes and how many gallons of milk you can put on the table. i contend that what they care about is using their guns on black people and getting away with it. that's what they want. that's what they actually are in it for. the defense attorney in the ahmaud arbery case, the attorney who is defending the people who lynched that man said that they needed more bubbas on the jury, and then he defined bubbas as white males over 40 without a college degree. now, why does that defense attorney think that white men over 40 without a college degree are more likely to acquit his clients of lynching? because of infrastructure? because of an economic grievance? no that attorney knows why those people are more likely to acquit his clients and so do i and so does the judge because they only put one black juror on the awe mard arbery jury. they only found one black person to put on the entire jury and the alternate, and the judge said he found evidence of intentional discrimination in the jury selection but let the trial go ahead anyway. we're just going to have this predominantly white jury that the judge himself thinks is probably racially biased, but whatever, let's just go for it, and that's what we're going to see. now, the ahmaud arbery lynching is particularly egregious. there's video. i still have hope that somehow, some way there will be justice in this case, but you see how they think, and when you understand how these people are thinking, that, i think, links up perfectly to why democrats lost in virginia, why new jersey was so close, why we're worried about 2022. >> and when you look at these two cases, ellie, it also -- i mean, it punctuates the point you have this white woman accused of being a part of the insurrection crowd who said, oh, i'm good. i'm white. i have blond hair, i'm not going to jail. why does she think like that? we know why she thinks like that. we've been victims of a very punishing criminal justice system for a long time. let's get into the kyle rittenhouse case, you've got a judge on the case quoting bible verses. this seems very odd, particularly on the heels of him saying he cannot call the three men who were shot, two killed one wounded, victims this does not seem ethical at all, ellie. it can't be. >> the judge says they can't call the victims victims, but they call call the victims, looters, rioters and arsonists even though the one surviving man has not been charged with looting, rioting or arson. he's attacking the press from the bench. he's quoting bible verses to the jury. let's not forget how much power judges have over a criminal trial. at the end of a trial, the judge is going to be the one who tells the jury what the law is. >> yeah. exactly. >> he's going to tell the jury how they should think about their decision. you don't think there's going to be bias in that when he does that? but what can you do? these are both state court trials. folks, in this situation, both rittenhouse and ahmaud arbery, the defendants are the white people. and if the prosecution is not able to convict these white people, there is no appeal. it would be double jeopardy. if you get an acquittal, the prosecutor can't go we appeal, there is no appeal from this stuff. if you don't appeal what the judges are doing kind of in realtime, which they're trying but, you know, it's not going anywhere, once we get to a verdict -- >> that's it, yeah, exactly. look, just don't make any plans ever any saturday because i need you on every week to break all this stuff down. we're way over time because of the biden press conference. thank you so much for joining us on this saturday, my friend. hopefully we will see you next saturday. there's much more "the cross connection" after the break, so stay tuned. connection" after th stay tuned hey google. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ still fresh 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virginia and governor phil murphy's narrow win in new jersey have many blaming everything from critical race theory to woke speak. there's also that tired argument that progressives are to blame for fighting for policies that would benefit most americans, but look, it just doesn't hold up. if republican voters look beyond internet conspiracy theories, they might notice they stand to benefit from some of these policies. glenn youngkin got 57% of the voters age 65 and older. these folks would certainly benefit from an expansion from medicare. the 46% of suburban voters that voted for youngkin could probably use paid family voters. the 45% of the voters who are college educated might have wanted free community college that would help with work force development. let's talk about all this. joining me now lynn win, exec tiff director of run aapi, roland martin, the bringer of funk and the host of "roland martin unfiltered daily digital show" and jess morales is back with us, the executive director of care in action. roland, you're the only man on the panel, so we'll start with you, my friend. i've been curious all week to talk to you about this -- what we saw in the election cycle. you just heard president biden beat his chest and take a victory lap. i'm not so sure this would have made a difference had this come out before the election cycle because, quite honestly, republicans were not focused on policy. they were focused on fear mongering and race, but what's your take? >> if you look at the history of virginia, you always have this happen when you've had this dramatic flip right after presidential election. so we've seen this over the last number of election cycles. that's one. two, terry mcauliffe ran an awful race. let's cut to the chase. i live in virginia. my show is based in d.c. i didn't interview mcauliffe until the day before the election. i'm sorry, what are you doing? i heard from black folks down in tide water, in