Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 04092020 20240713

Pandemic. Later, National Indian Health Board Chair on the affecting native American Communities. Morning, its thursday, april 9, 2020. Against the backdrop of another deadly day, turmoil across the country, political leaders in washington are headed for a showdown over hundreds of liens of dollars in new aid for Small Businesses. With the senate set to move forward with funding today we begin our program by hearing from Small Business owners and their employees. Let us know how your Small Business has been impacted by coronavirus. Small Business Owners, 202 7488000 is your number. Small business employees, 202 7488001. You can send us a text this morning, that number is 202 7488003. If you do, please include your name and where you are from. Otherwise, catch up with us on social media, twitter or facebook. Good thursday morning to you, we are hearing from the 60 million americans that work at Small Businesses in this country and the more than 30 some businesses around the country. You can start calling in as we show you the front page of the wall street journal this morning. Roads amid a debate, the deadliest state for coronavirus. Aths noting a republican effort to approve hundreds of billions of dollars in funding to help support struggling Small Businesses as democrats reposed a rival plan to bolster federal response to the coronavirus and amick yesterday at the White House Daily briefing on the coronavirus response. President trump spoke about his the for new funding call Paycheck Protection Program. Heres the president from yesterday. [video clip] we have to get the country to getverybody wants going. Yesterday we asked congress to provide the additional 200 and 50 billion to expand the successful paycheck program. Allowingedible, its the Small Businesses to keep employees on the payroll to get ready for the opening. Opening, to protect millions of american jobs, im asking congress to pass additional funding for the program, this week, as soon as possible. I think we have a pretty good understanding with the democrats, hopefully it will be bipartisan. We dont have time for partisan games, we dont want that, the obstruction. Totally unrelated agendas. We want to do this for the Small Businesses and the workers. Ur and that phase fo will be later. The 300 and 50 billion will be expanded by hopefully 200 and 50 and if you look at the kinds of loans, thousands, tens of thousands of loans to Small Businesses, its a great thing to see. It has stood out be more successful and productive than anybody would have thought area democrats and republicans are coming together to get the job done. Host that was President Trump yesterday at the white house. We are talking to Small Business owners and employees in this first segment of todays washington journal. Want to hear from you about the has had onnavirus your Small Business. This from a series of tweets last night from Mitch Mcconnell, tweeting that tomorrow morning i will ask unanimous consent to pass standalone emergency funding for the hugely popular Paycheck Protection Program. The act comes online, this part is key, its already low on funds. Except no one thinks tomorrow will be the last word on covid new covid19. Other parts, like for hospitals and Health Care Providers, are coming online and have an exhausted. This is where the lights are already flashing red, saying 10 million americans were laid off in the last few weeks and tomorrow morning, thats today, will likely bring another figure. Host a series of tweets last night from the majority leader in the senate. Heres the headline this morning the Washington Post. Nancy pelosi looking for further negotiation when it comes specifically to the push by the senate that 200 and 50 billion of standalone additional money for the Paycheck Protection Program, she said clearly what they are proposing will not get unanimous consent in the house and there is no reason they cant come to the table to see the value of what we are offering and that you cant expect us to awesome if i inequality and access to capital as we try to fight coronavirus. Nancy pelosi and Chuck Schumer putting together their own priorities for relief yesterday, spelling it out in a press relief. Going around to various news organizations talking about this, this is what they are pushing for today, 250 billion in Small Business loan funds, nancy pelosi and Chuck Schumer one half of the money to go to their Financial Institution serving farmers, families, women, nonprofits, and in addition to that money they want to see 100 billion more for hospitals and Health Care Providers with assistance for states and localities and a 15 increase in the maximum food stamp benefit. Pushingwhat they are for, that is the deal they want to see come together, President Trump and Mitch Mcconnell wanting the money to be injected into that Paycheck Protection Program. That is the debate and we will see what happens on the floor of the senate today as they are scheduled for that brief pro forma session where Mitch Mcconnell wants to move the senate side. N the getting your thoughts from Small Business owners and employees as we talk about this to watch what happens on the floor today. This is spencer, Small Business owner. What kind of business . Caller i have a law firm of 24 employees and my wife has a medical office with about the same number of employees. Host did you apply for the Paycheck Protection Program . Caller thats the problem. Verything is crashing we are in washington, so we have been under a stayathome order for quite some time. My wife cares for pregnant women and, you know, she cant see any rules and pap smears, all the kinds of standard stuff that not pregnant women normally come in and use, those services. Whats happened is all the revenues have crashed and there is no way to make it up and if of hire, you know, dozens employees, for example, you know overhead is six figures a month and very quickly your resources are depleted. We applied, both my wife and i, haveof our businesses applied or tried to apply, rather, but the banks cant help us. You go from bank to bank and you are asking to get on the loan program and none of the banks have the standards for what they want to do set up. And we got back stuck that the banks attorneys were looking at, that they wanted to get hammered out, we dont even understand why they would get hammered by just being the throughput institution. We had all of our Information Available and have been trying to, you know, get into the program on both sides, for both businesses. Its really a holdup at the banks. Are inerms of where you that process, part of that is businesses can receive a loan advance before continuing with the full payment and you are not even at that point yet, you are still working on the paperwork . Had ourno, we have paperwork. Once we understood that the law was passing or was going to pass , we put together all of our financials. We literally work fulltime aroundtheclock to make sure that we had financial statements. You are not even supposed to get a credit check at the banks are saying there is some kind of liability. Too many people default, the Interest Rate is too low, this or that. Bank after bank after bank, thats the problem. I normally bank with chase bank, their system was going to be set up. This is a race for the money. Look, women are going to lose their providers in six or seven weeks. As an attorney i have had people calling my office, other doctors in the same place. Our pediatrician is in trouble. You know, everybody is looking at trying to cut staff, but if ,ou cut staff in one program you know, you are in trouble with that. Now. E dont have the funds you know, businesses shut down. I cant even have people coming into the law firm, how am i supposed to keep my employee employed . My wife cannot have patience come in, its not ethical to have them congregate. Even in the waiting room. How are we supposed to keep it between us these 54 yeezus employed. Im sorry, it cant go on very much longer and the bottleneck is at the banks. Thank you for walking us through that experience out there. Good luck to you. The role that the banks play in this being scrutinized, this todaythe Washington Post , banks collective processing fee by making loans to Small Businesses and the government guarantees the loans will be repaid host the under the Paycheck Protection Program, heres a few provisions for it host we are talking to that program and hearing from the experiences of Small Business owners and their employees. Ryan, what kind of business . To see,i got two things two things to see. The first thing, i dont really regard the second thing. But you have people in america right now that didnt file income tax, but they have been working all year, so im trying to figure out whats going to happen to those people that have been working and they didnt file income tax. But they have been adding to the economy by working. About theare talking individual payments, not the Small Business program . Talking aboutm people thats working for Small Businesses, right . And they didnt file. You didnt file no income tax. Host they were based on last year as well and you are talking fort the individual funding people through the stimulus program. We are talking about the Small Business Paycheck Protection Program. What kind of Small Business do you work at . Caller i work for a temporary , they get highquality jobs, 13, 14 jobs, you know what im weighing . I wish they would do get something. I want to say one more thing to america. Im from new orleans but i am in am looking at the citizens, checking them out. Im from new orleans. All of these bougie people, right . Cars, some Homeless People can be aggravating but im checking out these people, this was before corona. Im checking out americans, how wase people handle him spoken people. They got bad attitudes everywhere you go and im like man, go, look at these people out. Peopleo you think that are more friendly or more scared . Caller they came down and saw that without one paycheck you could be on the street yourself. The car you got, it could be taken away from you in an instant. Im not happy that this happened because it is ravaging my neighborhood, ravaging new orleans where i come from. Gotcha. Ryan in houston, texas this morning. Morgan is next. A Small Business owner. What kind of business and have you applied for the Paycheck Protection Program . Yes i applied but it wasnt easy, i tell you what. Hank god i had ein im a Sole Proprietor. , is agent Protection Program dont care if you are sold fried or or secor, escort, all of that cuff Sole Proprietor or a corp, a Sole Proprietor does not have to have ein. Host for folks that do not know what that is, what is it . Caller employer identification number. Host what does that do for the program . In order to process the application, if you dont have the eye again, they wont process the application. They should be able to use their Social Security number, ok . Thats one of the problems. Its one of the biggest problems because without it they cant process your paperwork. It could be retroactive something here. Host thats morgan this morning. In terms of where the government is this morning, the Small Business administration saying yesterday the process 400,000 loan application since friday and distributed 100 billion from the fund, which originally had the 300 and 50 billion number. Steven mnuchin saying yesterday have 3005at we hundred lenders on the system with many more getting signed up and they wanted to assure all Small Businesses, they said host getting your thoughts this morning about the impact that has been had on Small Businesses. Skip, good morning. What kind of work you doing . Caller im angry as hell. I work for a small restaurant and our specialty is pizza and we have a Delivery Service that its just, its just devastating. I dont understand why the lax andt has been so unable to cope with this thing. Arms. Forewarned, not for in the case of the president , where was congressman all of this was going on . Why . In 2018, whyemic did the president not take the steps to prepare for such an event . Why in may of 2018 did the president s aid dismiss the Global Health security staff and moved to cut the budget . Why did the white house also cut the budget for the center for Disease Control and department of health to close the federal governments 30 million complex on crisis funding . I dont understand this stuff. Host when it comes to your pizza restaurant, did they apply for this help . Im not sure what the owner is doing but im hanging on by the skin of my teeth host . Host what has eat my teeth. Host what has he told you about your hours . Caller i havent been cut. Our service has become Delivery Service. We dont have the hours. Host how long can you get by on half hours . Caller well, i have exhausted all my savings, thats for sure. I just dont understand this whole situation. I mean the president , the president is just an idiot. That is skipped from kansas city, missouri. Getting your thoughts this , as the Washington Post puts it this morning meanwhile, we want to hear whats going on in your part of the country for your Small Business. William is an owner in new jersey. What kind of business, william . Caller its a Transportation Company that carries passengers between new jersey and new york. Host have you applied . We havent, part of the problem is forgiveness ends in june and if we borrow it now, it wont be forgiven until the business comes back, so all we are really doing is just being an intermediary to issue money to people, but the business doesnt come back, so when it does come back in a few months, i wont be able to use the money and have it forgiven. They need to extend the Program Beyond june 30. It needs to go probably for another two months. Host what will you be able to do if it goes beyond two months . Caller even if i borrow now, we will be running those vehicles back and forth and all were really doing is just giving the money to employees to stay home and then when it comes back, it wont benefit us then. The new program that they are voting on today, they need to the that run until probably end of the year. So that the Small Business owners can borrow. Even the restaurants, if they take the money now the restaurants are empty. Its not really benefiting now. It will benefit more in three of four months from now. To use thehe idea is money to float and get to that point, to keep employees paid, to pay the rent until that point. Right, but then in july or august, once the country comes back, and its not going to come back all it once, its going to trickle back. Restaurants will be carrying five people versus 150 that we normally carry. I will be paying for that in two or three months out of the companys working capital. This doesnt really help right now immediately. Its not really helping to pay , i mean it can pay the salaries of employees, but it is not helping the Small Business owner. Is william from new jersey this morning. When it comes to loan forgiveness, heres the explainer on how the process. Rks from the New York Times host back to your phone calls. Jason is a Small Business employee out of idaho. What kind of business . Incredible isow it that we find ourselves in a Global Pandemic when so many Small Business employer owners are losing health care and the Democratic Party is rallying around someone who is not for medicare for all. Its incredible, isnt it . Were you a Bernie Sanders supporter . Was indeed. Just in general the idea of medicare for all and that he will get sick, they should get bankrupted. The situation we have now where your health is tethered to your employment, so many people are losing their employment and it is right and our face and still the Democratic Party of wasnt enough for them, instead they decided to rally around a guy with dementia who is also a rapist andrew hates poor people. Thats and who hates poor people. Host thats jason out of idaho. The fees from todays usa today. Here is some of Bernie Sanders remarks yesterday as he announced that he was ending his campaign. [video clip] i wish i could give you better news, but