Today and sharing your insights. Good look with the challenges that are ahead. My next guest at the youngest black woman serving in the house of representatives. She is also the youngest registered nurse. She has been a strong advocate for lowcost, good Quality Health care. Welcome congressman underwood. I hope you heard some of what we just discussed. He said, every crisis creates an opportunity. Maybe we need to get some of the wrongs we have embedded in our society, systemic racism, inequality and use this as an opportunity. I am interested in what you thought of what he said and what can be done. Rep. Underwood i think a focus otherorbidities and issues that people might have with preexisting conditions is relevant when we are talking about disparities and death rates. What we also see is significant disparities in infection rate. That expands that extends beyond social determinants of health. Im glad they have elevated the longstanding career staff that have been working on disparities at the cdc. The Health Equity officer he is talking about. However, we do know communities of color are often essential workers. They are frontline workers. They do not have an option to stay at home or work from home. They are sacrificing potentially their own health and wellbeing and that of their families to serve the communities in their essential jobs. Is a systemichis problem within our Health Care System and we are going to have to wrap our arms around this issue in order to have a comprehensive solution. I have not seen a comprehensive solution to date from this administration. Steven i think dr. Redfield was also saying there is an absence of strategy in a lot of places. You have the insight in being a nurse. We know when will be on later and say people know that they are putting themselves on the line. Isnt there part of the social contract where we need to be doing more than we are doing . You have colleagues in congress, republicans and democrats, do they come to you and ask, what are we doing that we should be doing . Rep. Underwood it is not part of the social contract to ask a nurse to where a soiled contaminated n95 mask everyday. That is not the social contract. When we talk about the sacrifices we are asking our Health Care Workers to make, we cannot be sacrificing clinical norms and standards of highquality care just because we are in pandemic. The United States has been battling covid19 for up to four months. We could have jumpstarted our domestic manufacturing capacity. The president decided not to fully activate his authorities under the defense production act. As we enter and continue through this phase of researching cases researching cases across the country, i have heard headlines in newspapers saying, we are in this place again with not enough ppe, or we do not have the satisfactory equipment or the number of hospital beds. I think that we have a real problem right now in this response. That is not part of the social contract. Steven what else do you think Congress Needs to be doing that it is not doing . Nancy pelosi has and im sure you are a part of it a next wave, the 3 billiondollar cares act. Is there something between that because everyone is saying that is not going to fly in the senate. What is the next piece of doable legislation for the country that you think we need . Rep. Underwood in the heroes at, we called for free coronavirus treatment. That is critically important because in this time of covid19, we know there are so many people who are symptomatic, who are delaying getting tested and avoiding seeking treatment because they know that they cannot afford a week in an icu. They cannot afford to pay for being on a ventilator. That has been a real barrier to people being able to get control of the virus and the spread throughout the community. We know the American People have been cutting their pills in half. At baseline, they have been tapering their insulin because it is too expensive. Congress is trying to address those issues. During the time of a pandemic, there is an additional sense of urgency. That is why it is so very important that we take the opportunity to extend free coronavirus treatment to everybody in this country. Steven how is your district can get washington right now . Your constituents . Do they think this is all keystone cops or do they look at washington . I am interested in the field within people you talk to and they look at what is going on here. Do they think they are getting what they should be getting . Rep. Underwood there are problems rolling out the paycheck protection program. Needsare still unmet among our Small Business owners. The looming threats of unemployment expiring has been a real challenge for folks. I would say there is a huge segment of our community, younger people, recent graduates, who are looking for student debt relief. That is something we think about covidconomic crisis, that has jumpstarted, we really have to deal with the fall range of economic the full range of economic it is not just housing. It is looking at the entire financial situation the American People and making sure we are at least stabilizing so that we do not see hundreds and thousands of americans thrown into financial distress, that no amount of cash infusion into the fed would be able to address. Steven we have been taking some questions. We have a great one for you i would like to pose from jill. Hi, i am a certified nurse and midwife. I work at Frontier Nursing University in kentucky. I also work with the American Association of birth center. My question is for representative underwood. How can we reduce the racial and economic disparities that Impact Health so seriously . Especially when much of the Current Health focuses on the pandemic . Thank you. Steven such a big question. Maternal and infant health. I just want to share with the audience that the when you look across racial lines the difference is staggeringly horrible. Your thoughts on that . Rep. Underwood thank you for the question. As the pandemic was coming into effect in the United States, we prepared to introduce something called the black Maternal Health caucus. The act was introduced in march. It is a comprehensive set of legislation to address this longterm disparity that black women are three to four times more likely to die as a result of childbirth in this country. We are tackling workforce issues, Data Collection issues, mental health, the experiences of incarcerated women and women veterans. Looking at these social determinants of health we heard dr. Redfield mention and apply them to the Maternal Health disparities. Supporting the Community Groups that have been longterm involved in this issue. Is a comprehensive bill. We have bipartisan support. We are excited about this National Conversation that is happening around saving moms lives. Covid19 has certainly impacted covid19 impacted Maternal Health in. This country the cdc put out a report in june that black and likely tomen are have on us they are pregnant. We have to have a