Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 03192020 20240713

About congressional operations during the coronavirus outbreak. Also, cq roll calls jennifer the coronavirus. Host President Trump signed the second of likely to be three coronavirus aid packages passed by congress, the third topping 1 trillion will get initial consideration in the u. S. Senate. Good morning and welcome to washington journal for this thursday. We continue our conversation hearing from you about the governments response to the. Oronavirus pandemic your lines are the same they have been the last couple days. Mountain and pacific, 2027488001. And medical professionals, 2027488002. You can send us a text. That is 2027488003. Make sure you tell us your name and where you are texting from. On twitter we are cspanwj and it is facebook. Com cspan for your posts. Legislation passing in the senate 908 yesterday afternoon and quickly down to the white house. This is the reporting of usa today with the headline in the papers. A measure to ensure paid sick leave to ensure testing for coronavirus was headed to president Donald Trumps desk wednesday. Congress is drafting the next emergency relief package as well as a financial lifeline for businesses decimating the economy and upending daily life. Senators overwhelmingly supported a house bill that covers the cost of all coronavirus testing, expands andral food programs provides paid sick leave for workers forced to stay home. That legislation passing by a vote of 908. The headline from Jennifer Shutt of roll call, we will get more specifics about the program. Trump signs coronavirus aid package. We will read some of what Jennifer Shutt is reporting. She says work on the package, the third package has been ongoing for days with treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin proposing a trillion dollar package on tuesday. He has repeatedly emerged as a critical negotiator for the administration and continue talking with nancy pelosi. That package could provide direct Cash Payments to americans as well as grants and shutteredtruggling or businesses. To the office of management and budget sent congress a nearly 40 spending request to increase funding for dozens of federal agencies. Some specifics on that out of the Treasury Department being called a stage three proposal. This is the third package of legislation likely, certainly some initial discussion this morning or today in the senate. The Airline Industry would get 50 billion out of this. Other distressed sectors proposing 150 billion and here is the Economic Impact statements proposed in this legislation. It would authorize inappropriate funds for two rounds of direct payments to individual taxpayers to be administered by the irs and the bureau of fiscal service. 250 billion on april 6 and another 250 billion to americans on may 18. That legislation still ahead in the u. S. Senate and certainly in the u. S. House. Lets hear first from linda in orange, connecticut. Caller happy anniversary, cspan. Host thank you. Caller you are most welcome. We have to think outside the box , this is not normal. Boeing needs money. I was watching them on the stock market. The Airline Industry, they built planes with air filtration systems. We need ventilators. Maybe they can retool for that. We have Restaurant Industries laying people off by the hundreds. We can take Community Colleges and train people to be the people who run the ventilators we need. The president said this is a war and it is invisible. It is. We need to think outside the box. We are only stuck if we think we are stuck. Lets not be stuck. Another thing with these bailouts, they cannot do like they did before like the Airline Industry. They use profits to buy back stock and it did not go to the anders in an equitable way workers are the taxpayers that bail them out. The senate,thing the president , the Congress Needs to address and make sure we can do it thinking, we cannot stand here on lock forever. That is what i have to say. I hope it helps and everybody have a great day. Host i will tell everybody else, this is our 41st anniversary. 41 years ago today cspan came on cable broadcasting to 3. 5 million cable subscribers across the country. The tweet from howard workman and a picture of that very first day. House televised via cspan. First speaker, al gore. This Los Angeles Times headline, house prepares for tv debut. 4 months after house coverage began, this rollcall headline, house picks dont play in the. Ticks caller i did not realize anniversary, so happy anniversary. I have an Infection Control background as well as managed care. I look at this from a lot of. Ifferent perspectives i am hoping all the lineals who aboutot heard the message social distancing and millenials who have not heard the message about social distancing and quarantine, get the message from other millenials. We are seeing, of course it is across the country, a lot of supplies. We are also seeing supplies disappear that were there five minutes ago and it is really concerning because some of these supplies, people do not know how to use them properly and can cause more damage to their skin bank their skin. Host did you say the supplies are going missing . Caller yeah. A veryhem out yesterday white wipe and it meant it went missing. It is a surgical wipe, it cleans hard surfaces and we use them. They are across the country in hospitals and you have to wear gloves. If you dont wear gloves, by holding them, it can literally, not immediately, but it can work its way through your outer layer of skin and cause more damage, who came upon some things wherever they live, please reconsider how you use these things. The other thing i wanted to take this opportunity to say, if i could, is some of the measures people can use on their own. Ould be extremely helpful i am carrying a bottle of listerine in my car when i have to go out. The virus takes hold in your nasal pharyngeal area. The more you can rinse it to drink some fluids maybe every 15 minutes throughout the day, that will help wash the virus down out of that area. Where you get this you can get this annoying clearing of their throat. Drink frequently, sleep, make sure you get no less than 7. 5 hours of sleep. Now ismune system right the biggest asset you have. Virus o smoke, the it goes to attack your cilia, other areas. Smokers will have a hard time. Now would be the time to try to stop or cut back. Some good advice. Really appreciate that. That is why we set aside that line. 2027488002. She was talking about missing supplies. This is a report in the New York Times about ventilators at the top of the list. As the United States braces for an onslaught of cases, hospitals and governments are confronting a grim reality, there are not nearly enough ventilator machines to go around and there is no way to solve the problem before the disease reaches full throttle. Desperate hospital say they cannot find anywhere to buy the devices which help patients breathe and can be the difference between life and death for those facing the most dire respiratory effects. American and european manufacturers say they cannot speed up production enough to meet demand. Nytimes is where you read more. We go to bev in pennsylvania. Good morning. Caller good morning. I woke up thinking my main concern for the United States would be our electric grid. Without that, people in their homes would have nothing. Refrigerators, bathrooms, everything. What is the government planning on doing on that . People are spending every penny they have. How will they keep everything up and running . Host rick in tennessee, go ahead. Past 10, 12the years or whatever, 25, 30 years since ronald reagan, we have been hearing about these tax cuts we have got to have. Cut atere is your tax work. Everybody wanted to tighten and get stingy and we are paying the hard way. They could have been paying for this a little bit of a time over the years. Itr this time, we would have stocked up. They had a couple more dollars on their paycheck. Thank you. About theing legislation headed over to the u. S. Senate, this is the headline in the wall street journal, debate stirs over stimulus plan. Mitch mcconnell in the senate yesterday talking about what may be ahead in the proposed legislation. [video clip] while i will support the house bill to secure emergency relief for some american workers, i will not adjourn the senate until we have passed a bolder package that must include relief for Small Businesses across our country. As we speak, chairman rubio, senator collins, and others are assembling a level of assistance for Small Businesses across america. We want to help them survive this disruption, absorbed the mandate in the house bill and continue to make payroll and avoid layoffs as much as they can and emerge from this storm in the best shape possible. That means a historic injection of liquidity and access to credit and it means washington working directly with lenders who already work with Small Businesses to minimize the new bureaucracy so assistance can flow as fast as possible. We are going to pass the houses bill, but imperfections will make the more comprehensive package even more urgent. We are not leaving. Everybody understands we are not leaving until we deliver it. The center is not going senate is not going to leave Small Business behind. This will be just one component of our work as we speak, chairman grassley and others are determining the best pathway to put money directly in the hands of the American People. Those who are employed, those retirees, laid off, disabled americans, families, as quickly as possible. Chairman alexander and a number of our colleagues are working on further steps in our public fight against the virus itself such as getting more tools in the hands of health care providers, moving barriers to treat them and helping researchers develop develop therapeutics and vaccines and several senators are considering the possibility of targeted relief are Key Industries shouldering the burden from the publichealth directives and which our nation will need to be operational on the others of this. Host the u. S. Senate in session today noon eastern. Follow live coverage at cspan 2 and cspan. Org. Angle gle Richard Engel reports this. China reports no new domestic cases since the start of the epidemic. Here are the numbers from the Johns Hopkins center for systems science and engineering, total confirmed cases worldwide, 220,691. Total deaths, nearly 10,000. Budged number barely from yesterday. No new cases within the country. The u. S. Number jumping 3000 cases yesterday now at 9415 reported in the u. S. With a 106l of 150 deaths and recoveries. The u. S. House coming in today in a pro forma session. There are two members who have theed positive for coronavirus. Our capitol hill producer tweeting this, ben mcadams tested positive for covid19 today that was yesterday. He has been in selfquarantine at his utah home and he was on the house floor Early Saturday Morning voting in support of the second coronavirus Economic Relief bill. Goph term gop florida representative mario diaz pilar, the first member of congress to test positive, he selfquarantined friday after house votes and is feeling much better. Of thet vote in support economic aid bill. We will keep you posted on other members. Several are selfquarantined. We hear from maryland, this is miriam. Welcome. Caller hello. Host hi. Caller if anybody from Johns Hopkins is listening that is working on the virus, i think serum of to check the the host what is your point . Check that you should venom of from the snakes because that will kill the virus. Host noreen next in california. Caller good morning. How are you today . Host fine, thanks. Caller i believe this is what donald trump wants. He wants the government to look incompetent so people do not look to the government in the future. He wants the state to fail. That is what Stephen Bannon told him. Lets make the state fail so people do not rely on the state. Think byyou surrounding him with people like the Vice President , dr. Fouts he , and others, burks he is surrounding himself with people who want to fail . Caller now that his election is up in arms, yes. At the beginning, he did not. He sent ice people to travis air ande base without any pte they had to check in all those people who came in from china into Travis Air Force base and they let them disperse. Those people to california because he knew they were infected and he wanted to target california because he hates us. I believe he engineered this from the beginning and i believe donald trump is trying to play catch because he realized his reelection is at jeopardy. Host your thoughts on the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic. 2027488000 for eastern and central time zones. Guest 2027488001, mountain and pacific. Pennsylvania next, hello to harry. Caller that last lady was a trip. Good thing trump let the economy build up. Otherwise, we would be in a depression. This thing just happened. Everybody is blaming trump and now if you call it the chinese virus, you are a racist. A reporter told trump yesterday it was the kung fu virus. That was a reporter. We have been seeing trump, lets get rid of him, now we have the coronavirus. I am getting fatigue watching this on tv all the time. It is on all the time. Why dont you have a show about gillam being arrested with a gay guy with a bunch of drugs. This is getting kind of crazy. Host this is the editorial cartoon in the Washington Post from tom tolls, the republican. Lephant saying free money rand paul from kentucky on the floor of the senate yesterday arguing for his amendment to the aid package which would call for government budget cuts to pay for the package. Here is what he said. [video clip] highrise in support of my amendment to pay for this package by removing less important spending from elsewhere in the budget. I would ask every american if you were faced with a personal crisis on how to spend extra money and you had to spend extra money on food and medicine, money you had to borrow from a relative, wouldnt you prioritize resources and stop loaning money to friends overseas for their children to go to, for example, space camp question mark wouldnt you stop funding clown colleges in argentina . If you had a true emergency, wouldnt