cumberland. he discusses how the coronavirus pandemic is impacting children. >> washington journal continues. ♪ host: this is the washington journal for may 15. a two hour program because the house is coming in at 9:00 today. an expected vote on a $3 trillion aid package called the heroes act, which not only localities,ey for also offers money for things like housing assistance and fall election planning. senate republicans including the majority leader have criticized the effort. we will show you the elements of today's package that will be up for vote. we want to get your thoughts on this bill and talk about today's vote.

for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. independents. for if you want to text us, you can do so at (202) 748-8003. post on our twitter feed at c-span wj. mcmanus had aing back that took place yesterday before today's vote, adding it was the house rules committee voting along party lines to send a rule for consideration of the three choi in dollar coronavirus -- three choi in dollar bill. the rule, -- $3 trillion bill. it would provide almost $916 and additional funds to testing. it would provide --

the sweeping measure would provide another round of cash payments to families, housing assistance, medical research funding and the extension of expanded unemployment benefits, tax breaks and more. lowyerspective came from -- so they can keep their first responders, health-care workers and other public servants paid and working for us. that is in rollcall. if you want to read more of the on thed-forth, it was senate that senators, particularly on the republican side offered criticisms, particularly for mitch mcconnell. 1800 page seasonal catalog of left-wing oddities and called it a coronavirus relief bill. so here we go again. here we go again.

massive tax code giveaway to high earners in blue states. working families are struggling to put food on the table but house democrats are prioritizing millionaires on the coast. print another round of checks specifically for -- listen to this -- illegal immigrants. another round of checks for illegal immigrants. can you believe it? we forgot to have the treasury department send money to people here illegally! my goodness. what an oversight. thank goodness democrats are on the case. the speakers bill tries to use the virus as cover to implement sweeping changes to election laws that democrats have literally wanted for years, by forcing every single state to embrace california's sketchy ballot harvesting. whether they want to or not.

madam president, the cherry on top, the bold new policy from washington democrats that will kick the coronavirus to the curb and submit -- and save americans from the crisis. here it is. here it is. new annual studies on diversity and inclusion within the cannabis industry. not one study but two of them! is from the senate floor yesterday. a breakdown of the heroes act. you will see it play out on the house floor. $500 billion for state governments, including money for local governments, also money for housing assistance. 25 billion dollars for the postal service. $20 billion for tribal relief and territories with $10 billion going to small businesses and as you heard the speaker reference to, 3.6 billion dollars for fall

election planning. when it comes to direct payments, $1200 per family member and $600 per household being offered. hold the house majority leader reference voting changes when it comes to elections. one thing you will see play out in the house are potential changes to how the house will vote at this time. y mcmanusatherine tull saying it would allow a designated colic to vote on matters -- colic to vote on matters. -- colleague to vote on matters. you heard the majority leader comment. let's hear from nancy pelosi yesterday, leading up to today's vote. she is referencing criticisms from republicans. let me characterize it for

you. people said it is partisan. wait a minute. the first cares act was written by the senate republicans. bill.roduced the we acted upon it. we came up with a bipartisan bill. the cares act. -- the interim bill for ppe -- 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. when thedifferent leader in the house, a democrat, writes a bill and says here is the issues. we have already passed in one way shape and form. well over 80%.

we are putting our offer on the table. we are open to negotiations. and so when people say partisan it is like wait a minute? saying ok. here is our offer. let's see where you are. you have supported our heroes with state and local support before preview have supported testing. the most recent bill was 25 billion dollars in testing as you later agreed to. you have supported direct payments to the american people and support for unemployment insurance etc.. these are taking us further down the path for most of that legislation. host: that is what took place yesterday. now to your calls on this topic. brian in illinois, independent line, you're first. good morning.

caller: good morning. i say go ahead and pass it. we have already blown through how many other trillions of dollars. both parties bank on short-term memories of the american voting public. we don't pay attention. -- rescuewreck you package primarily benefited the banks, big corporations. they all got their money first. no questions asked. now it comes to the little guy. now all of a sudden mitch mcconnell is pitching a fit. i truly am an independent. i think our politics are sick. both parties are pathetic. they are infested with criminals read and we are getting the government we deserve. we are headed off of a cliff, america. look at the people we elect. they are the ones who have done it to us. host: todd in brentwood, california. republican line. you are next up. caller: democrats are trying to

milk this crisis for every trillion they can get out of it while they continue their social on aeering experiments grand scale. i am not hurt by this threat financially. i am making a little bit more this year. is retired.know we are already made whole. we are getting $1200 on top of it but we are already made whole. they friends are working, are whole. if they are not, they are still getting paid. do you want to go out and live life like responsible adults, capable of making responsible decisions?

is becoming so clear. all can see it. every democratic politician will say close everything down. every republican will say open up and let us live our lives. host: let's hear from an independent. this is sandra in alabama. .aller: hi i want to say i am a low income person. i get about $1100 a month. i appreciated that $1200. this has gone way too far. i agree with everything that senator mcconnell -- i agree with him. ilove my country more than love myself. i am telling you, it is tearing this country apart. it has changed so much. it has just really changed. i have to say it. one more thing. if she wants to pass this, have her have the congress, the whole congress including the house, take a pay cut. there money -- their money

go in to pay for it. host: bonnie. stays at myon house a couple of times a week. he got a stimulus. boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands and wives, kids, i got it. ofot nothing and i paid all my utilities. i feel like i am collateral damage. it just doesn't seem fair. why doesn't she help the seniors? she is a senior. so she has inside trading she makes millions. the stimulus should help people like me. i am paying my part. and i get very little a month. host: we will go to tom in new york, independent line. caller: good morning, c-span.

beennk the money that has put out right now by donald needs a little time. i think we need to get back to work. that is what we need to do. this country needs to get back to work. host: i'm sorry, you are saying hold off on another package. that is what you are saying? caller: yes sir. we need to see where the money we have spent already goes to. to find out what it is doing before you can go and blow more. have democrats bailing out all of these states that have been irresponsible and completely reckless with their policies, helping out illegal aliens. completely ridiculous. this country needs to start taking care of america. host: did you feel that way about the previous packages that were passed with republican support on top of that?

caller: they had to get some money out to help the economy along. something had to be done. now, it takes a little more time. host: ok. dave in nebraska. republican line in omaha. i am not understanding why should we use our tax money aliens moneyal ?hey don' this mail in voting, there is no way the male in vote should go in. this is a democratic dream ticket. get these guys out. host: those are some of the collection of calls on this package expected to be voted on today. you can follow along when you go to c-span.org. you heard catherine mcmanus --king about

one of the things being discussed was the house majority leader. virtuald about congress. here is what he had to say yesterday. saw yesterday you a virtual hearing held by the united states. the chairman was not present. the witnesses were not present. particular, -- somewhat like a hybrid hearing. we provided for that in this rule. including the supreme court of the supreme court of the united states, only nine people who are conducting hearings and arguments virtually. the supreme for of the united states -- court of the united states, the final word of what the law is in america.

