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- [announcer] pray.com's bedtime bible stories calm your mind and ease your spirit. download pray.com to get the #1 app for prayer and sleep. hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and all around the world, you're watching "cnn newsroom." i'm michael holmes. thanks for your company. coming up, the u.s. house votes to punish georgia representative marjorie taylor greene after her racist, violent and conspiracy theory laidened statements were unearthed. why are so many republicans still backing her? we'll discuss. also, joe biden says america is back. his foreign policy won't be like

his predecessor's. and the fight to get kids back in school as cities across the u.s. grapple with how to return to in-person learning while keeping everyone safe. now the u.s. house voted last night to remove newly elected republican representative marjorie taylor greene from her committee assignments. that move coming after past statements, a lot of them by her, supporting violence and discredited qanon conspiracy theories. greene was dropped from the education and budget committees by a vote of 230 to 199. only 11 republicans crossed the aisle to vote with democrats. brian nobles with our report. >> reporter: the u.s. house vote to remove freshman representative marjorie taylor greene from her committee assignments. >> conspiracy theories and hate are malignant. they do not fadeaway.

we must stand up to them and say enough. >> never before in the history of this house has the majority abused its power in this way. >> reporter: the debate, including a last-ditch effort by the georgia congresswoman, to save her spot on two house committees. >> i was allowed to believe things that weren't true and i would ask questions about them and talk about them, and that is absolutely what i regret. >> reporter: in a more than ten-minute speech amid a debate about her future, green attempted to put distance between herself and the vile conspiracy theories she said she once believed. >> school shootings are absolutely real and every child that is lost, those families mourn it. i also want to tell you 9/11 absolutely happened. >> reporter: in the past greene has promosed conspiracies such as not being evidence a plane hit the pentagon in 9/11 and

that a school shooting was fake or staged. she's promoted qanon conspiracy. >> i never said any of these things since i was elected to congress. these were words of the past and these things do not represent me. >> reporter: but as recently as last december greene defended qanon believers in an interview in cnn. >> i think it's unfair to criticize regular people looking things up on the internet. >> reporter: during her remarks she spent as much time attacking her detractors as she did cleaning up her past comments. democrats said greene's remarks were too little too late. >> i didn't hear anybody apologize or retract the anti-semetic or islam mow phobic remarks that have been made, posted over and over and over again. >> reporter: in the final vote to remove her it wasn't close, 230 to 199. greene is still going to be a member of congress. she's not expected to go

anywhere. she's raised a lot of money around this controversy. she's scheduled to hold a press conference on capitol hill on friday. ryan nobles, cnn. president trump's lawyers say he will not speak in his own defense in the impeachment trial. they asked trump to testify under oath before the senate but trump's lawyers quickly rejected that request. cnn's manu raju with more on that. >> reporter: house democrats are trying to goad donald trump into coming to capitol hill, testify under oath in front of the senate about the charge he faced from the house, that he incited insurrection. he was impeached earlier in january in the aftermath of the january 6th riot on capitol hill, they wanted to come and talk about what he did -- why he did what he did and explain the legal brief that his team put out earlier in the week in which they disputed some key facts.

they disputed how democrats characterized his speech before the rally goers as well as everything he did into the run up to the january 6th rally. donald trump has no interest in doing that. they made it very clear through his advisers earlier in the day and also his attorneys called it a publicity stunt so if democrats really want donald trump to testify, they have to vote to subpoena him. the moment it seems like that is an unlikely course. we'll see if that changes but the other question remaining for the democrats is how far do they go in pushing their case? do they bring in other witnesses? what they're trying to do is say donald trump intentionally incited rioters coming to capitol hill, intention little suggested the election was stolen and intentionally subverted the will of voters pressuring the election officials to change the election results. do they need witnesses for that? it's uncertain at this point. the trump team is confident

they'll have the votes to assure donald trump is acquitted. at the moment they're probably right. 17 republican senators will be needed to break ranks and join 50 democrats to convict trump, bar him from ever serving office again. that seems highly, highly unlikely. next week the trial will again, the arguments will take place and manu raju, cnn, capitol hill. the biden administration is saying nothing less than $1.9 trillion stimulus package is required right now to help americans struggling through the pandemic. the president has reached out to republicans for bipartisan support but they've shown little interest in the hefty price tag. with democrats now in control of congress, they really don't need republican support to get it done. first, the senate democrats must lay the groundwork to get a bill passed by a simple majority. house democrats have already done the same on their side. u.s. drug regulators are set

