provide critical support to help relieve some of the drain and the strain on the health care system. and more relief. early indications suggest the omicron surge is starting to slow in a handful of northeastern cities such as new york and washington, d.c., that bianna got hit first with this. yeah. that is a promising sign. in moments, president biden will speak from the white house laying out his latest efforts to tackle the pandemic. then he ll be heading to capitol hill later this afternoon where he will make a direct appeal to senate democrats to take action on voting rights. this as house minority leader kevin mccarthy changes his tune, saying he will not cooperate with the committee investigating the capitol riot despite previously saying he d do so. we begin this morning at the white house with president biden set to address the nation as covid hospitalizations hit record highs. cnn white house correspondent john harwood is following.