how colleges and universities are responding to the virus. as always, we will take your calls. washington journal is next. >> to unleash the power of the federal government i am declaring a national emergency. two very big words. the action i am taking will open up access to up to $50 billion , veryy importantly important, and, a large amount of money for states and localities in our fight against this disease. ♪ host: good morning. america is waking up to a new reality as coronavirus fears are forcing changes. president trump has declared a national emergency and congress

is working on billions of allars of aid to help salve plundering economy. even elections are being affected. of of this is in the hope keeping coronavirus from getting worse. our question for you this morning, what do you think about president trump's declaration of a national emergency on covid-19? late, or soon, too just-in-time? we are going to open up regional lines this morning. if you are in the eastern or central time zones your telephone number is going to be (202) 748-8000. if you are in the mountain or pacific time zones we want to hear from you at (202) 748-8001. thisve a special line open morning. this will be a line for medical professionals. if you are in the medical field we want to know what you are

seeing out there. if you are in the medical field we want to hear from you at (202) 748-8002. keep in mind you can always text .s at (202) 748-8003 and we are always reading on social media. this -- now, late last night the house of representatives passed a billion-dollar aid package for fighting the coronavirus. here is what house speaker nancy pelosi had to say before that bill was passed. pelosi: i am very proud of our committee chairs and staff to together this legislation. last sunday chuck schumer and i pushed forth the priorities we wanted to see and recall that

the family's first response to the coronavirus crisis. weekfollows our bill last ,hat the appropriations bill $8.3 billion, earning families first. we have an effective stimulus to the economy, injecting those resources, as well as, with this bill, putting funds in the pockets of people who may be affected. we said we, did what were going to do. but families first with paid sick leave, sick days, family and medical leave, unemployment insurance. over 20 million children get their meals at school. they have food insecurity. this bill addresses that, as well as food for our seniors and others. filling food banks as well.

then issues that relate to three things -- testing, testing, and testing. this is so important. between the appropriations bill and this legislation, we should have legislated, we should see the executive branch execute this legislation. we are very proud of that work. we could have passed our bill yesterday, just our own bill, which is a great bill, but we thought it would be important to show the american people, to assure the american people that we are willing and able to work together to get a job done for them. , thosek our republican who will be supporting the bell. we appreciate the president joining us with his tweet. host: let's see with the house actually did. passed their

363-40.rus aid package, all of the democrats voted for the bill. 40 of the republicans voted against it. representative, justin amash of washington, who voted against it. what we canmmary of see is in the bell. it would provide free testing for everyone who needs a test, including the uninsured. it would allow for two weeks of paid sick leave and up to three months of paid family and medical leave. it extends unemployment benefits. it strengthens programs that provide school lunches for students. and it provides more state and medicaid funding. to get more information let's talk to the hill's senior reporter, alex, has been covering all of the action. good morning. guest: thanks for having me.

let's do a quick summary of what is in the package. what else should we look at? guest: i think what is interesting is, as you know, the president called for a payroll tax holiday or a significant reduction of payroll taxes. one of the compromises here is to pay for the paid sick leave is employers would be able to take a tax credit against their social security taxes. against the money they have to pay into social security. they can take a tax credit for the money they provide as paid sick leave. there is a slight reduction in payroll taxes. that is a win for the president. i think that is one of the reasons that trump got behind it. addition, other concessions

like easing work requirements course, assistance, of we are seeing substantial money for low income pregnant women so that they can provide, they can buy meals if they are, if they can't work, for instance. we are also seeing $100 million for tuition assistance for the territories. program thatnded takes into account the territories. reservations, native american reservations, there is assistance there. there is assistance for the military. this is a comprehensive package. what is interesting is how comprehensive it is and how quickly he was able to be put together after the initial democratic proposal was rejected by mitch mcconnell. this proposal still largely mirrors what house democrats came out with earlier this week.

politicshows that the are changing so quickly the president felt he needed to do something here. after 13 calls between steven mnuchin and speaker pelosi they finally got it done. host: we know that this is being put together quickly. do we know how much all of this is going to cost? guest: we don't have a solid estimate. there are some pretty expensive requirements. for instance, the federal government is going to be paying going to be paying substantially higher on medicaid costs to cover people without insurance. of medicaidportion cost sharing, that is going up. but we don't know exactly how much the entire thing is going to cost. the unemployment insurance, we do know that it's going to cost toadditional $1 billion

speed unemployment claims and to provide extra assistance to states that ca 10% increase in unemployment. we are also going to see full federal sharing of the cost of federal benefits. get aidn't have time to score from the congressional budget office because they were in such a rush. we'll have to find out at a later date. while the number is going to be large, it is probably not as large as what ivanka trump was talking about. president trump was talking about. it's nowhere on the order of aboutbut we are talking in the tens of billions of dollars. host: is it unusual that the negotiations were between secretary mnuchin and house speaker nancy pelosi and the

senate wasn't involved? guest: that was unusual. usually you have, what they collect four corners discussion. had the leaders of the senate and house involved in these talks in addition to the administration. the senate was cut out of it. that is interesting to me. i was surprised by that. part of the reason why they streamlined the discussions is because they wanted to get it done quickly. i think the sense of urgency was heightened by the precipitous drop in the financial markets on thursday. we were getting flashbacks to the 2008 financial crisis. i think that focused people. you even had kevin mccarthy praising nancy pelosi after this deal. in the sense of urgency wrapped up, i think folks realize, to get this done as quickly as possible it has to be a focused negotiation between the speaker

and the white house, has represented by treasury secretary steven mnuchin. board,s going to be on republicans will be as well. that was a matter of getting it done as quickly as possible. for: two quick questions you. do you expect the senate passed this quickly or do you expect there to be negotiations between the house and senate that would slow the bill down? then, what is next? that herump said expects republicans to vote for it. he is urging republicans to vote for it and says he wants to sign the bill asap. that is going to put a lot of pressure on senate republicans. however, there is no procedural agreement in the senate. now when the senate comes back -- of course, they are canceling their march recess -- the first order of business is going to be reauthorization of

expiring pfizer surveillance provisions. so, they will need to come up with some sort of agreement to move quickly on the house bill. i expect that will happen. also, i know there are some things republicans want to add in the senate. they want to add relief for small businesses. they also want to add a liability exemption for makers of, for industrial makers of whoirators so that people make respirators in short order for this crisis, they don't get sued. that was something democrats objected to. i don't know how strongly they are going to insist on those provisions. my guess is that this moves very quickly and can possibly pass monday night. mitch mcconnell cautioned saying, look, there is no guarantee to have festival move. as far as what else, already senators are talking about a

second round of stimulus, or maybe third round of stimulus if you want to count that initial $8.3 billion corunna relief bill -- coronavirus relief bill. there is going to be an additional stimulus and i think that is when the president is going to make a renewed push for payroll tax cut, if not holiday. we could see other things as well, such as a tax rebate. expansion of unemployment benefits, that's a possibility. as this billon passes there is going to be discussion on another round of stimulus. host: what should we be watching for this week? where should we have our eyes this week when he comes to congress? i think one of the big questions is, how this virus spread is going to affect the work of congress itself. we have already had a couple of

senators and house members self-quarantine themselves. one question is, are they going to -- how much longer are they going to stay up there? republican i spoke to said there is growing sentiment that after we passed the stimulus bill that we leave washington and not come back for a while. describing congress as a quote unquote, petri dish. there is concern about lawmakers. this negotiation can happen over the phone. one of the things i'm looking for is other people are looking to get out of town for their own safety. mentioned, the next round of stimulus. quickly, me ask you a how does this affect you as a reporter? your job is talking to these people, being in these credit press conferences. i is this affecting how you operate? -- how is this affecting how you

operate? guest: i'm trying not to push elevator buttons and i'm trying to be careful about doorknobs. you really can't avoid getting close to people. rick scott, for instance, a senator from florida self-quarantine last week. i had a conversation with him and he was closer than six feet, the prescribed distance. you have to do your job, obviously, and everyone is. are -- folks feel the need to do their jobs. they are being careful is washing their hands more frequently and also, it comes to pushing an elevator button, maybe using the corner of the notebook. host: stay safe out there, alex. we've been talking to alex bolton, senior reporter from the hill. let -- let's go to your phone calls.

let's start with david. good morning. caller: good morning. after watching that opening clip of the president, i have to make a comment. in the statement he says he is declaring a national emergency, and then he said two very big words. why does he got to speak like that? then he started before he said how much money he was going to spend. why can't we have somebody who can convey confidence and put a sentence together that does not look like a child speaking? thank you. host: i want to remind everybody pagec-span has a special for our coronavirus coverage. if you would like to see all of those clips of what president trump and other lawmakers are and allbout coronavirus of our related programs you can c-span.org/coronavirus.

relatedin, all of the programming and briefings around the coronavirus. let's go back to our lines and talk to joe who was calling from indianola. caller: good morning. top of the morning to you. i think trump is way too late. i think he is a monday night quarterback her. i guess what congress is turning socialismie sanders' to save capitalism, once again. to compare and contrast plans and solutions, trump failed, widen no good because he is owned by the billionaires, and bernie sanders got the plan that everybody needs to listen to and check out on the internet. host: let's go to cecil who was calling from cary, north carolina. good morning.

wallr: i believe that street and these other people that know what is coming are nervous and they have better knowledge of what is going to happen. i think we are going bankrupt, big time. that is the comment i have to on, iut to put pilot think if they don't get together on things, we are headed for a big crash. yesterday president trump announced increased testing for the coronavirus via a partnership with the private sector and recent fda action. here is what president trump said about that. trump: 10 days ago i brought together the ceo of commercial labs and directed them to begin working on a solution to increase the

availability of tests. other countries have called us and work with us and they are doing similar things, or will be doing similar things as a result of that action today we are announcing a new partnership with private sector to increase and accelerate our capacity to test for the coronavirus. we want to make sure that those who need a test can get a test. safely, quickly, and conveniently, but we don't want people to take a test if we feel that they shouldn't doing it. we don't want everybody running out and taking, only if you have certain symptoms. using federal emergency authorities the fda approved a new test for the virus. we did this within hours of application.-- the a process that would normally take weeks. we expect up to half a million additional test will be

available early next week. we will be announcing locations probably on sunday night. , greatto think roche company. i would also like to thank thermo fisher. it will go very quickly, it's going very quickly. which will bring additionally 1.4 million tests on board next week and 5 million within a month -- i doubt we will need anywhere near that. host: let's take a quick look at what trump's national emergency declaration does. first and invokes the stafford act, which allows fema to tap into a $42.6 billion disaster relief fund and direct aid to states hit by the health crisis. it also instructs state governments to set up emergency operations centers. it directs hospitals nationwide to activate emergency

preparedness contingency plans and allows the health and human services secretary to waive regulations that could hinder health professional's response capabilities. charlie severson gave a little bit more of an explanation about what this declaration actually does. i'm going to read a little bit from this article. what exactly is emergency powers? it is special authorities that a president can unlock and use in exigent circumstances. congress has enacted laws that allow it president to declare emergencies exist, bring the government from abiding by some of its usual legal constraints. this can include permitting the government to spend additional funds, including to aid state and local governments and temporary -- temporarily lowering legal barriers. setting up a

cascade of effects. in public health, emergency power laws include provisions of the public health service act, the stafford act, the social security act, and other statutes. actdoes a stafford emergency work? it frees up federal funds to other resources to help when federal assistance is needed to supplement state and local efforts and capabilities to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety. government'sis the main mechanism for responding to disasters. it permits tacking and -- tapping into an account that has more than $40 billion it could use to do things like i medical supplies. once again, we want to know what you think about president trump .equiring an national emergency let's go back to our phone

lines. let's talk to joy who is calling from chicago, illinois, and is a medical professional. joy, what do you do? caller: i'm an occupational therapist. i work at skilled nursing facilities. host: what are you seeing out there? caller: what i'm saying is, i wish they would enforce more that -- ourrce employers give us kids, less protective equipment. i'm seeing ian t -- seeing emt people bring in patients who do not have any protective equipment and they are asking for masks. we don't have anything. nobody is enforcing that we be attracted, especially when we don't know if there is a lack thereof of testing. we are basically exposed. i would like to see more legislation forcing them, otherwise they will do financial

loopholes and they try to avoid thanks. it is at our expense. i would like to see a bit more, some watchdogs making sure that we are protected. that is about it. host: let's talk to larry who was calling from grimes, iowa. larry, good morning. to comment oned this covid-19. in the beginning, 3.5 billion dollars was not enough. democrats wanted 8.5 billion. with that on top of it, nancy pelosi tries to stick in some wo rdage on the hyde amendment, which is an abortion issue. i have no idea what the two have to do on abortion and the hyde amendment. that is pretty much all that i have to say. barbaraen let's talk to who was calling from berkeley springs, west virginia.

