Harris will visit the u. S. Mexico border on friday to take a look at the conditions there. It also comes as democrats plot their next steps after republicans blocked the senate from debating a major Voting Rights bill. The president appeared to take a shot at Senate Republicans as he paid tribute to a friend and longtime colleague former Virginia Republican senator john warner. He understood that democracy is more than a form of government. Democracy is a way of being. He understood it begins and grows in an open heart and with a willingness to work across the aisle and come together in common cause. Also at this hour, a Sentencing Hearing is under way for an indiana woman who pled guilty to taking part in the january 6th attack on the capitol, this as two more accused rioters, including a suspected member of the oath keepers also pled guilty. Well have more on that throughout this hour. And a major decision on Freedom Of Speech from the u. S. Supreme court. The justices ruled in the case of a Pennsylvania Cheerleader suspended for posting a vulgar snapchat message generally cannot punish students for what they say off campus. We begin this hour with the very latest from washington, d. C. Joining us now is nbc White House Correspondent and nbc news capitol hill correspondent leanne caldwell. Mike, ill begin with you. Theres republicans there pressuring. They have been throughout the past six months or so for the Vice President to go down to the u. S. Southern bothered and see it firsthand, and after she made that announcement you had former President Donald Trump who as well plans to visit the border next week saying in a Statement Today that she wouldnt have gone if he and Texas Governor greg abbott werent already doing so. A little political theater there. Whats behind the timing of this visit and why the el paso area as opposed to places like the Rio Grand Valley or arizona . Reporter yeah. Amman. I mean, this seems like a very abrupt decision to have the Vice President travel down to the border. As soon as the white house announced that she would be playing this role heading up the diplomatic efforts to work with those northern triangle countries to address, as they so often put it the root causes of migration, republicans have been asking the question daily if not multiple times a day when will they go to the border. She was very defensive and dismissive just a few weeks ago when she traveled down to mexico and guatemala about this question of when she would go to the border, discounting, it remember, as she told lester holt she hasnt been to europe either. Its hard not to see a connection perhaps to the decision by the former president to go down to the border and other republican members of congress to join him with this decision now. The White House Press secretary jen psaki was asked about this by our colleague Kelly Odonnell earlier today. Lets take a listen to that answer. We have no way to predict what former President Trump will say when he goes to the border. We can only guess, but i dont think our view is that the Vice President making a trip to the border with the secretary of Homeland Security to assess and take a look at progress thats been made is going to prevent or change what the former president of the United States does when he goes to the border in a couple of days. Reporter aman, we dont know what the Vice President plans to do when she travels down there, what kind of facilities or who she might be meeting with. All of these questions feed the idea that this was a late idea to send her down there. As to the question about why el paso hand not other parts of the border. Im reminded of the fact that congressman who represented el paso for so long was someone who argued that the city of el paso itself was safe in spite of and not because of the wall and he highlighted the Strong Partnership between el paso and the crossborder community and perhaps thats the motivation for changing that specific location. Leanne, bring us up to speed where things stand over talks with an Infrastructure Package that has been negotiated by a Bipartisan Group of senators, and certainly when you have the big Summer Recess just around the corner, is there a point from your reporting where democrats will simply decide its time to seek another path on getting an Infrastructure Package done . Well, amman, theres a meeting happening as we speak with a Bipartisan Group and white house officials, and this is a critical meeting because they have been talking with white house officials for you about a week now and the bap group themselves have come up with some sort of a proposal. The fact that they have been unable to release anything and patience is wearing thin. The issues this week are the same as last, exactly how to pay for it. Gas tax, Electric Vehicle user fee, things taken off the table, covid funds and perhaps even a Highway Infrastructure bank, a privatepublic partnership so things are coming down to the wire. Not only because democrats want to move forward on infrastructure very soon but also because you start to lose truth ant Speaker Pelosi and leader schumer are also looking for another path to move forward. Thanks to both of you for starting us off this hour. Not too far away from leanne is standing there is a protest taking place on another very important subject, that having to do with Investigate Rights in this country and the lack of action by congress to get something done. We want to turn to some Breaking News and bring in nbc news correspondent ali vitaly outside covering the marches. What are you seeing behind you, and whats happened . Well, amman, when leanne talks about patience wearing thin inside the building, certainly thats been the sense among activists here. I was with this group in West Virginia last week and they have come now to d. C. With people from other states including people from West Virginia, senator manchins home state. Some of the leaders of this March Including ReverendWilliam Barber and professor jesse jackson. They began their protest in the middle of the street and blocking off this stretch outside of the Hart Office Building on capitol hill, those they were warned several times to fet of the street and also whats happening here is the group of several up Dread Protesters who were bussed here to d. C. From other states like kentucky, West Virginia and others, they are now walking back to the supreme court. Thats where this march again. Its part after a sustained grass roots push to get manchin and other democrats on board with the progressive priorities, including Voting Rights. This particular group, the Poor Peoples Campaign is trying to elevate those campaigns and get them outside of the moral push. Specific whether you talk about whats happening in the way, not just the 5 minmake. Thats toll they are not willinging to do i reminded one attend year that man shan is not going to get wits of the furtheria and he said well, thats why were here. Well keep following that story and bring you any updates as you learn them. Today defense secretary lloyd austin is endorsing a plan to remove the prosecution of Sexual Assault cases in the military from the hands of commanders, becoming the First Defense secretary of Fetense To Doe and making a Ground Breaking shift