unlimited losses index funds, there is a place for them in our retirement portfolio. when you get that $600 from uncle sam. why don't give stock a chance. there is a bull market some where, i promise to tomorrow."the news with shepard" starts now. i'm shepard smith on cnbc and this is "the news. >> going to pass another historic rescue package. >> a vote imminent disaster relief finally coming who will it help the most and when will the money get to you the moderna rollout moving fast as a new strain of covid emerges. >> most viruses mutate, as you know. >> why there's less to fear than you might think. multiple officers off the street and put on desk duty. the fallout grows from the botched raid. >> you've got the wrong house. >> on the wrong woman in

chicago. >> as far as identifying people who are covid positive, it was a failure. >> plus, a cnbc investigation, flying blind covering the dangerous consequences of the government's early handling of the pandemic live from cnbc global headquarters, the facts. the truth. the news with shepherd smart good evening finally help is on the way for millions of americans. after months of nothing but talk, talk that went nowhere, congress has at last struck a deal on the $900 billion coronavirus relief bill expected to pass tonight. it includes a $600 direct check for individuals making less than 75 grand a year and 1200 for couples earning less than 150 grand with an additional $600 per child. there's $300 a week in extra unemployment benefits plus money for loans to small businesses

and it extends much needed emergency programs like a ban on evictions, but not included, money for state and local governments. this bill is more than 5500 pages long president trump says he'll sign it as soon as he gets it the treasury secretary told cnbc this morning the money will soon follow >> we will be sending out next week direct deposit. i expect we'll get the money out by the beginning of next week. >> but is the money in the bill enough for a lot of people it's not even close. take that $600 check that works out to about $2.23 a day since the first relief bill was passed for an average household, it doesn't get very far according to a rental tracking firm, average rent across the country is 1465 a month and according to the federal government it costs about $746 a month to feed a family of four, health care, 432 a month and

transportation, 895. so congratulations cnbc ylan mui is live from washington when can congress or when can we expect congress to pass this thing that apparently absolutely no one has read? >> reporter: well, shep, the house is in the middle of debating this on the floor it's not only the covid relief package, but it's a $1.4 trillion bill that would fund the government through next year that means the final votes are unlikely to happen until later this evening and then it still has to go over to the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell said his chamber will stay in session to get this passed tonight though of course that timing could slip into the wee hours of tomorrow morning. then it could still be a couple more days before the president can actually sign this into law. >> none of us think any of this legislation is perfect, but a big bipartisan majority of us recognize the incredible amount of good it will do when we send it to the president's desk

the american people have waited long enough. >> reporter: now democrats are already looking ahead to next year and promising more relief once biden takes office. >> this is an emergency survival package, and when we come back in january our number one job will be to fill in the gaps left by the bill and then get the economy moving with strong federal input. >> reporter: now for perspective, shep, this would still be the second largest stimulus bill that congress will ever have passed. >> big bills like this always an opportunity for lawmakers to slide in measures for their own constituents and districts unrelated to covid relief. show us the pork >> reporter: well, shep, there are a lot of jingle bells on the sleigh, and some of them are more substantive than others there is a provision that will end surprise medical bills if you go to an emergency room

and you see a doctor that is out of network, you don't be have to pay a fortune. others are more questionable like a permanent tax break for the beer industry or a report on carbon emissions and then on page 4,073 there is a $4 million pilot program to eradicate murder hornets because apparently they're killing off our domestic bee population and that is so 2020. >> that is so 2020 a highly contagious mutation is forcing parts of the united kingdom back into lockdown t families can no longer gather during christmas as previously planned. scientists say this new mutation is spreading much faster than the original strain of the disease, but there is no evidence so far to suggest that it's more deadly or at all resistant to vaccines. more than 40 countries are not taking any chances

