Their nomination ballots. The president also addresses reopening schools saying he wants kids to go back in the but that all families should be empowered to make the right for their own circumstance. President trump thank you very much, thank you, everybody. You. Hank weve had a tremendous week. In our fightountry against the china virus. People of the importance of masks when you cant socially distance in particular. Message has been sent out to young people to stop other o crowded bars and crowded places. Yesterday, we made the amazing plans to nt for our protect nursing home residents. Were working very hard on that, doing very well. All over the country. And also, about contracting with pfizer, we made a big, beautiful pfizer. T with we think they are very close but we have a lot of companies that are very close to producing a and i wanted to come out again today to share some you. Tional news with this afternoon, my Political Team came to me and laid out our the convention in jacksonville, florida, its a i love that state. The drawings look absolutely beautiful. Never thought we could have something look so good so fast with everything going on. Everything was going well. Speakers, list of thousands of people wanting to e there, and i mean in some cases, desperately be there. They wanted to attend. Eople making travel arrangements all over the country. They wanted to be there. The signs, y, excitement, really top of the line but i looked at my team and for this e timing event is not right. Just not right with whats happened recently. The flareup in florida, to have convention, its not the right time. Its really something that, for me, i have to protect the american people. Thats what ive always done. What i always will do. Thats what im about. Make this sir, we can work for easily. We have great enthusiasm, enthusiasm. Even the polls say, about the they have seen. We can do this safely and we can do it responsibly. Said there is nothing more important in our country than keeping our people safe, whether thats from the china virus or the radical left mob that you in portland, where i want to thank Homeland Security and thers and Law Enforcement for doing a fantastic job over the last few days. People were out of control for 51 days. A long time. Homeland security and other Law Enforcement with us went in nd they have done a great job protecting our property. Federal courthouse and other property. And most importantly, protecting people. Or the senseless violence that you see in chicago, new york, etroit, a lot of other cities, where so many people are shot, killed, any people are and people elected me to help and to protect. So i told my team its time to ancel the jacksonville, florida, component of the g. O. P. Convention. Be starting in North Carolina for the monday, thats always been planned. Delegates will get together. Thats where they do their nomination. Delegates are going to North Carolina, and they will be nomination, and were things do some other with telerallies which will be good. Think well do it well and ill still do a convention in a different form, but we wont do a big crowded convention per se. Right time forhe that. I care deeply about the people of florida and everywhere else, in this country and even in the world. Coming into the state and i dont want to do anything to upset it. Hey will be doing very well, very shortly. Well put some maps up of the behind me, and youll see that the area that were hotspot. Bout is a youll also see a lot of the country has no problem whatsoever. Most of the country actually. So im always going to take care so that, thats the way were going to do it. Desantisen to governor and informed other political want to thank the jacksonville communities and its great mayor. Great guy. Really they want it so badly. All of the other political representatives in jacksonville, and just very special people. Very special group. Us a ey were there for hundred percent. Today i want to provide an update on the actions were support the safe reopening of americas schools. World who und the have had their Children Home for ast few months have a greater appreciation for the fact that teachers are essential workers, to our y are essential childrens future. Our goal is to protect our teachers and students from the virus, while ensuring that families with highrisk factors fromontinue to participate home. Very important. He American Academy of pediatrics has released guidance recommending that schools reopen. Thered lengthy time away school and associated nterruption of Supportive Services often results in a social isolation, making it ifficult for schools to identify and address important earning deficits as well as child and adolescent physical abuse, substance abuse, depression and suicidal ideation. Turn places children in adolescence at significant risk and in some cases, mortality. Beyond the educational impact impact of School Closures, there has been a substantial impact on food physical activity for children and for families. Its very important, and there is a highway that goes ways. The National Education association recently stated momentous efforts of during the pandemic, Online Learning has never been effective replacement. Being at school, being on campus, is very, very important. Study estimates that due to School Closures last spring, the will begin the school year roughly 35 behind to the ng compared typical year, and more than 50 behind in math. Big statement. According to mckenzie and learning loss will probably be greatest among low income black and hispanic students. Ones that are hit the hardest. We dont want that happening. 