our daily call-in program "washington journal", hearing your thoughts about the coronavirus crisis. if you missed any of our live coverage, watch anytime on-demand at c-span.org/coronavirus. >> three top members of the white house coronavirus task force are in self quarantine but still expect to testify at a senate hearing this week. according to a statement from the senate h.e.l.p. committee, dr. anthony fauci, robert redfield and stephen hahn will testify i videoconference. the percussion sound is that a white house aide tested positive for coronavirus last week. the official title of the hearing is safely getting back to work and school, and you can watch a live tuesday morning at ten eastern on c-span3 come on demand at c-span.org or listen on the go on the c-span radio.

>> eric katz is a sin to correspond with thend publicatin governor executive and recently published a piece take a look at federal employees and how they been impacted by covid-19. morning. >> good morning. >> paint a picture overall will be our first number of employee employees. >> so the number of employees with tested positive is over 10,000 and that's been growing pretty rapidly. a lot of these workers are on the front lines so their exposure rates are pretty elevated. we've seen that kind of climb at a pretty rapid rate. the defense department has a lot of positive cases, delivering healthcare, employees have a lot of cases and the postal service is also there. they are out there every day. they are acting with customers and doing the rounds so that has

left a fairly high exposure although we're talking about over 2 million federal employees here. that's to be expected that the would be some cases. >> if you're talking and saying front-line people like the deity, like the v.a., like the postal service come with the overall impact on working at that the look of it there concerns? >> the missions of these agencies are still being carried out. there are certain rules that have come into place and it's buried by agencies to make sure come to try to mitigate the impact of large numbers of employees getting sicker being quarantined due to exposure. we had seen some agencies put in very strict sort of leave policies so that it on of a shortfall of workers or their hiring more at va, for example, they've hired a lot of nurses

and frontline medical staff but they are also making sure employees that might have exposure still work until the develop symptoms and test positive and their still working. so we had seen agencies are sort of putting in some cases all the efforts into response efforts like the homeland security department, for example, is taking a big role in terms of screening those who are coming back on flights, and fema is leading the charge, component of dhs. so i have a lot of stops deployed. a lot of the agencies around

government are focused on response efforts and then some are still trying to carry out their normal due to the social administration and agencies like that, eating checks at the scene and making sure the normal functioning of government is still conducted tremor as of april 20, 500 of those employees affected was with the essay. we're seeing fewer flights. are the concerns over flightsafety if you have thatth kind of number of employees at tsa specifically who have covid? >> guest: right. that's a case where in the beginning there was a concern, who was a lot of employees that were. staying home because the agency was sort of allowing anyone who felt like they might be at high risk and they didn't even really need to prove it, they just have this expressed to survive i don't feel comfortable coming in. that lets thousands of employees were still staying home. but at this point the flight traffic is so low that it's

actually, they have more staff than they need. those that are so going to work are working like one or two days a week or even a couple days every other week and then being placed on paid administrative leave to be home. they are sort of adjusting to the fact that they are screening about a fraction, a small fraction of what the normally do. i've talked to somell tsa executives who said there's nothing for us tosa do right no. i think that covered the bases. >> host: eric katz joined as for this conversation. we have divided the lines differently if you want to give your comments on federal employees and have been affected by covid. if you're a federal employee --

also you can textus and you can tweet us your questions or comments. if i'm a contractor, eric katz, how am i being effectively than if i'm a an actual employee ofe federal government? >> guest: so the contractors here are in sort of in some cases i've operating under a different set of rules. they won't necessarily be subject to the same leave policies that the government has in fomenting, which is not consistent across all agencies, but in some cases employees are eligible for certain -- federal employees are eligible for certain things that contractors may not be. they are answering to a different loss in most cases. they have to follow their own companies guidelines. they might not be receiving the same sort of equipment that

federal employees do, although agencies are really struggling to get that sort of mask and things like that distributed at a rapid rate across the board. so even though you work next to somebody, you might be subject to a different set of rules. the contractors are probably usedbl to that, but it's probaby creating some were dying -- weird dynamics in office. >> host: eric katz, if on a federal employee and ian contrat covid-19, and my required to stop working? >> guest: yes. theoretically you should. if you test positive you should be sent home immediately or told to stay home, if you are already there. you will most likely have to take your own sick leave in order to continue getting paid. and if you don't, you risk being

placed on leave without pay. some agencies are doing that differently, and so you are on administrative leave and, therefore, you don't take your own personal leave. but generallyrs speaking, yes, u do have to stay home, and in some cases you will be asked, i mean come in every case eventually you'll have to come back and some agencies it will be more quickly than others. ..

