rubber daily discusses china's role in the epidemic. opening withe' .ongressman sanford bishop host: is the "washington journal." we want to get your thoughts on the expanded role of government during the perrone eyes -- during the coronavirus pandemic. there rate, supporters of their role look at the financial aid and credit people are receiving. roledo you think about the of big government, at as it is known at this time? do you agree or disagree?

if you live in eastern or central time zones, (202) 748-8000 is the number to call. dish in thein any mountain or pacific time zones, (202) 748-8001. the recent column appeared in yesterday's wall street journal. the era of big government is back is the title. to show you some of what they wrote. conversations with a broad cross-section of political figures suggest there is little reason to expect a return of the status quo on federal spending, or the prevailing attitude toward the proper role of government. the era of ronald reagan is over a democratmanuel, who served as the mayor of

chicago and president obama's first chief of staff. an echo came from the other .ide, from stephen bannon it is not relevant. that is some of the thoughts from yesterday from gerald cy vance john mccormick. this when itte comes to mr. trump. saying, long before when this crisis struck, trump had been moving the party away from its embrace of traditional conservative precepts. the trump administration declared that the government would pay. leastppeared to offer at a glance and nodded toward the medicare for all system long

advocated by the democratic left-wing. mr. trump explicitly favored borrowing. you can find this piece online. a couple of polls take a look at this topic as well. this is from the washington post about the role of government. the majority of americans saying 'restrictions on appropriate. at the topic of restrictions on public gatherings. 64% say it is an appropriate role. 22% saying it not restrictive enough. when it takes a look at the larger government role, cnbc

released a poll. congress lookss to build on the largest spending plan in u.s. history, 63 percent of registered voters say they approved the government's expanded role. that say they about driving up deficits. worried theentage government would extend too little money. this idea of big government they -- they talkedat about, what do you think about that? if you live in the eastern or central time zones, it is (202) 748-8001. if you live in the mountain and pacific time zones, it is (202) 748-8001.

include your name, city, state. if you do that, we may read some of them. stephen starts with a post from our facebook page. when it comes to this idea of big government, we will need the help, consistent financial assistance, but why big government? we don't need departments to regulate departments as it was in the past. wallace adding fear of government who tells you they know better than you do on how to live your life. texass in houston, starting us over -- starting us off. good morning. what you think about this idea? have 26 million people unemployed. you have 700,000 people in texas, restaurant workers, underemployed. you have rent coming up.

they have bills to pay. these were hard-working people. and because of some stupid republican in the white house, who has pretty much destroyed this economy, it is going to take decades to fix this. host: what can government do at this time? caller: more money. more money. hurry up. host: do you worry about the level of spending? caller: i do not worry about the debt. raise taxes on the top 10%. raise taxes on wall street transactions. host: doug, you are next up. caller: i would like to say all these people that colin need to show the proper respect to the president, whose name is not donald trump. trump.e is

host: to the eye of big government, what do you think? caller: we cannot keep putting money. we need to reopen this country and put things back in perspective. if you're staying six feet apart, wearing a mask, and it is working, then you can do that and do jobs. state, virginia, he will let tournaments.o bass it is just big governments trying to move things to do what they want. host: do you think it is the role of government to offer assistance? caller: not to the extent that you will put the next 60 generations and dead -- generations in debt. our country was not founded on big government bailing people out.

the american people worked hard to build america, not the government. host: that is doug in newport news. he talked about the spending part of it. if you go to the wall street journal, it takes a look at the federal reserve. the reserve is redefining central banking by lending widely to businesses in breakingt to -- it is century old taboos about who gets money from the central bank in a crisis and what risk it will take about getting that money back. knew programsnk's will swell -- new programs will $10 trillion. according to calculations, the portfolio had reached 6.5 $7 trillion by april 22.

this is from rich, hickory hills, illinois. rich, good morning. the question of big risk -- is itat the responsible big government? i don't think we are in the era of responsibility. i don't think this coronavirus has been handled anywhere near appropriate or responsibly since the get go. results -- and this is a of why we are in this massive lockdown, economy shut down. this stuff is a byproduct of how it was not handled properly. i think where this started and where it is going and where it will continue to go just shows that this is not responsible. host: what should responsible

government look like at this time? caller: if you have a health they should have a game plan on how to stop this, treat this, ended this situation. to me, there is no end in sight with this. it is like we do not happen into what is going to stop this virus other than don't get it. i don't think that is a responsible solution. we have to take a look at what the virus is, what the virus does, how we treat the symptoms. i do not see that game plan, but maybe i'm not looking. host: the piece is the era of big government is back. you may want to read it online. you can find'it on the wall street journalwebsite's.

good morning. i was thinking about the whole situation. when we first look at the whole thing, you have an issue where you are dealing with the cdc. big government is hugely important. people want the military, but it does not just include the military. it includes the cdc, the who. you have those different things where you are including diplomacy and other things. somebody should have been in china investigating. that same thing happened with the ebola crisis. that is why the ebola crisis did not get out of hand. they had people going to africa and helping out. there should have been somebody in china helping out. there are all types of peer-reviewed articles that were going on is soon as the thing started. with that said, i am not going to say donald trump should have done this or shouldn't have done

this. i do not always agree with any president. i do not take any side. but anything -- but some that could have been done -- they could've ramped up supplies. the federal government could have done that. at -- is there any point where the federal government's role becomes too large? caller: if you look at the great depression and all the landmarks in our past -- i am a teacher -- there is not a point where the role becomes large in these aspects. there are times where they call it martial law. everybody wants the military to defend them, the cdc to step in. how do you have those if people are not contributing to the government? host: he brings up the great

depression. the authors of yesterday's wall street journal piece do as well. depression led to increased social safety nets, new consolidated agencies. the 2008 federal -- financial meltdown led to actions by the federal reserve. and have accepted a sea of new reading of the federal deficit was heading toward $2 trillion annually. nebraska.are from hello. caller: nancy pelosi and mr.

schumer cannot wait to get their hands on enough money to try to bailout all these democratic spent and states that money over the last 30 years. -- now thatngs thing's totally gone, they went all the americans to take their money and to bail them out on these retirement funds. the american people better watch them because they are just about ready to get there grubby hands -- get there grubby hands on that money. just to watch them. host: the debate on capitol hill is whether a fourth stimulus package directly to state and local governments is going to be considered. you're saying that should not be the case. caller: absolutely not.

they are going to use that to build their own stupidity out. -- bail their own stupidity out. host: mitch mcconnell said those sentiments about pension funds and the ability of states to declare bankruptcy in an interview last week. theking of capitol hill, house and senate expected to return next week. front-linenell said workers are still on the job. he said it is time for senators to join them. is in dire need of clarity. he said i look forward to seeing my colleagues. steny hoyer of maryland told his colleagues they will be back. but what they will work on is still up in the air. nancy pelosi said congress is pony up the money -- congress

has ponied up the money for workers. law needs to go to localities. back,a of big government the argument of the piece. washington,olympia, you are next. caller: the united states is sitting on a huge reserve. fort knox has for hundred 57 million ounces of gold. bars would release 48,000 weighing 27.3 pounds, it could pay off our national debt completely. completely. we could replace it with palladium, which is worth more than gold. but anyway, i think the united states ought to go into our reserves and use it. host: do you think that is the

appropriate response at this time? making those funds available? caller: sure. then we would not have to pay the interest on that debt. the interest on that debt is exorbitant. if we do not have to pay the interest, then it can go towards getting our country back to cy.mal sc -- to normal host: richard posted. he says, if government is working, it is not a bad thing. with the absence of leadership, it threatens to enslave us. gina saying, who needs individual liberty anyway so 1776. baton rouge, louisiana, you are next. believei want to say i

tara reid. joe is a sexual predator, always has been. host: as far as big government? caller: government is getting way too big. 2009 and 2010, there was a swine fluid epidemic. it caught us by surprise. for some reason, the administration back then did not stop it was necessary to -- to stockpile ventilators, gowns, masks, gloves, and we got caught again. it is time to move on. open things up, move on. let the private sector run its. . the government cannot run

anything. does the government has averse -- have a responsibility as far as health and safety? appoint -- toto a point. host: but you are saying there's a point where it is overreach. caller: generations from now, our great-great-grandchildren are going to be paying for this. pick them out,o pat them on the back, and tell them that you are sorry for what we are doing to them. host: dock giving thoughts. we will hear from ben. hello. never: big government is

left. people blaming trump have to think back. it was back in the 70's where the government gave tax breaks to corporations to create businesses and other countries. this is why we have no supply chain. host: when you say big government is never left, it was continued by the president? was going ont forever. the government was set up to be a part time job. now these people are full-time residents. they have been there for 30 years, 40 years. they created laws. they created a law that they are exempt from any law they pass. that is not right. host: when it comes to the pandemic, what role is too far? caller: i don't think any role is to partner -- too far.

anyone that has been there more than 30 years has created this problem. kimberly. where do you live? caller: i live up in mount shasta. when peopleamazed talk about the government being too big because the government is actually all of us. they just represent our voice. one of the things the other caller before me was talking are theenerations, we great grandchildren of the great depression. that is where we are at. i don't think you can possibly spend too much money. we are going to come up with a whole other way. into thisonth or two pandemic and look at unemployment. who knows if there is going to

be another outbreak? it is not about blame, it is about what do we do. host: does it justify actions like the additional spending? caller: yes it does. i think the government needs to be taking to heart the health and safety first. the testing without complete testing and being able to not put all that stress on the individual states. there should not be eight -- this should not be a way to make money. survival.be about either we all survive or we die. it is not them versus us. it is about surviving this first sickness, and then we can worry about how do we go past that. kimberly ins california about this idea of big government. she talked about the state level, particularly what is going on with testing.

