03/18/20 03/18/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! pres. trump: i felt it was a pandemic long before it was called the pandemic. all you do is look at other countries. think now it is an almost 120 countries all over the world. this papandemic is a kid to fighting the war. >> we must make certain that this heaealth and economic criss is not another moneymaking

opportunity for corporate america and wall street. tuesday'siden sweeps three democratic presidential primaries that were marred by chaos and fears over the spread of coronavirus at polling places, as many americans stayed home. 5 househeholds have layoffs.xperienced a $1000nts to send check to everyone. who will benefit? we will get response from california congressmember ro khanna, also cochair bernie sanders presidential campaign, and vanita gupta, obama justice department official who is calling for states to proceed with elections while protecting public health. then mass shutdowns and layoffs are putting millions of u.s. restaurant workers who live paycheck to paycheck at risk. we will speak with restaurant organizer and laid-off worker.

all of that t and more, coming . welclcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. confirmed cases of coronavirus have topped 200,000 worldwide, with over 8000 deaths reported. one of the hardest-hit nations is iran, where reseaearchers at -- worn the rate of infections won't peak until may, and that as many as 3 million people could die.e. officially, iran has reported just under 1000 deaths, but the world health organization believes the actual death toll could be five times higher. italy reported 340 five new cases in the last 24 hours with a a dental topping 2500. in spain prime minister pedro , sanchez addressed a mostly-empty parliament only y a few dozen lawmakers allowed to attend in person. spspain has s had 533 deaths amg nearly 12,000 confnfirmed cases.

they are in nationwide lockdown. in madrid, migrants climbed onto the roof of an i immigration jal tuesday, protesting poor medical treatment as prisoners become ill. in latin america, the guatemalan government has temporarily suspended the arrival of u.s. deportation f flights transportg asylum-seekers as part of an asylum agreement with the u.s. in africa at least 30 nations, , covering more than half the continent, have confirmed covid-19 cases. tunisia's president ordered a 12-hour nightly curfew and asked workers to donate half their salaries to fighting the pandemic. ivory coast has closed schools and joined other west african nations in barring flights from affected countries. in the united states, the pandemic has reached all 50 states after west virginia reported its first covid-19 patient. there have been over 6200 recorded cases and 107 deaths in the u.s., but public health experts warn the true rate of

infection is likely exponentially higher due to a severe shortage of tests. many people who spread the virus are asymptomatic, helping the pathogen to pass undetected from host to host. researchers at the imperial college of london warn in a new study that without dramatic action, the novel coronavirus could kill as many as 2.2 million people living in the united states. despite the dire warnings, large crowds continue to gather in many parts of the country. in florida, beaches were full of spring break revelers tuesday and were set to reopen today, though florida governor ron desantis has ordered bars and nightclubs closed. officials in new orleans, louisiana, and nasashville, tennessesee, ordered concert venues closed after viral videos showed packed crowds holding early st. patrick's day celebrations over the weekend. in new york, mayor bill de blasio said tuesday that all 8.6 million city residents may soon be asked to shelter in place,

with a decision expected within 48 hours. new york governor andrew cuomo quickly contradicted the mayor's warning. state can in the quarantine itself without state approval. and i have no interest whatsoever and no plan whatsoever to quarantine any city. amy: governor cuomo has slammed the trump administration for inaction. he said new york has only ababot 4000 ventilators -- critical tools in keeping patients with severe respiratory problems alive. a government t task force warnrd new york could be short by some 16,000 ventilators at the peak of the crisis. cuomo said that peak will occur in about 45 days. >> they are expecting as many as 55,000 to 110 thousand hospital beds will be needed at that point. amy: new york currently has just 53,000 hospital beds.

new york city's metropolitan transportation authority, the largest public transit system in the u.s., asked the federal government for a $4 billion bailout as ridership plummeted. a resident of a new york city homeless shelter tested positive for coronavirus, and an employee at sing sing prison north of new york city tested positive. in colorado prisoners at the , 10 for-profit aurora immigration detention center were put into quarantine over covid-19 fears and are awaiting test results. this comes as "the los angeles times" reports ice agents equipped with protective masks continued to arrest immigrants in their homes in california monday even as much of the state locked down. meanwhile, the trump administration is planning a broad crackdown on asylum seekers crossing the southern border. under the emerging plan, border patrol agents would immediately return anyone to mexico who crosses outside of official ports of entry without due process. mexico has 82 confirmed cases of covivid-19, comparared to over 0

in the united states. and that number is expected to be seriously higher. in washington, the trump administration said tuesday it will support a plan to inject more than $1 trillion into the u.s. economy to fight the unprecedented economic crash caused by the pandemic. treasury secretary steven mnuchin has proposed a stimulus package that would rapidly deliver a $1000 check to most american adults, with more direct payments likely in the months ahead. mnuchin called the pandemic "worse than 9/11" for the airline industry and called for a $50 billion bailout. sara nelson, president of the association of flight attendants, had this response. >> we have told congress any stimulus funds for the aviation industry must come with rules. that includes requiring employers across aviation to maintain pay and benefits for every worker. no taxpayer money for ceo

