NBC News NOW Full Broadcast - March 5th, 2021 | NBC News NOW

hey everyone i'm allison morris you're watching nbc news now the weekend is almost here but the workday far from over in our nation's capital the voterama on covid relief happening right now on the senate floor but senators are still debating amendments and other possible changes so the final vote on that 1.9 trillion dollar package may not happen before the weekend president biden meanwhile hosting a roundtable at the white house this afternoon meeting with three people who will benefit from the stimulus checks in his american rescue plan the president saying this bill will help millions of struggling americans people in the country are hurting right now with less than two weeks from enhanced unemployment checks being cut out and seven million kids don't have enough food 13 million people are behind in their rent and the american rescue plan i believe and according to polling data the vast majority of americans believe is essential to giving them some help president biden reminding americans of the long road to recovery meeting with treasury secretary janet yellen today saying we urgently need his coped relief bill to get the economy back on track here's nbc news white house correspondent mike memoly well allison president biden on friday trying to use the jobs numbers and his bully pulpit to put a little wind in the sales of that 1.9 trillion dollar covid relief plan as it navigates those choppy seas of a senate voter rama saying that now is not the time for taking two steps forward and one step back take a listen to what he said after a meeting with his top economic advisors earlier today today's jobs report shows that the american rescue plan is urgently needed in our view our economy still has 9.5 million fewer jobs than it had this time last year at that rate it would take two years to get us back on track we have one million fewer educators one million fewer educators than we did this time last year we've lost 400 000 small businesses all those empty storefronts aren't just shattered dreams they're warning lights they're going off in state local budgets that are being stretched because the lack of tax revenue and some of last month's job growth as a result of the december relief package but without a rescue plan these gains are going to slow allison the white house is optimistic even with some of these last minute headaches in the senate that this legislation is going to be passed by the senate this weekend and the house could take it up and pass it as soon as monday more likely tuesday and then the white house is taking something of an interesting approach to all this typically as we saw in 2009 when the president obama passed his recovery act they quickly moved on to the next big priority which in their case was passing the affordable care act this white house president biden thinking that they actually need to spend some time to continue to talk to americans about what was in this legislation and try to highlight the benefits so that it's fully it gives them credit frankly for what was in it they know the importance of the political sales job so the white house making some interesting announcements along those fronts uh on friday white house secretary press secretary jensaki saying that the president on tuesday will visit a small business that has been benefiting from the pay paycheck protection program uh trying to highlight in a real way the the impact that this has had on one business on wednesday next week he's going to travel to baltimore for a meeting with the ceos of johnson and johnson and merck those two companies just this week it was announced by the white house uh entering into a unusual partnership as rival pharmaceutical companies to actually work together to produce that one-dose johnson and johnson vaccine then we'll see on thursday that anniversary march 11th of when many of the lockdowns began in this country president biden expected to deliver primetime remarks talking about the difficult journey this country has been in and the fact that it's not over yet even as some states lift their masking mandates begin to move to a much more open posture the white house fighting against that to some extent and wanting to make sure the american people really understand what's still difficult in the road ahead then we'll expect to see president biden and still waiting on details of when he's going to give that joint session address to congress officials telling nbc news just today that that speech could move even into april which would make it one of the latest for a first year president in our history on this friday allison let's also take stock of where things stand as president biden tries to fill out his cabinet we did see a number of confirmations this week now biden has had 13 cabinet level or cabinet secretaries approved by the senate not bad clip when you consider how much time they spent on that coveted relief bill we lost the week of course to the impeachment trial last month but there's still a lot of important positions still that need to be filled at this point there are eight of president biden's nominees who have cleared the committees and are just waiting for a senate floor vote once this coveted relief bill is passed the biden administration going to be pushing the senate to take quick action on a number of those nominees of course the housing secretary marcia fudge the health and human services secretary javier becerra but the one that the white house is most eager to see cleared as quickly as possible is one who has dealt with senate roadblocks before and that's of course merrick garland president biden's nominee to serve as attorney general look for some of those votes to come forward next week alison a former trump state department worker charged with assaulting police during the capital riot federico klein was seen wearing a make america great again hat while trying to force his way inside the building assaulting officers with a riot shield according to court documents those documents also say he was still working for the state department on january 6 with a top secret security clearance klein resigned on january 19th before president biden took