frustrated base voters, who feel the white house has done too little, too late on the issue. >> majority leader chuck schumer's political gambit puts senate republicans on the record to their unified opposition to major voting rights bills. and two moderate holdouts on the spot over their support for the filibuster. joining me now, ahead of the action on the senate floor, as you know, the chaplain is now reciting the prayer. nbc's senior capitol hill correspondent, garrett haake. nbc chief white house correspondent, and weekend today cohost, peter alexander, and ashley parker. garrett, expect to hear from both chuck schumer and mitch mcconnell momentarily, really. how is this debate going to play out today and through the week? >> well, we know how it's going to end, andrea, for democrats, the choice is, when do they want it to end and what do they want the message to be. the floor opens right now. we won't see any votes on this bill or these combined bills today. that will probably come tomorrow or possibly as late as thursday. and we know it will be a 50/50 failure. every democrat supports these voting rights measures. every republican opposes them. that's not good enough. what happens after that will be this debate on changing the rules in some way. chuck schumer hasn't said which of the many different rules change options to get around that 60-vote threshold he wants to put forward, but she has vowed that he will do and so that there will be a vote. we know that will fail as well. for democrats, it's about drawing a line in the sand, essentially forcing people to stand where they stand, on the voting rights issue more broadly and how hard they're willing to fight for it. whether they're willing to change the senate rules. but exactly what the timeline is for how this will all end remains to be seen. >> and peter, the president was pretty candid about his expectations for these votes. so how is the white house planning to pivot going forward? >> well, you make a good point about their desire to pivot. in many ways, it's a communications effort. you can call it a pivot or a reset. but my colleagues here at the nbc white house team are now reporting, based on our conversations with senior administration officials, that the sort of one-year mark for the biden presidency, that they'll be honoring on thursday, obviously, that's a natural time to sort of assess what's working and what isn't. and one of the things there's been real frustration about here, is they feel like the president has been bogged down and too focused on what's going on behind the scenes. the legislating here in washington and not doing enough to speak directly to the american people. so that's going to be a renewed focus for this administration, they tell us, going forward. mindful that the president doesn't want to appear so much as the legislature in chief, not the president of the senate, but the president of the united states. and in many ways, that's a desire also to sort of demonstrate that it's republicans who are united in opposition here. and to take the story line away from the divisions among democrats, even though ultimately, it's really just those two moderate democrats, kyrsten sinema, and joe manchin, who have helped stifle some of the president's legislative agenda items here. obviously, another challenge, of course, for this to take place, for the president to get out there is the pandemic right now. the white house recognizes the pandemic and the economy really are chief among their priorities right now. but as it relates to voting rights, they do believe there is a need to have senators on the record with a vote. >> and ashley parker, nearly a decade ago, senate democrats made a similar push for gun safety legislation. there's still been no movement there. and that was, you know, a big push, of course, by president obama and biden. so, how could this voting rights push be any different? are we talking about, you know, running up against unified republican opposition. >> well, not just that, but there's another tension that this white house is grappling with, andrea, which is the tension of president biden wanting to do big transformative things, things that his base, things that democrats, things that the activist community want. and his other promise to unify the country. and so peter is right. coming out of this first year of his presidency, going into an election year, you are seeing a much more aggressive tone from him, trying to evaluate himself up to more leader than legislature. but there was a lot of blowback, include even from some democrats, about the tone of his speech on voting rights in atlanta the other day, saying maybe the rhetoric went too far, if you want to bring people together on something, the best way to do so is not to imply that people who don't vote for this are racist. or on the wrong side of history, even though that may be the president's belief that they are on the wrong side of history. that's another thing. these things are at option with one another, that the biden white house needs to point out asstined to fail. >> and we just saw what seemed to be some people being taken into custody on the east front of the capitol. just trying to make sure i've got that location correct. protesters -- >> reporter: that's right, andrea. >> thanks, garrett. it's hard for me to see. i see a very small monitor. that looks like it's on the east front. as you know, what happened on january 6th, they're not going to let anybody on the steps on the east or west front of this capitol. not supposed to be there. i assume this is on voting rights. yes. so this is about voting rights. there was a larger group there earlier, but they have been pulling people away. sorry to interrupt. let's go back, garrett, to talk about also a recent report in "the washington post" that there were some democrats representing swing districts, who want to break up the build back better bill to get some legislative wins on social and economic policies, perhaps the