Zoom. Good morning to you. I want to talk about the Coronavirus Response you just answer that question we had been asking viewers throughout the morning, the state of Race Relations in this country getting betteror getting worse, saying the same . I think theress and flows. Its still bad in this country, no question about that we had hearing in ways and means about healthcare disparities and you look at the effect of the coronavirus on persons of color throughout our country africanamericans, latinos, have such a higher incidence of infections and deaths and healthcare disparities, so many Different Reasons as to why they exist and not something i felt in my home county back in 2002, 2009 was the fact that in the United States of america representation of africanamerican doctors, of latino doctors, is so small in comparison to the overall dies of the population and theres a lack of cultural competence. Connecting people with the exact same Health Insurance. An africanamerican, and an asian that can help Health Insurance with the same disease, that same wealth status and the outcomes will always be worse in africanamericans as of the lack of cultural competence and a lot of the problems that exist related to politics quite frankly is just a lack of understanding of what peoples lives are like who are different from themselves and we share so much in common but depending where you live and the color of your skin, depending on income level and which they are from, the lack of understanding one of the things we need to work on all the time considering out how we can understand each other better and help each other better. Theres no reason this taking place at a mansion began for an alleged crime of passing a counterfeit 20bill. Al green on the floor in the house yesterday who called for a war on racism in this country, something akin to the war on poverty orthe war on drugs. How do you do that from capitol hill, where to start . Its really just very difficult when theres so many different messages around all the time and getting the focus on a particular message at a particular time. Thereare people that will try and insight unrest between different groups. We saw that in 2016 campaigns where the russians were using social media do so civil unrest. Between a black live matter and Blue Lives Matter for example and other issues with our strategic adversaries are actually so unrest in our communities to try and disrupt our democracy area the real way to address any problems in race is a real problem, the race issue is a real problem is to have set the system up, we have adherence and regular order. We have to have democrats and republicans listening to the same information and having conversations to try and find Common Ground to solve problems. When were operating out of a place of fear and anger and fear and anger is justified right now, that when were operating out of fear and anger its hard to solve problems. So its not a matter of blowing out right now, which is understandable, people are blowing up right now and im not getting that. People should be blowing up right now its hard to have a conversation when people are just yelling at each other. We need to figure out how can we get people to sit down and have conversations and debates and how to solve problems that are in the interest of the common good. Figuring out race issues in america is definitely a problem that needs to the address and we need to find what the common good solution is. Conversation with congressman tom sloppy and phone lines lit up as usual, democrats 2477488000. Independence, 2027488000 two, start calling in. The Third District queens, parts of long island, where is your district when it comes to thereopening process . Let me point out we have read, i represent three of the six hardest hit counties in the United States. Where the epicenter ofthis problem. And on the long island portion of my district, we reopened in phase i and we have a phasing system ill be happy to discuss that started yesterday which is instruction and manufacturing read some point only parts i pick up in retail. And then new york city has still not met metrics for reopening. Theres a lot of anxiety a course about peoples health. A lot of morning of people who have died. I lost my fatherinlawfive weeks ago, it was 90 years old. He died within 36 hours. So theres people morning and so much grief and so many families and then you that anxiety about finances. People who are unemployed for people who have Small Businesses reopened yet so theres anxiety, anxious open and i want, there anxious open but theres other people anxious about reopening i dont want to reopen, im scared having conversations in washington yesterday with some of my colleagues , its just so different from place toplace. In new york , you had tractortrailers that were refrigerated with bodiespiled up inside. In other places its like hey, this is time for me to spend with my family in the countryside so we have to figure out the problems we are facing in this country and how theyre different from place to place but we need to the back and understand how its different for different folks again, this goes back to the same question you ask me. We understand the differences we have right now new york is the epicenter or our pieces going down, overall systems are going down. Some state, i have been reports going up dramatically in arkansas and West Virginia for example and its going up in modestly in georgia and the carolinas and tennessee so we need to address the problems for all the different states and different people anddifferent states throughout the century and do so in a responsible way. , viewers throughout the country, atlanta is up first. Lansing field michigan, good morning. Good morning, thank you for taking my call. It was a couple of minutesago talking about Race Relations in this country. Ive got to admit i deleted my facebook and instagram accounts last night was the vitriol that came from people from both sides is not helping. A