office state department spokesman ned price saying the department will not comment on pending criminal charges nbc news justice correspondent pete williams joining me now pete i understand klein had a hearing earlier today what came out of that well he's going to be continued to be detained until hearing next tuesday on whether he should be held pending trial you're right about his background he worked for the trump campaign he was then appointed to a low-level political job at the state department he's accused of repeatedly repeatedly battling with the capitol police in washington during the riot he had resigned on the 19th so as you say he was a federal employee on the day of the siege and the charges say he assaulted the police with a plastic shield the fbi found out about him because two people who knew him contacted the fbi after seeing his his picture but during the hearing today he asked the judge by phone from his dc jail cell if there was someplace else he could be detained where he didn't have cockroaches crawling everywhere and a public defender said he'd be in a different cell tonight pete another issue i want to ask you about congressman eric swalwell suing former president trump over the capitol riot he is also naming donald trump jr rudy giuliani and congressman mo brooks in this suit what is swalwell's particular argument here and does he have a real case well he takes basically the house impeachment article over the capitol riot and turns it into a federal civil lawsuit it says that the siege was a direct and foreseeable consequence of months of claims by mr trump and others that the election was stolen as you say it's also filed against trump jr rudy giuliani and congressman mo brooks all of whom spoke at that rally before the riot and the lawsuit says they whipped up the crowd for violence so this is like a similar lawsuit that was filed last month by congressman benny thompson of mississippi and the naacp like that one it invokes a federal civil rights law that allows lawsuits against government officials for claims that they conspired to violate civil rights so that's the essence of these two lawsuits that he now faces all right pete williams thank you so much and have a terrific weekend you too [Music] capitol hill staffers not only survived the january sixth riots but many of them had to clean up the mess left behind nbc news reporter julie sirkin talked to some of those staffers about the trauma they have been dealing with since that violent day rioters tore through the capitol on january 6th leaving physical and emotional wounds under the 200 year old dome evacuated lawmakers eventually returned to certify the election however it was capital workers many of them black and brown who picked up the pieces of a fractured democracy the white supremacists and insurrectionists that entered our our workplace our safe haven that day um they had nooses they had confederate flags while we were disturbed i cannot sit here and tell you we were surprised as a black hill staffer i was not able to blend in i was not able to hide the way that some of my other colleagues would have the congress elected in november is the most racially inclusive in history but staffers are still overwhelmingly white but we need to be in positions of power because staffers of black staffers specifically also have the the power to advocate for the needs of black and brown communities sarah guerrero escorted her boss texas congresswoman sylvia garcia off the house floor during the riots sarah remembers linking arms with the congresswoman and praying for their safety and in the moment to me it was just so instinctual and hispanic culture that's you'll do that with your family when you're with your mom or with your aunt or with you know a loved one you want to take care of them and so i was talking to her about it and she was like you know sarah that was so that's so cultural like that's very hours to do that now reality setting in those in positions of power ensuring their staff deal with the long-term trauma look i'm not worried about you today or tomorrow or next week i'm worried about you in a month in two months and six months the rest of your career like you need to talk to somebody and so the resources that have been made available to staff have been really really helpful during hearings examining the riots officials focusing on the mental health impact dozens of custodians cleaning up the mess hours after fearing for their lives we don't talk about them and the harm they suffered often enough one janitorial worker recounted who was so scared that he had to hide in a closet during the attack he said quote i was all by myself i didn't know what was going on some of the custodial workers they may be afraid to speak up just because they don't know what we're after if they can't i will despite efforts to ensure that another attack doesn't take place again personal relationships have suffered in the capital trust lost in one another as partisanship grows at this current moment i choose not to be in communication with my previous friends that occupy positions on the other side of the aisle and i don't see how they live with themselves to be quite honest with you we reached out to capitol police officers and custodial workers as well as some gop black and brown staffers to get their take but none agreed to be interviewed two months after the insurrection black and brown staffers on capitol hill that we spoke to are focused on taking care of each other and working to prevent another day like january 6th the late congressman john lewis said something that resonated with me when i was an intern he said if not us then who and if not now then when and that's a guiding principle for me [Music] let's go to nbc news now correspondent simone boyce she's got the latest headlines for us from nbcnews.com hey simon hey allison let's start with some good news a good sign potentially for our economic recovery the latest jobs report showing that the u.s added 379 000 jobs in february nearly double economist estimates the unemployment rate also slightly down to 6.2 percent however one in 10 americans say they'll never financially recover from the covid crisis and that's according to