this is fredericksburg. the union army would eventually build a pontoon bridge across the river and attack the town. by december 11, they received orders to prepare for battle around fredericksburg, which opens up december 13. the men crossed the pontoon bridge, walk-through open fields attacking the heights of fredericksburg, attacking over an open plane toward a fortified -- open plain toward a fortified position. one wrote this, the hills reigned with fire and mend advanced with heads bowed as though advancing through a hailstorm. the thinning lines pressed on. the plain was spotted with dad in twos and threes end groups. regiments and companies at their third and fourth mentor, and colors were born by the third or fourth gallon soul that raised them -- gallant soul that raised them. the men are walking up and inclined toward a confederate fortified position, and behind the position was cobb's georgians, behind the stone wall. for these men, the civil war no became blood against lot, brother against broth

leyla santiago is joining us from fredericksburg, virginia right now.e you seeing on the ground? >> reporter: listen. let's start here in fredericksburg, virginia where the mayor has announced 40 furloughs beginning today and salary reductions are also in the works. she calls these drastic but necessary measures. and you could tell for leaders, local leaders across the country, these are hard, tough decisions, tough announcements to make, and they are forcing families to make tough decisions. like any mother, jennifer simmons just wants to make sure her little boy and family are safe and healthy. the security she once felt is now slipping away. she was furloughed as an employee at the mayor's office in michigan. she'll get her last paycheck this week. >> we live paycheck to paycheck, which i think a lot of americans do. i am just not going to pay any bills, i need to make sure we have money for food. >> reporter: she is one of the 234 workers furloughed here. more than 30% of the workforce, mostly in public works. cities are dealing with more than a hea

he married a woman then living in fredericksburg. her name was dolly.obert accompanied me the following year, 1790, when we went to new york. that was where our government was first seated under our constitution. and it was during that time, about 1790, if i remember, that robert desired to live with his wife. she had moved to richmond at that time. and so, he went to richmond to be with her. he became acquainted with a doctor, a dr. strauss, i believe his name was. he was a french emigre of german lineage. several years later, robert asked if he might be with his wife entirely, that he might be freed. it was, yes, i believe it was christmas eve, 1794, i freed him. he was the first of all of my people that i freed. would that there could have been many more. if this was all a contradiction to our declaration of american independence. of course it is. we all know it is. not one ofed that our generation is going to live to see us own up to these principles that we might not all be free. the eyese free under of nature and nature's god. but lamentably, we a

look at tonight is a popular unit here at gettysburg and other battlefields like antietam and fredericksburg

signed by the surgeon general, along with a small party of assistants, barton tracked to the fredericksburg, virginia, area, and distributed supplies. he tacoma complete he returned to washington to accumulate more supplies. following the success of the second battle of manassas, the army of northern virginia under the leadership of general robert e. will you leyland an invasion of maryland, barclay catching her breath after the devastation resulting from manassas, barton was even more convinced she was needed on the battlefield and that she had to be in place just before and during a battle to be effective. through an anonymous but reliable source she learned of the confederates move into maryland on september 1, 1862. she quickly approached her now patron saint, colonel rutger to obtain a wagon and a pass so she could ven sure harper's ferry re she anticipated casualties would be sent he grands the request and on sunday, september 14th september 14th she and her assistant, cornelius wells, loaded the wagon, the army provide, with bandages, canned foods, lanterns and crucial materials and

. >> reporter: here in fredericksburg, the mayor has announced that 40 employees have been furloughedshe admits that these are drastic but necessary measures right now. these are tough announcements that leaders from local governments are having to make and forcing families to make tough decisions. >> like any mother, jennifer wants to make sure that her little boy and family are safe and healthy. the security she once felt is slipping away. she was furloughed as an employee at the mayor's office in michigan. she'll get her last paycheck this week. >> we live paycheck to paycheck, which i think a lot of americans do. i'm not going to pay any bills because i need to make sure we have money for food. >> reporter: simmons is one of the employees furloughed here. that's nearly 40% of the city's workforce. cities are dealing with more than a health crisis. loss in revenue at the hands of covid-19 has led many to a financial crisis. >> right now, they've been hit with the one-two punch. lost revenues and increase taxes and impact because they got to be able to respond to this pandemic. >> r

