Impacted by the pandemic. The bill is estimated to be a 3 trillion relief package. He was joined by michigan senator debbie stabenow. Sen. Schumer hello, everybody. Ok, so, good afternoon. Thank you all for coming. Today, the house revealed its plan, the covid 4 bill. It is big and bold. Just what america needs. Our problems are large. Theyre enormous. They are on the health front, the economic front. It will take big, bold action to help the American People. Plan am supportive of the that Speaker Pelosi has put together. And the bottom line is very simple what is it going to take for Mitch Mcconnell to wake up and see that the American People need help and need it now . What is it going to take for him to understand that there are miles and miles of cars on lines tried to geying to get food. For the first time, people who their families are trying to get food. For the first time people are not worried about paying the rent, or worried theyre getting kicked out of their homes. For the first time, we have a Health Care Price that everyone of us is afraid we might come down with an illness that we still dont understand. We need big, bold action. Mcconnell seems totally divorced from that reality. Americans cannot afford to wait for leader mcconnell to finally realize the devastation that so Many Americans are experiencing. How many unemployed americans would it take for leader mcconnell to say he feels urgency and a need to act . How many hungry people would it take . So, the bottom line is very simple we need to act in a big and bold way. The house has started the ball rolling. The republicans and the president ought to understand that and help us move in big, bold ways, not stand in the way. On fauci, i just hope that the president listens to fauci. The president is in such an ironic position. He is desperate we get back to work and that we resume normality, and he refuses to enact the best way to make that happen ample testing so that people know when they have the virus and when they dont so people are not afraid to go to the stores. I read in georgia, something between 86 and 92 of the people did not show up in the stores once they opened, because they are afraid. The answer is testing and this president is just so fuauci said, he warned that suffering and death could be avoided if we dont follow science. President trump, listen to dr. Fauci. Follow science, not your ego. Get this done and we will all be better off. Debbie. Sen. Stabenow let me first join with senator schumer in progressing the house moving in a bold way and putting the people first. I hope that senator mcconnell will be listening to the people in his home state. The families, the seniors. Those who are in desperate need of support because of a situation that they didnt cause themselves, but they are now looking for all of us as a country, as a government to step up iand support them. There are over 4. 2 million covid19 cases globally right now, 4. 2 million. And, the United States has over 1. 3 5 million of those. Think about that. We have over 30 of the cases of covid19 and were just a little bit over 4 of the worlds population. We have more confirmed cases than the total of the next six states. Spain, u. K. , russia, italy, france and germany. So what happened . What happened . We did a study through our policy committee that concluded back on april 15. In fact, the numbers are even more staggering today. Taking a look at what happens and looking at other countries. Heres what we know. You have heard this before. The fact is that south korea and the United States had their first diagnosed test of covid19 on the same day, january 20. Eight weeks later, the United States was testing 125 people per million. And south korea was testing 5000 people per million. 40 times more than we were. This failure left us where we are today. When we finished this report on april 14, there were 10,000 cases in south korea. At that time, over 600,000 in the United States. We have a situation now, as we know, where more than 80,000 americans have died from covid19. 80,000. People. Korea, 258 258 people have died. So, we have been pushing and pushing and pushing for National Testing strategy that includes significantly expanding testing, expanding reporting. Bolstering the supply chain. We have fought for investment on research, on longterm Solutions Like vaccines and treatments and antibody tests. We have pushed and pushed, and we have successfully made it a priority in the last package to include 25 billion for research, manufacturing, administering of covid19 tests. As well as the infrastructure, implementation for Contact Tracing and Laboratory Capacity expansion. Most importantly, and this will be very telling, because that language that we successfully achieved requires that the administration produce a National Strategic testing policy that will focus on actually increasing domestic capacity, including testing supplies. And on may 5, we sent a letter indicating that the president needs to make sure it has details and that it has numbers. So, the bottom line is this for is the truth of the matter despite what the president says right now about testing in his press conference, applauding everything that has been done on testing, the bottom line is this it is still not sure that every american wants a test can get a test. It is not true that every american who wants a test can get a test. 80,000ondly, more than americans have died. Moms and dads and brothers and sisters and grandpas and