so that is the lesson, the single best lesson. listen to public health officials who know what they are talking about. practice social distancing, and don't rely on a vaccine arriving anytime soon. susan: dr. christian mcmillan, thank you so much for adding a historical perspective to our current pandemic situation. take you for your time. christian: you are very welcome. ♪ >> all "q&a" programs are available on our website or as a podcast at c-span.org. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp.] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> coming up in an hour, senate reporter for the national on the zach cohen congressional efforts to address the pandemic. the former deputy assistant

secretary for health will discuss the u.s. response to the spread of the coronavirus. you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. azor 47, the nazar 47 --es of 47. the motion is not agreed to bring -- agreed to. senate failed to move forward on nearly a nearly two $2ldren -- on a nearly trillion response to the outbreak. impartial --ling calling parts of a slush fund. ,ithout democratic supports republican's failed to get the measure passed and their own rank and file were down in numbers. rand paul announced he is the

first u.s. senator to test positive for the virus. reaction toet your the senate failing to pass that economic aid bill. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001 and .ndependents, 202-748-8002 text us with your first name and 202-748-8003.at we will get your thoughts in a minute. , senatort vote failed mitch mcconnell, the republican leader in the senate had this to say. [video clip] mcconnell: republican and democratic senators spent days collaborating on a bipartisan way in a bipartisan

way with these working groups we set up. democratic ideas were incorporated, major changes were made and it -- at their request. today the speaker of the house back in town after taking a week off and poured cold water on the whole bipartisan process. , what wedibly witnessed a few hours ago is senate democrats voting filibuster the bipartisan package that they helped craft. over the last two days. it wasn't even to vote on final passage. simply vote to limit further debate after which there been 30 more hours to continue to negotiate if they wanted to drag this out endlessly.

after that of course the futures anticipation of an ugly tomorrow. they voted to block specifically surgery sources for hospitals, a massive expansion in unemployment benefits, historic relief for small businesses to prevent layoffs, direct checks for millions of americans and expanding health care workers access to the masks they need. even if democrats reversed tomorrow, what, they cast today will almost certainly cause more americans to lose their jobs and more seniors hardened retirement savings to literally evaporate.

republican leader mitch mcconnell on the floor. reacting immediately to that vote last night. the scene and reporting the dow futures went down sharply. the market in the united states opening up 9:00 a.m. eastern time. said, theority leader key principles met yesterday. a picture sent out by his office showing the key players in his office in the senate capital. you can see the secretary of treasury steve mnuchin in the foreground into to the right, chuck schumer. speaker of the house nancy pelosi. kevin mccarthy to her right and mitch mcconnell, all of them practicing social distancing in that meeting. right after the majority leader spoke, chuck schumer also took to the floor, here's what he had to say about the proposal. [video clip]

sen. schumer: we see flaws that was put on the floor eight is a giant corporate bailout fund with no accountability. we don't even know what the loans were paid until six month later. what we've seen is a cutback in what we asked for for hospitals, doctors, nurses, masks, equipment. we need more money than the republican majority offered for what was seen as no money for state and local governments. they have huge new expenses. we need to make those better. and so the bottom line is very simple. we are fighting for a better bill because this bill will have .n effect for a very long time we working with secretary

mission have been in my office about six times tonight. they are making progress. this a good chance will have an agreement. but we don't need artificial deadlines. we will get this done, we will come in at noon and hopefully have an agreement. continuedtiations into the evening and they are expected to take action today when the senate comes in at noon as a minority leader indicated. take a look at our the markets reacting. towable -- tumble into into the different markets and their numbers. reactions to what happened in the senate last night. eddie in tampa, florida, democratic caller. you are first. go ahead. caller: until this virus is under control, and you and you

is loans come anyone who has a rent or has to pay a bill to american express, anybody that shouldrtgages, anybody -- for two months. the get a lot of money into anyone the go --pping, you need to put like a filter. god bless, go america. anybody who know has been infected? anyone buton't know this is a good start. suspend everything. what do you think about

what happened in the senate last night. to do ishat they need suspend all loans. rent for restaurants because we need them. suspend anyone who has loans. get money into their pockets. that'll work out for two months. host: eddie says the senate going in the wrong direction. joe in alabama, republican paid what you say. caller: two things to say. if trump hadn't thought about this, those checks will be going out tomorrow. whatever happened to we got pass the bill before we read it. thank you. john in florida come independent. caller: i don't know what scares me more, congress or the

american mindset. those first two callers. does the first gentleman understand what the bond market is? the bond market is what keeps this country going. as for the democrats go, they are going to send us into a depression. now they are talking about 20% to 30% unemployment. during the great depression the on them at rate was 25%. i don't know what the hell they are thinking about. i was a democrat for 53 years until seven years ago when i just couldn't take it anymore. this is massive socialism. they don't have time to argue over line items. the stock market is already down over 11,000 points, what the hell are they waiting for. just like tarp in 2008 when that got shot down in the stock market went down nearly 1000 points that day. what do they expect to happen today? so happy my parents are in

heaven so they can't see what they were once proud of -- proud democratic party that understood, that understood how this economy worked. now we have chucky schumer in nancy pelosi, a couple of socialists that have no clue what corporations and businesses do. host: john, you compared last night's vote to that 2008 tarp vote. there was a report on capitol hill who did the same that had that eerie feeling last night as they took that vote raid caller: -- vote. caller: the democrats know they are doing, they are playing politics. they hate donald trump so badly that they are willing to send this country into a great depression and if i may say one other thing, two years ago i had the flu and 2017 and 2018 season , we lost nearly 80,000 americans. if you do the math and divide three and 65 days, that's 219

americans dying per day but that number is skewed because people don't dying the summer, they die in a six month period usually of influenza between october and april. tomorrow you imagine 438media starts reporting americans are dying from coronavirus. the world coming to an end. where were they two years ago when 438 americans were dying from influenza? , it iss one doctor noted the spread of this disease whereas as if you have influenza one doctor noted in programming we covered, you can infect one person. in the coronavirus, you can infect up to four people. and it's the spread. caller: it is the death rate. you have to go by the death

rate. forget about hominy people get this. ghost 60 million americans had it. 13,000 died. it's the death rate i'm concerned about. i don't care about hominy people catch this thing. i want to know how deadly it is and that's what we should be concerned about. this isn't ebola. if it was i would be freaking out like everybody else. your point about democrats opposing this bill last night, the new york times this morning. partisan dispute threatens to disraeli the deal. $1200 direct payments to millions of americans and provide hundreds of millions of dollars for loans to businesses. democrats to announce the packages a corporate giveaway that favors big business over workers that bailed out companies not just themselves after receiving government aid. particular incensed at the

inclusion of revision to give the federal reserve access to 425 billion leveraged for flailing companies. in congress would have little or no say on which businesses could receive it or how it could be used. democrats also said the measure provided insufficient unemployment aid offering only three months while they've insisted on at least four. and inadequate funding for state and local governments emergency food assistance. let's hear from kathy in michigan, democratic caller. what do you think about capitol hill. caller: i left a very rough mesh it was pelosi's office last week. from whatever reading in the papers between trying to make a living and working in medicine, there is no sub teaching. this is a very serious situation , infectious disease, they know what they are doing here.

we've got it under control but it's very serious and it's being taken very seriously. the package left a lot of people out, known in my family would receive anything. as far as the general and from florida, he needs to maybe talk to an infectious disease specialist and may be receive some education on how it works out really. host: what do you say to him? caller: maybe if we could just have an audio of everyone coughing in the visual. disease are not easy to handle and it's spreading now. we know that now. it's here in the community. you need to stop it and there has to be resources for everyone , including the hospitals to

make it through this time because it will be a rough next two to three months. i don't think they will reopen schools in michigan. i think ob closed for the rest of the school year. that's a big hit for a lot of people. you left aentioned message for speaker pelosi and you don't know if it would help. new york times editorial board breaks it down this way. the sides are also in broad agreement on the details of direct aid for americans, in 1002 hundred dollar payment to adults who earn less than $75,000 a year and 500 per child. those earning up to 100,000 would receive smaller checks. that plan would pump about 215 billion did the economy in meaningful stimulus. lauderdale, florida, republican. caller: hello. i've had it with the democrats. if they want to get angry, i'm

to get angry back. if they want to get in my face, i'm been a get back in their face back. withepublicans have had it these line democrats who claim they are bipartisan braid i'm sick and tired of seeing nancy pelosi strutting around the way she does in chuck schumer giving us all of his bs on the floor of the senate. i'm gonna be donating to the republican party like i never have before and i'm in a be working to make sure this mob bunch of socialists are done forever. i'm very, very angry. host: what angers you about last night? caller: they claim they were working with the republicans and when it comes down to a senate vote, the same thing that always happens, happens. the democrats vote altogether and the republicans vote and they thought they had some democrats with them. they are liars.

they arts mirrors. i'm over it. and so are all republicans. you are gonna be very surprised if you're a democrat what happens in this next election. i guarantee you. there is anger in division. thank you democrat party for making everybody angry, not justified it, but divided and angry. failed as, that vote they attempted to move forward with the nearly $2 trillion economic aid package and it failed 47-47. number werehy the down for republicans is because senator rand paul announced in a tweet from his office that he has tested positive for covid-19. he is feeling fine in using quarantine. he is a symptom attic and was tested out of an abundance of caution due to his travel and events. he was not aware of any direct contact with any infected person. lunchr rand paul at a gop

on friday in close contact with some of his other colleagues. senator mitt romney heard the news yesterday after republicans were huddling on capitol hill to try move forward with this economic aid package. here is what the senator old reporters. [video clip] romney: i wish him the best. we will be frank in thinking about him. all the senators seeking medical advice as to what action we should take to make sure we don't spread this ourselves. together andlunch i hope he is doing very well. we have to determine whether any of us should self-quarantine. romney in was senator the afternoon. minutes later he sent out a

since romneying sat next to senator paul for extended periods in recent days due to cdc guidance, the attending physician ordered him to immediately self-quarantine and not vote on the senate floor. to pass thebers relief package as quickly as possible and provide for families, workers and small businesses. also announcing they would self-quarantine was senator mike lee. andtor gardner of colorado as we said come senator paul and senator romney and senator rick scott of florida. who all did not vote yesterday. the five republicans in quarantine and there was also independent senator from vermont presidential candidate bernie sanders also did not vote yesterday to move forward on that stimulus package. from the washington post, paul

abouthave the story senator rand paul's diagnosis. they write paul received his test results sunday morning, according to his chief of staff, the chief of staff did not answer repeated questions on when he took the test. he also did not elaborate how the senator got tested even though he was a symptomatic. directed note been to seek testing us they've had symptoms after close contact with a carrier. celebrities have received quick and easy access to testing dropping outrage and accusations. revealed -- year he was surgically removed because of injuries he suffered in 2017 when he was attacked by his neighbor. paul went to ontario, canada to have surgery which he said was also related to the 2017 assault.

