astronauts launch to the international station. nd an interview with the nasa administrator. on c-span2, all day live overage of the space x crew dragon as it docks with the international space station. then the opening of the hatch space vehicles. and the event between the space crew dragon and the i.s.s. crew. watch live on c-span2, online at the n.org, or listen on free c-span radio app. c-span's daily unfiltered coverage of the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic with the white house, congress, and governors from across the country. in the conversation on our live call-in program, if you ton journal" and missed any of our live coverage watch anytime on demand at c-span.org/coronavirus. heidi joining s

shierholz, former chief economist at the u.s. department of labor earned the obama administration from 2013 to 2017. now with the economic policy institute. thank you for joining us this morning. >> thanks for having me. host: wanted to talk about the impact of the pandemic on workers. what do you see? >> it's pretty grim. it's really bad right now. so as of mid april, the official unemployment rate had jumped to 14.7%. but because of some misclassification and undercounting of people who had

lost their jobs as a result of the virus, i think that a more accurate description of where we were in mid april is more like a 23.5% unemployment rate. and we've had another five weeks of deterioration since then so it's pretty grim. really sachs which has a good economics research shop, they are forecasting that the unemployment rate average 30% in may and june. so it's going to get worse before it gets better. it's pretty grim for workers out there right now. host: phone numbers at the bottom of the screen. if you lost your job or were laid off recently, (202) 748-8000. essential workers (202) 748-8001 . everybody else (202) 748-8002. we are talking with former chief

economist at their labor department. or even 30% real unemployment rate in this country mean? what does it all mean? >> there are just a huge number of people out of work because of the virus. that's the reality we are facing right now. how that plays out on the ground is really a question of how policymakers respond. so if we have a situation where people can't work because of very important social distancing measures, if the federal government steps in and makes sure that their income doesn't drop even if they can't work and if businesses are shattered right now or are working well below capacity because they don't have demand for their services because of important social distancing measures, if the government steps in and mixture they can stay afloat even if they are shattered --

shuttered. governments are seeing massive declines in their tax revenue as a result of all of this. if the federal government doesn't step in they will have to do massive cuts that will hamstring the economy. if instead the federal government steps in and shores up their balance sheets so they can keep going. if that happens, it means when we are able to reopen safely that will be the kind dense and demand to get a quick ounce back. -- bounce back. the pace of the recovery once we are able to reopen safely really is up to how policymakers act right now. ways. go one of two i really hope they make the right choice. talk of anow there is

fifth stimulus plan here in washington. what is your take on what they've done so far for the workers in the country? bikes they've done a lot. it's been great. it hasn't been enough. we need to do more. there have been really important things that have been done. important parts of the stimulus packages that have passed so far have been a big expansion of unemployment insurance benefits. in our normal unemployment insurance system, there are gaps you can drive a truck through. lots of people lose their jobs who are not eligible. the federal government stood up a new program called pandemic unemployment assistance. it's based on disaster unemployment assistance it gets put into place after a hurricane in a specific area. in this case, we need this pandemic unemployment assistance for the whole country.

have access and are having access to unemployment insurance been it's wouldn't be eligible for regular unemployment insurance. worke like self-employed is, gig workers. for're not eligible unemployment insurance but they are also out of work as a result of the virus. people who had to quit their jobs to take care of the child school closed as a result of the virus. they wouldn't be eligible for regular unemployment insurance but they are out of work because of the virus so there eligible for assistance. it has been an important expansion of these benefits. there is also an increase in the amount of benefits people get. usually unemployment insurance benefits are just incredibly stingy. halfreplace the maximum of of your prior earnings. -- most people don't even

get half of their prior earnings. if you are not getting half of , for ther earnings vast majority of households that means they are going to have to spend less and that will hurt the broader economy. so those expansions of the amount of benefits people get have also been really important not just for the living standards of the people who receive that but also for making sure we are maintaining the strength of the macroeconomy so there's confidence when we are able to reopen. from jackson, missouri. aller: i guess my view of this is more like a military operation. our president has failed us as commander-in-chief. troops thereve the necessary tools to fight in this war. he has not furnished masks.

given a consistent message. the troops on the ground is us, the people. the ones that are making no money because of income loss. there's no reinforcements coming from the rear. whole warl that this campaign as he's called it is an utter failure and it's too bad that he hasn't even seen that yet. host: thank you for calling. heidi shierholz, your take on the trump administration's approach to all of this so far. >> i share that disappointment. there's been a couple of junctures where we really could have made a difference and avoid this major job loss. we had a real heads-up feud we knew this was happening in china and europe before it proliferated here.

