join us again. that will wrap up this hour of "msnbc live." andrea mitchell starts right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," damage control. president trump joins vice president pence after criticism he was out golfing while the vp dealt with a crisis. announcing new insurance measures to help people pay for coronavirus testing and treatment. >> we want the american people to know that they are covered through private insurance. they are covered through medicare and medicaid and there will be no surprise billing. as the president's economic advisers are talking about propping up battered markets talk of tax cuts. they're short on details so far. no consensus yet from congress. >> we're discussing a possible payroll tax cut or relief, substantial relief, very substantial relief. that's a big number.

but this was something we were thrown into and we're going to handle it. too close for comfort? several republican congressmen who have had contacted with an infected person at cpac are on the road with the president in recent days, including one who flew back on air force one yesterdays and now decides to self-quarantine. so has the president been tested yet for coronavirus? >> i honestly don't know the answer to that question. we will refer that question and get you an answer from a white house physician quickly. >> hours later the white house said the president has not yet been tested. and slow bern. it's a big last-chance effort perhaps, but big chance today for bernie sanders to catch up to joe biden in delegates with michigan, which he won four years ago, among six states voting today. this as the former vice president said he can unite the

party, flanked by formal rival now endorsing him. >> look, i view myself as a bridge, not anything else. there's an entire generation of leaders you saw stand behind me. they're the future of this country. >> let's win the primary, let's win the nomination. let's defeat trump. let's transform this country. good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington, where there are updates in the federal government's fight in the coronavirus. moments ago vice president pence sitting with president trump announcing all medical co-pays will be waived, saying the american people will be covered for tests. colleges and universities across the nation canceling all travel and campus events and moving to online classes as states and federal government try to get the handle on this epidemic. with more and more people staying home, american airlines announcing a 7 1/2% cut in

domestic flights. delta is cutting up to 15% of domestic flights, up to 25% of international flights. fears about global travel are most visible in italy, a nation where its entire population, 60 million people are on total lockdown after 463 coronavirus-related deaths. joining me now nbc white house correspondent weekend "today" co-host kristen welker. jason furman, chairman of the economic advisers during the obama administration. gene sperling, former director of the national economic council for both president clinton and obama and white house reporter ashley parker. welcome all. you have seen the president joining the vice president. these were last-minute changes. at the end of the photo opportunity there was a multitude of shouted questions, among them apparently, are you going to hill today? and he mouthed the words yet. we may have a meeting perhaps going to the republican luncheon held every tuesday. and maybe you can clarify that.

>> that's the big headline, in addition to what you just mapped out, andrea, the fact president trump nodded yes twice when asked if he was going to the hill to meet with republicans there, to try to hammer out some details of what he put out yesterday, some type of stimulus package to help the economy. we spoke to white house officials after the fact. they wouldn't give any more specifics but it does appear he will be attending that senate luncheon, andrea. so we will be watching that very closely. what did president trump tease out yesterday? he said he's looking at the possibility of a payroll tax cut and also relief for hour wlaj earners. the questions though around those potential proposals, andrea, are many. one, is he talking about a payroll tax holiday or just cutting payroll taxes around the edges? would that apply to employees and employers or just employees?

what is the scope of it? how would it be paid for? and would the house be on board? that's the big question. the house guoes on recess next week. the calendar not on the president's side. devils in the details certainly. at announcement yesterday reported by cnbc seemed to catch his own administration off guard. as we've been trying to drill out on details today, it seems that's the case. officials struggling to answer questions about whether the president will make some broader announcement today or whether that may get pushed off until later on in the week when they have some of these details nailed down. we will be watching closely, andrea, as the president goes to the hill. later this evening at 5:30, we are expecting a briefing from the coronavirus task force here within the administration. so we may get more details there as well. >> i want to bring in ashley and then we'll talk about the economic impact and what stimulus might even work. ashley, you've been front and center on a lot of the reporting