child tax credit being extended, but also on prescription drug -- help on prescription drug costs. rather than going for the big package that simply has no future given the opposition by manchin and sinema on the substance of such a large bill, to say nothing of the filibuster. >> i don't know what we're going to see this bill get broken up, in part because of the process problems that plague this from the beginning. if you're not going to get to 60 votes in the senate on any of these smaller pieces, breaking it up might allow house democrats to vote again on some of these more popular pieces of build back better, but it doesn't move them any closer to becoming law. i do think that this speaks to the problem that democrats have. they know that they cannot ride into the midterms later this year now, merely on the success of the infrastructure plan and kind of hoping for the best for the remainder of the year. they still want to try to find some ways to get those build back better agenda items across the finish line. i still think from the senate perspective, a slimmed down package, probably one with the pre-paychecked joe manchin seal of approval is more likely. but this will be another decision that democratic leaders will have to make once day get through this week, and these voting rights bills, where do they go next. what do they put their energy into? and all of those agenda items are still out there waiting for action. >> and could that do one of these stand-alone bills under reconciliation? >> presumably, they could. you would be going back to scratch. and again, you would want to see probably that pre-baked buy-in on the senate side before you go through all of the trouble, again, on the house side. >> and thank you very much, to garrett, and to ashley parker. and now we have breaking news. nbc's john costello with breaking news on the g-5 and the airline industry. tom? >> reporter: andrea, good afternoon. we have just now heard from at&t. this is a major development. at&t announcing that it will on its own voluntarily defer the deployment of its 5g cell site ground stations around certain airports. we have not yet heard from verizon. but again, at&t now saying that it is voluntarily deferring the placement or turning on, i should say, the actual 5g cell cites near airports. as you know, the airline ceos have warned that if, in fact, these sites go live at midnight tonight around airports, they are very concerned about the possibility that the 5g sites could interfere with a plane's altimeter, which is critical in landing. and as a result of that concern, the faa has said that they will not allow planes to use altimeters coming into key runways that are near 5g sites, because of the possibility of interference. they have now been under tremendous pressure, the white house under tremendous pressure from the airlines to do something, step in and stop the deployment of 5g and turning these systems on around airports. so now, at&t, it would be appear, is going to not voluntarily turn on its 5g sites around airports. the rest of its 5g system will go on live tonight around midnight, but around airports, they say that will not happen. by the way, at&t is saying that they are frustrated by the faa's inability to do what 40 countries has done, which is deploy 5g technology without disrupting aviation services. you cannot compare the u.s. aviation system and the 5g rollout to the european system, because there are differences. there are nuances. we have not yet heard whether verizon is going to voluntarily delay their deployment, but right now, today, the fcc, the faa, the white house and the cell phone industry have been locked in negotiations to come up with a solution to keep air travel moving as of midnight. and it looks like at least one of the partners, at&t, has agreed to bow. back to you, andrea. >> tom, just briefly. there was some talk that the white house, that president biden might have something to say. is there something he can do by executive order? anything about this 5g crisis? >> we've been led to believe that this is really all about using the leverage of the white house and the pressure tactics that the white house and the faa can bring to bear. and listen, to be very clear, the airlines have decided that they were going to use their leverage and mount a public relations campaign aimed directly at the cell phone industry and the white house. they did that yesterday in an unprecedented letter with every single airline ceo writing to the white house and the transportation secretary and the faa and the fcc saying, you either act immediately or we're going to see chaos, in their words, catastrophic consequences, in their words, as this happens across the country and we have to cancel tens of thousands of flights and impacting hundreds of thousands, millions of passengers. it appears that that pressure tactic may have played at least a role in having at&t decide that they will not go forward with turning on 5g sites around airports. emphasizing, the rest of the country gets 5g, but not around airports, at least not for right now. >> well, tom, you've been all over this for weeks now, warning us that this was going to be a crisis and now you have this midnight deadline. you've been on all day and on "nbc nightly news." thank you so much for bringing us the breaking news. i want to turn back to the voting rights battle on capitol hill. joining me now, ruben gallegos. good to see you. let's start with what you're seeing in the senate. how do you like the strategy of chuck schumer's, to put everybody on the spot, show what side you're on, if you will and bring it to a vote, with even though he knows he's going to lose? >>. i think this is a good strategy, a long-term strategy. we can't have people hiding behind the filibuster or the threat of a filibuster when voting rights is on the table. and two senators, two very conservative senators, i don't know why people keep using the word "moderate," you're not moderate if you're standing