administration put out a proposal for states to test up to 2% of their population. here is dr. deborah birx laying out some of those details. [video clip] the full capacity of the states, increasing testing platforms, increasing the ability to cut samples, increasing the ability of laboratories and making sure every client receives the tests they need. this is added with timely monitoring systems, systems were the ability toer diagnose the systematic and -- the symptomatic and work with individuals who we know are at higher risk. seen that it occurs often and close settings among our native americans and in our

long-term care facilities. an active monitoring program. combining this with a third element, the rapid response program, relying on cdc to be working with state and local governments to ensure that every symptomatic case and every non-symptom medication is tracked and trait -- traced. host: the era of big government is back, that is the peace we are referencing. we ask you the same question. this was in the wall street journal. this is what you will find when you go to the website to get your thoughts on it. several have expressed their agreement or disagreement. you're are welcome to do the same. (202) 748-8000 if you live in the eastern or central time zones, (202) 748-8001 if you

live in the mountain or pacific time zones. robert, hello. caller: i look at this deal. if you go back to when the doctor from china first announced this epidemic, it is did not really jump on it right then. we have lost months. look at the military. look at our ships that are docked. we are weak. host: so is government being effective or not at this stage? -- not underrump trump. he does not even respect women. host: back to the topic at hand -- do you think generally administrations do well? caller: i would tell trump to get on his knees and beg the

ambassador of sweden to teach him a lesson. host: ok. alice from maryland. good morning. caller: i do not think the government is big enough. i think we are having a serious problem here. we have all of our manufacturing outside the country and not in the country. i think we need bigger government for healthcare services and other things. so i think this is just showing us how weak we are in that respect. we do not have those things. host: when it comes to manufacturing, what could big government change? caller: they could change -- they could set a percentage of what has to be manufactured in the united states. like all of our medicines are being manufactured outside the united states. host: what do you think the performance of your governor?

you live in maryland. do you think he is doing well? caller: i do think he is. i think he is doing what he can in this situation, but i do not really know what other governments would be doing. i think we need better health care systems, and even though he is a republican, i think he is doing a good job. saying,mes on facebook what sense does it make for the government to appropriate funds to cover the cost of testing and refusing to implement universal health care? illnesses pose similar challenges? saying, themorning federal government gave us social security, medicare, the interstate system,

. the government has the capacity problem, but the president does not understand this. the government tells me i do not life,ense to manage my pamela says. facebook is available. twitter as well. (202)u can text us at 748-8003. back.: big government is there is no better poster than having to look at the federal student loan system. it is absolutely disgusting. has become a big national threat at this point. these loans are controlled it,

almost 90%, by the federal government. they have removed constitutional protections like bankruptcy rates and also statutes of limitations and protections that exist for every other type of loan. profiting $70 is billion a year on this program and since president obama federalized it in 2010. that was five years ago. not, several swat teams started rolling up and taking people off for failing to pay their loans. host: where did you get that from? caller: that's a fact. affectost a -- source where? caller: it was reported widely. was aikens.me

host: of all the aspects, why student loans? are you paying student loans? caller: i am and so are other people. people aref these unable to pay their loans, or they are paying and their balances are going up. we have gone from $50 billion in national debt to nearly $2 trillion today. it is a failed blending system. president trump should use this crisis as an excuse to cancel these loans by executive order, take this lending system to the bathroom, drown it and start over, because this goose is cooked. host: allen giving us his thoughts. we will go to las vegas, nevada.

hello. plain and simple -- this coronavirus that is coming out, one of the mean features is obesity. drawback toes that the influence of big government? --ler: there?om us, are you we will go to dante. on the i want to comment whole freeze the air of big government is back. i don't think the issue is the size. if you look back into the 70's, the number of employees back at that time was probably much the same as it is today, somewhere between 800,000 and one million federal employees, yet the

people they service has increased by approximately 50%. the question is not the era of big government back, it is the invasive nature of the government. at what point does the government have the right to intervene or should they intervene in state issues? with the coronavirus, which is the flavor of the day, it is my personal opinion that the government should be regulating more so. we have far too many things going on at the state level that are not being coordinated and yet they affect everyone in the united states. they do not just affect maryland or california. host: should the federal government have imposed a nationwide is stay-at-home order rather than letting states decide? caller: absolutely. if a person in massachusetts, a big state for the infection

orel, if they release lighten up their travel restrictions or stay-at-home restrictions, that will impact surrounding states. i do not see how it wants. all of a sudden, people will start to travel again. i know it sounds more communistic, if you will, that the government should be controlling these things, but this particular issue is something that affects everybody in the united states. host: are you saying there is a level where it would not go too far? caller: that it difficult question to ask. every decision that is made is a unique decision and it requires ififferent assessment, but you believe in your federal

government, if you believe in the theory and principles of the federal government and that they are here to protect us, then no. i don't think you can go too far. host: the previous caller mentioned that student loan case . a swat rolling up to claim them. this is from the money website at cnn saying a texas man was arrested by u.s. marshals into thousand 16 -- into thousand 16 for not paying his student loan for 29 years. on -- ofware of any any outstanding debt, he said. i thought i consolidated everything and paid it off. the u.s. marshals service made several attempts to serve him with a court order. said ithals service spoke with him by phone in 2012

requesting he appear in court. the story is dated february -- february, 2016, if you want to read. new york state. hello. caller: i do not understand how people are not questioning the lockdowns and all this stuff. seems the lockdown is not, for them, about making the money. i am trying to say we have got to start caring about other people's lives. there are other people out here getting sick. theset comes to lockdowns, please just let them go ahead and lockdown. stop caring about the money. we always bounce back. host: but if you are a business

person, you are caring about money. how would you respond? caller: i have a small business business is locked down. my main concern is taking home to my mom, things of that nature. it is not all about me. we have millions and millions of other americans out there. togetherness and everything is i, i, i. is a color from new york state -- a caller from new york state. impact --about the

[video clip] i represent a district in new jersey that does not have a town with more than 50,000 people in it. every single one of my towns is hurting right now. every single one is seen tax revenue dry up. every single one is debating how long they can continue to pay those schoolteachers, cops, and firefighters. this is about the survival of small town america. at the end of the day, i am not sure if mitch mcconnell wants to be the person responsible for telling small-town america to go to hell. that is what he is doing down. in my district, we are going to be releasing a letter that is going to be signed. right now, we have 45 or 50 mayors in freeholders. about half of them are republicans, to our sayingsional leadership

please approve this relief money. it is not a bailout. states and local governments to exist through this crisis. i think that is a bipartisan call you are going to see coming from governments across this country. i know my colleagues in the house are generating several letters. it has gotten partisan. inis completely nonpartisan state capitals in small-town america. i think we are going to win that argument in the next bill that house,,certainly the but i believe the next bill will go to the president. host: these statements. if you go to the website, there is a story you can read about the statements. it.ou want to read

the washington post this morning, a story about the administration's role in this. agencies. intelligence -- saying u.s. intelligence agencies warned up about the virus. repeated warnings were conveyed in the president daily briefing. they called the president's attention to the most significant global developments and security threats. someone disputed that trump was slow to respond to this threat. there was a spokesman. he went to say, we will get through this difficult time. if you want to read more, that is the washington post.

let's go to and in fred's part -- in fredericksburg, virginia. hello. commenti wanted to about the gentleman i was talking about student loans. i am a victim of fraud in student loans. it happened in 1980. i was already a dental assistant. a phone call came to my house about a laboratory that makes dentures and washington, d.c. i was excited. show me keyy house, pictures that showed me pictures, told me the starting day a year later, and between that time, one of them came to -- i went andand

processed this and i felt confident that she would do it. about six months later, i went up to the school, and it was nothing but warehouses. i was distraught. hours fromn four where i was living to get there. host: how much did you lose? $2500. i lost it ruined my credit. i cannot get an apartment. i cannot buy things like a car. it ruined my credit until i was about 25 -- years later. about then your point federal government taking over student loans, do you think that is better or worse? caller: they should get rid of the program altogether. they should leave it up to colleges.

they should have someone seeing over the ceos. i don't think they should have to pay tuition, books. i think they would already get ther revenues through technologies of today. people make money faster. host: we will go to rhonda. you are up. caller: good morning, pedro. i want to give a shout out to all the senior citizens out there. i just got my stimulus check and it went right through my direct express card through social security. i want to thank donald trump for that and nancy pelosi and chuck schumer for putting that together. overspending with the federal government? yes, we are. why are we paying additional $600 a week front employment?

what is the incentive to go back to work? my son builds bridges. he makes close to $35 an hour. he is on unemployment. his top unemployment is less than $700 a week. so we are forcing people to go soon.k to work too why are we paying for all this unemployment? host: what are your plans for the stimulus money? caller: oh my god, pedro. i put my car in the shop. to pick my car up tomorrow. i am so grateful. thank you, donald trump. he did not have to sign that, guys. my financial situation has not changed, ok. but many people situations have changed, but we have to use our

common sense. nancy pelosi did not give away money we do not have. host: michelle single terry from post writes about the timetable of stimulus checks. social security survivors and disability non-filers will see their payments by wednesday. supplemental security income nonfilers will see payments in early may, although some payments starting going out over the weekend. more at the paper if you want to read about those timetables. los angeles, california. kathleen, hello. caller: i hope everyone is staying safe. example of howt the president has failed is

acts in 1866 and 1963. what was the extension -- intention? to help the slaves. now we see that the 30% of homeless are black americans. 2053, that by african-americans will be facing -- that has been pasteurized to include every other group, help every other group, except black americans. every other group is being helped. -- we can learn about the role of government by reading the constitution and the federalist papers. true?thors -- but is that

does the government have to? does the general welfare clause include a pandemic? host: if you study both the constitution and the federalist papers, what do you think? caller: that is federalism. that is the role of the state governments. it is extending too far for these federal governments. we can look at the civil rights act and see the failure of big government, so haven't we learned something from that? haven't we learned anything from the civil rights act and its failures? host: ok. kathleen joining us very early in los angeles to talk about the role of government. it was georgia governor brian kemp yesterday discussing decisions made in his state. during that conversation, he talked about reaching out to the

white house and trump specifically about that plan to reopen georgia. [video clip] >> over the last several days, many have written about georgia's plan to open business shuttered by the shelter-in-place order. written about the president's hindsight and advice on our game plan. rest assured, the president and i'd share a common goal to protect the lives and livelihoods of georgians and the american people. we had another great call today with the president, vice president, members of the administration, and the nation's governors. i want to continue to applaud the president during these difficult times. we are grateful for the resources they are providing as we work to keep georgians safe and ensure a bright and promising future in every corner of our state.

host: we take in several governors from across the united states about their plans. we also take in the press briefings. if you want to see those, go to c-span.org, where we archive them. you can watch all of these presentations. from donald in south bend, indiana, who was tested this morning -- who texted this by doing this, the government does not get too big. congress, do your jobs he adds. from facebook, the era of big government never left. it is a final expansion to tear any. someone says reagan warned us.

