Travels globally, it knows no borders, no walls, no boundaries. And music is something that actually looks into the inside and that also knows no boundaries. Woodruff all that and more, on tonights pbs newshour. Major fundingwsor the pbs neur has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, e engine that connects us. Fidelity investments. Consumer cellular. American cruise lines. Supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the worlds most pressing problems skollfoundation. Org. The lemelson foundation. Committed to improving lives through invention, in the s. And developing countries. On the web at lemelson. Org. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org and with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corpation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to ur pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff the coronavirus pandemic is hitting new highs, and lows, tonight. Infections in the u. S. Have jumped to 7,700 confirmed cases and 133 deaths. And, another wave of selling overwhelmed wall street, as the dow industrials fell 6 . Meanwhile, President Trump invoked new powers to address the crisis. We begin with this report from william brangham. Its always the toughest enemy, the invisible enemy, but we are going to defeathe invisible enemy. Brangham President Trump,sc bing the fight against the coronavirus as a war, announced new, sweeping measures to mobilize the country. Defense productionct. King the brangham the defense waoduction act was first enacted during the korea and it allows the government to force companies to sign contracts or fulfill orders deemed critical for national defense. Thislso comes as public heal officials warned that the official count of confirmed infections wilshoot up dramatically in coming days. Dr. Deborah birx, whos helping coordinate the federal response, says thiecause much quicker viral testing is starting to roll out. We will see the number of people diagnosed dramatically increase over the next four to five days. I know some of you will use that to raise an alarm that we e worse than italy because of our slope of our curve. Edrangham dr. Birx also u Young Americans to follow c. D. C. And white house guidelines and avoid lae gatherings like here on miami beach today even if they feel fine and show no obvious symptoms. Im not only calling on you to heed whats in the guidan, but to really ensure that each and every one of you areh protecting eher. And so, we cannot have these large gatherings that continue to occur throughout thtry, for people who are off work to then be socializing in large groups and spreading the virus. Brangham ptosident trump y also announced that the or foreclosures until april. S nud, on the other end of Pennsylvania Ave the United StatesSenate Approved a 100 billion Coronavirus Response bill. The bill, negotiated between treasury secrehiry steven mnand House Speaker nancy pelosi, contains emergency funds and free testing. For workers it is congress latest legislative step, as it also considers ways to ovide relief for Small Businesses and for workers, and stabilize the roller coaster financial markets. The men and women who pour neeir entire lives into Small Businesses do no even more obstacles. They need help. They need a lifeline. They need to know that congress understands the historic obstacles theyre facing, and that we have their back as well. Leader chuck schumd thisminority pandemic demands an even greater response. Democrats a proposing a Marshall Plan for our Public Health infrastructure. The sooner we act on it, the better. Ra ham meanwhile, President Trump and canadian Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau wnounced today that the u. S. canada bordl be closed to nonessential travel. Trudeau spoke from his home in ottawa. These measures will last in place as long we feel they need to last. M brangresident trump said today the u. S. Is not moving to close down the border with mexico. And across the unitees today, daily lives remn stalled. The are now confirmed infections in all 50 states. The normally busy fishermans after local officials ordered, roughly eight million californianso shelter in place. Here, a Shopping Mall in suburban virginia, closed, indefinitely. Domestic air travel is collapsing, too. This is a terminal at salt lake citys airport two weeks ago. Here it is on monday. And the same with american car manufacturing ford, g. M. And Fiat Chrysler are l suspending production at u. S. Plants until march 30. In las vegas, americling mecca has gone quiet, after the state took the unprecedented move last night of closing ssinesses, including hotels and casinos in ttate, for 30 days. Governor Steve Sisolak this is only common sense. At a time when people are getting sick from simply being i near othernot the time for gyms to remain open. This is not the time for casin to remain open. Brangham and countries across the world are takingmi r measures shutting down public spaces to limit the in antwerp, empty train stations and streets, as belgiums Prime Minister today joined many ofea his europeanrs and implemented a nationwide dtranslated citizens are required to stay at home in order to avoid maximum contact outside their immediatly, except to go to work, essential travel, going to the doctor, the grocery store, the post office, the bank, the pharma get fuel or help people in need. Brangham ut traffic jams stretched for miles across other parts of europe today,ge including thanpolish border, after the European Union yesterday announced it is closing their external borders to none. U. Citizens. And, in hardhit italynearly 30,000 people have now tested positive and over 2,500 people have died. For the pbs newshour, im william brangham. Woodruff and we turn again to our Lisa