university and edmon from the national association of county and city health officials. watch washington journal live at 7:00 eastern friday mornings. join the discussion. >> federal coronavirus response came up today at the speaker's weekly briefing. congresswoman nancy pelosi highlighted the house vote to spend about $8 billion on the response. she also addressed massachusetts democratic senator elizabeth warren's decision to drop her presidential bid.

ms. pelosi: good afternoon. thank you for being accommodating. we had important legislation on the floor. so thank you. we have an interesting week, right? today i just want to talk about two important things. both begin with a c. the coronavirus and the census. earlier this morning some of us were together right in this very spot talking about the census and how it's starting now and we want everyone to participate. we want everybody in america to help define the size and the character of -- the quality and quantity, not only that, the beautiful diversity of america. and we want to hope to avoid some of the attempts that are coming to undermine an accurate count. one of them is a mailer that's gone out by someone claiming it's an official census. do not fill out this form. of course, it isn't real. we're tracking that down. we're very concerned about what facebook has done.

facebook has something with the authority of the president of the united states faking its way into looking like something to do with this census. it is not. and when they were asked they said it was consistent with their policy, even though it was a false transmission. it wasn't an official census. and we're excited, this morning we talked about the fact that part of the census will be electronic and we want to make sure that everybody has that capability, has access to it linguistically and culturally and geographically in every way. that reduces some of the need

for the geographics, to go online. but we're very concerned about what facebook -- we told them to take down that site. to take down that site. it's a lie and it undermines who we are and it may be good for their profits but it's not what counts for us in the census. sadly, we have more concern about moving on to the coronavirus, we have more concerns about additional awareness, anyway, of the spread of it. i don't know if there are additional cases or we're just learning more about what is out there. some loss of life. very sad. but we really have to -- we're very proud that yesterday we came to the floor, had a very strong bipartisan piece of legislation, much improved on what was sent to us originally in terms of the appropriation of the coronavirus. and -- but again, except for -- i think it was only three who voted against it, strong bipartisan support, which shortly will be voted upon in the senate, sent over. we'll have a signing ceremony, send it over to the president. as go forward, we have to just stipulate to fact. we have to dispel some of the misinformation that has been put

out there and for that purpose we've had the opportunity in a number of meetings, yesterday with the vice president, today with the wide range of representatives of the administration, to just try to correct the record. when the president says there are only 15 and there are four or five times that many at that time, there are more now, that's just not right. when the president said, go to work. no. there are other guidances that should be out there. when the president said, and he did say, precisely the obama administration made a decision on testing that turned out to be very detrimental to what we are doing -- he said that wednesday at a meeting addressing the virus, the outbreak. and we did that decision a few days ago so the testing can take place at a much more rapid and accurate fashion. the aide to senator alexander said the administration, the obama administration made no such rule change.

and a policy expert at the association of public health laboratories said, we aren't sure what rule he was referencing. there was intense interest in doing some things, but he agreed with lamar's -- excuse me, mr. chairman's aide's statement that there was no such rule change. so, again, we go down this list of things. now, we're trying -- at our briefing yesterday, we were honored to have the vice president visit, as the representative of the president in terms of fighting this virus. we had concerns and they're going to get back to us on some of the answers, the concerns regarded not only the number of the tests, but the integrity of the tests. having to correct tests that were not reliable before.

next on that is when you take the test, then it has to go someplace to be analyzed and what is the turn-around time and are people walking the streets not knowing whether they are positive or negative? we need to ramp that up so that that shortens the time between the test and the judgment as to whether it's positive or negative. we also have concerns about travel. we're getting some that said, use common sense when you travel. we have others that are more specific in what they're recommending. and they're going to get back to that on us. we have concerns about the workplace. do people get unemployment insurance if they are told to stay home? from work. or if their business shuts down. sadly then -- how are they compensated? how do they live under those circumstances? so we want them to get back to us on that. we were pleased that in our bill we were able to get the sba

loans approved that would go to businesses that are negatively impacted, small businesses that were negatively impacted. in terms of fact, what the proposal was that was sent to us was $2.5 billion. some of which was ransacking the ebola account and the home heating account for poor people, liheap account. those kinds of accounts. instead what we passed yesterday was $8.3 billion of new funds, not ransacking anything, and designated specifically for the purpose as spelled out in the legislation. addressing some of the concerns we have about testing, about analysis, processing of it. getting information there. other questions that came up at our meeting with the vice president yesterday regarded health care providers and their exposure and how we protect them.