they've banned travel to and from the united kingdom for 48 hours or more. the united states is not one of them cnbc's meg tirrell now meg, what do we know about this new covid strain should any of us be concerned? >> reporter: so, shep, we know that it's been detected at greater and greater frequency across the u.k. beings and we've also seen cases in that country take off over the last few weeks. the u.k. of course went into lockdown for most of november and significantly decreased its number of new daily cases, but they sprang up quickly again once those measures were lifted. the variant has also now been detected in denmark, italy, the netherlands and australia in two travelers from the u.k u.k. scientists suggested the variant makes the virus 50% more trans missable, perhaps through mu tigss that make it better at infecting cells but no sign it makes the disease worse. of course, there could be other factors at work. >> this could also be explained

by different behaviors people are relaxing the precautions that they're taking that are intended to reduce transmission that could also potentially explain the uptick >> reporter: the key question, of course, is will the drugs and vaccines for the coronavirus still work early suggestions are reassuring both eli lilly and regeneron which make antibodies to tree covid say it should be effective. biontech said it's investigating but noted the vaccine mounts a strong and broad immune response so it remains optimistic shep >> meg, a cdc committee met over the weekend to recommend who should be next for the covid vaccine, but some states are already going their own way. can you explain it to us >> reporter: i can so the cdc committee recommended yesterday that people over 75 and front line essential workers like police, firefighters, teachers be next in line for the

shots. they were trying to balance and protect the most vulnerable with restoring society's ability to function texas though said today it's going a different way prioritizing those 65 and older and those with high risk medical conditions next. it's up to states what they do so we could be seeing 50 different plans here. >> wow meg, thanks so much. the first shipments of moderna's coronavirus vaccine hit hospitals across the country today. it's the second to be authorized by the fda after pfizer's, and the rollout is expected to be twice the size moderna is planning to ship 6 million doses out just this week compared to pfizer's 2 bo.9 miln last week. moderna's vaccine can be kept in standard freezers, not ultracold ones like pfizer's and this one can be stored for up to 6 months how are shipping companies going to juggle the two different vaccines at once here's cnbc's frank holland.

>> these vaccines will not fix the vaccine overnight but that is how they are shipping the first round of the moderna vaccine and the pfizer vaccine. >> we're sorting these in an isolated location so that we can maintain that comprehensive visibility and the prioritization. >> reporter: as tennessee experiences the highest covid rate of any state and nationally cases rise, fed ex workers say these deliveries are emotional. >> i'm thinking of families sitting around their kitchen table knowing relief is on the way or a vaccine is on the way that could help or prevent one of their family members from getting this. >> reporter: the moderna vaccine is different than the pfizer vaccine logistically, less temperature sensitive, does not require dry ice. >> ups said it took extra measures to ensure on time delivery due to the storm last week >> they're placed on each box and it's an important tool as another storm could hit before christmas. >> we're watching weather maps

on top of that to make sure we can have contingencies available. we do have double and triple redundancy in some cases in case we have to move. >> reporter: as the year winds down, vaccine shipping is just ramping up moderna and pfizer combinedare expected to ship a total of 40 million doses by the end of this year. >> frank, thank you. context now. dr. scott gottleib is with us, cnbc contributor, fda commissioner, on the boards of pfizer and illumina. good to see you. >> thanks. >> any specific concerns, doctor, about the distribution of either or both of these vaccines >> no. look, i think the logistics in this country are very good they're going to be able to get the vaccines from point a to point b. i think the challenge is going to be the last mile, trying to distribute them in the community. we're distributing largely to health care workers through health care institutions they know how to distribute a vaccine and find their health

care workers we're distributing them in nursing homes. another circumscribe challenge, walgreens and cvs are going into the nursing homes to distribute the vaccines i think it gets harder in january when you go into the community, trying to vaccinate a community, elderly people and my guess is they'll use retail pharmacies like cvs to distribute the vaccines in the community in january, but i think it's going to be a bigger challenge, the last mile. >> on the mutated vaccine, doctor, 40 countries saying no to travel to the united kingdom. the u.s. isn't one of them should it be >> i think this is already in the u.s. i don't think a travel ban at this point is going to prevent this mutated strain from coming into the united states we're going to have an epidemic that continues to build over the course of the next three or four weeks, we'll reach a peak and then we'll start to see infection rates decline as we start to see vaccination rates