we will go back to our calls this morning. your reaction to the senate failing to move forward on this economic aid package. nathan, you are on the air. think the democrats and republicans should just compromise already. it seems like the republicans don't want to give too much to the poor and democrats don't want to give too much to the rich. but the rich are losing money and the poor are losing money every second we wait and every day we wait. the economy gets twice is worse every single day. every day we wait is too much time and they need to figure it out and get something through today. host: how do you feel about this story in the washington times. democrats tack green mandates onto airline and cruise line aid. senate democrat said any financial assistance the travel

industry should be paired with requirements the companies act more responsible fashion by reducing their carbon footprint. if we give them assistance without requiring them to be better environmental stewards we miss a major opportunity to combat climate change at ocean dumping. at the same time more than 200 environmental -- urge them to place a cap on greenhouse gases which would require the industry to reduce emissions 20% per decade. what you think about attaching that kind of language to the economic aid? caller: i think climate change is a pressing issue and that something we need to handle over whatext 10 or so years but needs to be handled tomorrow or today is the coronavirus paired we need to figure out legislation for that before we figure out environmental stuff. host: more from this story. reports theardson u.s. airline industry pushing for $50 billion in financial

assistance. about half in zero interest loan and cash loan guarantees. as air travel nose dives on reactions to covid-19. loans.kages introduced dorothy in raleigh, north carolina, democratic caller. please give me a minute as you gave me the angry republican pit i'm not angry but give me a minute. out ands don't come explain themselves very well. we talk about giving to corporations huge amounts of money with no mandate, so that means they can keep it, pocket it, do whatever they want. democrats are trying to give people money. $1200 might not pay people's mortgage. what are they gonna do the next month? people with no money, it business can't survive anyway because people have no money to help them survive. that money they get, we don't

have any money to spend, people have to catch up on their bills. the money they are giving people is not canape. -- not going to pay. are $2400.lls that's not gonna work and that's what the democrat said. there is no mandate on that money so what they are doing is theyg these corporations, are already loaded and they want to give them more money and put it in their pockets, buy back their own stocks and make everything look great and people are knocking to be able to catch up on those bills, you're going to find out once this is over and that $1200 is gone, they cut off things, people hungry, that's what can happen in corporations will have all the need to take their trips on a plane. we won't be able to. host: before you go on that buyback story you just mentioned. the president also saying

agreeing company shouldn't be able to buy back stock getting money from this. caller: should. there is no mandate. he said should not. not will not. that's different. but that's the way i feel, they are going to do it. if people aren't able to go out and buy, everyone knows that's not of money to live on. if you can't buy anything, they can't sell anything. so it's gonna fail because the money is going up. you have to give it to the people the going to spend not the people that are gonna put it in the bank. host: thanks, dorothy for the call. greg in chicago, independent. what do you think? $1200 is nothing to do anything.

if we were put to desperate to fora freeze on all bills the next two months, these people won't have to think about how mike and pay my mortgage, car insurance, credit card bills. not a forgiveness, just a freeze and then they will have the money directed. on, atave that going least people can stay in the house. i don't have to worry about this. the $1200 will go towards food. but as the last caller said, 1200 cantu much. me i'm still for working when i can work so i can make payments, but a lot of people can't. host: are you working from home? caller: no i am not.

host: you have to go out. caller: yes i have to go out. host: how do you feel about that? caller: the thing is and was kind of my next thing. i'm a retired veteran. way -- to get out of the i see these people on the beaches still and i still see these people on the move. logistically we move things to get things around where it needs , training how many years of chemical warfare to actually combat some of these things. if you arm them with the necessary things and what they need to do as far as things like that help. people are still taking it as a joke and the biggest asset we have right now, our military,

get out there as far as mitigation. just stupid things like that. host: greg in illinois. brunswick, georgia. democrat line. caller: good morning. democrats are behind them. averagee of crisis, the people did not have that extra money to hold them. they need to stand their ground theiritch mcconnell and publicans and hang in there. the american people need that extra money to get them through right now. this is a crisis.

people are not taking this as serious as they should. i stay at home and look at the news. person might not have money to get them from week to week, paycheck-to-paycheck, it is a crisis. thank you. host: let's take a look at these numbers cnn put out in the tweet. on march 1, the coronavirus cases in the united states were 89. look at the numbers as the days went by, they jumped to 105 and then on march 7, over 400. 1600, on march 17, 6000 prayed on march 19, 13000 and cases ine at 32,000 the united states. pam in arkansas, republican. caller: hi, how are you.

host: good morning. caller: i'm looking at the numbers. we have had coronavirus. strain, it'sferent a china virus. it should not have come over here. this is a good argument for stronger borders and in flexing people back and forth globally with countries that are still eating bats, cats and rats. more kinds ofe epidemics and pandemics because we are swapping spit with countries we shouldn't be. host: let me ask you this. reporters pointed out yesterday or maybe the day before, when the swine loop broke and killed millions swine for broke and killed, it started in the united states in a pig factory from the

united states and no one called a u.s. virus, how do you respond to that. quit swapping spit back and forth globally. let's keep our own country safe. this is what the constitution was made for to keep the people within safe. this is not going to be an easy fix because i don't think both it where itw to fix economiccause a big catastrophe. i think it was planned somewhere, either iran, china, russia wanted to start a revolution. host: pam in arkansas, her opinion. mimi in pennsylvania, independent. are you there? caller: hello?

host: hi, you are on the air. caller: yes. know i amant you to very disappointed with c-span. when you shake your head the earlier caller talked about and getting money from the federal government. who do you think will be calling people back to work? these corporations can't go out of business. c-span are ind bed like all the other democrats and reporters, you're as bad as the emma kratz and all the other reporters. host: ok, i'm shaking my head with you as well acknowledging that i'm listening and hearing what you are saying. , athe international front

reporter tweets out on the situation in iran and iran's house minister release new official numbers. new cases the last when he four hours. and49 total positive cases 100 27 deaths in the past 24 hours. the death rate in that country at a total of 1812. you also have the world health the african in region saying 1396 confirmed covid-19 cases in africa and 43 countries there been a total of 122 recoveries reported. avery whofrom ben covers europe writing the latest in 24urope, 394 deaths hours. italy death toll passes -- after merkel in isolation doctors has positive.

three sent to a lock sent into lockdown. some london parks and playground closing. 24 reporting on coronavirus deaths jumped by 112 the death toll reaching 674. i tv news, coronavirus death toll and the u.k. reaches 281 as boris johnson resists calls for a nationwide lockdown. and then you have bbc out of canada breaking, the canadian olympic committee and paralympic will refuse to send athletes of the tokyo olympics if the event is not postponed. they 2020 games are scheduled to begin on july 24. australian announcing the same. in myrtle beach, south carolina. senateaction to the failing to pass the economic paid -- economic aid package. i think $2400, that is

to keep much money and bailing out big business, that's just a given for republicans. that's what they do. everybody screaming and hollering because the stock because those it screaming hollering at their front door. it don't have that big of an effect on them and the people , god canome together have his way one way or another, he is can have the last say in this situation. cowboy in michigan, republican prayed good morning. caller: good morning.

question, how come those are publicans didn't vote? how come they didn't do it like a regular vote doing absentee ballot? host: there is some discussion of allowing these members of congress to be able to vote remotely, it is something the president discussed yesterday. we have a list of members who tested positive including a republican of florida, democrat of utah and now senator rand paul, republican of kentucky. he also of a list of members in self-quarantine, sender steve scully's, drew ferguson, and wagoner, stephanie murphy, , andyen rice, tom cole kim, david price. scott,rtwright, rick

mike lee and made romney. the list right there of members in quarantine who cannot vote right now. but why can't they do in absentee ballot? that doesn't make any sense. they could call or vote in and do the same thing. that is ridiculous. host: they are not prepared for that. caller: they should be prepared for that. it's really upsetting. they ought to go old school and what i mean by old-school as they ought to try medicines we've already used for other purposes. give them a shot of penicillin. penicillin has done a lot of good for several years and worked great for a lot of things. so why don't they try that? it will be a simple thing and it may work.

in the other thing is, they got this one medicine and i forget what it was. looking into news in the past but they say they've got to do some analyzation to it and it might take a couple of months to figure it out if its safety. what's the big deal of not using with all this useless stuff trying to figure it out, it didn't do any harm in the past. what makes them think it'll do any harm now. and the other thing of got to to upsets me, one time up about two years ago, maybe longer than that. party and aocratic

republican party. we don't have that no more. we still have the republican party, but now we have a communist party, and that's exactly what it is. host: let me jump into this point and let you know this is some the president discussed yesterday in a briefing yesterday evening, something the mayor of new york city got as well, andrew cuomo that they will be testing a drug on the most infected patients in new york starting on tuesday so they are very hopeful that they can see some progress there. new york to begin clinical trials for coronavirus treatment on tuesday. michael in glen allen, virginia. caller: good morning. host: what do you think about

last night and what happened in the senate? caller: what happened is what always happens, different ideas on how to fund the government. instead of giving $1000 checks to individuals, we should be giving that money to the businesses and let businesses take care of the individuals because of your rent is over $2000 that's not to take care the family. why are the u.s. bailing out cruise line companies and they aren't even american-owned? companies that don't belong to the government. if we need the money for businesses in america and take care of americans, don't take care of international companies and the consumers never see any profits from the bailouts. we get nothing every time. this is from the editorial board. ofublicans also agree some the conditions demented by senate democrats on bailout the

larger companies prayed legislation last treasury to take an equity stake into the companies it saves so taxpayers benefit from any recovery. it also proposes temporary limits on executive compensation and stock buyback. that is critical because some industry seeking bailouts are in trouble partly because of their own poor choices. they have wasted in recent years buying back shares of their own stocks to enrich the shareholders. boeing is seeking a $60 billion bailout as it happens is a must exactly the same amount of money the company is distributed to its shareholders since 2013 in the form of 17 point 4 billion in dividend payments and 43.1 billion spent re-its own shares. the major airline spent 96% of free cash over the last decade buying back their own stock drive up share prices. living in the moment with little regard to the future. among the beneficiaries? airline executives who sold

about $1.6 billion in shares during that period. nikki haley, the former u.s. ambassador to the u.n. and former governor as well resign from her post on the boeing board. here's the headline. disagrees with bowling -- boeing bailout request. she said well i know cash is tight that's equally true for numerous people and small businesses. i cannot support a move to lean on the federal government for a stimulus or bailout that prioritizes the company over others to guarantee our financial position. boeing responded saying we appreciate the support of the president and administration for the 2.5 million jobs, 17,000 suppliers boeing relies on terming the number one u.s. exporter. legislation and the approach free of policies.