whether it's with advisories or whether it's with masks or whatever physical possibilities there are. there are more than just the masks. the gowns, whatever. so it is -- it's sad. hopefully this is all redundant. hopefully we are taking precautions that will prevent more from happening. but it's a giant step forward. we think we need to do more, depending on how this expands. but we don't -- we want to have what we need to have because we want the people to have confidence. i think one way, an important way to have confidence is for us to have truth and trust in what is being said. to have the resources necessary in realtime that compensate state and local government and other entities that are already spending resources, using accommodations, having the opportunity for whatever else they might be doing. again, working together in a completely apolitical way on this.

based on science and evidence and fact and truth. and the true epidemiology of this coronavirus and how it -- where it exists and how it spread and how america can be a resource to the world because, as you know, these viruses know no boundary. in the humanitarian way, as we did with ebola, we want to help to stop it and prevent it. but it also is in our interest to do so. those two. next week we have a number of bills coming up. repealing the muslim no ban issues that related to -- later we'll be doing the surprise billing but hopefully very soon on that we're coming to cloture on bipartisan proposal in that regard.

but next week, we hope to re-authorize fisa and we hope to -- we plan to pass senator kaine's bipartisan war powers resolution, among other things that we'll do next week. so, again, though, everything is overwhelmed by the coronavirus because this is about the health and well-being of the american people and how we, in a very coordinated, government-wide way, respond to it. as i say, we're proud of the bipartisan nature of the bill. we were able to negotiate yesterday. it took some time to add small business administration, as members came in with ideas, -- i'm very proud of california, mike thompson and others from rural areas talked about telemedicine, telehealth and we were able, after much negotiation, to finally get that into the legislation as well.

so listening to members and trying to accommodate their experience and what can be helpful from that experience in the legislation. so it was good. and i look forward to signing the enrollment, enrolling the bill before we send it to the president later this afternoon. reporter: chuck schumer said that neil gorsuch and brett kavanaugh would put -- would pay the price for voting against abortion rights. were those comments appropriate in your -- ms. pelosi: i believe he also said on the floor today that his words were not appropriate. i support him in that. it's unfortunate because, as you see, i think the republicans say it's ok if the president does it, but it's not ok if other people do it. it wasn't right for anybody to do it and chuck recognized those words. reporter: do you feel you have gotten a full explanation at this point for why the u.s. was so much slower to get test kits

out the door than some other countries? ms. pelosi: let's just say, right now in china, i've been told by some people that in china they are saying that this all started in the united states. well, we know that it did not. but we do know that when it started in china, there was a delay in informing the chinese and the world as to what was happening. at the same time the president, heck of a job president xi. making that he was such a great leader, was going to take care of this as soon as the weather warmed up. but i think that part of the problem was lack of notice and a timely, responsible, scientific fashion as to what was existing. then our exposure to it. we weren't ready in terms of the advisories that were being put

forth by the cdc saying only test somebody if they just had a trip to china or if they're old and have diabetes or something like that. well, that was not the appropriate guidance. they know they had to correct that. so let's talk about the future. let's say many of the tests were not good enough. the analysis is still in some cases taking too long. but was not in appropriate time fashion to let people know you should self-quarantine or go to work. and the list goes on. but what we think we can do in this bill is to correct a great deal of that and then to go forward. now, again, we can go through a whole list of things. in 2018 the president shut down the part of the national security council that deals with this issue.

just shut it down. never appointed other people in the role. in his budget, he cut out $700 million for cdc. when asked, he said, "i just don't like having a lot of employees around. when we need them, we'll get them back." well, they're doing a job and we have to recognize the value of their work and have them trust the fact that they will not be here today, gone tomorrow, and oh, don't get another job because we may hire you back later. so it i think there were some mistakes that were made. but not so much to dwell on them but to go into the future and say, we can't do that. the people who are there in the obama administration, in the national security council and related agencies, were there for this particular purpose. if you want to see a template about how to deal with such an epidemic as ebola, look to what the obama administration did. it was picture perfect.

it was really excellent in terms of how to husband and allocate resources, also talent, talent. to put some of our scientists in a place where we could really evaluate what the epidemiology, what are the prospects for more people catching it, what can we do about that? much of that was erased in the trump administration. i think the reality of this, even if the president thinks it's 15 when it's 65 or whatever it was that day, i think the reality is in the public domain thanks to many of you. and hopefully some of the people in the trump administration. so right now it's about how we go forward, recognizing that there were -- we were on a path that wasn't working. but not blaming it on somebody else. but taking responsibility for it now.

