Is even there has prevented me from using the Constitutional Authority that were given, that were given under the recess provisions. The senate should either fulfill its duty and vote on my nominees or it should formally adjourn so that i can make recess appointments. We have tremendous number of people that have to come into government and now more so than ever before because of the virus and the problem. We have to do it and we have to do whatever we have to do. They have made it very, very difficult to run government. I dont think any administration has done anywhere near what weve done in 3 1 2 years but every block, every week, they put up roadblocks, whether it is russia, russia, russia, or whether its impeachment hoax or whatever it may be it is always roadblocks and a waste of time. If the house will not agree to that adjournment, i will exercise my Constitutional Authority to adjourn both chambers of congress. The Current Practice of leaving town while conducting phony proforma sessions is a dereliction of duty that the American People cannot afford during this crisis. It is a scam, what they do. Its a scam and Everybody Knows it and it has been that way for a long time. And perhaps it has never been before, never been done before, nobody even sure if it has. Were going to do it. We need people here. We need people for this crisis and we dont want to play anymore political games. Ive been waiting for 2 1 2 years, three years, some of these people and theyre great people. They left law firms. They left jobs. They gave up everything to do it and they have been waiting for three years, 2 1 2 years, two years, one year to get approved. It is ridiculous. Everyone knows theyre going to be approved but there is only so many hours in the day when you go through judges and you go through lengthy hearings on judges that they know should be approved immediately and they could do it in one session, one, and they could do it in one hour. And instead it takes them many days. In order to advance the health and security of our nation and all nations as we announced yesterday the u. S. Government has put a hold on funding to the w. H. O. , World Health Organization, pending a review of the organizations coverup and mismanagement of the coronavirus virus outbreak. Over objections of the we took Decisive Action and early lifesaving action to stop travel from china. They didnt want to do it. They were angry that we did it. It took a long time to have them boeing but i have a feeling they knew exactly what was going on. Tragically the other nations put their you trust in the w. H. O. And they didnt do any form of ban. You see what happened to italy. You see what happened to spain. You see what happened to france. W. H. O. Guidance failed to control the borders at crucial phase, quickly unleashing the contagion around the world t was a horrible, tragic mistake or perhaps they knew. Im sure they didnt know the gravity of it but perhaps they knew. Because if they knew the gravity, that would be an even worse offense. To ease the economic pain of millions of American Families we have now processed 300 billion in loans to more than one million Small Businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program. This action has saved millions of american jobs. It has been an incredible success, and they want to replenish it now but again the democrats dont want to do that. This is money that goes to the workers of our country. Phase one was 350 billion and now phase two, we want to do 250 billion. This goes to workers and it goes to Small Businesses so we can save all the Small Businesses around our nation. Mike mcfarland from nebraska recently said this historical relief has been a godsend for his small factory and the 136 americans who work there. Saved those jobs. Another Small Business owner, tim miller, from oklahoma, called the program a total lifesaver for his auto repair shops four employees. Stories like these underscore why Congress Must replenish the Paycheck Protection Program immediately. The republicans want to do it immediately. They want to do it immediately, they want to do it now and the democrats are stopping it. A short time ago cdc issued Public Health guidelines for Critical Industries. In a few moments agricultural secretary sonny perdue will elaborate on how these guidelines apply to our nations dedicated workers in the Food Processing profession, because it is a profession. It is incredible what they do. God Food Processing and theyre keeping Grocery Stores full. The shelves are not bare like the shelves i inherited when we took over the stockpile, the medical stockpile where the shelves were bare. The cupboard was bare i say. Tomorrow i will also be leading a call with elected officials who will consult with my administration as we work to restore our economy to full speed and we really think with all the stimulus and all the pentup demand well have an economy that really comes back quickly and would like to see it more than match what we had before. What we had before was a miracle and we think this will be even more than a miracle. We are going to do it because we have the greatest people in the world. Well also be speaking to americas governors tomorrow and then well be announcing exactly whats happening. You already know well be opening up states, some states much sooner than others. We think the states can open up before the deadline of may 1st. And i think that will be a very exciting time indeed. Governors are looking for it, theyre chomping at the bit to get going. Again not all states are the same. Theyre very different. Some are verying