james in washington, democratic caller. welcome to the conversation. what do you think about last night in the senate and this coronavirus aid package? caller: thank you for taking my call. we didn't learn anything from the golden parachutes in the , these people from florida, what in the world, people on the beaches down there going i don't care if i get it, you got the republicans that just back this president till the end of the world. i don't know what is going on in their minds. and are dragging their feet when everybody's in the hospital and their lungs are burning, my sister has a friend, her families all in italy and they

are describing what it feels like, i don't know if c-span can show more, what the country needs is to see these people with their lungs burning and they are dying in the gurneys in the hallway. i would like to know the ratio of how many republicans call up and bash you guys for being bias compared to democratic calls. take care. coronavirus, there is this story in the new york times that you may find interesting. the loss of smell and taste may be a peculiar clue when it comes to the coronavirus. on friday, british ear nose and on thosectors called who lose their sense of smell to isolate themselves for seven

days either if they have -- even if they have no other symptoms. published data is limited but doctors are concerned enough to raise the warnings saying if you can't smell, you could be infected and that is your first sign. if you lose your taste for food and lose the sense of smell, that that is the first sign you may have to isolate for seven days. in missouri, democratic caller. this ismy thoughts on simply i think the good thing that happens from this virus is the air quality over china and significantlyoved and i have an idea that would help revolutionize the way we look at energy at the world and it would help save the ecosystem, it would help save

everything going with climate change now. and it's coronavirus. this is the beginning of things i think mother nature's going to send out us if we don't stop polluting the planet. there are some anything's going on and if we don't change the way we live on this planet, it's not going to be good. york,joan in geneva, new republican. hi joan. caller: good morning. i'm really disgusted with the democrats. going along, she knew what the bill had, i guess she just figured she wouldn't get $50 million out of it like time so she was gonna write it and then read it after they pass it. chuck schumer is one of the biggest liars i've ever seen in

my life. they keep calling trump a liar. themjust disgusted with and if we could get rid of schumer, believe me there's a lot of us in new york state that would do it. that's -- i'm so furious at this point, that's all i've got. host: linda, staten island, new york, independent. what do you think? caller: good morning. i believe these politicians have impaired judgment, and do not know how to appropriate our money anyway. covid-19 was a foreign-born virus brought. so the president committee restrict to travel into the ,ountry, but here in my state the behaviors and attitudes are abhorrent. the politicians are using covid-19 as a weapon to injure, hurt and rob us the unaffected

even more. everything andn they should be ashamed of themselves. mandatedgreed and stupid rules and are causing a whilethat is not helping increasing density in the city. thank you for allowing me to speak on your program. host: the washington times front page has the story. trump won't nationalize countries. prison trump said he gave the green light for for general motors and tesla -- ford, general motors and tesla to manufacture items to treat covid-19 but some state officials say it isn't moving aggressively enough to get medical supplies delivered. president urged autoexec is to go for it. usingd he has resisted the defense production act, a korean war era law that it

powers the president to compel --duction because it would is holdingdrew cuomo daily briefings as other governors have yesterday urge the invoking of the defense production act. [video clip] cuomo: i believe the government should have factories develop the essential medical equipment between life and death. it's not hard to make a mask or ppe equipment or a gown. but you need companies to do it. we have apparel companies that can make clothing, they can make a surgical gown and a mask. but they have to be ordered to do it. if the federal government does it, they can do it in a very orderly way. they can decide how many they

need, they can designate how many each factory should produce and then they could distribute those by need rather than by having the states all compete against each other. it would also be less expensive because it would avoid the price gouging that is now happening in this marketplace. i can tell what's happening. our contract -- i will contract with the company for 1000 masks, they will quote -- come back 20 minutes later and say the price went up is that a better offer. and i understand that. other states who are desperate for these goods literally offer more money than we were paying and it is a race raising prices higher than higher -- higher and higher. if the federal government came in, use the defense production act, you could resolve all of that immediately. host: andrew cuomo yesterday.

the president and his brief statement early evening on sunday responded to the governors concerns here is what he had to say. [video clip] trump: we are a country not based on nationalizing our business. call a person in venezuela, ask them how a nationalization of business is worked out. not too well. the concept of nationalizing your business. said, we may have to use -- but we are getting calls pre-here is the beauty of it. if we go out and we want masks. maced -- make things of cotton and various elements, lots of things, they called us and they said we are going to make millions of masks, we got a call from 3m, they are going to make tremendous products and they are more or less in that

business and if they are not like for instance general motors spoke to us about doing ventilators. the beauty as they are calling us. if you go the nationalization route, telling a company to make a ventilator they don't even know it is. in the case of one company used to make them years ago and they don't how to make them. it's a very complex piece of ,quipment so what we are doing we have the threat of doing it if we need it, we may have to we it in a minor way but have millions of masks being done, respirators, ventilators, we have a lot of things happening right now. using it is actually a big deal. when this was announced, it sent tremors through our business community and through our country because basically what you doing, you're talking about nationalize an industry or

you're gonna take away until companies what to do. yesterday atsident his daily briefing. we will go to mike in west virginia, republican. talking about what happened in the senate last night, they 47-47 to movete forward with an economic aid package, one in a series. there expect to continue negotiations overnight and both are publicans and democrats want to try again today. what do you think? isler: while the bottom line everybody knows west virginia was the last state to have a confirmed virus case, but i know right now we are really hurting in west virginia for the hospital people, the masks, the gowns, the phase protectors and

all that kind of stuff. with theee 100% democratic caucus is that we have got to be able to get those masks and reimburse the states and so forth. it is an absolute critical situation. andderstand california washington in new york. they deserve that. this thing, the states in the hospitals that they have to negotiate for those equipment, first responders is absolutely ridiculous. and just like the president said a minute ago, the national government is not to get involved in that. we don't have a whole lot of extra lining in our budget in west virginia. somebody has to step up like the federal government and reimburse part of thisd ba

nationwide. one quick thing. i think it's interesting that thepeople defying shelter-in-place and all that kind of stuff, most of them were trump voters. host: how do you know that? caller: i don't really know that, i just see in west virginia people that i know that are really trump supporters, not to criticize any of that, but many of those are the ones, that i'm familiar with, are not using the six foot distances and their we bede is kind of like -- the real problem is west virginia not being able to get supplies. point about states

and their financial situation, this is the usa today article search slam state jobless funds. they may need bail out of unemployment programs as well. also from usa today, surgeon help,l rights how can you delay elective medical and dental procedures. driving out the point the caller was making that if you are having elective procedure, you are using up masks and other personal protective equipment to be used to help those who have covid-19 and who are hospitalized. peter in texas, republican. what do you think? caller: good morning, greta, how are you? host: i'm doing well, thank you. caller: my wife is a health care worker. she left for work about an hour ago. she is a nurse.

you can imagine the stress that puts on us. 60's so thatn our is not exactly the age to be to be a health care worker at this time. n95 masks weer have from the construction project i was involved in. we are donating them to the hospital where she works at. to try and help. right now i would like to send the message out there. , pleaseon't be petty don't be partisan, we want to work together here on this. i have a suggestion for our decision-makers in d.c., they are so overwhelmed right now. it's hard for regular people to

get through with an idea. here's my suggestion. what the senate and house are trying to do right now would be ineffective, we have already ine trillions of dollars help for the commercial paper markets and for financial markets that hasn't done any good and it probably will not. so this is something that might work, i'm proposing with put the stasis in hibernation or and suspend all the payments so that people don't have to make a house payment. provide more direct help. any small amount of cash they might receive. who will penalize landlords

own properties. i do not know nor do i have the solution on that. is we need --g why we need to help people who are receiving retirement income. they are not suffering the loss. we need to help the working people, the people who go out every day and work like my wife and others who will be losing their jobs and on the final note, as far as the senate impasse from yesterday with the vote, i don't know why we can't take our republican senators who were in quarantine in hazmat suits and onto the senate floor and have them vote so they don't contaminate the other legislation.

i don't think it is going to do any good. it can't hurt to try it. host: they need democrats. they need to reach a 60 vote threshold. they have to have democratic support. requireds majority is for this. those fivent, republicans were missing in self-quarantine yesterday. we will leave it there for now. we are going to take a short break. when we come back, we are going to talk to zach cohen, he covers the senate for national journal. we will talk about what is next. keep your questions in your comments coming in. later on, we be joined by dr. anand parekh, a former top hhs official and a chief medical advisor for the bipartisan policy center.

we will be right back. ♪ voters, whating issues should the presidential candidates address? >> the issues most important to me this election is medicare for all. i have to pay out-of-pocket for a lot of my mental health care and it is really expensive. i know my family has struggled with meeting premiums. in 2020, in the most advanced nation in the world, people are dying because they do not have access to health care. >> conversations. being able to sit down and have a conversation and especially on the topics you are not supposed to talk about in public. politics, religion. everyone seems to be in an uproar when information is thrown in your face.

we forget we need to take a step back, take a deep breath, forget all of the things that have been thrown in our faces, we have to think this about a person, that about a person, slow down and have a conversation. >> the issue most important to me is social economic equity. it is important for our to have a strategy and a platform that reduces the gap between african-americans and latinos and falling behind in every single academic indicator and economic indicator. it is imperative to have a realistic strategy how to reduce the divide and give people tools and access to lift themselves out of poverty. >> voices from the road on c-span. >> washington journal continues. host: joining us from his home in silver spring, maryland is zach cohen, senate reporter with

national journal. thank you for spending time with us this morning. let's begin with what happened last night in the senate. why was it a partyline vote? guest: we have two parties that are split on how to go forward with this more than $1 trillion economic stimulus package congress has been working on. this was originally drafted by senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and republican chairman of the various committees of jurisdiction, like the finance and health committee. there was a proposal that would include provisions that include direct payments to americans, not just those unemployed, but having trouble paying groceries because they have been furloughed or lost their jobs. there are loans to small and large businesses for market stabilization measures and democrats were on board with most of that but there were differences of opinion in the last few days, they said they were opposed to some of the

measures because they were too favorable to corporate businesses. only a few years after the tarp measure in the 2008 financial crisis, where big banks who were losing tons of capital at the time and were in danger of going under were given a huge cash infusion and i think there is some leftover skepticism about any major boost to big business without checks to make sure there are not stock buybacks and unwarranted executive compensation. right now, democrats are focusing on the amount of disclosure in some of those funds. there is language in the bills to prevent americans knowing where those funds are going for a full six months in hopes of trying to stabilize the market. host: any discussions the republicans would give on that? guest: chuck schumer said last night there is progress on going and the senate has not reconvened yet for the day. they will do that at noon and go

forward with more procedural votes and hoping of moving the package forward. there are negotiations going on with steven mnuchin, nancy pelosi, the speaker of the house flew back from san francisco over the weekend to be part of these talks. everyone says they are making progress. it is a question if they can make up these final few inches -- or yards, depending on how you see them. host: is there language in these proposals that would limit corporations from buying back stock if they receive this money? guest: there is. this is something president trump said he is in favor for and it is something the democrats have called for. republicans recognized there is an interest in making sure any businesses that got taxpayer funds who were struggling during the fall not the coronavirus pandemic were not going to use that to essentially line their own pockets and make sure that money was going toward making sure the business stayed up and

running and workers that were affected -- may had their hours cut, were laid off or furloughed -- would receive those benefits. the problem is democrats found a line in the measure that said the treasure secretary can waive those responsibilities at any time. the negotiation has changed and it is unclear that provision is still in there. as of last night, that was a major concern for many senate democrats. host: what do republicans and democrats agree on in this nearly $2 trillion package? guest: the most popular provision is putting money directly in the hands of americans who might be having trouble making ends meet during this -- especially what is an economic shutdown. the crown jewel proposal is a $1200 check that would go after 6 andes as early as april that money -- $1200 for a single

taxpayer or $2400 if husbands and wives are filing jointly. there is additional money for every dependent, every child in that family. the idea is to help keep the economy going and essentially provide people a standard of living well maybe they are not working or otherwise trying to cut back. host: we had several callers asked why not suspend payments -- credit cards, rent, mortgages -- for those people who are struggling with responding -- who have lost their jobs, etc.? has that been part of this discussion? guest: i get plenty of emails from businesses that say if you have trouble making your mortgage or bills, talk to us, we will work through it. this is something corporations realize will be a reality. that is why also in this package there are provisions to provide

loans not just for businesses, airlines that we have been talking about, but smaller businesses -- landlords and property managers who are reliant on that money, as well, to come through the -- come from the people who are renting their properties. everything has a domino effect. the goal from this package is to make sure not just consumers but also the people that those consumers are reliant on will still have the funds they need in order to function for the weeks ahead. to takech cohen is here your questions about the senate, the house and the negotiations between democrats and republicans on capitol hill to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. if you live in the eastern or central part of the country, area, ---8000, not in mountain or pacific area, (202) 748-8001. medical professionals, (202)