>> reporter: let's start here in fredericksburg, virginia where the mayor announced 40 if you recalls beginning today and you can tell for local leaders across the country, these are hard, tough decisions and tough announcements to make and they are forcing families to make tough decisions like any mother, jennifer simmons just wants to make sure her little boy and family are safe and healthy. the security she once felt is slipping away. she furloughed from the mayor's office in michigan. she'll get her last paycheck next week. >> we live paycheck to paycheck like many families do. i won't pay bills. i'll need it for 40. >> 40% of the city's workforce is mostly in public works. across the u.s., cities are dealing with more than a health crisis. loss of revenue at the hands of covid-19 has led many to a financial crisis. >> right now they've been hit with a one-two punch. lost revenues and increased taxes because they got to be able to respond to this pandemic. >> reporter: in portland, oregon, the city furloughed about 30% of non-union employees, about 1,700 staffers. in dayton, ohio

curtain had just returned from fredericksburg and lincoln asked what he had seen of the battlefield. now, curtain was a rather dyspeptic sort at times and he immediately retorted, battlefield? it was not a battlefield, mr. president. it was a slaughter pen. i was sorry the moment i said that, curtain later recalled, for lincoln groaned wrung his hands and uttered exclamations of grief. it was only with considerable difficulty, curtain later remembered, that he was able to lincoln calmed down enough to get back into bed. as he was getting back into bed he told him quote, if there's a worse place than hell, i am in it. a year and a half later it was summer and not winter. the height of the bloody 1864 campaign season. grant was locked in a titanic struggle to destroy once and for all robert e. lee's army of northern virginia. his relentless grinding wilderness campaign and eventual siege of petersburg was driving the casualty rates of ungodly numbers. many northerners believed the deaths of so many soldiers were unacceptable. even mary lincoln believed this was so, telling her husband

in fredericksburg, pennsylvania, over 30 cars circled the bell & evans poultry processing plant to demand they shut down the facility until worker protections can be guaranteed. at least two covid-19 deaths and dozens of infections have been linked to the plant. here in new york city, protesters took part in a car caravan to call for worker protections and economic protections. the caravan passed in front of new york governor andrew cuomo's manhattan office and the penthouse apartment of amazon ceo jeff bezos. in times square, demonstrators laid out body bags to represent victims of covid-19. this is perla liberato, an activist with make the road new york. >> people are struggling right now. people are not able to pay rent. a lot of people are not working. undodocumented folks don't haven opportunity to get money to be able to survive this pandemic. we want to make sure the rent is canceled until we know what is going to happen next. amy: meaeanwhile, in san francisco, two unhoused activists briefly took over a vacant house before being forced to leave friday after police threatened to re

history and all that they do in the state, whether it's montpelier or james madison or you go to fredericksburgin washington. it's still a great, great place to do presidential history tourism. whether you're studying the american revolution or the civil war or the 20th century, you can go to woodrow wilson's home in staten, virginia. it's really an extraordinary state. this is the flagship where historical tumor is coming to mount vernon. it's the crown jewel of what virginia united states. >> >> do you want to wrap it up susan? >> i'd love to. thank you all for being here tonight. you have been a terrific audience. special thanks to the staff and management here at mount vernon and the mount vernon lady's association. what better place could we start a conversation about presidents and our presidents than here at george washington's home? so thank you for allowing all of us to be here. >> thank these three folks for all they do for us. [ applause ] . >> so, while i cannot invite all the people watching live tonight on c-span, i'm delighted to invite all of you here at mount vernon to join us

congress was in this room, 50 miles away, 10 days later, a fierce, awful battle took place in fredericksburg, 18,000 casualties. if it hadn't been winter, the confederate army could have take then building. yet they continued to meet here. through pandemics. yellow fever. malaier yasm this was the hottest spot in the country for typhoid fever for over 15 years. congress still met in this room. millions -- millions of americans go to work every day doing their jobs and they expect us to do the same. concerted this ill rule we should all get to washington, do our jobs and take ♪ >> and has unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events on the presidential primaries through the impeachment process. now, the federal response to the coronavirus. you can watch all of c-span's public affairs programming on television, online, or listen on our free radio app and be part of the national conversation through c-span's daily "washington journal" program or through our social media feeds. america'seated by cable television companies as a public service and b

congress was in this room, 50 miles away, 10 days later, a fierce, awful battle took place in fredericksburg, 18,000 casualties. if it hadn't been winter, the confederate army could have take then building. yet they continued to meet here. through pandemics. yellow fever. malaier yasm this was the hottest spot in the country for typhoid fever for over 15 years. congress still met in this room. millions -- millions of americans go to work every day doing their jobs and they expect us to do the same. concerted this ill rule we should all get to washington, do our jobs and take >> lawmakers passed the 7-289 changing house rules. allowing for committees to conduct business during a public health emergency. radio.en to c-span today at 6:00 as c-span radio looks back to the 1954 supreme brown versusk case board of education of topeka, kansas ruling that the segregation of public schools was unconstitutional. listen with the free c-span radio app, online at c-span.org and on talkscer: frederick hess about how schools can prepare for a return in the fall. garciahat, lily eskelsen looks at the future

