Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 12072020 20240711

If you are unemployed or furloughed, 202 7488000. If you visited a food bank, 202 7488001 is the number. If you are behind on a housing payment, 202 7488002. All others this morning, 202 7488003. That is also the number you can send us a text this morning. Send a text, include your name and where you are from. Otherwise, catch up with us on social media. On facebook, it is facebook. Com cspan. You can start calling in and this first section of the washington journal. In in this first section of the wafted in journal. This week is said to be a crucial one. Now,rn to eric watson congressional reporter for bloomberg. Good morning to you. What is the status of negotiations . Did anything change over the weekend . Guest good morning, john. Yes, over the weekend, this gang of eight senators, for democrats and four republicans four democrats and four republicans, had a series of meetings to develop a text on their bipartisan proposal. A week ago, an at least in outline. At least an outline. The details were not there. Release theying to actual text of the bill today, but that is now unlikely. It will be more like a section by section summary where they have agreed to the details but the staffers are still writing some of the language. Looking for that perhaps this evening after another meeting. We will have more details, especially on the state and local, a lot of backandforth on how it will be determined. That is one of the key sticking points. Also exactly what is going to happen on Unemployment Insurance. There is a 300 a week federal benefit they proposed, but unclear how long two separate programs, one for gig workers, one for those who have run out of unemployment. That has not been nailed down. Host remind viewers about the ticking clock. If legislative language does not get released today or tomorrow, what does that mean for when a vote will take place . Guest there had been hope to wrap everything up for this package by december 11, the Government Shutdown deadline on friday. We heard late friday and confirmed over the weekend that there is no way these bills can be done. We are looking at Congress Passing a short stopgap bill to december 18, bringing us right against the christmas holiday, and i expect the actual final passage of the bills in the senate will be next week because of that. Congresses tend, if they have a deadline, to go up to the edge. There is a lot of work to be none. Dick durbin, over the weekend, involved inas been the Liability Protection portion of this, Mitch Mcconnells top priority to provide businesses with a shield for any covid related lawsuits. Sixmonth moratorium is to break for companies. Republicans are looking for more of a federal baseline approach that would be developed. That is probably the thorniest piece. Dick durbin and john cornyn of texas, if they could get together, that would be a good sign that things will happen, even if delayed. Host if congress does delay for , is there likely going to be a deadline they have to hit before the next Congress Gets seated . Tost they have been unable come together on covid since the last one was passed in march. Trillion passed a 3 3. 5 trillion bill in may. Buts certainly possible, Mitch Mcconnell and nancy pelosi, the house speaker, have said they want to get something done now. Mark warner, over the weekend, said republicans would be stupidity on steroids not to do something. Ive spoken to members who say this is politically suicidal to go back to their districts for a break without having done anything. With all these deadlines expiring. We have housing aid, unemployment boosts and extra benefits all expiring. And you are really going to see people starting to get evicted, people going into deep financial problems, so i think the reality of the economic recovery, especially a very weak jobs report on friday, is really pushing lawmakers now. Whether something holds it up, we have seen congress do that before. On the spending bill, we have alerts that protections for a bird out west was holding up the bill. Powerful senators and members of congress have their issues, so it is really a group process here to get consensus. Host lastly, other big bills we are watching, including the National Defense authorization act we talked about last week on this program. What is the status there . Guest it is very interesting. It couldto the lead to the first veto override of the trump administration. We have republicans pushing forward with the 700 billion defense bill with two provisions one,resident is against, it would force the renaming of confederate named bases and other monuments throughout the country. Aother, it does not have removal of Liability Protections for social Media Companies like twitter and facebook. It is called section 230. Butants that in the bill, members of congress on the relevant committees say it is not relevant to National Defense. We cannot just airdropped this provision in their. And they are not going to put an end. They said they have the votes in the house to override a veto, probably as well in the senate. You could see the two thirds majorities come together if the thendent does veto this, by the christmas break, they will have overridden a christmas veto. Host a good twitter follow is elwasson. Is a congressional reporter for bloomberg. Appreciate your time this morning. Host thanks so much, john. Back to your calls. Have Assistance Programs help to you programs help to you . Up our phone split lines on this section of the washington journal. If you are unemployed or furloughed, 202 7488000 is the number. If you have visited a food bank, 202 7488001. If you are behind on a housing payment, 202 7488002. And everyone else, all others, 202 7488003 is that number. Turning the phone lines over to you in this first hour of the washington journal to hear your stories. Michelle is up first out of milwaukee. Good morning to you. Caller hi. This is michelle. It was pretty bad. I am trying to remember what i was going to say, but basically i have been kind of upset about s, primarily cnn, have been harping on my nancy pelosi would not take that deal that she wanted, but to trillion dollar deal for stimulus. Wanted, the 2 trillion deal for stimulus. What they dont understand is that what trump put in that was, the offer he put in, for him to get another tax break but to and his buddies, take the tax break and the earned Income Credit that low income and middle income parrots receive on their taxes income parents receive on their taxes, and that is why nancy pelosi will not take that, because she knows that will help low income and middle income parents during tax time. Because i was one of those parents at one point in time when i was working, and i know how much that helped me to wait during a whole year for that time when i got my taxes, and that provided so much for me and my family as well as friends that i knew. So far as buying food, buying coats, buying clothes, these are extra things we were able to afford once we got our taxes. And even getting car repairs, things like that. And that is what trump wants to take away from the middle income and lower income, and that is why nancy pelosi was so stern on not accepting that bill. Like i said, i dont understand why cnn keeps harping on it. The deal willhink come together here before the end of the year . Do you think it is possible they might not come together on a deal . They willll, i think come together on that deal, the one that they just reached, which was the 900 billion, but as far as financial stimulus, that will have to come under joe biden, because, like i said, trump is not willing to give citizens anything unless he gets something on the backend. Because that is the way trump works. He wants to give you something on the front end. He wants to give citizens 1200 on the front end, but when they go to file their taxes and realize they are not going to get all that money they normally get, he was going to take that money. Host on the 1200 direct payments to individuals under certain income under a certain income level, that is not included in this 908 billion bipartisan framework that has been released. Son talkingrik was about the status of that bill coming together. We will see legislative language. As the Washington Times notes, that is not in this. Billion forain 208 the paycheck protection program, which would be geared more toward Small Business owners, as well as 180 billion dollars in Unemployment Benefits that would give jobless americans an extra 300 a week. Taking your phone calls, asking about pandemic Assistance Programs, federal, state, or local programs, asking how they have impacted you. Gregory behind on the housing payment out of springfield gardens, new york, good morning. You are next. Caller hey. How are you doing . Host well. How far behind are you, gregory . Caller it is a catch22. Amount, maymendous almost 1 billion in people eady behind the pandemic before the pandemic. I am a mortgage broker. I think cspan again for being nonpartisan. It is very rare to hear a media outlet that is not complicit in proposing any kind of point of view other than the best interests of american citizens. However, i have a Company Called pausemymortgage. Com. To