to consider a third covid vaccine for emergency use possibly by next month. johnson & johnson's vaccine is not quite as effective as the others, but it only requires one shot and it also can be stored in normal refrigeration. now this encouraging news tempered by a sobering new forecast from the university of washington. have a look at this. now that predicts the u.s. death toll could reach 630,000 by june the 1st. of particular concern is the spread of new, more contagious, perhaps more deadly variants. america's top infectious disease experts explains why that is so worrisome. >> the variants don't dominate now in our country. we have the variant that was dominating in the u.k. it's called 117. that one is one that is more efficient in going from person to person.

in a recent study from the u.k., it showed it might be somewhat more deadly in the sense of making people sicker and certainly leading to death more. we don't want that to become dominant in our own country. it might become dominant because it seems to be very efficient. >> now even with these new variants, wearing a mask, of course, can help reduce transmission, so the white house is considering sending facemasks to every american. cnn's erica hill reports. >> reporter: masks for everyone? cnn learning the biden administration is considering a plan to send them to all-americans. >> there are a range of options on the table to help protect more americans from the coronavirus and encourage people to mask up, but no decision has been made to do that. >> reporter: whether the government sends them or not, masks are still a must. >> we need to keep pushing and not give this virus a chance to

spread. >> fast-spreading variants now identified in more than 30 states. >> we are really good at pumping the brakes after we wrap the car around the tree. what we need to do is anticipate this is coming. >> reporter: the first in the u.k. which is especially concerning. on track to become dominant in california, florida and -- >> there's increasing data to show that the b117 variant may increase -- lead to increased mortality. >> reporter: on wednesday the u.s. surpassed 450,000 covid deaths. for nearly a month daily reports have been stuck at or above 3,000. cases and hospitalizations, however, are improving, including a dramatic shift in california. new cases have dropped nearly 60% in the last month. this hospital finally dismantled its covid overflow test. >> we honor the sacred stories

it now forever holds as we pack it up. >> vaccinations slowly improving. the u.s. now averaging 1.3 million shots a day but equitable distribution still needs a lot of work. >> we need them to be even more accessible mobile vaccination centers in schools and community centers. >> new york city launching dozens of pop-up sites this week. opening day at yankee stadium set for tomorrow with 15,000 appointments available in the first week. >> having the yankee stadium site up will be a game changer. >> reporter: vaccinations in the standoff over an in turn in standing. >> we need kids back in school. we need parents to have that option. >> if we want students to return for in person instruction, we need to prioritize the health and safety of teachers. >> reporter: teachers requesting testing while overall transmission in schools remains low.

new study suggests it could be cut in half with weekly rapid testing. johnson & johnson officially asking the fda for emergency use authorization on thursday. the single dose vaccine does not require the ultra low temperatures for storage as pfizer's does. of course, it's only one dose. it showed an efficacy of 72% in u.s. trials. in new york, i'm erica hill, cnn. now president biden visits the u.s. state department to deliver his vision for american foreign policy. we'll have a live report from london on how his remarks are playing out among u.s. allies. that's after the break.

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welcome back. u.s. president joe biden didn't mention his predecessor on thursday, but he didn't need to. everyone at the u.s. state department knew exactly what he meant when he said the u.s. would no longer roll over in the face of russian aggression or when he told the agency's employees they would not be politicized or targeted for doing their jobs. here are some of the key points of his speech. >> america is back.

diplomacy is back. american alliances are our greatest asset, and leading with diplomacy means standing shoulder to shoulder with our allies and key partners once again. i made it clear to president putin in a manner very different from my predecessor that the days of the united states rolling over in the face of russia's aggressive actions, interfering with our elections, cyber attacks, poisoning its citizens are over. we'll con front china's economic abuses, counter its aggressive, coercive action to push back on china's attack on human rights, intellectual property and global governors, but we are ready to work with beijing when it's in america's interest to do so. >> and cnn international's diplomatic editor nic robertson

joins me now from london. allies, no doubt, reassured that it is, indeed, a new day. do you think some of them are going to fear that, you know, given what has happened over the last four years it could happen again and perhaps not rely on u.s. leadership the way they used to? >> reporter: i think they want to engage with president biden on a lot of the things that he wants to do like curtail some of the sort of chinese trade policies, for example, redress that balance. you know, russia's sort of human rights abuses and other destabilizing influences, undermining democracies by sort of being host to troll factors. all these sorts of things that they've been accused of. there's going to be alignment on that, but i think this sort of idea that europe can be as