virginia beach, they did not hear from the campaign. there was no unity rally after the democratic primary that involved three african-american candidates. second, he didn't reach out to former governor douglas wilder. mcauliffe ran as if he was going to simply win the election, didn't do the work. even if you break it all down, this was the margin of victory, 72,000 votes. so for all of these people who said, oh, my god, it's this massive blowout, democrats got killed. it was a marginal 72,000 votes. if you're a better campaign, he wins. >> yeah. you make a really good point because your show is very popular. a lot of black folks watch your television show and so it's always striking to me how candidates will leapfrog over spaces where voters listen because it seems they're constantly trying to censor white people, white voters, these independent voters when you're talking to the base it will behoove people to talk to you. i want you to take a listen to something james carville said, and i like james carville. i'm just curious everybody's opinion on this case. >> it's this stupid wokeness. don't just look at virginia and new jersey, look at long island, look at buffalo, look at minneapolis, even look at seattle, washington, i mean, this defund the police lunacy, this take abraham lincoln's name off of schools, some of these people need to go to a woke detox center or something. their expression of language that people just don't use, and there's a backlash and a frustration at that. >> so i'm going to try to be really fair here because i do think that he makes a point. there are people all across this country who are uncomfortable with what he's calling woke speak. however, who cares, you know? who is going to prioritize somebody else's discomfort over our equality and what it sounds to me like he's saying is let's not make the white folks too uncomfortable. lynn, what's your take here? >> right, i'm just going to say this, roland, i can listen to you speak all day. i really could. >> i appreciate it. >> i have so many thoughts on virginia on this past tuesday's results and i'm just going to say this, tiffany. there are times when i truly feel like the democratic party, we sometimes organize better against the left than we have against the gop, right? we got to recognize that, and we've seen it so many times in post election night, narrative results, us analyzing this for days, but i mean, republicans they are so good at running on emotion, inciting these cultural wars, and democrats, us and like i've been on the ground in virginia. you know, we try to ignore this, and we try to run on policy. sometimes we got to take the l and we got to own it. that's where i feel like we are -- we're going to struggle going into midterms next year. we're going to struggle going into 2024. we are really forgetting who we are, and that is just like so much concern for me. >> you know, i have to say, i don't think it was a total loss for the democratic party this election cycle. i think that's the media narrative. however, i think democrats had some historic wins. there were a lot of historic firsts that came out of last week, you've got michelle wu, first woman and woman of color elected to be boston's mayor. cincinnati first api mayor, and eric adams in new york city, second mayor. i am not going to tout -- you know, i think sometimes there are particularly these maga crowd of white folks who will find somebody who makes them comfortable, but they are not an authentic voice of the community, and people want to tout that as their diversity candidate. we see you, we don't buy that. to your point or to linh's point, look, i think there are some challenges around, you know, speaking this highbrow intellectual speak sometimes, but it wasn't totally bad. i think that is mostly a media narrative. but what's your take here? >> i couldn't agree more, tiffany. we saw that there were hundreds of wins all around the country. my husband is the co-founder of run for something, and they saw incredible amazing young, diverse fabulous candidates at the municipal level win all over the country. i think we should be paying attention to those. at care in action, we have a really clear playbook. let's have exciting candidates who represent the community that they live in. let's have them run on the issues that really matter to the people in that community, and let's have them talk to the people in that community, all of the people in that community, not just the ones who are, you know, frequent voters on the voter rolls. when we do that, we win elections all over the country, even in so-called red districts or swing voters. when we don't do that, when we insist on going with a playbook, frankly the playbook that james carville made, i don't know, decades ago at this point before the internet was even invented of only talking to white voters bs of only talking to a very narrow set of voters and assuming we know what they care about, that's when we lose. we shouldn't do that, we have one year to get this right. i don't think that any midterm voter is going to remember the virginia election. i do think that every midterm voter is going to know if we actually made a difference in people's lives. that's what we need to focus on. that's why we got to pass the build back better agenda, that's why we've got to get exciting candidates and if we do that, i'm not worried about the midterms. i'm not worried about the presidency, and i'm not worried about the democratic party. >> yeah, exactly. in virginia it's interesting. i mean, a narrow vote that they ignored there was the api vote when it comes to these margins, and you see this happen. and then the media narrative is democrats are in trouble. and who do they ask what to do about it? republicans. it's kind of ridiculous. roland, i want to switch subjects. let's talk about