Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 08042020 20240712

American Psychological Association ceo arthur evans joins us to discuss stress in america report and how covid19 is affecting Mental Health field Mental Health. Host as Congress Tries to hammer out the covid relief package, Small Businesses are in trouble. Business health and cashel have stalled. Yelp says 2800 businesses in new york city alone have closed. The Small Business administration has given out more money in the past few months than its entire history. It is tuesday, august 4, 2020. We welcome you to washington journal. We will spend this first hour asking you about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Small Business. If you are a Small Business owner, call 202 7488000. Or former an employee Small Business employee, 202 7488001. For all others, 202 7488002. Texts, 202 ur 7488003. Tell us your name and where you are from. On twitter, cspanwj. Facebook. Com cspan. Negotiators on capitol hill continue with the pandemic relief package. We will hear more about that later. Here is what is proposed so far. This is in the package the senate is debating, the heal s act. The stimulus package for Small Businesses. Some details on what the senate is talking about, they write the proposed act would put aside 197 billion to put aside another Paycheck Protection Program to assist Small Businesses as well as in dependent contractors. Government has already approved 5 billion in ppe loans through previous rounds of the Small Business loans programs made available by the cares act. There is one element of this package, they say Small Businesses with fewer than 300 employees that have seen revenue fall by more than 50 as a result of the pandemic would be eligible for another round of actloans from the heals even if they have received other ppp money. I want to take a look at a poll by the u. S. Chamber of commerce. Showing that poll Small Business recovery is losing steam amid concerns over covid resurgence. They write that after retreating from record lows come key measures like retrieved Business Health and cash flow have stalled. The number reporting concerned about reopening guidance has increased. Small Business Owners remain optimistic with regards to future revenue and are bullish on hiring and investment plans, according to the chamber of commerce survey. This mornings business section the new york a quieteir headline cap on Small Business relief. For nearly 70 years, the Small Business administration Disaster Relief program has helped companies recover from catastrophes including wildfire, hurricane and earthquakes, but has never faced anything like the coronavirus. 8 millionby more than applicants operating in the shadow of the hastily assembled Paycheck Protection Program, the Disaster Relief effort has given out more money in the past few months than it has in its entire history. The demand has created a problem that is hobbling hundreds of thousands of applicants. The agency, afraid of running out of cash, Capital Loans at a fraction of what the companies can normally borrow even though the program has handed out less than half of that 360 billion that can lend. , ithout the extra capital would be very difficult for us to survive. According to one Business Owner, the agencys head is jovita carranza. The head testified last week on capitol hill and talked about their goal. Heres a look at that. [video clip] through disaster loans and idle advances, the agency has reach over 8 million Small Businesses, dispersing over 170 billion in assistance. All amount is more than other disasters combined in the history of the agency. Idle loans are being processed in five days with disbursements occurring in just two days. The smallrams help business sector survive onceinalifetime disruption. Have made ajune, i concerted effort to personally speak to businesses left reeling by this pandemic and to Financial Institutions so that i can see for myself what is working and where improvements need to be made. One of the scores of businesses i visited was an africanamerican Logistics Management firm in dallas. Sba loans provided him with a bridge. Theinancial bridge over most tumultuous waters he has experienced. It helped him not only keep employees on payroll, but higher new workers receive comprehensive skills training and certifications. Many Small Business owners use to describeridge, how sba loans provided them with time and space to rethink, innovate and adapt for success. Carranza head jovita testifying last week. Our topic this first hour, the impact of coronavirus on Small Business. Small Business Owners, 202 7488000. Small business business employees or former employees, 202 7488001. For all others, 202 7488002. Quick headline before we get to the headline from cnbc, one third of Small Business owners have tapped personal funds to stay afloat. Lets hear from veronica in tennessee. Veronica in tennessee, you are on the air. Ok, we will go to ted. Cleveland, ohio. Go ahead. Caller good morning. [indiscernible] it is an unconventional business. Odd thing is cited [indiscernible] host let me ask you, youre coming in and out. Maybe move the phone closer to you or move around . Tell us your business again. Caller it is called life leadership. Type. An unconventional i do not know if you have heard of it. It is a tiein with a lot of businesses to help teach people how to save money. We encourage people to use it. ,ome save money in the long run and you earn money through leadership of teaching people. There has been some success involved, but it is very unconventional. We teach people to change their ways, the way they spend money. , but weugh sometimes have achieved some things. It has been a blessing. Host what have you had to do to change your ways in terms of your business during the pandemic . Caller i hope this does not offend anybody, but i watch less tv. [laughter] you have to change your buying habits and your spending habits. The way you live your life. Unfortunately, some people still want to spend on things that do not improve their lives. Thing for a vanity too many people. Host the line for Business Owners is 202 7488000. We go to sofia in the bronx, new york city. Caller good morning. Really affect me, but doing veryave been good but it started now all over the street. Bottles of champagne and alcohol. Theseople are abusing openly with the bottled drinking. I dont work i dont walk, only drive just to check out people are doing. It is unbelievable the way they drink. Like the person said, he is right. You go to the Grocery Store, paper towel now is three dollars. Anyway. You get my grip. Tos on i call is today is president obamas birthday. Host we are talking about Small Businesses and the effect on those businesses of the pandemic. 202 7488000 for Small Business owners. Small business employees, 202 7488001. For all others, 202 7488002. This is the New York Times business section, we touched on this earlier. Says, pandemic decimates Small Business, new york citys beating heart. Inearly march, gladyss brooklyn was bringing a week in revenue. The bank street bookstore, a 50yearold childrens shop in manhattan was preparing for a busy spring. Playspace for children in brooklyn had just wrapped up packed classes and long waiting lists. Five months later, those once prosperous businesses have evaporated. Gladys and busybodies are closed for good. Bank street was shut down permanently in august. The ee are victims of that threatens to derail new yorks recovery from the financial collapse. An expanding universe of distinctive Small Businesses from coffee shops to dry to Hardware Stores that give new york neighborhoods their unique personalities and are key to the citys economy are starting to topple. More than 28 hundred businesses in new york city have permanently closed since march 1. According to data from yelp. A higher number than any other large american city. That reporting from the New York Times. At a house hearing, a Restaurant Owner in new york city testified. [video clip] independent restaurants inerate 271 billion dollars direct and indirect economic to midi. Economic activity. Restaurantsendent say they will close without direct help. How could you help restaurants need your help. You will see for my testimony that ppe, with significant eight week in solution to an 18 month problem. My ppp allowed me to open, but it is not going to allow me to stay open even if it is forgiven. Farmers,urant supports an entire brewers, supply chain. Some restaurants can add fissures and ranchers. [indiscernible] without being able to visit great restaurants. Independent restaurants draw millions of tourists from around the world. Total spending by domestic and International Travelers was 279 billion. That is more than double the amount spent on recreational retail. Host on washington journal, continuing our conversation. Asking you about the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on Small Businesses. 202 7488000, the line for Small Business owners. 202 7488001, those of you who work or did work for a Small Business. For all others, 202 7488002. Discussion on continuation of the ppp program, part of the negotiations going on on capitol hill on the latest round of pandemic relief. The house passed the heroes act, the Senate Debating their 1 trillion measure currently called the heals act. The first story here from the Washington Post, there headline as pandemic rages and economy stalls. Congress flails. Coronavirus surging, the fragile economic recovery has stalled and millions of jobless americans just lost emergency unEmployment Benefits. In response, congress is doing what it does best nothing at all. They moved at unusual speed in march and april to pump 3 trillion into the economy is not abated by a brief leveling off of infections and positive economic indicators, things have gotten worse. Oft has faded is the sense bipartisan urgency that existed in the spring and propelled congress to act with near unanimity. We will show you the reporting, a different take from the wall street journal. They say, new aid bill talks show promising signs. Democratic leaders and white house officials sounded cautiously up after another round of talks monday on a new coronavirus aid package under rising pressure to strike a deal as millions of americans go without a federal jobless supplement. The two sides remain at odds with the two cuts the supplement or provide aid to prime to financially strapped states. Fooduch to allocate to stamps, and a myriad of other issues, but they have signaled progress in recent meetings. A tweet from our producer craig kaplan, covid19 relief talks continue on capitol hill as Tropical Storm isaias hits the d. C. Area. Meadows and mnuchin plan to meet with the senate gop and will resume talks with pelosi and schumer. Lets get your calls. Marsia in washington, d. C. Caller good morning. Host good morning. , aser i am calling because i have seen around the d. C. Area , there is limited abilities for Small Businesses to be up to have the gatherings they used to have. With d. C. Transitioning in the way that who has committee see Small Businesses have definitely had opportunities to be successful. Pandemic,time of the these Small Businesses, from what i see, have not been able to service some of the capacity. Especially near the beginning. Because ofddle social distance issues that prevent businesses from being able to have full staff businesses. ,hen they do receive support they are unable sometimes to due to themservice not having full staff. , or them being able to have gatherings they normally would be able to have. Without them being able to have these things, it makes it difficult for a business to create the revenue that they normally would have been able to receive due to their business being able to service the community and provide this space for gathering, celebrations and Different Things of that nature. Without that, they are being impacted. Whether they have delivery half of their establishment not being able to be used out of respect for social distancing, half of the regular revenue that they are not able to receive. Host are there any businesses you have patronized that are doing it successfully, that are somehow thriving . I cant say that they are not thriving. Have beent businesses prioro thrive extremely to the pandemic and they were very successful there were very successful new businesses starting up and able to do they need to do to create a revenue in their business to be able to take out previous loans and things of that nature. Pandemic, they are barely thriving. They thrive, but barely. Host we appreciate you calling. Ohio. Wapo connecticut caller thank you for cspan and allowing me to talk. Ever since the crisis started my of wondered why the chamber of commerce and the National Federation of independent businesses have not put a campaign out for people to wear their masks and do the right things so that Small Businesses who are being hurt so badly have help. Ive never heard the chamber of commerce comment, the Small Business administration comment, or the National Federation of independents. Get on this and tell people to wear their masks. So many mom and pop outfits are going out. Why thelike to hear chamber of commerce and other organizations have not put statements out requesting people to honor the masks. Host our line for Small Business owners is 202 7488000. A caller from jupiter, florida. This is mason. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I think these mandates are hurting Small Businesses. A lot of these local municipalities they think are overstepping their power. As far as limiting peoples rights to assemble. I think businesses need to stay open. Follow the guidelines, but still earn a living. Most of these businesses are going to close down and they are not going to open back up. Host what kind of business are you involved in . Caller Wireless Committee case and. Host caller wireless communications. We have not been affected because we do not have door traffic. Owners likebusiness restaurants and others that have foot traffic, they are taking a brutal hit. Host we appreciate you calling. Our previous caller asking about masks and standards from the chamber of commerce. Reporting on other issues involving masks from the wall shippingurnal, fda standards for face masks fueled confusion. The feud and Drug Administration effort to address a shortage of protective masks has opened the floodgates to 3500 chinese manufacturers selling products of varying qualities, leaving some u. S. States with stockpiles of masks they no longer trust. Facing a severe shortage of n95 respirator masks in the early days of the pandemic, the fda made the emergency decision to allow the importation of millions of chinese made masks called cayenne 95 that were supposed to provide similar levels of protection. The fda itself created confusion about which Chinese Brands can be trusted for medical use by then revoking its stamp of approval to masks that turned out to be subpar. Business,hts on small how it has been affected by rotavirus. 