during the covid-19 pandemic and efforts to forge compromise on government funding and covid-19 relief legislation. arkansas representative french hill on the impasse on government funding and covid-19 relief. ♪ host: this is the washington journal for december 10, 82 our program because of the house coming in at 9:00. also at 9:00, the fda discusses authorization for pfizer's covid-19 vaccine. see that on c-span3 and c-span.org. one of the sticking points of congress passing another round of covid-19 relief funding is businesses should be allowed liability relief for covid related losses. reporters say it offers protection for businesses doing their best to keep customers safe. opponents say there has been no of covid cases and

liability shields are unfair to workers. us, ifhow you can call you lived in the eastern and central time zones, (202) 748-8000. mountain and pacific time zones, (202) 748-8001. for business owners, (202) 748-8002. you can also text us at (202) post on twitter and on facebook. the latestfers negotiations when it comes to passing another relief package and this prospect of liability shields. this is the reporting, saying a major ranch in the talks in washington as a pitch by mitch mcconnell to include broad legal protections for businesses, schools, places of worship and others organizations from lawsuits over covid-19. the issue has threatened to rail

negotiations, proving so contentious mitch mcconnell agreed to remove the liability shield, if only for now. thereing from roll call, is a bipartisan effort to pass relief and liability is also included in that. roll call includes senator chris coons, democrat from governor, said the urgent liability language was thought to include a six-month moratorium on coronavirus related lawsuit to give states time to come up with their own legislation providing for liability protection. for injuries that occurred in 2020, the group would provide businesses, universities, and other institutions that could be targeted by lawsuits they can use to counter excessive claims. the story adding republicans had proposed providing business blanket immunity. the democrat said that was too narrow and would prevent most claims. cornyn proposing

something called a safe to work act dealing with the aspect of liability insurance. sayingposed legislation it would temporarily liability for personal injuries arising from covid-19 exposure, nonprofits, work businesses. it would create a detailed procedure requirement to prevent frivolously engaging in a federal court, finding of willfulness and fee arrangement disclosures for class-action, and will not cover coronavirus related exposure injuries that take place between december 1 between 19th and october 1, 2024, the end of the covid-19 declaration. there is more. you can see that on the senator site. when it comes to this idea of protections for businesses because of covid, do you think they should be included or not? you can call us on the regional lines. for the eastern and central time

zones, (202) 748-8001. for the mountain and pacific, (202) 748-8000 come and for those business owners who want to give perspective, (202) 748-8002 you can always post in our twitter, our facebook, text is asked -- text us at (202) 748-8003. senators talking about this included mitch mcconnell talking about the idea of liability during the pandemic. [video clip] >> this is not just about businesses. it is about universities. it is about charities and others who see this developing epidemic of lawsuits headed their way. it is not total immunity. it would not protect you if you are grossly negligent or engaged in intentional his behavior. if you were not, this is a one time liability relief related to

a once in 100 year pandemic that kicks in for a time and then goes away. we cannot get the economy back to normal if we have an epidemic of lawsuits on the heels of the pandemic. it will not make it possible for us to get back to normal. host: that was senator mcconnell from days ago. that prompted reaction on the senate floor. this was senator dick durbin talking about the idea of liability. [video clip] >> one of the things you have to prove is causation. that is rare in a case dealing with coronavirus to be able to pinpoint who became infected and what the circumstances are. that is why so few lawsuits have been filed.

the senator from kentucky is insisting there be immunity to liability as part of any agreement. it is a thorny topic, a difficult topic, a controversial toic, but i plead with him hold to another day the overall issue of liability. except this emergency bill we've put together as a bipartisan group of senators to address this issue and the reality of the world we live, to hold it back because of some other major issue is unfair to american families and workers and students and health workers. we owe it to them to do everything in our power to help them now. how can we go home for christmas knowing the day after christmas 12 million americans will see their unemployment insurance disappear because of our inability to act?

what kind of spirit is that with any holiday season? , theirhe white house perspective on covid-19 relief, also talking about this issue. we turn to you. sam in vancouver, washington starts us off on this idea of liability protection because of covid cases. --, you are first up your your first up. caller: i would like to say, this is a good idea because there has been too many frivolous lawsuits. i have to be -- i happen to be a 73-year-old white man, because -- i am disgusted with nancy pelosi and harris shenanigans. host: when you said there are too many frivolous lawsuits, what you mean? caller: you of people suing for all sorts of things. a barrage of different things. because they did

not speak in a certain town. -- they did not speak in a certain tone. they think he does not speak in the right tone. they did not bend over backwards to appease me. host: we will hear from kevin in indiana. you are next. think protection is needed, but like they said, it is hard to prove. there is a vaccine coming out, i do not see why they cannot do a three month or six month grace year, so that way next you know, there is not a bunch

of lawsuits after the fact. covid, i wanted to make a aboutt or ask a question my student loans. i got a letter saying because of covid we do not have to pay. mine went into collections and they charged me 19% on top of my student loans. i wonder if anybody else have the same thing happened to them? i feel like we should be able to sue them for falsifying that covid is the reason you do not have to pay. tennessee? caller: i think with regards to lawsuits, the white house is where it started. the white house had a book left by the obama administration on how to deal with the covid virus because of us having leo bola -- because of us having the ebola,

and they did not use it. they already had a roadmap. anybodyibility of suing should start with united states government host: you are saying when it comes to liability protection for businesses, would you see that or not? caller: they need to be protected, but as far as being sued, it should go back up to the white house. the government left those people to fend for themselves, and they were looking out for themselves and not putting any kind of ruling in place to govern everybody. amendment, the 25th we would not be where we are now. host: the cbs story i showed you included a link to a firm, apparently according to the story they are tracking the number of complaints, covid

related complaints but across the united states. if you go to the box, the total so far is 6571 complaints dealing with issues of civil rights, consumer cases, education, banking and financial services, there is a host of categories if you want to see the number of complaints and it comes to covid related cases so far. the liability protection you heard, both senators mitch mcconnell and dick durbin talking about being a discussion of the background when it comes to the passage of a covid relief bill being debated on many fronts on capitol hill, also the white house making a case for it cured when it comes to liability cases, that is what we want to hear from you about. from california, taught, you are up next -- todd, you are up next. caller: i think all businesses should be exempt from any covid-19 lawsuits.

a virus no way to prove was contracted by someone at some place. it is virtually impossible. businesses are already being destroyed. to getinesses need reopened and back to work. sendthey should do is $2000 directly to every individual that has filed a recent tax return. perspectives todd's in california. you can call us to give your perspective. maybe twitter is your thing. if you go to our twitter feed @cspanwj. so far, a good majority saying no to the idea of businesses being protected from covid lawsuits.

check that out on our twitter feed. derek friday giving his perspective. "i think there can be compromised because i do not think it is fair for businesses to get numerous frivolous lawsuits. democrats want to compromise, they do not have to bend completely, especially if they want to get more money to the people and states." tom saying no to business lawsuits. michael in portland saying liability shields, definitely not. of efforts fore republicans to close people's access to the courts. if you give businesses liability, companies will -- either you come in or you're out of the job. is a way youwitter can join us this morning. facebook, if you want to post at

facebook.com/c-span. brad in kentucky. you're up next. caller: you have been on the tweeter much. it has crossed your eyes. [laughter] is the issue whether you can say you got covid somewhere and sue that place, like a i went to church and got covid and now i want to sue them? is that what we are talking about? host: that is larger idea. caller: i do not understand how that would work. ist does seem interesting you cannot prove where you got covid. the pandemic did come from a place, it is not uncontroversial. it is widely accepted it came from china. it spread throughout the world.

