have received enormous campaign contributions from agriculture giant including month santos tyson smithfield and cargill the sides these direct contributions each of these corporations spent millions of dollars each year lobbying congress. seemingly afraid of how a theoretical slippery slope protecting dogs in puppy mills could hurt their operations corporate agriculture sided with commercial breeders they get loads of campaign cash from these agribusiness groups because that's the funnel for the legislation that these agribusiness groups want who doesn't want to protect dogs and yet somehow interest to find a way to twist it around and make you scared into voting against those commonsense positive public policies so they typically oppose any animal welfare legislation because they think they're going to be next and they think that if you have a society that it is incrementally building animal welfare standards it's eventually going to lead the society to examine their thought even with strong public support for common sense. changes to the animal welfare act none of these bills were allowed

it's a smithfield, jbs, tyson and more.ine with thousands of thousands of workers in plants that have to reshift. they work shoulder to shoulder disassembling hogs and cattle and chicken. and so we are in an environment where this covid-19 would spread. what happened is the industry prioritize d their profits over public health. and one thing i want to make clear is the cdc guidance we're following now at six feet apart, which is why we are in the studio and that employers don't have to follow that in the workplace. then this administration has decided not to enforce the law. that gave employers the responsibility to provide a safe workplace. they gave the meat industry a pass and said you can follow these or you don't have to follow these. and the result is a disaster. the industry did not follow the guidelines, which were issued over six weeks ago. and the result is 3,000 workers are sick. and 17 had died. and has spread to the community. >> the governors, the mayors and local leaders had been imploring the governor to sh

tyson, smithfield nj bs of closed processing plants. the tyson chairman wrote, in a published letter, billions of animals including pigs, cattle's and chicken will be depopulated because of the closures. he added some of the food supply chain is breaking. >> if you're a pork producer in the united states today, it's a nightmare. >> reporter: the white house as president trouble use the defense production act to order meet processing facilities stay open. the president will declare the plants critical infrastructure in the government will supply them with personal protective equipment. new cdc guidance explains workers cannot get covid-19 from the meat , but they can get it from each other. the cdc says it's best for plant employees to work at least six feet apart with partitions between them. as for shoppers, the fda says there is no evidence the virus can spread through food or packaging. >>> democratic presidential candidate joe biden has picked up another key endorsement. >> i am thrilled to be part of your campaign to not only endors

.>> reporter: plants are shutting down as workers become infected, tyson, smithfield and gbs have closedcessing plants, millions of animals, including pigs, cattle and chicken, will be depopulated because of the closures. he added that the food supply chain is breaking. >> it is a nightmare today.>> the white houses president trump will use the defense production act to declare plants our critical infrastructure, the government will supply them with personal protective equipment. new cdc guidance explains, workers cannot get covid-19 from the meat, but they can get from each other, the cdc says it's best for plant employees to work at least 6 feet apart with partitions between them, and they suggest staggering shifts and break times and screening workers before they start. >> reporter: as for shoppers, there is no evidence the virus can spread through food or packaging. ray bogan.>>> people who receive state or federal help to buy food have a new option when it comes to shopping, people eligible for the cow fresh or snapper friends can buy food on amazon or walmart using a ebt card, anyo

tyson, smithfield and gbs of all closed processing plants.of animals including pigs, cows and chickens will be repopulated because of the closures. the food supply chain is breaking. like if you're a pork producer in the united states today, it's a nightmare. >> reporter: president troubling is the defense production act order meet facility processing facilities stay open. the government will provide them with personal protective equipment. new cdc guidance explains workers cannot get covid-19 from the meat , but they can get it from each other. the cdc says it's best for plant employees to work at list six feet apart with partitions between them. they also just staggering shifts and break times and screening workers before they start. as for shoppers, the fda so there is no evidence the virus can spread through food or packaging. >>> protests won't drive our decision-making, political pressure won't drive our decision-making. the science, the data, public health will drive our decision- making. >> governor gavin newsom outlines a possible ty

with these workers in addition to being told come in sick we had the businesses themselves smithfield j.b.s. tyson told the federal government told osha ok we're going to implement these new standards and the new standards are you have to wear a mask you have to do the social distancing and then the cording to the workers it took 2 weeks after they promised osha everything was going to be ok before the masks showed up it took weeks before they were actually told to distance themselves from one another at least 6 feet so the corporation tries to tell the government listen we're doing everything right we we've made these new policies but the workers are saying they may have told you they made these policies but they never implemented them until of course it was too late they didn't get their masks that many of these plants until about a week and a half ago so we're right now more than 3000 of them are sick the workers are sick more than 20 are dead and so the point is this it's workers compensation you see that's different from being able to sue the corporation that worker there only relief generall

