Questions on the possibility of economic aid in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the federal Surveillance Program and President Trumps aim to curtail the powers of social Media Companies by executive order. Mr. Mccarthy before i begin this weekly press conference, i want to do something different. I want to spend a few minutes paying tribute to an American Hero that we lost yesterday. You all knew him. Congressman sam johnson. He was a hero in every sense of the word. Sam was a republican member who served in this chamber for 28 years. Before being sworn in, sam had already done to this country than anyone else. You see, sam was an air force pilot and flew missions in korea and vietnam. He was shot down and served in hanoi hilton seven years. 3. 5 of those years was in solitary confinement. He was one of those type of individual it was just an honor to get to know. I want to tell some personal stories so the rest of the country can no who this hero was. Sam was on my deputy whip team. There and he could eat three or four donuts within a meeting. I remember one day we had new staff and they did not get krispy kreme. I heard sam Say Something about it. And i quickly called a staff member who was still home to get krispy kreme to bring them on down. Down to the floor i snuck in a , couple of them for sam. When you looked at his face and smile, you knew he deserved it. Every new congress, i would buy a number of sams books. The reason i would buy them is because i remember reading it as a freshman. For anyone who has ever tried reading this book, you cant read it in one setting. You will become emotionally upset knowing what he had to go through, of his go telling of his life story, telling of him being shut down, the treatment, the broken arms, the number of times as a prisoner being put in, he would tell a story of the north vietnamese putting a rifle to his head or taking him out to kill him. And in that moment came when he is telling the story, he would almost smile and say, you know what . Their gun jammed. He could find happiness in the most unbelievable times. And in reading his book, it brought me to tears knowing what he had to go through. I remember seeing him on the floor, i walked up to him as a freshman and i said sam, i just finished your book. I just want to thank you for your service, and i have to tell you, i cant believe the things you went through. Sam just hit me and said, you could have done it. No. Very few people could ever do what he did. Even in the times of his almost daily beatings, he tells of a time i would take him to dinner, i would buy all of the freshmen the book he would , sign it and he loved ruth chris. He knew the certain one he wanted to go to certain steaks , he wanted to buy and certain red wine. As we would go, we would give it we would give him all the stories. And i remember him telling this one story and its in the book as well, he was being brought in to one of his captors who woulde of his captors. He knew what was going to happen. He had a hard time walking. His legs were shackled together. Individuals who are holding him. He tells them, we are going to escape. We are going to go back to america. Do you want to go with us . He never lost sight of the greatness of this country. America is more than a country. Americas an idea. An idea worth fighting for, dying for. He proved it every step of every day of his life. We lost somebody who watch these halls that was an honor to serve with. An honor to call friend. I think he deserves more time than just the time i was able to give to him today. Lets talk about this week. It was a historical week. A week we have not seen in the 231 years of the history of this chamber. For the first time, the democrats have now allowed proxy voting. America,he history of from the yellow fever of 1793 to the civil war to this building being burned down during the war of 1812 to 9 11, world war ii. All of those challenges, weve always found the opportunity to lead. ,e believe we are essential just as all those americans out there are doing their essential work. Doctors, delivery drivers, dispatchers. The democrats believe differently. Two weeks ago, we voted on the heroes act and 12 democrats could not make it. Yesterday, even though they were given a two week notice to come back, more than 70 voted by proxy. Decision,o this proxy the speaker gave a lot of stringent fax of how this would be used. The guidelines specifically stated that you must be unable to physically attend proceedings in the house chambers due to Ongoing Health emergencies. Insisted voting by proxy was intended to be the last resort, an alternative to traveling to d. C. Due to health concerns. Promised thatrman this step would be temporary and tied to the pandemic. Cristday, charlie admitted he used the proxy vote to attend a space launch in florida. An event that is 150 miles away from his district. The other side of the state. There, it took him 2. 5 hours to drive there. The same amount of time as a flight from d. C. To tampa. Instead of going to work and serving as the voice of his constituents, charlie decided to play hooky. In doing so, he sent the house of representatives a letter. He signed it. Letter, charlie said, im unable to physically attend proceedings due to Ongoing Public Health emergencies. But he drove 2. 