congressmen and years ago voted china into the world trade organization and gave them a favored nation status, which allow their economy to boom, which allowed them to have high-level weapons labs. you understand what i'm saying? host: back to the business itself when it comes to those protections. is that something you agree or disagree with specifically to that? caller: whether or not they should be able to sue a business? host: suing and then giving protection to the business over these type of lawsuits? caller: i will say congress is pretty well precedented in protecting business, as we know the former cares act they passed , the first early stimulus -- are these negotiations part of

the stimulus bill? host: on a couple of different fronts. there is a bipartisan effort which includes the white house, senator mcconnell saying maybe we should hold off on this aspect inconsiderate at a later date. a lot of fronts going on on this. pennsylvania, jeff, your next. caller: good morning. how are you? host: i am well. caller: i would like to make a point. all of this to be able to hold some buddy responsible for their thatns comes from a party ran to the court how many times since november 2? makeup your mind. do you want to be able to sue or not be able to sue? i think people should stand on responsibility. do not take away her their right to a fair -- do not take away

the right to a fair shake. host: you think there will be an abundance of frivolous lawsuits if no protections are provided? caller: when you are on the defense side of a lawsuit, it is always frivolous. i do not think you will see a rise in frivolous lawsuits. people are worried about staying in there playing with our future and our ability to stay alive by not encouraging safety measures, by tying up distraction after distraction after distraction. i am high-risk. i've been in my apartment in the house every day since march. i'm not looking for somebody to sue. i'm looking for somebody to fix the problems. host: let's hear from robert in brooklyn, new york. situationis highlights one of the basic

flaws in capitalism. employees can for only come at the expense of profits to the employer. host: elaborate on that. what does it mean for this issue of liability shield as they refer to? caller: it is part of the larger situation. the proper way to solve this is to shift from a capitalist economy to one that is more socialist, maybe a mix, but much more socialist. host: that is robert in new york. perspectives, one from the chamber of commerce. findeir website, you can this. "relief should be targeted. gross actors and bad actors should be held accountable. we are asking for safe harbor to give employers some degree of insurance and if they follow

public health guidelines they should not hardships from unwarranted lawsuits. the business community is not seeking blanket immunity." another perspective from the leadership conference on civil and human rights, saying "any type of immunity would directly harm black, latino, and other workers of color who are underrepresented in reopening jobs and expose them to risk of covid-19 and deaths. as hospitalizations and fatalities continued to grow out of control nationwide, it would be shameful to provide protection to actors who failed to take reasonable action to keep workers and consumers safe." you can visit various websites if you want a fuller perspective on what they are offering. from fran, jacksonville, florida, you are next. calling because i think the objection to this exemption from liability should

-- becauseof grants of plants like the pork plant that stayed open and insisted people were not qualified for unemployment because they did not want them to come to the job and they did not provide safe working conditions. with the exception from liability, the employees would have no recourse. we are talking about extreme cases. if all companies abide by the osha guidelines, they would not be asking for this. i think osha should be the first step, and they should not be exempt from liability if they were found not to follow osha rules. host: fran, in jacksonville. this is pam in tennessee, "are dying,ding, people are

children are going hungry and yet republicans are more concerned about helping businesses. -- then helping -- are more concerned about helping businesses than their constituents. have a happy christmas on your paid vacation while millions of americans suffer." "corporations have too many rights already." if you want to tweet us, @cspanwj is how you do that. you can text us at (202) 748-8003. morning.fornia, good caller: good morning. i want you guys to be aware that insurance companies are denying when they covid verify workers comp. i am not quite sure where the workers comp got taken out.

you consume all you want -- you can sue all you want, but if it is normal person walking in a grocery store or anything else, your insurance, they are compred to have work insurance, right? host: are using this from personal experience? caller: personal experience. host: related to covid? caller: yes. related to covid. host: what was your case? caller: what was my case. i work for an insurance company. a health insurance company. a national one. we are denying workers comp. -- if you areee an employee at a restaurant, a covidy store, and you get

issue, soa work comp what is the problem -- lawyers are getting rich. people are getting poorer. there is no problem with the way things are going. behink people should not subjected to useless lawsuits, where it will take their business down. they haven employee, workers comp insurance. host: other perspectives. off of facebook, saying "our business does not allow any customer in without a mask. no mask no service." pennsylvania saying unlimited liability -- let a judge or jury decide guilt. maybe cap damages to $1 million per person. david from facebook saying you cannot sue people over the flu

or cold either, so yes. you can reach out to us on one of those venues, also call us as well. we will hear next from ray in albuquerque, new mexico. good morning. caller: good morning, america. lawsuits are stupid and a waste of the court's time. if you're going to sue, sue china. send them the bill. host: karen is in new hampshire. good morning. caller: good morning and merry christmas early. do notalling to say i believe people should have a right to sue and establishment. they know exactly how they were supposed to take care of themselves with the mask, not a handkerchief, and the social distancing. besides that, how would you find

,ut, if you are in a restaurant and i think everywhere they take your name and your phone number so they can track you if somebody happens to get it. three people got it in that restaurant. how would you know you got it from them or you got it ,omeplace else, and furthermore -- my correct come and i do not mean this in a sarcastic or mean way, that kamala harris finally came out and said she had gotten the virus and she did not know where she got it? is that a correct statement? host: i have not heard that one. i will leave it at that. we are talking about the liability portion of the debate on capitol hill. there is a hearing today, if you

want to hear the fda as they consider the emergency use authorization, you can follow along at 9:00 eastern standard time. you can see that on c-span3 and c-span.org. if you want, download and follow along on our radio app. ,his is the wall street journal highlights researchers in the united kingdom talking about possible side effects from regulatoryaying the agency that gave the go-ahead for the pfizer biontech vaccine has told hospitals that any person with a history of allergic reactions should not receive the vaccine. that includes people with previous histories of anup lactic reactions and those who need to carry adrenaline injectors. the story attic most people will not experience severe allergic reactions to the vaccine. doctors and vaccine experts say they might experience temporary side effects such as fever and

muscle pain. james in bristol, tennessee. good morning. think as a joke it is something mitch mcconnell cooked up. i do not think it is a problem. what i do not understand is these people -- a heartless person like mitch mcconnell, i think it is a joke. host: as far as the liability protection itself, what is your reasoning for or against the protections? caller: like the other lady said , most people have compensation and things like that. people should know enough to keep the masks on. that is my opinion for that. host: on the twitter feed we showed you a little bit ago, any increase in numbers, but most of them still in the know category. no to you saying businesses getting these

protections from the covid lawsuits. .articipate at @cspanwj the washington times highlights money in congress. "more time on a full-year spending bill" adding the extra week kicks in saturday and buys congress an extra week to take congress to the end of fiscal 2021. wednesday's overwhelming vote in the house highlighted the appetite on both sides of the aisle to avoid any shut down brinksmanship. two members of congress joining us later on in the program at 9:00 to talk about covid relief. the house coming in at 10:00. -- the house coming in at 9:00. alan from new york, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. the is management of

the trump administration, we are facing adversity. country mishandled this disgusting situation. i do not know how i can pay my debts. so to the idea of liability suits, what you think of that? about three or does thomas. two months. -- handling our problems. host: so you are a restaurant owner? would you be concerned about these type of lawsuits hitting your restaurant directly? caller: yes. not directly. food, we can hand out,

but unfortunately they closed my restaurant. host: is it closed permanently or do you have a chance to reopen? caller: i cannot open my restaurant at any time. hit with thesee lawsuits, could you meet them? caller: i don't know. debts only. my borough,id, swains georgia. caller: yes, here we go. trying to limit due process from people that want to sue for good cause. host: some aspect of this is included in the bipartisan effort. caller: i was going to bring

this up during the heroes act. you cut me off about this. 1200 peopleplants, killed, which is owned by a chinese company. the president has been able to sue 40 times. the court saying, what in the world? even the supreme court. host: the idea of business protections for individual businesses. the ones have taken the precautions set by the cdc. hasn't isne that walmart. they have a sign requiring masks but they are letting people in without masks. reckless endangerment.