you stop building roads . Nd gas stations in pakistan if you had a true emergency, wouldnt you stop spending money, studying why drunk people fall down more than sober people . I asked my colleagues to stop wasting money, stop being a rubber for wasteful spending. Do your jobs and prioritize our resources. It is our job and responsibility to conserve these resources. Why is this important . Why shouldnt we just print or borrow the money instead of making cuts and things like foreign aid . Because next time may be in the nottoodistant future, our children may not even be able to borrow their way out of the crisis. Our dollar will be ruined because we were with our resources fools with our resources. Devon inwill hear from philadelphia, good morning. Caller good morning. I was looking at the new proposal going between the house and the Senate Negotiations and i was looking at different proposals between maybe 700 and maybe even up to 2500 per person in two tier payments. When you look at the 45 million Student Loans, which will be offset because the government will get return back 45 billion immediately. I think the package is not big enough because once you offset the amount people that owe Student Loans if they are given like 1000 times 45 Million People that owe Student Loans, that is 45 Million Dollars the government will get in return. I think the aid package should be much bigger to address economic needs. From the proposal out treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin in consultation with the house speaker, the majority rescuein the senate, of 50 billion prayed other aid, Economic Impact statements. First one, april 6 and the second one, may 18th. This is a proposal, a one sheet proposal. Out, we were is reading it this morning. I dont know if we posted on our website yet. It is just a one page document looking at what they call the stage iii proposal from the treasury secretary, that legislation in the pipeline to be developed as legislation read we will hear more today in the senate. Barbara in ohio, good morning. Say i i just want to wish everybody would get off Donald Trumps case. We should be happy he is the president he is and he is the businessman he is and he is able to negotiate all these bills and all the things we need to do to get through this with everybody and i wish everybody would get off his case and appreciate the man he is. Host dave in richmond, ohio. Caller i just wanted to comment sitting here watching the show, happy birthday, i appreciate the way you show both sides and let everybody speak. The lady from california, this is a huge problem in our country. I think she got hit on the head to accuse our president of doing what she is accusing him to do and i think it is ridiculous they expect everything is Donald Trumps fault. Obama run the country for the last eight years and the cdc was wrongfully taken care of. How does that become trumps fault . We should rally behind our president regardless of who it is to get through this time. Host how medical professionals line is 2027488002. On that line, james in new jersey. Right now i am a caretaker, so i have medical experience. The World Health Organization , very simple. Host this is carol from florida says trump could not run a bath let alone run a country with pandemic. Millions are paying the price. Hortages of everything testing, testing, testing, why not try healing the people . How can you heal if you do not know who is ill questing from lincoln, tennessee, paul says good luck on taunting your response to coronavirus. If your administration had taken this seriously, we would be a lot better off now. Where is the democrat hoax now . Host President Trump invoking wartime powers to bolster the u. S. Response. The president invoking a rarely used wartime powers, announced the deployment of naval ships as he tried to boost the federal response to the coronavirus. We will be invoking the defense production act in case we need it. Referring to a 1950 law that could allow the federal government to compel the private sector to accelerate the development of critical medical equipment. It can do a lot of good things, he said, it we need it. The move signaled an effort to develop a more robust federal operation to combat a virus that has spread across the country, taking hold in all 50 states and threatening to crush the economy. The flurry of announcements wednesday marked the most concentrated campaign by the Trump Administration to slow the advance of covid19. On the deployment of the two medical ships, one headed to new york, the governor of new york, andrew cuomo talked about that in his briefing yesterday. [video clip] he will be making arrangements to send this hospital ship, which is called the u. S. Comfort. It has about 1000 rooms on it, and theg rooms president will dispatch comfort to us. It is an extraordinary step, it is literally a floating hospital, which will add capacity and the president said he would dispatch that immediately. Host we will hear next from david calling from madison heights, michigan. Forer thank you very much taking my call. Thank god for democrats. American first. I associate myself not with party first, but being an american first. I am so glad the failure in chief signed the democrat bill. The next bill coming up will be nothing but a bailout for corporations and i hope they seriously debate that and come up with a solution on that because i dont want any money from the government and i dont think most americans want money from the government. All we want is our jobs. We want to be safe. The failure in chief and his swamp is such a failure, it is really pathetic what is going on in america right now and to all of you deplorables that support him, we will put on your gravestones i still support trump. Thank you very much. Host jerry, good morning. Caller how are you . Host okay. Caller one of the underreported stories in the Mainstream Media and other places is they are not really discussing what happens to the homeless if they get it themselves, how it would spread and what would happen if it gets into the general public. We should be spending the money instead of bailing out hotels, we should tell hotels here, we will isolate the people in the rooms so they do not spread it and catch it and you can take care of two problems at once. Bring the social workers in and give them permanent homes. Now it is another aspect not being dealt with. Host we will go to california from fred in irvine. Good morning, sir. Caller hi. Thank you so much for taking my call. Host you bet. Caller for three or four years, we have listened to the president s lies and our republican friends laugh it off and say that is the way he is, that is the things he does. It did not cost people lives and cost us 1 trillion or more. I feel so sad for the people who now have lost their jobs and the people have lost their lives and who are going to lose much more. Avenue we listened to this and tolerated these silly lies he would tell along the way and no one on the republican side would challenge him. Mike pence stands behind him and says the president is doing a good job leading when he knows what he knows, that the man has lied and i wonder how much longer we will tolerate these lies. It might be a hoax. Host how do you think the white the Vice President and the Corona Virus Task force responded . Caller they have not done a jump at all. Could you imagine if we had bill clinton or george bush or george w. Bush any of the other president s we have had . Obama standing up there right now could you imagine what they would be doing . They would be saying let me get the experts in our country to develop strategic plans. Of course we would have had hospital ships out before. Of course we would have had testing kits. Involved inuld be this. This is a huge thing and national defense. I am so sad our country tolerated this man who would tell lies over and over and we would just laugh. 3 million fraudulent votes. Some reporting on the world response. Merkel calls coronavirus biggest challenge since world war ii. Germany is focused facing the biggest challenge since world war ii. What observers called a final warning for citizens to heed confinement measures in a Dramatic Television appeal. Everyone played a part in slowing down a pandemic that has raced across the globe and triggered unprecedented piece time lockdowns. Maria in virginia, good morning. Where i work in virginia i do blame the current president. I cannot even pronounce his name because my body goes goosebumps. The World Health Organization advice in january that there was an emergency crisis, he did not listen to them. My governor had a press conference in january with 16 governors asking the president and he did not listen. I am risking my family, most likely i have already had the virus, i dont know. I am going to get tested today. I am working seven days a week. Host will you get tested at the hospital . Caller most likely, yes. Before i stop working, i will test myself. Am working seven days a week i have to be there at 7 45. I am going to talk and walk because i found parking. Host have some of your hospital colleagues already been tested . Caller everybody has been tested. I am going to question as soon as i get in because there is security. I am going to answer the questions they are going to ask me. I am not going to risk anyone. Fairfax hospital is very well organized about this crisis. I do blame the president. I am sorry for the people who should him, but they really educate themselves about a virus, about spreading disease. Host we will let you go, hope the test works out okay. To bakersfield, california, this is jimbo. Host thanks caller thanks, bill. We have to put away our partisan disagreements. The National Guard needs to be building hospital structures. We need to get arenas ready to quarantine the ill. In bakersfield, we need to immediately set up mechanics arena to handle people who are sick, not so sick that they are going to die, but that they are going to get their families ill, they need to be quarantined away from everyone else. We need to get that measure get that ready. Host what additional measures to hastennewsom taken some of that . I heard they were looking into places like hotels. I dont know about stadiums, but places in california for potential hospitals. Caller if all the estimates are correct, we have a title wave of illness that will come over us and we are not prepared. We have not nationalized our industries to make ventilators. There is a story going on right now there are 1000 ventilators, 100 being made a week in the United States ordered by china and sent out of the United States to china as opposed to being kept here in the United States and that one industry has not been forced to quadruple or. E grown to make ventilators there is an industry in the United States apparently i dont know if it is true, it needs to be verified. It has been rumored that there is a company in the United States that makes ventilators that will ship them out to china. Host when you say it has been rumored, have you read this on a website, seen it in print . Caller on morning joe, Joe Scarborough said this is what he heard. If that is true, that has got to stop right now. If that business does exist, it needs to have thousands of young people who are healthy and already tested to go in and begin to build that factory and have that expand 100 times over. We need to make all the masks ourselves right now. The president said he is going to wait to decide if he will nationalize the industries. What is he waiting for . Host he did authorize the defense production act yesterday. Caller he hasnt used it yet. Heds to actually hasnt actually used it to make the industries do it. Call. Thanks for your the numbers, not surprisingly, in california, 9415 cases nationwide. In california, 870 cases. 16 deaths and 854 active cases in california. The president tweeted about that signed the only defense production act to combat the chinese virus. Hopefully there will be no need, but we are all in this together, President Trump. Next is asheville, north carolina, good morning to rick. Caller good morning. Host go ahead, rick. Seenr high seen i somewhere sometime this country when it was the strongest after world war ii, corporations paid 80 of the federal taxes and the people paid 20 average people in the United States pay 80 . Let corporations start paying their fair share of taxes to help in a crisis like this. , there is a lot of people, especially heading live only on disability and or Social Security. We backed off doing things. We stayathome, we do not even drive, some of us cannot afford it. They have not said anything. They talk about giving back 1000 2000 to taxpayers. We dont pay taxes, some of us. We dont have another job, that is all we have got. I wonder what they are going to do about people like that. Host the proposal would be paid to individual taxpayers to be administered in part by the Internal Revenue service. Thanks for your call, robert in florida, hello. Caller i want to talk about money. They are going to give money to people, but the money is not going to go anywhere. We bailed out the banks, now it bail usanks turn to out. They should put the mortgages on hold for like 6 months. Same thing with rent, same thing with car payments, electric bills. It so could stop paying their 60 month loan would be 66 months and then 1000, whatever they are going to send to the people, they could use that for food and stuff they need. You cannot pay a mortgage with a 1000 a month loan. Put things on hold for a while. Host robert calling from boca raton, florida. Nbc with the headline Florida Governor refuses to shut down beaches amid spread of coronavirus. Ron desantis refused to issue an order to close the beaches despite fears regarding the spread of coronavirus. He signed an order that would limit parties on beaches to 10 people per group and force businesses that authorized to reduce occupancy by half. Local governments can make their own decisions, but his order would follow the guidance cdc. Ed issued by the the message out of the white house was prominently dr. Berks has been to millenials in particular. [video clip] there are concerning reports out of france and italy about young people getting seriously ill in the