about the president, the confusion signed the white house, the president golfing several days in mar-a-lago while the vice president was meeting from people from the cruise industry. there's been a lot of optics here as well as the president's misleading statements that have contributed, some say, to market uncertainty and to now rising fears of a real-market downturn and recession. >> that's exactly right. some of the president's top advisers have really had a tough time focusing him on the coronavirus, especially early on. there were people who right after impeachment ended and the president was acquitted, they went back to him when he felt like his mind would be free of the black cloud of impeachment and said this coronavirus seems quite serious. the president at that time was not particularly concerned. he dismissed it as not being any worse than the flu. of course, we now know that's

not the case. you also have people in the white house who are frankly quite frustrated with the president. they say the misstatements are not helpling the situation. that's not what you want in these moments of public health emergencies. they sign one of the problems is the pull healblic health offici taking it seriously, you have a president calling friends and confidantes late at night and he's hearing from them, they don't see coronavirus in their communities. they think the democratic sep tareans might be vulnerable but the president is so healthy, he will be fine. and it's contributed to this very delayed response, which as you said hurt the markets, among many real-world concerns. >> even today the fact this was not on the president's schedule. there was no photo opportunity planned. it was a vice presidential meeting. and then the last scramble in the last 45 minutes or so that

the president was attending would seem like this would be a textbook case of something the president should attend just to show he's in the game to try to offset all of the reporting about his misstatements. i do have questions about whether eliminating co-pays is going to help if you don't have the tests and the tests are not being distributed, which is part of the early lack of planning and ramp-up to this. gene sperling, you were president in some of the earlier meetings and i respect for ebola during previous administrations and you saw presidents in charge during crises. what about the economic effects? gene, first you, what would a payroll tax cut do? what would help for hourly workers do? how does stimulus help in a crisis where you're asking people to stay home and not spend their money? >> so first and foremost, there is nothing that you can do if you do not have a competent mass

mobilization of our country to make sure you have massive testing, the test kits are out, that it's free that you have treatment. we have not seen this virtually in our lives, virtually everybody in the economy, even the people working or relatively financially stable are pulling back on all forms of economic activity. we've never seen this widespread as it is. if this is exceptionally deep or long, it's going going very difficult for our country and no long economic stimulus can replace that. number two, this is going to hit lower income, hard-pressed workers more. they're the ones who don't have paid sick leave. they're the ones who can't afford to stay home with their kids if there's a school closing. they're the ones that can't necessarily work from home period because they're doing manual types of things. the second thing is you have to

get a massive influx of aid. one that's morally right and two it reduces community spread. three, they're the ones who spend every penny and be good for the economy. third, and i will let jason go into this more, when you are looking at the probability of a deep recession, you do have to think of what you can do to help stimulate the economy. and it's not too early to start thinking about that. jason and i were both somewhat architects of the obama/biden payroll tax cut but it was simply because it was the best we could do at the time. for this type of sharp downturn, you need things that are much more speedy, where a large amount of money gets there quickly and i would be targeted to low to moderate americans who are really going to be feeling the pain and most likely going to spend that money because they need it or help get a jump-start or at least reduce some of the pain in the economy. >> jason, your take on all of

this? >> yes, i agree with everything gene said. it was the most perilous moment our economy faced since 2008, and we faced a number of them since then. we don't know exactly what the economic answer to this is. the most important answer is everything we can do on public health, everything to prevent spread to treat the people affected to come up with a cure and a vaccine. at the same time we should be doing everything we can to help people that lose their jobs, people that are losing school meals and the like. if you add up the cost of all of that though, it is a lot of money but it is nowhere close to the size that would be needed from a macroeconomic perspective for the sake of our economy. that's why i think we need to do something very big that both -- and here's the good news economically f. you're helping the families that need the money most, that's also helping the economy. i think it's helping wealth as well. you give families -- i would just do a flat check.

