mr. mark tonight on thank you newsroom. new coronavirus hunting is close to a deal in dc. way learning more about the major cyber attack on u.s. institution congress member adam schiff joins us with the letter. london bring is about san francisco's brief food insecurity is spiking during the pandemic. wave visit at food bank to see how they are helping. golden gate park comes alive at sundown in this week's look at something beautiful. welcome to kqed news newsroom.

i am priya david clemens. it has a been a week of going english and going home. american reported more than 300,000 reported covid-19 test but we also welcome the arrival of the first round of the coronavirus vaccine to hundreds of locations across the nation. direct relief payments good to be on their way as we appear to be close to a new economic stimulus came package. we also learned about the biggest cyber espionage attack in years. hackers targeted dozens of public agencies including the u.s. treasury and the agency that maintains our nuclear weapons while. joining us now by skype from washington, dc's democratic california congress member adam schiff who chairs the house

intelligence committee. congressman, thank you for joining us. the stimulus package appears to hit one obstacle after another. what is going on in washington quench market feels like our country's leadership is completely out of touch with the very real economic struggles people are going through. >> certainly some of the leadership is. i do not think the leadership on the democraic side of the aisle has lost touch because we recognize just how serious this crisis is and how many families are suffering and how many businesses are at risk of going under. mitch mcconnell and the republican conference do not want to do anymore. the majority of the members have said we have done too much to help the american people. i think is oblivious to the pain going on. nevertheless, i think we have come very close to a compromise that is a lot smaller frankly the night inc. the country is going to need. we are going to have to come and revisit this in january but we expect either this evening or over the weekend devol on a relief package that will provide more funds for small businesses through the ppp program, that will extend unemployment compensation, that will extend the eviction moratorium for renters, that will provide more money for testing and for the vaccination program but mainly states and

cities are out which is a really big problem. >> we are going to get that in a minute. you speak of the republican party being the obstacle here but speaker pelosi has also been unwilling to compromise. >> she has been willing to compromise. we started out with a bill that we passed six months ago that would provide about 3 trillion in additional aid for the country because that is what is needed. during the process over the last six months which mcconnell refused to take it up and let his own people vote on it. we introduced another bill that was down to 2.2 trillion and now we are down to a $900 billion measure that is rarely adequate to the task of getting something done is better than getting nothing done. still, the question is what is the need out there? i think speaker pelosi recognizes the need is tremendous. so, i do not think you can simply say it has both houses when one party has continually come to the table for the last

six was to get it done and had to negotiate against itself in many respects. >> you expect the new stimulus bill to be finalized this week and and to get through both houses quench my >> i do. in the first time in those six months mitch mcconnell is saying he wanted to get a bill done. that was not true before the election. it divided his conference and he did not want a bill to pass in the senate with a minority of republicans and a majority of democrats. now that the election is over he is singing a different tune and i think that is a positive development. >> in order to get this relay package through democrats may have to agree to leave state funding how and that is sorely needed here ? what is the impact on california quench my >> i think it will be disastrous if we cannot get state funding and local government funding in this package because it will result in tens of thousands of layoffs

i think in california. those layoffs may be teachers and firefighters. they may be frequently the healthcare workers we need to participate in the vaccination program. i think it will be ready irresponsible for republicans to say if you need any relief at all you are going to have to let this go. this is where they have been. i think that will be catastrophic for cities and states around the country. >> which ago to move this package forward if there is not sinless funding the go strictly to the states ? >> i have every confidence in speaker pelosi's ability to negotiate so i do not want to diminish from her leverage in any way. i am certainly hoping that we have a package that includes new help for small businesses and the unemployed but also does not leave states out in the cold and result in adding to the unemployment rolls when

we see massive layoffs. >> let us turn to another topic. we learned this week about the cyber attacks in america that happened back in march and were ongoing for several months. it appears to be the work of russian government agents because the chair of the intelligence committee can you underline the breath and depth of these attacks as we know them right now question mark >> this is certainly one of the most serious cyber activity attacks in our history pickett across industry, agencies. we do not know at this point the length and breath of it except that is huge and represents a massive intelligent defense and cybersecurity failure on the part of the federal government. we know that there were multiple vulnerabilities that were exploited that the bad actor in this case is a very sophisticated actor that was very patient, use the -- and is still inhabiting some of our systems and some of our corporation. it is going to take a long time to do the mitigation necessary underscores both the need to establish a stronger deterrent against this kind of foreign attack also to really up our game when it comes to our cyber defense.

