influence on so much of what the mental health crisis was touched in some ways by this study and a lot of opinion about institutions were in part cheap by the study. i think in questioning it, we have to go back and question some of our assumptions and i hope this gives us an opportunity to go back and reassess in a way to move forward, because you can't move forward and if this study wasn't up to snuff and wasn't legitimate we have to rethink some of the conclusions. > sunday night at 8:00 earn on c-span. a earl speaker pelosi held news conference in response to the coronavirus pandemic. this is half an hour.

ms. pelosi: good afternoon everyone. thank you for being here. we are in a new areen after. so thank you. and i hope -- i want to call my colleagues, i say how are you? that used to be a turner phrase and now it is a question, how are you. if you are well, come here for friday. if you are not, stay home. this is an exciting time for us, because we have a monumental need for our country. it's a sad time. you know the figures. thousands of people tragically dead. 1.4 million people infected, 36 million people have lost their jobs and filing for unemployment. yesterday, chairman powell

estimated -- he stated, the need for congress to act immediately and pass further economic relief, he said additional fiscal support could be costly, but worth it if it avoids long-term economic damage and lives us with a stronger recovery. this tradeoff is one for ourl elected representatives who yield powers of taxation and spending. chairman powell. also representatives calling for urgent action are representatives of the cleveland federal reserve bank, dallas reserve bank. rick s morning, dr. bright, in front of the health subcommittee, warning that it

will be the darkest winter in modern history unless we do more to fight the coronavirus. so the challenge is a clear one and we are very proud of the heroes act which addresses the urgent need and the actions we want to take to meet those needs. the house will vote on the heroes act tomorrow. and it has three pillars. the first pillar is again to open the economy, open the economy, by science which calls and health experts who call for testing, tracing, treatment and isolation. do that. do that. and by the package put together by the energy and commerce committee, with mr. chairman frank pallone, assistance to hop -- hospitals, all that goes into that, it has a strategic plan, a strategic plan for testing,

tracing, treating and isolating. t's what this country needs. to defeat the coifed virus. second -- covid-19 virus. secondly, honor our heroes. that's the title of our bill. the heroes act. the health care workers, the first responders, police, fire, emergency services, antation, food workers, our teachers -- sanitation, foot workers, our -- food workers, our transportation workers and the rest. the list goes on. many of them risk their lives to save lives and now they may lose their jobs because of the coronavirus. and the cost that it is to their communities. third, -- first, open the economy, test, test, test. two, two, we want to honor our heroes. by helping state and local entities. and three, we want to put money in the pockets of the american

people. we're doing that with direct payments to american families, with unemployment insurance, with child tax credit, low income tax credit, employment retention tax credit, a number of different ways. until it is necessary -- not necessary anymore. this is the path that we have to be on. all of the things that i have just mentioned have their origin -- their -- they have been voted upon by the congress in one of the other of the four coronavirus pieces of legislation. so there's nothing really new in what i had to say. the size and the strategy of it, more emphasized. but not anything that we haven't voted on before. in addition to that, we want to help the postal service, we want to have a strong osha pro vision to protect our workers --

provision to protect our workers and to protect our employers. and we want to have more money for our election, vote by mail initiatives. and one other piece that is sort to - the assistance we want have for our renters and for the homeowners are seriously finding themselves at the mercy of. so we want forebearns for -- foreberance for mortgages. so that's essentially what the bill is in that way. let me just characterize it for you. because people said, oh, it's just partisan. wait a minute. the first cares act was written by the senate republicans. the majority leader of the senate. he introduced the bill. we acted upon it. we came up with a bipartisan bill. the cares act. the second -- the interim bill

for p.p.p. was written by the senate republican leader. he introduced it. we had suggestions, we negotiated, we acted upon it, and we had a bipartisan bill. so it's no different when the leader in the house, a democrat, writes a bill and says, here's many of the issues, more than 80% of the bill we have already passed in one way, shape or form. we have a few more things. more than -- well over 80%. so now we're putting our offer to he table, we're open negotiation and so when people say, partisan, it's like, wait a minute, wasn't partisan when they did it? did you say that? and we're saying, ok, here's our offer, let's see where you are. you have supported -- supporting our heroes with state and local support. you have supported testing.