icu. Eded the earlye he data out of china and south korea that the elderly and those with preexisting conditions were at risk. It may be that our future generation that will carry us through for multiple decades there may be a disproportional number of infections. Occurrence,s a rare it may be seen more frequently in that group and be evident now. We are looking at the information carefully. We have not seen any significant mortality in the children, but we are concerned about early reports coming out of italy and france. I am going to call on that generation that is part of the group that brought Us Innovation particularly throughout all of their ability to look around corners and i always went level by level. I did not realize you could go from level 3 to level 7. Healthy. Hem to be edt only calling on you to he what is in the guidance, but ensure each and every one of you are protecting each other. Host no word from the white house if we will see a briefing from the task force. If there is a briefing, look for coverage on cspan and you can find all of our coverage of the briefings we have covered over the past couple weeks and the hearings we have covered. All of that available on our website at cspan. Org coronavirus. You can send us a text at 2027488003. This is from greg in texas who says what happened to trump gop concern for the debt and deficit . Remember the tea party and government shutdowns . Hypocrisy. Ump gop corporations should take personal responsibility for pooress, stupidity, decisions. Robert talking about the measure paid by the president , the paid sickleave portion is great. Immersed most workers would come to work sick because they need the pay. Hawaii. Go to rita in go ahead. Say ouri wanted to governor in the state of hawaii themade a proclamation that electric company, the water company, the Cable Company is if you are renting an apartment, you cannot get evicted. Sure parks, recreational, restaurants are closing on friday. There will be no more restaurants you can go into. We are on a tiny island, people toiletzy and hoarded paper and everything. We have none of that on the shelves. We have no sanitation. Our governor, again, along with all the other mayors in the state of hawaii have decided they are going to limit tourism got 12 cases and we and two on one island on another and three on another and we have a total of 22 and it as it has all come from taurus tourists coming from hawaii. Host is it still a difficult situation in terms of you said toilet paper and other basic necessity . Still hard to get the basics . Caller yes because we get barges that get ships from the mainland and it is like a normal thing, but when all the other saying how it is spreading fast and all the other states, it put this state in a state of panic and so it is off the shelves. They are even thinking of taking a massive container from costco, costco does not have toilet paper, sams club does not have toilet paper. We have no toilet paper on this island. They are planning on taking a container to our stadium and sell it and limit people. We dont even have hand sanitizer. It is supposed to come in on friday. Shelvesnothing on the that would be able to clean the surfaces, you know what i mean . We have nothing because of the hoarding. Host thanks for that update. We appreciate your insight in hawaii. This is from the money section of usa today on the Grocery Store chain kroger, the ceo saying there is penny of plenty of food. If you ask the ceo about the heential for food shortages, will tell you what he and other Retail Executives told President Trump sunday, we asked President Trump and Vice President mike pence to let people know there is plenty of food and things in the supply chain. As long as customers just by what they need and do not hoard, there will be no problems at all. There is plenty of food in the supply chain. The grocery business deals in perishable goods and is set up to constantly ship and refill store shelves. The Company Operates 37 of its own factories that produce everything from milk and Dairy Products to maple syrup and canned goods and those factories are working overtime and aroundtheclock. We go to arkansas and hear from shirley next. Caller good morning. Can you hear me ok . Host we sure can, yes. Caller i am calling about prescription drugs. I know our president did not do before iomebody did started paying pension to the government. Every day i had to take a heart pill. Blood pressure they say wash her hands and do this and i sit and look at my pill and i did not have any other option, i had to take it. I dont really know if it came from somebody making it had this virus. Older Senior Citizen and i hope the president will move our prescription drugs back. I may not get to see it, but i want it made in the usa. Host you get your prescriptions locally or do you have them shipped to you . Overseas . Ey are made caller i am on welfare and they ship it to me. Host rachel in illinois, medical professional. Caller can you hear me ok . Host we can. Go ahead. Agedr i am a 60 plus person and my husband is a trucker. We are having to isolate from each other because i am very concerned he is going across the equipment. H no ppe he is over the road and doing that once a week, going to california and back. Who is taking care of the truckers . That is the first thing i want to ask or bring to attention because these are the people fulfilling all these orders for the stores. Number 2, i have a solution possibly. Maybe i am crazy, but with all the airplanes down, why cant some of these large body intoanes be converted field hospitals . They already have the ventilation system. What was the third thing i was going to say . It was something somebody was commenting on. I think i have forgotten. My husband and i cannot even stay together. I am at my apartment by myself and he is at a hotel and he may not be getting any more loads or whatever. We dont know what will happen with the Trucking Industry. Host what kind of freight does he usually haul or does it vary . Caller it does vary. He will be switching over, that is a good point. Normally date they do non refrigerator stuff. He moved over to this other hepany not doing food, but probably will be switching back to a company doing food because there are less and less orders for nonrefrigerated truckloads. He still has truckloads coming from california going to california, picking them up and back to chicago. He is thinking about moving back to a Prior Company that has you are getting increased food loads to replace food in Grocery Stores. I am very concerned about him. He is younger than me, he is 44 and healthy, but is anyone looking at taking care of these truckers . We have one million truckers in this country. Host very good point. Next up is lisa, go ahead, lisa. Caller can you hear me . Host we can, good morning. Caller i would like to say i think President Trump is the one that created all of this havoc for us. I think this is new world order. I think we are in a pandemic. It is about to be more than we could ever imagine it to be and it will get bad really fast. Think if he did not want all the power in the world, he wants to be the most powerful man in the world, to rule all nations. If he did not want to do that, this world would not be in the state it is in right now. And he wants to talk about i believe in god and i love god and i know god is the only way out. For anybody else, if you dont know god, he you need to get to know god because he is the only thing that will save you in this world. From a womand earlier at Fairfax Hospital near the Nations Capital on her way to work going to get tested today. What is a test like . The president referred to it yesterday, the discomfort of doing it, but here is the wall street journal, how coronavirus testing works, they are used to test genetic material and they can be used to screen samples and detect infection. Samples are collected from the nose and throat using a swab and the sample is sent to the lab and mixed with chemical reagents and put into a machine that duplicates genetic material. If the virus exists, the copies made by the machine will confirm the presence. They point out in the wall street journal peace piece in shortt supplies supply in the u. S. A run on some supplies needed for the cdcdeveloped coronavirus test has depleted limited stocks. Next is eric, good morning. Caller good morning. How are you doing . Host fine, thanks. Caller good. I have been watching the president and his messages he sends out and i truly believe if he would have done a better job sending out these messages, the situation we are in right now would not be nearly as bad. I believe the stock market would not have tanked near as much. Buying. Y is crazy that would not happen as much. He has done a terrible job and that is why we are in this position. The president hat is saying, if you really pay attention, you can tell we are really behind. When journalists are asking questions he responds to maybe we will do that, that is bad and also, my last point is this. If he was so worried about getting reelected, this may be the final nail in the coffin. That is all i have to say. Host our Communications Director tweeting this, pointing out President Trump today is headed to fema this afternoon for a visit, tweeting video from the Video Library of president george w. Bush george h. W. Bush after the earthquake, President Trump headed there today, we will get video from that and we will see a briefing from the Coronavirus Task force coming up this morning at 11 00 a. M. Eastern and we will confirm that and our coverage should cspan 11 00 a. M. And cspan radio. Adam, good morning. Caller good morning. Happy anniversary. Host thank you. Caller i would like to pray for all of our hospital workers. My wife works in a hospital and we are taking a lot of precautions. My daughter is a senior in high school and she will not graduate and probably not going to go to prom. I would like to say to all americans this will be over soon. The outcome may not be what we want, but it is not up to us. When you are sick, you go to the doctor. When you need a loan, you go to the bank. When you need news, you go to the media. Stay off social media. It is poisoning our society. I have ditched facebook almost completely because it is terrible. Host what is terrible about it . Caller the way people are reacting to this, they are making it all political and not real. I have an uncle in england who had it for two months before this was treatable not even treatable, before people defined himself,e had to treat went into a steam room to sweat this out. Host did it work . Caller i do not know that for fact. It has not been confirmed. Tell your kids, this will all pass, just like Everything Else does. My final thought would be, one person can make a difference, as one nation under god, the nation can make a difference. Host more of your calls ahead. We will take a look at how congress will do its job, can do its job during the coronavirus pandemic. We will be speaking with James Wallner next. First, we wanted to show you a portion of yesterdays Prime Ministers question time at the british parliament. Here is theresa may asking her successor about the government response to the coronavirus outbreak. Friend today in dealing with covid19, i would ask him to cast forward. The chief medical advisor and aficer have been clear that vaccine could be as much as a year away. They have also suggested that until that vaccine is available, it may be difficult to ease restrictions . Does my friend agree and what does a successful exit strategy look like . The objective of the government, and our scientific depress the peak of the epidemic, make sure we get through it, so we come out on the other side, and we do that as fast as possible. That is why we are taking all the measures and that is why we have announced the passage of business support that we have. I will not give a timescale on it, but that is the strategy and i am certain it will succeed. Journalngton continues. Host we are joined by James Wallner with the R Street Institute here to talk about what happens if how congress can continue to do its job as the coronavirus pandemic gets worse, and getting worse for the house in particular for two members, ben mcadam and mario diaz bullard testing positive for covid19. Does congress have any plans in place where they could do their job remotely, for example . Guest good morning. We certainly hope that all the members and their staff are staying healthy, and those that are exhibiting illness are contesting it and trying to seek treatment and selfquarantining. Congress does not have any plans virtually sessions and there are hurdles in the constitution to doing that. Host what are some of the constitutional hurdles you see . Guest the constitution article one section five clause two es congress the ability to the majority of the house needs to be there to constitute a quorum. You have to have a majority of people in the same place to enable each chamber to do business. Host what is the minimum number of members that could function in person . Best in the senate it would a simple majority, one hate house, 214. Host does that constitute a two pass get there legislation . Guest you would need a simple majority of 51 members to do business and in the house, 218. You have to have a majority to do business. Host regular viewers of the senate will occasionally see on Senate Hearing a senate vote happening in committee and a member will not be there, and the senator will say the vote will go around, and they will say senator soandso, i, by proxy. They are voting by those senators by proxy. Is that a tool available to members of the house russian mark guest the house can the house . Guest the house can vote by proxy. The senate does not allow proxy voting for measures outside of committee. Proxy voting assumes there are members present doing their business, and maybe a few members are not risen and are therefore able to vote i proxy. They write down their vote on a the chairmanr and casts the vote on their behalf. Att the house will be in 9 00 eastern for a pro forma session. The senate will be in session at noon likely beginning discussion on the coronavirus aid package. I want to play the comments of Mitch Mcconnell on the floor yesterday talking about the new procedures in the senate for voting, and what else may be coming from the senate. What we will do is have a 30 minute roll call. We want to avoid congregating in the well. Colleaguesourage our to come in and vote and depart the chamber so we dont have goggles of conversation on the floor. That is particularly important for our staff and the chamber. I would encourage everyone to take full advantage of a 30 minute roll call vote, come in, and to be aware of the social distancing dr. Monahan and others have recommended as we come over to the chamber and as we depart. I think we will be able to get through the voting that will occur in all likelihood today, without violating the safety precautions that have been recommended by the capital physician and others. Wallner, Mitch Mcconnell yesterday on the senate floor sounding some reasonable voting procedures. What else do you think the majority leader may have planned . Guest he is right to be concerned. Voting in the house and senate is a social time for members, when they get together and see each other and relay news about what they are doing and talk about different bills and amendments they want to offer. They may just catch up with each other, because these members are friends, acquaintances, they Work Together. The senate well is the area right in front of the dais, for the viewers at home who watch cspan and cspan2, and members usually congregate and talk and huddle. When the senate votes, you can walk in and open the door and your clerk the clerk gets your attention and they will say yay ornate and you can leave yay or nay and you can leave. 