>> congress member do you see the nature of were changing as technologies evolve question mark should america the responding as if these were acts of work which mark >> the nature of war is changing in many respects. we could see that the use of little green men in frankfurt for example. it is also changing the cyber round. whether we should consider this a different kind of act of war on depends on what consequences follow this. i do not think it means we are going to send in the trip somewhere but it does mean we may need to use a cyber response to the cyber attack or other responses. we are certainly going to want to sanction the responsible party. we are going to want to raise the cost. right now the responsible bad actor does not feel there is anything to detour this kind of attack. that leaves us open to more of these very destructive acts. >> the lead of our country, president trump at the time we

are speaking has not made any comments about the cyber attacks. what you make of that ? do you think he is checked out because he is about to be out of office? do you think is still trying to convince americans he absolutely won the vote or is there something about his relationship with russia that keeps him from speaking out? >> i think it represents the fact that he has checked out. if the public reporting is correct, for example, he has not received a single intelligence briefing since the election. that represents a dangerous dereliction of duty. if the bad actor is russia as have been publicly reported and i cannot comment on the accuracy of that but if it is russia it provides another explanation because this president has consistently been unwilling to stand up to vladimir putin and what putin is doing. that has left is vulnerable. one of the things we need is a did turn into cyber bad acts and we know the russians are among the worst and most capable

cyber bad actors in the world. >> it may be up to joe biden to address the cyber attacks. what can he do? >> he can bring about sanctions against the bad actor. he can work with our international allies to establish a global deterrent to this kind of mall elven malevolent act. it is also deeply destructive of the global economy because, of course, lots of private companies are impacted by this, the private data, private citizens are impacted by this. there needs to be a global response to deter and punish the actors that are responsible. >> president-elect joe biden has chosen several californians to work with his administration. you have been a very strong democratic leader over the past several years, are you disappointed you have not been asked to join his cabinet question mark >> i feel very fortunate to

have the work of the responsibility that i do. i am more than willing to serve in any way i can be useful. in congress, and administration, by coming california, michael is just, frankly at this point, to help us get through this pandemic, to help us get us back on our economic the pic i am more than content with the work that i am doing and will leave it to others. >> let us talk about the georgia senate races. they are of critical importance to the democrats. have you been supportive of the campaigns in anyway question mike >> i have been very supportive, was before the runoffs and have been since. hosting events for them have gotten to know them very well overs and. marshaling so many of my supporters around the country to help their campaigns. it is really critical to moving progressive legislation through the congress and getting it to joe biden. it is crucial to his success in all of the relief efforts we are talking about because whatever package we agree on in the next few days is likely to be enough. were going to have to come back in the new year and do more.

whether we have the democratic senate will determine whether we will be successful. >> lass, congress member how will you be sending the holidays? how many family members will you be gathering with? will you be gathering inside or outside and when will you be spending time with them? >> my expect patient is we will be spending it just my wife, son and i. my 92-year-old father i will not to see. my daughter in new york i probably will not get dizzy. i think all of us need to do what keeps our family safe and our neighbors and community say. the safest thing this holiday season is to stay home. congressman adam schiff from burbank. thank you so much for your time and good luck this weekend.

last week more than 200,000 californians filed for unemployment aid as the economy remains hobbled by the pandemic. the san francisco marin food bank says they have been serving nearly double the number of people they normally see this time of the year. producer moniker lamb stop by one of their locations for a visit. >> reporter: here in the middle of the playground at james -- middle school in san francisco produces being packed into? a this is one have nearly 30 public food pantries to help those in need during the coronavirus pandemic. >> right now we are serving double the number of households that we were serving pre- pandemic. today we are planning to serve nearly 900 households in just a couple of hours. >> katie mcknight is the director of community engagement and she says they are serving 55,000 people every week throughout san francisco and marin county. many of those that are visiting our pop-ups, this is their

first time ever needing food assistant. when we see the increase in household serve many of them come from industries that were severely impacted by covid like the service industry, the hospitality industry. do you have any tips on how to pack the bag well? >> i do it like i packed my own bags at the grocery store. >> someone is going to get a big sweet potato, celery and i am five potatoes, two onions. >> good morning, how are you? >> reporter: this man said he started coming to the food bank a few months ago after he lost his job as a janitor. across california and nationwide at least one in 10 adults said they did not have enough food to eat during the past few weeks according to