i think it's simple. we can come up with something more complicated if we have more time but why not take a family of four, give them $3,000. maybe they can afford to stay home from work and won't spread the disease. maybe they won't have to fault on a bill and be in trouble months to come. this isn't like go out to the movie theater but spend the money but there's a lot of ways families need money. we need to get a lot out and get it out quickly. >> jason, since you're newspaper harvard, i want to point out i believe harvard is moving to online classes. universities across the country are scaling back. no travel, foreign studies obviously affected, basketball tournament, the ivy league just canceled their basketball tournament. so they designated yale won't go to the ncaa. >> no, we told our students sunday they have to go home. they have to go home.

classes will be online. and i think it's the policy issues. last week when hird that idea, it seems like an overreaction. today, it seems like the obvious choice. you can't wait until covid-19 is identified in our community, at which point how do you isolate students all eating in a dorm room? students in general are a healthier population. they can spread it to everyone else. this is about the community as a whole. s this a little bit analogous to public policy. the ideas we thought a week ago were in the break glass maybe crazy category today seem like things that are urgently needed. throughout this, whether it's the health response or personal responses, what we're doing in the economy, i would like to see us erring on the side of doing too much and being one week ahead of it rather than everyone just continuing to try to play catch upwith something never experienced before in our lives. >> kristen, their clearly is a

feeling as ashley's been reporting and you have been reporting, that the white house was way behind the curve on this and the vice president taking charge of it helped. but as rachel maddow was pointing out last night, some of the health officials in telephone briefings are be more explicit than even the medical people, respected medical people are in television interviews. and the ap report, really troubling this weekend, that the white house overruled an earlier decision about telling all older people not to fly. and said that could not be put out by cdc. >> and you're seeing that mixed messaging continue to play out. and you're right. i think there's a sense with vice president mike pence at the helm there's a little bit more streamlining. you're also hearing from health officials like dr. fauci, respected on both sides of the aisle. and i think what you are now seeing is this emphasis on

trying to give people not only the information they need but not stepping away from the urgency of this situation. the fact jason was just mapping out, this is an evolving situation. the challenges are mounting by the day and the backdrop to all of this, andrea, is some of our reporting that you have members of congress who are self-quarantining themselves, including mark meadows, the incoming chief of staff here, who decided to quarantine himself for appeared of days out of an abundance of caution, out of concern he may have come into contact with someone who did in fact test positive for coronavirus. president trump was at that briefing yesterday. and after he left, the vice president was asked if he been tested. vice president didn't have that answer in the moment as you reported at the top, but stephanie grisham following up to say the president has not been tested, saying because he neither had prolonged, close contact to any one known

confirmed covid-19 patients nor does he have any symptoms. but continuing to monitor the situation very carefully on all fronts, andrea. >> kristen, jason, ashley and gene, thank you all very much. coming up -- delegate dash. 365 delegates up for grabs in today's contest for michigan to mississippi. will it be slam dunk for joe biden or can bernie sanders make a comeback? stay with us. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. ports" on msn. ♪you make everything... groovy...♪ done yet? yeah, yeah, sorry, sorry. you sure? hmm.mmm. ♪come on, come on, wild thing. if you ride, you get it. geico motorcycle. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. >> tech: don't wait for a chip like this to crack your whole windshield. with safelite's exclusive resin,

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former vice president joe biden mixing it up with an auto worker who accused him of trying to take his guns away for supporting gun reform after the newtown massacre. joe biden saying, and i'm paraphrasing, full of it. >> my son is hurt, guess what? he's not allowed home anyway. i'm not taking the gun away. >> you said you would take guns away -- >> i did not say that! >> well, bernie sanders campaign manager at first retweeted a trump campaign rapid response video of this exchange before switching to a nbc news version once they got called out for it. a total of 365 delegates are up for grabs today.