enjoy theple reverse mortgage technology. You dont have to be 62. There is a fund available. Host gregory, are you seeing more people make use of that sort of thing these days . Caller what im saying is they dont know its available because i created it myself. I am a little guy. I am not wells fargo. However, i am a former Business Development manager for several mortgage companies, and i knew not that this was going to happen. I did it based on the fact that my community, queens, was the hardest hit from the previous or closure previous foreclosure recklessness that went on. It needed to be something prepared in case people dont want to lose their house. In other words, if you have a 300,000 dollar balance and a 600,000 value, there is absolutely no way you can use the financing of your home to save your home. You have to actually save it or lose it at auction. Either sell it or lose it at auction. Host on that line for those who are unemployed, good morning. How long have you been out of work . Caller [indiscernible] i am not receiving anything. They are telling me they will give me a certain amount. Later, telling me [indiscernible] i mean, this stimulus [indiscernible] half a loaf is better than none. Host what kind of work did you do . Caller i was at the auctions. I was doing that kind of job, auctions. Host how have you been getting by without the federal assistance that youve been trying to apply for . What have you been doing . Caller ssi. Thats all i am living on now. It is tough to survive. People call me to help them [indiscernible] a caller out of atlanta this morning. The phone lines split up differently this morning. Here is how we are doing it. If you are unemployed or furloughed, 202 7488000 is the number. If you have visited a food bank, 202 7488001. If you are behind on a housing payment, 202 7488002. All others, 202 7488003. Rita, jacksonville, alabama is next. Good morning to you. Caller good morning, world. Thanks to be alive. I have assistance from the government with food brought to our apartments. We live in a low income apartment and the food was delicious and we all appreciate it very much. An joe biden for president. Have a good day. Host rita, how long have you been making use of that food program, and is it enough . Joe biden for president. Have a good day. Host i think we lost rita this morning, but on the issue of food insecurity, this from the Washington Times, just some numbers from their story. Nearly 26 million American Adults dont have enough food to weak over the course of a week according to u. S. Census bureau report. Two u. S. Census bureau report. To a u. S. Census bureau report. The story noting some specific cases. According to a fall survey, regions such as mississippi, 22. 6 percent of kids will go without food. A city in michigan continues to top other locales. In new york city, 1. 5 million residents cannot afford food, a 30 8 increase over covid19 numbers according to the group city harvest. One of those private groups dealing with food insecurity. If you have been to a food bank or have worked at a food bank, that line for you, 202 7488001. Just want to hear your stories on that line, what you are seeing out there in america now. If you are unemployed or furloughed, 202 7488000. If you are behind on housing payment, 202 7488002. We will keep putting those numbers up on your screen as we hear from a few more folks this morning. This is marla out of hedlund, alabama. Carla out of hedlund, alabama. Good morning. Caller yes. When the pandemic started, i was having to go to the food bank, but once i got my stimulus check, that really help me out really helped me out. Almost all of it went to fixing my car, so i didnt have any money to use for anything else. Notnt understand why were getting a stimulus check even though we draw on Social Security and we barely make our bills paid. If people are like me and on Social Security, they are in debt with other things too, and they need the money just as bad as other people do. My heart goes out to the people who are on food banks because there are so many families that cannot get food and dont qualify for food stamps. And if they are unemployed or their business is going under, i dont understand why they cannot get food stamps like the rest of us get, but i am very grateful for the food stamps, but i am nothappy about the shop wanting to pass a 1200 check to the people that live underneath poverty level. Host what would 1200 mean for you in the coming months . Caller what would it mean for me . I could possibly get another take they car, and money i make off of it with a stimulus check and get a car. Not a new car, but a used car. The transmission is going out of my car. I spent my stimulus check working on that car with more problems with that. And now the radiator is going out. There is a leak in the radio writer. In the radiator. They won 400 to fix it. I put my own money into that car, which i almost could not get by the month, and i have to sit at home all the time. Of course, i do sit at home all the time, keep myself quarantined, in less i go to my mothers house. She is 83. I do her shopping for her because she cannot hardly walk around. Host marla, thank you for the call out of hedlund to come alabama. Out of hedlund, alabama. That 1200 stimulus payment not included in this 908 billion dollar compromise bill that seems to have some momentum on capitol hill. Legislative language expected today or tomorrow, specifically. Here are some things that are in that bill directed at individuals in this country. Extended Unemployment Insurance, 180 billion. That would help pay for an additional 300 a week for individuals on unemployment. Some 10 billion for childcare programs, rental Assistance Programs, 25 billion in that bipartisan bill for that. Billion dollars to help struggling Transportation Systems in this country. 82 billion for assistance to education, school systems. Some of the items included in the framework that has been released by the released in the bipartisan bill. As we are watching that, want to hear your stories from around the country. Have pandemic Assistance Programs help you so far . How have you made use of them . Angela and maryland visited a food bank. Can you tell about can you tell us about that . Caller good morning. Host tell us about visiting the food bank. Caller my dad is 83. He has been on the program. There is so much he is able to share with a lot of family members, so we have been able to benefit from him being in the Food Bank Program just because of being a senior citizen. And it is fantastic. Pasta,ruit, vegetables, spaghetti, everything, chicken. It is wonderful. It is a wonderful program. It is wonderful. We tracked stories about shortages that are expected. Have there been any concerns expressed to him at your local food bank about the winter months and leaner times ahead . Caller not that he has mentioned. Not that he has mentioned to me. , i they get so much that much, ity just give so is wonderful. Even if it would be a little less, thats fine, because he cannot possibly eat everything that he gets or prepare. So he is able to share it with a lot of family members. And it is really good because i am in the hospitality business, which is really the occupancy levels are like record low. And i was on unemployment for two months, but that was back in march and we were not able to stay closed for two months and we went back. We are holding our breath right now that we are able to hang in there until things hopefully get better and the numbers start to go down rather than go up. Host angela, has your work told you about another furlough or closing that might be in the works if things do not get better . Caller it made. They are basically telling us now that they will not let us go do to occupancy, but they will let us go if the governor shuts down the state again. We are just kind of hanging in there and holding our breath. We are hoping that the numbers go down. County, soueen and we are i work in queen ann county. We have our fingers crossed. It is a sad state. We are hopeful that the numbers will go down and we can keep working. Host angela, thank you for the call from easton, maryland. Some numbers on unemployment assistance, that socalled benefits cliff coming up at the end of the month, right after christmas. Some 12 million workers are expected to lose their current pandemic benefits, including from one oflion those, programs the pandemic unemployment Assistance Program, and another 4. 6 million on the pandemic emergency Unemployment Compensation programs. Those two part of what is called a benefits cliff coming out. We will talk about that more later. Setting aside this first hour to hear from you, our viewers, to talk about what you are seeing around the country. If you have used some of these pandemic Assistance Programs, we want to hear about your experience with them. Larry is out of illinois on that line for those who are unemployed. How are you, sir . Caller hi. How are you . Host doing well. Go ahead. Caller nancy pelosi swore she would not do less then 2. 2 trillion. Trillion. 