affairs committee, the focus and examination of the v.a.'s response with the coronavirus pandemic. watch live online beginning at 2:00 eastern at c-span.org. >> with the recent protests unfolding across the country, watch live unfiltered coverage of the government's response with briefings from the white house, congress, governors, and mayors from across the nation, updating the situation, and efforts addressing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and campaign 2020. join in the conversation every day on our live call in program, washington journal. and if you missed our live coverage, watch any on demand, or listen on the go the span radio app. >> house speaker nancy pelosi

discusses police reform, confederate symbols and statues in the capital, and additional relief legislation for people and businesses impacted by covid-19 here this is over half an hour. >> yesterday the judiciary committee held a hearing to -- on policing practices and law enforcement account ability. it was emotional, if anybody saw it. especially the testimony of george floyd's brother. he is just a remarkable person, he and his wife were here. said the people marching in the streets are telling you

enough is enough. be the leaders that this country, this world needs. name means something. he says that this death ends up changing the world for the better, and i think it will, then he died as he had lived. it's on you to make sure his death is not in vain. he talks about how wonderful his brother was, and dying as he lived. hand was thect at legislation, the justice and policing act, to ensure that george's death, breonna taylor's death, and so many others were not in vain. but you must know what this bill is about. , thatned chokehold's makes it different. nationally.eholds it stops no knock warrants in

the case of drug cases, and ends the qualified immunity doctrine which is a barrier to holding police officers accountable for wrongful conduct. profiling,racial mandates data collection including body camera and dashboard cameras, and establishes a new standard for policing among other things. and it passes the antilynching bill which already passed the house but is in there as well. , thevery important congressional black caucus chair , and another committee that held a hearing yesterday with the leadership of mr. nadler. and yesterday, when i chatted with the family before the mering, his brother said to

-- george's brother said to me i have a question for you. is this going to happen? is there a bill that is passed? and why do you think so? it's a question many of you have. but coming from him, it had power. and i had an answer. yes. it will be passed. because the public insists upon it. , public sentiment is everything. with that you can accomplish almost anything. without it, practically nothing. for public sentiment to prevail, people have to know. and more than anything ever before, people know what the challenge is. what the solutions are. and what the obstacles are to the passage of this legislation.

we will not rest until it becomes a law. we will not rest until the changes are made. and the rest of the country is townsof us, in states and , cities and states, people are acting upon some of these provisions already. it is our responsibility, now, to make sure that it becomes the law. as we are doing we see the disparity of the coronavirus crisis. sad that people of color have a disproportionate share of the deaths in this country and there is a reason for that. we do not have a strategic plan executed by the executive branch for testing, tracing, treating

identifystancing to the size of the problem. those who are infected so we can treat them and conquer the virus. doess what the heroes act precisely. chair andship of the others on the health committee ,nd the rest, this legislation the heroes act, says let's open the economy3 that. agree we want to do let's open the economy, let's have our children be able to go back to school safely, safely. we don't have a vaccine and we don't have a therapy. god willing, we will soon and we hope and pray that science will be an answer to our prayers in

that regard. however, we do have a path, testing, testing, testing. there is one word we should all be saying over and over again -- testing, testing, testing. we are not even close to what we should be doing on a daily basis. the scientists, academics all over the country are preaching this. but the white house has not responded. and we must insist upon it in this legislation, testing, tracing, treating, social distancing that will reduce the spread, kill, defeat this virus. and that's sadly, in terms of people wanting to get out and realoing so with a mask,

men wear masks, we always say -- without their masks, without their social distancing. if you're going to insist on leaving shelter-in-place, do so distancing also testing, tracing, treating, distancing. and this is part of the challenge here. people saw the injustice of the disparities of the coronavirus. we have an answer, the heroes act. heroes act is also important because it's aptly named to honor our heroes, air health-care workers, our first responders, our teachers, our transit workers, or food suppliers come all the rest who meet the needs of the american people. theirf them are risking lives to save lives and now they may lose their jobs. why?

because states and localities have had extraordinary expenses to address the coronavirus and they have lost revenue because of the coronavirus. ,he answer is, the heroes act which supplies resources for those two purposes to states and localities. i say this every meeting -- if you want to know how your areas affected, go to speaker.gov/heroes act. you will see the whole bill but you will also see how your state, your locality, your county is affected. that's why we have bipartisan support across the country from state and local officials, democrats and republicans. they are demonstrating the need for this legislation. and, by the way, it's a big ticket but it costs less than tof the republican tax scam

give a tax cut to the wealthiest people in our country, 83% of the benefits going to the top 1%. this is half of that. it is a stimulus to the economy. it is a job protector for our community as well as meeting the needs of the american people. the heroes act also puts money into the pockets of people who need it most, unemployment insurance, direct payment to families in our country, issues that relate to feeding the hungry. why would the republicans object to that? i don't know. you would have to ask them but there was bipartisan support throughout the country to feed the hungry, food stamps with the program, emergency funding program to feed the hungry. money for expanding

medicaid which is very important part of our health initiative. it also saves the post office, the postal service, bipartisan support, one of the most popular 90%ents of government, over or for the post office. meeting people's needs in a special way now but always, 90% of veterans get their medicines through the mail. so do other seniors as well. a large percentage of other seniors as well. course, we also have the osha in there, the worker protection in their which is really important to stopping the spread of the coronavirus as well. somethingve in their that relates to our most fundamental principle of our democracy. forwarding.