30 Million Students rely on schools for services. Reports allegedly having to do with neglect and other problems when they see the children. They know that if they have been harmed in any way. You dont get to see that if youre not going to school. It is a big thing. The data shows the children are lower risk from the china virus. Very substantially. When they do contact the virus, they only have mild symptoms or none at all. Medical complications are exceedingly rare. Those who do face complications also have underlying medical conditions. All virus hospitalizations are adults and 99. 96 of all fatalities are adults. That means children are a tiny percentage. Less than 1 . Even a small percentage of 1 . Under 18 in the United States than have been lost thus far to the coronavirus. Many different names. Many, many different names. The life of every child is sacred and must be protected. Our sole focus is the health and wellbeing of americas children. I have a very, very special person who loves children whos i think one of the greatest athletes of all time. A lot of people say the greatest pitcher of all time, known as a relief pitcher. Could have been whatever he wanted. To some people, he is the greatest reliever of all time by far, substantially more saves than anybody else. In fact, he got the president ial medal of freedom recently, and he im reading off these stats. I knew he was the best, i knew he was great, but i didnt know it was almost double anybody else. But hes a man who loves children. Has children, loves children, works hard with children. Were going to go outside and be with some little leaguers. Mariano rivera. He is the sandman, right . My wife said, darling, why do they call him the sandman . I said they play the song. He puts the batters to sleep. And thats exactly what happen. So, having mariano here is a great honor. I was talking about children and schools, and theres nobody thats done more than you have. Thank you very much, mariano. Fantastic man. Given these considerations, we believe Many School Districts can now reopen safely, provided they implement mitigation measures and Health Protocols to protect families, protect teachers and to protect students. So we do have to protect the teachers and the families also. We have to remember that all families should be empowered to make the decision that is right for their own circumstance. This is especially important if a child has Underlying Health conditions or lives with a parent or grandparent who is at higher risk. Higher risk. In cities or states that are current hotspots, and youll see that in the map behind me, districts may need to delay reopening for a few weeks. Thats possible. Thatll be up to governors. The decision should be made based on the data and the facts on the grounds in each community. But every district should be actively making preparations to open. Again, the children obviously have a very strong immune system. Maybe even as strong as yours. They seem to be able to fight it off and not have a problem. So, its Pretty Amazing actually. Great, great credit. Our strategy to safely reopen schools mirrors our approach nationwide. As we race toward the completion of a vaccine and therapeutics, the responsible path is to shelter those at highest risk while allowing those at lower risk, much lower the case of young children, to resume work at school as long as everyone practices vigilant hygiene and social distancing. We want that. A permanent shutdown was never the strategy, which would ultimately lead to greater mortality and irreversible harms. We dont want to do that. At the same time, we have to get our economy going. We had tremendous numbers issued yesterday. Housing prices, pricing of housing up 21 , the highest in history. Its the highest number in history. Real estate housing went up 21 . Today, the cdc will provide Additional Guidance for how schools can reopen safely. I hope that local leaders put the full health and wellbeing of their students first and make the right decision for children, parents, teachers, and not make political decisions. This isnt about politics. Its about something very, very important. This is not about politics. I even think its bad politics if you do the wrong decision, very bad politics. Were asking congress to provide 105 billion to schools as part of the next Coronavirus Relief bill. This funding will support mitigation measures such as smaller class sizes, more teachers and teacher aids, repurposing spaces to practice social distancing and crucially, mask wearing. This money is an addition to the 30 billion we secured for schools and universities earlier this year. That money we have, some is distributed and some is not distributed. If schools do not reopen, the funding should go to parents to send their child to publicprivate, charter, or homeschool of their choice. The key word being choice. If the school is closed, the money should follow the student so the parents and families are in control of their own decisions. So wed like the money to go to the parents of the student, this way they can make the decision thats best for them. We cannot indefinitely stop 50 million American Children from going to school, harming their mental, physical, and emotional development. Reopening our schools is also critical to ensuring that parents can go to work and provide for their families. The council of economic advisers estimates that 5. 