a new report by the pew research center the report also found that despite recent job gains about half of working adults think the pandemic will make it harder for them to reach long-term financial goals and senate democrats agreeing to lower the federal unemployment benefits in the coveted relief bill to 300 a week that's 100 less than the 400 passed by the house the new number came after progressive and moderate democrats reached an agreement according to one democratic aide well prince phillip has moved to a private hospital in london after a successful heart procedure and that's according to buckingham palace the prince who will turn 100 in june is expected to stay in the hospital for a number of days and the nfl welcoming its first black female official maya shaka is the first black woman to be named an nfl official shaka a physical education and health teacher has been training with the nfl since 2014 and also worked on the sidelines of xfl and college games love sending us all out on a high note allison i will send it back away so here for it simone just another reason to get psyched about next football season thank you so much headaches dizziness nausea covered long-haulers are desperately looking for treatment to get rid of those lingering symptoms one woman even moving closer to a treatment center nbc news medical contributor dr vin gupta has the story catherine hanson has been battling post-covet symptoms for nearly a year i was getting not just a raising heart but i was getting like stabs and pinches in my chest and then i was getting um like hypertension headaches and dizziness and nauseous unable to find treatment options in her local community the former pilates instructor made a drastic decision she moved in september catherine relocated to a new house nearly three hours closer to the university of washington's postcovid center is it true that you moved uh specifically to get treatment for long covered yes i did move specifically so i had access to um along covet center and and doctors that you know were knowledgeable and had experience with covered patients dr aaron bennell is co-director of the seattle-based clinic he says there's a national shortage when it comes to post-copic care the numbers of patients are staggering so i think it will take a while for the medical system to adjust and build the capacity to help everyone studies indicate up to 30 percent of covet patients including those never hospitalized experience some post-infection symptoms for a period of months meaning millions of americans could experience prolonged heart lung and neurological issues but nationwide there are just a few dozen official postcovid clinics to treat patients new york's mount sinai post coveted center is one of them and clinic coordinator desiree bremer showed us just how high demand for treatment is you have 283 new messages hundreds of messages from patients seeking coveted appointments come in each day many of my patients are so so desperate to get care that they actually drive five to six hours and some even get on the private jet plane there's patients who we see who have traveled here from florida have traveled here from texas who have traveled here from various other areas where there aren't these centers yet back in seattle catherine says she's grateful to only be a short drive from post covet care now i just wasn't getting better and i wasn't getting any answers i needed to get here and i needed to see doctors that really understood what was going on her body still hasn't recovered but now she has some peace of mind [Music] we still don't know enough about pregnant women and the coveted vaccine and now senators elizabeth warren and patty murray are demanding answers nbc news senior washington correspondent holly jackson sat down with the two lawmakers to learn more hey there alison so as part of our special life after lockdown series i sat down for a pair of exclusive interviews with senator elizabeth warren and senator patty murray one virtual one in person both are now putting federal agencies on notice that they should do more and they should do it now you sent a letter last march a year ago trying to make sure that pregnant women were included in some of this research why because pregnant women nursing mothers are so often left out of the medical studies and the people we need to protect the most are our mamas and our babies well first i'm just gonna listen um and we can't do that if we don't collect good date on it there are ethical reasons in some instances why pregnant women are not included in clinical trials so it's a real problem uh asking a pregnant woman to take an untested drug is obviously something many many people will not want to do and i understand that on the other hand if we're not testing none of the moms can know what's safe and what's not safe the answer cannot be we'll just pretend there are no pregnant people out there we'll just pretend there are no nursing people out there that's not reality senator patty murray compares it to playing catch-up we have been behind since day one and instead of being 20 steps behind like regular people and everybody else pregnant women are actually 100 steps behind trying to ask all these questions and that's why it's so important we get this research done do you feel like the drug companies do you feel like the government entities who are working on this are listening to that message well i think they fail to think of it unless we yell so i've been yelling some research has begun just recently pfizer started to enroll pregnant women in clinical trials and johnson johnson is announcing plans to do the same but lawmakers like senator warren want federal agencies to do more more quickly we need a cdc that recognizes the problem and then puts real resources into solving it do you think they've done that so far or not so far and now's the time for them to step up and do this what do you say to somebody who says boy senator warren the cdc sure has enough on their plate right now you bet they do because the cdc's job is to keep us all safe not to cut out any group senator murray agrees well i i do know they're overwhelmed everybody's asking questions from their own perspective and no