caller: good morning. the gentleman ahead of me almost stole my question. i was wondering about that hyde and that sneaky nancy pelosi was trying to sneak into all of this, to do away with the law that prohibits using national funds for abortions. that is what she was trying to do. i was wondering whether that was left in their. -- in there. if it was the nine very disappointed with my beautiful president trump if he signs it. and god bless if it was left in. to sheria. talk

go ahead. caller: i have a situation going on. i had applied for my food stamps. i have not received my benefit yet. stores, i cancery put food in my house. plus, i am hiv-positive. i don't know what to get tested out. -- where to get tested that. do i go outside? with the we get help situations for people like me? who iset's go to john calling from seines for wisconsin. how are you today? host: i'm fine, go ahead. caller: i wanted to say, i am 73 years old. 25 years in the army. i am being treated for cancer and copd.

i will probably get this thing and my chances are not good. i would like to recommend to people that the swine flu, the swine flu of 1919, how it affected people. i would like to recommend to people that are under 40 years old, this is the best time in the world to invest in the stock market. , ands gone so far down this is just another flu, it will go away. thing outaking a big of not so much. thank you. who wast's talk to sam calling from riverdale, georgia. good morning. caller: good morning. out, ialling to find need to go to the barbershop to get my haircut. i would like for somebody to

give me some recommendations of what i should do as far as protecting myself. i would be close, you know, cutting my hair. host: we will see if you can get some medical professionals to:. two -- to call in. let's talk to sherry. caller: i think president trump will have another big wad of money to do whatever he is going to do. they don't have any explicit way to handle that money out to different states. it will be just another big mess, and large amounts missing. i don't think he takes it seriously. i think everybody would do themselves good if they would keep their hands in their pockets and stop touching everything. host: let's look at some of our social media followers. from facebooke

that says, of course there is nothing in this bill that will aid those of us who face being laid off for losing our jobs. i work in a hotel. we just had 50 cancellations, 120 over the last week. since the bill want to live to small businesses, independently hotels, pretty much every hotel that exists, those workers won't have any choices if we get sick. here's is a tweet that says, there is only so much money that needs to go to the right people. or more tweet. i'm just glad to see some bipartisan collaboration going on. about time you folks are working together. and other post from facebook that says, seems like it was a partisan bill. glad to see both sides are working together. i want to remind you that if you want to see what is going on

with coronavirus, you can go to c-span's coronavirus page with all of this related programming, briefings, and hearings. you can find all the information you need to know about coronavirus at c-span.org/coronavirus. once again, we are talking about president trump declaring a national emergency over covid-19 or coronavirus. let's go back to our phone lines and talk to randy, who was calling from chicago heights, i'll annoy. good morning. -- chicago heights, illinois. good morning. caller: during the war we had the hope ships that were medical ships. all of our troops sent there to get healed. ourcan't we change all of ships that are being set aside, our cruise ships, change them

into hospital ships and send all of the people that have the coronavirus to these ships offshore and then send them back? this way we could contain all of this on the ships. we aren't using the ships and no one is taking trips. why don't we change them over to hospital ships? we used to have them during the war. used to have three of them. one is called the hope. let's change those cruise ships into hospital ships. then we could take coronavirus people that have it and that them on the ships until they are well. we could switch them over to hospital ships. that is what my feeling is on this. during president trump's news conference, dr. deborah birx, the white house coronavirus response coordinator, announced a new approach to testing.

>> we also want to announce this new approach to testing, which will start in the screening website up here. facilitated by google. her clients and patients and people of interest can go, fill out a questionnaire, move down for symptoms or risk factors. they would move down this and be told where the drive-through options would be for them to receive this test. the labs will then move to the high throughput automated machines to be able to provide results in 24 to 36 hours. that is the intent of this approach. we have seen at work in our own united states and we want to bring this across the continent. host: let's go back to our phone lines and talk to eddie who was calling from ridgewood, new jersey. good morning. caller: good morning, sir, how are you doing? knowt wanted to let people

, this was on democracy now a few weeks ago. and i think that they have on thisone the pooch one. when people get on the phones and the doctor who wrote three books on ebola and different situations should really note that this administration had just ignored the situation for too long. i just hope that we don't lose any more americans over the situation. you very much for your time and have a great day. host: let's talk to milton who was calling from silver spring, maryland. milton are you there? caller: thank you for providing the service. it is hard to be a republican. it is very hard after the president and all of his cronies real, that this thing is

calling it fake news. anyone canw how actually vote republican after this fiasco. this president has lost all sense of integrity, morality, you name it. somebody in charge. we need somebody who can step up to the task and handle this, because this thing has the potential of being far worse than 9/11. i want to read a little bit to you from a story in the hill newspaper that describes some of the negotiations that went on between nancy pelosi and secretary mnuchin about the agreement that the house came to on its coronavirus package. here is the description from the hill. on friday pelosi and miniature spoke no fewer than 13 times by

phone. to get there they had to iron out a small hand full of wrinkles that threaten to sink the package. this agreement that were resolved friday evening. republicans had insisted on the inclusion of language known as the hyde amendment, explicitly barring the use of federal funds for abortions. democrats conceded and threw it in. at alicans also balked paid leave provision. the final compromise bill removed the permanent language, limiting the benefit to the current outbreak. in addition, public ends were concerned about the effects of the paid leave expansion on small businesses. the final bill provides a subsidies to businesses with 500 employees or fewer, nugent said.

obviously we expect the bigger corporations to pick up these costs. descriptionttle about the negotiations that were going on between nancy pelosi and the white house over the package that was passed by the house. let's go back to our phone lines and talk to the -- lee. good morning. caller: i would just like to say that i can't quite understand why people can't see through trump. i don't believe anything that trump says, because he lies every time he opens his mouth. why in the world would we trust our lives to trump when we know that he does not like us? some of the colors here who are praising trump, i just really want to know if they are at their right mind? i would like to hear this. thank you so much. host: let's talk to jerry who was calling from jamestown, north dakota. good morning.

i had you in the wrong time zone. caller: that's fine. i'm glad trump is president. he is handling the situation correctly. the money is being spent. hown give you an example of some of these markets are just going out of control. some cattle he sold here in aberdeen this past wednesday. s for the samefer price he bought 44 the previous year. that is the same -- that is how far the market dropped. if you can call me markets, i think he will do, is doing a good job. cattle arebreed of you selling out there? caller: it is just commercial cattle. because whenreed,

you bring them to the auction barn, what the buyer is looking for, they want enough cattle to fill a semitruck, known as a pot. cattlen get maybe 44, 50 in their rather than buying them singly. they should be of the same breed, you know. i mean, you don't want to say cattle in there. host: you got it. likes: the genetics -- he black angus, is what he likes. host: gotcha. caller: it depends. you want a good, you can see it on tv. are nice and shiny. to another cherry he was calling from atlanta,

texas. jerry, do i have that right? caller: yes, sir. atlanta, texas. the middle of nowhere. host: what do you think about the national emergency? caller: i was in the military in the 80's. this is what they told me about television -- don't believe television, hear on it is for entertainment purposes only. host:-there might be wrong on that one, especially all of the information coming out about coronavirus. caller: how many people were killed on the highways in texas this year? host: i have no idea. caller: a lot more than can be killed by any flu. who special interest is covered by this big money that is being sent to help the coronavirus? who became the new billionaires? you know what?

god bless america. who wast's go to tim, calling from raquel's, south carolina. caller: good morning. everybody needs to calm down and the media needs to report the facts. and stop pumping up the story. everybody just needs to calm down. the president has got this. host: tim, what facts do you think that her being pumped up are pumped up? caller: they are pumping it all up. it is that simple. they are pumping it up because of political -- it is all political. host: tell us specifically what you are talking about. caller: i am in favor of taking care of the people who are affected. there is a lot of people affected by mild cases, and it is not what they are trying to say it is. they are trying to pump it up

for their own benefits, and that is just the way it is. they hate this president. this you don't think that coronavirus is contagious? caller: yes, it is contagious. but there is more than one strand of it, am i right? host: i don't know if you are right about that, tim. caller: i think i am. i think there are mild cases and then there are the serious cases. all we want to hear are the facts. we don't want to hear all of this other stuff. it us the facts and stop the fake news. host: if you want to hear what your government is saying about coronavirus, you can go to c-span's coronavirus page where you can see all of the related coverage and what is being said in the briefings and hearings around washington and the nation. you can go there to hear directly to hear what your government officials are saying. that is at c-span.org/coronavirus.

let's go back to the phones and talk to rob who was calling from grand junction, colorado. caller: good morning, how are you doing? first of all, the national emergency should be declared sooner so we could have released more money to, forgetting testing kits. especially getting the fda out of the way, because that is the main block in getting the testing kits out. academic labs at major universities that are associated with hospitals cannot get fda approval to create their own testing kits because the fda, that five to him with people who are there and making sure that they can keep their jobs getting in the way. one other thing -- if you go to school, kids are calling that the "boomer doomer."