rollout. as you'll have 30% of the population infected by the end of january and as we get into the spring, as we get into february and march and you have a seasonal backstop. i don't think the mutated strain is going to create a second wave, if you will. the question is, is this virus going to change the surface proteins that can obviate the proteins or immunity over time it will evolve where it can obviate the prior in effect shuns or vaccine. we'll need to adapt our vaccines over time probably. >> you've said here the more infection, the more mutations. if we're at 30% by the end of january, you said 30% infected, i guess the chances for mutations that could be problematic go way up or no? >> they do, and that's why we're seeing this mutation right now this is probably the result of selective pressure on the virus itself so as the virus continues to spread around the world, we're going to start to see more of

these variants that's why it's important to get the population vaccinated and try to snuff out the infection the more infection you have, the more chances of the variants propagating. >> tens of millions of people traveling for the holidays no doubting that now what is that going to do to hospitals? in california they're at a breaking point and may actually break. >> at some hospitals, they're going to reach their capacity and we're going to see difficult scenes coming out of many health care institutions. remember, we're probably going to peak in terms of number of infections somewhere in the second week in january the burden on hospitals is going to continue for two or three weeks after that hospitals are going to face maximal pressure towards the end of january and hopefully in february we start coming down that epidemic curve. there's a long way to go on the health care system the fact that we're seeing the health care system so pressed right now and we know we're a month away from where they will have maximal pressure, that's

not a good sign. >> dr. gottleib. good of you. thank you. president-elect biden got his first dose of the covid-19 vaccine live on television today. mr. biden said he wants to boost public confidence in the vaccine. the soon to be first lady dr. jill biden got a shot earlier in the day. >> this is great hope. i'm doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared when it's available to take the vaccine. there's nothing to worry about >> nothing to worry about. the president-elect says this is just the beginning of the vaccination process and it's going to take time he says people need to keep wearing masks and avoid traveling this holiday season. it took nearly two years and a lawsuit for the public to see the body cam from the police of a botched raid tonight the consequences chicago's mayor says it's time for action >> justice delayed is justice denied. >> the investigation into this body cam video results in a top

attorney resigning, but that's not the only fallout the college football playoffs set luck of the irish? why aggies and others are crying fouling. plus, residents take shelter as a volcano erupts in hawaii. the facts. truth. "the news with shepard smith" back in 60 seconds from our expert technicians armed with state of the art tools and technology, to genuine parts made for the perfect fit. whether it's our place... ...or yours. we're there. rain or shine, day or night. no one knows your vehicle better. to learn all the ways we can be at your service, call, click or visit a dealership near you.

hands up hands up hands up. >> police, search warrant. >> you've got the wrong house! you've got the wrong house >> and, indeed, they did that was nearly two years ago police in chicago raiding the wrong home handcuffing the wrong innocent naked woman in her own apartment. now the city has put all of the officers involved on desk duty the chicago mayor said they will stay off the streets pending the investigation. they could have done that two years ago and did not. yesterday the city's top attorney resigned.

his department had tried to block a local television station from airing the leaked body cam video just last week the mayor called that a colossal mistake. sunshine has an effect local coverage now from nbc chicago's news >> now is the time for action. >> reporter: mayor lori lightfoot made her first comments after the city's council tendered his resignation. >> it was a necessary step it was necessary in order for us to be able to move forward as a city with a full faith and confidence of chicago's residents and communities. >> reporter: mark flessner here on the left had been criticized for how they handled the incident and tried to block the release of the body cam video. >> you've got the wrong house! you've got the wrong house >> reporter: the mayor also asked that all the officers involved in the raid be taken off the street and placed on

desk duty and the mayor wants the civilian office of police accountability to step up its investigation. >> until the investigation is complete these officers need to be off the street but that investigation needs to be handled and come to a conclusion in an expeditious way. >> can i please call somebody? >> reporter: but the mayor's critics say he should not have been allowed to resign and say more action needs to be taken. >> the mayor should have taken a stronger stance and fired him and anyone else that's associated with this this should not be a trickling of names this should be decisive and direct. >> we will do better because we must do better for you >> reporter: and on tuesday chicago city council will have a special hearing about the raid and later this week it's expected that the mayor will make an announcement about the hiring of a former judge who will do a complete review of this incident. shep