they've got more work to do to get information out there especially to physicians and to women themselves and that takes a lot of work and it takes proactive steps what are the next steps you know part of this is whenever you ask a question the person who hears it is reminded i better move this up in terms of paying some attention and that's what both senator murray and i are pushing for right now move this up on your agenda the cdc in a statement says it takes this issue very seriously and understands pregnant people may be concerned about the health of their babies right now pointing out they for example collect data from health departments and are working with outside researchers to understand the impact of covid on pregnant women and by the way overnight they've actually launched a new online resource highlighting numbers and information and how to enroll in the vsaf vaccine pregnancy registry to get more information about this the fda says it has taken steps to incentivize and encourage the inclusion of pregnant and lactating women in the development of therapeutics and vaccines and strongly supports including pregnant women in vaccine clinical studies alison back to you it may seem tempting in the face of all of this progress to try to rush back to normalcy as if the virus is in the rearview mirror it's not now years of watching football on tv has shown me that it's better to spike the football once you're safely in the end zone not after you've made a couple of completions joining me now dr richard besser former acting cdc director and president and ceo of the robert wood johnson foundation which was started by one of the founders of johnson and johnson dr besser white house senior coveted advisor andy slavitt making that football analogy without mentioning states states like mississippi or texas which are both lifting coveted restrictions what do you think of what these states are doing well it's the first i've heard the spiking the football analogy being used but i think his point is a really important one that it it's far too soon to to declare victory over this you know there are so many promising signs uh the number of decreasing hospitalizations and deaths the number of decreasing cases but we've leveled off at around 60 000 to 70 000 cases a day and 2 000 deaths a day and that means that this virus is still causing a lot of harm and so until the population is fully vaccinated and until these numbers go much lower it's too soon to take away one of the tools that's been shown to be most effective and that's that's wearing masks you know allison if it were for simply an individual decision that i'm willing to take that risk uh i i would still think it wasn't a good decision but i would i would leave it to the individual but when an individual decides not to wear a mask and goes out in the community they're not just putting themselves at risk they're putting at risk people who are going to work every day keeping society going people who don't have a choice to go to work as to whether to stay home or go to work and that's just not fair you know this is this is the one thing we can do for each other that's been shown to be effective that's wearing masks so let's talk about connecticut that state will be opening 100 but keeping the mask mandate in place your thoughts on that is that a better move or still just a little bit too much too soon i'm concerned it's too much too soon the cdc had a report out today that was looking at the impact of wearing masks and the impact of opening restaurants and what they found as you would expect is that when states put in mass mandates the the number of cases hospitalizations and deaths went down and when when states opened up restaurants and increased the the numbers of people who go to restaurants then they saw following that in increasing cases so i would be very careful here and and be very cautious in terms of opening up it's just a matter of a few more months before there's enough vaccine for everyone who wants to be vaccinated and then things can change you know i'll feel much better if those numbers start to tick down again and then don't hang out where they are right now because the level right now is the same level that we had last summer when we all got concerned and states put the restrictions in to begin with so think about removing them at the same threshold it just doesn't make a lot of sense right so let's talk more about this indoor dining situation you mentioned that cdc uh study out today linking dining at restaurants to an increasing covid cases nbc's kristen welker asked cdc director dr rochelle wallensky about that at today's white house briefing here's what dr wolinski said we have demonstrated that masks work we have demonstrated that in-person dining this is not the first report that demonstrates the impact of in-person dining and how cases and deaths will follow after in-person dining [Music] so dr besser it is clear you don't think it's time to be eating inside right now uh but a lot of people might wonder okay so when will it be okay is it just too early to kind of make that determination well you know i think a lot of it comes down to vaccine and i'm encouraged by the projections that by the end of may there's going to be enough vaccine for everyone who wants to be vaccinated i have an appointment coming up and i can't wait to get vaccinated because it's going to be for me just in terms of my my mental well-being i it's going to be it's going to be terrific but it's a few months before there's enough vaccine for everyone who wants it and at that point i think we could be looking at at easing up a lot of these restrictions think about the the people who are working in restaurants and working in bars and the risk that they they are subjected to if if they're in a crowded situation with with people who aren't wearing masks they may be low risk but they could be living in a household where people are at higher risk so let's get everyone vaccinated before we start to do things that have been shown to increase transmission dr besser i completely understand how you feel my mother just became fully vaccinated yesterday is nowhere near going to an indoor restaurant but told me she just