2 and after joe biden one, she would settle for 908 billion. That seems strange to me. Host how long have you been out of work, larry . I think we lost larry. On this bipartisan compromise bill, this 908 billion bill, expecting to see some legislative language this week, but the sponsors heading to the sunday shows yesterday to try to garner some support for the programs that are in it. One of those was senator joe mansion, democrat of west virginia, one of the late sponsors. Heres joe mansiochin [video clip] sen. Manchin we dont have a choice. I want people to understand this is a covid emergency relief framework. It started out as a framework. What we did as a group, we came together and said, listen. After the election, we started coalescing around how do we move this forward . We looked at basically everything that would terminate at the end of december, the lifelines people are depending on, whether it would be Food Assistance, whether it would be shelter, whether it would be health care, whether people have been necessities we have. All of those things were going to be eliminated, chuck, and we said this cannot be done. We came together and we are moving forward. On meet thenchin press yesterday. Asking about your pandemic Assistance Programs. This is gary, who visited a food bank in indianapolis, indiana. Good morning. Caller good morning. I visited not only to see what is going on but to give what i could afford. I am a retired police officer. What i am seeing in our area, it is not very good at all. The food banks are struggling to help people. And gloomy go to this nancy when we go and to this nancy pelosi deal, they make 25,000 a month. Our businesses, our mom and pop stores and groceries and restaurants are falling left and right in our area. We had some of those protesters come through indianapolis downtown their first time downtown the first time that i have ever seen in my life. They broke windows and looted. It is just out of control. Not put the places have windows back in, glass windows, because they are afraid something could come again. People are important and i think these senators and congresspeople are missing the boat for one reason when you go to food pantries, that is not the healthiest food. It is food. You fill your desire for something to eat, but the problem is a lot of it is full of calories. And what bothers me is these Young Children should be getting good quality food because, when you are young, thats when you should be developing your future and i see, if this continues and the people in charge do not do something to help the people, we will have a medical situation here also because people are not eating the right foods. They are going out. To several American Legion posts end yesterday, they posts and00 yesterday, they gave out 300 toys to kids and foods. I handed money out to people with 5, 6 children, and asked them, have you ate today . And they said no. I asked them, will you take this common feature children . People. Feed 300 the other thing that your tates me is people with money. That irritates me is people with money, why dont you give more . I am retired, but i do what i can. I am going to the Salvation Army do. Y to see what i can that is kind of where im coming from. I wish other people would have the same thoughts. You know, give up a pack of cigarettes, a carton of cigarettes, some beer, something, and help other people, because apparently the people in washington making 25,000 a month could care less about us. Thats really what is on my mind and bothers me. I am retired at 83 years old. Host that is gary and indianapolis. In indianapolis. Ro khanna, democrat of ofrnia, his to eat california, his tweet any relief bill needs to prioritize those who are struggling the most. This from congressman tim ryan out of ohio 2020 was bad, but 2021 is about to be worse if Senate Republicans do not work with us and extend key covid era protections like the Eviction Moratorium and help for those who are unemployed. Just a couple tweets yesterday from members of congress as we try to take the pulse of the situation from around the country, asking for viewers to call in if you have made use of pandemic Assistance Programs, federal, state, and local programs. It does not matter. Tell us what you are seeing. Know what in west hills, california visited a food bank. Know what in west hills, noah and west hills, california visited a food bank. Caller i visited a food bank for two years. They are wonderful for people to get all kinds of food. For people. You get all kinds of food at a food bank. Food, butled bad vegetables, fruits, sometimes cookies, sometimes candy at christmas or halloween. You will get the leftover types of candies and snacks that stores can no longer sell. Or, if food looks like it is going to be dated in they cannot sell it, then they will go to the food bank. It will go to the food bank. It is still fully acceptable to eat into give to people. And to give to people. But whens are great, you see thousands and thousands of people and miles and miles of cars, well, that is great for people that have cars, but what about the millions of people that do not have cars and do not live near a food bank . To carry 40ult pounds of groceries even if you have a shopping cart and are using Public Transportation unless you have a food bank that is close by. You are out of luck. So like i said, could banks are great if you have a car, but like i said, food banks are great if you have a car, but if you are homeless or do not have a car, it will be more difficult. That is my comment and i appreciate cspan. From anotherment viewer, from our text message service. The viewer from sherman oaks, california, gregory pandemic aid is needed to come to americans where they live. Waiting for hours in polluted car lines for food and testing is nuts. Sidelined transit buses could deliver testing and more to respondingds and residence along postal prenoticed routes and schedules. On this question of whether they have made use of pandemic assistance. Yes, the extended and supplemental unemployment saved me. This is rebecca out of falling waters, west virginia. Good morning. You are next. Caller good morning. Host go ahead, rebecca. Caller good morning. I really appreciate cspan. Listen to it every day but i have a question. I never hear anything about people on Social Security. And i am in my 80s, pressing 90 now, and i get low Social Security because i was working back in the days where the salaries were not very much, you know . And it is gone before you get it. We get a small raise the first of january, 1. 5 i think it is, and how long does that last . I get 60 a month in food stamps and how long does that last . Milk and eggs and everything else, there are days where i dont eat anything because i do not want to waste my food. Maybe you could mentioned something about Social Security recipients. Host we had a segment on this program about two weeks back on the issue of Social Security and the future of Social Security as well, but certainly it is a topic we will and often do return to. Appreciate the call out of falling waters, west virginia. Sandras next out of lansing, michigan. Good morning. Caller hi. Thanks for taking my call. Host go ahead, sandra. Caller ok. I called because i am on Social Security. I worked for 43 years. That my pension is 1100 a month. My pension is 1100 a month. I have a small pension, 300 a month. My rent went up. He goes up every year. That went up 35. My supplement went up 40. That is 75 a month. My income did not go up. Year. Omes to 900 a i dont have a computer. I do not have the fancy phones everybody uses to find out stuff. I do not even know where there is a food bank around here. Books, you can get them anywhere anymore. Phonebooks, you cannot get them anywhere anymore. I have a telephone because you have to call 911. I think im going to give up my supplement to my health insurance. I am excluded from getting help on my medicare because i am over the poverty limit by like 200 or something for the year. It changes every year. They change the amount. What this year, it is over 200. 