in now the military there appears to be a decision ton and let us now what this means and what it means in the process. A couple weeks ago he was also on capitol hill and he signalled that this was the decision he made, to recommended to the white house, po President Biden this change to the uniform code of Military Justice. What we know now is that is the recommendation hes going to make, and hes laid down a little bit more information about how hes going to do it. Historically when theres a case of Sexual Harassment or Sexual Assault in the military, the commanders are the ones who investigate and determine whether its going to move forward for prosecution. Thats what Secretary Austin is recommending change here. Instead hes saying it should be in the hands of a Special Prosecutor who will assess the case and determine whether it goes forward to a courtmartial. This is something members of coming have been pushing for for years. Military leaders are wednesday the they say it needs to stay within the unit command for cohesion and more of the catchall reasons are the reasons they tend to use when they are hesitant or resistant to change in the military. In this case, you know, we have seen a real sea change over it just in the last several months. Another one of the people that we heard about this today from from the chairman of the joint chiefs, general mark milley. He was one commander not wanting to change this until just recently. His reasoning is they have been working on this problem for years and they havent really been able to most needle. He said if theres something we can do that might change the problem of Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault in the military we need to try it and hes open to trying this. This has been the problem that the military has been facing, as i said, for years, and members of congress have been getting involved in, but this does not go quite as far as some of the members want. They will take this out of the Chain Of Command for Sexual Harassment, Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence and some other cases, but not for everything that some of the members have called for. Amman. Thank you as always on a very important story. Joining me now to continue the conversation, california congresswoman jackie speier, a member of the Armed Services commit and with us as well is new york senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Congresswoman spyiers, ill start with you. Just before Secretary Austin began his testimony you and senator gillibrand gave a Press Conference with House Speaker nancy pelosi introducing a proposal that goes farther than what Secretary Austin said moving all Sexual Assault cases out of the Chain Of Command. Tell us why thats important. Its important because those particular crimes, nonmilitary felonies, are ones that have historically been used by the discretion of the commander, and we have found that theres bias so that black and Brown Service members are treated differently, more harshly than white Service Members so by taking those cases along with Sexual Assault, harris president , child abuse and Domestic Violence out of Chain Of Command, the commanders can focus on Unit Cohesion and readiness, what they have been trained to do. They have not been trained as lawyers and having a special unit within the milt to do these cases and these investigations will provide more confidence to the victims who have not even reported them. Of the 20,000 a year only 660 them report the crime pause they feel retaliation or feel that the system is rigged against them. Senator gill brand, i want to play for what the Ranking Member of the senate Armed Services committee was asked when he was asked specifically about Secretary Austins Statement Today. Watch this. I personally dont agree with it, but i do know the reasoning behind it, and i think its something that is livable. He is concerned to make sure that hes protecting the commanders role. Her bill has taken a different a new life and its getting into other areas of discipline that have nothing to do with spewses. So the second part of that sound bite was in response to what youre proposing, and it seems like the senator does support, you know, Secretary Of Defense austins proposes changes even if he doesnt agree with it, yet he still thinks your bill goes too far. What would your response to be that criticism . So our bill is very specific. We believe this should be a bright line at all serious crimes for three reasons. First, we see bias in the system. We see boyce in the system in Sexual Assaults because the percent and of Sexual Assault cases that are going to trial and ending in conviction keep going down. We see bias in the system with regard to race. If youre a black or Brown Service member, youre more likely to be punished so if you want a create military Justice System thats newspaper and up biased you need both plaintiffs rights and also defendants right. Weve already ton that successfully with no diminution in order and command and control. Weve steep done in the uk, australia, canada, germany, other countries we fight side by side, so we believe that this change makes sense. And, last, this is a change that survivors want. This is a change that our Veterans Group want, the iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Association of america, veterans of for wars as well as academics and Military Justice experts. They have said that if you only take out one crime, you will unwittingly create a pink court disproportionately used by women which will further marginalize them and diss credit them. We think this is the right theres no bill in the u. S. That has liz warren and Senator Schumer and others voting yes. I suspect well have hundreds of cosponsors now that we begin to ask people to support it. Speaking of support. Are you hopeful that having the exclusive support of Speaker Pelosi will help create more momentum for the bill both among your house colleagues and more importantly when it gets to the senate as well . Absolutely. The speaker has already said that she intends to have that bill taken out sooner than later. Were hoping that it can happen in july. That will then create the environment for the senate to take up the bill and the republicans have come into a new enlightenment on this issue and are beginning to coalesce along with all of us in terms of supporting this change. You know, when a Service Member says they are more concerned about being injured or killed by a fellow soldier than by the enemy they we very a problem and weve had a number of horrendous deaths sected and we evil got to just weve spent 1 billion trying to improve it and nothing has changed. And i would like to just add to have Secretary Austin say that we can take this one serious crime out of the Chain Of Command is is huge and its huge because hes saying that commanders dont need authority to instill discipline and control. Hes saying you can still be a great commander and not have one right. 3 of our commanders have this Convening Authority so 97 have to instill good order and discipline without it. This change by Secretary Austin is a gamechanger because it shows that these decisions should be made by trained Military Prosecutors who are disciplined, welltraine