748-8002. it would be interesting to hear what you want congress to do. zach cohen, run through what the senate will do when it reconvenes at noon. guest: there will be three votes. the first two will be majority thresholds. that might be difficult because there are five republicans that are currently self-quarantined because senator rand paul did test positive for coronavirus. the first two votes will happen at noon. shortly after some of these some have been held open for a half-hour or in our first social distancing in an institution where you can't do vote by videoconference. it is not quite as advanced as washington journal. you will have the third vote, which is a redo from the vote from yesterday, a vote to end debate -- excuse me, to begin

debate on the package that would give another 30 hours of debate on this $1 trillion package. we are not expecting passage today but potentially some procedural advancements that are important to make sure the package gets out of the senate into the house into the president's desk. host: are any lawmakers telling you they are concerned about a vote later in the week when the markets responded immediately to the vote last night? guest: this was something mitch mcconnell was talking about on the floor last night. he noted the futures market was already down. when they tried to adjourn for the night and set a 9:00 a.m. timetable to get the vote underway, chuck schumer objected and mitch mcconnell mentioned, look, what you are doing is keeping the market in suspense for another three hours rather

than having the votes at 9:00, have a show of force and say we can get this done. the markets are a big factor but the democrats keep coming back to an idea that it is important for a package this loud -- it is a significant portion of our gdp , it is important to get this right. host: we are hearing around $1 trillion and reports of $2 trillion. is it because it is flexible that that number might be to trillion dollars? guest: the package has doubled in size if you look at the number of pages. we will get a final dollar figure what it is finally done. trillion, $1.6.4 trillion, there are certain changes and these are not insignificant. at one point they added a boost to the unemployment insurance to make sure people who were laid off would still have the money they need, not just this week

but in weeks to come, and that cost a couple hundred billion dollars. when you talk about small changes, they can amount to large dollar figures. we are talking about the biggest thing congress has passed in the last 10 years. host: break down the number of republicans in the senate versus the number of democrats and how many votes they need for these procedural votes versus final passage. guest: there are 53 senate republicans and 47 senate democrats. usually that is enough to get things like judges and executive nominees through the senate. todayr, this third vote to move forward on this $1 trillion package does need 60 votes to get over the filibuster threshold. that will require not just republicans but democrats to get on board. that is how to previous coronavirus bills passed.

the problem is not just the democrats are opposing the bill, but there are five senate republicans, rand paul, mike lee, mitt romney, cory gardner and rick scott who are all self-quarantine. mitt romney and mike lee decide to self-quarantine yesterday after learning that senator rand paul tested positive for coronavirus. cory gardner and rick scott should be back to work soon. as you can see, it is a very important numbers game that is happening, taking sure there are enough senators who are in favor of the package and can physically be in the chamber. host: do we know why bernie sanders missed last night's vote? guest: he was holding a teleconference town hall on the coronavirus in vermont. host: richard in springfield, ohio. you are up first. caller: i was watching the news

channels yesterday and early in them wasng, one of talking to a lady -- i did not catch her name -- but she was saying this stimulus package that they are going to give out starts at people making more than $40,000. basically, that leaves, in my opinion, the people really need the money out. i was wondering if c-span could check on that and find out if there is any truth on that and to let people know about it. host: zach cohen. guest: there was a provision in the initial draft that if you did not pay federal income tax, if you made less than $40,000 per year, that you would receive $1200600 rather than the

that is being promised to others and that provision was waived after objections from republicans paired their argument being there should not be a regressive measure, everyone needs to make rent payments, pay for groceries and childcare. that measure, i believe, has been taken out but this is a fluid situation. host: michelle in south carolina. what do you do for a living? caller: i am a dialysis nurse. it is scaring me because we have been told that starting next --th we are not going to get a dramatic decrease in masks and gloves. i listened to trump talking, i am not a trump supporter. i listened to him, this is war. he should use his powers to force companies to make masked and gloves for health-care

workers. said, 600,000 masks are going here and there, we need millions and millions of masts, not 600,000. 600,000 is nothing. companiesld war ii, were switched over to make needed supplies. he has the power to do that. he should do that to have these things available for health-care workers. host: zach cohen. guest: a few things on that. i forgot to mention the package has funding for hospitals, health care officials and a lot of that would be going to the states for the necessary funds to pay for medical supplies, masts, everything we have been -- masks, everything we have been talking about. folks like nurses and doctors are working overtime to fight the virus. was talking about a

korean war era bill that allows a president to direct private companies to produce certain goods necessary for national security and the welfare of the nation. he has signed an executive order allowing them to do, but what president trump has repeatedly said ac has not needed to evoke that authority, stepping forward and providing those materials on a voluntary basis. he is opposed to any sort of nationalization of private industries. there are calls from democrats and some republicans that are saying, look, you need to have a stronger arm on this and start forcing the production of this equipment because we need it now. that will be a debate that will be hotly debated over the next few days. -- she tweetedn bonusfive funded our cash

to pharmacists and frontline employees and looks the higher 50,000 to meet the covid-19 response. arizona, go ahead with your question or comment. caller: my comment is i think everybody needs to get back to the basics. withieve i was infected the corona 19 virus three weeks ago and recovered. i am 65 years old, i have been hiv-positive for 20 years. i had all of the symptoms described but i still have not been able to be tested. that is what the basic problem is. there should be 120 million tests available for people. that is where it should start. i feel bad for health-care

providers. i am a craftsman. oran't even purchase a mask gloves to do my work. at the same time, we have to get back to basics. we have to test people. sakes, it is very simple. to beuld be a priority, able to start testing people. i asked my provider over three weeks ago, and the misinformation is beyond belief. nobody can tell the truth. host: i will jump in. zach cohen, what you know about this issue and is there anything congress can do? guest: it is difficult to get a test, the caller is absently right. you have a triage effect were doctors will make the call.

if this particular person has mild enough symptoms, it might not be worth using the physical test and the time and potential exposure of those testtakers to the virus. what folks are being told -- including my wife, i should say -- they are being told your symptoms are mild enough that he should stay home. because of the lack of tests, it has become an issue for those who would like the peace of mind. that is why social distancing is so important. it is crucial to making sure the virus does not spread beyond the initial point. host: what does that mean for you that your wife has these symptoms? guest: she is feeling much better but it means we are taking care of her and watching her symptoms. we are taking her temperature. there are doctors and a hospital just on the street.

we know their numbers but it has not reached the point were we feel like we have to take up the resources of an otherwise strained situation. host: that means you must self-quarantine? guest: the reason i am calling from here is i have been home for the last 13 days. host: showing no signs? guest: i am perfectly healthy, thank you. host: we are glad you can join us and we are practicing social distancing on c-span, not having any guests in the studio, as you might have noticed over the last few weeks. jason in new york, hello. caller: how are you this morning? host: how are you? caller: i am doing ok. i would like to say thank you to the health-care workers out there doing this. my wife is a nurse. she also has an immunosuppressed disease. she is going to work every day and taking care of people in a nursing home. there have been issues here in

new york, as everyone knows. quarantinedople where she works that because they move them from other counties to her facility for rehabilitation. now they are quarantining them there. it is a nightmare for us. can't then is, why stimulus package be separated soween the american people we can get the american people an influx of money coming in. i am lucky enough where my wife is still working, i am out on comp, but there are people who have nothing. my sister owns a salon, she is losing her business. i know people who own bars and restaurants who are losing their businesses. the impact is just too great. i am not a trump supporter. i have agreed with a couple things he has done. but as far as it goes, i think

he is being lackadaisical because he does not want an election in november. a lot of states are postponing that. what is the possibility that the elections will be postponed? in that situation, what do we do? no talk abouts postponing the election just yet -- that would be a rather drastic measure and possibly require a constitutional amendment. there is talk about vote by mail so people can vote from home rather than crowd into schools and other public places to register their preferences for not just president, but congress, state legislature. there are hundreds of thousands of political offices on the ballot. .he census is ongoing the deadline is april 1. there is a number of important government functions that are required to keep our democracy running the running into issues

because people cannot gather in large places or go door to door. there is a bill from amy klobuchar and ron wyden and they are pushing for a national vote by mail standard. some states already do this, colorado is one of them, that only allow people to vote by mail and don't have in person voting places. mentioned, there are primaries that have been delayed and some of those will come up in june, july, august. that will have more of an impact down the ballot rather than on the presidential race, where it appears joe biden has a lead over bernie sanders. host: linda in anchorage, alaska, thank you for joining us. caller: my question is, are there positions in the bill regarding unemployment the neck it possible for people to get unemployment even though there

is a lockdown situation? we are told to stay home and unemployment allows people to be available to work. guest: where are you calling from again? caller: alaska. guest: there is a provision in the bill that boosts unemployment insurance. that is something people can still apply for and i would recommend you talk to your state agency in alaska to see with the best course of action would be. people can still walk around and leave their homes, other than in places like california, that has a statewide stay-at-home order. if people need to leave their , doe to buy groceries essential jobs, as long as people are keeping their distance, may be driving instead of taking public transportation, that would be the best way to make sure people can go about doing the essential tasks of their lives without potentially

exposing themselves or others to the virus. host: key west, florida. sean, what you do? caller: i am a retired captain. i am calling on behalf of my partner, who is a former professor of nursing and a nurse of 45 years. we are coming to a time when medical professionals must refuse to treat the sick and dying. without protection, we can't allow them to and they must refuse to because they are our last line of defense, our last hope. we are beyond tests. how can washington be so dysfunctional? who is in charge of this mess? this is something we did take very seriously. host: who do you think needs to respond? invoke thepresident defense production act? caller: of course, he should do something of that nature. here is the problem. i am hearing every day from him

and his staff, they seem to refer to him as the great leader , even the gentleman in charge of infectious disease. this is nonsense. this is absolutely ridiculous. they have set out everything, there are millions of tests, gloves, gowns and so forth, then you hear from the medical professionals and they say, no, we don't have any of that stuff, when is it coming? the check is in the mail. this is absurd. we need people in charge who are responsible and intelligent. this is a time when we should all be supporting the president, not necessarily the president whether we dislike him or like him, but supporting him and wishing him well and trained to work together as a nation. what is happening is a bunch of nonsense, a bunch of bs coming out of washington. we are at risk because of this nonsense.

we are being forced into all sorts of things -- stay in the house, don't go anywhere. there are people who have children who need to take care of business. i am appalled. i am absolutely appalled at the lack of intelligence behind this and i think anyone in the nation, even those people who support mr. trump and his policies. the bottom line for the government not getting anything done is something we are refusing to talk about and that is 50% of the people find mr. trump to be basically almost moderately the second coming, and 50% of the people in the united states are opposed to him and those two actions are stopping us from getting anything done. the two parties cannot speak together. we are in a civil war. it has got to stop. host: zach cohen. guest: this is something i hanford plenty. folks are concerned there is a

lack of consistency from the federal government on guidance and guidelines, and where the president will tout some achievement like invoking the defense production act but not use it to force any companies to produce the necessary equipment for masks or ventilators necessary for health care professionals. i think people should talk to the governors or listen to what their governors are saying. pressre holding regular conferences and putting information on their websites. look to the cdc for guidance. look to trusted media sources and that is important to get the information you need to stay informed and stay healthy. host: does the partisan divide play out with this legislation and holding that vote last night? guest: i am not sure how to answer the question. was talkingller about how we are divided

politically in this country and that is why we can't see any action. -- did partisan politics play out in how the vote was handled last night? guest: the vote was scheduled for sunday at 3:00. reporters,nell told the wheel has stopped. this out the door so people can respond, not just in the health care industry but across the country. negotiations all weekend on this package. the vote was delayed by three hours as negotiations continue and then finally mitch mcconnell said enough is enough, we are going to hold a vote. democrats then filibuster the bill and prevented it from going forward. that is something americans are angry about because republicans argued we are arguing over inches. just pass it already. democrats have said it is important we get this right

because it is something people will live with not just today or this week, but in the months and years ahead. host: jane in florence, south carolina, you are next. caller: i have a question on the stimulus package. does it include people on social security and disability? we have mortgages, groceries, extra items you have to buy and we are short on funds, also. tested about five or six weeks ago and had the flu string a. i had the symptoms, i am much better now, i am not sick at all. -- should iuestion go get retested? do you know what i mean? guest: that is a difficulty of this virus, it is similar to the common flu, or even a nasty cold.