in virginia the town of be aing don is predicting a revenue loss of 15%, fredericksburg more than 10%, blacksburg nearly 18%. the list goes on and on. the commonwealth of virginia is predicting revenue losses of $2 billion to $3 billion over the next two fiscal years. in cities and towns and counties and states lose revenues what are their options? they'll be portion toed to cut teachers, police officers, firefighters, and e.m.t.'s. that is happening in virginia and all over the country. there are furloughs for everyone including first responders. prince william county has removed police officers from their budgets. be aing don is laying off employees. every state, city, and county in this town and country is making the same decisions right now and it shouldn't be this way. we provided funds to businesses to backstop revenue losses. we provided funds to hospitals to backstop revenue losses so they could avoid layoffs. we need to allow our state and local governments to backstop revenue losses so they can avoid layoffs. mr. president, it's never a good time to lay off teachers, firefig

catherine from fredericksburg, virginia. caller: good morning. i am a returning to school senior.m 60 and i am studying psychology. i really appreciate the work the college has done to get us into online learning. you have full access to our library resources -- we have full access to our library resources online as well. sitting to your earlier presenter and collars, i did not realize how many people did not rs, i didss -- calle not realize how many people did not have access to the internet. i can see where it would be a big struggle for people. guest: thank you very much. i am delighted you are comfortable online. i would not be comfortable online if my life depended on it. i am so glad that you are and that you had a pretty good experience. colleges and universities moved fully online very quickly. a large number of institutions have been moving online over the last 20 years and some are fully online. in january, lot of institutions that were offering institution -- classes in person decided they would have to move them online and use the online platforms they had available. b

we go to vivian in fredericksburg, virginia. caller: good morning.he trump supporters blame everybody, just like trump, but him. said the first thing they heard about this virus was type of good job is he doing? would be hundred 10 when he was living. school, cannot go to our grandkids can't graduate from college. my granddaughter can't graduate from high school. i don't know if she will be able to go to college. 71,000 people have died. 1.2 million have become infected. good is in that? we have not done more tests than anyone per capita. would stoph you letting these people lie and spread misinformation. this is why we are in the shape we are in. these people that support trump are a curse. they can't thank. host: let's hear from joe in somerset, new jersey. -- new morning -- caller: the woman on before me said spreading lies. let's get the facts. nobody could do any of this. nobody could do -- let's get the facts. when was the first cases reported by washington? theound out two weeks ago first two cases were in california and not reported by health

ten days later the battle of fredericksburg occurred 50 miles from here.there were 18,000 casualties that was a decisive victory for general lee and the confederacy. the. perhaps they had an understanding of the obligations as members different from ours. i take it seriously and precautions that i am not afraid of this disease any more than those people i talked about who show up day after day and do their job so important to us. anymore thaany more than they ao not show up for work. if i can make one last point. there are times when i'm in conversations here in washington with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. if we are not together, we are not going to have those opportunities as a practical matter. we will lose that opportunity and we will lose the ability to have the sort of deliberative process that makes better policy. when we got the second coronavirus bill that dealt with paid leave complete sick leave it showed up without any committee work which is the committee of jurisdiction. we were given less than an hour to look at it and vote a

ten days later, the battle of fredericksburg occurred 50 miles from here. there were 18,000 casualties in that battle. it was a decisive victory for general lee and the confederacy and there were many members of congress that were worried that general lee would march that same army up here and take the capital of the united states. yet, the congress continued to meet here in washington, d.c. perhaps these prior congresses were just made of sterner stuff. or perhaps they had an understanding of their obligation as members different from ours. i am concerned about this disease. i take it seriously and i take precautions. but i'm not afraid of this disease any more than those people i talked about who show up day after day after day and do their jobs that are so important to us. any more than they are afraid to not show up to work. if they can show up for work and do their job, mr. chairman, i think we can show up for work and do our job. if i can make one last point. mr. cole said something that i hadn't thought about. he's right, there are times when i'm in

congress was in this room, 50 miles away, 10 days later, a fierce, awful battle took place in fredericksburg, 18,000 casualties. if it hadn't been winter, the confederate army could have take then building. yet they continued to meet here. through pandemics. yellow fever. malaier yasm this was the hottest spot in the country for typhoid fever for over 15 years. congress still met in this room. millions -- millions of americans go to work every day doing their jobs and they expect us to do the same. concerted this ill rule we should all get to washington, do our jobs and take care of american people. with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from oklahoma reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts -- reserves. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. cole: thank you very much, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i yield one minute to my very good friend from the great state of pennsylvania, mr. perry. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. perry: i thank my good friend, the gentleman from