that is what people would be suing for. if a company can be proven to have used reckless endangerment, they can be sued. why would they want to limit people's due process, then talk about it being feckless? how many lawsuits has he lost? perspective from the senate floor, as of yesterday, chuck schumer talking about the effort. [video clip] democrats have continually toered our proposals closer our republican colleagues in the spirit of compromise and for the sake of getting something done for the american people. it would do a lot of good if the republican leader would drop the daily tirades which seem to be based on alternative reality and join the rest of the senate and urging bipartisan negotiations

now underway to continue. families are nearing a point of desperation, unable to put food on the table, a roof over their children's head. by january, 12 million renters will owe average $6,000 in back rent and utilities; a shocking figure. we need to deliver emergency relief to keep american families, workers and businesses afloat until the crisis subsides. the only way to get that done is in a bipartisan fashion. the sooner the republican leader realizes it, the better. host: for a half-hour, your calls, texts and tweets on liability protections for businesses because of covid cases; a debate going on on capitol hill. you can continue on for the half-hour. 8001 for eastern and

central time zones. (202)-748-8002, if you are a business owner. arizona, you are next. caller: i believe small businesses should be exempt from covid lawsuits except in specific cases of negligence, from the management of a small wealthy, whereas larger conglomerate businesses should not have liability protections from covid lawsuits. owned enterprises should not receive protections, especially in cases of gross negligence. host: how do you define gross negligence? caller: not following cdc guidelines. option to suehe specific people if proven they were not washing their hands/

following other specific guidelines. hampshire,wood, new mark. lawsuits r.o.k. -- are ok. they have their purpose. since this virus came from china, businesses, unless they are owned by china, should not have to worry about frivolous lawsuits. let's direct this hostility toward the source of this virus; the chinese government, the who and those people complicit in the spread, governors and mayors, who had no idea what they were doing, complaining and crying they want leadership from washington but at the same time we don't want washington to tell us what to do. every state is different. if that is the case, let's direct anger and hostility toward the source of this problem. host: why not direct it directly

to the business itself? caller: the small businesses you are talking about are the backbone of america. i cannot go to my local for a cruiseymore night with my hot rod buddies because of this problem. am i going to sue my local restaurant? the people in my neighborhood who make a living serving me food? where you pinpoint got this virus from. you are now making another big smokescreen to cover the people and organizations complicit in this situation. host: mark giving us perspective on liability shields. another business hit by a suit; facebook, the federal trade commission's case concerning

antitrust is in its most ambitious in recent memory, seeking to unwind facebook's prior acquisitions of instagram. whatsapp. it goes on. host: you can read more in the wall street journal this morning concerning this case. tennessee, thornhill, lynn. caller: good morning.

riskrs should not have to health to pay bills. my daughter is a cancer survivor. any time she gets sick, it goes to her lungs, she ends up on an inhaler and oxygen. she was working for a plasma center when covid got bad. it would not allow employees to bring their own ppe, to where surgical masks/n95's because of the optics. she is a lab tech and went to work for a doctor that does take care of her employees. did she tell you about her daily experience? what measures does she take to protect herself? they supplied ppe, they give them covid tests, they do social distancing.

they are taking their clientele out in the parking lot, instead of allowing them in the building. the center where she worked, they had a lot of homeless people. every week, they had to tell people they have hepatitis c or hiv because people did not know until they got tested. you are up close and personal when you're drawing blood. baxter, tennessee, business owner. what type of business? -- [indiscernible] -- you are thriving in covid because everyone wants to be close to home to socially distance. my comment comes from the insurance side. no commercial insurance policy in america covers communicable diseases. there is exclusion.

owner, alone,ual stands liable if people consume for covid. it is a real issue. they would have to change all the liability forms and throw out the exclusion, which will imperil all the insurance companies, if you say, all of a sudden companies that have not collected premium for that exposure now may have to pay so many millions. workmen's comp. covers it. any employee injured anywhere on the job i covid, if he got it there, he is covered. that is a sole remedy. in other words, you cannot sue above that unless there is gross negligence on the part of the employer by not providing ppe. value do yound of

place on one of these cases? place valuedo you on anything? in states, they have legislatures saying, if you die, you get this much money. that is the way workmen's comp. is. in some states, there are court liability limits. in our state, you cannot sue the for more than $25,000. if you are a government employee, and you get covid on the job, workmen's comp. would cover it but if you sue for gross negligence, there is a cap. there is no caps on individual businesses. if 20 million people get it and 20 million people sue for $20 million each, all the companies go bankrupt. perspective on the

insurance side from baxter, tennessee. 20 more minutes with this question. legislators joining us from 8:00 to 9:00 and the house coming in at 9:00. biden's news, joe nominee to head the dod, lloyd austin, was formally introduced yesterday. wall street journal reporting he will need a waiver and the president elect looking to get that from congress.

host: he was formally introduced yesterday and during comments, talked his perspective, if he should get the chance to lead the dod. [video clip] concluded my military service, i hung up my uniform for the last time and went from being general lloyd austin, to lloyd austin. distinctionortant and one that i make with utmost seriousness and sincerity. role as athis new civilian leader with military experience but also with a deep appreciation and reverence for the prevailing wisdom of civilian control of our military. i recognize being a member of

the president's cabinet requires andfferent perspective unique responsibilities from a career in uniform. i intend to keep this at the forefront of my mind. i look forward to surround myself with experienced, capable, civilian appointees and career civil servants who will enable healthy, civil military relations grounded in meaningful civilian oversight. host: conrad, philadelphia. quick question. insurance,state farm for 35 years, you never filed a claim. you file a claim tomorrow. they kick you out. what happens to the profits they

make from 30 years? people never put claims in but when someone wants to put a claim in against them -- what happens to that money they made from 1952 to 2020? to theow does that apply protection of businesses from covid lawsuits? caller: insurance companies saying they cannot pay if regular people sue them. consumers have been paying them for the last 30 years. host: should businesses be protected? caller: no. is the lawsuit country of the world. you say something wrong, you can get a lawsuit. look at washington, d.c. 60 lawsuits. they can to. we can't. can you find out how many corporations have given elected officials money that lobby for them?