i think you know the truth, we are now some 300 delegates behind vice and the pathen towards victory is virtually impossible. While we are winning the ideological battle and winning the support of so many young people and working people around the country at have concluded that this battle for the democratic nomination will not be successful. So, today i am announcing the suspension of my campaign. Please know that i do not make this decision lightly. In fact, it has been a difficult and painful decision. Over the past few weeks, jane and i and consolation in consultation with top supporters have made an honest assessment of the prospect of victory. If i believed we had a feasible path to the nomination, i would certainly continue the campaign, but it is just not there. I know that there may be some in the movement who disagree with this decision. Who want us to fight on for the last ballot cast at the democratic convention. I understand that position. But as i see the crisis gripping the nation exacerbated by a president unwilling or unable to provide any kind of credible leadership and when i see the work that needs to be done to protect people in this most desperate hour, i cannot in good conscience continue to mount a andaign that cannot win which would interfere with the important work required of all of us in this difficult hour. Sanders inor bernie his video statement to his supporters yesterday. Interestingly in the statement he noted that he would remain on the ballot in states to try to continue to earn delegates, toing that we must continue work to assemble as many delegates as possible at the democratic convention, where they will be able to exert significant influence over the Party Platform and other functions there. When it comes to Bernie Sanders dropping out, plenty of responses around the country, including from his democratic rival, former Vice President joe biden put out a statement yesterday. While the Sanders Campaign has been suspended host joe biden, his statement yesterday on Bernie Sanders dropping out. Coming up on 7 30 euros the east coast, talking to Small Business owners and their employees this morning, talking about the impact and whether you have applied for the Paycheck Protection Program that will be at the heart of action expected on the floor of the senate today. Marianne is an corpus christi, texas. Small Business Owner. What kind of business . Marianne, you with us . Small apartment complex in corpus christi. We rent basically to boot to bluecollar workers. Low income types. They dont get any income subsidized. Im in a situation where the people renting, if they dont have any money, i cant even, like they are supposed to get three months free, the way i understand it. I dont know how i am supposed to be able to afford to do that to keep my employees working. Host how many do you have . Caller about eight. Host at what point would you have to cut their hours or cut their jobs . Know, at this point we probably have to cut a lot of the staff hours because we only have a very small room and peoples people are supposed to be five feet apart, right . Heard,ix is what i have but continue. Caller i dont understand how im supposed to pay my mortgage when, you know, the People Living here, of course, i dont want to evict them, but they dont have money to pay the rent. Marianne, corpus christi. Robert, good morning. Go ahead, what kind of business is it. Many machines, i got vending machines. Host and what has been the impact on your business . Shut down because of the virus. But i called because the bank i have been dealing with for 20 them andgot a call to said can i up this and they denied me and i have been paying them for 20 years, paying minimum every month, havent been find all and they denied me. I wondered why. Host what did they say to you when you asked why . Something about the mill. Don, washington, Small Business employee, good morning. As for yourk you time. I want to make a comment about you as had jay inslee and another governor on there the other day and the other governor was kind of fussing him up about keeping certain businesses open and i wanted to commend governor i 50 twor keeping the cannabis business open. People dont really realize that it is admitted a medicine that helps seniors and veterans, disabled citizens, and adults of 21 years of age. So i just, i think it is essential because it is a medicine. I have seen it be a medicine for the last 20 years, regardless of it having adult use availability to, it would be ridiculous shut down walgreens and other pharmacies right now. So, thats my comment. Thank you guys. As don pointed out, we have been covering governor responses and press briefings about coronavirus in their states. Heres one from yesterday, Governor John Bel Edwards of louisiana taking questions about when people may be able to get back to something near normalcy in their daily lives. This is what he said. [video clip] everyone follows the stayathome order. Thats very important. I promise you that no matter what the timeline looks like it will be quicker if everyone follows that order. What we know is that the virus is going to dictate the timeline , not us. We will be able to pick a date on the calendar. I think dr. Fauci said yesterday or the day before its not like flipping a white a light switch where the lights are on or off. We do believe that we are beginning to see the flattening of the curve, but then we have to come down on the other side and we know that cases can spike. For example, somewhere around 95 of the state of louisiana will not have been infected if the virus goes away quickly. That means they can be infected later on. There issuch time as an effective, clinically proven therapeutic intervention, some drug to treat this disease, and a vaccine, i dont know that you will see life as we knew it before covid19. Was louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards yesterday. Heres the headline from usa today. Tuesday the deadliest day ever for covid19 in the United States. Host host william, massachusetts, Small Business owner, you are next. Caller i own a manufacturing company. I manufacture fishing lures for the salt water industry. My company has vendors in different states, i have molds in five different states and i employ those people to do all sorts of work for me. I just talked to one of my vendors in texas yesterday and he told me that he applied for the loan and was able to keep his employees working for the orew months, which is the next few weeks, anyways, which is quite encouraging. As a manufacturer, you have to understand that it is not just one state, its multiple states i work with. Just seeing how this loan program is helping out some of who have the molds that il1 in their factories, i pay them a days wage to do work. As a manufacturer we have to be able to diversify. How we do that is eyes sell to a number of stores, but i also number of i sell to a stores, but i also sell online. Brick and Mortar Stores are the other isut increasing. Its a whole different approach to business and it goes in so many different directions. Think abouto you manufacturers changing what they make to help out in the relief effort here . Have you seen anything in your sector . Heres a headline from the Washington Post, General Motors getting a deal with the government, 490 million for 400,000 ventilators they will be making instead of cars. Really a think thats good thing and what impressed me about that was the ability of a company to change their total manufacturing from making of vehicles to ventilators. Its actually quite impressive. Manufacturing in the United States is on the increase. A lot of my peers are shipping overseask act from back into the u. S. And the interesting one will be how this plays out in the manufacturing space as far as products made in china. The that have an effect on consumer . Will they consider buying products made in the u. S. More . We are not really sure about bet, but it is going to interesting to see how this all washes out. On that gm deal, heres a statement from alex a czar, health and Human Services secretary. We are grateful for the expansion from the gm team on the supply of ventilators as this involves evolves. The deal with the government, 30,000 ventilators, 490 million deliverey expect to 6000 ventilators to the Strategic National stockpile by june 1, according to the statements and reporting on that deal. Judd is next, Small Business owner. What kind of business, judd . Realtor. m a im calling because i think the to puts meant for us back into the market to the extent that we can and for Small Business owners to keep their folks, give the employees who are not working money as though they were. If you are a small proprietor, Sole Proprietor, you dont need the im, digit ei and. N. Ei if the system is backed up, hold your breath, it would get to you. How in the world would you expect the entire country to dole out money at this point in time . Its a huge administrative nightmare. But its a wonderful opportunity to get the money out really fast. About somee talking 400,000 loan applications since friday. According to the fda, 100 billion out the door. Right, its fantastic that they distributed that much. But what i hear in the remarks from the callers is they dont appreciate that Small Business owners, giving the money to employees to whom dont have work. Get it to them. The government is counting on you to do that so that they have something to live on. Tied them over, thats your job. How many employees do you have . Caller i a Sole Proprietor that employs myself. You in the are process . Have you put in the application . I have for the 10,000. I havent yet done the ppp, but i am eligible and will do that. Hawaii, Early Morning for you there, thanks for calling in. Right on. I wanted to address some things i have noticed in hawaii. I dont know if these are well attended and poorly spread, but what i see here, we are an economy based on tourism. We have 40 hotels in waikiki that are completely vacant except for people forced in through quarantine. Whats occurring at this point is that the hawaiian people in hawaii are being treated with what i would consider to be authoritarian measures. They seem to be intended to save the patient, but they are killing the patient. The people in hawaii are now huge amounts of revenue and the value in hawaii, we have less than 10 people dead from the virus and the costs to the economy has been tens of billions of dollars and i dont see a value to the overall affect and outcome based on what these people are doing. Justt know if they are poorly architecture do, engineering the application and not recognizing the risk that they invoke through the measures they are taking, or if they have some other all terrier motive, like bill gates wanting to set up surveillance, a Vaccine Program that forces everyone into some kind of database. When do people out there expected tourism to come back . The problem is we have a Lieutenant Governor that seems to be functionally focused on only one thing, saving this patient, putting everybody else at risk. In aeasure is valuable oneonone basis, but when the measure requires everyone else to stay home and risk being penalized through arrests for up for going toply the beach, thats a problem. I dont think that people feel they are being well served by this measure. Hawaiihat is marked in this morning. 15 minutes left in this segment of the washington journal. We are talking to Small Business owners and Small Business employees. You can continue to call in as we show you the column from Michelle Noris in the , on a topic we have talked about several times this week. Black america squarely in the bullseye when it comes to coronavirus. Cap on this topic, credit craig caplan, the cspan capitol hill producer, notes that the National Black caucus has written to the centers for Disease Control and called for immediate racial data reporting from every single state as coronavirus continues to spread. Host heres a little bit more from the letter from the cdc him him him him that is the Congressional Black Caucus letter to the center for Disease Control. Small michigan, tyrone, a business employee, what kind of business . Transportation, sir. But i wanted to speak about the blackvirus affecting people disproportionately. Three of my personal friends that i have known for a long time died this week. Host im sorry to hear that. Caller three of my personal friends that i have worked with over the years died this week from this coronavirus. In detroit we are having a hard time with it and it is definitely devastating our community. But what i called for, being a Small Business employee, i applied for Unemployment Benefits online and they sent me that my saying unemployment benefit claim was denied because i didnt make enough money. I was wondering, like well wait a minute, isnt that why we are supposed to file, because you are not making enough money . Now im looking at place where i can get some food, so help where i can get some medication. I have the underlying issues that were explained in the black caucus letter. I have diabetes and heart disease. I just wanted to call in and let you know about what we are doing here in michigan and especially in detroit. Im not trying to throw bad light on my governor. I think she is doing a great job. I think the mayor is doing a great job as well, but we need help, we definitely need some help. Thank you. Host thank you for sharing your story. Kevin, what kind of business . I applied online for that grant, whatever it is supposed to be. My employees, for ive got four employees. We do hvac work. That has been about three days ago. I havent heard from anything. So i just dont know the timelines of these loans. I wish they could, you know, let besides justthing going online, sending it out. I havent gotten any mail back or anything, for a minute i thought i got fraud on that 10,000, it are you got to put your bank account in and you dont get a response. Todays article from the wall street journal, looking at the Small Business Association Efforts to handle large volumes of loan effort applications, they write that they have hired 7000 additional agents to answer calls from Business Owners, shortening wait times saying thaty, grants provided for applications for coronavirus disasters dont have to be repaid, as we talked about, provided that the businesses ultimately use the money to keep employees on the payroll. But in terms of how long you can , what doesresponse the timeline look for you and your business . Its getting thin. Im still paying my workers, but i hope they do Loan Modifications on my house payment. Its not just trying to keep your workers paid, like the other guy keeping them ready for two months, but guess what . Small businesses dont have two months payroll. A true Small Business, you know . Its just pathetic that it takes this long to do something, if they are planning to shut the country down, two months ago, you would think they would already have this set up. Now you have to go to the to get this set up, instead of just going through the Federal Reserve. You dont have to do the ppp. You could just send it out to the Business Owners, you know . I have never asked for free money or nothing. But you know . 20 trillion goes through normally. 300 and 50 billion at once, they think that will improve the process . Its just typical washington. They always have to have their people involved in the money that comes from the taxpayer. 