Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 07222020 20240712

Discusses negotiations on the next Coronavirus Relief bill education and labor committee, discusses negotiations on the next Coronavirus Relief bill. The federaluer on response to antiracist protests in portland, oregon. Trump some areas of our country are doing well, others are doing less well. It will unfortunately get worse before it gets much better. Something i do not like saying about things, but that is the way it is. Host this is washington journal for july 22. That was President Trumps coronavirus conference, the first and many weeks. He talked about my squaring, fatality rates, and the challenges ahead when it comes to the pandemic. For the next hour, we are showing what he said, reactions, and get your comments, too. If you want to call and comment on the conference yesterday, 202 7488000 free democrats. 202 7488001 for republicans. 202 7488002 for independents. You can text us at 202 7488003. Post on our twitter feed at cspanwj. If you want to post on our facebook page, you can do so at facebook. Com cspan. The Washington Post writes the somber approach from yesterday goes back to late march, when they had a problem they never faced before and predicted a painful two weeks. The president spent much of april and may attacking governors who did not reopen and many blamed the predicament of the country on the lack of leadership and the president s unwillingness to push face coverings and social distancing as he held rallies, mocking people who wore masks. One of the things that came out from his comments yesterday was the idea of testing in the United States. You can find more at our website at cspan. Org. Here is a question from yesterday. Pres. Trump because we have achieved a nearly fourfold capacity of testing, we are successfully identifying more asymptomatic and mild cases. Some cases so mild that you dont even really treat them. Some cases with children where they dont even know that they are ill. I guess they are not very ill because they recover almost immediately. Per capita, the u. S. Is s, andting 50 more test as manly as three times more than other countries in the western hemisphere combined. Tests. Million this allows us to isolate those infected, even those without symptoms, so we know exactly where it is going and when it is going to be there. We are also working to reduce turnaround time. My administration has aggressively responded to cases in the sunbelt, and we continue to do so, working close with all governors. Right now, in particular those governors. Host that full event is at cspan. Org. 202 7488000 free democrats for democrats. 202 7488001 for republicans. Independents, 202 7488002. You can text us at 202 7488003. Some posting on twitter and facebook this morning. Bill king off of twitter says, it is going to get worse before it gets better, from the president yesterday. The president seems unwilling to take steps to curtail it, such as national mandatory masks and stayathome orders. Sean oneill adds, sure, it is going to get worse before the election. Democrats are counting on there from the virus and they will be ramping up the Propaganda Machine the closer we get. Saying theacebook president made the comments because of polling. And then anita said on facebook, we were told this from the beginning, and especially with increased testing. Common sense, folks. Common sense. Commentsake those available on our social media feeds and the phone lines are available, too. We start off on the democrats line. Guest good morning caller good morning, pedro. Today. Speak with you i am calling to say that i think it is too little, too late. The president has had months to take this position and has not done anything. People are dying because of donald trump. People are fighting in the Grocery Stores because they will not wear masks, and that is because of donald trump. It is all Donald Trumps fault. Host dont states and cities had responsibilities when it comes to mask orders on the light . Caller if we had federal leadership, the localities not have to fight so hard to get it done. Why are people fighting in the Grocery Stores and at restaurants . Because there will not wear masks. That is because of donald trump. It is all his fault. Host anthony is next. He is from hyattsville, maryland. Democrats line. Pretty much i was echoing the same thing. It is too late. 3. 5 months before the election, he changes and wants to be president ial. When 3. 5 years ago, he promised a Better Health care, a Cheaper Health Care for everybody. And all those who follow this guy and still follow him and believe all the lies he tells every day, now that you have egg on your face, he is deciding to wear a mask and he is deciding to say that things are going to get worse. It makes no sense. Himeveryone who follows looks as stupid as donald trump. Host glenn lakeland, florida. Good morning. Go ahead. It,er well, the way i see this is all about trump playing politics. He knows every strategy he tried since the virus came in that he wasted 2. 5 months before he started doing anything in the first week of march. Nothing works. Now the virus is worse than what it was. He cannot go out and campaign, so now he wants to use that platform that he had before him, and now he wants to change his willbecause he think it cause americans that he is basically mixed message of not wear a mask, a washer hands, and now he wants to change that but it is too late because people already made their minds up. Host so what do you think should be done Going Forward . Caller what needs to happen is that the only thing he needs to do is let the medical people, like yesterday, you had the conference but no medical people talking. It was just him. He still refuses to give them the leadership role they had in the beginning to manage and control this, and then he backs them up. He did not do this. Host what do you think the medical people added from previous briefings as far as information or results . Caller what they did is provide information that was needed, and it was put out there, where the mask, quarantine, washing hands, social distancing. They have been saying that per day one, and trump did not support that because his agenda in his mind was different. I want to be the one to control everything. You do what i say you do. It backfired on him. Now, he wants to pretend, well, it is not my fault. Now he wants to rewrite history. Host i asked the previous inler on the roles of people charge of localities and the responsibility they have in their own states. Do you think there was a responsibility there . Caller the responsibility has to come from the top to the governors. The Trump Administration has the federal responsibility ensuring each state has what they need as far as masks, supplies and ventilators. That is how the supply system works. You provide them with what they need, and they proceed to do what they have to do in their states, via hospitals or businesses, to provide what people need. What happened in the beginning as trump did not do those things in the beginning, and was out there trying to grab the same thing that the governors were trying to get to their states and hospitals, say now we have supplies. That is not the way it works. Host when it comes to governors and the like and they put a face mask orders and, dont they have responsibility here . Caller yes, they do. They did their job, but at the same time, if the message at the top, for a lot of these republican governors, they decided they were not going to do or they needed to do for their people. They waited on trump to tell them what to do. That is why they were out there protesting democratic governors who are trying to do the right thing, but trump, when he did that liberation tweet to his supporters, they were protesting and againsttes these democratic governors in the state. He screwed things up. Host when it comes to the event of the briefing yesterday, the first one in many weeks, it was the senates top Democrat Chuck schumer who took the microphone to talk about resuming of that event. Heres what he had to say. [video clip] well, i dont think people should take leach. I dont think hydroxychloroquine is a cure. I think warm weather does not make this go away. The president has called it a hoax. He misleads people. When you look at Foreign Countries in europe and east asia, developed countries, why are they better off than us . Because they have leadership. This president shows no leadership. When he gets up, he speaks mistruths, he tries to muzzle scientists. Better stay away. We do better without him. Host senator schumer profiled nations and how they handled it. The Washington Post looks at two states at how their approach differs, arizona and new mexico. They said it appears both states were in a comparable spots and saw similarly low caseloads. On march 24, with cases taking up, the governor of new mexico issued a stay and in the Arizona Governor followed suit. On april 1, on may 1, new mexico allowed Curbside Pickup at nonessential retailers and open state parks. Arizona allowed elective surgery and then in rapid succession, they allowed retail outlets, coffee shops, gyms and pools to open. On may 15, the governor allowed their state stayathome order to expire. Maskexico issued statewide requirements and took tentative steps toward reopening retail establishments. Most of the state remained locked down. Arizonas outbreak grew out of control and has the highest infection rate in june, exceeding the peak new york set in the beginning of april and the cases remain high. More profiles of those states are in the Washington Post. We will go to our independent line and hear from james. James, you are next. Go ahead. James from tennessee. Caller thank you for taking my call. He dropped the ball from the beginning. All these red states hello . Host go ahead. Caller and all the socalled red states, republican governors, followed trumps lead, and he has led them down into the ditch. Two are for taking my call. Host on our independent line, alan from virginia. Go ahead. Caller good morning, pedro. Thanks for taking my call. I would just like to make a quick comment on two different callers, and everyone has their own opinion and thats great, but i would like to point out the word called common sense. If we could learn to apply a Little Common sense to realize person, ist, no one able to control the pandemic. There are all kinds of mixedsignals from the medical people in the pandemic. Callerssome of your comments, wake up. Lets use common sense. What amazes me is when i think about california and some of these people calling, take a look at its own backyard. Have governors with host when it comes to the president , do you think hes taken up responsibility on the issue . Caller yes, i think he has done all he could do. The democrats will never be satisfied. They have not been satisfied since he was elected. They would do anything and everything. Look at all the looting going on. Host when it comes to the pandemic and you said he has taken spots ability, how so in your mind . Caller how has he not . Explain to me why he isnt. Explained to me why the democrats or the callers are opposed to it, what are they doing . We live in a free country. I have a right to wear a right to wear a mask, and i wear a mask. I dont