stuart: president trump has been speaking in the white house, answering some reporter questions. i have got time for one headline and that is, he expects general flynn to be exonerated. the says the general was attacked by dirty cops, the general, will come back bigger and better. that's it from me. neil, it's yours. neil: stuart, thank you very, very much. something caught our attention with the president meeting there with governor murphy, the push he has to speed up coronavirus testing. he is calling it operation warp speed. we have a little bit of excitement for that. two minute warning is in. we'll get the tape very shortly. blake burman what can we expect to hear from the president? reporter: hi, there, neil. yes we just got some of the notes between president trump and governor murphy. two minute warning as you said. so i will keep it short. there were a lot of pleasantries back and forth between the two. the governor said earlier today he wanted to talk to the president about three things. one, thanks the president for cooperation, two, to talk about

more testing and three to discuss the need for more assistance to the states. murphy telling the president at one point in this, quote, we have been crushed as a state. so neil, i will send it back to you. because we'll get the tape. one other thing i was told i want to get in real quickly, i was told the white house as it relates to more relief down the line potentially for states, the white house essentially is on hold, a pause, they are surveying the landscape what potentially could comb next. white house officials say a decision on next step measures not expected this week. they still say a lot of these programs still haven't fleshed out all the funds. murphy going to the white house to talk about the need for state funding. nancy pelosi put the figure at $500 billion. i'm told it will be several more days until the white house officially plots out its next step. neil? neil: all right. blake, thank you my friend. we do know governor murphy is already looking at reopening

state parks this weekend. that is not adjusting the timeline of mid-may when the state will consider lockdown provisions better part of a month. we might get an update. here they are. reporter: economic advisor kevin hassett said this morning unemployment rate could be 19%. numbers we haven't seen since the great depression. what is the plan for getting country out of this ditch? >> that will be a great third quarter, i say, great, transition will be really terrific. i think into the fourth. we'll have potentially a great fourth quarter. there is tremendous pent-up demand. i don't know if kevin said that, or larry kudlow. they're seeing, i feel it. i think sometimes what i feel is better than what i think, fortunately or unfortunately, phil. i tell you i feel it. i will say that i think next year will be a spectacular year in terms of growth, in terms of bringing your country back. i think we'll have a really good

year. we want to be where we were. i think we can actually surpass where we were. we were the strongest anywhere in the world. we were the best we ever were but we were the strongest anywhere in the world. i view what we have now is obviously a period of, here we are, it is what it is. we just got hit by a vicious virus should never been allowed to escape china. they should have stopped it at the source. they didn't do that. 184 countries have been devastated by it, including china, by the way i looked at their numbers and their numbers are terrible. and it is just a very tough situation for the people of our country. all the loss, the debt, it is a terrible thing but i think we're going to make a very strong comeback. it will start with the third quarter. i think you're going to start to see some pretty good numbers. you see really good transition numbers, but the fourth quarter will be, i really believe it will be terrific. i think that next year will be a

great year. reporter: is it fair for the voters to take into consideration your handling of the pandemic when they assess whether to reelect you in the fall? >> sure. i think they have to do a number of things. they do have to do that and maybe phil could speak to that i think i handled it, not me, i think our whole group has been spectacular. we had ventilators. we didn't have any. we built them. we have thousands, tens of thousands right now under construction and we've given as phil said, you got, i think more ventilators than anybody in the united states. you needed them very badly. never a person that need ad ventilator didn't get one in any state. not one person that need ad ventilator. we didn't say, he didn't get a ventilator and somebody passed away he didn't get it. we have so many masks. we don't know what to do with them. we took over the cupboards were bare. frankly not as tough as the

ventilator situation, we're the king of ventilators, but what we have done on testing doing numbers the likes of which nobody has ever seen before. i told you the president of south korea, president moon called me to congratulate me on testing. and we did more tests than any other country anywhere in the world. i think they told me yesterday a number of, if you add up the rest of the wormed we've done more testing. it is a higher quality test. so i think we've done a, i think the whole team, federal government, we built hospitals for you and others. >> you bet. >> we built medical centers. and i am talking about thousands and thousands of beds, many, many medical centers. we had, as you know, we had the governor of florida and governor of louisiana over the last few days. they could not have been, one was democrat. this gentleman happens to be a proud democrat. they could not have been more supportive of the effort of the federal government. and i will tell you jim, let me just tell you, we have, we

started off with empty cupboards. the last administration left us nothing. we started off with bad, broken tests, obsolete tests. we have come up with, between the abbott laboratories, we have the five minute, did they test you today? reporter: they did test me. >> i'm negative. >> you did the five minute thing, abbott test. >> quick turnaround. i feel like a new man. >> you know it? that is a brand new test, that didn't exist eight weeks ago. it is the rage. everybody wants that test. no, i think we've done, i think we've done a really great job. reporter: but the obama administration, people from the obama administration would disagree on the assessment the cupboards were bare. they said there was equipment. you say broken tests. it is a new virus. so how could the test be broken -- >> jim, we had broken tests. we had tests that were obsolete. tests that didn't take care of people. this is what is important. if you look at the swine flu,

h1n1, or as joe biden would say, n 1- h 1, it is actually wrong he didn't know the name. , the swine flu, the flu, obama administration was disaster. they did polling how did they do, their polling was so negative, so bad. they did a poor job. they did a poor job on lot of things. they did a poor job on our military. they did a poor job on our ammunition. when i got here we had no ammunition. just like we had no ammunition we had very little medical. you ask how did we do, i have to say it because the news is so fake, so corrupt. i think we did a spectacular job. i'm not referring to me. i'm referring to all of these people, including your people who have been working working wy people. >> you bet. >> but the federal government has done a spectacular job, to a point where we're building now, we'll have thousands and thousands of ventilators and we're helping other countries

because phil doesn't need ventilators. you needed them very badly at beginning. >> we did. >> maybe you can say something to jim's question. >> i don't have a view on the history but i while say this in hour hour of need, whether ventilators, aren't army corps building out testing, fema with testing sites, a big part of our ability to reopen as fast as we all want to is rapped piddly expand testing. you all literally in the here and now this week are helping us in a big way to at least, i would expect by the end of may, thanks to you and your teams help we'll be able to at least double and i hope more than double our testing capabilities. and because of that, that will allow us to much moring a aggressively and responsibly dot reopening that we all need to do. >> phil, how did we do on ventilators as an example you really needed them badly? >> we got them. no other way to put it. i'm told we were the number one

state recipient of ventilators. >> absolutely. >> and this was, you know, we were at the edge. this is life or death stuff. we got them and we were forever thankful for that. >> thank you, phil. reporter: mr. president on operation, on this vaccine operation warp speed, who is in charge of that and are you overpromising when you say you're going to have 300 million doses of vaccine? >> i'm not overpromising. i don't know who said it, whatever the maximum is, what you can humanly do, you can have. we hope we come up with a good vaccine. johnson & johnson and oxford and lots of different, great, companies, representatives of our country in some ways, nih is working very hard and doing a terrific job. no, i hope we're going to have a vaccine. we're going to fast track it like you have never seen before. if we come up with a vacs seen. i think they probably be. reporter: who in charge of operation warp speed,. >> we have, you know who is in

charge of it, i am. i'm in charge of it. i will say somebody else. we're dealing with as you know the general and the admiral. they're very much in charge but i think probably more than anything i'm in charge. i'm the one that gets blamed. i get blamed anyway. don't forget if we come up with a vaccine, in record time, they say i should have done it faster. but we have a lot of good, a lot of good possibilities. like the gilead yesterday. that was a big thing that was a big thing. as explained, and i think very importantly there was a step, that was a big step, 31% step but the step means i guess, deborah, with tony yesterday was explaining, the step means now you take another step. all of sudden you're up to 50, 60, 70, that was a positive, a big step as i understand it. thankthankthank you. go ahead, please. go ahead. jeff. reporter: thank you, sir. the intelligence agencies today said they agree with the scientific community that the

virus did originate in china was not man made, was not yen net particularly tick -- genetically modified. do you agree -- >> i have not seen the report yet. if you speak to the head of intelligence right now, you speak to the head, they did say i was given a briefing, when i said i was given it, not before. they also said it wasn't specific and it was not a panic briefing. oh, like we're going to be invaded, later january. i think, what you will do, you will speak to them. in fact i ask mark to make a report to you because the, the news was totally, you know, as usual fake and corrupt. intelligence is doing a report. and the report turned out to be exactly as i said. reporter: mr. president, you're saying you got a briefing in january about -- >> no, i'm not saying it. you didn't hear me. i said intelligence is saying it. they will give a report.

