publicly i wouldn't take the $450,000 salary. it's a lot of money. whether you're rich or not, i didn't take the money. nobody cared. nobody said, thank you very much. no. i didn't commit legally. i said, i don't want it. i don't want my salary. i work for zero. i don't want my salary. nobody said, oh, thank you very much. but i guarantee you, if i ever took it, you would go out after me. you in particular would go out after me like crazy. so i have no idea what they're talking about with regard to the one element -- everything is changing, just so you understand. it's all changing. but i have no idea. but every time i commit to do something, i committed to do -- look, i ran and everybody knew i was a rich person. i built a great company. and people knew that. but i agreed to do things -- i didn't have to. i still don't have to. but my company, i told the kids who are running t i'm not running it. but i told them, don't deal with foreign companies.

i didn't have to do that. i could have just ran and i have -- i didn't have to do that at all. and instead of being thanked for -- again, not agreeing to do it, but for just not doing it, i get excoriated all the time. so i've learned, let's just see what happens because we have to save some of these great companies. they can be great companies in literally a matter of weeks. we have to same them. yes, please. >> mr. president, can i go back to your announcement at the top about the national guard and then also -- medical -- that are going to be built. you said there would be eight large medical structures that would be built in california with more than 2,000 beds and i think i heard you say four small medical structures in the state of washington with 250 beds. could you say what cities in areas those are going to be in specifically? >> so, we are filling the governor's requests. we send that resource to them.

they'll put it to best use. they'll put it to where they will have the most effect. we don't dictate where it goes. it's a request from the state to the federal government for a certain asset. the governor can use it as he/she sees fit. >> you said using the cruise ships as well? >> i hope we don't need them. i hope you're going to have great luck on tuesday morning. we sent a lot of the medicine -- we don't have to go into it again, but we sent a lot of the medicine to governor cuomo. i believe they already have it and they have some very capable people. we spoke to dr. zucker who is his primary representative on this. and we spoke to the governor himself. and i think he's excite ed about it like i'm excite ed about it. now, will it work? i think it has a really good chance. i think it's worthwhile. why should we be testing it in a test tube for a year and a half

when we have thousands of people that are very sick? they're very, very sick, and we can use it on those people and maybe make them better. and some some cases and in some cases maybe save their lives. governor cuomo said they'll be using their supply starting tuesday. it's very exciting. if that happens, much of what we're talking about with ships and hospitals and all of the things that we're doing and all of these masks and everything that we're ordering, ventilators, it's a whole different game if that happens. and we'll see. there's been some tremendous signs that this could work. now, again, you know, some doctors think it should go for years and testing. but this has been something that's been around for many years. it's been phenomenal, strong, powerful drug for malaria, but we think it might work on this based on evidence. based on very strong evidence. we're going to see. we're going to know on, you

know, sometime after tuesday. but you'll have to ask governor cuomo. i think they're going to start the process -- we've gotten them the drug. i think they're going to start the process of giving the drug through mouth, and i think that starts on tuesday morning he said. and that will be -- i tell you what, i don't want to get anybody overly excited, but i'm very excited by that, by the prospect of it. then in addition to that, they're working -- n.i.h. is working on vaccines. they're making great progress, but the vaccine does have to be tested because you can't give it to thousands or millions of people because it has to be tested. yes, please. >> mr. president, i wanted to ask about china and president xi. when was the last time you had a conversation with him? >> i don't want to exactly say, but i have spoken to president

xi specifically about this and, look, he doesn't want this, you know. this is not something that he wants. and it happened, it happened to china. and one thing they told me -- i was told by our great secretary of agriculture, sunny purdue, china has been buying a lot of our farm product. i'm looking at different pricing. china has, despite all of this, and it started -- this delayed it a little bit obviously. it started fairly recently. but china is buying -- we made a new deal, as you know, with china, very big trade deal. and china has been buying our agricultural products. >> have you talked to china about masks? they've been a supplier of the united states of masks. >> yes, they're sending masks to italy. they're sending masks to italy. we're in a very good process with masks, but i'm a little upset with china, i'll be honest with you. because as much as i like president xi and as much as i

respect the country and admire the country -- i have great admiration for the country, what they've done in short period of time. our previous presidents allowed that to happen. he should say thank you very much to all of them. but they should have told us about this. and i did ask him whether or not we could send some people in. they didn't want that. out of pride. i think really out of pride. they don't want us sending people into china to help them, you know. china is a strong country. they have, they have their scientists and they have their doctors, very smart, a lot of people. but i did discuss that about sending our people in. and they didn't really respond. again, they didn't respond. if we had gone in, they would have been able to give us an earlier indication. we had an early indication. that's why i closed out china. it was my instinct, but that's why i closed china at a very

early time. please. >> mr. president, are undocumented persons welcome at testing sites and can they show up to be tested without fear of being reported to immigration officials for possible deportation? >> it's a fair question. i think i'll let -- would you like to answer that question? please, please. >> absolutely. >> surgeon general. >> we know from a public health perspective it is important that people who have symptoms can get tested. but as you heard earlier -- >> regardless of citizenship? >> we know the virus doesn't judge base ed on whed on where from, so it's important to get people tested. the important thing we want people to hear is that inpatients need to be tested. we need to prioritize our health care workers. one thing i would like to say to you all very quickly on behalf of the doctors on the task force, health care workers, we hear you. we hear you and we absolutely are prioritizing your health and safety, making sure health care workers can get tested,

inpatients can get tested, people at highest risk. to answer your question, yes, we want people who could have symptoms get tested. >> surgeon general? >> department of homeland security addressed that issue a few days ago. customs and border protection actually issued guidance that absent certain circumstances, customs and border protection does not target emergency rooms or health clinics. and i would refer you to the website. they issued a very clear statement, making it clear to any person that is in need of a test or medical care that customs and border protection is not focusing on emergency rooms or health clinics or the drive-thru clinics. >> they could come in without fear of -- >> yes. >> if that's not the policy, i'll make it the policy.

i was just saying, mike was saying the answer is yes, we will do those tests because i think in that case it's important. i think that if you could call -- you could say illegal alien, you could say illegal immigrant, you can say whatever you want to use your definition of what you're talking about, we're all talking about the same thing. yes, we will test that person because i think it's important that we test that person and we don't want to send that person back into where ever we're going to be sending the person. whether it's another country or someplace else. because we're now bringing them right out of our country. but yeah, we will test those people, okay. >> mr. president -- >> mr. president, sir -- >> question. we were talking about this before the briefing. a lot of folks are watching tv, they're reading up on this constantly. if you are not -- somebody who has a preexisting health condition, but all of a sudden you don't feel 100% and then your mind starts playing with you, you think oh, my god, i coughed three hours ago, was

that a first sign, when should those people start to say, maybe i need to call the doctor? you don't want to flood them, but a lot of people that are healthy now are thinking, that's all i'm hearing about, when should i call a doctor or get tested? >> do you need a test? >> well, i hope not. >> i asked before you came in if you were checked. >> you better not. >> the vice-president gave an important statistic this morning. only 10% of the people who have symptoms who have been tested actually tested positive for coronavirus. mean being 9 out of 10 people who actually likely had symptoms do not have the coronavirus. i want people to understand that so that they are reassured. i also want to direct people to a website we've been telling them about all the time, coronavirus.gov. coronavirus.gov has information to walk you through the symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath, body aches and what to do if you have symptoms or you're worried. the most important thing we can

tell people is call your health care provider, talk to your health care provider. information at coronavirus.gov to walk you through when to come in and what to do. >> and, mr. vice-president, you got tested yesterday. can you tell us what that was like for you? a lot of people are going through this. were you standing by the phone? what was that like, what did you do until that time to keep your mind at ease? >> the test was very quick, but it goes a fair amount up into your sinuses and it's not comfortable. this is probably a good opportunity to say to any american looking on. if you don't have symptoms, you don't need to test. and the current testing format, although they're evolving regularly now, we just mentioned that i think at the end of this week there will be a new test. there's all new technologies. i would say again to all the governors that are looking on and their state health officials, contact fema. we'll give you all the latest

information on new testing that is available, including steps we're making where americans will be able to test themselves and send it in. but -- >> what was that like for you? >> for me and mrs. pence, it was kind of a pinch. it was invasive. but we were grateful for the support. walter reed processed the test. they had a lab at the hospital to be able to do that and gave us the results quickly. but it also informed me. we were wondering during that time as a family and it's one of the reasons the president's made it such a priority that we brought all these commercial labs together, and now more than a quarter million tests have been done. we believe we'll be caught up, if you will, by the middle of this week on a backlog of tests. but we announced today that we are directing commercial labs to prioritize people who are in the hospital for tests because we

want to continue to work with new technology and with a new focus and guidance from hhs to get the results of that as quickly as possible for every american so if they have coronavirus, they can be properly treated or they can have the peace of mind that they may have some other respiratory ailment. but not that. >> mr. president -- >> mr. president -- >> mr. president -- >> anybody that knows karen pence knows this because the vice-president told me. he said, she actually handled it better than him, right? [ laughter ] >> that's true, right? i didn't handle it so well either. >> mr. president, speaker pelosi earlier today said the house may introduce its own bill. are you willing to work with the speaker on a house bill? and given what happened in the senate just a short time ago, what are you willing to do to get this bill over the finish line, given the urgency? secondly, did you send a letter

