Us with your first name and city , youate at 202 7488003 can also join the conversation on twitter or facebook. Yesterday follows the news that the Unemployment Rate the highest rate since the great depression. We want to hear from all of you. Becomingy about unemployed because of the pandemic. We begin with the debate on the floor. Here is David Schweitzer, the republican from arizona making the argument for the legislation. Phone calls last couple weeks talking to that Small Business person and you could almost hear the tears on the others of the call. You could hear the stress, the almost panic that they are about to hurt the very people they work with. Because their business is playing. A promise that payroll protections money that ran out a couple weeks ago. That and we engaged in a type of cruelty because we sat here and engaged, we are better than this. We knew what we had to do. Lets never do this again. For arizona, what we are about to vote on is 202,000 jobs. They shouldve had those two weeks ago. That was republican David Schweitzer of arizona. Heres democratic congressman Hakim Jeffries of new york. More must be done. It is a strong step in the right direction. The covid19 pandemic is a ravaging america. Thousands have died. Millions of americans are unemployed. Fireuld either put out the or watch our great nation go down in flames. This bill will help familyowned businesses, helped women owned businesses, help minority businesses, help family farmers, help our hospitals and Nursing Homes. We cannot allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good. We are here to legislate, not just pontificate. Vote yes and live to fight another day. Host that was the democratic congressman from new york. While this bill got bipartisan support with 388 votes, five members did vote against it. Four House Republicans including andy biggs of arizona, ken bux of they were joined by one democrat, new yorks alexandria ocasiocortez and justin amash voted present. From texas along with the head of the Texas Restaurant association writes a piece in the wall street pppnal arguing that this program is killing restaurants. The Protection Program dried up. Our estimate is that 50 of restaurants in texas were not able to get the capital. What reason is many small restaurants dont have relationships with banks. This makes it more difficult to obtain funding. Without capital to stay in business, owners are left to choose between firing employees and for allowing them. If you terminate workers, you cut expenses. To qualify for loan forgiveness, ppp requires you hire them back. The cares act pays an additional 600 per week Area Unemployment benefits, many restaurants will find it difficult to get employees back on the job. If they dont, restaurants cannot receive loan forgiveness. The head of the texas association. More on that debate yesterday where lawmakers in washington were called back because they could not get unanimous consent on this for hundred 84 billion economic aid bill. More from the debate, here is Stephanie Murphy, the democrat from florida on how this bill will help the unemployed. Support but itll took too long. Lets get partisan games and do our jobs. We must be aggressive and smart. We must support workers and Business Owners who bear no blame for the crisis. We should keep workers tethered to jobs and health care. Be swift and direct rather than through complicated and timeconsuming programs. For workers who do lose their jobs, sadly the support has been delayed in states like florida. Whose unemployment system is marred by incompetence and indifferent. Congress must demand better. Unite to combat covid19. Will continue pushing for bipartisan cooperation to get the job done for the American People. I yield back the balance. Host that was democratic congresswoman Stephanie Murphy from florida. Washington post headline, out of work and cash. Millions of americans waiting for their first unemployment check. Florida has proved particularly problematic with fewer than 7 of applicants receiving aid. Know it is like for you. Unemployed in furloughed workers only this morning. If you live in the eastern or central part of the country, 202 7488000 mound pacific, your turn,001, it is your opportunity to tell washington what this has been like. David in denison, texas, good morning. Caller good morning. Im selfemployed but unemployed. Category fall into the that has fallen into the biggest crack. Uphink i mightve been hung by the first person at your place. Host what do you do that you are selfemployed . Caller i do websites out of an office in my home for 22 years. Person, youployed follow schedule c. That has been the kiss of death for the ppp and persons like myself in the first week. The problem isnt it was giving money accidentally to harvard yes it was true, the people that had banking relationships got through first. Andd friends quite welloff we managed to file at the same time. The guidance didnt exist for schedule c filers. Of yourexplaining part personal and Business Park where you prove your income. Re was no guidance for it. Businesses are in situations like me. Its not like they had a banking relationship for the head commercial loan experience. A business have Checking Account or anything like that. At least i had an account. They werent doing any of these unless you had a commercial loan or anything like that. They changed it after a few days were at least if you were doing business at their bank. It took me two days to get through that where i could talk to somebody because i at least had an account. Getting the thing filled out, which was not difficult, they said we are sorry we cannot process it. We dont have information on how to process the schedule c. It will have to be next week. Im hearing about how the thing is starting to run out of money. The next week comes along and he is saying we dont have the guidance. They were waiting on that in the meantime. Practically everything said on washington journal i listen to yesterday was not correct. The online banks are the way to go. These guys are set up for this. There is thousands of banks trying to do it. They dont have experience working with the spa, they dont have experience working with the government. I found them very cooperative, very helpful. The thing ran out of money. Are you going to try after the president signed this into law today . Absolutely, i contacted them again. Like i wast looked missing a couple documents, i dont how that happened. It is a very good process. For all those folks out there like myself, check out the online banking. You could look it up. To readjust want for people, you are talking about the Small Business loan. Then there are people who are the employees of all these Small Businesses and other businesses that have had to let employees go. The Washington Post as the economic carnage caused by the coronavirus causes a national backlog of at least 3 million unpaid jobless claims, according to a new analysis by the Washington Post nolan, in columbus, ohio. What is your story . Thing asame sort of the last caller from texas. Small Business Owner from 2015. I had some setbacks in 2018. Look into the paycheck Protection Program. I do a lot of my banking through square as a personal Checking Account through chase. You tried already and what happened . Im in a category where i have yet to open my doors for beeness because i have not paying a payroll tax. Through square before in the past. I think it was 2017. In terms of keeping my business i just use my stimulus check to pay my business rent and day to day operating costs. Host what is your business . Caller i process film. I run a small film lab. As the Washington Post ports, florida has been the most problematic for jobless claims. 1. 7 million residents in that state have sought jobless aid. Fewer than 120,000 of actually receive the money. We will go to jared next in brooklyn. Caller thank you, good morning. I think what congressman roy said is 100 true. If i were to take unemployment, i would make four times as much as i currently make. Im not going to, i dont need the money because im just a student. The much better idea is the ppp. 600 plus the unemployment benefits, people will not want to go back to work. You give them loans, it makes more sense. The democrats will just stuffing packages like the Kennedy Center back in. Host lets take a look at the cares act. The first big piece of legislation that congress passed. Not what they approved yesterday. The cares act Unemployment Insurance program is the pandemic Unemployment Compensation, pandemic emergency compensation and pandemic unemployment assistance. The Unemployment Compensation provides an additional 13 weeks benefits available after someone exhausts all of their regular state Unemployment Insurance benefits. July 21st, 20h 20. Regular unemployment and pandemic unemployment will calculated claims plus 600 per week. Unemployment assistance provides emergency unemployment assistance left out of state ui or exhausted the state ui benefits. This areweeks of available to workers who are immediately eligible to receive it. It expires december 31, 2020. Unemployeding to the this morning. Good morning. I was unjustly fired by walmart on the 31st of march. I was refusing to do the job with three persons. I am seeking reinstatement. I am going through the walmart channels. They have ignored my two or three complaints about a hostile Work Environment that led up to this situation as well as equipment disrepair. In addition, the complaints have been basically ignored. Im appealing to the public, coworkers, walmart for a sense of fairness to reinstate me. I am itching to get back to work, even though i have received the 1200 a couple weeks ago from the pandemic aid. Is for walmart and others to implement ppe, i had to bring my own mask. Spacing and distances, and enough workers to do the job. I had previous agreements that my job was to do the job we were doing, not the reparation not the operation upstairs with the store managers. Host have you filed for unemployment . Caller i have, it has not been responded to yet. Im sure walmart would challenge it. Im on facebook. T we will live it there leave it there, stuart in maine. Im calling in regards to a family member. He was in jail for about two years. He got out at the beginning of the new year. He was working for a company, they let him go. Right about the same time the banks were closing. He was incarcerated, he wasnt able to file taxes. , nobody this going on is answering the phones and you cant get any help. When im trying to ask is where do these people go that were working . How couldare closed, they qualify to get that 1200 stimulus. What do these people know . Hes unemployed, no job opportunities, he is back living with me. He just wants a way out. He wants to go back to work. Anisha johnson writes to us on facebook, wondering if i will be able to find a job as good as the one i had with the same pay within the next few months . With most daycare is closed until further notice i need to be able to work remotely. More from the debate yesterday jodey floor, here is arrington of texas, a republican. To our fellow americans whose livelihoods have been turned upside down. Y are not just members on numbers on some government spreadsheet. They are healthcare workers rushing to the front lines risking their lives for our safety. They are farmers, energy producers, Small Business owners, who listen to their leaders. They made their sacrifices and stayed home. They shouted their businesses to keep communities and country safe. This support will compensate them partly. It will help them get on their feet so they can keep their employees on the payroll and off the unemployment role. These folks are the heartbeat of america. They are the lifeblood of this economy and they, not the government will lead one of the greatest american comebacks in our history. , and suit up, strap it on get america back to work. I yield back. President expected to sign this legislation at noon eastern time today. The Senate Approved it by voice vote earlier this week. We are asking those that are unemployed and furloughed to call in this morning and tell washington what this has been like for you. Why you lost your job, have you tried unemployment claim . Have you received the money yet . We divided the lines by region. If you live in the eastern part of the country, 202 7488000, mountain pacific, 202 7488001. Here is a story by Yahoo Finance this morning about Credit Card Companies now starting to offer lower limits to its holders. Major companies are issuing lower customer spending limits as the virus leaves millions of americans jobless. A regulatory filing Late Wednesday discovers that it is also easing off efforts to sign up consumers and expects to take a hit from programs letting existing borrowers skip payments or delay the interest. The announcement came a day after symphony financial, the Company Behind cards with jcpenney, gap, american eagle, says it will close management accounts. Firm says they are using their own data as well as information from Credit Bureaus to dynamically reevaluate a customers credit worthiness. That from Yahoo Finance yesterday. Good in new jersey, morning to you. Were you let go because of covid19 . Caller yes, i was. Host what was your job . Caller i was a medical assistant. Host what happened that your company let you go . Caller we are considered nonessential. It was sports medicine. We were let go. Onpplied for unemployment march 22, i cannot get through to unemployment. Host how are you making it work . Good thinghusband, my husband is still working. We have three kids at home and now we are down to one income, it is making it hard. What have you been told . Have you tried to go online . Caller ive tried to go online, my status as filed. I have called, sent emails, im not get any response. Host have you reached out to your congressman or congresswoman . Caller i said emails, i tried to call. They say someone will get back to me, i have not heard anything. Have you tried the Governors Office . Caller i have tried everywhere. I have emailed, i have called. This week is five weeks. Income come in. Host what have you heard from friends, family members, about what happened in new jersey with the system . Aller they are overloaded i am in a group, unemployed in new jersey, a facebook group. There are thousands of people all saying the same thing. They all applied from march 15 through march 25 and none of us have received payments. They posted the conversation on your facebook group, that is great i hope more people call and and tell us their story. We will go to kathleen in ohio. It is your turn. Caller i was laid off starting the 19th and 20th, because of all the troubles they had and various other reasons. I used vacation up until this is my first week on unemployment. I wonder if i would still get that 600 because i have been 20thoff since march 19 and . I use my vacation to make sure i the extra 600, i wondered if i would be available for that . James in washington, good morning. Tell washington what you are experiencing right now. Caller this is actually ontopic and offtopic. Employee. Ourly a lost my job in the middle of february. Before that, for 10 years i was in management. In management, what we would do we would make employees quit, we wouldnt fire them because we didnt want to pay the unemployed insurance. This has been going on for a long time. I dont note with the present crisis if that will involve businesses. That has been going on for a long time. It was literally a Company Policy for the company that we didnt fire people because we didnt want them collecting unemployment. This is an extraordinary situation. Has been going on for years. If there is anyone else out there in management, it has been a policy. Host thanks for the call. In new jersey, thank you for the call. Caller good morning. Host we are listening to you, tell us what happened. Caller im a hairdresser, i have been out of work since march 12. I filed and somehow i got locked out of the system because of the security question. I have been without unemployment for since march 12. Ive tried to get in touch with them and tried every number you could possibly think of. We sent four or five emails. I am beside myself, i dont know what to do. Host how are you making what you have worked . Are you not paying certain bills . My husband gets a Social Security check, he gets his Social Security check of 1200. The money i saved, the stimulus check helped us, that is what we have now. Im waiting to get in touch with unemployment because that will be my extra money. 