michigan the largest slice of the pie, especially critical to sanders as he battles to get 1,091, the number to lock in the nomination. sanders defied the odds in 2016. can he do it again tonight? joining us from detroit, heidi przybyla and in d.c. here, politics senator for the daily beast, sam stein. heidi, you're back home in detroit, michigan. key night for bernie sanders. can he surprise everyone again? >> he would really have to have another epic polling failure here to take michigan again and i will tell you why. there were a number of factors in place in 2016 that just don't exist. including the fact there was very low turnout here in detroit in areas like flint, those are majority minority communities. as we are seeing joe biden is leading with african-american voters. i have talked to a number of

them since i have been here. we don't know until people actually show up at the polls but this time does feel different in that a lot of these african-american voters are using this as a protest vote against trump. it's not that they so much love joe biden or bernie sanders, but they're really concerned about what's going on. at the same time working class white base that live in counties like wayne where i grew up, those numbers have dropped a little bit. so you have that along with a convergence of really energized suburban voters like those femmes for dems, andrea, sue bourbon mothers women organizing to get out the vote. a lot had supported the female candidates but now a lot of them are supporting joe biden. at the same time again the polling here in michigan, i'm going to admit it, it's not great. so it could come very close. there could be maybe be an upset. but i'm telling you the

conditions -- the underlying conditions that existed in 2016 are just a little bit different today. >> and to sam, the bernie sanders movement, which speaks to a lot of people in michigan, and that's where he's been successful before, but how does he counteract joe biden getting these endorsements and unifying the party? >> that's a good question. that's the question they needed to confront after nevada actually. if you think about it, he would come off a win in new hampshire, won decisively in nevada. he was looking at south carolina where he knew he faced his really big challenge, a large african-american voting population. at that juncture in retrospect, the campaign needed to make more overtures to mainstream democrats, including the establishment, which is deemed a bad thing in bernie world. ideally they would have placated some of the concerns about his candidacy. in retrospect they didn't do

that or effectively enough. and joe biden used that positive parlay into this coalition of establishment democrats come behind him. now bernie has a tough task ahead of him. how do you build enough momentum to actually get the delegates, which is this all about and come to the fact to accept that you're the nominee. you cannot do that just with michigan. even if he wins michigan, he has to look at places like mississippi, which could give biden a huge advantage tonight. >> if he eaks out michigan, winning the state will not mean very much. . >> it's a nice headline but it's a delegate race. ultimately, that's what it comes down to. on top of that bernie's own record, by virtue of being the front runner when asked, if he would pledge the delegate leader at the convention, and he said

yes. so he's got a double task ahead of him now. >> after taking a different position four years ago. hidy, what about the women voters you have spoken to, nationally the women voters, the importance of the elizabeth warren endorsement, if there is going to be one, and the fact that there are no viable women left still competing for this nomination. are people talking about that where you are? >> yes. and just look at the women who were in the race. if you want it bring it down to a numbers game. there was kamala harris, amy klobuchar, kirsten gillibrand. women who for lack of a better term were considered more moderate candidates. they weren't huge, big medicare for all, with the exception of elizabeth warren. then if you drill into her base, andrea, you look at a lot of her support came from suburban college educated white women. those are the same demographics

that was the least enthusiastic about bernie sanders. if you looked at head-to-heads in abc's news polling, for instance, bernie sanders was the worst against donald trump with that demographic. so elizabeth warren, that is engineered to be a little more supportive if you just look at the numbers. so sam's point, even if bernie did pull out a win here in michigan, then you're looking at other huge delegate-rich states like florida, where he has another unique set of challenges, where the inroads he's made for instance with latino voters do not serve him well. if you look at the polling there, he's got a huge deficit as well. if he did pull out a surprise in michigan, it would have to be pretty big in order to give him the kind of momentum to recapture the impression he's a front-runner. >> of course, florida is next week's voting.

sam and heidi, thank you. of course, we still don't know how the virus and all of the concerns about that are going to affect these campaigns. they're already affecting some rallies in the thakt they're not doing rope lines and interacting with voters the way they have been and would like to be. stay tuned on that. governor gretchen whitmer is tloe throwing her support behind vice president joe biden. ♪ yeah that's all me. ♪ nothing and me go hand in hand ♪ ♪ nothing on my skin ♪ that's my new plan. ♪ nothing is everything. keep your skin clearer with skyrizi. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. of those, nearly 9 out of 10 sustained it through 1 year. and skyrizi is 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. ♪ i see nothing in a different way ♪