in the way of the voting rights act. in fact, if you're the only two out of the whole democratic caucus, you're probably more conservative than anybody else there at this point. but it is a good strategy. we need to continue pushing as hard as we can, both on the republicans and on these two senators to get us passed. we are really at an existential point in this country. look at what happened on jan 6th and look what's happening all over this country. there is more attempted undermined on democracy on 2022 than i think there was in 2020, january 6th, 2020. >> you've been critical of senator sinema, your fellow arizonan, along with many other prominent democrats who have been critical of her. but she's holding firm, giving that speech last week, embarrassing the president by rebuffing him, as he was on his way to capitol hill. does this make you more inclined to think about challenging her when she's up in '24? >> i'm not going to make that determination right now. i don't mind really -- my issue is not that she embarrassed the president. my issue is that she is ignoring the will of her voters. she hasn't had a town hall for three and a half years. she's avoiding really talking to arizonians about what is going on and why she, you know, is continuing this, you know, this obstructionism. >> and at this point, also, you've got build back better, backed up behind voting rights. progressive democrats have said that they want to go for it, to go for the full bill, but there's no path to victory there either. some moderate democrats whose seats are in jeopardy, and you know how close this midterm is going to be, and control of the house, some want to break off some popular parts of the bill. pre-k, prescription drug pricing. instead of trying to get it all passed. when manchin and sinema are dead set against. what do you think about that? >> actually, i'm fine with that idea. and many of us are fine with working with manchin and sinema prior to the last failure of bbb. the biggest problem we had, you had manchin and sinema acting like oracles. we couldn't tell what they wanted. they weren't actually negotiating with anybody, and they were just basically dragging out the time. if manchin and sinema wants a build back better version, they want need to actually pass something. but they were more invested in obstructing than actually passing bills. they're more trying to create political drama than to actually making people's lives better. whether it is having better pricing when it comes to prescriptions. whether it is having child care subsidies, or even just a child tax credit. we're all for negotiations. the problem is, you can't negotiate with people that, you know, aren't willing to do it or are more invested in the political dramas than the actual outcomes of everyday people's lives. >> we also hear today that the president is trying to pivot his strategy, speaking more to the american people and less getting bogged down in the details of legislating with the senate. is that a good idea? >> i certainly think so. look, i think the american people want to hear from their president. they always want to hear directly from the person they elected. i think the intricacies and, you know, the small political battles that happen between members of congress really does not interest everyday citizens. they care about what's going on in their lives and they want to hear from the president. >> and thank you very much. thanks, congressman ggallego. we'll go to the shore. pat leahy is in the share and we want to hear what they are deciding. i think they are beginning to vote. that's probably a motion to proceed. i'm not positive. >> -- the house agreed to the amendment of the bill entitled an act to enact title 51 united states code to extent the authority national aerognattic and space administration, to enter into leases of non-access property of the administration with an amendment. >> i move to concur in the house amendment to the senate amendment to hr-5746. i move to concur in the house amendment to the senate amendment to hr-5746 with an amendment. >> clerical report with an amendment. >> senator from new york, mr. schumer moves to concur the house amendment to the senate amendment with an amendment numbered 4903. >> i ask that further reading of the amendment be dispensed with. >> without objection, it's ordered. >> mr. president, i asked for yays and nays on a motion to concur with the amendment. >> there appears to be a sufficient second. the yeas and nays are ordered. >> mr. president, i have an amendment to amendment number -- >> to the amendment -- >> what you're seeing is the procedure -- this is a workaround procedure that the majority leader chuck schumer has devised, combining two house bills on voting rights, adding them to another bill, which is what they're doing now. and after that procedure, they're going to be able to move forward on the first part of the debate on voting rights. is congressman gallego is still with us? >> yes, i'm here! >> thanks, congressman. so the mumbo jumbo of senate procedure, but as you can see, he is pushing forward with, as you and democrats in house have wanted for so long, finally, on the floor, a debate on voting rights. little hope from your perspective that they could get a positive vote on the filibuster changes that would be required to get it passed. but there is support. sinema said she supports this bill. so they could pass this bill, but day won't get 60 votes. that's the bottom line? they won't get any republicans? >> right, you can't say you support a bill, but won't actually open the door for it to pass. it means you don't actually support the bill. you're just using, you know, word mumbo jumbo to try to confuse voters and supporters. if you're not willing to at least alter one time the filibuster to pass the voting rights acts, it means you're against it. to remind you, with we did alter the filibuster a couple oflimit. so in the minds of senator sinema and manchin, as long as 60-vote threshold. but in order to protect the voter in georgia, the voter in arona, the voter in west virginia, clearly, they're not willing to do that. so they're just being inconsistent with what they're -- where their principles are, and really to the detriment of, you know, everyday voters, some of these states will be very vulnerable in these coming election cycles. >> congressman gallego, as we watch the senate proceed slowly, this debate is going to take a couple of days and they will have a vote on the voting rights bills. and as you point out, it will be largely symbolic. thanks very much for your perspective. it's great to have you on today. and coming up next, positive signs, some experts are wondering if omicron's rapid spread could make it the last major surge. but for now, hospitals and schools still straining. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. "andrea mitchell "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. uh, i-i'm actually just going to get an iced coffee. well, she may have a destination this one time, but usually -- no, i-i usy have a destination. yeah, but most of the time, her destination is freedom. nope, just the coffee shop. announcer: no matter why you ride, progressive has you covered with protection starting at $79 a year. voiceover: 'cause she's a biker... please don't follow me in. [copy machine printing] ♪ ♪ who would've thought printing... could lead to growing trees. ♪ this is elodia. she's a recording artist. 1 of 10 million people that comcast has connected to affordable internet in the last 10 years. and this is emmanuel, a future recording artist, and one of the millions of students we're connecting throughout the next 10. through projectup, comcast is committing $1 billion so millions more students, past... and present, can continue to get the tools they need to build a future of unlimited possibilities. and we're going back live to the senate floor, with chuck schumer is talking about the substance of the voting rights bill. >> so today, we are taking this step by using a message from the house. now, it's just a step, but an important step moving forward in that we will finally debate this one issue that is so central to the american people, to our history, and to our democracy. as we debate these measures, the senate will confront a critical question. should the members of this chamber do what is necessary to pass these bills and bring them closer to the president's desk. today, we have just taken the first steps that will put everyone -- everyone, on the record. now, much has been said over the past few days about the prospects of passing voting rights legislation in this chamber. senate democrats are under no illusion that we face difficult odds, especially when virtually every senate republicans, every senate republican is staunchly against legislation, protecting the right to vote. but i want to be clear. when this chamber confronts a question this important, one so vital to our country, so vital to our ideals, so vital to the future of our democracy, you don't slide it off the table and say, never mind. win, lose, or draw, members of this chamber were elected to debate and to vote. especially on an issue as vital to the beating heart of our democracy as voting rights. and the public is entitled to know where each senator stands on as issue as sacrosanct as defending our democracy. the american people deserve to see their senators go on record whether they will support these bills or oppose them. indeed, that may be the only way to make progress on this issue now. for the public to see where each of us in this chamber stands. the public deserves to see it, and that's exactly, precisely, what the senate is going to do this week. and make no mistake about it, using dr. king as an inspiration, democrats will continue to fight on this issue until we succeed. and i believe history will vindicate us. mr. president, the fight over voting rights is as old as the republican itself. recently -- well, let me say, when the republic was founded in many states, had you had to be a white male protestant property owner to vote. as is obvious by who's in this chamber, we have made progress, inexorable progress in expanding that franchise. history does gnat regard those restrictions that occurred early on as worthy. but we must continue the fight. we have not reached the place where every person can vote easily and openly and honestly. so we have to keep it up. i've been reading the biography of euless s. grant by ron chernow. the number one thing the segregationists wanted to take away from the newly freed slaves was the right to vote. segregationists back then knew if recently freed black slaves didn't have the right to vote in the south, they would have no power at all. no power over laws, over resources, over the future of the country. and that was the number up with thing segregationists wanted to prevent if right of the newly freed slaves to vote. it's why a century later, dr. king made a direct appeal to congress for acting on voting rights. give us the ballot, he said, in 1957. and we will no longer have o worry the federal government about our basic rights. give us the ballot and all over rights will follow. >> senator schumer on the senate floor, the day after the martin luther king holiday, of course, quoting dr. king on the need for voting rights. meanwhile, on the covid front, the u.s. hitting another grim covid milestone, as the total number of cases now exceeds 66 million since the start of the pandemic. this comes as the nation faces a conflicting reality, as we're seeing cases peaking here along the east coast and beginning to drop, but rising elsewhere across the country. new york, an early hot spot for the omicron variant, seeing covid cases drop nearly 47% since earlier this month. dr. fauci saying it's too early to tell whether omicron will mark the final wave of this pandemic. >> it's an open question as to whether or not omicron will be the live virus vaccination that everyone