200,s year, it is over so i get no help from anyone anywhere and im scared to live without this supplement because the medical is so high, and all the medical bills are. I am healthy. I go for routine tests. I get what i am supposed to get and it picks up the difference. They do not pay anywhere near 80 . So i am scared because the older i get, the less i have and the more i am going to need all the money i have just to have food. There are no buses that run out here. You need a car. I have an old car. I go to the nearest store so i dont have to drive any farther than i have to and i get just enough food for me just to get by. Ok,i consider this doing but i am really afraid because i have to give up my supplement, which is just about i am not going to get any more medical care. I am getting cataracts. I am going i know i am going to need getting taken care of. It is unbearable. What you pay for medicine, that they should that should be a deduction on your income so you qualify for medicare for the medicare credit that they give when you are at the poverty limit. Host sandra, do you think some of those issues that you are talking about are going to be fixed in a Biden Administration . Are you hopeful some of these concerns will be addressed . You talk about being concerned about the future. Does the future look better or worse . Caller i do not think it looks good for me. He never talks about seniors. Theywill i do not think will do anything. They tried to forget about us. I have family in other parts of the country, but they are welloff, but because i am not like they are, they dont want anything to do with me. My brother, i dont know what he did, but they just they dont want to know you. And the life of me, an for the life of me, i cannot figure out why. They are either too busy or whatever. I dont know. Host sandra, you called into the washington journal. Thank you for your call this morning. On the issue of the Biden Administration, some news on that front about joe biden filling out his future cabinet. Joe biden has selected xavier becerra, the democratic attorney general of california, as his nominee for the secretary of health and human services. A paper noting that he would be the first latino to run the department. Mr. Becerra has carved out a profile on issues of criminal justice, immigration, and tax policy. He was thought to be a possible candidate for attorney general. In california, he has been at the forefront of legal efforts for health care, a campaign to protect the aca from being dismantled by his republican counterparts. He has also been vocal in the Democratic Party about fighting for womens health. Those of the lead paragraph this morning from the New York Times this morning on it. Also, on a Biden Administration, for individuals with knowledge of the decision individuals with knowledge of the decision that he has picked an individual for the job of director of the cdc. A professor of medicine at harvard, she is respected for work, including on comparative efforts and effectiveness treatments for hiv and aids. About 20 minutes more in this segment as we hear about your efforts around the country to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic downturn. Of some of made use these pandemic Assistance Programs, we want to hear from you. Jim has visited a food bank in chicago. Jim, what was it like . Caller yes, hi. Thank you for taking my call. I have been to some food banks and it has been a beautiful experience. I really salute the churches which have stepped up and are providing these services to people in need. I have had a great experience in the ones i have frequented. I think someone called from the indianapolis area saying the food was not healthy. That has not been my experience. The food i have been partaking in has been very, very healthy, very nutritious food. Host how often do you go, jim, and did you go before the pandemic as well . Caller no, not before, after. I have been maybe three times to orprobably, yeah two three different ones, churches. You drive up in your car and they just put it in the trunk so there is no contact. There are people that are on foot and they do their best to try to help the people in people on foot so there is minimal contact. The food is very healthy. Milk, grapes, pasta, whole chicken, just a blessing of excellent, again, an opportunity for the churches to step up and show their concern. Host jim, what is your Economic Situation like . Are you working . Caller currently not because of this situation with the virus. I did not want to be in an frontline situation and put myself and my family at risk. Host what kind of work did you do . Caller probably best not to go into particulars of that right not,but yeah, definitely you know, nothing that i had to thankfully depend on. Host jim, thank you for the call from chicago. Lancaster,sh out of texas on that line for those behind on their housing payments. Trish, good morning. Caller good morning. Host how many months are you behind . Caller probably about two months. [indiscernible] at that point, people will be so behind on their rent that they cannot catch up. I was an essential worker at the beginning of the pandemic. As an essential worker, i have been working, but my income has been cut by half. Host what line of work was it . Caller i work in housing. Host and how much did they cut your income . Caller well, my income was based on commissions. People, theles for commissions we have made. That is what put me behind. I have been applying for emergency assistance, but the thing i am getting is that even though they see my income has clearly been reduced, i still make too much to qualify for rental assistance. That brings the concern to me that so many essential workers i know more essential workers that are struggling to make ends meet than i do people that are unemployed. With no stimulus check and not being qualified for rental assistance, [indiscernible] host where does that leave you, trish . Caller good question. Host thank you for the call from lancaster, texas. Steve, scottsboro, alabama, visited a food bank. Caller around here, even the casa is closed down. Host what is that . Caller kind of the government type of place where you would go and get stuff i guess. It was the organized one. It was not a church one. All the churches have closed down. You cannot get food. Me and my wife, we are both on disability, so, you know, we are just over the limit to where we could actually get most things, you know, like medicaid or Something Like that so we are just in a hurt. We thought we would get a stimulus check. It is sounding like we will not. My wife had two knee replacements in the same knee and she has had open heart surgery. I have had three back surgeries and a thyroid surgery, so we have both been in a bind as far as money. Its unreal. Ine, medicineg some of the i take sometimes. After insurance, you are paying anywhere from 1000 to 3000. Abilify, try that one. We finally got senator chevy. We got a hold of him. In twowered it to 46 years time. Thatell me they can have they have to have that much money when they can lower it that much in. A two year time. It is unbelievable what you have to go through these days. In the food banks, there were lines and lines of poor people. I have been in. Them to get food and now there is none. Host what would another stimulus check mean for you . What would 1200, 1400 mean for you . Caller oh, man. Talk about pulling you out of a bind. Aying off debt so you have dollar or two coming in when your check comes in, medical debts and stuff like that, stuff that would come in and help you out. You know, you it, still have all the debt, plus you are trying to buy what you have to buy to get by. You are talking about food. Where are you supposed to get it from . There are no places to get it from. What are you going to do . You are talking about 10 or 50 or 15get there in gas to get there and back. So any money you would have saved is spent in gas. There is no relief at all. Host a call from scottsboro, alabama this morning. On the issue of another stimulus check, Gordo Wrightson from twitter 1200 helped, but i am comfortable. Ifould forgo future payments it would help others negatively affected. This from ann garcia on the issue of whether you have received pandemic assistance aid yes, our School Received funding. Wesley saying, in small towns, it was about the only thing that kept a Small Businesses afloat. Federal aid programs he is talking about. But that was a long time ago. The lack of assistance has encouraged businesses to stay open, spreading the pandemic. One more. Carol saying, the original covid assistance helped us when my husband was furloughed. We are ok, but want to know what is in the new package. Kathy out of los angeles, you are next. Go ahead. Caller good morning. I have some information for your viewers. When you are on Social Security only and you have those huge copays to pay, well, you call to the provider and you tell them that you are on Social Security only. You have so many bills. You cannot afford to pay them. They send you to collection, and when you get a letter from collections, you write the same thing. You say, i am on Social Security only. Medicalo many bills and i cannot pay. And they cannot take money out of Social Security. That is one thing that they could do. It is going to wreck their credit, but it is survival. On 16 ahing, i was month of food stamps. I called in to request may be 20 more. Whereey had a program they automatically increased my food stamps without letting me know. I did not have to do anything. I called them and they informed me, so they need to call their where they are getting their food stamps from and find out if there is another department or another program because, in los angeles, my food stamps were increased and that is how i am able to get by. I just thought everyone should have this information. Host kathy out of los angeles this morning. Just about 10 minutes left in this segment of the washington journal. Again, our phone lines are split up this way in this segment. If you have been furloughed or are unemployed, 202 7488000. If you have visited a food bank, 202 7488001. If you are behind on housing payment, 202 7488002. All others, the number is 202 7488003. This morning, this december 7 morning, the anniversary of the attack on pearl harbor, pearl harbor Remembrance Day. You may have noticed the flags on the capital capitol flying at half staff. Hisident trump releasing statement on the attacks and on pearl harbor Remembrance Day. This coming from the president s office last week. On thisin Part National pearl harbor remembered stay, we recall the phrase, remember pearl harbor, which stirred the fighting spirit within the hearts of americans who served in world war ii. 000 gave their lives in that conflict. Going on to say we memorialize all those lost on pearl harbor day. And declare once again our nation will never forget the heroes and resolve that their memory and spirit will survive for as long as our nation indoors. That is from the president s proclamation from last week. Taking your calls on the washington journal this morning. Once again, the phone numbers 202 7488000 if you are unemployed or furloughed. 