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been ramping up his attacks against former vice president joe bidein the lead up to today's primary showdown. on fox news last night, he claimed joe biden's speech lacks substance. >> when i give a speech, often it's 45 minutes to an hour. there are a lot of challenges the country faces and i've got to talk about them. joe was somewhere, michigan or someplace else the other day, and he spoke for seven minutes. don't know how you say anything other than minimal discussion in seven minutes. >> biden had another incoming attack last night in detroit when multiple protesters interrupted his rally. >> it's not a trump rally. let him go. let him go.

the bernie bros are here. let them go. >> joining me now is michigan governor and biden supporter governor gretchen whitmer. governor, thank you very much. i know you have a lot on your plate. thank you for being with us. first of all, how will biden and sanders unite the party after all of this mud-slinging is going on? >> i think one of the things i love about joe is he built a coalition. we saw it last night with cory booker on stage and kamala harris. there's a reason that people who are running against him are now with him. it's because everyone can find a place in this campaign. feeding into the ugliness that is kind of a quintessential message of the current white house is not what joe does. he's humble. he's smart. and he has a record. that's why i think he resonates with michiganders. he and barack obama were there when our backs were up against the wall when the auto industry needed to have a rescue. they expanded health care to people, that means 700,000

people in the state almost, got health care because of it. we know joe and we have confidence and everyone can find a place in this campaign. >> obviously, women candidates are not doing well though. what about the anger women feel that elizabeth warren is now out and all of the other women who came behind joe biden other than the last week, other than warren, who has not yet declared. what about the gender gap here? what are women in michigan saying? >> i think it's real. in our last election in 2018, i won by almost 10 points. our attorney general won, secretary of state joycelyn benson won. people swept the offices. and not to see women in the fight is dishearten but there's a source of inseparation for every person who's been on this platform and every once have something to offer. i think that's what joe has talked about very openly, that there is a place for everyone.

acknowledging kamala and cory last night saying this is the kind of leadership our country needs. i think there's going to be places for talent of all stripes and i think that's really important. joe maybe is not female and maybe he's not a candidate of color, but he gets it. this is important to him. that's what a real coalition that can win looks like. >> what about what he said -- what biden said last night or was pretaped yesterday with lawrence o'donnell. they played it all last night. it's interesting he said in answer to a question from lawrence about whether someone who had gone through the debate testing stage, former candidate, should be the running mate? and he said could be the case or should be the case but obviously other women yourselves, stacey abrams. what about his commitment to women of diversity as a running mate if he gets the nomination? >> i think it's important there are representation on this ticket. and as a co-chair to get past

the state in michigan, i'm going to have a strong voice in where we go from here. i want to help him vet a running mate. i think there are a lot of phenomenal candidates that would round out this ticket in meaningful ways, empowering ways, not tokenism, but really ensuring there are voices of people across this country who have not had one in the past. i think that's something incredibly important and i'm excited how this ticket will get rounded out but we have to get past michigan and big tuesday today and next tuesday. but we're feeling good about our ground game and where we're headed. >> are you going to pull a dick cheney, who helped vet and then became himself the nominee? >> no. >> let me ask you just very quickly about guns, because the vice president was confronted today by an auto worker on the gun issue and made the point he's not trying to take people's guns away but that's an important issue in a hunting state. where in fact the late great

john dingell was before he congress vi converted and resigned from the nra over the assassination attempt against ronald reagan. >> let me say there's a difference between nra and hunters. there's a different between hunters and propaganda with one interest group puts out there. i think we need leaders who get that, who are smart about that and, yes, want to make our kids safe in their schools. and respect someone's ability to hunt. i think the nuance that people like to not talk about, but joe gets it. i think that's why he will stand there and have a conversation with someone on a work site and have a real discussion about it and where we're headed. we want to make our schools safe. i'm a mom. i get that. that's the most important thing to me when i drop my kids off to know they're safe in their schools. joe gets that too. that's why he was endorsed by every town. i think that's huge. also it doesn't mean that people who are law asiding, hunting