202 7488000 for Small Business owners. Who 488001 four those for those who work or have worked in a Small Business. We talked about negotiations underway on the latest pandemic package. Heres where Mitch Mcconnell stands. [video clip] built the cares act by republicans and democrats working together at the committee level. This time again, republicans introduced a serious proposal written by our own chairman and our own members. This time, the democratic leader has cut Senate Democrats out entirely. He has forbidden committees from talking to republicans. On a house bill written with no input from his own members that even House Democrats called absurd. Not the tactics that will build bipartisan results. These are not the tactics that will get more cash in american unemployedr help the , nor assistance for schools to reopen. It is time for democratic leadership to get serious about making a law for the american people. Host other members of the senate and house weighing in on negotiations and aid for Small Business. Senator roy blunt of missouri, the Paycheck Protection Program , the Small Business forgiveness act will give Small Business much certainty on ppp loan forgiveness so they can focus on restarting the economy. Been a wash, ppp has lifesaver, saving nearly 5 million businesses and 55 million jobs. Ppp is giving businesses what they need to weather the storm and come back started than ever. Yelp dataco rubio, indicates 41 of business closures since march 1 are permanent. Were wave of closures already struggling businesses, second way for those trying to hold on. Preventing a third wave is why we need more ppp. Ifyou call in, let us know you have taken advantage of that , applied for that. Keith in evansville, indiana. Aller i believe that businesses should be able to open. We are all going to have to take precautions necessary to stop the spread of the virus. Virus, if youre going to get it, youre going to get it. If we where the masks may use the personal protection given to the government for everyone, we could all get through this. , we are worried about voting. Put it through the drivethrough just like they do the testing. The Voting Machines outside, drivethrough in your car. Host let me ask you on the masks in particular in indiana, do most businesses you go into ask that you wear a mask . Caller yes come in they do. We have a good city caller yes, they do. We have a good city here. Younger people are going to get out and full around, but overall weve got here. Host james is a Business Owner in fairfield, connecticut. Caller i am a Small Business owner. My business has been severely impacted by the pandemic. I still implement strict rules when i visit peoples homes. I own a small much shutave pretty down their music programs. Schools closed early in march. Whatever music programs they had their there has ended. Homeowners have welcomed me into their homes with certain precautions. It is extremely important we follow the cdc rules and guidelines. As far as revenue and economic impacts, as a Small Business owner i couldnt qualify for ppp because i do not have employees. I was able to qualify for additional unemployment benefit because i am considered a 1099 worker and have lost a significant amount of income. Week,hat expired last that is going to severely impact the ability for me to meet my expenses. Even to operate my business on a shoestring and sort of survive on some revenue, losing that 600 is going to hurt. Host i hate to suggest, or ask if there is a silver lining. It sounds like you have had to change your actual business model. You are now going into households instead of churches and schools to do your servicing, musical instruments. Caller i was always going into homes. Pianos. I have always been going into homes, but the homeowners now at the start were reluctant to invite someone not in their family or their circle into their home. They do not know my Health History and i do not know theres. Theirs. On my internet sites, i post all of the covid19 protocols i implement to keep everyone safe. I think Everyone Needs to do we can get comfortable. It is not where i want to be. I would rather go back to a year ago when we didnt have this. This is the situation now. Host how long have you been doing what you are doing . Caller over a decade. Host you service piano in those places . Caller i do. Bruce, aear from Business Owner in cleveland. Caller how are you doing . Host fine, thanks. Caller i am a small home contractor. I do remodeling. I put in kitchens and bathrooms, take take spaces and make them apartments. Since the pandemic, i have no business at all because nobody has any money to pay for remodeling jobs. Because of this pandemic, we do possible forhing us to make money at all. I am a Small Business owner. How can i make money when nobody has money to spend . We are stuck out here lifeless. We cant do this indefinitely. Callerike the previous said he took advantage of the extended on Employment Benefits , at least the first round from congress that has since expired. Were you able to take advantage of that . Able tono, i was not get into that because as a contractor, you can only hire so many for a certain job. Remodel, i have to hire so many people. I have to pay them. They cant work if i cant work. I cant get any contracts. It is impossible for me to make money now. I am going to have to retire from this business. The market is closed right now. Commentsant to see the from two members of the obama and clinton administrations who testified on capitol hill last week, saying additional in Employment Benefits could be used to assist Small Businesses. [video clip] when you have this much unemployment and this much underutilized capacity, this many businesses hurting, what you need to do is stimulate the economy. The most direct stimulus. 70 of this economy is based on personal consumer expenses. When consumers have more money in their pockets, they consume and by mostly locally. This is very important at a time like this when so many businesses, particularly Small Businesses are in trouble. Been inld add, it has our missile important to ensure that there are different channels for ppp to get out. One of the reasons that there has been im rep is underrepresentation of minority owned businesses in ppp is that many of the original banks used for the program did not have those relationships. Community development Financial Institutions and other types of Financial Intermediaries that have deep relationships with a broader segment of Small Businesses, that is a critical way to make sure there is broad usage of ppp. Wouldsomething i encourage, as were looking at this package, to make sure that all businesses, not just a limited number of majorityowned businesses are going to be helped. Host some of the latest data on how much money has gone out through the Paycheck Protection Program from the Small Business administration. Through the end of july, the total number of loans over 5 million. The total of the total number of host businesses with over 50 billion in assets, 34 loans which to those companies. Businesses between 10 billion and 50 billion in assets, 88. 5336, were for companies and businesses less than 10 billion in assets. Henry is joining us from wilmington, north carolina. Caller [indiscernible] iona fabrication business. I own a fabrication business. It has gone kaput. I was doing pretty good before the pandemic, but it just shut completely down. These larger plants Like International paper are hiring contractors tuesday in debt so they dont pass the you know what i mean . Hurt but i have been dealing with. I was able to take advantage of the 600 we were getting little work the little work i would get here and there, i had to use some to pay my employees. That is how tight it was. It was a real hard thing. Host in a normal time, how many employees might you have on a job . 20ler anywhere from 15 to on different occasions. Sometimes a little less. Are welding and fabrication. Your biggest client is who . International paper. Host ok. Caller that is where we do a lot of our work. Here in wilmington, north carolina. It is a tough time here. I have had to bring my prices down just to help other businesses who cannot afford my prices. I had to bring my prices down. Calling. Ppreciate you we go to bob in beatrice, nebraska. Caller good morning. I took my car to a dealership serviced andave it none of the employees, no one there was wearing a mask. I did not get it serviced at that time. I think i will go to another dealership, even though it does not represent my car, simply if they wear a mask. I think Small Businesses should be sure and have their employees Wearing Masks. The lumberyard also. This is a major problem. Thank you for the opportunity. Host your sentiment is shared by allen in West Virginia who texted us, i do not think mass mandates are hurting Small Businesses. I wont go into any business raise substantial number of people are not Wearing Masks. Impacted . More like destroyed. People are not traveling state to state or in and out of the country. Customers are changing buying habits. Wefrom marler, new york, have money to give tax breaks, we bailed out Oil Companies and the church, we werent too worried about deficits. Either tax cuts or youre going to do the right thing and take care of the american people. Vote blue. Host in atlanta, georgia. Caller good morning. I called and may be months ago maybe two months ago. I do commercial refrigeration, restaurant equipment. I couldnt hear you . Host go ahead. We are listening. Caller when i called in a couple of months ago, we are supposed to be in a campaign. A campaign means everything is on the table. That means you are in a war. Of people have Small Businesses in different people may have a lot of Small Business companies, they have security anyway. Should make sure they have sanitizers and masks available for everybody. I would think nobody needs to take any credit for anything. They need to stop the virus by everybody wearing a mask. They have mail people delivering mail to most addresses. Because they get they are sending money to everybody. They need 10 masks a week at every house and make sure people are wearing those masks when they leave the house. Like i say, sanitize. Even if they have to put out that not the army, but somebody needs to be outside every business. Unless we pull together and arrest this thing, we are going to have problems that break out everywhere. My thing, if anybody wants to comment they need to use every means necessary to make sure just somebody out in front of the business, before you go in, sanitize. Thatver it takes to do from every government position that they have available needs to be put in place to arrest this disease. It will come down automatically without closing up a lot of stuff. People are sanitizing and Wearing Masks in and out. Host let me ask you about your business. Restaurants service , how are things . Caller you have to team up with other people and Business Owners. I found two to three jobs a week now going with other Business Owners to get stuff done. Host thanks for calling. We go to shelby in tennessee, good morning. Caller good morning. Area, which is bristol of allohnson city area, the businesses we are trying to open up, theres some restaurants and things with an increase in covid. Some are having to close down. Jobs. Goes the employees they are out there trying to compete to get another job. Sad and shameful that the government cannot extend money when they spend it on other stuff that didnt need it. About which may if we are talking just about a 600 thing, thats nothing. I mean, it is better than nothing. It will help pay maybe some food and stuff. Thatt to also mention retirees benefits all these decades they have forgot about us more they dont care. Inflation, our income has never been increased. We barely struggle by. I am not the only one across the u. S. On this matter. If you lose a spouse or whatever, there goes that other income. Homelessness is terrible. It shouldnt be. Of people are losing their homes and Everything Else. I appreciate your time. Host i appreciate you. This headline from the huffington post, sean hannity under fire after Trump Campaign uses his book for fundraising. Fox news host sean hannity coming under fire for crossing ethical lines after president offeredcampaign team signed copies of his forthcoming book in exchange for donations to the campaign. In an email from trump headquarters to subscribers, which was posted online by daily beast editor sam stein, the campaign offeredss to send signed copies of hannity new new booko hannitys for a 75 donation. The president tweeting about hannitys book, very excited to see Sean Hannitys new book which will be released on tuesday, august 4. Make sure to get your copy. The president held another briefing on the coronavirus. [video clip] pres. Trump we are beginning to see evidence of significant progress nationwide. The number of positive cases has declined by 6 from the week before. The positive test rate has also dropped from 8. 7 to 8 . An encouraging sign. Very encouraging. The virus is receding. In hotspots across the south and west, we have seen improvements. Weekly case counts have dropped 37 . That is tremendous job from the government. Texas down 18. 7 . I was there a couple of days ago. Florida, 21. 2 drop. That is a tremendous job they are all doing. As we continue to contain the virus, we must focus on new flareups in states where case numbers have risen including georgia, mississippi, tennessee, oklahoma and missouri. I think youll find they will soon be very much under control. 18 states continue to have low case numbers and low positivity rates. Connecticut,ka, delaware, maine, maryland, new york, north dakota, oregon, vermont, West Virginia and wyoming. Under five. Even in the states were the virus is under control and at a very low number, and american should continue to be vigilant in order to prevent new hotspots from opening up. This first hour, we are talking about the impact of the pandemic on Small Businesses. From theeekend session wall street journal, a Small Business survival guide. As many as 4 million Small Businesses could be lost entirely in 2020. 1. 3 million Small Businesses have closed or suspended operations from april through june. N twitter, cspanwj our veterinarian has provided patients with an option that she comes to you for checkups. We brought our dog outside and she administered the vaccination. I thought the only business that could not operate are in states that have the worst outbreak. If i owned a business in a state with the most cases, why would i open . The gym i have used has closed. The owner did everything right, open with full mitigation strategy. I can only guess it did not make Financial Sense to renew a 12 month lease during a pandemic. Host to dave in brecksville, ohio. Caller top of the morning to you. Host i am fine, thank you. Couple of inconvenient facts for Small Business owners, we have had the largest decrease in gdp of 32. 9 in the Second Quarter of this year. That was from forbes. 3600 businesses have filed for bankruptcy since january. 600 of those filed in june. That is a 43 increase over june of last year. We have had 19 consecutive months of over one Million People going in for the first time for unemployment claims. Last month, it was 1. 4 million. People goingparty to sit down, both republicans and democrats, and stop servicing the plutocrats and start worrying about the workingmen . This is ridiculous. Carolina. 