1338. Nt is like my cellrrangements with phone company, the Cable Company wasnt very nice. Gas and electric were very accommodating. Thank god i dont have any outstanding debt. Host how long do you think you can go . Probably to be honest with you, i have this months rent and then i have next months rent. I dont know what i will do after that. Where i live, they sent two letters out about rent, not very nice letters. Could try for assistance and make arrangement. I already made arrangements. I dont know how long they will hold out for those arrangements. In georgia today they are opening up hair salons. Do you think the new jersey governor should allow salons and people like you to go back to work . Caller i would love to go back to work but i am very afraid. I just on facebook how a woman salon is able to do six feet. To do six feet. I will do what i have to do to get back to work, i want to find out about my unemployment, that is why call this number. Host we dont have answers about what is going on with your unemployment, we are just taking your stories. People across the country who have lost jobs because of the pandemic. Look at the front page of newspapers this morning. Crossesay jobless toll 26 million. Is the highest since the great depression. Jobless claims by 4. 4 million. Louisville, janet, good morning to you. Caller how are you doing . Host im doing well. You lost your job . I did thes, maam, unemployment. I was checking my status in the told me to file another claim, i couldnt get another check for a month. What to do. Host can you pay this months rent . Caller no. What did you do for a living . Caller i work in a factory. Host they close down . Caller yes maam until they clear backup. Caller host how much did you make an hour . Caller 18. 44. Benefits, the added would you make more or less . It is less . Caller yes. I havent even got that yet. 520 a week . Caller yes maam. Int that is janet louisville, kentucky where she is represented by mitch mcconnell. The Senate Majority leader who was criticized yesterday by governors and supported by some republicans when he said some states perhaps should file for bankruptcy. Governor of, the new york had this to say. He represents the state of kentucky. When it comes to fairness, new york state puts much more money into the federal pot then it takes out. Ok . Inthe end of the year we put to that federal pot 116 billion dollars more than we take out. His state, the state of kentucky, takes out 148 billion more than they put in. He is a federal legislator. He is distributing the federal pot of money. In more money to the federal pot then it takes out. Out more than it puts in. Mcconnell, who is getting bailed out here . It is your state living on the money we generate. Your state is getting bailed out. Not my state. Host the governors argument yesterday. Timesys new york mcconnell to every state, dropdead. Think of who would be hurt if state and local governments are to makee made drastic cuts. Millions of americans are losing Health Insurance. Government workers who may be losing jobs or facing faye cuts pay cuts, most arent policing, firefighting, or highways. Americas defective policy will be one of bailing out owners of giant restaurant chains while firing schoolteachers and Police Officers. Wroteall street journal in their editorial page yesterday, the board writing this. The governor blames the pandemic and recession, talking about mr. Cuomo, states like new york were already inrobable trouble for their own mismanagement. He signed a 177 billion business as usual budget on april 3 that allowed them to borrow 11 billion. The coronavirus was already a clear and present danger at that point. Take illinois where government pritzker proposed a 40. 8 billion budget that included 9 billion. He raised taxes in 2018 and wants to make the current tax progressive. Unions have blocked pensions or spending reforms. The unemployedto and furlough this morning . It is your turn. Laid off my job temporarily. I dont know what they have been thinking of it. Of wisconsinstate being hit our milwaukee, madison, that is where all the deaths are. The part of the state i am from, i think we have five or six different counties with three confirmed infections and no debts. Parthey shut down a whole of our state, which to me doesnt make any sense whatsoever. Working, wewas social spaced six feet at all times. Many customers at once. It was ridiculous why they closed us down. People got toof think about these relief packages. The money doesnt grow on trees. We will have to pay all this money back. Isope people realize this going to fall on our grandchildren and children. Everybody out there better be praying that we get back to work real soon. Open up different parts of different states. I am in a wisconsin. I hope they do that in other states as well. Ust Karen Buchanan sends this, this is the fifth week hubby has been out of work. First four weeks paid 80 by the company. They applied for unemployment, got his first check yesterday. Georgia,grantville, what do you think about your governors decision to up the state . Caller i dont have a problem with it. I think it is personal choice whether you want to stay home or go shopping. I think the state maybe shouldve never been shut down to be quite honest with you. You lost your job, what did you do . I run a dog kennel. Bookings, of my march april bookings, and may bookings. I dont know what the future will hold. Months i totally lost. We go back to congress, this money, i dont have any employees. I dont qualify for any of the Small Business grants or loans. You tried . We learn from the Small Business chair yesterday, the congresswoman that if you are selfemployed that you do qualify for disaster loans. My cpa, im going through him, we did the paperwork when i filed my taxes. At that time, all the money had run out i was told. I did apply for the unemployment assistance. 1099. 00 for the i have yet to hear anything. In the state of georgia you cannot get anyone on the phone. You cant get anything from them. They are overwhelmed saying they have over one million claims in the past week alone. They are overwhelmed. By shutting down the economy, it has shut me down totally. Host are you allowed to open up under this stay open . I am, buttake it nobody is traveling. That is where our business comes from. When people go on vacations and kids are out of school. Kids are out permanently for a while. The kennel business will go to zero. Training is not a high priority when the economy is in the shape its in. It is what it is. I could deal with it. The money in washington was not thought out very well. My congressman called me back with no answer. He couldnt answer any question i had. Really that was a wasted phone call. I take it we are just going to have to fend for ourselves. That is fine. We will make it. And let me show you others, what the congresswoman who chairs the Small Business committee had to say yesterday. They held a hearing. A little bit different set up and youre used to seeing on capitol hill with members testifying about this ppp program. Heres what she had to say about the red flags she is seeing about implementation of it. While we are moving quickly to provide an additional 310 billion, we have an obligation to examine what is and what is not working as well as gain a on how toerstanding move forward if the ppp must be extended again. Act has not been implemented as congress intended. They are in many instances confusing, contradictory, and to the little clarity millions of Small Businesses in desperate need. We are aware that at least 90 publicly traded Companies Get ppp loans. In some cases more than one. This is unacceptable if i have called on the fda to use its now totrative authority prevent further misuse. Waysess must be exploring to regain the public trust in the next relief package. In st. Petersburg, florida, you are next. We are letting washington know what it is like for the furlough and unemployed workers in america. Go ahead. Caller hair business, hair salons, how will they incorporate us . People are trying to get back to work. They need to look presentable. Sometimes it is a requirement to be hygienically cleaned up at this point. Im wondering where they will go with this . It confuses me that restaurants , to me it is a privilege someone making your drinks for you. We have all watched youtube and seen people trying to do each others hair. I just think there should be some way they could incorporate us into this reopening plan. All im not familiar with of the details, where do you fit in as a hairstylist . Caller i know as far as connecticut, which i also have a business, we are not in the phase one and maybe not even in the phase two. Imar as florida right now just trying to see if they are trying to incorporate us at some point. Host how much money have you lost . Caller a lot. We are mostly chair renters. Businesses as far as the loan, you do not qualify. Host why not . Caller as far as the selfemployed for my business, they are not my employees. That was part of the loan. Host what about paying rent . Caller im going to be so upside down. In order for me to reopen im going to be in the 10,000 range. I need to come up with the 10,000 to pay everything to get uptodate and then have the loss of all these months of work. How this balance is going to , part of the inc. Is one client in the establishment at a time. Not per stylist, in the establishment. How on earth are we going to pay the bills if that is how they want to set this up . Gabrielle missouri sends us this text, congress can bail out big banks and big business to continue to fail but cant bailout the American People in their time of need. Countries by the rich and for the rich. Jonathan, good morning, what were you doing before the pandemic . Casino i worked at a here about 15 minutes from where i live. I was a cook in the food court. Host how much were you making . An hour. Make 15. 33 i was a shift supervisor. Until id up yesterday was my last check. Thank god we actually got that. The stimulus check, i have three children, young children. I have yet to see my stimulus. Unemployment, they are saying i have questionable identity. In north carolina. A lot of people not getting any answers. Will try and call them at 8 00 this morning. Children, three young youve got a 1200 check for you , 1200 check for your wife, and 500 per child . Im a single father. I am raising my children myself. The only reason i am making it right now is our company was pass up untilh to just a week or so ago. I got my last check yesterday. Of taxso been living off money that i had put back to take my children on vacation. Thefully i will get stimulus before long and everything will get straightened out. Host best of luck to you. Saying iacebook writes am ready to do whatever to get back working. Lower thante is dying in a car accident on the way to work. Rene in new jersey, your turn. Good morning. Host what were you doing before the pandemic . Caller i was working at a store in the mall. I was the assistant manager. We got laid off when they close them all down. Since then i have been trying to get unemployment but it is just impossible to get through. I got my benefit thing in the mail, you just cannot get a hold of anybody. Host how much were you making . Caller 16 an hour. Aboutwhat will you do your may bills . How will you pay them . Caller im not. I will just have to call my landlord, they sent out a thing that if we are going to be late or anything like that to give them a call and they will try to work with us. They still want their money, of course. Dont know when im getting that. Long. Eeks is very this isnt my first time on unemployment. Host are you on the Facebook Page with other folks from new jersey . Caller yes, that is actually where i got your number from. I am part of that facebook group. It seems like everybody from the month of march are just not getting unemployment and cannot get through. Host again, remind people what the folks on the Facebook Page are saying about why not . What are you hearing . It seems to be they are going back to 201820 19 for your job. They are not going to recent job. Some people are not getting it at all because they only worked a small time at their job. I thought if were working you would get unemployment from the pandemic. Of people are getting denied. The New York Times has this memo this morning. The sour president with his tv constant companion. They write President Trump arrives in the oval office these days as late as noon. Up in the white house master bedroom as early as 5 00 a. M. Watching fox, cnn, nbc. He makes calls with the tv on in the background, his routine since he arrived at the white house. Now there are differences. The presidencies few allies, he is angry even with box for not portraying him as he would like to be seen. He makes time to watch governor cuomos briefings from new york. The president is isolated from the supporters, visitors, travel, and golf that once entertained him. This according to more than a dozen officials and close advisers who spoke about mr. Trumps they say strange new life. He is tested weekly, as is Vice President mike pence. The economy, his main case for reelection has imploded. News coverage of his handling has been