so this is not a radical idea. this is not an idea that undermines the constitution or the character of this body. the character of this body is the individual members elected. the only way you can get here. by their constituents. and what their constituents want is not necessarily that they are in this chair or that chair. what they want is to raise their voice. placeagain, that took yesterday. if you want to see that process play out, the rules committee and those comments about proxy voting, you can go to our website at c-span.org. when you go there, you will hear what the top republicans on the committee had to say. tom cole on why he opposes these rule changes. >> this proposed rule package fundamentally changes two key rules of the house. for the first time in history -- the history of the chamber, we are being asked to approve a

system of proxy voting for members on the house floor. that rules change holds open the possibility of moving forward with totally remote voting once the chairperson of the house administration committee certifies the technology for that use. second, again, for the first time in our history, we are being asked to approve a measure that would operate remotely and approve legislation remotely. while i have no doubt the intentions are good, i believe they will fundamentally alter the institution and not for the better. i cannot support them. i am concerned about the precedent that sets for the institution. even a temporary measure to deal with the current crisis to be used to establish precedent something else down the line. when it comes to the fundamental way the house does business, face-to-face, with members building relationships and hashing out differences, i am reluctant to set a new precedent

that euros our normal practice. second, i have real concerns about whether or not any system of remote voting or proxy voting is constitutional. the language of the constitution clearly contemplates members being physically present in the chamber to conduct business. -- by the way, at 7:50, you will hear from representative james mcgovern who will join us on the phone to talk about these changes. he is a democrat from massachusetts. are next in maryland. democrats line. hello. caller: good morning. we are talking about the relief package, correct? host: correct. caller: i believe the relief package is needed. there are a lot of people

struggling. look at it this way. breakave the 1% tax because they needed relief. myselftle people like and others, we need that relief. i believe the relief package is most definitely needed. yes. host: sheila is in massachusetts. republican line. you are next. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i have a couple of things that disturb me. bill wast cares act brought to the house floor on january 24. i am wondering how long it took them to write that magnitude of a bill before they brought it to the house floor. why january 24? long before any of this pandemic talk was in the public. it was all written ahead of time and brought to the floor on january 24. at the same time, we have nancy

pelosi in california, going to chinatown, telling everybody to come on down. that she thought it was very safe, we hope everybody will come. you have the blahs io, on -- on february 13, telling people to celebrate the lunar new year in chinatown. host: bring it up to the present day. what do you think about this? caller: this is ridiculous. this country is bankrupt. this is nothing but a democrat ploy to remove donald trump from office. to make him look as terrible as possible. there is a lot more behind this then people realize. i want to know why they passed that bill on the 24th of january, which has all of the stimulus stuff in there when there was no pandemic or any suspicion of this virus going anywhere. host: let's go to todd in north let's go to north carolina.

david on the independent line. caller: i am thinking protective wear has not been implemented. i am a painter. we don't have the funding for that. newthe mass production of age stuff. it is lightweight. it is cheap. and they are talking about testing. until we get to testing, where protective wear -- wear protective wear. i am in favor of a new one. until we can get lined up where we can stay home after this next stimulus package and stay at home for 30 days and get the , get your with shopping list done and get home. host: that is david in north carolina. became ae things that discussion point among members of congress was the idea of a guaranteed income rate the new

york times said as congress prepares -- income. the new york times said as congress prepares, a representative from washington and a leader of the congressional progressive caucus and senator josh hawley, are both making the case to their party's leaders that guaranteed income programs should be part of a federal effort. people anduational families who are facing this unprecedented crisis and they are looking for relief. they are looking for certainty and they are looking for a policy response that matches the scale of the crisis. the paychecks guarantee program was a spotlight of this week. they urged members to warn party leaders that they were undecided on this bill by effectively threatening to block it. i wednesday, progressive groups signaled their support for the legislation even without

the paycheck measure. it was on track to pass the house on friday. this is allison in michigan, democrats line. caller: i wanted to say that i agree with the independent caller that our government, both sides have let us down. start the bipartisan. as far as the stimulus package, i agree we need a stimulus package. i am disappointed in the bulk of it going to state and local governments instead of the people. host: jim. jim from fort lauderdale, florida. republican line. caller: pedro, i think it is tragic what is happening to this country, both medically and economically. it is all unnecessary. has anyone ever ask why turkey and south korea don't have to shut down their economies? and their death rate is so much lower than almost every other

cause in the country? i will tell you why. allow people to take hydroxychloroquine. i know this has been dragged atmosphere of jealousy, hate and revenge of the news media and the democrat party. it is cheap. what are they testing it against? as a last ditch effort. it is not designed for that. it was never meant to be that. to denouncet hydroxychloroquine. thousands of people would be alive today if they were given hydroxychloroquine at first symptoms. that is when it is effective. host: how do you know that for a fact? caller: look at the statistics of turkey and south korea and examine what they do to fight the disease.

prescribed hydroxychloroquine at first symptoms. that is when it is effective. host: ok. john is in pennsylvania, independent line. caller: hey, pedro. thanks for the call. andll try to be sober try to get back to the money we are talking about. the proposal is $3 trillion. democrats, anybody should think about what we are talking about. 1000 $1 million. what is $1 trillion? billion.0 $1 we are talking about spending 3000 billion dollars. and nobody has any clue where that money is going. you know why? nobody is auditing the stuff. nobody is auditing the feds. nobody is auditing congress. 3000are proposing to spend

billion dollars and the people don't have jobs. the economy is shut down. we have no idea where this money is going. host: there is a subcommittee that has been appointed to take a look at the issues including how the money is being spent. caller: i know they say that but look. with all due respect, i don't think they do it. i don't think the american people believe they audit themselves. i think they are throwing many -- money at a viruslike gasoline on a fire. sit back and see whether it is working. 3000 billion dollars. .ost: let's go to anne it was the democrats that really pushed for the stimulus to go to the individuals. in particular the $1200 payment per month. the republicans were not going to do that. most of the money that the

republicans wanted to give out was for the corporation and the -- businesses and it still the democrats have been fighting for the average individual. also, pedro, could you have a .rogram it is called the eagle plan that the republicans are looking at that will affect social security. toy are making changes social security. --looks like maybe maybe have someone on to discuss that. host: thanks for the recommendation. if you go to the washington times, stories based on a hearing that took place yesterday that featured richard bright, formerly the head of the biomedical advanced research and development authority. he was removed from his job and

says he was the victim of retribution for criticizing the president. he raised alarms about the brewing pandemic. hostility anded marginalization from officials at the department of health and human services who ignored the warnings to start working on a vaccine and ramp up ppe early on. it was the idea of ppe and the 'spic of ppe and mr. bright attempt to get the administration to pay attention to that topic that was a portion of the hearing back and forth yesterday. here is part of that exchange. >> tell me about one specific moment when you had that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach because you were not seeing the response that you knew needed to happen. >> congressman, i will never forget the email i received from our bowen indicating that supply was completely decimated.

.e said we are in deep shit the world is. and we need to act. and i pushed that forward to the highest levels i could in hhs and got no response. that wet moment, i knew is.e going to have a cris we were already behind the ball. that was our last opportunity to turn on production and save the lives and we did not act. they say it was the hhs secretary alex azar slamming him. launching operation work speed, he is not working to be part of that. iss is like someone who trying to say he was a soulless. what he is saying is what every single person in this administration and president is saying. we need more personal protective equipment, we need their purex,

we need vaccine. that is the washington times. if you want to see more about that hearing and more about what bright said, you can go to our website at c-span.org. it was alex azar appearing before cameras. here is some of what he said. >> dr. bright is testifying. everything he is complaining about was achieved. everything he talks about was done. about the needed for respirators. undercured respirators the president's direction. he said we need a project for vaccine. this president initiate -- manhattan project for vaccine. this president initiates a manhattan project. whose job was it to actually lead the development of vaccines? dr. bright's.

launchingre operation work speed, he is not showing up for work to be part of that. this is like somebody who was in a choir and is now trying to say he was a soloist back then. what he was saying was what every single member of this administration and the president was saying. we need more personal protective equipment. we did more ventilators. we need therapeutics. we need vaccine. this single thing, president was on. this president achieved. dr. bright was part of a team and was simply saying what everybody else at the white house and that hhs was saying. not one bit of difference. and on hydroxychloroquine, dr. bright literally signed an application for fda authorization of it. literally, he is the sponsor of it. his allegations do not hold water.