reliant on a steady hand, that's gone. president biden is right when he talks about rebuilding trust and needing to earn -- the united states needing to earn its position of leadership again on the globe. he's saying the right things and the message is what they want to hear, rejoining global institutions, world health organization, paris climate change agreement, but i think the real emotion is going to be in a few things. one, how does he follow through the actions? these are early days. he's had one phone conversation with president putin we're aware of. none with president xi in china so far. so how do his actions stack up from that? the reality was trump had a strong showing in the last elections and there's wrangling in the republican ranks about the direction of the party and what voice is going to become dominant over the next few years. so there will be concern in europe about that.

there is concern in europe about that and, therefore, they want the relationship to be on a slightly different footing, but are they going to get on with biden right now? you bet they are. >> all right. nic robertson, really appreciate it. good to see you there in london for us. now earlier i spoke with matthew kranick, a professor of government and foreign service at georgetown university, and asked him how allies are reacting to president biden's speech after four years of donald trump? >> in my role at the atlantic council and they are enthusiastic about the biden presidency. they are excited biden wants to restore the traditional alliances. at the same time, they say things will never be the same after the past several years. they do need to hedge their bets and there are discussions in germany and france about more strategic autonomy for europe. i think they're enthusiastic to

work with the united states again but also somewhat weary in hedging their bets. >> in the trump administration, of course, in a foreign policy status, there was the enablement of strong men, admiration even, i mean including saudi arabia and its leader mohamed bin salman. he called egypt's alsisi my favorite dictator. what has been the impact of that and what needs to change in your view? >> biden was very strong today, i thought, on america's values. one of the first things he said in the speech was about the coup and myanmar. he called on the generals there to relinquish power and return control back to the civilians. he talked about having a summit for democracy, bringing america's democratic allies from around the world together in washington, to talk about the need to work together, against autocracies. this has been a key theme of his

throughout his campaign. also a key theme in my book, as you mentioned, democracy versus autocracy. i think this is a central issue in global politics, that biden understands that. he said all the right things in his speech about working with democracies against these revisionist autocracies against russia and china. >> my thanks to matthew for his analysis speaking with me earlier. putin critic alexey navalny has been appearing in a liable hearing where he just pled not guilty. he allegedly defamed a world war ii veteran. he said the charges like the others he's faced are politically motivated. he was sentenced earlier this week to more than 2 1/2 years in prison for violating his parole while he was being treated in germany for poisoning. joining us now from the courthouse in moscow, cnn senior international correspondent fred

pleitgen. yeah, not surprising he pled not guilty. tell us what happened, how the proceedings went. >> reporter: yeah, michael. he pled not guilty and he used this opportunity once again to rip into the court and to also say that he believed essentially that this trial, like the last one that he had on tuesday, is essentially a sham. alexey navalny is inside the courtroom, however, the man who he allegedly defamed, the world war ii veteran who is 95 years old, he's joining in via video link. alexey navalny said he doesn't believe the veteran fully understands the proceedings. he says there's another person actually speaking for the world war ii veteran. navalny's attorneys have come forward and they say the charges are arbitrary, vague, illegitimate under russian law and therefore they say illegal. they've been pretty tough in those proceedings so far. something we've seen from alexey navalny. we saw in that trial of course

where he was on trial on tuesday where he ripped not into -- not just into the court and not just into those proceedings but also into vladimir putin as well. it seems as though alexey navalny appears to be very combative if, indeed, he is convicted and sentenced in this case. he could face a substantial fine on top of the jail time that he is already facing for that other trial. so certainly the russian state you could feel is maintaining the pressure on alexey navalny despite the fact we've had these protests going on over the last couple of weekends. there's been international pressure, michael. we're talking about the fact president biden took his time to speak about alexey navalny in his speech at the state department. so far none of that having any sort of effect on the kremlin. we've asked the kremlin spokesman dmitry peskof whether russia is reconsidering that. absolutely not. anything the state department or

the u.s. government said will not be considered. they call this a russian judicial matter, not something that the russian president or his spokesman would comment on or change anything about, michael. >> cnn's frederick pleitgen there in moss cue. fred, thank you very much. we're going to take a quick break on "cnn newsroom." when we come back, president biden hoping for a big turn around in america's economy during his presidency. the numbers coming out later today are expected to show that will not be an easy fete. we'll be right back.