>> christian farr, thanks very much. well, a dose of reality today from the attorney general bill barr as he contradicted president trump. barr says it is certainly appears russia was behind the massive cyber attack that hacked into multiple federal agencies, including the ones that safeguard our nuclear weapons. over the weekend president trump claims with zero evidence that china might be to blame. no one else has said that. at a news conference today the attorney general backed up the secretary of state pompeo's assertion that it was pretty clear the russians >> from the information i have, you know, i agree with secretary pompeo's assessment. it certainly appears to be the russians, but i'm not going to discuss it beyond that. >> at the same news conference, attorney general barr said he will not appoint a special counsel to investigate president-elect biden's son

hunt hunter house democrats investigating the covid crisis say the trump administration's political interference at the cdc was far more extensive and dangerous than previously known. congressional investigators have now subpoenaed the health secretary alex azar and the cdc director robert redfield accusing them of withholding evidence and documents the house panel says the white house officials and appointees tried to block or water down scientific reports on the virus as well as muzzle cdc scientists who provided truthful information to the public. officially an hhs spokesperson says the administration has been extremely cooperative with the investigation and a spokesperson denied there was any interference, but brand-new tonight, dr. anthony fauci has just said that at least one trump administration official tried to interfere with the cdc report on the level and

suffering and death from the coronavirus. he told the pbs news hour in an interview tonight that the person has been removed. a heart attack on a plane during a pandemic. it happened just last week on a united airlines flight from orlando to los angeles passengers jumped in to help despite concerns that the man they were trying to keep alive might well have covid-19 so what was that like? elle thomas spoke to one of them. >> there were three of us doing cpr. >> reporter: you can see it in this video, 12 seconds capturing tense moments that lasted almost an hour. tony was an emt one of the passengers free to answer the call. >> there were people getting us gloves or grabbing us the medical equipment we needed. >> reporter: he performed chest compressions but no mouth to mouth. the man was pronounced dead at a local hospital following ab

emergency landing. medical providers on the scene declared it a cardiac arrest, but now concerns that that passenger may have had the virus. his wife telling tony he'd experienced at least one symptom. >> she did tell me he had been short of breath. i asked if he had been exposed to covid i asked if he had tested positive and she told me that they were getting tested when they got back to los angeles >> reporter: united does require all passengers to acknowledge they have not been diagnosed with covid-19 in the last 14 days the cdc has contacted the airline directly and is working to pinpoint any customers at risk for possible exposure or infection. >> i've had a headache, i've had body aches and i've had a cough. he fears he knows the answer >> if you get that test back and it's positive, would you have regretted helping?

>> absolutely not. i couldn't sit idly by knowing i have cpr training and not used it i'd hope that if it was me in that seat, you know, if it was one of my family members, you know, that people would do the same thing. >> for the news, i'm elle thomas. as covid-19 started to spread overseas, the government added hundreds of screeners at airports their job was to isolate anybody with symptoms and it didn't work and then the screeners started to get sick. our cnbc investigation is next. and walmart teaming up with fed ex trying to make your holiday returns a little easier. d taking on amazon in the process. t-mobile is upgrading its network

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the volcano erupted last night on the big island of hawaii mount kilauea exploded forecasters telling people to go inside to avoid eye and lung irritation would you look at this thing this morning all of the lava is now contained. kilauea last erupted two years ago. back then it destroyed hundreds of homes and forced thousands of people to evacuate. santa gets stuck in something other than a chimney and crazy car stunts caught on camera on a cnbc trip coast to coast. florida.