it will make you very unhappy because it makes you so wrong. you in particular. please, please. reporter: governor, states received a 150 billion in the first cares act. what are you going to need now to get back on your feet. what have you told the president on that front and how do you address republican complaints that the federal government should not be bailing out states who were badly-managed prior to the pandemic? >> yeah. so, i've been in office two, going on 2 1/2 years. i got elected to sort of fix the economy. we made a lot of progress on what i would call the legacy issues. record pension payments, stablizing indebtedness, record surpluses. as mike tyson says everyone has a plan until you get punched in the face. >> and we did. >> and we did. so we've got a plan, we're comfortable with the progress -- it will take a while on the legacy stuff. the financial assistance we

need, we need a significant amount, this is a big hit, this is somewhere, in new jersey alone could be 20 to $30 billion, but this is to allow us to keep firefighters, teachers, police, ems, on the payroll, serving the communities in their hour of need. that is something that we feel strongly about. we don't see it as a bailout. we see it as a partnership, doing the right thing, what is the worst health care crisis in the history of our nation. i want to again thank the president for extraordinary spirit of partnership across the whole spectrum of our needs. i want to reiterate that. thank you. >> i will say that is a tough question, you're talking about the states, whether you call it a bailout or a lot of money, a lot of it was for years before you were there, you can't have a better representative than this man, that i can tell you. he is an old goldman sachs guy. what they don't know about him, he has done a great job. he went through a big operation before this happened.

that is a hell of a thing. that was a big deal. >> thank you, sir. reporter: mr. president, are you worried about the food supply chain? >> no, not at all. we solved that problem, we solved that problem yesterday. i expect to see the supply chain as strong as ever, maybe stronger for certain reasons. we did something, we got, we had a roadblock, fellows, a legal roadblock more than anything else. it was a foolish thing that nobody ever took care of for a long time and we took care of it. no, i expect things to go very smoothly. reporter: people shouldn't worry about any shortages? >> not even a little bit. there is a lot of supply too. now they will get it. that was solved yesterday. very late in the evening. okay? reporter: mr. president, at what point do people need another check if unemployment is at -- >> we're talking about that. a lot of people are talking about it. we've given a lot of stimulus. again we think now, it is great, i'm happy you're opening up parks and so many things because that is a big step in new jersey because they were hit very hard.

i think that i think you're going to see something that is going to surprise, maybe the world. you know we're the leader of the world. we are really the leader, in this case the leader of the wormed, we've done better. if you look at our deaths, if you look at mortality rates, if you look at things, we're, i'm going to get a chart, maybe the most impressive thing, right? how we've done. and that is a tribute to the governors. it is a tribute to the federal government, all of us working together, but i would love you to get that if you could, deb, top of positive way of those charts. i think you're going to see economic numbers they'll will be fantastic. i believe it very strongly. and you're going to start to see it with the transition period, which is number three. and quarter four, you will have tremendous numbers. tremendous numbers. i think next year you're really going to have tremendous numbers. reporter: mr. president, let me ask you about general flynn. >> yeah. reporter: are you going to pardon him? this is what you tweeted back in

december of 2017 i have to fire general nine because he lied to the vice president and lied to the fbi. do you still believe he lied to the vice president and the fbi? >> i look what they did to him, they tormented him, tormented general flynn. general flynn is a fine man, 35 years or so in the military. you don't get to be where he is by being bad, that i can tell you. and then, right at the beginning of the administration the dirty cops came in. you see the notes, jim. whether you're on our side, that side, whatever, i assume, let's all talk about fairness. what they did to general flynn, and by the way to roger stone and to others was a disaster and and a disgrist to be allowed to happen. cnn tormented him.

i hope to see, they haven't been doing it. i appreciate your question. i hope cnn will not even apologize, which they should, but just cover it fairly. because he is in the process of being exonerated, if you look at those notes from yesterday, that was total exoneration. these were dirty, filthy cops at the top of the fbi and, you know the names better than i do, they were dishonest people. now we have to see what is going to happen. but general flynn was treated like nobody should, i'm not talking about generals. i'm saying nobody in this country should be treated. reporter: were you wrong firing him at the time. >> jim, they did it right, well, look what they did to the guy. i mean he couldn't have known too much what was happening. they came at him with 15 buses and he is standing in the middle of a highway, what they did to this man. they tormented him. they destroyed him. but he is going to come back like i say, he will come back,

bigger and better. but what they did to him, i hear there is lot of other stuff coming out, if i believe everything i'm reading because i like to stay out of it. i don't have to stay out of it at all but i like to out of it, what, jim they did to him is terrible. i hope cnn will give him a fair shack and cover up. because it was. reporter: follow up, was is a mistake to fire him? >> i wish i had with all the information they were out to get him. they wanted him, they were trying to force him to lie. you see the written statements, where they were trying to force him position where we get him on a lie, get him this way or that way. this is terrible. this is like what happened, i'm not going to name the countries because we deal with these countries, okay, what would happen in other countries, not the usa, what they did to general flynn and others and others, is a disgrace. i hope really, i hope your

networks are going to cover it because you know i've seen where it's the biggest story in the world a year ago and year-and-a-half. flynn, flynn, flynn. then he is essentially exonerated. now that is not official yet but when you read the notes how could you do anything else? i hear this, i hear this much, i hear, jim, i hear this much more coming up. i think it would be so good for cnn, if you covered it honestly and if you report it honestly. it would be so good for the network. okay, with that, thank you very much. thank you, phil. [reporters shouting questions] >> we're done. neil: the president making a little bit of news there with new jersey governor phil murphy on the general flynn case where now there are emails revealed show it might have been a case of investigators trying to entrap. president seemed to be holding out the signal the entire case could likely be dropped as a

result but he didn't dismiss the possibility of a pardon. didn't even get into that. but the other issue of course here is the continuing dealing with the coronavirus. he thinks he is making great progress here. they are rapidly looking to speed up the process which time they get a vaccine to the market and in americans hands and worlds hands in short order. he is taking a lot of efforts to make sure that could happen, some say by the end of the year. the fall has been a target and a possibility here. there are a variety of vaccines being worked on all around the world. three or four companies working in conjunction with various governments. united kingdom has one working in conjunction with oxford and astrazeneca. in our country you've been hearing a lot about gilead sciences what have you. president says there are a lot speed speedier an bigger tests. idea of making two million, the eventual goal maybe five

million. they are eventually upping the tests. that is one thing that the governor of new jersey, phil murphy, has been advocating for. if he has more of those tests that could represent unwinding closure provisions in the guarden test effective better part of a month. will continue to be a couple weeks. he is opening state parks and playgrounds this weekend. how that goes is anyone's guess. in california the governor there opened up all the beaches. beaches were crowding out. word he wants to close them all over again. we're up on that. governor mike parson, republican governor, beautiful state of missouri. governor, thank you for being kind enough to stick around for us. how is your state looking, governor? >> neil, our state's doing well right now. we're kind of on the downward curve to our state, all parts of the states with the exception much st. louis. we have two major urban areas, st. louis, kansas city, but kansas city is on its way down.