Desjardins and yamiche alcindor. Yamiche, to you, first, the president , today, invoked the defense production act, he alo enacted border restrictions. What do we know about how these measures are going to be used to fight this virus . He reporter president today says he sees himself as a that in mind, he said he was taking several emergency steps needed to stem the fw and the outbreak of the coronavirus. So he said he was going to be signing t defense puction act. This act would allow the federa government trect american manufacturers to produce items needed to fight the virus including masks or gloves or gowns. The president said he signed that just in case he had toke init. In worst case scenario, only a few minutes ago, he tweed that. It isnt as if this is happening right now. What is happening now is the travel restrictions for the northern and southern borders, the borders of canada and mexico. Heres a bit of what the president is going to be doingan is doing. Just to put up there, the president is going to be mforcing the immediate oval of anyone crossing the borders that are undocumented. People are going to be taken to cilities or courts. Theres going to be no due process, people are just going to e immediately removed. The people who are exempt are americans, canadians and people with documents, greends car work permits, will be allowed to come in last. The president made it ar today he doesnt want this and canad the trade with mexico but people are pushing back, saying this sun lawful. But the president and the Trump Administration say theyre happg and willing to this in court if needed because they say this is a Public Health need ane that borders need to be shut just described. To the people i woodruff yamiche, today as the briefing at the white house, you asked the president how the white house is characterizing this virus and how long going to last. Tell us about that exchange and what he said. Reporter well, the president has been getting pushback for using the term chinese virus, and thrses also a whe house official reo rred to the coronavirus as kung flu. I questioned the president as to whether he thought the terms g. Were wron heres what he said. A person at the white house used the term kung flu. Do you think using the term chinese virus that t asianamericans at risk no, no, no. I think they probably would agree with it 100 . It comes from chi. Theres nothing that reporter now, the president said that he wants tou continue t the word and term chinese virus because he thinks, s, this virus started in china and china was trying to blame u. S. And Service Members for starting the virus in china. The other questto the president is whether the coronavirus might last as long as 18 monhs in the United States. The president said thats not correct, he doesnt think its going to las that log. But treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin said the une rate could go up to 20 . That, of course, would be a big, big number, and peopry are , very worried about that, but the president saying the fedal government doing all it can so those things will not happen. Woodruff interesting. Molisa, to you, things areing really fast at the capitol in help people, to help businesses. Tell us where everything stands right now. Reporter judy, i think, overall, the capitol is a place that is trying to she up a dam that is cracking in the middle of an earthquake. T they aing to deal with now layoffs due to the economy at the same time as they knowbl future ps are going to be worse, and theyre not sure what tools exactly can fix these problems. So lets go over exactly where we are. First of all, today, as william reported, the senatepassed the Families First act that goes to the president now, a reminder, again, that helps deal with sick time for peoplwho have the virus or are quarantined and family leave for those carilg for en at home as well as testing and some food aid. Now, whats next is that 1 trillion stimulus plan, it could be more tha 1 trillion, judy, and today, as republicans gather to try to figure out their plan, outside came a new idea from nators Lindsey Graham and mitt romney. They would like to focus on Unemployment Insurance to the tune, judy, os f perh75 of peoples salaries up to 8,000. Thats just one idea, but it looks like that idea, lookiou for those who lose their jobs is emerging as a top fact in any of texhet plans. Woodruff so on the parof that that addresses Small Businesses, what do you see emerging there . This seems to be the most clear consensus point in all of the parties is that Small Businesses who may already be worried about going out of business this week need more help. There is a plan emerging from senators rubio and collins in the Republican Party that would actually they give federal loans to Small Businesses to helphem continue terate so long as those businesses use that money for payroll and operations, judy, this plan essentially making this a grant, to perhaps thousan Small Businesses around the country, the cost of that 300 billion. But there is clear concern for Small Businesses more than anyct other of the economy right now here in the u. S. Capitol. Woodruff so intewaesting. So i to ask you both quickly because you have both been reporting on this, and that is Bernie Sanders, obviously, he came in behind in these latest primaries that took place yesterday. Both you have have been in touch with his campaign. Yamiche, what are you hearing about what his next plans are . Well, the Bernie Sanders campaign and the senator himself have beepushing back on the idea that he is ending his campaign anytime soon. They said any orts of that are false. I have been talking to sources close to Bernie Sanders that say at heecognizes his path is nearly impossible to winning the nomination, but that he