host: i saw that same description yesterday. i don't know if that is really the kids, or is that just one of or two and that was -- picked up by the media. debbie, good morning. caller: good morning. are you there? host: go ahead. you are on the air. caller: i am calling in because one of your earlier collars made reference to the republican voters drinking the kool-aid. and that is why we are supporting our president, donald trump. if we are drinking the kool-aid, we are drinking the same kool-aid the democrats drink when they elected obama and i find it very offensive. that is one of the reasons why our country is in such rough condition. because everybody is snapping and everybody else. making nasty comments about other citizens does not help get

rid of this virus or make it any better. think about what you say before you say it. host: let's talk to ted who was calling from massachusetts. ted is a medical professional. what do you do in the field? caller: i work in the pharmaceutical industry. -- [no audio] information i heard from the last collars floors me. host: can you speak up? caller: can you hear me now? host: go ahead, ted. the amount of misinformation i have heard from the last five collars is really sad. clearly the public is misinformed. we have a president who called this virus a hoax. . want everyone to know that

if you look at any of the data, it is clear that this is wrong. add on top of that the lack of preparedness, the lack of testing that is going on. you have these guys making a statement on friday, and they are within one foot of each other, shaking hands, setting an example for the whole country. and they are telling people not to do that. it is no wonder you have people who are happy about selling their cows at a premium for this. no one knows what is going on. last guy just said there is multiple strains of this. there is not. the other guys talking about highways killing more people. then we hear this is no worse than the normal flow. lungbinds to your long -- receptors more than sars. we saw this coming, and we had a

president who call this a hoax it,did not even act on essentially, until last week. we are going to get what we -- incubation.s we are going through, it is giving people a false sense of hope. natalie -- not to mention the total lack of leadership. in three to four weeks our hospitals are going to be jammed. i hope everyone really understands what is going on. the lack of leadership is precluding that. it is really sad. this is dangerous. in four weeks we are going to see the results of our lack of preparedness. host: president trump elaborated on how he is going to give alex azar brand-new authority, allowing him to waive several laws and regulations related to hospitals and nursing home operation. here is what president trump had

to say. >> the orders i'm issuing today will confer new authority to the secretary of health and human services. will beetary of hhs able to waive provisions of hackable -- of hackable applicable -- of applicable laws. maximum flexibility to respond to the virus and care for patients. this includes the ability to laws.loss, -- new and incredible thing that has happened in the not so distant past. i tell you, what they have done with telehealth is incredible. it gives remote doctors visits check-iital chickens -- ns to waive requirements.

the ability to waive requirements that critical access hospitals new limit -- hospitals limit the length of stay 296 hours. the ability to waive the requirements of a three day hospital stay prior to it should to immersing home. big thing. -- a nursing home. big thing. now they don't have any problem hitting it done. the authority to waive rules that severely restrict where hospitals can care for patients within the hospital itself. ensuring that the emergency capacity can be quickly established. it will remove or eliminate every obstacle to deliver our people the care that they need

and that they are entitled to. host: let's go back to our phone lines and see what our callers think about the national emergency over covid-19 or coronavirus. let's talk to ralph, who was calling from oklahoma city, oklahoma. good morning. caller: good morning, america. that guy that came before me, he really stole my thunder. i am 63 years old. no march madness, no nba, no nfl. all you have to do is read the books. everything trump touches dies. there you go. who: let's talk to tills, is calling from harrisburg, pennsylvania. caller: good morning. i would like to say that i think supporter,ot a trump i am a democrat, but what he has

the, i think, is probably very appropriate thing to do. whether it is late in doing it, but i think it is appropriate epidemic possibility is very real. thing i thinke though, the health-care workers people areon that theg allowed to utilize go toens when they businesses like pharmacies, stores, and so forth, and they are not supplied any handy wipes. you can't wash your hands immediately through each one of these facilities.

pen person using the same could supply an antibacterial wiped, i think that would be a good thing to do. host: let's look at some information we have from johns hopkins. they have put together a global map of what is actually happening with covid-19 and how many people around the world have been infected, and who has died. right now johns hopkins university says they have a total confirmed count around the 146d for coronavirus of 146,742.742 counted 5526 deaths with the majority of them still being in china. more than 3000 in china.

there have been 37 deaths in washington state, in the u.s.. died, totalhave 71,715.d number, the majority of the deaths have happened in washington state in the united states. here is a tweet from washington governor jay inslee. who tweeted this, our entire washington delegation worked on a bipartisan basis to pass this bill. their united efforts will help slow covid-19 spread and bring needed support to our most vulnerable family -- families. i'm grateful to their service. host: let's see if we can get a few more calls and before the top of the hour. let's start with elaine i'm a who is calling from olympia, washington. what is going on in washington? caller: some panic, i guess.

i wanted to clarify something about --and a lot of people are calling and saying trump called the virus a hoax. all they have to do is bring up the actual speech, and what he was referring to ash the democrats were saying that trump was politicizing the virus. what trump said is that by doing their -- meaning the democrats -- hoax. then he referred to the russian thing. a bang upreally doing job, as far as i'm concerned. no president has ever jumped on a virus as quickly as he has. h1n1, you cank on go back on all of them.

quickly andumped as as deliberately as he has. i am really glad he is doing it. we do need some more stuff that pelosi took out of that bill. we need some more stuff in that bill to protect small businesses and your everyday workers. host: let's talk to leo, who was calling from reno, nevada. caller: good morning, sir. host: go ahead, leo. caller: yes, can you hear me? host: we can hear you, go ahead, leo. you're on the air. they're complaining about this $50 billion the house pass? the stock market, the fed gave them $1 trillion to bailout. they gave the richest folks a trillion dollar tax cut.

and now they want a payroll tax cost usch will probably another $1 trillion. i'm having a hard time understanding why they are doing all of this. i guess it is because they can borrow the money for the low interest at this time. if you have any comments on that, please get back to me. dee, who istalk to calling from okeechobee, florida. dee.ead, caller: this is about you hosts. why is it you guys, especially john, who condone and allow misinformation from the colors coming in? you guys let these guys go want -- you have all of the information. get on let these people there with misinformation. this gentleman from massachusetts, there is an

example right there. this hoax think he was talking about. biden took the president's speech -- in fact, got four pinocchio's. you must know this. he got four pinocchio's for putting this ad out there. to where he made it sound like the president said that the virus was a hoax. the gentleman from massachusetts, he is totally wrong. that is about the size of it, right there. i want to thank you very much. jesse, you are doing a terrific job. host: let's go to gary who is calling from indiana. good morning. caller: good morning, everybody. that lady from florida is just one example of some of the problems that is going on. the hodgepodge of information -- misinformation. we have a lot of this

politicizing the virus and everything. let's come down to the bottom line, we are talking about people's lives here. need to be in a state of panic. let's all do the best we can to andd against contracting spreading this disease around, politicize it. let's not make a controversy out of it. the bottom line is, people's lives, that is a lie have got to say. -- that is all i have to say. host: jay, good morning. caller: good morning. i don't want this -- want to upset anybody's apple card i'm up but the fact is the president did not take this matter seriously. he was firstnd

told about it, he should have acted. this could have been arrested in china. much like obama arrested the bowl of virus in africa. virus in africa. i suspect in two weeks his whole will be in the hospital and nancy pelosi will be president. thank you, and have a great day. next, we willp talk to washington post economics correspondent heather long, will be here to discuss the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the economy. later on, the economic policy institute's elise gold will be here to discuss the state of paid sick leave in the united states and recent proposal on the issue. we will be right back. [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] >> sunday, katie mcfarland gives insight into the nation's political process and the trump administration. in her latest book, revolution, trump, and the people. danielinterviewed by mclaughlin. >> we are a very dynamic country. socially, economically, we are constantly reinventing ourselves. nature,rnment, by its is stock. it is a status quo institution. to do things the same way again. it is then people who get stuck. america is set up to haveamerice revolutions, political revolutions. we had one of the very beginning. ever since then, the revolutions have played out in the ballot box. >> watch katie mcfarlane with

her book, trunk, washington, and we the people. during this election season, the candidates beyond the talking points are only revealed over time. since you cannot be everywhere, there is c-span. our campaign 2020 programming differs from all other political coverage for one reason, it is c-span. we have brought you here unfiltered view of government every day since 1979. we are bringing you an unfiltered view of the people seeking to see -- steer the government. go direction season, and unfiltered. make up your own mind c-span's campaign 2020, brought to you as a public service by your television provider.

>> "washington journal" continues. host: we're back with washington post economics correspondent heather long, who is here to explain to us what is going on with the economy around the coronavirus. are parts of the economy the most affected by what is going on with the coronavirus? guest: many of us are watching the stock market this week. even though we had a rally on friday, it is in a bear market. that means stocks have fallen 20% from their all-time high in mid february. this is the fastest we have ever dived into a bear market. not even in 2008 did we go this fast. in terms of they real economy, most of us know there have already been layoffs at hotels across the country. we are starting to see some have restaurants and bakeries.

anything having to do with travel and leisure and hospitality is on the front lines of this. the big fear is it is going to start cascading over. it makes this particular week unique. in addition to the coronavirus, we have seen energy take a nosedive. lostch of energy companies half of their value this week. it is just an astounding drop. oil prices are so low, it is cheap gas, but we have 200,000 people in this country working in that industry. some of those jobs are going to disappear. host: we have heard a lot of possible week about a recession, about this country sliding into a recession. i want you to define for us what a recession is and then tell us are we headed into one? guest: a recession in economic

terms is six months of negative growth. the economy is literally shrinking. the debate is, are we going to see that right now? seeusually have to shrinking growth and substantial job losses. there is no doubt that starting this week the u.s. economy literally shut down. for the past three days, i have been in my house. i have not been going out for lunch. i have not been going to the gym and doing my daily routine. this is pretty much every sector but health care. definitely march is going to be negative. definitely april, probably may. when do we rebound? we are going to go into a recession because we will see the first order and

second-quarter in negative growth, but there may be technical debates about whether we reached six months. is a real sharp shutdown of the economy followed by a really sharp rebound. whether we get that sharp rebound depends on whether congress continues to act and whether people who need this relief, the sick pay and medical asve can get it and whether a nation we can get through this and start to resume some semblance of normal life by the summer. host: you mentioned earlier that we saw a quick rebound of the stock market after president trump's national emergency declaration. we see the package working its way through congress right now. it has passed the house. we don't know if the senate will move next week. is the government doing enough to turn around what is happening with the economy? economist ork any

wall street person, and they would say no. that is why we have seen such a dramatic stock market fall. people don't think it has been aggressive enough at the moment in the united states. what is interesting when you think back to 2008, our last panic moment took a series of actions. criticized the government for being slow to act and doing a series of stimulus packages to get the economy going again. i was encouraged yesterday by comments by house speaker pelosi and treasury secretary steven mnuchin. toh of them were referring this is just the second inning in a baseball game. we are going to need more than just what is in this bill. host: earlier this week, you

wrote a story that corporate defaults and personal defaults are the biggest threat right now. can you explain what you meant? guest: on the one hand, you have llers, if nobody is coming into your bakery or yoga studio right now, you have no income coming in. a small business owner i was talking to in michigan said can i survive six months of this? no. we don't know how long this is going to continue. this could include bigger companies and airlines. this is a dramatic drop in cash flow coming in. a lot of concern if the airlines will survive this. whohave had some callers

have referred to it is great news that we got some sick pay and medical leave to give people money to get them through the next few weeks or months, but what happens if you get laid off? you can apply for unemployment insurance, but it is not as much as you are making in your regular job. you do not have enough money coming in. maybe you don't have any savings. 40% of americans before coronavirus were struggling to pay their bills. what do you stop paying first? do you not pay your mortgage or car payment? that is where this can grow quickly if we are sitting here having the same conversation in may or june. we hear a lot of talk about the gig economy. people holding down two or three

jobs that pay less instead of one job that has insurance. how will people be affected by this? are some of the earliest and worst impacted so far. i have been talking to different employers and workers. think about how many conferences are canceled. people need hotels and restaurants to set up the stages. beingby southwest canceled. i was encouraged to see the text of the bill that was passed last night in the house. self is a tax credit for -- self-employed individuals. giveis going to

individuals the chance to access family medical leave. able to apply for this tax credit to offset. it is refundable. the worst yearis ever and you make almost no income. you can get a check back from the government. it is a little bit of help. it is something. host: viewers can join in on this conversation. we are going to open regional lines. if you are in the eastern or central time zone, that means you will call (202) 748-8000. if you are in the mountain or pacific time zones, you can call in at (202) 748-8001. you can always text us at (202) 748-8003. we are always reading on social media, on twitter and on facebook.