st. louis is on top of the plateau i will say. we're much more prepared in the state of missouri, much more states, much more prepared than we were 60 days ago to even understand the virus and what we'll be able to do to take care of it through the health system and through the testing portion of it, through ppe. all of it gets better every day as we go through the covid-19 virus. neil: so unwinding some of the provisions will involve what, governor? i know you were first looking on a ban against large gatherer gathererrings might be lifted soon or monday, can you update me? >> monday we're opening up pretty much the entire state for business, recreation, get people back outside, to get the economy going, with the limits what those gatherings could be. only with big box stores, a number of people can go in at a

certain time. not getting people bunched up. we'll let churches go back with social distancing be the main theme across the state. give locals the ability to control what is best for them but for the state as a whole, missouri has done well. people have been following guidelines and really taking social distancing seriously, not so much because government told them to. they know it is a safety issue out there, they're taking it upon theirselves. as we reopen we'll gradually get back in the economy. everyday people willing to go out there, hey, i will be a little cautious as we open back up too. i think you will see that in this state. neil: governor, would you entertain apparently what california governor newsom has committed to, if people violate these distancing provisions, you her, about the crowds that gathered on california beaches when he lifted the beach orders and shut them down, now i'm wondering whether you would do something like that to monitor how those in your state are responding to the provisions

you're outlining and trying to ease, and if they violate them you can come back lift them again? >> i think one thing, neil, you have to be important, to make your decisions you need to do it on data and that was one of the things early on there was so much misinformation. we developed our own dashboard in missouri, we base everything what we're seeing real time in missouri. if that happened, one, i feel like we isolate the areas and basically target them. we're much better prepared to handle those situations. but we'll have to see. if something terrible happened you have to take a look at things. for now we want to go through this until june the 1st. give people opportunity to get back out. be respectful to one another. they understand the economy has to keep going. you have to deal with the economy of the virus. you can't take one or the other, you have to deal with both of them. neil: when you say june the 1st, sir, what does that apply to? >> you know, i think what we

would look at see where we're at in 30 days. you know, when you look back at this virus from this country or the states, what happened in 50 days for most of the states has been incredible. one to deal with the virus. so many amazing things happened, what we did on the medical institutions what they come up with to be able to meet demand of the coronavirus. although we struggle every day to keep up with the demand but any we're doing remarkable things. we will analyze things, look at the data we have and hopefully people will be much more ability to go to work and we take off more restrictions. i heard the president saying in the interview, we're looking fourth quarter, end of third quarter, fourth quarter, i agree with him totally, i think the fourth quarter has real opportunity this year to pick up, to get the economy going back again. neil: you think you will need more help from the federal government? you heard, i'm sorry, the jersey governor talking about 20 to

$30 billion he is looking at. what about you? >> well, listen i think when the federal government is trying to assist you what is related to covid-19 i understand that and i get that and i appreciate what the federal government is doing. however, i think when you start talking about, you're really going to go in there to bail out states, you have to be very careful with states. one thing to help us and support us, but you shouldn't be rewarding people does a bad job managing their states. so it is a little unfair for people like we in missouri where we have to balance the budget every year, we do that, we have aaa bonding, you let some neighboring state or somebody else get a full bailout compared to just not doing a good job as governor. again i think you have to be careful when you say you will bail every state out because they have got financial problems. neil: all right, governor, thank you very much. we wish you well. governor mike parson, slow unwinding in missouri. historically has been a state famous for handling crises like

this. who can forget the spanish flu, 1917, 1918. it was st. louis provided example slowly get back to business. with heavy emphasis on slowly, a century ago, keeping an eye on large gatherings. a century ago making sure no one got ahead of their skis or tried to reopen or do things that might be a threat. st. louis, missouri, provided that example then. the governor trying to provide the example now. the dow jones industrials down 400 points. we'll have more after this. ♪.

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to keep students and teachers connected to the world. that's why verizon and "the new york times" are offering 14 million students free digital access to "times" journalism. neil: new york governor andrew cuomo has been answering, jobless claim figures here, a lot came out of new york

metropolitan area here, over 30 million who claimed jobless benefits in the last six weeks. the governor acknowledging that that economic backdrop is not favorable, he did not give a hint whether he would push back or alter his plans to reopen or at least look at re-opening new york state beyond may 15th that is the tentative plan he is looking whether to redress a lot of provisions in place, sheltering and the like could be eased by then. keeping an eye on that. talking about a staggered nature upstate new york. certainly not rural, cross-hairs of this virus as is new york city and certainly times square as we've been showing you, seeing again and again, ain't exactly a people thronged as it used to be. we'll keep you up to date on that. improvement in hospitalizations in new york. you might recall that the governor said, i want to see a steady improvement on that before i even entertain opening

the state partially or otherwise. mike murphy following wall street on top of this. a bit of a sell off, as people chew on provisions and obviously jump in claims here. i will say, mike, not to dismiss the fact over 30 million americans have applied for jobless benefits, but the numbers, by and large get a little lower each week. what are you to make of that? >> that is nice to see. the numbers are improving but when we look at it, neil, the entire country shut down. [inaudible]. people -- back to work. [inaudible] neil: mike, i'm very, very sorry, mike. we have very bad audio problems to you. we hope to go back to you. i apologize for that. i do want to go to texas, casey stegall monitoring that. sudden flare-up of new deaths and cases in the state.

i wonder if that is affecting the governor's plan slowly but surely reopening the state? what have you heard? reporter: nothing is changed the way the governor is opening the state despite the spike in infections. tomorrow is the big day, dine-in restaurants, libraries, movies, museums are allowed to open at 25% capacity. there is one exemption to the rule in fact. some counties in texas that have five or fewer infections, they are allowed to reopen tomorrow starting at 50%. so at half capacity. this is interesting because the social distancing measures are still going to be kept in place. they're going to be followed. a lot of local governments are even requiring people to wear, you know, facemasks or coverings out in public. for now intimate service like salons, barbershops, spas, gyms,

remain closed. health officials advised on that decision. there are still high numbers of covid-19 infections being reported. 882 new cases. 882 reported just yesterday, and 42 deaths. that is the largest daily number we've seen in a couple of weeks now. one dallas doctor says hospitalizations are even up at his particular facility. >> in terms of numbers of patients coming in, sick enough to be admitted to the hospital in terms of patients who are being admitted to hospital, sick enough to require intensive care, mechanical ventilation, those numbers have been going up pretty significantly for us, the last seven and 14 days. reporter: now it is not clear whether any of that is linked to the reopening of business, no one is saying that, we should point that out, but governor says the state is working hard to expand the overall testing capacity.

that includes who can get a test and where, what kind, a swab, at-home collection, one of those rapid ones. it also encompasses antibody testing as well. health officials say armies of contact tracing teams are being built up and deployed. all of that in mind, neil, with of course the goal of keeping the spread to a minimum. and isolating a new case and once it is identify, almost immediately. so a lot of stuff has to work in harmony as you know for this to happen. neil: casey stegall, thank you very much. i want to go to texas congressman jodey arrington who joins us right now. congressman, are you pleased with the roll out of easing some of the restrictions that the governor had put in place, not nearly as onerous as those in other states, but sort of a slow but steady process? >> absolutely. i think he is doing the right thing. it's time to phase in our economic recovery and reopen for

business. we have to be measured and responsible. we have to defer to local leadership. we have to defer to the conditions on the ground. all of these principles are in the governor's plan. i mean, just to keep things in perspective, neil, if you take all of the cases in texas throughout all 254 counties, we're still just a quarter of the cases in new york city. so i think as we see the curve flatten, we'll see some spikes, we'll see some flare-ups. but that is part of managing risk. what we have to make sure that we don't see, and that we might need to re-engage and intervene, if you have an inundation to the health system in some pocket or corner of the state. but as long as there is capacity there, in terms of bed space, critical equipment, i think this is absolutely what's needed or we're going to face longer-term, bigger problems, not just as a state but as a country.