to north korea's kim jong-un seeking cooperation on the coronavirus? and if so -- >> sure, with numerous countries if they need help we'll give them help. nobody has what we have with the new tests coming out. north korea, iran, by the way, and others. we are open for helping other countries and there is a very serious time. north korea is going through something. iran is going through something very, very strong. we let -- iran is really going through a difficult period with respect to this, as you know. so i've put the -- it's really a glad hand is all it is to north korea and iran and other countries. we're working with -- the doctor can say we're working with many countries with respect to the problems they have. again, it's over 140 countries right now, but north korea, iran, and many other countries we will help and we're willing to. as an example, this new test -- if this new test works out,

instead of going through what we all went through with this rather difficult test, to put it nicely, we would have -- is that just a swab on the tongue, doctor? how does that work? >> a similar swab, but they can -- >> not to the same -- >> not the same. >> it doesn't go all the way up and hangs a right under your eye. it's a tough test. if we do that, the procedure, the test -- and nobody has this in the world. nobody has this. this is developed by us. we think it's going to be certified soon. we think it's going to be very good. but if we have that we'll be able to help a lot of countries. >> what about speaker pelosi? >> we're going to work with everybody to see if we can get something done. please. >> to follow-up on that, are you willing to work directly with speaker pelosi? >> whenever we have to. we have to help the american worker. we have to help the countries from which the american workers -- i mean, they came out of these companies. they were doing phenomenally

well. you saw where payroll was going way up, wages were going way, way up. there's never been a time like this. we can't lose those companies and we want the worker to be happy. and we're being i think more generous than anybody's ever been. we want to take dare of the worker you, but we want to make sure when we win the war -- it's when, not if. when we win the war against the virus, we want to make sure those companies are ready to charge forward. not that they've been disbanded because we were penny wise and dollar foolish. >> mr. president, there are factories around the world that produce medical equipment in european hospitals. they've been certified in european hospitals. is the fda willing to look at a waiver for those -- >> we're looking at it. please. >> i wonder if you can give guidance to american families

anxious about their financial features. earlier today on one of the sunday morning shows, the secretary of treasury steve mnuchin was talking about the millions of americans who were impacted by the shutdowns happening in the cities, sometimes full states. and secretary mnuchin said this shutdown, this lockdown could last ten to 12 weeks, perhaps early into june. given that, would you consider another fiscal stimulus, another check to these families? >> let's see what happens. hopefully we won't need it, but we might. we're going to see what happens. look, the greatest thing we can do is win the war. the war is against the virus. that's the war. we do that, everything -- i believe everything is going to fall into place. it's going to be beautiful. i call it a pent-up demand. people are dying to go to a restaurant. people are dying to go onto airplanes. i think there's a tremendous pent-up demand. you may be surprised to the degree. i think it's going to go very rapidly. because this wasn't a financial

crisis, just the opposite. this was a medical crisis. >> mr. president, did you and your family sell stocks? >> i don't have stock. i own things. >> did you make any alternate in investments? >> i didn't think about it. it's interesting that you ask a question like that. you know, nasty question, yet it deserves to be asked, i guess. what i've done by deciding -- i knew this, i knew this -- i said if i win it's going to cost a lot of money. it cost me billions of dollars to become president -- to be president of the united states. in things that would normally be run a certain thing, even people that don't like me because they think i'm too tough on the border. some people love me for it, other people don't like me at all. you know, it's very funny. my wife, we were at a charity event in new york city. i had just announced that i was running. and we were at the robinhood foundation at the convention center, which now we're going to be converting to hospitals for

governor cuomo. and i was walking in and there was a smattering of boos and a smattering of cheers. i was getting both. and our very popular first lady, she's turned out to be very popular. people have great respect for her. but our very popular first lady said to me, that's strange. i've never heard anybody booing you. that was very early on. because i think i called for strong borders, i called for something that other people don't like, you know. and i knew this would happen. i knew it was going to happen. but the fact that i ran and i knew as soon as i announced -- when i ran, i said, it's going to cost me a fortune. not only actual costs, legal costs. you people, everybody is suing me. i'm being sued by people that i never even heard of. i'm being sued all over the

place and doing very well. but it's unfair. but i'll say this. in terms of running for president, i don't think rich people -- michael bloomberg spent almost a billion dollars and look what happened. i think it's very hard for rich people to run for office. it's far more costly. it's just -- it's a very tough thing. now, with all of that being said, i'm so glad i've done it. there are a lot of rich people around, got a lot of rich friends, but they can't help and they can't do what i've done in terms of helping this country. we are doing things. we got sidetracked by the invisible enemy, but, you know, when you look at what we've done -- i said before with the veterans, with all of the things we've done, especially choice. but when you look at all of accountability, when you look at all the things we've done -- rebuilding the military, the tax cuts which thank goodness we had

the tax cuts because we had cushion. without that, this would have been catastrophic. we had a big cushion. i mean, with all of the losses that you've seen in the stock market, we're basically back -- and with this horrible thing, if this would have happened before, you would have had nothing left. this was all cushion. but i will say that it cost me billions of dollars to be president, and especially with all the money i could have made for the last three, four years, i didn't because i was being president. i have no interest in it. i'm allowed to. you know, i don't know if you know, george washington, they say he was a rich man, supposedly, relatively rich. and he ran the presidency and he also ran his business. they say he had two desks. nobody complained until i came along. i got elected as a rich person, but nobody complained until i came along. so it cost me billions of dollars to be president, and i am so happy i did it because who

cares? who cares? i'm really happy with the job we're doing. and i'm glad that this team and me are here for this horrible thing. i mean, a number of people have said it. but -- and i feel it actually. i'm a wartime president. this is a war. this is a war. different kind of war that we've ever had. when you look at the economics of the war, in the past we used to stimulate to get people jobs. now we're stimulating to protect people because we don't want them to work -- because we want them to stay away from each other -- we don't want them to gather, social gathering. so we're paying billions of of dollars more so they won't gather. it cost me billions of billions and dollars to be president and i'm happy i did it. >> mr. president, foreign countries, i realize the priority is to americans and, of course, this nation.

but what about have you ever considered supporting the foreign countries who are also fighting this global pandemic? >> well, we do help foreign countries. that was the other question. and i'm honored to help. the doctor has helped. the surgeon general is speaking to other countries all the time. they're asking him questions. what do we do? nobody has ever seen anything like this. they're calling our people all of the time. and, yes, i have let it be known that we'll help people, including north korea, including iran, and including many other countries. it's very important to do that. >> consider considering any financial support for them? let me quote to you the two retired general and retired admiral from the u.s. global coalition. no matter how successful we are fighting the covid-19 at home, we'll never stop unless we're fighting it around the world. financially is there anything in the stimulus bill and are you considering -- >> not in the stem cell laos bill. we giveaway billions of dollars for, as an example, aids in africa. we're still fighting that

battle, tremendous war also. but we're fighting it here, as you know. in ten years -- now it's eight years. it should have been started long before i got here because they had the answer even before. but we're fighting that battle. we'll be aids-free in approximately eight years, it looks like that is going to happen. we're spending a lot of money, but we're spending a lot of money with other countries. if you look at the aid we give to other countries, we give billions and billions and billions of dollars to other countries. a lot of times i say we could save a lot of money. they come in, what's it used for? it's used to fight mulaire why in countries that's very poor. it's used to fight aids in africa. it's used to fight many other things, many other things. i don't think i've ever said no. i can't. it's just so terrible. countries that we have really -- we're not involved with them very much other than there would be tremendous death, tremendous

death. i mean, you can get a list and i could get you a list. we giveaway billions of dollars to other countries and we are giving away a lot in terms of everything. and probably we'll end up doing economically doing something for other countries. but when i'm presented with these lists, yes, in africa we're fighting something aids, something else. we could save a lot of money. they say, we have to keep doing that. that's humanity. one more question. >> i want to ask you about the states that have not yet issued stay at home orders. in texas, for example, the hospitals have said that they expect to run out of beds by the end of april if the governor does not issue a stay at home order. dallas county just announced an order. it's very -- >> that's a great governor. you're taking about greg abbott in terkxas. he's a great governor. he knows what he's doing.