0 in north caller good morning. Thanks for the opportunity. Longtime listener, first time caller. I own a Small Business and have been in business for many years. I have never seen the economy in as dire straits. I do insurance and to work with Small Business owners, truckers, beauticians, restaurants emma gym owners, and they have been devastated by what has been going on. When you look at what the sba did, some of what they were classifying as Small Businesses, if i have 50 billion in assets, i am not by any means a Small Business. Contacted them a couple of times in regards to the different programs applied. , six orre like, well eight months ago credit was fine. I am borrowing from peter to pay paul to keep the doors open. Keep payroll made. Youre doing everything you possibly can to stay afloat. You contact sba and they are like oh, i am so sorry, you dont qualify for that. Like, wait a minute caller caller youre using taxpayer money. We are all contributing. How it was being dispersed was not very well. Seere starting to look to where some of the money was going, you had a report earlier today on some of the sizes of businesses and who got what. I dont. I do not know. There has got to be a better plan, something more feasible for Business Owners. Clients whoormer owned gyms been shut down since february, they are out of business now. You cant go six months as a Small Business owner, you are already running a shoestring budget to start with. Youre putting everything you have to keep your business afloat and it is just not a good situation. Queue, ifthe piazza they go out of business caller most definitely. You have to start redoing your own business differently. You have to make all of these changes just to survive. We are still open. Been the most stressful six to eight months i have ever seen. I have been a Small Business owner for years, i have never been through this type of situation. I have never had so many people affected by the situation. Host are you also in the position where your clients are making claims on their policies because of the loss . Caller some of them are. A lot of the insurance policies right now, that its going to be a huge legal debate to take place for decades to come. A lot of commercial policies to not cover viruses. Excluded protection. Youre going to see a lot of litigation take place. It has definitely been a trying time. I have had quite a few Small Business owners, they just could not afford insurance for anything to pay for them, their staff. They have been canceling policies also. Some of the larger providers are still trying to help some of the customers. Theres still a lot of things going good even in the midst of this bad stuff. It has really been a struggle. When you are trying to make payroll every month and you are juggling everything that you have got other people who their families depend on you and your business and you are trying to keep the economy flowing and Everything Else moving. It is extremely difficult as a Small Business owner in the climate we are in. You hear all the noise and rhetoric that everybody wants to holler and scream, but no solutions are being proposed to really come forth and help. Appreciate you sharing your experience. Alan is in brooklyn. Caller good morning. I am at the point where i can say i have seen the worst. Every time i think i have seen it all, i am presented with facts that paul me all over again. Yet people are to all of this. There are so many offenses against ordinary people. Lies about the purposes of the administration during the campaign. Right after he was elected he goes to the 21 club and tells his rich friends they are going to get tax cuts. A joke i couldas stand on the middle of 5th avenue and shoot somebody and all but he would do anything. People has he caused the death of by neglecting to deal with this pandemic properly . And then we find out in the article about the testing plan that was abandoned after being prepared by Jared Kushner last spring because it seemed that would be likely to have a greater impact in democratic states, so they would stand back and let it happen. I am a solo practitioner here. Go back to unable to my business. Secretary,loyee, a is over 65. We were both advised from the beginning we are nonessential workers both over 65, at greater risk of getting the disease, so wait until they say it is clear. In the spring when i started paying my secretarys salary out of pocket, i assumed this would be cleared up by may or june. Because the president has stood liberally allowed it to grow for political purposes, i have no idea when it is going to reopen. Space, knowingn youre basically keeping on a pilot light hoping that someday you will be able to reenter the space or commute by bus and subway to resume work on prior matters not knowing whether the local Service Providers are going to be open. Restaurants, bookstores, Hardware Stores, barbershops, everything that sustains a neighborhood. This is a neighborhood near the center of borough hall in brooklyn, which is supposed to be a thriving hub of activity. Has killedhe millions of businesses and hundreds of thousands of people for political reasons. If this is not impeachable, i have no idea what is. This has to stop. People have to stop putting Party Loyalty at above national loyalty. There is an oath of office that has meaning. If the senate can take their oath and not realize they are violating it by saying we are going to ignore the facts of even a blatant offense because Party Loyalty comes first, they are part of another country now. They are not part of the United States. They are party above country. Host reporting on the senate gop this morning, unemployment debate sparks gop divisions. A looming fight over Unemployment Insurance is putting a spotlight on gop divisions about how to replace the 600 per week federal benefit. Mitch mcconnell this set to bring the debate to a head with Republican Leaders say they are eager to hold votes which would put democrats on the record as aking [video clip] we getting an understanding of each position and making progress. There are a lot of issues that are still outstanding, but i think there is a desire to get something done. We continue to work. Aat we did today, to give you little flavor, we went through the numbers in the proposal the senate put in. And the proposal that we have. How many children can you feed with this amount of dollars for how long . How many schools can you protect for this amount of dollars so that they can open up when . Are ourls how proposals are a lot more generous because, as the speaker said, this is the greatest problem we have faced. The greatest problem we have faced in 75 years on the economic front. We think we need a stronger response by the federal government to get out of this mess. To get out of this crisis. Host those negotiations with white house officials set to continue today according to our producer craig kaplan. Comments,f additional Peter Defazio with a tweet, hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars from the Paycheck Protection Program have gone to chinese owned businesses. This is unacceptable. 73,000chris coons, businesses have closed. We know the ppp forgivable loans have been a lifeline for so many Small Business owners, but a second round of support is clearly needed. One more call from jim who is a Small Business owner in office we go, new york caller i wanted to say, i am an independent contractor. I have been doing a lot better. The initial ppp loan helped me out tremendously. Thented to answer practitioner whatever, i didnt catch what he does. I dont understand. He lost all sense of reason when he was saying that this virus somehow helps the president. Happened, the economy was gangbusters. He acted like trump is the one benefiting from this going on. It defies reason. Close the borders from people coming from china if he wanted to spread this . And then to say he is deliberately spreading it to democratic states, i do not know what he is drinking. That defies all reason. Host thanks for your ahead here on washington journal, we take a deep dive into mailin voting and its recent track record. We speak with david becker, founder for the center for election innovation and research. Later on, dr. Arthur evans, ceo of the american Psychological Association will join us, to talk about the apas latest stress in america survey. This week, two hearings before the senate. A. M. ,nesday at 10 00 sally gates, the former acting attorney general at the start of the Trump Administration, testifies on the russia investigation before the judiciary committee. On thursday at 10 00 a. M. , the acting secretary for the u. S. Department of follmann security will testify on the departments deployment of personnel to protests and unrest around the country. Atch live on cspan, online 202 7488000 or list online live on. Org or listen the free cspan radio app. During the summer months, reach out to your congressional to your elected officials. Stay in touch with members of congress, federal agencies and State Governments. Order your copy online today at cspanstore. Org. This week marks the 75th in a verse every of the atomic bombings 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings of hiroshima and nagasaki. A discussion about the bombings with ethan toal, author gods. Light of the on sunday, want American History tv and washington journal live at 9 00 a. M. Eastern at as we look live at how the bombings ended world war ii with richard frank, the author of downfall. Join the discussion with your calls, texts, facebook questions and tweets. Once the 70 for thin bursary of the bombing of hiroshima and nagasaki, this week on washington journal, on cspan and American History tv on cspan3. Continues. Journal host up next, joining us is david becker, founder and exited of director of the center for election innovation and research. Here to talk with us about election security, in particular, mailin ballot inc. Mailin balloting, mailin voting. Guest thanks for having me. Host tell us about your organization, the center for election innovation and research. Why did you found it . Guest i have been in elections for about 22 years. I spent time as a trial attorney, and i made my way over to the where i ran their Elections Team for some years. In 2016, i went off and founded the center for election innovation and research, to continue the work i have been doing along with my staff. We work with Election Officials across the spectrum, to try and help them successfully run elections. We have focused in the past on things like Voter Registration, making that process more efficient and having more integrity. We focus on things like election cybersecurity, which is still an issue. Amid the pandemic we have been working with states to adapt to provide voters with convenient and safe voting options. Host how are states in general planning to adapt for the pandemic . Guest most states, and this is true regardless of where they are, and whether they are run by republicans or democrats, are trying to find a way to give voters options, ways they can vote that they feel safe, and feel convenient to them. This means expanded voting in almost every case. Every state is going to see a Record Number of ballots received by mail. It also means expanded early voting, finding appropriate voting sites for voting in a pandemic, which means they need to be large enough to accommodate social distancing. Also making sure that Election Officials can recruit enough poll workers to staff those sites. We need about one million poll workers in the president ial election, but the fast majority but the majority of poll workers historically have been over the age of 60. Host define for us, the difference between mailin voting and absentee voting. Guest that is easy. There is essentially no difference. There are basically three types of mailin voting in the United States. There are a small number of states with universal male voting where they universal mail voting. Nevada Just Announced this weekend, but other states include states like utah, washington, oregon, etc. And these are states that are run by republicans and democrats. They have been doing this for a long time. They are a handful of states that require an excuse to do mail voting. You can request a ballot if you have an excuse and in many of those states, Election Officials fearsaid that covid19 would count as an excuse in some of those states. The majority of states, including almost all battleground states offer what is called no excuse mail voting or no excuse absentee voting, and these are essentially the same thing. This is when a voter has to request a mail ballot sent to them specific to that election. That ballot gets validated against the voters information on file the voters information on file. They then fill out the ballot which has a lot of verification they can return that ballot either by sending it back in postal mail or delivering it to a drop off location. That is the way it is being done in states like georgia, florida, pennsylvania, ohio, michigan, etc. Ita very common thing was a very common thing it is a very common thing. About 20 of ballots were turned in by mail. Host our guest, david becker, talking about mailin ballots. 202 7488001 is the line republicans. 202 7488000 is the line for democrats. Independents, 202 7488002. We will get to your calls momentarily. You bubbly have seen this study, the m. I. T. Election lab, the Data Science Lab study on mailin voting, part of which says this. Ofere are two major features voting by mail that raises concerns. First is the ballot is cast outside the public eye. The concern for voter impersonation is greater. The transmission path for vbm beings not as requested without the voters permission. How do you respond to those . Guest i can tell you what states that have done a lot of mail voting have found. It is fair to say those risks exist, but they are extremely rare. There are so many checks and balances in place, on the ballots themselves, on the envelopes, the applications, that it would be exceedingly different exceedingly difficult for someone to commit fraud. When it happens, it is almost always discovered. Fraud. Asy to catch voter demonstrate that you submitted a vote that you werent supposed to. If you hope to get away with it, you have to hope the person does not show up to vote. If they do, you are going to get caught. What republican Election Officials will tell you is that there are several checks and balances in place. The more likely risks of mail voting is that people unfamiliar with mailin voting could fill out their ballot incorrectly, and it could result in their vote being rejected, or that the Postal Service will take too long to deliver the ballot in the first place, and the voter might have to go to plan b and vote in person. There is no perfect voting system. Every voter has to make their choices. Host are there states that currently have done and successfully done vote by mail exclusively . Guest exclusively isnt quite the right word but there are states who do it almost excessively, well over where 90 of their electorate vote by mail. Colorado is next in line. They have been moving toward nearly all mail ballots for some time. Well over 90 of their ballots are cast by mail. Utah is moving to all mail voting. Even a state like california, prepandemic was on pace for about 75 of their ballots being returned or being delivered to voters by mail. An in personys option for voters, but states like those are nearly as close as 100 as you can get. Host attorney general william barr testified before the house last week, and was asked about the potential for voter fraud in the upcoming election. Lets take a listen. [video clip] as attorney general of the United States, do you believe this 2020 president election will be rigged . I have no reason to think it will be. Thatesident trump tweeted the election will be rigged, but he also tweeted that, when he was losing to hillary clinton, and he tweeted that the day after fox showed he was losing. I dont want to be few political to be too political. Do you believe that mailin voting will lead to massive voter fraud . I think there is a high risk that it will. Do you ever vote by mailin ballot . I did once, at least. But you believe that other people voting by mail could lead to massive fraud. What i talked about and made clear is that i am not talking about accommodations for people out of the state or have some particular need or inability to go and vote. What im talking about is the wholesale conversion of alexion to him of election to mailin voting. Do know that africanamericans proportionally do not survive covid19. I did not hear the question. You are aware that africanamericans disproportionately die from the covid19 virus. Correct . Thats right. Theot that it would be first time that africanamericans would risk their lives to vote in this country, to preserve its democracy, but the suggestion is that them having the ability to leadby mail would somehow to massive voter fraud. I wont stick to that. I didnt say that. I stated what i think is the reality, which is if you have wholesale mailin voting, it substantially increases the risk for fraud. Host david becker. The attorney general saying if you have wholesale mailin voting, it increases the likelihood for fraud. Do you agree with that . Guest absolutely not. I encourage the attorney general to talk to my former colleagues in his own Justice Department about how voting works, and talk to secretaries of state and his own party, such as in utah, to find out the facts about this. Im not sure what he means by wholesale mailin voting wholesale mail voting. States like washington, oregon and utah, all run by republicans, they will tell you there are many checks and balances in place. When fraud occurs, it is extremely rare, and it is caught as it should be. Georgia,n officials in florida and ohio have seen increased rates of mail balloting. Florida is very used to mail balloting. There are many checks and balances in place, many protections. Republicans no and have been encouraging their voters to vote by mail. Democrats have been doing the same. Some voters who are very comfortable with paper ballots, mail ballots should be voting by mail. It is important to note that we are going to need significant in person voting options so voters who need or want to vote in person can do so safely and conveniently. Host our guest, david becker, founder and executive of the center for election innovation and research. Lines are 202 7488001 the republicans. 