bonuses, stock buybacks, dividends. no breaking contract bankruptcy. and no federal fundsds for airlines that are fighting their workers efforts to o join a uni. amy: neiman marcus and the gap on tuesday became the latest u.s. retailers to announce nationwide store closures. general motors, ford motor, and fiat chrysler said tuesday they would keep their factories open would keep their factories open for now, operating with limited capacity and with new sanitation protocols. the united auto workers union has called for all u.s. auto factories to be closed for two weeks as a safeguard. bloomberg reports secretary mnuchin told republican senators that without interventions, the u.s. jobless rate could hit 20%. an npr/pbs newshour poll found nearly 1-in-5 u.s. households has already experienced a layoff or a reduction in work hours. the world health organization is considering ordering medical workers to take airborne precautions while treating covid-19 patients after a new study showed the virus may be transmissible for up to ththree

hours in aerosolized droplets. the report in the "new england journaof medicine" also warns the virus can survive up to 24 houron cardboard surfaces and up to two to t three days on plastic and stainless steel. president donald trump said tuesday he had always known that the coronavirus outbrereak was a pandemic, contradicting dozens of public statements he's made since january downplaying the threat of the virus. pres. . trump: i have always knn this is a real -- this is a pandemic. i have felt it wawas a pandemic long before it was called the pandemic. amy: in previous weeks, trump said his administration had shut suggested people sick with the virus could go to work, said the virus would miraculously go away in april, said the numbers were "going to get progressively better," and tweeted, "the risk is low to the average american." trump has falsely claimed, "anybody that wants a test can get a test." as home-bound americans are increasingly going online to keep in touch with friends and

family, some internet providers including at&t and comcast have lifted data caps, without significant interruptions to service from the increased bandwidth. the crisis has renewed calls for the fcc to regulate the internet as a utility and for a reversal of the trump administration's repeal of net neutrality protections. meanwhile, facebook began cecensoring coronavirurus news articles from a number of outltlets tuesesday including the atlantic, buzzfeed, politico, and democracy now! a facebook executive blamed a bug in an anti-spam artificial intelligence system. former vice president joe biden consolidated his lead in the race for the democratic presidential nomination tuesday, in a primary election marred by chaos, confusion, and fears over the spread of coronavirus at polling places. biden won florida and illinois by a wide margin and scored a victory in arizona. he addressed his supporters via video stream tuesday night from his home in wilmington, delaware, in a speech focused on the coronavirus.

>> tackling this panandemic is a nationalal emergency, i can do fighting a war. it will require leadership and cooperation from every level of government. itit will rerequire us to move thoughtfully and decisively to quickly address both the public health crisis as well as the economic crisis. amy: in illinois, which recorded its first coronavirus death tuesday, more than 800 election judges -- many of them elderly and highly at risk -- refused to participate in tuesday's election. at least 200 chicago polling places were moved away from highly sensitive sites, including nursing homes and senior centers. at the thurgood marshall public library, scores of mostly african n american voters wawaid for up to two hours in a cramped lobby for their turn to cast a ballot. ohio was also scheduled to vote tuesday, but governor mike dewine delayed his state's primary until june 2 after declaring a public health emergency. democratic national committee chair tom perez came under

intense criticism for supporting in-person voting during the outbreak. -- during the pandemic. bernie sanders campaign adviser david sirota tweeted -- "there is something very wrong with a political culture that tells people to run out of their homes in the middle of a lethal pandemic to cast votes to protect health insurance industry profits and kill proposals to guarantee basic medical care to all." in a speech tuesday evening, senator bernie sanders made no mention of his primary losses and instead outlined a $2 trillion coronavirus emergency plan. his proposal would send $2000 monthly cash payments s to every u.s. household during the crisis, full unemployment benefits for laid-off workers an , end to evictions and utility shut offs, a moratorium on mortgage and stutudent loan payments, and expanded health coverage through medicare. uninsured, if you are underinsured, if you have

high deductibles, if you have high copayments, if you have out-of-pocket expenses, medicare will cover those expenses. amy: in illinois' third congressional district, progressive challenger marie newman declared victory in tuesday's primary election against conservative incumbent democrat dan lipinski. newman won the support of senator bernie sanders and congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez after she backed the green new deal and medicare for all. she's also endorsed by naral pro-choice america. lipinski is known for his anti-choice beliefs, and in january he asked the supreme court to overturn abortion rights under roe v. wade. he also voted against the affordable care act in 2010. and the chinese government has announced it will expel american journalists working for "the new york times," "the wall street journal," and "the washington post." the chinese government also demanded outlets like "time magazine" to provide detailed information of their reporting