overwhelmingly negative as democrats have condemned him for the lack of empathy, honesty, and leadership in the face of the pandemic. Even republicans have called his briefings longwinded. Kira is notto kira, htere. Michael, are you there . Caller yes. How are you doing . Host im doing well. Dentist, i hada to close my office. I have been a dentist for 45 years, never collecting unemployment. I paid into the system for 45 years. I figured i would apply because i only work parttime. Im at the end of my career. I havent got any money yet. I called the state a couple times and talk to a couple people. I dont really need the money right now but i ask them what they do for people who need money and havent gotten it yet . Governmentof the being a scam. The whole thing is a joke. Can i ask you how much money you have lost by having to close down your dentistry . Of workive been out for two months now. Probably 30,000. I laid in the two women off that were working for me. Forwoman has worked for me 40 years, the other for 30 years. I felt bad about it. Couldnt afford to pay them. That, the system doesnt work. In new hampshire, if you dont play pay Unemployment Insurance you get a notice. I havent gotten one notice or answer from anybody telling me where my money is. , dont really need the money after 45 years i figure i should at least get something out of it. I dont know what to say. I listen to the president yesterday. It is insanity what is going on. It is a joke. No one has an answer for this. They were not prepared. As far as me going back to work, who will want to go to the dentist, there is no guidelines for anything. It is scary. Looked into the reopening plans by your government and windows include dentistry . Go,er as far as dentists sununu has done a pretty good job so far. As far as reopening, who will want to go . I was able to get supplies from Homeland Security in new hampshire. Masksdnt get gloves or the first week of march. It is impossible. They got some supplies in from a private donor last week. I was able to get masks and face shields. As far as reopening, im not sure when that will happen. Hampshire,el in new a dentist. More of your calls coming up until the top of the hour. A quick note about cspans book the president s it will be available in paperback and ebooks starting next tuesday. It includes interviews with the leading president ial historians, biographers, and journalists. Cspan. Org thepresident s to order your paperback copy. Are you recently unemployed or furloughed . We want to hear your stories this morning. It is your turn to tell washington what it has been like for you. Trisha in new jersey, go ahead. Good morning. Host what did you do before this . Caller restaurant work. Host how much were you making . Maybe about 400 or 500 a week. Host how much are your bills . Caller the bills are just very high. I was having trouble even before. The main thing is we cannot get to anyone at the unemployment office. , everything is incorrect. Nothing is coinciding with what they are telling us. Unbelievable. I just wanted to tell my story. Are doing is what we here this morning until the top of the hour, hearing the stories of the unemployed and reload. On facebook, in a few weeks there will be plenty of job openings he says. Mary white on facebook, my husband got laid off three weeks ago, still waiting on his pin number to get mailed to him. Neither of us have seen a stimulus check yet either. Filed, i have not heard a word from you i. It seems a ton of people that filed the week of march 15 have received nothing. Only 7 i think is the inhington post number florida of jobless claims that have received money. Morning, please talk into your phone. You have turned on the television. Down theve to turn television. I am in west palm beach, florida. I have been unemployed since march 15. I was a bar back. I dont know if i will be a bar back after this. It is a nightclub. To that ishard they dohe places where more gatherings. We will probably be phased in last. Have been unemployed since march 15. Ive been trying to file for and i have been stuck ever since. I am in panic mode right now. I am able to work but i cant work because im told to stay home. It is aggravating. I dont know if they will give us retro pay or anything like that. Hearing it is aggravating. It is frustrating. I dont know what to do right now. Host some other covid19 stories in the papers. Wall street journal grocers hunt for meat. Outbreaks among employees have closed about a dozen u. S. Meatpacking plants this month including three tyson foods plants this week. Other plans have slowed production of what as workers stay home for various reasons. That in the wall street journal this morning. You also have in the papers this morning from the wall street journal excuse me the fridges,on post empty far jurors plowing unused produced back into the field. Food banks to struggle to feed millions of unemployed. A federal plan will play matchmaker. If you are interested in that story, the Washington Post. Don, in michigan. Caller how are you doing . Host you lost your job . Caller i was laid off temporarily. Host what did you do . Caller construction. Host were you told your job would be there for you when the economy opens backup . Caller yes, we have work lined up. We are ready to go back to work full strength. Host how much were you making an hour . Caller 31. 60. Host have you applied for unemployment . Caller i have. My last day of work was the 15th of april. Monday i went online and it took me 22 minutes. Tuesday, the 21st i got confirmation that i was receiving the benefits along with the 600. Host that was pretty good compared to what we are hearing from people in other states. Caller i agree with that. All i could say is hopefully their state will get with them and get them their money. They have to apply online, that is probably the best way. Try to avoid phone calls. They have people available to were touestions if you get into a chat session with them. Workers that had to do that. I have workers, because im a supervisor, had problems applying. They just kept at it, 2 00 in the morning, and now some are receiving their payments. Ant you were receiving 33 hour. How much did you receive in unemployment, less, the same . How much . Unemploymentt for myt over my takehome gross for unemployment is just below my net that i would takehome normally working. Host do you have Health Insurance . Caller through my concert urine, dutch union, i union, i have Health Insurance. I have hours that i can receive my Blue Cross Blue Shield for up to six months. Host is that something unions negotiate . Caller over the period of years i have been invested in the union, they bank your hours. So many hours go for when you are working and other hours get banked. There is a limit and i have been at my limit for over 12 years so i cannot get added insurance, but i am secure at least four to six months. Host what happens after that . Caller they have to pay for my tourance, anywhere from 600 800 a month. Host we are going to take a break. When we come back we will be joined by Infectious Disease ert michael osterholt auster home Michael Osterholm. Later, talking about federal efforts to support businesses during the covid epidemic. Criticizedwards Mitch Mcconnells comment on states declaring bankruptcy. Mcconnell made some comments about not wanting to do states toand for instead declare bankruptcy if they are having problems because of the virus. I guess what i want to know from you is are you interested in the ability of the state to declare bankruptcy . Would you prefer additional money from the government . So, i think you know the answer to that question before obviously, very disappointed in senator mcconnell. That is grossly irresponsible. The better approach was taken by senator cassidy, our senator who working in a bipartisan fashion has introduced a bill in the senate that would appropriate 500 billion dollars, not all of which would go to states but a lot of it would, with tremendous flexibility so things states do not have to declare bankruptcy and have massive layoffs and have other things take place. That is a more responsible path forward and i am heartened to say that publicly, the president has agreed that in the next days of Coronavirus Relief coming out of congress, that should be included. I am hopeful the president s view wins out and senator mcconnell has a change of heart on this because it would just be horrendous for states to have to declare bankruptcy, and by the way, i am not standing here to say we would have to declare bankruptcy without any help, but to say that he would rather see thente declare bankruptcy receive help is grossly irresponsible. Washington journal continues. Host joining us is Michael Osterholm, policy director for the center of Infectious Disease. Thank you for your time. Lets start with what we know. New to people about how this virus is spread . Unfortunately, we are having some audio issues so we will try to get to you in a minute. Lets first tell our viewers the numbers. If you live in the eastern or central part of the country and have questions about this virus, how it works, how it infects people, why certain people are dying and certain people are not , and also testing for this virus, in the eastern and central part of this country call 202 7488000, mountain and pacific call 202 7488001, and medical professionals, we want your stories at 202 7488002. You can also text us, first name, city and state that 202 7488003. M is also al professor and Infectious Disease and research and policy director. While we wait for him to get his audio up and running, let me just break down the cases and deaths across the united states. This comes from the washington times, who is dying from the coronavirus, a look at the deaths by gender and race. , this iscity, females the amount of cases in new york, 40 of deaths. Nd of males make up deaths cases and 50 percent of males make up deaths. 32 of thee make up population and 27 of the deaths. 22 of thee make population but 28 of the death. Asians make up 14 of the population, only 7 of deaths. Compare that with illinois by race. White people make up 61 of the population, almost 40 of the deaths while black people make 15 of the population in illinois excuse me, 15 of the deaths and 38 of the population. Lets take michigan, another midwest state. 44 of the deaths are white people. They make up nearly 75 of the population, while black people make up 14 of the population and are 40 of the deaths in michigan. M yetnt have mr. Osterhol but we are interested in your question, devon from philadelphia. What question do you have . Isler the question i have this pandemic that has affected so many people, even here in philadelphia, i wanted to know what action can be taken even by the congressional black caucus, to make sure that their constituents are being serviced . As i look at the data you just showed, showed that africanamericans are definitely andcted in greater numbers, i just wanted to say as far as the stimulus, how come they have in addressed those Needs Congress by the Africanamerican Community . Becauseere is some talk africanamericans and latinos make up a good portion of essential workers that there should be hazard pay for anybody on the front line, doctors, nurses, grocery workers, etc. Would you support that . Caller yes, i definitely would. I think you are talking about the 25,000 separate . Host that by senator gary peters, a democrat in michigan who has been pushing for that. Caller that would definitely help ease a lot of the tension, because a lot of the Small Business owners i know are getting hit hard and many of them have closed. A friend of mine has three Small Retail Stores dealing with shoes and things like that, and he called me the other day and said, im going to have to close my stores. I think it is just from the Economic Impact coming from this coronavirus that is hitting businesses very hard. And individuals. Orleans,herine in massachusetts, what is your question about the disease . Think my question is, i we are learning a hard lesson by what we are told seriously. Now i am hearing that farmers are burying crops. On the other hand, food banks are running out of food and we are looking at a food shortage down the road, and wouldnt this be the time for the government to get in, get those crops, help the farmers replant them, and get that food on a rotating basis to the food banks so we can proactively stop this food shortage . , lettinging them rot the crops rot in the ground, we are just standing around watching again. That is what i have to say. Host the other question that we have this morning is about treatments and we will of course discuss that with Michael Osterholm as well. Let me show you what President Trump said yesterday at a briefing. [video clip] a question some of you are probably thinking of if you are totally into that world which i find to be interesting, supposing we hit the bottom body with a tremendous, whether it is ultraviolet or other light , that hasnt been checked but can be tested. Inside, iiolet light think you said you would test that too. Then i see the disinfectant that would have knocked it out in a minute, one minute. Is there a way we could do Something Like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning . And does athe lungs tremendous number on the lungs so it would be interesting to check that. It sounds interesting to me. The whole concept of the light, the way it kills it in one minute, that is pretty powerful. Host Michael Osterholm, lets try again this morning. Thank you for your patience. I can hear you. Lets start with the first question i asked. What do we know about how this disease spreads . Guest we have heard a lot about the nature which this virus primarily spreads, through the air, essentially breathing the virus in the throat at the earliest hours, before one is clinic leo clinically ill. One of the challenges we have is to cull the transition of this. Transmission of this. It is not just coughing, it is breathing. Some have transmitted to many tens of people and other households have transmitted to no one or no exposed people. The key is while we have talked about handwashing and surfaces, and there may be some limited transmission that way, that is not the primary method. It is in the air. Host why are some people more impacted by this than others . Guest we dont understand that completely, but it is not new. We can show you that people have comorbidities, underlying risk factors such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers, hypertension, may all have increased risk of once they get infected, not having a mild illness and going on to have a severe illness and some dying. One challenge we have with this disease is it appears to impact or because this disease in a number of ways. It is not just the lungs, is including the heart, potentially blood and diseases and conditions associated with that. It