feels like she has a security blanket that she did not have before uh i swear she would throw a party if she could if it was safe but uh i understand that that feeling of just wanting to have that appointment to know that you have that layer uh let's talk a little bit more if you don't mind about what it might be safe to do once you're fully vaccinated we are expecting guidelines from the cdc on this uh but in the meantime here's what dr wolenski said i know there have been many questions about when cdc is going to release its guidance for fully vaccinated persons and activities they can resume these are complex issues and the science is rapidly evolving cdc is working to ensure that the communication we release on this guidance are clear and that the american public can act on them so we are expecting those guidelines to say that fully vaccinated people can perhaps hang out inside unmasked with a small group of other people who are fully vaccinated as well would you be okay with something like that and how else might you say that life could change maybe even in increments uh for someone once they're fully vaccinated yeah you know i i hope these guidelines come come soon because you know hearing you you you talk about uh uh your your your mother getting vaccinated wanting to throw a party cdc doesn't want people to throw parties but we have to be able to share with people what they can do because you want to encourage people to get vaccinated so i think you know small indoor gatherings with people who've been fully vaccinated not wearing masks i think that's going to be a recommendation i would love to see a recommendation around grandparents and how they could interact with their grandchildren if they're fully vaccinated or the ability for people who are fully vaccinated to visit people in long-term care facilities maybe an easing on some of the travel restrictions for people who've been fully vaccinated but cdc's being cautious they want to review the data sometimes one of the challenges is wanting to get things perfect and having perfect science but people needing guidance in the short term to figure out what to do so hopefully those guys those guidelines will be coming soon let me be very clear as well that metaphorically my mother would like to throw a party so she doesn't kill me uh for describing how she feels inaccurately because she is about as careful as they come but i know she's jumping up and down all by herself at home because it just uh is such an exciting thing and i know so many people are looking forward uh to that moment uh dr besser we have to talk about something else though for a lot of americans this pandemic has been a really tough financial period you wrote an op-ed for the hill saying that covid recovery requires addressing economic inequities arguing economic physical mental health are all intertwined could you tell us more about that link and about your piece here yeah you know you and i have talked about this before if you look at how this pandemic has played out over the past year uh the the the pandemic has hit a certain community it's in every community but it's hit certain communities the hardest it's it black latino native american communities lower income individuals and a lot comes down to economics who is working in jobs that are that are less likely to provide sick leave and family medical leave who has to go to work to ensure that they're able to pay the rent and put food on the table these are economic issues and issues that that can't be separated out from the health issues and i worry that at times there's a willingness to say okay we'll provide treatment to people we'll make sure tests are free but we're not going to give people the resources the economic resources they need to be able to protect themselves their their families and communities so in this piece i'm calling for a lot of policy work on the side of congress one is in the short term putting money in people's pockets extending eviction protections and mortgage foreclosure protections making sure that there's an expansion in the number of people who have sick leave and family medical leave and increasing on insurance benefits and then moving forward we need everyone in america to have have health care insurance that provides comprehensive high quality health care you know there are 28 million people at the beginning of the pandemic without health insurance and that number has gone up because of job loss you know as the wealthiest nation in the on this planet we need to provide better better for for everyone in our country and that's where i was talking about the links between health and economics yeah dr besser it's just such an important point as the wealthiest nation we can do better uh thank you so much it's always wonderful to have you on and we'll see you again real soon thanks allison have a great weekend you too vaccines aren't the only game changers in the fight against kovid there are big advancements in treatment too nbc news investigative and consumer correspondent vicki nguyen shows us how these treatments can change and even save lives they're called monoclonal antibodies proteins made in a lab to combat coronavirus when they're injected into a patient who's sick with coven 19 they can help that person recover within a day or two but doctors say the problem is not enough people know this treatment is available this evening one family's urgent message and an exclusive look inside one of these infusion centers where this treatment is now available the president of the united states is in the hospital the nation and the world reacting to that breaking news the country was riveted president trump airlifted to walter reed hospital after being diagnosed with covet 19. three days later out of the hospital and touting his treatment he received monoclonal antibodies they gave me regeneron and it was like unbelievable regeneron and lily two companies now granted the fda's emergency use authorization for their monoclonal antibody treatments but the gold hair family in arizona says more people need to know it exists i know it saved me and it saved my son maureen and her son keith say it was that treatment that helped them recover from covet 19 