a lot of the areas he's talking, counties he's talking are not strongly affected. it's a different place, great place. i have confidence in greg abbott. >> nothing about uniformity -- >> every state is different. idaho, west virginia, iowa, nebraska are much different than new york, than california, los angeles as an example or san francisco. they're much different. i mean, it's much different. the hot spots right now are state of washington and probably number one by far-right now is new york. that's a hot spot like no other hot spot. california is a hot spot, but new york right now is the leader. no question. final question. >> thank you, sir. your administration is backing a lawsuit to invalidate the affordable care act. given that people are losing their jobs now and need health care more than ever, would you

reconsider your position on that? >> that's a lawsuit coming out of texas. we want to get rid of the bad health care and put in a great health care. i can make this commitment to you. the republican party is fully backing preexisting conditions. now, if we can get a great health care plan which would need the house to do, but if we can get a great health care plan, we will only do it if we have preexisting conditions totally backed. so we're backing preexisting, but read like to get rid of bad health care. now, we are running the bad health care much better than it was ever run and we're making it better. but it can be much better than it is. what we want to do is terminate it, have a great health care, but we'll only do it with preexisting. we'll back preexisting. thank you very much. we'll be back. we'll have a meeting tomorrow. >> if you wanted to clarify that's correct you had said

jose -- >> oh, i watched today on nbc the other night. okay? >> thank you, sir. >> don't eat blood. >> donate blood, we need it. >> there is your daily briefing from the president of the united states. i don't know how much time i've got, but there's a lot of stuff in there we have to get to, including the final lie that the president gave there about we are -- we have a better health care system and we are backing preexisting conditions. moments before that he said, i'm a wartime president. we are at war. he made a remarkable comment about how much strong early we are because of his tax cuts. he said, we had a cushion. the tax cut increase gave us a cushion. i don't know what he's talking about because the national debt is substantially higher as a result of those tax cuts. so that's not true. it was a rambling probably an hour long speech the president gave there. it was full of platitudes. he did make certain

announcements about the hospitals and the health kara sis tanzania that is going to california, washington, new york state. he's talking about a thousand beds being installed in new york state at the request of the governor cuomo. 2000 beds going into california. 1,000 beds going into the state of washington. he also said that this is going to end, this meaning coronavirus is going to end much sooner than anyone expects. i just want to remind you that on the 26th of february, the president said that there are 15 cases and they're going to go to zero on the 28th of february he said it's going to go away with a miracle. on the 28th of february, the same day he called it a democratic hoax. and only on the 12th of march he said i knew this was a pandemic before this was a pandemic. when thement said it was going to go away much sooner than expected, i don't think anybody in the country has any reason to believe that to be the case. i have my great friend nicolle wallace to help me go through

some of this stuff. monica alvez at the white house. monica, there was something conflicting said at the beginning. the president said he's not invoking or made no reference to invoking the defense production act. he didn't say they signed something the other day. peter navarro, one of his economic advisors got up there and thanked the president for signing something that has allowed them to have companies that don't typically make mask ands ventilators and supplies we need to make them. do we have the defense production act invoked or do we not? >> reporter: it's a great question, ali. there is semantics and confusion around that. the president did indeed sign that on wednesday which invokes it, which means he is able to use it if he sees fit. that has not happened per the president. they have mostly used what they call an insurance policy, but they want private sector companies to come to them, to volunteer to make this critical medical equipment instead of

them asking the companies to do this. and as you mention, peter navarro got up there at the podium and said by the president doing this, it has made his job easier because he's getting so much incoming from the private companies. and he called it a sort of quiet leverage, that they are able to use but they absolutely have not done so. that is confusing because earlier in the week the president sort of hinted that general motors was maybe in these conversations, but really it turns out that companies like ford, general motors, tesla, they were the ones who approached the white house and decided we want to help make things in particular to help with this crisis. so, again, they aren't using it exactly. they are reserving the right to do so, but they want to spur this sort of commercial enterprise because they also feel that way it goes to the open market. so they're hoping not to have to use it, but, say, if they will they will tell us and they will let us know. but i thought it was really, really notable they got so many questions on this because it's the medical professionals

themselves begging for this to be enacted and used in that way. >> yeah, we're hearing it from doctors and hospitals all over the country. the president said to yamiche a allcendor on friday, they spoke to doctors and patients all of whom said no. nicolle there is so much news while the president is talking. a procedural vote on the bill the senate wants to push forward which is now around $4 trillion, has failed. one u.s. senator, rand paul, has tested positive for covid-19. he was at the senate gym this morning, so that's causing all sorts of problems. >> right. >> there are just a whole lot of things going on here. the president feels that something should happen in congress. democrats are saying that there is not enough in that bill that goes to either working people or poor people who are being caught at home, don't have employment

insurance, who work for companies that have shutdown. what do you take from what you heard? >> you know, ali, i have been off the last week so i've been experiencing the roller coaster of corona like a lot of our viewers, fear of unknown, fear of getting the difficult advice, fear of someone i know getting the disease. there was nothing in that press conference to ease any of those fears. donald trump walked into that room with a mission probably from his communications staff to fix the boo-boo from friday when he lashed out at our colleague peter alexander who asked what he had to say to people who are afraid. he went out there, sounded some well scripted, well crafted messages around that. but then he descended into luna city. i me luancy. there were 30 minutes you could chalk up to the martyr dom of the money he lost as a businessman. he spent a lot of time in the middle of a pandemic that has every single american terrified

talking about himself. and that is the crisis that this white house is dealing with. there was some great reporting in "the new york times" about how all of the concerns that trump's critics have had about an inability to see beyond self-interest is sort of coming full circle. and i think that clouded out what was some important information. he lashed out at governors last week who he showered with praise today. just his erratic nature. the volume of things he says really cloud out what you've articulated, which are the banner headlines. you know, one, legislation fell apart in the senate. that legislation was really important to people that are hurting. and the president had very little to say about it to the american people tonight. >> nicolle, he was asked a question that i believe all living past presidents have been asked in their moment of crisis. he was asked by a reporter, have you reached out to your predecessors, have you reached out to barack obama, bill

clinton, bush -- he said, i felt if i thought i would learn something and it would save one life, i would call. >> i worked for a president who wasn't perfect. after crisis he reached out to one former president, his father, george h.w. bush and president clinton his spread predecessor and asked them to help raise money for a tsunami. he and president obama and mrs. obama had strong relations between them at the end of the presidency. it's one of the bright spots at this time of extreme polarization. after working in the white house there are reasons to do it other than getting information. it sends a signal. donald trump has fought with the bushes. he attacked jeb bush mercilessly. he wasn't invited to mrs. bush's funeral. but it does send a signal that in a moment of crisis, everyone will lay down their attacks and

take help from where ever it can come. those messages didn't come from donald trump tonight. >> nicolle, thank you for joining me, my friend. it's always good to have your analysis. nicolle wallace joining me on this very busy and complex evening. joining me is senator kirsten gillibrand of new york, presidential candidate as you recall. she has said the senate plan, short changes -- senator, it is good to talk to you. not under the best of circumstances. let's talk a little about the plan that our viewers may not know what it was that has been proposed. the problem that a lot of people have or at least that i have with this plan is that it is weak on stock buy back language. i think it has to be pretty clear that if any company gets taxpayer money, they cannot use it or should not be able to use it for stock buy backs or for dividend pay outs. it does not deal with executive compensation limits and that should be an absolute. the average c.e.o. in america earns 220 times what the average worker earns. i don't think taxpayers have any interest in their money going to

assist companies that are going to reward those executives. there are no assurances that workers will benefit from these programs so there may be bail outs given to companies that continue to layoff workers or do not hire them back when they become profitable. there are also no housing provisions, nothing to prevent people from eviction, from foreclosure, from forbearance and frankly that is just a little bit of what is not in a $4 trillion bill. senator, i want to get your thoughts on this. >> well, you said it pretty well. this bill was disgraceful. it did not help workers. it created a slush fund for mnuchin to spend billions of dollars. he could give it to the president's businesses. he could give it to his donors. he could give it to anybody he wants. no oversight, no accountability. the money didn't go to workers. there was no paid leave in this bill which we urgently need. every worker that has to stay home with a child whose school has closed or stays home with a loved one needs access to three

months of paid leave to do that and not lose their job. it didn't have enough sick days for employees, it didn't have protections for workers for companies that did receive the money. so this was unfortunately just another giveaway to president trump's supporters and his allies and his donors. it's an example of the greed and corruption that is at the heart and rot of washington, and it did not serve the well-being of the american people. >> senator kirsten gillibrand, what do woe e do about this? there is probably another thousand point drop in the dow in the morning. people are worried a plan is not forthcoming. i share your views about what is not in this plan. and i think we have sort of an upside down way of looking at this when we have a plan that is going to offer the least among us the smallest amount of money. we're a country full of gig workers, people who don't have unemployment insurance, people who are casual or contract

labor. dhou how do we bridge this, though? we can't spend two or three weeks thinking about this. what americans don't want is a repeat of 2008, 2009 where in emergency we end up giving companies money, companies that end up being profitable in the end and average americans get left out. >> this is far worse than the 2008 bank ballout which i voted against because it was so bad. we should be on war footing, but this president, unlike leaders of the past, has not chosen to bring the american people together, has not used his office to do the right thing. we should be able to have a federalized supply chain for medical equipment. people are desperate for ppes, the personal protective equipment. they don't have enough masks. we have constituents in new york who are literally hand making masks, hand sewing masks for hospitals right now. that is how absurd we are in. so that supply chain should be federalized like you would do if you were actually on war

footing. the defense protection act should be used right now to ask our manufacturers to manufacture this equipment. i've talked to c.e.o.s of companies all across new york who are standing ready to build things and make things and solve this problem. but again, president trump is not a wartime president. he is not using this moment as a moment to lead and bring the country together. and every time you can stop the transmission of this virus, that is how you defeat this enemy. that is how you win this war. and not allowing people to stay home with sick days, with paid leave is an absolute mistake. making people have to lose their job to actually get resources through unemployment insurance is not adequate. we know how to do this, but president trump and his party unfortunately are bought and sold and are beholden to their donors and their corporate interests, not the needs of the american people. >> senator kirsten gillibrand, thank you for joining me.