need a government or donald or anybody to tell me what i can and should do. I can use common sense, and do what i do for myself. Host houston, texas, republican line, michael. Caller good morning. Yount to comment for because i respect you hold peoples feet to the fire when they talk to you. Kudos to you on that. Second comment, i do not hear recovery. Heard i think really the world is headed toward herd immunity. I think that is the only way out of this pandemic. Back in 1919, it was the same thing. The other one is, i watch you all almost every day. Your first five callers were democrats and independents and all negative against trump. I do notice that your people that answer your phones, they seem to lean more towards i guess you get an influx of democratic callers, and they bash the country and they bash the president. Host we only take the calls as they come in. The callers that came in first were the ones that came in first. The person that takes the calls does no such thing. She talks to them, makes sure they are on topic, and puts them on the air. Do think the president has taken an responsibility on this issue . Caller absolutely. I think he has done everything he possibly could. We spent 6 trillion on an economy that shut down in the last four months. That is unheard of. It is unheard of. I do not know where they are getting money from. That is the question. Where is this money coming from . Our children, are they going to be the ones who have to pay it back . How do you think they are going to hold our feet to the fire when it comes to paying back the money . In the hospitals . He has done everything possible, federal resources. That is what they are therefore. Why dont the states use them . I dont understand that. Host we had criticism the president should have won a mask and taking more leadership early on in the case. When you hear those, what do you think of the criticisms . Caller i disagree. This is a free country. I fought for the United States. If im going to wear a mask. If im not allowed in a Grocery Store, you know what . Im going to turn around and go to a Grocery Store that will allow it. For safety sake, if people want to wear it, that is a choice. Host that is michael, houston, texas. He talked about the money being spent because of covert related issues. If you go to the wall street journal, they talk about the debate going on currently about the next package. Senate republican proposal would include 70 billion for k12 schools. It would earmark a further 30 billion for colleges and universities. And a total of 105 billion for Education Department with a 1 trillion opening bid, which republicans are aiming to allow this week ahead of negotiations of the democrats. Districts and colleagues nationwide say they need money for teaching and to fill budget holes after state and local revenues fell. That is the republican plan, 1 trillion. The democratic plan has more than that when it comes to total figures. We will talk to two legislators during the course of the morning, particularly as they go into the house. The house is expected to come in at 9 00 today. We will go to the house for that portion when that happens. If they gaveled out early and if they come in before 10 00, well come back and talk to about the same questions. Just so you know about planning for the show. Joe in fort worth, texas, democrats line. Caller good morning. Conference. E news well, it was supposed to be a virus conference yesterday. That thingscomment are going to get worse before they get better. Him because heh is demanding schools open. Now, he demanded states open, businesses, and you can see what has happened. The numbers have escalated. Throw the schoolchildren in on top of that. He only once schools open because he considers schools babysitters. Schools are not babysitters. Their educational institutions. Host how did you get the notion that the president considers schools babysitters . Caller if you listen to any news, they talk about they want the schools open so the parents can go back to work. Host ok, go ahead and finish thought. Caller my final thought is we opened up, we put people back to work, and the numbers rise. So what do you think is going to happen when schools go back . Host that is joan in fort worth, texas. Next on the independent line in. Caller thanks for having me on in massachusetts. Caller thanks for having me on. I know at this time it is very hard to stick to facts because there are so many emotional pull strings out there. Thatwhat i have to say is one observation i think makes things very clear is if we look john hopkins information we see on television every day. , theit started in china numbers tallied up, and then they started a new call, recovered. How many people have been recovered . China,ce it left there is no more recovery number. All you have is a Global Running total of any person in the world that has ever tested positive for covert in the history of covid, in the history of covid19. So we are getting this number that is really not representative of cases. They are even presenting it wrong because there are not that many cases. There must be at least 70 of those that have been cured now. Another thing, the media. Ir medical industry, or like say now, the medical industrial complex, we look at how these people have treated medicines that have worked around the world, south korea, for example, and their use of these basic drugs to give people that have contact contracted the disease, we have completely dismissed any of these cheap drugs that are very effective. Proven very effective. Host you are talking about hydroxychloroquine . Caller hydroxychloroquine. There is a steroid kids have been using for asthma that apparently 25 million kids have prescriptions for this. That is very effective against this for people that have this virus in the lungs already. It immediately accepted. These are real life it immediately acts to it. These are rely things. I talked to a professor from harvard on your show, and i asked her directly, why was south korea so effective in treating the covid19 sufferers . She said contact tracing. Host ok. Again, we have had a lot of medical professionals over the weeks when it comes to this topic, and if you go to the website, we have archived all those interviews, including the one viewer talked about. If you want to check out what they said on covid19 and the research in the medical background, you can do so there. The front page of the wall street journal, highlights the work of other researchers when it comes to fatality rates. Story that says, according to the research, the total number of infections, which includes underreported cases, suggest covid19 kills from around 0. 3 to 1. 5 of people infected. Most studies have a rates between 0. 5 to 1 , meaning that every 1000 people who get infected, five to 10 would die on average. A new study says that it is deadlier than the seasonal flu but not as deadly as ebola and other diseases that have emerged in recent years. If you go to the cdc, they have updated it in april to show you the flu season and what resulted from that from 2019 102020 and the luminary estimates, saying that when it comes to the actual illnesses, 39 million to 56 million cases, and when it comes to medical business, and hospitalizations. When it comes to deaths, 24,000 to 62,000. That is preliminary information at cdc. Gov if you want to check it out. Marian wisconsin, democratlines mary in wisconsin, democrats line. Caller i find it very surprising that trump is now deciding to tell the truth. I want to touch on something that if you callers from texas that. Herd immunity. I dont think he understands that we cannot have herd immunity if everyone does not wear a mask. And then he brought up trump bashing. I dont find that true at all. I think republicans are just not used to people actually telling the truth, so when people tell the truth about the president that they support so much, like a cold, they find it as trump like acult, they find it like. Trump bashing but we are just listening to scientists data. They are just not used to telling the truth. Host in texas on the independent line, billy. Good morning. Caller good morning. Love your show. You let people speak their mind. The lady right before me beat me to it, talking about the masks and everything. President , if the he said he would leave it up to the governors, yet, he told when the governors to blink their eyes, and if they did not do what he wanted, he threatened to cut federal money for the state. I bet the guy who called was a veteran and he will wear a mask if he wants to, and if you dont want to. Well, wear that mask. It has been proven by science that it will slow this down. If the president would have made an executive order that everyone in every state wears a mask, we would not be in the boat. They left it up to the governors. Now local Law Enforcement says they cannot enforce it, so you have people like him who walk into a store without a mask on, people try to stop them, and they keep walking or get an argument. You may have the right to choose and make decisions. That is america, i love america, but common sense is, if you love your mother, your grandmother, your sister, however, you will want to wear that mask. My wife wears a mask 12 hours a day in the hot kitchen every day. My two daughters are nurses in dallas. One contracted covid i nearly died. They wear three mask sent a face shield. Will just walk in another Grocery Store, i have news come all the Grocery Stores after wear masks. Host may i ask why your wife wears a mask indoors . Caller she works at the living facility for all people. It is mandatory. People. S care of old that guy who was a veteran and says he does whatever he wants, a lot of veterans are up there in age, and those other ones we are trying to protect. Im pretty sure most veterans would want you to wear a mask. That is all i have to say. I love your show. If everyone would just love each other, and wear your masks, for god sake. It is common sense. Host that is brilliant texas. The topic of masks that is billion texas. The topic of masks came up in the conference esther day. You can watch it on cspan. Org. Here is the president. [video clip] yesterday, you said wearing a mask was an act of patriotism. If that is the case, why dont you do it more frequently . Pres. Trump i do it when i need. I carry the mask, like when i go to the hospital. I have the mask right here. I will use it gladly, no problem. I have said that. Use the mass,can, when you can, use the mask. If you are close to each other or in a group, i would put it on intergroup. If im in an elevator, and there are security people with me, it is not their fault they have to be an elevator. I want to protect them also. I have no problem with masks. I view it this way, anything that potentially can help, and that can intentionally help, is a good thing. I have no problem. I carry it. I wear it. You saw me wearing it a number of times and i will continue. Are you sending this message, eeted out anu tw image of wearing a mask and then yesterday we saw you not wearing a mask at your hotel . Pres. Trump i was pretty far away from people at the hotel. If you are close together, i would on the mask. If you are not, for instance, you all have tested, i have been tested, often times im with people who