and a warm welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world.

i'm michael holmes. appreciate your company. the very controversial republican congresswoman marjorie taylor greene has been removed from her committee assignments. u.s. house of representatives made that decision. house democrats tried to get republicans to remove her but they failed to do so. late on thursday greene was dropped from the education and budget committees by a vote of 230 to 199. but only 11 republicans were willing to cross the aisle and vote with democrats. i spoke a little earlier with cnn political commentator and republican strategist doug hi. i asked him how dangerous it would be to take a forgive and forget attitude with greene and those who agreed with her? >> when you see people say, hey,

9/11 was real, school shootings actually happened, that that bar is so low that that is clearly not acceptable. i think, michael, one of the challenges, i support removing her from her committees. let's be clear. marjorie taylor greene was not elected to be a workhorse on any committee. a lot of democrats said because of her comments on school shootings that she shouldn't serve on the education and labor committee. i agree, but she didn't go to congress to be a real champion to be on the pension subcommittee. we penalized her but there may not be a price for her to pay. as you referenced, she can still play the victim of this. what i would caution my republican friends on is this isn't the last time we're going to hear terrible, terrible statements from her, either things she says in the future or things she says in the past. we need to have answers in the future. >> yeah. yeah. i mean, you do get that feeling, don't you? i just want to play for people just a small selection of her comments. let's listen in.

>> the so-called plane that crashed into the pentagon, there's never any evidence shown for a plane in the pentagon. there is an islamic invasion into our government offices right now. kennedy getting killed in the plane crash, that's another one of those clinton murders, right? the only way you get your freedoms back is that it's earned with the price of blood. >> i mean, just, wow. when we talk about the future of the party, is this it? that they actually support someone who said all these things? is this not racing at top speeds towards an extremist regime of the party? if so, what are the risks of the party and counsel? >> i think it goes back to decisions that have been made not just 4 years ago with donald trump but even before that. you and i have talked about this. to me, donald trump wasn't just the problem, he was a symptom of what the problem was. he just exacerbated it and put it on warp speed. that's put us to where we are today. he can't tweet. he can't go on facebook to say

the insend deair ri things he has in the past but he's inspired people to do that. that ultimately goes back to january 6th. meanwhile, the republican party has real problems in how it can move forward and division amongst itself. it's not a recipe of success. they could take back the house in 2022. the problem with that, michael, is marjorie taylor greene is going to be the face of the republican party, whether she wants it or not or other republicans want it or not and every competitive republican seat or congressional seat, she will be an issue they are talking about, not talking about what they want to do for their state or district. that's a problem. >> as always, our thanks to doug hyde for his analysis. now lawyers for president donald trump, former president donald trump, say he will not testify at his senate impeachment trial next week. democratic house impeachment managers had wanted to get trump on the record regarding that riot at the capitol on january

6th, but trump's lawyers sent a terse reply writing in part, quote, we are in receipt of your latest public relations stunt. the use of our constitution to bring a purported impeachment proceeding is much too serious to try to play these games. now there is another stark reminder that an economic recovery under the biden administration will not come easily. another 779,000 americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits in the last week of january. and the unemployment rate is expected to stay stubbornly flat at 6.7% when the january jobs report is released later today. john defterios is in abu dhabi for us to talk it through. john, is the report going to give us any guidance on whether the vaccine rollout will start to impact the jobs snasht. >> reporter: yeah, the vaccines will definitely help out,

michael, just not yet. i think we're almost at this crossroads where the inoc inoculations will reach the budget stimulus that joe biden is planning for and that will play out probably in two to three months. in the meantime the job market is sputtering. we saw that at the end of 2020 where we lost 120,000 jobs. the expectations is that the unemployment rates remains high, historically high at 6.7%. job creation, just 150,000. you have to wonder if what happened on capitol hill held back investment by private companies. we saw a private survive with job creation at 174,000 in jarch. let's see if that plays out with the numbers from the labor department in the united states. in the meantime, think about it, michael, 11 months in, 10 million people have lost their jobs and haven't gotten them back yet. that's what we hear janet yellen