lot of people want to play judge, jury and executioner for black lives matter and people should just sit and wait, regular people likeme. If im not for it, im against it and that does not sit for a lot of people who just say okay, what happened to george floyd was unfortunate. That is not right. You cant say that to somebody. Its unfortunate. Congressman, will you jump in . I think the bottom line is on the vice chairman of the problemsolvings caucus. Twentyfive democrats and 25 republicans and we meet on regular basis to find Common Ground to address the issues we face in this contribute there are people that are very upset by this incident obviously. And we need to figure out how can we can get people working together in good faith to address the real problem. This is not a new phenomenon. This is something thats been going on for a long time but why is it blowing up six months before an election . I think there are people that want to incite civil unrest in our country and they are going out of the way to do it on a daily basis and they are taking legitimate differences of people have and am not saying theyre not legitimate differences but trying to incite people to fight with each other but we have to be very, very cautious of falling into that trap. They can beat that we write people off because they disagree with us and we will not talk to them anymore or im not inviting you over for thanksgiving. People have to Work Together to address the real problems that exist in this country. In terms of understanding others it was yesterday on the house floor that nancy pelosi singled you out calling you a champion for religious rights throughout the world. Explain the bill that was been debated on the house floor yesterday when she singled you out for that. Right now but [inaudible] is a muggle muslim sect in china that the Chinese Communist party is trying to illuminate and there are over 1 Million People and forced labor camps that are going through system eyes to brainwashing that are big brother type surveillance state that are being forced to eat pork during ramadan and there is a bipartisan agreement, democrats and republicans working together to say to the Chinese Party that we will hold you accountable and save you. That is something i wanted to work on when i first arrived in congress and we worked on a bill, bipartisan bill back in 2018 and its finally coming to the floor. Its taken a long time but theres a real problem that exists in the world with religious freedom but there is a real problem that exists in china with human rights overall. Not only that [inaudible] but with the tibetan buddhists and the hong kong protesters right now when the students and journalists being jailed in china view of human rights is antithetical to what we believe here in america. Since 1970 we thought nixon went to china and the more china was exposed to our economy and to our way of life and our economy and our democracy, i should say, they be more like us but that hasnt happened. They have not embraced the democracy and they become more authoritarian over time. Joining us from his office and you are hearing the bell system alerting members and staff that action on the house floor in the house expected to come in at 9 00 a. M. Eastern this morning were scheduled and we will take you there live for gavel to gavel health coverage. Until then you can call in and join the conversation with eddie is in saginaw, michigan, democrat, good morning. Caller good morning. How are you all doing this morning . Host doing all right but question or comment. Caller my question is to the congressman speaking about the race relation situation. You made a comment saying that it can be the white and the black and it can have the same situation and the same everything can be the same, only differences the race and the color but somehow the whites always going to stand out so if you or if we all know this in the country that race situation is real bad and its always has been and in my continue on but i do know things have gotten a little better but we know it can get better. My question to you is since you know all of this incense congress peoples know all of this what is it that you can do, what can you do . Host good question. Guest the issue i talk about specifically was about health care disparities. I was speaking yesterday at a hearing in the ways and means about the outcomes for africanamericans been so much worse even if they have the same income, disease the outcomes are worse for africanamericans in the same goes for latinos and persons of color. Speaking specifically with the president of a historically black college, doctor hill draw, about the fact that there is not enough African American doctors or africanamerican dentists and not enough latino doctors or dentists and this lack of cultural competence is a major issue and i think we have to figure out how can we encourage more African Americans and latinos to become doctors and Healthcare Professionals and scientists so they have a seat at the table and have a direct influence on Health Care Outcomes in. That is why it is so important to encourage African Americans and latinos to have a seat at the table on so many different issues but this was specifically related to healthcare outcomes. I think that will require scholarships and require because the big problem is if you go to an African Americans out there there settled with this humongous debt for medical school and as a result instead of going back to their community and serving the community they try to go somewhere to make more money to bail that college debt. We have to figure out how to encourage more primary care physicians and tests and other Healthcare Professionals, same thing goes with nurses and other Healthcare Professionals. We need to encourage that to happen. Not too far from your District Across the lower bay is new jersey. This is edward, independent, good morning. Caller hello. I have a quick. Guest i cant hear that. Host edward, well try