6 million parents will be unable to return to work if schools do not reopen this year. Its a tremendous problem. Its a tremendous problem. Schools have to open safely, but they have to open. More than a dozen european countries, as well as south korea, taiwan, and many others have already reopened schools and cases have not risen. We can achieve the same goal if we unite together, follow the best medical practices, and apply common sense. Well continue to support states and cities and the current hot spots in the south, southwest and west. The governors, i know them all. Theyre all very, very capable. Theyre doing a very good job. Theyre working so hard. You wouldnt even believe it. We have nearly 30,000 federal personnel deployed in the states that need assistance. Were helping with doctors and nurses, medical personnel of all kinds. As a ppe update, were in close communication with governors and states. We have supplies, everything they could possibly need. Were very strong on supplies. You remember i used to say the cupboards were bare . Well, now the cupboards are the opposite. Due to our historic efforts to increase both the National Stockpile and the state stockpiles, the vast majority of the states have 60 days worth of supplies on hand. And most importantly, they have ventilators because the ventilators are very, very hard to come by, at least in the past. Now were making thousands of ventilators a month and supplying them in many cases to other countries. For states that are making requests, were rapidly delivering. In the last 24 hours, fema has deployed more than 1. 5 Million Masks upon request, 1. 7 million gowns, and 600,000, well, let me change that. Weve created about 600,000 different supplies. We have 600 ventilators to arizona, North Carolina, pennsylvania, colorado, idaho, and washington. I think the number is 600. Were going to check that and well give it to you in a little while, but weve got a stockpile of thousands of ventilators. I think weve sent out about 600 just recently. The United States has now conducted more than 51 million tests, which is more than any other country in the world by far. Roughly half of the tests, are either the rapid point of care tests, which frankly solves a lot of problem and delay, five to 15 minutes instead of waiting for service both ways in both directions and then at the lab. But roughly half of them now, which is a tremendous increase, are five to 15 minute tests or tests done in a hospital where you get the results back in less than a day, some cases immediately. Were continuing to surge testing to current hot spots such as miami and phoenix to detect those with the virus and take steps to stop from spreading it further. Theres a copy of the map and you have it right behind me. Thats really very much indicating where the problems are. You see from that its in great shape, lots of it. The northeast has become very clean. The country is in very good shape, other than if you look south and west, some problems. Thatll all work out. On therapies, weve worked with florida to ensure that over 40,000 vials of remdesivir are arriving this week. Its a lot. Thats a lot. Theyre working around the clock to make it a tremendous impact. Weve also shipped thousands of vials to arizona, california, and texas over the past two weeks. Arizona is doing very well. Its heading down. Numbers are heading down. I think very quickly. Governors done a great job. Theyve all done a great job. Theyve all done a great job. Working hard. Well continue to monitor the areas rising and with respect to cases, and we ask all americans to exercise vigilance, practice social distancing, wear a mask, do whatever is necessary so we get rid of this horrible situation, this horrible disease that was sent to us by china. It should not have been sent. They should have stopped it. They couldve stopped it. They didnt. And the entire world has gotten infected and a lot of countries are going through a lot right now. This morning, i spoke with president putin of russia, and theyre going through a very hard time with this in moscow in particular. I spoke to the crown prince saudi arabia. Theyre doing well, but theyre going through a lot. Everybodys going through a lot. Yesterday i spoke to the heads of four different countries. All four are going through a lot, going through a hard time. This could have been stopped. It could have been stopped quickly and easily, but for some reason it wasnt, and well figure out what that reason was. So with that, if you have any questions, please. Reporter on the convention, were you simply not convinced that you could keep people safe at the convention . Pres. Trump i just felt it was wrong, steve, to have people going to what turned out to be a hot spot. You know, when we chose it, it was not at all hot. It was free. And all of a sudden it happened quickly. It happens quickly and it goes away and it goes away quickly. The key is we want it to go away without a lot of death, without a lot of problems. And were learning so much about the disease. Thats why were very cognizant of nursing homes. Were watching them very carefully, and people over a certain age, and especially people over a certain age with diabetes or Heart Disease in particular, but with a problem. So we didnt want to take any chances. So we had a lot of people. The delegates want to be there. Were going to do a fairly reasonably quick meeting in North Carolina. The nomination will be produced. And then well announce what were doing, how were doing it, whether its something thats done online, i guess, you could call it online. So there could be nothing like our last convention, unfortunately. That was a Great Convention in a great place, as you know. We had a great time, great time in cleveland, but its a different world, and it will be for a little while. We want to get the world back to what it was. And i think well have that including great job numbers, including so many things that are happening so positive. I have to say the stock market is close to records. For nasdaq, it is a record. It has already exceeded its highest numbers, but we want to get our country back to what it was. Reporter so will your acceptance speech be from the white house and are you worried that pres. Trump we havent set that yet, steve. Well probably announce that over the next few days. Reporter are you worried