that is why i'm glad texas is more of a self-reliant, not government-reliant state. i think that psyche, that attitude, coupled with being safe and responsible is going to have texas, in my opinion, leading the way for the recovery in this country. neil: having said that about texans, self-reliance and all of that, how do you feel, congressman, about all the state has are clamoring for more federal aid? i believe governor murphy of new jersey, telling president, first time i heard a figure he is pegged to getting more aid from washington, 20, to $30 billion. are you open to state aid, would you put caveats on it the way mitch mcconnell hinted, there should be liability protection for businesses once you do fully reopen? >> well i am certainly not interested in bailing out states that have mismanaged their governments at the state or

local level, quite frankly. and that is across the board. i think that would be a moral hazard that we would create a precedent that we would regret. we may need to provide some assistance, but it should always be, by the way, we have, we have provided as a federal government government, almost 3/4 of a trillion dollars to date but whatever we do, we have to have shared risk, shared responsibility, shared cost approach or we don't provide, or rather we provide a perverse incentive for states not to reengage, not to manage risk, and reopen, and you think that would be, that would be a problem. neil: so when you look at all the money that has been spent, we're at three trillion dollars, if you add all the congressional stimulus measures coordinated with the president, i'm leaving out the trillions more more federal reserve to protect banks

and businesses, and provide loans of last resort and liquidity for the beiging system, how will that ever be paid back, you think? >> neil, i am glad you asked that question. i hope you talk about this more and more. we were already in a tenuous fiscal situation with 22 trillion in debt prior to the covid crisis. now we're adding trillions, that is, we've seen the highest deficit spending now, almost four trillion in one year, the highest we've ever seen since world war ii. in less than two years, we'll have the highest debt load as a nation we ever had. about 108% debt-to-gdp. which is higher than world war ii. so we might be able to manage through, and i believe we will, the crisis of covid around the, sort of economic impact in the near term and intermedia but the long-term fiscal crisis is real

and some one will have to pay for that. i'm talking to a lot of members to make sure we have provisions to offset things, put budget deficit targets, to walk this thing back in a glide slope, to put other measures that force congress to do what we don't do, because we keep kicking the can down the road, we blow through our budget caps. we have to put measures in place to force congress to do what every state, every family has to today, always had to do, act responsibly with their resources neil: we'll watch it closely. congressman arrington, good catching up with you. be safe, be healthy and be well. congressman was alluding to, another one we didn't get to talk about, speed-up of drug testing and potential cures, vaccines, whatever you call it. at least three prominent once are being green-lighted right now and could be out within a

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♪. neil: all right. it is in big demand, trying to get a hand on that money, small business administration is handing out right now to the tune of $700 billion, if you include the first tranche, second tranche, follow up monies that have been available. there are far more takers then there are available funds to help out here. so the rules get a little bit kind of in the weeds here. they're trying to get this sorted out almost everyone who wants to get some help can, but it gets complicated, as i said. edward lawrence with the latest how it is all going. edward? reporter: i will try to uncomplicate for you. this is in the category you can't really please everyone, neil. the bigger banks were shut out of the payroll protection program for seven hours, from 5:00 to midnight. that was on purpose. the small business administration, wants to let smaller banks with assets under a billion dollars help their smallest clients. they're talking about banks that mainly in rural areas. they mainly have very small town

clients. the payroll protection program is meant as a bridge for those small businesses to get them to the end of june, when the economy could reopen, according to the administration. here is white house advisor kevin hassett on that point. >> this virus is still lingering or even staying at about the level we see right now, then activity will stay lower, and the thing, my instructions, to the economic team's instructions from the president, basically have a plan for every eventuality. that is what we're doing. reporter: you know goes on to say that if the deaths and number of cases do sort of decrease, people will feel more comfortable coming out spending money when the economy does reopen. the plan was wildly successful for small businesses yesterday during that period, that seven-hour period where only they were allowed to put in a loan to spread the wealth. treasury secretary steve mnuchin saying this program will not be re-upped. this is it. in fact house speaker

nancy pelosi about an hour ago said the exact same thing. so all sides are saying this is it for money related to the small businesses. back to you. neil: thank you my friend, very, very much. jackie deangelis, on one company's quest to come up with antibody test. good thing quest diagnostics doing it. reporter: good afternoon to you, neil. it is actually the latest antibody test. it is a consumer initiated test. that is what is crucial here. you do the paperwork online. you set up the appointment. go in the lab, get the blood drawn and the results you get in one or two days. the tests are more accurate when they draw blood as photoed finger pricking doing antibody testing t wasn't working so well. the quest test is $119. so that is one note there. new york city will be crucial in this antibody testing process.

recall that governor cuomo last week said a random sample of antibody testing showed could be possible one in five new yorkers were infected with covid-19 and many of them not even knowing they were. right here, numerous urgent care chains are also initiating she is tests. they weren't that a few weeks ago. look at this one in manhattan, people lining up six feet apart, outside, waisting to get in. orderly process. police were watching lines as well to make sure there were no issues. sources tell fox business. this is location where police officers themselves can go in for these tests. i got wind of this last week. i signed up at an urgent care over the weekend. i got approval within 24 hours to go in for the test. they said it was walk-in only. i was a little worried about that. when i got there on monday, told me wait times were averaging two hours. but for whatever reason there wasn't a line that day. it was so refreshing to see. it was orderly. there was social distancing.

they got me in, got me out in 40 minutes. told me i would have my results in three to four days. i would hope to have them now to talk to you about it. i'm thinking probably tomorrow is the safer bet. the fda first approved under an emergency use provision a blood test by celex a few weeks ago. that was only shop in town. more are coming out. labcorp, quest labs, ortho doing mistakes they have similar permission for testing. abbott was to issue 4 million by the end of the month with a goal of 20 million tests in june. it is not clear, if you get a positive, for example, the antibodies you will be immune, or if you are immune, how long the data will last. this data is critical. governor cuomo is looking at it, when he makes a decision how to reopen this state in parts that have been hit harder than others.

really important for people to make use of those tests. one final note, neil, the test i got was $195 if you pay for it out right. it was covered by insurance for me. back to you. neil: jackie, i think you said you were in and out of there i think in 40 minutes. do you know, how long did the test itself take? reporter: not long at all. i had to wait longer in the exam room. i waited five minutes. doctor came in, somebody came in with the whole process. it was about ten minutes, jackie, thank you very much. inform us when you know the results. we don't want to put you on the spot but well, we'll put you on the spot. jackie deangelis, thank you very much. i want to go to gee auno caldwell well, there will be a lot of enraged californians. apparently the beaches were open, there was large crowds, governor said i'm closing them back up again. how is that going down? >> a lot of people as you call

it, neil, outraged this is one of those cases where attorney general barr said, the attorney general's office will be on the lookout for governments that are too restrictive. i think this is a clear-cut of example of it for a number of reasons. one, out of all the people came to the beaches over the course many noted there was distancing. if you're at a beach generally you're not necessarily sitting next to someone very closely, generally speaking. not to mention, we're talking about, neil, four million california filed for unemployment since march 12th. a lot of people are in the house right now. domestic violence calls to the police have gone you will. suicide calls have gone up. there is a lot of people with pent-up frustration. this past weekend was a heat wave. out of all of california there is 58 counties. all 58 counties have their own medical experts. these individuals have scald for the governor to begin to open up the government, open up the state of california in these particular areas.

