at the terrifying moments when the hostage situation came to an end after an hours-long terror attack on a texas synagogue. the rabbi is sharing new details about what it was like inside. hello and welcome to this special edition of the lead. i m poppy harlow in for jake tapper. we begin with our health lead. the u.s. surgeon general is warning the next few weeks of the pandemic will be tough. dr. vivek murthy says omicron cases have not peaked nationally and that means this virus will keep spreading at a breakneck pace for now. a crush of covid patients means some hospitals are running out of uninfected health care workers and space to treat other patients in the intensive care units. more than 156,000 people are now hospitalized with this virus. cases in parts of the northeast do appear to have crested. a huge relief for those areas. but as nick watt reports, it s far from a national trend. the covid forecast is improving. looking better. the covid clouds are parting.
biden s calls to change senate rules to pass voting rights with a simple majority took to the senate floor to reiterate in no uncertain terms she s opposed to this change. while i continue to support these bills, i will not support separate actions that worsen the underlying disease of division infecting our country. the debate over the senate 60-vote threshold shines a light on our broader challenges. there s no need for me to restate my long-standing support for the 60-vote threshold to pass legislation and there is no need for me to restate its role protecting our country from wild reversals in federal policy. it is a view i ve held during my years in serving both in the u.s. house and the senate. it is the view i continue to hold. president biden and democratic leadership find themselves trapped in a box on this issue, really it s a box of their own making. they are not going to get the support of enough republicans to pass voting rights lenls ligs, they really haven
save the u.s. and that s just one of the troubling results. and another airline hit by massive cancellations. and if you make it on the plane you might be met by aggressive passengers. the serious new action proposed by the transportation secretary ahead. hello and welcome to the lead. i m jake tapper. joe manchin now publicly refusing to commit to vote for the president s economic and climate agenda without seeing the final text first. and working through some issues. now the house of representatives had hoped to vote on this legislation this week and now it s not clear that that s going to happen. the timing could not be worse for president biden who is trying to rebuild trust with world leaders at the cop26 climate talks in scotland. president biden today apologizing to the world saying u.s. actions under president trump put america, quote, behind the 8 ball. biden eager to convince his peers that america is recommitted to slowing the warming of the planet. and wor
Years, really, whenever there s a critical vote in the senate, the drama has been around where joe manchin and kyrsten sinema stand. and that s not the case anymore. that s a huge game changer for democrats because it gives them this vote cushion to be able to lose one vote and still get key legislation passed. they won t have to be they won t have to call vice president kamala harris in to be that critical tie-breaking vote as often. it gives them control over key committees, more power to subpoena and investigate what they want to. it also gives them control over how quickly nominations are passed through the senate. we can expect a lot more judicial nominations to be pushed through by democrats over the next two years. despite having this extra power that was gained last night with this win in georgia, senate majority leader chuck schumer says he s willing to work across the aisle with republicans to get things done over the next two years. take a listen to what he had to
Things are hard. senator schumer said that it would be an uphill battle on voting rights, he has been proven right already by senator sinema, but as you say to your team they have to be caught trying on this. activists are frustrated, they have a right to be frustrated at some of the sequencing here, chuck, but trust that they are far more outraged by what mitch mcconnell and senate republicans and senators who are passing these unilateral changes in the states. i appreciate you coming on and sharing your perspective with us. thank you, chuck. still to come, the latest stepped up efforts from the white house to combat the latest surge of cases and the criticism that they were unprepared. stay with us, you re watching meet the press daily. they we. they we. stay with nder, thicker-cut steak and. wait sooo you re not coming out of retirement? i m just here because subway has so much new, they bought time in this press conference to talk about it. meet the press daily.