are fully tested. In theory, you dont need a mask. I am getting used to the mask. The reason is, think of patriotism. It helps. We have experts that have said in the recent past that masks are not necessarily good to where. But now they have changed their mind. If they change their mind, that is good enough for me, so i wear it when appropriate. Host josephine in berkeley, south carolina, sent us a text saying, i am a democrat, but i dont understand the democrat attitude of some callers. They get mad if the president does not tell us what to do, and if he does, they get mad. They think people arent intelligent enough to make a decision on their own. Off of facebook, it says it would not matter what he said or does, adding that democrats and the media would attack every word. Rachel in iowa saying that if the president truly believes it will get worse before it gets better, then it is unconscionable to open schools in a matter of weeks, and this is from vicki in wichita, kansas, the problem too many eople do not take to personal responsibility. She writes, you are just want the government to take care of you. If texting is a preferred way to communicate, you can send one to 202 7488003 and you can also take other social media avenues, as well as call upon the line. New jersey is next on the republican line. We will hear from sean. Caller how are you doing . Number one, the president is extremely smart. He has to deal with a lot of stupid people. It is difficult for him. My mom told me do not touch the stove because it is hot. I did not, but my teacher did, and she governed. It is up to us. The president can lead us to water but whether we drink or not is up to us. To 14,000sey, 12,000 people a day got the flu. We do not have sanitizer or masks. If you wanted a mass, you have to pay 10 at the deli or gas station. So, florida, they have all the masks they can get. They have all the Hand Sanitizer they can get. They are still getting 10,000 to thousand a day of people sick the 12,000 people a day who are sick. So is it the president s fault or our fault . Host if people ask you on where he has shown leadership, what would you say . Caller listen, before this covid thing, if you saw someone with the flu, what is the first thing they did, they put their shirt around their face and wash their hands. If you dont want to get the flu, wash her hands and wear a mask. If you dont care and want to be a more on, dont wash your hands and do not wear a mask. It is common sense. You cannot for stupid people to be smart. Host ruben in pennsylvania, democrats line. Caller how are you doing this morning . Host good, go ahead. Caller earlier, they asked if the governors had done better . You have to remember, the president was overwriting the liberate, saying virginia, liberate other cities that were in lockdown. And now that the virus has spread, now he does not want to accept responsibility for it. It is the president s fault. This pandemic is beyond help. He should have done more in been a better leader. Ts on fire fortwee fauci. For the president has proven himself to be unstable. Host regardless of what he says, dont governors take the responsibility . Caller yes, the governors were trying to take responsibility and he was trying to override them. The same way he did in portland, oregon. The governors were saying we dont want him there, and they still send them there. The president is dividing this country. He has done it by retreating , and reopen minnesota. Host next on the democratic line. Caller on this mask deal, what i have in hearing lately is that a dirty mask can cause legionnaires disease. Legionnaires disease has the same symptoms as a covid virus, so you see these people Walking Around with 30 masks. You know with dirty masks, and you know they are dirty because you can see dirty fingerprints. Host how does that relate to the president s statements from the conference yesterday . Caller it relates to your subject of Wearing Masks. Isnt that what youve been talking about all morning . Host this is the president saying the virus will get worse before it gets better. Caller i dont know if it will not. He does not know that either. Host bradley is in West Virginia. Line for democrats. Caller good morning, cspan. I am a democrat. Sometimes im ashamed to say i am. All these people are blaming the president and everybody for this. The lady from florida a minute ago needs to get her head out of her butt. Listen. We had one of the greatest amount in 2019 in West Virginia. During the last span, it came up from myrtle beach were everyone flooded the resort laces. Resort places. Now West Virginia is up in the higher part of people having this and it is because some people are not doing with the gentleman is saying, use common sense. Wear a mask. You do things, you wash your hands. You do not blame the governor. You do not blame the mayor. You do not blame the president. Host what is ultimately the president who one the one who takes responsibility by example . Caller i can agree on that. One lady i am talking about a while ago, shes blaming the president for all of these, not having the facilities. When you have to bring them from japan and these Foreign Countries, just like cars and all of our other junk coming in from one countries, it is no wonder it happen the way it did. Host bradley in West Virginia giving us a call. The cdc, when it comes to testing done and antibodies developed for those with coronavirus, they talk about the latest from the cdc saying that the agency, saying that few have antibodies. The agency also reported that the number of actual infections is far higher by two times 13 times. The higher estimate is based on antibodies, which indicates the virus accumulates a number of reported cases in the United States now stands at 3. 8 million. But new data appeared on the cdc website. The information on antibodies was derived from blood samples, drawn from new york, utah, Washington State and self order. The samples were current collected in early spring and ending in early june for two sites. Only the earlier results were available. We heard from bradley in West Virginia. Omar is in north carolina, independent line. Caller hello . Host go ahead. Wondering,as just are you a republican or democrat . Host we dont talk about our political positions here, so you can ask but i will not answer. Caller i just wanted to know, all these republicans calling in saying that trump did the right thing, he is trying to do this or he cannot, what planet do they think they are on . I just dont understand some of these people. This dude is an idiot. Of course it is his fault. He was going against dr. Fauci, telling people not to wear masks and same it was a hoax and that it would go away in the summer time. Now the cases are spiking in every county and state. This is ridiculous. I dont understand some of these people. It is beyond me. Host some of the callers this morning said there is a matter of personal responsibility. Some said they should not he hung up, so we will go to michael. Michael in oregon, democrats line. Caller hi, pedro, how are you . Host i am well, go ahead. Caller it is very difficult. Right from the very beginning, january, february, march, there was so much time delay, and all this money that happened to be spent now could have introduced. There was going to be some, horse, but if they had taken this possibility and done something at the beginning to try and mitigate this from the beginning, to responsibility, and let people know you know, he said, i knew it was a pandemic before anyone else called it a pandemic. Sometimes it is just difficult to keep up with all the lies the president says over and over. It was amazing that he read from his teleprompter or his sheep the whole time and sheet, and the whole time stayed on script. It was amazing he did not jump off and go off on his tangent usually does. I was impressed with that. Still, he says we are going to have a plan. How many people have already died . We are going to have a plan . You should already have a plan. Im sorry. Thank you for taking my call, pedro. Host that is michael in oregon. One of the people commenting on the president s management of coronavirus was joe biden, appearing at a president ial in his run for president , and you can see it on cspan but here is the portion from yesterday on the president s management. [video clip] each day the pandemic death dell death toll grows, each day in some states more people test positive than the day before. Too Many American workers are out of work and losing hope. Reported by the president staff that the president is not really working this anymore. He does not want to be distracted by it. Does not want to be distracted by it. His own staff admits that donald trump fails the most important test of being an american president , the duty to care for you, for all of us. It is also reported that he will lock any funding for more testing and tracing in the next covid relief bill, which is being discussed now on the floor of United States congress. Just as states report record cases and hospitalizations and deaths continue to rise. This man simply does not understand. He cannot deal with the economic crisis without saving the Public Health crisis. His bluster about his expertise on the economy, he is unable to explain how it will actually help working families had the hardest. Host about 20 minutes left. If you want to comment on those comments from the president yesterday understated coronavirus, 202 7488000 for democrats. 202 7488001 for republicans. Independents, 202 7488002. A couple of other news items to show you. The bbc reporting that the United States order china to close or consulate in houston, by friday. A move described as google provocation by beijing. The state Department Said that it was taken in order to protect foreign property. I china spokesperson said it was unjustified and outrageous. It came after unidentified individuals were films burning paper in the buildings courtyard. One thing going back on capitol hill, one know that would fund the defense department. The Washington Post reports that passing, but the president threatening to veto a 740 billion spending bill hours before the house passed the legislation by a veto proved majority, heading for a showdown between the white house and congress. The white house listed several provisions of the houses legislation that the president finds objectionable, among them redirected to rename the bases in the year, and white house advisers call the order part of a sustained effort to erase the history of the nation for those who attempt to rewrite history and displace the enduring legacy of the American Revolution with an ever shifting standard of context. If you go to the washington came yesterdays from the u. S. Census, saying that the headline is the census excludes base aliens from count. It is reported that the president s purpose for determining the house lawmakers from each state, it would be their responsibility to exclude from the apportionment to those who were unlawful immigration status. He signed the law without ceremony or presence of news media. My administration will not support giving a presentation to aliens who remain in the country unlawfully because that would undermine our system of government. This is part of a broader leftwing effort to erode the rights of american citizens, and i will not stand for it. The story adding that democrats criticized the move and will fight it in court. In akron, ohio, gail is next, independent line. Caller yes, good morning. I watch a lot of television. I am elderly and retired. I saw something yesterday that came from south korea. I put a lot of stock into it because they have very wisely handled this pandemic. They had a study about children and what they ended up with was to 19ids that are 10 actually spread the disease just like an adult would. Kids from zero to nine spread it at a 50 rate. I am very, very concerned about the schools opening. Country, in mye opinion, far too soon. Catastrophic reality is ,hat, you know, our children all the children across the United States going back to die and also get that disease that might have lifelong effects on the. Host that is our caller from ohio. This is from abc news, a story on their website, same as the fight against the coronavirus continues across the nation, infections among younger populations have sounded alarm. One county in texas has seen an alarming amount of new covid cases and babies. County reportne more than 85 babies under the age of one have tested positive for coronavirus since march. Of those, 60 reported this month. We will hear from nikki and virginia honor democrats line. Hello. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I listen to cspan a lot. I listen to a lot of different people having comments all the time, every morning. I think it is very interesting that particularly with this event that is happening with the coronavirus, that there are a lot of people who not allowing the president to be president ial in this particular moment. Hypocrisy to say that the republican governors are not going to follow trumps lead. They have been doing it since he was president. They want to stay in his good graces. If they wanted to stop this or wrap his arms around this, only had to do is say, we need to stand together. We need every governor to make sure their states are protected, and we need to enforce mask wearing and social distancing. But he did not do that. It is because he did not want to take responsibility for the fact that something bad was happening because he wanted to make sure that the economy was doing great. That is the reason why he is downplaying things. I think it is having a domino effect. So when im looking at the screen and it says, it may get worse before it gets better, we all knew that. We all knew that. So did the doctors, so did the people who are doing with this virus. People who are seeing people dying every day. We have seen that. It is little bit to ladle, too late too little, too late. It is hot pockets see that he downplayed the buyer it is hypocrisy that he downplayed it from the beginning. Host i have asked others on the responsibility that leadership in localities have on this, are they the ones ultimately who manage what happens in their state when it comes the pandemic . Caller they are. I think a lot of governors have taken the responsibility. For example, my governor and virginia, governor northam, was one of the first governors to shut down schools in the country i believe. He was the first one, the quickest. It had great results. Because we are a resort area, we started to see a spike in cases because, of course, you have that pressure to want to open and get Small Business is moving, so we had a spike. We are a resort city. He got on television and had a press conference and said, we have got to stop this now. It is because we know that we need to move forward in the economy needs to move forward. Also, people are dealing with unemployment and the schools. It is insane to me that trump can say he wants all the children to go back into school. Yet, at the press conference yesterday, said, it can get worse before it gets better. How . The two things do not match. Host since you are in a resort town, what has been the impact . Do see people acting responsibly . You are not too far from virginia beach. Caller pedro, there are beaches and nor folk, as well, but there are people everywhere. I have been to the beaches in norfolk, they are packed. Sandridge, the resort town with lots of rentals, a rental area in virginia beach, filled to the gills. People are still coming. People are still coming. I think the issue is how you do it responsibly. One person cannot dictate everything, but you could put a strong message out and put regulations in place to give people an understanding as to how bad this is. I do not believe that is what trump did. I believe he let it coast for far too long, and i do not think he wrapped his arms around this severity of what is happening and we are having the result of it severity of what is happening and we are having the result of it. Adamant aboutu so it now is because the economy is not recovering like he once, and he wants children back in school. We could have a separate conversation about that. Host we will leave it there. Charlotte in houston texas, republican line. Caller let me start off with one statement. If the president came out and said, ok, everything shut down, wear your masks, nobody out in this you have to become never the case may be, nobody would have listened anyway. Listened. Ld have the democrats would have done what they wanted to do. The republicans would have done what they wanted to do. In regards to the responsibility , ok, the individual states wanted to be able to control their areas. Geographically. Ok, so they are the ones who are mandating. They are the ones who are pushing this or that mandate or not Wearing Masks or Wearing Masks. The mayors are all democrats. Do you think theyre listening to the republican governor . When they want to. It would have been the same damn thing of President Trump came out and said it. Nobody would have listened. They would have done what they wanted to do anyway. Host do think the president has been a good example . Caller i do think he has. Dr. Fauci came out in january and said it is a very low risk. Does anybody remember that . Very little risk. They came out and said dont wear masks. They should have said, do not wear masks because we needed for our essential employees. But instead, he did not say that. He said, do not wear masks, they are not helpful. These cloth masks, you really think it is stopping something . Host that is dr. Fauci, but the president , do you think he has taken the right amount of responsibility . Caller i most certainly do. Host why so . Caller it is his choice if you wanted to wear the muska not. Wear that mask or not. Host aside from the mask and the general management of the pandemic, do you think he has been responsible in all of this . Caller well, he is managing it the way the governors have asked him to. The governors are responsible for everything. Not the president. He can suggest something. Host ok, and is your name charlotte or charolette . She hung up. Lets go to maurice in california, independent line. Caller can you hear me . Host you are on. Caller thanks for taking my call. I would like to say comments about the republicans and democrats. They need to tone down the rhetoric because everyone is polarized on one side or the other. They are not giving. Right now, trump has accomplished one big thing that they are really no undecided people anymore. His poll numbers are drastically down. Theres not going to be a rebound from this. So we only have a few more months left in this term. Host when you say republicans and democrats are not giving, what do you mean and how does that relate to the pandemic . Caller well, they are polarized. Or love trump he is they either hate or love trump. He is either doing nothing or everything he is either doing nothing or everything. And there is no middle ground anymore. Yesterday, he stuck to his speech. He did a good job, not a great job. It is a little late. The pandemic is worsening. We need more of a unified front. If you would have had 50 governors, some at the beginning, and said, we are going to be unified in the complete shutdown and complete mass glaring orders and stuff like that, we might mask wearing orders, and stuff like that, we might be in a better situation than we are today. He tried to give leadership yesterday. Hopefully we can rebound and something good can come out of it. Hopefully he can stick to this type of message and tone that will may be toned down some of those republicans and democrats hatred. Host maurice in california on the independent line. One of the issues of management, aside from the president and pandemic, is the debate in the senate over the next coronavirus package. Theealt with education, but majority leader in the senate, mitch mcconnell, talked about what they would like to see in the next package. [video clip] sen. Mcconnell if youre looking for a thing, i will not put a bill on the floor that does not have liability protection. Do not mischaracterize what this is about. This is not just for businesses. Nurses, doctors, yes, businesses, but also colleges, in fact,es, k12 everyone is trying to grapple with this new disease that we did not fully understand. Unless you are grossly negligent or engaged in intentional misconduct, you should not have to deal with an epidemic of lawsuits on the heels of the pandemic we have already experienced and are still experiencing. 3500 lawsuits have already been filed. They are lining up to pick the pockets of everyone who is trying a good faith to deal with something we never experienced before. Beyond that, jobs and health care. Host again, stay close to cspan the next few weeks as the house and senate go back and forth, they would like to see in the next package. We will talk about that package with the legislators in the next hour. Matt saying, common sense is all it takes. It really doesnt matter what the president says. The cdc and World Health Organization since the common sense guidelines. It is up for you to listen. There is more to the virus. I know they are not telling citizens. China won a war against the World Without firing a bullet. We were also texted saying, the reason the president started the press conference was because polls were dropping for him, and that is the only reason, to improve his rating. If you want to text thoughts, you can text at 202 7488003. Richard in california, democrats line. You are next. Caller good morning, pedro. Host hi. Caller thank you for cspan and good morning to america. Stay safe. A couple of things. On senator mcconnells point, we have not seen Something Like this in a long, long time, if ever, so i think politicizing it for trump, for biden, for anyone at this point, it could be a , weidate or president x have not seen anything like this in a long time wherever. His hands are tied a long time or ever. His hands are tied. Any scientist professionals hands are tied. No one has the answer. I do believe for the country to stay positive, instead of two ar press conferences, i think virus protection education on television kind of in the homes of america showing them that you should clean your hands when you come in from the house, throw a disposable mask away or put it in a sanitizing case, a washer hands. When you leave, grab a clean mask, gloves if necessary, sanitizer, but you cannot wrap contaminated grab contaminated tasks. There just has