in china. this comes as the trump administration last month limited the number of chinese citizens allowed to work in u.s.-based chinese outlets to 100 and announced that five state-run chinese news ororganizations would be regulad as "chinese government functionaries." and those are some of the headlines, this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the number of reported cases of coronavirus in the united states has surged to more than 6200, though the devastating lack of tests mean number infected is higher.ially deaths have topped 107. millions are staying home to avoid spreading the disease. nearly 1-in-5 households have already experienced a layoff or work reduction due to the pandemic according to a new pbs/npr/marist poll. on tuesday, the trump administration said it will support a plan to inject more than $1 trillion into the u.s. economy to fight the

unprecedented drop in economic activity. treasury secretary steve mnuchin said the stimulus package would rapidly deliver a $1000 check to most american adults, with more direct payments likely in the months ahead. >> americans need cash now and the president wants to get cash now. and i mean now in thehe next two weeks. amy: mnuchin called the pandemic "worse than 9/11" for the airline industry and called for a $50 billion bailout. this comes as the democrat-led house passed a multi-billion package that significantly monday weakened paid sick-leave measures it tried to enact days earlier. the families first coronavirus response act passed the house monday evening after changes were made that were called "technical corrections." "the wall street journal" reported tuesday -- "democratic aides were alarmed by the changes, which were passed with no objections because house lawmakers are away from washington on recess. the changes weren't shown to most lawmakers before the vote."

for more, we're joined by congressmember ro khanna, democratic from california and a member of the house committee on oversight and reform. in response to the pandemic, he has also cosponsored a bill for an emergency earned income tax credit that would give up to $6000 to everyone who made less than $130,000 last year. his bay area district has been hit hard by the coronavirus, and about 7 millioion residedents te have been told to stay home for all but the most crucial outings until april 7. they are sheltering in place. congressmember ro khanna, welcome back to democracy now! in a moment we want to talk to about their primary results and should the primary sky one, but right now let's go to what is .appening g in the house the discussions of unemployment insurance increasing, paid leave guaranteed. is this happening? >> it is. we need to do followow the abov.

we need a massivive stimulus. ththe first thing wewe need is a cash infnfusion to ordinary americans. many of whom haveve seen payches reduced, many of them haveve already filed an unemployment insurance clclaim. wewe need to beef f up the paiad leave. the house took the first step. but t as you know, large corporationsns were exclududed. they should not be.. we need a guarantee of paid leavave not t just for the coronavirurus, butut if people e sick. we don't want them coming into work. there's a lot of work that remains to be done. amy: but what is happening? what kind of pressures are being brought on the house? let's talk about that paid leave. yes, in the end, apparently with nancy pelosi negotiating with mnuchin, the exemptions were made for companies that had more than 500 workers were less than 50. at first the bill passed, would affect maybe 20% of workers getting paid sick leave,

but now it sounds like it is going to be much l less than th. >> it is an adequate. we believe itmy, should apply to companies s like to than 50500. the problem is we are negotiating with trump and mcmcconnelell to get anything d. i do believe that we have a lot of leverage. this president neeeeds a deal. the economy y is on the vevergef realal crisis. we shohould make sure e we are pushing for r things that are actually going too help. wewe know from old e economists, that meaeans paid leave. it means getting money into thte popockets of t those whoho are unemployed and the workiking class. we need to r re-explore thisis. in the third packet we do, we need to o make sure we don't hae the e exemptions for companies over 500 and reimbursing not just for coronavirus, but for a period of up to two weeks if they are small businesses that

need that reimbursement. amy: so talk about what the white house is now proposing. i first president trump -- mean, until the last three days, he has beenn saying who knew anything like this could happen, like a month ago, referring to the pandemic. now he is saying he has always known there was a pandemic. in the white house and state mnuchin are proposing this $1 trillion bailout, originally asking for much less. who will profit in this? aat guarantee as he is had stream of corporate executives at the white house over the last feww weeks, that it is the workers that will benefit, that there will be strings attached to the massive amounts of money that could transfer to u.s. corprporations and wealthy ininviduals? --what we need to do is have we are going to have $1 tririlln and d have that increasing

unemployment insurance, for direct cash grants to everyry 150ican who is making under thousand dollars or $130,0,000 o peoplele actctually who need the money are getting it. what we should not have is large bailouts foror industries. frankly, with the president ought to be doing is invokingg the defefense production a act o can -- we have a huge shohortage ofof v ventilators. inin britain, they have convertd rolls-royce factories t to producing ventilators. we should be moving g our econoy to a footing where we can produce medidical supplies. the last thing we need is bailouts for large indndustries that look like a hand out shareholders. we need to get the money to working-class amamericans, to americans earning -- to the poor and low wealth that reveverend babarbara talks ababout, but a about 140 million amamericans who are doubled t te poverty line o or less. wewe have to reoririent ourr ecy

to producing things that are going to help us deal with his cororonavirus crisis. amy: after yesterday's primaries, democratic presidential hopeful bernie sanders spspoke tuesday night fm his campaign headquarters in burlington, vermont. laying out a plan for how the u.s. should respond to the coronavirus pandemic. this is part of what he said. > we need to make certain tht evererybody inin our country who needs to go to a doctor can get the health care they need regardless of their income. this is kind of a no-brainer, something that should have happen in our country many, many years ago. but in the midst of this crisis, what i believe we must do is empowewer medicare to cover all medical bills during this emergency. now, this is not medicare for all. we cannot pass that t right now. but what this does say is if you are uninsured, if you or underinsured, if you have high deductibles, if you have high