and it from fort bragg without regard, to the damage of climate. it is time to start -- stop the greed. money is not the only issue. those are some of the ways you can reach out to us. make comments this morning. from clifton maryland. hello. your next. -- you are next. caller: we the government. who else is going to lead us out of this situation we are in? i am appalled at the american people who support donald trump. i don't know where our intelligence went to. i don't know what happened to us. i thought we were a people of decency and caring. i am finding out that we are just like him. pocketbooks and

think everything is going to be solved by money. we have an obligation to ourselves into the world to try to be decent, to try to show people to live together in society. today, we are in a situation where i do not know how we are going to get out of it. if we put this man back in office, shame on us. host: carol in north carolina. good morning. you are on. referring to a lady who spoke three calls back about how grateful she was that trump gave us money. i will agree with her. he did not have to do it. the reason he did not have to do is if he handled the crisis

better. he did not act early enough. that is why he did it. so i agree with her. there was no reason for this crisis. i hope she can hear this. host: the washington times takes a look at a recent statement the the eternal -- from attorney general about the stay-at-home orders in place at the state level. writing, and a two-page memo, the attorney general directed all u.s. attorneys to be on the lookout for local and state directives that could violate religious free-speech or economic rates. state orto say if a local ordinance crosses the line from appropriate exercise of authority to an overbearing infringement of constitutional and statutory protections, the doj may have an obligation to address that overreach in federal court, hero in a memo to the 93 attorneys.

michigan is next. we will hear from barbara in michigan. barbara in gaylord, michigan, hello. indicate wanted to that, for voters who are thinking about government, you know, big government, this is it. this is it -- socialism. if you do not like socialism, don't vote for this. trump is doing the best that he can. he is trying. i mean, he did not bring this on. nobody brought this on. host: how do you relate all of this to ideas of socialism again? wanted to know what socialism felt like, where

government tells you, yeah, you can get a surgery. no, you can't. host: you mean in elective surgery -- and elective surgery? caller: correct, or yes, it is time for testing. no,f you are in michigan, you cannot plant a garden. or you cannot build on your house. when somebody tells you you cannot get a haircut by a professional, that's infringing or my personal rights. able to say, i want to get my haircut. i want to do this, i want to do

that. and until we get infrastructure like construction, even non-essential construction, getting into business, back into business, the states are going to suffer from the unemployment because they are -- host: that is barbara. chris in virginia, hello. caller: i think government is great for the people. government build the hoover dam, it built the interstate, it helped the big business. not big business helped the government. if you do not like socialism, return your social security. give up your medicare. host: how has big government couldn't -- big government been

good this time, specifically? because we do not have leadership in the white house. he should have locked down the country for months -- for a month or a month and a half. he should have implemented the defense production act so we can testing, ppe,re and then do testing, tracing, and isolation. government is good, but they need to look -- host: are the actions of this administration good if government is good? caller: know because we do not have a leader in the white house. i think the executive power should be limited. they should put some constraints because first the

president must release his taxes. host: you are saying put constraints on the president, but you are also saying the president should have locked down the whole country. caller: it's an honor system. it has stopped working. the checks and balances are not working. private business is not working either. big business does not help us. we, the taxpayer, held business. -- help business. host: ok. we will go to joe in alabama. caller: big government cdcourced our ppe and the screwed up the test kits, so there you go. i would also like to know, when are you going to do a show on joe biden and of the is sexual

assault of -- host: mary is in iowa. hello. caller: hi there. i am happy to have this tech.unity because i am a on sociali know security that got stimulus money -- why didn't the money go to help shops, they are saying. host: we had a previous caller who said she is going to spend her money on her car? doesn't that go to businesses by extension? caller: that is probably one in dozens. said -- the majority of these

-- i have a grandson. he got $2900. he's going to pay down debt. host: do you think that helps the economy in the long run? if it. willn't know or not it is nothelping the pandemic situation . we went from 14 cases to one million cases. and i am scared as hell. don't know if my death is imminent, but i plan to my -- i planned my funeral and i want my family to be able to grieve if i die, a horrible death it will be. host: had you made those plans beforehand? caller: i made them beforehand

,ecause i have treasuries family members that are immediate family, and they love me very much. i -- they talk to me. and say i love you grandma. i want them to have a chance to mourn me. -- but -- is going to host: that is mary. we will go to john. thatr: my statement is essentially this is a time for our country to come together. my concern is trump, people on the rate. they make all these allegations and claims. we don't want this to be a

socialist company -- country. yet what are these relief checks? what are these potential subsidies? they are all socialist moves. we have to stop demonizing each other. and that is what is happening here. york,clifton park, new last call for this subject. two guests will be joining us we the johns hear from hopkins school of health. effort inracing africa on ebola and what can be coronavirushe epidemic. we will talk about the role china has played, a conversation with robert daly of the wilson center but first, the atlantic council hearing and washington, d.c. hosted a virtual discussion with the managing director of the international monetary fund

who spoke about issues relating to the pandemic impact on the global economy. here is a portion of that conversation. [video clip] >> could it get worse? could it be worse than the great oppression in some respects? where do you have the most concern? our report in the world economic outlook, we asked this question. yes, it can get worse. it can get worse if, during the second half of the year, there is still significant lingering impact of the pandemic that forces either a return to the reopening. very slow it can get even worse if the pandemic goes on a second round

the world trip. we are projecting what it would mean in terms of the economy shrinking further. are saying in the report is that this makes it critical integration of epidemiological and macro economic data and this is actually -- [indiscernible] we made projections for growth modeling. do we need to concentrate our attention? first, on responsible restart of the economies. from each other as we go forward with it.

today of theing thevery and how to manage risk that would come on the other side, more debt, more deficits, likely more bankruptcies, more unemployment and the risk of more poverty. but there are tremendous opportunities to shift the economy faster towards the knowledge economy and have a mechanism of our tax policies, our overall macro policies that favor addressing this risk in a bring a fairer spending of people and countries on the others. -- on the other site. guest is the johns

hopkins university bloomberg school of public health senior research associate post up he also served as a former director general of the national public health institute of liberia from 2017-2019. we thank you for joining us today. guest: thank you, good morning. host: what are your specialties during that time -- one of your specialties during that time was looking at the ebola outbreak. guest: at the time, the ebola unprecedentedas in history and i was the incident manager that led the entire outbreak to respond to the ebola outbreak. it got to zero cases and moved to west africa to get zero outbreak in that area. host: what kind of science did

you apply to analyze it and development of treatments in order to stop the outbreak? guest: with covid-19 today, there are no vaccines, no therapeutics to deal with that. 2014-2016 outbreak, there was not enough tools to deal with the outbreak in west africa when it broke out in 2014. was makeeeded to do sense out of the outbreak and put a management system together and this is a very predictable tool to use when there are no vaccines and people are dying. , tohave to think what to do organize the system and look at the data and make decisions. that's what we did in west africa and liberia with the help of organizations that came to the aid of west africa.

host: one of the discussions about coronavirus is the idea of contact tracing. talk about its application not only in covid but was it used in the ebola outbreak into what success? when you don't have a vexing of a disease, you use public health measures. for example, you do testing, you trace the contacts, you give them treatment that is available to treat the symptoms of the disease. same with covid-19. contact tracing was one of the key parts of the 2014-2016 ebola outbreak. it can help and covid-19. personsidentify, expose and prevent secondary infection. is one very critical

missed contact can keep the outbreak going and going and going. contact, nos, if no further spread of the disease. iss is why contact tracing one of the tools we have in our toolkit. it needs to be used and we can stop covid-19. host: this is our guest joining us and if you want to ask him about contact tracing and other lessons he learned from tracking ebola and how it can be applied to the covid pandemic, you can call us. i suspect manpower is needed and funds are needed, what did you learn from tracking that in liberia?

what is the lesson for those tracking it in the united states? guest: contact tracing gets easier, it can be easier at the beginning of the outbreak if you are ahead of the curve. but when the cases exponentially theease, catching up to curve, bending the curve and getting 20 can be difficult. this is where manpower, energy, resources can be important. you would need an army of health-care workers to be recruited. not necessarily with people with high level training but people who graduated with a high school education can be recruited. have to be in the field of public health. for us to get 20 covid-19, we must be able to catch up with the curve.

today there is exponential increase of cases. the rate is increasing. with the one, catch up curve, bend the curve and get to zero. that's why contact tracing is so important. johns hopkins was projecting over 100,000 people with 3.6 billion u.s. dollars to get the kind of contact tracing we need. it is very critical combined with all of the other things with isolation and the rest of the other interventions. host: if you are a contact -- whatwhat are information do you need to get from people to develop a database strong enough to help track and stop this? testing, hear about

testing and testing. it's very critical. if you don't know what you are looking for, if you don't find it, you cannot trace the contact. number one is to test. you do the test and i agree with dr. fauci when he said we need to double the testing in the united states. that is very important. theer two, we need to know laboratory confirmed cases. you look at the numbers in the number of test you do, those are positive. you look for the confirmed cases that are available. peoplesee also is that who are confirmed are in their homes and we need to appeal to those people an appeal to their conscience and get them to a facility to isolate them. after they have seen people who you review the

reproductive numbers of the number of covid-19 cases. covid-19 looks at the reproductive number at the outbreak. [inaudible] on the average, you have to remove the people who are sick. cases thatfind the have positive, confirmed results unless it is applicable and possible to remain home and prevent, then it's applicable. where the person cannot be treated at home and they should not be in a household, they need to be confirmed and removed immediately to isolation. then you trace the contacts. look at the signs on the

household member in the united states which is three persons per household when i look at the data. with that, you want to make sure youof the contact tracing, can use telephone lines, mobile phones, there is a lot of technology available. when i did it in west africa with my team, we did not have the sophistication the united states have -- has. it's difficult to get to the to get tos difficult uselephone so we had to epidemiologist to go from town to town. it was a 4 million population. andere able to trace houses [indiscernible] to zero.you get

our first call is from dandridge, tennessee. good morning. caller: good morning. said scaresest just zus out of theee american people. you say you want to spy on the american people and you want to take them, force them into quarantine even if they have no symptoms, they are asymptomatic and you want to force them into a quarantine situation. millions and millions of american people are not going to do this. -- isre not going to take bill gates the one and -- in the rockefeller foundation in charge of this testing? i want to know where our dna and her blood in our testing, who is in charge of it? who is doing it?