has been a challenge because it is not a simple, easy, this is how you treat these patients. Host what role does inflammation in the body play with your body handling or reacting to getting this virus . Guest it surely does play a role, no question about that. Is basically an over vigorous immune response brought on by this infection, is a very important part of the clinical picture but it is not the most important part. Role. Not play a it may be the direct damage from the virus itself. That is being worked out and it is fair to say we have been somewhat surprised by the combination of different kinds of signs and symptoms and clinical conditions that occur with this infection in how to treat it. You may want to try to suppress the immune system, which means you would use drugs that would do that. On the other hand, there may be aspects to the disease that are just the opposite, that that suppression might hurt you if you are talking about infections of the heart. This has made it much more challenging to treat this disease. Host do we know why there are mysterious blood clots that happen here is a story from covid toes, doctors identified the newest symptom where earlier on if you have contracted this you may see purple or blue lesions on your toes, due to the blood clotting. We saw that on the front page of the newspaper as well. Guest this is a challenge. This is another aspect of this disease that were not recognized until recent weeks, but it is very real and important in terms in vital organs. That may impact on the outcome of the patient. This is another condition that needs more attention and understanding of what we do about it. Host do you have any ideas on why it is possibly happening . Guest i dont, and this is at the forefront of individuals taking care of these patients. They are complicated illnesses. Ventilationrd about and using ventilators for people who cannot get enough oxygen, and yet when we use these ventilators, we see a different picture of why people cannot get oxygen. They do not have increased levels of carbon dioxide. Some people, it is almost like altitude sick this. Sickness. It is having lungs that are not efficient. It is a complicated illness that is requiring rethinking of the best ways to treat patients. Has the Financial Times this story potential clearvirus drug fails to trial. This was given to patient one in seattle and doctors thought this may be the treatment needed. There are Clinical Trials underway and now it failed to clear the first hurdle. Guest caution about that, the preliminary report that was posted, was in the initial stages of testing. Are about who treatments, we have to hold them back. The same thing is true about this is probably too early to write this stuff off the challenge off. This is the challenge we have. We have to carefully study these drugs, in terms of how well they work but do they cause damage . Stages and wey have confidence that citizens who have been set up to tell test this drug who are moving provide a sample soon on which drugs might or may not work. Host christopher in oklahoma, your question or comment. Caller good morning to you both. My question has to do with, scientists usually consider viruses not to be living and i was wondering how much that has bodiesith the way our fight this and may be way we treat it. Host ok. Guest viruses in fact are not theyg creatures in that require a host, whether an animal or human host. Some viruses even infect bacteria. The issue is if they take over the machinery of that cell, whether it be a human animal or bacterial cell and during the process of doing that cause damage to the cell by killing it because of the fact that it is using the machine and it bursts out of the cell or the immune theonse kills the virus cell is in. You are right, it is not a living thing itself. Once it is inside, it takes over and does its work. Host iv in minnesota please ask if there is a dosage effect, the amount of virus taken in at once. I am wondering about the size of the virus and if it can penetrate particle masks that we have to wear at work that are not n95. Do needirst of all, we to better understand the issue of viral load. Where this has really become a front and center issue has been in the health care studies. We have seen a number of Health Care Workers who otherwise do not have any evidence of underlying risk factors develop die serious conditions and and is that because they got infected with a very heavy dose . Ist answer is not in but it important to answer in terms of risk for this disease. In terms of the masks, these are tiny particles but the n95 respirator works because it is a shield. The virus has to pass through let air that is made to pass through, a filter of such. The other way it works is because of the tight face fit and fitting is important. That is what people do not understand about the masks, and it is not just the material we have to breathe through, it is where are the cracks, what are the ways the air could come into your lungs . That is where a surgical mask and a cloth mask in general is whatmore efficient because we are concerned about is the fact that it leaks in through the side. The fact we have aerosol, very tiny particles that can easily come through, i think we are understanding aerosol is the tiniest of particles that float in the air. I was give people two examples. The next time you see sunlight coming through the window of your home or you have already, and see those dust particles floating through the air, those are aerosols, things that we generate and they float in the air for some time. They produce larger particles that fall close by me but also i breathed aerosol. That is one of the challenges of the virus. The second example i give people to understand aerosol, the next in a Big Department store and you are aisles away from the perfume section but you can still smell perfume. That is aerosol. The special material that keeps the virus from coming through is important because it protects those who are exposed to covid19 patients. Host clarify how long do you have to be breathing that air to contract covid19. If you are just walking outside or you are talking to somebody, for how long do you have to be talking to somebody without a mask that you could contract this from just talking to them less than six feet apart . About,as we just talked the dose issue is the key piece. If you are just walking by someone in an outdoor area, the dissipation of anything that person is breathing out is quick and that is in the air. The combination of sunlight kills it so in fact, at that point it is not a big risk. On the other hand, if you are in a room or an elevator with someone who is infected and you are breathing their air for even a second, 30 seconds to a minute, you have a much better chance of inhaling that virus. It is not a clearcut, this is a risk and this is not. Those will be important, how infectious the air is, how close the spaces, what the air exchange is in that space. Outdoors, just walking by someone on a walking path is not likely to pose a high risk of one being infected. Host how long does it live on surfaces . Guest it varies. We just got done talking about virus u kill the capable of transmitting to someone, is it still intact so it can do that . Studies that have been done say it can sit on the surface for days. Is that really infectious material . We do not have the information to support that. And one cases, we would assume the environment plays little if a major role in transmission. Just because it is present itsnt mean you can touch and bring into your face with uriah, that that will transmit it. That that will transmit it. , it plays no role at all in prevention. Host summer in lake harbor, florida. Guest i have a question. My aunt is a threetime cancer survivor. For the most part she has been quarantined at home since the outbreak, however yesterday my daughter took her to get her prescriptions from walgreens and they went to buy some things they needed. She also went to a friends house and on impulse she hugged him, on a whim. Concerned that got something. Host what is the likelihood of that . Guest i broke up quite a bit and could not hear most of the question. Host her daughter traveled to walmart to pick up a prescription and did you say your daughter came in close contact someone who said she had it . Went towhen my aunt walgreens to pick up a prescription and then to a friends house to pick up some things, she had a hip replacement recently and she needed some things that were aunt,and on impulse, my who is a threetime cancer survivor in remission for three years gave him a hug, overcome with emotion. Now she is afraid she may have what is the likelihood of that . Host did you hear that . Guest i heard a little bit. The likelihood of becoming infected depends on is the other person infected themselves . If you hug someone and that person is not infected, you are not at risk. The important thing is the challenge we have with trying to stop the transmission of this disease is the fact that people can be a symptomatically ected, which asymt asymptomatically infected. Have when we we are out in public spaces, again, i dont want to say that every one person will transmit to you but it is most likely the people who do not know that they a symptomatically asymptomatic. Over the period of months to come, number of individuals will become infected. The key piece as you have an underlying problem and you are concerned, rightly so, that if you become infected you may have a serious disease outcome. This is really why you dont want to be in public spaces if you can avoid it. Host how long are you contagious for after you have had covid19 . Guest it is not clear how long that lasts. There is some debate about how long someone is in fact did because you have to have the virus to be communicable to someone else. The test we use right now to determine if someone is infected is the pcr type of testing that looks for genetic material of the virus. We know that with this and other Infectious Diseases, you can shed or have constantly coming out of your body fluid the genetic serial and you are not full viral genetic material and you are not full viral. The question is if they are pcr positive, are they really infected . This is a point of great concern. Koreans have reported that people have gotten reinfected. Were they really reinfected or did they just continue to treat secrete this infected material . The vast majority of people within being clinically ill, seven days. We will have to find out over time, but i worry most about the ,arliest days of the infection primarily of the respiratory tract. Host carrollton, texas, john, your question. Caller can the virus be transmitted by mosquito bite . No, itthat is good news, is not a problem with his kiddos. Most ketos. Mosquitoes. The virus is difficult to find in the blood. They are not a major role for transmission. Host that is good news for minnesotans. Rose that in thomasville, georgia. My question is why are doctors not recommending that we do something to strengthen our immune system with vitamins or nutrients . Of the bigknow, one misconceptions we have in this country is that vitamins and immune stimulants make a difference, and the vast majority have none at all. People may feel better, what we call the placebo effect. Whether it is vitamin c or any vitamins orfferent immune stimulants have been at id at i have worried have worried at. I have worried that some are quite toxic and hurt people that are not quite healthy. These vitamins are really not healthy at all. Rosa, thomasville, georgia. Adam, allentown, pennsylvania. Caller how are you . Thank you for having me on. My question is in regards to antibodies. There has been a lot of talk in regards to testing and antibodies, finding out who has got it, who doesnt have it. My main concern is you have an in visual who has been infected an individual who has been infected and 72 hours without a temperature and the 14 day quarantine as long as you show no symptoms, the stayathome order can be lifted or however it may be. My question is in regards to a classic virus versus what we are seeing today, does this virus or sit in pockets in the body or other organs in the body as it travels through the blood system . It is perplexing to me and i cannot find that data. Guest your comments about the what theimmunity and antibodies mean are right on the mark. We are all asking that question. Does antibodies following the infection mean you are immune from further infection and how long . The other challenge is our test that we use determines if somebody has antibodies unfortunately has a high rate of false positives, meaning we may tell in a u. S. Population you are positive but half of the tests are false positives so you do not have antibodies. They are telling someone they are antibody positive in the hopes that it means they are protected or do not have to worry if they are in the Health Services is really a challenge. The idea that this immunity cleared the virus in your body, we do not have evidence to sequester a virus somewhere. Somewhere that the immune system cannot that were control. At orp cannot get control. Developing immunity will be key. At least 70 of the population diseasee from natural so we have to make that happen with a vaccine. 10 of new yorks population has been infected. 