as long as you are not showing symptoms, it will be difficult to get a test and generally providers have set unless you are showing symptoms or traveled abroad or come in contact with someone diagnosed with covid-19, you should not be tested, you should stay home. disability, iy or am not sure, to be honest, but it is something i will look into. the goal of these checks that should be going out in the mail -- it might be a direct deposit, the goal would be for anyone regardless of their finances would get the money they need to make it through the next few weeks. host: tim in ohio. caller: in ohio, they shut the schools down, business is down. they wanted a 14 day quarantine.

saturday morning, the state of ohio needs to get off its knees and go back to work. host: zach cohen, what are you lockdownsout these versus shelter-in-place, versus just asking people to not travel if they don't need to, to not leave their homes if they don't need to? guest: this is why i emphasize it is important to check with our local and state authorities because they will have information about what orders are in place. generally, the operating status as defined by the white house's people should stay home if you can, social distance, and other mentionedthe caller have more severe restrictions. california, new york, even down the road here in d.c., there have been restaurants closed and bans on mass gatherings. it is up to state and local

authorities that would have recommendations based on the number of cases in that area. look atportant to not this holistically, but what is impacting your area. host: the d.c. mayor announced she would be blocking off roads to the national mall, just on the street from where we are, to prohibit the large amount of visitors they are seeing for the cherry blossoms and the different monuments along the national mall. hi, tony.linois, appreciate the reporter being there. veteran of the fifth infantry. what i am seeing with the attack china -- iran and thisy china -- i believe

is a weaponized attack and this is the first phase. hi.: new jersey, caller: thank you for taking my call. i wanted to ask a question. workplace and i decided i was going to start my own business. i was driving a tractor-trailer and i bought a tractor-trailer. then, the trade wars started happening with china. and the e.u. basically, i was not able to sustain my family with the money i was bringing in.

vehicle.p selling the , i did noty basis get the money i put out for it right away, -- host: what are you driving at? we are running out of time with zach cohen. will the benefits that are thatable to employees don't have -- that are not employed be available to someone like myself? host: who is self-employed? caller: i was, yes. host: zach cohen, you know? guest: i think the goal is to cover everyone who needs money. not just the checks, but small business loans. this bill and previous bills have infused funds to the small

business administration to provide loans, sometimes added no interest rate to small businesses that have less than 500 employees so they can get over the hump over the next few weeks. that is something i would recommend the caller look into both now and after the bill passes. host: what should we watch for this morning and throughout today? guest: the senate will reconvene at noon. there will be a number of speeches, that is what i will be watching for. there will be votes. the first two will not be as important as the third, which will be a replay of the vote last night. if there was substantial movement toward a bipartisan agreement that could get it out of the senate but toward the house and president. host: wind you expect the votes to take place? guest: i think they should be wrapped up around 3:00. they are letting the senators

come and go as they please so they are not voting in large groups. this away of social distancing. host: they will be starting the vote around what time? guest: noon. host: noon is when we will start to see a series of votes, as zach cohen said. he expects them to wrap up around 3:00. you can see our coverage on the senate floor on c-span2. we want to thank you for taking some time to talk to our viewers about what is happening on capitol hill. guest: thank you. host: take care and i hope your wife gets better. we are going to take a break before we continue getting your thoughts on what happened in the senate last night, the senate failing to move on the coronavirus stimulus package. it failed, 47-47. ♪ we will be right back. voters whatking issues the presidential candidates should address. >> the issue most important to

meet this election is medicare for all. i have to pay out-of-pocket for a lot of my mental health care and it is really expensive. i know my family has struggled with meeting premiums and it is not like in 2020, the most advanced nation in the world, people are dying because they don't have access to health care. >> the most important issue to me in 2020 is conversations. being able to sit down and have a conversation. especially on the topics you are not supposed to talk about in public -- politics and religion. everyone seems to be in an uproar when things are thrown in your face, information, information, information, information. we forget we need to take a step back, take a deep breath, forget about the things that got thrown in our faces. you just slow down and have a conversation.

the issue that is most important to be this election cycle for 2020 is social economic equity. i believe it is imperative for our nation to have a strategy and a platform that reduces the gap between african-americans and latinos, they are falling behind in every single economic and dictator, educational indicator. have amperative to realistic strategy about how to reduce the divide and give people tools and access to lift themselves out of poverty. >> voices from the road, on c-span. >> tonight, on the communicators. president and ceo of the national association of broadcasters gordon smith on how broadcasters are responding to the coronavirus outbreak. he is interviewed by an executive editor. >> what are the precautions and different steps your members are

taking right now, whether it is internally, work from home, or whether it is changes they are making in programming? interesting isly the broadcasters are also people that live in their local communities and they are trying to be good citizens. cbs,mbers, for example, nbc, fox, they are heeding the warnings coming from the cdc and the white house about ways we can participate in reducing the spread of the virus. resources, they are pooling crews that go out and sharing in ways you normally don't expect competitors to be doing. certainly ways that are lawful and actually very important right now. >> watch the communicators, tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on

c-span2. >> washington journal continues. host: we are continuing this morning with your reaction to the senate failing to move on the coronavirus aid package. $1 trillions around trillion, it is being negotiated how much money needs to be pumped into the economy to respond to this coronavirus atbreak. darlene in oregon, democratic caller. -- the mitch00 mcconnell is trying to get to bailout companies, it should all be loans. loans, but it0% should be based on loans, not just a payoff. though should only go to corporations who pay taxes in this country and that means

companies like ge, who don't pay taxes in this country, would not qualify. neither would these huge cruise lines. there should only be loan forgiveness for companies to come forward right now and start making the supplies that this country needs in order to save itself. the stock market will take care of itself once people are up and about and able to work. have one million or 5 million americans dying because of this virus over a stimulus package, that is like giving honey to some of these companies, mitch mcconnell should go right back to kentucky and take care of his partner, who try to expose all of congress, and left the bigger people work out this package. thank you. host: washington post,

treasuries power over loans is sticking point in a bill. of therts section 4003 legislation account for $500 billion of emergency relief and taxpayer production. $50 billion would go to passenger airlines. to cargon would go airlines. $17 billion for companies deemed important for national security. the bill does not give much more information than that in terms of food qualify for the loans and loan guarantees, leaving much of that up to the treasury secretary, steven mnuchin. in new jersey, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to talk about the people who own real estate in this country. a lot of us don't have pensions, we invest our money in real estate. we rely on the public to pay the rent and we pay the banks.

what will happen to the people -- i have a few now who can't afford to pay the rent -- i still have to pay the mortgages and i can only hold out for so long. i can't evict these people because they are in a situation they can control. what are the people supposed to do to pay their mortgages. the stock market will come back eventually, but once the banks repossess all these properties that we paid for for 20 years, we can't rely on them for a pension in the future, what happens when the banks move in and repossess these properties because we can't make the payments? just like the restaurant owners, the people who own those buildings can't pay the mortgage. what will happen in this country? host: what you think congress should do? guest: congress -- caller: congress has to talk to the banks and provide relief for small real estate owners who are relying on them for pensions in the future.

the stock market will always come back. that proved itself many times over. politicians these on tv talking to the general republic. the general public does not want to hear from politicians. they want to hear from health professionals what is going on. the politicians are just a third-party passing along information and who knows how they screwed it up. the worldwide professionals, we have to get them together. the need to come on television and talk to the general public and let them know what is going on firsthand. professionals are going to give you the facts. it is a shame, all of the viruses we have that in the past, that this country is not prepared. they build up armed forces, they build up everything, and they don't build up medical supplies for emergencies like this. nobody has learned from the past. host: on c-span, we have been

bringing in the world health organization's briefings they have done on mondays, wednesdays and fridays. if you are interested in those, you can find them on our website, c-span.org. you can hear what they have to say -- they talk about the outbreak, not just in the united states but all over the world. reaction on capitol hill to what happened in the senate. a democratic congressman tweeting out as someone who had over $100,000 in student loans, this is a no-brainer. the democratic party needs to be united in getting student debt canceled and the stimulus while pushing for broader debt relief. thank you for your leadership he says to adam green. , since john cornyn senator schumer blocked a 9:45

a.m. vote, considering the reckless partyline vote the democrats cast yesterday, this is what will happen at noon today if he wants to slow down the process. the senator wrote that on twitter. proceed to consider the vote. a motion to consider the failed vote. as we learn from zach cohen, it will take 60 votes to move forward on any economic aid package. that happening at noon. you can watch our coverage on c-span2. scott in pennsylvania, republican. caller: hello, good morning. host: what do you want to see from congress? caller: i would like to say, as far as helping the american people with money, i am the fortunate one. 2016,red disabled back in

i collect my retirement from my job. i also received disability for social security. i am also a partially disabled veteran. i received that. my pension i will still receive. as far as giving us the money, people like me, i don't think we should. give it to the workers, they are the ones who need it. i don't know why congress can't work on strictly the working class people and the medical supply shortages. let's do that first. worry about the companies after the fact. get the american people in the medical supplies first. host: the new york times reports, they say it would send $1200 direct payments to millions of americans and additional jobless aid and provide hundreds of millions of dollars to loans to businesses. that is an article written on the cover of the new york times.

from the editorial board piece in the new york times, they break it down more. they say republicans and democrats are in agreement on the details of direct aid for americans. a $1200 payment to adult that learn -- earned less than $75,000. those earning up to $100,000 would receive smaller checks. that would cost -- that would put $250 billion into the economy. good morning, c-span. thank you for taking my call. we need to pray for everyone and safety in america. that is the first thing i want to say. hello? host: we are listening. we heard you. package, i stimulus

agree with one of the callers about -- we should have been prepared. we should be well prepared, especially with all of the technology we have since the 1800s and 1900s, you would think we would be smarter. viruses destroy man. time would itr comes to helping out hard-working americans. congress always drags its feet. problems passing the bill to make the rich richer. sense what they need to do as far as passing out the money for the american people.

said, he is aeman landlord. set up offices like to do with unemployment, give the money to them. landlordsething for and other companies, they should get money, as well. it is common sense. god bless everyone in america and the world. roanoke, virginia, republican. good morning to you. caller: hello? host: you are on the air. caller: i watched c-span, you are the only program i watched. someone made a remark that you are biased and i don't believe that. i think you are very honest in what you do. night,was watching last i live in an apartment complex and it is mostly elderly people

or disabled. stay six feet away from each other, but they did not do that at the house last that when they were voting. they were right in each other's face. host: in the senate? caller: yes, whenever they were voting. they were right up in each other's face. they are saying we are separating them, yet they did not because they were right with each other. it does not make any sense. host: they are keeping the vote open longer, giving senators more time to vote so they can stream in in less numbers and not congregate in the well of the senate. marco rubio who heads up a small business committee just tweeted out this this morning -- don't want to even contemplate the economic carnage that will be inflicted on millions of workers if the senate does not reach a deal and pass it today.

the importance of most of these disagreements pale in comparison to the consequences of failure. houston, texas, democratic caller. caller: how are you? host: i am doing well. how about you? caller: i am doing good. i want to make a quick comment. seeing these people, trump and everything up there. is thest thing he said airlines and the cruise ships they closed down restaurants, waitresses have kids, they are going to close down all of this. they needed first. say help them, too.

