this is american voices. hello, everyone. i m alicia menendez. it sure wasn t your former president s infrastructure week. this time it was for real. the biden administration unveiling a $2 trillion spending plan over eight years. it would rebuild roads and bridges and public transportation, including amtrak, something that urban and rural communities, red and blue states, the coasts, and the middle of the country will benefit from. the american society of civil engineers publishes a report card on how america s infrastructure is doing. spoiler alert, she s weak. last year s report gave us a c minus, a step up for a country that spent two decades bringing home a d on its report card. any engineer will tell you when infrastructure works, most people don t think about it, unless this happens. oh, no. your tire s all flat and junk. oh, did i do that? if only tackling something like infrastructure was so friendly. it is not. it is wonky, feeling almost like an improvise
many of the founding fathers fought against creating the vice presidency in the first place, and since then, party bosses have regarded it as a political graveyard. the system has produced some worthy vice presidents, but at best, it s a compromise, and at worst, it s a game of roulette with the nation s destiny. ben franklin, when the constitution was written, said we should refer to the vice president and his superfluous excellen excellency. i always think of john nance garner and his quote that it wasn t worth a bucket of warm spit, and that s cleaning up what he said. if you ask the american people what does the vice president do, i think you d probably get a shrug of the shoulders. you might even be asked who is the vice president? let s do it. i think when we were formed as a nation and the constitution was shaped, not an awful lot of thought was given to the vice presidency. the office as a general proposition, if you look back over the last 200 and s
we as a nation spend the best part of the year selecting our president. many of the founding fathers fought against creating the vice presidency in the first place. since then, party bosses have recorded it as a political graveyard. the system has produced some worthy vice presidents. at best, it s a compromise. at worst, it s a game of roulette with the nation s destiny. ben franklin, when the constitution was written, said we should refer to the vice president as his superfulous excellency. i think the quote that wasn t worth a bucket of warm spit. what does the vice president do? you would get a shrug of the shoulders. people would be asked, who is the vice president? let s do it. i think when we formed this nation and the constitution was shaped, not an awful lot of thought was given to the vice presidency. the office as a general proposition, if you look back over the last 200 and some years, was described in all kinds of ways, most of which meant inconse
best part of a year selecting our president. many of the founding fathers fought against creating the vice presidency in the first place, and since then, party bosses have regarded it as a political graveyard. the system has produced some worthy vice presidents, but at best, it s a compromise, and at worst, it s a game of roulette with the nation s destiny. ben franklin when the constitution was written said we should refer to the vice president as a superfluous excellencely. i always think of john nance garner and his quote that it wasn t worth a bucket of warm spit, and that s cleaning up what he said. if you ask the american people what does the vice president do? i think you would probably get a shrug of the shoulders. you might even be asked who is the vice president? let s do it. i think when we were formed as a nation and the constitution was shaped, not an awful lot of thought was given to the vice presidency. the office as a general proposition, if
home as covid-19 cases increase across the nation. more than 13 million americans have been diagnosed at over 2,000 americans are dying every day from the virus. as states brace for an uptick in cases due to holiday gatherings the nation s most populous county, los angeles county, is set to impose strict stay at home rules that will take effect tomorrow. meanwhile, health way be on the way as the first doses of pfizer s 1ir9 vaccines are headed to the u.s. from belgium, but keep in mind a vaccine isn t expected for wide distribution until later 2021. a cdc panel will meet on tuesday to decide how the initial supplies of the vaccine will be allocated. joining me now emergency room physician and california congressman and a good friend raul ruiz, cardiologist dr. bernard ashby on the committee to protect medicare, dr. mercedes carnethon from northwestern university and dr. corey hebert, former co-chair of the louisiana governor s covid-19 minority task force. we should also not