host: steve, mentor, ohio. as far as suing, it comes down to gross negligence. business isthe negligent and provable, they could be sued. goerwise, any suit should and sue trump. host: we heard senator durbin say proving these cases is a difficult task so how do you determine gross negligence? determinableuld be by the fact if the company says you shall not wear a mask while working; that would be gross negligence. most companies comply with the

cdc guidelines. suedey ought not to be unless it is negligence. who is most negligent in the country is trump. he said everything is going to be fine. everything will clear out. perspective from the majority leader of the senate, mitch mcconnell. [video clip] >> the most contentious items be with all due respect, they are almost like a subsidiary. ,ny kind of liability relief like a pavlovian response, we have serious objections to the need for state and local assistance. what i have suggested to them

internally and to you publicly, why don't we set aside the most contentious issues? we know we will be confronted with another request after the first of the year. let's pass the things we agree on. host: a lot of comments made by legislators over the last couple days. if you want to follow, you can do so at www.c-span.org. nancy pelosi expected to hold a news conference today. questions will come up during map. follow along at the website. download the free radio app if you want to listen to congress. the fda hearing, open hearing today on pfizer's request for application at 9:00. watch if you can on c-span3 and www.c-span.org. you can follow along on the radio app. colorado springs, colorado,

mark. caller: how are you doing? host: fine, thank you. caller: i am a small business owner. i believe businesses should be held accountable if there is gross negligence. [indiscernible] no one has clearly defined how to ask the question. the first thing. we have to start from the top. i am a u.s. army veteran. if accountability starts at the top, you have very little problems. if you have lawsuits for businesses, you have to have those accountable who set those in place. we have very little accountability from lawmakers, when it comes to something of this magnitude. host: what kind of business do

you own? caller: i am a private investigator. legal services for the state and the city of colorado springs. host: if your business was faced with a lawsuit, could you meet those demands and the legal challenges? caller: probably not. that is the point i am making. if it is going to impact your business, you are going to make sure you cross the t's. if you do not wear a mask, you no longer work for me. carolina, good morning. caller: how are y'all on this beautiful day? host: well, thank you. caller: hope mills, north carolina, outside of fort bragg.

host: sorry about that. caller: the constitutional offense with this suggestion; the people, my friends on the republican side who say the second amendment, you cannot touch it because it is part of the constitution, because you can defend yourself immediately with violence if necessary, they are all of a sudden on the seventh amendment where it says if you have a controversy of more than $20, you can do a jury of your peers, it is ok. mitch mcconnell and that clip saying, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the liability part on the left -- the republicans around the fascist right. they want everything for the company. there is no corporation, businesses are not listed in the constitution. you have a contract clause. host: before you go deeper,

liability protections -- yes or no and why? caller: when you go to court, rule 11, fruitless lawsuits. you have to prove a reasonable person could win in the court and have a reasonable chance to win at the appellate level. that is why trump is able to put it out. there is a reasonableness, even though most people may not see it. the second amendment is constitutionally offensive, why ?sn't the seventh amendment host: you made the point. couple stories. the washington times headline highlighting the president's efforts when it comes to the election.

host: that is in the washington times. to the pages of politico, highlighting news concerning hunter biden yesterday.

host: more of that story in politico. you can go to the website of axios concerning the democrat of california, eric swalwell. host: axios, where you can find a story on their website. hawthorne, new york. lawsuitsny kind of

pertaining to coronavirus hoax going on where you're trying to pick people against small businesses, anyone who perpetuates this ongoing hoax will be judged, by the way, and there were a lot of lawsuits going on now that are rolling around the corner that are going to come up and bite some people in the you know what. i'm talking about the news. i'm talking about people perpetuating this. host: we are talking about liability protections. what do you think about that? caller: guess who is not going to be liable? these big corporations perpetuating this. every news organization perpetuating this lie, you are liable to be sued! tennessee., memphis,

caller: good morning. my husband died of cobit in a nursing home. -- covid in a nursing home. i sent him to a nursing home in july because i could not take care of him. he died in a very nice nursing home. should i be able to sue? host: how would you answer your question? caller: i think i should be able to. host: on what grounds? me see they would let him, from july to the time he was on his deathbed. everybody for their temperature and everything else. you had to go to the office to pay your bills. why didn't they protect him? the nursinge saying home was the cause of him getting covid and passing away?

caller: yes. addressed that with the nursing home in question? me another they sent bill for $967. host: apologies for that. thank you for sharing your story. you, thank you for sharing this time. the topic likely to come up before the house comes in at 10:00 this morning. jim mcgovernfrom and efforts on food insecurity. later, arkansas republican french hill on negotiations with government funding and covid-19 relief. coming up on washington journal. ♪ q&a,ncer: sunday night on

the 117 congress begins with 141 women serving, the most ever. we talk with millennials in the freshman class, cat chemical of florida and sarah jacobs of california, about their backgrounds and what they hope to accomplish in office. side with the american people in the working class. government operates best when it is small, accountable and transparent. people have the power to control that. i don't think we should build big bureaucratic programs. i am a pretty conservative member. i will work with members and those that want to make our country a better place to serve the concept of equal opportunity rather than equal outcome. >> i have never known a day in our adult lives, the u.s. has

not been at war. i was in middle school when 9/11 happened. hadnow the effect that has domestically on our generation. one of the things i want to focus on is rebuilding america standing around the world and making sure we are ending these wars responsibly and how we can craft foreign policy that will address the challenges in the forre and that will rebuild those future challenges like global pandemics and climate change. announcer: freshman women of the 117 congress, sunday night, 8:00 eastern on q&a. announcer: washington journal continues. host: the house coming in at 9:00. jim mcgovern, democrat,

massachusetts, subcommittee on nutrition oversight, thank you for joining us. guest: happy to be with you. nightthe bill passed last for government funding. where were you? guest: i voted yes. i don't want to shut down. we need to keep it running. anbuys us time to negotiate omnibus spending bill so we can keep government running next year. it buys us more time to try to work out a deal on covid relief. we are in the middle of a pandemic. we need to respond appropriately. we have businesses struggling, restaurants about to shut down, families who don't know where their next meal will come from, people who are unemployed who cannot pay their bills, on and on. house democrats, months ago past the heroes act to try to address the crisis.

it has been gathering dust on mitch mcconnell's desk. we have a bipartisan group trying to work out areas for common ground so we can put up a bill that provides relief to the american people. my hope is that we get to a point where we have a majority in the house and senate that will over that. people need help. it is a desperate situation. congress should knock home for the holidays unless -- should not go home for the holidays unless we pass that. host: where are you on liability? guest: think about the priorities about those insisting on blanket liability protection. it is not with the people wronged or suffering. provide arying to circle of protection around corporate friends to shield them from wrongdoing, no matter the issues. this is a negotiation. it is continuing.

my hope is we will get ts. -- there are republicans in the senate who want to pass something. i hope the leader will step out of the way and allow there to be a debate and vote and be some semblance of regular order over the senate. host: blanket immunity? moderated immunity? guest: i do not know why we are addressing this in this bill. clearly what is on the table now for the senate majority leader is something i am against. i am not here to negotiate every detail of the bill. to deal withrying this on a bill designed to provide relief to struggling families, unemployed, trying to get food on the table, to keep restaurants open, businesses open, to help cities and towns, -- this seems to be extraneous

and wrong. host: you are highlighting the idea of food insecurity. where do current negotiations intersect? guest: in the heroes act, there was money put aside to help our food banks and increase benefits for those on snap. onincluded a bill i worked with my colleague from california called the feed act, to provide money from fema directly to farmers and restaurants to purchase food and prepare food and get it to those in need. we have a hunger problem in this country, even before the pandemic. over 50 million citizens don't know where their next meal will come from. all of us should be ashamed by that. we can do so much better. gh on theo make this hi