when the contact is suspected, at that time you have not confirmed to be removed from your home. you have come in contact with someone who is confirmed. but we have to stop the outbreak. we need to start the social distancing. the lockdown that is going on now and do that safely by tracing the contact and get to zero so people can move about. that would get rid of the outbreak. people would not be removed from their home but it's trying to get the outbreak under control. individual rights and public health is very critical. host: from nick in woodbridge, virginia, you are next, go ahead. caller: good morning. points and iood

empathize with the lady earlier with at being too harsh dictatorship type quarantine. we need to focus on the united we stand and divided we fall and utilize more resources for getting antibody testing. that's the first step in getting the vaccine. we need more testing kits, we need more testing sites and i think we will need more recruitment with may be private helping the world health organization. the more blood we get, the more we learn about the virus. i had coronavirus. i am a nurse and i was in quarantine for almost 14 days and now i'm fun and i'm not getting sick again. i probably have antibodies and i would love to donate my blood and help out so we can find out

the vaccine. once we have the vaccine, we are good. the permanent solution is vaccine, i agree. some sort of therapeutic treatment to treat those who were sick. we don't have that option right now. the option we have right now are the public health measures of anding, tracing the contact treating them. for now, there is no vaccine so what we need to do is additional public health measures to end covid-19. we need to focus on the tracing contact because in those countries where the used social isolation, it has stopped the epidemic.

we will keep testing and we need to be proactive to end this. host: yesterday, the white house released a blueprint when it comes to testing, giving states a large role in coming up with a plan of developing testing and even providing guidelines from the federal government. what do you think about that model? guest: i think it's positive. we use to ramp up testing and double it, that's a very good model. testing is important. that's how you know who is sick in the population. your previous caller was talking about the antibodies and immunity or herd immunity but choice in there is a the scientific community is not supporting the issue of immunity.

what we need to do and what is available right now to end covid-19 are those measures. and they haveng come up with a blueprint to test more people and that's how we the positivity rate. those are the things you need to use to trace the contact, trace the contact, put them into isolation. the united states has the capacity. is of this i'm talking about the cdc provided a lot of resources in africa.

the u.s. government has the capacity and has the technical know-how, it's just a matter of deploying it so the outbreak comes to an end. if we can do comprehensive and isolation, we can then open up. host: from missouri, ronald in salem. caller: i just have to mention that 24 million people in africa doesn't equate to end the1/10 of the population here and he said it took 100,000 contact tracers to cover 24 million? if we extrapolate that, it's over one million contact tracers to go after 350 million that we have living here. it's not a feasible system. we will have to look at a different plan. what the president is doing is right, we need to get the states involved. the states will have to be responsible. our public health system was centered around counties doing the job and they have not done it. thegovernors are blaming

president because they are not prepared and did not set aside funds to take care of this. there are all those masks and ppe, equipment was not stocked up. they just ignored the potential and now they want to shift the blame to the president. it's a state and county responsibility. it has to be done at that level of we are going to deal with the numbers we are dealing with. talk about the comparisons of liberia to the united states. is that a point as far as the size of the two countries? guest: the manpower projected by my colleagues in the global health security were not projected for the united states. not all of the population of the united states is sick so when which city,ng, it's

which town, which territory or state that has more than other cases inhe number of the 100ed states, thousand contact tracers projected for the united states or you don't need millions of contact tracers to do the work on theu want to focus disease and what the epidemiology is telling you based on the testing of the cases. you put the contact tracer on what the local government is doing in the territories that would use contact tracing in the community. new york is coming up with a robust plan right now. so trainedg at that contact tracers can be used in new york. host: when the caller said the primary responsibility should fall to the states and localities, what do you make of that? guest: that's valid because

that's where it starts. people could get reinfected so missing a contact can keep the epidemic going. look at communities, territories, states and they should do the work and end this outbreak. host: thank you for joining us for this conversation. shealy's next from tuskegee, alabama. caller: i want to talk about the virus. if they tested so many people, they would not catch the virus. they test you and you get the virus. and they have to treat it.

while,don't test for a let them come to you with , letver symptoms they have them come to you and you test them step if they have a virus then, you know what to do. them that don't have the virus. if you test them, i think they might catch it. guest: can you go over that? i didn't catch that. host: were you having problems hearing her? guest: what was the question? 's host: she said focus not on those who have the virus but those who don't have it as far as the data. i could be wrong but i'm paraphrasing. , testing isoint is important. that's how you know who has the disease. two, when cases are

case may or may not generate contact. the contact are those you want to follow up with . difficult forwas asymptomatic people. virus to another person. with covid-19, people who are asymptomatic can contract the disease. if the case is not confirmed, the contact goes for 14 days and that's fine but once you have a confirmed case and there is contact generated, that contact must be followed. you are hearing these

governors deciding to open up aspects of their businesses and those kind of issues. how does that impact testing and the analysis needed to determine what comes next in the pandemic? for those who are opening up and still have confirmed cases in their localities and where they are, they a taking -- they are taking a big risk. it will spread very fast. ebola was spreading like covid-19. if you look at the reproductive numbers of ebola, it's less than 2. with covid-19, it's about three so it means covid-19 spreads faster.

if you have two or three cases in a community or in a state or thestrict or territory, fact that you have an outbreak means it can happen. those states, territories that are reopening and still have cases need to have zero. the united states is one country. if you open up and there were , it's a risk to the population. in the democratic republic of congo, two weeks ago, they had the same outbreak of ebola right now. everybody was celebrating that the of bola outbreak was over.

guess what happened? in the ebola virus was there and there was a case of ebola. two days into that, five other people got infected because of contact and now they are tracing the contacts. the outbreak will take another two days before it can be declared over. was we did in west africa you look at ebola, we knew that we were not out of the woods until sierra leone got there outbreak over with. it's about five years now and we not -- we have not a single case of ebola in the region. to reopen these things, we have epidemic,p with the been the curve and get to zero. that's how it can work. it is possible within a couple

of months to get that done because we can do systematic tracing combined with social distancing and handwashing and other things, that could get us to zero. the permanent solution is vaccine or therapeutics. host: nova in danbury, connecticut? yes, i would just like to say that trump is doing a good job. i love trump but let's bring back america. happiness.o pursue right now, we are in a crisis worldwide. amish.ring back the let's think about what north korea is doing, what china is doing. let's free up the economy. host: do you have a specific question for our guests?

caller: just that we should actually be living as a community, as a whole, not as monetarily community. we should actually work together to survive. we have global warming that is creating storms, probably creating viruses. host: we will go to gym in cairo, missouri, good morning. aps this0 minutes did past sunday -- this past sunday on an outfit called blue dot. they track cell phones. it's been going on for a while. it's used worldwide except in america. once again, we insist on reinventing the wheel. on those not

acknowledging the problem. they use them successfully in south korea and we wanted to make our own tests. i will leave it there, thank you. i think the testing is not a problem now. from the beginning it was a problem but right now, there are sophisticated tests out there, the rapid test are being developed, more than any other place in the world. what we need to do is do more cases wherefind the we have data that's being reported and analyzed in the state on the local governmental territories. tests.n use the there are other technologies that can do contact tracing but

you can use technology because confidentiality and other things have to be taken care of. host: when you hear companies like google involving themselves as far as apps that can be used for this kind of information gathering, are there civil rights concerns there? ones that are not intrusive, if they are not infringing on the rights of intended tohey are stop this outbreak, we welcome that but everything that is done in public health should be respected. we should not infringe on people's rights. responsibility to end this outbreak and move on with our lives. there is a choice between some sort of rights and enforcing public health and getting to zero and reopening. host: massachusetts, anthony,

west stockbridge. caller: i would like to make a comment. i would like to say to you, thank you, first of all. there is not enough, i think, of the people who need to listen to our medical professionals. i have to say, dr., you have been through this. you have seen contact tracing in your own country. many, many people have died from this.i think you are a wonderful, wonderful example of what we have to listen to. we have to listen to the doctors more and listen to politicians just a little bit less. thank you very much for your help. anything to add? aest: thank you, this is not first time -- this is happening to the world.

we so the outbreak in 1918 that claimed the lives of 50 million people worldwide. 2n 1957, 1958 , we saw theh1n which was the influence of the claimed the life of 1.2 million people worldwide. saw theh3n2 that claimed the lives of 70,000 people. we set interaction between animals and people and the environment. what we need to do is to build a

response around this and move on with public health and find the vaccines and therapeutics. and get todo this zero for us to move about our normal lives. host: when it comes to the future development of a vaccine for covid-19, which is the experience liberia had with ebola teach us as far as the development of that vaccine? experience was that it is possible. it is feasible to develop vaccines and therapeutics during health crises. we are grateful to the national institute of health in united states that came to the aid of west africa. they worked with other countries and went to other organizations and liberians were taking the

test for the ebola vaccine. ebola has a lot of tools in the toolkit. the ebola vaccines have been prequalified as being approved. right now the democratic republic of the congo. it is possible you can have a vaccine but it took a long time. it is not a quick fix. we have almost 2-3 years [indiscernible] host: christine in rhode island. caller: thank you for c-span and thank you for your guest. i have a question about the people working in these meatpacking companies. how can they be protected and tested and how should the topanies be held responsible

keep these people safe and their families in their state? also, have another question. affect the going to west indies like haiti and the islands? my husband is from haiti so we are very concerned. thank you. host: go ahead. guest: can you repeat the question? she was asking how it could affect areas like haiti and the west indies? countries areand secure because of the fact that movement in those areas come i didn't look at the data of infection rates but what i know is that other countries in asia like taiwan and landlocked

countries, the infection rate is lower. knowost important thing to countries in africa our challenge because they don't have the necessary ppe. they are dealing with other andesses like tuberculosis malaria. there is a low supply chain so with an outbreak of covid-19 in those countries, that would put more stress on an already stressed medical system. deafen that'st of why the scientific community and the health community worries about countries like haiti, west africa, sub-saharan africa. must -- we have limited ppe

and the like. host: when it comes to vaccines in liberia, is it required when it comes to the vaccine for ebola? guest: what do you mean? host: is it mandatory to get a vaccine? isst: right now, the vaccine only compassionately used. when there is an outbreak, that's the only time the vaccine is deployed. it's not in large quantity yet so it's not part of the expanded program. in the united states, you have the program for immunization. africa does not have widespread ebola vaccines yet. , one ofa case of ebola the tools is the ebola vaccine. the: it's a scenario but in united states, once the vaccine

is developed, should that be mandatory? depends on what the and what other .rganizations will decide there are pre-existing conditions. it's what the scientific community decides. host: matt in summerville, south carolina. caller: i just wanted to say that i appreciate the dissemination of information from a medical professional this morning. how much better would we have listenedour president to the intelligence committee about this virus? have a great day. go ahead. i don't want to respond

to this. to put thistant is information out there to stop what i know is that there is nothing, no political for situation in outbreak. it's important to support the technicians. outbreak, the ebola the president of liberia was very meticulous on stopping the upbreak. the issue to catch with bending the curve and getting 20 outbreak is very much needed.