there was one particular group of northern california rural counties who sent a letter to the governor on monday saying that out of all of their population which is about 500,000 combined, they have less than 70 cases of coronavirus. so when it comes to science and opening up things in phases, this is something the governor should look at a bit differently. people need to get out of the house. people need to get refreshed. it is hot outside. if the governor doesn't allow it, i'm sure people will begin to do things on their own which could potentially be even more unsafe. neil: yeah. i wouldn't be surprised a lot of people say you say the beaches are closed. we say they're open and we go anyway. wonder how that will go down. they made efforts in some beaches across the state, gianno, you know this better than i, people would talk to people, you're a little too close for comfort and spread out and they didn't. what happens? >> to so what happens then, you

have greater rep 10tation -- i think if he reversed his position, have more state park officials to tell people, monitor the situation but you have to let the people out of the house. it is incredibly hot here. folks feel as though their rights, constitutional rights, have been usurped, by a government supposed to be protecting them, not necessarily restricting their normal everyday lives. people are dealing a with lot. economy is crash. people are losing fortunes. people wonder how they will pay for groceries. the last thing they should be concerned about how to get out of the house for fresh air. neil: gianno, well-said. we'll see what the governor does. he can lift that fully or partially or could change his mind. but as you say it is not going down well. keep close eye on that. we'll keep a close eye on corner of wall and broad. mcdonald's is not helping with disappointing sales and earnings

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neil: all right. well, the jobless claims were expected to be bad but they still seem to have knocked the markets for a loop because we crossed the 30 million mark, 30 million plus americans who have applied for first-time jobless benefits over the last six weeks, this sort of sheltering in place has been in place. many say that translates into an unemployment rate north of 15%. many arguing we will make a run at the 24.9% unemployment record that dates back to the great depression. hard to say. right now, though, the markets are taking this well, when you think that even with today's downdraft, for the month of april that wraps up today, the april trading month wraps up today, this will be the best month for at least the s&p 500 dating back to 1987. i believe january, 1987. anyway, we have the bny mellon

investment chief strategist. in looking at markets, sometimes there's a disconnect and people wonder, market's doing one thing, the economy's doing another thing, they were prepared for bad news. we keep getting the bad economic news, spending the lowest figure on record, income, you know, sinking fast, all that was expected. is it wall street confidence that things will turn around, more states coming back, it's going to eventually change this equation? what do you think? all right. i apologize for that. that's what they call a significant delay. i ask the question and one hour later, i hear back. that comes in handy. anyway, we will fix that. i apologize for that. it's the nature of the beast here. you have been very very understanding about that, as are our guests.

david lee miller in new york right now on other developments we are following. the new york governor was questioned about some positive signs he's seeing on the hospitalization front. whether new york changes what it's planning to do in the middle of may when these provisions could be renewed, could be stopped, maybe even interrupted prior. what are you hearing? reporter: the mayor just -- governor, i should say, just finished up his daily briefing a moment ago and the headline, he said transit authorities in new york city and new york city area are going to be shutting down the subway system for four hours every day, every evening, actually, in order to disinfect the trains. many homeless people have been living on the subway system and the governor in the past has called the situation, his word now, disgusting. the mass transit system in new york is crucial for health care providers as well as for first responders and under the plan,

the normally 24-hour system is going to shut down from 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. cuomo called it a monumental undertaking. >> this is a whole new process, these are new chemicals, this is new equipment for workers, it's new methods. just think about it. you have to disinfect every place that a hand could touch on a subway car. reporter: the number of statewide daily deaths continues to decline but the latest number still very disturbing, 306 people lost their life to the virus. a gruesome reminder of the impact of covid was a finding near a brooklyn funeral home. authorities say they found dozens of bodies being stored there in unrefrigerated trucks. neighbors say the odor caused them to call police.

in the words of one man, quoting him now, you don't respect the dead that way, that could have been my father, my brother. the state also today announced it's taking more steps about ramping up the tracing program, contact tracing program to contain the spread of the virus. former new york city mayor michael bloomberg has volunteered to head up that effort. he appeared on a video link with governor cuomo and he said that all of the tracers that are going to be hired will have to attend a special online training program and they will also have to pass an exam. you see the state is going to be using a smartphone app in order to trace people who were infected with the virus to find out who they may have come in contact with and could spread the disease. lastly, on average, 380,000 people a day visit times square, the crossroads of the world. there's some new satellite imagery, hoping we can get the pictures up, that shows how the virus has affected new york

city. locations frequented by tourists such as times square, columbus circle as well as the world trade center, virtually deserted. the governor has said again that there's reason to think that perhaps sometime next month, parts of the state could be reopened, presumably upstate, new york state, but as for very densely packed new york city, where there have been very high numbers of people infected, getting the economy back to normal here is going to take some time. neil? neil: david lee miller, thank you very, very much, my friend. a lot of governors all look at the same kind of data, hospitalizations, deaths, those who have tested positive, are beating the virus, et cetera. but the most vulnerable group seems to be older americans, particularly those with respiratory and related issues. in that regard, i want to introduce you to dr. fred

grossman, chief medical officer who is working on a potential treatment that could help improve the survival rate of that vulnerable population. could you explain? >> yeah. hi, neil. thanks for having me. we are focusing on the most vulnerable population, the population of patients who are on a ventilator who have covid- covid-19ards, moderate to severe, acute respiratory distress syndrome. these are the patients that are dying in unrelenting high numbers. you are seeing from new york, there is a mortality rate of close to 80% or even higher in these patients so we are focusing on patients who have severe disease. we are not focusing right now on patients who are just hospitalized or who have symptoms. these are the patients that have an unremitting high mortality rate. we are injecting our cells, stem

cell l, they are given intravenously and what they do is migrate to the area of inflammation, in this case, the lungs. what's happening in these patients who are on ventilators is a raging attack is going on where cytokines are released and there's a cytokine storm occurring in the lungs. what these cells do is migrate to the lungs, they respond to that hyperinflammatory state, and that causes them to release anti-inflammatory factors which tame the cytokine storm that's going on. it stops this inflammatory reaction from occurring and allows the lungs to heal. it also occurs at the level of the organs. some of these patients go into organ failure as well. we are not just focusing on the earli

elderly, we are focusing on anyone who requires ventilation because there's an unacceptable high mortality rate associated with this. we have given ourselves to mt. sinai hospital in new york and through an emergency ind, expanded access program, they treated 12 patients with two infusions. they are iv infusions given twice per week. of the 12, 75% or 9 of the 12 came off the ventilators. most of them were discharged. that is a very strong signal, however, in order to get a definitive answer and as you have heard anthony fauci say many times, we have to do a randomized control trial and we are doing that now. that's starting this week. we hope to randomize patients within the next day or so and we are partnering with ctsn, the cardiothoracic surgical network. that's a network that was set up by the national institutes of health, nhldi, national heart,

lung and blood institute. they have some of the best academic medical centers in the united states and the study that we are about to undertake is a 300-patient study over 20 sites, half of the patients will be on remi stem cell l plus maximum standard of care. the other half will be on placebo plus maximum standard of care. at the end of this trial, which we hope will be three to four months, we will have a definitive understanding as to whether the great efficacy we saw in those patients exposed will be in this randomized control trial. we also are taking interim looks of data so if the data are impressive, we have an independent data monitoring board, if the data are highly efficacious, the study can stop early so that we can move forward to possibly get this approved. we have been in contact with the fda, who has helped advise us on