5 hours to watch a launch outside of his district. He give somebody else the power to vote. If charlie will cash his check this month. I wonder if those 70 democrats will still take their check. The question before all members of congress on their first day is to raise their hand and swear to uphold the constitution. The constitution is clear about this. They expect us to assemble. If you take chairman the governors own words when you first look at this, he was concerned about proxy voting. He was right then. Hes wrong now. They believe that congress can remain can remake their own rules. They just cant write unconstitutional rules. Word, take them at their they can write a role that says republicans only get half the vote. That women cannot vote. That would be congress writing their own rules. Four,e one, section section five, section six. Very clear that we are supposed to assemble. Very clear that if you are not at work, they can bring you. Clear that someone cannot obstruct you from doing the work. For 231 years, we have found the ability to do that. To gould they want against the constitution to provide proxies . It provides the speaker more power. Thats true. Admitteder yesterday that the crisis is an opportunity, every crisis is. Shes not the only one on the democrat side that believes that. For me, the leverage is that there is enormous suffering. Three said, this is a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision. Last week, even democrats admitted their legislating proposal was more than a wish list than a serious proposal. A pandemic is not an opportunity. A Health Crisis is not a freeforall to restructure our government. We instead should be working together to reinforce the promise and progress we are seeing take place in this country. With that, i open it up to questions. [inaudible] [inaudible] i wasnt around when scarborough was here. I answered yesterday. I dont think there is anything further to discuss. What are your thoughts on the president s executive order on social media giants when it comes to liability issues when it comes to going after certain tweets that people make . Agrees is one place, i the president should be looking into this. I have not seen the new majority take any opportunity to bring this in. We brought a number of ceos in. I agree with what Mark Zuckerberg said. Social media should not be the arbiter of truth of what everybody says online. Its interesting with twitter. If you are going to hire somebody to be the arbiter, you have to look at what they have tweeted. Should the arbiter be an individual that believes any states in the midwest that he refers to as fire for states are racist . We believe those who work for the president should be similar, similar to nazis who worked for hitlers . I would find that a hard truth. Mediaatched what social has been able to do. From a a concern monopoly perspective on some. What Mark Zuckerberg said is the approach that they should take. With the president is doing is correct. Morningpeaker this criticized you and your 180 after for doing a the president s tweet. Did you want to respond to that . What is the path forward on this bill . Previously, Many Republican said these were crucial National Security authorities. [inaudible] what is the path forward here . Toldat is exactly what i the majority leader a couple days ago. I would take a pause. Every single day, we learn something new. Foreign intelligence surveillance. It was used for surveillance on americans. Every day, we learn something more. Shouldnt we take an opportunity to correct that . The speaker is now coming to the same position i told them would be best a couple days ago. Maybe shes upset by this. I think thats the appropriate thing to do. Why dont we get back together, work with the administration, of how theymore misused this and correct it so no american can go through this again . Interesting to me that the former Vice President , now running for president , ambassadors that were appointed by president obama were unmasking people. Look at the timeframe of how it was done. Electedmeones duly republican president , in a time presidency. Ameduck very interesting. At the same time, they know from that whatindividuals they are professing to the American Public about russia was not true. There are some great concerns here. They should be fixed. [inaudible] this is an opportunity to fix it as well. [inaudible] they dont have to expire. While you work on this bill, you could extend it. I think the appropriate place to be is exactly the advice i gave the democrats two days ago. They are coming to that advice today. You should get into congress to find out the differences. Its like a regular order on any other bill. Is everything under proxy vote unconstitutional . What about the pbp ppe vote today . Bringsything taken up the doubt of whether it is constitutional or not. It brings a real day doubt. Thats why there was a previous proxyon, deposit using until the ports courts can decide. It is a legitimate question about the constitutionality of anything they want to move forward. Its a clean version of what you are seeing what the democrats saying this it that this that this would only be used for members who have problems coming because of health. Thats not the case if only 12 missed two weeks ago and more than 70 now. Their largest delegation comes from california. More than half of all the democrats in california state home. Stayed home. Is it being used the way they promised . , theres real questions about constitutionality. Its not just scholars that believe this is wrong. They did, too. They chose to try to invoke more power. I think thats wrong. Questions, comments . There we go. [inaudible] yesterday, a coalition sent a letter calling for a Bipartisan Task force on china. I know that the gop task force was supposed to be bipartisan. I was wondering if there were any talks between leaders since that letter went out about opening up that to both parties. The speaker or to me . Because. As many of you know, more than year ago, i went to the democratic leadership and requested a Bipartisan Committee on china. Months to a number of finally get them to agree. ,e agreed on who would be on it the