tyson. there's smithfield, jbs and then there's smaller independent regional processors. there's dairies. this is the densest livestock area in north america, northwest iowa. and so everybody is nervous about it. farmers have hogs backed up. they are thinking about starting to shoot hogs and just bury them or take them to the plants and just kill them and then bury them or incinerate them. and it makes everybody nauseous. >> sure does. i want to read a quote that stuck out to me that really shows how complicated this is. it's from a resident of columbus junction, iowa, who got coronavirus and two of his family members work at a nearby tyson plant. and he wrote this. i'm worried that the plant is back open, but on the other hand, i'm worried they're closed. this town, they don't have anything else to get support from. if we lost tyson, we lose everything. these plants are the lifeblood of many iowa communities. >> yeah, we're scared to death about this plant closing down. we've been scared about it since it was closed in 1980 when it was a hybrid plant and became ibp and opened up a year l

supply link might be cracking as some meat packing plants have become covid-19 hot spots tyson, jbs and smithfield have tested positive for the virus forcing the temporary closure of at least 15 plants some employees are scared to show their face because they don't want to lose their job >> they didn't have enough masks or things like that to provide to us so they would start giving us different types of rags and stuff. >> reporter: tyson closed enough plant due to covid-19 cases. >> this order is necessary to end the threat to the city as quickly as possible. >> reporter: all employees are now provided surgical style face coverings but warning customers that there will soon be a limited supply of their products say the food supply chain is breaking all of it worrying a cattle ancher. >> it's unsettling because we don't know what's going to happen when it comes time for us to sell. >> reporter: in colorado some 6,000 employees wait in line to be screened for symptoms to be allowed in for their shift a fifth employee has died from the coronavirus. >> it makes me angry that the company is willing to

over the last few weeks covid-19 has forced companies like smithfield and tyson foods to shut down some major meat processing facilities. shortages or higher prices not yet, but in the not too distant future this is not a good opportunity for carnivores, but what about the meat alternatives. there's a reason why the stock is valued more than 60% this month. what about the or major player, impossible foods a privately held company it raised a half a billion dollars in a fundraiser. now, impossible is a bit different from beyond meat they use, genetically modified organisms, gmo it may turn some people off. the consensus is it makes for a better tasting product impossible is more reliable on restaurant sales it's not great right now with the traditional meat business hobbled by the pandemic let's look at the plant based meat business with david lee, the chief financial officer of impossible foods mr. lee, welcome to "mad money". >> it's great to be here >> david, i first had my impossible burger when i went to see a san francisco giants game. last year. mother's day it was delicious i sai

corporations include some of the largest agribusiness is in the united states months sent to tyson cargill and smithfieldfoods while these trade groups use their vast financial resources opposing prop b. the corporations that ultimately provided the majority of the funding for the campaign remained silent simply put without the financial support of corporate agriculture the puppy mills of missouri would not have had the ability to mount the alliance for truth or missouri farmers care which were largely responsible for the opposition to proposition b. and lions for truth that could be for anything you know but they can't call themselves you know friend group in favor of herding dogs so they have to come up with them their word to just totally distract you from the issue at hand it's not about the dogs it's about liberalism growth of government in an intern your life has a proud tradition of dog breeding for hunting home companionship and just best friends to enforce existing law against animal abuse but vote no to the big government liberalism of proposition paid for by a life for truth mark paterson trea

not create a shortage of meat even after the country's largest meat producers, including tyson along with smithfield and jbs have recently shutted processing plants you and i may see our favorite supermaet low on something. >>but they'll be plenty of meat ah ah, a beef pork at we all like they'll be plenty of meat in the supermarket's some bay area supermarkets have been seeing chunks of out. meat section standing >>especially when it comes to bacon sasage and ground beef. >>oakland buher shop for engn farms has so f avoided any issues with meeting meetdemand. advocate said sometimes smaller. >>might be better off of army comes fromwithin 200 miles of the shopping a our facilities are doing fine in our farms are doing fine of all and impmenting their own measures for protecting themselveand theiremployees about this act war liz not expecting the push for protein to hurt. his business just yet may be other good reason to shop throughout this pandemic we've been doing just fine here it really a feeling very lucky to be one of the few places that actually not to getting a reallbig get from all of this.