bill, lessn in the than .1% of the whole bill for voting, for voting by mail. it's something that has bipartisan support across the support bipartisan among secretaries of state across the country. it's absolutely essential to our democracy that we remove obstacles to participation. even more so when it is a health issue. i want to dwell on that for a moment. what we saw in georgia the other day was shameful. it was either a disgrace of incompetence or a disgrace of intention to suppress the vote. about time, the time it takes you to vote, four or five or six hours or more in certain

neighborhoods, 20 minutes or so or less. in other neighborhoods. requires careful scrutiny because it looks like part of a pattern on the part of some to suppress the vote. and some have even admitted it. you have probably seen some statements. a prelude to what can happen in november. because we see it as a pattern ,f suppressing the vote misinterpreting the vote. we have to protect the vote. protect it leading up to the elections, protect it on the day of the elections and protect the count of the vote so that every vote is counted as cast.

we see manipulation of it in social media. we always look at that in terms of peaceful demonstrations by those who would exploit that situation from outside the country. some inside the country as well. medialation of the social , obstacles to participation, suppression of the vote, all playbook,e republican all part of the republican playbook because they are afraid of the voters. they are afraid of the vote. againstust inoculate the actions that are predictable that they may take and without a picture of that injury -- and we have a picture of that in georgia a couple of days ago.

in terms of the heroes act, some have asked the same question i about the justice and policing bill. will we pass the heroes act? from secretary mnuchin just this week, i think we will seriously look at whether we want to do more direct money to stimulate the economy. think we will need another bipartisan legislation to put more money into the economy. addition to that, we have .eard from the fed they have said again and again that we need more money in the economy and as legislators, we to tax andonsibility

spend in a way that grows the economy. they change their tune. first they are not going to do anything. chairman powell reiterated his statement this week when he said the key thing people need to understand is that there is a lot of work to do in the labor market. we are going to stick with this and support that until the work is done. i think it may require congress to help as well. he went on to say, unemployment is historically high. yesterday, my assumption is that there will be a significant chunk well into the millions of people who don't get to get their jobs back. who don't get to go back to their old jobs. and there may not be a job in that industry for them for some time. further, elected officials have the power to tax and spend and make decisions about where we are as a society.

they should direct our collective resources. again, to do nothing is the most expensive course of action. the congressional budget office estimated just this past week that if we do not take immediate trillion could be erased from the american economy over the next decade. $16 trillion. ,nd yesterday, the cbo stated restated that because of covid, growth for the next year alone will be nearly $4 trillion lower than predicted as recently as january. yet, leader mcconnell says let's , the virus is not taking a pause joblessness is not taking because, rent checks being due are not taking a pause

and bills are not pausing. part time,ng this covid-19 continues to raise racial injustice, makes this deadly. we cannot pause. we are building public support in a bipartisan way across the country for the heroes act. getting public support across all party lines and across the country. in policing act. i am pleased to take any questions you may have. have you talk to anybody in the administration about a police reform act? i trust the judgment of our congressional lack office and our judiciary committee. they have made over chores to each other.

to the republicans on the others of the isle and the other side of the capital, i don't know what the over chores are from the white house. i hope that they are sincere and i hope they are real and i hope they are statutory. that they will be the law of the land. aswant this to be nonpartisan as possible. domain, in the public democrats and republicans, nonpartisan, independence, however they identify themselves, want this to be nonprivate -- nonpartisan and what we are proposing is a very reasonable legislation. it's not the end. we may have more things but for andin terms of violence justice in the police department

department, this is the bill. related to that, the white house this week said the issues specifically of the police immunity is a nonstarter for them. as you move forward in the process, how central is that component to the legislation? >> what is a nonstarter to them? >> police immunity. >> i didn't hear him say that but that's very important. doctrinefied immunity which protects police officers from prosecution in spite of bad conduct that might be there, i think that is a conversation that must be had and we do have it in our legislation. all policeint officers and first responders with the same brush. i have had conversations myself of some leaders in the community

and law enforcement and first responder community and i think there is an openness, a recognition that things have to be done differently. let's find our common ground. the question about opening up the economy and the childcare facilities. millions of americans want to go back to work but they don't have facilities open for their children and yesterday, congress local and letter from state chambers urging congress to provide emergency funds to childcare centers in the next relief package. they are businesses owned by women.