they do not hold water. host: by the way, that operation work speed project has a new leader. he is going to head that initiative. he was named wednesday according to the senior administration official. he was a chair of vaccine development. a british multinational part of -- pharmaceutical company that was headquartered in london. green, the president and ceo said he was an accident -- excellent choice and someone who stood for scientific excellence. his background, a phd in microbiology and immunology. janet in milton, florida. republican line. go ahead. caller: i wonder if anybody listened to the rules committee that the house had. it was quite astounding. many things. one that stuck out in my mind was a republican brought up the

fact that these folks that are not coming into work in washington for whatever reason are still getting travel pay. the democrats voted that down. that is what you are dealing with, folks. look for the facts. not what you hear on tv. thank you and have a great day. host: if you want to rule -- watch the rules committee, c-span.org is how you can do that. from williamsburg, virginia. independent line, anthony. go ahead. caller: i say go ahead and pass the bill because of the facts sony people have lost their jobs. so many lives have been lost through this pandemic. i think that the senate, the congress, the democrats, the republicans, they all need to come together in this time for the people. people have paid their dues and paid their taxes. i believe a lot of people deserve this. people lost jobs. so many people are unemployed. given unemployment.

so many people have received the stimulus checks but it is not enough to cover major bills. i am one of those people that was laid off in the hospitality industry. in williamsburg, the businesses thrive off of tourism. that is lacking here. last tworobably be the open throughout the phases. people are hurting. i say they all need to come together and put aside their bitter bickering. all of it is just a ploy. all of it is just politics and they need to stop it. get america together testing, testing, tracing, tracing. worry about bickering and fighting after. host: from gilbert, arizona, mark, hello. caller: they should pass the bill. the states need the money to affect services. about it is so much money, well we would not have to worry about the money if the

companies that are overseas would bring the jobs back so that tax money would go down to pay the deficit. so just mad. i am an essential worker. i have served my country all my life. is to hear all of this bs just ridiculous. thank you. comments. is mark's the washington post writes in its pages, robert costa and that theple, white house is working on a field with states to provide money to them. saying although the position is likely to anger some republicans , many white house officials now believe that providing new funding to states to deal with the -- to deal with the challenges will be necessary if they want to secure their own priorities such as tax breaks

and liability protection for businesses. two white house officials say they have made it clear that president trump is not willing to provide a blank check but is open to negotiating -- in exchange for an influx of cash. cashwill make sure any new is directed only toward problems sparked by the pandemic. the white house's tax proposals are expected to come in the next few days. chris from massachusetts. independent line. caller: good morning. host: so i want to talk about the bill. but first i want to say there is 1.4 million cases confirmed. that is 1.4 million cases to double many. 86,000 people have died. that is 86,002 double many that have died. 86,000 people too many

people who have died. 36 million people filed for unemployment that lost their jobs. democrats and republicans, they need to put their differences aside. just pass this built like the past two bills. you have to give a little to get a little. this is a time to come together as a country and stop bickering and fighting about money, blah blah blah. we will work that out after. we need the money so people can of attitudea sense -- gratitude or satisfaction that our government is here's for us -- here for us. host: just to show you the hemline from usa today, the weekly claims for jobless help, 3 million of those filing claims last week.

he highlights the 36 million that have filed for unplanned and. that is over eight weeks. in california, we will hear from timmy on the republican line. caller: how are you doing? all,t to say, first of anybody paying taxes into the system should get something. -- scientists here it works exactly like it. that is all i have to say. ed isand his next up -- next up and he is from myrtle beach, south carolina. independent line. caller: how are you doing? host: i am well. caller: i have never heard anybody say how they are going to pay this money back. where it is coming from. can'tok to pay it but i -- you can't get it back.

deficits. host: you would need to see some proof of that before you would pass the bill? caller: yes. sure. medicine that they are , there was a doctor on laura ingraham last night and she said she prescribed it for some of her patients and the pharmacy would not fulfill the prescriptions. get some doctors on here and find out the government has stopped the doctors from prescribing this for the patients. and that the doctor said it works really well. thingsome of the other that took place yesterday aside from the pandemic, one of the things that took place was reported on by saying richard

plane to step down pending a federal investigation into a stock trade that followed a confidential briefing on the coronavirus pandemic before the financial markets cratered. senator contacted me this morning of his decision to step aside. that was the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell saying that in a statement, we agree that this decision be in the best decision of the committee and be effective at the end of the day tomorrow. the announcement came after the los angeles times said the fbi served a warrant on him at his washington residence. withor burr walking home reporters trying to talk to him. here is how some of that played out. [indiscernible] >> this is a distraction to the hard work of the committee and members and the security of the country is too important to have

a distraction. >> [indiscernible] they can publicly talk about it. i am not going to publicly talk about it. host: also, if you go to a report says dianne feinstein has turned over and answero the fbi questions about her husband's controversial stock trades. she is a former chair of the senate intelligence committee and spoke with the agent voluntarily and provided additional documents to assure she had no involvement in her husband's transactions. she has denied any wrongdoing in connection with the transactions and her husband is an investment banker who sold his shares in a biotech company in january, before the coronavirus crisis sent the stock market into a tailspin. that was reported on feinstein's

team financial disclosure report. they said at the time the senator had no involvement in her husband's stock trades. in ohio, republican line. caller: thank you. it is basil. brought that we have into this -- bought into this biggesting has been the hoax perpetrated on the american public. it is time for the american public to get more involved in their politics. and we have to wake up to the reality that we are -- wearing these masks, there are a lot of angry people who are not wearing a mask because they are just angry. we have to wake up to this fact. this is america. ugi's that were out there,'s up and -- they are, wake start making your voices heard. host: in minnesota, independent

line, hello. caller: good morning, pedro. i would like to make three quick comments on the bill today. i don't feel that in its present form, that it should be passed. it has way, way too much other stuff that does not pertain to the virus. billld be in favor of a justwould, at one point, strictly to the small businesses, which means people who employ under 50 people or 100 people and to a business that has low assets, not these huge companies. and i think the people in this country need to realize that nothing is free. we are going to end up paying for this. we need to be responsible. my second comment is on dr. bright's testimony. i understand he has concerns.

everything they talked about, the president and his administration has taken care of . he was in that position since 2012 -- tony 14. why he's -- 2014. was tosaid his position make -- get ready for a pandemic. why, in six years weren't we? why didn't we have the protective gear we were supposed to have? host: your third point? caller: yes. medicinepoint, the that they say we cannot have, i have seen quite a few shows and -- researchersm - from different doctors where

they used it at the beginning and it did wonders for people. and one ofis joann the things she mentioned was the topic of discussion as the president traveled to downtown pennsylvania yesterday, saying part of the things he is doing is to replenish the medical stockpile l by the federal government, saying it was in recent months and he repeatedly blamed the obama administration for not working to refill the stockpile. hadng that president obama more requests for the stockpile. that was rejected. the defense production act came up during the visit to pennsylvania. here is what he had to say. to this -- >> to this end, early today, i signed it to great new authority to the u.s. international financial corporation. this federal agency normally invests in economic development in other countries. i said how about investing in

our country. we invest in our countries, globalists. do you know what a globalist is? they want the globe to do well but they don't care about us. now we want everybody to do well. we have to take care of america first. you have to be america first. -- we have to be america first. had a bunch of globalists that didn't know what the hell they were doing. under my order, we will also invest in our country, helping to bring vital factories, pharmaceutical producers and most importantly jobs back home where they belong. host: michael is next. in paterson new jersey, republican line. name.: mike is my i don't think it should pass because some people still did not get their relief from the first one that just came. next and thats is is where don is. independent line. go ahead.