so these kids can eat. they always do this. this is what the democrats want to do. help the poor and small businesses. help the families where the husband and wife to clean up and work in restaurants. they need to get the money first. the people making $150,000 per year should already have money. of $2000can live off for a couple of months. host: how do you respond to corporations like boeing, who are asking for their federal government to give assistance when they write that we appreciate the support of the president for the 2.5 million

jobs and 17,000 suppliers that boeing relies on to be the number one u.s. exporter? money ifhey do need they are sending supplies and everything over there. andesaying these airlines cruise ships, that is the first thing -- and these cruise ships. the people that supply food need this. that is what i am saying. bottom andor at the the ones helping with supplies. they need to be helped first before the airlines and the cruise ships. host: this tweet this morning, announcesl reserve new measures to support the economy, including asset purchases in the amount needed.

mainstream lending facilities, 300 building lending program will purchase corporate discipline and mortgage-backed debt. that is breaking this morning. milford, ohio, republican. caller: hi. host: good morning. what you think about what happened last night in the senate? what do you want congress to do? want is wheni mitch mcconnell first came to the floor and talked about the stimulus package, he said everyone would get money back in their pockets, including people on social security and the disabled. ever since that moment that he said that, they have never mentioned social security again. is, the woman who came on earlier and one should

know if people on social security will get it, i think she should know that as soon as he said that, they dropped it. it was just a good line and i don't think they have any intention of giving us anything. theythey came back on, were talking about people who pay taxes and the taxpayers' children getting $500. like i said, we won't get anything. you can just put that out of your mind. nobody has mentioned it again because they will not do anything. host: there are a lot of details that are unknown right now. the senate moving on potential legislation without actually seeing the text. there are negotiations happening. people are presumably cap up to speed on the broad outlines of

this legislation, but no one has seen actual text. there is a lot unknown at this point. the senate will gavel in at noon eastern time. our coverage on c-span2, uninterrupted and unfiltered and you can watch it play out to see what senators do today. there are negotiations ongoing. .harles, democratic caller caller: how are you doing? -- first of all, good morning. host: good morning. caller: this virus that we have, we know it came from china, no need to complain about it. it is time to get something done. i watched people get up there and say heed donald trump

wind resources up. we've got resources. there is no reason to keep stalling about it. host: you want to see him invoke the defense production act, to make these companies? because if the companies can help all the governments in the state, why not do this? why complain about it? he wants to hold back. we need it now. host: you're right. president yesterday to talk about the defense production act. the front page of the "washington times," "trump won't nationalize." if you missed yesterday's briefing, that part of the discussion, you can find it at c-span.org. also on the c-span networks today, you will see our coverage of the governors briefing.

have been bringing them and across the country to give you an idea of how other states are responding to the coronavirus outbreak. even find the ones we have covered if you go -- you can find the ones we have covered at c-span.org. we are going to take a break. on we come back, we will be joined by dr. anand parekh, current chief medical advisor for the bipartisan policy center with medical and policy concerns in the u.s. coronavirus response. tonight, president and ceo of the national association of broadcasters gordon smith on how broadcasters are responding to the coronavirus outbreak. precautions and different steps your members are taking right now, whether it is

orernally at the association changes they are making in programming and such? >> what is really interesting is broadcasters are also people that live in their local communities, and they are trying to be good citizens. while my members, abc or cbs or fox, they are heeding the warnings coming from the cdc and the white house about ways that we can participate in reducing the spread of the virus. so, they are pooling resources. they are pooling crews that go out and sharing in ways you normally do not expect competitors to be doing, but certainly ways that are lawful and very important right now. >> watch "the communicators" tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span2. >> ♪

>> television has changed since c-span began 41 years ago, but our mission continues to provide an unfiltered view of government. we brought you primary coverage, the presidential impeachment process, and now the federal response to the coronavirus. you can watch all of c-span's public affairs programming on television, online, or listen on our free radio app, and be part of the national conversation through c-span's daily "washington journal" program or through our social media feeds. c-span, created by private industry, america's cable television industry as a public service, and brought to you today by your television provider. >> "washington journal" continues. host: dr. anand parekh joining us today from a different studio as we practice social distancing on c-span. he is the chief medical advisor with the bipartisan policy

center and former assistant deputy secretary for health and human services. he served from 2008 22015 and played a key role in preparedness efforts as a special assistant to the science advisor to the secretary. he is here to take your medical and public policy questions. we appreciate it. let me begin with the story the president talked about yesterday as well as governor cuomo. "forbes."ne in what do you know about this treatment and what are we helpful for? guest: thank you for having me on. there are several potential treatments being talked about, medications like chloroquine which is a medicine to treat and prevent malaria, hydrochloric one which is a medicine used to treat autoimmune diseases like lupus. it is thought they do have

antiviral properties greater have been very small studies out of france and china demonstrating potentially these reducing the duration of symptoms. what we need are clinical trials to make sure these medicines are safe and effective to treat covid-19. answers tod basic questions such as who should get them, at what does, and for how long. clinical trials for these medications are critical. host: what you make of these being sent to new york and they will start tomorrow? guest: these are fda approved medications. they will be used in an off label capacity. i have sure some patients will be receiving these. it is important we collect information.

the clinical trial is the best way to go. n.i.h. is doing this with other antiviral treatments. there is promise but we have to be cautious moving forward. host: how would it work if the treatments are successful? guest: if they are successful, fda would provide approval. more americans would be able to get these medications, depending on what the trial shows. the questions are, who would be helped? is is for postexposure prophylaxis? this is for treatment? is it for individuals very ill or before they get ill? all of these questions need to be answered. it could be very important, particularly given we won't have a vaccine for 12 or 18 months. if any of these medications, these or other antiviral medications, if they do pan out, we would have access to that

hopefully over the next several months in advance of a vaccine. host: what is the status of a vaccine? how would that work? guest: vaccines in phase one congo trials have begun. , under n.i.h. leadership, individuals have begun receiving the vaccine in the first step to assess the anectiveness and safety. can individual ramp up their immune response? does the vaccine work? you have to follow individuals for many months, up to a year, because it is important there are side effects we don't know about. this is a process that will take many months, up to a year, and then you talk about the scaling up and production of the vaccine and then the dissemination. we really are talking about 12 to 18 months.

that is the solution here. we have a ways to go. until then, it is all about mitigation and social distancing and protecting our health care system, testing all of these things we are talking about now is how we five-time -- buy time until we have a vaccine. host: how do you respond to people who compare this to the flu? guest: great question. it is best not to make this comparison in the sense that we know this is a virus more severe than the flu by any stretch of the imagination. the question is how many fold. we know this is very on average great for everyone individual with a virus, they will transmit it to two or three individuals if

there are no precautions taken. vaccine like with flu. we have no treatment like with flu. we have no immunity. the world is not have immunity --world does not have immunity. it is best not to compare it to the flu. this is a situation. it is a bit of an apples to oranges comparison. host: i want to encourage our viewers to join in the conversation. we have a number for viewers in the central part of the country. . medical professionals, what are you seeing on the frontlines? i want to share this headline with you and others from the newspaper this morning. this is "the new york times." loss of smell and taste may be a peculiar clue. the ear nose and throat doctor

these on adults who lose to isolate themselves to slow the spread. what do you make of this? guest: every hour, we are learning more from case reports. the most common symptoms of coronavirus or covid-19 are fever, dry cough, shortness of breath. many individuals will have these symptoms and get better on their own. a minority will get worse. that is the time for hospitalization. some individuals might have gastrointestinal and other symptoms. we will continue to hear reports like this because everyone will respond differently when they experience, when and if they experience the virus. host: what stands out to you

about the spread of the virus? guest: i think it is best to look at three factors. the first is testing. the second is the medical surge. the third is social distancing. over the last couple of days, we are hearing progress on the test in front -- testing front. more americans are able to get tested. nowhere near the numbers we need to, and therefore there is rationing of testing going on. there are important elements related to point of care testing. testing, there is progress. we did lose quite a bit of time. we are behind the eight ball. when it comes to the health care , we are hearing from the frontline that they do not have the personal protective equipment they need. we are worried about critical medical material. there is a lot of material as well as equipment being deployed to areas such as new york city right now.

that is a concern over the next several days. we don't want any situation in the united states just like wuhan or northern italy experienced. the most important development is all americans really focusing on social distancing. it is these community mitigation measures that are critical. i mentioned that on average, if oneing is done, every person will transmit the virus to two or three. we are trying to reduce that to less than one because then we can slow the epidemic. we know this works. data from seattle a couple of weeks ago showed social distancing intervention, canceling mass gatherings, school closures, all of this reduces contact rates. the study from seattle showed if you do this over four weeks and reduce contact rates by 25%, that can reduce new infections

over four weeks by 60%. if you reduce contact by 50%, that can reduce infection by 75% to 85%. if you reduce contact by 75%, you can reduce the number of new cases. we know this works. that is the central message to the public. stay safe, stay-at-home. by doing that, you will be reducing the future health care surge protecting fellow americans. what are you looking for from congress and policy holders in washington? do you think the president should invoke the presidential -- the defense production act in order to respond to the need for health care workers? guest: i will take the defense production act first and congress second. in terms of the defense production act, the president is saying he will use the

authorities of the defense production act when he needs to, when things get worse. i am of the posture you have to use the authorities of the defense production at before things get worse because you cannot make masks and ventilators overnight trade i think the voluntary commitments from the private sector are great. but without knowing exactly what is required and needed, it is difficult to know whether we are meeting the challenge. i would advise the u.s. government to be transparent and say we are preparing for a potential severe pandemic. what is the gap? what is the amount of supplies needed? what are the specifications of those supplies? what are the timelines? then you can ask the private sector voluntarily, can you meet this? i suspect that his wife capacity is not there -- i suspect that is why capacity is not there and why invoking the defense production act is critical. it is imperative congress come

together in a bipartisan manner to pass the next stimulus, just like they did with the second emergency appropriation couple of weeks ago. all of these are public health interventions, even though we don't talk about them. all the social distancing, whether unemployment assistance, protecting workers, supporting a small business, paid leave, all possiblethings make and sustainable the social distancing measures that are critical to modify the pandemic curve. it is imperative congress get together on a bipartisan basis and quickly get this relief to so the healthy choice becomes the easy choice. host: if they don't act or it takes them all week to act, what is the fallout of that? how long does this go on versus quick action, and what is your

best prediction for how long this goes on? takes the longer congress , then it -- that is less support to the american public to do the right thing from a health perspective. i think that is critical. we don't know how long this particular pandemic wave will last. we are certainly still on the upslope of the initial pandemic curve in the united states. we don't how many months this will last. this could last up to 18 months. if you compare it to past pandemics, there have been multiple waves over many seasons, up to 18 months. we need to take this one step at a time and do the right thing one day at a time. host: let's get to calls. joe, hillsboro, new jersey. doctor, i wanted

to get your opinion on how the government handled this as far supplies for health aid workers. could they have been more prepared? number two, it is good to see somebody on their who has familiarity with some of these diseases instead of a politician talking on the phone. can you answer that question? what can we learn from this the next time something like this does occur? guest: a lot of questions. i think the fact of the matter is you hope for the best but prepare for the worst. in the case of a severe pandemic, we need much more than we have stockpiled for. we have stockpiled tens of millions of masks and respirators. we will likely need hundreds of millions, maybe over a billion. we have stockpiled thousands of ventilators. if it is a severe pandemic, we