one of things i would mention is or tohere was a report separate independent reports. one point was the united nations came upcretary-general with a recommendation on the global preparedness and response and the jeeves seven -- and german chancellor angela merkel and bill gates completeed instructions that one leader could do to stop the pandemic. assessmentn response, recession development, glovertional health and

-- and global leadership. there were two recommendations, be prepared for global pandemic. onn people are dying, it is the television screen, people get elected. over,he outbreak is everybody folds their hands. when 11,000 people died in west africa, we said we had to do something. my conviction is that this time after covid-19, it will get our leaders together in the global leadership would be to stop outbreaks before they start happening at the source of the outbreak. host: one more call from

florida. wonder [inaudible] used likeould be colon cancer is done at home and mail them. can you see the virus in a stool? i'm notice you mentioned territories. they are mostly in the tropics. can you use seawater to treat the symptoms? no one talks about contamination coming into the house. thank you. great question.

constant washing of hands, use of sanitizers, these are things that can save you from getting infected from other people and it's very important. there is no evidence that in tropical areas you cannot get the virus because countries in with hot temperatures in tropical areas so there is no evidence of that. any areas getting it. thank you for joining us. thank you for your time today. guest: thank you, privilege being with you. host: coming up, we will change the discussion to china. the role they play in the coronavirus pan time at and we will talk with robert daly. we want to show you a bit from politico hosting a virtual

discussion. the michigan governor talks about her approach to opening up the states economy. [video clip] be able tonough to measure and acknowledge -- every time you open up a different sector of the economy, you run the risk of having a spike so we have to watch it closely and have the testing and tracing. we have to have all of that mechanism and if we have to pull back, we should be able to pull back a little bit. we want to avoid a second spike. i think that's what every governor listening to their epidemiologist and their health care experts are saying virtually the same thing. a have to look at this as dial, not a switch. it's a dial we can increase or that we can decrease if necessary. michigan, we have the strictest stay-at-home, stay safe policy in the nation. last week, i loosened it a little bit. this week, i will lay out the

criteria with which we are going to add and set -- going to assess sectors of our economy and the protocols necessary to bring down the risk and start to move that dial a little bit as we continue to ramp up on the testing and tracing components. a dial, iu talk about understand what you are saying and it makes sense but the wording used is reopened because people are ready to break free end of been in quarantine. how do you make sure michiganders know we are trying to open but we may have to pull back a little bit if there are spikes or issues arise? is the public ready for that? explaining -- i am paying close attention, you are paying close attention and certainly there are a lot of arele who are invested who home or watching the news. some are not and i don't want to make any assumption that people really understand the threat of

a second spike and what that would mean. i can commonly say that while we are not unanimous on a lot of things, i hope and i believe we are all unanimous that we don't want to be in a second stay at home, stay safe posture. we've got a lot more people dying and their health care system is at the brink again. we don't want them to happen. we all have to really understand of the mindful, data-driven engagement as we build up the public health side as well. onq&a, how aght south sudanese game developers bringing peace and conflict resolution through the refugee experience to a wider audience. my country has young people. the mindset and a refugee camp is still they think about war.

how about if young people are playing video games? it's happening in my country. it feels like this is how things are done. forabout creating a game peace and conflict resolution? >> watch sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern. c-span has round-the-clock coverage of the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic. and it's all available on demand at www.c-span.org/coronavirus. watch white house briefings, updates from governors and state officials, track the spread throughout the u.s. and the world with interactive maps, watch on-demand any time unfiltered at www.c-span.org/ coronavirus. "> "washington journal

continues. host: this is robert daly of the wilson center kissinger institute on china and he is director of the program enjoins us to talk about the role of china and the coronavirus pandemic, good morning. guest: good morning. host: over the last few months, you have heard things about the role china has play. how much of that is true? guest: we know this originated in china and it was first noticed in wuhan. we know the scientific evidence to date indicates strongly but doesn't prove conclusively that this is what was called zoanotic transmission, from an original animal, probably a bat, via intermediate hosts to human beings. that was the transmission early on of the coronavirus. we didn't know the chinese communist party in a characteristic way had covered up reporting in the early phases of the spread within china in a

way that caused tremendous subsequent damage in china and possibly around the world. china covered it up. we don't know how accurate chinese numbers are now. we know that kind of cover up was a characteristic chinese governmental desire to suppress bad news. after the initial phase, the chinese government subsequently became, we think a more open and more responsible and clamping down in china. complextory of causality that involves animal host, transmission because of chinese cultural practices and involves the bad practices of the chinese government at least in the initial phases but then other countries also failed to handle it ideally. the: it's been floated that pandemic started in a lab in china. is there any evidence of that? guest: no one has any evidence to that effect. buts a plausible theory

notice that the nature of the theory keeps changing. when it was first floated by an american senator that the virus may have originated in a chinese urology lab, the theory was that this was a bioweapon that was manufactured. it was then disproven by scientists that this was a manufactured virus. the theory shifts. this was natural but it was released.then the theory went to it was natural and it may have accidentally been released. all of which may have happened but the list of things that may be true is infinite. there is no evidence to date of that. the weight of evidence against it is that he could change. this was natural transmission and it's a tragedy which was the cover-up in china in the early phase. host: the president yesterday made specific pointed remarks about china during that white house briefing. i want to play a portion of that and get your response. [video clip] >> there are a lot of ways you can hold them accountable and we

are doing serious investigations as you probably know. we are not happy with china. we are not happy with that whole situation. we believe it could have been stopped at the source, it could have been stopped quickly and would not have spread all over the world and we think that should have happened. we will let you know at the appropriate time but we are doing serious investigations. host: what about those remarks from the president? guest: obviously, it's something that should be looked into. it's essential there should be open international investigations into how the coronavirus spread especially in the early phases in the united states. it needs to be part of that. the difficulty is that we cannot have an effective investigation unless the world health organization and especially china is also part of it. our powers from the united states to investigate what happened in urology labs in china are pretty limited.

we have to work with china. the difficulty is that for china, when they are accused of having done this deliberately to the world, to harm the world and when they are threatened with lawsuits and the need to indemnify everyone who suffered, they are hesitant to cooperate with that investigation. how are we going to conduct this investigation. the president's right to call for one. it's hard to see where it will go. there is also the question i think about the claim that china could have nipped this in the bud. complexality here is both within china and internationally. to say that china must condemn the five -- must indemnify everyone that suffers, this could have been nipped in the bud. i'm not sure that is a claim that will win widespread support around the world. this is not to excuse china.

there was a cover-up which has cost many lives in china and around the world. but it is not the only mishandling of this that has cost lives. mishandled andn numerous other countries so there is a problem with the proposition here that had china been perfectly transparent and open that the rest of the world including the united states of course would have been perfectly strategic in its response. we know that not to be true. not to excuse china but, in this global crisis, the causality is very complex. i think the focus now should be on a scientific investigation which the president is calling for and not political condemnation. until we know a great deal more about the facts. we are dealing with speculation of plausible scenarios but there is more than a with of

conspiracy theory and some of these accusations. host: robert daly is joining us until 9:30 a.m. and hear are the numbers -- when it comes to political condemnation, the foreign ministry of china is sending out wheat -- a tweet. you are not surprised by this response? predictable,,is childish tit for tat with china taking american language and simply reversing it and china does this. they are issuing this on twitter

which is banned in china. they are taking advantage of conditions of openness in the west that they don't allow within china. you can see weight just why they are feeding on this approach. ais has been mishandled at number of stages in the united states and we continue to learn that americans at the cdc were in close contact early on from who were and the transmitting information to the united states government. we know from a report yesterday that in early january and february, many of the presidents daily security briefings included warnings about the coronavirus. it's not the case that this came out of nowhere and nobody saw it coming. this is not to excuse china, i want to keep repeating that. we are talking about a complex chain of poor decisions, wishful thinking, coverups and now we've

got this tit for tat that you just mentioned. these chinese attitudes, like americans flinging conspiracy theories, have no evidentiary basis are preventing us from cooperating to learn what we need to know about the virus. and to try to get a vaccine. host: what do we need to learn from the chinese government? what is the likelihood we will get that kind of information? teams of need to get epidemiologist into wuhan together with chinese and international researchers to see if many of the early samples -- to get as many of the early samples as we possibly can. so not medically trained don't take me as the final word. we need to know how this made the leap from animal carriers,

probably horseshoe bats for some intermediate character. -- carrier. it could be any kind of animal. it brings it to markets where animals that are widely slaughtered and eaten can transmit the virus to human beings. if we don't know the origins and the transmission of the virus, we won't know how to prevent at the next time around. this happened in china so we have to cooperate with china. just yesterday, the president -- the nih announced that it was cutting off funding for an american medical ngo that has a long record of cooperating with the urology lab in wuhan. it's cutting that off said that no american goes to the virology lab in wuhan but it's besides that kind of cooperation between scientific and medical personnel

that has to be the basis of a meaningful investigation into the origins of this pandemic. it cannot be a political pandemic. there is time for apportioning blame but that's a very separate and deborah from the scientific investigation which has to come first if we are going to save lives and has to be cooperative. host: robert daly is joining us, he is with the wilson center. he is the director of the kissinger institute on china and the u.s. here to take your questions on china's role in the coronavirus. here are the numbers the house of representatives is just about to come in for his daily session. when it does, we will momentarily pause this segment and pick up again. robert daly, in about 30 seconds before the house comes in, what other international

healththe world organization is the most important one, which we have withdrawn funding from. right after we withdrew funding from the who, china stepped in with an additional 30 million. we handed china an opportunity to increase its own global influence, we need a global body and it exists. they very well need to be investigated and improved but it is the kind of mechanism we need together with american institutions like the cdc. host: we will pick up this conversation. we go to the house of representatives.