copayments, if you have out-of-pocket expenses, medicare will cover those expenses so that everybody, regardless of their health care needs -- and i'm not just talking about the coronavirus -- but the health care needs in the midst of this crisis, will get all the health care that they need. amy: ro khanna, you're cochair of his presidential campaign. elaborate on how this is been presented in the u.s. congress. with most americans, even before the pandemic was spreading to the extent it t was, for exampl, being for medicare for all. but what would this mean right now? how can this be enforced in thee house and get it passed through the republican-led senate? i isnator sanders said common senense. we don't want someonene to passa bill of a few thousasand dollars if they are sick k and going to the doctor. this editor is saying, it is not just making sure peoeople are getting tested for c coronaviru, if somomeone h has the flu, if

someone has othth symptoms,s, if someone isis i ill, you don't wt them to be going to work? you don't want them to avoid going to doctor or hospital or phoneng in someone on the or to telehealth because of a bill. for at least a period of three month or six months, we got to say the basic health care of every american is going to be covered. this will make us safer because we are only as safe as the least insured among us. we are hopeful that this is something that everyone can get around. a senator sanders, it is not medicare for all. it is emergency three to six month plan to get people health care. we have seen in a country like south korea thahat has been far better at testing based on a single-payer approach. amy: testing. let's talk about testing. let's talk about the devastating lack of tests thahat are availae

to people, despite with the president keeps saying that every american can get a test. we know the lack of tests are feeling this pandemic in the united states, that public health officials cannot see where their outbreaks, the people can't know whether they have tested positive, though have symptoms and are desperately trying -- i mean, it noww has been documented that te u.s. could have used the world health organization tests like south korea and other countries and they didn't. they put out a flawed test of their own, and now can you tell us is there an accounting of where these tests are? can they be made available? what can you do as a congressmember? scandaliggest national that we did not use the e world health organization tests. i asked in committee, but thehe director of the cdc and a senior official at the nih, why do we not use the world health organization tests?

they were unable to give us an answer. they really had no explanation other r than i think an over on everything had to be american made, which is fine if we e had the capacity but we didn't because we had systematic underinvestment in public health . our cdc budget should have been much higher. the point is, at some point there has to be a reckoning of why we did not use those world health organization tests. probably the biggest mistake made. now all of us in congress are pushing for tests to be widely available. there has been progress on these tests this should be deployed. the challenge is we are still a week or two weeks out. and then we need telehealth. some of us have been calling and have an alliance with covid to get a national health center. we don't want t every american rushing to go get a test. you have to o first see if y y'e symptomatic and have the profile

that would require a test. a lot of that can be donone , so we don'n'tlthh overburden our health care facilities. unfortunately, that has not yet been set up. amy:y: and what about the federl reserve,f -- emergency the devastating effect of this on health care workers and the kinds of just personal protective equipment that people can haveve access to? >> it is mind-boggggling why we don'n't involvlve the dedefense production act to d do two thin. first, we got t to be producings n95 masks a as possiblele. i've heard so many storiries iny district of doctors and nurses only have one mask that they are wearining throughout thehe d dan multiple prorodures. frankly, that is unsafe. we need to protect the peoplee are on the front l lines of thts crisis. said, we ares have

at reaeal danger of running outf ventilators. if that happens in thisis count, we are going to have awfulul choices about who we sasave and who doesn't get t saved. i don't undersrstand why there s not outreach andnd a crime in ts country to t turn every possible production facility y into producucing ventilators so thate ample supply as possible. there are 57 members of congress who have written to the president to do that. but this should not be abobout politics. we just need great production of been -- a been a labors and masks in this country. amy: forgot a break, then we will also be joined by vanita gupta talking about the prprimaries yesterday,y, one ofe hardest hit nations is iran reresearchers won a right of infection won't peak until may and there could be as many as 3.5 million people who will die. amidst everyone's focus on their personal health and the community health, there is

visible -- very little reporting on what the u.s. did yesterday, which was imposing fresh sanctions on iran, keeping up the economic pressure campaign even as the people of iran are dealing with his coronavirus pandndemic, calling on the islac republicic to releasese detained americans. can you respond to this? we have to have somee sense of humanitarian cononcern. it is wrong for us n not to bebe assisting wiwith iran to deal wh its own crisis. there is a sense of human life ththat transcendnds any bororder any politics, and i have called repeatedly f for making susure t our sananions are not in any w w imimding humananitarian aid,, medical aid getting to o the iraniaian people so o they can l withth t ts crisis. as you have seseen, there's no suchch thing as a disesease thas contntned withihione nation. the more the disease spreadsds n a placace l like iran,, t the mt