to be more education on that front. Host because you say those things and i assume you practice those things, do you think people would know that this far into it we have experienced so far . Caller no, pedro. I really dont. Peoplethree out of 10 are doing their Due Diligence as medical professionals would, but i think it would calm people down and get them something to watch. Maybe they could have tsas with activities to do in the house with children because it is going to a quarantine again. Katrina, i saw that storm moving in, pedro. We do not want Something Like that. It could be helpful to proactively maybe get some military assistance, national guard, or military and more triage hospitals, so in case this really does blow up, we are prepared and we are not sitting on our hands. I think our country deserves it. I think the country can afford it. You know, we need to prepare now. Host that is richard in california giving us his thoughts. We will hear from pat in new jersey, republican line. Caller hello. I would really like to say i think the president has done what he can. I saw what he did early in the plandemic when new york city was hardhit. He gave Governor Cuomo everything he wanted. Hospital, heshift gave him a hospital ship in the harbor. He gave our governors everything they wanted. Yesterday, ioticed was watching the house after the journal went off, and the clerk, i think she was reading a bill, and she actually had a t in the mask stash sl slit to read things. So what is the point of a mask . Host we will hear from mike. Go ahead. Caller i just got one thing to say, i think everybody is looking at this little sideways. They are not reporting the right numbers. They are reporting the number of cases. With a need to be reporting on is the percentage of positive cases. Test today, and one person so if you give 10 test today and one person test positive, that is 1 . But if you give 100 tests tomorrow and 10 people test positive, that is still 10 . But the media is fear mongering the nation into thinking that the cases. Host that is mike taylor from michigan. Thank you for all who participated. The house will come in at 9 00 for speeches and to conduct morning business. In the next hour we will hear from two legislators joining us, len thompson of pennsylvania will talk about the next relief bill and things he would like to see or not see in that package. And then later on, Earl Blumenauer who represents portland and parts of portland will talk about the federal response to antiracism protests in the city. First we want to show you a little bit from the house Natural Resources subcommittee hearing featuring the reverend robert ely, a descendent of the i sorry, helee is w lee, who had this to say about robert e lee. [video clip] i am not the first robert lee to testify, one did in 1866. It is another person who bears a first and surname identical to mine whose lineage i bear as a nephew of confederate general robert e. Lee. I have been clear that i dare not speak for my family or the general himself, as some still revere him and see no reason for this hearing today. The famedtead let confederate soldier speak for himself as his documented testimony before congress can be found easily in your records. Andasked before congress the country if black american citizens were equally capable of acquiring knowledge as white americans, that robert lee said i do not think he is capable of acquiring knowledge is the white man is. There is some more apt as others, i have known some to acquire knowledge and skill, i have had servants of my own who learns to read and write well. He was asked by a senator from missouri in the same hearing, if Southern States should allow the suffrage of black americans. Is remarked, my own opinion at this time that they cannot vote intelligently, and that giving them the right of suffrage will open the door to great deals of demagogy is him and lead to embarrassments in various ways. I raise these two statements and moments from the other robert thes testimony to highlight difference and dissidents from what this robert lee is going to say. Afully believe along with host of other amazing citizens of this great country that black lives matter, and for us to consider to continue the education the legacy of a man who previously fault for the continue enslavement of africans on the north American Continent is an affronts to those suffering under current weights of oppression. I want to uplift two people who share that with me, jeannie thean, my black nanny in 1990s who sang the sweet hour of prayer while i slept in my arm in her arms. She is not on my earth to day, but she along with countless others who experienced White Supremacy are cheering you all on to show that the cost of following what is right right not be politically expedient but is incredibly good. My confirmation mentor, a strong woman of color, taught me i could take my confederate symbols down and live to tell the tale. She implored me to remove a flag and picture i had because she saw my life, my calling as more valuable than the symbols. I am here today to say the same is true for all of you. If we are honest, the answer is clear. We cannot remain complicit with these monuments, we cannot remain silent anymore. Our silence becomes agreement and endorsement. The statue of the antietam and what it represents must be removed for a more Perfect Union , which is inclusive of a better tomorrow and United States. [end video clip] washington journal continues. Guest is first representative Glenn Thompson and is a member of the education and labor committee. Thank you for joining us. Guest thank you for the opportunity. Varyingsuppose you hear back and forth about the price tag of the next coronavirus package. What are your thoughts on what should be or should not happen . Guest i do think obviously we need to take all of the information that we have learned in this rather completely relieved unique situation i do not think we have ever been in before to this extent, that has impacted both physical health and Economic Health. For, ishat i am looking something that focuses like a additional investments are warranted, whether it is for health, physical health, or Economic Health. Those are some of the things i am looking for. There are industries that are continuing to struggle, and will continue to struggle to some degree until week, hopefully by this flu season, have a vaccine in place, which would be monumental. During the polio pandemic, it took 10 years to have a vaccine. The fact that we would have this within a year, over two dozen vaccines in human trial, and we have a ways to go, but i am hoping and praying that we actually have something that can be distributed to those en masse that are looking for those protections. There is going to be those things. Agriculture will continue to struggle because of the disruption in the food supply chain. Schools having been shuts down, university shut down, restaurants, 63 percent of all meals were eaten in restaurants, and those numbers are inching back up. A lot of people are still eating at home, and that takes different packaging. Travel is reduced, schools,ndustry, our there are some additional moneys that i think in a bipartisan way we can look at the educational needs. I do not think it is a question of if, but when schools open back up. Education is the pathway to opportunity. Any time the pathway is disrupted, that things happen, academic loss, dropout rates. For some children from vulnerable families, their nutrition is impaired. And, for children living in circumstances where they may be sheltering in place with their abusers, there is a lot of mandatory reporters that have been sidelined with our kids being out of school. Areas, but it should be based on what we have learned and what documented need remains. About aould be contingent addressing harm, but also pivoting to economic recovery. Schools,n it comes to the senate talking about 105 billion price tag for schools k12 and colleges. The democrats wanted to see more. Is there a figure that is acceptable or too high . Guest we start with what we know, so i think the 105 billion is significant on top of the money already invested. All of our schools, some public and private that received Financial Resources as a part of the cares packages were voted on as in a bipartisan way in order to help mitigate this disruption of the education process. I do not think it has been challenging, with the schools being closed. Anywhere from organizations from the collaborative for student growth to the Brookings Institution has documented the decrease in quality of education. I do not think it is the fault of the teacher, i am a big fan of the teachers. Is difficultat it to replace inplace education, and so, i think starting out with 105 billion is a reasonable approach. We should be doing this in a major way. What money gets utilized by the School Districts, i think they have a lot of challenges, and i do believe as i call myself a member,ng school board which my wife followed me in service as the School Board Member after i had done that. Our family has been involved in public education. There is going to be additional costs for transportation and there may be additional costs for implementing some of the guidance and recommendations, or trying to adjust to the recommendations coming out for the centers of disease control. There is great guidance there. I think there is great ideas, and that is what that is about. It is up for the local School Districts, the administration and the School Boards to figure out how they manage both the health risks and quite frankly the educational risk. Responsibility, and i think the resources that are being talked about right now could be very helpful in getting our kids back into school, recognizing that there may be some at risk, both teachers and students, and the School District will have to do something completely different with. Some type of educational flexibility, basically. Untilour guest is with us 8 30. If you want to ask questions, 2027488000 free democrats. Republicans, 2027488001. Independents, 2027488002. It is on the senate side, but there is discussion on two fronts, lowering the additional amount of money offered through unemployment, and then the other would also include Liability Protections for some industries. On its face, what do you think about those ideas . Guest let us start with Liability Protections, and i think that is extremely important for employers, schools, health care providers, for local governments. The Liability Protections, we stalled, notcally an entity that a lawsuit should be brought against. We were physically assaulted by a highly contagious virus, and it is unfortunate, and it is not like we have not faced this in the past. The spanishidemic, flu at the end of world war i, those were different times. But, those had Significant Health impacts, and fatal impacts. I do believe that anything that we do Going Forward, if we want to have any type of hope of economic recovery, we are going to need liability protection. There is no doubt about it. The first part of your question . Host about whether to keep the additional unemployment increase. That, i think unfortunately we did that in such a rush, and it was warranted, because we did not know what we were facing with the