government.f we really appreciate, also, the cooperation of those around the sure that people in my state and all states across the country will be able not worry tests and about cost. president trump: thank you all very much. thank you. talking at the same time] indiscernible] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. isit ncicap.org] >> also earlier today, house republican leaders spoke to reporters. topics covered was the coronavirus.

everyone.rning, thank you, all, for being here morning. we are going to have the republican leader of the house administration committee, mr. in just a k to us some of the procedures and operations, hanges going on here in congress. we just came from a very useful and important republican conference meeting. heard from a number of people, including dr. scott about what to ng be prepared for, what to expect. seriously the y situation with the virus. i think it's very clear, as heard from dr. fauci and others, we're into a period now we need to be responsible about mitigation. we need to be responsible about social distancing. particularly there's new

issued the c.d.c. just within the last 24, 48 hours bout if you're over 60 you are at an increased risk and thinking through what that means. of the house, obviously, is looking at ensuring that our offices are our members indeed -- if our staff members work from home, making sure to do that. and also just taking very basic to avoid largeps gatherings that are nonessential, to make sure of the 's following all important hygiene recommendations that we've seen. take seriously congress' onstitutional obligations and constitutional duties to continue to operate, to continue to function. we also know we have a with respect to issues like people who are coming here for visits, tours we're aking sure that putting health and safety of our staff and well as our as well as the tourists who come here to visit the capitol

first. that so there are a number of discussions going on in that regard. all are working closely to ensure that across the board country people have the resources they need to e able to address this health challenge and to ensure that we are being responsible in taking keep people ps to safe and healthy and to limit the spread. key nk that's really the right now is to ensure that we are slowing transmission, the spread, making sure we're being responsible about that. turn h that i'd like to things over to the gentleman from illinois, mr. davis, republican leader of the house committee.ion mr. davis: thank you, madam chair. to commend thent house officers and the committee members on our house bothistration committee on sides of the aisle, along with the leadership teams of both the minority.nd the they've been working hard on the coronavirus task force that

includes the representatives each of those areas and agencies i mentioned. they're in constant contact to they're given the most up-to-da up-to-date guidance to not just but to the entire house campus and each and every one of you. conference, our house administration committee, along with the assistance of eadership and the others i mentioned, had a briefing with our chiefs of staff yesterday. so did the democrats. are necessary to be able to spread the most up-to-date guidance. committee, the house administration committee, in a bipartisan way also decided to do what we can do to make sure member offices are prepared. we' e've allowed now the use of unspent 2019 in m.r.a.'s that continuity of operations and allow staffers to telework if necessary. have set up what we call a genius bar in the rayburn allow the c.a.o. and the office of technology to

any equipment ss that you may have in your through r may purchase the c.a.o. and through the office supply store to be ready office has to ur tele -- anyone in your house has to telecommute. you've probably seen around the campus, there have been extra efforts to sanitize the complex, sanitize our house office buildings. he architect of the capitol, brett, who's brand new, is doing a great job getting his team to elevators, handrails, door knobs. they are being wiped down twice the , whereas that wasn't case before. bathrooms are being cleaned twice as often as usual. police and tol architect of the capitol are working together to ensure all equipment is ning cleaned and sanitized. you'll notice new bowls at the stations.creening you're also going to notice we are going to see more hand sanitizing stations. i will give the same advice i gave to my fellow members of

congress. you' signs in the e bathroom about how to properly wash your hands. and you e your signs reach down and see no soap, don't tweet about it. social mediat as a moment. all housed a minute, call the -- house admin, call the get them.and we will we are advising house offices in bipartisan way that every single office needs to have a continuity of operations plan. ready, be prepared. we don't want anybody to shut down their ability to serve and their ituents offices be here in d.c. or in the district. plan now. place.at plan in we want to make sure that everyone understands that we're the capitol, but they also need to take proper hygiene measures themselves. guidance ing with the of dr. monaghan, the attending physician. practices -- wash your hands, try not to wash your

face, things we are reminding do.f to we want to make sure again we have the ability to communicate with our constituents. issued guidance to ensure members know even during a blackout period they can about the coronavirus to their constituents. with each ng individual office to get the message out. but our advice to each and every to those health professionals in your district, too, and understand that the ederal government, state government, and local officials all need to be working together nd when you listen to them, we hear that the united states of america is doing everything we we have greatthat response to this outbreak and one that's going to get us to point where the outbreak will be in the past. so with that, thank you for me.ng mr. scalise: thank you, rodney. leadership.our what both republicans and democrats are doing is making ure the capitol is as safe as possible anytime but especially now when you see what's