50 to a long ways from 70 of people getting infected and we have a lot of additional cases possibly coming down the pike, and immunity will be huge. Not until we get the 60 to 70 immunity will we see a big reduction in transmission. Host charles in schoolcraft, michigan. Caller if the gene can be identified that all covid viruses attacks, what are your silencing ofna the gene, enough to make immune system enough to take over . Guest a couple of different issues. First of all, it doesnt take over our immune system as such, and the rna is not something that you can turn off. The rna reproduces the virus. One drug we are looking at basically interrupts that process of how it reproduces, are trying to alter the way the virus reproduces itself. We are talking about immune prevent thecan we serious consequences of being infected by having this immune disorder . That is a separate set of treatments but that does not go back to the rna. At this point, we are trying to get at the virus and its ability to reproduce itself, or how to minimize the damage to the host. Host what are the prospects of a vaccine . Guest we are hopeful, but hope is not a strategy. There are a number of vaccines being evaluated. We have had challenges in the past with a coronavirus vaccine, being able to demonstrate they have longterm perfection reduction and they may be longterm protection and they may be sufficient. There is preliminary data they came out yesterday from china looking at a study in several monkeys where they were initially vaccinated and exposed to Different Levels of the vaccine and appeared to have some protection, but we have a long way to go. The second thing we have to think about this vaccine is a condition called antibody enhancement in which the vaccine produces a small amount of antibody, not enough to protect you but when you do get the immune response system that is being damaged. We call this antibody enhancement. A vaccineen this with that was pulled off the market a few years ago, so we want to know for sure. This is a challenge here. We do not want people to get severely ill because they have taken the vaccine. It has got to be shown the vaccine is effective and safe. Host james in new jersey, it is your turn. My immune system, years ago my doctor sent me to an oncologist and they found out i had epsteinbarr virus and the doctor said to me, you do not have to worry about getting hivaids because you are immune. How come some people are immune from things and some people arent . Wouldnt it be a good idea to have a vitamin, tail to build up peoples immune vitamin, tail to build up people vitamin coctail to build up peoples immune systems . Withtor from hollywood pancreatic cancer not want to go through chemo and he found out about a vitamin cocktail and did it, and a year later he not have pancreatic cancer no more. Am just wondering about that guest first of all, let me just say, i do not know your circumstances but having epsteinbarr does not protect you against hiv. Many people have epsteinbarr infections in the course of their lifestyle and there is no immunity for hiv with that. In terms of cocktail treatments , high doses of voda there is nons evidence these work at all. People want to hear that. Wayslacebo effect may take meaning if you take it take place meaning if you take a treatment you may feel better but when you compare that with people who have not taken the treatment, they feel the same. It turns out these treatments are not at all helpful and what we worry about most is it is detrimental because they are toxic, they can be toxic and they actually increase the damage incurred by the illness as well as the treatment. I would tell you right now, this that yourunction physician wants to keep you from getting something that might save your life. I dont care if it is a . 10 chemical that will make an improvement, we will go for it, but i do not want to give people a false sense of hope that something will come from this because people are using these treatments. I know nothing, my colleagues either, that there is some magic answer. They do not exist. People praying on people emotionally tole do these things that dont work. Host james from hot springs. Caller you mentioned this could be transmitted by talking to someone a few feet away. Are there any other viruses besides this that can do that, for example being in the same room was somebody with the flu can i get it from talking . Guest absolutely. This virus might be more contagious because of the amount of virus being coughed out or shed out but they are similar in terms of the transmission. We understand a lot about influenza transmission. Host welcome to the conversation. Go ahead. Caller a couple of things here to discuss. The chinese came out with the break down of the dna break down of the dna of this virus in january. One question i have is why didnt we take the base pairs of that virus and therefore break that down and take the 20 variations possible and create an antidote, not a vaccine . We dont get this part in the hinterland about why we need a vaccine for this virus. We should have an antidote like we do for smallpox or measles. So your answer is just as good as, i am waiting for it. Guest first of all, this virus is an rna virus. Looking at the genetic issue, there are these variances. Basically we can show the differences in viruses, major differences in the structural function of this virus. You cannot make an antitote antidote for this virus that somehow shuts it down without interrupting when it penetrates a cell, how it penetrates a cell, and without a drug that attacks that, so how it reproduces itself inside a cell. We are doing that right now. These are being evaluated. That is exactly what they will do. You will have a drug that may help you in your earlier infection to reduce the spread of the virus inside your throat, your respiratory tract, and reduce that. We also have drugs that will help you later on potentially deal with the other serious aspects of what is in the lungs, what happens to the heart . This has been the most active seen iny i have ever terms of looking at the types of drugs that will work. In terms of treatments, we do not have a treatment. We have a vaccine. For small parks, we have smallpox, we have a vaccine. We do have some drugs we have worked with that can reduce the seriousness of smallpox disease. Generally speaking, for the vast majority of these infections we do not have a way to treat them. The way the one we come back and revisit time and time again is hiv. We have people today that have been able to live their lives the last 20, 30, almost 40 years with the treatments that are available today that have made hiv a very different disease than it was in the 1980s. , it ist want to get hiv still a very bad disease, taking drugs for the rest of your life, but there is an example of one that we have been successful in the impact of hiv and aids. Host ronald in maryland, good morning. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. Can somebodyn who tests positive for coronavirus antibodies host ronald, we cant understand your question. Caller i am asking, can somebody who tests positive for antibodies still be infectious to other people . Second question, how long can . Omebody be asymptomatic can the virus stay in the person for a long period, to become again infectious . , germany hasn is opened their schools and businesses in their country. What can we learn . M . St mr. Osterhol guest first question i think was about the antibodies and how long are you infected if you have antibodies. Host yes. Guest if you have antibodies, we believe you are not infectious and we are hopeful you are protected from being reinfected from this virus. That work is still going on and we are just not sure. The second question host he said if you are asymptomatic, how long does it stay in your body . Guest some people will be asymptomatic through the entirety of your infection and the virus may be present for days to a week or more in the body. At that point, we believe these people are most infectious in the earliest stages of their infections even when they see no signs of symptoms. It is not a longterm situation. The korean data where they suggest people will get reinfected and be infected for some time, that is still a real question whether that is true or not. Daysis case, seven to 10 after you have been asymptomatic you are likely cured of the virus. The question was what they are doing in germany, i wasnt quite sure what the question was. Host i dont know if this is your expertise, what can we learn from germany opening up businesses and schools . Guest i think the issue there is that we all have had some form of relief. Sweden and others germany just got the ray major increase not through a major increase and each area, we are warning every day what it means. Sweden had the same number of cases in the population as did denmark, finland, and norway, they had much more stringent distancing recommendation in place. People are saying, it works not to have to do that, although sweden was doing a number of things. All of a sudden, the case numbers increased dramatically in sweden and that has been a challenge. One thing to be mindful of is with this disease, just wait a week or two and we will see what happens. Wasmonths ago, singapore seeing the model Response Plan in that they had testing increasing and stopped the spread of the virus in singapore. There wouldve been a large outbreak in their Migrant Workers which are still part of the general population. One challenge we have is keeping this virus suppressed is an every day, hour, minute priority. It does not mean if you let up it will not come back tomorrow and that is what we are concerned about in the united states. Some states have considerable virus activity and by opening up , we could see an increase in severe cases where people need to be hospitalized. Host florida, karen, good morning. Caller thanks for taking my call. I wanted to ask a couple of questions, one regarding viral load. Load, is a small viral that what is keeping people from realizing they have had this virus . Immunity, imd curious and concerned about promoting herd immunity because it does not seem like that is something that can be done quick enough to keep people from becoming ill, and it kind of gives a false assurance that by going out and trying to get this type of immunity, that it is a safe way to keep yourself from getting this virus. Host lets take those questions. Guest viral load, we surely are looking at that. There is evidence from healthcare workers that viral load may be an important part of how severely ill you get. If you have high levels of virus exposure, that may predispose you to having more severe illness. We dont know that yet, but that is important. Herd immunity is that enough people are immune that if i were surrounded by 10 of you and nine where immune, i cannot transmit through the nine of you, maybe one, and it is one more person i keep alive. If i get it to less than one person, meaning there is one in 20 in the population who is immuned, that is now not , i can reduce the likelihood from occurring. How do you get herd immunity . You have to be immune. How do you get immune . You have to have the infection, recover, and have this protection on board, or have a vaccine. You cannot have heard immunity without getting sick. Herd immunity without people getting sick. Vaccine, we will it ishe virus suppressed not. The population will get infected in the next month and the challenge is to limit that. If we can protect those who are most likely to have severe disease and at the same time, move our society along. People often say this is equating dollars and cents to peoples lives. It is not, it is the society we live in. How do we have a life . We are looking at that issue of herd immunity and how to best accomplish limiting transmission every day. Virginia, david is watching. Caller i am calling from staunton. Thank you, cspan, for taking my call. I have a twopart question. The first part involves the ventilators. The invasive ventilators apparently do not have a very high success rate in terms of people getting off the ventilators. I have heard numbers as low as woulding successful, so it make sense to use something on to bipap machine early keep the lungs inflated and not intubate people at the very end . Would it make sense to use a bipap machine earlier . The second question is about treatment using uv light. Sanitizeght used to the icu rooms that would prevent a lot of manual cleaning of the surfaces . Secondly, can uv light be used to treat the air that goes into ventilators . The third thing which is really kind of outofthebox, could uv light with fiberoptics uv light be used with fiberoptics to go down the trachea to kill the virus from the inside out . Asked first of all, you about the ventilators and what that means. Showing thatbeen only about 20 of people who make it to a ventilator and up surviving. The challenge, why is that, what is going on . What do the ventilators do to help or not help . That is a major study and discussion now in terms of how to respond to this disease. Stay tuned. You are talking about a bipap machine. Hat is that is a process where you breathe and it supports blood flow in the person. That is a challenge because there are very few of those available in any community, so we could not begin to think about them for the vast majority of infections. In terms of uv light, yes, uv light can be effective. It is being looked at for use in environmentale contaminants. In a hospital setting, it is not clear. There was speculation about using unorthodox treatments and concern of the damage that those could do without any evidence it could help. There is no reason to think uv light put into ones respiratory tract would have any impact at all in terms of reducing the infection issue, particularly in the farthest reaches of the lungs. Not evenoint, that is on the consideration list. Host stella on facebook wants to know how can we possibly develop Natural Immunity if we continue to sterilize everything in sight and onsite . Guest first of all, we dont sterilize anything onsite other than the instruments we use for trading people. We distant treating people. We disinfect to reduce the number of bad germs. It also is a situation of how do you get infected with a virus like this . The vast majority is related to respiratory transmission, breathing the air the virus is in. Surfaces play a much less role. At this point, i would say that for a lot of reasons, we want to do good disinfection and cleaning in hospitals for resistance transmission, but not because of the fact that we are trying to stop transmission of olsterhome, weel appreciate the conversation this morning. Thank you very much. Coming up, Amanda Ballantyne from the Small Business group main Street Alliance joins us about supporting Small Businesses. We will get to that conversation a little after 9 00. First, new York Governor Andrew Cuomo talking about the possibility of a second wave of coronavirus coming back in the fall and updating the situation in Nursing Homes in that state. [video] is there a second wave of the virus like the 1918 pandemic . It came in three waves. Does the virus mutate and come back . The federal officials are starting to talk about the fall and potential issues in the fall. Virusre worried about the waning somewhat during the summer. There was talk about a going away when the weather gets warm. No one is really saying it will go away when the weather gets there ishe summer, but a theory the virus could slow during the summer. But then come back in the fall. If it comes back in the fall, it comes back with the normal flu season. That is problematic because you are then testing for the flu and you are testing for covid, on top of all the other tests you do. That could be an overwhelming of the testing system. If people could have the flu or could have covid in the fall and they dont know which is, they could get nervous and go to the health care system, which could then bring back a capacity issue in the health care system. That is something we have to worry about and watch. Nursing homes are our top priority. They have been from day one. Remember how the nursing home system works. They are private facilities. They get paid to provide a service. They get regulated by the state government. There are rules and regulations they must follow. We put in additional rules and regulations on Nursing Homes in the midst of this crisis. Staff must have appropriate ppe. They