coronavirus. Package, whiches overall turned out pretty well, were some parts that were rushed a little much. I would say, in terms of the extra unemployment, if that is a part of anything, it should be targeted surgically based on the cost of living. You know, and most of pennsylvania i can tell you the extra 600 a week for unemployment, there are people that were on unemployment making a lot more money than they were when they were going to work. The incentive was if you are staying more making more money staying at home, it is to resist or be hesitant going back to work. I talked with a lot of employers in manufacturing and Service Industries who have been challenged yet people back to work because of that extra money. If you live in new york city where the cost of living, or seattle where the average just huge,st is obviously. Then, if you lived in new york city, the extra 600 a week was maybe enough for you to pay your rent and to pay for your groceries, your health care costs, and so the important thing is whatever we do, it ought to be based on documented need. We are four months into this pandemic, this crisis, we should be able to do things in a major way, a way based upon data, science, and the facts. We should be able to determine where there really is need, and that is where we should address these things. David inst call from West Virginia, independent line. Go ahead with your question or comment. If nancy pelosi really wants a National Mandate on Wearing Masks or facial covers nationally, how come they have not put a mandate in any of the stimulus plans . They keep blaming President Trump of not putting out a National Mandate of Wearing Masks. Woulddid, the democrats protested, and half the people wearing the masks now would not be wearing it. I am in West Virginia and a governor put out a mandate a few weeks ago. And, most of the people are Wearing Masks. Blaming President Trump, and like i said, he actually put out a national, they would take it to the Supreme Court and the democrats would rip off their masks and less people would wear it. Host thank you. Guest thank you for that. Some excellent points. Sadly, there is so much each and every day that is done based on politics, and not good policy based on the science, data, and facts. You know what, masks have a role, but to do a mandate, what is most important, the guidance is clear who the at risk populations are, the cdc guidance is clear that the works,distancing is what that is six foot apart. We know that this is respiratory driven and maintaining that six foot buffer allows space for those droplets when you speak, they get expressed. It protects people if you maintain that. And so, to mandate that everybody wear a mask all the time when quite frankly there are other factors that will help to manage this risk is put pure politics. Meetings,mittee misses pelosi has done the same thing. We are spread out more than six foot apart, which is fine, we have to use bigger space to do that, and yet they require us to okr masks when and it is for the witnesses not to have masks on when they are speaking. You can tell the lack of consistency for convenience, it is politics. Masks are important. I am a former emergency medical technician and worked in Rehabilitation Services for 20 years before i came to congress. I have worn masks in the middle of the night on emergency medical response as a volunteer and did that for 28 years. So i understand the importance, i wear them when i them appropriately. Do, they are trying to unfortunately there is too much politics in this pandemic, and i think that detracts us from being united as a nation of doing what is necessary, but moving ahead and promoting both the fiscal and the Economic Health of our citizens. Host from lafayette, tennessee. We will hear from mike, good morning. Caller i had a very simple question for you. Mother, aunts, and uncles in their 70s and 80s received a stimulus check and spent every penny of it in the local businesses in andyette tennessee locally owned restaurants. Will you support making sure that our retired senior citizens, disabled veterans and disabled americans are included in the second round of stimulus checks. Thank you. Guest thank you. I am a fan of tennessee. My daughter and law is from tennessee, i think down in your area, actually. We will see. It would not be the second round, we have it we have done at least four or five different care packages dating back to march 11, and we have invested a significant amount of money, while over trip 3 llion for the Health Physical health and Economic Health of our citizens in this country. I do not know if there will be a second round of stimulus checks. Those have been difficult to complete because some folks are receiving them like your mother, aunts, and uncles, because of being retired have not paid into the irs, appropriately so. We still have folks in the process of receiving that 1200 stimulus, 2400 dollars per married couple. Whether it is by the evp card, or check. If there are listeners that are struggling, i encourage you to reach out to your congressional office. That is what we are for, we are your representative, and we are working a lot of casework. Last week i personally called a lot of these folks reassuring them that we are working on this. We will have to see if that is the most effective in terms of you laid it out nicely. You talked about how it was for the economic recovery. I am not sure if that is the point, theat this best strategy for stimulating economic recovery. We need to do that, but what people need to do is figure out what is the best strategy, and it may the more focus. Restaurants are one of those injuries that we need to take a closer look at. Many of them that will close permanently will continue to close under the dictates of 50 people in this country, the governors who have shut down the economies to whatever degree they felt necessary which resulted in a lot of losses to Small Business. Restaurants, Small Businesses, oil, agriculture, we have got to figure out the airline industry. We have got to figure out how we rekindle the fires for those economic engines, because it is incredibly important to our economy that these businesses continue. Host new jersey, brenda, republican line. Caller good morning. The gentleman just before answered my question, or you did about i was calling about the stimulus check for retired senior citizens. You answered it looking forward into helping the business is spending the money businesses and spending the money that they gave me. Depart,anted, before i talking with you, i appreciate all that you do. I really enjoy listening to President Trump. I was always a democrat many years ago, switched to become a republican. Democrat in the last couple years are so far left and President Trump is trying and doing to make america great. Please, i really appreciate all that you do and, President Trump, keep up the good work. Thank you for taking my call. Guest thank you maam. Host representative thompson, you have a background of being a former nursing home administrator. With that is the background, what is your level of comfort with the state of Nursing Homes and the ability to catch covid in the homes . Iest you have to remember, was licensed as a nursing home administrator when i finished my almost 30 year career in Rehabilitation Services. Different, this is but i will say first of all, the most vulnerable of our citizens are in Nursing Homes. These folks are there because they because of their illness or disability, there is no other place for them to be. It has always been the most vulnerable, and we have known from the beginning that that population is the population that right up front, we knew the data, it was older adults, 65 or older with preexisting ,onditions or Health Problems basically impaired autoimmune systems, and these are the folks most at risk not just of contracting covid19. It is highly contagious. A lot of people any age can get it. They are the most vulnerable for severe symptoms, respiratory distress that progresses to death. A lot of states like pennsylvania, most of the deaths have happened within Nursing Homes. I am not going to criticize the frontline workers, the men and women working as nurses aides, nurses, therapists, dietary services, and housekeeping, because they work hard to provide great, Compassionate Care for older adults. I am not going to blame the people who manage them. They have a difficult job. You want a job i usually joke around and say the only thing that has more regulations and industry than Skilled Nursing is the nuclear industry. How thisncerns with was managed by many of our governors including the governor of pennsylvania who mandated individual, an older adult was diagnosed with covid19 in a Skilled Nursing facility and was admitted to the hospital appropriately for the care they needed to have that there was a mandate that they had to be readmitted back into the nursing home. That was like throwing a virus can grenade into the middle of a vulnerable population. We saw that in six states with a majority of the deaths occurring in longterm care facilities, and that was bad policy. It was not well thought out, and it was bad management. And, our Nursing Homes do the best we can with the resources they have. That i am as said conservative republican, but i believe that when it comes to medicaid that what we paid to care for the most vulnerable is really inapt and pretty pathetic. Most of that is set for the state that set by the states and there is federal support for it. Those facilities have done the best they can and there is a lot we can learn from. I think the number of deaths m what i have read, have are decreasing because some of those wrong minded policies are being corrected. I think there are things we need to learn from this and we need to build resiliency, not in longterm care, but everywhere, because these viruses today, and back in 1918, it traveled at the speed of steamships and trains as our troops came back. That took weeks and months to spread. At theiruses spread speed of jet airplanes, so that ifours if not days hours not days. Build o be told we need to look at medicaid and look at wrong my policies to make sure that they are not forced upon Nursing Homes from governors or any other individual in government. I will say that i was impressed with the medicare and Medicaid Services that President Trumps administration did. I watched that closely with my former professional background and they were focused on Infectious Disease of preventing the spread and getting maximum flexibility and providing waivers that would keep longterm care residences as healthy as possible, but there are things there are lessons all around that we can learn from this virus and we should be now, to i think right build resiliency for the future. The not know when or where next virus will come from, i am hoping and praying that it is not for 50 years. The fact is if we do not build resiliency or plan for the next time around, shame on us. Host robert in georgia, running short on time, so jump in with your question or comment. Caller it is a comment. Just like the virus can be contained and all that is being done through people such as local commissioners, mayors, and governors that we should be able to listen to them so we might be able to see this virus