the design of this trial. so we are moving forward very rapidly. neil: what is it about those with respiratory issues, extending it now to cardio related issues, heart related issues, that makes them particularly vulnerable to this virus, or at least dramatically increases the odds they are going to have problems with it? >> well, it's not clear at this point. in fact, there's a lot that is not known about the virus. but we do know patients are now getting microemboli and having cardiovascular events, particularly the young ones. and our treatment not only can potentially quell the anti-inflammatory activity but we have programs in advanced heart failure that we'll be reading out soon as well as chronic lower back pain, both of which are hyperinflamed states. we also have evidence that we are improving the endothelial

lining of the vasculature. all of this is included in the randomized trial and will be answering the questions you are asking at this point. neil: we know 31 states this week and into next week that are slowly going to be reopening, what do you think about the pacing of this, the rollout of this, just as a doctor, someone who tries to look at the safety of all americans, how do you feel about the way it's going? >> look, i think that we have to have data in order to open up states. i'm very concerned as a physician that we may be moving too fast. we don't know enough about this virus at this point and the community transmission is very significant. so i think we have to take it slow. i do think that we have to focus on opening up the country, but we need more data, we need more testing.

we need to understand it to a much more significant degree than we understand it right now. neil: dr. fred grossman, thank you very much. wish you well on this. lot of people are very eager to hear about those ultimate results. thank you again for all you're doing. in the meantime, i think we will go back to alicia levine. hopefully our connection is better. i apologize for that. i was talking a little bit about this market environment here. if you think about it, we got into this before, this whole notion of the market seems to be having more to do with progress on the virus than the economic stimulus that's still not showing great results to deal with the virus. what do you think? >> well, it's actually both. the thing that the economic stimulus did on the fiscal front and on the monetary front is it took away what we call the left tail risk so the absolute worst outcomes for markets and for

companies and for different asset classes because you have support from the fed for all different asset classes and you have fiscal support, almost $3 trillion, from congress, which is equivalent to almost 15% of u.s. gdp. so that took away some of the worst possible outcomes. but you're right in the sense that the market is following hopeful progress on the treatment front. treatment gets us to the other side and treatment gives the consumer confidence to go back outside again without the worst possibly happening. neil: you know, we do have anecdotal evidence that states where they started opening up, retail establishments, north and south carolina come to mind, tennessee, they weren't flooding the stores. obviously they were tip-toeing back out of their homes, i can understand that, but it's kind of reinforcing an argument that we come back, but it's a slow comeback.

it might not be a v-shaped recovery. no doubt it will be a recovery. but it will take awhile. what do you see? >> so we think that the recovery is more likely to be slow, whether it's a w or a square root or a u. the market has priced in a z and in fact, has recovered in a v, looking to earnings in 2021 almost to recover fully, but if you think about it, the consumer is 70% of u.s. gdp and much of that consumer behavior is going to change, whether it comes to large crowds or sporting events or riding in an elevator, here in the city where i live, new york, going on the subway again. so you really have to ask is the v realistic for how consumers have been spending their money, and we think the case is probably not. having said that, we think that manufacturing and construction actually comes back faster, and that may represent some kind of opportunity in the stock market

because for the most part, those are the sectors that have really been lagging while the tech sectors have been flying. neil: this is more of a general question, but is the market prepared for a spike in cases? we hope it's not a big spike in cases but almost every physician with whom i chat and medical expert is seeing the spike, sees that it's inevitable. you want to contain it, obviously. but is the market prepared for that? obviously they want people to get back to work, i get that. lot of people in this country get that and want that. but how would the market respond to that, if we have like a sudden surge in cases? >> yeah. well, look, trading at 2900 right now, the s&p, is certainly not pricing in a second wave. which is more or less what we assume is a base case for the second half of the year. there really is a disconnect between what the health officials are telling us and what the market is pricing in. to that extent, we think the

biggest risk here is another spike or is a second wave. further on, once people have come out from under lockdown and tentatively begin to live their lives again, that would be very very bad for sentiment and for the economy also. that's definitely something to look out for. i think masks are in all of our futures going forward for the next few months. let me just say this. i want to talk about america's pharmaceutical and biotech companies for a second. this is really where the hope is coming from and actual treatment progress. if you think about hiv, ultimately there was a cocktail which became not dying from hiv but living with hiv. i think ultimately, there will be a cocktail here for treating covid either at an early stage or a later stage and that will help get us back on to the path of where our economy should be. but until then, it's really hope. neil: that's well said. even if you don't come up with a cure but you can live with it

and it doesn't kill you, that's fine. we learned from the hiv experience with aids, that might be enough. we will see what happens. thank you very, very much. alicia levine of bny mellon. very very quickly, we were talking a little about the weakness of the consumer. we saw that evidence in the drop in personal spending, the worst drop we have ever seen, ever, in spending. income dropping 2%. you wonder what are people doing with their money. what if i told you they are saving it? maybe because they have nowhere to go or a lot of reasons for this. in the latest month, they socked away 13.1% of their dough. that was the savings rate. the month before, about 8%.

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neil: well, tomorrow is may 1st and a lot of people are saying you know what, i'm not going to pay my rent. i'm just not going to pay it. they are trying to recruit those who can pay their rent to say this is going to be a protest movement and we are planning it nationwide tomorrow. lauren simonetti looking into all that. hey, lauren. lauren: hey, neil. well, the rent is due tomorrow and we just got the latest numbers. 30 million americans filing for unemployment, they don't have

the money to make the payment. so they are planning a strike tomorrow in some of the nation's biggest cities that are also the most expensive cities, including new york as well as los angeles. they want law makers to press for cancellations of rent and mortgages until the jobs return. here's part of their message. >> financial hardship for landlords. we actually do think there needs to be income coming in to keep the housing market stable. we just don't think the burden should be on the renters to prove they have lost income. you want landlords to open their books to show to the state. lauren: to give you an idea of how bad the situation is, if you look at just the first week of the month, about a third of all apartment renters didn't pay rent. if you look at the number of homeowners who are in forbearance who have temporarily paused or halted making their

mortgage payments, that number tops three million. so the protesters want relief for themselves, but also the landlords, because they are struggling now, too, and want this action to be done really fast and quickly. joe biden, presidential candidate, tweeting about all this. he says with rent due in a few days and folks across the country worried they won't be able to make it, we need to freeze rent immediately and he also calls for a temporary ban on evictions which we have seen in many cities. but they say more needs to be done. they are asking the federal government for relief. neil: all right. lauren, thank you very, very much. at the beginning of this broadcast, you saw phil murphy, the new jersey governor, meeting with president trump at the oval office and he threw out a figure of $20 million to $30 million the garden state will need from the federal government just to stay on top of coronavirus related hits. this comes as a number of governors are saying we need help and outright bailouts here.

that was not well received by mitch mcconnell. remember when he was saying bankruptcy is always an option? he kind of watered that down a little in an interview with me earlier this week when he said you know what, i'll consider it but with this proviso. there's got to be liability reform. in other words, companies that are bringing workers back then can't be immediately sued if some get coronavirus. i just wonder how senator bill cassidy feels about that, louisiana. he's coming up. after this.