must have their temperatures checked before they come into the facility. There are no visitors coming into the facility, which is a tremendous hardship but it is necessary to protect Public Health. If they have a covid positive person in the facility, that person has to be in quarantine. They have to have separate staff for the covid residence versus residents. Id if they cant care for that person, they have to transfer the person to another facility. Responsiblehome is for providing appropriate care. If they cannot provide that care, they have to transfer the person to another facility. Washington journal continues. Host on your screen is congressman gregs towers, member of the Small Business committee. How did you vote yesterday on this second aid package for Small Business, hospitals and more testing . Guest i voted to support this care package yesterday. I thought it was incredibly important. In particular the ppp money in the hospital money. Testing. And the it was important to get that out there as soon as we can. Host what was it like to be on the floor yesterday . You have members of Congress Social distancing and wearing masks. This is not something our cspan viewers are used for seeing. What was it like for you . Guest we had our protocols. The attending physicians were masks. There was Hand Sanitizer and you could push your button with a pen. People understood the importance of social distancing. We still got the work done. Host what are you expecting next when Congress Returns . When and how and what would you be debating at that point . Guest we are looking at what we did well, what is working, and what we can do better during the crisis. Then we looked at a parallel path help we can respond to open think economy and we thats an important for Small Businesses and men and women across the nation. People in minnesota are hurting and that is why we needed the additional ppp funding and make sure Health Insurance went with that. When is businesses open up they have employees to start wrapping up their Small Business. Host you spoke at the Small Business hearing. What did you tell your colleagues about what you are hearing from those in minnesota . Guest in minnesota, like across the nation, our Small Businesses are the engine of our economy. Im a Small Business owner for 30 years. This is extreme the hard for myself and my others who own a small hockey company. Its important we recognize our Small Businesses are the engine of our economy. They are hurting. They are in this position because of no fault of their own. We have to help them as best we can to get them to where we were prior to the pandemic. We had a great economy before this pandemic came to our shores. Thespirit, the compassion, ingenuity of the American People the people of minnesota are hardworking. We understand the magnitude of what is happening. Weekend social distancing. We will get through this and we will be a stronger nation. More resilient and more selfreliant than we have ever been before. Ont we get a lot of calls the program from people who were selfemployed. They did not have any employees. They dont necessarily need money and the ppp program. What is there available to them as they see that they have no customers anymore for whatever it is they did . Guest if you were selfemployed, you do qualify for the ppp. Particularly in the state of minnesota, the state legislature has also added workmens comp. Or anybody for anybody that has come down with covid19. Specifically to your question, if you are a Small Business owner and you are a oneperson shop, you do qualify for Unemployment Insurance. Independent contractors and owners of Small Businesses, they themselves absolutely qualify for the ppp loan. Talk tosuggest they their offices for Small Business administration. Host it has been quite a few people who said they dont think they qualify for perhaps it is because or perhaps it is because the program ran out of money. Guest they do qualify. You talked about running out of money. A week and half ago, we were running out of money. Was givinggram relief loans to about 2 billion in our across the nation an hour across the nation. They were from communitybased lenders. We are very proud of our lenders in minnesota. Pppave the thirdhighest per capita. That means our Small Businesses were taken care of by those community lenders. We are very proud of the work. We worked hard and we worked together. We did it and im very proud. Host would you support hazard pay and Cash Payments for americans in the next round of Economic Relief . That thes interesting heroes during this crisis are truckers, Grocery Store workers, Police Officers, firefighters, ems, doctors, nurses. They dont get the attention they deserve. Look who is helping us keep this country going. I was a former Police Officer myself are over two decades. I understand with the men and women face. They have no better support than right now. Host thank you for your time this morning. We appreciate the conversation. Guest have a wonderful day. Host yesterday at an event sponsored by politico, governor larry hogan was the guest. He addressed the contingency plans for marylands june primary, and looked ahead to the november election. We want to show you what he had to say. When we come back we will talk about Small Businesses. [video] we are in an Election Year and there is focus on whether it will be states going to the polls in november. You moved the maryland primary to june 2. Do you think it will be safer for people to go to polling places at that time . I dont think it will be. 2 and thento june asked the state board of elections, an independent, autonomous group. I asked them to come up with a plan of how they can conduct the and do it in al safe manner so we dont have people going out to the polls. Becausee up with a plan they were certain people who could not vote by mail. Mostly people with disabilities. A couple of lined advocates. Some blind advocates. Some people that did not have fixed addresses. They made an accommodation for one safe polling place in each county for people that could not do by mail but were strongly strongly encouraging people to vote by mail. We dont think we can staff or have hundreds of people standing in line at polling places. How about november . November is quickly approaching and your party on capitol hill basically said we are not interested in vote by mail because it disadvantages us. Im not sure there is evidence of that but im curious of your thoughts on it. My party doesnt not really have anything to do with it. The state boards of elections will make those determinations. The governors of the states are going to make that determination based on their state. We will see how it works in the june primary and then assess how it looks like in the fall. Our board of elections is working in conjunction with the Health Department and they will make that determination. I would say we have always had the ability to do vote by mail. We have the ability to do absentee ballots at any time. We have early voting and it worked well. Everyone will be mailed to bella as opposed to requesting one. We could easily do that for the november election. If it is safe, we could do a combination of both. They will be plenty of time to make those determinations. There are two goals. I want to make sure everyone has their constitutional right to express their vote. We want to make sure everybody is safe. We will try to accomplish both those things. Washington journal continues. Host we continue in the last hour of the washington journal to focus on Small Businesses. Joining us is Amanda Ballantyne, the executive director of the main Street Alliance. What is the main Street Alliance . Who do you represent . Guest its a National Network of Small Business owners. We represent about 30,000 Small Business owners. We work to elevate their voices and tell their stories on the impact of Public Policy other businesses, employees and communities. Host what has been the impact on Small Businesses . Guest the Economic Impact of the coronavirus outbreak has been catastrophic for Small Businesses across the country. For the last eight weeks we have just been hearing Horror Stories from Business Owners who lost all revenue, or lost most of their revenue and have had to cut their entire staff. They are clinging by a threat to the ability just to stay in business as they wait for the kind of relief that keeps being promised. Host the house passed with the Senate Approved earlier this week, 484 billion. A good portion going to Small Businesses. The president signing at noon today. How will it help Small Businesses . Ppp and thenk the eido, the emergency injury disaster loan programs are important first steps to help Small Businesses cope with the crisis they are facing right now and we are all facing as a society and economy. They dont go far enough. There are structural flaws, particularly in the design of the paycheck Protection Program that more money will not simply solve. Those structural programs problems will be two inequities and frustrate the intended purpose of the program, to keep workers on payroll and keep businesses solvent while they are shut down or while they are experiencing significant decline in demand. Host why is that . Guest there is a set of challenges. Most and from the Program Designed very early on in our public understanding of how the virus would impact the economy. Program isl, the running through private banks, the lending institutions. The recent legislation expanded lending institutions in an attempt to get a closer to the communities who need it the most. From the outset designing the program to run through private lending institutions meant they inld be inequities and a ask in access to the program. It was set up on short notice with many stakeholders involved in the rules were not universally clear. What we saw on the program rolled out a few weeks ago was different banks interpreting the rules differently on how it should be administered. Some banks were saying we can only offer this loan program to existing customers. Other banks, we are starting to see lawsuits coming out alleging banks get preferential treatment to larger businesses. The banks goes to confusion. They are supposed to be inherently cautious. Money frankly, spend less when they process larger loans. There is an equity going through the banks inequity going to the banks. There are millions of businesses that are unbanked. There are Racial Disparities round access to private lending institutions for Small Businesses. Many people knew from the outset when it was designed as a 7a Lending Program this money would not quickly get to Business Owners of color and lowincome businesses and even rural businesses. We saw those impacts in the first round of the rollout. The second set of challenges and design flaws in the program go to when it was designed. It was designed to cover payroll for eight weeks, and then provide 25 of the loan could be used to cover fixed costs. What we are seeing is confusion around the timing of when that eight weeks is to cover payroll. In the beginning ends were telling customers Different Things because the terms are not clear. Changedsury has also the terms of those loans a couple of times. Prior to them being offered and then actually during while they have been offered. Already owners who are well into their layoff plans or have made their layoff are set with this question of, you i recall my staff so i can get this loan . And then lay them off again in two months . There is the idea that two months is this magical ending to when the economy will be back on track, but it is just the case the economy is not going to flip on like a light switch two months from whenever the loan date is closing on one of these loans. Our challenges in the timing. Is in thechallenge ratio of cost covered. Designed tot now is give Business Owners alone where they can use 75 of the loan to cover payroll expenses. 25 to cover fixed costs like rent, utilities, insurance, different fixed costs owners need to stay solvent. When Business Owners are already especiallystaff, and Business Owners in larger cities that have much higher costs, those ratios dont work out to a level that allows the Business Owner to remain solvent. Has design itself flaws that make it challenging for many Small Business owners to figure out how to use it. Host lets hear what Small Business owners have to say after hearing you lay out the challenges and their experiences with trying to get money from this ppp program. If you are a Small Business owner, 202 7488000 is your number. All others, 202 7488001. You wrote recently in the hill newspaper and oped recommendations for businesses. Offer direct subsidies, not loans for all employers with 500 or fewer employees. Streamline the subsidy process and establish safeguards against excessive fees and predatory Small Business lending. Why are these things needed . At as what we are looking theng economic crisis where economy may open up in some ways and the need to shut down again. We dont know how long the virus will last. I think it is safe to predict we will be experiencing economic ramifications until there is a widely available vaccine. The idea we can simply create these loans, which have fuzzy terms that are still being developed, creates a lot of uncertainty for Small Business owners and for everybody who is worried about losing their jobs during the recession. What we need is a system that can create a very strong sense of certainty for Business Owners and clarity for Business Owners. While i think that was the intention of the paycheck Protection Program, he rolled flaws ily, the design discussed suggest the program is not and will not be as effective as we needed to be to keep our Small Business economy intact. We are pushing for subsidies. Direct payments to Small Business owners to cover the cost of existing payroll and maintaining their employment because there is a very strong Public Interest in keeping workers attached to their jobs where many people get their Health Insurance benefits. And Small Business owners have a strong interest in keeping their staff intact. The money in these programs need to be made flexible so businesses that can pivot and maybe switch from retail to grocery, or retrofit their business so we can better protect workers that work for them and potential customers who may be coming into their stores. There is a lot that can be done to improve the ppp to make it more effective. We are saying there should we should see it as a stepping stone to a longerterm program that can provide the kind of economic support to allow toiness owners ea either maintain payroll or pivot their business and higher different employees who can serve in a different way and retrofit their businesses so they can make the changes they need to make. Anding up systems like that really relying on subsidies loan is an a more efficient way to get Business Owners the certainty and