robert: the pandemic tests the nation's resolve. president trump: it's not the fl it's vicious. robert: the president confronts the avity of the pandemic. president trump: talking about deaths. ven athe low end, 100,000, 200,000 people. robert: but as the death toll and unemployment claims rise, governors in both parties worry about supplies. >> i'm going to not believe we'll have those masks until i see them delivered off a truck. bert: and health systems on the brink of clams. >> we're preparing for the is nt surge we know coming. robert: in washington, talks and another round of stimulus are stalled as the speaker and majority leader clash. next

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station from viewers like you. thank you. once again from washington, model rator robert costa. robert: good evening. we begin with the latest on the painful economic shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic with many aricans struggling to pay rent, buy food and cover their health this week the weekly jobless claims jumped to m 6.lion a staggering number with losses in nearly every corner of the economy. and earlier friday the pa ment reported a loss of more than 700,000 jobs in march. federal authorities prepare for new hot spots and warn tha difficult times are ahead. president trump continues to face fierce criticism from democrats and some republicans for hisg handl the outbreak. he has defended himself at every turn and expressed

optimism. president trump: this is going as aation, we face a period. difficult few weeks as we approach that really important day whenre woing to see things get better, all of a sudden. and it's gng to be like burst of light. robert: joining me tonight, yamiche alcindor, white houset correspondr the pbs newshour. peter peter, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times." and jerry seib, executive washington editor for the "wall street journal." peter, we'll begin with you. what domi these econumbers signal about the economy? peter: this is about bad a number as anybody could have homed for at this point. 11.7 million americans at this point are sking orn unemployment. that is about 50% higher than the peak of the 2008 financial

crisis and this is really the beginning.ot we're anywhere near the peak that people expect. so manyusinesses are shutting doors, so many people are out of work. we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg. this suggests this is not going to be a short-term thing. the president would like it to be. come summer or fall, things will snap back into place maybe they will but that's not the way the congressional economists are looking a it. it's projected the unemployment will reach 1 and stay as high as 9% through 2021, which, of course, is after the presidential election that matters some to predent trump. robert: what does thisn all m for low-income americans, and are they getting the money they need as soon as they can? yamiche: low income communities, exper say a more susceptible in someas

for the virus because they don't have the same protection they'riving in close quarters oftentimes and also don't have access to e best health care. can they go to the hospitals and doctors to get treepted and desked? so there's a real worry there among people who work with thosens populatf whether or not they'll be protected from the virus. then add to that theat fact democrats say these are people that rely on a lotf federal programs tt right now haven't been bulked up in the fails of the pandemic. one example would be food stamps. s housaker nancy pelosi said demoats pushed hard to try t get an increase from the amount of food stamps people have and get people more help and tshe sat republicans purked -- pushed back on that. so there's a question of whether or not low-income communities are getting the resources they need to stay at home to be able to field and robert: "the wall street journal" had interesting

reporting, revealing reporting abouhe new small business loan program, $350 become in scope. it's struggling to get off the ground on friday. you s that and what have learned? jerry: there wereba py 10,000 loans made today. $3 billion plus. at's a drop in the bucket. our reporters found that most of the big banks weren't ready this morning to start making loans because of the delay from the small business some of those banks were only giving loans to existing t customers, nough people walking through the door. we had an interesting example of a report of a small business guy in los angeles who visited fouranks today. two of them waide don't know anything about this program. one of them said we d't do small business administration loans and one was shut because of the virs. so this a slow start. quhiche does that matter?

it matters becauset it's j one day but speed is absolutely of the essence here. this mey needs to get out the door quickly to get to small businesses before they simultaneous down entirhey, whilere still alive and while they can still people - keepeople on the payroll. this is inevitable with 2w069 programs to some extent, but this is a really important one. robert: what is the debate inside the west wing about the economy should reopen? peter: that's a great question away from that briefing this week with those hellacious death projections. 100,000 to 142,000 people do what they're supposed to do and we know they're not. as long as that curve is going up, the economy has to basically shutered, according to the experts. the more you can flat than curve the bettert is for the health institutions and

hospitaland it also could mean that it keemy the eco closed for a little longer. the thing thatctually might be good might also be badt a the same time. here in washington, d.c., the maybe suggested that the peak might not with -- be untilf the end june. still three months away. the idea we're going to stay indoors and keep businesses closed for three months goals even beyond the capacity of this $3 trillion bill to keep the economy afloat. it's a real co-nunl drum. within the white house, you hear the nd for social restrictions. diverging from the president on that and then you heard the economic advisors saying you have to be wary or for all p thesple out. of work. tense of thousands of businesses atake. these conflicting yet come belk -- compellingtnterests are

the heart of this detective. robert: as americans everywhe struggle, the spotlight turns to congress. here's what speaker poleslyld onsider incomes earlier friday. >> i think right now we need too a fouh bipartisan bill and i think it could be very much like the bill we just passed. i'm very much in favor ofoing some of the things we do to moment the needs. clean water, more broad banled and the rest of that. that may have to be for a bill beyond this. robert: in recent days, the speaker had talked up infrom structure,ed a -- as had president truen bute republicans swatted away the idea. in an interview earlier thi week, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell told me it was have -- it would take aot of convincing for him to pursue infrastructure at this time. when you talk to your colleagues on capitol hill about this fourth round of