30 minutes, to give them enough time to make sure they do not rush and get sloppy and do things they ought not to do during a vote. Host we are talking about how congress can do its job and function during the spreading coronavirus. Our guest is James Wallner, a senior governance fellow. We would love to hear from you, 202 7488000 for the eastern and central time zones, 202 7488001 for mountain and pacific. The is a piece in congressut the desperately needs a contingency plan or car what plan. What will happen if congress can no longer meet . I thought that commission founded 18 years ago, they were supposed to create a plan. Did that not happen . Guest they did a lot of work. The Commission Published on congress and on the presidency and Supreme Court. Congress are ready has a continuity plan in place called the constitution. Spells out what happens to what happens when vacancies are in the house. Special elections to fill the seat and in the senate, most states have given their governor the ability to appoint a senator. We have points for continuity of congress. It is unclear why we need new plans. Host douglas and rusk, texas in rusk, texas. Caller i think these congressmen need to get together [audio issues]or int we will go to jim islip, long island. Think talkingyou onh the fed and commerce giving people money is a moral hazard . Do not hang up. I got really sick in 1981, had no benefits, it was really bad. The surgeonr and told me to leave because i did not have health coverage. I pulled myself back up host off topic. We are functioning on the role of congress, how congress will function. Rodney in fort madison, iowa. Go ahead. Caller good morning, cspan. I hear a lot of reporters asking questions about xenophobia but i dont hear anybody asking questions about the harvard law professor that was arrest did along with two arrested along with two chinese nationals trying to leave with bio hazards heading for wuhan, china. Can you comment . Host on the topic, we were talking about members gathering on the floor. You focused on the senate. When the house votes, those long votes, they use that time on the floor to find out how members are voting, to gather their team together, to whip as it is called. Guest your callers that we have heard from are concerned about what congress is doing, and that highlights very important fundamental points about congress we need to keep in mind when we think about continuity of governance. Congress job is not to produce outcomes. Congress is a place where the representatives the American People vote for go to participate in an activity, to assemble and engage. Congress is eager than any one or few group members. Bigger than any one or few group members. House floory on the is absolutely important in committees, in offices, in the house office and senate the and in buildings, spaces around town. In democracies it is difficult to have politics without participation. Host ronald in davenport, florida, good morning. And i i have a comment was watching cspan this morning. The lady earlier was blasting virus,j. Trump on this that i disagree. I think donald trump is doing a wonderful, wonderful job in trying to curve this virus. Job inoing a fantastic my book, and i think everybody in america should applaud john old donald j. Trump. I really do. Host larry in galesburg, illinois, good morning. Caller i would like to ask the gentleman, a report i did on msnbc about the democrats wanting to start investigations into the handling of this coronavirus, and how is Congress Going to Work Together if that happens . Host James Wallner, any thoughts . Guest both of these comments highlight the importance of a place where the representatives of the American People adjudicate their concerns. Congress should be ready to investigate any president , regardless of political party, whether they think that president is doing a good or bad job. That is the job of congress and i would expect the democrats wanting to investigate donald trump. They may want to for narrow partisan reasons or large reasons. James madison told us ambition must counteract ambition. It matters less why they are doing it than the fact that they are doing it, and i would fully expect republicans to want to do it if the situation were reversed. Madison, physical disruptions of congress go back to 1812 and the burning of washington by the british. Congress has plenty of experience and most recently, 9 11. Guest before that. If you look at the situation in philadelphia in devon t 93, there was a 1793, there was a yellow fever outbreak. The city of philadelphia had approximately 50,000 inhabitants at the time. 20,000 fled. Over 10 of the population perished. This was a big deal and citizens in the streets, they would recoil when anyone tried to shake their hand. President washington writes James Madison asking his advice on what to do. Congress was not meeting and he wanted to know, do i have the authority to have Congress Meet in a different place . James madison said no, you dont. It is ultimately on congress and they have to convene to take action. Host charleston, West Virginia, this is joe. All thei am hearing negative stuff about donald trump. I was born and raised a staunch democrat. This congress, speaking about congress, they have to be completely embarrassed and they are not. If they want to bring up charges against donald trump, they have got to be kidding me. They are acting like plump fools. Plum fools. Donald trump still walks with his head up high, chin up. This guy is tough, one of the toughest guys. You really would be more comfortable with joe biden in this place, this predicament, this time, as opposed to donald trump . There is no way in the world i would vote democrat ever again. In rancho mirage, california. Caller i am saying that congress, if they dont watch out, will become a cyber congress. They will not occupy the house at all, do everything by computer. They will exist but they will be more outrageous being congressmen. They will yell each other at each other and do worse things because they do not have to see and interact with each other. It will be that way if this keeps going. Host your point is that congress i the constitution has to meet in person. Requirese Constitution Congress to meet in person. Assuming it doesnt, the caller has an astute point. Someone sit down with facetoface, you have to acknowledge their individuality and their views and affirm them if you want to persuade them. When you dont have to do that over virtual space, so if congress convenes virtually it becomes more difficult for them to do the job of persuading, bargaining, negotiation. That is how we make decisions in the democratic republic like the United States of america. Host what are the key things that Congress Learned from the aftermath of 9 11 . Guest you saw after 9 11, security was increased significantly and that is important, but it is also important on what you alluded to, the war of 1812, and the yellow fever outbreak of 1793, congress has a long history and experience dealing with epidemics and threats to its security, and fleeing the place it meets to meet in different places. This isnt necessarily a new thing. What is new is the way in which we view congress. Congress is a factory and if congress shuts down, the production line stops moving, that becomes problematic and we have to secure all cases of that production line to keep going. That is not the place of congress. Congress is an activity called selfgovernment. Host during the cold war, separate facilities were made and i assume they still exist, secure places where congress could meet in times of national crises. Is not a possibility here . Guest absolutely. There is talk about threat of members of congress flying. Maybe they should not have left in the first place or maybe they should stay put and selfquarantine. Staff can work remotely but the members need to be there. During the cold war, there is a secret bunker in the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia. That is capital ready for them to meet. There are lots of things we can do to making congress a virtual congress, and the problems that entails. Host we will hear from kay. Caller i would like to discuss what you mentioned about the calm constitution, that to have a quorum members have to be present. Corporate boards have amended president ws so that is either in person or electronically. There is all sorts of new technology in which people can meet, see one another, talk, and we are in a state of emergency. I think your insistence that present means in person is inappropriate in this circumstance. Host thanks. Guest i would clarify for your viewers that the quorum requirement says a majority of members are sufficient to do business, it does not say present. Amendments ofr the constitution like the 25th president isn the to be removed from office, they have to assemble within 48 hours. Theimpeachment clause says senate requires two thirds vote of senators attending. Your caller is absolutely correct. You can interpret these things in different ways and i imagine there will be a push to do so, but there are costs to that. I am not sure congress can operate via zoom or skype. The question is that i would ask everyone to consider, what are the pros and cons . It seems there is a lot of focus on the pros and not so many who want to acknowledge the cons and the real cost of doing business in that way. Host our capitol hill producer has been keeping track of the members. Positivers have tested , but a number are selfquarantining. The pace seemed to pick up yesterday. And wagoner, the Senior Deputy aip perp participated in Small Group Meeting with a colleague with covid19. Out of an abundance of caution i will be selfquarantining. Next, aston,don pennsylvania. Caller congress and senate both are off mondays and fridays to travel. They have a luncheon on wednesday from noon on. Congress and senate, they dont spend enough time on the floor. I never see more than five or six on the floor at any one time in the last few years. Lying donald trump should have a show biggest liar and bobblehead temps. Pimps. I dont know what they have in mind. Mitch mcconnell said we will make sure obama does not get elected and then we will ruin his legacy. I dont know what in the world they expect to get done anyway. Guest that is a very good point. A lot of the frustration American People are experiencing with congress relates to the fact that congress is not adjudicating their concerns. They do not see congress working. Congress has turned to a parttime congress that no longer does the job American People want them to do. Frustrated. Ears if we go to virtual representation, that will only exacerbate what people say is the problem, that Congress Needs to work, adjudicate more concerns. In hisng Mitch Mcconnell refusal to act on things the Democratic House sends to him, all senators are the same. Majority leader mcconnell is not the emperor of the senate does not have the ability to stop other senators from trying to force votes on those priorities. Minority leader Chuck Schumer and any other senator has all the power that they need to force those issues onto the floor of the senate and force their colleagues to adjudicate them if they so choose. It is just easier now to blame mcconnell. Host if you want to send a question via text, that number is 202 7488003. One from ed in arlington. Has the executive ever acted to increase its power at the expense of congress during an emergency crisis or other similar circumstances . Guest that is generally the way things happen. In congress, it is not something the executive does against congress well. Congress aids and abets it. It is a first of the presidency and Supreme Court and the judiciary to do things. They are not doing things American People want them to do. To go into a virtual setting i believe will exacerbate that and make that more of the case. Host david in grand rapids, michigan, good morning. Voting i am watching the that was going on in the senate and stuff yesterday. Shakingching these guys hands and standing on top of each other and im going, where is the example . President ,o when the when they are giving their updates, they are Standing Shoulder to shoulder. Where is the example . They had that gentleman from utah on television this morning. He is actually pretty sick. Why dont they have the ability to work from home in a situation like this . It seems like it is against the rules at the moment. I understand there are some cons to it, but at this moment why arent we figuring out a way to have everybody work from home . Host part of this happening during a week when the house is technically out. Guest