citizens shouldn't have their second amendment protected. so there is a way for smart people to make policy that keeps our kids safe and i think that's what joe biden is all about. >> one more quick question, because i was just seeing for the first time video of the former vice president shaking hands with some of the autoworkers. he said to lawrence yesterday he would not be doing rope lines, they're going to follow cdc recommendations. he was just shaking hands up and down that rope line. is that a good practice as the governor of the state? >> well, i have to tell you, we are all trying to emulate what we are recommending to people. and i have been doing the elbow bump and fist bump and everyone once in a while i catch myself throwing my arms around someone. i'm learning. i think the vice president, former vice president is as well. we're people. we love the opportunity to engage with folks. i think this is something we're all trying to emulate what we expect -- or live what we expect others to emulate. and it's a learning curve but

we're getting there. >> okay, appreciate all of your insights today, michigan governor gretchen whitmer. thank you so much for joining us. and coming up next -- house bound, more members of congress are staying in their states as coronavirus concerns mount. will self-quarantines help stop the spread around the country? you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." stay with us right here on msnbc. with us right here on msnbc. wrinkles just won't. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair's fastest retinol formula works so fast. it takes only one week to reveal younger looking skin. making wrinkles look so last week. rapid wrinkle repair® pair with retinol oil for 2 times the wrinkle fighting power. neutrogena® you should be mad your neighbor

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this is how democrats areself quarantining because of contact with someone infected at cpac. for some of those now saying home has come into contact with president trump in recent days, including congressman joe collins, who shook hands with the president friday. and representative matt gaetz, who rode in the president's car just yesterday. joining me is mike crowley from "the new york times" and former house speaker paul ryan. welcome both. to you first, brendan, there are a number of traditions on the hill. the president said to the pool just earlier today he would be going to the regular republican senate lunch today. obviously pitching for whatever stimulus package they agreed on, if they agreed on something, after some resistance from mitch mcconnell. he also needs the speaker of the house to get anything passed. he's already said he will not be going to the traditional house speaker's st. patrick day's

lunch. i can't think of anything less partisan than the speakers lunch for st. patrick's day. >> which says so much about the challenges we have going on. the st. patrick's lunch is a great opportunity for everybody to get together and be nice to each other for about an hour. the president was clearly unwilling to do that. we have a situation where we're walking into a public health crisis that could have major economic consequences and the president and speaker of the house have not spoken to each other in months. this is a time where you would hope there could be a relationship where they can put aside politics and get something done with urgency, with no regard for the political consequences of their own party. that relationship doesn't exist now. it's been a concern of mine for a long time. it's been heading in this direction for a while. we saw the state of the union, tearing up the speech, some of the comments he makes about her. this is going to have bad consequences for congress's ability to get anything done this week or going into march, as the crisis spreads out. >> and to you, michael crowley,

we know in the past reagan and tip o'neill dealt with each other all the time, and they had a lot in common being irish, you know, the kind of men who could sit down after hours and share a drink. but they had real partisan differences which dwloethey ove in emergencies. we saw a lot of bipartisanship after 9/11. this is the worth health crisis this country has ever faced. >> that's right, andrea. so the partisanship now is to a degree we haven't seen before. i think there might be ways in which people think that the partisanship in washington is some kind of -- andrea, so much of our politics has come to seem like a reality show. as brendan pointed out, even democrats started to play trump ace case a little bit, the theatrical tearing up of the state of the union by nancy pelosi, i don't think that's

something democrats would have done prior to the age of trump. he's sort of changed the norms and behavior of everyone. now we're at a point where it's a matter of life and death to some degree. fortunately the federal government, the cdc can take a lot of action unilaterally to help protect the public but particularly, andrea, where the rubber is going to meet the road on this question, will there be some kind of economic stimulus package? can congress pass something to keep the economy afloat if it looks like we may now be headed towards a recession? the last thingly have is it is an open question whether a stimulus package will do any good at this point because the problem you really is with people's behavior in a state of fear. and it's not clear, for instance, putting money back into people's pockets in a payroll tax cut will help. >> and we had the story from the associated press that the white house officials overruled the cdc, brendan, because the cdc