202 7488001 if you have visited a food bank. 202 7488002 if you are behind on a housing payment. All others, 202 7488003. We have gotten plenty of texts and tweets this morning. A few more for you as we are having this conversation. This is jimbo out of california, saying, in bakersfield, the food bank lines go on for great distances. Couple it with the foreclosure crisis, and you have the making of a Charles Dickens like human tragedy. Without relief in my community now, we are looking at a winter of misery unlike any of us have seen. One more for you from linda, saying, i am working 12 hours a week, 13 an hour. This qualifies me for 88 a week for supplemental unemployment. It is vital, otherwise it is back to college and ramen. This is michael out of minnesota on that line for those who are unemployed. Good morning. Caller hey. How are you . Host all right. How long have you been out of work . Caller i got hit by a bus in minneapolis. I cannot drink anymore, but that is beside the point. The point is there is no pandemic. It is made up by the democrats. I mean, i am a republican. Host michael, 181,000 americans have so far died from the coronavirus. Why do you think there is not a pandemic . Caller you have to wear a mask when you go outside, right . And you have to stay at home. And when you are in public, tory mask, ok . To wear a mask, ok . This is like a plague. I understand people are dying, but you have to take precaution so that you do not die. Host this is anna out of las vegas. How long have you been out of work . Caller since march. Host what kind of work did you do . Caller i worked in one of the casinos. Host what have you been doing these past nine months to get by . How has it been for you . Caller well, i was getting by on unemployment, but i think the issue out here is the fact that the Unemployment Program is just not administered properly. There are some people who basically have not received anything for about eight months. Host and you are not one of those folks, though . Buter no, i was on ui, when i moved to the extended, we got the notification that there is an issue, but no way to resolve the issue. We cannot contact anyone to resolve it. And, you know, you cant there is nothing you can do. You are just stuck. C, pandemicpeu emergency on employment compensation, the people on that program are set to lose their benefits the day after christmas if nothing happens in terms of extending that. Do you think congress is going to extend that program . What happens to you come the end of this month . Caller well, i dont really have i dont think they are going to extend it. They are just kind of they have just kind of been playing around all summer, basically. The issue for me now as it has been 12 weeks. I did not waste it and that is what has got me through the last few months. Really, i was hoping just to encourage anyone in my situation or knows of anyone in my situation to contact their members in the house of representatives, their senators, their governors, just kind of hammer them. Texts, emails, phone calls, letters. Host have you done that, hannah, and what do you say when you call . Caller i have not called, but i about someonee who called the Governors Office and got action on a claim, so i am thinking about doing it. Nevada is not the only state in this situation. This is a more common issue than people realize. I dont have children, but i am thinking about families out there. As i said, some people, it has been eight months. I would be dead if i had gone that long without any income, despite the programs. Host go ahead. To reach out to some of the other programs, but my point is if you cannot administer this program, why are you sending us to another program . Just continue to rely on the government. Host that is hannah out of las vegas this morning. Segment,call in this gerald out of stockton, california. That line for folks that have visited food banks. Gerald, good morning. Go ahead. Banks forvisited food years, i think once a month. I would get there on my bike or walk sometimes, and they increased it to twice a month, which is a good thing sometimes the food is nutritious and delicious, frozen and good, and the holidays, it helps a lot. And the situation i am in since the pandemic started, i have been blessed with Social Security. I have been retired a lot of ex mentalabled, health patient, ex drug addict. Lately i have required i am not going to blame it on the lines, butr the soup i have acquired a lot of illnesses where i have had to go into the hospital for help. I cannot delete i cannot eat a lot of those foods, pastas and stuff like that. Fruits and vegetables are ok. When the stimulus package came up, it was a great thing. I was excited and i was blessed. I knew i was not worthy of it, but i was blessed. And when they said another one would come out, seemed like all my budgeting was surrounded by, how i a how am i going to get through . I had my hopes up. Far behindave come on my pg e. I have tried to maintain paying rent. I paid very early when it first started. Now my car is messing up. And it sounds stupid to spend money on your car, but they say you can spend it on whatever, your option. The food bank, i was in a car in a line where you have to have almost half a tank of gas because you have to keep your car running. Then stop, stop, stop. Then they dump a bunch of canned goods and stuff. Which i guess if youre going to give food away or sell it you are not going to do that. I find when it is time to get the food, i got no gas. Colorthat was our last in this segment. Plenty more to talk about this morning. Next, we will be joined by dr. David diemert, clinical director of the George Washington University Vaccine research unit. We will discuss the development, distribution, safety of covid19 vaccines youd, npr correspondent chris arnold will be here to talk about the looming expiration of several pandemic related federal aid programs, that benefits cliff we were talking about earlier. Stick around. We will be right back. Tonight on the communicators, the chief policy officer for parler. We believe it is the best approach when talking about eight speech, soak hate speech, socalled ms. Formation misinformation, to use more speech, not content restrictions. Watch tonight at 8 00 eastern on cspan2. Then to cspans podcast weekly. Our guest is a Senate Historian emeritus, and he discusses constitutional steps that need to be finalized before president elect joe biden is sworn in. Washington journal continues. Host a deep dive into the world of Vaccine Development, we are joined by dr. David diemert, an associate professor of medicine at George Washington university, clinical director of the research unit, where a trial for one of the vaccines is underway. Dr. Diemert, which vaccine are you studying . Explain how this trial is being put together. Are a site at gw, we for the phase three clinical vaccine,the moderna and we were chosen to be one of about 100 sites across the country that were already participating in nihfunded Clinical Trial networks, so it was easy for us to get started on this trial. Host how many people are in the trial . How did you find the people to do this trial . And when did it start . Guest we started enrolling find heres here in the middle of august. The trial itself nationwide got started at the end of july. Just over 30,000 people have been enrolled at the sites across the country. Enrollment was complete on october 23 a. At gw, we enrolled 349 participants. It actually was not too hard to find volunteers. We had a lot of people kind of banging on the doors who wanted to volunteer for this very important study, but we also went out into the community to recruit people. We wanted a very representative and diverse population here in d. C. That reflected our local population. So it was a combination of people coming to us and us trying to get people to come in. Host what does that study population look like . 50 are peopler of color, so africanamerican and latino participants. Caucasian and asian. Host how often do you see these folks . Have all of them gotten the twoshot vaccine dosage at this point . Guest yes, all of the participants at our site have received both of the two doses that are a month apart. We finished just before thanksgiving. And i understand the trial itself is finishing this week, the very last vaccinations in the Clinical Trial. Host what are the results so far . Guest the initial results are extremely positive, that were reported seems like forever, but i think it was just on monday. They actually were able to do the final analysis, final efficacy analysis, and that is based on having a certain number of Covid Patients with symptoms in that 30,000 people in the trial. So final analysis was originally planned for when we reached the 151 case mark. By monday, there had been over 190 cases. 