is hoping for. >> joining us now, dr. vin gupta, a critical care pulmonologist and an assistant professor at the university of washington. doctor, thank you very much for being with us. so what dr. fauci is really saying, partly in response to people who are arguing that omicron could signal the beginning of the end and the end of the pandemic, moving on to perhaps, an endemic phase. >> good afternoon, andrea. great to see you. what's likely. dr. fauci is right, that there's uncertainty. but what's likely, what we expect to happen is that daily deaths are going to peak in the next week or so and shortly after, there will be a pretty significant decline, not only in hospitalizations, but in cases. and that by march 1st, we're going to see less than 200 daily deaths, andrea, day over day, which is a dramatic decline. and really by april 1st, death will be sporadic. potentially less than 20 deaths day over day. so there is relief around the corner. this makes no mention of fall, winter, 2022, when i do think covid will pose a recurring problem. but for the next six months, spring and summer, i think relief is on the horizon. that's most likely. >> tomorrow, at least, americans can begin to get covid tests, they can go to covidtests.gov and order up to four at-home covid tests per household. how significant is this? >> i think it's great. we have to triage who should be testing. a lot of that supply will still not be available for every household, the minute you press click. and so schools, individuals that are symptomatic, congregated living settings with high-risk individuals, that's still the priority since testing supply is constrained, but it's absolutely a great move. let me emphasize here, andrea, also for all of your viewers out here, that i do think -- those of us that have seen what's happening over the last few weeks in icus across the country, we're seeing the same thing. we're seeing confusing on the part of individuals very high risk. those 65 and older, or with pre-existing conditions like cancer. we're seeing a lot of those individuals only come in double vaccinated, not get that triple -- that third shot, which is absolutely critical for that demographic, that high-risk demographic. and we're seeing those individuals come up with severe illness. if you or a loved one that is watching right now has yet to get that third dose, please know that now individuals are really coming if with severe illness and they have not gotten that third dose and are high risk. it's really critical here and i think the messaging here has been confusing about why you should get that third dose more that group. >> and also, on these tests as well, the rapid test must be less sensitive to the omicron variant, but under the new order that has come out, the over-the-counter rapid tests have been found to work well and could hit the market as soon as this month. so, is this something where you should take, you know, two tests, three tests, do it serially, because they are less reliable. >> i think if you're worried about a close contact exposure, if you're someone who tested positive, or if you visit grandma and grandpa and they're high risk, absolutely, take that first test within 72 hours of that close contact exposure. and then you can repeat the test 48 hours later. i think that would be fine. but we have to be very clear-eyed about who should be testing at this point moving forward. because we're entering a new normal here, andrea. by march 15th into april 1st here, i think a lot of things are going to change pretty dramatically. you might see isolation guidance change in the near-term, by maybe midspring, where if you turn positive, you have a breakthrough infection but you're asymptomatic, use your best judgment. that flu paradigm here. i think that's going to be at least a topic of conversation come mid-spring, and who should get tested, to your point, serial testing. that's still going to be relevant, but we feed to be clear about who should be doing that. if you're going to be visiting a congregant setting with a high-risk setting, if you are high risk, 48 hours later if you don't ping positive that first time around would make good sense. >> and of course, thursday is january 20th. it's a year's anniversary from the beginning of the biden presidency. what difference do you want to see? what change do you want to see if the president's policies towards covid? >> i think a lot of -- we're headed towards a very different reality, i suspect, in the next three to four weeks here. but clarity and messaging, again, to the point about a lot of people that we're seeing in intensive care units, andrea, are not getting the third dose that really absolutely need to. i think honing the message, maybe redefining what fully vaccinated is, for a subsegment of society. and then saying, you're up to date with booster shots for the rest of us. making it as clear as possible will be very, very clear. i think this discussion on fourth doses. we need to be really, really careful on. it does not appear that fourth doses are necessary for the broad swath of population. maybe if you just had a solid organ transplant. if you're that individual, you might need a fourth shot, but for the rest of us, no evidence of benefit. so clarity of messaging here is going to be key. i do love what i'm seeing from say, senator sanders and the senate when it comes to n -- making n95s more available to more american households. i know the president, this is a big priority of the president's as well, because andrea, this type of availability of resources, high-quality masking, not only will it provide a short-term benefit for american households, but i believe as a lung doc that risks that we face in public health moving forward are all pulmonary. they are all related to our lung health, whether it's the next pandemic, assuredly, we need to at least prepare for that, wildfire, smoke, you name it. this is a really good investment for both the short-term and long-term threats. so these