and i hope you and your family and your constituents all remain safe. thank you. president trump's coronavirus task force shared a lot of information moments ago about the latest efforts to contain and combat the coronavirus pandemic in the united states. joining me mao is new york city's mayor bill de blasio. things have changed dramatically in that time. you warned new york would become an epicenter at this point. we have a lot of cases, we have a number of deaths in new york city. what is your take on what you heard from the president and what we should be doing now? >> so, ali, we are the epicenter, not even one epicenter. we are the epicenter. two-thirds of the cases in new york state are here in new york city. a third of the cases in the nation are right here in my city. and we are seeing really, really troubling things start to happen. we are about ten days away from our public health system not being able to support

coronavirus patients sufficiently for lack of equipment and supplies. so what i heard in the president remarks was a beginning of recognition of the crisis, a beginning of sending help where it's needed most. but, ali, you won't be surprised if i say to you until it arrives, i'm going to be questioning a little bit because i've heard lots of things from the president over the last three years that didn't end up happening. and i've heard lots of things about the coronavirus that changed the next day. so a step maybe in the right direction, but meanwhile, he didn't even mention the legislation. and if we don't have literally hundreds of billions for cities, counties, states to handle their exceptional costs, we are being hit by billions in new costs and we're losing billions in revenue just here in this city. and we're not going to be able to pay the bills. it's going to be worse even still in other parts of the country, including red states. and then there needs to be

direct payments to hospitals or they won't be able to function. so if the senate does not in this bill include direct support for localities bearing the brunt -- >> which it does not. >> -- support for hospitals, only support for big corporations, that will be its own disaster. >> it is not -- there is nothing explicit in the senate language right now to support local and state governments or snap funds or language to protect workers or emergency leave protections as the senator and i were just talking about. millions of people -- he didn't file a tax return in 2018 or 2019. many people who didn't file tax returns are because they are too poor to have done so, they may not be able to get any money. however, mayor, i think it's worth remembering there are major corporations in america. i don't know if you can hear me. >> i can hear you very faintly. i don't know what's going on, actually. >> all right. let me ask you this. >> there you go. >> how do you measure the bail out, the idea of a bailout to

major corporations because those major corporations like the airline industry, for instance, which employs 10 million people like boeing which is our biggest exporter in the country by a lot and defense contractor. how do you understand that they should be given money -- >> ali, i heard most of your -- i think i got most of your question, ali. i'm not belittling for a moment big companies employ a lot of people. that's pertinent for sure. i certainly want to keep those industries keep going and get back on their feet after this. but i think we have to put first things first, ali. right now you've got in my city alone hundreds of thousands of people suddenly unemployed. as you mention, the gig workers and folks who have very little safety net, they must get money directly in their hands very quickly, real money, or they're not going to be able to afford food, medicine, the basic. grocery stores and pharmacies are not just going to giveaway their goods. there has to be a money basis for people surviving.

so i'm worried especially about that. i'm also worried about when we're not able, our public hospitals and local governments are literally not able to pay bills any more to support people -- and this is march. it's going to get a lot worse in april and potentially worse after that in may. so i would say it's a hierarchy of need. start with working people. go to the governments and the hospitals that serve people at the grassroots and then worry about the corporations. >> mayor, thank you for your time. mayor bill de blasio is the mayor of new york city. we will have many opportunities unfortunate, sir, in the next few days and weeks to talk frequently. bill de blasio. >> thank you. >> when we come back i'll be joined by senator chris coons, the uncertainty of the bill, $4 trillion bill going through congress. they are wary of paying out, as they should be, money too big businesses after what happened in 2008. we're back after this. no. uh uh, no way. ♪

come on. no. no. n... ni ni, no no! only discover has no annual fee on any card. that's unnecessarily complicated. make ice. making ice. but you're not because you have e*trade which isn't complicated. their tools make trading quicker and simpler so you can take on the markets with confidence. don't get mad get e*trade. so you can take on the markets with confidence. in so many ways. which cage free eggs taste fresher and more delicious? only eggland's best.

which organic eggs have more vitamins and less saturated fat? only eggland's best. better taste, better nutrition, better eggs. tv sports announcer: yeah, that's my man there. tv sports announcer: time out. let's go to a commercial. nooooooo! not another commercial! when you bundle your home, auto and life insurance with allstate you could save 25%. in fact, the more you bundle the more you can save. put the other game on if it's important to you allstate can protect it. ...home auto and life insurance you could save 25%. if it's important to you allstate can protect it. what? bundle and save with allstate. click or call for a quote today.

i know that this is a challenging time for all americans. we're enduring a great national trial, and we will prove that we can meet the moment. i want to assure the american people that we're doing everything we can each day to confront and ultimately defeat this horrible invisible enemy. we're at war. in a true sense we're at war, and we're fighting an invisible enemy. think of that. for those of you who are feeling

alone and isolated, i want you to know that we are all joined together as one people, eternally linked by our shared national spirit. we love our country. a spirt of courage and love and patriotism. no american is alone as long as we are united. >> that's the sort of disjointed matt tu platitude the president delivered in an hour sprinkled here and there a few points about medical professionals, supplies, coming to new york and walk state and california, mostly stuff like that. negotiation, meanwhile, the other end of pennsylvania for phase 3 of the coronavirus stimulus package continue. the bill did fail a procedural vote along party lines. joining me now, senator chris coons of delaware who voted against the measure. thank you for being with us. the other breaking news is your colleague senator rand palm has

tested positive. now the president and mike pence said it again, if you are not symptomatic or been in contact with anybody you know had coronavirus you shouldn't be tested. rand paul was in the senate gym this morning. yet, he was tested. it begs a whole lot of questions of who gets tested and who doesn't. more importantly, what do you know about this negotiation and many of you were around him as early as today and yesterday? >> well, there is a number of other senators, republican senators, who were with senator paul either at a lunch or in the gym who announced they will be self quarantineing. one of the reasons you didn't have 100 votes cast earlier today on that motion, it was 47-47, is a number of republican senators are absent. of course, we all hope for a speedy recovery for any of our colleagues who have tested positive for being infected. there's two members of the house. but it raises a larger question

of how we will continue to conduct business here in the senate. we have a number of members whose age and health makes them particularly vulnerable to infection by covid-19. and we do not have any provisions in an emergency for senators to vote remotely. after 9/11, there was a lot of discussion and debate about how to move the senate to vote somewhere else if the attack on washington had actually successfully hit the capital capitol. but there was no agreement reached how to vote remotely. so, frankly, one of the things i have been pressing in this bill is also making sure that the american people can vote by mail. we just seen big presidential primaries from ohio to kentucky to louisiana moved by several months. i think we need to use this moment to make sure that our constitutional right to vote is protected by federal funding and authorization for a vote by mail. i do think this diagnosis today that senator rand paul has

tested positive is going to have an impact on how many senators are willing to stay here all night, all weekend, all next week and hammer out the details of this bill. >> senator, there are certain things that i think americans want in this bill and we don't have a seat at this table. regular people don't have a seat ought this table. i don't want to include myself in regular people. i'm a member of the media. so i'm not at the -- i'm not one of those people who is likely to miss out because of this but i think there are, the lessons we have learned from 2008-2009 is that taxpayers should get ownership and shafer in companies that we bail out. employees should get ownership in share or be made whole if they were laid off as a result of coronavirus if we have companies that end up being profitable and ultimately like the auto makers were, like the banks were from the last bailout. they should not be allowed to increase or offer outsized executive compensation or have stock buybacks or pay dividends.

at some point the american worker has got to take priority. >> reporter: broadly, i agree with that and the core reasons why i voted against moving ahead with this bill is that there is a few key provisions where there is a big gap in our values. one of them, frankly, about standing up for the public employees who are so often being asked to put their own lives and safety at risk in order to respond to this pandemic. i was a county executive, and across the country, often, the folks who are paramedics, who are driving ambulances, response folks that are orderlys, nurses, doctors and staffing county-opened hospitals, public hospitals, these are folks who deserve the support that they are working for and they've earned. and there is very little in this bill right now to support state and local governments. i was just texting with my governor, john carney, by moving forward by two months when federal taxes are filed. we're taking away a whole lot of

tax revenue for state and local government as sales tax revenue in other states is plummeting. they're also facing real shortages. a key piece is the worker-friendly focus you were referenci referencing, transparent sid and accountability about huge new funds will be spent to support public companies and photographically fighting for the public employees and state and local governments who are our first responders. >> yep. >> senator, i'm in for casey tonight, so i need to channel here in asking you as somebody who has believed in trying to save partisanship, bipartsonship on capitol hill. this is a real difference in values. how do you bridge that gap? because poor americans, americans who have been put out of their work. americans who have to stay home. who don't pay unemployment insurance, who don't file a tax return because they don't get enough, they can't wait two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, while our values come into play.