list of priority. food is a basic human right. in my district, i have been at events where we are passing out usda food boxes to people and align -- and align a people in their cars go for miles and miles and miles. the need is real. no one should go hungry. this is a challenge for the next administration. i hope they make hunger one of their top priorities. i have already talked to the transition team for the need to have a usda secretary who will focus on the issue. we have to appoint a hunger czar. this administration has to undo the negative regulations the trump administration put in place to throw people off benefits. let's bring everybody together who has a role in this, whether the food banks, the

beneficiaries of programs like snap, our educators, health care providers, business leaders and let's develop a holistic plan to once and for all, effectively deal with this issue. hunger is a political condition. we have the money, food, everything we need. we do not have the will. under this new administration, i would like to think the political will will be developed and we will aim to create a hunger free country. untilour guest with us 8:30 a.m. (202)-748-8000 for democrats, (202)-748-8001 for republicans, (202)-748-8002 for independents. you can text us at (202)-748- 8003 and post on twitter and facebook as well. the cares act. $9 billion set aside for child nutrition programs, more for snap, more for commodities and

food distribution for assistance, with partners including food banks. guest: the heroes act built on that. we need to figure out a way to and whateverities we are doing next. pandemic has basically impacted this country like no other crisis in my lifetime. we need to acknowledge that. one of the roles of government in times of crisis and emergency is to step up to the plate and make sure people are taken care of. needt the resources they to put food on the table, among other things. if we are going to address the issue, we need to look at the immediate concerns, the results of the pandemic and the long-term concerns as well. is average snap benefit $1.40 per person per meal. that is it.

even before the pandemic, a lot of those people had to go to food banks and pantries to put food on the table toward the end of the month. hunger is a costly problem. kids who go to school hungry cannot learn. that is why school meals are important. every bit is important to a child. workers who were missing meals on a regular basis are less productive. hospitals. people wind up in emergency rooms. senior citizens supposed to take medication with a meal but cannot afford the medication and their food, end up in the emergency room because of an empty stomach. people end up relying on foods that are not particularly nutritious. they end up with long-term chronic disease. if people are not moved by the

moral obligation to eliminate hunger in this country, and all they care about is the bottom they ought to be with me to end hunger in this country. host: republican line, you are on with jim mcgovern. caller: republicans are on the right track on this. how are people going to get back to work if businesses cannot protect themselves? get ademocrats -- they lot of their money from lawyers. that is why they do not want protection. the reason why people are knocking back to work is because -- notin a pandemic getting back to work is because we are in a pandemic. people are afraid to go to restaurants.

businesses are afraid to bring people back to the office because of the pandemic. this is deadly. people are dying. deathight, the highest toll of any single day since the crisis began. we are close to 300,000 people dead in this country. millions of people have been affected. if you want to help business, we have to crush this virus. i will be very blunt. this administration has behaved in a way that is criminal. the delay and denial. they are doing white house parties now where people don't have masks, everyone is having a good time. we see these super spreader events. their incompetence and denial has been deadly. for the life of me, we should all be shocked by that. whether democrat or republican, as to whether or not we should

have a good policy in terms of containing the virus. it is common sense. it is about caring about your fellow human beings. attention to basic health care and guidelines to protect people that this administration has demonstrated is shocking. you want to help the economy? crush the virus. you crush the virus by wearing masks, washing hands, doing what medical experts tell us to do, providing a relief package to get us through the next months, making sure everyone gets the vaccine. host: to the relief package, should it include another direct payment? guest: i think so. this is a desperate time for people. it should include money for state and local governments. the reluctance to help cities and towns and states is baffling.

communities to retrofit schools so they are safe for kids to go back. we should all agree the safest place in the world should be schools. that costs money. revenues are down at the local level. many states operate under whereed budget amendments they cannot spend beyond a certain level so they cannot respond to the growing need. that is where the federal government has to step up to the plate. let's get through this crisis. save as many lives as we can. help keep our businesses alive so when this is over, they can thrive again. i don't know why that is so controversial. i don't know why the senate majority leader has been dragging his feet. quite frankly, it is unconscionable and people are hurting. not just massachusetts. kentucky, where the senate

majority leader lives. host: the direct payment portion, would you see a direct dollar amount or would you change the parameters? guest: i will not tell you what i am absolutely for or against. what i know is we have a democratic,use senate republican, a president republican. i trust the negotiators to work the best deal possible. i want the best deal. the absolute most we can provide for people in need. everyone should want that. this should not become a offstmas tree to help check a list of nice things to do to incorporate donors. we should focus on how to help save the economy, protect lives and our cities and towns an individual struggling. host: michigan, linden,

democrats line. mcconnell is trying to hold up any money in order to protect businesses that allowed and took bets on how many employees got killed and died from staying open. package everyone is debating now needs to put their focus on mcconnell. he will hold up everything he can in order to take control of people's lives. i believe there should be money out there for the nurses, the doctors, the people working this whole time. extra was a person little overkill. a lot of people made more money then what they normally made.

we need to do something now. the cameras should be on mcconnell every day. the cameras should be up at the white house every day, showing the parties and the glam and everything. you have food lines in texas. ted cruz out there saying he will go to the supreme court and testify -- host: thanks. appreciate her focusing on the first responders; nurses, doctors, those on the front lines. they are heroes. we need to support them in every way possible. she points to something happening which is unfortunate. this white house knows they messed up. demonstrated incompetence at a level we have

never seen in the federal government in terms of response to coronavirus. the issue now is how you distract. these crazy election lawsuits, no basis for them. he is talking about things that have nothing to do with the immediate crisis. he wants us to focus over here so we are not focused on what is happening before us. we have a crisis right now. congress needs to step up to the plate, work out a deal, to help the american people. this president, i hope and pray will sign whatever that deal is. we are not to leave here until we provide relief for the american people. host: roberto, san diego, republican. caller: i have called your office many times over the years. i'm concerned about people eating. i would like to know why we don't pay attention to what other states are doing?

we don't even care what other states are doing? in the meantime, the state of california, the land of democrats, no question about that -- is there any question about that you understand? california is run by democrats -- guest: ok. caller: they passed here not long ago, the democrat house and giving passed a thing people who own property, no questions asked, capability to raise rent 5% plus cost-of-living. there ain't a person in any place that gets a 5% raise these days. host: what would you like him to address specifically? caller: paying attention to what the hell is going on out here. host: ok. guest: i will look into what the caller just said.

i don't know what is happening in california with regard to what she mentioned. i do know we need to help people be able to pay rent and mortgage and make sure people are not evicted. that is a big issue. again, we are living through a crisis, the likes of which none of us have seen in our lifetime. it is important we all come together and work together for the good of the american people. we have had crises -- i think back on 9/11. i had strong disagreements with george w. bush on a range of policies but in the aftermath of that attack, we came together to try to unify our country and protect our people. here we are, in the middle of a crisis where we are getting close to 300,000 people dead, yet we see coming out of the white house, out of the senate majority leader's office,

nothing but rhetoric to try to sew division and distraction and incompetence. the incompetence of this white been, let's be clear, has deadly and criminal and they should be ashamed of themselves. host: has all the money for covid relief and spent? -- been spent? guest: the administration needs to get the unspent money out. we need to reprogram it. we ought to do that. obviously, we need to make sure every dollar has been appropriated, is spent, in terms of helping save lives and helping families put food on the table, helping small businesses and restaurants be able to survive and help our state and local governments get through the crisis. host: recently, a report you participated in your home state in a walk, taking a look at hunger. guest: we call it monty's march.

