Warns that the delta variant is as contagious as the chicken pox and can create a greater risk of hospitalization although vaccines are highly effective protecting against the virus in an effort to boost vaccinations, president biden announced federal workers must show proof of their vaccination status or submit to regular testing and masking. The defense department has since followed suit. And while the white house is not considering a federal vaccine mandate at this time, the senior senator from wisconsin, a republican, had this to say. Could you ever get behind a vaccine mandate for everybody? no, not unless there is some incredibly deadly disease. I mean, much higher infection mortality rates than we have with covid. Breaking news, buddy. Covid is an incredibly deadly disease. More than 610,000 americans have died, and in counties with low vaccination rates, the mortality and hospitalization rates are rising. Joining me now, msnbc science contributor laurie garrett. Laurie is also
and social policy spending package that has been dubbed the quote human infrastructure plan. now, you ll remember how the twice-impeached ex-president managed to turn infrastructure week into a long-running joke on capitol hill, that failed to even make a serious attempt to accomplish anything. he would literally launch several infrastructure weeks with a dog and pony show at the white house, only to step on his own messaging, usually within hours and see the whole effort collapse. with this new administration, we re seeing real plans for investment in the country. as with most things in government, the process is complicated. house speaker nancy pelosi is pressing forward. she s now set a new deadline, october 31st, as the new deadline, for the house to pass the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. that s the smaller one, the one that focuses on bridges and roads and such. that deadline also marks when the 30-day reauthorization of the federal highway program expire
the meeting comes as house speaker nancy pelosi sets october 31st as another new deadline for the house to pass the smaller, $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. that is the one that focuses on bridges and roads and such. that deadline also marks when the 30-day reauthorization of the federal highway program expires. pelosi wrote in a letter to her colleagues that the bipartisan framework must be passed well before that date to save people s jobs. the decision to delay the vote has already angered moderates in the party who wanted to pass the bipartisan bill on its own last week. however, progressives, which is a much bigger group of democrats all but ensured the vote would fail unless the $3.5 trillion package democrats are seeking to push through budget reconciliation could be passed at the same time. one of the so-called moderate democratic holdouts arizona senator kyrsten sinema issued this scathing statement calling their efforts quote an ineffective stunt to ga
Msnbc news science analyst and best selling author of the coming plague and betrayal of trust the collapse of global public health. don t go anywhere. we re just getting started this sunday morning. in a few moments u.s. senator mazie hirono joins the conversation and we have a lot to talk about including the intraparty spending fight and another hour of velshi begins right now. good morning to you. today is sunday, october 3rd. i m ali velshi. under the previous dysfunctional administration it seemed infrastructure week would never get done. now we have an infrastructure week that seemingly doesn t end. i ll tell you why that is a good thing. this week president biden is scheduled to host congressional lawmakers at the white house as democrats resume negotiations over how to pass two cornerstone pieces of his economic agenda.
Joining me now, msnbc science contributor laurie garrett. laurie is also the author of the coming plague and dr. shah. i want to start with you. i want you to listen to something governor ron desantis of florida had to say when asked about mask mandates. have a listen. it really shows a callous disregard for the physical, emotional and academic well-being of our children. very soon i ll be signing an executive order which directs the florida department of education and department of health to issue emergency rules protecting the rights of parents to make this decision about wearing masks for their children. we think that that s the most fair dr. shah, i would love your response to the governor. also listening to that, knowing