we talked about big producers like tyson and smithfield.he problem is it's really difficult to practice social distancing in these plants. the workers have to stand near each other to get their jobs done. and what we know right now is that at least 13 meat processing plants have been shut down across eight states in the united states. little more detail on this, as of yesterday, there were more than 3400 reported positive cases, tied to meat packing facilities across 62 plants in 23 states, a broader net there. sadly at least 17 reported worker deaths have been reported to us, and this is according to the midwest center for investigative reporting. now, there are inspectors as well. at least 100 of the 6500 usda inspectors have been infected with the coronavirus. two inspectors have died. this is according to bloomberg. a quote here from the president of the united food and commercial workers international union, he said in a letter to vice president mike pence, quote, make no mistake, without national safety standards to protect these work

continue the productions safely coming after multiple outbreaks at facilities owned by tyson foods and smithfield foods and an executive at tyson warning that the food supply chain could be broken because of hundreds of employees being sick and plants forced to shutter but the white house is going to take matters into its own hands and invoke the defense production act to make sure that that supply chain is unbroken. >> kayla, this is scary stuff. an official says without the order the majority of plants, meat processing plants could have closed for a period of time reducing capacity to 80% that is terrifying stuff. >> reporter: it is terrifying, especially with restaurants closed, as well. with so many americans with multiple options to put food on the table, now relying on that supply chain and more than ever on what is available at grocery stores and clearly the white house wants to make sure that that is uninterrupted. >> and like we were discussing, the executive order will provide liability protections. forcing them to stay open. thank you. >>> the coronavirus has meanwhile been a bull mark

jillian: several companies in temporarily closed facilities after workers became ill including smithfield, tysonb's, usa and cargill. in a statement tyson foods said they will make sure their workers will be safe writing we are screening worker temperatures requiring protective face coverings and conducting additional cleaning and sanitizing and social distancing like workstation dividers and more breakroom space. according to the united food and commercial workers union, 20 meatpacking workers have died from coronavirus, 5000 shown symptoms and been hospitalized, 22 plants of closed in the last few months affecting 35,000 workers, 20% reduction in pork slaughter capacity, 10% in beef guidance so this is where we talk about possible meet shortages that could happen, it is still a possibility, depends of these plants get up and running. rob: thank you so much. jillian: doctor anthony fauci predicting a covid-19 vaccine could arrive sooner than thought. rob: that would be some news. two groups are closer than ever, oxford in the uk and pfizer in the us both hopefully will have a working vaccine by

. >> several national companies including tyson foods and smithfield have closed plants in the midwest. >> spring selling season usually means home sales spike but not this year. sales and new home listings have come to a screeching halt. one analyst said the number of properties pulled off the market jumped by 800% in one week. the number of properties going into contract has dropped by 75%, but home prices have yet to come down that's because market analysts say e market is normally 3 to 6 weeks behind the stock market, still homes are selling because as one seller points out, sometimes you don't have a choice. the mac it's been a little crazy but i think that when someone needs to buy a home, they need to buy a home, regardless of what's going on. >> as for the long-term impact, experts say it all depends on how long the shelter-in-place last, keep sending your stories and ideas and see all of our reporting on our website. >>> hears gianna with a check on traffic. >> let's take a look at the roadways and get you updated on the latest 101 alemany project, you've got one lane open nor

tyson, smithfield, empire, cargill, all of them had to close at least one plant due to this pandemic t, the smithfield ceo said the sign of shuttering of all these protein plants essentially means they could be nearing the edge in terms of meat production and also supply to our grocery stores and really, essentially saying this issue needs to be addressed, getting the workers protected so they aren't spreading it to each other so they don't have to shut these plants down. stuart: we have to get that food supply chain moving again. that's vital. hillary, thank you very much. good stuff. let me bring this to your attention. house minority leader mccarthy says a deal on small business loans has been accomplished. as to what senator schumer was saying today, they have a deal but there's a delay in the vote and then there's going to be a delay in the processing from the small business administration. that's not great. >>> back to oil. $14 a barrel right now. you can't fight this global drop, this collapse in demand for oil. that's why you've got the price so much lower. senator john hoeven