what's happening in your neck of the woods, ro, this devastating situation out of houston, at least eight people have died and hundreds are injured after a crowd surge at travis scott's astroworld music festival. i love me some travis scott. astroworld is on like steady repeat in my house. what's the situation here? do you know anything about what happened? the reporting has said some people have rushed the stage, rushed the doors. what's the situation on the ground, ro, do you know? >> that is one of the issues that you typically will have such as this. houston authorities still trying to ascertain exactly what happened. of course travis scott's team put out a statement that they're canceling the rest of the festival. we've seen these sort of stories before, certainly it is shocking and stunning. i woke up to the news, not only to the news but also text messages because i have family members who were actually at the concert last night. they're safe and sound this morning. >> thank goodness. >> yeah, i can guarantee you're going to have a mass investigation. i'll be communicating shortly when we get off with houston mayor sylvester turner, who's my alpha fraternity brother and some others here as well. it's certainly tragic. i hate to see a loss of life when people are simply going to a concert. this was a significant event, astro used to be a theme park. >> yeah. >> and travis scott bringing this festival back really brought a lot of attention and life to the city. it was fully embraced by the city as well. so it is beyond tragic what took place last night here in my hometown. >> yeah, it's really sad. and you know, linh, you're in houston as well. this wasn't just a music festival. this was something that was more comprehensive. it centered the community. there was community engagement involved. so kudos to him for doing this, but i thought about you when i saw this happening, linh because another part of me wondered are we really ready to be back at concerts. i know i find myself, i went to a broadway play this weekend, i find myself a little nervous around a lot of crowds. i know you're a soon to be mother. you know, how do you feel about being out at these crowded events? >>. >> yeah, i mean, i will say if it wasn't for me being pregnant i probably would have been there as well. and roland, i feel you like this is my hometown. it's so interesting -- not interesting but i mean travis scott has for a long extensive history of giving back to houston in so many different ways. that's just the culture here in houston. you see that a lot with artists like bundy, and meg the stallion, and even drake. the youngest person injured was 10 years old. these festivals are meant for change. it's meant to inspire lives. to see something like this happen, especially when we're still trying to navigate what this is going to look like during covid post-vaccine era, i mean, this is -- whether it's the artist, whether it's the festival producers, but we need to stop glorifying fans who are breaking barriers. fans that are injuring security guards and medics trying to get closer to the stage. this can't be the culture moving forward. it simply can't. >> i completely agree. jess, i want to ask you a quick question on aaron rodgers. let me ask jess really quickly. this controversy over the green bay packers quarterback aaron rodgers is going to be sidelined for tomorrow's game against kansas city chiefs after he tested positive for covid-19. back in august he really misled reporters about his vaccination status when he said that he was immunized, now he's saying the victim of a quote, woke mob. >> had there been a follow-up to my statement that i've been immunized, i would have responded with this. i would have said, look, i'm not, you know, some sort of anti-vaxx flat earther. i am somebody who's a critical thinker. you guys know me. i march to the beat of my own drum. >> marches to the beat of his own covid drum, and people kill me with this i'm a critical thinker. your google search is better than the entire world's doctors and sciences. what do you make of this ridiculousness? being a member of what he calls the woke mob. >> i go to a hairdresser to get my haircut because i can't do it myself. i have a domestic worker come and clean my house, and i go to the doctor to get medical advice because google is not a doctor and aaron rodgers lied. that's why this is coming out. he said that he was immunized and he wasn't, and now he's trying to pretend like he's some culture warrior. he's not. he's a liar and not only that, that flat earther comment is frankly to distance himself from other black athletes who have come under fire for their political beliefs. and that is unacceptable. he is a liar who also doesn't believe in science and put his fans and team in danger, and he should face the consequences for that, period. >> i completely agree. roland, before we check out, i want to get your thoughts on carville. we're so tight, the biden presser made us mess up, but i've got to hear your take on carville and his comments on woke speech. >> i think carville needs to shut the f up. i'm sick of these white men whining and complaining about wokeness, when you like it when black folks and latinos and young white voters and asians are voting for candidates. how about this james carville, how about you go learn how to cut some lincoln type ads for the democratic party. where is the video touting the infrastructure bill? how about you go raise money to run those ads on oan and fox news and news max and telling those broke white folks in those various states how the infrastructure bill is going to benefit them. i'm sorry, james, i need you to shut up and do your job and stop trying to pin it on people who are doing the work. >> all right well, you know, roland has strong thoughts. i have to say i think a