u.s. census data. would double the number of people coming to pick up roche's food banks like this when they doubled the number of volunteers. >> i think i get more out of it than i give honestly. i get the hard work outcome i do not have to go to the gym. it is the most social interaction with people that i get. i am making friends with the other volunteers. and, you know, we are helping out so we are helping people who need food and there is a lot of people these days who need help. >> reporter: the san francisco maren food eggplants to keep up this high-level service for months to come. >> right now we need about 2500 volunteers per week. we also need financial donations. for every dollar raise the food bank is able to distribute five dollars worth of food. >> reporter: for kqed, i am monica liam . >> the economic upheaval is painful on the individual and

family level and it is also being fell in towns and cities across the country. this week the city of san francisco put a new number to its economic struggle. the city faces a 650 d $3 million deficit over the next two fiscal years. in response, mailer london redirected all city departments to identify nearly 10% in fresh budget cuts to address the shortfall. joining us now by skype is san francisco mayor london breed. what sort of services should we expect to see impacted by these new budget cuts in san francisco? >> we do not know specifically what it will be but we know what we need to try to do everything to preserve. specifically our public health department and the work they are doing around covid. we know the community has a significant budget deficit and we need to try to address that so we are not cutting services. the fact is we are going to be

expressing some significant cuts and is going to require a lot of sacrifice and so we have asked all departments to come back with cuts that help us to balance what we anticipate to be a $653 million deficit. it is going to be really hard for us. >> we are learning that the san francisco school district and union cannot agree on terms to reopen the schools which means san francisco schools will not reopen in january even though the san francisco department of health say it can be done safely. you have argued that school should reopen. what is your take on this latest development? >> i think it is so unfortunate when we talk about the gap that is happened to our kids in public schools. initially the teachers union had one set of guidelines they wanted us to follow when we have worked with the school district to try to provide all the resources to increase testing and to do everything we can to reassure educators that we are going to keep them safe, we are going to keep the students safe and they can come back. now, the rules are being

changed in the middle of the game. and that is the frustrating part because now there are additional requirements they are adding even though we were at a better place. >> what are some of the requirements question mark >> some of the requirements that they have asked for is based on the number of test, the students being tested, the teachers being tested and how many times and when they should be tested making sure the classroom environment is clean. >> to be clear san francisco has one of the most conservative public health departments who are imposing the guidelines for the school district and we are sticking to those guidelines. so, to add some additional requirements that are unnecessary and not recommended by the department of public health takes it even more difficult and more frustrating. we know that we are in the midst of a search. we know that things are challenging but that should not stop us from moving forward with a plan. as soon as day one hits and public health gives us the ability to open we should. >> all right mayor i want to turn to different topic you have been criticized for going

to a french restaurant in the midst of this pandemic. the restaurant has been criticized for taking money from the paycheck protection plan. >> san francisco is in yellow, napa was in the orange. indoor dining was allowed. i did not violate any health orders. i do understand people are struggling, they are frustrated and they expect someone in my position to be held to a higher standard and to set an example and to follow, of course the spirit of a lot of these regulations and not just the intent. i think what is important is to make sure that this does not continue to distract from what we are doing right now which is the worst surge we have ever experienced, not just in san francisco but around the entire state. it is unfortunate that this has become a distraction in that way. at the end of the day, you

know, i know i am a leader, i know i am being held to a higher standard and my goal is to make sure i get us through this very difficult time and i want people to trust and support the fact that we are using data, science and really whatever we can to make really the decisions we are making because we realized they are hard decisions to make and they are impacting people's lives. i want us to be able to make sure that the public trust, what it is we are doing to keep everyone safe. >> you have also being criticized for enacting strict lock down measures even before they were mandatory. last weekend some people protested at your home leading you to post the following social media message. you think these decisions are easy, you think the decisions of people's livelihoods or life is something i take lightly? >> what it is that like for you to be mayor right now? >> will come as hard because when you hear shutdown the city as a mayor all you can think about is wait a minute what is