negotiations, is this going to i be pn is -- bipartisan and focused on health care or not? miche: what i'm hearing from white house and capitol hill sources is that theyre both ally interested in doing an infrastructure bill. nancy pelosi was talking about going a bill focused on a broad band internet -- internet because so many are needing that as a limeline for work and speak ed ones. and also talking about clean water systems because so many people are washing their hands country that still don't have s act tells to running water or clean water.ru president was talking about an infrastructure bill with roads and bridges bullitt sounded lik there might be some overlap and there might be finally a point where inhave structure bill could terialize. o president trump has bee talking about a bill like this ever since he got into office but then a.?

mcconnell pourpped cold water only that. it sounded like he was not as interested in doing that. so it's interesting thing to hear whether or not it might be hous democrats and the white house that start working together. as we knowpresident trump and speaker employees si still are not speakingo -- pelosi still other.t peek intoing to each but we did get phase flee without them speakin together so it's possible that white house officialsit work nancy pelosi to get a bill done. bert: nancy pelosi, the house speaker, has announced an tt oversight com to look at phase three. where isour reporting looking? >> i intpevieweder pelosi earlier in the week and she was talking about a big phase four. bi it seemed she wanted to take the lead on this one and mcconnell ha 4r58d the lead on the last one. president trump, as she well

knew, isnterested in insfra structure as well. we were talking then about the possibility of a very big infra ture --nfrastructure bill, including funds for hospitals and fixes in roads and other things and thing it switched a little bit when speaker mcconnell spoke up against that idea. we now may be looking at two more bills. one, to plug some of the holes in medical supplies and hospitalsnd then maybe one to follow later in the year for infrastructure. i think it's important to keep in mind the sheer magnitude of what we're tooking about. the stimulus bill already passed pluthe two earlier bills plus the money is fed is pouring in the economy. you have more than $6 million from the federal government going ouch out into in very troubled economy. the overall economy is only 21 million or 22 trillion.

we're talking about them putting out a quarter of the nation's output to keep it afloat. that's probably the reason the financial markets haven't been worse than they've been. robert: it's just a weekabout ago we were talking about presruent talking about maybe the economy could be reopen b easter. now he seems to be facing the grim reality. he says now it could go until apri 30. all the stay at home, distancing and guidelines. what has this revealed to you about president trump? peter: i think this is a week when the stark numbers that dr. birx and dr. fauci presented began to really sink in. th, in fa, this is not going to go away. there's no anybody here. this is going to be a lker term problem than he had hoped and the message he gave on that

briefing, i think on tuesday, he said americans have to be prepared far very, very tough couple of week. it may be longer for a couple of week. i think you saw today the disapartment between the president's jewnd his health advisors' view when he announce it would.d.c.'s new guidelin when he said that most americans i when public should wear a mask then said i'm not going to do that. he yet to this day is fully cepting the viewpoints of the medical advisors around him but it seems there has been a little bit more acceptance o just how grim this can be. among other things,oc hed -- looked at the hospital in his own borough of queens, 'em herself hospital and saw the pictures of them being overalled. he's mentioned several times a.himer friend o who may have the virus. other thing, he was shown polling by his political

public doesn't wan a return to business as usual too soon, prematurely fit means that the virus really won't be contained. i think that also convinced -- convinced him to pivot when it came do this easter idea of returning back too robert: yamiche, how committed is the presbased on your reporting to this current reporting? we've seen him zig g.and what are the peopleround him, from jared kushner and others, saying? how do your sources see it all? yamiche: the feel i get from my sources and from just watching the president is thate is still reluctant to tell the american people that this could be something that could upend their livers all the way into theummer and could be completely disruptive to the nteconomy all the way the summer. he said repeatedly the masks i

voluntary. he said at up with point, maybe it's good, maybet's not. won't.it will help, maybe it i'm certainly not going to wear it becse i don't want to be seen at the oval office with a mask on. you already see there the es ent backtracking or hedging more than health officials. i think the other thing that president it would was the fact that the emcenter right now is new york. that's where he's from, prosecute where he grew up. he's watching it on television and th pictures of body bags at hospitals really mufle it he brought it up three or four times this week and it's something that really stuck with himme and it was ing happening in queenses, where he he said he's watching all of this on tv, admitting that he spends aimot of watching to see what's going on on the ground so i think when weee journalivesings bringing those images to america, they're also

bringing them right to the president and it's moving him. robert: jerry, any final noufingts on the presidents and what you're seeing? jerry: it seemed this week it all came to home to the white house. and there was no pretendingngt was go be short or could be dismissed in any waif. 46 million american people may have already been laid off or had their hours at work cut. at this point everybody in the a country knowss going on and how serious this is in both medical and economic terms and this felt like the week where ev nybody agreed and thereo denying that. robert: jerry, thank you.us we leave our political discussion there. thank you again to yamiche, peter, and jerry for your insits and reporting. let's dig deeper on reat health ront and get the big picture on where things stand. this week, "the new york times," sarah kliff and her colleagues wrote the coronavirus is ravaging