very little problem. Some have done such a good job theyre having very little problem and theyre ready to go. Vice president pence and you will be speaking with the governors tomorrow. Well be discussing procedures. Today i spoke with the leaders of many of our nations most reknown companies and organizations how to achieve the full resurgence of the american economy. My discussions included top leaders in health and health care, transportation, technology, financial services, food, beverages, hospitality, real estate, retail, agriculture, construction, energy, labor, manufacturing and sports industries. We want to get our country open again. We want to have our sports leagues open. You want to watch sports. It is important. We miss sports. We miss everything. We want to get back. These experts and innovators provide extremely productive feedback how to safely reboot our economy. They gave us a lot of great ideas. We spoke to a lot of very, very smart people, the highest of the hightech. The level of i. Q. On some of those calls was about the highest you ever seen on a phone call, that i can tell you. But we have a lot of great thought went into those calls and a lot of questions came out and also statements, very strong statements, as to what they recommend. It was, i think it was a great day. I, we did a lot of calling with a lot of very prominent people but more importantly very smart people and people that love our country. They talked about the vital importance of our wide array of relief measures to address the present crisis and they provided valuable insights how to move forward including on the role of protective gear where we have tremendous amounts of protective gear coming in. We have robust testing and the future use of therapies and treatments. They also underscored the crucial importance of strong supply chains and communications infrastructure. Were talking about infrastructure for the middle of our country. Talking about broadband and things that, frankly they dont have and havent had for a long time because a lot of politicians forgot about them. Cant forget about them. Theyre really the heart and soul, cant forget about them. And were talking about the telemedical, a new thing and its incredible what they have been able to do. This is an industry that is just growing but it has grown by leaps and bounds over the last five weeks. People are learning so much, without the ability to see a doctor theyre learning so much. A lot of good things are happening. Thats something that is really Going Forward i think going to be very important for our country. As weve seen throughout our proud history america has never greater than when our people are working in unison toward a common goal. That is what is happening right now. Well go ahead, well forge an even Brighter Future today than we had and will be, along with other nations hopefully. Were working with other nations. Well be the comeback kids, all of us, all of us. Its incredible whats going on. Im very proud of the people of this country. Im very proud of the people i spoke to today. These are truly great, brilliant people. And we gained tremendous insights. Tomorrow will be a very big day. Well be speaking with the governors. Well have some information on some openings. Again well have some openings that will be, will exceed our expectations and they will be safe. They will be strong but we want to get our country back. We want to get our country back and were going to do it and were going to do it soon. With that i would like to ask dr. Birx to come up and say a few words. And then secretary sonny perdue. And then Vice President pence. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, mr. President and thank you for summarizing the states and what were seeing. So over the last five to six days weve seen declines in cases across the country and this has been very reassuring for us. At the same time we know that mortality and the fatalities that were facing across the United States continue. We know the number of people who are still in the hospitals, in the icus, we want to continue to recognize the Health Care Workers who are on the front loons and really recognize how low the United States case fatality rates are compared to other countries and this is really due, not only to our technology but how that technology is utilized to save lives. At the same time im inspired by the American People who continue social distancing. These cases continue to decline because of the strong work of the American People. Also wanted to let you know we do have nine states that have less than 1000 cases and less than 30 new cases per day. So were looking at states and metro areas as individual, individual areas. We talked before about how each of these curves are different. Each of the cases experiences are different. We have some states like california and washington state, oregon, that never really had a peak because of so much work that their populations did to decrease and keep the new cases down. So each much these individual states and individuals metros are being studied. It is very specifically. I do want to highlight. We are remaining concerned and we have been having discussions with rhode island. Rhode island and providence are in unique situation. They had increasing cases from new york city area. They have increasing cases from the boston area. Theyre caught between two incredible hot spots in the country. Theyre doing extraordinary job caring for individuals on the front line but providence continues to have new cases. Were working with states that have individual occurrences. I remind the