350 billion as part of the stimulus bill recently passed, president and republicans hoping to pump another 200 and 50 billion into that specific Small Business Paycheck Protection Program. Democrats wanting more expansive funding for additional measures and relief. That is the fight right now on capitol hill. We know that Mitch Mcconnell, Senate Majority leader, is going to try to push through that effort on the floor today. That is what he said he would do in a tweet last night, and if any democrat objects to that, it could hold up the process. Nancy pelosi saying that the standalone effort would not be agreed to by her caucus. That is where we are on that and what we are watching for today in washington. What we are doing this mornings hearing from Small Business owners and employees around the country. Tom is next, good morning. Im a Small Business accountant, dealing with it on two levels as a person who owns a business, but also advising people that owned Small Businesses. The biggest problem is that there is really no guidance as to what is all going to happen. Even when you fill out the ppp form, you get different advice from different sources as to what the calculation is and how to do these things. The large banks, dealing with a couple of the large banks through clients now, they are not even returning phone calls or accepting applications. They are saying fill out the application and we will call you. The worst thing for a Small Business is uncertainty, you know . They might know that they can get through the payroll this week or next week, but what about three weeks or a month from now . There is a tremendous degree of uncertainty. Also, people dont understand that all of these Small Businesses are interconnected. The coffee shop has to deal with the sign shop, this thing cascades. If one Small Business is hit, than all of the Small Businesses are hit, including people like accountants and attorneys. I think the largest portion is the uncertainty. I find that part of the issues on dealing with is having my clients become creative so that they can keep as many people working as they can to do this. Some have cut back hours and allowed employees to go on and unemployment to make up the difference so that these people are whole. Is this the correct way of doing things . I dont know, but they are trying to save their businesses. Is, infusingnment cash is fine, but the cash never gets to the people that need it, or it gets to them too late. Then what good is the cash . Light at thebe a end of the tunnel. For the callou from south carolina. This is kathy from new jersey. Marcus is in georgia. Small business employee. Good morning. Caller hi there. Host go ahead, marcus. Caller the funds in unemployment, what they give you. Host you are talking about the unemployment benefit held as opposed the Small Business payment Protection Program . Caller yes, sir. Im not making that from unemployment, like what they give me. Talking about Small Businesses right now, Small Business owners, but that is another topic we have been talking about this week. One more Small Business owner this week, ross, good morning to you. Good morning. Thank you for the chance to talk about this. Its a question that is in the minds of many people. The marijuana problem, it is supposed to be many states legal, i have traveled illinois. Its totally ludicrous. Everywhere i stopped to get directions, they say you cannot go to a Small Business. Go to a local dealer. On onee missing the boat of the Biggest Industries in america. I have heard nothing about what kind of loans they would make for the Small Businesses that are dealing with one of americas biggest crop. That is rosshost in jackson, tennessee, our last caller in this segment. Before we leave you, we want to turn to the phones. Patrick mckenzie, in the 10th district, sitting between charlotte and nashville, how is the 10th district doing amid the pandemic . Guest thank you for having me on. I was listening intently at the response from Small Business folks this morning from your callers. It is quite interesting, the feedback we are hearing. In my district i hear positive feedback in terms of getting through the programs. Its Pretty Amazing, the amount of money that has been processed through the program. They have actually process now over four times the amount of loans in five days as they did all of last year. Its an amazing undertaking. 100 billion, thats what they said yesterday. Guest its over four times the 23 billion they processed in all of 2019. It is a herculean effort and it is still not enough because we still have millions of, millions of Small Businesses that either have not applied or are in process. In North Carolina, in my you are seeing unemployment claims that we have been seeing in the rest of the country. Region is of is a less of an interest in the data that im keeping van when we are going to be able to get back to life, economic life, which is going to require the larger cities, like from my region, charlotte and nashville, to be able to start bending this, bending the statistics down so that we have a safer environment for people to get back to work in. What is your sense for how this plays out, adding 200 and 50 billion to the paycheck 250ction program billion to the Paycheck Protection Program . We dont know whats going to happen in the house. Nancy pelosi said it was a no go and asked for more expansive funding for other priorities as well. Well, congress can work in times like this, but it has to work around consensus. Politicians on both sides need to give and need to give to the public interest, for the Public Health and economic interest of our constituents. I think that this will get result quickly. This is a Popular Program that has been well utilized. Going to one third of the funds its a six days now, Pretty Amazing response. The money is getting out faster to Small Businesses than it is the checks that we authorize in the cares act to go to americans. So, its working quickly and congress will get this resolved on the president s task. Host i know you are the Ranking Member with the Financial Services committee. And you talk about efforts to combat potential fraud in this program . How concerned are you with this money going out the door so quickly . Guest that is a big concern. Bankskept here, the responsibility to verify their customer. Thats one of the essential elements against money laundering, against terrorist financing, and customs dealing with this. Thats why, in order to access the program, you should go to the bank you have a business relationship with first, because they have the verification documents necessary to get working for it. That is a key element. When you put banks on the front line, they know how to verify well, and i think that has been a real testament to the functionality and usefulness of the banking system, even in a crisis like this, where there is , and banksietal need have a response it need for banks to verify against fraud. Host if this goes to a vote on the house floor, can you talk about that process right now amid the concerns about coronavirus, and any movement to possibly doing any sort of kelly vote televote . American civilhe war, you had opposing troops in the suburb of washington, and congress meant. During world war i and world war 9 11 there were threats to the capital. Congress was able to function, and congress was able to function even when it is in a Health Crisis like this, but it needs to be done around consensus, and that means we need to have deep ideological asks put aside, and do what is to anable, and we can come broadbased agreement on. That means you have to put your legislative greed aside. For this request for small i think the legislative greed from some of my colleagues will be put aside and we can get a response out the door for Small Businesses. I think it will work and we can be responsive without having to change 200 years of rules and president , but we need to be there to vote. I think it is important for us to not tinker with that at a time like this. Congressman Patrick Mccann the is a republican from North Carolina. Stay safe down there. Host thank you guest thank you. Host that will do it for the first segment of the washington journal. Next, we are joined by the Heritage Foundations paul winfree to discuss the think tanks effort to discuss a coronavirus Recovery Commission, and tom sullivan will come back to talk about issues regarding Small Business owners and the paycheck protection yesterday,t first, the georgia governor signed an executive order extending the Public Health emergency through may 15, and he explained further orders as well. Today, i signed an executive order extending georgias Public Health state of emergency through may 13, 2020. This measure will allow us to deploy more resources to communities in need, lend support to frontline medical providers, and keep preparing as we brace for potential patients urge in health care facilities. I appreciate your tenant governor jeff duncan, speaker david rawson, and the General Assembly working with us to ensure resources are available to proactively respond to this covid19 pandemic. Afternoon, i also signed an executive order mandating more aggressive Infection Control measures and longterm care facilities in longterm care facilities across our state. I will outline a few key requirements. Facilities must adopt the Infectious Disease transfer protocols with nearby hospitals. Nonessential personnel are strictly par habited, except in Compassionate Care situations. Must provide in room Dining Services if feasible, and all group cap pivot tease Group Activities be canceled. Employees must wash or sanitize their hands after any interaction with a resident. Facilities must implement protocols to screen residents for fever and respiratory symptoms, and employees must be screened before starting a shift. Exposed to theis extent feasible, he or see must selfquarantine for 14 days before returning to work. Facilities are required to implement correct use of personal protective equipment, and we stand ready to coordinate the delivery of those supplies. Facilities must utilize hospital great disinfectants hospital grade disinfectants. Residents with symptoms of respiratory infection need to be placed together and specific employees should be working only in these infected units. To ensure compliance, im inclined empowering the department of public, and department of Community Health to issue directives to facilities to prevent, monitor, and treat covid19. Washington journal continues. Host paul winfree joins us now via zoom, director of Economic Policy at the Heritage Foundation. Heal that she will also serve on the National Coronavirus commission. What is the mission of the commission and what questions are you going to try to enter . Guest thank you for having me this morning. Death answer answer . Guest thank you for having me this morning. Usually we are doing social distancing math right now with my son. Host we hope you pick it up later this afternoon. Guest we will see what happens. We have to prioritize getting those back to work, but only when it is safe to do so. That is the preponderance of advice you will seek from economic experts. There was recently a study done by economists looking at the 1918 flu pandemic. None of the things they found is that in cities that instituted good Public Health policy, the economic recovery was much faster than areas that did not Institute Good Public Health policy like social distancing. Therefore, not only does good Public Health policy help push down mortality, but it also helps mitigate the longterm economic effects of the pandemic. That said, americans and businesses across the country are looking for certainty. Americans are losing jobs every day, businesses remain closed, main street and walmart are looking into ways to change their operation. You are speaking later today with chamber of commerce, and im sure this is forefront on their mind. Byre was a report last week the bureau of labor statistics suggesting four weeks ago the Unemployment Rate was 4. 4 . If we adjust those numbers for this Unemployment Insurance claims coming in over the last two weeks, more claims more data on the claims will be coming in while i am on this program with you. The real Unemployment Rate is probably in the ballpark of 10 to 40 . If that is true, the Unemployment Rate today is probably as high as it has been since the Great Depression. Experts think it might go higher. The former chairman of the Federal Reserve bank said earlier this week she expects unemployment could reach Great Depression levels by the time this is all said and done. In other words, the Unemployment Rate could get into the ballpark of 20 to 25 . Forecasters had suggested have suggested the economy will contract on the yearbyyear basis as much as 6 , but what is not known right now is how much we will experience a recovery once we suppress the pandemic. In other words, are we going to expect a experience a vshap ed recovery or are we going to wee a wshape recovery where come out of it and then go back into a recession later this fall . Or, will we experience an lshap sessionery, a prolonged and ultimately recovery. Those are the Big Questions that remain, that are obsessing policymakers in congress and in the white house, and in state and local governments as well. Those are the main questions that this commission is going to consider. How are we going to get our self back on this task to recovery . This is a societal problem. We need all aspects of society to be engaged. We need federal, state, and local policymakers. The commission itself brings together experts, former government officials, Public Health officials, folks who are experts in Disaster Mitigation and response, folks from the education world, and also the faith community. We will be meeting a bunch of times over the next couple months, and issuing an interim end of this month and a finer will port probably sometime in early june. The reality is final report probably sometime in early june. The reality is, the timeline seems to be short given the responsiveness of governments at every level on trying to suppress the pandemic. We will probably be dealing with the consequences and aftereffects of this for some time. What this commission will be doing is thinking about some of those harder problems, to help as we move through the different phases of recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Host paul winfree, our guest at the Heritage Foundation, taking your calls on phone lines. Regionally. 202 7488000 if you are in the eastern or central time zones. 