inspired by local radio talk show host in northampton. we have been doing a walk for a money, 43 miles, to raise for the food bank of western massachusetts and awareness about the issue of hunger. in that part of my district, there are rural areas. hunger in rural areas is just as bad, if not worse than in urban areas. people are in desperate need. there is not a single congressional district in the u.s. that is hunger free. hunger defies stereotypes. there are people working who do not earn enough, who are still struggling to put food on the table. snap,jority of people on the supplemental assistance program, still work, but they

earned so little they still qualify. i hope the incoming administration will heed my recommendation and make this a priority and commit to a white house congress, food, nutrition and hunger, let us develop a holistic plan to end this once and for all. the u.s., the richest country in the history of the world and we are having this conversation. 50 million citizens who are hungry, who do not know where the next meal is coming from. we should all be ashamed of that. host: the bipartisan emergency covid relief act, including a 15% increase in monthly food stamp benefits, supporting food banks and pantries, funding for senior nutrition services, including meals on wheels and increasing the value of the women's and children's programs. you can find that online. democrats line, denver, colorado. c-span andd morning,

representative mcgovern, good morning america. i'm commenting on the representative's opening being in about people long food lines with their cars waiting. i haveestion is -- heard other callers on other days calling and say, been in the food lines for hours and hours and running out of gas. is you have vans distributing food stocked with boxes for nonperishable foods and go to the cars, rather than waiting for hours and hours in a food line.

several vans stocked with nonperishable's, check the credentials of one person, driver/passenger in the food line, put it in the trunk or someplace in the car and let those people drive away. that would reduce a lot of waiting time, gas time and for the people homeless and about to be homeless, for cooked food and hot food -- you don't need to check credentials. host: we are running short on time. congressman? guest: we need to find ways to streamline. i mentioned the bill i worked on with congressman thompson and jose andres to provide people with hot, preprepared foods. the reality is, the problem is so enormous we're dealing with right now.

we are not prepared. we need to figure out ways moving forward not only to get through the current crisis but we need to figure out a way to solve this problem long-term. one of the ways is to get people on snap more so they can purchase more directly on their own in supermarkets. this is an almost. it is a problem we have ignored too long. it is always frustrated me, given the fact millions of our citizens are hungry, it has never been a question in any presidential debates, the primaries or the general election. 50 million citizens do not know where their next meal will come from. that is a big deal. this is a moral crisis, economic crisis. we need to make it a political priority. host: texas, independent, brick. -- rick.

caller: i social distance, wear masks, i believe if you get covid, it is pretty bad. numbers just released on the overall deaths through october, 2020. i want to go through 2018. 2,366,000tober, people died, overall. died.2,000,404 people 14,000 people less died from this year, then last year. i cannot figure this out. whether it is the new stations. the overall deaths, every year you have an uptick of 50,000 deaths. if you have a bad flu year, you have 100,000. 2,999,000.edicting

2019 wasll death in 2,985,000. host: we will leave it. guest: i am not sure what statistics the caller is citing. -- we add everything up are talking about 300,000 deaths that could have been preventable. we are nowhere new the end of it. millions of people have been infected. they will have to require care for the rest of their lives. rather than trying to rationalize why we should not take this seriously, which is insane, quite frankly, we should be focused on trying to crush this virus, save lives, get everybody the vaccine and figure out how to strengthen the public health care system so if this

happens again, we are better prepared. that is the responsible thing to do. we ought to be able to come together regardless of political backgrounds and be able to agree this should be a priority. it is criminal for this administration to downplay this or make believe it is much ado about nothing or to try to distract people from taking necessary actions to save lives. i have known people who have lost their lives to this disease. by the way,, young people, who have lost their lives. i talked to my local hospitals, frankly, they are dealing with ptsd from what they have witnessed as a result of this disease. this is real and serious. we all should come together, follow the advice of doctors and scientists, wear masks, do the social distancing, wash our hands, do everything we can to protect family and friends until

we can get the vaccine to everyone. in congress, we should step up to the plate and pass a covid relief bill to help save our economy and help our first responders, our heroes, doctors, nurses, cities and states, get the president to sign it and let's move on. we have a lot to do to get this country back on its feet. least,o, at the very what i think is necessary to be able to give us the wherewithal to get our economy back on its feet when this is over. host: what do you make of is planningbiden for the agriculture committee? guest: i will support what the president-elect decides. he is a decent man. that one of the

primary focuses should be on the issue of hunger and food insecurity and nutrition. it has to be a priority. whoever assumes the position. from there were calls representative from ohio. guest: marcia is my colleague. she would be great. former usda official. a lot of good people have been mentioned. whoever it is, hunger has to be the primary focus of the usda. host: andre, new york, democrats line, last call. caller: the one thing we are finding out in this government is the loopholes used for people -- one person like mitch mcconnell to be able to say yay ornate and stop things in its tracks.

i do note things understand is why the republicans, or whoever it is stopping the coronavirus stimulus bill, is stopping people from getting money because in order for the big companies to make money, the grassroots must spend money. i don't understand the logic. they're not giving money to the grassroots people. therefore, eventually, the water will stop getting to the leaves at the top. when the roots dry out, it is done. guest: good point. there are some republicans in the senate who don't believe government should help in any way, shape or form. that is their political ideology. their other republicans who just need to develop a spine. mitch mcconnell is only as powerful as he is because republicans acquiesce to him. same for the president. he gets away with behavior that is irresponsible and criminal on so many occasions because we have a lot of republicans in the

house and senate who are afraid to stand up to him. you know what? these people have to do what is right. -- right now doing what's right is passing a coronavirus relief bill. host: does the speaker pelosi have a role in this? guest: speaker pelosi, to her credit, has led the house and passing legislation to try to deal with this issue. one, the heroes act, where we compromise with ourselves to try to get to a deal. she's been at the negotiating table every moment to try to work something out. the only thing she's insisting on is whatever we passed be real . passing a press release doesn't help anybody. this is something that actually helps people, small businesses, restaurants, cities and towns, first responders, those who are unemployed, those who are hungry . we are at the negotiating table. we have been there every single day of this crisis trying to

move another piece of legislation forward. this is not a pox on both your houses. we are there. we have compromised. we are willing to bag when appropriate. -- beg when appropriate. i think most people listening, i don't care what your politics may be, i would like to think that we all agree on that. representative jim mcgovern, thank you for your time, sir. guest: all the best, be safe. hill.coming up, french that when "washington journal" continues. ♪ >> book tv on c-span two has top

nonfiction authors every weekend. coming up this weekend, coverage from the recent virtual texas book festival with authors of michael denzel smith and robert discussing the 2020 elections and the george w. bush administration. authors continues with ellis cove and kimberly hamlin on the aclu and 19th amendment. jessica sportswriters luther and kavi tried nathan on the issues facing sports today. investor sinan aral. at 9 p.m. eastern on vani,rwards," krista pari on how she was denied reproductive choice and health

care for her children. she's interviewed by the kaiser family foundation women's health policy director. watch book tv on c-span2 this weekend. american history tv on c-span three, exploring the people and the events that tell the american story every weekend. coming up this weekend live on american history tv and washington journal, a look back on bush v gore 20 years later. we will discuss the landmark decision with bj dion and the bulwark editor at large, william kristol, coeditors of the book "bush v gore." at 6 p.m., on the civil war, the -- gettysburgurg college civil institute discusses union general george meade.