202 7488000 202 7488001 for republicans. 202 7488000 for democrats. Our first caller in texas on the republican line. Caller thank you for taking my call. Leftecker, when i california, we were gone for six years, when i found out we were still receiving the people who bought our house, we were still receiving election ballots. Thatw years before california was as crooked as it could be. Nevada just recently passed laws, where there are no boundaries. Anybody can pick up, whether related or not, they can go and pick up ballots for people they dont know, and pass coronavirus to them. Havee in a home now that i lived in since 2009. Evidently, there were 11 people that lived here before me, and i still havent been able to get their mail delivered to their correct address. I have tried my best to find these people. I have put in for changes of address on these people. I have been with the post office. I have received mailin ballots for these people. Tell me that i cant fill out these, because i am good at signatures. Host we will get a response from our guest. Guest i highly encourage you not to do that, because if you fill out any ballots that come to your house, you wont be getting one in texas because that is not how they run elections but if you fill out one that comes to your house, you will get caught. There is a lot of private information that only the voters themselves would have. It is very unlikely that you would know exactly how the person signed on their voter file when they register to vote, which is the signature it is being matched again matched against. You better hope that person does not show up to vote in person because if they do, they will know a fraudulent vote was cast and they will find you and prosecute. That is years you will spend in jail, and there will be a Fine Associated with that. Statesgard to ballots in that do mostly mail balloting, it is important that voter records be uptodate. States are doing a better job of keeping their voter records uptodate. It is something we have worked on with states for some time, and there is still some work to do. Even if a ballot gets delivered in error to a voter, if they try to vote that, they will be caught and they will be prosecuted. It is not the crime of the century. Youll be risking many years in jail and a very large fine, for the right to cast one additional fraudulent ballot in an election. That is one of the reasons that americans take their elections so seriously. There have been many studies on this by the Justice Department, by President Trumps own Election Integrity commission. We have confirmed that there is very little voter fraud in the United States. Host we will go to our democrats line. Claude is in florida. Go ahead. Caller thank you for taking my call, mr. Becker. A few points of interest that i would like for you to address. President has been for four years undermining our elections, from asking russia to find hillarys emails, saying the election it was saying the election was rigged even before he was elected, before the vote. Up untilntinued that, this point, still saying and undermining our elections. How do you square that with the pack of lies he has told from building a wall that mexico was going to pay for, how does that affect our elections . Guest thank you. It is a big concern to Election Officials around the country. I have talked to them about this, regularly. It is not just democrats, republicans as well. Voters are losing confidence in our elections. This has been the goal of our foreign adversaries like russia and china and iran. They want citizens of a democracy to lose confidence in the system of government, and the democratic system of government and the elections that elect our leaders. It is very disappointing when he domestic actors, particularly our leaders use when any domestic actors, particularly our leaders use rhetoric that would lead to losing confidence. Election officials have done more to increase the security of our elections in the face of foreign interference. They are trying to provide the best possible voting experience, even during the pandemic, even as they have very few resources. Voters should feel confident that their vote is going to be counted properly, and i think we all need to work harder to make sure that we encourage our fellow citizens to have confidence in our system and make sure we have a system that has integrity. If you look at polling, we should be concerned about diminished confidence in our elections, and i can tell you if you have any doubts about that whatsoever, if you want to learn about how elections work, volunteer to be a poll worker. Go to your county election website or state election website and volunteer and see it from the inside. You will be doing a Tremendous Service for your fellow citizens, and you will get a chance to see how the system works and protects against any possible fraud or other problems. Host the number a number of about must be concerned poll workers being there in person. It is pretty much a wellknown fact that many poll workers are older americans, who have the time to volunteer and work at the polls. Any sense on states who may be struggling to fill those positions is election day approaches . Guest i would say every state is concerned about filling those positions, and struggling to some degree. There are huge percentages of poll workers they have used in the past who are in at risk pout at risk populations and probably should not volunteer to be a poll worker again. Younger healthier segments of the population to setup to step up and volunteer and serve as poll workers. Election officials are doing what they can to make sure polling sites are such that people are minimizing any risk, similar to what we might do in a Grocery Store. Officials are working to get plexiglas shields to separate people in the polling place. They are keeping polling stations far apart. They are having enough ppe and disinfecting supplies on hand, and training their poll workers to use them during the day. What you will see if you go to vote in person, you will see that the polling places are safe, that Election Officials have done what they needed to do, even though they needed a lot more resources to do it. We are seeing some elements of society stepping up. I am helping advise the more than a Vote Initiative that lebron james started, and they have been successful getting sports teams to volunteer their facilities, their arenas which are very large and can accommodate social distancing. Large polling places near public transit. Voting centers that can be used in early voting and on election day. Election officials are doing things they have never had to do in the past, trying to find ways. In olympia,p is washington. Elaine, good morning. Caller good morning. I live in a paper ballot state. It didnt take trump to lose my confidence in the paper ballot system. My mother died, and for four election cycles, ballots were delivered to her home. After one of the families bought her house, the family ended up getting the last ballot. Somebody used her ballot, and in my opinion, the only way that they could ever secure the paper idlot system, is to put an bar code on every one of them that is different, so no ballot could be duplicated any place in the state. That is the only way that they could honestly secure the thation and make sure every address or every person has a particular barcode, and that barcode is on their ballot, and that barcode stays with them. That is my opinion. Guest it is interesting that you say that, because that is what they do in almost every state. There is a unique coding on every ballot envelope, to make sure there is a onetoone match between the envelope and the individual. Even if a voter who has passed away receives a ballot, and that happens sometimes unfortunately. Sometimes Election Officials dont get information about that. It will be exceedingly difficult it would be exceedingly difficult for someone else to cast a ballot on behalf of that person because of the identifying information that would be required. Every single signature in Washington State as well as oregon and other and every other state that does mail balloting gets checked. There are checks in place to make sure that ballot would not be voted, and we are working really hard. Washington has been at the forefront of this, to ensure that the voter lists are accurate. One thing a lot of the states have is they have more mail contact with voters, so if a voter has moved or passed away, and people do their duty and right on the outside of the envelope that the person is no longer there, that gets back to the Election Officials and helps them maintain very accurate voter lists. That is a very important aspect of it, and states with a lot of mail voting tends to have tend to have the most accurate voter lists. Host our next caller from silver spring, maryland. Democrats line. Caller the way i see it, i see that trump is trying to cripple the post office right before the election, and i also see that you were talking about other people stepping in and other companies stepping in to try and help the problem. In my opinion, the Washington Post, which has the word post in it, they should team up with the United States Postal Service, do everything they can to fight back against administration that is literally trying to put the post office out of business. You raise a very important point, and that is the health of the Postal Service. We are seeing some very disturbing things at the Postal Service right now. The delivery of mail ballots, there is no choice here. There are going to be more mail ballots this year than we have ever seen before. We are going to need to get them there, early and successfully. This stresses a major point for voters this fall. Unlike past elections were a lot of voters would show up three present elections which show up for president ial elections, we are all we need to make a plan to vote this fall. Just like i used to go to the Grocery Store and not think about it, and i could go every day and linger, i dont do that anymore. I make a plan, get everything i need, and then leave so i can minimize my time inside. We are going to need to do that with voting. The most important aspects of that are checking your registration status. Register to vote if you are not already there. Make sure the information is accurate. A great place to start is ca nivote. Org. If you want to vote by mail, ask for a mail ballot as soon as you can. Do it early so that even if the Postal Service has delays, you will get it below get it before the election. Early, if you are voting in person, go and vote as early as you can. It is going to be important to make a plan for this election cycle, for every voter in the United States. Host a couple comments on text and twitter. This tweet says my mailin ballot is literally in my mailbox today waiting to be picked up by my mailman. President ial primaries are due by august 11. If trump spent half the time helping mailin voting as he does whining about it, we would be assured a safe secure election. A good question for you, are all mailin ballots sent to registered voters with their name on it . Guest yes. That is the only way they can be sent. The Election Officials need to have a name and address on file, and what they do is they send ballots out with a specific name and address. There is always coding. They are printed on special paper with special ink. Each ballot is assigned a particular voter. Is not like ballots or just available for pickup it is not like ballots are just available for pickup. The only place someone can pick up a ballot is at a specific polling location, for people to go in person to vote, and of course they need to go through a check in process, where they are validated by pull workers before they are handed that ballot pull workers before pull workers before they are handed that ballot. Host if my Voter Registration card has my Voter Registration card has been 1972 signature, it doesnt look anything at all like my current signature. Guest that is one of the problems. One of the problems that exists with mailin voting is we are seeing in states with less familiarity with large numbers of mail ballots is that a lot of ballots get rejected. Ballot will be flagged and now cant and not counted because the signature does not match or something was not fully filled out on the outside of the ballot envelope. Aery state has what it calls notice provision where it is supposed to contact you and give you some time to fix the problem. You can come in and prove your identity, for example with a signature mismatch and confirm that ballot is yours. If you have any doubt about this, a great way to vote is early and in person. Your identity is validated before you are given a ballot. You get a ballot, and then you vote. People asked me how i prefer to vote, and i always vote whenever possible, early and in person. It is the most convenient for me. I am confident i can do so safely, and i know if there are any issues, that i will be able to deal with it at that time with human beings. Host does your organization favor voting favor voting id laws . Guest we take no position on voter id laws. There are different laws around the country based on how states operate. We do think that given the need for safe and convenient voting that states should be thinking about how integrity of the ballot isnt important balances with access for voters and every state is going to make a different decision. Host here is linda in tennessee, independent line. Yes, i, yes caller dont have no confidence. Voted three times for her brothers and uncle [indiscernible] jail or get put in whatever . Host was that in your your calla to . Caller no, that was an ohio host was that in your locality . Ohio no, that was an that was in ohio. Guest anecdotal claims of voter fraud, there are occasional instances. They are almost always caught and prosecuted. The secretary of state in ohio is a republican. Job of a remarkably good identifying potential fraud, investigating it and prosecuting it. They put out a report after every single major election. You can go onto their website and look at the 2018 report, and what they will show is that the percentage of voter fraud that they detected possibly existing in ohio is measured in the of a percentage point. It is very rare. I highly encourage you to volunteer and ask the