For a second Coronavirus Task force briefing led by the president. Like the one yesterday, this, too, will be held in the 5 00 hour. This one set to begin at 5 30, a reminder before reviving those briefings, the administration had gone nearly a week without a president ial event even focused on the virus. On capitol hill, negotiatation continue to be focused on the coronavirus, and even a deadline for the package dominated discussions between the president and republicans. Its interesting, we did learn in the last hour Mitch Mcconnell is thinking of a temporary extension of Unemployment Benefits while they negotiate Everything Else. On friday, a federal moratorium on evictions will expire. When and if it does, 12 million americans across the country unable to pay their rent will be at risk for homelessness. Let me bring in my coanchor for the hour, katy tur. Congress is not going to meet these deadlines, theyre just not. Im curious of how were going to handle this sort of uneasy no mans land people are going to fall into due to uncertainty on Unemployment Benefits, the eviction holds and things like that. And voters are going to have a chance to decide whether or not they find that acceptable, chuck, in just a matter of six weeks. For a lauz of those lawmakers and for the president , because in just six weeks, voters in key battleground states are going to begin casting their votes for president. Starting on september 4th, absentee votes will sent out for voters in north carolina. Voters in pennsylvania will access their votes on september 14th. Amid had pandemic, more people are expected to vote early and by mail. That early vote is not good news necessarily for President Trump, with the window of opportunity between now and when voters cast their first ballots closing, it means there is little time left to reverse course. So let us begin at the white house, where we have learned the president will host another Coronavirus Briefing at 5 30 p. M. Tonight. We do not know if any of the medical experts of the White House Task force are going to join him, but joining me now from the white house is nbc news correspondent carol lee. So carol, yesterday, i guess you could say he mostly stayed on script, regardless, he did still find room to wish well ghislaine maxwell. What is the expectation for tonight . Well, i think the challenge for the president is going to be to explain what he meant when he said that he was developing a very powerful strategy for responding to the coronavirus pandemic, because obviously, were months into this. And we heard a little bit from kellyanne conway, counselor to the president , a little while ago here at the white house, who has said he meant that he was it was about vaccines and therapeutics and the strategy for getting that moving along, and also how they deal with nursing homes. There is a broader question about what specifically the president plans to do, you know, when he is saying that things are going to get worse before they get better. So thats, and what actually that means, what does that look like . Because since the last Coronavirus Briefing, the president held in april, until the one he held yesterday, deaths more than doubled. Number of cases more than tripled. So what is he trying to prepare the country for . We really havent heard that. Then the other issue, we know the president juan to focus on, which is this long lag time between testing and results. Thats something that the white house is trying to deal with. Kellyanne conway, again, focused on that. She said the president has been briefed on this and theyre looking into it and going to figure out sort of how they can deal with that. Carol, on that question, the white house in this new stimulus package that congress is putting together, the white house has requested less funding for testing or no funding for testing in this bill. So how is the administration squaring that move and then also seeming to acknowledge that there is a problem with testing . Yeah, its a great question because yesterday you heard the president leave some wiggle room there. He was asked about this funding for additional funding for testing, and the white houses argument has been theres already funding allocated for this that hasnt been used so they dont need additional funding. Now what youre hearing is, well, we want it to be used strategically, so the president said yesterday that he was going to be receiving some sort of presentation from his aides about this specific issue, additional funding for testing. And that then he would make some decisions about that, but he said, you know, if the professionals and the doctors think this is needed, then im okay with it. A little bit of a shift there, katy. Carol lee, thank you so much. And chuck, theyre all over the map on this. It was just sunday that the president said that there are only cases in this country because were doing testing. So very confusing. Obviously, not sending out a coherent message on that, even though he might have stayed on script last night. Thats right. I mean, i do think that he is in some ways benefitting from a bar that is so low, i dont think its ever been lifted off the ground. So i do think that that is something that we have to get at the end of the day, okay, he went out there. It was a political event. We knew what he was up to, trying to prove he is on top of this. Well, today is really going to be this is when he has to fill in the gaps. Okay, you came out yesterday and said you want to get your arms around this. Lets see if you have some details. Lets see if you have a testing strategy, but ultimately, our testing strategy is the big failure. Right now, were tracking the race on capitol hill at getting new Coronavirus Relief bill passed by august. Today, a feud erupted on the senate floor as Mitch Mcconnell failed to mention the negotiations and it prompted backlash from the democratic leader, Chuck Schumer. It comes as members of the Republican Party remain at a crossroads over how much this package should cost with unemployment ending for millions of americans in nine