questions that i have to ask is what about the people who were intending to retire this year and who are now looking at their 401(k)? of looking attake my 401(k), and i immediately decided not to do it again anytime soon. what about those people that were hoping to retire this year? what does it look like in the retirement sector? i feel your pain. obviously we are hopefully not retiring. it is tricky. i was a journalist. i worked in the investment industry in the u.k. and london. you have to understand that today you are looking at the 401(k) or whatever your retirement pension smaller than a month ago. are not only in

stocks. they are also in the bond market, each has had a pretty good rally. it is important to remember that you're hoping to maybe he retired for 20 years or 30 years. retirement.l do it is almost guaranteed you will be in a better place with your finances in 10 years and hopefully five. the market always bounces back, even if you put your money in on the worst possible day just before the great depression in 1929, all of your money would have been earned back within 13 years. that is a long time. if you are sitting here thinking i'm retiring in a few months, i have hopefully 20 more or 30 more years to live, you are going to earn that money. host: we know the house passed

their coronavirus package on friday. one person says i have not looked, but is there anything for me? what is in this package that individual americans can look and say this is going to help me in my economic situation right now? making the testing free. to tests could cost up $1000. that is a lot for anyone. that is supposed to be free now. we will see if that happens. the second thing that is important is the people who lose their jobs. in the coming weeks, we have already seen some of that in these hotels. there is $1 billion for unemployment insurance to beef that up.

is that going to fully compensate you? that is going to ensure you have a couple hundred dollars coming in. is key forhing people debating if i should stay work?r go into pay. is now mandatory sick you can take up to two weeks off, and you will be paid your full wage. months take up to three off and be paid up to two thirds of your pay. independent contractors get a tax credit of the equivalent amount. workers have been calling for this for years. we finally got it, at least for the coronavirus. are you hearing, have you heard of any additional provisions that would come from the senate that would

be added to this bill? guest: that is a good question. there was a lot of focus from republicans on helping small business and making sure this does not just become small businesses that are already struggling to pay their bills now have to pay sick pay. that is why you see the tax credit. it is actually refundable for small businesses. if a small business does not have a tax bill that is high enough that make sense, they would get money back from the government. that was a big focus. republicans are really cheering that victory. the question is, are republicans going to be interested in this bill? everybody hates that word they allowed. it is for the airline industry or the cruise industry or the energy sector.

predictedoldman sachs in the last few days that 30% of energy companies not survive this. they will either be bankrupt or merged. a lot of pain is expected. i don't think we're going to see a bailout in this bill. keep an eye. host: let's let our viewers keep an eye on this situation. let's start with john calling from virginia. thank you for taking my call. yesterday the people around the president was walmart and cvs. i do not believe this money will go to the small business. those people will benefit. stevene trust

mnuchin, who took advantage of the housing market collapse? he put people in that situations. saying we talking about socialism is not good? what we are doing now is socialism, and we are trying to .elp the rich people could you please give me some answers? is right that it the government will pay these companies that were standing with the president yesterday to do the testing for drive-through testing in their parking lots. in that sense they will benefit. when you look at this bill, if a small business is getting a tax credit, a big company cannot take that away from a small business. there is some relief for small businesses.

billions also approved of dollars worth of loans for small businesses. small businesses have been telling me, why do i want to take a loan when i am already feeling cash-strapped? there may be more discussion about how to help small businesses. ofn you look at the art secretary mnuchin's career, there is a lot to analyze. when you look at it from the political side, nancy pelosi and treasury secretary revolution have formed this unique relationship in the past year. they have negotiated almost all of the bipartisan deals. all of the debt ceiling work, and now this cheap package has come from those two. i look forward to seeing more stories about how that relationship works. i heard about people who were on airplanes and listen to nancy pelosi talk for hours with steven mnuchin.

it is a very unique relationship. i think there is perhaps some trust on both sides. the last thing, the socialism, a lot of wall street people were joking about this. even on cnbc, there were basically calling for these socialist measures. is me what is really unique this is a groundbreaking moment for worker benefits in this country to suddenly have sick pay for everyone else at family leave for everyone else. it is only designed to exist during the coronavirus outbreak. i think this opens the door potentially to these benefits staying around. is that socialism or not, that is another debate. host: president trump was asked

yesterday in his rose garden is conference about possible assistance to the cruise industry. let's show you what was said. [video clip] >> i can tell you it was an industry that was very badly impacted by what is going on with the virus. it is a great industry. we will be helping them and the airline industry if we have to. asking, wehould be want to make sure our airlines are very strong. one day it was not looking so good. host: what kind of assistance will specific industries be getting because of coronavirus? bailout makes a lot of republicans uncomfortable. we did a little bit in 2008.

we did a $15 billion bailout for the airline industry after 9/11. what can we see in the short term? italy is a good model. did is they immediately passed a big tax cut for some of those industries that have been harder hit. i think that can probably be on the table for some of these industries. whether or not the government actually gives them cash is more dicey. the people would much rather see it come in the form of a tax cut. what is interesting about cruise lines, some of these companies are not u.s.. also half of the workers in the cruise industry are based in florida. drives ahat also little bit of why there is so much focus right now on helping that industry in particular.

we have someone who tweeted a question i have not heard yet. stella wants to know what is all of this doing to the national debt and deficit? no doubt when we are talking these big numbers like what we are seeing starting to come out that it is going to add to this year's deficit and the national debt overall. i have been someone who has been writing about the concerns for the debt for years. now this isright the moment to spend money. this is about keeping americans literally and economically so they don't lose their home and car. this is the time when we need government. this is protecting our nation and military. this is the function of government.

that is why you are not seeing even people who normally scream about deficits and budget concerns, you are not seeing that right now. darius fromtalk to washington, d.c. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. i love your objectivity. one thing about virus, they are highly democratic. everybody can be affected. on spiritual to go on a cruise to portugal at the end of april. i canceled. i was actually going with oceana cruise line, which is under norwegian cruise line. i just canceled that cruise. they gave me a $10,000 credit. i worked at usaid for four

years. that was during the ebola virus. the thing to look at from that prices, now in rwanda they have no cases of coronavirus because they have established manually pumping washing stations they use to disinfect. you look at nigeria, nigeria has one case. that came from italy. we have to look at how this virus has spread. got the memo. they shut everything down. the united states was very obstinate about change. we still want to go about our daily lives and not worry about the economy or how this is impacting a socially. we are hardheaded people. there has been a lot of talk. our correspondent tweeted

yesterday that in senegal they are doing drive-by testing already in four hours. clinice cleveland mayo it takes 12 to 24 hours for them to do it. there is a lot of debate about why the united states and china have had such a hard time with this response. those questions are going to remain. we need to be looking at other parts of the world to see what have they done that we can borrow? host: president trump has not always been the biggest fan of the federal reserve and jerome powell. guest: that is putting it politely. does he view the role

of the fed right now? guest: this is a tense relationship no doubt. the present honestly believes the real economic response needed to come from the federal reserve. the fed normally cuts interest rates, which makes it cheap to get a mortgage. you have people trying to refinance their mortgage right now because rates are so low. the other thing we saw in 2008, it can help to stabilize the market. it does not mean they are literally giving banks money, but they are providing short-term loans to these banks to ensure that they have enough to do their operations and buy and sell bonds. change? all of this

economists across the political spectrum have been screaming at .he white house there is uncertainty. making it cheaper to borrow money does not do much if you don't want to leave your home to even go look at a house that you might want to buy. that is why people are saying this really needs to be a federal government response, meaning the white house and congress to get the health crisis under control. needed is to get money into people's hands. there was a republican economist who just put out a blog. he said that the best idea right now economically would be to 500 or $1000s checks. hands sointo people's they can pay their immediate

bills and when all of this hopefully blows over, they will be motivated to go out and spend again. let's go to randy from virginia. caller: hello. good morning, america. it is just hard to know where to start when there are so many children that are out of school. that is my biggest concern. there is no more important issue than their physical and mental health. this is one of the reasons i started my small business was to help educators and professionals with prevention and connecting the dots from school and neighborhoods. we are setting up intense. we have mobile education facilities and the like.

we just need to mobilize those. thated smaller platforms can solve big problems. america needs to mobilize. guest: i think he is exactly right. that is what gives me hope this morning. we are starting to see creativity around the worldgueso address this and keep society going. i was watching a video online this morning from sicily, italy. they are locked down. they were having a block party with these pots and pans. tentsave been setting up to make these mobile schools in a smaller setting. that is what gives me hope about humanity and the united states. let's talk to randy from california. good morning. caller: thank you very much for

c-span. you kind of stole my thunder on monetary policy. all of this is mostly fiscal policy talk. i had heard the fed was going to get together this week and possibly cut more interest and my question is i had heard that bonds can be specifically targeted on these interest rate cuts so the bonds benefit rather than a general interest rate cut. is that true? guest: the caller is right. meetingral reserve is tuesday and wednesday on interest rates. here is what happened in the last two weeks. two weeks ago, the country had an interest rate of 1.75%. the fed made an emergency rate cut last week to bring that down to just under 1.25%. on wednesday, it is expected we will go to zero.

that is a pretty dramatic move. it is trying to keep confidence going in the economy and to make it as cheap as possible to borrow for businesses and consumers. the bond market is interesting. 2008 is a playbook from about what the fed can do to try to keep the banking system and the financial markets stable and to help banks if needed. bond sidencern on the is whether corporations might go belly up. moment -- they cannot buy corporate bonds and a wider range of securities. it has been suggested that they

have that power and ability. thankwe would like to heather long for coming in this morning to talk to us about the coronavirus outbreak. guest: good to get out of my house. host: coming up, elise gould will be here to discuss paid sick leave in the u.s. and recent legislative proposals on the issue. later, how colleges and universities across the u.s. are responding to the threat of the coronavirus. priorities usa jumped into the presidential race early. whether joes about .iden has done enough you can see the entire interview

this sunday at 10:00 a.m. and at 4:00 on c-span. you can hear it on c-span radio and watch it online at c-span.org. [video clip] >> has joe biden addressed that effectively? >> i think he has addressed it effectively. thatld just remind folks we have a trump organization that is currently making millions of dollars off of donald trump's presidency. jared kushner pushed for a tax rebate in the current tax bill that was passed by republicans that directly benefited his companies. some of this is just a distraction from the real issue. the real corruption has been by and peopleids serving in the current administration. everybody that has looked at the hunter biden situation has that there was nothing done wrong. we will continue to prosecute

weekend to best focus on the corruption and quid pro quo of this administration. said tohillary clinton donald trump, you are a russian puppet, he said, no you are the puppet. isn't that what you are doing here? >> there has been a review of this issue. no one has found anything wrong. often ask, orth we can do with the facts. what the trump organization has been doing has been using this to distract from the fact that they have been making millions of dollars off of the taxpayers. activity engaged in that under normal circumstances would be getting a lot more attention than it currently is. attacksequate the

and lies on hunter biden with what i think are very legitimate critiques of the trump organization and administration. this is not going to be something that we just let sit on the sidelines. we will defend biden and make sure we point out the hypocrisy of these attacks coming from the trump organization. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are back with elise gould, who is a senior economist at the economic policy institute. good morning. we are going to talk about paid sick leave. let's define what paid sick leave is and is it already mandated in the united states? guest: it is not. it allows workers to take off time to care for themselves if they are sick to go to the doctor and often to go take care of their children and other

dependents if they need to stay home from school when they are sick. sometimes the provisions would give employers the ability to accrue time off. get four to seven days of sick time off of work. there is no mandate in this country right now although we have legislation coming down to employers toquire allow workers to earn that sick time. where one of two countries right now in the oecd that does not have that requirement. host: are there any states that mandate paid sick leave? are about a dozen states right now that have some paid sick leave provisions.