so what do we do to actually fix this problem? >> well, two things. first, just to be encouraging to folks that are watching. the first two bills that we took up and papsed that provided support, immediate support for pandemic response. one was 8.3 billion. one was 100 billion. they were written and debated and passed in lightning speed on a bipartisan basis. this is the first bill, where we are running into some partisanship, how it has been drafted. i, frankly, think, we can afford to take a day to stay here all night to work hard to make sure that the folks you just talked about have a seat at the table. that some of the resources that are being spent here by the federal government do benefit those on the margins of our society. but the other thing i'll say is that, frankly, this also is a question of the fall election. part of why i'm so enthusiast ikt about joe biden is two things. his genuine compassion and empathy. he's not readth it from a teleprompter. it comes from his gut. he understands what it means for

working familys around this country to be terrified about losing their jobs, not being able to put food on the table. not being able to care for their kids. so piece the kind of president that would lead this from a values perspective who i support. he also has the experience. he led the recovery effort in '09 without scandal and delivered nearly a trillion dollars in resources in a way that helped get us back on our feet. i think that combination of experience and compassion is exactly why he would be the right president to lead us forward after november's elections. >> delaware senator chris coons, thank you for taking the time to join me. let your colleagues know in the senate, sometimes we don't always like what you guys are up to. we do want you all to be healthy and safe, sir, thank you. >> thank you. all right, another hour just ahead, i'll talk to senators about how closely democrats and republicans can come to agreeing on a potential plan to save the economy.

later i am joined by one of many at a stay-at-home order. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ kelly clarkson! what're you doing on our sofa? hey there! what're you doing on your sofa? try wayfair. you got this! woah. yeah! let me try! all alright, get it! blow it up! that's what i'm talking about. except that's my seat, so. all right, so maybe after the movie let's talk about that bedroom of yours! when was she in our bedroom?

than rheumatoid arthritis or psoriatic arthritis. when considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz xr, a once-daily pill for adults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis or active psoriatic arthritis for whom methotrexate did not work well enough. it can reduce pain, swelling, and significantly improve physical function. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections like tb; don't start xeljanz if you have an infection. taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra can increase risk of death. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. as have tears in the stomach or intestines, serious allergic reactions, and changes in lab results.

tell your doctor if you've been somewhere fungal infections are common, or if you've had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. don't let another morning go by without asking your doctor about xeljanz xr. i need all the breaks, without that i can get.tor about at liberty butchumal- cut. liberty biberty- cut. we'll dub it. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

welcome back to nbc news' msnbc's coronavirus. we are following breaking news in several parts of capitol hill. a procedural vote on a massive

coronavirus aid package has failed in the senate. markets set to reopen tomorrow, futures are indicating at least a 5 or 5.5% loss on the dow. right now that translates into a little more than 900 points, but it's early yet. house speaker nancy pelosi said earlier that the house is now planning to introduce its own bill rather than the bill that is being debated in the senate. this all comes as the pandemic is hitting home for congress, senator rand palm has become the first u.s. senator to test positive for covid-19. senators mike lee and mitt romney have announced they will self quarantine as a result of their contact with senator paul, who was in the house, the congressional gym as of this morning. all of this has created fresh uncertainty about congress' ability to finish and pass that aids package. joining me from washington, d.c., nbc news national political reporter josh letterman, josh, lots to figure out here. lots that we don't know. the bill doesn't seem to be

close, according to nancy pelosi to being passed. we don't seem to have an alternative to it. it seems to be around $4 trillion right now. it is not as i was just discussing with senator chris coons addressing some of the basic things that democrats needed. >> reporter: that's right, alex. a remarkable failure by the senate today to pull it together, find some way to move forward on what both parties agree the an urgent need to get something out the door. what was so interesting about the way that this played out throughout the day today, was how similar it was to all of the other political fights that we typically see in washington. you had democrats saying that republicans had pulled a bait and switch and changed the bill at the last mant after they agreed to things. republicans saying it was democrats trying to infuse additional unrelated issues into the bill that set their idea logical agenda, that kind of finger pointing is what we typically expect from the senate. this is not typical times.

this is a time you would think they would be able to move past that. we saw mitch mcconnell on the state floor as this vote was going down, angrier than we had ever seen him on the senate floor. take a listen to what he had to say. >> now the buildup to this, so everybody fully understands is is that we had a high level of bipartisanship and five different working groups over the last 48 hours, where members who were participating were reaching agreement. and then all of a sudden the democratic leader and the speaker of the house shows up, and we're back to square one. >> reporter: and we are going to see in the next few hours whether they're able to resolve this. we know from chuck schumer, the senate democratic leader, negotiations are continuing this evening. there is talk of a meeting later

tonight or early tomorrow morning, how they will lower thatp ga the new positive coronavirus test for rand paul and now several of his fellow senators in self quarantine. >> i just want to remind people that the president has said and mike pence said it again, less than an hour ago, you don't have symptoms, you haven't been in contact with anybody, don't get a test. rand paul tweeted he is asymptomatic and has not been with anybody and it's puzzling how he got the results of that test as quickly as he did. but the bottom line is that is where we are, that is causing the senate to discuss whether or not it has to meet remotely, josh, we are talking about that in 2020. stay with us, josh, we will keep updating you, our viewers on what's going on in walk. because they are staying in session. joining me now is democratic senator chris van holland of maryland, who is involved in these discussion. senator, are you okay, you and your family, you and your fellow

senators after this news of senator rand paul? >> well, we are, and thanks for asking. the family's fine. but this is an example of why everybody needs to take precautions, whether in the united states senate or around the country. so i hope everybody will take this seriously. >> senator, let's just ask about this you heard josh letterman talking about this i have gone through some of the things that i think americans need to demand are in any bill that end up helping american corporations. look, i'm of the view the airlines do need to stay in misand their employees need to stay employed. boeing is our biggest exporter. i believe we've got to keep these companies aflo et in large part because of the employees that they employ. but we need to understand that if we, the taxpayer are going to bail them out, then we have to get a piece of that action. employees have to get a piece of that action. employees have to be made whole if they're laid off, employees

have to share in profits, before we get to a point that those companies are allowed to employ stock buy backs or increase their executive pay or pay dividends, they're shareholders. this is something that i think americans are going to want to have to happen. >> well, ali, you are absolutely right. look, even in the last hour, we've made some progress on some important provisions, for example, unemployment insurance, we've expanded that. we are making progress on small business relief for their employees and for small businesses, but, but, republicans are continuing to push for this almost $500 billion slush fund using taxpayer money with no real strings attached, with no real benefit to the public as you said and it amounts to a blank check for donald trump and treasury secretary steve mnuchin. and that's outrageous and that's not going to happen.

what they're proposing has even less oversight and less public benefit than the tarp provisions did, and that was woefully inadequate. so this has got to be dealt with and, hopefully tonight. >> senator, what about the pattern in which people who will get direct payments $12 he u. to people who earn $75,000 or less for a couple earns under $150, it goes down and gets lower depending on your income level. it feels like the wrong way to do this. because the people hardest hit by the economic downturn by being shut home, sheltering in place, it's exactly like the last recession. the worst hit are the least among us. >> and that's another problem with this bill. look, first of all, i've never really supported this idea of throwing one-time $1,200 payments at people who don't

need the income at all. who are still drawing a salary. members of the united states senate, for example. that's not where the resources need to be directed. they need to be directed and focused on the people who need it most. that manes we need when it comes to unemployment insurance really 100% replacement income, at least during this emergency period. with einto toad make sure small business owners who can't pay the rent or the mortgages and are having to lay off their employees, that we target that money where it's necessary. and not have a shotgun approach where a lot of the money goes to people that need it and certainly we should not have a mechanism where those at the lower end of the income scale are getting less than those at the higher end of the encome scale. that's ridiculous. >> senator, thanks for joining. democratic senator chris van holland of maryland. the president still has not enacted the defense production act. he seems to have signed it.

we are got very little clarity on this at the last press conference. he says he'd prefer private industry to take over production things we might be short of willingly, voluntarily, apple and facebook by the way say they will donate millions of n-95 masks. just tonight the ceo of 3m says 500,000 respirators are expected to arrive in seattle and new york tomorrow. thousands of units are starting to arrive in arizona and california. masks, face shields, gloves. and more from something called the strategic national stockpile. joining me now is dr. patrice harris, who is the president of the american medical association. dr. harris, good to see you again, thank you for being with us. i don't know whether this is just confusing or we're getting lied to. because every time we listen to one of these briefings, ron mcclain was on me last night. he handled the ebola crisis for president obama. he said maybe we should stop listening to these briefings,

because i listened to the president say there are enough tests for everybody that wants them. then i interview actual people who can't get tests. i interview actual doctors who can't get the tests and say they are saving their masks and using them all day. i mean, it is typical for a doctor, once a procedure is finished to dispose of the masks. they're saving their masks. >> reporter: that's right. first of all, thank you for having me this evening. first i want to say, it is up to each of us to take individual action to do the social distancing, to do all that we can, to prevent the spread of covid-19. but you are right, in this moment, i am hearing from my colleagues all over the country that they don't have the equipment. they don't have the personal protective equipment. they don't have the masks, the gowns, and we really have called on the president to really use the dpa to make sure that there