wants to look at how he could possibly pushoe biden further to the progressive ideals. Mo but today thsenator was ry angry i ive seen him in years. He said an explicative to art re who asked whether or not he would be ending his campaign some time soon. Woodruff lisa. Reporter i was there. Th part of a conversation i was having wh senator sanders. I asked senator sanders for comments on the race. He said comment. I moved on to ask aboutth pandemic. He had a lengthy conversation with he, i think the longest spoke with a reporter in a few days, about his concerns of the pandemic. Thats a tough prifor him. Other reporters joined in, asked him about the race repeatedly, and that was when he had the pushback. He turned to them and say, why are you asking me this . We are in the middle of a and he used a strong word crisis. He obviously is very focused on the crisis. I asked him abo ut theection and the crisis and that clearly is on his mind, too. He has a lot of coerns about how the whreks goes forward. He himself uncle ear, but factoring the pandemic into all his thoughts. That much we can se woodruff the only thing better than having one of you s reporting on bernie sands having both of you reporting on him. Thank you, lisa, and thank you, yamiche. We appreciate it. Woodruff economic damage from this virus keeps piling up, amid talk of sweeping financial aid. The Dow Jones Industrial average as we repoed crashed again today, losing more than 1,300 points to close below 19,900. The nasdaq fell 345 points, and the s p 500 gave up 131. For insit into all of this, im joined again by david wessel, director of the hutcns center on fiscal and Monetary Policy at the brookings institutio david, welcome back to the program. At so it seems no matter what congress does and weve heard from lisa rerting on that the markets, the investors just nt seem to be reassured. Is that whats going on . Right. I think that what were seeing is the markets and investors are, a, theyre realizing theres a lot of uncertainty. Secondly, theyre extremely risk averse. No one wants to hny risky assets. And theyre thinking this might go on for a while and it miht do some longlasting harm to the economy. It seems like an overreaction, but without any clear idea if this is going to be two quters, three quarters or four quarters, i think people are really just panicking. Woodruff and you were sharing youve seen forecasts that came out day that ntribute to the panic. Absolutely. Jp morgan, big bank on wall street, their economists said well see decline in the quarter of 19 pfers. We havent had o tht bad since 1947. They expect to bounce back inth thd quarter. We hope theyre right. But we dont know how long this will go on. W woodruff have a sense of which sectors will be the hardest hit . Im asking becauseg were hear Small Businesses, big businesses laying off, shuttingown, at least for the time being. Well, when you basically tell everybody to stay home, itnot hard to imagine which businesses suffer first hotels, tourism, airlines and stuff le that but i think that its going to be widespread, a one of the problems that the governments going to have is every business is oing to be able toy, were hurting, and its not our fault, so theyere going to hav to make some tough decisions about who to help, who not toho helpto get paid back, who gets a grant, who gets a loan. Woodruff so what does it take at a time like this,and i realize what youre saying is this, what does ie, though,ike at a time like this to give people some sense reassurance, too know there is a bottom here . E well, i think one of challenges of this event is that, by flattening the cue, by spread ought the virus, were doing, on purpose, damage to the economy, and thats goio be very upsetting to people. I think people want leadership, they want confidence if they can getick, they can be treated, and they wanted to be able to pay thrent or the light bill and stuff like that, and thats why theres a lot of talk about providing cash to households, giving money to people who may be furloughed, strengthening the safety net in order to make suret that the st vulnerable among us dont really get hit hard. Woodruff how much does it help . I think this is part ofyours clarity in the measures government is taking. I think it will lp a lot o get clarity. Its been very confusingthsome of advice from the white house podium has been confusion, all the back and forth between e house and the senate, so i think as soon as we get a clear idea of whats going to be in this big bill, this trilliondollar stimulus, people will sai see what does this mean to me. But the second point is they build into theill a trigger that if this is prolonged the aid will be extended. One of the this we arned during the Great Recession is if youre not pessimistic stuff and the stimulus stops, then the economy takes a hit. So we want this one to be automatic. If unemployment rises and stays high, we might have more checks to people or more loans to businesses. Woodruff but is it possible, finally, david, to be able to say how mucits going t take to reassure folks . I dont think possible. I cant tell you how long this is going to go on, how long theyll have to be working at home, and thats true forev ybody. So i think that the government needs to do things now both to alleviate the pain and to put some money in the system to recede, as it is apparentlys doing in china, the economy can get restarted again. Tabut, you know, uncty is really hard for people the adjust to, and whe tn peopl you all this is going to be over by the summer, i think weve all learned those people dont know what theyre talkinut abo south not very comforting. Woodruff io. 3 tri and i hear you saying it could be bigger. Absolutely. Reporter david wessel, thank you very much. Youre welco