we have some charts from the pew research center who went out and looked at page sick leave and saw that here are some statistics. 67% of u.s.y civilian workers had access to any sort of paid sick leave between 2010 and 2019 that jumped up to 76%. isseems like paid sick leave becoming a more common idea in the united states. the reason those rates have gone up has been because of states continuously passing those legislation. workers are getting it. employers are providing it more often than not. we see about 73% of workers in the private sector now have paid

sick leave. about a quarter don't. host: the house passed a big package on friday night to deal with the coronavirus. allowf that package would for two weeks of paid sick leave of paido three months family and medical leave. us exactly what the house is trying to do and how this would work for employees and exactly which employs this applies to. guest: the cdc recommends people stay home and maintain social distance. we are trying to keep this pandemic from us exactly what te is trying to do and how this would work for employees and spreading around the country. many people cannot afford to stay home because they have not had those paid sick days. workers in the service sector who have a lot of human contact often times are the ones who don't get it. the house bill is trying to secure at least two weeks of

leave. that is critical because the cdc says that is how long you must quarantine. that is how long you may be contagious. that is how the house bill works. host: does this apply to all employees were just employees at small businesses? what if you are a gig employee? most part, this will apply across the board to all workers. what is interesting about the dynamic of paid sick days in the country already is even if you have some paid sick days, often you will not have enough that the cdc says you should be staying home if you are sick. sometimes you will have to stay home even longer.

those weeks can add up really quickly. for many workers, this is how they are going to get it. , theree contract workers is access to a tax credit that they can also get access to some of that money because it is many of those small business workers that will be impacted who have not had paid sick leave in the first place. host: how does it work if you need this paid sick leave? do you call your local state agency how do you make sure that you are getting this time that you have earned this time that the government is saying that you need? guest: that is a great question. even states that have had these mandates, sometimes they don't even know. it is getting the information out so workers know what they are eligible for. we don't know exactly how this is going to be implemented.

there can be changes when this goes to the senate. it is important to get that information out there so people know that they haven't. employers are going to be offering that to them. let's let some of our viewers yet involved in this conversation. we are going to open up special lines of this conversation. if you make under $50,000 in this economy, we want to hear from you. you are probably working at one of those small businesses or gig economy. what do you think about the idea of paid sick leave? if you make under $50,000, your number is (202) 748-8000. if you make between $50,000 and $100,000, we want to know what you think about the idea of paid

sick leave. your number is going to be (202) 748-8001. $100,000, wever want to know what you think as well. your number is going to be (202) 748-8002. and we have a fourth line. this line is specifically for business owners. you are the ones that are going to have to figure out how this works. we want to hear from is this owners and what you think about this paid sick leave. your number is going to be (202) 748-8003. response.so text your we are always reading on social media and on twitter. let's say you are out of work for two weeks or longer because you are sick.

are you able to file for unemployment? guest: yes, the provisions that have been funded through the house bill allow for people to be able to get unemployment insurance under these extenuating circumstances that we are living in today. the department of labor has expanded what can qualify you for unemployment insurance. it could be that if you had to leave work to take care of yourself, usually it is when you get laid off. are going to be a lot of people that are affected by this, even if they do not get sick. the service economy that we depend upon today in the united states, we have a lot of front-line workers in leisure and hospitality industry who are going to experience job loss and having their hours cut. we need to ensure that we have an adequate safety net to help all of those workers who have

had their hours cut. cancel had people travel plans, not go out to restaurants. that has a ripple effect through the economy. all of those workers are going to see their hours cut. some of them are going to get laid off. they are going to need unemployment insurance to pay their bills and pay rent. what has been the reaction from the business community on this bill going through end of paid sick leave? is the business community for this? what are we seeing from businesses? guest: there is a wide range. a lot of business owners are very concerned about what this is going to do to their business. they are already worried about what they can pay their workers. getting them help is essential to make sure that is passed on to their workers and that they stay afloat.

lamar alexander talked about paid sick leave on the senate floor. [video clip] >> it is a good idea. washington, d.c. should pay for it. when i was governor, nothing made me more unhappy than washington passing a bill and sending me the bill. as employees are struggling, so our employers. employers are struggling in the middle of this matter. paid sick leave is a good idea. the federal government now does it. many businesses now do it. if the federal government wants to require it, the federal

government should pay for it. host: i want you to respond. guest: we want businesses to be able to provide paid sick leave. we have seen that across the country. there are 13 states that already require employers to do this. this is lifting the standards for the whole country in states that have not re: past this. it is important for workers. there will be a fair amount of that will make sure small employers are able to afford these benefits. this will have big ripple effects for the economy. we want to make sure people can stay home when they are sick. host: the bill specifically targets this for the coronavirus epidemic. should this be permanent? guest: absolutely. ofs is something that most our nations across the world are doing.

only one other oecd nation does not already have this. this is a basic labor standard for workers. we want workers to stay home when they are sick. we don't want them working in restaurants, working with our elderly. we know the elderly are so susceptible to this illness. it can be extremely damaging and even cause death. our low-wage workers who work on the front line and have a lot of contact with the public, it is important to have paid sick days in general. this is the impetus to cross us over that line. al, whot's start with is calling from maryland. al is a business owner. good morning. caller: good morning. how is everyone? host: just fine. go ahead. caller: i am a small business owner. we sell products in a shopping

mall. i spent yesterday looking at different things on the sba website. this is my only source of income. i have two employees. should i be dealing with the state or federal government in getting any kind of assistance? guest: right now it is important that the federal government steps up. state budgets are going to have a difficult time now. does, they will see a drop in sales tax revenue. need for theirhe medicaid dollars stretched. we have to rely on the federal government to step in. i think what the federal government is doing that should be the higher standard we should be following. i think we will see exactly how that will roll out and the

advice small businesses will be getting as to how to get that money. those details have not been ironed out yet. wait and see them follow the path of that legislation. it really looks like this is going to go through. there should be help for small business owners and also to stay afloat. host: let's talk to steve calling from ohio. what do you think about paid sick leave? my question is what about folks that are strictly on social security only? guest: about folks that are strictly on social security, generally we are talking about elderly people that are retired. i have not seen any specific provisions that will help them.

medicare,e on medicare should be covering the bill. medicare does allow for free testing of the coronavirus. information about where you can get that will be rolling out. that will be specific to your community or where you live. i have not seen any other specific stimulus targeted at that population. the paid sick days would not apply. i'm hoping after this first rollout, there will be additional legislation that will help put money in people's pockets immediately. obviously that legislation has not been passed yet, but it is important that we put money in people's pockets and help them make and sumit during this time and make sure that people that stay home are able to stay home. elderly people are more susceptible to this illness. it is important that they get

the health care that they need. that is part of this bill. let's talk to katrina. good morning. good morning. i work for the gig economy. that if weoposing are sick they are going to pay us for up to 14 days. is that something you guys are also offering? if you have to stay home longer than that, cannot be extended through the federal government, or is that something that our company will have to propose? guest: it is a great question. that is somewhat unknown at this point. somebody who might be self-employed, they will have access to these tax credits.

you are not getting paid sick days from your employer as it stands. not good worker, you are classified as an employee. we could do something to try to fix that in the long run. they are offering tax credits to help cover those people who may to not gety home and a paycheck because they cannot work. let's go to kimberly calling from new york. good morning. right?et that caller: you did. host: go ahead. caller: i have been a nurse for about 25 years. i'm concerned about the decreased level of health services available in patient and outpatient. community specifically, we closed one hospital and severely decreased the number of

inpatient beds available. i just think about the regular flu season. we sent patients to the hospital for hospitalization, and they thed be on the stretcher in emergency department for two or three days. i'm not sure that the health care industry is ready for a large influx of patients. great question. i think what this covid-19 pandemic is telling us is we do not have the infrastructure to deal with it in the ways that would be sufficient. we need to take action to do that. low-wage workers don't have paid sick days. if they lose their job, they may be fired if they take that time off. we know the health system is going to get stretched. we have already seen this problem.

there may not have been enough hospital beds. there may be long waits in communities where they do not have enough medical care. that was a problem before this, and that is a problem with the regular flu season. we need additional dollars to help with this. the reason it is so important and why the cdc is telling people to stay home is because we need to flatten that curve and make sure that we can cover people in those hospitals who need the help now and try to keep that spread from happening very quickly throughout the country. host: let's talk to chris, calling from florida. chris is a business owner. what do you think about this basically? -- paid sick leave? caller: i have some questions. i am a business owner. elivergroceries.com.

economy, thegig companies that outsourced anybody. we are a legitimate business that has employees. we have done this for over 12 years now. what has happened in the past is if there was an economic hurricanes in the offer bailouts, we are always income,because of our our revenues. we can stay afloat, then we lose as opposed to the company's that have losses year-over-year. gig t as the individual

hurricane we had a here, and they offered waitresses hooters were getting thousands of dollars because their tips were going down. we got absolutely nothing. situation,s entire they might be handing out checks, but to which a minute employers and employees, we will be back into that position where we don't receive any benefits at all even though we are going to take a hard direct hit because we do the deliveries to nursing homes, which they have just blocked off in florida. host: you did not really get a question in there. i have another here on social media says if a company wants to offer paid sick leave, great. there should not be any government mandates forcing employers to provide paid sick leave.

self-employed business owners don't get paid sick leave. we just get the bill. guest: a lot of small business owners are very concerned. they are struggling. all of those service jobs, you are going to see a lot of difficulty with them making ends meet and being able to make payroll. i think providing paid sick days is a minimal amount that we can expect from employers. i don't think it is a strict requirement. that before and after they passed paid sick days, the cost of business was very small. the advantages are large. there is loss in productivity. they can spread disease to their coworkers and customers.