hurts the e entire worldld. it is not t going to stay just n iran. this is something that is yet to get a m misguideded policy. amy: ro khanna, please stay with us. his area, the bay area, is under orders to shelter at home. ththis is democracy now! we will be back in 30 seconds. ♪ [music break]

amy: that's cellist yo-yo ma. as the coronavavirus pandemicc spread, he took to social media monday to share a song of comfort, a song from bach's cello suite no. 3. he dedicated the song to healthcare workers on the frontlines, writing -- "your ability to balance human connection and scientific c truh in service of us all gives me hope." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as we turn to the results of tuesday's primaries, the democratic presidential nomination. which were marred by chaos, confusion, and fears over the spread of coronavirus at polling places. formrmer vice prpresident joe bn consolidated his lead as he won florida and illinois by a a wide margin and scored a victory in arizona. in illinois, which recorded its coronavirus death tuesday, more first than 800 election judges -- many of them elderly and highly at risk -- refused to participate in tuesday's election. at least 200 chicago polling places were moved away from

highly sensitive sites, including nursing homes and senior centers. at the thurgood marshall public library, scores of mostly african american voters waited for up to two hours in a cramped lobby for their turn to cast a ballot. ohio was also scheduled to vote tuesday, but governor mike dewine delayed his state's primary until june 2 after declaring a public health emergency. he defied a federal judge. democratic national committee chair tom perez came under intense criticism for supporting in-person votingng during the outbreak. for more, we are joined by vanita gupta, former head of the civil rights division at the department of justice in the obama administration, now president and chief executive of the leadership conference on civil and human rights -- the nation's oldest and largest civil rights coalition. they issued a call with 100 voting rights groups for states to proceed with elections while protecting public health. and we continue with ro khanna, democratic congressmember from california. cochair of bernie sanders

presidential campaign. , can you lay out why you feel these elections should continue, these primaries in the midst of this pandemic when people are trying to figure toldow to stay home, being you should go home and not go to work to protect yourselves in the community? they are also being told to go out to about. why dodo you thinkhis is a good ididea at this pointnt? >> the leadership conference has not this week taking any position on whether i in person votingng should gogo f forward . i think the e importanant things that every state and locality needs to make that decision for themseselves baseded on conditis that exist in the state. and we understand that. what we're saying very emphaticically is that states nd to enact a series of election refoform policies immediately in

order to ensure that upcoming primaries s and certainly the november e election that states are actually prepared -- we don't know what conditions are going to be from it what thee look of the pandemic is going to be over the summer. a lot of states haveve postponed their upcoming primaries into june. the problem is, there is a lot of uncertainty. what we are saying is that states need to be better likiked to have things vote by mail, absentee ballots with the kind of security that we need. we are asking that if their states choose to have in-person voting, that they actually follow cdc election guidance that requires social distancing in line, requires an sanitization, understanding the incredible challenges that countries facing right now. the problem is we cannot undermine our democracy in thee

next several months, even as we are facing unprecedented public health challenges. we need states to enact thesese memeasures in order to allow democracy to go forward while maintaining public health for all of us. amy: ro khanna, what is your position? ro khanna, your position as cochair bernie sanders campaign, presidential campaign comeme on whether r these primaries s shod go forward ass schcheduled? >> i was notot able to hear vana gupta. let me jusust say i have tremenendous spikeke and admiran fofor her. i think she should one dayay bea candidate fofor the supreme cou. that said, here we may respectfully disagree. i believe the riright to vote is sacrcr, but i also think that there were such concern about people safety such concern about exposing people to groups, and

concerned about whether people would feel comfortable votining. i don't see with the harm would be in having those elections delayed with the governor of ohio, , ankly, didid. that would have bebeen my recommendatition if i weree advisingng any of the governorsf these states. amy: what would it mean, ro khanna, if there primaries are delayed for an indefinite period of time? the governor of new york, governor cuomo said, we're talking about 45 days before this even peaks. so we're going to t the primary season. what would you suggest? >> i think we haveve to consider the health and safafety of peope first. ththere is no way we should be exposing people to the risk of congregating in groupups if that is going to mean more exposure toto the coronavirirus. net that means even one or two pepeople are at the risk of deah or seriousus illnessss.

that is not something g we do aa nation that valulues the dignity of life of every human being. i wowould suggest you could have votete by mail. i was suggest alternative means of participating and some delay as much as possible. these arere dififficult decisio, but i think the safety and life of our population has to be first. , he did notot c could hear m me, unforortunately. he and i actually quite e agree wiwith this. safety and health of our cocommunities has to come first. with the leadership p conference and over 200 nationanal civil ad huhuman rights groups have been saying that her deeeein the space of voting rights, we have to make sure thatat safety y cos fifirst but that states are prepepared with ththe kind of measures of votete by mail, absentee ballot, making sure we have polling p place adjustments