the first bill we passed on march 4, and the very most recent bill that we passed with $25 billion in testing, as you later agreed to. you have supported direct payments to the american people and support for unemployment insurance, etc. so these are just taking us further down the path of most of that legislation. in case you're curious, i want to just say that i sent this letter to the -- to my colleagues, actually just now. and in the letter i thank all of them, democrats and republicans alike, for their interest and leadership in helping meet the needs of the american people. i tell them about chairman poul's statement, about the you are -- powell's statement about the urgency of acting and our elective represents' role -- thank you -- that they must play at this time. in order to avoid further economic down turn.

this also say to them that is not new. that one side of the aisle might offer, put something on the table, as they did in the two previous bills. and now we're putting ours and invite negotiations. what i just also tell them is that they can, in preparation for the vote on the floor, i want to encourage them to consult the resources on the heroes act prepared by the committee of jurisdiction, including state by state estimations of the state fiscal stabilization fund and the resources on relief provisions for your district and state prepared by the appropriations committee. do we have a site? i urge you to support this life-serving legislation and to be present on friday. if you go to speaker.gov, to our friends who may be watching, if

you go to speaker.gov, or to our friends who are in this room, you can see this letter and also it will cite a place that you can go, say what congressional district -- who your representative is, or what district you live in. certainly what state you live in, and see how your community is directly affected. we have two tranches. the first tranche, in no particular order, the recognition of the role that the states play in-ing our heroes. and that will be -- in honoring our heroes. and that will be what goes to the state. and then in terms of counties and municipalities, it is also -- it's also visible there. i think you'll be very pleased. i also think it is important to note that the enthusiasm that we have received for the legislation, the national association of counties, the first time they are discretely

mentioned to get specific resources, the national league of cities, the u.s. conference of mayors, the list is a long one. very long, if you ask, i'll tell you who is on here. but it's a very long list of organizations and national governors' conference. governor of maryland and new york put out a statement supporting the part of the bill. honoring our heroes, state and local are part of the legislation. so we're very pleased about how that is all going. so here we are, a day before, a lot else going on. but for us, we have -- this is our focus. now, as i said, the four previous bills were all overwhelmingly bipartisan. and we hope that this one will be too. sadly, though, leader mcconnell said we have not yet felt the urgency of acting immediately.

that time could develop, he said, but i don't think it has yet. he wants us to just pause. he wants to us just pause. but families know that hunger doesn't take a pause. not having a job doesn't take a pause. not being title of the bill pay the rent doesn't take a pause. the hardship of it all, losing a loved one or having someone in your family sick, it just doesn't take a pause. so members of the congress, house and senate, need to come together, we have to come together to pass another bill, the heroes act, and deliver the relief that our families desperately need. so you know, the american people know, as i always say of them, the american people have a heart full of love. they want to us work together. we're all heartbroken over the loss of life. the numbers of loss of life, losing jobs, etc., are unimaginable.

but they must -- they exist and we must act upon them. so we want you to go look to speaker.gov to see how you can find out how you are affected directly in your district. because all of these people, these heroes, they affect how your city, county, township, state meet the needs of the american people. as i say, it's to address -- disclose by saying the funding is to address the outlays that political entities have made, to address the coronavirus crisis and those are large, larger in some communities than others, but all communities have a high percentage of revenue lost because of the coronavirus crisis and that's part of the distribution of these funds as well. i'll go into this very

prayerfully. having listened to so many people across the country express their concerns, and to make a best effort to come together based on what we have done before in a bipartisan way, but to go further because the coronavirus has gone farther. with that, i'm pleased to answer any questions. wait a minute. natalie andrews of the "wall street journal." i'll come to you next. reporter: madam speaker, thank you for doing this. ms. pelosi: thank you, natalie. reporter: what is your next step, after the house -- should the house pass the bill tomorrow, the white house has said it doesn't plan to open talks. will you do more in terms of legislation? are there any preliminary discussions happening? ms. pelosi: i think our conversation is with the american people. they're feeling the pain more than anyone, obviously. -- obviously, than who was saying something like that.