this might dampen enthusiasm for you . Pres. Trump look, weve done a great job. We built the greatest economy in the world. Nobody close, not china, not anybody. We had to close it. We saved millions of lives and we opened it. But we had the best numbers in history for african americans, hispanic americans, asian americans, every group you want to name, young people without a diploma, young people with a high school diploma, with a college diploma, anything you want to name, we had the best numbers. Women doing incredibly. Never been a time like that. And we had to turn it off because of what china did. We had to turn it off. And then all of a sudden, now we turn it back on and were doing very well, but it was very bad. China, speaking about china, the trade deal means less to me now than it did when i made it. When i made it was a great deal, but theyre setting records. Yesterday was a record corn day. They purchased more corn than any order ever. And that went on for two or three days, and soybeans and all. But it just means much less to me. Can you understand that . It just means much less to me. Please. Go ahead. Reporter thank you. What was the one thing, if there was one thing, that changed your mind about the convention and did florida officials ask you to cancel it . Pres. Trump no, they didnt. Were dealing with them, but they didnt. I would just say safety, just safety. I could see the media saying, oh, this is very unsafe. I dont want to be in that position. Its safety. Not because of the media, but thats what they would say, and well have a very nice something. Well figure it out. Itll be online in some form. Maybe itll be something even a little bit different. We have time. Were talking about the end of august, but i think itll be something that will be exciting, but there can be nothing like having 25,000 people. We had a tremendous thing planned, a tremendous convention planned in North Carolina. And it would have been very good, but a much smaller version in florida. But then we saw what was happening pretty quickly. We saw that the virus was coming up that coast. So. Reporter do you think its an ackowledgement of the severity of the situation in florida . Pres. Trump no, i think its going to come and go. It will. I mean, you take a look at some of these locations were heavily infected, i mean, to a point where deborah and i were talking that when you look at what happened in new york and what happened in new jersey and other places, and now youre looking and its gone. Hope it stays gone. I think it will. But we have to be vigilant. We have to be careful. And we also have to set an example. I think setting the example is very important. Its hard for us to say were going to have a lot of people packed in a room and then other people shouldnt do it. Dont forget, were talking about schools and we want them to be vigilant. And were saying open, and then were saying here, you have a big room, but i also, if you notice, i said, where bars are crowded, where other things are crowded. Well, theres nothing more crowded than a convention. A convention, i mean, youve seen them. And even though you try and keep people away from each other, its just not that kind of a thing. They probably cant do that. It just doesnt work for them. So i think were setting an example by doing it. Its very important. Yeah, john. Reporter mr. President , if i could come back to school openings. You talked about money that congress is looking at to help schools who want to reopen. If school wants to reopen, but is concerned about testing, would you consider directing some of that money toward testing for either a School District or even individual schools if thats what it took to open the school . Pres. Trump yeah, i think so. I mean, a lot of people feel differently about testing. We talk about it a lot. When we have 50 million tests plus, and we broke the 50 million tests mark. Second in the world is india which has 1. 4 billion people and they had 12 million tests. And other countries that are very big, had 2 million tests. And some countries, essentially only test if youre sick and walk into a hospital, or walk into a doctors office, or youre literally really sick, they essentially dont do tests unless youre sick. And i understand that too. So, if they feel that thats what they want, it is that would be fine. Reporter you would Tell Congress you would encourage congress to pay for testing . Pres. Trump i would, if they want. Again, weve done 50 million tests, theres nobody even close in the whole world. You look at our mortality rate, you look at our death rate, you look at different statistics, were doing very well. But, one death is too many. This should never have happened, this should never have been allowed to happen from china. Reporter also, Mitch Mcconnells office just put out a statement a moment ago about the phase 4 relief package, cares 2, saying, its tailored precisely for this phase of the crisis. Yet it does not include your payroll tax cut. So, do you believe its perfectly balanced . Pres. Trump yeah, id like to see a payroll tax cut, i think is great for the workers. The democrats would never have gone for it. They dont want it. Theyre not big into the workers, i guess. And based on that, i told them last night, i told the republicans who have been working very hard on this, ill tell you, and they want whats right for the country. And hopefully, the democrats ultimately will. But i said, i think a payroll tax would be good. But youre not going to get it from the democrats, we need their votes as you know. Its not like we have a majority, but its not enough that we thats why, i guess, we have an election coming up. So, you still need democrat votes, and were not going to get the democrat votes on that. So id like to see it, i think it would be