are some of the priorities here. clear messaging, making sure that we have the resources available. potentially tricky fall/winter 2022 and whatever we have to face down the road. >> thank you so much, dr. vin gupta. it's always great to have your expertise. and back to the table. secretary of state blinken heading to ukraine and then to berlin and then he's off to geneva. those talks with the russian counterpart added to his schedule. talks that were supposed to be at a dead end, according to moscow. what's changed? we'll have more on that. plus, money and politics. congresswoman abigail spanberger's latest attempt to rein in her fellow lawmakers. she's joining me next on "andrea mitchell reports." stay with us. joing me next on "a mitchell reports." stay with us i booked our hotel on kayak. it's flexible if we need to cancel. cancel. i haven't left the house in years. nothing will stop me from vacation. no canceling. (laughs) flexible cancellation. kayak. search one and done. and as we've been reporting, secretary of state tony blinken spoke to his russian counterpart today and they are going to meet in geneva on friday to see if they can find a diplomatic solution to ease tensions on the ukrainian border and avert a russian invasion. this after the russians had said last week that diplomatic talks were at a dead end. secretary blinken leaves today for ukraine where he'll meet with president zelensky and other officials. this as we're learning from "the new york times" that russia began to empty its kiev embassy of personnel. is this part propaganda, part preparation for possible invasion? joining us now, democratic congresswoman, abigail spanberger, a former cia case officer who serves on the foreign affairs committee. congresswoman, thank you very much. we're also learning more about this meeting with lavrov, but also what the white housepress secretary said at the briefing. this is jen psaki with a very strong warning. >> we're now at a stage where russia could at any point launch an attack on ukraine. i would say that's more stark than we have been. in terms of the decision to move -- to move -- to evacuate their embassy or to move personnel out of their embassy, we have information that indicates that the russian government was preparing to evacuate their family members from the russian embassy in ukraine in late december and early january. we certainly would refer you to them for more specifics about what their decision is, but we don't have an assessment of why. >> part of this could be mind games, because they've been doing so much disinformation and misinformation to get the ukrainians to destabilize the ukrainian government and rile up the public there, as well. congresswoman? >> that's right. and i think that the important piece here is that i'm sure our intelligence members are hard at work doing that next step of assessment. why are thaz taking this next step, what does this mean for frankly the discussions that secretary of state blinken will be having on friday with foreign minister lavrov. i think notably, not only is the secretary meeting with president zelensky, but also with the foreign minister of germany and leaders from france and the uk as well, headed into that meeting on friday, with mr. lavrov. so this to me continues to symbol and demonstrate that the diplomacy is ongoing. but certainly, my expectation and for your viewers is, my -- you know, the ongoing efforts to collect information about what might be the russian plans and intentions continue to be happening behind the scenes, as we also engage in very strenuous diplomatic meetings and efforts. >> well, it's notable, because i was covering secretary blinken in sweden when he met with lavrov, and it was, you know, very, very stern and obviously, there was very little progress and then the russians were saying, it's all over. so for this call to take place today and for the talks to resume and be added to his trip to ukraine following to his trip to germany to brief the allies and make sure that they are rock solid behind all of this, is important. there's a senate delegation that was just in ukraine this week, as you know, bipartisan, and they are calling for an increase in the military support to ukraine. do you support that? would the house support that, do you think? >> i think in principle, yes. and i think that this senate delegation is a very important sign of congressional support for our relationship with ukraine for our bipartisan democrats and republicans going to ukraine to demonstrate our support, certainly discussing what might be necessary in terms of funding or other support, as they continue to see heightened russian aggression. i think the value here is that we have a united voice, and certainly on the house side of the capitol, we're having classified briefings this week for members of the foreign affairs committee, to keep apprised of some of the ongoing, yet classified elements of these larger discussions. but i do expect that our support to ukraine to be a primary issue that we're discussing here on capitol hill this week. and certainly that visit of our senate counterparts is an important one to reaffirming u.s. support for ukraine and stability in the region. >> now back on capitol hill, you've introduced legislation a year ago, actually, that would ban members of congress from trading stock and require all congress members, their spouses, their dependent children, to put investments, certain assets into a blind trust. why do you think it's needed? >> it's needed because, as we saw in the early days of the pandemic, when there were reports that various members of congress and senators were making stock purchases in pharmaceutical companies or selling all over types of stock, the general assessment of the american people was, of course, you know, here we are in the early stages and confusing of a global pandemic, and we have members of congress who are off buying, selling, trading stock. and it was that disappointment that we saw the