to boost your volume. Give it a try again. Caller from day one ive heard about the economy and getting everyone back to work but ive not heard anything about coverings peoples expenses for covid related medical expenses and how do they expect people to leave the house and be confident outside of that you get settled with debt and most people at that level dont have Health Insurance. So thank you. One of the first bills that was done in a bipartisan basis was to provide for all testing would be covered by no one should pay for their testing but covered by Health Insurance or any plan, ac, private plan, but there needs to be more done. No question about it. Im glad you got this back to the healthcare issue but i want to talk about this a little bit if you dont mind, john. I want to make it clear what im saying about new york. New york is the epicenter of this problem. We have major expenses, major problems related to treating coronavirus and related to the impact on our economy and state and local governments. My biggest focus since i have been working on this issue over the past several months has been to try to bring money back to new york to address our problems. The thing that made it clear sweet was when he first delivered money to the hospitals throughout america, the hospitals in texas with only two half of the cases got more money than hospitals in new york and in time they had over 35 of the cases. Work hard to get every democrat and republican in new york to sign a letter to secretary of health and to others saying we need to have a special bond that is distributive based upon the rate of infection and that was only a 10 milliondollar fund, senator schumer helped along and republicans in the state and as a result new york state got 4 billion out of that 10 million to help address the problems our hospitals face. The same problems same problems we are facing interstates that are hardest hit throughout the nation and i have advocated for the heroes bill and succeeded and i hope that we will get Mitch Mcconnell and the republicans to start negotiating a resolution for state and local governments. A special fund should be created and dissipated to the states based upon the rate of infection. So, i got every democrat and every republican in new york state in new jersey and others thought the country to support its design a letter saying that they would support a 40 billiondollar fund, 49 billion in the heroes act and the heroes act will be debated between their publicans in the senate and the democrats in the house and the democrats and republicans in each house as well but one thing that is nonnegotiable is we have to make sure that money just riveted based upon the rate of infection must be in these bills. Its essential that people recognize that certain places in this country have been much harder hit than others and need this help to get through this very big crisis. New york state, so your viewers no, is the largest net donor of income taxes to the federal government. We send much more to the federal government then we get back, more than any other state. For the past five years new york state has sent 120 billion more to the federal government that we have received back in services or contracts within our state. Mitch mcconnell, said we dont want to a blue state bailout and states should file for bankruptcy but is mcconnell, ultimate hypocrisy, his state of kentucky is one of the largest net takers from the federal government. Thats okay. We understand that. It is one of the more impoverished states in the country but dont make the people of new york sacrifice during this difficult time. We need help with in the past five years with new york son 120 more kentucky has received 150 billions more than they paid. Now new york needs the help and we need that during this very difficult time as we are the epicenter of this crisis. Host over the past 20 minutes ago the new weekly on a limit numbers to mount, lower than the week before, as expected, but 2. 1 million americans filed new on appointment claims as folks will lose their jobs. The Washington Post noted over 40. 7 million americans have filed for an appointment, yes on affluent rate is likely about 25 . Guest overwhelming. We have to get the economy reopen. No question about that. We have to do it as quickly but as safely as possible. I propose a 50dollar billion plan to reopen america and elements of this plan are floating out there but i tried to put it in a clear document which says we suspend 30 billion on testing and we need to test everyday a Million People, test people with symptoms, test people that event exposed and those that are a symptomatically a half million of those folks we need half a Million People need to be tested that have been sick and recovered to test for antibodies. We need to check exactly where this problem is everything the day so we dont see it and if we reopen and we spiked again the economy will crash. Then you will really see unemployment go up in the stock market go down and youll see lost confidence. We need to test a Million People a day i would argue. Secondly we need tracers. Are we need 200,000 contacted tracers throughout america. Medical detectives so when someone is affected you find out who they been exposed to over the past several days that they could possibly have infected as well and it should be peace corps volunteers, recent College Graduates and Everyone Wants to do community service. 200,000 people, plus Health Insurance and benefits and 50000 for training, 50000 times 200,000 people is 10 billion. Dirty billion testing, 30 billion to contacted tracers. Another tell you billion dollars for country root hotel rooms throughout the country and for five places to isolate if theyve been infected or flayed they have been affected in the camp safely isolate at home because they dont have the space to do that at home. It will be a stimulant for the economy, get down to hundred thousand hotel rooms at night for the next year and cost 10 billion