john harwood joins us now. john, i wonder what the white house's latest pinch to manchin. he was definitive in interviews saying, no on ending the filibuster. expressed discomfort, you might say with opposition to using reconciliation again. but didn't exactly draw a line in the sand there. what is the white house read of his position? >> well, jim, the pitch from the white house is first to the republicans that will be joining democrats in that meeting today. you supported infrastructure projects in the past. we proposed a whole bunch of infrastructure projects in this package. let's see if we can make a deal. the message to joe manchin who will not be in that meeting is look here, we're trying to compromise with republicans. they expressed in skepticism. joe manchin wants a serious effort made. they're sending out the most effective communicator to argue that don't get hung up on the issue of whether the elements of our proposal fall into a traditional definition of infrastructure. there are things necessary for a prosperous economy and the american people support them.

. >> what does joe manchin think about this? >> we ask every morning. >> if we get joe manchin, what exactly are you going to agree to here? and this is important, as you know, john, because, look, this is something that the white house n and many democrats want as a generational achievement, an historic measure discussed. >> john, i think joe manchin wants a big infrastructure package. i think he wants a lot of infrastructure spending, a lot of broadband, road building, bridge repair in the state of west virginia. but i think he wants it to be demonstrated that president biden first tried in an aggressivist way as possible to get republican support. but i think we have to step back and remember. when you have a republican president, who said he wanted an enormous infrastructure plan and republican control of congress, they did not do it. why didn't they do it? well, republicans didn't really want to spend the money and they didn't want to finance it. if they wanted to add to -- they didn't want to raise taxes on anybody and if

and the reason why that is so key and, john, you'll agree, erica, too, is because joe manchin's whole point of view is that the united states senate was meant as a place for compromise and that the biden administration, democratic leaders are giving up on compromise too soon. of course, what the democratic leaders say is, give me a break. if you really think there are republicans who are going to actually compromise and you need at least ten, there's no chance there's -- history does not show that there's evidence for that, but joe manchin, in this op-ed and in conversations i've had with him, he says that is simply not true. it is doable. but it is up to senators in both parties to roll up their sleeves and prove it's possible. >> he says it's time to do the hard work here. is he, you know, bringing any republicans to play at this point? >> well, what he argues is, yes, that there are republicans willing to play ball. the question is whether or not they can finish the game, so to speak. because what he points to is what happened in december. and what happened in december is that lead

john? >> the markers seem to be senator manchin telling you the president has to try. he has toe try to get republican support, but manchin did seem to rule out after the white house tries and if they fail, maybe he be will get on board with what the president is doing. it was a really important interview and moves this story along. thank you so much for being there. >>> in other great news this morning, a medical expert describing george floyd's final breaths as he was pinned to the ground by derek chauvin's knee. >> the knee remains on the neck for another 3:27 after he takes his last breath. the knee remains after. there's no pulse. the knee remains on the neck for another 2:44 after the officers have found themselves there's no pls. knee remains on the neck. >> joining us now, areva martin. also the forensic scientist -- a forensic scientist at jon hn ja college of criminal justice. areva, this testimony from dr. tobin, this is not the type of thing we're used to hearing in dry trials when we're getting testimony from medical experts. this was put in a way i think

and what joe manchin is very, very clearly saying now and i think it bears sort of a dwelling on it, john, he has said this many times before that his strong preference and perhaps his overwhelming preference is that they work with republicans, that they make concessions to the other side in order to get things done across the aisle. and there remains, needless to say, an enormous skepticism that that's a viable strategy. >> to point out, alex, this is not the first time we've heard this from joe manchin, right? what's behind this, do you know, the decision to put this out there in this op-ed? what is that changing in terms of the message from joe manchin, if anything? >> there has clearly been, erica, accelerating momentum behind the idea, let's basically use reconciliation for everything. >> wink. >> everything we can conceivably call a budget adjacent, let's call it a reconciliation bill and ram it from there, whether it's d.c. statehood or certain immigration provisions, measures in the past that would not have been seen as natural fits for the budget process, and i think what ma

joe manchin is the tiebreaker. >> we're all becoming fluent in manchin this morning. margaret, thank you for helping us decipher what this all means. great to see you. >> thanks, john. >>> we do have details about another mass shooting in america. this time in bryant, texas. the shooter, he's believed to be an employee of a company and is being charged with murder. all of this happened hours after president biden announced the new gun control measures through executive action. >>> the medical examiner of george floyd's autopsy is expected to take the stand today. how critical is his testimony? we have a preview of what we're likely to hear next. keeping your oysters business growing has you swamped. you need to hire. i need indeed indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a shortlist of quality candidates from a resume data base claim your seventy-five-dollar credit when you post your first job at indeed.com/promo it's my 5:52 woke-up-like-this migraine medicine. it's ubrelvy. for anytime, anywhere migraine strikes, without worrying if it's too lat

john? >> jeremy diamond, thank you. >>> joining us is a national politician for the "washington post" and mark palau toe is a senior reporter at the "washington post." when joe manchin says i simply do not believe budget reconciliation should replace regular order in the senate, it's a big deal. he's putting it in writing this morning as the infrastructure bill is all the talk in washington. how far is joe manchin willing to go here? is he willing, do you think, to stand in the way, to be the one who says no to the white house infrastructure plan? >> well, he's acting as if he is. it really raises the question whether the white house went through the proper process of the care and feeding of joe manchin. he says he's not doing this because he has a big ego. he says he's doing this because as you just reported he wanted to return to regular order. at the same time, these are people you're talking about, politicians. in the end, what does joe manchin concretely want? right now it doesn't look

that's why i think it's important in the house we do pass the john luis voting lewis act coming up in a few days. >> i wanted to address that. you don't have any support for this, zero and unified opposition and you have democrats, joe manchin opposing busting the filibuster to get this passed with democratic votes. in light of those two things, are these voting bills as a matter of fact in practicality dead? >> no. we just have to work a lot harder. in 2006, president george w. bush signed the reauthorization of the voting rights act with support of republicans and house and the senate. it can be done. republicans understand the value of the right to vote. we are in a very partisan. on capitol hill. we have to breakthrough that. i want to encourage senators who want to cling to the filibuster to consider at least a narrow interception for vote rights and civil rights legislation. we can't let the filibuster successfully block civil rights legislation in the 1960s, to do the same thing today. >> that's right. it was a powerful weapon during that time period. given your position on the

we heard john kerry predict it will attract republican support. it's one thing to get republican voters on side but quite another thing to get republican lawmakers and never mind democrats from coal-rich states like joe manchin. >> it's it's more than the u.s. congress but let me start with the u.s. congress. you know, there is a pending major infrastructure bill that puts climate and clean energy at its corps. i think we do have a shot of adding some republicans to that. if we can't, there is something called the budget reconciliation process that we could actually pass legislation with only 50 democrats in the senate. i think we can get this through the u.s. house of representatives and if we have to, i think through budget reconciliation get it through the senate. >> let me jump in there. >> yes. >> there are stringent conditions on that. it being be for any legislation. we have already seen some attempts to do that, fail. do you enough in this would pass the characteristics you would need to qualify for reconciliation? >> i do, because it's la