that mean for someone who is not collecting a paycheck ? what is that mean for someone who cannot pay their bills are right? how are they going to survive this? it is nine months. we are in the midst of this pandemic and it is still challenging. those problems do not just go away because time has gone by. it is hard, it is hard when you have to make a decision that is going to impact somebody's likelihood and, ultimately, what we have really tried to do in making these decisions is that we absolutely, absolutely have to make these because it involves someone's life. we have had to focus on using the data and the site is stupid active life. sadly, that means the economy and the impacts on the economy have been right behind that. so, yes, these are hard decisions. it is frustrating and it is frustrating that people think that you want to do this to them. ultimately, i have to do what

it is my responsibility to do as a leader and that is to make the hard decisions and hope that as we get through this pandemic things will get better for all of us. >> you also wrote the following in the same personal post. quote to show up with roman candles that look like tiki torches or pitchforks is a whole different sort of racism. >> people have a right to protest and i do not think there is any thing wrong with people wanting to protest because of an issue they have. sadly, some of the things that a bit done simply to be as a black woman i have not seen this done to other people. the fact that you are walking around with a pitchfork in your hand and walking around and stomping around and making threats and saying other things i just feel like that is a different kind, that is not something that should ever be

okay. and this has happened with the roman candles at night, in the middle of the night. aiming these and shooting these toward my window. some of the things that are happening it is like, wait a minute come approaches, people are upset but let us remember this country's history of racism. regardless of who you are you should know it is never okay to show up to a black woman's house using any of these kinds of props. >> let us turn to a different topic a san francisco has also been dealing with a corruption saito beginning with the public works manager go charges filed against the city's director of public utilities. does the city have a problem with systemic corruption and as a mayor what are you doing to regain trust? >> first of all, people are innocent until proven guilty. i know the charges are very

disturbing and it is playing itself out in this investigation process as well as a number of things that have to occur as a result of this. i do think that, sadly, it does shake the public's trust so what i have the responsibility to do as i did earlier this year when the first judges came down is direct not only are various city departments, but to as the city attorney's office which is an independent elected official to investigate all of these departments to figure out what is wrong and how is something like this able to occur and how do we put the cards in place to make sure this does not continue to happen and also sending a strong message to all city department heads, all the people who are responsible for running these departments immunity able that we have to do better >> so much as been hard this year but this week to pick some hope. on tuesday you witness the very first coronavirus vaccines being given to people in san francisco. can you tell us about that

experience question mark >> while, when i went to san francisco general to see for myself the people, the frontline healthcare workers, the icu doctors and others who have been treating patients for months, it just felt so good. they were happy, i was happy. those are emotional too because what they also realize and what i realized is this gives us hope. this gives us hope as a city. that this vaccine means there is a light at the end of the tunnel. i am so excited about what is to come. >> mayor breed what are your personal plans for the holidays? will you be seeing family and friends at all? >> well, i am not comfortable with seeing almost anybody right now. here is the thing. i do not just keep to myself and limit the number of people i am exposed to because i am a mayor. i do it because i do not want

to get covid. the more people that you see, those people are seeing other people and so you put yourself in a position where you could possibly get it. so, i am not going to be able to see family and friends this holiday season but that is a good thing because i will be able to see them next year. i think the sacrifice this year will make sure that we do not risk infecting one another so that someone loses their life over this virus and is unable to celebrate the holidays next year. >> monday breed, the mayor of san francisco. thank you for your time. this week something beautiful is in an enchanted forest that lights up as the sun sets. located in golden gate park's peacock meadow this new our installation named and twined boasts more than an acre of otherworldly shapes and ever- changing light. [music]

the eliminated meadow is open to the public and free to visit now until january fourth pick i hope you have been enjoying this new segment. we created it as a way to notice the good we see around us especially in these difficult and. if you would like to share your thoughts about something

beautiful or anything else on this show you can reach me on twitter at priya david clemens. you can find more about our newscast on kqed.com/ newsroom. this is our final show of 2020. we wish you all a safe and pleasant holiday season and we will see you right back here on january eight, 2021. good night.

robert: hacks. pardons and vaccines. transfix washington. >> today i want to congratulate president-elect joe biden. robert: the electoral college affirms joe biden'sictory. >> the house of representatives in cooperation with the united states senate has the lawful authority to accept or reject electoral college vote submissions. robert: but some republicans and the president refuse to accept it. >> i feel gre. robert: meanwhile, a weary nation gets a jolt of hope as the vaccine rollout bins. and lawmakers square off over spending. next. announcer: this is "washington week."