but they say it was hard to find in their opinion valuable time wasted that may have cost maureen's husband psy his life if the doctor had had the knowledge that this infusion was available it might have stopped the progression of the covet which eventually took him now hhs is working with hospitals and clinics to set up infusion centers nationwide even launching this locator website to help people find treatment i'm here inside an infusion center in teaneck new jersey this is where covid19 patients receive the monoclonal antibody treatment we're getting a rare look inside before it opens with me now is dr thomas birch he's the medical director here at holy name medical center dr burch what happens when a patient with coven 19 comes here a patient who is pre-registered comes here takes a seat and if everything is in order then we start an iv and give an infusion of the antibodies antibodies are mixed with saline the infusion takes about an hour then the patient stays for another hour under observation before going home what have you yourself seen from treating patients with this there was one man who was literally bed bound and after 48 hours he got up brushed his teeth started lifting weights and said i feel recovered and he was 91 years old dr burch says patients should try to get the infusion within two to five days after developing symptoms you're eligible for the treatment if you have mild to moderate covid19 and test positive and you're 65 or older patients 12 and up can also get the monoclonal antibodies if they're in a high risk group including those who are obese chronically ill or immune compromised four months ago you had to be president of the united states to get this therapy outside of a research trial now it's available to anyone but new data suggests the antibodies from lily are not as effective as regenerons against the new variants from south africa and brazil dr david ho is a columbia university professor and virologist we're going to have to begin to think about identifying which type of virus is infecting a particular person before making a choice on the antibodies should people be discouraged from getting one of these monoclonal antibody treatments because they're not as effective against the variant no i think treatment not to be given the monoclonals are the best we have at the moment both regeneron and lilly say they're developing new antibodies for these emerging variants my last memory of him is when they put him in the ambulance and he said to me you're not coming with me maureen and her family hope sharing psy's story will save lives right up till the end he was pleased tell people there is something out there and it works the pain that it has brought my family i don't want anybody else to go through and our thanks to the goldhair family for sharing their story as for the cost of these treatments dr burch says the medicine is paid for by the government there may be a small administration fee that's charged to insurance but he says there should be no out-of-pocket cost to the patient and we should mention the fda says the side effects include fever chills maybe an injection site reaction which is why it's so important for patients to be monitored for an hour after receiving the infusion back to you [Music] nbc news national political reporter sahil kapoor joining us now with the latest on the covid relief bill in the senate sahil i see people moving about i understand the senate ground to a halt for several hours because of the change to the weekly unemployment benefit what else are you hearing about more changes before the final vote and what is going on there right now there is quite a bit of drama here in uh on capitol hill allison the senate grinding to a halt yes for at least five hours as democrats try to keep all 50 of their members on board for the deal that was delicately negotiated between progressives and moderates over unemployment benefits specifically what it does is it reduces the house version of unemployment benefits which is 400 a week to three hundred dollars a week and it extends them for one month so instead of expiring in august they expire in september it also makes about ten thousand dollars of them tax free what democrats are worried about right now is one or more of their members voting for a republican amendment that would narrow those benefits further and potentially blow up this deal that is what democrats have been privately discussing as the senate kind of remains in limbo at this moment not really clear when they're going to vote on the second amendment in this entire long process yeah it is sounding like it is shaping up to be a long night if not a long weekend sahil senator bernie sanders amendment to raise the minimum wage failed in the senate and now he is backing ending the filibuster here's what he told andrea mitchell on msnbc it is my position absolutely that democracy has got to prevail in the united states senate we can't hop on cannot have continue to have a minority uh who are obstructing what the american people want so count me in as somebody who believes that majority should rule in the senate so that we can begin doing the business of the american people saaho what kind of momentum does this have with other senate democrats well the idea of eliminating the filibuster faces two very public opponents in the senate at this moment and they are the reason that democrats don't have the votes at this point that's joe manchin of west virginia kirsten cinema of arizona it's not entirely clear that the other 48 are on board but democrats are optimistic that if they do call a vote to abolish the filibuster that those 48 will likely be on board unless you can move those two there's really no way forward here what senator sanders problem is apart from the filibuster is that he doesn't have 50 votes for raising the minimum wage to 15 an hour we saw today that he lost eight democrats in the senate caucus which means that sanders is still short of the votes even if he does abolish the filibuster what i do know from my reporting is that all 50 of the democrats support some increase in the minimum wage so it will go up from the current floor of 7.25 cents an hour which uh last passed in 2007 