appening with the coronavirus and how you're starting to see more cases. we've just seen a case in we're seeing more states recognize that as testing increases, the prevalence of the of people who test positive will increase. but we also need to be aware of to take basic precautions. just like in an active flu sure , you want to make you are taking proper hygiene steps. i think everybody's hearing the now.message when you come in contact with people, make sure you're washing your hands on a regular basis. doing it properly. reduci reducing or eliminating taking other d measures so you're not -- you're reducing the risk of coming into with any kind of virus but especially the coronavirus as we work with the drug come up and others to ith a vaccine, the testing for various possible vaccines is under way. we're going to continue to do verything we can to make sure that c.d.c., the f.d.a., and

other health agencies are closely as possible. i know vice president pence has been the lead and has going to a number of these locations to make sure they have the tools they need and congress has come together to do that. need to continue to make sure that we are addressing the needs occur.s i know there is one peaiece of legislation that's scheduled for wouldoor this week that i urge speaker pelosi to pull back on and that's the no ban act. very beginning president trump was able to take quick action when so many cases ere coming out of china and we still don't know enough about the genesis of this disease in may have how it started there. unfortunately, they didn't share enough information with us donely where we could have more things earlier, but at the same time, the president was to take quick action to limit the number of people coming in from china that had coronavirus. the no ban act would make it more difficult for the president o keep americans safe by addressing needs as we see other countries like iran, you're

potential large outbreak in iran. iran is one of the companies we currently have a travel ban on don't allow us to properly vet that terrorists aren't coming into our country. no ban act may be focused on that, which in and of itself would be bad policy, able esident ought be to to keep potential terrorists from coming into our country. of now with this outbreak coronavirus, the president also needs to have all the tools limit people coming in from countries with a high propensity of coronavirus. and you wouldn't want it slation that would make more difficult . hopefully that bill gets pulled this week. in the meantime, we need to continue to do all we can to ensure the administration has and we're hey need working together to inform the public of the various precautions they can take as vaccine ing to find a and make sure we limit the growth of this virus. to the t turn it over leader of our conversation, kevin mccarthy. thank you, steve. i want to take one moment to

to the ate directly american public. i want to ensure that every person in this country knows hat our government is taking every precaution available to keep you safe. t is our priority as we continue to mitigate and contain the spreading of this virus. e will continue to learn more about the coronavirus every single day. but i do want to talk about what we have done as of today. p we'll increase the access to testing and treatment. one element i do want to highlight, telemedicine. it allows you to stay home, communicate with a doctor in today's age so you are not flooding the medical capacity, but at the same time spreading the disease as well. we have dramatically increasing the number of tests available. private companies have started to ship tests last week. this will continue to grow. we are exploring all options to bridge the gap for working americans being impacted by the coronavirus.

steve talked about this just earlier. if it's one thing that we should really -- the speaker should look at is not move forward on the no ban act. this will harm the ability for this country to continue to keep us safe. it is the wrong time, wrong place, and wrong legislation even to be talking about. i also want to take this opportunity to underscore the simple actions individuals can take. i want to thank rodney davis for his work. and house administration working together in a bipartisan basis. from the same point the four leaders met last week, we met with the medical professionals, with the architect of the capitol as well, and we will assess it day to day on measures we can take to continue to keep this process safe as we move forward. there is also a website americans can access to learn the most up-to-date information on the coronavirus. i encourage all those seeking information to go to coronavirus.gov. in the end we remember that the most smartest and capable health experts are in this

country, john hopkins actually in a recent study said, one of the best health providers in the world, is right here in america. the ingenuity in america again will show we can lead the world. it's unfortunate that the time when we made the offer early on at the beginning of this year to send our experts, our doctors, our researchers and our scientists into china that she did not allow them in. -- xi did not allow them in. unfortunately today that is not the case, we are combating something different. but we are -- we spent the resources for treatment. to be able to have a vaccine. and also to have telemedicine so individuals to stop the spread where we are today and assess it as we go on. open it up for questions and comments. reporter: number of members that are self-quarantined? congressman gohmert -- comes to the capitol, comes -- is there

more g.o.p. leadership needs to do to protect its members? is it worth being in session this week to do this business, or should you go out and take a longer recess so everybody's healthy? mr. mccarthy: continue to work with all four leaders to ask that question whether we should be in. we consult with the medical experts. we have physicians here in the capitol. when it came forward that individuals could have come into contact with somebody at the convention there, they made sure that they consulted with the physician here in the capitol. none of them are showing any symptoms. it's been a number of days, more than 10 days since that took place. all of them are taking the recommendations from the medical doctors on what to do. reporter: your reaction to the negative ads about the coronavirus and the response from republicans? mr. mccarthy: that the democrat congressional committee put up just last week?