is a coordinated effort. we need an all-hands on deck effort to make sure that physicians and other health professionals have the equipment that they need. it's absolutely heart breaking and actually dangerous to reuse some of these masks. we appreciate and thank everyone that are making these masks for our physicians and healthcare workers. we really need the full force of the federal government to make sure that these equipment, the masks are manufactured. and also, as we are anticipating more folks becoming ill, what about the ventilators? we need again an all hands on deck approach and we can't wait until we have the surge. we have to be proactive about that right now. >> yeah. the president said less than an hour ago, i am a war time president and this is a war. he apparently assigned the defense production act. but his adviser, peter navarro, came on stage and sort of

implied, they're not using it. they're using it as sort of a potential stick. a carrot and a stick, enticing companies to undertake the manufacturing of the things we need without forcing them to or compelling factories to move over. one of the things you've asked for, which might solve this problem, that you have asked the president very directly for a tracking system to ensure that hospitals and doctors in most urgent need of supplies are prioritized because one of the problems the president told governors, hand him this, yourself, try to buy what you can buy. you will have states buying potentially much more than they need while another state that needs it from the same supplier may not be able to get it so we do need a federally coordinated effort to make these things and attract them. >> there is no question that we need that coordination at the federal level. we need to know who has what and who needs what, so we can get this equipment to the areas who have the most need. and it really shouldn't be an ad

hock process. i think the governors have asked for this federal coordinating effort and the ama believes that we do need that tracking system and we need the federal government to coordinate that. go all right. what do you -- what sense of satisfaction do you have? the president announced hospital beds, emergency units being shipped to washington state, to new york and to california. i think a thousand each to new york and kaug washington state. 2,000 to california. the naval ship mercy going to california. the naval ship comfort to new york. this talks about a different issue and that is that whether or not you are affected by covid-19, every american now is in danger of the healthcare system being used to its capacity. we've heard from the red cross that because blood drives have been cancelled, they're concerned we will run out of blood for normal procedures so this, the shortage goes well beyond treatment of covid-19.

>> absolutely. you know, each of us should be acting as if we have covid-19 and doing everything in our power to prevent spreading it. but if we have a surge, we are going to need beds and we appreciate that. we are going to need ventilators. we are going to need physicians and nurses and other health professionals to have the equipment that they need. and from our standpoint, the standpoint of the american medical association, our metric is results. so until we see these masks on faces, gowns on the bodies of physicians and other health professionals, we will continue to call on the president and the administration to have a federal coordinated effort. we need to see the results. >> patrice, thank you for joining us, dr. patrice harrison the president of the american medical association. joining me the chief medical officer for the bipartisan policy center and former deputy

assistant secretary for the department of heldment and human offices. the executive director at the health innovation center labs and a founding dean of the national school of tropical medicine at baylor college of medicine. thanks to all of you for being here. doctor, you and i have been talking about vaccine development for a few weeks. we've heard lots of stuff about new testing regimes that are going to be much faster, return a result within 45 minutes. where are we on new testing? and on the development of a vaccine? are we still a year-and-a-half away from a vaccine or do some of the things we are hearing about mean we're closer? >> well, unfortunately, only one of the vaccines has moved into a clinical try ill so far. there will be at least a half a dozen others. so one year to 18 months as dr. fauci has been saying still stands. it may be longer than that as well. we are also trying to accelerate

additional technologies we can use now. you've heard about some of the new anti-viral drugs that are looked at. also, we are having some discussions tomorrow regarding convalescent anti-body therapy where you harness the serum from patients that have recovered from this anti-bodies. and you can use this as prophylaxis for healthcare workers or to treat infected patients. you know the thing i am concerned about tonight, i really would have liked to see the president be in new york tonight. new york is getting hammered with cases, 500 cases at colombia presbyterian hospital. today alone, hospitals are being overrun. they're about to reach crisis proportions and it's really important. i think the president go to new york with the governor, with the mayor, and present a united front on this, because things are going to go very badly this week, i'm afraid. >> you know, doctor, the

president says everybody is getting along and doing a great job. he was insulting the governor of new york a few days ago, two weeks ago, he was calling the governor of washington state a snake. today he actually insulted the governor of illinois, then he says he's working with them and he's painted this remarkable picture about people who make all sorts of other things just happily converting over to making masks and respirators and doing what they're doing. he says he's a war-time president. he says he is a war and signed the defense production act. in fact, we are not acting like we got a coordinated federal response to this. >> that's right. we absolutely need bipartisanship here. even before you get to the issue of should you nationalize or voluntarily ask private city to help out, what the white house hasn't done when they talk about the defense production act is simply provide the fact of if this is a severe pandemic, what is the gap? how many masks, respirators do we need? what are the specifications, the

regulatory approvals that are needed? what is the time line? what is the you can't? then you can ask for voluntary commitments and think of naturalizations, those initial questions haven't been asked. so i'm very concerned about critical medical material and personal protective equipment. we need bipartisan sport, not just to invoke the defense production act we have but actually to utilize the defense production act. >> doctor, for some reason the president continues to say something that one of his senior advisers, dr. anthony fauci continues to much back on. fauci wasn't on the stage tonight. i don't know why. it's this combination of using hydroxy c hhloroquine, a malaria-type treatment that might have some effect on this.

this is ricocheting on twitter. the president says it should be put into use, people are dying, god bless everyone, fda. all this kind of stuff. what is this about, as far as you know? >> there have been two tests, two trials we are aware of, a small one in france that you mentioned and a slightly larger one in china. these are preliminary and don't show clear everyday, the fact although they are promising. that itself the thing, they're promising but not clearly direction am. there are two problems with this, number one, we need further clinical tests that show clinical trials, rigorous clinical trials that show everything is in effect. the second issue is hydroxy chloroquine is used for lupus and the president says this may be a magical treatment, there is a run on important medications, leading to a shortage for patients who need this for their own conditions as well as a

shortage potentially for hospitals should this treatment prove to be effective. we need more rigorous clinical trials to prove that first. >> thank you to the three of you for your guidance. when we return, senator jeff merkley joins me live. stay with us. no matter what i wore, i worried someone might see

my bladder leak underwear. so, i switched. to always discreet boutique. its shape-hugging threads smooth out the back. so it fits better than depend. and no one notices. always discreet. that liberty mutual customizes your insurance, i just love hitting the open road and telling people so you only pay for what you need! [squawks] only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

unlike ordinary memory wsupplements-neuriva? has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. try neuriva for 30 days and see the difference.

. back to the breaking news. the senate fails to advance a massive stimulus bill. joining me from capitol hill senator jeff merkley. senator, just to be clear. this was a procedural vote. it wasn't the actual bill. but we're not all that close on the actual bill. there seems to be very big, that's the good news for americans. it seems to be close to $4 trillion. the bad news is it still seems to have things in it that may favor corporations overworkers. >> oh, absolutely. it's just that there is the slushiest of slush funds. it's $500 million controlled by mnuchin and trump. they can give it to whoever they

want. they don't have to tell the public who is getting it. the companies that get it don't have to keep on their workers. in muchen can waive any provision that prevents stock buybacks. there is no account ability. there is no experts saying who should get this. this is absolutely the worst of the worst when it comes to essentially corporate corrupt slush fund strategy. >> but, senator, it should be the costs of doing business. it's as simple as that the airline industry should continue to exist. boeing, obviously, should continue to exist. it's america's biggest exporter, a major employer. but the cost of doing business is that if we the taxpayer fund this, if you approve $4 trademark or $5 trillion or whatever it is you do, it's our money, we have to make sure that we or at least the employees get a piece of that action. you can't have buybacks. you can't have dividends. you can't overpay your

executives. the big fear in 2008, we lo lose our executives if we don't pay them properly who cares? >> you are absolutely right. there should be a fundamental or bipartisan panel to decide where these go of experts. it should absolutely come with sidebars or restrictions that are designed to ensure the funds are used for the intended purpose, at the intend amount. it's not designed to set up a strategy related to the november election and this is not all. there is absolutely no fundedness, civility fund for our cities and our states. can i tell you for the last three days, i have been besieged by calls from oregon, from small businesses, from cities, from counties, from the state saying you realize we're all going into the dumpster if you don't act. and there is no stability fund in this bill. >> what do we do about regular people who don't pay a lot of money? there are exclusions for people that didn't file a tax return in