house resolution 7891. the house stands adjourn until noon, friday, may 1rks2020. caller: maybe i am oversimplifying, but it seems to me that china is killing the world with their vile eating habits of dogs and bats, cats, rodents. how do you stop something like that? suggestou are right to a lot of the causes of this do come from history, culture, and

economics in china. they historically do eat things that we don't eat in the united states. there are these strange delicacies in china, leopard fetus, things they are eating in china that are believed to have medical qualities. this is not widespread. they are not eating horseshoe bat sandwiches. it is a small percentage. that is one issue of the eating practice, but the bigger issues in china, they have 1.2 billion people. you have a lot of people who live very close to animals like pigs and birds, that can transmit diseases to human beings. what is changed is china has developed and they have people

living closely to barnyard animals who also for the first time in history travel widely because they have money and a travel widely in china and around the world. that does create new dangers for pandemics. i don't think that qualifies it as people. this is a part of the human condition. these are poor people who live in crowded areas who are now wealthy and are now traveling. this is something we have to address and deal with. it goes deep in the culture. not evil and not something that china did liberally to the rest of the world. the chinese people suffer from this. i keep coming back to this complex causality. it is not the case that an evil chinese communist party decided to unleash nurse -- o on unleash because

they went through this with the sars outbreak. it is true that the communist party clamped down on doctors and intellectuals and they continue to do that. they may continually be falsifying some other data, but it is not the case that this was something that was deliberately unleashed. it is very complicated problem and requires a multifaceted international response. jay inet's hear from sheboygan, wisconsin. caller: thank you for c-span. just wondering if you could help us all. i understand that you stated you are not a doctor or a scientist. you brought up scientific investigations or an initial question might be, a scientific method in china is or the

intelligent community in china regards what we use to say an antibody -- how would they even say antibody? how would they think of an antibody or protein deficiencies? how does the chinese community think? i am sorry, i know you said you were a doctor, i am trying to move the dialog and i appreciate your time. guest: if i understand your question, important thing to know is that china has many medical and scientific personnel who are extremely well trained and highly expert in all of the issues that you just raised. as scientists and medical large, theyy and are infused with american scientists and laboratories and universities. many of the top people or trained in the west.

not an efficiency of knowledge among chinese expert personnel, and we do have haveels to cooperate and american scientists and medical scientists cooperate with chinese counterparts. this happens all the time the real issue is politics. the issue was initially that the chinese communist party, which has had a very bad year in china. they had demonstrations against their leadership in hong kong, revelations of over leaders in reeducation camps which brought the humans -- horrendous human rights actresses back in. they had the reelection of a president they opposed. they had a trade war they didn't anticipating and deteriorating u.s.-china relations and their economy has slowed down. so the chinese communist party has had a bad year and this thing reared its head.

andrder to try to save face protect its own governance, the chinese communist party in the initial phases covered this thing up and silenced the specialists. that was the political problem. it wasn't the problem with the insight of the medical community that saw this thing and raised alarms about it early on. that is the issue. it is politics the ideology of the communist party that is concerning here, not the level of expertise of medical and scientific personnel. host: we have a viewer, mark stone, who asks this question -- how confident are you that the world health organization will investigate china and will they truly find evidence if they are paying paid millions of dollars by china? the world health organization is an international organization and has no power to force any nation to cooperate.

we can go to china or the united states or any other country and it has to work under the circumstances it faces there. reason to wonder whether some w.h.o. leaders may have been a little too quick to parrot some of the top of the -- some of the talking points of the chinese communist party. initial criticism of travel ban's when the united states and other countries banned travel for some people from china, the w.h.o. criticized that. the w.h.o. was suspiciously quick to attack taiwan as a source of racist attacks on the leader of the w.h.o. i think we have to ask whether the w.h.o. has performed well and whether it has performed based on the scientific evidence rather than under russian from any governments.

under pressure from any other governments. so trying to set up a parallel w.h.o., we don't need to wh -- s more influenced by rival superpowers. we one truly world health organization and that needs to be the focus of the efforts. the investigations into the performance of the w.h.o. host: when you hear the takingnt talking about away funding from the w.h.o. what you think of that? guest: i think there is a reason to wonder whether the w.h.o. may have been too quick to repeat chinese talking points. that is a legitimate question. in my view of that does not justify cutting off funding from an international organization,

the need for which has never been clearer than it is now. i think it is a big mistake to hobble the institution that was set up internationally to address these kind of problems, hurtingse problems are people all over the world. the second thing is by withdrawing funding, we did open the door and this was not only protectable but predicted for china to step up and supplement the funding which has the .otential to make the problem we handed china an opportunity to increase its influence on multinational organizations at the expense of american leadership and having an organization that is driven by the science. host: from nevada, hello. caller: good morning. thanks for your time. i would like to thank mr. daley mr. daly for --

coming on. i am an essential worker period deliver bread to hundred mile every day. and i have been working on this for four months now. i would like to say that i do think that almost everything coming out of our leadership is currently right now and the attack -- sure it started in seems like a red herring to divert from the fact that lower wages and a lower section of american society and economy are taking this on the chin and it is coming through this is and everything a crucial point in our country. host: thank you, sir.

do you want to respond to that? thank you for what you are doing delivering the bread. i was listening to the house chaplains prayer and i thought it was excellent. he went on to evoke the wisdom of solomon. women story when the two came to solomon arguing over who was the mother of this baby, solomon saw that the issue was not to squabble between the women, the issue was the welfare of the child and he invoked that. are -- if our leaders are to have the wisdom of solomon, they need to focus on the human welfare issues that the caller just raised, rather than on casting blame in the absence of evidence, even if we have plausible suspicions. it is to find a vaccine and get

proper testing and mechanisms in place to try to beat the coronavirus and very importantly, going back to the real issue of the welfare of the child. take care of americans and people around the world who are in the greatest economic need or have the greatest health need. that should be the focus of leadership and not the squabbles. caller'snswer that the concerns with the answer of the chaplain paired we need wisdom and need to get beyond the bickering. host: this is james from memphis, tennessee for robert daly. caller: i think you are spot on. i have been thinking about this. januaryfound out in that it was human to human there,r, right then and should have said this is a pandemic.

i think it was disingenuous that it isesident keeps saying china's fault. i don't think it is the chinese people fault. crossed the border, it was already over here. once we let the americans back over, they could have been infected and did they know it? all of this time from january all of the way to march, it spread across the u.s.. if we would have stopped it , if we had close the border we would have been able to dip it in the bud -- nip it into the blood. we know now there is an eq patient. a 14 to 21 days in a trance or from person to person to person -- we know now there is an incubation period of 14 to 21 days and it transferred from

person to person. complicated. host: james, thank you. guest: thank you. we are dealing with a very complex story and there is blame to go around. we know was a problem with the early testing kits developed by our cdc. we know the american government did not respond effectively it had, later than it should have had because of china, had adequate information to be far more vigilant early on, and it wasn't agile it. any -- wasn't vigilant. complex.raordinary there is a line from mark twain who says a man could stop his toe, take poison, fall down a well, rick his neck, and cracked his head open so his -- crack his neck, and someone would ask

what killed him and someone would say he stubbed his toes. chinese malfeasance is more than the poison than the tow. i am -- toe. right now, assigning blame is not the key issue, it is trying to solve problems the colors have been referring to and get around to an investigation of assigning blame later on. paying and in general the country where the crisis originates always pays a heavy price. they have paid with the lives of its own people, it is paying with a national recession with very high unemployment, its have sufferedion greatly. the chinese people have lost confidence in their government and they will lose a lot of foreign market on which their economy depends.

it is not that china is emerging unscathed from any of this. we still do not know what the effects of the pandemic are going to be, and china is suffering greatly from this, as are we. host: as far as the chinese economy, does that threaten the supply chains and how does that affect the u.s.? world china remains the factory floor. we are dependent on china for about 80% to 95% of our medicines and medical equipment and even some of the reagents that are essential to manufacturing edison. -- medicine. one of the things the coronavirus has revealed is we do have this one her ability and we are too dependent on china. we need to find ways to bring that manufacturing pacitti in .he medical area back home

it is in the american national interest to self supply essential medical equipment, essential ingredients for technologies. that is the correct impulse. not an absolute pullback from china, but a limited pullback in our own national interest. yes i'm a going to hurt china. when people who want kind to pay and are angry at china, i understand those emotions. it is happening. --doesn't mean that china for every loss that never happens in a global crisis. we hear this a lot from washington that china must be made to pay and indemnify every nation for this. we can be certain that china will need to apologize nor indemnify -- we need to be certain that china will never apologize nor indemnify anybody. getting china to apologize and

pay everybody for losses is not an achievable and. -- achievable end. prevent a needs to resurgence of this coronavirus and others like it and then getting back on her feet economically. host: highland park, new jersey -- that's where jim is. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. for your think you comments, but i, for one, would say that the world community and holdndemn them them accountable for what they them from the security council and reinstate taiwan as a permanent number of the security council. how would you hold china accountable?

is aerstand this widespread instinct in the united states. i am angry at the way they handle this as well, but how would you hold geithner -- china accountable. the color dropped off, i appreciate -- apologize for that -- the caller: dropped off, -- the caller dropped off, i apologize for that. unless we can get them to follow our lead, we have largely withdrawn from global readership. guest: we have our persuasive forumsn international let the u.n. with our persuasive power in the one, but the coronavirus does point, in my view, to the need to recommit to strong american global influence and leadership, leadership is based on america's effective

government at home of its own affairs and america's ability to lead in recovering from the coronavirus through our own scientific and medical expertise in providing those to the rest of the world. s eared other count saying we are just going to take care of america, most presidents twod have said, at least canada and mexico, you are our brothers and sisters and we will find a way out. if you want to hold china responsible, you can't do that alone as the united states. you need to exercise leadership, moral leadership, social and public health leadership to persuade other countries to join you in this effort. china is not an easy mark. it is 1/5 of humankind. it is the second largest economy on its way to number one and has

the world's largest middle-class. it is extremely influential around the world. merely choosing china, even if it is deserved and sometimes it is deserved and effective, you need to lead and right now we are not recognizing that kind of leadership. host: rate from maryland for robert daly of the wilson center. go ahead. caller: you are doing a lot of condescending talking down to people. this is a man-made crisis. china created it. this is a biological weapon unleashed. the numbers of death rate is much higher in china is not telling the truth. the united states is not telling the truth. you are a globalist about china, but china intended to unleash this thing. host: i think i have been pretty