correct, and the house has the power in the constitution to determine the rules of their proceeding, so they can set rules for things Like Committee hearings. I would encourage everyone to reflect on what they Want Congress to do and whether congress can do that or whether they could have acted differently until now to do that, to take action, and then to take some time off, take a month or two off and congress either stay put or go home. Congress is not the executive branch and they are not charged and executing the laws administering federal programs. They conduct oversight and have to provide funding, and they have passed two coronavirus bills and are working on a third. The pros, are there other ways of dealing with that . Can congress not pass those laws prior to going home, or can they quarantine in place and continue to pass laws because that is the job they have been elected to do. Host in washington, we have richard. Caller i am concerned about the role of the media in portraying congress and its process. Ais morning, a story ran by reporter named mac that claimed senator burr had been briefing individuals about things secretively about the coronavirus, and the information conveyed in the recording in the story was information that is widely known by the american public. I am concerned about the quality of journalism and throwing gasoline on the fire by the media. Host James Wallner, going back to capitol hill, what restrictions have been placed on the media for covering congress . Guest leadership has advised reporters to keep their distance. For anyone who spent time in the senate, there is usually reporters who huddle around senators. They have been advised keep their distance. The house and senate have closed, the capital doors, and this is Something Congress has done before, during the 1918 influenza epidemic. They did not try to conduct their proceedings virtually. There,hnology was not but they continued to operate on a skeleton staff to do the things they thought they needed to do. Host somewhat tongue in cheek on twitter can we vote the 25th amendment to remove house members . That will work. Remind us with the 25th amendment is about. Guest if the president has been incapacitated, the cabinet can Congress Must assemble their request to remove the president from the office. Congress business must take place in a place. They must assemble for a purpose and members must be there to do that. If there are not a majority of members, congress cannot do business. That is the whole point of a representative assembly. If all of a sudden that place can be their own room, their own itement, home office, becomes something entirely different. There may be reasons to do it and i am not going to say they shouldnt, but we should consider the cost of doing so. Host on impeachment, can a member of congress be impeached . Guest the senate during the first impeachment trial of senator william blunt refused to take action. That has been interpreted that the senate will not impeach or convict someone if they are a member of congress. Only officers of the federal government and federal judges are subject to impeachment. Host joseph in joppa, maryland. Caller my question is about the payroll tax. What concerns me is the income tax is coming up shortly. Income tax aso well as payroll tax . I have not heard any statistics on russia. All of the other countries in the world have reported on the coronavirus but i have not heard any numbers on russia. Tax, theyhe income have announced an extension if you owe income tax, 90 days. Frederick maryland, goa frederick, maryland, go ahead. Caller thank you for all you do. I am a little bit concerned about the policy in place regarding testing. I feel like it is going a little bit slow. Kitsabout the testing insecurenible] feel about the disease can self test and use the required phone number and Contact Health care, instead of going to the drive thinkh or testing which i may be a little bit complicated, and slow down the disease propagation . That is my thinking. That is what i have a question. James wallner, in terms of testing, members have become somewhat of a priority. If you are thinking about how the house might turn next week, what might return next week, what might we see . Guest i imagine skeleton staff, staff working from home which was the case during the last government shut down. The house and senate demonstrated they can operate without a large number of staff, and the staff who had to stay home were not allowed to work. There is nothing that would bar the staff from working remotely. They can get to and from the house. I live approximately 11, 12 locks from the capital blocks from the capital. You can get to and from congress for most of the members who have places to live on capitol hill. For those who dont, they can try to figure out ways to seek accommodations around the capital and they can arrange for safe transport to and from. Host we have talked about congress. What about the federal courts . Many of the hearings in court have been delayed or postponed. What about the Supreme Court . Guest the Supreme Court postponed oral arguments for the First Time Since the outbreak of 1918 that struck washington, d. C. Particularly hard. That is something, there is going to be a cost to that. Know thed to and i continuity of Government Commission looked at this and there was a big concern and a recommendation to take lots of different steps to allow the courts to meet or have interim emergency courts, but we have courts all over this country that can adjudicate legal cases as they arrive. Many cases take months if not years to work out, and these are things that need to be done on an emergency basis. The Supreme Court is no longer a factory then congress is. The executive branch, there are things for First Responders and emergency type situations we need to have in place. Congress and the courts seem to whether this weather this just fine. Host James Wallner is our guest. 202 7488000 for those of you in the eastern and central time zones. 202 7488001 you are at the R Street Institute. Guest it is a Public Policy institution in washington, d. C. , and we focus on trying to find Real Solutions to problems. Itnot doctrine attic works with the number of Coalition Partners and it is a think outside the box to come up with Creative Solutions to the problems we face today, using the best research and people we can find. Host what is your office doing to keep people safe . Guest we have gone to remote working, but that is something that R Street Institute can do. We are not a representative assembly, and many other things in washington, d. C. Have gone remote as well. Host lets go back to the calls, mark in huntsville, alabama. Of youri am not sure knowledge. From a verystion good friend of mine about the stimulus package and it passes and gets signed into law, and about the 1000 or 2000 they will pay everybody, one in april and one in may, but im concerned about a friend of mine who has not worked and had a job in like three years. If you are not earning a paycheck, i imagine you are not paying taxes. James wallner, might be out of your area of expertise. Guest i am not sure what the final legislation will look like for the stimulus package and what limits they will place on income and who qualifies. They have passed legislation to deal with Unemployment Insurance and there are other programs in place for people affected by ,his in all types of situations especially those most vulnerable , to seek help and assistance. For those who are falling through the cracks, that is a real concern. It is vitally important there is a place and group of people there to adjudicate their concerns. That is what congress is and what congress does. Host we will talk a bit more about the third piece of legislation that congress will take up after 9 00. The house is coming in at 9 00 briefly, a pro forma session. How are you . I became an american citizen moved to year and i the u. S. 10 years back from 2008 10 years back. From 2008, i follow politics a overnd what i have seen the presidency, the primaries come on, i saw directly all the , all theg media congressmen were dead against him, but the democrats signed it. That is the same thing happening now when a republican was chosen as president. I know he is not a perfect man and there are a few things we can definitely say he is out of line, but if you take a simple example yesterday, he called it the china virus. As the new sentiment of this see where continue to fake news from the chinese media, some guy mentioned it is the u. S. Army who spread this. Basalarly know there is a issue in wuhan. Is it possible something went wrong that might be an entirely different thing . As a president , he is blaming them and calling this china virus, but the media and everyone going against saying, how can you call it . I understand people will get hurt from china. And thanks for your call congratulations on your citizenship. Guest this is been a longstanding issue. The idea that the media is not supposed to be partisan or does not dissipate in sensationalist attacks is not one participate in sin tatian sensationalist attacks. Press was partisan writing sensationalist poetry and attacking the situation at hand. It is a time that books were being written. The media has long played in this area, so this is not something that is new, but it is important in this moment that we try to rise above this and recognize that we are in this together and try to Work Together to come out of it. Doesnt mean that people do not have important concerns and should not try to voice those. They need a place and people that can voice those for them, and that is what congress does, and it is the medias job to point out what congress is and is not doing. Host 9 11, members of congress Holding Hands on the step of steps of the capital, that would not be doable. Guest Public Health crises issue a different challenge to Representative Government that other emergencies present because you have to participate. You come into close contact. How do you mitigate that challenge . Threatyou mitigate that without sacrificing the underlying activity and importance of what it is there to do . That is the way we need to enter into this conversation and keep front and center, whether or not congress ought to have remote or proxy voting. York. Scott in a lien, new , aler i am scott godfearing christian, and i usually say this, god less american humans bless american humans but im going to say god bless all of us. Congress, two and a half or three years ago, i believe we viruses werehat flukes and the scientists were shipped to europe because we wanted no part of this medical fake news, fake news with the global warming, it was all fake news. Congress needs to look into this . Congress should have been looking into their jobs. The ball stops somewhere and it is on the poor people, humans out there. Wait and see what god is throwing at us next month. Host one more question did Congress Learn anything the most recent epidemic, what did they do then . Guest Congress Passed legislation in october. The epidemic had been going on for quite some time and the legislation at the time. It was not until world war ii that congress started to get its act together. A lot of Things Congress will learn from this situation and that is how it should be. Congress should learn about this and write new laws and conduct their activities a little differently. That,y in which they do is it compatible with the constitution as it is written and with their charge to be a representative of the assembly . Wallner, thank you for coming by. We will continue to get your reaction and thoughts on the u. S. Response to the coronavirus pandemic. Those of you0 for in the eastern and central time zones. 202 7488001, mountain and pacific, and our special line for medical professionals. , therday in Ottawa Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed the closure of the u. S. Canada border. I have some news to share regarding the canadau. S. Border. I have spoken to President Trump about what we can do to slow the spread of covid19. The deputy has been in touch with the Vice President and secretary of state. And we to the president agreed that canada and the United States will temporarily restrict all nonessential travel across the canadau. S. Border. Talked to President Trump and we have agreed that canada and the u. S. Will prohibit any nonessential travel across the border for the time being. To cross the border for recreation and tourism. We are encouraging people to stay home and telling our citizens not to visit their neighbors if they do not absolutely have to. This collaborative and reciprocal measure is an extension of that prudent approach. I want to be clear that essential travel will continue. Our governments recognize it is critical that we preserve supply chains between both countries. These supply chains ensure that food, fuel, and lifesaving medicines reach people on both sides of the border. Supply chains including trucking will not be affected by this measure. Canadians and americans cross the border every day to do essential work or for other urgent reasons. That will not be impacted. All canadians are feeling the impact of covid19 to make sure that you remain safe we are recommending that everyone work from home, avoid Public Places and buy only what you need in kind,ocery store, and be show empathy and compassion to those around you. Best toall do our protect our health and those of our loved ones. Covid19 is forcing us all to change our ways and for a lot of people, that is a huge adjustment. If you work in a restaurant, drive a cab, or freelance to pay your bills, working from home is not so simple. Just like if you work in the oil and gas sector or the seafood industry, you are looking at global uncertainty in the economy and wondering how long this is going to last and how long your savings are going to last. No matter who you are and what you do, this is a time you should be focused on your health and that of your neighbors, not whether you are going to lose your job, not whether you are going to run out of money for things like groceries and medication. Last week, we announced a whole range of measures to protect jobs, Small Businesses, and the economy, from waiving the unemploymentd for insurance we introduced special measures to allow employers who fall on hard times during covid19, and if your business faces a cash crunch, we will help you bridge to better times working with our financial crowns corporations to better protect jobs and businesses, with 10 billion in credit. Washington journal continues. Host the house coming in at nine for a pro forma session. 