it is no wonder all of the colors are so angry. look at how congress is handling this. they just keep fighting each other when they are supposed to be doing their jobs and working on a relief package for the american people. people who are suffering through this pandemic and they are out of work. they cannot pay their bills. they cannot pay their rent. they cannot even eat, some of them. aboutre they are, arguing all of this spending that is unrelated that is in this bill that is unrelated and has nothing to do with the coronavirus are helping people. it is shameful the way congress is behaving. host: politico reporting yesterday that mitch mcconnell said yesterday that he was mistaken in claiming the obama administration had failed to leave a pandemic playbook for the trump white house. he said.ng they did leave behind a plan. clearly i made a mistake in that regard.

he said the current white house had not been briefed by the previous administration. obama forammed barack criticizing president trump's coronavirus response. president obama had privately told former aide's it was a chaotic disaster, saying president obama should have kept his mouth shut. syracuse, new york. bill is next. democrats line. hi. caller: hi. i am a democrat. i have a couple of problems with the bills that are getting proposed. this has another part of the bill where i will be sent money and i don't really need it that much. that't understand why can't be sent more to the people who do need it. the other interesting thing about the bill that i question is there is no provision in

their as to how this is going to be paid for. printing money without anything backing it will cause inflation. cause doubt as to the stability of our dollar and i don't like that part of it. host: we will go to mike in silver spring, maryland. hello. caller: what's up, pedro. ? to an earlierng call about the pace of this. the top one and two and 3% get these tax breaks. they don't pay taxes in the first place because they have accounting firms that will do all of the loopholes and all of that stuff. and they get tax breaks. how you pay for it is to make these top 1, 2, three, pay their fair share. wartime. a go back to the tax rates that had corporations and rich

and wealthy people paying and get off the backs of middle-class americans and stop giving our money on tax breaks the wealthy.nd it is just incredible how we that wethom the idea have tax breaks. middle-class america thinks that we are getting them. host: one more call from new york. democrats line. this is beth. caller: good morning. host: you are on. caller: i was listening to the hearing yesterday. it was really interesting. joe kennedy raw of some really how thents about response from the administration has been bungled. see 17 tons of medical supplies are sent to china when we needed it here to protect our medical workers and frontline workers.

questioning was really excellent yesterday. and really amazing. he was amazing yesterday. that all of those hearings played out yesterday, whether it be the one featuring rick bright or on the rules committee side, that is available to you if you want to watch them again. you can go to our website at c-span.org. speaking of that bill that will be voted on today, we are joined by tim mcgovern of massachusetts. he is joining us on the phone. good morning. guest: good morning. host: talk about the process that will play out today. guest: we will bring up a rule pieces to consider two of legislation. one is the changes in the rules that will allow congress to operate remotely during screen times like this pandemic. the other will be to bring up the heroes act so we can continue to respond to the crisis and eventually prepare our economy for the day we can

move forward in recovery. after that, we will move to vote separately on both of those bills. the first bill up will be the one dealing with changing congress procedures as to how they operate during difficult times like this. host: we heard from tom cole earlier in this hour. he talked about things -- concerns he had with those changes. one of the things he said is that the constitution requires someone to show up in order to make these kinds of decisions and actions. how do you respond to that? host: we have checked with a ton of constitutional scholars. i am not a constitutional scholar so we made it a point to talk to leading scholars on the left and right and everywhere in between. they believe very strongly that this is consistent with the constitution. here is the deal. we are dealing with a pandemic right now. we are being told by medical in somethat we need to,

places, remain locked down in our homes. we have challenges with air travel. from alaska to hawaii, flights are not running the way they need to. is, it is not so much about the safety of members in congress. it is about the safety of everyone we come into contact with. we could be a symptomatically. -- asymptomatic. is countries all around the world are adjusting to this challenge by operating remotely. the supreme court is even taking things remotely. why is it we can't make a slight adjustment so we can actually operate and fully function during these difficult times? we have a lot to do. we have appropriated trillions of dollars in assistance to help

citizens deal with this crisis. we needed to do proper oversight to make sure the administration is spending the way congress intended. we need to move forward on our appropriations bills. running atbe up and full steam ahead. that is what this is all about. host: one of the other things the congressman said is if you make these kinds of changes now, it sets the precedent for future changes on how procedure is done. how would you respond to those concerns? and i tom cole share one view and that is one of the great things about congress is we get a lot done when we are together. when we are with one another and talking with one another. expressing how we should move legislation forward. ado not want to go down slippery slope where we change the character of congress by saying if we do this, somehow,

we will operate remotely on a regular basis. that is not what this is about. this is temporary. this is hopefully a once-in-a-lifetime experience, this terrible pandemic we are dealing with. we need to make sure we are -- that there are adjustments in place so that if we experience something like this, congress can fully function. this is not about changing the character of congress. parliaments and congresses around the world have done this. the supreme court is operating remotely. the white house operates remotely in a lot of their dealings. for whatever reason, we are getting a pushback as to whether or not we can make some changes in the house. some people may think we should not do anything because of for thel interests

house not to be able to legislate and move forward. i think that is a cynical argument. the bottom line is we have to operate. we have to do the people's business. people expect to be able to move things forward. not just with regard to this pandemic. we have other bills we need to pass. appropriations bills, authorization bills. we need to make sure we are doing oversight. host: assuming that passes, could you walk us through how this will work out? guest: [indiscernible] the house will have to make a determination that we are in a crisis and that this is justified. committees will be able to operate remotely through various platforms in which they can have

video hearings. they will be able to do hearings regularly. the senate did one the other day. they will also be able to mark up legislation. the house will be able to vote remotely by proxy. that means -- not that i can anybody -- i to have to instruct a person how to vote on every single measure, even procedural measures. there is no discretion. it is my vote but it is being cast by one of my colleagues. announced how people are voting, even if they are not in congress so everybody knows and we are completely transparent. it will allow us to move registration forward. also, it is consistent with the guidelines that have been pushed forward by the cdc and other medical experts.

staff, capitol police and people who support the capital campus. host: if a member goes to the floor and they have a proxy, can they only be a proxy for one other member or several members? how would that work? caller: it is limited to 10 apiece. -- 10 apiece. you have to notify me in writing how you want to vote. i have to cast your vote the way you have indicated. it will be announced on the floor. if i make a mistake, you will hear that and we will have time to correct it. the votes will be longer to make sure all of the checks and balances are in place. is for someference members who cannot get here for a variety of reasons, they will -- their vote will be cast by somebody who is present. host: you talked about cdc input , could you talk about how this

plan came about, who offered input and how it came together? the concern was when can we get back together? when can we operate? how do we get up and running and what needs to happen? cdc, because we are relying on their guidelines in general. it is a large thing to get 435 members in one vote together. then there is the logistical challenge of hearings. there is 12 of us. we cannot meet in the rules committee because it is too small. it does not comply with the medical guidance. in the largest committee room in the congress and we took up the whole room. what do you do when you are dealing with committees of 50 or more people?

the transportation committee, the appropriations committee? i suppose they can meet on the house floor or the auditorium. then you are getting down to one or two committees can meet at a time. that if we follow the medical guidance, which we should, there are some challenges based on the setup of the capital. again, it makes sense to be able to continue to do our businesses to work remotely. for those who can come in, that is fine. they can beo can't, brought in by a videoconference. we have important legislation that we need to move forward. make sense to bring people in from all around the country for one or two boats. this is to make sure we can -- votes. this is to make sure we can operate in a safe and orderly way. there are so many challenges

facing this country right now. not just responding to this health crisis but also to help our economy recover. we cannot be on the sidelines. we cannot be on the sidelines and we have to be a check on the administration to make sure they have spent the money reappropriated properly. we have all seen the new stories about how money has been spent, on luxury jane's, when it should go to small businesses. chains.y host: thank you for your time, sir. guest: all the best. host: coming up, in light of the pandemic, the concerns some have expressed, particularly children. joining us dr. david kimberlin chair atiatric university of alabama in birmingham. talked yesterday

about the steps he believed should have been taken in the first months of the year, responding to coronavirus. >> look at the first months of this year, would you describe the government and administration's response as success or failure? >> i believe we could have done better. there are critical steps we did not take in time. >> was there a failure to respond when you pushed they claim, early virus samples, to obtain samples from china, that we could develop critical medical countermeasures? >> from my perspective, and working with companies, developing vaccines, viral samples are critical. as soon as we were aware, this could pose a threat to human life, i began pushing for virus samples and met frustration -- >> when?