it is important from a public health standpoint. the costs are very low for businesses that have had to deal with this mandate. it has not been onerous at all. it is a minimum standard we should be following in this country. bill will go to the senate next week do you expect any debate over that specific provision? guest: i think that is a pretty simple standard we are asking employers to provide. there may be conversations about the other provisions. cdc one follows the recommendations. let's talk to bill from illinois. good morning. caller: good morning. question.ve as much a

i would like to speak for a few seconds why this is a terrible idea. reduces no question, it the incentive for employers to hire people. it increases the burden of employment. many companies already sick leave.offer in an emergency, if one says your home because of a flulike say under this emergency circumstance, that is fine. what if you are going in for a plant operation that has nothing coronavirushe

epidemic? the main reason why this is a --rible idea is it increases it reduces the incentive for people to be hired. it is what has happened in europe. go ahead and respond. guest: there has been no evidence that these have had any impact on ointment. it can have an impact on increasing worker productivity, giving -- having them be more loyal to their employer, increasing trust between the employer and employee. i think it adds to workers' economic stability -- security and good overall.

host: let's hear from mississippi. tamika, good morning. caller: yes, what if you are a state employee like you work in a school system, and we used the accrual time -- use the accrual time every month, but now it is like we get paid once a month, and then we get seven for the year. then, if you use all of that time and you get coronavirus, then what do we do? i think that's a good question. i think that's why the house is stepping up and trying to abide these 14 days so workers who don't have paid sick days may have used their paid sick days, didn't have sufficient numbers of aids days, that is why they need the 14 days to make sure people can take that time ought to take care of themselves and to not have that

loss of income. not only are you maybe coming sick and could spread it to everyone else, which is why you need to take home, you need to take care of yourself, get the health care you need, but you also need to pay your rent, take care of your family members, and have that economic security. that is of the utmost importance. you need to be able to take care of everything in your life. host: i'm short here on screen, but pew provided a map of states leaveandate paid sick institute.w what is going on at the state institute? i haven't seen any word yet that there are states taking action immediately. the state legislators are open and can be taking action. 13 states and d.c. have paid

sick leave ledge restriction -- legislation on the books. states are already talking about this because this is a great opportunity for the federal government to step in, particularly for those not moving forward and has not moved forward. having a standard nationally is critical and should be what we do. host: let's take one more caller. we hear from mary calling from clarksville, tennessee. mary, good morning. caller: good morning. how is that going to work for unions? right now, my local union out of nashville is closed due to the coronavirus until further notice. $2.75 inloyment is that state -- in the state of tennessee. that's not enough to pay for everything. guest: that's a great question. there are going to be layoffs in

the economy to make sure people have enough money to be able to pay the rent. some states don't have a generous a system as others. we need to make that is shored up. the federal government is listing some of those rules so the unemployment insurance can apply to some workers affected by the coronavirus. we need money behind that to help in those states in particular and encourage those states to pass legislation that will make that more generous for them. host: the house bill has passed and we know lamar alexander -- we know what lamar alexander thinks about it. what other senators in the senate should be -- should we be watching? guest: that's a great question but not when i have a great answer to. i am an expert on the economic issues, not the political issues, but i think we want to watch everyone and make sure they make the right decisions, make sure the bill gets through, and it is not the first thing we

need to do -- it is the first thing we need to do but not the only thing. we need to make sure we get money in the hands of people who needed to have had these job losses and who have medical -- who need to have medical care and make sure we can continue to simulate the economy during this time. host: we would like to thank elise gould for being here and taking us through paid sick leave. elise, thank you so much. guest: thank you for inviting me. host: coming up, elizabeth talks to us about how colleges and universities across the united states are responding to the coronavirus. coming up after that, we will take more calls. we will be right back. >> we are asking people what is important to them. >> media bias. no matter what network you are looking at with the exception

of a handful, they are dishonest. they tell you it is objective information when it is not, and that's wrong in my opinion area >> the most important issues to me -- opinion. >> the most important issues to me and 2020 are raising the minimum wage. i know people that have to work multiple jobs to make ends meet and cannot support their families. >> one of the many issues i would like to see is people addressing the issues and fulfilling campaign promises. there are many candidates fighting over one another saying this is my agenda, these are the people i want underneath me, this is the program i want to institute. we need to protect where our food comes from, particularly in utah. >> the most important issue in the campaign of 2020 is the over growing threat artificial intelligence poses on our livelihood. we really can't predict how

dangerous it's going to be. >> i think the most important issue for me is how the candidates who attend to address the growing encroachment of china, specifically in the pacific. i was born in the pacific and my country recently switched allegiance from taiwan to china, and that is concerning, especially with some of the things we are hearing out of mainland china. i would like to see somebody -- see candidates -- see how candidates intend to address that. announcer: voices from the road, on c-span. ♪ announcer: "washington journal" continues. host: we are joined by elizabeth redden, a correspondent for inside higher ed, and we will talk about how coronavirus is affecting higher education. elizabeth, good morning. guest: good morning. host: a lot of the colleges and

universities in the washington, d.c. area, in the capital region, have basically closed their campuses and are going to virtual and online classes. is that something only happening here or are we seeing it all over the united states? guest: it's happening nationwide. it has been hard to keep track of the number of colleges switching to virtual instruction because the changes have come so rapidly over the last week. there's one crowd source document that a scholar has put together that has identified more than 200 colleges around the country that have posed or -- a move to virtual instruction . we are seeing it all over the place, all types of colleges. some of the nation's most elite colleges have moved to virtual instruction for the remainder of the semester, places like harvard, princeton, cornell. also, we see a number of public universities doing this. collegesee community

doing this. in seattle, virtually all of them have moved to virtual instruction. host: what are we losing by these colleges and universities going to online classes? we know online instruction is becoming more and more popular in the higher ed community anyway, but what are we losing by these campuses closing, and specifically, what are students losing by these campuses closing down? guest: certainly online instruction has grown more prevalent, but these are students who are enrolled in residential colleges or community college for that matter. in any case, they are used to in person classes and instructors and vital -- faculty members are learning how to adjust quickly to online for the remainder of the semester, so they don't have the benefit of extensive, spending a lot of time training to teach online because teaching online is a different thing than teaching in person.

certainly, they are losing the in person classroom collegeses, and some have asked students to pack their dorms to go home. for those students, they are missing everything that comes with the residential, on-campus experience. they are leaving their dorms, leaving their friends, losing the extracurricular -- those intangibles that make college life college life for those who are at residential campuses. there are also certain courses that could move online, and i think colleges are struggling with that question as well. if you have a bio lab, that is harder to move online then maybe an english course where you discuss books every week. there are all sorts of various types of education, some of which can more easily move online than others. i think that is something a lot of colleges are grappling with, how to work online -- find a way

to work online that does justice to these hands-on learning experiences. host: so are we seeing colleges saying, and universities saying, they will only close for a couple weeks? do they say the entire semester is going to be online from this point? i know this happened right around spring break where kids were leaving the campus anyway. some universities and colleges willack up and go home, so these universities and colleges plan to open back up in a few weeks or they say the rest of the semester is lost and we will do it from home? guest: it is a mix. a number of colleges said they are going online through the end of march or early april, but there are colleges that have said, we are finishing the semester from home. that is it for the semester. we are seeing a mix of approaches in that regard. host: what does that do for graduating seniors? does that mean if you are a

graduating senior and your university or college says we will do virtual for the rest of the semester, does that mean you do not get a graduation ceremony? guest: it's a good question. i'm not sure every college has announced what they are doing with graduation ceremony's. i can think of one off of the top of my head. kentucky, heyin free tuition college, everyone has a work responsibility, like a campus work job. they actually ended the semester early, they ended instruction early, on friday. they said graduation was going to be postponed indefinitely, so i think there may be -- i think some colleges are holding off on commencement announcements, but there may be postponements, you know, it is a little hard to tell what is going to happen here. i think most colleges will try to figure out a way to make a commencement ceremony happen at some point, but whether or not it happens in may on time, i

think will really depend how things pan out over the next couple of weeks. host: let's get our viewers involved in this conversation. we open up special lines for this talk about higher education and coronavirus. student ora college you are the parents of a current college student, we will open up a special line for you, because we want to hear what your child's university or your university and college is doing as far as the coronavirus. that line for college students and parents is (202) 748-8000. if you are an educator, college administrator, if you are a college instructor, we want to know what you are doing around the coronavirus. are you switching your class online? rewriting your syllabus this weekend? your line will be (202) 748-8001 .

once again, for college educators, (202) 748-8001. for everyone else, if you want to talk about higher education and the coronavirus, your number is (202) 748-8002. i especially encourage you to call and if you are living in a college town, because once again, with all of these students leaving, what will that do for businesses in college towns? your number will be (202) 748-8002. remember, you can always text us at (202) 748-8003. we are always reading on social --ia, twitter, and @cspanwj twitter, @cspanwj. and on facebook, facebook.com/cspan. this student tweets socioeconomic differences will show this semester due to virtual classes, because of coronavirus. one, not everyone has internet

at home. quietot all students have conditions to study from home. should account for all of these factors. what are colleges and universities doing for the vulnerable students who may not be able to study from home? absolutely. that has been a subject of intense concern over the past week, with colleges making these announcements. most colleges that have asked students to leave have given an option for students to petition to stay, if you have extenuating circumstances, you can petition to stay in the dorms on campus. most campuses will continue to provide some level of meal services, although it is unclear how extensive those services will be. most colleges are making an option for students to say if they have extenuating circumstances. i think there has been -- some

colleges have been -- i have been scanning the faqs on university websites over the last week as they come up, and some say if you don't have internet access at home, call our information technology office. i think there will be some colleges that will work with students to enable them to have access to secure, reliable internet at home. there are colleges securing storage space for students having to move at the last minute. there are colleges able to offer reimbursements for travel costs, unexpected travel costs of students who can demonstrate a financial need for it. i think we will see a gap here, not just in terms -- one person i spoke with this weeks that these changes are worsening pre-existing inequalities between students with the have and have-nots students. i think we will see that with the have and have-not colleges.

worknk people will have to precarious situation -- so that they can help with those -- there will be some colleges that have a lot more resources to help those students who need help. president trump addressed one issue dealing with higher education during his press conference. he announced an executive balance -- action to weigh all interest from stew moans. pres. trump: we announce the -- from student loans. --s. trump: we announce the by agencies. that is a big thing for students left in the middle. many of the schools have been closed. host: elizabeth, how much of a

help right now is what the president did yesterday? student advocates would welcome that. any relief. my understanding -- this isn't the area i covered most closely myself, but i understand there are advocates who called for broader suspension of loan payments altogether during this time so the interest is one thing, but there is also the payment on the principal. i think that was viewed by many student advocates as a positive step during this time. host: let's let our viewers join in on this conversation with jim calling from arlington, massachusetts. jim, good morning. understandt i don't is how these decisions are made to our schools. thatpen to live in an area

have many large colleges and universities, a lot of high schools and school districts closed. arlington mass, everett mass, boston closing down on st. patrick's day. i don't understand why the new york city school system has a mandate to keep schools open at all costs. that means i think there is a million plus students in that system. you are supposed to have -- supposed to have socia distancing from this. think -- it is mind-boggling to me. host: go ahead and respond elizabeth. guest: it's a good question on how colleges are making these

decisions. i think there are a lot of factors. it certainly in some states, massachusetts, i think there is a state of emergency. i could be wrong, but there have been a number of cases. i think we have seen a lot of colleges follow that, and other places we have seen colleges make these decisions without any cases on their campuses or in the immediate surrounding area, they have done it proactively. i think the timing of spring break precipitated a lot of the announcements over the last week because students were about to leave campus or were already off-campus. then was the time to act, especially because of colleges citing the risk of students leaving for spring break and coming back -- not just students but faculty, staff, leaving for spring break and coming back from all over, and the potential transmission risk. i believe the state university of new york and steady -- city university of new york -- i believe governor cuomo announced