to go forward after assessing their r own condititions. we need extended periods of early votiting so that people cn actually have mumuch more timemo vote by mail then currently exist. there are e a series of measures that states s need to o enact gn highly unusual a a tytypical sef circumstances around this pandemic so that we can both prototect voters p public health while maiaintaining a democracy that is able to move forward. itit is long past timimfor stat, red or blulue, to enact thesese kinds of commements it's measurs thatat would allow people to voe frfrom the comfort of their homs securely and safely. we need to be ready by november. thee can be nono postponement tf the november general election. the good news riright now w is t states at many, many months to prepare and to get these measures in plalace. if they'rereot able toto in advancnce of the primary, thahas

one thing. althoughgh, i think the postponement did givive states e time to do this. but t there cocould be no excusr delalaying a november election given the e states have the time -- and congress needs to find it. any covivid-19 packagege that ts forward movingng now, we need do keke sure ththat election reform exists to fund these kinds of changes so that we are absolutely ready come november. amy: l let me ask you, vanita gupta, about the group of 1600 individuduals, putting more than 100 medical professionals, who wrote an open letter calling for the next presidential primaries to be postponed until may because of the coronavirus epidemic. -- pandemic. they said we have seen long lines of voters in states like texas and michigan and the amount of time standing in line with hundreds or thousands of other voters substantially increases the likelihood someone will get sick all stop so we're not talking far into the future. they are talking about postponing the next round of

presidential primaries saying the e very thing you're proposig they'rere asksking, canannot ben place?e? theook, w we have to respect health and safety of voters firsrst. ththat is why s states are makig these decisions increasingly more and more states are postponing their primaries. what we're saying at the leadership conference is thatt use e the timime of the postptpt to get measures in place that wowould allow for secure, safe vote by m mail, no excucuse abse ballot measures, and the like. a lot of states still don't have those measures in place. they need to have a whole bunch ofof guardrails th wouould associated w with vote by m mai. put those e in place now to be ready.y. that is what we're saying. the danger is ththat election reforms and vototing rights wowk is often kind of putut to the se d doesn'n't have a partitisan support. this is a moment where ththe nation needs to o come together,

were republilican and democratic secretetaries of state, goverer, sesenators, members of f the hoe of represesentatives in c congrs need to cocome togetheher and ai these reforms that we have listed in greatt detail and m me sure thehey are e funded so that states can get to workrk and get these measureses put inn place o address the very kinds of concerns that are e really important in listed in this letter from public health experts. amy: i went to ask you, vanita gupta, about t the recent report that the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is urging conservative judges to retire now all republicans still control the white house and senate so that they can confirm their replacements. "the new york times" writes -- "senator mitch mcconnell who has used his position as majority leader to build a judicial confirmation juggernaut for president trump over the past three years, has been personally reaching out to judges to sound them out on their plans and assure them that they would have a worthy sucuccessor if they gae up their seats soon, according to multiple people with knowledge of his actions."

telling them, h having senior status, they will continue to be paid so that while the republicans control the senate, they can replace those judges. we just have 30 seconds. if you can talk about the significance of this move? and in the midst of this can damage, what people should be paying attention to -- pandemic, what peoplple should be paying attention to? >> t the federal c courts impact every part of ouour lifefe stotp senanator mcconnell l has been single m minded about packing te coururts with extreme judges, nominees who are r rated not ququalified by the ada, tototaly under verse, two thirirds of the appellate judges t that haveve n confirmed in thehe tmp administratition are white men, many of them with extreme views against t gay marriaiage, tryino underminine voting protections d voting r rights in this country. they are v very young. these pepeople will serve thehee posisitions for lifetime. even as we are grappling with the enormous democracy bururdens

that the pandemic c is causing , let's s not losose sight of whas happening to our f federalal cos -- w which will imimpact not onn our lives, but o our children'ss and our grandchildren'n's lives. this is why y when it comess to novevember, wewe need a pro civl rights in it. we need a pro civil rights of administration that is going to do the right thing and ensure the enforcrcement of f along hard-fought t civil rightss protection for all communities.. but i don't think any of us were surprisesed that senator mcconnl has been quietly but now openly dogg this s to fururther pack or coururts. d d he wl l continue t to do itt until we standnd up as a countny and say ththat those hard-d-fout protections s are worthyy and mt important t of being protected moving forward by our federal courts. amy: vanita gupta, thank you for being with us, president and chief executive of the leadership conference on civil and human rights. she was head of the civil rights division at the department of justice in the obama administration. and a great thanks to congressmember ro khanna of california.