American People again, this is highly contagious virus. Coming together there is always a chance that asymptomatic person can spread the virus unknowingly. No one is intending to spread the virus. We know if youre sick you stay home. All of you would like to join together, have the dinner party for 20, dont do it yet. Continue to follow the president ial guidelines. We really appreciate the work of the American People. We see as a country were improving we see as metro areas were improving. We see as communities, counties, states, were improving but that also still requires everyone to still continue to social distance. In the end we have states with very few cases and very new few new cases. These are the ones that the president is referring to, that have been silent, relatively silent throughout this epidemic and pandemic many of us faced. These are the groups working with very specifically and each much these governors and each of these mayors will have to make decisions after generalized guidelines are put out so that they can do whats best for their communities. They are at the front line. I wanted to conclude by really thanking my pet pepfar teams throughout the world, working tirelessly throughout the world that africa and asia doesnt experience levels we have seen here. They turned overcapacities of their embassies. Our u. S. Hires throughout the world, our ambassadors are on the front line with the local staff, working with ministries how to confront this virus around the globe and i assure you theyre continuing to invest in the health structures, the laboratory, the front line care to insure all of the work that we have done against tb, hiv and malaria continues but that we use our capacity, our laboratories, our clinics, our hospitals that have been built by the American People and the generosity of the American People to really combat this covid19 around the globe. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, doctor. Sonny, please. Thank you, mr. President. For the opportunity to be with you here today and to, i want you to know it is an honor to represent you leading the department of agriculture and represent constituency who are crucial in maintaining our nations food security, enabling us to keep food on the table of our American Families, not only just food, but wholesome and safe food as well. I would like to start my remarks today by echoing what my colleagues, the cdc, have been saying regarding the health and safety of our essential employees across the United States. Cdcs provided strategies there that are aimed at helping our most critical workers both in health care and in Food Processing, quickly and safely return to work after potential exposure to covid19, provided those workers are symptomfree and this guidance will help these Critical Industries in the food sector protect the health and safety of essential workers while keeping critical functions working throughout the covid19 response. As we know any employee who develops symptoms while on the job should go home up immediately and interim guidance is in line with cdcs recommendations for Health Care Workers, caring for those sick with covid19. We appreciate the dedication and commitment of all of the brave men and working women working to keep their communities fed. Well continue to work with the cdc to keep those individuals as safe as possible during these challenging times. In that vein there has been a lot happening this week as covid19 is impacting Food Processing facilities as you know. For americans who may be worried about access to good food because of this, i want to assure you the American Food supply is strong, resilient, and safe. In fact our Food Supply Chain has shown tremendous agility and shifting production and logistics, suddenly from restaurant and institutional settings to retail settings. To all the employers out there in this sector, it is critical that you follow cdc guidelines and guidance and best practices to keep all of your employees and people safe and healthy. To employees and local Public Health officials, advising them, the cdc has issued guidelines on how to mitigate a situation, if you have a positive case in one of your facilities. We need our local Health Authorities and our state Health Authorities to do everything they can to balance the demand of keeping our facilities operational and our Critical Industries going while at the same time keeping the health and safety of employees as a top priority as well as our communities. So i want also to take this time to thank all of our critical essential Food Supply Chain workers. The entire country is counting on these patriotic individuals by doing the work in our Food Supply Chain. These dedicated workers include obviously farmers and producers but also processers, truckers and Grocery Store workers as you know. America is depending on whether you have the food we need to feed our families and youre the ones making that happen, thank you. As an entire nation were truly thankful for the work youre doing and we recognize youre the true patriotic heroes during this National Emergency along with our Health Care Workers. Before i sign off here, mr. President , i want to remind you, all of us of one more thing. In the United States we have plenty of food for all of our citizens. I want to be clear. The Bare Store Shelves you may see in some cities in the country are demand issue, not a supply issue. The way food is prepared and packaged to be sold in a restaurant or a school is significantly different than the way it is packaged for you to buy in the Grocery Store. Our supply chain is sophisticated