it's the latest in a series of outbreaks of the virus at by tyson,king plants smithfield, and gbs. a trade group in delaware says chilean chickens were recently killed and disclosed other carcasses after labor shortages left it unable to process the birds for the market. john tyson, chair of tyson foods, warned in a full page ad -- "the food supply chain is breaking." new evidence has surfaced that may help corroborate a claim by a former staffffer of f joe bidn who says he sexuxually assaulted her in 1993. tara reade publicly accused biden just last month but says she first told her mother and a few others about the incident shortly afteter it happenened. over the weeeekend, archivival o emerged of reade's mother anonymouslcalling into larry king's show on cncnn in 1993 and making a reference to what happened to o her daughter. >> i am wondering what a staffer would do besides go to the press in washington? my daughter has just left there after working for prominent senator and could not get through with her problems at all and the only thing she could have done was go to the press

not create a shortage of meat even after the country's largest meat producers, including tyson along with smithfield and jbs have recently shuttered processing plants you and i may see our favorite supermarket low on something but they'll be plenty of meat ah ah, a beef pork that we all like they'll be plenty of meat in the supermarket's some bay area supermarkets have been seeing chunks of their meat section standing out, especially when it comes to bacon sausage and ground beef. >>oakland butcher shop for in sun farms has so far avoided any issues with meeting meet demand. they advocate said sometimes smaller. >>might be better off of army comes from within 200 miles of the shopping and our facilities are doing fine in our farms are doing fine of all and protecting themselves and their employees about this exact war liz not expecting the push for protein to hurt his business just yet may be another good reason to shop throughout this pandemic we've been doing just fine here it really a feeling very lucky to be one of the few places that actually not to getting a really from all of this. >>most of

will not create a shorge of meat even after the country's largest meat roducers, including tyson along with smithfield and jbs have recently shuttered processing plants u and i may seour favorite supermarket low on someing. >>but they'll belenty of meat ah ah, a beef pork that we all like they'll be plenty of meat in the supermarket's some bay area supermarkets ve been seeing chunks of their meat section stding out. >>especially when it comes to bacon ausage and ground beef. >>oakland butcher shop for ensign farms has so far avoided any ises with meeting the demands. they advote said sometime smaller. >>might be better off of army comes from within 200 miles f theshop and r cilities are dog fine in our farms are doing fine oall and implementintheir own measurefor protecting themselves and their employees about this exact war liz not expecting the pu for protein may be another good reason to shopthroughout this pandemic we've been doing just fine here it rlly a feeling very lucky to be one of the few places that actually not getting a really big a hit from all of this >>reporting in oakland dan thorn k

not create a shortage of meat even after the country's largest meat producers, including tyson along with smithfield d jbs have recently shuttered processing plants you and i may see our favorite supermarket low on something. >>but they'll be plenty of meat ah ah, a beef pork that we all like they'll be plent of meat in the supermarket's some bay area supermarkets have been seeing chunks of thei out. >>especially when it comes to bacon ssagend ground beef. >>oakland buter shop for ensign farms has sofar avoided any issues with eting meet demand. it advocates said sometimes smaller. >>might be better off of army mes from within 200 miles of the shoand our facilities are doing fine in our rms are doing fine of all and implementing their own measures for protecting themselveand their employees about this exact war liz not expecting the push for protein to hurt his business just yet may be another good reason to shop throughout this pandemi we've been doing just fine here are reallya feeling ry lucky to be one of the few places that actually not to getting a really big a hit fromall of this. >>reporting

it comes as the nation's biggest suppliers, tyson and smithfield foods, shut down more factories drew to outbreaks -- due do outbreaks among employees. day two of the nfl virtual drafts seeing more trades and surprise picks. >> with the 53rd pick in the 2020nfl draft, the philadelphia eagles select jeylon hertz. >> the bengals picked t higgins and the colts picked michael pitman junior. the biggest show stopper of the night, bill bel belichick's dog. round one of the virtual draft had 16 million people tuning in. the nfl virtual draft continues tonight. i think people are so excited to have some kind of live sports to be able to watch. on the philadelphia thing, carson wentz, he can't stay healthy. >> bill belichick does not care and i love it. the vikings fans were siked psy. >> i got to tell you, if you want live sports, you know what i wish they'd do, i wish they would do the cannon ball run. with the streets so empty, let them go for from coast to coast and see how fast they could do it in a car. i would love to do that. >> sounds great to me. let's try it. i think there's one gov