banging the drum again, let's think outside the norm with the next stimulus package. here's yellen. >> seeing long lines of people waiting to get food around the country is something we should never see in the united states. too many people have to worry whether they'll have a roof over their head and he wants to address that. this is really an urgent need and we need to act big. >> reporter: and why joe biden is looking for $1.9 trillion, he's going to speak after the jobs report comes out so expect more economic commentary from the u.s. president. at the same time, michael, 18 million people are still asking for benefits. think about it. food lines suffering and people wondering if they can stay in their apartments. the s&p 500 and nasdaq hit a record. two parallel economies in the

united states. >> yeah. yeah. absolutely. john defterios in abu dhabi for us. thanks, john. good to see you. now there is new concern with the covid pandemic. scientists say there are actually thousands, yes, thousands of variants of that virus all around the world. what's being done to fight this threat? we'll have a report after the break.

now the united kingdom is implementing a new policy. people are arriving from one of 30 countries will be required to isolate for 10 days. the travelers will have to stay at a government-approved hotel during that time. people from those countries and without permanent u.k. residence had already been banned.

now this new mandate is for those who cannot be refused entry back into the u.k. plus, here's a sobering number to consider. the u.k.'s vaccine minister says there are about 4,000 covid-19 variants around the world. here to discuss all of this and what is unfolding in the u.k., cnn's selma abdel azeez in london. the u.k. is up to 10 million people who have received their first dose. that's a lot of people. how do authorities protect the gains, if you like? >> reporter: well, michael, there's 4,000 variants. those are the area of concern, right? those are the variable, the x factor, the unknown. this country has been hit hard by variants. no one wants to live that nightmare again? what are the steps? 4,000 so far index them, library them. in this country the vaccine minister says they are ready for any challenges posed. they're ready to create a new

vaccine if necessary to defeat the variants. second thing, this country's vaccine, that's all they have. 10 million people vaccinated, one in five adults and we should see all of this country's key vulnerable groups vaccinated in a couple of weeks time. by february 15th, looking at 15 million people vaccinated. thursday those travel restrictions you mentioned, some really tough travel restrictions in place. you cannot leave the u.k. unless you have an essential travel reason. you cannot come into the u.k. unless you show a negative test and unless you isolate in a hotel provided by the government. finally, social restrictions. under a nationwide lockdown. you have to stay at home, work from home. those roles will not be lifted any time soon. michael, i'm going to be cautiously optimistic for a moment here because the country has been through some tough months. we're finally past the peak of this terrible wave of coronavirus and authorities here

know that these are hard-won gains that have to be protected. that's why they're watching the variants closely. >> very good to see you, selma. meanwhile, an increasing number of european countries asking anyone age 65 and older to avoid the oxford astrazeneca vaccine. denmark, sweden, norway are the latest to say there is not enough data to recommend its use among the elderly. melissa bell was in paris for us to tell us about it. i mean, okay, so what countries are deciding what about the age? and why? >> reporter: well, the list is growing really by the day. what we saw last friday was the european medicines agency said that astrazeneca vaccine with no limits, germany, belgium, france, italy, netherlands said

they will not be recommending it for people over 65. it's already so far behind. you were hearing from selma saying 10 million people in the united kingdom had received at least one dose. that figure in european countries is much, much lower. to give you an idea, michael, the only country that's vaccinated 2 million people for the time being is determine ma any. >> i've got about a minute left, but give us a quick wrap on what the figures are like in europe right now. >> reporter: well, essentially the story in many european countries is the very heavy restrictions that remain in place, there has been a stabilization of the figures. they are at high but stable levels. take france. we're seeing on average 20,000 new cases a day. that's quite a lot. the situation remains fragile and yet they believe that the measures that they have in place here in france for the time being are having their effect.

a system that remains fragile and a curfew system will remain in place. figures appear across europe to be stabilizing. clearly, michael, those vaccines can't come quickly enough for the economies to be able to reopen again. >> absolutely. good to see you, melissa. melissa bell in paris. thanks. and just ahead here on cnn, the emotional debate over in-person learning in the middle of the pandemic. teachers say it's dangerous and unsafe. up next we'll talk to one parent who says it is time for children to return to the classroom. we'll be right back. do you have a life insurance policy you no longer need? now you can sell your policy, even a term policy, for an immediate cash payment. call coventry direct to learn more. we thought we had planned carefully for our