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. ofn we come back, millions restaurant workers around the country are losing their jobs. what wilhappen t to thehe stay with us. ♪ [music c break]

amy: "suite punta del este" by astor piazolla. this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. as we turn to look at how mass shutdowns and layoffs due to the spread of f covid-19 are affeceg millions of restaurant workers across the u.s. with cities across the united states going dark and bars and restaurants closed for the foreseeable future, servers, bartenders, kitchen staff, and more have been left in the lurch -- many without paid sick leave, paid time off, or benefits. one study estimates 4 million restaurant workers in the u.s. are at risk of losing their jobs in a matter of weeks.

many were already living paycheck to paycheck. this is india john, a server at the chocolate bar in cleveland, ohio, which has closed due to the coronavirus. kind of upset about this friendsds andcause financials i know we all have families to take care of and things like that. i do want us all to be safe and healthy, but i'm really concerned about how i'm going to pay my bills. amy: nearly 1-in-5 households have already expressed layoffs or work reduction according to a new poll. as many hope for desperately needed federal assistance, t the senate is taking up a significantly weakened emergency coronavirus bill that the house passed monday night. the bill had already exempted employers with 500 or more workers such as mega corporations mcdonald's and amazon only protecting 20% of workers in the private sector. now it's expected to leave out

evenen more workers, including millllions who work for smalall businesses. the reverend dr. william barber of the poor people's campaign tweeted -- "congress must go back & pass another bill that covers all workers. they cannot leave out millions by exempting some low-wage workers from paid sick leave. these workers will not be exempted from the disease." this comes as the trump administration said tuesday it will support a plalan to inject more than $1 trillion into the u.s. economy to fight the unprecedented drop in economic activityty. treasury secretary steve mnunucn said the stimulus package would rapidly deliver a $1000 check ko most american adults, with more direct payments likely in the months ahead. for more, we are joined by two guests. joining us via democracy now! video o stream in berkeley, california, is saru jayarahman, the co-founder of the restaurant opportunities centers united, president of one fair wage, and the director of the food labor research center at the university of california, berkeley. we're also joined in york by damani varnado, a restaurant

worker who has been working in catering, fine dining, cocktailing for the past 20 years. he was wororking at ththe restat "tiny's & the bar upstairs" when the whole staff was let go during the coronavirus pandemic. saru jayaraman, give us the scope ofof the problem a and whs happening now. we're talking in berkeley, san francisco, 7 million people are just sheltering inside r right now. >> and i think we're just at the tip of the iceberg. i think we will see this happenn nationwide. you mentionened as many as 44 million, 5 million workers are at risk of being l laid off in e restaurant industry. i think it is much higher than that. nearestaurant i industry is 14 million workers nationally. i think you're going to see a vevery large perercentage ofof e woworkers at risk of bebeing lad off asas more of the country follows the bay area with shelelter-in-place.

and that is devastating because this indndustry has sevevere structuralal inequality problems that e existed long befofore ths crisis, in particular, t this indury, unlike honest every other industry, was allowed to tippedubminimum wage to workers, forcing them to live off of tips. think about that workforce when it is laid out. first of all, there been very little tips and the last few weeks leading up to shut down. and so already people were struggling with layoffs, people have been living -- i call it tip to mouth. .hey can't feed their kids we started a really fun for these workers m monday morning t 9:30 with almost 15,000 workers apply for relief in just overera 24 hour period.

anand that is because most of these workers don't qualify for any and implement benefits or paid sick leave. paid sick leave would not last long enough, anywaways. but even if they dodo qualify, even if they are eligible -- [inaudiblele] very core wage in a corrupt calculation n of tips. unemployment insurance is already a percentage of your income. percent minimum wage e restaurat workers, are talking about a percentage of a percentage of your income will stop there was a problem that existed before this crisis that is now exemplifying but we need to $15, one fair wage much more sustainable industry long before this crisisis it. amy: so whwhat exactctly are you pushining for, saru jayaraman?? >> we are pushing for multiple things in this moment and long term right now we are pushing that unemployment benefitits actually measure - -- provide a

buffer, particularlyly for tippd the government has no clear idea how much these workers actually earned it t ti. we want to seeee a better calculation of and benefitits, number one. ask latately -- absolututely, coveringng all industriess and woworkers and betterer paid famy leave as well. in terms of really for businesses, we would like to see targeted r relief along the lins of what senator warren called for, basically, targrgeted relif for businesssses that are willig to move t to a sustainable modol postcrisis. let's support businesses to stay with us through the crisis and have moved to a bebetter model postcrisis s so that we are nonn the same boat afafterwardsds. so that would look likee tax and rent ababatement for small businesseses that are willing to commit to going to $ $15 and one fair wage after the c crisis.

we d don't want to use ththe ths industry stuck through the crisis lee at the end of it with large chains provide -- rviving becaususe those are the ones who can weather thehe cris. we don't want to see small businesses go o out of hihis nes a result o of the crisis, but we do want to see businessess encouraged w who the crisis, supported her the crisis that are willing toto make a commitmt to change because, clearly, the crisis is highlighting why we needed that change in the first place. amy: so i want to turn to a comment of robert reich who said earlier this week, he tweeted -- "mcdonald's, burger king, pizza hut, duncan donuts, wendy's, taco bell, subway. none give their workers paid sick leave. they should be required to post this sign on their doors -- 'because we don't give our workers paid sick leave, they may be sick when they serve you'." that was robert reich. the former labor secretary.