196 cases of covid in the site population, and out of those, 180 five were in the Placebo Group. So it is important to realize that half the people we enrolled get the actual vaccine and half get placebo, which is just saline or saltwater. 11 of the cases were in the vaccine group. Even more encouraging was that there were 30 cases of severe covid, including one person who unfortunately passed away of covid, and all 30 of those cases, of the severe cases, were in the Placebo Group. Host at what point do the people in the Placebo Group at get get the actual vaccine . Guest that is the burning question that all of our study participants have been calling to ask. The only answer i can give today is that we do not know exactly. But what is being proposed by moderna, by the nih, to the fda in their emergency use authorization, the application they submitted on monday, is to come as soon the eua is granted, blind to the un study so we know who got the placebo and who got the vaccine, and to offer the vaccine to those who got the placebo within the study. They are telling us that if that all goes according to plan, that could even start happening by the end of this month. Questionyou ever had a about how these studies are being run, now would be a good time to call in. Guest,id diemert is our clinical director at George Washington universitys Vaccine Research unit. In the488000 if you are eastern or central time zones. 202 7488002 in the mountain or pacific time zones. Medical professionals, special line for you, 202 7488002. Dr. David diemertm as folks are calling in, you said study is expected to wrap up this week, correct . Guest no. The vaccinations were finished this week, but that does not mean the end of the study by any means. Host how long do you study folks and reactions to the vaccine afterwards . Guest after the second dose of vaccine, we follow people for two years. So we are in it for the long haul. That is for two reasons. One is to follow how long the immune response is and see if protection lasts. We have no idea if were going to need to give booster doses along the way. And then also to make sure that the vaccine is safe in the long term. Host what does that mean for the participants . How often are they coming in to see you and get checked out by your folks . Guest we see them at one month following the second dose in person in the clinic, and then five months after that. Then episodically for the next year and a half. Because of the pandemic, we obviously have tried to limit the number of inperson visits. Instead, we do a lot of we call them safety calls, so telephone or video checkins on a monthly basis. And then every week, the volunteers have to complete an electronic diary. It is like an app on the phone. That alerts us if they have any symptoms that might be covid or if they had contact with someone who is covid positive. And in those cases, we bring people in for testing. That is the end point that were trying to determine efficacy and see if the vaccine actually works. Host plenty of callers already this morning. Dr. David diemert with us until about 8 45 eastern this morning. Lets go to a call from atlanta, georgia. Good morning. Caller good morning. How are you doing today . Host doing well. Go ahead. Caller we are living on a beautiful planet. We have cleanair that we have been granted. Everything has been so beautiful. And i just find that this epidemic, the coronavirus, has really taken a toll on everyone on the planet, and i have been really feeling bad about it. Especially in the african tomunity, what are you going do to convince the africanamericans to take this vaccination, because we are very skeptical . We are a skeptical people because what happened to us a long time ago, the test geeky time, with the injections for black people. Right now, we know the black community has been suffering, and i wanted to know, is it going to be mandatory that everyone takes the vaccination . Because we do not have that much trust in the system because of what we have been through as a people. We have been suffering for a very long time. Host dr. Diemert . Guest yeah, this is something that is a real issue. I have been hearing this a lot, both from our study volunteers and also from people in the community. I think it is definitely going to be an uphill battle to convince people to get vaccinated once we have at least one, and hopefully more, vaccines. Ons is a real issue based interactions between the medical Research Community in this country and especially the africanamerican community. And this goes back to what i was mentioning before about recruiting, who we enrolled in our study, we have been very conscious to have a diverse Representative Group and volunteers that reflect our community, and those volunteers have really been serving as educators and ambassadors really to talk to their community. Were being as transparent as possible with them, and they are going back to explain what is going on in the studies to their communities. And hopefully that will help to alleviate some of these concerns. But i think it is going to take a lot of efforts, a lot of education, and outreach, and hopefully there will also be people in the medical community but also celebrities and politicians hitting vaccinated to show that Everyone Wants this vaccine, and we are not targeting at specific groups. We want it to be available for haveone, for sure, but i not heard anything mentioned about making it mandatory. I really think this is something we will have to convince people to voluntarily take. Host you are working on the vaccine,the moderna but there are multiple vaccines moving through the process right now, the Pfizer Vaccine is likely to be the first approved. If more than one is approved to do people get a choice on which one they can get, and how should people know which one they should get . Question,ther great and i do not have a clear answer for you because i think that is really going to depend on the approvals and when they occur. I do know that the planning happening right now for the first vaccine, so both moderna and pfizer have similar technology, both messenger rna vaccines. There are differences in them, particularly in storage requirements. You may have heard that the Pfizer Vaccine requires very cold storage. So a lot of who gets the vaccine and where the vaccine is distributed is going to depend on what kind of places and institutions have the capacity to store the vaccine. So it might make more sense on a state level, and it is going to be the states that determine where the vaccines get distribution and who gets them initially, which vaccine is going where. So it might be down to that. You might be offered the Pfizer Vaccine and not be able to get because youraccine center has freezers that can store the Pfizer Vaccine. It might come down to decisions like that. Hopefully in the future there will be lots of Vaccines Available with a lot of doses, and there will be the opportunity to choose between the different ones. And which one people might want really would come down to personal preference. I do not think we are anywhere near being able to have that type of choice yet, but hopefully sometime during next year, we will. Host nuevo, california, this is lisa. You are on. Caller good morning, dr. Diemert. I have a few questions about the study you were speaking about. Sounded like you said 11 of the people got the actual vaccine or was that 11 of the people who got ill from covid . My second question is going to be, are any of the vaccines that you know of being looked at for children . Guest great questions. Moderna phase the three trial, there have been so people cases of covid, who got positive tests and have symptoms. Of those 196, 11 had received the vaccine. An got placebo, so that is efficacy of about 94. 