days. Joining us from capitol hill is msnbc correspondent garrett haake. And garrett, we heard last hour that obviously, negotiations are going so poorly that Mitch Mcconnell is floating a temporary, you know, sort of like when we hear about the continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown, it feels like continuing unemployment for another month is like this version of avoiding the government shutdown. Are things that bad that theyre going to have to try these temporary measures . Well, the problem with temporary measures is it removes the pressure on lawmakers to get something done in short order. Theres a certain element that does want a temporary measure. They want the focus to be sharp so they can keep working on this. You describe this as a race to come up with some kind of deal on a Coronavirus Relief package. It doesnt look like anyone is running. Thats kind of the problem here. Senate republicans are moving ahead with their plan. Theyre going to brief the legislative director, the top legislative staffers in each office this afternoon on the top lines of whats going to be in this bill. We dont even know when we might see the text on it, and right now, democrats are just lashing republicans for what they perceive to be a lack of urgency and focus on this. Here was Chuck Schumer on the floor just this morning. Its in the middle of the week. And the Republican Party is so disorganized, chaotic, and unprepared that they can barely cobble together a partisan bill in their own conference. Congress needs to act quickly. Senate republicans in the white house need to get on the same page, produce a proposal, not just drop it on the floor, but start negotiations. Still a republican only exercise at this point. Theyre talking to each other, but i think theres Movement Towards this idea theres expanded Unemployment Benefits up to 600 a week right now arent just going to go away. Republicans want to find some way to step those down. They dont want people being paid more to stay home than to go to work. But there does seem to be among the senators and aides i have been talking to an acknowledgment they have to find some way to keep the money flowing. Its just too important to cut it off, even if many of them want to. Well, were going to learn a lot about the Senate Negotiations this hour. I have a couple senators coming up for katy and i to talk to. Hopefully we can put more meat on these bones. Garrett haake with the action on capitol hill. Garrett, thank you. Katy, over to you. First up, lets find out whats going on in california where confirmed coronavirus cases have topped 409,000. With that number, california is set to pass new york for the most total cases in the entire nation. It is a depressing reversal for the first state to issue a stayathome order. California is now seeing some 9,000 new cases every single day. With the majority of people testing positive under the age of 49. Governor gavin newsom is expected to issue new guidance to get those numbers back under control in about an hour. Lets go to nbc news correspondent steve patterson, outside of providence, st. Josephs hospital in burbank, california. When the numbers were skyrocketing like this here in new york, the governor issued a pretty strict stayathome order. California has been issuing patchwork orders to try to get people to stay home. Are we going to see something from the governor that is the entire state, that is more strict in order to not just flatten this curve but to bring it down . Thats the question, i think, on the lips of everybody in this state and everybody will be watching in about an hour, is will there be more serious rollbacks, if not a complete reversal into another stayathome order here in california . There certainly has been signaling both by the State Government and by local governments as one of the ambulances is driving behind me, thats the noise you hear. But however, the governor wants to take his time to look at the rollbacks that were just included about a week and a half ago. As you mentioned, quite a patchwork depending on where you live, but pretty extensive throughout the state. I meanwhile, were talking about bars, indoor restaurants, indoor dining. Then depending on where you live, which is about 80 of the state, that also includes gyms, it includes religious spaces, office spaces. Things of that nature. So the question is, will there be more . What does more even look like . With such an extensive order in place already. Well, it could mean hiking trails and parks and beaches, which may not seem like such a big deal depending on where you are in the country, but for california, i mean, this is literally the reason why People Choose to live here, to pay taxes here. Its part of the life blood of the tourism economy as well. A big deal there, but more in tune with the possibility that the psychology may change again in people. You know, back when this crisis first started, california was lauded, as you mentioned, as this place, a beacon in which it was an example for the rest of the country. This is how you stay at home, this is how you social distance. I think the governor wants us to get back to that state. However, its going to take a hard look at the data, more contact tracing, more testing, and then a hard look at the Hospital Capacity thats in place here in california. But everybody is expecting the answer or at least the governor to touch on that question in about an hour. Katy. Steve patterson in burbank for us, thank you very much. Chuck. Thank you, katy. The cdc says the infection rate across the country is likely ten times higher than we think. Its something director redfield has been saying some time. An expert joins us to explain why that is and why it proves a vast majority of the public still remains vulnerable to the virus. As cases rise and hospitals across the south and west near breaking points, two senators are on a mission to force the president to use the defense production act. Senators tammy murbaldwin and cs murphy are here next. Win and chi murphy are here next to build unlimited right. You