very good for the workers. But, if were not going to get their votes, i guess we have to go onto the next thing. A payroll tax cut would have been very good. And maybe something happens. Yes, please. Reporter you talk about setting an example on jacksonville, but i just wonder if some people are going to take away from this the lesson that youre pushing too far, too fast. It seemed for a while the numbers were going up in jacksonville and we were going to have a problem there. This comes up at a time youre pushing for schools to reopen, we have the opening of the Major League Baseball season. Isnt the example of jacksonville that were pushing too fast . Pres. Trump well, baseball, as an example, we were discussing a little while ago, youre going to be at an empty stadium. Ive agreed randy levine is a great friend of mine from the yankees, he asked me to throw out the first pitch. And i think im doing that on august 15th, at yankee stadium. And i say, hows the crowd going to be . And its like you dont have a crowd, there is no such thing. Its going to be interesting, mariano. Hes not used to that. Ive been at many games, he walks in the place goes crazy. I think itd be just as good without the crowd, you were just born with it, some people are born with it. I dont know, this is only for the baseball players, but ive never seen a pitcher throw a ball where so many bats were broken as marianos, hes got the all time record. I said, how do you do that . He said, great parents. When you get right down to it, right . How do you do that . Its called, parents. But yeah, just to finish. I think that we have to all set examples. I think Major League Baseball is setting an example by playing to empty stadiums and so are other sports, you see that. Now then theyll allow a certain , number in. I see golf is now i see golf is now soon will be allowing people to come in, in percentages. And all of a sudden, we want to get back to normal. The key is to get back to normal because nobody wants to see this. But, i think its really good that baseball is opening, it looks like football is opening, it looks like sports are opening. We have its a tremendous thing, psychologically, for our country. And we are all were going to see, right now, some beautiful, young, little leaguers outside, with a great future ahead of them. They were already practicing on the front lawn of the white house. And were going to go out and say hello to them, and itll be really great. How about one more . Please, go ahead. Reporter president trump, the Washington Post earlier today reported that one Thing Holding up the gop coronavirus bill is the white house asking that it include language regarding the fbi building in downtown washington, d. C. , is that true . Pres. Trump i dont know that theyre putting it in this bill. But, i know they want to have a new fbi building. This one is very old and it was really it was never built to a very high standard, as you probably have heard. And is got a lot of danger involved, and panels falling off the outside, and pieces of concrete falling off the building. And they want to build it at the site that they have it. They had options very far away from washington. And i said to them, frankly, you have to be near the justice department. Theres Nothing Better than the site, the site they have now is better. But they were looking at sites in maryland, and virginia, and different places, but they would have been too far away. So, i have been encouraging them to build it. And if youre going to and if youre going to have a choice you can renovate the existing building, but its not a good building. Or, you could take it down and build a great building for the fbi for a hundred years, and have it be incredible, even with tracks on top, theyre talking about. We have because, fbi people like to work out a lot. And you could have, literally, quarter mile tracks on top. Its a very big site, very wide site. So, i think the idea the best idea would be to build a new building and that way you have it for a long time. Renovation can never be as good as a new building, in that case. I know theyre talking about it, whether or not they put it in this bill or someplace else, but the fbi needs a new building and well get it done. Thank you all very much. Thank you very much. Cspans washington journal every day we are taking your calls live on the air on the news of the day and we will discuss policy issues that impact you. Coming up friday morning, zach cohen discusses the latest on the gop coronavirus legislation and National Association of latino elected and appointed officials ceo vargas talks about issues important to latino voters in campaign 2020 and jim filipe on his from campaign 2020. Watch cspans washington journal. Live at 7 00 eastern friday morning. Be sure to join the discussion with your Facebook Comments and tweets. Friday, the house returns at 9 00 a. M. To discuss work on a appropriations package to fund the state department and veterans affairs. On cspan2 at 9 00, a house hearing with fema administrator, peter gainer, on the response to covid19. Jill biden will participate in a discussion with texas representative. Live coverage of tui two key hearings next week. Googlembers of apple and and amazon. They examine the dominance of Online Platforms and market power. Live coverage begins at noon eastern. U. S. Attorney general william barr appears before the House Oversight committee. Watch live coverage monday on cspan2 and tuesday on cspan3. Listen on the go with the free cspan radio app. A hearing on safely reopening schools during the coronavirus pandemic. A house subcommittee heard from School Leaders and tennessee and dallas, texas. A pediatric Infectious Disease specialist and the president of the National Parent teacher association. This is 2. 5 hours