secretary. Host President Trump raise concern on a mailin primary race in new york and his News Conference yesterday. The headline, why President Trump is calling for a revote in a primary election. On monday he suggested the democratic primary in new york should undergo a quote, revote. It has been six weeks since the election took place, and there are still no declared winners in the full Congressional District which includes parts of manhattan, brooklyn and queens. The president saying, i think you probably have to take the race and run it over again, referencing the sitting congresswoman from the 12 Congressional District. How can you do this . This is a small race with literally thousands of people, and it is all messed up. They are six weeks into it now and they have no clue what is going on. What is going on in those races . Guest the Election Officials are doing what they should be doing. New york is a state that does not have a lot of experience with mail voting, and voters have chosen to request mail ballots at rates much higher than before, due to the pandemic most likely. Election officials are very closely validating every single one of those ballots. This is how we protect against potential fraud. This is how we demonstrate to anyone who is even thinking about committing fraud that we will catch them. It is much more important to get it accurate than to get it fast. It took six weeks to get to the point in november and december of 2000 where we were in florida, with president bush narrowly defeating Vice President gore. I ask people with their partisan lenses, we look at these things from the perspective of whod we want to win and what is going to benefit our party, but what is good for the goose is good for the gander. We wanted to ask for a revote in florida with such a narrow election there, and officials trying to do their job. Similarly, we have seen close elections in other places. What we are seeing in new york is electionaces officials diligently doing their jobs under very challenging circumstances. They will reach a determination on the final count in new york, and we should give them the time to do so. Host howard on our democrats line. Caller good morning to you. Not a person that looks at color or white or black. If you treat me like a person, i treat you like a person. I have heard three white women say they can duplicate signatures, or go into a mothers home and do what they wanted. A black to say person got caught and she admitted it. If you were correct, you could do it, but you are going to get caught. This is the thing with me. Life, this year, in salisbury, north carolina, you have to ask for an application first. This is what is going to lock you in with your signature. Years before 10 you voted again, that application, if they dont want the candidate to receive you would get your ballot. You can send that ballot in, as soon as you fill it out and you are already in there. How many people do you think that right now, this year, right in georgia or kentucky, how many people with one pull open one poll open, have any people do you think were discouraged and turned away and did not get a chance to vote at all . Host ok, howard. David becker . Guest you raise a very good point. The majority of states, including almost all battleground states, there were multiple levels of validation. Someone has to go through the process of applying for a mail ballot. There is a signature on that or other personal information that is validated before someday can even receive a ballot. There is a second level of validation that occurs when the ballot is returned. You are right. We need to be concerned, particularly in the pandemic when people are worried about their health and you may have fewer polling places and poll workers. We have to make sure everyone has a convenient way to vote. There have been some challenges with that, there have been a lot of polling places closed, and there have been some success stories. Louisville, somewhat of a success story, where they used the Kentucky Expo Center which is a large arena like structure with parking around it. Thousands voted that day in that large structure, and very few lines. Everyone got in and out in about 1520 minutes. It was probably not so great that it was the only place devote during the primary in Jefferson County probable the only place to vote during the primary in Jefferson County. If you look at other states, north carolina, kentucky, pennsylvania, etc. , Election Officials are working hard to secure enough sites to make sure there are more sites available, because smaller sites are not appropriate right now because we cannot socially distance, or there are sites we have used in the past like Senior Centers where there are too many people at risk. They were going to be some precinct consolidations, fewer sites there are probably going to be some precinct consolidations, fewer sites. It is a major concern for all of us working elections, including Election Officials from both parties around the part around the country. We have to make sure voters feel safe and can get to a voting place conveniently. Host our next caller on the republican line. Caller ive got one question for him. Why didnt he come out two days after Stacey Abrams said all the voting was fraud and tell her about his wonderful system . Why would anyone in the right mind want to vote early, without listening to any of the debates, when you can hear if biden screws up or not . Guest first of all, there were a lot of people who already know who they are voting for. I bet the caller already knows who he is voting for. There are voters who will want to see some debates or wait for other information. Every voter needs to make that choice by themselves. Whenever anyone of either party spreads allegations that we shouldnt trust election results, or that they cant trust Voting Technology or Election Officials or a process like early voting or mailin voting, honestly they are doing the work of our adversaries, who are diminishing our confidence in our elections. This is true across the political spectrum. To feelhat we all want confident in the election results. Voters should vote in the way that they choose. If they want to vote early, they should. If they want to vote by mail, they should vote by mail. If they want to wait and vote on election day, they should. The more that vote early, the smaller the crowds will be on election day. Host a Las Vegas Review journal headline, saying an election bill on a partyline vote, the president tweeting about that, not happy with it. Coup,illegal latenight nevadas clubhouse governor made it impossible for republicans to win the state. Post office could never handle the traffic of mail in voters mailin voting without preparation using covid to steal the state. See you in court. What is he talking about . Is the federal government challenging that decision . Guest i dont know if he means the federal government or the campaign. The democrats and republicans have armies of lawyers ready to litigate. The Trump Administration has litigation going on in several states. To takeies are going their relative positions in court, and we will see. I will say this. When there is partisan activity in and the legislature is trying to gain the system, i personally dont think that is good for voter confidence, and we have seen it on both sides. The Republican Legislature tried to restrict the ability of the republican secretary of state in iowa to offer more choices to voters. I dont recall the president saying anything bad about that. But we need to do is trust the election professionals. The election professionals, the secretaries of state, county Election Officials know what is best for their voters. That is going to be very important. Nevada is a state where they have handled a large volume of mail ballots in the past. They have experience in doing that. Other states, it is going to be much harder to handle the same volume. A state like arizona which is at 80 mail balloting already is going to be much more ready to handle ballots than a state like kentucky which has only ever had 5 . Different states will be in different positions, and we need to respect that. The main thing is we need to offer voter options and we need to be thinking of the voters first. If we are thinking about what outcome we want first, we are not going to be serving the voters. Host a couple quick questions. In georgia asks will ballots be rejected if dropped off with no postmark . Guest it depends on the state. If they are dropped off by the deadline, almost every state i closef, before the polls on election day, they will be counted. I dont know of any state where that is not the case. In states with large numbers of mail voting mistakes states oregon and washington, this might not be intuitive but the majority of ballots are physically dropped off, not returned by mail. It is a good way, if you prefer to vote in the comfort of your home, if you requested a mail ballot early enough, it is a good way to ensure your ballot is given to officials and will be counted. The secretary of state of michigan is highly encouraging theyve got a primary going on today, and she is encouraging voters to drop off ballots they received in the mail. Drop off ballots are a wonderful thing to do. Just make sure youve got it done by election day. Host larry is in missouri, democrats line. Does they question is, November Ballot have to be notarized in order to be received . Everyone to do mailin ballots. Thank you very much. Guest there are only a small handful of states that require a notary. A few other states require some sort of witness signature. Some states have waived that requirement. Alabama has a notary requirement. It is very rare. The message i would send to everyone out there is read the outside of the ballot envelope very carefully when you get it. Even before you request a ballot, confirm what the requirements are. It might be you are in a state where a notary is required and you may decide it is just as easy to go vote early in person, and that might be a good way for you to vote. You each have to make decisions based on your own circumstances, and what you feel comfortable with. But make those decisions early. Even if you decide not to vote early, but make the decision on how you are going to vote early, so you have a plan in place and you have a backup plan in place in case your ballot doesnt come or if Something Else changes. If the increase the number of early voting days and hours as texas just did, that might change your mind. Make a decision as early as possible. Host david becker with the center for election innovation and research. We look forward to hearing from you again, as the election season continues. Guest thanks, bill. Host on washington journal, after the break, we talked to dr. Arthur evans, ceo of the we talk to dr. Arthur evans, ceo of the american Psychological Association. We talk about the latest stress in america survey. Cspan has unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and Public Policy events. You can watch all of cspans Public Affairs programming on television, online, or listen on our free radio app. Be part of the National Conversation through cspans daily Washington Journal Program or through our social media scene. Cspan, created by americas cable come Cable Television companies as a public service, and brought to you today by your television provider. Two hearings the this week, two hearings before these before the senate. On theates testifies russia investigation before the judiciary committee. Thursday, chad wolf, acting secretary for the u. S. Department of Homeland Security will testify on the departments deploy meant of personnel to protests and unrest across the country. Watch live on cspan, online at cspan. Org, or listen live on the free cspan radio app. During the summer months, reach out to your elected officials with cspans directory. Al it contains Contact Information you need to stay in touch with members of congress, federal agencies, and state governors. Order your copy online today at cspanstore. Org. Week marks the 75th in a diverse array of the atomic bombings the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings of hiroshima and nagasaki. Watch presentations live for discussion watched cspan with thea discussion grandson of president harry truman. On sunday, watch American History tv and washington journal, live at 9 00 a. M. Eastern as we look back at how the bombings ended world war ii, and their legacy indicates ahead with richard frank, author of downfall, the end of the Imperial Japanese empire. Join the discussion with your calls, texts, facebook questions and tweets. Once the 75th in a versa reof the bomb 75th anniversary of the bombing of hiroshima and nagasaki on cspan and American History tv on cspan3. Continues. Journal host we are joined by dr. Arthur evans, ceo of the american Psychological Association. Joining us to talk about that associations latest survey, on stress in the time of covid19. Dr. Evans, welcome to the program. Guest thank you, led to be here. Host this is glad to be here. Host tell us why you did this survey initially, and what you found different this time around. Guest we have done the stress 2017. Rica survey since we know that stress is related to a lot of our physical outcomes as well as Mental Health outcomes. We have been tracking on that, and since the pandemic, we have how doing surveys to see our stress levels are being affected by this pandemic. Host the survey is available at apa. Org. Into a numberlves of very current issues, including the aftermath of the killing of george floyd on may 12, the protests and the disturbances and unrest in cities across the country. Tell us about that. Guest we did ask about that, and what we found is that about 60 of americans are concerned about racial discrimination, and have concerns about some of the reports around Police Brutality and communities of color, African Americans in particular in communities of color, African Americans in particular. African americans are feeling a significant amount of stress that has gone up over the past several months. We first asked that question back in may, about 42 of africanamericans reported they were feeling stress related to racial dissemination. We have seen a steady increase, to about 67 of people reporting that. Finally, racial discrimination. We have seen a steady increase, to about six to 7 of people reporting that 67 of people reporting that. We also found that an equal proportion of people are hopeful that the protests and the attention being paid to this is going to lead to meaningful change. I should point out that about an equal proportion of people are also taking steps themselves to address Racial Injustice and inequality, and doing things like learning or having conversations. People are very engaged, generally on this issue. Host when you ask about stress, what are the most common manifestations people tell you about . Guest we look at it in two ways. What are the things people are stressed about . How does that play out in peoples lives . What we know is that there are a variety of things that are causing people stress, and that has changed somewhat as we have gone into the pandemic. Generally speaking, economic stress is very prominent for people, and we have seen that during this pandemic. We see a lot of stress right now, related to concerns about contracting or getting the coronavirus. We are seeing stress related to the governments response to that. We are seeing stress related to people 1 wondering if people around them are taking appropriate preventative measures. All of those are things that we are seeing in peoples concerns. Host our guest, dr. Arthur evans, with the american Psychological Association. We welcome your calls and comments. For those of you in the eastern and central time zones, it is 202 7488000. Mountain and pacific, 202 7488001. For medical professionals, 202 7488002. Published the signs of stress during the pandemic, during Infectious Disease outbreak, and they include fear and worry about your own health and the health of loved ones, changes in sleep or eating patterns, difficulty sleeping or concentrating, increased use of alcohol, tobacco or other drugs, the anxiety effects include physical symptoms, muscle tensions, headaches, emotional symptoms, irritability, frustration, fear, difficulty concentrating, thoughts or worry and atastrophize catastrophizing, ruminating. You are seeing a rise in all of these across the country . Seeing ist we are that peoples reported levels of stress is going up. We have seen some of that is coming down a little bit, as people get accustomed to the new normal. Stress inifest their lots of different ways. The important thing is how we manage and mitigate stress, because we know that unmitigated stress can lead to a whole series of problems, cardiovascular problems, exacerbation of Chronic Health conditions, depression, Substance Abuse depression, Substance Abuse. It is a main reason we do the survey every year. The first is to recognize the level of stress that people are under, right now with the pandemic. We know that the level of uncertainty and the fear that people have, as a result is causing stress. When you add to that the economic downturn, and we know from years of Psychological Research that as the economy worsens, that there is more psychological distress. You add to that, the racial issues i was talking about earlier. All of those things are additive in terms of the impact that they have on people. It is important to take steps to manage that and mitigate that stress. Your survey found that a portion of adults citing gettingving coronavirus as a significant source of stress in the northeast but falling elsewhere. What we saw is what we are seeing is that as the infection rates go down in the northeast, the level of concern and stress related to getting the virus is going down, but in areas where we are seeing infection rates start to rise, there is more stress and concern about people getting the virus in concern about people getting the virus in those areas. Host the one common factor is unpredictability is causing stress across the aisle. The current amount of uncertainty in our nation causes me stress. 