2018-2019, typically because you have no tax payable and nothing coming back to you. >> that's right. >> people who earn the least amount of money are getting $600 in a payment. there are americans who are staying home because they can't work, they can't pay for their groceries. they can't pay their rent,er that emergency, their car payments. i think we have to think about this more wholistically than one off payments. >> well, the idea that you will pay less to the poorest people who need it the most. it's like kicking people when they're down. i couldn't even believe they put this into the bill. and i think that will change. i think we'll get that worked out. but to your point $1,200 is for most families not even the rent payment, perhaps not their mortgage and what we really need is really robust help for companies to retain their workers at work and we have a -- we made progress on it, a provision, that hopefully will be in the next version that would, in fact. do that, provide 125% of pay rom

that means you can make your payroll plus have money left over to pay the rent or the mortgage on the business. so you keep people at work and we're making progress in a strong unemployment insurance provision that would strengthen existing unemployment. so that's solid. so there has been progress, but at the last minute, the majority leader decided to make this a full partisan. he stripped out a lot of bipartisan things agreed to, threw in this massive slush fund and didn't provide money for the healthcare operations for the citytors states or, in fact, for colleges, which are out in my state, when this next quarter starts at the end of this month, the tuition is going to disappear. they're in big trouble and they really need help. >> we have been dropping half a trillion dollars into the economy daily on average. we could have paid for universal healthcare, college debt, all sorts of things through this, this is the opportunity to fix some of those things, senator, i

always appreciate the time you take, oregon senator jeff merkley. i want to bring in my clear, lawrence o'donnell, i will let my viewers into a bit of a secret with you. you enjoy talking economics whenever we're together, we do talk about this as the senator and i were just talking about, i think there are three things that have to be in any deal that comes out of the senate. the first one is that employers are taxpayers get an ownership stake in whatever we bailout and eventual profits. number 2, executive compensation must have limits on it. no bonuses until employees and taxpayers make whole. number 3, no buybacks. no dividend payments until employers and tax payers are made whole. we can't do this again, lawrence. >> for me and this is, and i know not as much of a disagreement, those for me those would be like number 20 to 25. because the first 20 would be all about individuals in this

economy. and in the first 20 items you would have is rent. most people in america right now who are in financial trouble, which is most people. their biggest worry is how do i pay my rent on this apartment? how do i do that? >> yep. >> so we have to come one some kind of national policy of rent relief immediately. obviously, you know, new york city needs it intensely. the need varies around the country. but that's true of everything. the need for medicare varies around the country. but we have a national program. the need for social security varies around the country and varies at income level. we have a national program so rent is urgently needed. some kind of relief there, that allows people then to use whatever money they have left, which for most people is nothing, because they don't have -- >> yes, more than a few hundred dollars of savings, but use what they have left for food. then you will need a giant food

program. let's be serious here. you need to expand food stamps like no one has ever imagined before. and so, the first thing i'd like to do just as a general principles of covering what it is the senate is pretending to do right now, is the first thing i who you would do is i would stop calming it a stimulus bill and i just don't understand why people are using that word. this is like you have a bleeding body in the street. bleeding. bullet wounds, bleeding. and the first thing you want to do is give that body one unit of a blood transfusion, which, first of all, wouldn't be enough blood in the first place, also the blood transfusion comes before have you sewn up the wounds. there is no such thing as stimulating a bleeding economy. what we should be talked about and what they should be working on, what they should be calling it and the way their minds should be focused on it is what

you call a temporary survival bill. a temporarily survival bill that might if you are comprehensive about it include something that addresses the airlines, but not any kind of bailout or give away. but i wouldn't get to the airlines until i had already gotten to how the people who are working or were working in the news stands and the janitorial services and airports, how are they going to pay their represent next month? that is a much bigger urgent worry than how does american airlines keep paying the leases on its planes? and let me just, let me just swear my allegiantiaens to the people who -- allegiance to the people that work for delta, every airline are heroes, sarah nelson exhibit ares them admirably. i just flew across the country today finally to get home to los angeles on an airline where everybody there was working

heroically, going through jfk airport, which was a ghost place, where everyone working there was working heroically. tsa agents all with masks and gloves on, working heroically. so i don't mean to in anyway minimize the heroism of the people who work in the aircrafts for those airlines and the people who work on the ground views of these airlines, but the executive class, the high end executive class of those airlines have their lobbyists working this weekend. those are the people who are working 24-hour days in washington right now is the lobbyists who have written the bill for the republicans. >> yes. so the people we're talking about. the homeless, the 40 million people who don't know where their next meal is coming from. the millions of children in america who get their meals, one or two at school. the 500,000 homeless people in america. the people who are left on the streets of new york service providers exclusively, most of

whom do not have a retirement plan or pay into retirement insurance, they are actually getting the smallest piece of this thing. they don't have lobbyists or people at the table. we did this in 2008. 23 did this in 2009. we hope that putting money into the system the banking system will trickle down and get to them and have a multiplier effect. if you went into that last recession broke, you came out broke f. we go into this bleeding wounded body that are you describing with people who are as far down the totem pole as they, are they may not make it to the other side. >> one of the mori dig lus things donald trump said today is talking how great it was that we already did these giant corporate tax cuts, mo more ridiculous things donald trump said today is talking how great it was that we already did these giant corporate tax cuts. they have raised the national

debt over 2 trillion and created this massive deficit over a trillion dollars a year. is that has left the federal treasury bankrupt to deal with any of this. >> yes. >> there is no margin room. there is no ability for this government to create any kind of fiscal stimulus. with what? a corporate tax cut for corporate community with who already had their tax cut to the point where they don't pay any, anyway? this is a washington lobbying legislating inaction. that's who's working. that's who you are working who is writing this bill, the invisible lobbyists for mitch mcconnell and the democrats and nancy pelosi aren't going to stand for it, which is one way earlier on twitter, i told people you can ignore everything mitch mcconnell is doing in the senate today, because it isn't going to come to anything. that's where we are right now. >> the american people should not stand for it. the president said, to your point, we had a cushion. he was talking how lucky we had

a cushion because of the tax breaks. the tax breaks increased the debt of the united states of america. it was the absence of conduction. it's like when are you about to lie on your bed, you think there is a cushion, someone grabs it from you. that's what the tax cuts did, it left us less equipped to handle this crisis than more. that was one more lie that the president told today. thank you, lawrence o'donnell is host of the "last word" here on msnbc. up next, admiral stavrides is here now. he is with us now or we are taking a break. there he is. i see him. so the question has been answered. admiral, good to see you, my friend. last night, i had a conversation with someone you know, general russell owneray. i was reminded of 2005 when things were not going well in response to katrina in louisiana. and russell owneray shows up in

uniform, starts ordering people around and it sent a message to the nation that something is happening, we're in charge. i have had doctors saying to me in the last few days, bring in the army core of engineers, let's let the national guard loose on this stuff. the governor of new york has asked and now has been granted the right to use the military to increase our health capacity. this is a moment -- the one things about americans, they do respect and trust their military. we need them now. >> indeed. and you are absolutely right. let's just put some numbers to that, you are a numbers guy. there are 1.2 million active duty military. there are almost 800,000 in the national guard. the type of troops who are turning out in new york. enormous pool of man power. almost all of them are skilled in operating in a bio, biology warfare environment. they have huge logistic muslet.

they have leadership quality and you hit the nail on the head. they have the confidence in the american people. so this is a big asset that has yet to be deployed and i see you showing a graphic of the hospital ship comfort. i was very proud as an admiral to break my four star flag in command of comfort in latin america and caribbean we center south to do medical response throughout that region. this is an enormous ship. three football fields long, a thousand beds. 1,200 medical professionals, 70,000 guns that can go anywhere. this is an exam of the capability the military can where i to this problem. it's really time to tap into this. it's not a panacea. there is not a single-point solution here. we need the whole spectrum. but the military can play and will be a very important part before all this is over.

>> i remember during 9/11 going up the west side highway in new york and seeing the comfort. and thinking, its name makes sense. you see this ship and you say, our american military is on it. you wrote in bloomberg, i learned that the best use of the military is to bring chaos to bring order out of chaos. and that's what we are talking about right now. right? we are looking at the idea -- donald trump said if response to somebody why don't you coordinate gloves and masks and respirators, the federal government is not in the shipping business. in fact i've had military experts tell me, you are actually wrong. the federal government through the military are the best logistical organizers in country by a very long shot. >> without question. and we're not only inside the country the best, we're internationally the best. we're flying masks that are being manufactured abroad into the united states. the u.s. air force has massive

capability to deploy big aircraft who can do this. navy ships move 95% of cargo that moves on the ocean in the military context. we have a tremendous capability here. in addition to as you mention the core of engineers, our navy cbs, the air force red horse squadrons. we have so much capability we can bring to bare here. let's recognize the caveat our military needs to maintain our military readiness and be ready to go. frankly, is there a bigger national security crisis that we have faced in repeat memory than this? i don't think so. so this is really where we should be focusing right now in every sense of the word, ali. >> there was an op-ed published in the washington post this week e week by a number of former intelligence chiefs that read, in part, we can't let the co-ed

epidemic be a cover for the trump administration. the most recent illustration of this unprecedented attack is a continuing dismiss am of career intelligence professionals, officers who have ably served both republican and democratic administrations regardless of their personal stripes, specifically, the unceremonious removal this week of the leadership of the national counter terrorism center. i just need to bring this up, because every time we discuss some sort of crisis that this administration has faced and this one i believe is the most serious, what we are seeing is the administration's lack of reliance on the people who are experts in dealing with these matters? >> indeed. and i think it was yesterday's press conference of the covid-19 task force where the president referred to his state department as the deep state department. >> yep. >> can you imagine? you know, these are career professionals i know so many hundreds of ambassadors, career

officers, just like the intelligence community, just like the military who are in every sense devoted and have devoted their entire lives to the security of the nation. to make a joke like that deep state about our state department at a moment like this speaks volumes about where the president needs to focus. he needs to focus on bringing us together not creating division between us. so, my advice to the president is, focus on bringing everybody across the political divide together in that you cannot do that by hiding out part of the national security context of our government. really well mentioned. ali. >> admiral, thank you for your time. as always, admiral james stavrides. up next, how the coronavirus will have an impact on america's

most vulnerable people. pay for what you need. what do you think? i don't see it. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ i've always been faand still going for my best, even though i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. so if there's a better treatment than warfarin... i want that too. eliquis. eliquis is proven to reduce stroke risk better than warfarin. plus has significantly less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis is fda-approved and has both. what's next? reeling in a nice one. don't stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily and it may take longer than usual for any bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising.

eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. eliquis, the number one cardiologist-prescribed blood thinner. ask your doctor if eliquis is what's next for you. you should be mad your neighbor always wants to hang out. and you should be mad your smart fridge is unnecessarily complicated. make ice. making ice. but you're not mad because you have e*trade which isn't complicated. their tools make trading quicker and simpler so you can take on the markets with confidence. don't get mad get e*trade and start trading commission free today.

this itwenty-four slices.f pizza.d start trading this is big enough to feed your entire family. the big dipper, only from pizza hut. order it for delivery or carryout at pizzahut.com. i need all the breaks, that i can get. at liberty butchumal- cut. liberty biberty- cut. we'll dub it. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

with the country battling an epidemic, low level offenders have been released and the government required free coronavirus for all and paid sick leave for many, the white house is supporting direct and immediate cash payment to americans as a part of a multi-trillion dollar aid

package, the republican controlled white house, joining many enow, dorothy roberts, professor of law, sociology and civil rights at the university of pennsylvania law school, the director of the penn program on race, science and society. professor roberts, good to see you again. thank you for joining with us. it is becoming common now. we have learned from the lessons in 2008 and 2009, that if we are going to spend this kind of money. i think whether it's a $4 trillion deal or more, it's still going to be a portion of what we end up spending to rescue this economy. we need to address certain structural inequalities. right now, the people who are hurting the moment fall into two categories, one is you are just not very smart, you don't believe there thing is real. the other is you can't afford not to work. you can't afford not to be out. you can't afford to not be out on the streets delivering intoed to people or being a service worker. the least among us are going to get $600 bucks out of this deal. that is not going to help their

lives. >> that's right. i think everything you mentioned in the buildup, releasing incarcerated people, giving cash bonuses, making sure the people having a says to some forms of healthcare, all of those are essential. but the problem is, that they're much, much too small. they're just scratch the surface of the deeper structural inequities that are requiring these emergency measures. so, i think what we can learn from these emergency measures that are needed is that there is a much deper problem that now this pandemic is bringing to the floor, we should have known about it already, but it's making it very pla into everybody that the deep inequalities. >> some of us knew about it. >> of course. >> people like you knew about it. you have been studying it. and people who experience it know about it. the poor in this country know it. the hungry in this country know it. the homeless in this country know it.

be did you thing about the reason people stay poor and hungry and homeless is because they have no seat at the table. they have no lobbyists in washington right now writing that legislation. so how do we fix this in this moment of urgency in which we need congress to come to some deal in the coming days, but it's got to feel more fair. >> right. well, you have to take this as an opportunity to do what many of us prison abolitionists, people who support medicare for all of others progressives have been demanding and protesting about for decade, but that has really been a part of the recent presidential campaigns. it's in the streets, it's in the papers. we know about it. but we have to move forward so that we take this opportunity to actually implement real change, not these piecemeal efforts that indicate what the deep needs are, but are far, far too anemic

to actually do any structural good. >> yes yep. yeah. well, let's hope that continues to stay at the top of the agenda. dorothy roberts, thank you for joining me, professor, director of the penn program on 0 not race, science and society. less than 24 hours from right now, the state of connecticut has new restrictions going into effect in the hopes of cushing the spread of coronavirus. all nonessential businesses in connecticut have to close. gatherings of any size have to be postponed beginning at 8:00 p.m. tomorrow. at last check, connecticut has 327 confirmed cases of coronavirus, eight deaths have been reported so far. joining me is connecticut's democratic governor ned lamont. governor, the numbers in your state are not extreme, but as part of sort of a relationship of exchange between our states here in this northeast corner, you kind of need to take those protections. there are many people, for

instance, in new york which are the epicenter of this now who live in and commute back and forth from connecticut. >> yeah, good evening, ali. you're exactly right. rather than look at the numbers, look at the rate of infection. for southern connecticut, our rate of infection, the percentage of people tested who are infected, it's five times what it is in the rest of the state. i think the federal government looks at this the wrong way. they say look at it state by state. new york gets a lot of additional help. in fact, there's a region. it goes from new york city to westchester county into fairfield county. that region is the wuhan province of the american pandemic, and that's where they should be targeting the resources. that's where the infection rate is so high and dangerous. >> what do you need from the federal government? what are you getting and what's working in connecticut right now? >> i think what is working is we've got ahead of the curve in terms of what they call social distancing. first ones to ban the big

gatherings, early on to get the schools to stop and the sports. people are paying attention. they are staying at home. they're doing everything we can to try and flatten that curve or at least delay the surge so our hospitals have a little better chance to prepare. what we're not getting is what we need from the federal government. imagine a month ago when president trump said this is a hoax. instead, imagine if he had gone to honeywell and said, why don't you start producing some n-95 masks now. if he had done that, we'd all be much better off today. >> the issue of democracy comes into question here because a number of primaries have had to be delayed. your state is one of them. you had a primary i believe scheduled for april 28 which you pushed back to june. temperature me about that. >> look, people vote. they vote at nursing homes. they vote at schools. and right in the height of what could be the pandemic, the idea that you're going to send people out to the voting booth didn't make any sense. we've got the opportunity to delay it.

we've delayed it. and if we're still in trouble then, they will find a way to use absentee ballots. >> you were telling chris hayes last week about a hospital in which 200 nurses were furloughed while a number of them were waiting for coronavirus tests. what's the situation with health care workers in your state? >> i think it's probably gotten worse. you look across the state, it's our health care workers who are on the front lines. many of them lack some of the ppe gear they need. they are exposed. and if they're contacted, many of them are furloughed. we're doing everything we can to make sure they have a priority in getting tested because we need them back. we have hundreds of retired nurses who are getting themselves dusted off and ready to come back and help us out. we're trying to expand capacity so we're better able to take on the covid surge when it hits us. >> you've actually asked the community in the absence of the manufacturing of the supplies and equipment that's needed, you've asked the community to step up and you've had a number of businesses that have done so.

i don't know that that's the answer for the country. i think the federal government should be coordinating this, but the bottom line is and they've asked you as governors to do it. you've had some response from a number of companies that said, we will step up and provide supplies. >> we have. but, look, this really should be a federal responsibility. rather than andrew cuomo, me, and gino ramondo hustling after each and every lead to see where we can get more ppe, if the federal government take the lead, act as a sorting house, that it would be a big, big advantage for us. but generally speaking, the companies in the state understand what we're trying to do. we've got a good balance. most of them, if possible, are keeping people at home, letting them telecommute. i need some help in terms of unemployment compensation, allow these people a little more room to breathe if they have to stay out of work a little bit longer. and the most important thing i'd like to see out of washington, d.c., is a forgivable loan for small business. if you keep your people on board four to six months, we'll give

you a loan to carry you through. it's forgiven if you honor your part of the deal. >> because shelter-in-place stuff, that's where the rubber hits the road, right? the thing that you notice the most when you're outside is the small businesses that are shutdown, that have no choice. small businesses in the country just don't run with a lot of cash flow unfortunately and yet they employ people. so their inability to take any money in means their inability to pay their workers, which then has the knock-on effect of people sta people staying home and not getting paid. >> you're exactly right, ali. small business have a very thin margin, not a big cash cushion and their revenues have just disappeared and they still have the same fixed cause. that's rent and health care and salaries. so we're trying do everything we can to help produce their fixed costs. we said, look, you don't have to pay any tax until july 15. just different ways to give them a little more breathing room. and, again, we're providing some unemployment compensation for part-time workers just so they

stay on board, so we get on the backside of this pandemic. our small businesses ready to go again. >> governor, thanks for taking your time. thanks for everything you're doing. and our best wishes to the people of connecticut. governor ned lamont of connecticut. i'll be back with a final word after this. eed! [squawks] only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ if i built a van, it would do more than haul. if i built a van, it would carry my entire business. i'd make it available in dozens... make that thousands of configurations. it would keep an eye on my fleet... ...and an eye out for danger. with active brake assist. if i built a van, i'd make it available in diesel and gas. introducing the all-new sprinter starting at $33,790. mercedes-benz. vans. born to run.

♪ ♪ wherever we want to go, autosave your way there with chase. chase. make more of what's yours.

with our moving and storage solutions. pack what you want, we store it for as long as you want. then, we deliver it where you want, so whether you need to move or store your things, pods is here to help you with flexible moving and storage solutions. they get that no two people are alike and customize your car so whether you need to move or store your things, insurance so you only pay for what you need. what do you think? i don't see it. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

that does it for me tonight. you can catch me right back here tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 eastern. but coming up next, the nbc original series, what's eating

america with andrew zimmern. >> announcer: this is an msnbc special series. >> like most americans, i love to eat. >> and go ahead. >> i've made a career out of cooking and eating. sometimes healthy, sometimes not. >> okay, we got it. >> i also struggle with my weight. and i'm not alone. as a country, we're fatter than ever. medical experts project that by 2030, nearly half of all americans will be obese. we're sicker than ever, too.