need hundreds of thousands of additional and leaders. -- ventilators. i think what you are seeing is deploying the critical medical material that we have. i think that is ongoing. i think we need to think moving forward there is a significant gap and how we are going to meet that gap. in terms of the second question, i think the american public want to hear from scientists. early on, there was this image in the press conference with the president and the scientific leaders in the backdrop. i think many people said it should be flipped. i think we are increasingly seeing that. the american public want to know the science. they want to understand the facts and hear it directly from scientific experts like dr. tony fauci. that is really important for the american public, so i hope we

hear more that directly from the scientists. host: however, clearwater, florida. -- albert, clearwater, florida. caller: thank you for taking my call. should we be cleaning our money and the mail? it is the most touched and circulated thing in our country. should we be cleaning and sanitizing our money? guest: that is a great question. the best advice would be to continuously wash her hands -- washing your hands. there have been some studies, not on money or mail, but a recent study came out looking at how long the virus good potentially live on -- could live on cardboard. it is about 48 hours. there will be more studies. i think the best advice is if you are not sure, wash your after particularly touching something when you do

not know where it has been or come from. host: new york. docotor.ello, i'm interested in what you have to say. i heard you say we would need over one billion masks. wonder how you would seek to manage one billion shipments like that. my initial question was how you felt this bipartisan fight in congress going on might impact the financial markets and its relevance to the supply chain of the 3000 dosages that bayer is shipping to new york for hopefully the trial to begin tomorrow. guest: in terms of the supply chain, we need a lot more personal protective equipment. whether that is supporting

current manufacturers or manufacturers who have not been in the space quickly mobilizing. it is probably an all of the above strategy. clearly, what is there right now with the current assets would not last as through a severe pandemic. i think we need to look at all of these items. in terms of connectivity to the economic picture and the stock market, i think the focus needs to be on the public health response. everything else is reactionary. whatever we can do to support the response particularly focused on community mitigation and social distancing, that is absolutely critical. if that goes well, all of the reactionary elements will fall into place. host: we showed our viewers earlier cnbc reported breaking

news that the fed announced new measures this morning. cnn is reporting -- there it is. theuding asset purchases in amount needed. lending programs backed by the treasury will purchase debt as well. cnn reporting the futures market is responding well to what the fed announced this morning. the market opening up shortly. we will stay on top of that as well. you can see the dow jones futures markets reacting in the last three hours. they had a negative response to what the senate did last night, failing to move forward on the coronavirus package. as theywatch on c-span2 attempt to take more votes today to move forward on the a package. i want to get your reaction to the front-page headline.

officials race to stem outbreak as new york becomes the epicenter. testing hasease in revealed the extent of spread. commonplace. more than 15,000 people in new york state have tested positive with the vast majority in the new york city region. worldwide, the pandemic has 700.ened more than 314, what are your concerns with new york? guest: in new york city, there are two reasons you're seeing a spike in cases. one is increased testing, which is a good thing. the second is the manifestation of the pandemic and community transmission. there are a number of obstacles right now in new york city. the intensive care unit taking

care of patients seriously ill from covid-19. verynk governor cuomo smartly has instituted his program that is a stay home, some would call it shelter-in-place. that is critical. i wish all states would do this. i think about eight states have a stay home order at this point. the idea is to limit nonessential movement, non-essential travel. i think that is critical to reduce the surge that is coming. i worry about the frontline health care workers in new york already seeingad shortages of personal protective equipment. i worry about ventilators. supplies are being deployed from the stockpile by the military. the question is, will it be enough? will social distancing have been enough? was it early enough? those are the questions we will

be seeing. , all eyes are on new york city. whatever we can do to help our fellow citizens we should do. all of us, it is limiting nonessential movement and travel , staying home and staying safe. those are the things i am looking at in terms of new york city right now. host: rhonda, sacramento, go ahead. caller: good morning. thank you for taking our calls. this morning in the sacramento valley, california, as he stated, we are on a stay-at-home order. but as of this morning, our local broadcast news is saying those who are incarcerated such as folks in prison have now .ontracted the coronavirus our local prisons are now affected.

the local hospitals up and down california are screaming for the federal government to step in. gavin newsom has asked the white house please send help, we need help, because sooner or later, the nurses and doctors are going to end up denying patients coming in. we have 5 million people in california with only 45,000 beds available. people are reporting getting contracted. our streets are dead. mcdonald's today stated they are closing all restaurants. we have a high rate of homelessness here. they have yet to be housed. gavin newsom, our governor, stated we will open up hotels and do what we can for the homeless, but nothing is being done in california. now, we are looking towards our seemednt who yesterday

like a fumbling idiot, forgive me, i don't mean disrespect, but he seemed like a fumbling idiot talking about how hard it is for rich people to become president. we are not interested in that. we are interested in how we will survive the pandemic. host: ok, let's talk about california. guest: they were the first may place with the shelter-in-place order. it was a model for the rest of the country with the model governor newsom enacted. i think this is all to try to reduce close contact rates. that is why social distancing is so important. that is the best thing we can do from a public policy perspective to reduce the health care surge already seen in so many places. in terms of the health care sector, there are many issues to discuss from beds.

and i think all health care systems are looking to increase capacity in terms of beds or looking at other beds. we need beds, we need more health care personnel as well. we need to think about the scope of practice. we need to think about bringing fold,es back into the students, giving them more responsibility. it comes down to personal protective equipment and critical medical material. we need to get back to the frontlines. i hear you. although, it seems people are trying to do the right thing, it may seem nothing is happening at the state level or federal level, but this is all hands on deck. to chip inry sector and do their share. the rest of us, we have to do our share as well. that is why staying home and staying safe is critical. host: an update for viewers on

the economic aid package. cnbc reporter tweets secretary mnuchin says they are very close to an agreement on the students package in congress. 3%,futures have gone up mostly by the -- because of the action by the fed to buy government bonds and mortgage-backed securities. the surgeon general this morning told nbc i want america to understand this week it will get bad. what do you think he meant? guest: i think many of us are looking at the trajectory of countries like italy that are 10 to 14 days ahead of us. what we are trying to do is not continue on that trajectory. absolutely, the next week to 10 days from a social distancing perspective, entering frontline health care personnel get the material they need to continue

to expand testing so we can nicely cases and help individuals to quarantine, all of these things are really important. when public servants make those remarks, i think they are looking at countries ahead of . and we want to make sure countries like italy has suffered greatly, that we do not follow in that half. because of that, i think the next week to 10 days are critical for this nation. host: let's go to anthony in minneapolis. statement.thing is a i remember when they had ebola. i'm not sure the exact number. they were saying 200 beds becausee in the country nebraska and other places had it. that should have been something to tell people in our government to prepare for pandemics like this.

also, this should be another call for us to re-examine how much money we spend on defense. defense also means for pandemics. erms,ople can make g you see how poorly prepared we are. my last part of it is i am still stuck with the social distancing. i don't know how long this will last, how long are we expected to stay in the house, and when will schools start back, and all of that. long is it from getting the does it take until you are cured? thank you very much. host: thanks for the question. guest: i will take the first one. i agree with the caller, we have significantly underinvested in state and local public health

preparedness, in-hospital capacity, in our global health security agenda to detect and respond to outbreaks globally. all these things have put us in a difficult situation. and now, we are responding to a potentially severe pandemic. i think this idea we have taken for granted prevention as well as preparedness is really important, and we have to learn from that critical lesson. in terms of how long social distancing will be required, i think it is overwhelming if we think too far out in the future. i think we need to take small increments right now. we know this is a critical time. that is why the stay home orders for the next couple of weeks are so important. shelter-in-place, i think the core principle is

authorities are trying to limit nonessential movement and travel. that means if you have to go to , your health care provider, or the grocery store, that is ok. take individual rejected measures. if you have to check on a walk, againtake a individual protective measures. if you're part of essential business, please continue your important work. for everyone else, it is important we stick with this. we will have to stay tuned to public health authorities in terms of how long this may be required. some have suggested this may be required for a long time. potentially not just weeks but months and perhaps as long as it takes to come up with a vaccine. that wouldall know be very difficult for the american public.

one of the important aspects over the coming weeks and months is to calibrate our response in a data driven manner and realizing we cannot all just stay home for the next 18 months , realizing and listening to public health authorities as they tell us modifications to the social distancing plan. there are a lot of factors. social distancing is important. there are unintended consequences. we do not want this to breed social isolation which is a public health problem as well. we know social distancing long-term could result in social and economic consequences which have health implications as well. all of have to weigh these factors long-term. we have to take it one step at a time. for the next is couple of weeks adhering to the shelter-in-place orders. eight states have done that.

i wish the entire country could do that for a couple of weeks. if not, at least some states like florida, louisiana, and washington where the numbers look quite concerning. host: jim in flemington, new jersey, your question? caller: i understand what you are saying. we have to be really careful when we talk about things like stay-at-home. people have to go out and buy food supplies. they ought to be able to go out and get what they need for a couple of days and go home. when you say stay-at-home, things like hoarding go on. you don't want to commit resources to overdo it because then you stuck down the line recovering. in the obamang is

administration, someone said never miss a crisis. there are people who will use it to set up their view of the world which ghost -- goes to a very centralized government limited on individual freedom. we don't want to go that way. thanks for what you're doing. guest: terrific comment. you are right. we have to do a better job explaining shelter-in-place, stay home, exactly what that means. limiting is on non-essential travel and movement, reducing the contact rate, ensuring the american public knows what they can do and what they should not do is critical. ,ometimes these terms particularly like locked down and shut down in quarantines, do a disservice. i think stay-at-home and shelter-in-place is better. it needs to be communicated

appropriately to the american public. host: valerie, cedar ridge, california. good morning. caller: good morning to you too. i'm trying to get my tv off. i want to make a couple of comments. i think the way this is being handled is very mature. our congress is starting to come together. our president is working with them. i believe we are getting scientists and people working together. , notnk this is wonderful the virus itself. but there was so much infighting and attacks between different groups and parties. we are finally starting to say this is our real enemy and becoming one united states again. i don't believe calling the president names or calling each other names is helping anybody. he is the president we have. we need to look to him for leadership. we are thankful for the scientists and medical

professionals. i think we have got to stop the name-calling and attacking. it is time for maturity. it is time for adult decisions. host: ok, valerie. guest: important point. this is a time for the country to come together to overcome any differences they may have. i think you are seeing that increasingly, particularly over the last couple of weeks. i think the federal response over the last month has significantly ramped up. i think the public messaging is correct. i think some of the criticism early on was that this was a tale of two responses. is good andresponse moving in the right direction. but there is this idea we may have lost several important weeks a month or even six

in january and the first half of february, when there was a bet from the white house on containment. microbes know no borders. testingit is ramping up , putting forward social increasing the supply of critical medical material as well as personal protective equipment, there is a thought some of this could have been done weeks ago. now is are doing right playing a little bit of catch-up. hopefully, we are not too late. we are starting to see the search already in new york city. it is all hands on deck. we are seeing more people coming together and unified. we need that. we need to overcome our differences if we are going to conquer this pandemic. host: we will go to howard in

texas. caller: good morning. we are going to learn a lot about the response to a pandemic like this. i do agree with you on building up our stockpiles. 750ver, if we stockpile million masks and don't rotate pandemic may next be 20 years from now. when they pull them out, the elastic bands are going to break apart. the speaker before he was talking about the senate bill. mentioned money was going to be sent to the states to purchase ppe, personal protective equipment. i believe that is a mistake. if you have 50 states and territories competing for equipment, there might be some price gouging.