lot of us feel that way. i think it's going to be hard for a lot of people, you're looking at the screen right now, this is the rising majority of america, and when this group of people starts getting centered it's going to be uncomfortable for a lot of people. at this point in history, we're comfortable making people uncomfortable. thank you to my amazing panel, you guys are rock stars, rock star panel, thanks for being here. don't go anywhere, though, coming up, i've got congresswoman karen bass. she's going to talk about the passage of the infrastructure plan and her run for mayor of los angeles. stay with us. for mayor of los angeles. stay with us where everything just seems to go your way. ♪ ♪ you're in good hands with allstate. click or call for a lower auto rate today. tide pods ultra oxi one ups the cleaning power of liquid. you're in good hands with allstate. can it one up whatever they're doing? for sure. seriously? one up the power of liquid, one up the toughest stains. any further questions? uh uh! one up the power of liquid with tide pods ultra oxi. 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 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thought everyone was working in a very congenial way, rank and file numbers figured out how to get it done. >> and boy did congress finally get done last night, late last night, passing the bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, 87 days after cleared the senate. joining me now is a woman who knows the ins and outs of those negotiations and that is the amazing congresswoman and candidate for mayor of los angeles, karen bass. congresswoman, so happy to have you with me this morning. let's get right to it, i'm so curious your thoughts on the infrastructure bill. some in your caucus voted no, so curious where you stand on this? >> well, i was very excited to vote on the bills yesterday, and i'm excited because it is going to mean tens of thousands of jobs. so i view both bills as job bills and certainly jobs that are sorely needed in my city of los angeles. >> and this is going to pave the way for the build back better legislation. how confident are you that president biden will be able to get this passed? i mean, you heard him in the press conference. he said, you know, he said he wouldn't make our jobs in the press any easier by giving us a time line, but do you have any insight on when that might pass, and if it will pass? >> well, i certainly hope that it will. i mean, it is a key priority, a top priority of the biden administration, and you certainly have democrats in both houses, i believe, who are committed to make it happen. so you know by november 15th, hopefully there will be a vote on the bill in the house and then it goes over to the senate. so we still have a ways to go, but i do have confidence. it is something that is sorely needed because we absolutely have to address many cises that are happening around our country. that bill provides child care, provides housing desperately needed in my city of los angeles where we have a real humanitarian crisis facing tens of thousands of people who are literally living in tents on the streets of our city. >> i have seen those people on my trips to los angeles living in tents, and we have a housing crisis all across this country. you're totally right. i do want to switch gears a bit because you have confidence in the build back better plan passing. a lot of people have confidence in police reform passing in congress, and that did not happen. you still see playing out today all across the country congresswoman police brutality issues, you know, some of these things are taking place in courtrooms right now. what do you think went wrong there, and is that one of the reasons you run for mayor because of this kind of gridlock and getting this kind of policy passed? >> no, absolutely not. i mean, i have enjoyed my years in congress, and it is a very difficult decision to not run again. what i enjoy the most is the fact that i get to work on domestic issues that i've worked on for decades and foreign policy issues. but in los angeles, we have a humanitarian crisis, and as i have gone to many places in africa where there's a humanitarian crisis, when there is one in my own city and i was called home to address it, that is what i -- that is what i must do. so i'm excited about going home and believe that this is the time in los angeles to pull the city together. how you define a problem really directs you to the solution. if you view the homelessness issue as a public nuisance problem, then that leads you to one solution. i believe it is humanitarian crisis. it's a health. it's a social, and it's an economic crisis and what is playing out in los angeles plays out in many cities around the country. it is really an issue of extreme income inequality and the lack of affordable housing. >> well, i want to get to -- i know that's an issue you are very passionately involved with. los angeles, you're talking about issues there, and something that was really interesting that came up in the redrawing of these maps, it put you and congresswoman maxine waters in the same district, which means the congressional black caucus could potentially lose a seat. we know there will be a lot more reiteration. this may not be the final, final. the area you represent is historically black, there are a lot of areas like lamert park, a lot of emerging areas in that space. however, the latino population is soon outnumbering the black population. i'm just curious your thoughts when something like that happens when it comes to representation in congress, is this the final? will the cac gain a seat? do you have any insight there? >> no, i don't believe that that will be the case at all. that was one iteration. there have been several since, and i do believe there is an understanding and