[talking simultaneously] ms. pelosi: we just want to get people well. we just right now want to make sure this does not spread and that people get well. as we go forward from this, though, we should have after-action review and say, how can we be better poised for how we go forward? but this is -- we have simply no idea of how much this may spread. so our focus has to be on stopping the spread and curing people. so that means we also have to invest as we do very heavily in our bill and a vaccine, help prevent. but that takes time also. and the pharmaceuticals that will -- the therapies that will help, possibly cure. one thing we did in the bill was to try to ensure 100% success of -- 100% successful, that the prices that were charged by the private sector for any vaccine or other therapies would be reasonable and fair. that is how the federal government contracts. reasonable and fair.

and not have an exploitation by the private sector of the taxpayer or of the patients. we were only able to succeed with that in the private -- in the public sector piece of the bill. we fought until the end to get it in the private sector so that people with insurance and the rest would not be subjected to any price gouge. hopefully they won't be. but we wanted to ensure that they wouldn't be. the research that goes into the vaccine, you have to make sure you have the resources so that you can with certainty continue the research, keep the people employed who were doing that great work, and when we rein this in and hopefully that will be soon, but who knows, then we can do after after-action review as to what we need to be fully prepared. because it is an insurance policy. insurance is something you have in case you need it. but it isn't something you have because you know you're going to need it. because nobody would be in the

insurance business. reporter: [indiscernible] ms. pelosi: yeah, yeah, yeah. reporter: what are your concerns about the threat in this building? i know you met with other congressional leaders yesterday, about congressional operations. this is a very different work environment. people come to visit the capitol. constituents coming and going. how do you see the potential here and how that could impact [indiscernible] ms. pelosi: we are a place where many people come. especially at this time of the year in the spring. so what we want to do is make sure that our visitors, our press, our staff, and our members take the precautions necessary, or in their own lives, for wherever they do live, but especially when they come to a place like this, where many people come together. so some of what we were briefed on yesterday was in a classified nature.

some not. some of it is just about good hygiene and washing down your tabletop and washing your hands for 20 minutes and sneezing into a tissue and throwing it away. you know, that kind of thing. and that is part of the briefing that we received from the capitol physician's office. but from the capitol police, we were assured about -- and i think this will be a public document. but i know it's not classified what i'm going to tell you now. in case there is a need for people to work from home, that all of the offices, not only congressional offices, but offices that serve the purpose of the capitol, will have the technology up to date in order to do that. not everybody in our offices is at the same level of sophistication, all of that. but to make sure everybody is

good enough in case we have to work from home. we can't vote from home, however. so it's about security, it's not about testing everybody who comes into the building. that's not realistic. but it is also hopefully that the message that goes out more globally is that people will be more responsible about their own preventive methods. one thing they said the other day was, don't hug anybody who is sick. ok. stay home if you're sick. ok. sneeze in a tissue and throw it away. ok. wash your hands for 20 seconds, or is it 24? do 24 just in case. [laughter] with soap. those kinds of things. i think we're going to be developing good habits as we go forward. some of that sounds very basic and mundane, but it does prevent

the spread, and, again, the police chief gave us a presentation about what was being done to make sure that the police security that protects the capitol is secure as well. so, again, the leadership of the capitol is always concerned about the security of the capitol. now it is coming down more in terms of not only security, but the health security. reporter: [indiscernible] ms. pelosi: we heard from the office of the capitol physician. we heard from the clerk of the house, we heard from the chief of police, separate from the sergeant at arms, the architect of the capitol, just logistics and under whose auspices certain things fell.