retweetedaman, you his message. talk about this. her people to understand as the white house talks about bailing economy, who is being bailed out and who isn't? and are there strings being putt on these bailouts to ensure that their workers are protected? when they say they are bailing out the airline industry to the tune of $50 billion, are the airline flight attendants, are the workers on the plains, etc., are they being protected? yoyou stick with whahat you kno, the restaurantnt workers and the large corporations. >> absolutely. that is my point. there is talk of a very large babailout come in some cases funding already going g to very large e restaurant corporations that many of whom have been taken over by hedgdge funds so this is wall street controlling very l lge restaururant cocorporations. they are saying potential larare

subsidies, tax subsidies, inincentives. there isis talk also of s suppot even for smaller businesses, but we have not seen it yet. meanwhile, the same large businesses are not being forced to provide their workers with paid leave and not being calalld on when receiving these bailouts to move to higher wages that we know wouldld have staved off the kind of dark situation we are seseeing right now among millios of workers had they been forced to pay livable wages and paid prior. what we need is not mass bailououts in an industry with o ststrings attached are requirements for workers. what we need is relief for an industry that encourages or requires moving to livable wages, moving to what we callll one fair wage -- a full minimum wage with tips on top as we have here in california -- and paid sick leave and paid sick leave because 90% of workers across

the country don't have the ability to take a day off when they are sicick. two thirds reported they w workd when sick before coronavirus. yeyes, a lotf workers s are goig to be lalaid off and so paid lee is not going to be as relevant for them, but thihink aut all of the e delivery workers that are cocontinuing to work. do we want thehem to work whwhen they are s sick? no.. we need to see paid leave e appy to everyone. we need companies to be forced to pay livable wages if they're going to get any kind of relief from the government. amy: i want to bring damani varnado into the conversation stop he right now is in another studio in new york city so we can maintain our social distance and keep our workplaces safe. so good to have you with us, damani. can you talk about what happened to you? you were just laid off from a place in tribeca? >> yeah, i can tell you the

short about it. we're in tribeca. tribeca has a lot of influence from wall street to families to smaller businesses. basically, tourists coming in. i was hit the pandemic started about a month ago and we noticed when you're was starting to close the restaurants and businesses and people were getting scared, that is when we started noticing a reduction in the customers coming in. we started to slowly reduce shifts right then and there. i was it within about 72 hours, we not only lost our shift, but were told we were going to be closing the business. the business was nice enough to send an imelda say they would be rehiring us when this is over, but that is an indefinite amount of time that no one can quite speak to. we have been devastated. i've been devastated not just in the front of the house and back of the house, immigrants working without any kind of legal status -- they have no rights to

unappointed benefits, which were already skewed off by a percentage of what we would actually be making is what we will be adjusted front of limit benefits. many of us w working part-time, may not even be eligible for those. amy: do you get unemployment benefits? >> i have applied for them, but a decision has not been made. system continues to crash. everyone in new york is unemployed. the crisis has made everyone stop working. amy: can you talk about what you're most worried about right now? what people will turn to if they cannot get financial support? >> i think people are going to ,urn to resourcing food banks human resources, social services, but i feel like when that is full, i think people will start moving in together to reduce living costs. i think people will think more

about shared kitchens for feeding their families. i think that restaurants right now should be thinking about the food that is in the refrigerators right now be donated to all food pantries because there is no one in the restaurants eating them. there'ss not enough takeout orders that are going to work right now. amy: and a people get really desperate? >> i think if people really get desperate, it will be similar to the depression. people will be out in the streets waiting for sououp andd bread because there is no money to go around the city. , what kindayaraman of organizing are you doing? shelter-in-place, the whole san n francisco area, 7 million people, it looks like it is coming to new yorkrk as well. how do y you organizize in a crs likeke t this? >> as i mentioned, we launched ththis one fair wage emergencycy findnd monday morning. wewe've beeeen raising money and yelling out cash assistance to

workrkers. but for every y single worker tt signs up, we are doing a one-on-one of one hour conversationon, talking to thehm about t their neededs, the situation, why we are in this to begin with and why we need to vote. we are setting p people up to ve as we talk too them and screenig them to send out the e checks. crazyt is very strangege and and dystopian moment. the storories coming in of these 15,00000 workers t that have aly applied are heheartbreaking. i lost my job on friday.y. i could not feed mymy three children.. i i have children with developmental disabilities, chilled him with illness. i don't know how i'm going to feed t them or take care of the. i don't know how i'm going t to papay my rent. amy: we have to leave it there. i want to thank you so much for being with us. be safe. saru jayaraman with the restaurant opportunities centers united, one fair wage. also joining us from new york,

damani varnado, longtime new york restaurant worker who was just laid off. that does it for our show. a huge thank you to our staff. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693

this edition of nhk "newsline." with the news from tokyo. japan's prime minister shinzo abe has announced tighter quarantine measures amid the new coronavirus pandemic. they have been expanded to those from 38 natations includingng m of europe. >> translator: we concludeded strictcter quarantine is necessy for people comoming from 38 countries,s, including european countries, iran and egypt . >> abe says they'll ask both