On tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by since our beginning, our business has been people, and their financial wellbeing. Lees that mission gs purpose, and a way forward. Today, and always. When it comes twireless, Consumer Cellular gives its customers the choice. Our u. S. Based Customer Service team is on hand to he to learn more, go to consumercellular. Tv johnson johnson. The john s. And james l. Knight foundation. Fostering informed and engaged communities. Nd more at kf. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made public broadcasting. Oration for and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. W druff covid19 infections and deaths are still climbing tonight in mucof the nation. That, in turn, is fueling negotiations on an economic rescue package, as it reshapes the political landscape. Congressional correspondent lisa desjardt s begins our coverage reporter at the current epicenter of the nations wovid19 battle dire ofco caseloads becoming death toll. For the fir time, florida reported more deaths than any other state. In tallahasse Governor Ron Desantis tried to ease concerns. A floridians, i think there lot of anxiety and fear out there and i think folks were going to be able to get through it. Reporter this as washington shied from summer recess to sudden, high gear on the next covid relief bill. All sides agree on the urgency. T also know t both sides want to get it done. O go tohase four, i think war going to get it done. Reporter but there is deep o dividever what to do. Republican senators dont yetei agree on thplan, but have said it would be about a m trillion e in spending. A few, like Kentucky Republican senor rand paul, say the spending has gotten out of contro theyre talking about spending another trillion dollars. They should be ashame ofe and themselves. Eporter democrats in the house already passed their plan in may, the sweeping 3 trillion heroes act. N e inhe coronavirus is a o a century pandemic that requires a once in a century meaningfulal congressintervention. That is what we did when we passed the heroes act, that is the type of agreement we need tt pass his moment. Th reporter a solid deal is still far off, dditional sticking points between republican senators and the white house, which sent chief of histaff mark meadows to th for talks today. Ar press secrkayleigh mcenany outlined some of the president s priorities add a payroll tax cut, and block any additional testing money for states. Were willing to put in money for targeted testing thatakes sense, not just dumping money into a pot that already contains 10 billion. Reporter some republicans o the hill voiced concern over that. I think we want to be sure in dealing with the admition that the money we put into testing already is stillai lable if it hasnt been spent. We want to continue to focus one tests. Reporter and majority leadei ch mcconnell again marked his red line moving forward in negotiations. I wont put a bill on the floor that doesnt have p Liability Protection in it. Dont mischaracterize what this is about. This is not just for businesses. For hospitals, doctors, nurses. Reporter he said a bill will come in the next few days, that will also include another round of direct payments to americans. Woodruff lisa was at they capital tollowing the negotiations and she joins meno now. We understand theres disa eement upere, but talk about first where theres agreement. Wh what do we think is going to be reporter its important to . Talk about that. Im because this is a bill that could get the American Economy through the next however many months. We dont know how many. First of all there is agreement lets look at a graphic quickly on a few things. One, there should be another round of small busine funds known as ppp thats program thaa has kept so many Small Businesss goingurg this part of the pandemic. That looks like it will be renewed, we dont know whatde degree. Another round of stimulus checks also, not sure how large those checks will be its poible ey may go to fewer americans, they may be more targeted but it lock like that is something thaf mostcongress agrees on. Also helps schools, thats a new item that is now entering discussion and is creati agr t deal of urgency on bothsi sides as schools are trying toop reopen in just a few wee. Congress is now figuring out how to try and fund schools thaten want to o and those that wantto to go only online. Its a very large debate. Woodruff let me ask youno now about some of t difference difference. Es you pointed out the house passed their version of thisba backat the end of may. What are the main difference between what the house wanted and whatikhe senatey todo do. Reporter you know, i have th say negotiation is maybemo more complicated has more issuen in it than any other. There are a few tatan wepo point to as top level issues. Lets look at what the tpriorities are that the sides disagree on. Fi first, four democrats are one of eir priorities is that expan , 6anded Unemployment Benefits above what they would normallyge get. Th that benef runs ou july 3 1 in just a couple of weeks. Democrats want to extend it rough the end of the year for everyone on unemployment. Republicans,io their pty asyo you heard from leader mcconnell, liability proteion forbusinesses. No now, this gets a little bit complicated, but he essentiallya wants to make sure that no bu bness can sued for someone getting the virus or being harmed byus the vi who usedth that business. That is something they say is critical to them. He says some 3,000 lawsuits have been filed over the pandemic so far. Ot others say sheyre notre ifth this is priority that it needsto to be. Woodruff lisa, what aboutwh whats next. Republicans have said that they might have a draft plan as early as today, whats itook loo eing like now . We are in extraordinary times it was extraordiry day at the capitol today. I stood outside the Senate Republican lunch, where republicans wire meeting the chief of staff and treasury