a commitment that we cannot lose an african-american seat in the state of california. there are only three of us, but let me just tell you that the three of us that represent -- that are african-americans out of california representative lee, representative waters, and myself, none of us have black districts. my district is very diverse, and as a matter of fact, it's about 30% white, 30% african-american, 30% latino, and so i think we have historically represented people other than african-americans. we will continue to do that, and we will have three seats where an african-american can win. >> yeah, there's a lot of things people don't understand about the cdc, you don't represent black districts. you're black members who represent districts. thank you for making that point. this covid relief package that passed in december provided much needed support to more than 40,000 former foster youth. a lot of people don't realize at 18 these kids age out of the system and they're pretty much left on their own and that funding has since been exhausted. what's the situation now, and what needs to happen to make sure that these young people are protected? >> well, their benefits certainly need to be extended. tiffany, it's really a great story. organizations like the national foster youth institute told us as soon as the pandemic hit, that they were being left out and that if we didn't do something to continue their support, how do you tell a foster youth to shelter at home and then at the same time put them out because their benefits run out? so we needed to extend their benefits. but one thing that i have to tell you, they came to talk to us to the bipartisan congressional caucus on foster youth. they told us what their concerns were. we put the relief in the bill. it has passed out of the house to extend it, and i'm hopeful that we will be able to do that. and all of this connects back to the humanitarian crisis in los angeles because a sector of the homeless population are former foster youth, which is why i have worked on this issue for so many years. we often don't think about them, but i will tell you that when we pass the building back better act, it will absolutely help foster youth because it addresses poverty in several areas. we are talking about child care. we're talking about the child income tax credit. all of those i hope will prevent children from going in the foster care system in the first place. >> yeah, well, we will keep our eye on that. you are the co-chair of the caucus for foster youth. thank you for the work that you do there, and thank you so much for joining us, congresswoman. it was lovely to have you back on the show this morning. and good luck on your mayor's race. for you at home, you've seen the headlines, searching for better opportunities, but not everyone has that luxury, and some searching for work are hitting dead ends. we got to talk about that. that's coming up next on the other side of the break. i'll see you then. he other side of the break. i'll see you then. ♪ 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. ♪ ♪ limu emu & doug ♪ got a couple of bogeys on your six, limu. the world. they need customized 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now the executive director and cofounder of the national domestic workers alliance and derrick hamilton, he's the profession of economics at the new school. very happy to have you both. i'll start with you. look, i keep hearing the great resignation, and i have to say i think that comes -- that mantra comes from news rooms populated with folks who are economically privileged and understand things. i think if any of us wanted to quit our jobs and find ourselves and look for a better opportunity, we probably have that option. plenty of people in my family don't have that option and plenty more people across america don't. what do you think of employers saying they can't find workers but meanwhile there are all these workers saying they can't find work? >> there are two things that i think of. the first is the fact that even before there was a pandemic there was an epidemic of low wage work in this country where you had too many people who are working incredibly hard and still not able to make ends meet, pay basic bills, having to choose between gas and food, school supplies, and basic bills like the rent and it just wasn't working. and that is a case still to this day where too many of the jobs that are available are not paying enough so that people can earn a sustainable family sustaining wage. the second piece of this has to do with care giving and the fact that all of us have people in our lives who we need to take care of, children, aging parents, loved ones with disabilities and we need support in order to be able, we need child care. we need paid family medical leave. we need home and community based care in order to be able to go back to work. one of the reasons why the build back better agenda is so essential here, it makes investments in our ability as working people to have access to the care that we need in order to work and to sustain in our jobs. >> yeah, i think you make really good points there, and derrick, you know, i think something a lot of people don't understand about when we see these labor numbers. these are people who are actively looking for work. the jobs numbers do not count, people who are not looking for work, i want you to take a listen to this gentleman, joey holz in florida talking about his efforts to find work. >> 16 of them responded to me. four of those went on to a phone call after an email exchange, and one of those turned into an interview. zero of them turned into a job that was actually desperate for help. >> yeah, listen, i know people who have that same testimony who are looking for jobs. look, age discrimination is also an issue in this, older