democrats desperately scrambling to make a deal tonight, because president biden s $1.9 trillion covid relief bill is at this moment at a standandstill. right now, it s all about democratic senator joe manchin. democratic leaders are racing to keep manchin from joining the other side of the aisle about extending unemployment benefits. the fear tonight is that the moderate west virginia senator will side with republicans. that could put biden s first major piece of legislation in jeopardy. and adding to the nail-biter, republicans are now down one senator. senator dan sullivan is flying home to alaska tonight after his father-in-law passed away. there is so much going on. let s go to manu raja. is there any sign where this is headed tonight? reporter: things are stuck right now. in fact, that s the words of one democratic senator involved in the negotiations, telling a republican senator, john cornyn, who just told me moments ago he s been told they re stuck. and behind the
i m poppy harlow, in for erin burnett. cnn learning 26 people have died from the severe winter weather that has hammered the lone star state, as officials brace for another night of below freezing temperatures. expected to push the water system to the brink. 14.9 million people across texas are being told to boil water, or they have no water at all. that s more than half of the state s population. they re also dealing with burst pipes and water treatment plants that are offline. officials say it could be days before we get the water back. people desperate to get water, military planes shipping water to hard-hit areas. and food is almost as scarce as water in some places. and the estimated financial toll is $18 billion from the deep freeze. that is equivalent to the damage from a major hurricane. and now, president biden says he s making plans to visit the hard-hit state. as texans wait for more than 400,000 doses of covid vaccine that were expected to already arrive this week
in the investigation. let s go out front. and good evening. i m erin burnett. out front tonight caught playing hooky. as the house votes tonight on the $1.9 trillion covid relief bill, a bill that will affect hundreds of millions of americans, 13 republicans who have asked not to vote in person because of what they say is a, quote, ongoing public health emergency. well, that emergency it turns out is not covid. that public health emergency they re talking about. that emergency they re talking about is cpac, the conservative political action committee. they re heading down to bow down at the alter of trump in florida. yes, you see that there. that really is a statue of trump at the event. they ve put it up there. it s on display in his honor in his favorite color, gold. and like many a dear leader type statue of course it is not made of real gold, and the artist who made it says it was actually made in response to art mocking trump, like this. so that s what they re going do
real and frightening constant thought. so were you thinking of harming yourself? were you having suicidal thoughts? yes, this was very, very clear. wow. doesn t sound like a fairy tale, not at all. our own kelly cobiella joins us from london. how is the royal family reacting? the royal family is sticking to their mantra of don t complain, don t explain. they have not commented at all on a number of allegations that came out in this two-hour interview last night. chief among them, you just mentioned it, this idea that meghan had suicidal thoughts. she had mental health issues. she approached palace aides, made it very clear she needed help and that she was rebuffed. there were also suggestions, accusations, actually, that of racism within the royal family, both harry and meghan saying that several times over the course of months there were conversations about the color of their son s skin. take a listen. in those months when i was pregnant all around this same time
the other party, the purpose of politics isperformative. it s about theater. acting out the worst part offense their voting base. they passed two major legislations. hr1 that would expand access to the ballot creating nationwide voter registration, restoring voting rights to the formerly incarcerated and the long overdue policing overhaul. two real pieces of legislation. they did it with zero support from republicans. sort of. one republican voted yes on the george floyd bill. texas republican lance said he oopsied and pressed the wrong button by accident. soon after every republican voted against police reform, one rose to address the most pressing issue of our time. we should all respect and honor dr. seuss and forget this cancel culture nonsense. let s be clear. the purpose of politics is supposed to be to do politics. to enact policy. you are simply not a serious political party if you re using your time on floor of the u.s. house of representatives to harp on how to