due to covid-19, a pretty good list of familiar names of companies that see this country, smithfield foods, tyson tar heel, when you look at pork has really gotten hit hard, meet production and 4, 25% of us pork production has been shutdown on beef, about 10% production shutdown. if these numbers get worse, what will happen? >> we will see more out of stocks at retail, the point is we still -- is not mean we will be out of food, we still want people to buy what they need for the week but we will see more out of stocks at retail. >> a scary reality that causes people to go and buy more meat than they need because they're worried about a shortage coming in that exacerbates the problem even further. let's talk about food being dumped, a lot of people need food right now, here the product being thrown away because they can't get to where they need to be so they can be consumed, milk, eggs, berries, cabbage, tomatoes, pork. can you and vision any way you could somehow repair this chain in a way so the food being tossed out and go to people that need feed right now? that is such a shame. >> it is devas

smithfield and tyson as well. tyson taking out a full-page ad over the weekend in various newspapers saying that the food chain is breaking. obviously that was a shocking statement to matter from so many people relying on grocery stores more than ever. not every industry experts agrees that the fuel supply is breaks. at the very least they say it's vulnerable, brooke. now with an executive order expected to compel these places to stay over. new guidance on how to use them safely is going to be as important as ever, as many will have to weigh their safety. >> omar, thank you for the update there in wisconsin. >>> an estimated value of $4 billion, the los angeles lakers are the second-most valuable team in the nba after the new york nix, yet somehow the storied basketball franchise managed to retain one of the emergency relief loans to help the nation's small businesses. that news did no-go over well with the treasury secretary steve mnuchin. >> i never expected in a million years the los angeles lakers -- which i'm

the things we're finding out now too is that the management at many of these plants tyson foods j.b.s. foods and smithfield actually encouraged workers even if you're sick you still have to come in we're a vital part of the economy a vital part of the food chain they said so even if you're sick.

. >> now smithfield and tyson both tell me they're doing all kinds of extra precautions extra sick leavenitizer, plexy glass barriers, but guys, we could end up with a weird situation because of this where you the consumer seeing less meat on the shelves at hire prices where as the farmers have too many animals and lower prices it's just an odd thing going on right now. >> it's this mismatch. i thought about this when our store was out of chicken the other day. i knew i could probably go order a chicken dish from a restaurant if people wanted bacon, sounds like they have to find it somewhere they can have it for carry out. >> well that's assuming bacon can be produced and processed at the plants that's the thing some of these foot plants produce bacon and and if there's less coming in, you'll start to see prices rise and potentially a scarcity, but at the moment, prices are so low at the farm level. down by 50% in the last two months some farmers are reportedly turning their pork bellies into lard and that's just a crime >> do you put anytime the oven or do you consider that a crime, too

the people who run these plans, whether it is tyson or jb yes or smithfield, they have plenty of workthis is not a blank check for them. they have to make sure they create an environment where these employees can be say. when we are talking about food, i think we all need to acknowledge this is a national security issue, just like we need to take a maximum precaution to keep our health care facilities open during this national crisis, we need to view the whole food production supply chain in the same way. this country needs protein. and a place like smithfield in sioux falls is a big part of that equation. david: what do need to do to get to where we want to go here, besides getting rid of this virus? i'm sorry, i'm going to interrupt because the president is on tape having just spoken. data and safety monitoring board which looks at the data, and they are independent, so there is no prejudice on the part of the investigators because they are doing the trial or the drug is from a certain company. the data and safety monitoring board on monday afternoon contacted me unable 27 -- first

we will be going to arkansas where tyson foods is based and smithfield, the meat company, the pork coating that provides almost 5%, one factory of the pork to this country, more than three under 50 of the workers inside have tested positive and the plant has been closed down. what is happening with the migrant workers in this country? we will look at the food supply chain. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: "on the road again" willie nelson and his kids as part of, 2020. the concert has raised money for finely farm since 1995. this year's concert benefited firms impacted by covid-19. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. gonzalez is in new jersey. as the coronavirus continues to sweep through the u.s. with more than half a million confirmed cases and at least 24,000 dead, the country's 2.5 million farmworkers are continuing to go to work every day, often facing crowded and unsanitary conditions without personal protective equipment for poverty wages. it is these farmworkers who are maintaining the food supply and keeping americans fed during the