at 8 p.m., the university of texas arlington professor stephanie cole on the work of lucretia mont, a leading advocate in a number of mid-19th century causes, including abolition and women's rights. sunday at 8 p.m. eastern on the presidency, historian douglas princely -- brinkley discusses jacqueline kennedy with david rubenstein. they focus on her historic preservation and cultural work, especially the white house renovation. watch american history tv this weekend on c-span3. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us, arkansas a republican french hill. good morning, think you for joining us. guest: a pleasure, thanks for having me. you: on your twitter feed

wrote the democrats and republicans have agreed to discussions on appropriations and relief and you say get the job done. what has to happen to get the job done on those fronts? through 2021ended the continuing resolution and congress has a hard deadline before christmas to complete our spending proposals for the 2021 fiscal year. now the conversations are going to include in my view and i hope covid-19 relief for families who are still hurting from this pandemic. particularly our small businesses, restaurants, and hotels who are struggling under additional lockdown orders and increasing virus cases around the nation. host: when it comes to the relief, what are essential in your mind? what are things that could be put aside for now? guest: that's a good question. the core is to give our governors the ability to spend the cares act money that they have already received and the

flexibility to let them spend it into 2021 would be very helpful and bring a lot of certainty to the governors across the country . secondly, i think we need to get to a determination on what should be the unemployment compensation for families still fighting to get back to work. we need an incentive to get back to work that we also need the certainty that they have payments on unemployment. finally, i would say the business sector, particularly the small business sector, restaurants, hotels, public music venues, those kinds of entities need a second opportunity, a paycheck protection loan grant. i support that fully. it's something that the house republicans have tried to move here on the house nearly 40 times since september. host: we have heard the point of sticking points around liability protections for business. where are you on that? guest: it's not for businesses only, it's for schools and

churches and anyone trying to open up using cdc standards, so that they can be protected from class-action lawsuits. it's got support from republicans and democrats on both sides of capitol hill. it's not really been a sticking point. it's been mitch mcconnell's principal thing that he believes is important, but it is in the mix for the negotiations happening right now. 9:00, theng in at house. you can ask questions, (202) 748-8000 free democrats. (202) 748-8001, for republicans. remind people their commission you serve on. guest: the cares act, which provided the financial support for fighting the pandemic and getting the economy open has significant oversight functions and one of those is the congressional oversight commission that oversees the treasury and the federal reserve and their lending efforts to reopen our economy. we are meeting this morning and

reviewing with secretary mnuchin alone that they made to why rc, a large national trucking firm on the verge of collapse, doing a lot of business with the defense department. the loan was made because they were essential to national security. that's the topic of the meeting this morning. host: is part of the oversight looking at money to be distributed and in money to be yet distributed? and where are those figures generally? we didin the cares act something very important, in a public health crisis you always want to overreact. congress appropriated 900 billion dollars into the federal reserve and the treasury for the emergency lending process to bring liquidity to the capital markets as a stopgap for companies that couldn't find financing elsewhere in our cities and local governments. what has been great is our economy has reopened. businesses, cities, local governments were able to tap

resources through the normal capital markets. they have not been used for the extent that we thought they might be needed during the pandemic. that's what we are looking at, how those were used for main street lending for the state and local governments to support their efforts and, as i say, the national security arena. host: correct me if i'm wrong, is that the money that the treasury secretary back from the federal reserve? guest: he did. the cares act appropriated more money than we actually needed to use to support the economy during the pandemic. when satcher -- what secretary mnuchin proposed is that congress reallocate the money for higher priority covid-19 relief. that is in fact what the senate and the house are negotiating right now, reprogramming some of the funds that the fed will send back to the treasury. host: our first call for you this morning is gary, mt. juliet, tennessee.

gary, you are on with our guest. go ahead. caller: thank you. representative, as a taxpayer and an american i want to ask you, please don't allow nancy pelosi to take my tax money and a bailout broke cities. florida, theo to golf courses will be covered with schoolteachers, retired from illinois, making $100,000 a year. they want us to pay that? that state is broke. there are so many people hurting . it's not needed. in california, new york, illinois, let them eat that. they wasted the money. they don't have the funds to pay it and they don't have any politicians with the guts to fix it. thank you, sir. guest: this has been a real bone

of contention between the house and senate. when you look at public finance in this country, the vast majority of states are doing ok, even during the pandemic. they have rainy day funds and balanced budgets. in arkansas are tax revenues are actually up and we have a surplus. so, you are right, it's a bone of contention because speaker pelosi is advocating for nearly $1 trillion to go to the states that have serious budget shortfalls like connecticut, illinois. and in many instances those are not connected to the pandemic. from as you say, they are from long-standing bad business practices at the state. you will find that members of the house and senate are very sensitive to this issue and we want to target support to the states directly for first responders and health care and not in any way to bailout pension funds or poor management practices on the parts of the states. good point.

host: debbie, pennsylvania, democratic line. guest: i'm interested in this, they had proposed a $600 stimulus check. security, i get the one check a month and it has to last me the whole month. i understand nancy pelosi rejected that. is there any hope at all for someone on social security? will there be a stimulus check? guest: thank you for the question. president trump once stimulus for those who are still hurting in the pandemic. i think there will be something -- excuse me, something that tries to address those things both, but it's not clear yet , if the next few weeks there brings clip -- of clarity will be brought. it remains to be seen as

negotiations go on. host: is that something you would support? i could, but it depends on everything in the package. what's the mix? what's the structure? how is it benefited? i want to see how the entire package comes together. host: what would cause you concern as far as the package? it's really the overall size and if there is too much in it for general use that can't be justified, such as $1 trillion for state and local governments, for example. if it is targeted relief, i will be able to support it. host: could that money be reprogrammed in as providing something for direct relief? this is the point that secretary mnuchin made by asking for that stabilization money to come back from the federal reserve into reprogramming. that has been the focus of mitch

mcconnell and the senators. you know they have a package closer to 600 billion dollars and a lot of it is funded by reprogramming cares act money that hasn't been spent for the money that's going to come back from the federal reserve programs. host: from the independent mine, buffalo, new york. hello. caller: there have been reports of companies not providing money for ppe and other violations. i heard with tyson foods that they went so far as to bet on which employees made covid. do you think that companies like that should get immunity? guest: thanks. that's why it's hard to draft this liability protection and this is what members of the house, senate are working on. what's the balance? what's the obligation of the school, the nonprofit, the faith community or business for

following cdc standards and having a safe environment and at the same time not be burdened by expensive long-term litigation? this is the balance that congress is trying to strike and it's not an easy one to do but you raise an important point and it is something that has been considered. something that achieves that balance? guest: that's the work for experts in legal affairs in the house and senate, trying to design that balance. christos, cleveland, ohio, democratic line. representative, have you yet referred to the president-elect as the president-elect and if not, why not? i have. i have given several interviews about his economic team, discussing janet yellen, who i worked with early in my congressional term when she was chairman of the federal reserve system. host: as far as the president

himself, should he concede? guest: the president says that he will meet -- live by the decision of the electoral college and i'm taking him at his word on that. kim, tennessee, antioch, hello. you are on. caller: ok. it doesn't make any sense to me, how much sense does it make to give money to hospitality and airlines industries when you are saying stay home, don't travel. am i there? host: go ahead, you are on, caller. caller: how much sense does that make? how much sense does it make to argue about passing a bill that gets given to people who rush to handed out and it is fraud and given to the wrong hands. i think more thought and oversight needs to be done. the problem is that the government is broken, they are

all corrupt. backeople need to take their government and see where the money is going. the money could be better spent for businesses that are going to make, like produce the ppe. you know, rather than go endlessly. billions were fraud it in chicago for loans that went out to small businesses and the results were for 200 and $50,000 minimum, way more than a small business would want to take out. i think we need to give more thought than we are. guest: thanks, kim. you make a number of good points there. let's talk about responsibility and accountability, first. when you have something as large as the cares act, naturally mistakes will be made and people will get funding that were not, that they didn't need to. that's because the government was in the midst of a pandemic

and wanted to help as many as they could back in april. those loans are being audited and in arkansas we recently had a case of a young man who had a completely fictitious company that got a multimillion dollar paycheck protection loan. he's going to go to prison. secretary mnuchin is focused on that accountability. congress is focused on that accountability to find abuse for the cares act money. you make a good point there. on your point about travel and leisure and restaurants, this comes about because of the nature of this, the government is asking these businesses to shut down. -- if we do not support them excuse me, support them modestly with a grant type program or some extended lending type program, all of those employees, hundreds of thousands of those employees will go on unemployment and be on that for a long time and be very disruptive to trying to get back to work. it's striking that balance and that is what congress is working to do.