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- [announcer] pray.com's bedtime bible stories calm your mind and ease your spirit. download pray.com to get the #1 app for prayer and sleep. there are ongoing battles across the u.s. about bringing students back into the classroom for in-person learning. it has resulted in frayed nerves, threats of strikes and complaints from parents who want their kids back in school. and also teachers who fear contracting covid, of course. city of san francisco has even sued its own school district for not reopening, and the mayor of chicago is locked into a bitter

dispute with the teachers union there. many teachers say they will hit the picket lines if they're forced to return unsafely to classrooms. look at this teacher here holding class remotely from a snowy bench to avoid covid instead of being in a classroom while chicago's mayor says parents should have the option of in-person learning. >> we need our kids back in school. we need our parents to have that option. it should not be that cps parents of all the schools in our city are the only ones who don't have the options for in-person learning. it cannot be so, that a public school system denies parents that right. >> diane is an organizer with the chicago parents elective. ryan, it's such an important

discussion. in san francisco you have a city suing its own schools. where you are in chicago, parents are pushing back but unions are holding firm. what needs to happen? >> yeah. i mean, at the end of the day, michael, we need the district and the teachers to come to some compromise, right? this is not like this is coming out of the blue. the february 1st reopening plan has been on the books for months now and they've had nearly a year to prepare for this event. and so we're just looking as parents for some stability and some time line that we can depend on. we can't wait until 9:30 at night to see if school is open the next day. >> you were forced to choose teacher safety over your child's mental health. describe what the impacts are on kids. >> yeah. i mean, our group's got about 750 parents in it in less than

two weeks and some of the stories are just absolutely gut wrenching in terms of remote learning just simply is not working for all children. you just hear these stories of, you know, depression, anxiety in really young kids. frankly, it's frightening as parents. then on the other spectrum, you have kids who have been previously really good students, have become completely disengaged from the education process. >> of course, yes, there is a pandemic. what do you say to those who worry about, you know, health considerations with in-school learning, particularly teachers worried about their own health and their lives and more contagious and perhaps more deadly variants spread around the country. what needs to be done to reassure teachers? >> yeah, i mean, again, we sympathize with teachers, right? they have always been essential parts of our lives and play such an important role. we know this is a huge ask to

walk back into a classroom after niechb months of no in-person learning. at the same time, what we've seen in chicago in the pa rowing key al schools, which is a large district of students, you can do this safely with the right mix of mitigation techniques. the district has spent upwards of $70 million on ventilation, hepa filters. we're talking about hybrid so small classroom sizes, ventilation. we've seen it work in districts, in schools that are right across the street through many chicago public schools. we want to overcome those fears together as a community. >> you know, i was reading a rockefeller foundation study that said weekly screening of students, teachers, staff using a rapid antigen test, which should be far more widely available, can cut in-school infections by 85%, 35% for

primary schools. how effective is that and prioritizing vaccinations for teachers? >> you know, as a parent of just young children, it's tough for me to comment on those type of things. i would say this is where we are looking to our public health officials. you mentioned a study by a think tank. we look to the cdc and others to say what is a reasonable measure of safety. we recognize that this is not going to be 100% risk free, but we're going to be living with this virus for many, many more months to come and schools were supposed to be the first to reopen and the last to close and here in chicago that's nowhere near the case. it's actually the exact opposite for chicago public school students. >> a debate happening all around the u.s. in fact, in many parts of the u.s. as well. ryan griffin, have to leave it there. thank you very much. appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. now parkland school shooting sr. viefor and gun control

advocate david hogg said he is planning to launch his own pillow company. the goal to compete with the bedding company, my pillow. my pillow, of course, is owned by the controversial mike lindell, a vocal supporter of donald trump who has repeatedly spread baseless claims of fraud about the 2020 presidential election. david hogg tweeted today we started a pillow company. tomorrow we change the world. he also shared goals for the future company including supporting progressive causes and hiring formerly inches cars rated americans. thanks for your company, spending part of your day with me. i'm michael holmes. "early start" is up next. you're watching cnn.

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dealdash.com today and see how much you can save. there are auctions going on right now, so what are you waiting for? welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. this is "early start." i'm christine romans. >> i'm laura jarrett. friday, february 5th. happy friday, everyone. you made it to another friday. it's 5 a.m. in new york and breaking just moments ago, the senate in session all night. democrats on the verge of unlocking the power to pass a major coronavirus relief bill without republican support. let's get straight to cnn's congressional reporter daniella diaz. a voterama going