a busy intersection in miami beach looking more like the set of "fast and furious." cars doing donuts spinning around in tight circles. some onlookers jump in the middle getting dangerously close. one guy seen hanging outside the passenger's window police busted more than a dozen people for this stunt. california, santa getting stuck in some power lines instead of a chimney this is in sacramento county the big guy was flying around in a powered parachute only it lost power. 200 customers plunged into darkness while firefighters got santa down from the wires. virginia a special surprise for a man delivering packages and smiles anthony gaskin, a ups driver in hallsly, 25 minutes outside of richmond neighbors hearsay they're so grateful for his service throughout the pandemic they wanted to say thanks, holding signs and cheering for him along

his route. they say his deliveries have been life saving literally and figure durativelily. new york getting ready to put 2020 behind them as the 2021 sign drops instead of a million or so people on hand, there will be only about 40 invited guests, all health care and other front line workers turning the page on 2020 on this cnbc trip coast to coast. college playoffs are set after an unprecedented season of disruption by the pandemic number 1, alabama will face number 4 notre dame in the rose bowl fighting irish got the playoff spot despite being crushed by clemson in the acc championship game texas a&m fans are up in arms crying foul over the selection committee. still, the tide and irish will play in arlington, texas, after that game was moved from

pasadena because of covid. and in the other playoff, a rematch from last year's sugar bowl, number 2 clemson against number 3 ohio state. buckeyes made it after playing only six games this season, five fewer than the other semi-finalists. tesla has hit a speed bump on the s&p debut tesla shares down more than 6% of the first day of trading as a member of the s&p 500. it was one of the biggest drags. it's likely that to cash in on tesla's 700% gain this year, millions of americans hold the stock. reuters report apple is working on a self-driving car that could be in production by the year 2024. the autonomous passenger vehicle will be powered by apple's own battery technology and walmart trying to solve online retail's biggest hassle,

returns. the retail giant teaming up with fedex. it'll pick up walmart items from customers' homes and send them back for free. analysts say the new service could help walmart better compete with amazon. on wall street, a volatile day of trading the dow was down 400 early on but it closed up 37. biggest interday comeback since mid june s&p down 14. a comeback of its own and the nasdaq down 13 i'm shepard smith on cnbc. it's the bottom of the hour. time for the top of the news and a cnbc investigation if you've traveled internationally you know the drill. when you get back home off the plane, answer a few questions about where you've been and usually you're free to go, but if you traveled internationally between march and september, the drill for many was a bit different. in theory, if not always in reality, an officer from customs

and border patrol would give you a health questionnaire if you had a temperature or direct exposure to covid you'd get another evaluation from the cdc. it was an attempt to find passengers who were bringing the virus into the united states it put hundreds of tsa agents in harm's way flying blind. >> it's irresponsible. it's murder. it's just undignified. >> reporter: yvette williams lost the love of her life, omar palmer he served as a customs officer at new york's jfk airport. he was a body builder, foodie, in williams's words, a protector. by the end of march with palmer donning protective gear, she wanted to protect him. >> i said, omar, i think this is a matter of life and death

he said, i'll be good. >> reporter: as the virus surged outside the u.s., the white house coronavirus task force the u.s. established the first line of defense at the airports they were checking international passengers for covid symptoms arriving from a growing list of countries. >> these prudent, targeted and temporary actions will decrease the pressure on public health officials screening incoming travelers, expedite the processing of u.s. citizens and permanent residents returning from china. >> reporter: the only problem, it didn't work joe grogan led domestic policy for the white house until may. >> we weren't finding anybody. we were finding zero people so it became pretty clear relatively quickly that it was from a public health perspective as far as identifying people who were covid positive, it was a failure. >> reporter: the centers for

disease control and prevention says between january and september 776,000 passengers were screened. only 9 cases of covid were detected that's one out of every 85,000 screened and as travel bans went into place, bottlenecks formed at customs and jfk's terminal 4 where palmer worked. in dallas, chicago the risks rising for workers on these front lines. >> basically no travelers were detected to have covid through this process how many of the screeners themselves ended up getting sick >> more than people we identified is what was reported to the task force. i think it was in the few dozen is my recollection, but it was a pretty stark data point when it was relayed out that not only are we not finding anybody, we are getting more cdc and dhs employees infected with covid at the airports than we are finding people. >> reporter: six task force