i think it would be better to give this money to fema, let them purchase it and distribute it to the states. i would appreciate your comments. thank you. guest: both of your comments are on point and excellent. you are right. stockpiled material does expire. it is important to keep those up-to-date. ,hat takes resources preparedness, and investment. it is incredibly important we make that a priority today as well as moving forward. you are right. today, this is the covid-19 pandemic. there will be another pandemic in the future. , can you remind me of the second question? host: he thought fema should be purchasing this material. guest: i think governor cuomo said it really well yesterday.

i think the caller is absolutely right. pit wednesday versus another. that is why there needs -- we cannot pit one state versus another. that is why there needs to be a federal response. there's price gouging going on right now. if you pit states against one another, wealthier states will be able to purchase more. by now, the focus is on new york. what happens tomorrow if new orleans has a significant outbreak? state theis a poorer new york. are we going to ask the governor of louisiana to try to outbid the governor of new york? it is important individual states are not left on their own. and the federal government provides the structure and coordination, being proactive, and providing leadership for

states and getting them the material they need. host: this headline from "the morningigeria issues for drug tested by the president after overdoses." health officials issued a warning about hydrochlori quine because of overdoses. what do you think about this? new, promisinge drugs. chloroquine has a pretty good safety profile. but no drug is without side effects. it turns out the dosage used in some trials for covid-19, if you double it, that can be a lethal dose. good to know about initial studies, but they are small.

many do not have control groups. many clinical trials to ensure the safety of these medications before we can tout the method next medical cure. it is important how we talk about these medications and scientific breakthroughs. cannot give false hope to the american public. we need to take this one step at a time and let science lead the way. we know this is a crisis. we know there are patients that need any help they can get right now. i think we all understand that. simultaneously, we need to make sure we do this in the right way so americans get the help they need. i would likector, you to respond to a series of tweets about rand paul, who became the first senator to test positive for the coronavirus. tapper tweeted out last a half he toldd

his staff to work from home. on march 15, it was reported individuals at an event he attended in kentucky tested positive for coronavirus. says theclose to call senator was confident he had not interacted with them and did not think much of it. but then he thought about the vulnerability of those with long issues. after, it he learned he tested positive. as soon as he learned that, he left the senate immediately. what do you think about the senator getting a test when he was asymptomatic, and how is it some people are able to get tests faster than others? guest: the first point is how important it is to cancel these types of mass gatherings because this is a very contagious virus. when you have gatherings like , and we have seen it in

this country as well, it is very easy to transmit the virus. that may have happened in the situation. in terms of individuals accessing testing, we know there is limited testing ongoing still. the majority of americans who want to get a test cannot right now. testing is being restricted for health care personnel and those hospitalized and symptomatic. waysbeing said, there are to obtain a test through s, mobilepractice stations. some people have been able to get the test. i think the senator paul was able to get one and tested positive. there are many americans in a similar boat. maybe the last week or 10 days, they were in a group.

they may have heard somebody got sick and they are worried or and asking, do i have the coronavirus as well? they might try to get testing now. they might be successful or not. this is the situation we find ourselves in. the challenging part is we are covid-19more about every single day. is a share ofre americans who are asymptomatic with this disease. transmit theble to disease even though they are asymptomatic, which makes it very challenging. there are a lot of issues here. currently, we do not the quantity of tests that we need. that is why you are seeing some people able to get the tests and

some people not able to get the tests. it is not an ideal situation by any means. host: arizona, christine. caller: i am a pregnant woman in my second trimester of a high risk pregnancy. i am a little older. i work in a grocery store. while i feel like i am doing a public service working there, i am also really just there because my insurance is provided through them. i live with my mother who is 70 years old. anonder if i am taking unnecessary risk going to work even though i live in a somewhat isolated area and i do not think the virus has made much of an impact here yet. long thisnot know how is really practical. i want to first say thank

you for everything you are doing. working at a grocery store, you are providing adamant -- an essential service to americans. you are taking care of your elderly mother. you are pregnant as well. i can understand it is so much on your plate. guidance of your obstetrician is critical. talking to your employers about concerns you may have in ways you could increase social distancing, ensuring you are at hearing to individual protective measures like handwashing, not going in if you are sick. hopefully, you have paid leave and other protections from your employers. i know you are thinking about many things right now. one is ensuring you don't get sick, nothing happens to your baby, ensuring you do not bring

coronavirus into the home given you have a high risk family member in the home as well. i salute you. these are absolutely the right questions. please talk to your employer and clinician. the cdc has excellent tips for individuals as well. host: we will go to andy in brooklyn. caller: good morning. january, a called and warned about the action of the coronavirus and steps the government needed to take to protect schools and gyms. with the coronavirus spreading across the world, we need to look at other ways of transfer. we need to look at the bats migrating f an infection rates. since most people died from

pneumonia, wouldn't it be prevalent to get people affected the pneumonia vaccine to save lives? thank you for your life and thank you for c-span. guest: in terms of the first question, while it is thought that bats were the original source of the new strain of coronavirus that likely infected wuhanr animal and in likely in december there was an animal to human jump, right now there should not be any concern infecting the food supply. i think that is one important point. greta, can you find -- remind me of the second important question the caller had? host: i am sorry. i missed it as well. we will move on. i want to update our views about opening at 9:30

eastern time. cnbc tweeting out it has erased all of the gains since president trump's inauguration. a rocky start to the markets this morning we acting to the senate -- reacting to the senate failing to move forward with the coronavirus package. they are back again today at noon eastern. today, needing 60 votes to move forward with the coronavirus package. negotiations continue with democrats after it failed last night. i do want to get your reaction to this tweet just sent out by a hasrter that says italy over 51,000 cases of coronavirus , 5076 deaths, indonesia has 578 covid-19 cases with 49 deaths and seven of those were doctors.

one in seven. the industry has warned in part it is due to a lack of personal protective equipment. guest: i am so concerned about this. colleagues on the frontlines taking care of patients every single day in many of the cities from new york to seattle that we are talking about on a daily basis. hear theheartening to limited supply they have. importanty it is so we do everything we can to deploy what we currently have as well as realizing we do not have enough. --e you quickly manufacture how do you quickly manufacture enough? we need all the help we can get to help the health care workers on the frontlines.

right now, they often do not have what they need. the cdc has put out guidelines for contingency and crisis guidelines. if you don't have what you need, this is what you need to do, essentially third or fourth order recommendations if you do what is gold standard necessary to protect yourself while you take care patients. these are health care workers on the frontlines. we have to do everything we can to support them, take care of every single day they are caring for these patients. jersey, we in new have over five minutes left with the doctor. your question or comment? caller: has any of the task force working on covid-19 given any consideration to people that

have already been exposed and andvirus has ran its course considering testing americans to find out if they had the strain and are now in the into it -- now immune to it? testing forer than the coronavirus when it is in your system versus one it has passed -- when it has passed? guest: that is an important question. there are scientists working on that now. you are talking about a blood test that would demonstrate after you have contracted the virus and recovered that your body has formed antibodies to protect against the virus. antibodies can be found in the blood. that means you have recovered and are immune. that is important information for us to know because those

, particularly if they are part of cripple services, can get back to work. it is critical for health care workers -- critical services can you back to work. it is critical for health care workers. getting the blood test fda , ensuring they would are immune will be vital to getting the workforce back and the american public back on their feet. margie in ohio, what is your question? caller: good morning. what i have been trying to do since last week as i called the governor's office because i used to be in the medical world. when people are short on the masks, why don't they try using sterile gauze with waterproof adhesive tape around the nose,

chin, and cheeks? i have tried it myself. you can breathe through it. it is sterile. ds.use it on woun thank you. guest: there are a lot of good ideas. i would suggest you go to the cdc website. they put out new guidelines for when there is a shortage of personal protective equipment. depending on the level of crisis, they lay out the alternates sequentially in terms of the next best thing to use. i would encourage you to take a look at that guidance at the cdc. host: margaret in mountain view, california. you are on the air with dr. anand parekh. caller: i should speak now? host: yes, you should.

caller: i am concerned about the pitting of- people against each other and partisanship. now we are attempting to have states vying with each other. i am wondering about older people seeing younger people whenting on the beaches they do not think they will be part of the problem. and make every communication and policy try to have an element in it that is against division. explaining things better, arranging them so people are not vying for supplies or something like that. idea that well should try and end this terrible division in the country. host: thank you, margaret.

guest: i absolutely agree. everything she said is important. we have to come together as a country. i want to hone in on the older versus younger issue. it is true individuals who are older and have serious chronic conditions are more likely to die from covid-19. study looked at several thousand cases of covid-19 saw that a substantial number of hospitalizations were young adults and individuals who did not have severe chronic conditions. the younger generation, it is wish all oftant, i the younger generation had ded this social

distancing message because it is a way to save someone else's life. if they did not get the message then, the method now from the cdc is this is important also to protect your own health. the young individual might think of yourself as invincible. not only might you get sick, but you may be hospitalized. you may get severely ill. you may not die, but this would be significantly difficult for you. reasons all many americans have to adhere to social distancing to take this seriously for their individual health, the help of family members and friends as well as the american public at large. this is a time for us to come together. we are lucky in this country we have freedom. with freedom comes responsibility. responsibility is to exercise

the freedom to have judiciously whether young or old. as we wait for the senate to act on the coronavirus package, they have passed to the other pieces of legislation. which provisions a standout you as having an impact. one was critical for having vaccine development and therapies and supporting state and public health to supporting the global health community. there were many important elements there. central.hat was in terms of the second emergency appropriation, they are focusing on medicaid and food assistance, unemployment assistance. one of the ones that really is paide as critical

sick leave, paid family leave. these are public health interventions and the principle is that we don't want anyone in america to for grow -- forgo medical care because of employment obligations and that's why paid leave is so critical. millions of americans don't have it and it will be held because of it but these are public health intimations so we can make the healthy choice. there are important elements in the first and the second emergency supplemental and i think the third package is important. these should be considered public health intervention so that americans and business owners, we can help them make the right choice from a health perspective. host: we will see how the senate reacts when they gavel in at noon, eastern time. you can watch our coverage on c-span two and we expect the votes to begin shortly after they gavel in today. they will take their time voting

with two procedural votes and they need 60 votes to move forward and begin debate on this $2 trillion third phase or phase three economic aid package. we will go to dan in georgetown, massachusetts. caller: good morning and thank you for having me on. there are very concerning things going on right now. disparitym is the between the news organizations and doctors they have on. i was listening to cnn a couple of days ago and there was a doctor implying that we don't know if this is aerosol or not. this is crazy stuff. withan networks get away host: --g let me jump in and have the doctor respond because we are running out of time.

guest: the primary mode of transmission is thought through droplets within six feet that are dispelled through a call for a sneeze. someone's mouth or their nose or their eyes or an individual then touches these droplets that are on a surface. in terms of aerosol transmission, there is a recent days-- paper a couple of ago. it's possible but it's most likely in the health care setting when health care professionals are performing intubation or connecting someone to a ventilator or doing cpr or doing various procedures. in that case, health-care workers absolutely have to make sure they are not wearing masks restoration -- fitted respirators. parts of the virus can remain in the air for up to 30 minutes. importantl setting is

for health-care workers but for the general public, the primary mode of transmission is droplets either direct or indirect through surface contamination. for coming you, dr. into c-span today and talking to our viewers. we appreciate it. guest: thank you and everyone should stay safe. host: we are going to --that is it for today's "washington journal" and we will be back here tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. now, we want to bring you live coverage of massachusetts governor charlie baker who was about to start his briefing on that states response to the coronavirus. before that, at noon eastern's ♪ time, unfiltered coverage of the senates action and we will see you tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. eastern. [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]