wide angled lens focus and this act would allow us to tackle those issues. You onei want to ask last question because it has been on my mind. Used to work at the department of health and human services. I do not know if you heard my discussion with secretary alex azar earlier, but i asked about their efforts to replace obamacare and if there was anything real. He said he thought there was. And he said that i asked him, a lot of people worry about preexisting conditions. Wheres the Trump Administration on that . Mandatinge are preexisting conditions remain covered. I just want to ask you, do you believe him . Do you believe that . Rep. Underwood i absolutely do not believe that. I think it is a nice sentiment. A patient load protection and Affordable Care enhancement act last week. The first enhancement bill has passed in 10 years. Congressional republicans had four terms since the aca was signed into law to make the improvements. Instead, they tried to repeal and diminish and tear down these Health Protections that hundreds of millions of americans rely on every year. We stepped up big time. We are working to lower premium prices, expand coverage, expand medicaid and make sure the American People are truly protected. Steven i want to thank you so much. I want to acknowledge you look and sound great. Your picture froze so we put a little bit more on me than on the congresswoman. I hope we can have you back because i know there is a lot we need to discuss. I appreciate your perspective here today. Thank you so much, congresswoman underwood, for joining us. Rep. Underwood really appreciate it. The federal response to the pandemic was a central topic today on the sunday news programs. Here is a look at what Trump Administration officials had to say about the recent spike in cases in many states, guidance unmasks and reopening schools. The administration has this under control . What i will tell you is we are in a very different place than what we were in february. We sent out 10 teams to the most problematic areas. We have another nine going out to help with staffing, to help with testing. We are working with states to give them all the supplies they ask for. That we are happy with where we are. Please do not mistake me for saying we are happy with where we are. What im saying is we are working with states to make sure we can respond to this incredibly contagious disease. Part of that is making sure we are slowing the spread helping people understand the importance of wearing face coverings and staying home when they can. Together, we can turn this thing weeks in wo to three if everyone does their part. Sorry, two to three weeks for what, exactly . The disease course is about 23 weeks. Tot as we have seen two three weeks. We can turn this thing around if we can get a majority of people wearing face coverings, during the things we know are effective. When we are talking about the fall, we have the ability to turn this around quickly if people will do the right thing. Lets talk about the mask mandate. We saw the president where the mask in public for the first time. You are seeing more governors, and say, you must wear a mask in our state. Is it time for a National Mandate . I am not the person who can say who can nationally mandate things. Let me tell you it is very important that unless you are in state that is really cold and the percent positives are very low and the cases are decreasing, it is essential to wear a mask in public. We know this will decrease your spread of particles to other people. Probably does not protect you so much, but it protects everyone around you. The more data we get about aerosol spread, to khalili in close spaces with particularly in close spaces, this has to work. We have to have 90 of people wearing a mask in public in the hotspot areas. We do expect and are planning for and are searching people and everyone else. We expect hospitalizations to go up. At the p, we were 85,000. Right now, we are at 63,000. Even though the mortality rate, your chances of dying if you get covid, our way reduced because we know how to pay for you better, to care for you better, even though the death rate is going down, your chances of surviving are much better, we expect deaths to go up. We do expect to see that over the next two to three weeks before this turns around. It is starting to turn now, but we will not reap the benefits for a few weeks. I am saying that schools should have plans like Miamidade County has. They should have plans and parents and families should know what their options are. I am asking you if there is a flareup, should schools revert to Remote Learning . Youre very aggressive about saying reopen, but the next question is, what happens if they feel they cannot . Are you comfortable with Remote Learning if they cannot . Bei think the go to needs to kids in school, in person, in the classroom. For most kids, that is the best environment for them. I understand that what if they cant . Leadeth scotus what if the School District feels they cannot safely go into the school because there is a flareup in the district . Remote learning, are you ok with it in that situation . If there is a shortterm flareup for a few days, that is a different situation than planning for an entirely school year an entire school year in anticipation of something that has not happened. The reality is we are committed to ensuring all students and schools have the resources necessary for kids to be able to continue learning. Where schools do not follow through on that, parents should have the opportunity an option threator no, is the still alive or not . Yes or no. We are committed to ensuring students are in schools and learning. Ok. To be able to take their kids if their school refuses to open that is not a yes or no answer. Here is a look at her live coverage on monday. On cspan, a on foreign chauncey Foreign Policy challenges. That is at 10 30 a. M. On cspan. At one 00 eastern, the House Appropriations committee continues work on 2020 spending bills focusing on energy, water development, labor, hhs and education. On cspan two, an interview with mexico governor Michelle Lujan grisham on her states response to the pandemic. That gets underway at 1 00 p. M. At 2 00, house hearing on oversight and customs enforcement. What measures are being taken to protect detainees and federal employees. Coming up tonight on announcer next on q a, Erin Geiger Smith talks about voting in the u. S. And issues like Voter Suppression and the reliability of voting by mail. At 9 00, Boris Johnson talked about the british governments response to the coronavirus pandemic. At 9 30, President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump take part in a roundtable with students, parents, and teachers on reopening schools in the fall. These voters are going to be weighing about waiting about 1. 5 hours. Normal of have about 180 polling places. This time around, just five. They said they did not have enough workers. Health Department Workers keep people six feetpa