202 7488001 cspan. Org in the mountain ash 202 7488001 in the amount 202 7488001 in the mountain or pacific lines. And Business Owners is 202 7488002. You are talking about the various shapes and recovery. How soon will we know if it is a vshaped recovery or lshaped recovery . Guest i dont think we will know in tilt sometime this fall. As i mentioned early in my statement, the right thing to remember here is the good Public Health policy is good Economic Policy. Returning back to normality is probably not something that will happen in the next few weeks or a few months. Up,e rush into it, opening what we could end up doing is pushing ourselves into a deeper recession or depression at some point later this year, or even in the next year. That is what we want to avoid. What we need to do is make sure we are suppressing the virus, containing it, stopping the spread, and than that we are rolling out different Public Health strategies, including increased testing and containment. That way, in order to make sure we are defeating this so we can start to bring parts of the economy back on line a rolling basis. This is a societal problem, not a solution that the federal government can just hand down or even state governments, per se. This needs to be handled on an extremely local level. Local Public Health officials are currently, extremely strained and stressed. They are running out of resources. Role in all of this is critical. They will be doing the testing, doing the containment, so their dependent on how quickly we are able to get the economy back up and running again, and their success is also dependent on whether or not we are able to escape a prolonged recession and recovery. Host plenty of calls for you. From worcester, massachusetts. Scott, good morning. Caller good morning. Paul, i would like to ask you a question. If the coronavirus is going to return in august, or in early 2021 again, and we dont still it, what areon for we going to do, economically . Are we going to shut down again . Problem, constant until we have a solution for the virus. Host paul winfree. Guest that is exactly right. That is the main question on the forefront of the minds of virtually every american and Business Owners, small, medium, and large, trying to think about how they will not only mitigate the shortterm effects by change their Business Operations to deal with this new normal. The reality is that our ability testop the spread and to and to trace comes back to resource capacity, and the ability of local Public Health thecials to be engaged with population, and think strategically about how to bring different segments back online as is adequate to do so. Worst Case Scenario is that we normalcy, and we find ourselves reacting to a return of the disease or to a new Inflection Point where the disease comes back in a big way. What that might do is it could lead to a more prolonged shutdown, at some point in the future. Anht now, we seem to be in eight to 12 week window. Public Health Officials at every level are continuing the continually evaluating the evolution of the ds through that period. We are learning new things about the disease every day. Also, new Public Health techniques, resources becoming available every day. We have new types of tests in the pipeline. Several universities are working on a test you can take at home , swab of yourtip mouth, and put it into a plastic bag and mail that the way to see whether or not you test positive for the virus. It is critical we get all of that stuff online this summer, in order to get to a point where, later in the summer, or potentially early in the fall, we be able to bring big segments of the economy back online as we evolve to this new normal. Factt over emphasize the that i dont think we will totally be back to normal for some time. Willnk restaurants continue to have to focus on takeout and delivery for an extended period of time. I think folks who can do work from home, which is not everybody. As a matter of fact, most folks cant do work from home, but the folks that can are going to have to kind of situate themselves into this new normal. The big question for me is, when can we start bringing fixed segments of the Manufacturing Base back online, and how can we think about testing for the folks who work in those environments on a more regular basis, so we make sure they are safe, so we make sure their employers dont run into liability issues, and so ultimately we can make sure our economy gets back up and running as quickly as possible and we avoid a prolonged recession or depression . The directornfree, of Economic Policy at the Heritage Foundation. We have the special line for Business Owners. Greg is on that line from farmingdale, new jersey. Good morning. Caller good morning. How are you doing today . Host doing well. Caller my question is for paul. Im a Small Business owner, 15 employees. We tried to get through wells fargo. We couldnt even get an application in. To other banks because we didnt have an account. What there is so i dont have to lay off my employees. I dont know what else to do. Guest this is a big problem. Folks inaring from similar situations all across the United States. On the previous segment of washington journal, there was a comment made about how quickly they got this program online. I believe the congressman from North Carolina had referenced it, and that is true. Any given year, the Small Business administration prophets puts out about 12,000 of these loans. The program was extended in the cares act enacted a couple weeks ago, increasing the total amount available from 30 billion to 350 billion, and only doubles the Resources Available to Small Business administrations to get this thing done. What Small Businesses are relying on is the banks to put forward the money at the frontend, and be reimbursed on the backend. What you experience is some banks are reacting to that by saying i cant take on the risks associated with putting this money out right now that will essentially turn into a grant. Some risk aversion or abilityt for the federal government to take on some of this risk off of my folio. I think thats exactly what they are working my portfolio. I think thats exactly what they are working on right now. The Federal Reserve is used to dealing with banks as they are the bank regulator. They are used to extending credit to banks under different terms. I think once the Federal Reserve gets involved in treasury gets more involved and it takes some of that weight currently on the fdas shoulders, the program will become a bit more usable than it currently is right now. Lookingch mcconnell is to move an extension of the program, looking to but 251 billion dollars more into that program for a total of 600 billion, because small and mediumsize businesses, some of them are able to access it and are seeking that as a lifeline. Problems withn the cares act is this bifurcation of the business community. Basically, you have small and medium businesses, that is everyone left with 500 employees. Then you have businesses with more than 500 employees. The only lifeline available for those small and medium businesses is the ppp program, oan extension of the 7a l program that will turn into grants if you use that for utilities, mortgages, or rent. There is really not a whole lot out there that is available for Small Businesses. What is available for Large Businesses is essentially still being worked out. They will enter into a variety of terms with the treasury department. Im sure the fed is also getting involved with that. The fed is used to dealing with Large Businesses. The difference between the fed and treasury, and why it is important to bring treasury in at this point, is that the fed is a risk adverse entity. The treasury is bringing in some resources to essentially act as a backstop and get the fed to do potentially more than they otherwise would do. I see that is essentially a major problem, because it encourages everybody with more than 500 employees to go to the treasury and fed and figure out what their terms will be. It forces everyone with less than five hard employees 500 employees to go to your local banker and figure out how this program works. Honestly, they are still time to figure that out themselves in many places, but i expect, over time, some of these kinks will get worked out and you will be able to more easily access the money. I know that does not help in the short run because you are making decisions right now on what to do with your payroll, but i expect more help is coming soon just about 20 minutes soon. Host just about 20 minutes left with paul winfree. Our next caller is from tulsa, oklahoma. Caller good morning. Lets have a brief conversation to deliver a solution to the dilemma. We are on defense right now. Theinvisible enemy, president is talking about that. Anda is going back to work, there is a company that. Anufactures an air sterilizer what it has done in china, the demonstrations are already out there. It creates a work environment, a waiting room environment that destroys the virus, along with. Acteria is, this kind of thing it is a unique Technology Invented by a worldfamous inventor, starting to be distributed in the United States. It puts us on offense, as opposed to everything we have done so far being strictly defense. I dont mind answering any questions on that. Host thank you for the call from oklahoma. Paul winfree, i dont know if you have heard of that specific technology, but are there lessons you are going to be looking at from china as they reopen their economy . Guest oh yeah. I think one of the things the u. S. Is doing, again, policymakers at every level, is following the practices and protocols of those who have come before us. Not just china, but we are watching italy, spain, and the u. K. We are all learning from each other. The United States right now seems to be a real hotspot. Some of that just has to do with the fact that we might have better data. Different countries are measuring caseloads in different ways, and i think that china has a real incentive to try to get their economy back online, and to show the world that they have been able to get over this and have been able to handle the coronavirus. That said, one of the things we see in terms of the disease mitigation, in terms of the production of ppe, this protective equipment that doctors and nurses are using at hospitals, ventilators, we see a tremendous amount of innovation. We see it done very quickly. It is the job right now, i believe, of the regulatory state in the United States to fasttrack some of that stuff. Are to get folks who approving andr making sure those kinds of resources can be used by businesses get out there as quickly as possible. Couple mainhere are tests available for usage, but there are universities across the country working on new tests. It is really going to be critical to get those tests out there, in order to bring the economy back online. Itquestion, and this is a great time to innovate. Host this is kevin, good morning. Caller good morning. First of all, thank you for cspan. I think you are providing a Critical Service and this time to facilitate a National Dialogue and abide a lot of good information, guests on Health Policy, legal issues, and economic issues. I have two comments questions for your guest. He started off by saying good Health Policy is good Economic Policy. I think the converse is true as well. I think that is something that is missed by some of the Health Experts like found she. He said we could fauci. He said we could shut down the economy indefinitely and it will come back whenever we are ready. Fromnk we need more input the economists on a holistic view on how we address this whole pandemic, because there are health tradeoffs with bad economic alice as well. The second bad Economic Policy as well. The second point, i think this is a good time to think about the tradeoffs and risks of globalization. I think thats an underdressed issue in this pandemic. I think the pandemic has exposed risks, in terms of our supply chain being super dependent on aina, and i think it, for long time, the economic theory was having cheap labor in china was good, because there is excess capital and companies could reinvest in new things. Your guest could probably articulate what is better, but now we see there is a lot of cost in this as well. I dont think the pandemic would have spread as fast if we didnt have as much globalization, so we are paying a lot, in the end, for that globalization. I think we need to rethink the risks and tradeoffs there, and may be bring more of our manufacturing back to the u. S. Host thank you for the call. Paul winfree . Guest i think the caller is exactly right. There are significant consequences with session. Economists have paid a tremendous amount of attention to studying Public Health effects associated with recession and depression that are prolonged. For instance, economists have studied instances where babies are born during a Major Economic crisis and often times, because of the Resources Available to them early in life during their development stages, that has lasting effects on their health, so i dont agree with the notion that we can shove the economy down for an extended period of time, and it wont have Public Health effects. I think that is just wrong. Its one of the reasons why we are establishing this commission, to explore the tradeoffs one has to entertain when you are thinking about crisis mitigation, and to weigh the economic consequences holistically against the Public Health consequences. To get to the supply chain issue, i dont want to get in front of the commission in any way. Yesterday, i had a conversation with two of the commissioners. Our first meeting is 2 00 today. I had a conversation with two of the commissioners, george allen and the former majority leader. Both the senator and governor allen are both concerned about the supply chain issues, especially within regards to medical supplies. And being so dependent on china. I suspect that is something the commission will address in some way. I said i dont want to get in front of them at this point, but we think those are critical issues, and thank you for raising them. Host the commission is the National Core virus Recovery Commission started by the Heritage Foundation, heritage. Org is where you can find more information. Our guest, paul winfree, will be serving as one of the executive directors of that commission. New jersey, this is jerry. Good morning. Caller good morning. I heard you previously say about the senate and mcconnell trying to pass this bill to help the Small Businesses, but im not sure how far that will go, because the democrats, like usual, nancy pelosi is trying to add stuff to it, which will complicate it. That means it will get stopped dead in its tracks. Im hoping to hear from trump to say he will not sign it. So that will take care of that. The other thing is that i would like to know i see on the bottom that it says former administration to trump. Can you tell me why you are no longer part of the administration . When did you start on his administration . Can you explain who the Heritage Foundation is . I would appreciate it. Host thanks for the call. Guest thanks so much. I will start at the end and go back to talking about my past. The Heritage Foundation is a think tank, conservative think tank in washington, d. C. The washington of pennsylvania ranked us last year and the year before, and the year before that, as the most influential think tank in the world. We have about 300 scholars who study a variety of issues. I run the Economic Policy shop, looking at general economic regulation, tax policy, energy and environmental issues, and a bunch of other things as well. I served in Trumps White House as the Deputy Director of the domestic policy council, which basically means i was number two in domestic policy as well as the director of budget policy, all in the west wing. I joined the president ial transition in 2016, and i went into the white house on day one. I left the white house in early 2018, a couple days before my second son was born. Knew that kid number two was coming, i told my wife i would take a step back, but i continue to help out wherever i can. Federal policymakers, state and local policymakers, democrats and republicans, whoever is and to workisten towards practical Public Policy solutions. Host to richard out of philadelphia. Good morning. Caller yes. There wason i have is a large group of workers displaced from the economy, even though the economy was doing well. Because of this pandemic and the virus, im wondering, how will the economic structure change, as it relates to workers, because the skillbased disconnect is there going to be a skillbased disconnect . Heard theyructure, i are looking at rolling out something in relation to infrastructure, in specially especially in relation to the health care or education industry. Will that be able to bring in more of these displaced workers, and is that a concern when we talk about looking at the economy overall. Guest displaced workers and skill disconnect is something that were problems prior to the current recession and prior to the onset of the pandemic. I think one of the things economists like to talk about is that the economy itself is what they call sticky in some ways, in which it is difficult for major changes to happen without some upsetting event. One of the things we see with this pandemic already is that there are new industries that are starting, there are new ways of doing work. Im conducting this interview from my house, rather than from the studio downtown, so that we can continue with our social distancing. To be the things that is determined is that there are some industries that are literally hemorrhaging jobs. Childcare is a great example of this. Education is completely being overhauled. I am also the chair of the j williams scholarship board, the largest foreign scholarship in the world, and one of the things we have been doing is talking to University President s, both in the United States and overseas, about how they are thinking about bringing classes back online this fall. Some University President s are talking about shifting the Academic Year altogether from the fall until the spring, to january to december. They are thinking about doing that permanently. One of the things i Hope Congress starts to think about, as we move through the different phases of recovery, is how do we the workplaceform and workforces to make sure that we arent driving additional prior that were ingrained to this pandemic being onset. In terms of infrastructure, look, there has been a conversation about an infrastructure bill for four years. Im not sure how realistic it is, but i dont think congress is going to essentially sit on its hands for the rest of the summer. I suspect that there will be some action, very soon if not this week, on the Small Business loans program. I suspect congress will come back and probably think about how to provide a more resort provide more resources to public we seeofficials, and, as what kind of recession and recovery we are in, im sure they will respond in some way. It is just to be determined what that way will exactly be at this point. Host you mentioned at the top of the segment about economic indicators, that would be coming out during your appearance on the program. Im assuming this is what you meant, the weekly jobless claims. According to politico, the numbers reached 6. 