hasn't really gone up since 2009 when that automatic thing took effect uh two years after that so it's it's quite a tricky road from here for democrats as to where to go on getting any minimum wage hike at all sahel senator ron johnson still defending his move to force senate clerks to read the entire covid bill last night here he is on fox news said i not forced that 11 hour reading and i sat on the floor of the senate i listened to the entire 11 hours what we would have been doing is we would have gone to voter ammo last night no time to read the bill no time to really prepare decent amendments probably over by now and that 1.9 trillion dollars would have already been passed [Music] that reading as the senator said there took almost 11 hours so what is the strategy from senate republicans here other than delaying the vote well that strategy was mostly to delay the vote that's what ron johnson was trying to do it was uh in the words of his critics it was a stunt in his view it was an attempt to make sure every senator had become familiar with what was actually in the bill this bill has been the product of weeks of negotiations between democrats republicans had largely been left out of the process after they rejected the 1.9 trillion dollar price tag but from here on allison the republican strategy is to come up with some amendments that narrow the scope of this bill that they can try to win some democrats on if a single democrat supports a republican amendment and all the republicans stay on board they could change this bill and make life pretty complicated for senator chuck schumer all right sahil kapoor with what looks to be a long weekend uh at the very least a long friday night on capitol hill thank you so much thank you [Music] the minnesota attorney general may try to reinstate a third degree murder charge against derek chovin the former police officer accused in the killing of george floyd today's appeals court ruling could delay chauvin's trial set to start next week now ahead of that trial and also in the wake of the house passing the george floyd justice in policing act nbc news correspondent gabe gutierrez spoke with floyd's brother and the family's attorney with tensions high in downtown minneapolis ahead of next week's jury selection for the murder trial of former officer derrick chauvin who knelt on george floyd's neck the u.s house passed a police reform bill in floyd's name it signifies is we have people that understand that what happened on that day was wrong he didn't deserve that his life was valuable just like anybody else people don't deserve to die people are innocent until proven guilty you shouldn't be the judge and the executioner all at once thank you for the invitation here today to talk about my big brother george this is obviously very personal for you i know you testified in front of congress last summer but are these reforms enough i'm looking forward to the positive direction because dr king said everybody all our boys and girls all men and women would join hands together and we did that all the things that we're looking at some of us coming true to life right now louisville kentucky banned no knock warrants following brianna taylor's death after elijah mcclain died colorado got rid of qualified immunity a policy that made it harder to sue police officers banning both at the federal level is now part of the reform bill along with banning chokeholds and creating nationwide databases of police misconduct in your view what's the most significant reform that's a part of this bill well without a doubt the two most significant forms are the national register the fact that we will attract police misconduct and we will track the number of police killers it's asinine that in 2021 we don't have a federal database that tracks police officers in america killing people we leave it up to the individual cities and states so how can you get an accurate number and then without a doubt the most challenging but the most important part of the george floyd justice and policing that is qualified immunity being reformed and i love how congresswoman and others say we're not saying that the police won't get their day in court but what we are saying is black people will get their day in court the house passed a similar bill last year but it failed in the republican-controlled senate many republicans now favor more limited reforms and argue this bill goes too far taking away qualified immunity will lead to police officers not taking the decisive actions and rendering impossible to do their job what do you say to the people who call this bill anti-police this bill is one of the most democratic things we could ever do in america it's not anti-police it is really about pro-life people who believe that life is precious and it should not be taken and justifiably we give at least great power in our society but with great power comes great responsibility but for philonous floyd it's a step in the right direction even as he dreads re-watching the video of his brother's death in court who wants to see their brother crying the officer still sat there on his neck like he was okay it's never okay to hurt somebody like that we shouldn't have to go to court for anything like this we shouldn't have to what do you think your brother would say the fact that this past what do you think your brother would say he'll be optimistic about everything that's going on but one thing i know he would say because he used to always tell me he said one day my name is going to be all around the world and he used to make that statement a lot but what the bees put this [Applause] the officer had his knee on his neck and he had a smirk on his face what do you think what do you think that that officer deserves what do you think about this reform bill what do you think shelvin's attorney has declined to comment ahead of the trial but he said previously in court filings that floyd endangered officers by resisting arrest [Music] it is the conversation the world has been waiting for oprah's interview this weekend with prince harry and meghan markle nbc news senior international correspondent kier simmons is at buckingham palace with more on how the royals are getting ready for it