if we had gotten a really system of testing and contact tracing, then we would be able to just quarantine people who had an exposed instead of having to do these broad social distancing measures and we could have really helped reduce the massive job loss that we are seeing right now. i do think the administration not getting it together to get that done is part of the reason that we are seeing a big problem right now. again,s this opportunity we are really at this juncture. one of the pieces of good news in the labor market data right now is that two thirds of workers who are out of work as a result of the virus report that they expect to be called back to their jobs. that's actually great news. it still leaves millions of people who don't expect to be

called back to their jobs, but that's a pretty high share. the means policymakers have opportunity to make that happen, to make actually possible for those workers to go back to their jobs. so if they do things to make sure people have the incomes they need even if they haven't been working, make sure businesses stay afloat and state in the government's don't have to make massive cuts all by providing the necessary aid, then when we are able to reopen safely, there will be the confidence and demand that we will be able to get a quicker bounce back. i really hope at this point the administration and congress step up and do the right thing. on the linee sean from lakeland, florida. we understand you called on the line for those who have and laid off. tell us your situation. i'mer: my situation is

fitting to get laid off. my company is going to discontinue my job. host: what kind of work? caller: i drive a forklift. i work at a food warehouse. so we were deemed essential workers. theomment really is forgotten which i'm about to non-essentials a that's on unemployment that pays child support. stimulust get the package. i got a letter saying that i was going to get one. then i got another letter saying that it got took for child support. which i pay child support every week. because they take it out of my check. gaveon top of that, they $500 to the kids.

so it's like, we don't need anything? it wasn't as big a deal because i was working. now that i'm not working and i'm going to be on unemployment in florida which has like an eight week or nine week backlog? i'm going to go months without any kind of income. the people they're supposed to help me with that income, it got taken. host: thank you for sharing your situation with us. >> i'm very sorry to hear that. it's a terrible situation that we are in right now. policymakers should be stepping into make sure that people who are just like you are able to have enough money to not have to reduce their spending dramatically. that obviously helps you but also means that we are not seeing this drag on the broader economy that will mean if you're

not able to pay your rent, if you are not able to buy the ,hings that you need to get by we have this ripple effect where other people would not be getting the income they would otherwise get from your spending. that creates an even worse effect and we get this downward spiral. it's very important that and youkers step in have the kind of relief that you need. you will be, i'm sorry to have heard, out of a job through no fault of your own because of the virus. to haveutely need policymakers stepping in and making sure that you don't see a big income drop as a result of that. i know florida has been particularly tricky to get unemployment insurance benefits. i think you are right to be concerned about the delay that you might face. i would always say when people have been laid off we have as a

country not invested in her unemployment insurance system for decades and so there are these big delays. i always want to say to people if you are laid off and applying for uninsurance but it's, don't give up. keep applying for them. they are yours. we will be able to get them. away, don't get it right the benefits that you get will be retroactive. so just keep trying. you will eventually get through and get that money. theow people don't have luxury of having no money in the meantime. it's going to be very hard to get by. just keep trying. host: that last caller talked about the fact that he was considered an essential work at one point. speak to us about essential workers in this country. how many of them are there? how are they faring right now?

>> there's no clear definition of essential workers. states have defined them differently. when you think about the things that we all need in order to get workers, grocery store in my mind are obviously essential work is. first responders clearly essential workers. who are doing other kinds of administered of things that we absolutely need -- administrative things that we absolutely need to keep functioning as a society. people like waste management. we absolutely need that to happen. it's a very broad swath of people. when you think about what is an essential worker, about what do you see that you need to actually make it through from day to day. those are the people that have to keep going to work despite risks they may be facing. one of the things that's true

about essential workers, many of them have historic been very low paid work. for example in grocery stores. they are providing the services that we all need to make it through this global pandemic and are typically very low paid work. -- workers. this has really shown a light on what does it mean to be essential and should we think about how those jobs are compensated going. host: stephen, calling on the line for essential workers what kind of work you do and what is your situation? >> i'm a factory worker, laborer. i've been making plastic pipe for 38 years. out with the broke pandemic, we received papers in case they got pulled over that we could make it back to work in pennsylvania. in our area of the lehigh

valley, it's a very big industrial center with the cement mills and warehousing that supplies everything on the east coast now to new york city. when our governor took over everything and shipped all the ppe to new york and when they found all that stuff in the warehouse with all the ppe and they kept screaming about new york and northern new jersey got it in on the eastern end of pennsylvania we started getting slammed. we saw a lot of workers who were democrats were changing their tune real quick because they saw what was happening with politics in this. people who were laid off >> live now to capitol hill to fulfill our long time commitment coverage.s. house members are gaveling in to consider a bill to continue the foreign intelligence expires nce act, which at the end of this month.

also today marks the first time he house will allow proxy voting on the floor. live house coverage here on c-span. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy. chaplain conroy: let us pray, god, father of us all, thank you for giving us another day. as members return to the capitol, keep them safe from infection during this time of pandemic and the work that they do and how they do it give them wisdom and patience. the world is affected tremendously for the first time and new ways of living and wog