american people express, and not just disappointment, but acceptance, of course that's what we're doing. of course that's what we would expect of members of congress. that's what we have to get at. it's that assessment that people have, that they don't think members of congress are working for them. and frankly, we have access to information on a daily basis that the public may or may not have access to. we have votes on bills that may or may not move the market in terms of where we as a nation are investing or not. and the fact that we currently can own individual stocks and buy and sell based on what we know or based on our day-to-day, even where there is not a conflict, the perception that there is a potential conflict -- the reality that there is a potential conflict is what we have to get at. and if we can take this affirmative step to say, members of congress, absolutely, should not be buying and selling individual stocks, when they have access to this information, when they are taking votes, that's an affirmative step that we could take to demonstrate to the american people that we are deserving of their trust. it's one that i think we must take. and it's one that is incredibly important. throughout different industries in finance and journalism, that there are restrictions put on the types of investments or types of personal activities related to finances that individuals can take. because the idea is to remove not just impropriety, but the perception of impropriety. we have to demonstrate that affirmative step here on capitol hill. we've been working with senators ossoff and kelly. they've introduced a companion bill to our legislation here in the house. and we have really broad bipartisan support. i co-led this bill with congressman chip roy from texas, a member of the freedom caucus. so we really span the gamut in terms of ideology. we have members who have been in caucus for years, members who are new, members from the east coast, from the west coast, across the ideological spectrum. this is a unifying piece of legislation and it is an important piece of legislation that i believe we must move forward, so we can affirm to the american people that we are working on their behalf day in and day out. and we are removing even the potential for a conflict of interest. >> now, let me also ask you about some of your fellow congress members, from districts such as yours, which is a swing district and you're from a state where the republicans just won the governor's -- you know, the state house and the legislature after joe biden had won it by ten points. so virginia's a tough place for you. some of your fellow congress members are supporting stripping some of the more popular items out of build back better, you know, pre-k, prescription drugs, extending the child tax credit, perhaps. doing some of the things that are more popular, that have bipartisan support, and might get better, get passed more quickly than build back better, which in its current size doesn't have a chance. >> well, certainly, i was proud to vote for the build back better framework out of the house and send it over to the senate. but at the end of the day, our charge here on capitol hill is to pass legislation and send it to the president's desk. and so when we're talking about things like extending the child tax credit, universal pre-k, lowering the cost of prescription drugs, those individual items on their own would be transformative in how they would impact people across the united states. and so if we could pass a bill or individual bills in the house and in the senate and send that legislation to the president's desk, on any of those issues, with on addressing and fighting climate change, right? another large element of the build back better act, any of those things in isolation would be amazing successes. and so, all of the pieces that we can move forward, that we can get to the president's desk, i believe that we should move in that direction. and then we keep working for the other priorities that we put forth in the discussions and negotiations towards the build back better act. it is, in fact, succeeding, delivering for the american people. and talking about what we want to do next and working towards that next step forward. >> did the president take on too much when he didn't really have a mandate. he has a 50/50 senate. he doesn't have mandate to do things that big, as some are arguing. and did he need to take things one step at a time and not spent as much time he spent this summer and as the congress spent on build back better? >> i think there's always significant benefit in setting the bar very high, in talking about all of the things that we want to do and intend to do. but i think that when we look back at what we've accomplished so far, the american rescue plan, delivering support to small businesses and individuals, the refundable child tax credit, major investments to our schools, our localities that have just been lifesavers for so many of our communities. that was an incredible success that has helped us on our way to getting kids back in school safely, to help small businesses survive, to help families survive some of the toughest days of the pandemic. the bipartisan infrastructure investment and jobs act has delivered -- deliver incredible investments in roads, bridges, waterways, mitigating the impact of lead pipes, delivering initial investments in broadband connectivity. what we have done so far has been incredible and certainly the bipartisan infrastructure investment and jobs act was the president in the middle of those discussions back and forth between democrats, republicans, house and senate making it happen. moving forward i think taking the same tact with build back better there are so many elements that so many americans want to see move forward and so i think it's correct to have -- you know, to set our sights on priorities both present, immediate, and down the road, but at the end of the day we also have to focus on delivering, showing