start with americas most awarded network, the one with unbeatable reliability 13 times in a row. This network is one less thing i have to worry about. vo then you give people more plans to mix and match so you only pay for what you need verizon unlimited plan is so reasonable, they can stay on for the rest of their lives. Awww. vo you include the best in entertainment and you offer it all starting at 35. Because everyone deserves the best. This is unlimited built right. Only on verizon. Crankypated a bad mood related to a sluggish gut. Miralax is different. It works naturally with the water in your body to unblock your gut. Free your gut, and your mood will follow. We start with a reminder of the sacrifice that Health Workers on the front lines are making every day in the fight against coronavirus. Yesterday, members of a nurses union laid pairs of shoes on the u. S. Capitol lawn. Each pair representing a colleague who died while treating covid19 patients. The union hopes it will urge the president to employ the defense production act. Later today, Democratic SenatorsTammy Baldwin of wisconsin and chris murphy of connecticut will lead their colleagues in a push of their own for ppe and critical medical equipment. Both senators baldwin and murphy join us now. Thank you for being here. The defense production act, ill start with you, senator baldwin, what difference will that make . Well senator baldwin, were having trouble with your audio, so while we try to work on that, ill pose the same question to your colleague. Lucky that we have two people with us today. Senator murphy, what will the dpa do . Redundancy is really important these days. Listen, the dpa has put into statute after world war ii to compensate for the fact that democracies are often not terribly efficient when faces with crises like a pandemic or a war. And so we give the president emergency powers. One of them is to take control of the supply chain when we need to produce a whole lot of one thing in a short period of time. Right now, this country cannot beat coronavirus without more ppe. We had a shortage. We were able to address that shortage, and now as the virus spreads, you have new reports of nurses sometimes wearing the same mask for 15 days. We also need to power up the manufacture of testing. Were waiting 7 to 10 to 14 days for tests to return. You cant beat the virus that way either. The only way to produce more ppe and tests is for the president to take control of the supply chain and coordinate it all, command manufacturers to make more of all of that equipment. And he has the power to do it under the defense production act. He has refused thus, senator baldwin and i believe that congress has to pass legislation before we leave to require the executive branch to start using the defense production act to mandate enough production of testing equipment and ppe. We are still working on senator baldwins audio here. So senator murphy, let me follow with this. Im glad you brought up the testing issue, because you know, the issue of reagents, what it takes to actually complete the testing process, seems to be also something that needs to be part of the production act, but let me ask this. I think a lot of us are scratching our heads. I imagine you are, too. Have you gotten a good explanation of why the president and the task force seem so hesitant to invoke this on such narrow grounds . What kind of lobbying effort is going on behind the scenes by some of these companies asking for it not to be invoked . It seems to be the only logical explanation is that theres campaign to stop it from being invoked. This president is someone thats usually not afraid of using a strong power like this. Yeah, the president is not afraid of using the power of the executive branch when he wants to beat the hell out of protesters in portland. He seems really impotent when faced with a shortage of masks in houston or hartford. I think theres two explanations, chuck. One of them is, yes, the industry is making gobs of money. Prices for masks and gowns and gloves have skyrocketed, so these companies, of course, dont want the federal government to come in because what the federal government would do is not only require the manufacture but set the prices temporarily. But second, this is an administration populated by bureaucrats that do not believe in government. The people who are running hhs, the people who are staffing this issue at the white house, theyre people who have spent their entire political careers trying to destroy government, trying to argue it is illegitimate as a mechanism to solve any problem in this country, so they simply dont have the vision nor do they have the will to actually use the mechanisms given to them by the congress to fix this problem. Its about profit for the private sector, beutits also about an ideology that served as a barrier to imagining these kind of big solutions. So in lieu to the dpa, and we got senator baldwins audio back, which is good news, both you and senator murphy are advancing the medical supply transparency and delivery act or introducing it. Were going put on the screen what exactly is in it. What is the likelihood youll be able to get some republican support for this . Well, its such an essential plan. We have a situation where weve seen record high numbers of cases both nationally and yesterday in wisconsin, we reached our alltime high reporting of new cases. And the president has no plan for testing, no plan for ppe, and we have people on the front lines, labs on the front lines, that have maybe a sevenday supply of swabs and reagents. How anyone in our position could turn the other way and say thats acceptable i dont know. Thats why senator murphy and i are going to take to the floor momentarily to try to advance this measure. But theres no reason why these things shouldnt be manufactured in the usa and fix this chaotic supply chain that has led to price gouging and scams, frankly, that have been faced by hospitals and cities and others who need this equipment and protective gear. Senator baldwin, in some ways, this doesnt feel like