buckingham palace only learnt this morning that this new part of the oprah interview would be released today the controversy now comparable one royal historian tells us to some of the biggest royal crises of the 20th century and that's before the full interview has even been broadcast buckingham palace bracing for sunday's interview were you silent or were you silenced how will the palace be viewing all this the palace is very worried about all of this it didn't want all-out war it seems to have it now it regards the opera winfrey interview as the nuclear option reports say the interview has been sold to broadcasters around the world from ireland to israel australia and canada it airs in the us overnight in the uk and will be broadcast on uk television monday evening so the queen and royal officials may not see it until monday britain's front pages and news broadcasts offering a daily diet of headlines megan versus what she calls the firm the escalating and very public clash began on february 15th when harry and megan announced the oprah interview four days later buckingham palace announced the couple had exited as working royals forever and took away their patronages then on monday this week the first glimpse of them talking to oprah you've said some pretty shocking things here by tuesday night a bombshell report claiming megan faced bullying complaints in 2018 in another quote from her interview megan accused palace officials of perpetuating falsehoods harry and megan's spokesperson has branded the bullying claims a calculated smear we haven't seen anything quite like the bullying investigation undertaken essentially of uh members of the royal family before you really have to go back uh for this kind of level of drama to uh the death of princess diana and even the abdication crisis it's that serious historically it's very very serious this amid the crisis the queen has been given two new corgis her love of pets is legendary and perhaps a sign of the queen adhering to that british mantra keep calm and carry on today kensington palace released a picture of william and kate taking part in a charity zoom the unmistakable message we're rising above all this of course in reality the fuel for some of this is this terrible falling out between william and harry the problem for buckingham palace where does it all end alison digital collectibles known as nfts exploding in popularity that stands for non-fungible token but what is an nft and why are they so valuable right now nbc news technology correspondent jake ward explains it used to be standard to experience nature by bringing the bodies of animals back with us and still today we would never go on safari without a camera there is something about humans at least in our capitalist economy that makes us want to own what we find beautiful now in a digital world we have invented a way of owning digital art nfts or non-fungible tokens are strings of code linked to a digital file like a video or a still image or a piece of music each nft is unique and serves as proof of ownership think of it like owning a print of a photograph like one out of 20. now of course that print could be replicated but the original is worth more than a poster this technology nft helps create scarcity in the digital realm there's just been no way to kind of prove the ownership the authenticity jimmy simmons makes digital art or he makes machine learning systems that make the art and he chooses the best snippets that result you can see this piece anytime online but owning the nft costs eight hundred dollars in cryptocurrency now in this market that is a bargain an nft certified version of this gif sold in february for more than half a million dollars digital sports collectibles are now a thing nft certified clips of nba games are being bought and sold this lebron james highlight went for more than two hundred thousand dollars gaming companies are selling virtual goods this way this formula one car entirely virtual fetched more than a hundred thousand dollars in 2019 and even real world art markets are selling nfts christie's is now auctioning work by the artist beeple who fetched more than 6 million dollars for a piece in february the current bid on his work 3.5 million now if it feels like a bubble you are not alone in thinking that but this technology may also have a life-altering effect on artists justin blau an american dj and producer looked through his books for us he says that selling nfts recently brought in as much as his prior decade of touring touring which is the main source of my income over the past 10 years is about 12.4 million you're looking at you know 12.8 of art in the past four months and nfts can continue to pay artists in the future every time that transaction or that that token is traded i will get 10 of the profits that's very interesting because it's you know picasso never got a cut of onward auctions of his work but you will get a cut of every forthcoming sale of the same piece of work yes it's beautiful it's a new frontier it's a new business relationship it's a new contract so is this a fan is it a scam or does it reset the value of art in a digital world it's not that the art isn't valuable it's that society has trained us into thinking it's free because of platforms that want to get advertising dollars that are using the art to monetize themselves but the art itself and ownership of that art creates it creates immense value in other people's lives and so this is just a way to capture all that value that middleman platforms have kind of stolen from the artist

Channel: NBC News

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Keywords: nbc, news, news nbc, nbc news today, news today, nbc news live today, nbc news now, nbc news, breaking news, world news, politics, current events, top stories, pop culture, lester holt, Capitol Hill, Covid Relief Bill, Maia Chaka, Covid-19, covid restrictions, covid vaccination, monoclonal antibody treatment, Derek Chauvin, Buckingham Palace, Duke of Sussex, Prince harry and meghan, Non-fungible Token, president joe biden, covid-19 updates usa, nbc news now broadcasters

Id: zgsmREdeIeI

Length: 52min 13sec (3133 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 05 2021