workers sometimes more qualified don't even get an interview and don't get hired. what's your take on all of this? >> i mean, the take is right there. i think i we have good jobs, bad jobs, and no jobs, and that person you just put on the screen indicated that he's not able to get a job. so in this framework with the narrative of employers now can't find qualified workers, pay them more. pay them more and then we also need the federal government to directly employ people. that's the most direct and parsimonious way to a job, to directly employ people, and that puts pressure on wages to rise and it also builds our economy in a more balanced way. >> yeah, i agree, and you know, when people say they make more money, when they say they make more money, you know, from an unemployment, the challenge is then that means employers need to pay them more to make it a competitive market. some people have said they have the bait-and-switch, someone will promise one salary and they show up and it's something different. any advice to people who are running into those kind of challenges? >> you know, i've been hearing so many different stories here, and i do know for a fact that almost a quarter of all domestic workers are still unemployed, and many who are currently employed are underemployed. this idea that people are not looking for work is just a myth. people want to work, but they need to be able to find work that will allow them to sustain themselves and their families, to take care of the people they love. it's really quite simple. so i would say to people that they should know their worth. this is not a problem of workers. this is a problem of employers not paying workers and valuing them for their worth. >> yeah, and darrick, we see retailers picking up on that advice. there was great reporting from the houston chronicle this week talking about the labor shortage and companies are boosting pay, walgreen's and cvs raised their minimum wage, costco, kohl's, amazon, u.p.s., et cetera. do you think that will have an impact? >> one, i'm happy with that, and we can look at profit numbers and we can see that corporations aren't dramatically suffering in this process. and then there's two other elements to add to the equation. one is race, you know, you pointed out those unemployment numbers that we began with, but the black unemployment rate is still hovering at 8%, and if we look at that number, we would categorize black people as still being in a severe depression or recession with an 8% unemployment rate. >> completely. >> and then the other point i'll make really quick, tiffany, is that government has a role to play. that government has public power that can put workers to work building our human and physical infrastructure, and i'm glad congress is now starting to shift the narrative towards at least building our infrastructure by directly employing people. >> yeah, well, with the passing of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, hopefully that will happen, and thank you for bringing up the point about race. when you just aggregate the data, you are absolutely right. people of color are frequently in dire straights when it comes to unemployment numbers. thank you both, great panel. welcome to "the cross connection." next up, a look back at the deadliest prison uprising in u.s. history. you don't want to 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co-director of "attica" tracy curry. so happy to have you here in this capacity as a guest on this show. this film is amazing number one. kudos to you both. something that i found interesting, tracy, because a lot of people do know the story of attica, but so few people know why the prisoners or incarcerated people rebels. tell me some of the reasons and the treatment that these incarcerated people endured. >> yeah, tiffany, so during the rebellion, the prisoners with the help of the outside observers who came in articulated a list of 30 demands and really what they were looking for was basic human rights. there were -- in the prison where they weren't allowed regular showers. there was a roll of toilet paper a month. there were labor demands. this was a prison where if you were an able bodied person you had to work and the men were paid pennies for that job, for those jobs, and so they were demanding a minimum wage. there was abuse by some of the prisoners by some of the guards of the prison. they wanted to see justice done. they wanted to see prosecution for those prisoners, so they really recognized in this moment a political opportunity to really advocate for some of the rights, basic human rights inside the prison. >> and this is, you know, very similar -- i mean, we see a through line here, stanley, a lot of this treatment, inhumane treatment quite frankly still persists in a lot of our prisons today in the country. something i find interesting as well, stanley, there's always been a racist component when it comes to incarceration and you guys get into that in the film. the law enforcement guards were yelling white power to state police. you know, they were talking about the ugliest blackest negro gentleman they've ever seen. richard nixon who we know is a well-documented person who trafficked in white supremacy on the phone with rockefeller, his first question was it the blacks. here we are 50 years later. talk about the racial component in this film and when it comes to incarceration in the country still today. >> yeah, i mean, that's the sub texts or one of the subtexts of the film. you see it over and over again from the top to the bottom, as you say from the guards to richard nixon, to rockefeller. that's really the subtext of the film. the white prisoners talk about the fact that they were given privileges because they were white. so it is one of the things that the film talks about. and i think that, you