we are for accountability and auditing the money but we are also trying to support workers out there so they don't have to go on full unemployment and be separated from their place of work. host: our previous guest indicated that it was on the senate side, covid relief, and said that when it came to nancy pelosi they had compromised several times to get something passed. what do you think about those guest:nts as they stand? nancy pelosi has had plenty of chances to get bipartisan support that president trump would sign, each time she took a pass on that. i'm not sure that that is 100% true. i will agree with the common that the senate is looking for a covid relief bill that they can get 60 votes for and that has proved challenging. but mitch mcconnell in my view has committed to doing that and i think senators on both sides of the aisle are committed to doing that, as you noted, with the problem solvers announcement

last week with their own finding a middle ground approach. what's the potential of getting something passed before the holidays? host: i'm always a cup half full person. the american people are calling for it, our small businesses, families and governors, saying that this targeted relief is essential to keep this economic recovery on track and a beating this public health crisis back as we roll things out across the nation. host: here's kelly in bluefield, west virginia. caller: yes, i know the american people are suffering and people are going hungry. i tried to get on with mr. mcgovern. the incoming administration said they are going to open up the borders and i just don't see how we can survive with letting hundreds of thousands of more people into this country in a

time of crisis. thank you. guest: well, thanks for that question. you know, in the last four years president trump has been our president. we have focused on border security and beefing up our immigration process and trying to strike a balance. over one million people come to this country illegally every year -- legally every year. they follow the rules and they wait in line and congress has never been successful in a compromise on immigration reform. i support that, i hope we do that. but at the same time we have to recognize that we have borders, we have to honor them with a strong border security. i want to say that we have made great strides on that in the last two years. you are right that in an economic type to -- tough time like this, i hope that president-elect biden will not take that approach when he comes into office and simply open up the immigration system. that we have a balanced,

bipartisan support for immigration reform in the house and senate. host: news is coming out about unemployment claims. 1.4 billion filing claims last week. 800 and 35,000 for the first time. 400 and 27,000 under the pandemic employment assistance program. with these kinds of numbers, what's the relief around resolving these claims? virus caseshe increased, you have seen increased lockdowns. that is why more people are being put on the unemployment role. that's why covid-19 relief between now and the 18th of december is essential and a part of that is having certainty about the unemployment compensation amount. host: deborah, maryland, go ahead. caller: high, good morning. i'm trying to figure out that, there are so many people who are struggling and they seem to always want to put these little, these little restrictions or

throw things into the bill and it makes it hard for people who are struggling. why can't we get past that? guest: deborah, thanks. the cares act was very generous when it came to reducing burdens on people trying to get the assistance they need. we expanded snap benefits, we expanded food assistance in the family, with food bank access and support for food banks across the country, expanding the medicaid match in our state. we paid for family and medical leave for testing and quarantining purposes. we opened up the unemployment system for the first time in american history to self-employed people, gig workers. the paycheck protection program, again, anyone in any size of business was eligible for that and that is why i think we should extend that program, too. there was a real effort on a bipartisan basis to not make it difficult. to access these benefit programs in the midst of this national

pandemic. host: aside from serving on the congressional oversight commission, or guessers on natural oversight committee. what do you think of the president-elect's pick up janet yellen? publicshe's a devoted servant. [sneezes] the sanrked for francisco federal reserve bank, she has served as chair of the federal reserve. she will be the first person, the second person, actually, to serve both as fed chair and are treasury secretary. she comes with eminent qualifications. i had a very straightforward relationship with her at the fed and i think she will do a fine job. texas,onie, grand, republican line, go ahead. representative, someone spoke about the immigration system moments ago. i have a comment about that.

mr. biden needs to know that there is already more illegal immigrants crossing our borders. there were 70,000 last week. there is a caravan on their way up from honduras and two more behind them. mouth ando shut his stop talking about what he's going to give away. he is dangerous. he needs to just stop talking about it. what he is promising them that half of the americans don't get. host: sorry, caller. representative, go ahead. guest: this is an important issue. president trump worked with the president of mexico and they did a good job forestalling those caravans, coming up with a processing idea, making sure that kids were not separated from their families. when you say you are going to open up the border, you encourage this kind of

immigration caravan in that creates problems for mexico and the united states. we have worked hard at trying to improve our border patrol in terms of manpower, or customs in terms of manpower. all the resources that they need to stop illegal immigration on the border, and the processing, judges, and judicial work that we need to do to process those who try to seek asylum. it's a tough, tough complex area. congress can do more and i hope that we will. host: we have just a few minutes before the house comes in. mary, jump right in. caller: i understand that currently congress is trying to pass a covid-19 relief package for americans domestically. however we can't really defeat the pandemic until we defeated worldwide. do you think that congress should support emergency supplemental funding to fight international covid?

guest: congress has been very generous in the international budget to support particularly the poorest countries fighting the pandemic. i'm the ranking member on the subcommittee of the house of financial services committee that works with the world bank and imf. we have had numerous meetings during the pandemic about how the world bank and the international monetary fund is going to support these very debt burdened developing countries struggling with covid-19. you have a global effort in europe, asia, the world bank, on the international monetary fund, along with the united states. ant: between now and eventual passage, what's the message to your fellow congresspeople about passing a bill on covid relief? guest: the american people, from business to health care, school and our governors, they want targeted covid-19 relief and we should, between now and december

18 find bipartisan agreement and send president trump a bill that he can sign into law. host: before you go, revisiting the topic of government funding, when do you think another bill will be passed and what is being worked on as far as extending the funding of government? guest: well, whenever you have a transition between president, you have a bigger debate about spending. i would hope that we would work to find consensus and fund of the government through september 30 of 2021 on a permanent basis and not as a continuing resolution. let's stably fund the government, the military, our civilian sector deserves that. let's get covid-19 relief all done. host: again, representative french hill, who serves on the congressional oversight commission. you heard him say that there is a hearing today. it will be covered by c-span. had to our website for more information on that. representative, thanks for your time. guest: my pleasure.

host: as far as another event that you might want to monitor regarding vaccines and the fda, an open hearing today taking a look at the pfizer authorization for emergency use. if you want to follow and see the debate, go to our website, sorry, go to c-span3 starting at 9:00 this morning and watch it there. if you want to follow along, you can do so at c-span.org and you can download and listen along on the c-span radio app. that is it for the program today. another edition of "washington journal" comes your way tomorrow morning at 7:00 and in just a moment we will see a gathering of the house of representatives. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2020]

[captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]