but we'll be ready should something come along. but we just -- what we mostly do is pray. reporter: last week you said that you talked to vice president pence and you didn't think he was up to the job with managing the administration's response. after meeting with him yesterday, your experience over the last week, -- [indiscernible] ms. pelosi: i don't know if i said he wasn't up to the response. i was saying i had concerns because of his experience in not being up to the task as governor of indiana when it came to the hiv-aids challenge that he had there. i think the record is very poor there, and i have concern that his own director of health policy there is now the surgeon general of the united states. again, we're in a new setting, new urgency. another set of scientists. some with more experience than others in the public sector.

all with some experience. so hopefully they will listen to the scientists. i've had confidence in dr. fauci. he has confidence in others. but i think we have a sufficient number of answers of i'll get back to you that we are continuing our vigilance. reporter: next march 15 -- [indiscernible] some of your members willing to see it expire. are you willing to see it expire? some of your members want to hold individuals in contempt. ms. pelosi: are we allowing people to have two completely different questions? should we move on to another person? let me start with fisa. that's my wheelhouse, intelligence. i've been there for almost all of the fisa legislation and the rest. we have to have a re-authorization of fisa. we're having our own negotiations within our own group. but also among the democrats and vis-a-vis the republicans.

as i said, we're hoping we can be ready for something next week. but we'll come to the floor when we're ready. i was very much opposed to putting a fisa bill on coronavirus bill. really? if i had my objections to a fisa bill, as you mentioned some do, if i want to vote for the coronavirus supplemental, i have to vote for fisa? we're not putting people in that kind of a situation. what was the second one? reporter: holding individuals in contempt. ms. pelosi: right now we're trying to save lives, prevent a disease from spreading. we had enough to challenge us with getting a supplemental that the republicans would agree to, of size that we needed. that doesn't mean we abandon any of our responsibilities to protect and defend the constitution of the united states and a congressional oversight will always continue.

reporter: i wonder if you have any reflections on this being a two-person race now and elizabeth warren -- ms. pelosi: you want to talk politics under the dome of the capitol? [laughter] reporter: who would do that? [talking simultaneously] [indiscernible] reporter: elizabeth warren. ms. pelosi: are we talking civics here? reporter: yes. [indiscernible] -- your party's race being down to two people. ms. pelosi: that was interesting, wasn't it? reporter: which part? [laughter] ms. pelosi: that being the last part. the elizabeth part. that was interesting. my daughter's such an avid supporter of women. i don't know if she's going to be in a place today, my daughter, christine. we all are. but nonetheless, that was her focus. here's the thing. i'm so proud to be a democrat democrat, because to be a democrat is to respect other opinions. including even republican opinions. but the beautiful diversity in our caucus has always been our

strength. as i say, our diversity is our strength. but our unity is our power. and as we respect each other's point of views on some of these subjects, we have to realize that whatever differences we have are minor compared to the chasm between us and the president of the united states. so when we come together, i may have said to you before that we would madly embrace whoever the nominee of the party is. that's what i said last week. this week i say we'll madly elbow bump -- [laughter] we are not embracing anybody. [laughter] it's exciting. to have a difference of opinion as to the role of government and where you come down, one way or another, is, again, the vitality of the democratic way. i hope we won't have any -- having disagreements is -- otherwise only one of us needs to show up, right? if everybody thought alike. but we don't.

we represent our different regions, our different philosophies, our different ethnicities, all the rest. i'm encouraged by the debate that is taking place, that i hope will take place. now with clarity between two people. i wouldn't have objected if other people were still in the race. but should take advantage of the opportunity of having a two-party race. again, make no mistake. we are for the winner of the person who wins our nomination. and we respect what the public has to say about that. >> last question. reporter: what does elizabeth warren's withdrawal from this race say about the willingness of americans and the democratic party to put a woman at the top of the ticket? [indiscernible] ms. pelosi: i so wish -- every time i get introduced as the most powerful woman, i almost cry. because i wish that were not true. i so wish we had a woman

president of the united states and we came very close to doing that, a woman who was better qualified than so many people have sought that office and even won it. but i do -- i think that the american people are ready. i never thought we would have a woman speaker of the house before a woman president. if you want to talk about tradition or whatever that is, this is a marble ceiling. it's not a glass ceiling. i always thought that would be something that the public would be much more ready for than members of congress. well, well. now we won. so -- i don't -- i think we had great candidates. they represented different points of view. amy, more moderate and middle america. heartland of america. articulate spokesperson for her point of view. so proud her. also elizabeth to get down to the final two who were still in the race, elizabeth. so knowledgeable and the rest.