1 , which is extremely high for any kind of vaccine. Your second question about pediatric trials, so there is on e that is actually underway, at least in adolescents. It is a Pfizer Vaccine and the jobs vaccine, theyre both enrolling, if not yet, very soon adolescents. And there are plans for all of the vaccines under development to do kind of step down trials and kids, so starting with older kids and then going down, even as far as infants. So that could be part of the regular recommendations for infant and childhood vaccines. Those should be starting relatively early 2021. Host jesse is next out of lexington, kentucky. Caller good morning, everybody. Dr. Diemert, are the vaccines a live virus, and if they are, what do you plan to do for people who cannot receive live viruses because they might be taking certain medications . Guest great question, too. Some are live virus and some are not. The first of the pfizer and moderna vaccines come another are live vaccines, so they should be safe. And we are testing on people with some immunosuppressive conditions. There is no reason to think that those would not be safe in people, say, on those certain medications. But there are live virus vaccines, for example, the extra zeneca oxford vaccine is a live virus vaccine, johnson johnson, as well. It is a mix of different technologies being used, and some are like we will soon start the phase 3 trial of the sanofi vaccine, and that is just a protein, and there is no reason to think that would not be safe for people who are immunosuppressive. So there will be options for that population. Host would now be a good time to explain what messenger rna is . Guest sure. Messenger rna is a type of nucleic acid, so your chromosomes in your cells are made up of dna, which im sure everyone has heard of. Dna is basically the code for making your proteins. To get from dna to protein, you first need to go through a step to make something called messenger rna. Machinery uses that messenger rna to make protein. So that is what mrna is. So the vaccine consists of the somethingcodes for called the spike protein, which is the main protein on the surface of the virus. Youre basically tearing your human cells to make the spike protein, and then the body realizes that that is a protein that is not supposed to be there and goes into alarm mode, starts creating an immune response to that spike protein that your body has made to get rid of it, which it does. But the immune response produced for result lasts hopefully a long time and can protect someone if they have been exposed to the real virus. Host lambert up in brooklyn, you are on. Caller very good morning. My concern is if someone recovers from the covid and develops the antibody, do those persons need the vaccine . Questionah, that is a that i think the jury is still out on. We do not know since it is still relatively early in the pandemic. We do not know how long the average person maintains antibodies for after infection. We do know that it is possible in rare cases, so far, to get reinfected, such a have an initial infection and then several months later get infected with a slightly different strain of the virus. It does not seem to be very common. But who knows . After a year or two, as people become susceptible again, we might see that again. So we do not know if it would be beneficial to vaccinate people who have already had the infection. That is something that is going to have to be studied in future trials. Host gordon out of tacoma, washington. Caller yes, i have two questions. Start, how soon will they distributing this vaccine overseas and what would be the percentage of them sending . Also, i would like to know, what is the standard results after you get a shot what kind of symptoms do you get . Uest good questions as far as overseas distribution of vaccines, it really depends on the company that produces and what kind of agreements they have with other governments. Of course there are some countries that have already developed their own vaccines and are distributing those. You may have heard that in china and russia, but we do not have a lot of data on those vaccines, especially efficacy data, but they have nevertheless donna had an even have plans to distribute this to other countries. As far as the ones being studied in the u. S. , the Pfizer Vaccine already has had approval in the u. K. For their vaccine and already have plans to distribute it there and have agreements with other european and maybe the canadian governments, as well. Moderna is much more focused on the u. S. , i understand. So it depends on which vaccine youre talking about and which company and what type of agreement they have with other places in the world. But there are plans for distributing it, the different vaccines, throughout the world as more doses become available, of course. As far as side effects to the vaccine, there are some side effects. We have seen at our sites that people, the moderna vaccine, and it will be different depending on the vaccine, but the moderna vaccine, we see more reinfection after the second dose than after the first does, and these are not anything unexpected. Very similar to what you might see with the new shingles ,accine or even the flu vaccine some pain, swelling, redness at the side of the injection for a couple of days, and then people also tend to have kind of generalized symptoms. We have been finding it starts kind of the evening of the vaccination, goes through the next day, and the following day people are back to normal. Headache, sore muscles, and a few people have had chills , lowgrade fever. As i said, that is usually for 24 hours or less, and then people are back to normal. Host on the issue of distribution, do you have a view on after frontline workers and the most vulnerable, how prioritization should happen after that . Externalsupport the group that advises the cdc on what order people should get offer the vaccine, so definitely i think people who are at diseaserisk of severe and particular should be offered the vaccine. That includes, in my opinion, people who are older, not just residents of nursing homes, and People Living in high density Living Conditions where they might be unable to selfisolate and quarantine. And then people who are in jobs that put them into regular contact with people who might have covid. Host kathy is next out of brooklyn. Good morning. Caller good morning. My question is, i recently had the flu vaccine. I take it every year, have been taking it since 2004. Also, i had two doses of the shingles vaccine. I just had my last dose end of november. My question is, now we are talking about another vaccine, and my concern is, how are all of those going to mix up together . Now i am going to be taking another vaccine, and it just seems like an overkill of vaccines. That ihere any concern should have about taking because i noticed this year that the flu vaccine was 0. 7, a higher dosage of the flu vaccine. They said when they gave it to me that it was a higher dosage than it was last year, so they somehow upped the dose for the flu. That is really a concern of mine , because now another vaccine as far as the side effects go, i did not really have any side effects from the shingles vaccine. It went ok. The flu vaccine, i usually take it just a little so i am just curious, i want to know, could you help me to know if this is host we got the question and will let dr. Diemert jump in. Guest that is a great question. It is funny, but the body is an amazing thing. Getting all different kinds of infections in vaccines and they have good responses to all of them and they do not interfere with each other or one worsening the other. So i would say you should not have any concerns about getting another vaccine. Your immune system kind of response to each one kind of uniquely, so if you had a response to the flu vaccine and a response to the shingles vaccine, it does not mean you will not have a response to the Covid Vaccine. In fact, it probably means you will also have a good response to that one because it shows you have a good immune system. You know, people have this argument for kids, oh, how can we be giving kids so many different beckons vaccines around the same time . In the past, they used to be exposed to a lot more in the environment, real infections, all at the same time and managed to fight those off and have good immune responses to all of those. So i think were probably doing a lot less now through vaccines then used to be the case in the environment when we did not have good sanitation and a lot more infectious diseases. I personally do not have a lot givencern for, you know, vaccinations in sequence. I was going to address your question about the flu vaccine that you got. So there are newer flu vaccines that do have higher doses, usually given to people of a certain age or was some other medical issues. They have just been shown to have Better Outcomes in terms of good antibody responses. Host about 15 minutes left with dr. David diemert this morning, joining us to talk about vaccine aselopment, his position clinical director of the George Washington universitys Vaccine Research unit and the effort there to help study the moderna vaccine. Back to the folks who participated in that the study at gw, what are they signing up for, and were any of them intentionally exposed to the virus to check to see if the vaccines were effective . Guest no. To answer your last question, no, we did not deliberately expose and went to the virus or that would have been unethical. There have been people advocating doing what are called challenge viruses where you vaccine someone and then deliver the virus to see if they are protected. That is not approved in the United States or there may be preliminary approval to do one like that in the u. K. But definitely not here. So what does it mean when you sign up for the trial . The first thing i should emphasize is it is completely voluntary, so even if someone signs up, gets a dose of vaccine, it does not mean they are forced to continue in the study. At any point, people can stop participating if they no longer want to or for whatever reason. But if they do sign up and get their first dose, they are supposed to come back for second dose four weeks later, and then complete their electronic diary, have telephone calls with us, come to the followup visits. Followupe inclinic visits involve taking some blood to check antibody levels and see what the immune response is to the vaccine. Again, at any point, if someone wants to