same number of republicans and democrats. The challenge we have in the next century will be about china. We should have one strategy coming out of congress. Not a republican or democrat, and american strategy. The democrats agreed that when it came time to announce it, they backed away. In announcing that we could not sit back and wait, now that you found what had come through from covid through china. The speaker declined again. I welcome democrats joining our task force. The speaker was asked about china. She was asked about the task force. Do you know what her answer was . Thats a diversion. More thanversion, 100,000 americans killed . Is it a diversion of what china just decided when it came to hong kong . Is it a diversion to stand for freedom . Sam johnson would not have said it was a diversion. He understood what freedom meant. He was denied it for seven years. Democrats joining our task force. I would allow them. America to win the next century as well. Yes . What purpose does a pause serve in renewing fisa . What do you how hope to learn about . You are taking two things and merging them together. [inaudible] let me state it in the manner that my head did. Ago,i called them two days there was a concern that this was not going to be done. Why dont you pause, why dont we work on this with the administration . Im not interested in doing some political game. Pfizer is very important. Let us solve the concerns and make law. They chose to do differently. We spent all day yesterday until they finally came to a conclusion that they could not pass it. What would you do now in this predicament . I would send it to conference. Thats what the regular order is. You have a senate bill that the house could not pass. You have a house bill. Go to conference and work on trying to solve the difference. Thats the appropriate way to go. It has nothing to do with unmasking . I think what has happened, every day we learn more. Every day we learn more. Esntt say, that it deals with fisa. Theres an opportunity. If you learn new information, are you going to wait three years to stop something being used against americans . Would you take an opportunity now to do something with it . I think theres a window. Lets go back to zoom. [inaudible] paul, your line is now open. Good afternoon. Its on the twitter versus trump conversation that continues. The president s tweet was not taken down. A is not censorship to put link with more information alongside it. It wasnt taken down. They put an arbiter of the truth that decided whether it was truthful or not. Twitter has his own personal bias. I dont think thats the appropriate person. Zuckerberg said, he does not believe social Media Companies should be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online. But its a platform to people for people to express themselves. Twitter seems to be wanting to do something different. That is what is concerning. Another question . When it comes to congresss role in this, youve had a few years to try to strike the balance between free speech and eveng sure that its an platform for everyone to express themselves. Where do you go from here . I think congress should actually have when i was majority leader, thats what we did. We had jack from twitter. We had Mark Zuckerberg. We have sunday from google as well. The one thing you do when theres a problem in the world continues to change, think about how powerful these companies are. Almost 90 of all searches go through google. If you are not on the front page, 95 drops off. It influences what you see and know. People talking about the things that they did to influence it. Different programs. I watched the california election. Wikipedia put up that the republican californians were nazis. But influence. I think thats why committees should have hearings on this. To be able to look before they draft legislation. One more question. What sort of congressional action would you like to see lawmakers take in regards to china and coronavirus . The first thing i would like to see is that this is not a diversion. I would like to get to the truth. Lets have open hearings about it. Where did it come from, what did they know, when did they know it . Never again should america have to be a supply chain buckled into china. We should look at many different situations. What is happening in our universities . Why did the fbi have to arrest one of the professors from harvard, being paid by china . What is china doing right now while america is trying to develop a vaccine . China and iran are talking about hacking in. That delays our ability to get to the vaccine. There are so many questions that need to be raised. Unfortunately, this bigger has a great deal of control in the house. She believes its a day version. Its good to see that there are some democrats who disagree with the speaker. We welcome them to join that task force. We believe we should look at this as americans together. The virus is here. We did not invited or wanted. It came from a foreign land. Thats not a diversion. We will defeat it together. [inaudible] sanctions or specific legislation about it . I think there should there could be a number of actions. I would gather all the information. I would wanted to be bipartisan. Unfortunately, the Majority Party inside Congress Today believes it is a version. I dont think those families who dont have family members coming home think its a diversion. We should be held accountable. Gather the information and have an appropriate response. Does that work . Yesterday, you said that proxy voting empowers the speaker. You referenced california members. They told me that they had been in touch throughout the day with their proxy, they spent sent specific written directions. , if thats the way they are doing this, how