incentivize them to behave the way we need them to behave in order to keep our economy intact right now. There are several pieces of legislation that are starting to emerge in congress we can discuss that are aiming at that sort of longerterm trajectory, but it is definitely the right thing to do given the Economic Uncertainty we are facing and the potential duration of the Public Health crisis we are facing. Host we have phone calls from for you. Bob and st. Cloud. Caller is it part of your role the first time around we saw there were Ivy League Schools and businesses that should not have gotten the money they received. Is a part of your role to find it is Public Knowledge this time around on who is getting the money . If you see there is some business or other entity that should not get it, you should get on the mountaintop and shouted as loud as you can. That money is not going to you. It should go to the Small Business owner. Thank you, amanda. Guest i think its a very good point and something we are starting to see in the program, that larger, Better Companies companies that are not Small Businesses are accessing loans that are desperately needed by actual Small Businesses. That was in the design of the ppp. That is not an accident. There was a provision put into the ppp that allows businesses, and traditionally the department of labor says it is 500 or fewer employees, a provision put in that businesses with 500 employees in any one location could apply. That opened the floodgates for these much larger businesses to come in. There was lobbying behind that. There are two ways to see that. We actually believe a Subsidy Program should be created for all businesses that incentivizes them to keep their payroll and tact key people attached to their benefits. That is what we advocate for as a big picture solution to this crisis. On the other hand, if we are limiting the amount of money available to businesses, it should be designed to really serve the interest of Small Business owners. I think you are right. I think we need to understand it if a program is designed to allow any business of a certain size to access the funds, those businesses will work to access the funds. Figure businesses are much more sophisticated and have Close Relationships with their banks so nobody should be deprived. Before Small Businesses could get the money. Host chris and ohio. What is your business . Caller im an independent contractor, but im a w2 contractor rather than a 1099. Im trying to figure out whether i should apply for unemployment or the ppp. I made about 75,000. Im not sure as a single employee, no employees other than myself and really no other expenses, which when i should apply for. Guest it depends. I cant actually give you advice but i can point you to some resources to help you make that decision. It might depend on the state you live in in terms of how quickly unemployment would be available. The ppp would offer someone in your position, in addition to payroll support, it would offer the ability to cover other costs. If you have an office, a vehicle, other things you need to operate your business, that would create some availability for you. If that is not a concern, unemployment through the disaster on a Plymouth Program has been dramatically improved in terms of the wage replacement it offers. The extra wage replacement in the Disaster Unemployment will run out in july. You have to really assess your circumstance. You look closely at can look at our website to understand the terms of the ppp. You can talk to a local credit union or banker in the program and get in touch with your state Economic Security department to understand your eligibility for unemployment. Host we are talking about the impact of the pandemic on Small Businesses as they shut their doors. The New York Times notes this morning marilyn governor larry marylandd his state governor larry hogan said his a severeld face strain. Quarantine has shuttered restaurants, movie theaters, gyms and nail salons. That was compounded by the number of people filing for state on appointment benefits. Areeast three states expected to deplete their trust funds within two weeks, with kentucky, texas and massachusetts close behind. Ray in miami. What business do you have . Caller good morning. Im an attorney at law, a former prosecuting attorney for janet reno, the former attorney general of the united states. I have a small law practice. Twoployee to people people and i was furious to see the loopholes in the Small Business ppl. These businesses that got millions of dollars of publicly traded are publicly traded and the metamoney left for somebody like me who supports women, single women who have two and threeyearold children at home and who need this money, im paying them out of my personal retirement fund. I might be a bit shortsighted, but i happen to have a lot of confidence in our business. I am a capitalist. I believe big Business Needs help right now. They have been shut down, but they have their own loans. There are some there is some morality to this. How can a publicly traded company ever conceived or advised them that they should apply for these loans that were meant for momandpops . Im infuriated. I think these businesses should be legally obligated to return the money back to momandpops. People are going out of business. Im embarrassed of my country. Im embarrassed of my profession. Mean, i think you are exactly right about how the program was designed and what is was designed to do. I think it is a tragedy. In a normal situation where there was time to fix a program and the risk of making a mistake like i believe was made in the ppp in its design could be fixed and Business Owners could maybe wait a little longer for the support they need. Businesses small have on average less than a month of reserves to keep their business afloat during a crisis. Every week we wait and every week Business Owners were in line for the ppp and not getting a response from their banks or getting confusing responses from the sba about the Economic Injury disaster loan applications. Those were critical moments in a Business Owners ability to make decisions about if they could even keep their business going. We have not seen data yet on business bankruptcies. There will be a massive wave of bankruptcies from businesses that just could not these funds fast enough. Part of is the money went to, big sophisticated businesses. Part of it went out throu it went out through private lending. There is still time to prevent another huge wave of layoffs. They will be a domino effect of what we are experiencing right now. It is happening so quickly, the data cannot really keep up. When you have 25 Million People who lost their jobs in the last five weeks, it is stunning. It is stunning but will happen to the Small Business economy and the amount of that economy we are going to lose, and we will lose it in the next month. Host it was reported late yesterday and the papers that ruth chriss steakhouse owner says it will repay the 20 million it took in the ppp program. Brandy in texas. Caller good morning. Everyone spoke of this but i would like to go into more detail. The big corporations that will get these bailouts or ppps, one being the president has touted the cruise line industry. Most of theines, cruise lines are registered outside this country. They do have a few american employed on the ships, most are foreign registered and have two abide by labor laws in the countries where they are registered. The other industry is large corporations that have Bank Accounts in foreign bermuda, foreign banks. They pay very little or no taxes. Are they going to be are they going to be beneficiaries of this bailout . The third would be the oil industry. Although they probably have been affected some, their woes started way before the pandemic hit. I would like to go over what everyone else said. There are some big corporations and should forfeit their money and help out the Small Businesses. This is not a widely known fact but Small Businesses employ half of the private sector workforce. 50 Million People. When Small Businesses in the beginning of this crisis there was a set of Small Businesses we knew would be directly impacted. Restaurants, retail storefront businesses, food service businesses, and then businesses closed by Public Policy. As this crisis drags on there is a domino effect. In the same way Small Businesses are multipliers for economic Wealth Creation in their community. When you lose those businesses, there is a multiplier of economic damage that is done. We cannot understate the critical importance of maintaining the Small Business sector because it is what will help us avoid a multiyear recession or depression. Believeset alliance our country should commit to a longterm Subsidy Program that if theratcheted up pandemic comes back at us in the fall. We believe there is a strong Public Interest in preserving and securing and creating a sense of certainty for businesses and for workers. When those funds are given the large corporations and shareholders, that does not actually serve the Public Interest in the way we need to. In that sense i certainly agree with you. Host gus in brooklyn. Inr banks getting paid the form of fees for administering these programs . What makes a business a small one . Guest yes, banks are earning fees. I saw an article that said banks and earned about 10 in fees for administering the programs. You want to make sure that is incentivized. If youre using the Private Banking systems, you want to make sure they are participating in the program. Notate banking we did have to use the Private Banking system to administer this type of support. Its important to understand other programs could have been designed that could have quickly and efficiently move to this money and we have time to create a program that can do that in the next covid package. Yes, banks are earning money. Business byl definition the department of labor says 500 and fewer employees. That tends to be larger than most people think of. The ppp loan program was designed to cover businesses with 500 and fewer employees in any one location. Much larger businesses became eligible for the ppp program. Host joe in scranton, pennsylvania. Caller hello. Im in the furniture business. We have four locations, plus a distribution center. We employ about 50 people. Forave been shut down now the 40th day in pennsylvania here. We are not allowed to have our stores opened. Evene not allowed to deliver our merchandise because we would have to go into a lot of houses. We did apply for the ppp loan. We did get approved. We even got our proceeds just this week. Our problem is there is an eightweek ticker going on. We cant open up. How are we supposed to bring payroll backup when were not even allowed to be open . They will utilize this. I question our bankers and they have no answers because there are so many flaws in the program that a lot of these things have not come up. I think a lot of people in small mandateds have been and forced to shut down. It is not a loss of clients. It is just forced to be shut down. Im looking at probably three or our more weeks of being shut down. Guest i have talked to hundreds of members in similar positions. I think the program was intended for you to be able that would if youen very effective had not potentially already laid off or furloughed employees you and millions of Small Business owners are looking at the terms of this loan which say you have to keep your payroll intact for eight weeks and that apparently now will begin to a few days after you close your loan. Do you potentially have to lay them off again because nobody knows what the economy will look like eight week from now . Can you even recall your workers . Having that be the term of forgiveness makes this program much harder to use. There should be more flexibility built into whatever program we land on to allow Business Owners to restaff and retool in the way they need to to operate in a limited way. Or if they need to idle their workforce, title their workforce while covering their fixed costs. The time needs to be extended and recognize the fact an eightweek limit is a specific time window and not an effective solution for Small Businesses. Host joe, what is your business . Caller you just spoke host brittany and rochester, new york. What do you do . Caller i own an event venue in rochester. My business depends on future bookings. Not only have we been shut down, there is no foreseeable future insight. I depend on the wedding business, on future business. Most of it is booked months in advance. Period i cant get the funding. I filled out the applications on time. I got them in in plenty of time. I am pennies in the bucket compared to most Small Businesses. Im really in a quandary. For my business i need to have funding to cover me for a good for a good four or five months before i can get people confident enough to come to an event. I dont know what to do. The story you just told us is exactly the story of millions of Small Business owners who understand demand will not immediately snap back. Limiting and not fixing the ,esign of the program yesterday that was a mistake. Recognize that if we dont involve Small Business owners in the process of designing these things, we are not going to come up with solutions that actually take into account all the considerations Business Owners make when they are deciding, can i keep my business . Bankruptcy . Declare who on my staff can i continue to employ. The timeframe around all these crucial decisions is so urgent and so fast that we dont have time to think through these solutions. They need to be a serious discussion right now about how to include these improve these programs. Wouldcheck guarantee that provide direct subsidies to Business Owners and we create the level of flexibility they need to understand they can weather the crisis if it ends up lasting into the summer and fall, until there is a vaccine. Host Amanda Ballantyne, executive director of main Street Alliance and our guest this morning as we continue to talk about Small Businesses and the impact of the pandemic on them. Joe in maine. Bedford, maine. Caller im a restaurant business. My question has been touched on recently. They just passed a new bill. Did not correct any of the problems. They are talking about the fourth bill. Where the problem is the senators and the congressman who passed the bill so they could get the heck out of dodge. There was one senator who said this aint going to work. They crucify the guy. I dont want to go into names but they were calling him hes trying to kill us, hes trying to keep us here and give us the disease. What frustrates me is these rich people on wall street playing with people getting 10 an hour. They did not even pass raising the minimum wage. You have the chairman of the board making billions of dollars a year im sure im exaggerating but he says its ok. The pizza guy can go risk his