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neil: well, everyone has been saying we are going to be wearing medical masks for a long, long time. in california, let's just say that might be easier said than done, even with statewide edicts on the matter. kristina partsinevelos has a lot more on that. what's going on there? kristina: neil, they have signed an almost $1 billion contract to get surgical masks and regular

masks sent to california. this isn't just any contract, though. this is a contract with a company called byd, build your dream. they are a chinese firm. they specialize in making electric vehicles. however, like many other companies, they have pivoted to making medical masks. these masks that california has ordered are going to be made in china. so the big question is, where is all this money coming from? it's a billion dollar contract. gavin newsom, the governor of california, did receive special privileges. there was a new legislative bill approved mid-march that allowed him to follow through with the new spending authority which means they already sent over over $100 million to this corporation in order to get the masks. they did receive the first shipment over the weekend, three million masks, but the big question for a lot of politicians on both sides of the aisle is, what are the details, how much is the cost per mask, what happens if delivery doesn't follow through? i reached out to the deputy director of crisis

communications, i just spoke to him about 25 minutes ago on the phone. his name is brian ferguson. he told me this week they are expecting two more shipments of masks. those masks need to be approved by the cdc because they are going to be the n-95. once they get the approval, then they will release the details of this massive almost $1 billion contract. if you want to recap, they are expecting about 500 million masks delivered in the next two and a half months in increments. they have already made a down payment of $104.7 million that came from a disaster assistance fund. then they have 495 million payment in escrow which means they will release those funds once they get the shipment. if you are wondering why are they being so murky with the details, gavin newsom, the governor, said they don't want to share the details just yet because all states across america are competing to get masks and he doesn't want to jeopardize the details or jeopardize, sorry, the shipment of these masks. i asked the communications

director and i will end it on this, he said california will receive the most masks compared to any other state, but we won't know the full details until the masks have arrived on american soil and have been approved by the cdc. neil? neil: thank you. very good job. very good reporting on all that. kristina partsinevelos. all right. i want to go to charlie gasparino right now. he has been like a dog with a bone just chasing this, you know, paycheck protection program and every little nuance and every wasted effort here. just keeping on top of something this humongous. i don't know if things have gotten better or smoother. i do know the demand is high. that's the problem. lot of people want it, don't they? charlie: lot of people want it. not a lot of money in comparison to other bailout programs during the pandemic. but there was a degree of abuse and we were -- at fox business were on the forefront of covering how financial firms,

various types of financial firms, brokers, also known as independent financial advisers, small teams of brokers, they are very profitable, they work on fee income, hedge funds, again, very profitable, work on fee income, and even some large companies were able to tap in on this while many small businesses couldn't get the money and are now facing bankruptcy essentially. little good news here to report. the fed, meaning the federal government, is cracking down on this. another aspect that they are cracking down, as you remember, earlier in the week they were talking about not allowing public companies that have access to capital to get this money. now it looks like they are zeroing in and looking to zero out financial advisers. again, these are independent brokerage teams. many people think all brokers work at merrill lynch or morgan stanley. not the case. there's plenty out there that are independent teams. they have less than 500 people, they make a lot of money. they might have gotten hurt a little as the market went down when this thing, when the

pandemic occurred and the markets reacted negatively but they still earn fee income. not like they are struggling hospitals -- excuse me, struggling coffee shop down the block. as we were reporting in the past, they tapped into the loan program. they got ahead of many small businesses. now in an effort to root out the sort -- this sort of abuse, and the government believes this is abuse, they don't think profitable companies should be tapping in, it looks -- doesn't look like, the s.e.c. recently put out notice where it's going to ask these financial advisers to disclose their loans and the amount of their loans in their filings with the securities and exchange commission. they also may have to disclose it to their clients. what does that mean? that means once they're disclosed, they are ripe for an audit if secretary mnuchin is serious about auditing companies that are deemed too profitable to get these loans. these brokerage teams would be ripe for an audit. if they can't prove they needed it, they can obviously face some

criminal, maybe civil, maybe criminal penalties. at least that's according to what the government is saying now. so again, following fox business's reporting, i guess you could say we embarrassed them into it because this was a huge loophole in the law with the other loopholes. they are starting to crack down and you know, i think we are better off for it. one thing that's kind of interesting is that the independent adviser association, this trade group represents these financial advisers, interesting enough, they put up links so brokers can know what money they can get. they have not taken a position on this. i asked them to comment. they had no comment. i asked them to comment on the propriety of putting up links to -- that basically leads brokers to the money. only thing they will tell me is they don't tell brokers what to do, it's up to them, but they are showing what government programs are available to them. say what you want for them, but

they are taking -- they are basically saying it's not on them. back to you. neil: great reporting, my friend. thank you very, very much. charlie gasparino. quick items to pass along to you. ford motor company is saying now that it is ready to restart production in the united states after the coronavirus shutdown. it has also said it's eager to do so in michigan but has to wait to reopen the economy there, as it is technically still in a lockdown phase. so he absolutely would feel comfortable with his family working in a ford plant, this is the chief operating officer of ford saying very very optimistic about the safety conditions that will be in place to allow that. on the general motors front, we should let you know that gm does require employees to wear masks at the very facility vice president pence will be visiting later today. remember, he took some heat when he was visiting the mayo clinic earlier this week without a mask.

the requirements are gm that you wear a mask. more after this. it's a challenging market. edward jones is well aware of that. which is why we're ready to listen. and ready to help you find opportunity. so. let's talk. edward jones. it's time for investing to feel individual.

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and we'll be here to serve you for a hundred more. ♪ neil: all right. forget about all the states that have given up on school this year for the kids. delaying, delaying college fall admissions as a result? making it all virtual? that seems to be jumping the gun a little bit. gerri willis has been following that. what's happening? gerri: that's right, we have been asking what will fall semester 2020 look like, and the resounding answer is like nothing you have ever seen before. >> english law business, maybe they will not be on campus because they will be fairly similar kind of education online. >> it will be an awful lot of online education next fall. >> schools are getting really aggressive and saying listen,

let's just disband the entire fall semester. >> there's going to be requirements for social distancing. gerri: the real decision for administrators, who stays home and who gets on campus. given the uncertainty, not surprising that nearly one in four high school seniors bound for college this fall are openly reconsidering those plans. it's not just covid-19. it's also the financial threat faced by these universities. endowments are plummeting, lawsuits seeking refunds piling up, and room and board reimbursements for students who can't come to school. you would think higher ed would be trying to save money but not so. instead they are offering major perks. colleges committed to the stage on stage model are trying to pivot to online learning at least temporarily but students don't seem to like it. virtual learning powerhouse corsera offering all their materials online free to colleges.

>> there's a lot that's not optimal about the current online experience. literally, i have heard stories of some professors reading their lecture notes, not even looking at the camera, in front of a zoom camera for like an hour. gerri: we spoke to dozens of institutions about when they will open, if they will open. way up in the air. we will have to wait for answers. neil? neil: i can't believe that. i guess it's not too shocking. thank you very, very much. gerri willis following all of that. i want to go to senator bill cassidy right now, louisiana. senator, i don't know whether colleges in louisiana are facing this sort of dilemma where they might have to delay their opening or go virtual as a result. what do you think of all that? >> i think it's optional. put it this way. if you are studying hemingway, there's something lost doing it remotely but you can still do it

online. if you are trying to learn anatomy as a medical student and you are dissecting a human corpse which is what i did, it's pretty difficult to do it online. and there's something about the experience of being with others that this person says oh, my gosh, this person had cancer, everybody come look, there's that kind of experience that begins to inform your future career as a physician. i think we need to carefully think this through as to what is lost. one more thing. keep in mind, if you are less than 30, your risk of dying from coronavirus is almost zero. if you are otherwise healthy, it practically is zero. so the opportunity cost for primary, secondary and college students in terms of this critical point in their life, what they are losing, the cost relative to their health risk, it's a lot of cost for extremely low risk. we have to think this through.