know, you see also that most of the prisoners are african-american or latinx and, you know, prisons today haven't changed very much since then. we've incarcerated a lot more people, but basically the prisons are the same. >> we've incarcerated a lot more people, and i have to say, tracy, there is so much buzz around this amazing film that you and stanley co-directed. what was -- what do you want people to take from this film, and while you're answering that -- because i talked to you while you were filming, you encountered some people in the area around attica that left you a little shook. talk about that and then say what you want people to take away from the film? >> yeah, i mean, we had some encounters with law enforcement during, of course, filming. you know, there's a lot of emotions about the story and how it gets told. excuse me, but i think as far as the issues in the film, i think so many of them are issues that we deal with today that can feel so intractable, state abuse of power, law enforcement, violence, the warehousing of 2 million people in our prison system that i don't think that any one film can really offer any answers to those questions, but what i would hope is that the film offers people a clear eyed opportunity in order to reinterrogate some of those things that ask some of those questions the people were told, the public was told that the massacre of 39 people was necessary in order to maintain law and order. and so hopefully the film is an opportunity for people to kind of revisit those questions and ask, you know, are we willing to pay the cost that we currently are for the system that we have. >> absolutely. well, tracy, i have to say it's a delight seeing you in this light. we started our career together over 20 years ago at another network, and the buzz that you have around this film and the awards you guys are getting it's quite amazing. congratulations to you, and stanley, you are a documentary genius. you are the go-to person when it comes to telling these stories. it's a delight to have you both. please watch this film. "attica" premiers tonight on show time, i will be watching for you guys to take home all the awards because it's that amazing thank you so much for being here. coming up at noon, chair of the progressive caucus, pramila jayapal is going to join my friend on what still needs to be done to get the build back bill over the line. first, the coveted list that has everyone from movie stars and pulitzer prize winners. we're going to talk about that next. stay tuned. we're going to talk about that next stay tuned ♪ ♪ downy's been taking you back, since way back. with freshness and softness you never forget. feel the difference with downy. - [narrator] modern life, different schedules, different meals, different times. how do you keep everyone happy? with five cooking options, the cuisinart griddler is the ultimate in versatility. it has a full griddle, a full grill, a half grill, half griddle, a contact grill, and a panini press. redesigned with a sleek look, the griddler has a sear function, digital adjustable temperature control, a count up and down timer for precise cooking times, and non-stick removable and reversible dishwasher-safe plates for easy cleanup. the cuisinart griddler. it's a real crowd-pleaser. at t-mobile for business, unconventional thinking means we see things differently, so you can focus on what matters most. whether it's ensuring food arrives as fresh as when it departs... being first on the scene when every second counts... or teaching biology without a lab. we are the leader in 5g and a partner who delivers exceptional customer support and 5g included in every plan. so, you get it all, without trade-offs. unconventional thinking, it's better for business. trelegy for copd. 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[blegh] you're weird, man. to each his own. all right, busy morning here on "the cross connection." that's our show for today. time flies when you're trending. i see you twitter, thanks for watching. i will be back next saturday at 10:00 a.m. eastern. for now stay tuned for my friend alex witt. hey, alex. >> except you won't be here in the building next saturday. >> i won't. >> should be taking off so we can go to lunch. >> on the commercial break, i'm coming to hug you. >> i can't wait. i'll look forward to that. i'll see you in 10, 12 minutes. >> thank you so much and a very good day to all of you, here we go with this show. you're watching "alex witt reports." we are approaching noon here in the east, 9:00 a.m. out west, everybody, and we begin with some breaking news. this is out of houston, texas. it's a city still reeling after deadly chaos broke out at a music festival overnight. at least eight people were killed and dozens more injured when a crowd surged forward at the astroworld festival. video from concert goers, shows an ambulance going through the crowd there. really some frightening video from this place as of yesterday and last night. let's get to nbc's morgan chesky in dallas following thes toer -- following the story for us. walk us through when and how this tragedy took place. >> reporter: alex, good morning, incredibly tragic event that took place in houston that police say is very much under investigation. they're trying to find out what took place here, but when you see that video that you briefly showed, absolutely heartbreaking. this took place at a highly anticipated concert by popular musician travis scott. officials say it was around 9:15 last night that at some point this crowd, of which there were about 50,000 people at this concert, but particularly this crowd at the front part of the stage started to surge its way forward for an unknown reason. that is currently under investigation, and it's at that point that they say some people in the crowd started to fall do