>> in the office of the january, thear in push mentioned january 23 and a strong push january 27. >> was there a failure to respond with needed urgency when you correctly pushed the ramp up production of masks, respirators, syringes, swabs? we have knownan, for sometime time our stockpile is insufficient. having critical ppe. when the virus began spreading and became known as a threat i felt concerned we did not have those supplies. i began pushing urgently in january, along with industry colleagues and those alarms were not responded to with action. >> was there a failure to take immediate action when you correctly pushed to acquire additional doses of the drug, remdesivir, which is the only

drug so far that has, appears to be mildly effective, thank god, for treating people with covid-19? >> there was no action taken on urgency to come up with a plan for acquisition of limited doses, remdesivir, nor to distribute those limited doses, remdesivir, once we had scientific data to support use for people infected. >> instead of acting on your recommendations, was the response of others to try to cut you out of key meetings, marginalize your participation? my urgings were causing a commotion and i was removed from those meetings. >> washington journal continues. host: dr. david kimberlin at the university of alabama birmingham, division of pediatric and infectious

diseases, codirector, infectious diseases of children's of alabama. thank you for joining us. guest: thank you. aboutwe have heard coronavirus impacting young adults. what are the concerns the public should have about children at this time? guest: we continue to learn a lot, day by day, week by week. one of the consistent things we have been seeing from the beginning, china to europe to u.s., children generally are less affected by it. fromu look at reports china and u.s., 1% of all people between 1-10 years years of age.-19 2% total pediatric age group.

generally speaking, they have a mild course. some children can die from this. generally speaking, for reasons we do not understand, children seem to have less severe, complicated or dire outcomes from this infection compared to adults. that is unusual. a lot of times respiratory infections hit children harder. this one does not. host: cdc yesterday, a new warning aimed at children. guest: there is a newly recognized condition. not completely clear it is one condition, in other words, one case definition applying to all children with it. it was recognized in europe at the end of april, april 27 was the first time these cases were being brought to public attention and medical attention. it is rare. it appears to be an

inflammatory, hyper inflammatory response where children have inflammation of multiple organs and they come in in shock. these are very ill children that get in the icu. linked to not it is the pandemic, is not yet clear. temporally, it is. children with presentation are being noticed 3, 4 weeks after sars coronavirus 2 first enters into a community or population. that does not mean it is causative. that does not mean the virus is causing this condition. it is suggestive. people in new york, around this cdctry, europe, england, are all on heightened alert for this to better understand it. remarkable, how much we know already in 2.5 weeks. we have more to learn.

host: when cdc puts out alert like that, what does it mean for medical professionals? guest: they released a health n, and these, ha alerts are meant to raise awareness. they are meant to bring this to the attention of doctors on the front line and specialists consulted on patients, critically ill coming into the hospital. the intent is to raise awareness and create a possibility, a mechanism by which, when a patient has this or possibly has it, they can be reported to local, state and national health authorities so a data best can be built -- a database can be built to gather info as rapidly as possible and help us understand what we are dealing with. one of the things i want to emphasize is based upon what we know now, this is assuming cases

being reported are all the same, apples and apples as compared to apples and oranges, even with that in mind, this is rare. parents have enough to be worried about now. generally speaking, their children are potential vectors for the virus but it is unlikely children will have the same kind of severe disease, we are so worried about with older americans, americans with pre-existing conditions, diabetes, heart disease and so forth. host: if you want to ask our (202)-748-2000, for eastern and central time zones. 8001 from mountain time zones. if you are a medical 2002.ssional, (202)-748-

children are classified as under 18 years of age. some classifications are under 21. those final three years between 18 and 21 can sometimes be classified as adult, sometimes as pediatrics. host: could it be possible, if a child develops aspects of coronavirus, could it be confused for something else? one of the things talked about is the relation between kawasaki disease? guest: what your question is getting at is this multi inflammatory syndrome, multisystem inflammatory syndrome, that is very very rare. there are overlaps. that can be overlaps with how it presents with a decision caught

kawasaki disease, which we have known about for decades. we don't know what causes it. toxic shock syndrome is another type of presentation that can have a similar appearance to this inflammatory, multi-systemic disease presentation. in conversations with colleagues in england and europe, looking at data from kawasaki, from this new condition, if it is a single condition, toxic shock syndrome, there are differences but in terms of initial presentation, there seems to be overlaps. host: we have heard adults with underlying condition severely affected. what about those present in children that people should watch out for? with complications of coronavirus overwhelmingly have pulmonary involvement. they may have kidney involvement, other organ

involvement, especially in the icu for a long time, but interestingly, with this new, rare inflammatory multisystem condition recognized in children over the past 2.5 weeks, interestingly, long involvement is less common -- lung involvement is less common. generally speaking, the info is in the heart, blood vessels, liver, kidney, skin, mucous membranes. the eyes can get red, for instance. there seems to be overlap with what adults experience when they have inflammation as they enter the second week of the illness, a lot of times. children's presentations have less, at least with this multi inflammatory multi system condition, less lung involvement and more other organs. there seem to be differences within pediatric conditions like kawasaki and toxic shock, but

also differences with the way adults present with severe coronavirus illness. host: our first call from myrtle, missouri. you are on. yes.r: if we are having problems trying to figure out what is going on with adults, how can one expect to know what is happening with children during this pandemic? loans, ouriven, money given out to people. guest: myrtle, thank you. broadly,standpoint of how children are affected, the overall observations made at local, state and national levels in terms of who is testing positive for the virus, who is being admitted to the hospital,

how long, how severe is the illness? we haveservations, substantial data on because we have been watching it since january and we are able to see, it is 2% of the overall population now testing positive, in the pediatric age range. the more standard presentations, i think we have greater confidence in, in terms of what we know. the very rare multisystem inflammatory condition we were talking about -- that one is harder. by definition, it is rare and newly recognized. that is where this cdc health alert notice was released yesterday, that is why it is important. it raises awareness, not so much among public or parents, but among health professionals, people who will be receiving, potentially very sick adolescence or younger children

in emergency rooms and transporting them to icu's, for them to be aware of this. as time passes, we will know more. i am delighted we know as much as we do in 2.5 weeks. we need to know more. host: barbara, maryland, good morning. caller: hello. thank you. my question is, because children have been vaccinated for diseases, can we make a correlation between that and cipine as well as other drugs, that they have been vaccinated for, whereas the older community has had these vaccinations but maybe those have worn off? can you argue that? guest: thank you, barbara. couple points. the first is more responsive to your question directly.