neil: that's a very good point, spoken as a doctor as well. i appreciate that. i will disagree with you on the hemingway thing. i think even if, if he were told his course was virtual, would be annoyed. i think he would be annoyed. we don't know. we don't know, senator. go ahead. >> nothing. either from heaven or hell, he's trying to zoom in right now. neil: let me ask you a little bit about we were watching the president with new jersey governor phil murphy. i mention this because it just struck me maybe because i'm a new jersey resident, where he said new jersey's going to need $20 billion to $30 billion. he said it was all coronavirus related. mitch mcconnell has already said he's not really interested in bailing out states. the governor was quick to point out this would not be a bailout. but obviously, states are going to need or want something. mitch mcconnell, when i spoke with him, had said maybe, but with the proviso we give

liability protection to businesses there. would you be open to that, if there were such protections, to give states more aid? >> first, i will say bob menendez, the new jersey senator and i announced last week we have a bill that we will file on monday that provides support for state and local communities as regards the revenue they have lost. not to pay for unfunded liability and pension plan, but rather to pay for sales tax needed to keep police, fire, sanitation workers on the job. yes, we need -- yes, we absolutely need liability protection for employers. the economy has to reopen. they are saying they need this. of course they can't be egregious in their practices. they have to be appropriate. but the more we give that guidance as to what is appropriate and then give them the protection, the more likely they open and begin to employ people and get our economy moving.

both are equally important. hopefully it won't be -- we won't have to hold out on this to get this. it is so self-evident that it's important that i'm hoping it's a bipartisan agreement. neil: you know, the reason why i raised it, nancy pelosi has said that there will not be any consideration for liability protection, that that would be unfair, that's a nonstarter. but she has apparently mentioned, i don't know where, indulge me, states, municipalities will need $1 trillion over the next several years. i don't know where she got that figure, i don't know what it would address. that's a big number. these days, a trillion doesn't carry the impact it used to. what do you make of that? >> yeah. it was $750 billion. obviously she would like to take care of unfended accrued liability for public service unions. that's off the table. what menendez and i proposed is $500 billion. that would address the loss in bed tax, in sales tax, other

kinds of you come to my city as a tourist and spend your money, this is what the city would normally get in order to provide the police, the fire, the sanitation support for your visit. we are all okay with that. i think there will be bipartisan support. but again, there will also have to be safe harbor for businesses, or else our economy will just continue to limp along with the federal government writing checks as people go bankrupt. i hope miss pelosi sees that as well. it is so self-evident unless she wants to play politics, it should be something we agreeing to even before we reconvene. neil: all right. thank you, senator. very good seeing you again. the hemingway comments notwithstanding. you are always a great interview. i did enjoy it. senator cassidy, the beautiful state of louisiana. slowly unwinding provisions here, taking things extremely cautiously. the senator was talking about states and what they want and what they are asking for. what we can tell you

unequivocally, no matter where this goes, there is already an exodus in place from high tax states to lower tax states. that was already in place. with coronavirus and all this, it sped it up a lot. after this. staying connected your way is easier than ever.

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neil: you know, whether you are in a high tax or low tax state, you are still losing a lot of money because of this shutdown that's pretty much been country-wide. what do you do now? grady trimble has been following that dilemma for the high and low tax guys. grady? reporter: yeah, the big question is how do you divvy up the money, do punish states like texas, for example, that's been preparing for a downturn, their rainy day fund, just to illustrate, could last them several weeks versus here in illinois, a state who's had financial troubles long before this pandemic started. their controller recently said rainy day funds here in the state of illinois could get them through about 30 seconds. the question is, should states get bailed out equally if they get bailed out at all, and illinois by the way, one notch above junk bond status. the govern oor illinois, jbpritzger, was pushing for a

graduated income tax before this and he said during the pandemic, that's part of the answer. >> we may need it now more than ever. of course, this isn't just about one year. it's about fixing the structural deficit that exists for the state. we are in a pandemic, we are in an emergency. this crisis is -- reporter: the president of the illinois business alliance firing back, saying now more than ever, people need jobs, we need to make it easier for businesses to recover. it's also the right thing for the workers of the state. now, we should point out the financial futures of even low tax states are uncertain right now. texas, for example, getting a lot of its money from oil producing. florida, another low tax state, no state income tax, getting a lot of its money from tourism. so a lot up in the air right now. i think the consensus is that a bailout or stimulus is necessary, but how do you do that. that's the big question. neil? neil: the question. no answer that's clear, anyway.

grady trimble thank you very, very much my friend. we told you about vice president pence going to this gm facility where the requirement is that everyone wears a mask. well, the vice president is wearing one there. more after this. america's oldest lighthouse has weathered many storms. seeing the break in the clouds before anyone else. together, we'll weather this storm. it's a great escape. so many great stories from amazing people... it makes me want to be better. it changes your perspective. it makes you a different person. see what listening to audible can do for you. . .

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and wells fargo employees are finding ways to do our part. need help like never before by helping people stay in their homes, through mortgage payment relief efforts. helping local businesses in their vital role in the american economy. and helping hundreds of local organizations provide food and other critical needs... when you need us, wells fargo is here to help. ♪. neil: all right. single biggest portion of this latest stimulus relief measure, $2.3 trillion measure, ultimately got close to 2 and

3/$4 trillion. some say $3 trillion. small business component, paycheck protection program gotten huge demand. get an update from head wardlaw recognize how it is faring? have they got enout the kinks an problems, edward? what is the latest? reporter: they ironed it out. they slowed down the process getting loans. they removed the robotic automatic process going through. what happened, bigger banks were processing through 5000 or more applications at one time. what that was doing was clogging the system n this case they removed the robotic, sort of self-filling out those forms from the computer. so now someone has to sit down and fill out the forms to be processed through there. that in essence slowed down all of the applications that are coming through there. the small business administration trying to spread the wealth. last night for example seven hours they actually allowed only

banks under one billion dollars in assets to put through some loans. we're talking about rural community banks. these are banks that have clients in the rural communities. they're trying not only slow down process, get everybody involved but open up to more people. neil? neil: all right. edward, we're looking at the vice president. he is touring a gm facility where the rules are where everyone wear as mask. he got some heat earlier in the week, at the mayo clinic, everyone around him was wearing a mask. he was unaware that was requirement. so everyone jumped ugly on him. obviously he is wearing a mask. in the white house they don't wear masks right? what is the policy on that? reporter: yeah. one quick thing, the vice president that is a gm plant transitioned to make ventilators. they are making 500 ventilators out there. that was done under the president's production act, defense production act, to force gm into making, hurrying up to

make these. he was not happy about the time frame going through related to this. the white house to your point, everyone in the white house guessed tested. everyone near the president actually gets one of those tests that takes 15 minutes. the we heard the governor earlier today, the president met with. he actually had to take one of the tests before he got in the same room as president. white house on way in they check the temperature f you're near the president, they then give you that test to make sure you don't have the virus. neil: that's amazing. i knew you would know this. immediately said, personal protection program, does he really know what is going on here. absolutely you did. i was not at all surprised. try to get you the next time, lawrence. edward lawrence in washington on all developments. better part of valor, wear the mask. if it is the policy, wear the mask, no matter who you are, president of the united states or vice president of the united states. president will be out in ohio

next week. wear the mask, wear the mask. we have the dow down a little bit. i have every confidence cheryl casone can turn it around filling in for charles payne. hey, cheryl. cheryl: not the cp effect. it will be the cc effect. i will see what i can do. good afternoon, everyone, i'm cheryl casone. i'm in for charles payne. this is "making money" and breaking right now -- >> it is a very tough situation for the people of our country. all the loss, the debt, it's a terrible thing but i think we'll make a strong comeback. cheryl: president trump striking a positive tone in a meeting with the governor of one of the hardest-hit states, phil murphy of new jersey. we'll have the latest news breaking from the white house this hour. and on the heels of this morning's breaking news, 30 million people have now filed for unemployment benefits over the last six weeks. taking a look at your markets right