it was horrific. the idea they would take an opportunity when they did not move the supplemental that week to hold it up to run political ads, this is not a time for politics. this is about the safety of the american public. i think cheri bustos owes america an apology. why would she spend campaign monny, why would she do this when her party controls congress and they cannot pass something that week and sent us home? reporter: the president yesterday floated the idea of tax cuts potentially. what else might you be hearing in terms of economic measures to provide relief to people who may not be working? and your reaction to that? mr. mccarthy: we are looking at a number of measures. we have a very strong economy, low unemployment. we want to look is there a way those who are hurt, hourly wage and others. is there ability to help keep the economy moving as strong as

it is today. i talked to treasury mnuchin, we have cud low as well. a number of measures, but we want them to be best served. you'll hear as we move forward. kevin brady and i have been discussing a number of measures. reporter: president trump that coronavirus is not as pad as flu. despite that high death rate. do you think that is an accurate and appropriate message given the virus isn't contained yet? mr. mccarthy: the one thing i have watched from this president. the president realizes this is a very contagious disease. that's why the president took the action to stop the flights from china to america. a lot of people on the other side of the aisle criticized him for doing it. that was a smart move. the president then offered to send our scientists,ure doctors into china to -- scientists, doctors into china to combat this. china declined the ability for this president to take those actions. the president has put the c.d.c., n.i.h. in meetings from the very beginning and the

military as early back as january. you have watched the president's administration come to this capitol early january to prep and brief the entire congress and senate about the door roana virus -- coronavirus and what was coming. unfortunately you didn't hear about it or read about it because at that moment in time the majority party was spending their time impeaching the president. i disagree with the basis of your question. he knows this is contagious. he knows because he's taken the actions. he knows what he's been doing with the administration and others. how serious this was. he was warning us prior to anybody that was paying attention. reporter: not as serious as the flu? mr. mccarthy: it is more serious as the flu. not from a sars, more tality rate not as high but much more contagious. otherwise the president would not have taken the action of declining flights coming into america as early as did he when others would criticize him for

it. the president realizes the seriousness of this and has taken it in the nature of what we realized, and he was correct. it reporter: [indiscernible] mr. mcyarte: we will good negotiations over the weekends with democrats and republicans. hi a microcosm of our conference today bringing the attorney general in as well because we want to make sure that whatever we do, especially when it comes to reforms, that it works. we are able to provide the usage of why we need fisa from the same time the protections for every american. i think we are in a very good place. this morning we brought back to the democrats some other changes we would have to where we are in negotiations. hopefully we can get that done today and vote for the -- before the end of the week. reporter: on paid family leave specifically, is that something that you-all support? could you see congress doing that? is there a way for the

president to do that administratively? mr. mckathy: whatever we do, package we look it would have tock legislatively. there is -- it would have to be legislatively. there is a lot of options. remember where unemployment is. remember again -- less than a week ago the jobs number 270,000 when most people thought it was 100,000. i know what the market did yesterday. combination of coronavirus and the saudi arabian-russia fighting over the price of oil. i want us to be smart about what we do and help those who need the help. so we will look at all different options. take it through committee and be prepared to take action in the coming days. thank you very much. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> follow the federal response to the coronavirus at

c-span.org/coronavirus. you can find white house briefings, hearings with key public health officials, and interviews with public health specialists. review the latest event any ime at c-span.org/coronavirus. >> to be a campaign in which we have one candidate who is standing up for the working class and the middle class. we are going to win that election. >> for those who have been knocked down, counted out, left behind this is your campaign. >> the presidential primaries and caucuses continue tonight for states, including idaho, michigan, mississippi, missouri, north dakota, and washington. watch our campaign 2020 coverage of the candidate speeches and results. tonight, live on c-span,