76 ofg to that, democrats surveyed, and 67 of republicans. You asked if the current Political Climate is a significant source of stress. 77 of democrats agreed on that. 62 of republicans agreed on that. Is that much different from earlier in the survey . Guest it is. We see these political differences on these issues, consistently. There is one other area, that i thought was very interesting. We asked the question about how people felt that people felt about the preventative measures, we have been asked to do, and particular physical distancing and wearing a mask in particular wearing physical distancing and wearing a mask. There are differences in terms of the proportions. 88 of republicans of democrats think those kinds of preventative measures are very ofortant, whereas about 65 republicans feel the same way. Two important points here. One is that a majority of people believe these things are important. That there is a big political divide, and terms of peoples willingness to engage in those kinds of preventative activities, at least a majority of both parties think that is important, but there are still these differences based on political affiliation. Host we will get to your phone calls. Eastern and central time zones, 202 7488000. Mountain and pacific, 202 7488001. Bernadette is first up, in new mexico. Caller good morning, everyone. The reason i am calling is i do live in new mexico, and the Mental Health issue is rampant here. People are being referred for Mental Health, and then the Mental Health professionals go ahead and prescribe psychotic drugs that make the matters worse. Some people dont need this, and yet everywhere you turn, somebody says that person needs mental help. All of a sudden, there is a gestapo around here recommending everyone go to a psychologist, when in reality, the psychologists themselves dont know what they are doing, because they dont take the time to figure out that some person might be on heart medication, and they dont understand the effects of prescribing a psychotic drug will have the effect with the heart medication. Well, i think the caller is saying a few important things. She is recognizing that people are experiencing a lot of distress. That is consistent with our survey. But i do think it is important that when people are at the point when they are no longer capable of managing the level of stress they are experiencing that they do seek out professional help. The point about sitting down and talking and trying to understand what is going on with someone is very important. That is one of the hallmarks of good Mental Health care, the people are being listened to, issues are being understood, and the type of treatment that is isng employed with people really consistent with what the needs are of the person. I will say that one of the silvers, or one of the linings in all of this in terms of Mental Health is that there is increased use of telehealth so that people dont have to physically go into a Physicians Office or a Mental Health center. They can actually get that care at home. What i would really encourage people is if they are experiencing psychological distress, if they feel they are at a point when they can no longer manage themselves without professional help, that they reach out for help. Call your insurance company, get someone in your network. If you are uninsured, your State Government always has a way of covering services for people who are uninsured. There really is no reason that, if you are experiencing Mental Health challenges, for you not to get help, and given the increased use of telehealth, theres no reason that even if you cant physically get there that you cant receive those services. Host we will go to stephen in pennsylvania. Caller good morning. I have been working since before the pandemic was announced to the american public. I listen to different radio programs that came out of radio free china. Hong kong went off the air. Everybody was wondering what was going on over there. What i have noticed since i have been working with all of my colleagues, theres about 150 of us. We come from many different backgrounds. We noticed that the politicization of the coronavirus pandemic is ramping up the fear of every u. S. Citizen in the country. The mediaget beyond and the politicians and actually tackle the coronavirus where the pandemic is, where people are being affected by it my wife and i recently went camping in midwestern pennsylvania. I walked into a gas station to get a cup of coffee for both of us late at night, and i was surprised no one in the middle of pennsylvania is Wearing Masks or protection. The man behind the counter says, sir, we dont have to wear that out here. We are tired of being told what to do and what to fear. There are numbers out there in that county that were so low, it was unbelievable. Like going through a Twilight Zone period from harrisburg to the middle of the country of pennsylvania. But i would like to know is, why do we shut down all the borders going from state to state, let alone up to canada . In the area of canada where i vacation along the st. Lawrence river, they have the lowest covid rates possible. They are in southern ontario. They are allowed to take hydrochloric when or whatever that drug that hydrochloric queen they are like to take they are allowed to take quine they are allowed to take hydrochloriquine. Host you put several points out there. Guest one of the things that is really important is that we follow the data, that we listen that we allow, the strategies we are going to employ for a particular community to be driven by what the data say. I think that was the point the caller was making. Host on twitter, is similar point. Downplaying the virus, downplaying masks while vilifying officials trying to reduce the spread, all playing. N a motion on emotion leadership would citizens ahead of personal emotions. Mark next in glendale, West Virginia. Caller thank you for taking my call. The vast majority of people that are dying, not talking about very elderly people in nursing homes, younger people who might otherwise be healthy, are dying because they experience , which causes your lungs to fill up with fluid. It is actually kind of rare. That is why you almost never see 18, iseople under extremely rare for them to die. However, this has to do with what the psychologist is talking about, the effects of chronic that all of us, not just the pandemic, but the rioting and everything that is going on, that actually increases tremendously. That this is actually more of a factor in a lot of young peoples death than the actual virus itself. Host ok, mark. Guest i cant speak to that specific thing the color was talking about, but we absolutely know that stress affects ples physical help physical health. We have to make sure we are paying as much attention to our mentor health as we are our mentor health to our physical health as we are our Mental Health. 1 cap person host that gettingyoung people not the virus is much as older people. , researchut that shows that adolescents, loosely arened from 14 to 26 years, biologically driven to seek new experiences. When children are born, their brains arent fully formed. The brain creates a large amount of synapses, or neural links between cells. During adolescence, these get cut back or pruned. The brain illuminates the connections that arent important. One way the brain germans what is important or not is through realworld brain determines what is important or not is through realworld experiences. At the same time, dopamine levels reach a lifetime peak in , and rewards and supports were board driven and supports were board driven learning, which drives them to value e media gratification, which can lead to risky decisions value immediate gratification, which can lead to risky decisions. Guest we know that decisionmaking is affected all adulthood,ough young so we know that people are still developing. But the point of a lot of the behavior around people taking risks are being influenced by a number of things. We know that social norms are very important. What are people doing in your community and in your peer group . It affects the decisions people make, the information that verye are getting is important. One thing that has come up today is our Political Leadership is very divided, and the information that is given and how it is portrayed, some of the preventative measures that people need to take. So we have a very volatile environment in which the information people are getting, the sources of that information, the kind of behaviors people are engaging in are really all over the place. I think it is very difficult for people to manage through that, particularly when they are not fully developed in terms of their decisionmaking ability. Host we are talking about Mental Health and stress during the pandemic. Our phone lines are 202 7488000 for the eastern and central time zones, and 202 7488001 for the mountain and pacific time zones. A question for you from sue in new jersey. My observation during the pandemic is people have made some remarkable behavior changes to slow the spread of covid19, but i worry about the economy. Loss of jobs, reduce hours, unresolved unemployment claims, etc. How should people cope with that . Guest we are at the point in this pandemic where we really have to start thinking about the longterm impact. The reality is in the very beginning of this, we were in crisis mode. People were making all kind of adjustments. But it is pretty clear to people now that we are going to be in this for months, if not a couple of years at least, as we get through finding a vaccine and getting people to use that, and the infection rate starting to go down in the spread starting to wane. So we are going to be in this for a while. Howreal challenge for us is do we continue to take the preventative measures that we simultaneouslyd do the things that we need to do to make sure that the economy along, that go people still have a way of having a livelihood. So we have to adjust to a new normal, and i think reframing how we think about this, from this crisis to a marathon, and readjusting our lives for that marathon is going to be important. That means figuring out how are we going to engage in the economy over the long run because we cant stay completely isolated over the next year or two as we wait for a vaccine. So it is part of the challenge we have. I think a lot of people are experiencing decision fatigue because we have so many decisions we have to make. Do we send our children back to school . Do we shop or order our groceries . There are so many decisions we have to answer right now, and we really have to organize our lives around the longterm changes that we see here. Decisions isthose whether or how the family can gather together. Book the Washington Post writing about the Washington Post writing about that this morning. Across the country, families are facing front decisions and fierce disagreements on whether or not to see each other this summer. From california to chicago to charlotte, Family Gatherings of all kinds have been linked to coronavirus outbreaks that have second scores of people. On, itthe pandemic drags is testing resolve to remain apart. Summer reunions offer a preview of what could happen later this year, when americans celebrate their first thanksgiving and christmas since the pandemics start. It has been especially difficult forever can american families, for whom large summer reunions are important rituals, given extra urgency from the National Reckoning on racism. Black families have also been dispersion lee affected by the pendant have been disproportionately affected by have beent. Disproportionately effected by the pandemic. Guest it is important to have this discussion around the criteria that are going to be used and the values that drive those decisions. If the decisions are really being driven by we are going to do every thing we can to make virus, are safe from the that is going to lead you down a certain pathway in terms of how you make those decisions. If your values are such that it is important, and you have concerns about social isolation and the importance of family connection, it will lead you down a different pathway potentially. Arewhatever those criteria that are driving your decisionmaking, it is really important to have those conversations and to really do everything you can to keep your family safe. I know some families are doing everyoneke making sure that is coming to the gathering gets tested and that they quarantine themselves before they gather, so they have some assurances that they are not going to get exposed to the virus during their gathering. Those kinds of things really. Llow people to accomplish both protect themselves, but also make sure they are not unwittingly spreading the virus in their Family Gatherings. But it is important for people to have those conversations interdict the best steps that they can, given the situation they are in. Host we go to beaulah in tennessee. Caller good morning to you. Stay safe and wash her hands. And wash your hands. But related to the Family Gatherings, my nine brothers and sisters, down to great great grandchildren, we always have a because athering big Family Gathering because this is what our mother asked us to do before she passed. This is the discussion we are having right now, how we are going to do this in order to continue to keep the tradition that we have been doing since i can remember. Students with the going into the classroom, and then somebody becomes infected