9 00 for a pro forma session. The senate today in at noon. The president tweeted this yesterday i only signed the defense production attack act to combat the chinese virus. In the future, hopefully there will be no need. Our producer tweeting about that this morning, Speaker Pelosi saying the president Must Immediately use the powers of the defense production act to massproduce and coordinate distribution of these critical supplies. There is not a day to lose. The reporting of the financial worst u. S. China ties in decades after expulsions. They have reached their lowest years over than 40 the racial tinged words and mass expulsions. The deterioration comes just months after a phase one trade agreement between the administrations of donald trump and xi jinping appeared to have stabilized the worlds most important bilateral relationship temporarily. In a move reminiscent of the most tense moments of the u. S. Soviet cold war, Chinas Foreign Ministry announced it would expel almost all u. S. Nationals working in the country. They were trying to increase their china accreditations from two to three, will have one reporter left in the country. Jenny in liberty lake, washington. Caller good morning. You just read that the president said we are all in this together and our communities are just now but the wayesting, it will look is Law Enforcement and Health Care Workers go first, but i know my community. Everyone will want to be tested, so i have this great idea that if we had instead of drivethrough testing, driveby testing, put together teams of emts or Healthy Volunteers and do the triage, get temperatures and handout information in our neighborhoods. My question is how can atebody who has a good idea a Grassroots Level get that out into be executed . Who do i call in my community . Is there a resource for that . Host you are probably on the right track, call the Health Department in your community. Go ahead with your next point. Caller it has to do with the financial part of it. Does your guest think it would be a good idea to get Financial Planners into the public conversation . People will have this money, they dont have anything to spend it on necessarily, but even that amount of money that you have needs to be planned best how you spend it. Parents of young kids would say, you have to save some of your money, give some of your money away, and my goodness, there are such great opportunities for giving. Jimmy kimmel is doing something on youtube and every day he is highlighting a charity you can give to. On the spending part of it, can we produce something in our country that doesnt take a lot of resources, to buy and sell in our Public Market . We have creative people sitting at home looking for something to do. Host jim is next, illinois, welcome. You are kind of noisy. Are you on a speakerphone . Caller can you hear me now . Host it is a little noisy but go ahead. Caller i just was wondering about when President Trump was getting impeached and the senate , i heard that was all they could do, they could not monitor everything going outside in the world. They were focused on the impeachment more than anything else at that time. I was wondering if when they were on the trial for impeachment, Everything Else was on pause and gets focused on the trial basically, if that is true or not. Michigan. , hale, go ahead. Caller good morning. It on the supply and demand that we have right now, on the essentials especially, i watched your former guest and one lady said in hawaii they do not have this. R not this or that i see no problem with having these trucks. Our Trucking Industry is huge and should be running as far as i can tell. All schools being closed, they should be running these trucks and stocking up on essentials per the governors request on where we should be putting these essential supplies. Them at actually buy those locations and so on. And off topic this emergency ition, it seems to be dont want to call it the retailers but for essential parts of it that are demanded highly, it seems like we should have this stuff dropped right off from the truck at these schools and so forth that have been closed, and people will not even have to go to the Grocery Stores. Host a similar sentiment expressed earlier. Congressrom donna physically together so i can see who shows up every time, sticks their nose and their phone, who sensationalize his. It reiterates they are useless. Congress used to make laws. The house will be gaveling in, in a few moments or so for their pro forma session as we have every year for the last 41 years. Ronald in robert in connells bill, pennsylvania. Caller i am an 80yearold man from pennsylvania. I watch bloomberg television. I watch newsmax, cspan. , i haveant understand never heard anybody, the president , doctors, lawyers, congressmen, i have never heard anyone mention gods name which is very sordid. If everybody would get together in this nation and pray to god, i say this virus would go away. Host albuquerque, new mexico, richard. Caller i think that was a good one that you had on the last speaker about putting god into our country again so that everybody can get together and the lord can see that we are humbled and we need him. Another thing too, you know what i mean . Virusr thing is that this that is moving around so much, you guys are saying all over the place, how come nobody has shown are dying by the thousands . You would think the people that died from this, they would show them on tv. Host the death toll in the u. S. Is a little over 150. Thanks for your call. More calls coming up. The house is gaveling in next for a pro forma session. We do not expect any legislative business. Take you live to the house. The clerk madam, pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2h of rule 2 of the rules of the u. S. House of representatives the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on march 18, 2020, at 4 16 p. M. That the Senate Passed without amendment h. R. 6201, signed, sincerely, cheryl l. Johnson. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to clause 4 of rule 1, the following enrolled bill was signed by speaker pro tempore hoyer on wednesday, march 18, 2020. E clerk h. R. 6201, a bill making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2020, and for other purposes. For eaker pro tempore what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition . Mr. Raskin mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to take from the speakers table the bill s. 3503 and ask for its immediate consideration. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk senate 3503, an act to authorize the secretary of Veterans Affairs to treat certain programs of education converted to Distance Learning by reason of emergencies and Health Related situations in the same manner as programs of education pursued at educational institutions, and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore is there objection to the consideration of the bill . Without objection, the bill is read a third time and passed, the the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. For what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition . Mr. Raskin mr. Speaker, i send to the desk a resolution and ask for its immediate consideration. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the resolution. The clerk House Resolution 905, resolution relating to House Resolution 891. The speaker pro tempore is there objection to the consideration of the resolution . Without objection, the resolution is agreed to. And the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. No what purpose does the other purpose. Pursuant to section 7b of House Resolution 891, the house stands adjourned until 11 30 a. M. On monday, march 23, 2020. Host we are joined by appropriations and budget reporter jennifer shep to talk about legislation signed by the president. Trump signs coronavirus aid package with one more to come. Tell us what was in the measure and what to anticipate beginning possibly as early as today . Guest the measure the president signed that passed Congress Overwhelmingly is the second of what will be several funding packages the government plans to pass to address the coronavirus outbreak. Aid,cludes expanded food paid sick leave, and other funding provisions meant to reduce the Economic Impact of coronavirus. And bolster the health care industry. Host the next measure coming steveegotiations with onepagereleasing a blue point of proposed measures called the stage iii proposal. Guest conversations have been ongoing for a while about this their package. I think in total it is going to come to about 1 trillion. The biggest thing most americans are waiting to hear about our direct payments. Those negotiations are ongoing. Secretary mnuchin said on Foxbusiness Network that those checks will be about 1000 per adult, and 500 per child. That is one of the things we expect to be in this package today. Mitch mcconnell is expected to release the Senate Republicans version of the package. After that, he plans to sit down with Democratic Leaders in congress to negotiate a bipartisan legislation. To passy, you need it the house as well. That is something that is moving quickly. Indicated needs to be close to the team close to the chamber. We could see text moving quickly. That would move over to the house of her votes. Host given the track record of the senate, this is a new position of them in terms of being able to negotiate with Democratic Leaders, isnt it . Guest i cover the annual appropriations process. To get all of those funding bills every year, that does require bipartisan cooperation. There is policy differences in washington, especially in an election year, i am used to talking to lawmakers and staffers who consistently have to work in a bipartisan manner. Hise mnuchins role and history with working with nancy pelosi on those funding deals and debt extensions is something they are working off of as they have called back and forth all day or night about getting these tryulus bills completed and to how best avoid recession. If not, reduce the duration of severity. Host just some of the support for economies proposed, this stage three proposal, 50 billion in secured Lending Facility for the Airline Industry. It says, other distressed sectors. Where they try to target out of the money . Guest right now it looks like that money will be going to businesses negatively impacted. A lot of them are tourist related. Planned,d a trip vacation, you have probably canceled it. There are bookings decreasing. The cruise industry has been hit hard. They could be part of this. The airlines are going to be another big part of that. They are trying to figure out right now what are the main sectors of the American Economy being hardhit, and what to the need. ,ost as debate continues Jennifer Shutt, appropriations and budget reporter. Thank you for your time. Guest thank you for having me. Host another member of the house testing positive. A tweet hear from Kathleen Rice. A statement from Kathleen Rice regarding selfquarantine. She says, i have learned that someone i am in contact with has tested positive for covid19. After consultation with a physician and out of an abundance of caution, i will be selfquarantined until friday. I am currently not expecting any symptoms and feel healthy and well. We continue here, getting your thoughts on the federal response to coronavirus. Your costs are welcome at 202 7488000. Eastern and central time zones. 202 7488001 for mountain and pacific. For medical professionals, 202 7488002. At 202 end us a text 7488003. Make sure you tell us where you are texting from. Christie in casper, wyoming. Caller hello. I was wondering if donald trump the be going to take on [indiscernible] host i did not catch your question. Could you repeat it . Caller i was wondering if donald trump will be going on the texasbased having soldiers there who are quarantined . Host i am not positive about that. Lynnhaven, florida. Caller two things. Legalize marijuana. Those funds should be able to supplement and implement the expenditure of the stimulus. Can you hear me . Host yes, we can. Also, it is time to bring out the big guns. Every resource should not be overlooked. This is trillions of dollars in revenue flow that could aid the government. Employers that have the ability to have their workers work from home and failed to do so should be fined per applicable employee. The ability to do that, and they did so quickly. Passes, we were issued for travel because it is mandatory for us to be there. Mental health can be done by telemedicine. Mostly all of it can be done from home. They mentioned maybe we were going to work from home if you have the ability, after they passed out these passes. They not implementing it. Companies that do not do it should be fined big money and be exempt from receiving stimulus from the government. That is all. Host thanks for that. Tim burchett in newton, new jersey. Is, peoplequestion that are here under the wire, illegal immigrants, or people who have been here for years, what is being done to reach out to them anonymously so that they know theyre not going to be prosecuted to make sure there covid virus is not populations . Ice there is a story that is suspending their Immigration Enforcement for the time being. Birmingham, alabama. You asked earlier about elections. You didnt give a response. Why havent we heard nothing about russia . Host birmingham, alabama. We talked to Jennifer Shutt about the third measure that may provide up to 500 billion of aid to americans. Joe mansion of West Virginia on the floor of the senate talking about the proposed 1000 payments. Let me throw Something Else that you. I do not think that you and i need a 1000 check. I think there is an awful lot of people in america who still have a job, even if they are working from home, that is not going to change their life with that 1000 check. Think