america's health care system and the scarcity of vtilators has become an emergency. forcing doctors to mak life or death decisions about who gets to brothe and -- breathe and new york governor andrew cuomo sounded the alarm on thursday. >> athe currents burn rate, we have about six day robert: and this week, dr. anltnitch fauci, advising the foesident, said the nation should brac more than 100,000 people to die in the coming mention. >> as sobering a number as that is, we should be prepared for it. oi it to be that much? i hope not and i any the more we push on the mitigation, the less likelihood it would be at number but as being realistic, we need to preparers ves that that is a possibility. robert: joining me is sarah kliff, an investigative reporter for the times focusing

on health care. in terms of ventilators, what's the reality on the ground in many states? sah: the reality is hospitals are gettinguite close to running out of these things. a ventilator expensive. they can cost $20,000, $30,000 so you deefpblet see hospitals keeping a lot of extra onings around. they usually keep -- keep on hand only what they need to get influence a rough flu season. we're hearing things about hospitals getting very close to running statements are making requests to the nationastockpile. hospitals are thinking about different techniqs, such as in one machine to treat multiple patients. bum doctors are having to make rd decisions about which one gets a ventilator and which one doesn't. robert: take me inside the crunch the health care system is facing national little.

sarah: this is becoming a crunch nationwide. it started as something that new york and sttle seattle hospitals were struggling will s growno places like milwaukee, detroit, and new orleans. they areng repor really big increases in the number of coronavirus parents they're treating. they're change surgery rooms into intensive care units and they're really starting to see what we've seen in new york city py out where they live and it is a crunch. it is hard to see all those parents. hard toak sure that the staff have enough protective equipment.al when ito doctors who are treated those patients. they're tired. still going in but really, ahead of them.ed about what's robert: has the testing system improved at all in recent days? sarah: it's definitely improved from a few weeks ago. private industry is getting invoed. rapid testing rolled outs but me

at the same here are still lags. the private companies helping t have backlogs. i talked to one hospital in idaho who was stillng wai about a week to get test results back. there certainly is improvement are able to get results itals immediate limb and knack challenge how they tre patients and who they isolate and who they don't. robert: we hear so much about medical supplies butou've spent years covering access in the health care system. what is the state of access for many low-income americans who are dealing with theirus? sarah: there has been some work done to makes a-- acc better, to provide free testing without co-pampleteor nose without health since -- insurance but we live in a country where millions of people are uninsuranced and they've kind of become austomed to not go

to the doctor whether they're sick because they' worried about such large medical bills. we don't reay noel how someone who is uninsuranced, no. used to seeing the doctor, what they're going to do when they have coronavirus symptoms. i think there's a pretty open question of whether americans who are used to nose high medical bills are even going to feel comfortable going to the doctor in the first place to ek treatment. robert: are we seeing any adjustments when it comes to d medicine cair medicare? sarah: we are seeing generally covera for these programs. they want people to come in and get tested. b one of th things this week was on the part of the trump administration who decided not to open an enrollment period for the affordable care act. the trump administration is not going to be doing that for the country so there are some peoples oere missouri who

mifpbletse have bought oisurance in the fall and they're to be lacking coverage going into the coronavirus pandemic. robert: the times had some reporting this week a that comfort ship we l warmed come into new york harbor yet i only has few parents up on board. what are the challengein places like new york? shoim -- sarah: for a lot of people who need treatment. there's a hospital set up in a major conference cente t park. all of them need beds and l ventilatorsat the same time and the health care system in america is generally aof for- business. these companies that are hospitals, doctor's offices are not stockpiling these supplies so when youl need these at once, it's a huge scramble. er the federal gent, the states, the hospitals are all

biveding against each other for the same s of supplies. it's also driving up the price of really key pieces of equipment. everybody scrambling for the s saplies makes it really marmed hard to get the suppls tually lace. robert: sarah, finally, as this week ends and you look a your notebook and the whole health care beat, what are you looking ahead to next week? what matters in terms of health care right now? sarah: what a i'm lookingt is the facts we're seeing more and more stills have tir own outbreaks. it's not new york and seattle anymore. it's so detroit, milwaukee, nsand new orleand that's going to be a bigger struggle. the desire for beds, vents lators. that's going to grow and grow. we're going watch next week how major cities all battl the coronavirus at the same time and try to get the fact sam set of supplies.

robert: sarah, thank you very muchor your reporting and your time. and thank you for joining us. we'll kp taking you as close to the news as we can. and thanks to the americans who are on the front lines of this crisis. your tireless and often quiet work is what sustains us and binds us. i'm robert costa. good night from washington. ♪

nounce -- announcer: corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> life isn't a straight line and sometimes you can find yourself hding in a new direction. fidelity is here to help you work through the unexpecteci with finan planning and advice for tay and tomorrow. announcer: additional funding is provided by -- the estate of arnold adams and koo and patricia yuen yuen through the yuen foundation, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers lik thank you. >> you're watching pbs.

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