they would move to virtual instruction this week. in that case, it was a gubernatorial directive. other cases, college announce there are two public universities -- those are two public universities. colleges are certainly making them on their own -- making the decisions on their own and they are also talking with public health officials. collegeszabeth, were and universities prepared for this? we have one student who has tweeted to us, while i'm glad classes have been canceled, vanderbilt is having us return for one day, exposing all of the students, and now exposing us and others in return as well as travel cost burdens and last-minute arrangements. it is incredibly inconsiderate by the university. were colleges and universities prepared at all for something like this, likely coronavirus? guest: i don't know if anyone

really was. this has been so fast-moving. the main effect in terms of colleges, they were the effects on the china outreach and recruitment of chinese students and a study abroad in china. then, effects step -- extended to other city abroad programs like italy. has the last 10 days, it really hit home for colleges in a way that was different than it had been before for u.s. colleges that is. i do think there has been a lot of confusion. evolving colleges guidance saying one thing one day and the next day they have to updated. it has been fast-moving. colleges, a number of them announced -- a number have not been -- they have made the announcement they plan to close, but some of the information students might want in terms of rebates for housing, rebates for

work costs, some of that information has been slower coming. they have announced the closure, or the parcel closure, but they have not immediately provided some of those details that students are seeking. i think higher education is generally known for being kind of slow moving and happening slowly. unfairly or not, everything is deliberate and considered. i think colleges felt they had to move quickly this week, especially given the timing around the spring break, as i mentioned, and the imperative i think some colleges felt, that if we were going to act this semester, now is the time. host: let's talk to christie calling from cambria, california. christie is a parent of a college student. good morning. caller: good morning. i actually am a parent of three college students. host: three college students, ok. [laughter] caller: of course all of them are being sent home. -- all onlso on

financial aid, and even though they are getting out of their student housing, they were notified the financial aid is room to be clawed back for and board. i am in a precarious financial situation and was literally because iove, just could not afford my own rent, so i was kind of counting on that. now, we are all in bad shape. anynder if you had comments about that clawback and how we can maybe change the policy on that for needy families. guest: so just to be clear, what part -- theyhe decreased the amount your kids were getting? host: we've already lost her, but i think what she said was they are asking for some of the

financial aid money back for the housing for the students. host: it's a -- guest: it's a really good question. it is something i want to look into more. there has been -- i do know the department of education put out guidance last week about sort of maintaining student aid eligibility during this time, and saying the department would be flexible in a lot of ways. specific heard of that circumstance before, so i do not want to comment too much without looking into it, but i am sorry to hear that, and it is something i want to look into on how colleges are handling the federal aid disbursements in relation to cost of housing and board. host: one of the things we know is that colleges are dealing with what is happening right now. semestersve summer coming up, and we have the fall semester coming up.

we have one student who tweeted "i was supposed to go to florence, italy this summer but has been canceled due to the coronavirus. i'm very upset that i want to experience this phenomenal opportunity, but i'm glad the university of florida is taking percussion seriously." aboutre colleges saying the summer semesters right now? guest: i think we have seen a number of colleges that have gone ahead and canceled summer study abroad. point, sure, at this what the norm is, but a number have gone ahead and canceled their summer or study abroad. at this point, i think colleges have not said much about the fall, but we certainly have seen the number cancel summer study abroad programs, and it is the time for colleges, if they are thinking about canceling, they get to the program, the more potential costs that are not recoverable, i think colleges that have not canceled their

study abroad programs are seriously considering it. over the last week, there were a couple developments as well. the state department put out a local health alert warning, warning american citizens to reconsider travel abroad anywhere in the world. the centers for disease control and prevention issued a level 3 travel alerts, a suggesting you reconsider travel to most of europe, which is the predominant -- or the most popular destination for americans studying abroad. i think colleges are taking all of that into consideration, but i have seen a number of colleges cancel study abroad programs at this point. host: what are colleges and universities doing for international students who are studying here and the college campuses are closing? guest: it is a good question. i think international students would be a group of students that will benefit from what i mentioned earlier, that a lot of

colleges that are not asking students to leave -- that are asking students to leave give the -- i think international students will be among the decision to stay on campus. typically, federal regulations limit international students in terms of the number of online classes they can take a semester, and that usually, under normal time, can only take one course online or only count one online course toward their requirement they made a full-time course of study. the department of homeland security said they would be flexible, and basically allow international students to take online courses this semester either in the country or if they leave the country without it negatively impacting their visa status. that is good news for international students. there are various concerns, depending on what your specific situation is as an international student, but at least one college, for example, international students, after

they graduate, they are eligible for an authorization to work in the u.s. for one to three years called optional practice will -- practical training. there are graduating seniors, international students planning to finish their course of study in may, and stay in the u.s. to work. i have seen at least one college recommended students stay in the u.s., so that they don't leave the u.s.. i think it has raised a lot of concern and can and among international students and pick a killer -- in particular because it is a much bigger deal to go home. if they leave the country, depending on if they have an active visa, they might need to apply for a new -- there are all sorts of various circumstances but i think colleges are trying to provide useful guidance to students, international students. this is evolving day by day. host: let's see if we can get a couple more calls in this segment.

let's talk to jesse from cleveland, ohio. jesse is a college parent. good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead, jesse. have threectually daughters in college. alabama, one was told to come home last week for three weeks, and my son in alabama, we waited to hear from them, hearing thursday night saying friday was the last day and they need to come home. travel is much different -- that is much different than the one in ohio. do you think the federal government should step in and give all of the colleges some kind of language around how college students -- what will happen to them? students,college educating them on what will happen to them? guest: the department of education provided federal guidance in terms of the

financial aid implications of kids can continue to maintain their eligibility -- students can maintain their eligibility even during these closures. higher education, for example, in the united states is -- the federal government has a limited responsibility. -- it tendsly are to be the states that provide the majority of these operational fundings, in terms of government funding coming to colleges. the federal government has a big providedhe federal aid directly to students, but it tends to be -- higher education in the u.s. tends to be more state driven then federal driven. host: let's talk to kyle, an ming education and higher educator in an higher education. good morning. caller: good morning and thank you for c-span. first of all, i do not think we

should hold universities to the higher -- a higher standard than we hold the federal government. to the point about online teaching and that transition, i think it is a little inconsiderate for universities to push us to transition to online teaching so quick. i have students that are having to move across the country, students that are losing their on-campus jobs, students that are queer or trans or suddenly -- and suddenly have to go home -- go to hostile homes. we need to be treating these weple that -- people in that need to treat them the same way and contemplate switching to online education. guest: that is an interesting point. i've seen colleges that have basically extended spring break until the end of march with the

suggestion, for example, on break until march 28 to allow for that time for transition both in faculty transition to learning how to teach online -- not learning how to teach online but getting a handle of it if they have not done it in the past, but also student transition so students can deal with that. students lives have been turned upside down. there are students who are in very vulnerable positions who going home is either not easy for financial or personal reasons, all sorts of reasons for which students might have fraught home relationships where going home can really upset things. ie of the things i've heard, think we will see increasing health,n to mental continuing access to mental health resources. some colleges are thinking about -- telehealth, making counseling

sessions available virtually. i think the mental health implications are something colleges need to pay a lot of attention to as well in this transition, because it is a big stressor and the students are being removed. for students leaving campuses, they are being removed from their immediate support system that they are used too, at least there. and not everyone has a happy home to go back to. host: let's take one last caller, ricky calling from jacksonville, florida. ricky, good morning. caller: yes, sir, good morning. i love your show. i always believe in american exceptionalism and that we were at the top of the food chain when it comes to situations. this situation reflects just where we really are lacking across the board in everything from education, to everything.

my situation is my granddaughter has a friend who has nowhere to go, a friend on medications and stuff, and it is just terrible that these students are being cast out into the world without knowing -- they don't know where to go. of americaneliever reception, it really shook me to let me know that the entire infrastructure of the united states is in peril. host: elizabeth, who should college students call if they can't -- believe they can't go home or feel like they have financial trouble and not able to do online classes? what would you suggest college students do? guest: that's a good question. i think some colleges have explicit guidance on this on

their website. if you don't have internet access, call our information technology web. -- office. if you're worried about going home, call the dean of students. i hope most students would have, if no other place, the dean of havents office if colleges not offered other guidance. that is the office that is charged most with student welfare, sort of from a holistic perspective. host: we would like to thank inside higher ed correspondent elizabeth redden for walking us through higher education and coronavirus. elizabeth, think you so much. guest: thank you for having me. host: we will close out the show with more of your calls and comments over president trump declaring a national emergency over covid-19 or coronavirus. you see the numbers on screen. medical professionals, we want to hear from you in this last few minutes, so we will be right back with your calls. ♪

broughtcharles fremont the pacific coast into the united states. at the beginning of this story, the united states did not have a pacific coast. whichwas california belonged to mexico. fremont encouraged the american settlement of oregon and took art in the american conquest of california, just in time for the gold rush. he did play a real role in changing the map of the united states. stephenorning host inskeep on his book. sunday night at eight a clock --tern on c-span's human day 8:00 eastern on c-span's q&a. >> this election season, the candidates on the talking points are only revealed over time, but since you can't be everywhere, there is c-span.

our campaign 2020 programming differs from all other political coverage for one simple reason, it is c-span. we have brought to your unfiltered view of government every day since 1979, and this year, we are bringing you an unfiltered view of the people seeking to steal that from you this november. another words, your future. this election season, complete and unfiltered. see the biggest picture for yourself and make up your own mind. c-span's campaign 2020, brought to you by your television provider. announcer: "washington journal" continues. host: we will close out the show today with your calls and comments about what is going on with the coronavirus in the united states. let's look at what is happening with our government and the coronavirus over the last few days. last night, the house voted on a

comprehensive coronavirus aid package, and nancy pelosi spoke about it before that final vote. here she is. >> i am very proud of the success we have had, the work of our committee chairs, and their staff, to put together this legislation. as you may recall, last sunday, chuck schumer and i put forth the priorities we wanted to see and we called the families first, in response to the coronavirus crisis. week,ollows our bill last last wednesday, that was about the appropriations bill 8.3 -- eight point three, putting families first. with this, we are injecting those resources and putting funding in the pockets of people who may be affected by the crisis. here we are, did what we said we were going to do, put families

first with paid sick leave, paid sick days, family and medical leave, unemployment insurance, for the children. over 20 million children get their meals at school. they have food insecurity, and this bill addresses that as well , food for our seniors and .thers who depend on that an important court decision on that today. things,lating to three testing, testing, and testing. this is so important. between the appropriations bill and this legislation, we should see -- we have legislated it, we should see the executive branch execute this legislation. we are proud of that work and past a bill yesterday, a great bill. it is a really great bill

because that is what we are passing today, but we thought it would be important to assure the american people that we are willing and able to work together to get a job done for them, so we thank our republicans, those who will be supporting the bill. we appreciate the president joining us with his tweet. host: let's look at what the house bill actually does, and the numbers in passing. the virus aid package passed 363 to 40 with all democrats voting for it and 40 voting against it. the representative of michigan voted present. here are the provisions in the package. free coronavirus testing for everyone who needs a test, including uninsured. it will allow for two paid sick ande and paid family medical leave. it externally -- expands

unemployment benefits and it --vides school lunches for provide funding for school need --that the president announced increased testing for the coronavirus would be a partnership with the private sector. here's what president trump sent from the white house yesterday. pres. trump: 10 days ago, i brought together ceos of commercial labs, the white house, and directed them to immediately work on a solution to dramatically increase the availability of tests. other countries have called us and worked with us, and they are doing similar things, or will be doing similar things. as a result of that action today, we announce a new partnership with the private sector to vastly increase and accelerate our capacity to test for the coronavirus. we want to make sure those who

need a test can get a test safely, quickly, and conveniently, but we do not want people to take a test if we feel that they should not be doing it. we don't want everyone running out and taking it. only if you have certain symptoms. using federal emergency authorities, the fda approved a new test for the virus. we did this within hours of receiving the application, a process that would normally take weeks. we expect up to 500,000 additional tests will be available early next week. we will announce locations probably sunday night. i want to thank the great company for their incredible work and i would like to thank fair mo for sure. the fda's goal is to hopefully authorize the application. it is going very quickly. that will bring additionally 1.4 million tests on board next week