and they are out of the classroom, i heard yesterday that one School System was having two days in and three days out, what kind of mental effect does that have on the looking, as well as like a prison for the schools i have seen . They have on a mask, and it doesnt seem like a happy place. I know that has a kind of middle situation on them kind of mental situation on them. You can have ptsd as a result of all of the things happening. I thick ive become agoura phobic become agoraphobic because i dont like to go out at all, even to pick up the mail. Host appreciate your call. Guest i will into the first question first. I think it is important to keep these decisions in perspective. Even if you have been doing family reunions for 20, 50, 70 years, this is an extraordinary period. This is a once in a hundred year pandemic we are experiencing. I think the question has to always be what is going to keep your family safe. Unfortunately, as you noted in your comments, a lot of the infections that people are getting are coming from Family Gatherings. Not having that this year or maybe a couple of years to keep people safe, versus running the risk of people becoming infected with the virus, how do you way that . I think ultimately, people err on the side of what do we have to do to make sure that we keep people safe. In terms of children, the point you are making about the longterm impact on children, yes, that is a concern. We know that children are going through important element to milestones important , andopment on milestones that is really important. Before my mother passed away and i was living in connecticut, my mother saw me writing something. My mother was a schoolteacher, so she was always looking at the things that we wrote and so forth. Oh, your handwriting is so bad. She reminded me that when i was in the third grade, my teacher had been out of school for a number of months, and that i have sort of missed a lot of important instruction on how to write in cursive. Us that these Development Milestones are really important. But here is the other things. Resilient, so even though i have horrible handwriting, and all of my family will tell you that, i still got a phd. I have a great life. I have a great family. There are ways to be compensated. So i think it is important for us to understand these things that our children might be missing now are important, and they may have a longterm impact, but generally speaking, we are able to bounce back from that. We are able to compensate for that. We know from research for example with military children, military children have a lot of disruptions in their education because they are moving around a lot. But if you look at how those children do over the long term, they actually do quite well. I come from a military family. The first six years of my life, we moved acre times moved four times. We were able to come and say, but it is important for communities where children come from families that have lower resources and Lower Community the multiplying effect of all of those things are things that we have to Pay Attention to as a society to make sure we are compensating because in those situations, those missing lots of developmental milestones can be very problematic for children in the long term. That is why it is so important. Host a quick text from connie in tacoma, washington. I encourage people going through mental stress to call their state or county crisis for. Ocal resources the National Alliance on Mental Illness also has good resources. Jody is next in michigan. Caller yes, hi. My question is regarding the previous pandemic of 1917 to 1918. Have they ever done any studies on how that affected the population, or what the outcomes were in the following years on the whole human being . The other part was just, is there something that does get developed when a population goes through a pandemic like this . Is it, as referred, resilience . Is there something on the positive end of that, going through something as dramatic as this . I will take my answer off. Thank you. Guest that is a good question. I actually dont know about looking at the Mental Health pandemic, the 1918 but right now, theres a lot of through theng on National Institutes of health and other entities, so we are going to have a pretty good handle on how this pandemic is playing out and what some of the psychological consequences of this pandemic are over the next several years. Theres some really Good Research happening now tracking what is happening in real time. The other thing is the american Psychological Association is talking every week to our colleagues from around the world, including colleagues from africa,d from asia, north america, south america. We are comparing notes about what is happening around the world in terms of the impact. When we talk to our colleagues in china, one of the things they talked about is the cognitive and Mental Health impact of actually having the virus, not just being in the pandemic with all of the stressors. There are a lot of Mental Health issues for people who actually have the virus. There hasnt been as much discussion about that, but that is something we are also going to have to look at. Your point about are there strengths isan be a really good question. One of the things we tend to focus on are all of the negatives that happen as a result of the stressors we have been talking about, but we also ,now from research on recovery particularly from Substance Use conditions, that people actually can develop ways of compensating that create strengths that people might not otherwise have had they gone through this. Throughhey not gone this. So we expect that there are going to be strengths that people develop because of their need to deal with many of the situations they are in now that will be longterm life strengths. I suspect that many of the young people graduating or have had to make the adjustment to their graduation, those kind of things, are going to turn out to be pretty remarkable young people because they have gone through this. I think we should be looking at that as much as we are looking at some of the longterm consequences, negative consequences about the pandemic. Host to brooklyn next. Samuel is on the line. Caller the morning. Thank you for taking my call. Let me ask you this. I am jewish. I have eight children. They are not going to school. They will stay home. Dangerous. Is you would think it is normal with schools closed guest im not sure if i quite got the question. No, it is not normal. That is why parents have to do what they can to make a decision. Earlier aboutg situations or different in different communities. Infection rates are different in different communities. The resources people have come of the resources that families have are different. To how we one answer should respond around these things. Each community, each family is going to have to make those decisions based on their unique situation. Good morning to ned. 8 caller good morning caller good morning. Ive got two things. I live in a very rural place. Mental health is pretty nonexistent. What i can tell you is the saw i am at essential worker, so i am able to travel around, but the lockdown. After about four weeks, you could notice that Mental Health declines for a lot of people from the impact of the lockdowns. I am gettingng is to a point in my career where i dont want to keep doing this. It will break my body down. Ive had Mental Health issues of my own in the past. Now,n see the impact of it and you can see it on the street. Possibly iing about could pursue the career myself. It after iested in went through my own crisis. Obviously theres a major shortage of psychiatrists across the country. Education. He whole is it getting more affordable to go through and not in up not end up in six digits of debt to get the career to come back to my community . Host we will get a response. Thank you. Guest i am glad you have interest in a career in Mental Health. I think we need more people. I will give you a couple of suggestions in terms of how to make it affordable because it can be quite expensive, depending on what level you get to. I would strongly suggest community college. Started ind, but i community college. I went to allstate schools. Went to all state schools. I didnt really have any debt to speak of. It is harder to do that today,. Ut it is still possible if you are not interested in pursuing a phd or other graduate emerginghere is this specialist,pierce people with lived experiences that have actually had Mental Health challenges themselves who get some additional training, and they are not trained to be physicians, but what they are trained to do is walk beside mentalexperiencing health challenges. Very effective in terms of helping people to engage, giving people hope, inspiring people, encouraging people as they walk through the recovery process. That is a very fulfilling role for people. If you dont want to go through the formal educational route, there are different roles you can play that people have found very fulfilling and that are very important for the Mental Health systems. Host one more call from george in hudson, florida. Caller good morning. How are you today . Host fine, thanks. Caller thats good. Ive had a problem with some of these people that have been saying on tv that i have seen on tv that seem like they are losing it. , what dong to ask you you think the diagnosis would be for nancy pelosi . Shes obviously offer not obviously off her nut. Host let me end with perhaps the headline we didnt talk about in the time of covid19 survey. I guess the good news this time around is the average stress level has dropped to 5 from 5. 2 . Did that surprise you at all . Guest it did because we have a lot of other data right now showing that people are experiencing more psychological symptoms. There are a number of surveys that have been done around the world showing that there is an increase in the number of people reporting psychological symptoms. But there is a piece of this , as peopleake sense have gotten more accustomed to to the new normal and people are making adjustments. So the data actually went from 5. 4 to 5. 225 in terms of how tople from 5. 4 to 5. 2 5. 0 as people have become four accustomed to this new reality, and in some ways, they are experiencing less stress as a result. Doesnt surprise us somewhat, but it does make sense in that context. If you look at how people are , it is verylly clear that people are experiencing significant amounts of stress, and what we need to do as a nation is pay as much attention to this because it is more people than just the virus, and we know that the consequences longterm can be quite significant. So i would like to see more of our leaders talk about taking and makingmselves sure that we are socially connected, which is important. Making sure that we are being very intentional about doing that are when we get into the survival mode of making sure we are getting through the day, we sort of villa mate all of those things that we get a lot of joy and satisfaction in, and it is really important to be intentional about making sure we continue to do those things. We have to make adjustments, but it is import to keep those things there. Finally, i think it is really important for us to reframe issues. We know from Psychological Research that seeing the glass halffull is very important of how we see our situation, our feelings of anxiety or depression. Issues as much as possible seeing the positive. You have a job, and there are many people who dont have a job. Seeing things through that lens can also be a really important way of helping me to get the stress we are seeing. Survey is at apa. Org. Thanks so much. Guest thank you. Host on capitol hill, negotiations resumed today on the latest pandemic relief package. A key part of that package is whether to extend the 600 unemployment benefit. That is what we will talk about next, and ask you, should the unlemon benefit be extended . The unemployment benefit be extended . Call now. Epublicans, 202 7488001 democrats, 202 7488000. Independents, 202 7488002. We will be right back. Cspan has unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and publicpolicy events. You can watch all of cspans content on cspan washington journal washington onl, on our daily cspan, on our daily Washington Journal Program, and on our social me give feeds. Our social media feeds. Marks the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings of hiroshima and nagasaki. Watch cspans washington journal, live thursday at 8 00 a. M. Eastern, for discussion with ian toll, author of twilight of the gods, and with the grandson of president harry truman. We will discuss their legacy with the author of downfall the end of the Imperial Japanese empire, and a professor at american universitys Nuclear Studies institute. Join the discussion. Watch the 75th anniversary of the bombing of hiroshima and nagasaki this week on washington journal, on cspan, and American History tv on cspan3. Washington journal continues. Host we will open up our phone lines to hear from you and ask about the extension of unEmployment Benefits. They expired last friday under the c. A. R. E. S. Act. They are being discussed on capitol hill as part of the latest round of pandemic relief. The house has passed their heroes act. The senate is debating their own measure, and leaders of the house and senate negotiating between democrats Chuck Schumer and House Speaker nancy pelosi, and the white house, treasury secretary steven mnuchin, and chief of staff mark meadows. Here are the lines. Republicans,1 for 202 7488000 for democrats, and for all others, 202 7488002. Should the unand him him benefits, the 600 other the unEmployment Benefits, the 600 extended benefits, be continued . In this article, if anything, Research Suggests the federal benefit supplement has boosted macroeconomic activity, and therefore likely supported hiring. That is because these benefits have supported Consumer Spending , which in turn helps retailers, landlords, and other businesses keep workers on their own payrolls. The goal of Unemployment Insurance is twofold, after all. Helping families put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads, and stimulus to support Consumer Spending so the economy can recover more quickly. Congressreasons, should immediately renew this supplement, ideally in a form that links and if it levels to Public Health and economic conditions, and that phases out as the dual crises abate, some democrats have already proposed. Another view from the heritage foundation, in their report on the 600 a week extension, we will show that to you in just a minute. We have called waiting period we will hear first from sally in morgantown, West Virginia. Caller hello. I absolutely agree that it is so important to extend these benefits. There are so many people that are struggling right now. Businesses are not even reopened. Country, or a lot of is country, and our state ineriencing an increase covid cases, and this is before the return to school in most areas. These issues are really intertwined. People cannot return to School Safely in many areas. Because the unemployment has run out, many families are faced with either sending their children back into school in very unsafe conditions, or having to choose between employment or sending their children back to school. Is so necessary because this is a pandemic. This is not business as usual. Host john is next in monterey, indiana. Caller good morning. My comment is i think you should probably not pay people 600 a week. The main reason is i dont think people are going to want to go to work when they can make 1000 a week. Host thanks for your comment. Crisler fromrachel the heritage foundation. Unemployment pays more than work for about 2 3 of the unemployed. Not only will the additional benefits have to be repaid by future workers, but