we have never been able to create a coronavirus vaccine before. worldwidend adults have never had the opportunity to be protected, not only against the new novel coronavirus, but one causing the pandemic, but any coronavirus. cousinid, coronavirus's to the pandemic strain of the crowbars, are common causes of the cold. children and adults get them. we do not think there is cross immunity between the more common coronaviruses and the pandemic coronavirus. right now, the entirety of the world population, we view as being at risk for this and not being more protected or more at risk because of a prior vaccine or prior infection with a different coronavirus. we are all at risk, unless we

already had it and even then we may be at risk because we don't know if getting the pandemic strain once confers longer-term immunity or not. we hope it does. that has yet to be proven. the other thing and i'm delighted you brought up vaccines. one of the casualties so far of this pandemic is a plummeting, dramatic drop in vaccination rates with standard vaccines, our recommended vaccines that we should be giving to children at regular intervals, according to the schedule from the american academy of pediatrics and the cdc. there have been notices released about this. pediatricians have been concerned for some time. we have got to get children back in for well checks to doctors appointments. it is safe to do so. it is the right thing to do, so we don't end up adding, for

example, measles epidemic on top of coronavirus pandemic. that would be a medical travesty. we have got to get children back into pediatricians offices. it is safe to do so, so they can get their routine childhood immunizations and be protected against routine, standard childhood illnesses. host: dr. david kimberlin taking your questions about children and covid-19. call us, east and central time zones, (202)-748-8000. mountain and pacific time zones, (202)-748-8001. if you are a medical professional, (202)-748-8002. caller: good morning. as you stated, we don't have a cure for coronaviruses. like the cold, children and adults are susceptible. there are theories saying this was manufactured. what would be the benefit of

manufacturing a virus that only affects adults and not children and the evidence supported by what you're saying, being able to debunk that theory or statement? guest: thank you, aaron. there is a lot of misinformation out. there will continue to be. we have to be receptive. we also have to be critical. this is not a manufactured virus. batsis a virus jumped from to an intermediate animal to humans. it adapted along the way so it causes readily transmission between humans and in some people, it causes very severe disease and death. this is a natural virus. it is not man-made or manufactured. this has been proven by looking at genetic sequences of the

virus. absolutely brilliant researchers around the globe doing that critical investigative work to show this was in fact, a natural virus that made that transition, as viruses have been doing throughout eons of time. host: a viewer on twitter. guest: lee asks a good question. i'm delighted to expand on it. from the beginning, physicians, adult and pediatrics, pediatricians have been looking patients in and out of offices, ingress and egress of patients into spaces and have worked hard to separate out healthy child areas of offices from sick child visits.

each office is different. i cannot speak to every office in the country. the thought has been going into this, how can we schedule appointments with spacing, so people are not clumped together waiting to be seen. how do we get well children, not sick, in through a separate entrance to a separate portion of the office, seen, vaccinated and released back home? and to do that safely? these plans are extensive and they will work. peter fromer viewer, provincetown saying "many unknowns. should parents increase daily amount of vitamin d children are getting be a supplement?" issue ieter raises an have been seeing. not much scientific literature

on it, not to say it is not coming. said we areauci who in the second inning. we have a long ways ahead of us, unfortunately. we will know more about the theory that vitamin d may have protective benefits. i would not say scientifically that we know that, at least with certainty, i don't know that. when we hear these potential benefits, we have to think, all right, do we know they are benefits? with vitamin d, the verdict is still out. we don't know. what are the potential risks? what can we do harm with this? i would not advocate taking massive doses of any vitamin. that can be harmful. generally speaking, taking a multivitamin including vitamin d is a good thing, not a bad thing. whether it helps with covid or

sars coronavirus that causes the disease, i don't know. it would not be harmful, unlike the potential for other drugs where you might hear, this drug may work but that drug has xyz side effects. benefit orven opportunity to document benefit, and that hypothetical drug, you want to avoid it. vitamin d can be different. i take a multivitamin every day. it,e no harmful approach to i just don't know if it is helpful. host: tonya, washington state. i have celiac disease. when you say inflammatory theynse, is that because are producing too much cortisol, kind of shutting the systems down? too littleoducing

cortisol? could that be playing a role? morning.nya, good it is early on the west coast. i appreciate you. cascade system is multifaceted. cortisol disease and is part of the stress response and makes perfect sense you are thinking about that. we are learning more about this multisystem inflammatory condition, very rare pediatric condition that may or may not be linked to sars coronavirus 2, covid disease. whether it is causative we, we don't know yet. we are understanding how certain parts of inflammatory response,

cytokines and interleukins, the foot soldiers, if you will, in our body's inflammatory response to different stimuli, how they high inerserk, way these conditions we are seeing in children. to my knowledge, cortisol is not part of that, at least as we understand it now. it is more interleukin 6 and other interleukins seeming dis-regulated in the body. the question is, why? why is that the case? can we do anything to identify who is at risk? potentially, not drugs for addison's, but other medications we have, could we interfere or intervene with the inflammatory response to keep it from ramping up in the first place or for a child coming in with high levels of inflammation, can we bring it back down?

the balance and challenge is we don't fully know, to what degree this is inflammation versus assuming there is a link with the virus, that it is being driven by the virus. my suspicion is in the child in this situation, it is more inflammation. does that mean it is exclusively information and the virus place -- exclusively inflammation and the virus plays no role? we should blunt down the response unless we should also take care of the virus, if it is playing a role. we will have those answers but 2.5 weeks in, we don't have them yet. host: one of the debates back and forth among congress in washington, is the reopening of school. to the larger topic, what should be considered at this time as far as reopening schools and the safety of children? guest: pedro, that is challenging.

we have to reopen at some point. everybody agrees. the question is, when and how? to emphasize the latter part of what you said, how do we do it safely? by keeping children safe, that ensures we keep our older, grandparents for instance, safe as well or people with diabetes or at high risk of having major complications or death from this viral infection? it is a challenge i certainly don't have absolute answers for. none of us to. what i can say is, we need to follow data. we need to listen to experts. we need to listen to public health officials. loosen at aradually time when our leaders and scientific leadership say this is the right time to do it. gradually loosen, then wait and watch and see what happens, so if that loosening does not

result in a spike in infections in children or adults in a community, maybe we know that loosening was ok and that was the right way to do it and we can maybe think about loosening more. on the other hand, if we loosen gradually, then three weeks later we see increasing cases, we should go, look, that was too much, and we can dampen back down. what would not be a good idea is to simply say, we are done, viruses contained, everything good, let's go immediately back to the way we were before. if we do that, the virus is knock on, this virus is still here. if we go back rapidly to the way it was before, it is a fact that we will end up back where we were in february/early march and then, these last eight weeks of our lives will have arguably been for very little. that would be a shame. we need to do it smart, careful,

right. host: north dakota, my not, steve. caller: one question. the use of hydroxychloroquine had promising results to start with. it has all but disappeared. what happened to it? guest: great question, steve. that would be a good example of why we have to do things the right way. vitro, drug that has in test two properties that made it look like it could have activity against coronavirus. it has side effects. those have been well-known, especially heart rhythm side effects, well known for years and years. what we needed to do and what was done, his study it in a controlled fashion where patients equally sick are randomized, after following informed consent.

this is a research study. it is done under offices/oversight of conducting research study, ethical oversight. they are randomized to the drug or a placebo, a sugar pill. a medicine that does not contain medicine. when those studies were done, at least studies to date, hydroxychloroquine is not demonstrating benefit and especially when used with an antibiotic, it can cause heart rhythm problems. it appears to cause harm. while there was initial report of potential benefit, those were reports where you say, i will simplify this, i have got 40 people with covid-19. i will give them hydroxychloroquine. 36 of them got better. does that mean they got better because of hydroxychloroquine or would they have gotten better anyway? we don't know.