-- guest: i think i have been clear that china has been deceptive and that anger is justified, as is investigation. i understand what the caller is saying that this is an engineered bioweapon. so that chinese engineered this virus, its plan was then to have it explode across china to infect in chinese themselves and to possibly destroy china's economy and because widespread unemployment, anticipating it within be mishandled around the world in america in order to infect america and the rest of the world. , ithat what is proposed here don't think it is condescending of me to point out that is absurd. china would not bioengineered a a weapon bioengineer to infect the people and hope that the united states would mishandle it.

we are competing with china and it is a long-term, high-stakes repetition that i hope the united states will manage well and prevail very but we cannot manage it well -- prevail. but we cannot manage it well and convince others to be on our side if our theory of how china operates is absurd. literately two bioengineering a weapon that china releases on its own people is absurd. host: charles is next in cleveland, ohio. caller: first, i wanted to ask why was the ocean and post -- the washington post kicked out of china? and the head of the school of public health at columbia has said that the majority of testing has been faulty. too many falls as it is supposed negatives. positives andlse

false negatives. is it a possibility that the virus is mutating so fast that there are different versions of ?t happening guest: for the second part of that, listen to the people at the columbia medical school. i am not a doctor. and why was the washington post and new york times kicked out of china? this is complex long-term answer is china has never been crazy with having american reporters in china telling stories about china freely to the rest of the world. china doesn't see this as being in their interest. it wants to tell its own story through the chinese communist party and have those stories .ccepted on china's terms the short term answer is that the united states and china have been involved over the past few months in tit-for-tat expulsions of each other's journalists and

the wall street journal, washington post, new york times and american journalists were expelled from china as part of that tit-for-tat. long-term, china is not very interested in having western journalists or any journalists running around and reporting on china. aly serves as a director of the wilson center and is discussing china's role in the pandemic. thank you for your time. guest: thank you. host: we will conclude with the question we started with this morning -- when it comes to the wall street journal's recent teams taking a look at the era of big government is back and applying to what is going on with the coronavirus, you can give your thoughts on that topic i calling one of two lines this morning. eastern and central is (202) 748-8000 four mountain and pacific time zones is (202) 748-8001.

you can text us or post on twitter and facebook as well. before we take on the question, we will show you a little bit from the state of ohio. the governor, mike dewine, and is rests -- press briefing on his efforts to lift restrictions and open the economy there. have gottenine: we this far and we have a ways to go. these are first steps. the first steps in regard to retail and moving forward with manufacturing. these are things we have been waiting to do. because of what you have done, we are now in the position to do that. i know there are other things all of us want to do. people want to get their hair cut and get their hair done, you want to go back to --. we have to see how we are doing

with these numbers and watch it for a few weeks, but we have already started conversations saturday morning with some folks who run restaurants in restaurants. we started conversation -- and own restaurants. we have started conversations and those are going to continue and we will get them online as fast as we can. i am a where as a grandfather and father, there are a lot of things we want to do this summer. there are summer camps and other things the kids want to do and adult want to do it we are not quite there yet. we have just got to see how this is going to work and we have got to see how the numbers look. we don't what to go backward. one step at a time. i think we are set for may to be a very good month to forward with the testing that we have

any tracing and with all of you when what you have been doing. lieutenant governor? >> "washington journal" continues. host: yesterday a piece was written taking a look at the era of big government as it applies to the coronavirus pandemic and also making historical comparisons. here is one area they said the host depression created a of programs and let the unified defense department. the cold war spawned an interstate system. the 9/11 terrorist attacks produced homeland security and national intelligence. the 2008 financial meltdown led to a broad range of new actions by the federal reserve that are being replicated and expanded now. today, both parties and vast majority of voters have come together with a response at the federal and state level and have accepted red ink at the time the

deficit was heading towards a trillion dollars annually. that is just some of the thoughts from those gentlemen as it comes under the big banner of the headline "the era of big government is back." we want to get your opinion on those thoughts. call us and let us know whether you agree or disagree recall us at (202) 748-8000 for the eastern and central time zone. and then (202) 748-8001 for the mountain and pacific time zone. if you want to text us, you can do so and you can post on our facebook page. and also in our twitter feed. on as theman continue gentleman continue on saying, conversations across the spectrum of political figures suggest there is little reason to expect a return to the status quo on federal spending or the prevailing attitude of the proper role of government. the era of ronald reagan,

basically that government is enemy is over. that was rahm emanuel, a democrat who served as the mayor of chicago and president obama's first house chief of staff. the echo also came from the other side of the political said thatrobert town stephen bannon who fought expansion of federal growing, it is not relevant, it is just not relevant. those are some of the thoughts that took place there. if you want to give us a call on that, you can also post on facebook and twitter and text if you want. a lot of of things happening with coronavirus. if you want to keep up with what is going on with statements made by governors or the task force, we invite you to follow along@cspanwj, and you can follow along their. -- there.

we will talk with legislators about what is going on. good morning. guest: good to be with you. host: talk about what you think the governor's is in opening the aspects of government and do you agree with that prospect? guest: i absolutely agree with it. we have got to get our economy up and going and we have to start somewhere. the governor has started that process, which the state of georgia is ready for. i am supportive of the direction we are headed. host: a lot of close contact, do you think other aspects could have started other than those? guest: sure, absolutely. it is going to be step-by-step. it is twofold. on one hand, you have employers who are ready to get back and going in on the other hand, you want those going to work to feel safe once they get there. all of those measures are going

to be somewhat individual based on business and so forth. suree underway of making there is safety and that our economy is opening back up, and that is a good thing. host: talking to the areas you serve, athens, washington, greensboro -- what is the picture there and what will change the openings? guest: this particular district has some urban areas but also has rural areas as well. u.s. ulcers of different businesses -- you have all sorts of different businesses from farmers to different high-tech businesses. overall, i would say everyone is anxious and chomping at the bit to get back to work. people have taken a kick in the gut and it is time for us to open up and move forward and get our economy back and going to protect individual families and their livelihoods.

overall, that is the attitude throughout the district appeared they are ready to go. host: were talking about the viewers with the role of government at this time. one thing that came out of capitol hill was the signing of several bills with a lot of money involved in the process. what do you think about the money being spent these days? guest: is a lot of money. one of the things -- it is a lot of money. what are the important things for us is how are we going to pay for it? it is our money at the end of the day that we are the ones that will have to pay back. we are pushing upwards of close to $3 trillion so far. there is no question the government is the one that called businesses to shut down and called families to stay home, and so the government has a role certainly to help during these times as people are following orders that have come from government via state,

local, and federal. but that being said, it is an enormous amount of money. in fact, no amount of money from washington is ultimately going to meet every need. we must open up the economy, and that is what we are beginning to do here in georgia and that will ultimately be the solution. so we have to move in that heretion both here and -- and nationally. host: did you sign on to the last bill? guest: i did not support this last one, primarily because of the enormity of what is going out. but more than that, questions that are not being answered, like massive expansion of government, like the threats to civil liberties, like our national debt going up and up and up and zero discussion as to how we are going to pay for it.

yes, i am totally supportive of us helping those who have been hurt by this, but at the same time, we have to make sure on the others of this virus -- on the other side of this virus that the america we grew up with his here. next congress is expected week. the democrats in the house would like to see more expending aimed at states and localities. your thoughts on that? guest: where does this end? we have got to open up the economy. that's what ultimately will be the solution, rather than continuing to come up with bills with more spending. i am hoping we will have a discussion along those lines and move in the direction of getting our economy open again. host: what other things does congress has to tackle other than coronavirus? what would you like to see the house focus on? guest: with the democrats in

have as thedon't minority party the ability to determine what kind of bills will be coming forward. but as a member of the oversight committee, i am very concerned with things like the fisa courts . we need to investigate those. right now we need to investigate a lot of the models that came from the coronavirus. they were wrong and proved to be wrong. we need to find out what went wrong so we don't repeat these types of things in the future. assessment isur that, what are the cases involved regarding coronavirus, not only those who get it, but those who have died? guest: overall, we have done well in georgia. that is encouraging. it is for that reason i believe the governor is feeling free to begin the process of opening up businesses.

overall -- and this is another thing -- you can't have another one shoe fits all when you are dealing with the country. places like new york have been hit severely. so it will be different for them to begin to open up. you have different parts of the country, like right here in georgia, where we have fared very well through this. so it is time for us to begin the process of getting back to as much normal as we possibly can. at some point, reaching the full degree of normalcy and moving forward. host: we saw president trump chastised governor cap by that decision. were you surprised by that? by thatnor kemp decision. were you surprised by that? guest: he is doing a masterful job going through this given the information he has been told. when he was told to million americans would die if he doesn't take action, what is he going to do? he takes action.

his number one worry is making sure the american people are safe. at the same time, he handed the reins over to the responsibly of governors to make incisions based on their states and the way they deem is most beneficial for their various states. i think the president was a little concerned that georgia was opening up so rapidly and moving forward in that direction, but at the same time, the president said if you feel like george is ready for that, then go for it. i think that is the right approach. host: we appreciate your time with us today. guest: my pleasure, thank you. host: again to your thoughts on government in regards to the coronavirus. from ohio, you are up first. listening to your last two guests, i could go to

several topics, but i will speak to the main theme of your big government. the previous guest from the wilson center is the epitome of big government, and his use of china, if you look at china, they represent what big government is, total control over their people and brainwashing of people. that is the far extreme of big government. what concerns me right now that is going on and to piggyback on the representative from georgia, the handing out of money -- i look as sugar almost. the more sugar you give the people, the more they will become dependent upon it. the conflict between the federal government and the states and how pandemic also shows disassociated, i guess, people are in understanding how our government is supposed to work.