wanted to advise all seniors not fly on commercial aircraft. and they overruled that and softened the guidance. >> yes, i think what you have seen in the last couple of days is the white house has gotten a little more serious about the situation. i think the fact the number of congressmen have gotten -- at least have gotten in contact with someone who had the virus, you never want that to happen, but if you're looking for silver linings, i think it has focused the mind of a little bit of reasons in congress. nothing focuses the mind like a health scare. nothing focuses the mind of an elected official like their constituents dyeing with matt gaetz, who last week went to the house floor sort of mocking the situation. now he's one of the people who is himself quarantined. so i think finally people are starting to realize this is serious. hopefully that means they will be able to come together and i get something done. but we are also closely teetering on the edge of a political crisis in congress now, our inability to ever put aside partisanship.

i wonder if we will be able to do that. but at least people right now seem to be focusing on it. >> it's good to have your perspective working in the speaker's office. thank you very much, brendan buck and michael crowley from "the new york times." we have breaking news from new jers new jersey nbc news confirmed one person, a 60-year-old man died from the coronavirus in new jersey. this just in from new york state. governor cuomo there just announced officials plan to implement a one-mile containment area around the town of new rochelle, new york. a northern suburb of new york city, 45 minutes from broadway. used to be part of my hometown. this is all in an effort to counter a cluster of covid-19 or coronavirus in the city. adding moments ago new rochelle is the most significant cluster in the company right now. more on this and all of the latest on the coronavirus just now. but first to kasie hunt on the hill. kasie, what's the latest there?

>> hi, andrea. we're in the corridor and been here before you and i waiting for the president to arrive on the hill today. of course, set to go behind closed doors with senator reasons to talk about the emerging plans to try to do something to help americans who are challenged economically in the face of this health crisis. we heard the president talk about a payroll tax cut yesterday. so a lot of questions here on the hill about just exactly what that means. we're also expecting to hear -- rather i should say republican senators are expecting to hear from steve mnuchin and mr. kudlow, economic advisers and treasury secretary, about the sort of details of this plan. a lot of questions about what congress can do in a very short time frame to try and help people who are dealing with the fallout from the outbreak of the coronavirus. now, democrats have pushed back and they have offer someday proposals that include expanding sick leave, expanding unemployment insurance. so a question whether they can find a way to come together.

the president's biggest hurdle might actually be senate republicans, who could be wary of the deficit spending that is likely involved in a project like this. a payroll tax cut is something president obama did during tough economic times. a payroll tax holiday. it can impact the social security fund, if they structure it a certain way when obama did it, it basically added to the deficit in the end. they replaced any funds that would have been lost to provide that holiday. there's a lot of details. a lot of questions. the big political ones, though, likely to determine how this plays out here, whether or not republicans and democrats can bridge their difference fls what is an escalating crisis and a lot of growing anxiety among americans. >> kasie, stay with us. we've seen the motorcade pulling up and the president will be coming out and getting close to where you are right outside the rooms where the senate republican leaders are having lunch and so we'll come back to

you momentarily. joining us now, alyssa slotkin from michigan, member of the homeland security committee and also former cia and pentagon official. congresswoman, very good to see you. thank you very much. what about a payroll tax cut or other stimulus packages? i interviewed earlier gene sperling and jason fuhrman who had experience with this in previous democratic white houses in response to a crisis. it's unclear what would stimulate the economy right now. jason fuhrman said let's give especially low-income workers a $3,000 check so they can meet bills and stay home with their kids and try to stop community spread. i don't know what your view on that is? >> i think whatever we do, it has to get to this confidence problem that people are feeling. even if people had money in their pockets, if they're scared to go to the move ies or to wor or to school. we have to address the underlying health issues and we need strong, clear leadership,