>> great, so there's federal facilitiesobviously around the country.85 percent are outside the washington area . so, and the federal government puts out guidance about two weeks ago about how agencies should start to look at their reopening. and they differ a lot tuesday andlocal leaders . they want agencies to start thinking about how they can bring employees back to the office but they're not describing thoroughly when that should happen exactly, at least they're notdoing that just yet . like you mentioned that is creating some concern around federal employees who are worried that they're not going to have to go back before proper, before proper

equipment can be provided and you know, certain steps can be taken so that there's social distancing in place within the office . and what that means. i talked to employees or worried about picking mass transit up and that's the only way to getin, what does that mean and how does that leave them exposed . employees arescrambling to get masks and other things . and employees don't necessarily want to sit in an office all day wearing a mask . and a lot of these workers have been doing their jobs just fine on hold and they don't see the rush to get back into the office because they're still able todo everything that they've had to do . remotely. so it's creating some concern and in some of these offices theyare very crowded . there's no way to avoid and

stay six feet apart if your cubicle is right on topof each other . , maybe we will see people going back in on a rotational basis, after one week and have theother week, things like that . that's been floated so i think we will see this in phases but there are definitely some employees who are worried about what this will look like. >> if you want to ask questions or give comments, 202-748-8000. for contractors 202-748-8000 one and all others 202-748-8000 two to have a conversation with eric katz, government executive. we will start with bobby in illinois, you're on with our guests, go ahead with your question or comment. >> good morning. my quick question was how as , far as the federal employees is being affected can they take federal money, like the

working public as far as people that spun them on unemployment. that's trying to get stimulus money or unemployment money. how is that actually affecting federal employees as well. if you can answer that question, that's my first question. and my other question is as far as those that take money from the taxpayers as well. >>. >> mister katz. ti>> the stimulus payments that congress authorized ayand president from signed into law. the federal employees are qualified based on their salary, then they would receive those payments. they also, there was a carveout for federal employees in the first bill congress passed was dealing with sickly.

so most federal employees should be eligible for next and extra two weeks of sickly if they get sick due to coronavirus. now, there has been any cases raof federal employees being laid off. through a reduction in force as they call it in government so far so there shouldn't be any at least not on any sort ofwidespread scale . unemployment uptake in it on unemploymentamong federal workers . due to the coronavirus like we see in selling other sectors around the country and the private sector. federal sector is largely still working, still doing their job and not impacted in terms of unemployment. >> joseph, he will join us from vail california, go ahead. >> good morning c-span. i think like everything was

okay and there was no coronavirus. showing people good faith in the country is receiving people actually.coronavirus showed the real face of how trumps extension to managethe situation . it claims to be the most comfortable but we are assembled to save our own people's lives. we have the highest number of deaths or affected people. while we are suffering from the shortage of ppe. we are only professional at maintaining wars and feeding people in the middle east. >> that's joe from fidel california.

if a federal employee has to go into war place, is automatically issued enough ppe? >> know. and in it just depends. agency you're in. and it's getting better. all the time in terms of access to ppe however there's still agencies where there telling employees you have to bring your own . masks and things of that sort, i read a lot about, we've heard a lot about the food inspection, meat inspection plants where hotspots have developed and hundreds of plants employees have tested positive. there's federal inspectors are in every single one of those plants . and i've written a lot about them. they were not being provided mass until just a few days ago. they just started providing masks there. and that led to a lot of

employees getting sick and a lot of the federal inspectors getting sick. at the va i've read a lot about shortages there. employees who are working in the emergency room were getting mass one master we. they're getting one per shift t and that's usually the more basic surgical masks and not the end 95 respirators that the ppe recommends in termsof the best way to prevent the spread of the virus . irs recalled a bunch of employees to help prepare for tax season and originally they were not being provided mass but eventually irs was able to secure that. fema and health and human services last week we reported began shipments of ppe to agencies that needed them for internal employee use. so that's like i said ramping up helping more and more employees that who need it but it has not been across

the board from the get-go. and in some cases it's been far short of that. >> this is from washington state, we will hear from don . >> pedro, good morning. go ahead. thanks for taking our calls. i just want to say i do think we need to get. we need to get back to work, school. this is allgoing to start with federal workers from the top down . my dad always told me you shouldn't write a check your something can't cash so this is all going to run out sometime and another caller said earlier it's all stuff it's been passed down from our hundreds of years of hard work and savings. >> what would you like our guests to address them specifically . >> i think that we need all work together. we need to this ppe under