it's just -- i don't know whether men think about being president from the day they're born and start running then. but i don't know that women do that. and maybe we should. somebody should. but i think the american people are ready for it. it's a competition. you run and you make your pitch and people respond to it. i do think there is -- well, it's a whole subject for another day. we don't have time for it right now because i have to go to georgetown and talk about women in power. and how important that is. but i do think there's a certain element of misogyny that is there. some of it isn't mean-spirited, it just isn't their experience. many will tell you, they have strong moms, sisters, daughters, but they have their own insecurities, i guess you would say.

i think america is ready for a woman president. and i think that kamala, all of them. how many did we have? kamala and tulsi. tulsi gabbard. kamala harris. williamson. we had a wide range. of course amy and elizabeth. and i think they all supported themselves very well with purpose. this is why i'm running. knowledge. this is what i know the most about. and i have judgment on strategic thinking, about how to get something done. and they connected well with the american people. now the question is, what is their political base and how do you expand that? and just to get into the race doesn't mean you have a political base. so, if there's going to be a woman president, those who might be thinking in that direction should be making decisions in favor of it rather than just

going into a race because there is one. reporter: none of those candidates are at the top -- are going to be at the top of the ticket. they're not going to be president this time. so, when you speak in georgetown at the women in power -- ms. pelosi: come on over and hear what i have to say. reporter: why are they not going to be -- why were they rejected? ms. pelosi: i don't think they were rejected. just being a woman in all of this. you know, when i ran for a leadership position, the worst thing i could have ever said to anybody or any of my supporters could say to anybody is, we should be for nancy because we should have a woman. loser proposition. winning proposition is, we should be for nancy because she'd be the best one to do the job. so, again, what is the job?

the job is president of the united states. leader of the free world. commander in chief. with all the authority that goes with the article 2. but not all of the authority of article 1, 2 and 3. but article 2. that's very big. in other countries they have parliamentary systems. they had it here, they had it there. you have parliamentary systems. your party has to win. it's different than winning in an electoral college in the united states. i don't think it's necessarily, in most cases, a fair comparison and size as well. we're so big. i think those candidates, all of them, helps be trailblazers for a woman and maybe one of them will be that person in another election a few -- several years from now -- however many years from now. i would be -- i see everything as an opportunity. we have an opportunity because these women put themselves out there. we have an opportunity because hillary clinton did in such a way that was so -- she led the way for these women to go and

now other women will be thinking about it earlier, though. not just getting in the race, but preparing -- preparing for it. and, again, we have many distinguished governors in the country and has executive -- and that executive experience counts for something. again, you know, also have -- people have to know you. that's what i think these two candidates -- they have run before. and joe biden had been vice president. all of his credentials. knowing is helpful as well. what we have to do is advance women and have standing on issues like national security and they do.

women having standing on national -- the economy. not we'll take care of the soft issues. no. they're important to the strength of america, but there are other broader issues. if the women succeed, america succeeds. and that's no more wholesome for anything more wholesome than having more women participate and be in the leadership of it. i don't think you get a woman president saying, you need a woman. it's this is the best person for the job. and any one of them could have fulfilled that description. thank you. reporter: do you think democratic voters were afraid - speaker pelosi: no, i don't think so. i think anybody can be president. >> thank you.

>> house republican leader kevin mccarthy also held his weekly briefing today with capitol hill reporters. mr. mccarthy: all right. let's begin. when house members depart this week, the american people could feel better about the fact we are now one step closer to delivering on the funds needed to put america's health first. i wish we were able to do this last week but this straightforward emergency coronavirus funding bill passed the house overwhelmingly yesterday and speed up the development of vaccines, increased access to testing, treatment, and will expand access to telemedicine to make it easier to see their doctors remotely. this is very good news but also a reprieve that was unnecessarily delayed. since it became clear that coronavirus was becoming more serious, i had urged our colleagues to leave politics out of the national discussion.