right? we need a firm hand to just go by the cdc guidance and tell us what we should and should not be doing. i think we're seeing offices on the hill start to do this in our own lives, but every single anxie agency, every company, every nonprofit should be coming up with a plan to go to telework. abiding by the no essential travel if you're elderly. no cruises. we need a firmer hand on getting control of the virus. if we're not doing that, then any stimulus we have is not going to be as effective as we want it to be. >> in past years there's been a threat warning hearing in the house and the senate from all of the intelligence officials. in the past it's said in explicit language the u.s. is not ready to face a pandemic of this nature. this year it has not been held on the advice of some in the intel community who fear the guidance about north korea, iran and other threats, russia interfering with our election

that dan coats gave very clearly last year could have led to his firing and might lead to more firings and against the intelligence community from an angry president this year. what is it that the public is not getting a declassified warning about a lot of threats, including this one. >> so i was a cia officer. i worked at the dni's office. this worldwide threat hearing which happens every winter it's the one moment the intelligence committee comes together at the senior most levels and has a public hearing about threats facing the country. and -- >> congresswoman, let me just pause you for a moment. >> sure. >> the president is arriving. gave a thumbs up. they were shouting questions. no answers. i interrupted you. you were talking about the worldwide threat hearing which i've covered for years, for decades. >> it's the one moment the intelligence community comes out and talks to the american public about what the threats are. it's every year. we do a ton of work to prepare for it. and my deep concern is that we don't have a scheduled date

where these folks are going to come up. i don't know what's going on behind the scenes but it feeds into this narrative the intelligence community does not feel comfortable speaking truth to power. just being open about their analytic assessments. not political. not trying to hit anybody on this. but just telling the country what they think the primary threats are facing the nation. so it's a real concern. obviously, we are deeply concerned that we have an election security briefing today. a classified one. we understand there was some juggling of the participants, and as someone who was a civil servant, we always serve whoever our president is, but we have to be able to speak honestly about the threats that face us. >> well, in fact, rik grenell was supposed to be at that russia election hearing and is now, we understand, not going to appear. we don't know what will happen and why that took place. what about michigan and any concerns about election interference today? >> well, we see no signs of

election interference that i've heard of. we have a very strong secretary of state in michigan who knows how to do election security. so that gives me confidence. what we do know, it's going to take a long time to count all these absentee ballots. michigan changed our laws and made it very easy to vote absentee. the last statistic is that we're up by 97% from 2016 on absentee ballots. so it's going to take us a minute. bear with us tonight. but, for me, we don't see anything untoward, at least that i've been made aware of. >> congresswoman elisa slotkin, thank you. tonight, tune in for our complete primary coverage at 6:00 eastern on msnbc. and we'll be right back. with rheumatoid arthritis. because there are options. like an "unjection™". xeljanz xr, a once-daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well enough. xeljanz xr can reduce pain, swelling

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and welcome pacback. we want to hear your questions and concerns about the coronavirus. tomorrow at 1:00, we'll be answering your questions. our contributors and correspondents covering the crisis can talk about the medical, the money, the travel, the social impacts of the outbreak. send a tweet with the question and add the #msnbcanswers. and that does it for "andrea mitchell reports." thanks for being with us. remember to follow the show online on facebook and on twitter @mitchellreports. i'm thinking about all of you back there in my home town of new rochelle as you face a shutdown. now here is chris jansing live

from detroit, michigan. >> andrea, thank you. i am chris jansing. today the sense of coronavirus is growing with three big developments in the past several minutes. new jersey now announcing its first death as the mayor of a major city has some shocking new numbers on where this might be going. we'll talk to her live in a few minutes. we're also learning about those new measures being taken in a hard-hit area north of new york city to contain the spread. as 700 cases are confirmed nationwide and officials caution the real number is likely to be much higher because testing is still lagging. still, every day for the last week, the number of u.s. cases has grown. this time yesterday we were reporting just over 600 cases. coronavirus also intersecting with the other major story of the day presidential politics. look at central seattle. it's a virtual ghost town near the epice