and the representative from --rgia is totally correct where do we get off of the sugar high? host: do you live by a railroad line? caller: yes, i do. i don't consider it near, but you get used to it. host: thank you, sir. charleston, south carolina. good morning. i don't really blame anybody, as far as stopping this here, i have something i wanted to say and maybe you can tell other people about it. host: we are talking about the role of big government during the coronavirus pandemic and what you think about that idea. caller: as far as the government fighting the pandemic? host: the role of big government

in the pandemic. caller: everything is going like it should. host: what do you mean by that? caller: what the government is doing and what the president is doing, everyone is standing behind each other to fight this coronavirus and save lives. host: are you satisfied with that progress? caller: i am satisfied completely, because that is what we are supposed to do as people in caring for each other. .ost: keith in denver, colorado you are on. caller: the question is poorly framed. it is framed by murdoch media. the role of government -- we are in a pandemic. the role of government is not ,bout how big our government is it is about our survival. a good portion of people have still not received any stimulus

support, not $1200. no one is asking those questions. but you are asking what murdoch media thinks. host: well, the role of the payments was also the role of government. do you think it has gotten too big as far as the federal government's role? caller: no. host: why not? caller: i just explained why. we are not surviving. you have a job. you are getting paid. we are shut down, because we have to be shut down with our money that we sent to the federal government, they have to send that money back to us so we can survive. we don't have time for ideological politics when we are with the virus. come on, now. host: ok. terry is next in woodbridge, illinois. good morning. agree the lawmaker you

had on before and i also agree with your caller about the other guy for that. he is completely a globalist. my opinion on big government is, let's face it, everybody. this is completely organized crime. all they are doing is taking from the public and giving it to the richer people. on the stimulus plan, on the second one, there were things in their had nothing to do -- in t here that had nothing to do with the coronavirus p refused to call it the chinese coronavirus. the first guest you said you can't really blame china and yet china blocked off the one town and wouldn't let nobody else or in to that town. but they kept the airline open to sent all of the people to all of the other countries.

and you have the world health , andization lying to them the eu is completely -- at this time. ukraine is backing them. england is backing down. is threatening australia and ukraine right now that if you don't soften your tone, this is all organized crime. host: we will hear from patty in harrisburg, pennsylvania. caller: good morning. i think without government we would have chaos, but we don't need big government and bipartisanship. we need people to come together and work on these problems. the money situation, the government takes your taxes and

there are loopholes good we just have to come together. to see howsurprised many people in the united states stayed indoors because they were told to. it is the way they spend money that is wasteful and it could've been spent on the virus situation. and oregon. next caller: i am calling to say these people who are open up their states, look to see what your governor is doing. is he going out and social distancing? is he going to go to bars, or she, or any of them? host: why is that the question to ask question mark -- ask? caller: because they are telling us to do it, i want to see them

first. if we don't need social distancing, i went to see the politicians out on the beaches, in the stores, and in the theaters. that is what i would like to see. host: to new york. caller: hi, pedro. i wish we were more prepared. i spoke to you about big government on april 3. i don't think we are getting more government, we have always had a big government. now, for better or worse, there are good aspects and bad, like building the military up. but things are getting better. the most important thing is china's fault. when they recalled all the ships with masks, they were prepared themselves before the world health organization called a pandemic, they recalled everything. bythat is just as bad, knowing it was person-to-person,

keeping people from beijing, like your last caller said and then letting them fly to the four corners of earth and recalling ships with masks and telling us to take a long walk off a short p when we want 3m to send us what is rightfully ours. in the long run, look at something when you are buying it. if it is in made in china, the government may not take a strong will on china we can we don't have to buy the products. we can look forward to when a television is made here and we will pay more and we will be proud that it is by america. america first. host: we have 10 minutes left if you want to make comments on the era of big government ringback. at (202)all us 748-8000 for eastern and central. (202) 748-8001 four mountain and pacific. presidentialr into

politics, usa released a poll this morning taking a look at what is expected to be the matchup between president trump and the former vice president, joe biden, saying that the poll shall the former vice president points by six percentage , 44% to 38%, a shift from the president's three point lead as he was being impeached in the house. and without a third party consent or, the margin jumped 10% to a leader 40%. a previous poll when the president led 44% to 41%, joe biden was in a battle for the nomination and out he is the presumptive nominee. one of the endorsements vice president picked up was from the house speaker, nancy pelosi. toaker pelosi: i am proud endorse joe biden for president of the united states, because he will be an extraordinary president. he knows how to get the job done. when our nation faced the great

recession, it was joe biden who led the implementation and accountability of the recovery act, helping create and save millions of jobs. when the democratic congress was passing the affordable care act, joe biden was a partner for progress in the white house and also championed the cancer moonshot. when the drum administration launched its campaign to destroy every last benefit and protection of the aca, joe biden has been with us every step of the way to protect americans' quality, affordable life care. as we face coronavirus, joe has been a voice of reason and he zillion, with a click -- and resilience come with a clear path to lead us out. host: there is a story about the sexual assault allegations against joe biden. it was written a former aide accused joe biden of sexually assaulting her, people came forward who said that they told

her. -- who said that she told them. whobrother and a friend asked to remain anonymous. a former neighbor told the insider for the first time on the record that she disclosed details about the alleged assault in the 1990's. this happened and i know it did, because i remember talking about it. reaother source worked with she wass, told complaining at the time that her former boss in washington, d.c. had sexually harassed her and had been fired after raising concerns. ciders at the been syswin -- the business insider. randolph in vermont, hello. caller: thank you for having me on. i would just like to say that everybody who is on your show has a valid point from their perspective. i live in a small state which we

tend to take a little bit slow and prepare ourselves. what we are talking about today, big government and big business, this is the result of the preparedf not being warfare,air -- for which is what the president calls it, biologic airfare, on our own land. these are microbes and viruses and we are not prepared. unfortunately, our administration and the doctors are not working in this situation for the pandemic peered i really hope that the people in charge and the people with the brains behind all of this are really focusing -- pandemic. i hope that the people in charge and the people with the brains behind this are focusing on how we deal with this in the future. here from jim in oregon.

-- hear from jim in oregon. caller: your topic is. capitalism and out of line. papere getting it from a that has sworn to be part of the wall street complex. this statement has been made since 1920 that the government is getting too big. it is a fear tactic that the republicans like to use. most people don't understand what big government is. host: what is your understanding of that? caller: if you want to do away with big government, let's stop funding -- sending any money to any state and let the state that makes the most money keep their money. host: are you saying that big government doesn't exist? caller: no, i think the government is perfect.

the problem right now is we have a president who doesn't understand what the big government should be doing. we have a president who thinks the states should each individually compete against each other. that is ridiculous. host: do you think the coronavirus pandemic falls wholly just upon the federal government? caller: absolutely, because by not doing that, they are making each state bid for products that the federal government should take charge of. that is with the federal government is therefore. host: ok. caller: it is not there to accommodate george or alabama, it is there to accommodate the 50 states. , that is jim calling in your he spoke of georgia. we are from a representative from georgia and we are now joined by another representative

from georgia, sanford bishop, a democrat and serves the second district running us on the phone. good morning, sir. caller: good morning, how are you? host: i am good. about the governors approach to reopen, what did you think about that approach? guest: that decision was very -- caller: that concern -- that was concerning to me and my constituents. although we have had some recent good news about downsizing on hospitalizations, we are still having death tolls increase. as of yesterday, we had 108 people in a county where albany is located, one of the three metropolitan areas in a hotspot in the coronavirus area, and with that many people dying, we are very concerned that it is too soon. we have a number of people who have not been tested.

in fact, the majority of the population has not been tested. we're just now able to get help from the state with additional testing. the governor was able to send in the national guard with additional drive-through testing recently opened which will allow for additional tests. infectednowing who is and who carries the virus, even though they may be a symptom at it, it is just not a good thing to do. people are confused. people want to know when we can safely get back to normal activities. in order to do that, we have to do that -- you have to have testing and be able to trace those who have been exposed and have a big supply of testing equipment. we have to have ppe. host: we heard from a representative earlier who said

he expressed those concerns as well, but said the economy has to be open in order to help people recover businesses and the local economy what you think of that argument as far as the economy to reopen? economywe all want the to recover and get back to normal, but we want to do it safely. economy against the health, safety, and welfare of the people. we were only able to stop the growth in the number of new cases with the sheltering in place protocols that were put in place by many of the local governments and the governor. by lifting it so soon without complying even with the phase one guidelines set by the white house, it just seems to be too soon and it is risky and people are very concerned. host: we have seen several bills

come out of the house to provide financial support to certain sectors. there is a debate on the fourth one. do you think effort will go somewhere as far as the president signing it? caller: imf slowly -- i am absolutely sure it will go someplace. it is very much needed. our state and local governments and counties and cities are having to bear the burden of additional expenses, provide utilities, public works, all of the things we need during this crisis. it is extra expensive and at the same and so we are in a catch 22. we got to keep people safe and to keep people distancing so that we don't spread it any than has already been under at the same time we do wish and hope for the day when

we can safely open the and go back. go ahead, sir. ms. georgiev mr. bishop: it has me concerned a lot of constituents concerned and of course there are many other things on the mind also. am i going to get my stimulus check, people are asking. what about the voting? to be able to vote. i vote in person and now we have absentee whichis i am not familiar with. we have kids who are out of cool many in our e, rural communities don't have so they are sent home with books. so they don't have internet. we're wondering -- the kids are wondering what to do. one particular situation where a call teacher is having to his students just to encourage

them because they don't have the internet. ok.: uncertainty of everything has everybody up -- when we can e, safely return, there are conflicted messages coming from the white house, coming from the governor and coming from the public health officials which people are watching on day.vision every host: ok. we'll have to -- apologies. there.ave to leave it sanford bishop, representative district, wesecond appreciate you joining us on the phone today. your way at 7:00 this morning and we'll see you then. [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]

>> here's what's ahead. labama governor will brief about the pandemic response in her state. that's now scheduled to start at noon eastern. ou can watch it live here on c-span. and president trump will hold a news conference today. e's expected to talk about the paycheck protection program, several billion dollars in loans and grants for small businesses. that is set for 3:00 p.m. eastern. you there live when the president begins. >> "washington journal" primetime, a special evening journal" "washington on the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic. ur guests are dr. richard vesser, president and c.e.o. of the robert wood johnson foundation and former acting of the centers for disease control. he joins us to talk about the federal response to the covid-19 pandemic. then the director of economic

studies at the american enterprise institutes discusses how the virus has affected the workforce. and darren lahood on the covid-19 response in his state next steps lawmakers are li likely to take in response to pandemic. join the conversation tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. sign up today for c-span's newsletter word for word, daily to new updates the coronavirus pandemic response from state governors, white house task force briefings, and important updates from congress. today.p it's easy. o to kroip.org/connect and enter your email in the word for word signup box. >> next, international monetary fund managing director the alina georgieva on impact of the