control and we all need to get back to work. we have families of all colors and agreed dealing with this throughout the nation. we have stores that have already shut down that arenot coming back . >> that's done in washington state. the caller said it's got to start with the federal government getting back to work. is that the likelihood that the federal government will be back before regular businesses? >> it's an interesting point because there is that feeling that the federal government will set the tone.obviously and i talked to many employees who haveraised this point . obviously the president trump has been pushing the notion that we need to open, reopen the country. get everybody back to work. and what does that mean? will he use the federal

government as the guinea pig here ? what we've seen so far is more that the federal government is going to follow the guidelines set by governors and state public health officials and local leaders. there has not yet been a drive to make the federal government setthe tone for everybody else .it's been more what is going on in your area where your facility is and follow the guidelinesthat are being set in that area . that could change. there could be sort of a nationwide push but we're not seeing that yet. there's only been a few agencies that have started to d recall employees. there were some stated, there were only some that made employees continue going to their normal workstations because of the nature of their work, they had to be

there. tsa we talked about earlier, all these agencies that their missions require employees to be thereand they can't work remotely . but other than that it's been a sort of slow, small number nu have come back into their offices. we're still waiting to see that ramp-up. >> here's what the american federation of government employees had to say area this is the union that represents most federal employees about going back to business as usual think the preconditions include universal testing, using science faith and objective standards for the safe return to work treating all workers equally in terms of their risk ofexposure, full compliance with cdc guidelines protective supply for all worksites , removal of ansymptomatic employees those reporting contact with infected workers and compliance with any and all bargaining obligations that's a long list , what's the likelihood that the union will get all that ? >> it's a long list and it somewhere that we are pretty far from checking all those

boxes. i would say that it's unlikely we're going to y have for example universal testing before employees, federal employees go back to their offices. that would be ideal obviously we just have not ramped up the capacity for that. in this country. and i don't know when that would happen if ever so i don'tthink that would be a prerequisite . in terms of what this administration is looking for to get employees back into their office . i think some of that stuff, we are seeing and will continue to see some of the employees only if they test positive . ice isolating employees who had exposure, that doesn't happen at every agency area that we talk about va but it , i think in a lot of normal office setting that could be a policy that's implemented.

providing the appropriate masks and things like that i think we're starting to see that more and more. like idescribed . and so some of these requirements or some of these requests that the unions are asking for, i think will be implemented. there's been an adversarial relationship between this administration and the employee unions so the way this gets negotiated and bargain over will be interesting to see. it hasn't, they haven't always agreed on even what should be negotiated over the last couple of years so that will be something to keep an eye on you obviously if the unions want to look out for their members, and so that could lead to some tension. >> we will your next from paul creek wisconsin, david, hello.

>> good morning, how are you guys doing and mark i would like to stress the point of love. and in particular you got the nurse's gloves but i'm talking about a nice pair of gloves. that you can buy anywhere from two to $12. they have the rubberon the front side. you can literally use and cleaners with them. or just spray them with lysol , they're very handy, very comfortable and can be worn long-term. and i believe the virus will keep spreading until we ordered gloves to protect ourselves and masks to protect others. and get back to work, gosh darn it. >> that david in wisconsin. we have a viewer off twitter ask this area as t worker productivity been affected working at home and is there a way of measuring if people are home tellworking if productivity remains the same ?

>> i think some of this will take time to really measure and it will be sort of a retrospective look, but in some early cases we've seen productivity staying where it was or even going up . there was an anecdote out of the social security administration that they wereis actually reducing their backlog . as every very much everyone in agency is working fromhome . they had a lot of cases over disability. checks that you know, eligibility and actually started plugging away and getting serious. now in some agencies that won't be possible. there's administrative hearings that have to happen. among those are having over resume and teleconference and things like that but a lot of them can't happen when they're not meeting in person so in some cases that will

lead to more backlog piling up but for the most part we heard and seen is that agencies are continuing to focus on their mission and get the job done. there's been some cases at the irs for example where lots of employees, tens of thousands perhaps were not set up for telework. they didn't have agency laptops or they didn't have the proper equipment, so they are actually not even working at all right now. i thought it employeeswhere it's been weeks since they've been home. they said i'm ready and willing to telework but they haven't been set up for that . the defense department and other agencies around government there's certain rules about classified information where you have to be in a certain protective facility in order to look at the documents and they don't have that set up for home so