6 million last week. According to the labor department, job losses pileup on to the nearly 10 claims filed in the last two weeks. Guest thats a staggering number. Had 3. 3eks ago, we million new claims. We had the largest one week increase in the history of Unemployment Insurance claims since they started keeping a record of it in the middle of the 70s. The next week, 6. 6. Now it is over 6 million, meaning on net, we have about 17 million new Unemployment Insurance claims, and we know there are more people out there unemployed. Theres a whole portion of the population in the gig economy that is not eligible for Unemployment Insurance. We know people are contacting the Unemployment Insurance systems within their states, and they are not getting through. Either because the systems are overwhelmed or because they are dated. A fewntly saw a report days ago that said new jersey thehiring folks who knew cobol computer language, because the system they had in place had not been updated in over 25 years, so they needed programmers, just to get things going. I have a piece of anecdotal evidence from new york state that there seems to be a two week four b four week backlog. Even though those numbers are staggering, they dont give full weight to the economic problem we are in. As i mentioned earlier. That means the real Unemployment Rate is probably somewhere in the ballpark of 14 , and it seems to be getting higher as total parts of the economy are taken offline. That is exactly why we need we think we need this commission, to think about these heart problems, and to start to think about ways to address them and bring parts of the economy back online, once it is safe to do that. Host time for one or two more questions with paul winfree. This is ralph and washington, d. C. , a Business Owner. What kind of business . Caller im not a Business Owner, im an investor. Im in the stock market. I can tell you that what im watching now is absolutely insane. They are giving 1200 checks to people that dont need them. My daughter is like why are they giving me 1200 to my spouse and i . They are throwing at the money throwing money at the problem. They have these businesses that are buying stock with borrowed money, and they are not viable. So youre throwing money at these companies that dont have a liquidity crisis, they are just not a viable company. The government is going down the path like it is, like a drunken sailor getting off of the boat. He is throwing money at everything. They are not targeting this. I would like to make one other point for the listeners. I saw this in january and got out of the market. We had a bounce in the market, and we are going for a major recession, if not a depression. If you have money in the stock market, this is not time in the market. Get your money out and put it in something safe, because the happy talk you are seeing on cnbc in these major news outlets are just that. Youre going to end up losing 50 to 60 of your money. Thank you. Host that is ralph and washington, d. C. Paul winfree. Guest there are couple different issues. There is the stock and bond markets, and the investor side of things, and then there is the real economy. Obviously, they are related. In the real economy, one thing i have been emphasizing to policymakers is that it is critical for anything i congress does, it is critical for them to think about how to keep people attached to the labor market, how to keep people attached to their job. If you do not keep people attached to their job, it makes it that much harder to bring it back online once you open back up again. Think about this practically. If you have to lay off half of your workforce, one of the folks on our commission, another Small Business owner, he runs a series of restaurants in the d. C. Area, living in northern virginia. He has about 350 employees and had to lay off 250 of them he couldntant afford to keep them on the books. Given his reduction in revenue and given congresss slow wouldse to doing things have potentially helped him. I completely agree with the caller in that what congress has done thus far, some of the programs have been helpful, but other programs have not been helpful. One of the main reasons they have not been helpful is that they are fighting this crisis like they fought other crises in the past, other Economic Crises in the past. Right now, businesses are not economiccause of an recession. They closed because they were told that was the right Public Health response, and they were shut down by local and state governments. Money at folks, hoping they spend it isnt just not the right economic solution right now, but it might not be the Public Health solution either. It is basically, you are expecting people to take that 1200 and go to the mall and restaurants. Isy are not open, and it leaving a lot of folks who need additional resources, either because they are going to the hospital with the virus or they are Small Business owners, it is leaving them with less. Anything congress does from here on out needs to be much more targeted, much more geared at the actual problem that people are experiencing in the real economy. Host paul winfree is director of Economic Policy at the Heritage Foundation which is heritage. Org if you want to look up that group. Thank you so much for your time. Guest thanks, so much. I appreciate it. Host next, more on what is being done to help Small Businesses during coronavirus. The phones,rn to joined by congressman robert adderall, a republican from northern alabama. Congressman, i know you are listening to the conversation about the economy. I wonder your thoughts about whether we are in for a vshaped recovery or something different. Guest im optimistic we will have a good recovery. I think there is so much, as the president pointed out, there has been so much in peoples homes nnd they are pinup i peoples homes and they are wanting to get out. When we get back to the activities, a lot of people will be traveling and a lot of people will be going out to dinner, shopping, doing things they were not able to do for the last several weeks, so im actually optimistic about it. Host what is the Economic Situation in alabamas fourth Congressional District right now . I know farming is a key industry there. Is a big far as ag, ag part of our economy. The poultry industry, we have a lot of chicken growers, poultry growers, processors here. Diversified and small. That is why this cares act that we passed a couple weeks ago was very important to making sure we are helping these Small Businesses not only across the district i represent but across our state, and across the nation. We have a lot of Small Businesses, i would say, that keep the economy going. This paycheck Protection Plan is something that is very welcomed, and im glad to see we were able to put that 350 million in 350 billion and we are looking to add another 250 billion. Im hoping that can be done seamlessly. There is part of the economy that is of course down, but as far as the poultry industry goes, even though that is not 90 of what we do in this district, it is a large part of it, and the poultry industry, as far as i know, have been able to survive and be up and running just as normal. Host what do you think will happen in the coming days on that additional 250 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program . Mcconnellnator mitch wants to put this on the senate floor and passed by unanimous consent today. Nancy pelosi saying that is not something she would agree to in her caucus when it gets to the house. If there is not expanded funding in there for other issues for states at hospitals as well. Guest well, im optimistic that at the end of the day, they will work something out, because there are so many members of congress that cannot come to washington to vote on this, and they have to get this agreement. Ors paycheck Protection Plan virtually the ppp has been a great success. I have heard so many of my bankers, initially having frustration, getting into the portals, but they are so eager to get in and take part in this that we have to make sure it works. This is a bipartisan issue. There are Small Businesses in democrat and republican districts, and it cuts across party lines. I think at the end of the day, we can find an agreement. Obviously, i know the speaker wants to get anything she can get in this, but there will be other opportunities we can work , a piece ofslation coronavirus legislation that can be more comprehensive. This is the immediate need. As of two days ago, they have already gone through 70 billion of the 350 billion, and that was just within the first couple days of it opening up. I know democrats and republican members democrat and republican members are hearing from their constituents, Small Business owners, that they have to keep their employees on the payroll. This is democrat and republicans alike, so im optimistic that they will get some type of agreement and. Host congressman, in the cares in. Host congressman, in the cares lct, you push for world rura broadband. What was in the push for that . Guest thanks for bringing that up. That is something we have been working on for many years. I served as chairman of the act subcommittee of appropriations, and we were able to get, over the last two to three years, we have been able to get over 1 million for broadband. It sounds like a lot of money, and is a lot of money, but when you are talking about broadband for the entire nation, when you spread it out, it is not as much, but we want to continue that program. We have 340 additional billion in this last 340 billion dollars additionally in this last cares act. We see the importance of making sure every corner of america whether it be rural for urban, has broadband. With School Children no longer able to go to their classes, you cant leave the kids that live areas outeas rural and take care of kids in the larger cities that have the opportunity to get on broadband. It is like i equated it to what it would be like 100 years ago, putting in electricity, especially in the south, and in parts ofrural america parts of rural america. There were so many parts of america that did not have electricity. Can you imagine starting a business without electricity . Thats the same thing we are talking about with broadband. If you dont have broadband, you your get cant run business, cant get education, cant get telehealth unless you are there in person. This is the situation we find ourselves in the United States at this time. Host congressman robert aderholt, thank you so much for your time and stay safe down there. Host thank you so much guest thank you, much. Host next on the washington journal, we are joined by tom sullivan from the u. S. Chamber of commerce to talk about what is done to help Small Businesses during the pandemic. We will be right back. Tonight, a special evening addition of washington journal, on the federal response to the coronavirus crisis. Join us at 8 00 p. M. Eastern dahlia. Nihid the congressmanusetts jim mcgovern on the Pandemic Response in his district. The the conversation about coronavirus crisis, washington journal prime time, at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Washington journal continues. Host we turn the focus back now on coronaviruss impact on Small Businesses. We are joined via zoom by tom sullivan, Vice President of the u. S. Chamber sark u. S. Chamber of commerce covering Small Business policy there. Starting with the Paycheck Protection Program, certainly popular. Would you support an additional 250 billion dollars going into that program . 250 billion going into that program . Guest absolutely. We sent a letter tuesday suggesting they take immediate action to ensure every Small Business try to get the loans they have been promised, to keep them afloat through the pandemic. No one is prevented from getting that money. As the chamber of commerce, we are operating on a simple principle, no family or business should be bankrupted due to the temporary economic destruction caused by the coronavirus. Host you talk about waiting in line for those loans. Here is one of the headlines from the wall street journal today. Small businesses, still waiting for the funds. What is being done to make sure that line does not drag on and try to make it more efficient . Guest john, you mentioned one very important factor, and that is all of our election leaders and the congressman before me who echoed this sentiment. We are boosting confidence that even if you are in line, you will be able to access the 350 billion promised to make sure main street is ok. If we rewind even less than two weeks, it is important to understand that less than two weeks ago, we didnt even have law. Now we have the law, a brandnew facility specifically for Small Business. With 1800 sba lenders and now have over 2400 lenders. At last count, they had been processing billions of dollars 250 thousand over businesses having applied. This is the situation that speed is the most important, and with speed, unfortunately, it wont work perfectly. We will see the system work better every day, every hour of every day. We have a long way to go. But, it is working better than it did two days ago and better than it was working last friday. When the banks started opening up to these loans. Host as we have done in the first two hours of washington journal today, we have a special line set aside for Small Business owners, 202 7488002 in this segment. If you are in the eastern and central time zones, 202 7488000. Mountain or pacific time zones, 202 7488001. We are talking with tom sullivan at the u. S. Chamber of commerce. Tom sullivan, if you are a Business Owner coming to this program now, walk us through what is needed to apply, how you apply. Sure, john guest sure, john. Thank you. Businesses, or what we hope they know Small Businesses know, or what we hope they know, now is the time to talk to your banker. That is the whole purpose of the cares act, to push these lending decisions out to the bankers, who have good relationships with the Small Business owners. Have the conversation with your lender now. Talk with that lender about the Paycheck Protection Program loans. They have the ppp loans. We have heard from thousands of lenders that they want to provide these loans, but some of them are not able to. When the Small Business owners talk with their lender, if they do not offer the loans themselves, we know they are going to refer that Small Business owner to another bank who is doing the loan. At a local level, and we work with over 1600 local state chambers of commerce, these banks and lenders are leaders in these local chambers of commerce. I will give you a great example that happened just the other day. One of the leaders is the Salt Lake City chamber of commerce in utah. Bank, thehe head of a Mountain America credit union. Pppaw one of the first loans coming from that credit union to a Small Business owner who is a member of the chamber. Of what theample Small Businesses operate in. The first thing is to talk with your lender. The second thing is to look at what the treasury has made available, and it has different types of calculations that lead up to the loan amount. That calculation, basically, as you take last years payroll, take an average monthly payroll, and i could be payroll for folks who are earning up to 100,000. Once you take that average monthly payroll, multiplied by 2. 