it's amazing to me how much patience and how much tolerance some can have for the pain of others. and i do think, and have confidence, that our colleagues on both sides of the aisle, on both sides of the capitol and even down pennsylvania avenue know, as chairman poul says, to avoid even further -- powell says, to avoid even further economic disaster, and what the scientists tell us, unless we test, trace and treat, as well as isolate, that we're not going to defeat this, that they know the hardship the american people are feeling, that they need that cash that we're sending out for the time and hopefully that will diminish as the crisis diminishes. so i'm optimistic that the american people will weigh in and make their views known and we want to do this working together, predicated on initiatives that have passed in a bipartisan way.

before. o our next step is to pass the bill. we get to do that tomorrow. tomorrow we'll also be doing something to enable fuller participation in our legislative process, by the first vote, first video to be voted upon is the remote voting by proxy. we won't use the proxy vote morrow for this bill, but -- that is my understanding. but that will enable us to take up more legislation, some on the horizon, soon, that we can do, not having everybody present and voting in the chamber, but voting on the record. and so we'll pass our bill tomorrow and then we'll, again, with all the appeal that we have from democrats and republicans, governors, mayors, county executives and the rest,

grassroots organizations who minister to the needs of the hungry, i didn't mention -- really -- hopefully it won't be an area of controversy, but the food stamps, the snap program is something that we have done before in bills, rejected in other bills, need it now. all of that public sentiment we think will weigh in favor of a decision to do more to meet the needs of the american people. reporter: madam speaker, given the history you laid out and the fact that republicans are pitching ideas and participating in this process on the other relief bill, what do you make of the fact that there is no republican counteroffer, no unified position on their end of any kind other than liability protection and not this? ms. pelosi: i'm sure that they'll come with something or they'll have a comment on what we can doffer -- on what we have done. i have confidence that they will. when they put forth -- we were

always quick to respond because we're ready. we're always ready. first we had the families first -- families and workers first and then the responsibility act and -- because we're always listening and trying to act upon, in the most unifying way, the needs of the american people. so when they did the second -- tpwhever expected a second interim -- that interim package, because we would have been here with you a long time ago, with the cares 2 or the heroes act, because that's what we're working on then. then came the interim package. they put forth theirs the very next day. we had our proposal about how we could do the p.p.p., which we fully support, but to do it in a way that has more transparency, more accountability, and addresses the underbanked communities, smaller, smaller businesses of women-owned, native american, veterans,

minority-owned, rural businesses that are small bureau not having the same access to the banks. and this bill we will -- we don't do funding for p.p.p. per se. but we do have some -- i would say -- improvements. lowering the number of -- taking it down to 10 the number that we would address companies with lower than -- fewer than 10 people and he expanding the access of non-- and expanding the access of nonprofits to the program. with unlimited number of employees. that was a big ask for many of the nonprofits who work to meet the needs of the american people. so we're excited about it because we think we have a great basis that is common ground from the past and then we have a few issues that we haven't agreed on in the past. but seem to be more urgent now. like snap, like osha, in terms of the -- you mentioned liability. in terms of the protection for

workers and employers. we think the best root there -- route there is to have a strong osha provision that are mandatory. lindsey mcpherson. "roll call." lindsey? ok. reporter: madam speaker. -- iscernible] ms. pelosi: i heard the word stabilizer. >> [indiscernible] -- ms. pelosi: we're ok with that. but in terms of the stabilizers. and that wasn't just a progressive -- that's across the board in our caucus, including in the speaker's office. i'm a big supporter of having stabilizers in the bill.