officials tell cnbc the group discussed multiple times removing the screeners from their posts. ultimately they decided the role of these personnel a deterrent and a show of force outweighed the cost one official says the debate was not about the screeners themselves telling cnbc we were aware that they were getting sick, but it was a question of whether the testing was effective. another official said, of it a running discussion for a couple of months. ken cuccinelli represented dhs in the early response. >> there's always risk for people on the front line, but what we have found, including with our own front line folks, is that those individuals, the ones who have caught the virus, have done so at rates similar to the communities in which they were working. >> reporter: the cdc ended the screening program september 13th, eight months after it began, six months after the task force first knew it was not

effective. a november study released by the agency acknowledged the program was resource intensive with low yield of positive cases because they were only looking for people with symptoms. >> how would you respond to allegations by other task force officials and some employees and some unions that this program was more dangerous for them than it was effective for the country as a whole >> well, i find it hard to believe that there weren't people just missed who had the virus that we were trying to screen for with the only tools that were then available. >> for omar palmer, passenger operations would be his last assignment he went home april 1st after being exposed at the airport and died one month later at 40 years old. now williams wonders what could have been done to save him >> to know that so much was

known at the highest levels of government and that that information was not shared and that those that care was not given to front line workers, people as collateral damage and it's disgusting. they were disposable. >> reporter: in a statement sent to us late today, hhs too defended the program saying that early cases in the u.s. were, indeed, tied to travel and blaming china for obscuring information about how the virus spread task force officials said at first they believed the screeners would make people feel safe to travel and discourage visibly sick people from getting on planes. as we learned and as they learned early on contagious covid is invisible. >> you report that the task force discussed for months on end whether to end this program.

when were they having those discussions? and what difference might that have made? >> reporter: well, different task force officials remember different time frames, but what all of them agree on is the bulk of the data came in in late march. the screenings peaked around that time. the travel bans went into place. they began trying to figure out whether the resources could be reallocated elsewhere. the cdc i'm told was among the first to advocate putting forward some of the personnel at nursing homes and other hot spots. while we don't know what the impact would have been if some of these personnel would have been removed, there would have been a visible bins benefit to other communities had they been added. military families in need embarrassed to ask for help but looking for food to make it through. tonight, the sharp increase in demand and how you can help do something about it. plus, a cheating scandal at

west point the worst in decades one that could mean the end of the line for dozens of cadets. and mcdonald's, we need to talk mcrib, sure, on board, but this new thing? in no world. hard pass. not loving it. >> the truth the n"the news with shepard smi back in 90 seconds your own home... [music playing throughout]

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u.s. military academy at west point facing one of the worst cheating scandals. more than 70 cadets accused of cheating most of the cadets to be on probation for the rest of their time at the academy. some face hearings that could lead to expulsion. others resigned and went home. this goes against the own moral code etched in stone a unique way to pass the time in a frozen lake and a deadly cyclone comes ashore as we go around the world in 80 seconds fiji, at least four people dead after a cat 4 cyclone slammed the pacific island nation with 140-mile-an-hour winds. the government still assessing the damage while reporting more than 7700 people in evacuation centers across the island republic japan, a startup hoping to

revolutionize access to clean water and better hygiene through the sanitizing stations. the machines allowing shoppers to wash their hands and phone without running water. it recycles the water through filtration and a uv light process. switzerland, a chef in zurich developing a method to make chocolate that shines like a rainbow without the use of additives. >> magic. >> one involves stamping a colorful design. the final product is the color full master piece without any chemicals. canada, the challenge spend more than 5 minutes in this partly frozen lake in ontario, but these two guys needed something to distract them from the cold so they played chess. they recorded this time lapse video of their match ended with an icy cold handshake. check mate as we go around the world in 80 seconds.