, and 5 million within a month. i doubt we will need anywhere near that. host: let's look at some of the highlights of president trump's national emergency declaration. act whichinvokes the allows fema to tap into 4.26 billion dollars disaster relief fund and direct federal aid to states hit by disasters and health crisis. stateo instructs governments to set up emergency operations centers and direct hospitals nationwide to activate emergency paired plans -- for fairness plans. it allows the hhs secretary to weigh regulations that can hinder health professionals' r esponse capabilities. this was the declaration out of the white house yesterday. let's go to the polls and see what you think about what is going on with the coronavirus in the united states. let's start with bob calling

from jacksonville, texas. bob, good morning. caller: good morning to you, jesse. i am 85 years old, and i hope you feel as good as i do this morning. host: all right, what do you got for us, bob? caller: first of all, it is mostly comment. i seem to remember somebody calling this a hoax not too long it has been declared a national emergency. looks and sounds like socialism to me. i wonder how these people feel that just don't like socialism. they hated, we can't have socialism, my god area they have their hand out now for paid vacation, paid family leave. maybe you ought to have a separate line for that, for people that don't like

socialism. who iset's go to leslie calling from louisville, colorado. leslie, good morning caller: good morning to you -- morning. caller: good morning to you. i would like to share yesterday that my daughter flew from one airport to denver international airport. none of the passengers were tested before getting on the plane in heathrow, and none of them were tested when they arrived in denver. i think it is horrifying to think that all of the flights coming out of great tin that could very well have been the same procedure or lack of procedure. i know i heard trump say that all of the passengers would be -- his word wasn't tested but it implied to something would happen before they got on the planes. obviously that did not happen. host: i have a nice myself flying back from greece,

overnight today, so i would be interested in hearing from her what type of evaluation they are doing on their flights coming back from greece to the united states overnight. better thanpe it is the experience from great britain, but it is pretty scary, so thank you for allowing me to share this. host: let's talk to lou calling from island park, illinois. good morning. caller: good morning and thank you for c-span. i would like to know why president trump disbanded the office of preparedness for epidemics like we are having right now. it's obviously true. i have checked it out on every website on the internet. we had an office of preparedness under the ctc, and trump fire them. it is similar to pulling smoke alarms off of the ceiling in an apartment house.

i just want to know why he did this. i have yet to find out an answer. host: let's talk to diane calling from nashville, georgia. diane, good morning. caller: good morning. this is diane from nashville, georgia. my husband is in the nursing home here. the nursing home has been closed. i'm wondering when he's going to be tested and when the families -- the family is going to be able to be tested here. host: are you still there, diane? caller: i'm here. host: all right. denver,ll keith from colorado. keith, good morning. caller: the show is kind of refreshing the morning -- this morning because were not getting trump orthat crazy

conspiracy stuff going on. i just want to remind everyone to stay clear on the narrative. trump did not save us from anything. he made it so much worse. it wasr, two months ago, a chinese hoax. a media hoax and a democratic hoax. falling toarket bear territory is what got a supporterst of his in the trump administration. to stand up and lie like he did yesterday, like the guy did about firing the office of preparedness in the cdc. he did it because it was something -- it is that simple. to trump supporters, you know that's not cool. host: yesterday, during his press conference at the white house, president trump responded to a question about whether he takes responsibility for the lag

in testing over coronavirus. a doctor also responded to his earlier congress -- comments before congress about the system failing on testing. here's what they said. >> dr. fauci said earlier this week the lag in testing was in fact a failing. do you take responsibility for that, and when can you guarantee every single american who needs a test will able to have a test? what is the date of that? pres. trump: no, i do not take responsibility at all because we were given a set of circumstances, rules and regulations, and specifications from a different time. it wasn't meant for this kind of an event with the kind of numbers we are talking about. what we have done is redesigned it quickly with the help of the people behind me, and we are in very strong shape. i think we will be announcing sunday night, and this will start quickly. we will have the ability to do

in the millions over a very quick period of time. what we have done and are going to be leaving a very indelible print for the future in case something like this happens again, but it was -- and that's not the fault of anybody, and frankly, the old system worked well for smaller numbers, much smaller numbers >> >>. by sunday night, -- numbers. >> by sunday night, will every american be able to get a test? pres. trump: just to reiterate what i've said multiple times, the system was not designed. for what it was designed for, it worked very well. if you want to get the blanket testing and availability anybody can get itm, -- availability, anyone can get it. you have to embrace the private sector. this is exactly what you are seeing because you can't do it without it. when i said that, i meant the system is not designed for what we need.

looking forward, the system will take care of it. host: let's talk to john calling from carbondale, illinois. john, good morning. caller: how are you doing this morning? host: just fine. caller: i wanted to agree with several of your last few colors. -- callers. you might know the answer. a couple of these have come up but you hear no media coverage. -- we turned down a month or so ago the who testing kits, and i wonder if that is just to shoot business toward quest diagnostics and lab core. i'm curious whether walmart, if they are don't -- donating all of this parking lot space for the testing, or whether they will be billing the american people. like bob fromnes, texas, people worry and call it socialism if it helps the little guy, but here i heard -- i don't

know maybe you know if this is true, but overnight the federal reserve put 1.5 trillion dollars into the banking system to pr op up the banking system and they will prop up the fracking during this coronavirus. this whole thing seems like it has been a moneymaking thing. i hope it's not. that's why i'm kind of curious about the walmart and walgreens thing, whether they are donating their office space. will they be charging the american people once it's all done? i don't know if you have the answer to any of those and i thank you for giving me the time. host: we don't have the answer because all of this is still ongoing. president trump just tweeted from the white house he is currently attending meetings on covid-19 in the white house. and, he is working with state and local governments. many of whom have done a great job. ongoing story.n a lot of the details, we don't actually have yet on what the

federal government is going to be doing. the house package has yet to pass the senate. we don't quite know yet what will happen there. let's keep going and talk to darren calling from billings, montana. darien, good morning. caller: good morning. yes, i was calling a little bit studentse, the college . i know that was a segment from before, but now we have this coronavirus going on, and now we are sending all of these people all over the united states who are children or younger adults who are healthy but could be carrying this coronavirus and spreading it all over. i'm not quite sure we are approaching this in the right direction. you, darien,tell that the two universities i havet gone online --

teach at have gone online and we are still trying to figure out what happens. we will be online for at least a few weeks. everyone is still trying to figure out what will happen with this. caller: interesting. very interesting. host: we talked to jimmy calling from new castle, indiana. jimmy, good morning. caller: good morning. i tuned in just in time to hear the gentleman from texas ask just ahy it was a hoax few days ago and now it becomes a national emergency. our president's shaking hands with all of the ceos and other gentlemen at is emergency notification yesterday, and only one of the folks there attempted -- he attempted to shake hands with offered his elbow. i find it strange that it was a hoax a few days ago and it is national emergency and we can't get cohesive plans from our

federal government like we need. so we could all be following the same guidelines. host: let's talk to frank calling from las vegas, nevada. frank, good morning. caller: thank you, sir. i have two quick questions. the first part is, why don't they get the kids in early spring break and let them out of school for the next two weeks? i find it amazing russia has no outbreaks. highly suspicious. why isn't russia affected the way the rest of the world is or has been? you, frank,tell that especially in the washington, d.c. area, a lot of the lower education students -- not lower education students but the high school, middle school, and elementary students have been given resolve coming up on spring break, and a lot of universities are coming up on spring break or just finishing their spring break are also

asking their students to stay at home and take classes virtually. so exactly what you are saying is going on. let's talk to steve calling from hudson, florida. steve, good morning. >> good morning. toas just remembering back the swine fluent we had that. i believe there were quite a few people during that, and i don't remember it being so hyped up by the media. andow it is an emergency all of this, but it's common sense, wash your hands and don't be in big crowds is probably the best device anyone can give you. callingt's talk to jim from brownsville, oregon. jim, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. let's take a step back. during the hearing, we heard

thate clearly testify was, even then as they spoke, planning to interfere in our 2020 election. so how do we so quickly forget about those things? whose election is taking place now? who is running? dnc.the look at the crowds. why do we so easily forget what putin is doing? he always wants to blame it on someone else, another country. heard -- what are we hearing from russia, if at all? this is exactly the same kind of

2016 that he did before in , and they told us, the experts, every one of them, as he testified, he is trying to do it and planning to do it, even as they spoke. who is this affecting? the democratic party. that is group definitely voting for biden? what age group does it upset? host: we would like to thank all of our guests and callers for participating in our "washington journal." we want to remind you that you can find your information about the coronavirus. if you want to hear directly from your government officials on what is going on in the white house and congress, you can find coronavirus page with the programs, briefings,

and hearings around the coronavirus. you can find that atwww. -- at www.c-span.org/coronavirus. join us for another edition of "washington journal" tomorrow. everyone, have a great saturday. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ up, c-span interviews vice president mike pence about the government's response to the coronavirus and the effect on the u.s. economy. then, dr. anthony fauci and dr. robert redfield, director of the center for disease control and testify on capitol hill about the coronavirus outbreak. heather long discusses the economic impact of the

coronavirus on the washington journal. now, here is mike pence. fremont brought the pacific coast into the united states. at the beginning of the story, the united states did not have a pacific coast. there was territory in oregon and there was california, which belonged to mexico. fremont encouraged the american settlement of oregon and took part in the american conquest of california, just in time for the gold rush. he played a real role in changing the map of the united states. morning edition host on imperfect union. sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q&a. mr. vice president, dr.

anthony fauci on capitol hill today, saying the coronavirus will continue to spread. chancellor merkel saying as many as 70% of the germans could be infected. we're seeing the lockdown in italy. as head of the task force, what worries you personally the most? vice president pence: the american people can be confident that this president and our administration, leadership at every state in the country, have no higher priority than the health and safety of the people of this nation. that's one of the reasons why president trump took unprecedented action in january, declared a public health emergency, established the white house coronavirus task force, but also suspended all travel from china and then quarantined all americans that were coming back from china to essentially do everything we could to prevent the spread of the disease in the united states. we've also issued travel advisories for portions of italy, portions of south korea and we're now screeni00