about the people that truly do need that. People on the frontline who have no control. They dont have a guaranteed source of income unless they are earning it everyday. Them you think we can help more through expanded Unemployment Benefits working through the system we already have in place . Dont you think that might be a better way . Businesseshe small who were at the point where they have no ability whatsoever to continue to operate when there is not enough capital or reserves . Dont you think we can help them through the sba, removing restrictions and red tape . , waitoyment benefits times . Things of that sort would help. Dont you think large corporations, which i know everyone is concerned about, they got a tremendous tax break. They will come back. They can afford to pay back a loan a 0 interest. Helping keep that part of the notnomy stimulated, but to a point where we put our grandchildren and a debt they cant avoid. Thatverage working person gets up every day and finds out there is no work for them. They are already on employment. They were in the system. Small businesses are struggling. We are to the point where we are going to bite off a lot more and we are going to write checks that our children cant cash if we are not smart about this. Today,he New York Times give every american 2000 immediately. Every american. Politicians need to move quickly. The United States has never experienced anything quite like this. Disjuncture caused by coronavirus. Airports and walls are empty. So collapse is happening fast it is invisible in standard data, but startling facts are piling up. Restaurants compared with the same day last year. 1 5 of respondents said they were working for fewer hours or had lost their jobs. The economy tends to slide in two recession. The crisis, they write, requires an urgent response from the federal government. Step, sendportant 2000 to every american immediately. I come and tear from bill in warren, michigan. What we will be needing his Health Insurance. Im concerned that all those losing jobs will also lose Health Insurance. How is this being addressed . We go to james in montgomery, illinois. Thanks for waiting. Caller good morning. I am noing to say that china but i watched it in they are waiting until people get sick here before they do anything. The trump virus, not the chinese virus. All of these senators want to cut and run while we have doctors and nurses on the front line . What a joke. Wake up. Host one take on calling it the china virus from upstate new york says, the president s use of the term china virus is reprehensible. Most reasonable americans agree that his rhetoric is repugnant. Bernie from new york. Caller morning. Come together. To stop playing politics. Republicans and democrats it makes no difference. Do the right thing. April 25, when we are in the middle of this nobody is talking about what happens when people run out of money and Grocery Stores are shut down. What is the government going to do . Are they going to set tractortrailers up at walmart . Nobody is talking about food. A caller, icep to is holding most immigrant enforcement in the u. S. They will focus on criminals. They are temporary holding enforcement except for efforts to deport foreign nationals who have committed crimes or pose a threat to safety. The change comes amid coronavirus outbreak and aims to limit the spread of the virus and encourage those who need treatment to seek help. Buchanan, pennsylvania. Martin, go ahead. Sandersons doctors and nurses who have retired, what are the chances these hospitals say they may want to come back to work for a period of time . Six months to a year, and maybe the government [indiscernible] [indiscernible] richard, springdale, arkansas. Actually, it is elkins. Two points to make. Number one, sick leave. What is going to happen is joe is going to get a fever. He is going to stay home for two weeks. He is going to go back to work and watched two weeks pay. The government is going to come out and say, your tests came back, you did not have coronavirus. Therefore, you are not going to get paid. Two, when this is all over, can you hear the commercials now . A loved one from covid19 . You may be entitled to compensations. The lawyers are going to go nuts. Host carol in laramie, wyoming. Caller high. Hi. I work with the school district. We are off until the fifth of april. We are just getting out of spring break as of friday. On sick leave because i had elective surgery. Monday, when i was supposed to go back and continue Health Insurance, now i am on unemployment. My Health Insurance is dropped. I have two more appointments. Unemployment for a month is half of one paycheck. Congress decides, we need a break that does not help us. There should be an emergency session, try to get us through this instead of worrying about whether theyre going to get elected in november. Watch it for cspan, i every money. Host i hope it works out for you. The senate is in session today. 00 eastern on cspan3 cspan2. The pandemic could last up to 18 months and include multiple waves of illness. Thely two months since first case. The federal government is preparing for a pandemic that could last 18 months. It could include multiple waves of illness. A report obtained by cnn shows hospitals have already sounded the alarm on quickly vanishing supplies as the outbreak shows no signs of slowing. In 24 hours, cases soared by 20 . The government announced it would help make up for supply shortages and deploy two hospital ships. Nearly 9000 americans have tested positive, and 149 have died. That report from late last night, the number is now over 9000. Glasgow, missouri. Caller hello. I am aering retired nurse. Years ago, we did isolation and we had to use cloth gowns and masks. Listening to tv, we had a doctor that was having to use hold onto his mask for a week. Mask for ase a couple of hours, you have droplets and moisture. Retired, i am a quilter what would be the chance if a bunch of quilters got together and made masks . They would be washable and reusable. , you when you are a nurse used cloth masks. How long would it take you to make a mask by quilting . Probably 15 minutes. People a group of you know, doing it how would it work . With disposables came along we were thankful. Host that was my next question. Is there even a system left in hospitals these days . Everything is disposed of. Caller you would think for this period of time, people could come together and someone could wash them in hot water. Just using your mask for a whole week that is going to put them at risk. Host have you called your local hospitals that they might be interested . Caller i have not. You to seeng out to if your listeners can come up with a solution. We need to pull together. Host good idea. Thanks for that. Usa today with a story about italy. Italys hospital nightmare preview. A grim hospitals are choosing who gets lifesaving breathing machines and who doesnt. Couldthis scenario that repeat in the United States, experts warned. The capacity in italy hospitals if the preview of a movie that is about to play in the United States. The two best indicators of what things will be like in the u. S. Is the number of covid deaths in italy, and the number of icu beds. We go to alan from arkansas. Caller high. I thought there mightve been a fobs mber for germ germ of herbs for expert commentary. I happened to call in and mistook the number and got in on the medical professional line. Phobe exceeds a medical professional. I feel like i have been Walking Around the next few weeks with my palms of palms up. Have been complaining about these things for years and people say dont bring that up. Could see thef we germs and viruses in the air in any room we walk in, we would not walk in most rooms. Party happy to gather and ,ost as a lifelong germaphobe what is your guidance for the rest of us . Caller thank you. I have some. The purpose of my call originally was to i have been searching for a county map, maybe you could find one input maybe you could find one and put that up. Host what kind of map . Caller a kind a county map of where they are showing up per county. Like you see for national elections, you see a county map of blue and red. Help for whatould i see is a ridiculous hysteria. , but ii am a germaphobe think this is absurd. Shows find one where it statebystate the national map where cases are showing upper county. Showing up per county. I was talking with my daughter days ago, reminding her that we at one of i looked these other viral outbreaks and several different states never one conversation 17,000 people died. I remember seeing news reports, thats all. We traveled all over. Up, neverssue came any warnings. I contrast that with what is happening today. I think there is something peculiar about that. May mention one last thing about thanksgiving . This is our 400 anniversary of thanksgiving. I want to remind everybody that was aboard the mayflower. Everybody likes to say it was with the indians and all of that. This thanksgiving is our 400th anniversary. Mayfloweron board the when they read the mayflower compact. That led to the declaration of independence. Lets be thankful through the rest of the year through thanksgiving and celebrate that coming up. Host thanks. Map of counties. This is a Johns Hopkins map of the u. S. Arkansas, 37 confirmed cases. 9415. Nwide kojo in from alexandria, virginia. Caller good morning. I have two questions. Is about Health Insurance [indiscernible] if you are notn able to pay for insurance . Question, i am a coindividual transport owner. You need to have insurance paid every month to travel the roads. D. O. T. Should be able to [indiscernible] what is happening with individual companies. 1700 every month to have your insurance so that you can work on that. Airlines and cruise ship send other people. I have not heard anything about this practice happening in transport companies. I do not know what is going to happen to my business after two months if i do not get insurance. The d. O. T. Is going to deactivate me. What are they saying to insurance in terms of this coronavirus . Host have you asked that question of your Insurance Broker . Caller i have not. I just thought about it listening to you. I have been hearing about companies and individuals, but i have not heard anything about transport companies. Transport companies which we own, we pay taxes. Host thanks, youre the second or third want to ask about Health Insurance. We do not have an answer for you, i am sure we will be getting into the topic. A followup to our previous color from wyoming coming here is a story from , hospital workers make masks from Office Supplies submit shortage. Hospital workers in Washington State have been making gear out of supplies and other runofthemill materials as they deal with a severe shortage of materials. Among the supplies, clear vinyl sheets. We are close to being out of face shields. System masks that is a bloomberg. Com. Largo, florida. Caller good morning. Hi first, i openly admit i am disappointed in my fellow americans. Stopped, were be curtailed providing most of us follow suggestions. Stay home. They have closed beaches because people are on them. Why are you going . That is disrespecting your fellow citizens by tentatively promoting, or dispersing wrong words. This virus stop, guys. Listen to the recommendations. Stay home. I know it is hard. , would like to ask a question since these masks and things that are normally in stockpile from the government i am far from a doomsdayer. I am wondering if perhaps the government is trying to hold onto some of this as a protection to the United States of america. I believe our entire country is of a protection. We are vinyl role. We are vulnerable. That vulnerability allows for an attack. It may not be logical to some, but i am curious as to perhaps that might be the reasons for holding back some of the supplies and why we are not getting out to the rest of it. Theres a lot we do not know. I am pretty sure they are not going to tell us. T would be a bigger stair scare tactic. Again, people in the United States, do as you are asked. 67, and i truly do not want this. Free yard best weed in the country because i stay home. Host rick is next up in wheeling, West Virginia. Caller i want to mention the president is going to discuss the various drugs they have been working on to treat the virus. That may end up being the key thing here because if they can get drugs on the market quickly i not talking months that may shortcircuit this whole problem. Also, in regards to the president s popularity regarding the virus, a recent harris poll shows 57 say he is doing a good job. There are other polls to say things similar. I think the president is doing an excellent job. When you cut off travel to china early, that was significant. The drugs he is going to talk beingtoday could end up the wildcard that really shortcircuits the sole problem. This wholercuits problem. Host the president is scheduled to visit fema. As Environmental Task force a briefing this morning at a limit clock. At 11 00. Defend the wartime president. The right, when americans are at war they tend not to swap president s. The reference medicine at the war of 1812. Addresss inaugural before appomattox. Roosevelt notched a third term and a year after troops in iraq, bush defeated john kerry. What if the enemy is invisible . Not a foreign country, but the lethal disease that forces americans to shelter in place indefinitely as their health, jobs and wages hang in the balance. President trump is about to find out. After fumbling his initial response of covid19, and dismissing the threat for months , trumppreads from china has turned to the one concept that seems to work politically. Days after he issued a National Emergency declaration, the new york businessman who famously avoided the vietnam draft multiple times, informed americans wednesday he is now a wartime president. The president treating a similar sentiment this morning, we are going to win sooner rather than later. This is our medical professionals line. Caller host do us a favor and mute your volume. Caller [indiscernible] i work for an Insurance Company and i am seeing a lot of questions about that. Mad tele tell a med having problems with other providers in their network. That is a big