through to its near finish. Host ok. That is robert in a gust. Guest very insightful, i have been frustrated that my own state and i think other states to where the dictates have come from one person and that has been governors. There is nobody that knows their our countyarea as commissioners, our board of commissioners. At least in pennsylvania they have been ignored. They have not helped to have any input in making decisions on how to best manage the physical and Economic Health of the citizens. Speaker of former the house that said all politics are local, and great Public Policy and most effective Public Policy is local as well, and those are my words, because they know the people, area, and the risks. Then the state and federal government can provide guidance to assist. I do agree with you, i think local governments including our county commissioners should serve a more prominent role during these types of emergencies. Host this is representative Glenn Thompson serving the 15th district. Before we let you go, there is a call for liz cheney to be removed as the head of the House Republican conference for several issues, is that something you support . Guest absolutely not, i think it is ridiculous. She has done a great job as conference chair, and i appreciate her leadership, and i appreciate her vision and the strategies, and the communication that she has with the conference. Distraction that we do not need right now. Representative Glenn Thompson, thank you for being on washington journal. Guest my pleasure. Host the house expected to come in at 9 00 for speeches and then later on to conduct business. Right now we are joined by Earl Blumenauer, a representative from oregon who serves a third district, welcome back. When you hear people talk about the multiday protests owing on in your city, how do you respond to that particularly in light of the federal government or the president wanting federal resources being sent to the city. Guest this is a madefortv artificial crisis. Henchmenump and his have taken the very difficult situation. We have had 55 days of protest. About are deeply upset the abuses of police power, problems in terms of unequal application of the law for black americans. People care about that. In the main, these have been peaceful act to binets i have attended of a number of demonstrations. What we have seen is a militarization on the efforts on the part of the federal government, unwelcome, uninvited, and unprepared who made a difficult situation much worse. That it is the oregonian reported that the Police Department reported 23 Million Dollars to damages to businesses and the like. How do you respond to the businesses being affected and the dollar figure . Guest i think it is unfortunate and it is not anything that we continence, and it is interesting that you have seen citizens responding to try and prevent that. ,ou have the wall of moms leadership of the black community, protesters pushing back against unlawful behavior. Those people ought to be tracked down, arrested, and prosecuted. That is not a city in chaos, that is not right. Riot. That does not justify actions to take away the ability to peacefully protest. I had a constituent two nights ago who was attacked by the police. Graduate, aapolis naval veteran who was down with naval gear so he could identify people. Protest,s very first and he had difficulty squaring what these federal officers were doing with their oath of office, and he stood there asking how they justified that. He was beaten. He had pepper spray in the face, beaten with a birth with a baton, that is outrageous. It is unacceptable, and one of the reasons why i am working with my colleagues to take action to try and stop this. Host legislatively, what can be done . To defundare working these activities and working to clarify the authority. Federal officials can protect federal property. When they move into the streets and to engage in local Law Enforcement, when they are out there abducting private citizens in unmarked cars and taking them away, that is crossing the line. Are there expressly over the objections of our governor, our mayor, this is not helpful at all, and i think it is deliberative late deliberately provocative. This is part of Donald Trumps strategy and he will do it in other immunities. Lafayette he did in park, interfering with Peaceful Protesters for a photo op. This is Banana Republic activity. Host our guest with us until the house comes in at 9 00. 2027488000 for democrats. 2027488001 for republicans. Independents, 2027488002. You mentioned the roll to federal officers and protection property, has any federal property been damaged . Guest graffiti and broken windows. The characterization of the acting secretary of homeland acurity that this is community in chaos and riots is just an outright lie. I walked the streets of portland every week when i am home, i have been at peaceful protests and watched people assemble to express their right to protest. Midnight or early in the morning at certain times there are agitators. There are some people there who are trying to cause problems, people all over the political spectrum who delight in that. That is not what is happening with the vast majority of peaceful protests. There has not been widespread damage to federal property and it is no excuse to be able to move in on Peaceful Protesters. That is what the local authorities can and should do. That is their problem. Host you mentioned the acting he mentioned the arrests and these things yesterday. I want to play you sound of what you had of what he had to say. [video clip] i want to make sure that everybody understands that these arrests are highly coordinated within the incident command at portland. Deputy said, there are a multiple of agencies and we are one entity that that is there. Every arrest is coordinated within that unified command, and they are narrowly targeted, and done so in accordance with established procedures and authorities. For example, as has been mentioned, individuals who are with intent, willfully arming themselves with weapons. They come there each and every night, with intent, they arm themselves with a barrage of weapons with the intent to destroy federal property and seriously injure federal Law Enforcement officers. Those are the individuals we are talking about. Agent orsee a cbp officer that is out there, they are doing so in that very targeted fashion to go after somebody who has committed a federal crime, and that varro narrow targeted roach of what i am talking about are those who have actually intentionally harmed a federal officer. Wall are doing so while these officers are protecting federal property. [end video clip] host your response. Guest i think it is not true. People have seen the video of the gentleman who was standing on the edge of the activity. Teargas canister that fell at his feet, he rolled it back. A federal official shot him in the in the head with a projectile. He is having reconstructive surgery. He is just standing there. I mentioned what happened to my constituent who was beaten when he asked a question. Int is wildly inaccurate terms of what is actually happening. I talked to our mayor yesterday, they are not welcome. They have been moved out of the incident command operation, they are they are complicating local Law Enforcement, not helping it. Host let us have some calls. Inesa and tennessee, tennessee, you are first up. Go ahead. Caller good morning. First of all i want to say that anyone who gets on tv and says that this is a peaceful protest asinine to say Something Like that. I want to ask you why this is only happening in democrats states. Do you really think this is a platform that democrats should be running on, to the first senate, house, and the president. Do you really think you will win on this platform of protect violence,essness and murder, and destruction. This is what your platform is, and you think that us as americans will sit here and go for any democrat that supports this . Host ok, we will let him respond. Guest teresa is engaged in crazy talk. Myave serve my community entire career. I believe in Public Safety and have worked hard to keep our communities safe. The notion that Peaceful Protesters represent a threat to our way of life, i think is outrageous. It is the contrary. People who do not have the right people peaceful protest behaviors more violent. What the federal government has done in the last couple weeks in the city of portland in a time when things were calm down, they have riled it up. We have people there who are white extremists, people who are anarchists, it has given these people new energy and put more people at risk. We do not need the federal government deliberately making it worse and targeting Peaceful Protesters and it does not make our country better. I dispute dramatically the notion that this is something that is just in a few blue cities. There are people across america who have been deeply concerned about the unequal application of law. In kentucky, the woman who had her home broken into and was murdered by Police Officials in youvebust gone wrong, seen the situations take place in georgia. It is not a red state, blue state, and it is not political. It is who we are as a people and protecting the peaceful right to protest, and not making things worse playing into the hands of extremists of any stripe. Oregon on ourom independent line. You are on. Caller hello. Guest good morning. You are up early. Caller yes. I watched cspan regularly. Portland, and i am about 45 minutes away. Ono not know what is going further protesters to be at the federal buildings. This is just over floyds death, is that what they are protesting . Maybe they are at the 12 00 deadline and they are saying wrap it up so we do not have Peaceful Protesters and anarchists at the same point and people who are causing destruction and people who are protesting and somehow the people that are protesting are getting hurt and the anarchists are not doing anything wrong . There should be some kind of legislation or response, a Police Response or community response. Guest we have the law, and somebody who is involved with arson or physical attacks ought to be arrested and prosecuted. Responsibilitye of our local authority, and local police. I totally agree. In terms of what is it all about, we have seen a wide array of activities across the country, it is not just one gentleman in minneapolis who had a Police Officer suffocate him with his knee on his neck. There are shootings, the jogger a georgia, running through neighborhood who was accosted by three white vigilantes. There are things that have taken place across the country that have spurred deep concerns. And people recognize the unequal application of the law. So, there are as probably many reasons as there are protesters. We have had thousands of people in our community, but they have taken place across the country. People are concerned about the unequal application of the law. The problems that have been faced by black americans for generations, problems with excesses and Law Enforcement in Law Enforcement, black americans are more likely to be killed by police. There are things that have gotten people stirred up, and looking at the history, i think it is appropriate for people to try and have their voices heard, and we are seeing changes that take