does it empower the speaker . The speaker gets to control them. 20 people can control all of congress. It empowers the speaker on what comes for the floor. Did you asked that same question of Charlie Crist . Was he able to be at the march launch and monitoring . Did you ask them the first question . When they signed the letter, did you ask them why they could not come . Thats the first thing i would ask. The speaker said this would only be used in severe situations and only if you physically could not come. Im from california. The speaker is from california. We were able to make it. Theres a number of members who were able to make it. Im concerned. , isomebody had covid understand completely. That doesnt give them the right to vote. Everything about to have, there are members who cannot come. The constitution says were supposed to assemble. Their constituents loaned them the power for every two years. They dont loan them the power to give it to somebody else. Yes, how was the largest bill that was ever passed in the history of congress able to be put on the floor and voted without ever going through a committee . The speaker kept everybody away. The speaker wrote a bill and brought you back and you only had one choice. How well are they monitoring it from the floor . Are they only seeing what television is giving them . Are they able to engage with other members throughout the floor . Those are the concerns that i would have. Its unconstitutional. Yes . [inaudible] 4131. Do you think it was unconstitutional . A bill itself that i support doesnt mean its unconstitutional or not. Its the manner in which you vote for it. Im not arguing about a bill being good or bad. Im arguing about the structure in which it was passed. Do you follow what the constitution asks us to do . Why would you endanger a bill like that . Overwhelmingly, all of congress supported. And have people do it by proxy. In the guidelines for a proxy, it literally says, if youre having problems, the staff can direct how you vote. When was the staff ever elected . Its not the bill. Its the structure of how you vote for it. Thats what the constitution requires. Thats what we should do. [no audio] [inaudible] maybe i didnt clarify. , if the persones who is monitoring whats going on has a problem sending what they are doing, staff can send it in. How do you know that the member told the staff to send that in . I think thats a real concern. They didnt give you a chair . [laughter] [inaudible] do you think the president gave the country false assurances about how did the virus would be . Ive been in meetings in the situation room, bipartisan. Dr. Fauci gave me the almost exact same answer. That this would go away, like influenza. He also told me masks should not be worn, only if you are sick. Every day, people learn something more about this. President trump made the decision to stop the flights coming from china, when 22 other people thought something differently, the president made the right decision. Those who were giving him information did not have the right information. I know you are concerned about the president. I wish you would be concerned about those 100,000 such as i am. Lets go to where this started. When it first came forward that this came out in china, what did china do . They stopped flights, but only domestically. They allowed it to go internationally. When President Trump offered to president xi that we would Center Experts and doctors and others and they denied, did the president make a wrong decision . When the World Health Organization told the entire world that it doesnt transfer from human to human, and he still shut down those flights, did the president make a wrong decision . No he did not. If you are going to try to judge him when you are sitting and looking at what china has done, its appalling to me. Lets stop playing political games about people who lost their lives. Why dont we know that we now have a virus here that came from a foreign land that lied to an entire world and let flights go knowingly . While they were doing that, they were recording all the personal protective equipment. People are not going home. People have died because of this. The idea that you want to ask a question politically in that basis, to me, thats whats wrong. Our focus should be on solving this. Our focus should be making sure that we get a vaccine, the antibodies. Exactly what we were doing. I was just talking to the ceo of a pharmaceutical company. They are going through it and it is very promising. They believe they can have a vaccine this year. What we are doing is a government, led by President Trump, we are supplying the funding so we can have 100 million of those dosages if it comes to fruition. It is faster than we have ever done before. The fda is approving things. We just hit 50 million tests. Everybody else in the world, have they done that . You did not affect question. [inaudible] i understand the questions you want to ask. I think the health of america is too important. We are continuing to build. I want a vaccine today. I would have wanted our scientists and doctors to be allowed to go to china. I would have wanted them to be honest with the rest of the world. I want to stop playing politics and save more lives. Thank you for your question. Have a good day. Cspan will have live coverage of the spacex crew dragon long on saturday starting at 11 00 eastern. The launch is scheduled for 3 22 p. M. The crew will be the First Manned Space Mission to launch from u. S. Soil since the final shuttle launch in 2011. The crew spacecraft was originally scheduled to launch wednesday afternoon from Floridas Kennedy Space Center with two nasa astronauts aboard but the launch was rescheduled to saturday due to weather. Watch live coverage on cspan