for those of you -- stabilizer would be something where you might have in the bill something at says, if by january the unemployment rate is 7% or higher, we would automatically unemployment of checks. which is something that is really standard fare. but say you put that in the bill. i thought that would be a very wise thing to do. same thing with snap and rest. owever, many years as an proprietor and leadership, do not realize, because we have never spoken in these big terms before, is that if you have a stabilizer that something will happen next january and then you'll have -- $400 billion worth of unemployment checks going out, it counts in the bill today. it counts in the bill today. why would it? it doesn't happen -- it might

not ever happen. god willing we won't have that high unemployment rate. but we might. but the c.b.o., if you say people are still hungry by such and such, we want to double snap after the first of the year -- they count it today. now, snap is a much smaller program, so maybe you can absorb it, maybe not. but $400 billion you can't. so we were disappointed. so we want to look and see what our legislative, constitutional and other prerogatives might be to give us more latitude to prepare, even though not spend in the moment, but not have it count in the moment. but i was -- myself -- disappointed to learn that we ust couldn't go to that place. i want to put language to say, let us declare that we are prepared should certain things -- that's a stabilizer. but i do think everybody should know that the actions taken by

congress are predicated on the needs of the american people. and should there be reason later to do that, we will be there. we want to herald that inand give that signal -- that and give that signal. i think it's more efficient to have the stabilizers. the c.b.o. notwithstanding. ok. reporter: are you still in active talks with secretary mnuchin? you have guys spoken since you proposed this heroes act? ms. pelosi: no, we haven't. my back and forth with secretary mnuchin has been -- we have been interested in accounting of the p.p.p. the paycheck protection program. we had some concerns about transparency, accountability, some loans that went out that may not have been appropriate. want to see how proactive

they -- the they -- the banks, the administration, the rest, have been to make sure that the underbank community has outreach to it so they can participate, so our back and forth is more on hose kinds of figures. there are 26,000 loans that went to people making $2 million or above. i mean, excuse me, i say it wrong. 26,000 loans of $2 million or above that went out. re all of those really appropriate? because in order to get a loan, people should know, that the criteria, one of the standards for it, is that you have to that the funds that you're asking for are essential to the sustainability of your company. it could be for half. you could ask for half of what

would be -- but it can't be, i'm a small business, i know my banker, i'll get a loan. that's not what it's about. and if it was not of good spirit in terms of what the purpose was of it, you shouldn't really be asking for that loan and if those loans were made oblivious to the requirement that it be essential to the sustainability of your company, then that's something that really should be reviewed and perhaps returned. where are we now? we've had all of our -- ok. from the room. yes, ma'am. reporter: do you worry that the rules change tomorrow will amount to a permanent change to the institution? and once it happen, when do you plan to bring the full house back? ms. pelosi: well, we'll have the full house back tomorrow. and that's -- you have to have the representation of the body, a quorum of the body, in order

to change the rules. we couldn't just say, we've changed the rules, now come back and we're doing this. i don't see it as that at all. i see it as the wonderful entrepreneurial dynamic of the house for us to say, in a circumstance that was totally unforeseen, unlike anything we've ever seen before, that is not only an economic disaster, but has personal risk, that we would have the opportunity to have remote voting by proxy. and that is for the duration -- i think it's 45 days, it has a term limit, i can renew that as speaker, but it's finite for this purpose. and we also say in there, let's pursue and find out what other options there could be to remote voting right now. we don't see any that has viability. but science is moving all the time. i'm a big believer in technology and perhaps there will be something.

but we're just talking about this time frame. there have been other changes. after 9/11 it took three years for them to come to an agreement on where we would go if some of the members of congress were incapacitated by such an event. you know. god forbid. but incapacitated. not killed. killed, you've reduced your quorum. but incapacitated. just can't be there. so they took a long time and negotiated what would happen and how you established a quorum so that congress can continue in light of the fact that these members are alive but not necessarily well or able to be in the chamber at the time. so these things take a while. this, i think, removing -- we had bipartisan talks for a while there. had been some -- again, everybody expressing opinions for a long while.