5, and that is your loan amount. The most attractive part of this getinterest loan but you from private banks is that at the end of june, you can convert that loan into a grand. In order to do that, you have to show at least 75 of that loan was to account for payroll. In those eight weeks of the loan. This is an incentive to make sure folks ringback workers, put them on the payroll. The employees have that money in their pocket books to take care of health care and other expenses that are so important during this pandemic. That is basically what the system is, on the frontend. On the backend, that bank has to then take the application, they have to put it into a system that assigns them a number, because we have to keep track of 349 Million Dollars offered for Small Businesses, and sba then turns that back to the banker, and the banker then originates the loan. So we are getting this process to work more smoothly, but because we are emphasizing speed over everything else, it has been a little messy. It will continue to be messy but it is getting better. Host is there any risks to banks in this process . Guest that is a great question about the risks to bank. Banks. Some of the banks that have seen an enormous flood of applications on friday actually started to get nervous, and the head of the Federal Reserve, jay powell, monday, immediately came out and said you dont have to worry about the risks to this. The Federal Reserve, the United States government is going to purchase these loans. Inserted theen confidence that the lenders need in order to make these loans. It is a great example of this Public Private partnership at work here. To try to make sure main street survived the pandemic. Anytime there is nervousness, you have elected leaders and government saying we are going to take care of you. That is a bipartisan commitment that has happened in three laws in three weeks. Everyone of them having a component that wants to help commitment has nott type of stopped after the loans have passed. We see the same type of commitment at the Federal Reserve, sda, bankers and lenders all across the country. Of course, that same commitment to survive is inherent in the three enterprise attitude of Small Businesses all across america. Thomas sullivan at the u. S. Chamber of commerce. Johnny is up first. I own a shoeshine stand and i dont have an employee, but i had to close my shop. How can i get help . Guest im sorry to hear that you had to close your shop. Congress wanted to make sure that not only Small Businesses that had employees are taken care of, but they wanted to make sure that you are taken care of. Friday, thanks will be offering the Paycheck Protection Program loans to folks like you, folks who are their own business, they are the entrepreneurs that are keeping this country going. The time to talk with a local lenders right now, ask them if they are going to be providing these ppp loans this friday for selfemployed independent contractors and proprietors like yourself. They will help you through the process to make sure you are able to whether this pandemic. Thank you for that question. Host linda, a Business Owner in wisconsin. Good morning. Caller my question is the same type because my son owns a barbershop. He is in there by himself, he doesnt have any payroll. Is, you are really saying it concerns the payroll, but he doesnt have payroll. To me, it doesnt sound like he does qualify. I think that is very confusing. Guest thank you for that question. Because of that question, i will try to make it less confusing because you are right. The term payroll doesnt match perfectly with your sons business. What congress has done is has said for Business Owners like your son, just take last years net income, and you average that 2. 5,nth, multiply it by and that would be the amount of the loan that your son last a local bank for under the Paycheck Protection Program loans. They basically have recognized the entrepreneurs like your son, who dont have payroll, should also be able to survive the pandemic with the help of the federal government. They just tried to substitute the word payroll for net income from last year. Thank you for that question. Host david out of los angeles, you are next. Caller good morning. I have been following the people you have on the program this morning, basically, they are e chamber of Commerce Business interest. Matter of fact, i heard one of the ladies call in or someone call in talking about nancy howsis contribution and mitch is not giving her what she wants. Pelosi and mitt are both working on behalf of corporate america. As the guy even said, this 1200 to the people might not even be well placed, but in the meanwhile, you have a segment of the community out here who are ,nemployed or they are retired and they are feeling the same economic oppression and social oppression as everyone else is, and there seems to be no initiatives or nobody on your program that you are bringing on to address their issues. America is going to do just fine, thank you. Host stick around, i guarantee you we will have people on this program, it is a program we have every day that space to the issues you are talking about. Thanks for bringing them up, what would you say to david . Guest thank you for the call. I should explain that when i am lucky enough to work with Small Business owners at my job at the u. S. Chamber of commerce, we represent about 3 million businesses, that includes a partnership with over 1600 local and state chambers of commerce and about 250 trade associations, all of whom represent Small Businesses. About 96 of our members have fewer than 100 employees. 75 of our members have fewer than 10 employees. That important to remember the three laws that Congress Passed in three weeks, they are intended to keep money in the pocketbooks of american citizens. One way to do that is to look at tose who are employed, and make sure that that paycheck continues through the pandemic. Es, i do represent the business community, and i am blessed to represent the Small Businesses who are fabrics of communities. It is then heartwarming in the face of a crisis to see communities coming together to help each other as neighbors, to help each other as Business Owners. It is that Publicprivate Partnership of corporate america, entrepreneurs, retirees, hospital staff, first responders, that are going to get through this together. It has been hard, there is frustration at every part of the United States. But seeing and working with Small Business owners who tell ,e that they might shut down that their comments are always about their neighbors and how they can take care of their employees. It certainly gives me optimism that they are going to be able to access the 349 billion. Also, you have to be confident that they are going to help their communities get through this pandemic. Thank you for the comment. Host when it comes to the additional 250 billion and whether that will be added to the ppp, democrats have asked for additional funding for hospitals and states and localities. One of the other things they want when it comes specifically to that 250 billion, is for half of that money to go through community banks, Financial Institutions, those institutions that serve farmers, minority owned businesses, what are your thoughts and making sure the money is split up that way . Guest primarily, we are still focused on speed. We had a survey that was released last week that showed that one in four Small Businesses have temporarily closed. That 40 y, it showed of those Small Businesses that are remaining open only had about two weeks before they had to shut down. That two weeks is this friday. If we are looking at competing priorities, again, we are told by our Small Business members that it has got to be speed. Congress has to move aggressively to assure these Small Business owners that they are not going to run out of money. Where should the money go . I think the initial intent of the cares act to get those lending decisions out there into local communities, get them out to lenders for another Small Business customers, i think that was actually a brilliant strategy because it means that those communities rely on each other and if they have to rely on loans of that are fully backed by the United States, that is what is going to work. I will leave it up to congress on the president to work out the details, but i do know we are going to continue to press for immediate, speedy, bipartisan action. Host new jersey, this is george. A Small Business owner. Kind of business . Caller h fax. Hvacs. I have been trying to contact people. It was just thrown out there without a lot of guidelines. I have an employee we saw this coming in january. Basically in the middle of january, we started working on an emergency basis. We went from six days a week down to one or two days. I have been paying my employees making sure they get a full paycheck each week. What happens when a business like this when you dont just shut the door and lay off all the employees and you are 100 closed, but we are only working on an emergency basis because we are trying to keep our employees and and public safe. I have one employee that was a veteran that i hired. He was already planning on going to work for the army fulltime on april 14. According to these loans, they have to work for a certain amount of time before that and after that. Nobody knows basically how to answer that question because i dont want to do something that is wrong and apply for something im not entitled to. That is basically my question. The other thing is, i heard the president fired the iga that is in charge of all of this money to oversee it. I just want to make sure the money goes i not people at the top i just want to make sure the money goes where it is supposed to go and not to people at the top. Thank you, cspan. Guest thank you for being part of americas Small Business community. In answer to your comment about you not being entitled, actually, this loan program is specifically for you. Gets specifically to try to you through this crisis because you outlined a scenario that is mirrored by hundreds of thousands of other Small Businesses across the country. , the Paycheck Protection Program loans are for you. I am hoping that you are able to find a lender in your community that offers these paycheck protection loans. The loan is entitled, it is looked at, what you paid your payroll last year. Average, youhly multiply it by 2. 5 and that is your loan amount. The intention is that you keep paychecks coming to your employees with that loan amount. If you are able to show the bank at the end of june that you dedicated over 75 of the loan 1 ceeds, again, the loan is on a twoyear term, but even though it is a loan, at the end of june, if you are able to show that you dedicated that loan to payroll, you get it back because the federal government wants to help you. Most importantly, they want to help your employees that you described are working so hard, they are under limited hours, they need a paycheck to get through this pandemic. We want Small Businesses to come through the pandemic in a way so that when america counts on them to get our economy back on track, they are wellpositioned, and the economy gets back to where it was in january. Host a question from twitter about whether landlords are included in this program. Tenants are already not paying rent, yet no relief for landlords is insight. Own half manage and the rental properties in the nation and house about 40 million renters. Mortgage payments are not going away. Guest sometimes we forget that landlords are Small Business owners. This law does not discriminate on what type of business that you run. As long as you have generally under 500 employees, you are entitled to a paycheck protection loan. You do have to certify that the coronavirus pandemic has negatively impacted your business. The description that you just paid,bout rents not being that is certainly an economic hit that would allow for this Small Business owner to apply for a loan. Host another Small Business owner, out of brooklyn. Good morning. Caller good morning. Host go ahead, what is your question or, . Caller question or comment . Caller for Sole Proprietors, selfemployed, would any part of the ppp loan be forgivable . If 1099 will be sufficient document four for income proof . Host what kind of business do you have . Caller i. T. Services. Host thanks for the call. Guest thank you. The simple answer is yes. An independent contractor who receives 1099s from employers, those all go into what was your net income for last year. You take that net income total from last year, do a Monthly Average, multiply it by 2. 5, and starting this friday, banks will be providing ppp loans for independent contractors like you. Thank you for that question. I do want to add one thing. This has been a little bit confusing. If you are a Small Business and you have employees, and you also have 1099 independent contractors who work as part of our operation, you may not count the 1099 independent contractors toward your payroll calculation for the purposes of the loan. That Small Business owner is encouraged to tell that independent contractor that they are able to get their own Paycheck Protection Program loan. Those loans for the selfemployed and independent contractors, just go online this coming friday. Host time for maybe one or two more phone calls. This is paul out of illinois. Good morning. Caller good morning. I just started a Small Business. We didnt start making money until may of last year. We didnt file taxes, how would i prove and come without having filed taxes . And also, the last gentleman asked if any of this would be forgivable for Sole Proprietors and you didnt answer that question, so i would like to reask it. Guest first of all, yes, the loans are forgivable for Sole Proprietors. Identifies a challenge for a lot of startups. The law allows that if you dont have last years income, you are able to take the Monthly Average of income in january and february of this year and use that to average out and then multiply it by 2. 