grandmas, and many of those deaths could have been prevented of the white house had taken this pandemic seriously and acted quickly in january to do comprehensive testing that was needed. And that testing is still needed today. Sen. Schumer thank you, deb. Two points i didnt make. The inaction in the senate. If you didnt know, if you came from a different planet and looked at the senate this week, you wouldnt even know theres a crisis in america. That is how lame the republican response in the senate is. Nothing going on on the floor on covid and not close to the number of hearings we need. Second, as you know, in our law, the president is required to give a detailed plan on testing on may 24. Admiral i have to say his name right admiral dear needed one we million tests on the fall. Give us a detailed plan on may 24 on how we will get there because donald trump said two months ago we had all the testing we need and we dont. Questions . Yes . Can i ask you what your expectations are for the fisa debate tomorrow . Do you believe tara reids allegations against joe biden . Sen. Schumer first, the bottom line is theres a lot of support in our caucus for the amended. Ment. We dont know where the republican votes are, but i think there is support in our amendments. We dont know how it is going to come out. The metoo movement, women were not listened to who were telling what had happened to them. Since metoo, womena re listened women are listened to. I have her joe bidens explanation. I think it is sufficient. I think he will be a great candidate. I think he will be a great president and i think he will help us take back the senate. Let me ask you, what did you think it will take what will bring them to the table . Sen. Schumer let me say this. This is almost the third time we have had this situation. On the first covid bill, the big covid bill, covid 3, mcconnell didnt want to do lots of things. Public pressure and the pressure from his own senators forced them to do it. On covid 3. 5, they were not going to modify the program. Public pressure forced them to do it. Public pressure. The overwhelming needs of the American People. People waiting for hours on line to go to food banks. To feed their families when they never had to go before. Mcconnell will feel the pressure from the American People. The more he looks like Herbert Hoover, the more difficult his position becomes. And hes looking a lot like Herbert Hoover these days. Trump way, sodas donald look like Herbert Hoover by ignoring the problem. Saying weve had victory. Saying its a hoax. Saying we want to slow down and what we do. Senator mcconnell seems to be the liability waivers for businesses. Im wondering where does your caucus come down on this . Can you see this being the tradeoff sen. Schumer we have people starving. We have people being kicked out of their home and hes worried about big businessman being sued because he let one of his workers be susceptible to covid . Come on. Stop the ideological issues. We have a huge, huge problem in america, and mcconnell is focusing on something that is a barrier to getting things done. Yes . There was a coronavirus care at the white house last week. And leaderosi rejected the offer for these machines. Should congress reconsider accepting them . Sen. Schumer the bottom line is what is good for the white house is good for america. If the white house can be tested because they are worried about covid, every american should be able to get tested. Every storeowner should be able to have tests so we can assure his customers. Any business can have enough tests. Whats good enough for the white house should be good enough for america. There should not be a standard, in my opinion. We dont have testing in large parts of america. Thank you, everybody. Journalns washington live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up wednesday morning, the Washington Times jeff moore doc talks about Senate Action on foreign and television the broader debate over government surveillance. Also, two members of the select committee on the Coronavirus Crisis join us. Republican congressman duane luke meyer and marilyn democratic congressman. Dr. Joshua gordon, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, will be on to talk about the impact of the pandemic on Mental Health and the nations Mental Health care system. Watch cspans washington journal live at 7 00 eastern wednesday morning. Join the discussion. Live wednesday on the cspan networks. At 10 a. M. On cspan, the Supreme Court hears the first of two cases regarding the Electoral College and whether electors are required to vote for the winner of the state contest. That is followed by the case challenging the replacement of an elector who refused to vote for the winner of the election. At noon, the National Constitution center in philadelphia reviews the days oral arguments. At 3 p. M. , the House Oversight select subcommittee on the Coronavirus Response holds a briefing on what is needed to safely reopen the country amid the coronavirus pandemic. On cspan2, the Senate Returns to take up changes to the foreign Intelligence Surveillance act, known as fisa. The0 a. M. On cspan3, Senate CommerceCommittee Hears testimony on fcc efforts to bridge the Digital Divide during the covid19 pandemic. Governor Ralph Northam and arkansas governor Asa Hutchison discussed the pro coronavirus pandemic at a Virtual Event hosted by the washington post. This is about 45 minutes. Everyone in virginia made sacrifices, but evhi