some of that work is either not being conducted or employees have to still go in order to do it. that's created some complications as well in terms of normal workflow . like i said, for the most part the work is getting done . >> this is from our marble marilyn, gloria good morning. you're on with our guest . >> good morning. i wasn't sure you were talking to me. my name is gloria and i'm very comforted by the fact that america seems to be going with the experts, i'm so proud of our governor area my governor especially. governor hogan, if i ever got to shake his hand i would say you've almost persuaded me to the republican. i have to do something about the white house but i don't think we know enoughabout this virus . to berushing people back to work .i understand it's a

multifaceted problem. but that sweetie burden the white house has to learn to understand that his next campaign to remain president and i hope he doesn't succeed in that because he's on such astronomical harm. >> since we dealing with questions about federal employees do you have something specific to ask our guests ? >> specific thing i would ask our guest is if people are forced back to work too soon, be they federal employees or mom-and-pop businesses, whatever. what is the cost if we wind up losing everything that we've gained? we don't have enough testing. we don't have enough masks. we don't have enough of anything. why are we not adjustingto the emergency instead of putting people in harm's way ? thank you.

>> there's certainly a risk of going back to soon. we've seen in federal offices and of course in places across the country where employees have had tocontinue working . at hotspots can develop. and that's in federal offices are not immune to that so there could be that possibility and it's possible that agency would reopen and then after a few weeks, realize that it's not safe and have to close again. i think this administration would really not like to see that happen. but you can't rule it out. i mentioned this earlier, many of the offices are crowded. there's hundreds of thousands ofemployees , some of these headquarters and offices, you can see there's in some cases tens of thousands of employees into them and there's funneled into smaller entranceways often and there's common areas.

there's only so much you can do is spread out and ensure that employees are only a few running to an elevator and things of thatnature . so there is a concern about reentering too soon and we thought about what the unions are looking for for that happens. some of the demands that they're making i don't like i saidthank all of those will be met . but we will have to see once the agencies really start bringing employees that, we will keep an eye on certainly we will be: keeping an eye on it okay in cases among federal workers. >> before i let you go, over the last couple of weeks one of the subsets of the pandemic has been a discussion about the effectiveness or at least the president's perspective of the postal service. recount what's going on with and what are the concernswith the postal service .

>> postal service is dealing with this crisis on multiple fronts. we talked at the beginning about the large number of usps employees who've been contracted the virus although not huge percentages based on bathe massive size of their workforce. and there also basic facing a financial crisis based on this. the postal service has been dealing with financial issues for about a dozen years now. that's when it really started to hit at least wherethey've been losing money year after year . some of this is based on certain constraints that are placed on them by congress and the way they have to operate and largely a lot of it is based on the fact that their business model is changing and evolving people don't send as much mail as they use to and that is all being exacerbated by this crisis as the economic fallout from this pandemic is

being felt across the country. people are sending less mail and that is hurting the agency space perspective. they've anticipated tens of billions of dollars in losses and the huge mail volume decreased because of this pandemic and they're asking congress for financial assistance. the postal service had not received any appropriation from congress, essentially none. they're all funded by you buying staffs and sending mail and sending packages and things like that. but they want financial assistance, they want a loan. you want to cash injection. it was projects they have to sort of capitalinvestments to be funded . and enough to $75 billion they've asked for. the president has been very reluctant to acquiesce to

that. democrats in congress are pushing to accept that sort of assistance but republicans inthe white house are pushing back . president of as you been pushing for years postal service and raises rates instead of sending more money and there's some mixed thoughts on what that would mean for the agency but so far there sort of at a standstill there is expected to be a push and expelled congress goes and passes to include the postal service to help alleviate some of these concerns. but the president so far as had a no vote for him. and iothers are pushing for more comprehensive reform. it's the postal service is the sort of appropriation. >> eric to a senior correspondent for government executive joining . government executive.com the website. >> :30 a.m. eastern, andrew

cuomo will get an update on the coronavirus. in his state. watch live coverage of his breathing 11:30 eastern right here on c-span2 . >> the senate comes in today at 3 pm eastern for legislative business under social distancing and health guidelines. today senators will resume debate on the nomination of brian montgomery to be that urban development secretary. at 530 eastern they will both on whether to advance his nomination and coming officially lawmakers will reauthorization of the nonsense law to expire this coming friday.wednesday turned 3 pmeastern ) right here on c-span2. >> are versus with the heritage foundation.these are elected law reform initiativean