place. There are changes in terms of Police Tactics and in terms of community attitude. Changes in terms of more deeply involved trying to solve the social inequities. It is making a difference, and the more that we are able to reconcile this through peaceful process in the political process, the better off we are. Having the federal government go rogue and elaborately make it worse makes the problem much more difficult. Host virginia, mccright line. Democrat line. Hello. Caller i am 65 and i marched in d. C. Where i grew up in a vietnam protest. I have several comments. One, the socalled federal officers could they actually be private contractors . We know that the president relationship had has a relationship. I believe that there should be a sundown curfew, my own personal feeling. They are exercising their First Amendment rights. Four, the lady that was killed in her home in violation of her Fourth Amendment right, and i did not hear outrage from the republican side when some of our fellow citizens in numerous states were walking into statehouses armed showing automatic long guns, and sidearms, and not masked when they wanted to reopen. Is there this political issue to the whole law order thing . And yet with law order, the same people who are saying that are not protecting their self their fellow citizens by following guidelines to wear masks and do socially responsible things to help protect us and our fellow citizens. Host you put out a lot. That is a lot to respond. Guest in the main, i agree with the gentlemans points. But is there a dual standard . In oregon, a couple years ago, we had armed protesters take over a federal facility in a wildlife refuge. They were there armed and they took over federal property and damaged it and damage the environment. Days. Ent on for 41 i do not remember the howls of outrage from donald trump and some of these folks than in terms of having extremist right wing protesters. There is a dual standard and i find it appalling. Host when it comes to the topic of coronavirus, it was yesterday that they reported seven new deaths in the state. Talk about what is going on there and the governors approach to it. What would you like to see when it comes to how this is managed in your state . Guest oregon initially had some success. Our rate of infections and deaths were much better than similarly sized states. Unfortunately we have seen what has happened around the country where people have relaxed their guard, gotten a little sloppy. I do not think we should be opening up bars at a time when we are seeing the outbreak. It has been a challenge. I think our local officials have done a superb job in my community, but we have an awareness on the part of the federal government, and you are raising something where i find a certain amount of irony. Donald trump is interesting in patrolling portlands streets, which is not his responsibility, and has not dealt with his responsibility, making people safe with the coronavirus, six months of dithering and dissembling, only recently donning a mask, and we still do not have our act together in terms of a coordinated federal initiative. That is appalling. My state and others have tried to do their best, and it is interesting that the states that have followed Donald Trumps lead, shunning masks and opening early are watching spike spikes that are phenomenal. Host did the governor just lift stayathome orders initially a couple of days ago . Guest yes. Host you not see any connections . Guest no, i think we lifted sooner than we should, and i think individual citizens relaxed their guard sooner than they should. But it is part of a national pattern. We did not have it as bad as others, and i am confident that they are taking steps to trying get it under control. Need to takeall our responsibility, and at some point it would be nice if we had federal leadership that donald trump has totally failed on. Host philadelphia, independent line, anna. Hello. Caller i would like to read something to the representative. The definition of sedition is conduct of speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of the state, subversion, undermining of the power and authority of the established institution. These are federal crimes, and i contend that the cities who are not enforcing the laws and permitting officers of the laws which are federal authorities and the local police allow them to be abused and hurt and become whipping boys, they are guilty of federal crimes, and i do not mean to be insulting, what i think this representative ought to look in the mirror. Host we will let him respond to what you brought to the table. Go ahead. Concern appreciate your , i stand by what i said. Country,lly, in this we have responsibilities in the state and local level in the finest tradition of federalism to deal with law order in our communities. The federal government should not as a matter of routine start intervening and interfering. These people were unwanted, unwelcome, and unprepared, and they have done things to my constituents that are inappropriate. And, there is a great risk i think to having federal interference. I think donald trump and his minions went in there deliberately inciting it. They made it worse. The crowds are larger, and i eventit was a madefortv for the trump reelection campaign. Host from woodbridge, illinois. Republican line. Caller good morning. If you think this is because President Trump wants it on tv, then how come these socalled Peaceful Protesters will not leave. Why do they keep staying there and doing this . Masksotests come with gas and weapons, destroying everything . How come i never hear you guys talk about chicago blacks killing blacks, is that a racial problem there also . Guest i am deeply concerned about violence we see in our communities, it is one of the reasons i strongly support having reasonable gun safety provisions, for instance. We all are concerned about that. Protesterse peaceful , have their rights to assemble and protest is inappropriate. The reason people keep coming is because they are deeply concerned about what is happening in this country and around the United States. They are concerned about things that have happened in our community. Portland, a in history of Racial Discrimination in Law Enforcement, housing, and people are rightly concerned. They are agitating, and it is their right to do that. There peaceful protests have made a difference in terms of awareness and action. I completely condemn people heart who were involved in violent acts, people who start fires or attempt to injure ought to be tracked down, prosecutor prosecuted and arrested, but that is the responsibility of local authorities, not bringing federal agencies in there, untrained to deal with the policing problems that we have in our community, and around the country, and to deliberately make things worse. The description that somehow portland is a riot zone and out of control is simply not true. Anybody can walk the streets of portlands, as a of portland as i do every week when i am home and see that that is not reality. Have there been problems at the flashpoint down at our justice center, yes. At times has it gotten out of hand . Yes. That is not a city in chaos. That is no justification to try and infringe on peoples right to peaceful protest and to have unprovoked attacks on the people i represent, i find really inexcusable. Host we have another few minutes before the house comes in. What is your thinking on the likelihood of another coronavirus package being done before the planned recess . Guest i think the likelihood is very high. We have sent to the senate the heroes act, almost 3 trillion of badly needed assistance for state and local for education, more in terms of health care, those pressures have not abated. We have watched the senate start to moderate and be more open. People understand that the American Public is still hurting. We cannot afford to lose the support that we have given to unemployed americans. We still have not been fully able to deal with the needs for ppe and the medical services. I think that there is strong momentum. I have legislation with over 100 cosponsors to have a tailored effort to help 11 million restaurant employees and 500,000 independent restaurants, most of whom will go out of business permanently if we do not do things. There is a wide array of things that can and should be done, and i am optimistic that we will do some of it in the next couple of weeks. Host robert in new york. You are next, hello. Caller i wanted to ask the representative if he knew which Law Enforcement agency is running around in portland, and if it fits the u. S. Marshals Service Versus which is one of the oldest Law Enforcement departments in the country. If so, are you going to at some point, call for some type of investigation or deeper look into what is going on with these agencies and at some point after the election. Guest i think there should be investigations started now. There is custom and border control, the u. S. Marshals service. People from homeland security. We do not actually know who they all are because they do not identify themselves, and it is a mix of federal authorities, for all i know there may be independent contractors in there. That is part of our concern. We ought to know who is there and it ought to be clear when they are taking somebody into custody, people ought to know who it is. People ought to know what they are being charged with. But snatching them off the streets and detaining them, not even ultimately pressing charges ought to chill anybody. Investigations, have transparency, and do not send them in over the objection of local officials and Law Enforcement. That is a prescription for disaster. Host we have a little over a minute. Mary, las vegas, independent line. Caller where was trumps concern with nazis marching down the street. He had no concern then. This guy is the complete disaster, he knew about the virus in november and he notified israel. He has done nothing but golf one third of his presidency. Host we will leave it there. Representative, if federal forces were removed and if it continued, you referenced that is what would you dress what would you address with the governor if these tensions still continue . Guest we have engaged people in the community and we have had leaders of portlands black community and communities of faith and other elected officials providing efforts to have a united front to protect the fossil peaceful protests and stand up against people who would cause trouble. Working with our citizens and local officials, working with Law Enforcement, it was being deescalated until donald trump and his minions went in and i think, purposely started up. They knew what they were doing. You have watched the number of protesters surged, and it is making it more difficult to deal with bad actors. I think, allow us to solve our own problems, we are well on the way, the vast majority of the protest activity was peaceful and it represented peoples constitutional right of self expression, let it work. Host representative Earl Blumenauer serving the third district. Thank you for your time and spending it with us. Guest happy to do it. Host again, the houses just about to come in for speeches. And they are concluded we will come back to this program. As for now, we will go back to the house