it's december 21st, the winter solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year perfect conditions for a once in a generation event happening right now somewhere up there look at this see those two white dots in the night sky? that's the so-called great conjunction of jupiter and saturn they overlap to form what will look like a double plan knelt. it's an extremely rare event nasa reports jupiter and saturn haven't been this close from our perspective in nearly 400 years. their conjunction hasn't been this visible since medieval times since 1226 to be precise you'll have to wait for a while until the next great conjunction. the planets won't appear this close until 2080. now to mcdonald's. it released a new menu item. it's only available in china the bad news is, it's a spam thing. it's spam technically called a

lunch meatburg ger that's two pieces of spasm, mayo and/ oreo cookie crumbles. mcdonald's has no plans. and they don't expect to sell more than 400,000. online, one food blogger called it the degredation of taste buds in one i'm loving it column one blogger wrote, unexpectedly delicious. financial help is on the way. billions of dollars set aside to get the airline industry flying again. why it still may not be enough and a college student extending her stay in the cayman islands but not by choice at all. behind bars, and what her family's trying to do to get her out. ake off.

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days before christmas and 27 million americans say they don't have enough food to eat. that's from the census bureau. the food lines are growing, like everywhere long lines continuing at food banks in texas, and arkansas, and spots all across our nation, but the situation is even more severe for families of those who serve. military families demand for food and assistance has quadrupled in some places according to armed service the ymca nbc's sam brock on one military mom who's barely scraping by >> reporter: at a food pantry on fort brag run by the armed services ymca. >> any specific needs your family has >> canned fruits and vegetables. >> she moved there two years ago when her husband joined the

army she has a degree in interior design and a baby due on christmas. now she has a stunning fortunes. >> covid happened and i lost my job in july due to the virus >> reporter: in a million years did you expect to find yourself in the position where you are right now? >> never i've always been someone who's paid for everything myself, took care of myself, put myself through school, paid my own rent >> reporter: many military families are trying to navigate the same humbling course the armed services ymca says employment for spouses has always been difficult with ever changing locations and deployments, but add a generational pandemic and the group is seeing jaw dropping need at the ten pan tris. >> san diego in particular four fold in terms of the increase. >> reporter: ten branches that you help you're saying nearly 400% increase in dehand >> yes. >> reporter: other groups are

tracking equally unnerving trends serving together as a network of nonprofits helping veterans, service members and their families which saw food insecurity from its tp need from march on ahead of housing. >> there's a lot of stigma and shame. the families have said, yes, our children are hungry but that's not for us. >> even sabo said it was not easy to come forward her parents had to refinance their home to help with student loans. >> does it affect you that this is affecting your family >> yeah, it does sorry. i just need a minute >> reporter: fort brag's garrison commander wants soldiers and their families to know there is help from child care and health care services. >> this is an important part of the community here. >> reporter: it's her hope

highlighting her own hardship will inspire others to speak up. >> would you rather look for help and be embarrassed or drain your savings because you're embarrassed to go to a food pantry to put food on your table. >> reporter: for the news, i'm sam brock. >> thank you. if you would like to help, there's an address at the bottom of the screen now. you can visit the armed services ymca website at www.asymca.org you can donate there anything you give will go directly to the families they're asking for volunteers as well if you have time and you would like to help out, there's info on the website for that as well. the covid-19 stimulus bill is bringing great news for the more than 32,000 furloughed airline workers. the new stimulus bill sets aside $15 billion for airline payroll support. that would require u.s. carriers to rehire workers they laid off and guarantee their job through

the end of march sarah nelson's here. she's president of the association of flight attendants you called this money, sarah, disaster relief, not stimulus. you've done the same what more needs to be done here? >> this is $15 billion in continued payroll support. it requires the airlines to keep people on the job. it requires them to rehire anyone who has been furloughed they cannot cut hourly rates they have to reinstate service to all of the communities they were serving before and continue to serve the communities this is part of important infrastructure to distribute the vaccine as well. shep, i have to tell you that i have been out there fighting for this relief for us because we know very well the airline industry what this country is facing this is a worldwide pandemic that has a financial impact bigger than any of the crises we have faced in the past hundred years altogether