problem. Health is shot up. I work every day for an Insurance Company. Our clients are out of control. We need to rethink the china deal. Everything is coming from china. When we need it, it is not there. Pandemic address a when everything is outsourced. It is time for congress the house to come home. I listened to pelosi say we are leaving, but she needs to say there she needs to stay just like the senate. They need to stay and protect this. That is their job. Whatever that can be hacked. This is ridiculous. I am so sad. I want to cry everyday. We let america go. A better deal, and then we got lazy, the same thing over and over. Pass this to appease people. No hard work is being done by our elected officials. I am not blaming trump. He walked into this mess. Man. One nobody canoe this. Nobody can do this. He may have said some things are done some things or acted in a way but who can trust americans anymore . I wouldnt trust if i was trump, i wouldnt trust the democrats either after going through all he has gone through. Work together, folks. We can do this. We are better than this. Is the headline in the hill this morning, u. S. China relationship worsens over coronavirus. To rhonda in lake geneva, wisconsin. Caller i talk a lot, so im going to try to make this quick. We are in a shutdown. Not a bad thing, we are in a facility where you cant go anywhere. We are not allowed to go to stores. Other people are still working. Thus people who are working are around other people. We are staying home and doing what we are supposed to. The kids are staying home. Other people are out there, still working. They are still going into Public Places and they are bringing they could get coronavirus two weeks from now they went to work. Now they get sick next week and they still go out. It is just going to keep spreading. When we close everything down, we close it down. The only thing that should be marines,army, protectors, nurses and doctors. They should not be leaving unless they are called in. If everybody could force themselves to stay in for three weeks, we could have a better chance at beating this and be done with it. If anybody is out there going to spread it again we are just going to keep repeating itself. We have to learn to do what they say and stay in. Host thanks that. Lynn joining us from portland, oregon. Caller i just wanted to say i do not think it is a good idea to send every american a check. I agree with if you apply for unemployment, you probably need a check. Banks, would you miss a mortgage payment or two, they require you catch up and pay it all at once. Be, have them by mandate able to add those payments on the end so when people get their jobs back have an ability to pay. Systems like that that are in place are better than blindly mailing everyone a check when not Everybody Needs one. 202 7488000 host host Vice President pences daughter charlotte is an author. Masters ining her theological studies at harvard divinity school. She has an opinion piece in the washington times, the american spirit never left how americans come together to defend the nation against a common threat. She writes, in the last two weeks we have seen americans come together. We have a common adversary once again. It is no match for the power of the american will. Industries are working together, avenues of business, government and culture moving in assisting through them. Theough unprecedented in Current Situation of a worldwide pandemic, it is not surprising. I have seen people move in a way they have not in a while. Angers talking to other strangers talking to one another. People taking an interest in their fellow man. A woman asking a construction worker how he felt. Oo tours we are rediscovering our humanity. The economy and markets will recover it for now, we can rest at the toughness of the american spirit never left. Charlotte pence. Washingtontimes. Com decatur, georgia. Caller so many topics able to respond to. That is a beautiful thing, the woman suggesting that people get together and make bandages and thanks things. Great inc. Itt a is to have you eliminate all of this good morning business. More conversation could be had if we spent time with formality. Rid of thist preacher that stands up at taxpayers expense and tells us god has a crisis. That money could be spent on something that does good. Thisabout removing taxexempt statics status of the churches . Do i love my cspan. What a format for people to share ideas. Keep up the good work. Host back to the hill. A story about the dean of the house, don young. Dismisses beer virus. Don young dismisses the dangers of the outbreak while speaking in his home state, claiming the , mostly bywar representations of the mass media. He made the comments while meeting in palmer alaska nonprofit that provides housing for the elderly. It the coronavirus, i call it the beer virus. How do you like that . It attacks Senior Citizens, am one of you, i still say we have to go forth with everyday activities. The 86yearold congressman says the deadlines the deadliness of the virus was blown out of proportion. Claiming, it is not nearly as deadly as viruses we already have. John is next in massachusetts. There is a concern here where if you are born in the cradle of freedom our Founding Fathers worried about that we didnt know how generations would handout. Whoave two generations now never served anybody but themselves. They are rewarded for what they did. We have an invisible enemy. Is hard to have in them. I hear the older folk, i am 70, the older folk who have been having to do something for someone else in their lives things like ellen making their own mask even at 70, we might have to step up and tell these kids and younger folk that it is time to serve a purpose that is better and bigger and different than they have ever done. Reward thanks for giving me a chance. Host iris from uriah, alabama. Caller hi. Hope everybodys feeling good. First, i would like to address my son is a construction worker. They started taking temperatures at the gate when they go in and when they come out. He is working the for toilet paper. I heard the virus is contagious seven days before you get symptoms. You can still catch it. Taking their temperature before you go in and coming out thats not doing any good. I was wondering more about russia. I would like to know more about Social Security people. Host Social Security whether you will get a check in this proposed legislation, part of the payments proposed . Caller right. Host the wording so far says taxpayers. Sayoes not specifically Social Security recipients, but this is a one page document. Santa fe, new mexico. Tony. Suggesti would like to our leader in chief can only run hismouth wanted to tell americans to stop hoarding food. Can i suggest that he suggest people who made the billions of dollars on health care could hoarding their money . Where the pharmaceuticals that have screwed americans, get back to our deal from the bidenobama years and was allowed to negotiate all this stuff. Maybe it will start treating symptoms of what i consider the underlying epidemic pandemic that has been a plague on this earth, the economy. Stupid,t the economy, it is the environment. Cing humanity over profit not profit over humanity. Going back to the treasonous citizens united, they should resign. This court and those people there should resign or be thrown out of office. Host that is tony in new mexico. Front page story about testing in the New York Times. Headline, politicians, celebrities, influencers and nba teams have been tested for the new coronavirus. That list of rich, famous and powerful people grows by the day. So two questions about whether they are getting access to testing denied two other americans pick up. That those who were found to be infected and isolated themselves provided a good example to the public. With testing still in short supply, leaving healthcare workers and many sick people unable to get diagnoses, some prominent personalities have obtained tests without exhibiting symptoms. Refused to specify how they were tested. Page of the New York Times on that story, some of their examples they mention on the photo, the Brooklyn Nets managed to arrange tests for the entire roster. Four were positive including kevin durant. Heidi clune the tv personality heidi klum said she was finally tested. Come e at nytimes i and mytimes. Com caller want to comment about the a listers. I think it is great they are given highprofile need for testing, but especially the New York Times which says as many as 30 of americans do not seem to think the viruses serious. Alaska a senator from described this as a beer virus. This is the uninformed stupidity that is going to sink the ship. Ceo of capital was on cnbc and practically had a meltdown. I cannot help but feel that the guy in charge of investing millions of dollars would not be well informed as to the risks facing us, yet we seem to be ignoring them. His will in cincinnati. We go to patricia in phoenix, arizona. Caller good morning. Thank you for this program. You have a great producer. Somethings to echo new mexico talked about, i think this is a very severe illness. I wish that people would stop the tit for tat business calling it a chinese virus, beer virus, lets call it what it is. It is serious. People need to get serious about what they can do to protect themselves. We cannot blame young people about not doing anything. People are of young industrious, hard workers, quit blaming them. Quit blaming old people they are sitting around taking money hogwash. To suggesto like that people asking us to do as they say not as they do begin to act like that. Every time i see administrative people talk, they suggest we stand six feet apart, they are breathing down each others next. I have to stand six feet apart from everyone in the drugstore, but the administrators who are telling us how to handle this are breathing down each others next. Why . Why cant they be good examples of who we are . That is what makes me so angry. We do not have a good example of who we are as a hardworking nation a hardworking free country. Thank you so much. Make it a great day, everybody. Our attentionught about how long coronavirus can actually live on a surface. Writing, can coronavirus really live three days on plastic . People have been sharing an eyebrow raising report that crude virus can live on cardboard and stainless steel. It can come up the details are complicated. Short version, levels of the virus dropped dramatically. In the new england journal belson journal of medicine, the rate of decay, how much it takes national and reporting particular on the new england journal story. We hear from will in cincinnati. Caller hello. I am a 60yearold retiree. I want to comment on the previous caller from california who mentioned that the current president walked into this mess. He did not walk into a mess. He walked into a solid economy. Thanks to the leadership of the obama administration. He proceeded President Trump proceeded to make a mess of the last three years of his administration. Handed point, when he that humongous tax break to the top 2 when they did not need it, and Warren Buffett did and wanted did not want it, that was another thing that caused moderate and workingclass people trump dismantled the pandemic withthat was associated the National Security council of global health. Now, we have coronavirus. When people talk about trump making a mess, no. He didnt make obama didnt make a mess, trump is the one who made a mess. That is all i wanted to say. Two alabama, this is david. To alabama, this is david. Caller when people talk about a list or people being tested first, and a lot of what has come into this country is people who traveled the globe quite often. I do believe they need to be tested and quarantined. The simple man needs to be tested too. I dont agree with your last trump that president isnt doing anything. I think him and his people are doing the best they can. , i have been by myself, i am on ssi, and im by myself most of the time. Host is somebody looking in on you . Caller i am able to go places and things like that, but im not able to go and work 40 hours for somebody. This, youpoint of just need to calm down and do the right thing. Supplies host thanks for your call and take care of yourself. That will do it for us on washington journal. We will be back tomorrow as always at 7 00 a. M. Eastern. We hope you will be too. Another update from the white house Coronavirus Task force is scheduled for 11 00 a. M. Eastern today. Vice president pence and perhaps President Trump will speak. Later, the president travels to a fema conference with governors. The senate last night approved the second Coronavirus Relief bill, 908. Senate majority leader Mitch Mcconnell is expected to put out his phase three Coronavirus Relief bill on what is expected to be a 1 trillion plus package. Senator today, mcconnell will speak with senator Chuck Schumer about the package. We do not know how long this will take or how long it will take for a vote. Senator mcconnell said i recommend senators stay close. Everyone knows we need to do it as quickly as possible because the situation demands it. You can watch on our companion network cspan2. Two members of the capital have tested causative for the virus and others positive for the virus and others have gone into selfquarantine. Of the physician has been carefully monitoring recent developments including two members of the United States house who have tested positive for covid19 who are in good condition. My office has taken appropriate actions to identify individuals who require additional monitoring. Ae office has identified conservative guideline to identify individuals who may come into risk. Aker pelosi released this the president Must Immediately use the powers of the defense production act to massproduce and coordinate production of these supplies. We must put more testing, protective equipment that protective equipment, and ventilators in the hands of our medical profession or. It is easy to follow the coronavirus outbreak at these men. Com coronavirus. Rack around the world any time unfiltered at cspan. Org coronavirus. Washington governor jay inslee briefing reporters on the inloyment department washington, the impact covid19 is having on his state