you don't know until you do randomized trial, like with remdesivir, that gay placebo to some, active drug to others -- -- that gave placebo to some, active drugs to others, that is the only way you can prove. remdesivir proved to be beneficial. host: another half-hour with dr. david kimberlin of the university of alabama birmingham. asking questions by phone, email, twitter, facebook. brian, wisconsin, you are on with the doctor. caller: good morning, dr. kimberlin -- you have been very informative. my question relates directly to research, if any, for children who have developmental disabilities, either physical.al or

i will hang up. physical. guest: i am assuming you mean research related to covid-19 or sars coronavirus 2 causing covid-19? to my knowledge there are not such studies run at this time. nih released info recently, this week, on a study they are going to be doing in children with asthma. my understanding, it is just from press release, i have not seen scientific details on this but my understanding is it is a study on going now, a longitudinal study or study overtime of this cohort of children with asthma. they will be watching for coronavirus infection in that population. that is not an intellectually impaired population. to my knowledge, though studies

are not being done or done yet. host: if you are on twitter, stephen green, "how can a parent determine the earliest warning in a child?" guest: right now, our understanding of what covid looks like in children is based on data from china, europe and u.s. people only 2% of all who get covid disease or sars coronavirus infection. it includes fever, respiratory symptoms, cough, congestion, runny nose. this can be the case in adults too. it is more likely in children to cause gi symptoms, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea. those things can be manifestation of coronavirus. as parents know, they can because by other common viruses.

during flu season, fever, respiratory illness would be overwhelmingly, prior to the pandemic, because of flu. it can be caused by other influenza. gastrointestinal infections can other viral diseases or bacteria. esmmon colds, rhinovirus can cause respiratory tract infections with injection. unless we have ability to test widely and in a way where we gather info needed to know which children in a community actually have coronavirus versus two and viral infections, we are not going to know for sure. that kind of highlights an issue that was not directly raised but i want to bring up. we need a systematic testing approach and plan in place.

that plan needs to be at community level, state and national levels. we are doing better with our testing now. i am delighted, mid-may, we are not still where we were in mid-february. we were way way behind in january and february. we were late to the game in terms of testing capacity. we are much better now. that is good. we can begin thinking, let's not just test the most likely infected people, those most sick in the hospital -- let's begin testing those in outpatient, maybe even, with an oversight by local health authorities, random testing of asymptomatic people to get a sense for how common the viruses in a community at any given time. if it is uncommon now, let's say, in my community it is 2%, and i don't know that to be the case but let's just make it up

and say it is 2%, which may be reasonable, over the next three weeks, if we do not do our part, if we do not individually do our part to limit the asymptomatic spread, that could balloon from 1% to 10% in as little as two weeks/ what do we do individually to make that not happen? the five things. number one. social distancing. six feet between you and others. number two. density reduction. don't be around large groups. right now, 10 or more, that will change as we loosen. the principle of density reduction will be critical. number three. wear a mask. this is what i wore when i came in. whenever you are in public. i took mine off for the studio. when i am done with this, i will wipe everything down, so colleagues sitting more than six feet away won't come in and accidentally come in contact with the virus should i be a

symptomatic or shutting at the time. hand hygiene, number 4. washing really well, frequently from the day. surfaces.be aware of every time i'm speaking, particles are dropping out of my mouth. the viruses landing three to six feet out in front of me. that is why i will wipe everything down, so colleagues do not touch a surface infected, then touch their face and spread the virus to themselves. those five principles, as we move into this loosening time, that we will be entering, it will be important that individuals take responsibility to not only protect themselves but protect children, colleagues, parents and grandparents. host: naples, florida, max. caller: good morning, dr. i want to thank you for the

lucid presentation. that is quite understandable. thatbunks a lot of ideas have been thrown out. my question focuses on inflammation caused by reaction wonderingation -- i whether combining steroids and blood thinners might assist in dealing with information? guest: max, sounds like you are health professional. that is an insightful question. you may be a health professional. studies are being done. -- weea is,, especially, have better opportunity to study things, exactly as your question proposes, now that we know remdesivir directly impact the virus, not only in a test tube, but in a human being, in a

clinically meaningful way. this is what is being done with nih study of remdesivir, that utilizes adaptive design, so you don't have to do a hard stop on that study to begin a study of a new combination of drugs. as the you can adapt, single study moves forward, in this case, dropped the placebo and begin to study remdesivir versus remdesivir+, one of those in you know what modulating mmunos -- one of those u=i modulating agents. can we do something to blunt the inflammatory response at the same time we are trying to knock down the virus? i know of other studies looking at steroids. theerms of blood thinners, observation is a good one. is that this virus has propensity of damaging a

host of different cells. cardiac, heart muscle cells, that brain cells, cells line the blood vessels throughout the body. we are seeing clotting as a result, i presume, as the inflammation of the blood vessels. it is important and doctors are aware of this, when patients are presenting with covid-19 disease, they are being assessed for likelihood or possibility of having blood clots and they are being put on blood thinners if that likelihood is there. that is rather to address potential impact on inflammation by decreasing likelihood clots could spread or cut loose and cause a stroke, for instance. host: mark, medical

professional. caller: thank you. cnn report the numbers from deaths at approximately 84,000 people. birxs been reported dr. thought the cdc number, death number, was probably 25% too high. hospitals are maybe financially incentivized to list a death as covid-19 even though it might be from something else copdopioid or patient, infected by 30 years of smoking? host: are you connected to a hospital? caller: mercy hospital, canton, ohio, rn. guest: thank you, mark, for your service to americans.

i know the folks in canton and the region are blessed to have mercy hospital available. it is a good question. the answer is no. cases, the number of relative to what is happening out there, are artificially low, actually. see this from influenza numbers. we are in influenza season. clue, not coronavirus, during flu season, there is an increased number, rate of mortality captured. we know when people die. we don't always know what they die of. on, in the later case of influenza. when we see increased deaths relative to what we would expect for that time of year based on

data going back year after year after year and we know influenza is circulating in the environment or community, we are then able to correlate that and say, we measured x number of people who died from flu, but the access number of deaths, we will do statistical analysis to estimate what proportion of those are from influenza, in this example, and therefore the total number of influenza deaths are higher than the reported number. the same kind of analytics are being applied here with coronavirus. the same sort of thing has been happening in italy and other countries around the world. i think we are doing a good job of reporting coronavirus deaths. i think, when we get x number of months/years in the future, back, we will find that percentage or the numbers are quite higher. from riverside, california. caller: yes.

hello. i have a question. you are a pediatric disease doctor. are you familiar with hsp? guest: yes, ma'am. caller: my grandson has it. monthly normally. it struck him at 17. they don't have any cures. can you explain how much concern i should have regarding this? i understand it can strike the kidneys. i am confused about the proteins. that is what we have to be careful of. proteins in his blood. guest:. thank you i am sorry. about your grandson. i'm glad he is in. there can be long term kidney

hsp.mes with in to 2.5 weeks recognizing what may be a cluster patients, pediatrics, with this multisystem inflammatory condition. we are not yet recognizing a predisposition of some children to having it, including hsp, including patients who have kawasaki disease early in their life. i received a call yesterday, a personal phone call, from somebody who had a child with kawasaki and they wanted to know whether or not that child was at increased risk? we don't know right now. of those being reported, there is not a signal that your grandson would be at increased risk of having a complication should he acquire coronavirus infection. the numbers are small.