5 for your paycheck protection loan. June, if at the end of you go back to your bank and you 75 tohave devoted over whichiness, my payroll, as a Sole Proprietor, just use the term payroll interchangeably with net income. When you show the bank that that is where the loan for your proceeds were spent, you are able to get that money back. It turns a loan into a grant for both employers and Small Businesses and selfemployed independent contractors. Host before you leave us, i want to get your thoughts on some comments made public from earlier this week by sba nevada district director joseph amato, the Washington Post story on it today. Federal official blast big banks over their failure to distribute loans quickly. This was a comment from monday on ppp. He said some banks that had no problem taking billions of dollars in free money as bailouts back in 2008, are now the biggest banks resistant to helping Small Businesses in this process. Guest first of all, i would like to just acknowledge that the sba district offices are part of this incredible hero network. We are witnessing all over the United States. Small businesses are my heroes. What we are seeing are these heroes in hospitals and first responders. Quite frankly, also, a lot of lenders. Officials arerict frustrated. Small businesses are frustrated. Treasury, the Federal Reserve are all frustrated and banks are frustrated. Emphasizee to kind of that this gentleman in nevada, he is working 20 hours a day like we all are to try and help Small Businesses. He is overtired, he is frustrated. I think everyone is frustrated. But we are frustrated for the right reasons. We are frustrated because we want to help Small Businesses, and Small Businesses are frustrated because they know that america is going to count on them to get our economy back on track. And frustration isnt necessarily bad, but keep in mind, less than two weeks ago, we had a brandnew law. Everyone week later, was expecting for a brandnew lending facility, specifically for Small Businesses, be stood up and operational. It has been messy, it will continue to get messy. People will be frustrated, and that is ok, but we are not going to get into the blame game about what part of this Publicprivate Partnership doing a better part than in other. We are all trying. Everything is not working as perfectly as it can. We need congress to make a commitment to a sure Small Businesses that the money will not run out, and then we are all going to Work Together to make sure the system works as soon as it can. We have got thousands of additional banks coming online into the system. The Federal Reserve chair just about 20 minutes ago, made new announcements to bolster Small Business lending. A are building highperformance racecar engine in the middle of a race. It is going to be messy, but we are going to get through this, and Small Businesses who are able to get these loans, and they will be able to get these loans, are going to be in a position to get through the pandemic so our economy can get right back on track. Is the vicellivan president of small policy at the u. S. Chamber of commerce. Thank you so much for your time. Guest thanks, john. Host up next, we will be joined by victoria kitcheyan, chair of the National Indian health board to talk about the pandemic and how it is impacting native American Communities across the country. But first, yesterday, the wyoming governor explained why he has not yet issued a shelterinplace order in his state, and also what his state, what he is requiring. [video clip] said stay did was we home, wash her hands your hands, maintain social go to the, dont store unless you have to, do that in short groups. That is what we did. That is essentially what a stayathome order is. Waiting for me to order, shelterinplace when you have dr. Wheeler and dr. Dow telling you should stay home, and i am telling you to stay home, what are you waiting for . Are you waiting for mother may i . Or are you taking care of yourself and practicing the common sense that we expect . One of our wyoming values is talk less and say more. Our orders, talk less and say more. Thank you for that. Now, i want to say, since i last spoke to you a few days ago, conditions around the state and around the country continue to change. As i announced about 90 minutes ago in consultation with dr. Harris, we are extending the existing Public Health orders we have in place through the end of the month to april 30. This aligns wyoming with President Trumps recommendations. I want to reemphasize a point that i continue to make. As a state, we should be all committed to the same thing right now, staying home and avoiding gatherings. On improving compliance and adherence. This depends on people taking this seriously and during the right thing. That is how we protect lives. That is how you protect lives. The lives of our citizens, the lives of our health care workers, the lives of our children, the lives of our grandparents and vulnerable people. Stayathome or shelterinplace order with large numbers of exemptions will not provide additional Public Health protections beyond the statewide orders we currently have in place. Washington journal continues. Host victoria kitcheyan joins us now. She serves as chair of the National Indian health board. Before we talk about the pandemics impact on native American Communities in this country, explain first what the board is and what your role has been amid the coronavirus pandemic. Guest good morning and think you for having me. The National Indian health board is a Nonprofit Organization that serves all 570 four federally recognized tribes. 574 federally recognized tribes. It serves as a resource for information and Technical Assistance. My role as chair has been participating in a variety of listening sessions and calls that the nihb has developed to aid tribes in response to the covid19. Host how many tribes are there right now and what we know about confirmed cases and covid19 deaths in native American Communities around the country . Guest there are 574 federally recognized tribes that nhb serves. The most recent number i have seen, there have been over 5000 excuse me, over 5000 tested and 562 confirmed cases. That number is probably underreported because Indian Tribes and American Indians and alaska native communities and Tribal Organizations have no access or little access to testing kits. Priority, we have not been on a priority to receive some of these things. Host recently, i heard there will be rapid tests deployed throughout the country. Although those are limited in numbers, it is really sad that those tests will not be able to serve Indian Country at large. It is really hard to do that surveillance without the proper tools and not really be able to manage it if we cant measure it. Host which tribes underwear have we seen the biggest and where have we seen the biggest impacts . Guest we have seen some of the greatest impacts in the navajo nation, also rate impacts great impacts to washington. Both nations have a representative on the National Indian health board. Our hearts are with their community. Some from the Cherokee Nation that have also fallen ill and lost their lives. Host taking your phone calls in this segment of the washington journal, splitting up our phone calls regionally. Eastern and central time zones, mountain and pacific sounds, and aced zones, and a special line for native americans. You can go ahead and start calling in now. We are talking with victoria kitcheyan of the National Indian health board. Ofre has been a lot headlines recently about the disproportionate impacts that coronavirus has had in africanAmerican Communities around the country, but here is one story about the impact specifically in Indian Country. It quotes kevin, the chief executive of the National Congress of American Indians. This is what he. He said in the Washington Post. When you look at disparities and combine that with the overcrowded housing situation where you have a lot of people in homes with the older population, this could be like a wildfire on a reservation. Higher than those of other americans. Cardiovascular disease are much higher. Many of the conditions the cdc has identified as high risk and te the onusica are rampant in our communities. Host you talk about the need for testing kits. Trillionin that 2 stimulus package specifically for native American Communities in this country . Guest in the third package, we applaud congress for including over 1 billion set aside for Indian Country. Those will be received through the Indian Health service. That will help with the dhr ahr in aiding surveillance. Some will go to the cdc in helping with a epidemiology, lab capacity. Hersaill go to her s and also stem cell for the mental and Behavioral Health aspect and needs in our communities. Host everyone up here on capitol hill says there will be another a package, it is just a matter of when that does happen, what do you want to see in it . Guest Indian Country and tribal leaders have been very vocal and wanting those funds to be flexible and have statutory language that allows tribes to be unique in their approach and solutions to each individual tribe. Indian tribes have a government to government relationship with the federal government. That flexibility is needed more than ever to use existing and future funding to adjust that on the individual tribal basis. Much of that is on capacity building, on surveillance. There are many agencies that serve the tribal nations. It is not just health care, it is things like law enforcement, things like infrastructure and general tribal reservations that are lacking. We came into this pandemic underserved. Host victoria kitcheyan is our guest until the end of our program today at 2 00 a. M. Eastern. Setting aside us 10 00 a. M. Eastern. Setting aside a special phone line for native americans. We will start in tallahassee, florida. This is lisa. Good morning. Caller thank you for having this very distinguished guest. Host go ahead, what is your question or comment . Caller i appreciate your guest, victoria, being with us today. Those that she represents are very special people. I noticed that you are very concerned about not having tests. I participate in some of the fema and other calls throughout the week, and im happy to reach out to you to let you know there are Testing Facilities now, particularly, one in Broward County working diligently, an fda approved lab. You have several labs that are trying to get these tests out as quickly as they can. We will put you with the lab we are working with at the top of the list. There is an Organization Called the Disaster Recovery coalition of america. It is 50 of the largest businesses and companies in the to try that are looking to be a resource during this crisis. Host lisa, do you work with that group . Caller i am their policy advisor, yes i am. I just want you to know, we will keep in mind what you are saying. Now that i am aware of it, we will try to do everything we can to support what you are trying to do about representing these very special people in our country. I applaud you for what you are doing. Are there other things you need besides testing . I know you are saying your underserved. There is a Movement Across the country of people making masks. What else can we do for you . Host lisa, thank you for the call and please stick on the line. Guest thank you, that is very kind of you. We are in need of ppe. Some of our Service Units and tribal work hospitals are even running or running out of the swabs to do the swab test. Our hospitals are dilapidated. Our supplies are running low. We lack the Public Health infrastructure to address this issue. So, those are some of the major needs right now. Surveillance, testing. Tribes are looking for Solutions Like that that are around the country, that are outside of our health system. Thank you for that comment. Host lisa, did you want to make another, before you go . Caller i think that will do it. Now the it is on our radar, i will work for you and others to reach out to this very special population. The nation prays for all of us. Host thank you so much for that call from tallahassee, florida. Victoria kitcheyan, going back into history, there has been a lot of discussion about Lessons Learned from history, past pandemics. What should we know about pandemics and how they have impacted native americans, specifically, the 1918 flu epidemic . Guest there is a level of historical trauma that tribes have experienced. American indians and alaska natives have been plagued by diseases such as smallpox and others. Things like that that have wiped out our tribes have really communitysome of our members and elders and what we have seen devastate our communities. As i mentioned, we have a woefully underfunded health system. Coming into Something Like this, we are unprepared and lack some of the basic things that other mainstream hospitals may have. We have outdated equipment, dilapidated hospitals, or facilities are 40 years older than the mainstream hospital. A is really difficult to face pandemic when we have provider shortages and things like that to start with. Host does that acrosstheboard or are there some tribes are reservations that were more prepared than others for this . Guest some tribes operate their own Health Systems due to Self Government process. Some tribes receive direct contracts. M Indian Tribes are better able to supplement their Health Systems with revenue or perhaps other industries, are able to supplement some of that federal funding. All in all, we are all in need of resources and updated technology. Electronic Health Record system is outdated and lacks the capabilities to surveillance this covid outbreak. It is really difficult to say that Indian Country is prepared. Some tribal hospitals and Health Systems are more prepared than others, but all in all, we are locking as a people. Host of that more than 500 tribes you talked about, how many have been able to do what you were just talking about, supplement sort of their systems,ess and health and how many are mostly reliant on the Indian Health system . Of the funding does come from the Indian Health mechanism, thee selfgovernance allows tribes to manage funds on their own. As you may know, many of the industries, casinos have been shut down. Tribes have been using their own resources and are running out of what is in those coffers to not only support their communities, but respond to this pandemic. The unrestricted funding that tribes have through some of those Revenue Streams are also lacking at this time. Host stillwell, oklahoma. This is chuck on the line for native americans. Caller good morning. I was just going to comment. Hadcases in oklahoma, we 1524 with 79 deaths. I am in adair county. We had 25, i think cases. Stillwell just tested last week for the first time, 75 tests at a local, small hospital. The Cherokee Nation does really well with medical, however, what i have found out is you should probably have a Supplemental Health insurance plan. When we moved here, my wife aneurysm. D she had an that is why we moved here. It is her hometown. She ended up passing away, but the problem we had is Cherokee Health didnt cover a lot of things. Congressmanto the to finally get disability. I had to go through like eight different hospitals trying to save her life because we were only on Cherokee Health, and they dont cover a lot. It was horrible. But i just want people to know, that if you are on Indian Health, if you could afford a supplemental insurance plan, i would highly recommend it. They cover a lot, but they dont cover everything. Host thanks for the view from stillwell this morning. Victoria kitcheyan . Guest sir, i am really sorry for your loss that is really devastating. You are so correct that there is a limitation that can be offered for the Indian Health system and the Tribal Health system. There is something called purchase referred care which is to contract out all of the services that are not able to be provided in the local clinic or hospital. That is underfunded. Theres a saying that says dont get sick after june because that purchase preferred care is a limited pot of money and it is like a life or limb pot and i have to ration care out. Right now, american citizens are experiencing ration care, lack of equipment and supplies. That is what American Indians and alaska natives have been living with for decades. It is a very sad situation. Host alan out of maryland. North dakota, excuse me. Aa person. M an meetingon and on my last may and were told that 50 night and we were told 50 more alcohol is being sold to people in isolation is the last thing a soccer holick sneed. I would like last thing us alcoholics need. I would like everyone struggling with alcoholism to contact aa meetings. It is a wonderful organization with everything to offer and a way to get through this pandemic with serenity and accept the things we cannot change, change the things we can and the wisdom to know the difference. I just really, really want to encourage everybody that is having a problem with alcohol to contact their aa. Host thanks for the call. Guest victoria kitcheyan . Guest thank you for that,. Many of our thank you for that comment. Many of our communities are plagued with alcoholism. Services are really going to be helpful as many of our families are experiencing trauma and being home. It is a very stressful situation with the shortage of not only medical supplies, but groceries and many of the things that we need in terms of hygiene products. It is extremely stressful, and all of the love and support to all of those struggling with Substance Abuse problems. Thank you for that resource and recommendation to use online. That brings up another point in terms of education and online resources. Not all tribal communities have access to the internet and wifi. That is going back to the infrastructure issue on some of us cant access those tools. I am really glad that this lady is able to use that. Host about 20 minutes left in today. Gram we are talking about the impact coronavirus