mr. hoyer, mr. mcgovern, ms. lofgren, chair of house admin, chair of rules, democratic leader of the house, with the republican leader of the house and the extraordinarying chairs, mr. cole -- corresponding chairs, mr. cole and mr. -- randy. reporter: davis. ms. pelosi: davis. yeah. they had their meetings on a regular basis. and tomorrow we're striving for bipartisanship. we picked up some of the suggestions that they have by tomorrow -- have. by tomorrow we'll have that vote. it is in keeping with the vitality of the house that we're doing this. not in opposition to the traditions of the house. reporter: is your expectation that you will use that full 45 days? ms. pelosi: god willing this will go away. it could be that -- we don't know. we just don't know.

the district of columbia has just pushed back their shelter in place rule. i mean, i would hope that it wouldn't be any longer than that. but we just have to judge at the time. not when i say we, i don't mean me. i mean the capitol physician, the sergeant at arms, those who make a judgment about when we could lift such -- and i think part of it has -- i know that part of it has a standard, that when the physician of the house, the capitol physician, not of the house, he's of the whole capitol, declares such a situation to be in effect, that this would be in effect. hopefully it's the shorter the better. yes, sir. reporter: thank you. tuesday night your side lost a special election. how do you feel that fits into broader politics right now? it was just a case of a personality contest as opposed

to health care and education and gun violence in 2018? ms. pelosi: i don't see it that way at all. i think most observers of the scene have just said, none of the elections now, because of the unusual circumstances. we intend to win that seat in november. and we don't see it as any referendum on anything other than -- first time we've had vote by mail in the district. almost exclusively. never exclusive because you have to accommodate certain people. but overwhelmingly. no. i wish we had won but we weren't touting that as something that -- we're looking to november. yes, ma'am. i think that's it. one last question? so many women today. some men, yeah. [laughter] reporter: [indiscernible] -- do you believe china should be held accountable for its initial

handling of the coronavirus response? ms. pelosi: let me just say that what the president is saying about china is interesting. it's an interesting diversion. right now our focus should be on meeting the needs of the american people. i've even said, put age side how we got here -- putting aside how we got here in our own country. because we should be using our energy on how we go forward than making judgments about what his administration did or didn't do. we're talking about going forward. there will be plenty of time for after-action review. and apart from what we do, there will be scientists and others who will be tracing, rightfully -- not only rightfully so, it's urgent and needed for them to trace the origins of such a pandemic scientifically. but not politically. and again, let's keep our focus on meeting the needs of the american people. opening our economy, testing, it's so clear, with the health

experts and the scientists, we want to get rid of the virus. that's how we can go out. that's what we go to work and not be fearful that we're going to come home and bring something dangerous to our children. and so instead of diverting attention from mistakes that may have been made here, let's just put that all aside and go forward for what we can do, working together for the good of the american people. stay safe. wash your hands. wear your mask. thank you all very much. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2020] ms. pelosi: don't forget to speaker.gov to see where you live, how much money goes there, what state you live in, more generally, and more congressional districts. thank you all. >> thank you.

>> c-span has unfilthered coverage of the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic. with white house briefings, updates from governors and congress. and our daily call-in program, "washington journal." hearing your thoughts about the coronavirus crisis. and if you missed any of our live coverage, watch any time on demand at c-span.org/ coronavirus. "washington journal" primetime, a special evening edition of "washington journal." on the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic. our guests are arkansas governor hutcheson. he join us to talk about the role of state and local leadership in responding to covid-19. also, "the washington post's" beijing bureau chief on china's next steps amid the ongoing worldwide pandemic.

join the conversation. watch "washington journal" primetime tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> c-span has unfilthered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court and ublic policy events. you can watch all of c-span's program on television, online or listen on our free radio app and be part of the national conversation through c-span's daily "washington journal" program. or through our social media feeds. c-span, created by america's cable television companies, as a public service, and brought to you today by your television provider. >>