we don't know as much now as we ultimately will. that is why it is so important for you, for everyone in your community, for everyone in your state, region and across this country to do the five things i mentioned. social distancing, density reduction, wearing a mask, hand hygiene frequently and being mindful of viral droplets that can be on surfaces and wiping them down and being careful not to touch them and bring your hands to your face. there is so much we do not know about this. we all have to do our part to make sure the virus stays contained and does not spread to your grandson, for example. host: what are your thoughts on a timeline for possible vaccine? guest: months, at best. maybe years. pedro, we have never made a coronavirus vaccine

before. that is challenging. certainly, looking at the brainpower of people at companies, biomedical companies around this country and the world, and the brilliance of the people involved in those endeavors, i am hopeful we will get there. it is not going to be fast or soon. a vaccine and get begin to implement and roll it out to the community, then we will be able to adjust the way we are doing things. until then, we got to social distance. we have to be mindful of how many people we are around at any given time and have density reduction. we have to mask in public for services to not be contaminated by asymptomatic people who may have a virus and not realize it.

we need to wash our hands frequently and wipe down surfaces and be mindful of them. until we have the vaccine, that is the way we take control of our lives again. host: as far as the infection, the question about patients recovering from covid-19, if they are being reinfected with the virus? we have data? guest: [laughter] we have data. they are confusing. there are reports of people, by testing positive, i mean, they have had swabs up the nose, the test is run, the genetic material, the virus is detected. we have cases of patients that test positive, positive, positive, then they may have three negative test, then they test positive again. why? it could be they are being reinfected with the virus. that is a possibility.

it could be the tests that were negative or false negative. they were infected the entire time and the location being tested, when negative, was negative, but there was virus in other parts of that particular parts of that person's body that got back to the site sampled and tested positive after that. we simply don't know. what we need to find out and research is being done on this but we need to identify a core elective of community immunity. particular antibody or amount of antibody that confers immunity to someone? therefore you could say, i had covid-19 previously, my blood was measured, i had this x amount of antibodies, therefore i am protected. that would be wonderful information to know, not only for that person but also for the

status of vaccine development. if we get to the point where we had core elective immunity, instead of waiting for people to get the vaccine, or placebo, to get infected, we could measure antibodies generated and say, yes, this vaccine will work because it is getting enough antibodies in the blood. we don't have that info yet. host: 10 more minutes with our guest. richard, springfield, virginia. caller: i have been listening to news. this is not coming from doctors. they are saying it is caused by corona and it is causing a stir up. now we cannot open schools because kids can get it and that kind of thing. didn't polio take 10 years to develop something for that? eventually, there has to be a tipping point where you're going to have to get things going

again. i agree about protecting yourself. eventually, the damage done by keeping the economy closed for years is going to do more damage than the deaths from corona itself. guest: richard, i wish we had more than 10 minutes. you raised an incredibly important point. there is tension. tension between complete medical balancend need to economic productivity and jobs and livelihoods and learning. i don't have the perfect answer. , will say, i will circle back but as we loosen up, we need to do it gradual and we need to be data driven. we need to have resources in place to be able to do testing, to know, if, as we turn the

spigot on and watch for the result over the ensuing 3, 4 weeks of time, are we seeing a rise in infections that we can predict are going to lead to a rise in hospital cases? or are we not? we need to do this smart. i am not sure if that is the correct grammar. it is the message i am trying to get across. to do things smart, we have to have info, we have to have data. that has been lacking up until this point. i hope leadership will be able to put in place, systems and the programs to be able to do that. i agree we have to get back. i don't know exactly when that should be, now, four weeks from now, in the fall, in the spring to come? i don't know. we need data to make those decisions. i am hopeful we will get there. we have better testing capacity. let's use it. host: barbara, texas.

caller: thank you. whati would like to know, age, the children coming up with this weird disease, what age group is it affecting the most? are these children being tested for coronavirus? their immune system level being checked? you say, children being affected. what age group? thank you. guest: barbara, we do not know for sure yet. 10-17 age group that seemed to be disproportionately impacted. what i have seen in media reports in the u.s., included much younger children as well. we do not know for sure about that.

in terms of testing, the europeans are a week ahead of us in that. what i've heard from colleagues in england on that is as follows, one third of the patients, children with this very very rare condition, one third will test positive for the viral, genetic material of the virus. 2/3 will have either detection of virus or antibodies to virus in their blood. i am not sure if that means, the third with antibodies and the third with the virus, i did not see the data broken down that way. what i was told by colleagues and friends in england was 2/3 had some sort of test for the covid virus that suggested they had it or have it. does that mean the other third did not? or is there not, is it a true unrelated situation? we don't know yet. we are early in the process.

i assure you, the scientists and physicians are doing exactly what you're getting at with your question to try to understand this as rapidly as possible. host: deborah, roscoe, illinois. we are running short on time. deborah? deborah?time for out, withinlays light of the cdc announcement, what's of the audience be watching for as far as where that develops? guest: i appreciate the opportunity to be with you. thing parentstant need to be watching out for is what they are doing and what their neighbors are doing and we need to have social pressure, not shaming, but i'm talking

about, mentioning to someone you see in public not wearing a mask, hey, where is your mask? i have extras. do you need one? this is where i got mine. we have to let people know we all have to do our part. that is even more important now as we move from this devastating last month into what is a more uncertain future. the virus is still out there. we have to social distance, density reduced, wear a mask, wash our hands, be mindful of surfaces. if we don't do that, individually and within communities, this virus will come roaring back and impact children and those at risk, the highest risk, older people, people with diabetes, heart disease and so forth. host: children want to play and associate with each other. would you stop that?

guest: that is a challenging one. eventually, we will get back more toward where we were. i don't think we should, right now, get back to where we were before this started. i don't think we should have birthday parties with 30 toddlers running around, sharing toys and drooling on them. that said, i don't know of a single toddler in a house without siblings needs to be incomplete lockdown either. look at what the pediatrics academy and cdc is saying with respect to how to loosen up and how to do it wisely. trying to be mindful of numbers, of distancing, as best can be done with children, which is challenging, be mindful of washing hands. those are the tools we will be able to use and apply to a given situation, you get at in that

challenging question, to get an idea of what should be able to be done or whatnot. it is hard for an absolute answer. host: because you work at a hospital, when it comes to research of looking at this thing, is your hospital, or other hospitals, will they be involved in research with how this might affect children? guest: most certainly, yes. pediatrics infectious disease society is very active in this realm also, as are certain collaboratives that are part of it. there is research at the national level. i mentioned the asthma study of the nih, adding covid to. individual, many institutions, my own included, have put dollars forth and have scientific leadership in

place, leading an effort to get samples from children who test positive for coronavirus, in order to better understand what happens to them and the virus and what happens to their immune response. we are not alone. there are institutions all over the country doing the same. there are registries, that is where the society is coming in as well. american academy of pediatrics is also getting information guidance out to people. there are a lot of ways scientists and physicians and specialists are networking to share information at an unbelievably rapid speed to try to understand better what is happening and how far we have come over the last three months and help, with how far we have left to go. we are in the second inning. host: dr. david kimberlin , university of alabama

hour,gham, dr., for the thank you for coming on. guest: pedro, thank you. program ofour washington journal today. the house is about to come in. they will vote, not only on the proposed $3 trillion package, another aid package for coronavirus, but also proposing rule changes to allow proxy vote to happen in the house. rules committee passed the effort last night. it will go to the floor, then debate on legislation itself. if you want to pay attention to what goes on, we invite you to stay close to c-span for that. follow-up, if you do not have the chance to watch, on our website, www.c-span.org, you can find what happened yesterday and on the political front, with the president visiting allentown, you can find all that happening on www.c-span.org. we now go to the house of representatives.

the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's rooms, washington, d.c. may 15, 2020. i hereby appoint the honorable diana degette to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, nancy pelosi, speaker of the house of representatives.