secretary. Idea they were supposed to allt get on board their plan for whao to do about this virus. What to do aboutur economy and instead, judy, they walked out with less n theyhant th ad going in. When you talk to people in the room they saide that ther were instead of one or twoid ideas, 50 ideas. Manyma senators bringing upbi ions of dollars, maybe for the Hotel Industry, for another industry in their state that are divided amongstgs themselves and judy, they are alsoivided with their president. Th the president is asking ecifically for the payroll taxcu cut. Th that is something most republicans and most d disagree with, republicans behind closed doors, difficult tobreak with the president even though theyre starting to publicly state that. One other area, judy, where there isdisagreement amont republicansith their presidenis is on ting. Lets look at a graph. Th white house has sent mixed signals sying it supports mo testing, but not a gat deal it it. They feel like theres money already that could be used for it. Mo most Senate Republicans disagree with that. They say there i ney more mo left they are proposing rightno now about 5 billion for testing to help states g more tests tout you and i everyone in the country. Ho House Democrats propose 75 million for testing, they say republicans dont go far enoughu the republicans including white house chief of staff late today, to tell you where thingsre, democrats walked out of that meeting say republicans have no an. They are in disarray was the word that House Speaker nancylo used, we cant negotiate with them. We have a plan, they dont, we need republicansne to tell us where they stand. Woodruff so much important material here to follow. Li, given all this, when can americans look for something final to come out . Reporter well, this is alll part of theegislative process,of of course. Mve been through dramatic upsn and downs onny issues. The deadline that many are watching is that july 31st deadline for Unemployment Benefits end. That is when millions of americans will see 600 less per week, that could affect things like rent immediately in augustu also, schools planning tore reopen in the first week of august are waiting for mey. They are saying to congress they need some at least seme guida on what is going to happen. Of next week, now because of the republicans still seeming to form their plan, i hav to sayy it look likely august is when i think we could see this hole package get through congress. Wh who knows, things change datoday. Woodruff a lot of people closely,losely ery li desjardins we thank youth. Youre welcome. To woodruff well spea leading republican lawmaker in just a moment. But first, lets hear from some ofthe people who stand to beom directly impacted by the legislation at hand. Two of the major sg points lisa just ntioned extending Unemployment Benefits past the end of the month, and protecting businesses from covidrelat lawsuits are at the top of many peoples minds. So, i own a small taproom focused brewery just outside of atlanta in evandale estates, georgia. And weve been open just a year now. So itsuite an interesting we have not been able to hire. People to come and work in the kitchen because they are making more money now with the additnal 600 thats coming from the federal government than avey were making previously. So they dontan incentive om come to work and they are happy to stay atwhile theyre able to collect this paycheck versus looking for employment. Re i cly live in louisville, kentucky. Part time job, i worked in the Hotel Industry as my Part Time Job and in the Healthcare Industry as a payroll Team Supervisor when i became furloughed as of may 2. Me, stereotype us as being that we all are sitting at home and we just want to collect a check and eat bonbons, at is not right. There are some people that are getting pa more. I cant speak for them, but for me, my check, the extra six dollars is comparable to what i was getting paid prior to being furloughed and laid off. So the 600, im not saying im getting paid extra. I wish that was the case, but im not. And i would love to go back to a job and be more stab i own and im the general of loco doro rent, an Italian Restaurant in austin, texas. We need grants and or loans. We need tax, tax rebates and tax credits. Liability protection puts no money in my pocket, puts no money in my employees pockets, does not create any work for, for our restaurant or for the people who work in our restaunt, and i know that senator mcconnell has said he will not pass anything that doesnt include liay protection. And if he is going to sacrifice all of the things that all the Small Businesses in ts country need to be able to make it through this reduced revenue, reduced capacity world to wiotect employers who are taking risks, that is ly misplaced priority. I think having some stated protections would help any business, and in particular, as a Small Business owner, i cant imagine how i would defend a case if a staffember did try to sue us because they hadte contrthe virus while working. So, yeah, i would definitely bee in favor ofng some sort of liability proction put in place for busisses, obviously, business was fong thethat the current guidelines. Woodruff as we hear, all eyes are now on congress for covid relief. Lets turn now to republican senator david perdue of georgia. Senator, thank you so much for joining us. We just heards reporting from or Lisa Desjardins about di disagreements still among senat, about what to do. Speaker pelos senator schumer say republicans ar in disarray. Are you in disarray . I listened most of that, i lovely saw, but that was a gross misrepresentation of happened in that room today. At go back and look at first cares act, different components that weve had. . 