we cannot get by without relief for everyone we cannot hold off putting together this relief package we needed more than $2 trillion in the summer. we're down to about 1 trillion now and it's not going to be enough it's a downpayment in the new year we have to talk about a real recovery package that is going to allow us to eradicate the virus and recover financially. >> this is rehire through the end of march united's ceo says those will be temporary hires. by then everyone doesn't have the vaccine and the airlines will still be way below. i'm not sure what that does exactly? >> let's be clear, the law doesn't say temporary hires. it says you have to rehire everyone who is a permanent employee those are permanent jobs we're going to continue to fight for we're just getting started here. that statement is really inappropriate right now and it is not in the spirit that we're all in this together we're going to pull this together and we're going to keep

fighting for what's needed to keep people first. we fought for our workers first package that tells them how to spend the money. it was not just a bunch of money given to the airlines where they decide where to put it there's a cap on effective compensation and a ban on stock dyebacks there's a reason for that. we have been through crisis before if we don't tell the companies how to spend it they will spend it on the people on the top. our people stayed on the job not only continued to provide krit cam infrastructure for the country and support one in 14 jobs in the country, but we continued to pay our rent, our cable bill and spend into the economy. we continued to pay our taxes. this was the best use of the public's money and these workers first taxes are what we are hoping we can hand off. >> every industry needs a sarah nelson great to see you.

>> great to see you too. a teenager from georgia is facing four months in a caribbean prison for violating covid rules. now her family is asking for the president's help schuyler mack is pretty hysterical as they put it after she pleaded guilty in the cayman islands. she was supposed to quarantine for 14 days. she took off her tracking device and went to see her boyfriend in a jet ski competition and this she gets to appeal her sentence in court tomorrow. we used to say there's no place like home for the holidays that was way back in 2019. now we're home all 9 time but there is no way except one to spice things up. ♪ ♪ >> exterior illumination they call it, and this year people are doing it up. the bright side of being stuck at homecoming up at metro by t-mobile,

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ready for christmas vacation one jersey family is clark plugging in the lights not the griswolds. these are the harbaughs in mikelton, new jersey they may have some competition this year. turns out people are decorating like crazy to keep themselves sane. >> this is my pride and joy. >> i call it the tunnel of christmas. >> reporter: meet mike giglio and his tunnel in hampton beach. >> this year we are 90,000 lights i'm santa claus and this is my palace for the children to come and see it >> reporter: down to the corrios in el paso, texas. >> i'm a health care provider. the last thing i wanted to do was put my family or anybody else's family in danger. i almost gave up on the whole thing. >> reporter: rather than cancel he created a covid safe experience.

>> we have them drive by, listen to it on the car radios. to hear the kiddos singing, to see their smiling faces, to hear the thank yous makes everything 100% worth it. >> reporter: off to the gregorics in water town, wisconsin. they started decorating on thanksgiving. >> not only have we gone bigger, our entire neighborhood has stepped it up. you can't see it from space but from airplanes. >> over to tracy, california the betgeorge's home. >> do i this for a living for theme parks. >> he designed the talking christmas trees. >> die hard is not a movie. >> yes, it is. >> he programmed a street lamp to be part of the story. >> whoa. >> what did you just do? >> christmas card. >> now back to new york. >> i call it electrifying. >> and tony modafferi had extra time to light it up this year.

his band's out of work but he says the show must go on. >> i'm always looking to do something bigger and better. i want people to say, whoa, look at this thing. all of the lights are about $10,000 but i'm not allowed to say that my wife might be listening. >> it's okay, tony your secret is safe with me. for the news, i'm andrey yeah day. 30 seconds left on a race to the finish congress bringing another covid relief package after months of inaction $600 stimulus checks for individuals. moderna's vaccine rollout underway health care workers getting some of the first doses and the trump administration has dangerous interference during the pandemic and now you know the news. for this monday, december 21st, thanks for joining us.

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