real results, which, again, we have with american rescue plan and the bipartisan infrastructure investment act, but getting the most transformational elements, the foundational pieces of the build back better act passed and then continuing to negotiate and create pathways for other elements that we, of course, have discussed as part of the president's agenda or priorities here on capitol hill. that's the next step. >> we're going to have to leave it there, but thank you very much. always good to see you, congresswoman. thank you very much for being with us today. >> thank you for having me. there are growing signs that democrats could face a shellacking as we've been talking about in the midterms, that's according to nbc news polling trends from the last three decades the potential of losing the house is adding more urgency for democrats to show they can get something passed as congresswoman spanberger and earlier congressman guy he go ga was telling us on voting rights and the economic proposals. joining me real clear politics a.b. stoddard and jonathan capehart opinion writer for the "washington post." a.b., you argue the democrats should focus on what they can get through the senate, the electoral count act, that kind of reform, which appears to have bipartisan support, perhaps something plus some sort of voting access to that. >> right. i think, andrea, that it's important for democrats to show that they tried to demonstrate also that all the democrats support the legislation, even if it can't overcome a filibuster and that all the republicans oppose them, the two bills, but it is also important to scrounge from the remains here the possible and do something that could actually bolster the democratic process and protect the constitutional order, which is really in a fragile state if you look at what happened on january 6 of 2021. the bipartisan push to reform the electoral count act would prevent what happened on january 6. it does not get at what kind of subversion could happen in the states before electoral slates are certified, but it certainly is one step. it would be bipartisan and it would eliminate the huge liability. so i think democrats once this fails on the floor of the senate this week need to move on and do that and then see what other things they can work on with republicans, maybe provision by provision, not huge comprehensive bills that they will filibuster, but make them take votes, one at a time, on all of these things and they might get some bipartisan support on some of them. >> jonathan, what would progressive democrats think about that? they are at a crossroads. should they go for what they can get or do they want to get the whole thing? >> they're going for -- they're going for the whole thing now and as a.b. rightly said it's not going to happen. so afterwards you have to focus on what you can get done. i think we could be looking at potential presidential executive orders, other work around to try to deal with what a.b. was talking about and that is what is happening at a lightning pace in the states. that is also not to say that after these bills go down that the senate should not move forth with to get the electoral count act amended, reformed, so that we don't face a situation in 2024 that we faced in 2021. in jamie raskin's book "unthinkable" the holes in the electoral count act were to large -- and he is a constitutional law professor. he saw it coming. so they started working on that, trying to forestall anything that donald trump could do because of those holes. so no matter what happens today, that needs to be -- that needs to be fixed. that needs to be reformed. >> a.b., another drag on the president's approval ratings has, of course, been covid. what more can he do? there's also rising inflation which is a global problem but any president will be hurt by inflation in a reelection or midterm. what more can he do about those two big issues? >> well, again, once they dispense with the issue of voting rights and they can get at this reform of the electoral count act in a bipartisan way and say that they are working with republicans he needs to focus all of his attention on covid and the economy and talk about inflation, things that are improving, good signs on the horizon. that is the thing that voters are expressing in focus groups that they are the most upset about inflation and what the new omicron surge is doing to the economy and the prospects for growth down the pike, but they're very upset about inflation and they don't want to hear that it's transitory and they don't want it to be ignored. i think those messages with single focus would make voters feel like the administration had their concerns in mind. >> jonathan, i know we want to flag that you've just had this great interview with ambassador linda thomas-greenfield, the "up" ambassador of course in the last hour on "washington post" live. we are out of time, we have to turn it over to chuck but i hope everybody will go online and i will be sending on @mitchell reports. thanks to you. maings to both of you today. follow us online on facebook and twitter @mitchellreports. chuck todd is up next with a special edition of "mtp daily," meet the midterms. special editi meet the midterms. lactaid is 100% real milk, just without the lactose. so you can enjoy it even if you're sensitive to dairy. so anyone who says lactaid isn't real milk is also saying mabel here isn't a real cow. and she really hates that. ♪♪ if it's tuesday, not an ordinary tuesday, this is a special edition of "meet the press daily." meet the midterms. >> midterm electiones. >> midterm. >> major midterm election. >> the midterm correction. >> midterms. >> motivation controls midterms. >> the fight for control of congress, governors mansions and state houses coast to coast is now under way. >> the barriers they put in our way are not going to stop us from getting our way. >> can democrats turn the tide as republicans bet on

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