life. Anything. Ot raising theyare not giving them any kind of benefits or any kind of assured health care. Im also retired firefighter. Does anybody remember three or four month ago, jon stewart and the 9 11 people . They promised there was nothing wrong with the air and they killed people. The bs to go through to get any kind of money, never mind any kind of that should be addressed today. Not tomorrow. It should be addressed today. Host in this package that was passed by the house that the president will sign at 12 00 p. M. Eastern time, did they fix any of the problems you have outlined . Guest there were some provisions put into earmark some of the money in the paycheck Protection Program specifically to lending institutions that served communities of color, Rural Communities and traditionally under banked or unbanked communities. I think they were important but not sufficient to actually account for the number of people who are just not going to have the access to banking toationships that they need access the money and access it on a timeframe for their services. We will see continued Racial Disparity and disparities in underserved Rural Communities in terms of accessing these funds until congress creates a grant program. Really i think any people in congress believe the paycheck Protection Program is a grant program. It is designed to be alone that becomes forgivable if it is used appropriately. What we have been saying over and over is Business Owners do not take out loans to cover payroll when the economy is tanking. We have seen millions of visits owners liner for these loans because they feel like it is the only potential lifeline. At the same time, these Business Owners are unsure of the terms of the loans. They are hearing Different Things from different banks if they are even hearing back at all. Loan in termshe of the timing in which it can be used and the ratio of what can be used for is so confusing that many Business Owners are being told by their accountants to get the money so they have it if they need it but not use it until treasury comes out with more clarifications because the terms of forgiveness are unclear. That creates a level of risk tough right now for a Business Owner to take on. Thats another really important flaw that could be solved by creating a grant or Subsidy Program. Were taken to help solve some of the inequities, it is still coming down to the function of this running through the lending system instead of subsidies system. Host eli in florida asks if there are updates to the feds main street Lending Program for small and midsize businesses . Guest there are some updates that have come out in terms of transparency. I think we are learning more about those programs in the coming days. My understanding is the main Street Program, while it is open to Small Business owners, the terms of it are not as beneficial as maybe the edi alone edil loan. The main Street Program was actually designed for a larger and midsize business. Perhaps many big businesses accessing ppp should have been funneled into the main Street Program. Host sheila and pennsylvania in pennsylvania. Caller what happens to the Small Businesses my daughterinlaw has a small employs threehe or four people, maybe five or six. It is a rug business. She passes walmart every day. The parking lots are loaded. She passes Lowes Department stores. Loaded,king lot is yet she is stuck, not able to open her doors. She cant get on unemployment because she cant get through on the line. Shes been calling for weeks and weeks and still cant get through. She cant get this loan. The bank refused her. Why, i dont know. I think they are looking for people that want to borrow tons of money, where she only wants a small amount to survive. Meanwhile they have gone through almost all their savings. They have a child in college and another child at home with them. I dont understand. Im standing there talking to her six feet apart and she is crying in her garage. Im wondering what is happening out there . Where is the money for these poor working people . Is aher daughterinlaw beautician. She is unable to open. Where is the money . How can they get it . They did get their stimulus check. We havent gotten ours and we are both retirees. Host i will have Amanda Ballantyne jump in. Guest my heart goes out to you and your daughters. I think they are in company with millions of people right now where the aide was promised and either because we dont have the administrative system to deliver it or because the program was designed not with those people in mind, we are in a real crisis. This is a moment when small interests ares directly aligned with workers. We need Public Policy that can create security that is desperately needed for Small Business owners and their employees to keep people attached to their job enough they cant work and attached to benefits. It is in no ones interest for your daughter to lose her house or to lose to not be able to buy groceries or get medical health care. It is in no ones interest for your daughter to lose her business. Some businesses are making out with tremendous profits right now. The grocery industry, big retailers in the grocery industry. These problems need to be addressed of her continuing to have a diverse economy that will provide opportunity and access for everyone. The locations for our economy and our democracy are incredible right now. The only thing i can really urge you to do in addition to getting in line for these programs is to speak out and call your legislators and to tell your stories and get everyone in your community to do the same thing. Host elise in california. Caller i have an ice cream business. Sort n a small to resort destination in the palm springs area. Community, our city funded an area they are redeveloping. Loans were going to be going out to all the new merchants. That is what i am. I had been talking with the Small Business association, the chamber of commerce in my city. All those funds from the sba, the city for the community development, all stopped for new business and they all are going towards helping the current businesses, which many are going to go under whether or not this goes through. My question is, is there oreplace you can direct me can i apply even though i have but we willned yet be opening in september if i can get my funding together. It all fell apart and mine wasnt even built yet and still not built yet. That is my question. . Ost Amanda Ballantyne guest many cities and states are trying to open up and fill the gaps. I would work within to see if there are shortterm temporary funds. A lot of Community Foundations have started putting together funds to support businesses. Those solutions can help with small costs. There is no question the Public Policy crisis we are facing requires substantially more federal funding and it needs to be designed in a way that entrepreneurs like you are able to access. I still say you need to work with the other Business Owners in your community to get in touch with congress and explain your situation and talk them through the types of support you need. Host steve is in indiana. Seeer i was wanting to what her opinion was. There was a coal company in southern vigo county that went under a couple of months ago. They filed for bankruptcy. If she thinksg its appropriate for them to get 10 million since they already filed for bankruptcy. I dont know if i can comment specifically on that situation. It probably depends if they still have employees and how they are distributing those costs. I do think i can say without more understanding of that. Very Large Companies should not be benefiting from the loan Program Designed for Small Business owners. Play, extent that is at and should be looked at that should be assessed. Host patricia in stewartstown, pennsylvania. Caller good morning. I applied for the Small Business dl and the paycheck protection plan. I applied for it as soon as they announced it. I kept calling every day and i was not getting any answer. They kept saying you are in line. I got the loan application number. I finally got the paycheck protection. It was only 2000. I still have not heard about the eidl. No one has sent me any paperwork. I have not gotten text messages, calls or emails. I have no idea what is going on. If perhaps in the future when they do this kind of thing, instead of sending it to ruth ifiss and universities, they can see what kind of capital businesses have in their accounts, that would make a huge difference in who can get the loan. Most Small Business owners are bleeding to death. Guest right. I think you are absolutely right in assessing. Creating a program that responds to the needs of different types of businesses, different sizes of businesses and businesses in different geographies experiencing the impact of the crisis in different ways is essential if we are going to get through this with a Small Business economy intact. Im sorry to hear about the way the communication around your loan. That is a shared experience with i think millions of Small Business owners around the country who apply for these loans and are waiting in line and not having clarity. Loan, we saw the loan approved and then saw the money taken back the next day and then getting email about why it was denied. There are serious administrative challenges in getting the private lending system to behave in a uniform way that is predictable and clear for Small Business owners who are just really seeking these loans. There hasidl loan, been a lack of transparency and a real lack of understanding of what the admins strata process has been. Business owners are having a very different experience in terms of just being able to rely on what they are told from one day to the next about the status of their loan applications. How domanda ballantyne, you see Small Businesses changing in the future because of this pandemic . Guest thats a great question. A coast to the question of a recovery actually looks like. Have Close Relationships with many Members Around the country and we talked to them very regularly, sometimes multiple times a week about how they are experiencing the crisis. I would say in the beginning in some places like seattle or new york we were hearing tremendous, like and the very beginning people thought we could have some small Public Policy fixes to help us get through it. That is when people thought it would be a temporary shutdown over a temporary decline in business. It is not an exaggeration to say the next week those businesses started laying off hundreds of people. Businessafter that, owners themselves started applying front employment insurance and trying to figure out how to negotiate their rent and mortgage payments and utility payments in the same way regular customers regular consumers are. That is the level of crisis we are facing. How are Business Owners hanging on . Some decided it is just not worth the risk. Some are not able to get loans. Some have not been able to access. We have heard from many callers about that. There are many Business Owners right now preparing to file for bankruptcy and consolidate their debt and will lose those businesses. There are other businesses, and i havent talking get you have been talking they are tremendous declines in demand. We have seen a lot of really innovative ideas about how to reposition and relocalize to access a new customer base. Whether it is the grocery or changing the way your story is set up so you can deliver food through a delivery window or setting up advertising, cooperative advertising schemes to help drive traffic and let customers know how they can Access Services of the business. It is worth Public Investment in those types of innovations. It is worth creating the opportunity for Business Owners to access the money they need to retrofit their businesses, to add safety measures, be it personal protective equipment for employees so they can continue working if that is possible. I think there are ways businesses are attempting to shift and pivot. We should put public money into supporting those businesses. We need to understand this is a Public Health crisis. I dont understand the sort of calls that we will just reopen on may 4. Y it is consumers that will decide when the economy reopens. It is parents with kids in Public School who decide when it is ok to go back to work. There is political conversation happening about opening the economy that is not connected to the needs of Small Business owners who are trying to weather this storm. It is worth policymakers taking a look at that and look sector by sector to see how we create systems to help Business Owners private and systems to create clarity on what Public Health and Safety Standards are for working people, how we create systems that allow essential workers to access longterm paid family and medical leave, and sick and safe time so they can remain attached to their jobs and dont have to choose between caring for themselves or a family member. These are the policy members policies we need to look at to put in place to look to create a recovery. Amanda valentine, executive director of the main Street Alliance. We thank you for the conversation. We thank you all for watching, calling, texting, posting your comments on twitter and facebook. Join us tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern time for washington journal prime time, and we will be back here at 7 00 a. M. Eastern time for more of our conversation with all of you. Cspan has roundtheclock coverage of the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic. And, it is all available on demand at cspan. Org coro navirus. Watch white house briefings, updates from governors and state officials, track the spread through the u. S. In the world with interactive maps, watch ondemand, anytime, unfiltered, at cspan. Org cornonavirus. Coming up this morning, how Speaker Pelosi briefs reporters on capitol hill. Watch live coverage at 11 30 eastern. This afternoon, Virginia Governor a Virginia Governor holds a conference on coronavirus cases in his state at 2 00 p. M. After that, phil murphy, live from trenton at 3 00 eastern. Television has changed since cspan began 41 years ago, but our mission continues, to provide an unfiltered view of government. This year, we have brought to primary election coverage, judice impeachment process president ial impeachment process, and the response to the coronavirus. You can watch all cspan programming on television, online, or on our free cspanwj radio app, free cspan radio app. Cspan, created by private industry. Americas Cable Television company and the public service, brought to you by your television provider. President trump leads the White House Coronavirus Task Force Briefing this afternoon, scheduled to start at 5 00 eastern. You can watch it live on cspan, online at cspan. Org, or listen with the free cspan radio app. Host joining us from boston is author, historian and historian doris burns goodwin. Thank you fomi