has had on native American Communities in this country. We have a line set aside for native americans. Otherwise, one for eastern and central time zones and one for mountain and pacific time zones. Of reno, nevada. Good morning. Caller i had a question. Let me turn my tv down. My daughters brother is a clink tribe, he isr of a in a corrections facility for small, petty stuff and is not due to be released until august, but there has been some hints of coronavirus there. Is thecility in juneau major facility that serves as a county jail for the surrounding areas. What this tribe might be able to do to help get him released from their . There . Guest i would recommend contacting their congressional leadership. We have real champions in our congressional leadership that the tribal leaders may suggest writing letters to and advocating for their tribal members that are in these isolated areas where social distancing may not be possible in some of our correction facilities. That would be my recommendation. Lois is next out of new york. Caller good morning. What i would like to say is that there has been historical absence of sufficient services as well ashealth alcohol and Substance Abuse among our nations, nationally. Unless they are willing to put a sufficient amount of money available to treat the trauma, the underlying trauma that has been multigenerational he multigenerationally present within our committees, youre not going to be able to treat it sufficiently. We have started a Community Project where we are working on that trauma. It goes all the way back to the boarding school. All three of my grandparents were raised in boarding school on new york state where they take the children, they are less than five years old sometimes, and raise them in different boarding schools until they were 18. That anger and that insufficient loving parental care lies at the bottom of what we are looking at in multigenerational alcoholism. Guest thank you for that comment. You are so right in the level of pain that exists in our communities and the level of historical trauma and that root cause analysis that needs to be taken place to peel back the that some of the federal policies did to try to assimilate tribes and really rob them of their livelihood. Many of the efforts we have in my tribe are going back to the language and culture as a basis and understanding and going back to our clan system and our roles and responsibilities. To call on that indigenous knowledge as a way to strengthen ourselves and protect the future of our tribal nations. Host your tribe is the winnebago tribe . Guest the winnebago tribe of nebraska and im also send carlos apache. Host talk about the winnebago tribe and specifically what is happening with your tribe and coronavirus. Take us down to the microlevel. Guest the winnebago tribe was very fortunate to launch a Covid Task Force and establish subcommittees. The Tribal Council and our vice chair was at the foresight to create a task force unruly call on the expertise within our tribal entities to lead up some of these task forces. Some of them are federal funding subcommittees, a Food Sovereignty committee, communications, security and surveillance, and really trying to use what we have available and some of our sharpest tools to bring together preparedness and response of plan. Part of that has been just an urgent need. You cant go to the Grocery Store and find some of the supplies. Everything is wiped out. We are 20 miles away from the nearest large Grocery Store. We are trying to garner and make food for the future, and security, and particularly. We have also had employees on administered of leave to protect employees. We are in the process of implementing stayathome policy and curfew policy. It has just been really frightening to have a lack of supplies and ppe for not only our health system, but also to protect our tribal members and are most vulnerable population are our elders. Being a community with diabetes and other high mobility diseases has caused the tribal government and my Tribal Council to really come together to work with one another to find solutions that would be supportive to the tribal members and the protection of our community. Host what is that Food Security plan look like when the only stores 20 miles away and you are concerned about it even having anything . Parks most recently, our department harvested a buffalo. Some of what they did was stockpile some of the meat for seminar in need families. Alreadyalso started and had a Committee Gardening project. We have vamp that up and trying to provide the Technical Assistance to tribal members to garden beds and things like that so they can have their own gardens. Many have their own gardens already, but it is just a call to action. We have a tribal farm that is continuing to expand. There is going to be some free range chickens projects. We also have a Tribal Council member that is trying to foster somed immediate needs. Getting chickens for eggs and not only for the meat. We are really working at the Grassroots Level to respond to the needs in our community. Some of our families are on fixed income. Many of our elders and multigenerational homes need some of these supplies. It is not so easy to just run to amongst and stock up supply of groceries. The tribe is trying to do the best they can to use the resources we have to meet that need. Host how big is the tribe and what is the main way people make money in the tribe . Guest our Tribal Organization has over 300 employees. Are largest employment entities are the hospital, winnebago tribe of nebraska, bureau of indian affairs, our casino was shut down several weeks ago. We have many people that are going on unemployment. We recently had to pass a policy on the Tribal Organization side to furlough some of our employees to have modified work schedules. We have a tremendous amount of people still working, and we have essential folks that are still serving the community because many of these services are urgent for our tribal members. We are doing the best we can to social distance, keep our employees faith and serve our tribal members. Host just about 10 minutes left with victoria kitcheyan. Joining us via zoom, chair of the National Indian health board. Mark is an illinois. Good morning. Cspan i want to thank for their great reporting. Im wondering when the government is going to realize that we are all a member of the same tribe, the human tribe. Thank you very much. Host do you want to respond . Guest thank you. We are constantly advocating for equity across the board so that we can have access to Adequate Health care and services so that all human beings can be receiving equal and muchdeserved health care that we need. Right now with this pandemic, we all need to stand together. Manyr reservation, we have tribal and nontribal members and committee members. When it comes down to it, you are right. It is about protecting all of our people. Salem, new hampshire. This is dave. Caller i just have a quick question. Im hoping it is ontopic. One tribe ishat being disenfranchised by the federal government and going to lose their ability to call for federal funds to help out the tribe. I dont know if i miss read it or if your guest knows anything more about this. I would wait for a comment or response to that. Guest thank you for the question. That is true or not as devastating to our wampanoag relatives. As a sister, all our tribal support one another and we are very saddened to see that happen to that tribe. National congress for American Indians and other Tribal National organizations have been supportive of this tribe. Somepe that there can be recourse for this tribe because that is not right to have a tribe treated this way, and at this time and at any time to be disenfranchised, and for their land and federal protections to be pulled from them. It is devastating. Host how did that happen and what are the reasons that the federal government would site for doing that . Guest i dont know exactly how it happened, but the federal onernment has a process deciding on who can be an indian tribe. That is why it is so devastating that they they would be afterthefact action that would tell a tribe that has been federally recognized for some time and have a thriving people and community that they would somehow be erased. This is just released had because many of the tribes on the east coast where the first tribes to be impacted by the european onset and assimilation practices. I am very proud of that tribe for continuing to be able to thrive and have their culture and their way of life. For something to happen like this in 2020, it is just really appalling. Host the story from Time Magazine from a week ago, federal government revoking reservation status for the mashup he wapo nog wampanoag tribe, 300 acres. Time magazine. Caller good morning to both of you. Thank you for terrific conversation. Have people who are interested in need of influence. I had a hypothetical question. I apologize if you addressed it earlier. Hypothetically, if the state or federal government were to clear a shelterinplace, with the nations or tribes follow that, or would they declare their own perhaps again, hypothetical their own shelterinplace their own shelterinplace. . Obviously, with gaming being shut down, that is one thing, but i wondered about sovereignty and who gets the final say in shelterinplace is. Does that make sense . Guest yes. I mentioned before, the winnebago tribe is working on a policy to shelterinplace. Many other tribes across the country have already implement policies such as that. My tried in nebraska, we are following and watching the cdc guidance and the governors guidance. We have a surrounding rural community. We are just taking all of that heart ando implementing everything we can. As i mentioned, we are in the process of doing one of those policies and the tribal Consul Council will be reviewing that shortly. We know that we have to really Work Together with all thoseities to make recommendations to really keep our families safe. Nebraska is not a shelter in place mander mandate yet. States are neither. Host lee is next out of kansas city, missouri. You said you were a member of the winnebago . Tribe . Caller yes, sir. I wanted to tell victoria that you have given me some pride here. Im watching the station and i wanted to tell you that you are bringing forth some really big power of medicine that i am proud to be able to say that im able to see my relatives. Unfortunately, this is a new ourration of having to see people here that we are not able to see face to face. Ihave is you my father he is 64 years old i havent seen my father he is 64 years old and we are not able to see each other facetoface. As you were saying earlier, it makes this a big deal when it comes to our families being together. I want to commend you for all of the things you are doing for us today. My prayers are with you. Thank you and i thank you for showing that light because my family comes not only from the winnebago, but my mother comes from a flathead reservation. I think you for that very much for being here and showing us that these ways are still here. I dont live on the reservation, but i come back home quite often. Thank you. Host thanks for the call. Guest thank you for that comment. It is very hard for us to be away from our loved ones at this time. My dad has been in the hospital for about a month. Several weeks ago, the hospital in sioux city, iowa stopped allowing visitors for the protection of the patients. That is happening too many families across the nation. They may be in a longterm care facility or in a hospital, and it is just really straining on the family to be away from their relatives at this point. Thank you for sharing that. Host last call, this is faith out of lincoln park, michigan. Good morning. Caller good morning. Thank you so much for taking my call. Agency south of detroit called American Indian services. We are a Mental Health provider as well as a food provider. My question is, what is being done to the 75 of American Indians who live in the cities . We have had a hard enough time just a surviving because the state of michigan has cut our budget. Budget repeatedly for the last five years. We are trying to hang on and serve the American Indians in the cities. If people went tom, the tribes would not be able to accommodate them. They would be bankrupt in weeks. What is going to be done for the indian People Living in the cities . Host thanks for the question. Guest thank you for that question. The urban Indian Organization has been a champion in advocating for urban indians and were included in the first funding package. The indian urban priorities are something that cannot be forgot because many of our tribal members live in urban areas. Most recently, the National Congress of American Indians and health board signed on a letter today advocating for the need for the funding package. And there, the urban needs have also been advocated for. I understand your frustration and often, the urbans are left out. The federal agencies have to consult with the federally recognized tribes and only have to concur with the urban organizations, but we cannot forget our relatives living in some of the more highly populated urban resort urban areas that need resources just as much as those on reservations. Host victoria kitcheyan, nihb. Org, if you want to check out their work online. We appreciate your work this morning. Guest thank you. Host that is going to do it for our program today. We will be back tomorrow. In the meantime, have a safe thursday. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] here is what is ahead today on cspan. Join us early this afternoon when House Speaker nancy pelosi holds her weekly press briefing. We will have that life for you starting at 12 15 eastern. Later, the daily Coronavirus Task force meeting. The u. S. Senate is gaveling in others hour for what is expected to be a brief session. Lawmakers will attempt to pass further coronavirus economic relief. Earlier, Mitch Mcconnell released this statement which reads i will work with secretary mnuchin and leader schumer in order to provide further funding for the Paycheck Protection Program by unanimous consent or voice vote during the next scheduled Senate Session on thursday. You can follow the senate live right now on cspan2. Evening t, a special edition of washington journal on the federal response to the kriers. Rus oin us at 8 00 coronavirus crisis. Join us at 8 00. Massachusetts congressman jim mcgovern on the pandemic district. N his join the conversation about the coronavirus crisis. Primetime journal tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Television has changed since cspan began 41 years ago, but continues to provide an unfiltered view of government. Already this year we brought you primary election coverage, the president ial impeachment process, and now the federal coronavirus. He you can watch all of cspans Public Affairs programming on online, or listen on our free radio app and be part conversation l through cspans daily Washington Journal Program or feeds. Our social media cspan, created by private industry, americas cable as a public mpany, service, and brought to you today by your television provider. And now Colorado Governor Jared Polis briefs reporters on to the es response coronavirus pandemic. He updates on the total number f confirmed cases, hospitalizations, and deaths and reminds coloradans about social distancing. Yesterday, this is about an hour. Governor polis first, an update on the numbers. 1,154 people hospitalized under state with covid19. 190 deaths. Thoughts and hearts go out to every family who has experienced loss because of covid19 in colorado. These numbers are growing. We expect while the stayathome and the work is being done and so many of you are staying home and Wearing Masks to go out, that is having an effect. But that is a delayed effect, so we are still expecting significant tragic loss in the days and weeks ahead. Many people who contract the virus worsen after 10, 12 days, need hospitalization, some make it, some dont. As you know on monday we took the need to end stay at home to a date, april