9 trillion, by the way, only about two trillion has beenfu fully allocat. We we have a trillion dollars yetto to flow into the economy. There are several key points, w w see how that is receiveded and impacted the business world. Also ou hospitals and schools. We proced seven million new jobs between last halff mayan and month of june. Th the economy is beginning to open up again. We need to foll the protocol and what were talking about right now are priorities to support not only the opening ofu our businesses, but also the r reopening of our schools, more hospitals, what we dont want to do turn this into a binary conversation between Liability Protection and bailing out our st financially troubled states. Ng youre g to see this planro roll out, ll5 n for ed cakes and will be some other things coming in the next few days. Woodruff sooure saying next few days. Let me just ask you y, knowth the house voted its plan out3 trillion at the end of may. Youre still debating this in the senate its almost the end of july. Why is it that republins ofth the sen at that time have been able to come together with majority republicansst i j said that the reasonth that we purposely did this, we said it back then, when we talked about it a month a. We want to see how f first round of cares act, 2. 9 trillion not only economy but our schools and our hospitals. We were beginning to have a better vision ofthat right now, w h stille almost a Million Dollars that havent fled to the econom a plot the money in hospitals and our communities have already been disbursed that is oneve wee looking at as high priority. Re reopening schools is such an emotional issue, wee lookingat at that very carefully. And ppp we still have almost 140 billion that has not been allocated that went to that. Ma main Street Program just now going out. Th the fact that this being reported as an artificial delay, we cant get ouct together is a gross misrepresentation of what wre doing here. What were doi is proper, prudent oversightwh of weve already allocated. What about something that is about to r out, that is u Unemployment Benefits includingt adnal benefits of of 600 awe week. Thosrun out at thend of july july, that is ten days from now. . Here does that stan first of all, judy, the representation that Unemployment Benefits run out is n correct. What happens woodruff the additional the premium, the 600 premi emium, i can tell you in my ate the number one thing that is holding us back from opening up a lotsm ofll businesses further than they are is factth that theyre having trouble getting people to com bk to work because of this premium. That many of the who areremium working get that premium. I i believe that Going Forward weve got reopening the economy, state, particularly, thatmy doesnt include a premium that weve just done to help in the worse time. Were movin past that now andth it needs to be, looking at maybe reprogramming some of the money that hasnt already been us i the first round of cares. Woodruff two very quickqu tions about this covidvi relief. D i do want to ask you about the president wants to cut payroll taxes. Are you in favor of tt . I think payrollnetax is way to do it. I i do support that. I support that better than giving just a direct payment like we did in the first roundof of cares. I i really oppose that, because we didnt see the impact back in 11 a 12 when it was done. Th this thing is in senting people to the tax structure, i do support as business guy i think that does work. Th it needs to be targeted, it needs to be short to be focused on the immediate needs in the next few days mont. Woodruff your proposal on school,12 schools to help them come up with the best plan for reopening. As as you know a number of teachers are saying they are concerned abouthe rush to reopen. How much does your plan take into consideration the i know both of your parents are teachers. Dy. Tha you, that is very sensitive to me. Its a tough decision by local ministrators, i believe that decision is made by the local administration. Rs that is why hesdo pushing itto to the state level. Th thing. A very emotional ive been on the phone with superintendants and prinpals today. What were trying to do i give them some help. We have about 105 billion coming in this next round potentially for k12 and also our cleges. In in k12, to think, if were working parents arng backhese to work weve got to find a way toy saf take care of the education of our children. About half the schools, so far ny schools are doing hybrid program right now they get more clarity. Bu but more testing, ppe, integration with health care, getting database to knowat is going on in those schools and getting a summary of that. A the all thing that make common sense to try to help these administrators make goodsi des about protecting kids,by by the way, families they go home to. Many of the Largest School districts in the state of georgia are saying they are noto going to go back, start the fall semester with inperson classesr are they making a mistake . I couldnt gung that, judy. I dont think anybody can. I trust the local administrator and parents and teachers to make those decisions, its going t vary county by county. Th they all have a little different formula about how they doing it. I dont want to politicize, i dont think its being politicized right now in many of the counties. These ople are. Trying to make earnest and thoughtful decision. Priority isaking our children and their families also reope reopening economy and mthe sure we dont have these kids lose significant portions of this year in terms muchioch educ. En regimen treaand a vaccinear are all integrated into this effort to open, the econom getou our schools moving again and ges us back to some sort of normalce here. Its impossible. Woodruff very quick final quesneon. You ment schools. In schools some members of your republican colleagues think there should bo more money spent on testing, what do you think . We were told today by secretary treasurer that we have that. Y of money available to do ot resist spending more money on testing. We got two groups out there, two control groups. S. Military and our essential workers. Military is following general order number one right now w is a biohazard protocol. We