they have made it hard for some businesses to get their employees back. Instead of extending it across the board, policymakers should implement a more targeted partial federal match to state unEmployment Benefits and provide a boost to partial benefit payments for those who are rehired with reduced hours and incomes. In georgia, this is eddie on the independent line. Caller good morning. Ofm calling in support extending the unemployment because a lot of people have been laid off from their jobs. To meete no other way their bills and their mortgage or rent. It is very much needed at this time. The pandemic has caused major stress and disaster across this country. Host ok. Alyssa calling on our democrats line next in new jersey. Good morning. Caller good morning. Thanks for taking my call. I am currently lucky enough to have my job throughout this pandemic, but for all of my family members that have lost my job and fellow americans, i think the 600 needs to be extended. I pay all of this money in texas. In to stash in taxes taxes. I want to see the economy stay afloat. Lets try to come up with a better plan to have people go back to work when it is safe. Host are your kids still out of work . Caller i dont have any kids. Host oh, i am sorry. Family that have nowhere else to go. But once it is ready to go back, i know many people are ready to go back. And they should be making more than 600 a week. I think that is another internal problem we all have to face down the road, the pay gap. The wage gap. Host janet is up next, republican line in illinois. Go ahead. Caller yes, i think they should change the amount. I dont think 600 extra a week is necessary. My daughter actually was on unemployment for a couple of months. They laid her off, and then she went back. She was making quite a bit more than she would have by not working then working, and that just doesnt seem right. Host this is the reporting in the wall street journal, on the debate at hand in the u. S. Capitol on this. Is 600 a week in extra a deterring people extra aid deterring people from seeking work . It centers on a key question. Are the extra weekly payments of 600 keeping people from returning to work . Senate republicans propose adducing the payments to 200 a week, saying the larger payments are keeping workers on the sidelines because many receive more in jobless aid than they did working. Senate democrats have proposed keeping the 600 a week payments temporarily and tricking them as the economy improves, saying workers need more support while the pandemic continues to hobble the u. S. Job market. We go to anthony in new york, democrats line. Caller thank you. Thank you for all you guys do. You do an excellent job. To all the criticizes, i dont think they realize the Niagara Falls that consistently comes your way day after day. You guys navigate all this information we must try to absorb and make sense of, so i greatly appreciate that. I did lose my job. I spent thousands of dollars in my health insurance, and i really felt when they did this that it was more of a stimulus for the economy, and more importantly, i lost my health care. If they really cared about us, i would have had my health at least extended another year or Something Like that. Basically, now i have no health insurance. I cant afford it. I am very grateful for the stimulus, but i think what does it say about the jobs, you say people wont come back to the jobs, but that 600 isnt enough to survive on. When you pay your property taxes, your insurance, your gas, your food, come on. We cant live on 600 or 700 or 800. We are living in a third World Economy with a reduced wage. I am a 57yearold man. My last job paid me 13 an hour. What am i supposed to do with that . I am constantly borrowing money, using my credit cards. I must have so much debt from trying to survive in this economy. Everywhere i go, you are breaking money out. Everything is money, money, money. I think capitalism has reared its ugly head, and i think we are failing. When you have a man that has these grand divisions, that can all this money and go to mars, and then you have people fighting over crumbs, something is wrong. I know capitalism is the best form of governance, but i think all isms will eventually fail. Host more calls coming up in the 600 debate in congress. We hear now from the statehouse reporter in kansas for the Wichita Eagle and the kansas city star, joining us to talk about the primary happening today in the u. S. Senate. Good morning. Guest good to be here. Host the match is between congressman Roger Marshall and kris kobach, who formerly served briefly in the administration. Former secretary of state in kansas. What does the race look like from there on the ground in kansas . Guest well, it has really been fight overed by a who is the most competitive candidate in the fall. Unlike a number of previous cycles, we have what is likely to be a very competitive democratic candidate. Kansas has not sent a democrat to the u. S. Senate since the 1930s. Obviously, there is a lot of concern in this cycle that the seat might be a little bit more competitive than it has been in the past, and in particular, there is a fear among National Republican establishment that kris kobach would prove vulnerable in a general election matchup, given his loss in the 2018 governors race. He lost that general election to a democrat. 1 how do you 9 how do you see host how do you see state republicans leaning . Guest part of the problem is we have seen virtually no public polling in this race, so a lot of us are flying blind. I think just from talking to people on the ground, there is a sense that it is very close. Surprised not be tonight if the outcome goes either way. Host tell us a bit about kris kobach. Hes the former secretary of state there. He served for a time in the Trump Administration and still maintains a very close relationship with President Trump, correct . Yeah, he speaks often to the president on the phone. The two have, i think it is fair to say, he has generally been somewhat of an informal adviser over the years to trump. He was a very early supporter of donald trump in kansas back in 2016. Ofould say that in terms kris kobachs history, he has a very strong, hardcore base of support among conservative republicans. That being said, i think the question is how large is that base, and has he been successful during this Campaign Cycle in kind of expanding his base of support. I think that is a key question we will be looking for the answer to tonight. Host what time do the polls close in kansas . , but 7 00 central time really, you have to keep in mind that we have a large number of mailin ballots this year. Noas is a state that has excuse advanced mail balloting, so we have had kind of a wave of these advanced ballots that county election officers are going to have to count. That could potentially prolong the process a little bit. In addition in kansas, advanced ballots, as long as they are postmarked on election day, are still valid if they come in my mail a few days after election day. So the results could still be trickling in for the rest of the week. If it is a close race, we might not know the outcome of some of those close races until later. Host and about the voting in kansas, one of the stories we are seeing at kansas. Com, and open the Wichita Eagle kansas. Com, in the wichita is you can still vote in person. Thanks so much for the update. Guest thanks for having me. Host we will continue with your calls and comments on that 600 figure, extending the added unemployment benefit. They expired last friday. We will hear from celia in new bedford, massachusetts. Good morning. You are on the air. Caller hello . Host go ahead. Caller my view on the 600 unemployment, i have people i know that say i would rather stay home then go to work because i get 1000 a week payment. [laughter] you know, so i think it is a little bit too much. That is my comment. Thank you. Host margaret is in houston on our democrats line. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I believe they should reinstate the 600. I think it is a complete insult to say that Somebody Just wants to stay home and to let the money and not go back to work and collect the money and not go back to work. That is a republican trope. People can hardly make it out here. And also, that is a lie. If somebody offers you a job and you dont accept it, you wont was eve the money anymore you wont receive the money anymore. So people think people are rejecting jobs. No. If you rejected job, you are not eligible for an limit anymore. Why arent people for unemployment anymore. Why arent people talking about that . Host joyce is on. Caller i am on Social Security, so thank god ive got money coming in every month. This. Comment is to the person who is really using it to live on is wonderful. To the person who is using it to buy pepsi for their kids, marijuana and merlot and new cars, something is wrong with the system. Ive been out here. They are having a heyday with this money, and they do say i would rather stay home and get 600 then work. We are making a society that is very lazy. They think the government should give them everything, but they can still keep all of their freedoms. They cant. Host outside of the marijuana part of this, if it is legal there in ohio that maybe one thing, but arguments have been made that to keep the 600 payment actually drives the economy. Those people spend it, whether it be on pepsi, or as you said, merlot. People are out spending that money that they did not have beforehand, and people at those stores are employed so those businesses can stay open. What do you think about that . Caller i am not on this totally, but i believe they do not even have to pay their rent. They get that money and just use it for groceries and possibly utilities. A lot of them arent even paying their bills. Host all right, joyce in ohio. Appreciate your call. On twitter and text, this one from mohamed in los angeles. The payment to help the unemployed translates to roughly 86 a day. Once you take into account housing, insurance payments, telephone andle, food, not much is left, if anything. I we used it to buy food. Anthony in indiana. I thick is sad when those on disability is expected to live on 1000 a month, but we are giving an additional 2400 a month to those who are unemployed. In hyattsville, maryland, good morning. Caller good morning. O me, 600 is too much to give there is a limit to this money. It expires after one year or six months, i think. And we are talking about an economy of 20 trillion. This is heaven thousand 200 a year this is 7,200 a year. [indiscernible] host all right. Memphis, tennessee is next. Shirley on the democrats line. Caller hi. I would just like people to realize, when you get unemployment, the government isnt giving you anything because if you dont work, you dont get unemployment. 600 extra is not all that. And it is not forever. People think you are going to get it forever. You can only get unemployment for x amount of time. I have work to the job for 29 years and got laid off. I dont have anywhere to go back to. These people that come and holler, well, you wont go back to work, ok. What about the people sitting at home working . Why dont they go back to work . It is safe for them to go, but not for you to go . People need to think. They want to send the kids back to school while they are sitting at home. You have to have some common sense and some compassion somewhere. And 600 is not forever. Host headline this morning on the negotiations on capitol hill. Productive, but slowmoving coronavirus aid talks. Speaker pelosi tells democrats she doesnt think adil deal will come together this week she doesnt think a deal will come together this week. The senate coming into session shortly. Falling waters, West Virginia, good morning. Caller yes, i do not agree with the 600 plus on unemployment because Social Security recipients get less when we have to pay the same. We worked when the wages were into this high. People making 700 and 800 and 900 a week that get Social Security when they get laid off plus 600, thank you. Host susan in south carolina, republican line, go ahead. Caller yes sir. This, see even before there were people that made a career of being permanently unemployed. I agree that 600 is too much. I think we need to address the fact that one of the other callers has brought up. This has been horrible on low income people. When you to put the money into providing health care and daycare to make it easier for the employers to provide health care and daycare so that these people can go back to work. 600, of course, is in addition to what the state pays. And dont forget, the employers state pate the employers pay state on employment. This all needs to be considered, not just a figure. Host coming up in just a couple of minutes on cspan, we will take you live to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and their hearing on venezuela this morning. A couple of comments on social media and via text on our topic this halfhour. This one from kendra in richmond, washington in richmond, virginia. They should not extend the 600 extra week. There should be no increase in unemployment benefit announce. But since we are in a crisis, rent for tenants should be a Landlord Relief Fund should be created for affected owners to seek assistance from the federal government. Mortgage payments for Property Owners should be waived, utility payments should be canceled as well. Yes, they should extend the unemployment. 600 is not a lot of money. So many people are suffering. It is not safe for adults or children. And craig kaplan saying that the covid19 talks are resuming on capitol hill today as Tropical Storm isaias hits the d. C. Area. Meadows and mnuchin plan to meet in their lunches and resume talks with pelosi and schumer. Caller hi. I just went to to say, lets not forget there is a pandemic. We will continue to live under this umbrella of suffering if we dont take certain actions, and that is the stimulus, the funds to be given. I havent even seen the stimulus check, and i am still working outside the home. However, i do believe it is important that a lot of people stay in place so that we can drop the curve. Children should not go to school. We need to find a way to just drop this curve until we get a vaccine. That is the main point. I feel like we are missing that point. It is not about what they buy or if they buy a new car. Maybe they need a new car. Who cares what they buy . The point is that people are not on the roads or exposing themselves to the virus. Host let me see if we can get one more call from james. , fredericksburg, virginia. Caller these are just pieces of paper. It is really not worth anything except the value on which we put in, saying that money is worth. Everybody needs to save every penny they have. The system is broken. In the end, whenever thing crashes and burns, which it has got to do, you are going to be left with nothing anyway. So i think the best thing you can do is save every penny you can, and you should get rid of your cable tv and go back to an antenna. That will save you 100 to 200 a month. You should decrease the amount of foods that are over the top foods and get only the essentials, and make a healthy. You will be surprised the habits you will build to save your money, and show your children. Everyone should congratulate china. They have done to us in nine months but no country has been able to do in hundreds of years. Thanks for taking my call. Host that will about do it for calls for our program this morning. We are back tomorrow morning, 7 00 eastern, here on washington journal. We will take you live next to that Senate Foreign relations hearing, getting underway very shortly. They are looking at that as layla. Live coverage at venezuela. Live coverage next here on cspan. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020]