do you think it's safe to open the childcare facilities? >> it's not safe to open them until it's safe to open them. i did not know what that letter is, i haven't seen it but i will say this in a larger sense whether we are talking about the coronavirus but just generally, going back to work, once in a future bill, i mean imminently future bill, we have to do inething very significant terms of childcare. as you indicate in as that letter indicates, this is central to women's participation in the workforce or whether as a job or equity in ownership of a small business. it cannot happen unless we have this key to it all which is quality, affordable, safe childcare for our children. be something that has very strong support.

many are leaders on this issue. this will get very big attention. another issue since you opened that door that requires a major adjustment in our resources is attending to mental health in our country. theassed parity bills and rest and that's important but we have to have a higher recognition of the challenge we face in terms of mental health in our country. that's really important in terms of the health and well-being of families and it's important in terms of law enforcement and the rest. be on the lookout for where we go with mental health and with childcare. >> madame speaker, there is an

ongoing debate in the country about confederate symbols such as the statues that have been in congress for decades. it says something to the durability of those symbols in the capital that they are still here despite you being speaker twice and yesterday, you announced he would try to have them moved. side, the armed services committee, their bill would reinforce the renaming of bases named after confederate generals. can you talk about this and whether or not your defense authorization bill will contain comparable language and will you force it through a veto threat? >> the bill take them out in three years. speaker, i did what i

had the authority to do which is to relegate robert e lee to the crypt. i could move things around. i couldn't actually take them out. that requires something else and that's wire at the letter yesterday or a couple of days -- can you imagine jefferson davis, alexander , theyns, treason committed treason against united states and they are sadly still here because their states put them here. to two ofy i wrote i physically talked about alexander stephens. words, it makes it clear today as they did in 1861

the aims of the confederacy. in his cornerstone speech he says stephens asserted that the prevailing ideas relied upon by included the assumption of the equality of man. he goes on to say, this is wrong. and then he goes on from there. you can see the letter and see what he says. committee has the jurisdiction to move these statues but we also have .egislation there is legislation that would,

we have 11 of them we have our eye on. legislation or action by the rules committee. authority,re thequestion you asked about armed services committee relates to the names of the military bases? we will see. that may require legislation but i want to tell you something, the american people know these names have to go. these names are white supremacists that said terrible things about our country. this is after world war ii, some of these names were given to these bases. you listen to who they are and what they said and then you have

the president make a case as to why a base should be named for them. he seems to be the only person left who doesn't get it but then again, i don't know if it will be in the bill. with statues in the capital, i don't know because that will be up to the makers of the motion to suggest how they would like to proceed. these names have to go from these bases. these statues have to go from the capital. have you heard back from senator black? >> i think he spoke in the public domain and said it's up to the states. it may be up to the states to send it here but it's not up to the states where it might be. we cannot have these statues in that place.

public sentiment is everything. time for us toct move those statues because other times, people don't care because they don't go there. hand, this might be the timing. >> have you and senator mcconnell made any progress on naming a chair to the congressional oversight committee? yes, we have made progress. i thought that was a yes or no. hopefully soon. i think it will be imminent.

thank you for your question. do you have the power to move alexander stephens, jefferson days of his -- davis to some dark corner of the capital and if so, will you do so? >> we will see. , i wasrt with a feather like to start with a feather. let's see how we can have consensus about this. members over the years, especially members in the black caucus, have just wondered what are these people doing here. most of us don't know one from the other. but there they are. jesse jackson junior wrote a book on this i believe, a more

perfect union which did not include alexander stephens and jefferson davis having a place of honor in the capital of the united states. on theoke -- let's focus bill. let's focus on no chokehold, no no knockofiling, warrants in case of drug cases. let's talk about ending injustice, racial injustice in our law enforcement. let's focus on what we do about immunity in terms of prosecution and the legislation and how we go forward. let's see how we can work together, recognizing there are many fine people in our first responders and law enforcement. many of them want to be part of the solution. now, we haven't been so need this legislation.

statues are important but what's important is we have had no we had no-- if chokehold, george floyd would be with us. if we had data collection, that little boy, 12 years old. killed by a police officer who was fired for another -- from and thenurisdiction hired elsewhere. if we had the no knock law in place, we would not have had breonna taylor passing away. this legislation would translate into lives that's what george floyd's brother was talking about yesterday. save lives, stop this, save lives. >> is there any thought of

breaking out the testing part of the hero's act? >> if the administration was interested, they would have done it themselves but has significant funding for the testing, tracing, treatment, social distancing and the rest. it has requirements for collecting the data so that we know the size of the problem so out and thatake it we can treat the disparities most importantly. pillarse of the three in our state and local government to open our economy with the testing, treating, pocketsand money in the of the american people. at the same time, we have funds in the postal service, osha and food.

the whole package is about the security, the lives, the likelihood and the life of our democracy. any one of those, we can take out. we could take out state and local but we don't have unemployment insurance and direct payments. we can take out testing but then we don't have the job security for the health care workers who would be providing love that. it has a connection. by the way, we are telling the administration to do what they should have been doing all along. 11 and on march 11, how many deaths were there? -- fewer than one hundred thousand let's see if we can't prevent that, thank you.