leave the study, they are free to do so. It is on them, their willingness to participate. Host those folks, when they are out and about in regular lives, do they wear masks like the rest of us . Guest we advise people to continue taking all of the precautions i had been up to that point, and if they had not, we advise them what they should be doing. It is very similar to an hiv in theion trial where studies, they were studying giving people medications, people who did not have hiv, giving the medication every day to see if it prevented them from getting hiv. I mean, those people were not told to all of the sudden stop using protection and stop having safe sex. Same with us. We are not trying to tell people, especially since half of the people be had gotten placebo, so no protection from vaccinations at all, so it is it would be unethical for us not to tell people how they should be protecting themselves. But we have a lot of people in our study who, sometimes it is unavoidable, they live in multifamily settings, work in the icu or are First Responders or in the retail industry, and they have no choice but to put themselves at risk for their livelihoods were where they live and so on. Host about 10 minutes left with dr. Diemert. If you have questions about Vaccine Development, the Research Behind it, now would be a very good time to call. Phone lines are set up regionally, and we had that line open for medical professionals, 202 7488002. Tonya is calling from jake harbor, washington. Good morning. Caller hi, how are you doing . I have a question. Disease and there is a big thing going around with steroids. I take hydrocortisone and sometimes another medication for crisis, and there are several different websites saying, like in the u. K. And whatnot, they are running out of the medication, on backorder, and i cannot use the generic. I have to use the name brand. I have not ran out of that yet, but it has been backlogged a few times. I was curious at how well the steroids worked and vitamin d3 does that affect anything . Host dr. Diemert, is that something you can weigh in on . Guest i cannot weigh in on the shortage of the corticosteroid. That is not my area of expertise. I cant say that someone who is on a high i can say someone on a high dose of corticosteroid radically might not have a good response to vaccinations, but that is not specific for Covid Vaccines. That is for any vaccine really. But other than that, i cannot really comment on the callers question. Host a question on twitter why two doses . Guest that is what was studied in the initial study, the initial Clinical Trials, and what we call preclinical or animal studies. But it is very common for non live virus vaccines, so a protein vaccine or subunit vaccine, to require more than one dose to get and i quit an adequate level of antibody, neutralizing antibodies. There is some evidence from the pfizer and moderna vaccines that there are neutralizing antibodies induced from a single dose, but because the trials have been done with two doses, that is what is going to go into the first approval. There may be i have her talk of this, that there might be additional studies that are done comparing a single versus two doses. But until those are done, we have to go with the data we have. Host marion, iowa, this is jody. Caller thank you, cspan. I wanted to ask three questions, please. One, how am i going to affect people with underlying conditions such as epilepsy, things like that, asthma, touch her . Asthma,trauma etc. , also brain trauma . Mighti wonder how it affect people who were asymptomatic. And i would like to know when you might think him after the final group of people revaccinated, how long do you think we might have more of a sense of normalcy and maybe not have to wear masks . Guest that is a lot of questions. The first question i can answer quickly, that we actually included and specifically included people with comorbidities in the phase three trial. Pretty sure they did it for pfizer, but i know for a fact we did it for moderna. All of the conditions you mention, we have participants with those conditions. That is what the fda is doing right now, looking at all the data to see that it is both safe and effective in people with underlying medical conditions. So i think we have that covered. Now i am forgetting the second question. Asymptomatic individuals. Guest i am not completely clear what youre asking there, but if you are asking whether or not the vaccine protects asymptomatic disease or infection, we do not know that yet because the endpoint were are studying is symptomatic infection. We should be able to get an answer for that over timeby looking at people who develop antibodies at the different time points we are collecting blood and who did not have symptoms of covid. That is an unanswered question, but we should be able to get some idea on that may be in the next year. Host the last question was about when you expect we will have a sense of normalcy again, how long will we be wearing the masks . Guest that is a very good question. I do not want to predict that. As the caller pointed out, it is really going to be based on when enough people revaccinated. I am sure people have heard about herd immunity, and we do have to get a certain proportion of the population that has either been vaccinated and immune that way or has recovered from infection and maintained immunity after that. Infections, iter is between 60 and 70 , but it could be higher. Once that happens and we have no more active transmission or transmission has gone down to a manageable level where we can manage it without having everyone stay home and wear masks, then i think that is when it will be over. When exactly that is going to occur, hope it will be sometime next year, but that is going to be up to getting vaccines out and having people agree to take them. Out ofhis is kim california, that line for medical professionals. What field of medicine are you in . Caller i actually am somewhat and i usually do a lot of the popup clinics, just like what were doing with the drivethrus for the covid testing. Before covid came out, i would do inoculations every year, usually at places like boeing and stuff. But i pretty much ran the inoculation it would get sent , and i would go back out to the event, and i would inoculate whoever needed it, and then package it up and send it back. But right now, i am a frontline nurse, or i was until i caught covid, so i cannot return back to my job. So i actually somehow got caught i wasr previous watching earlier in the show, not realizing you guys are talking about something else. It was not live what i was seeing. But it was something about being behind on housing. I mean, i am a frontline nurse they cannot return to a job because, obviously, that position needs to be filled, because i have to quarantine. So i now have no job. Host how long are you out for, and what have they set about when you can come back . Caller they are not letting me back. They have to fill the position. Plan next . At is your are you trying to find another nursing position . Caller yeah, no, i am totally out there. I actually know family and all my friends actually moved out of state, so i really do not have anybody to help me with groceries or stuff like that. So i am polite and not infecting other people. So i am kind of stuck. I cannot return to a job i had and that i loved. You know . Really just want to help everybody coming through those lines that when youre processing on site, like, 500 tests a day, you are swabbing 1000 nostrils. I was just commenting about not being able to make my payments because i caught covid, and i cannot return to work. Thanks for what you do. Thanks for sharing your story with us, as well. Dr. Diemert, any comments for kim, sort of the other end of the work you are doing on Vaccine Development . Guest i mean, i feel terrible for what she has gone through. But this is why we have been working so hard to develop a vaccine and vaccines, to protect people like her so these situations do not continue to happen. Host tina is next out of mississippi. Good morning. Caller yes, thank you for taking my call. First thing i want to do is say i am sorry for the last caller, and i think her for everything she was doing, and i am really sorry for what she is going through. Really wish i could help her up my question for the doctor was, i have diabetes and high blood pressure, and im really worried about this vaccine, and i have not heard anything about the testing about diabetes. What do i have to worry about with the vaccine with the diabetes . So we actually included diabetics in the moderna study, and i think for all of the phase three trials, at least the ones being funded by the u. S. Government, which is most of them. Inwe have included, particular, people with chronic heart disease, chronic lung withse, diabetes, people body mass index that is elevated, and people with hiv, as well. So people with diabetes were specifically included, and i know for a fact that we included several patients at our site who have both type one and type two diabetes. So we have the data to be able to show to the fda that the vaccine is safe in patients who have diabetes. But also, that there is a good immune response, as well. As i mentioned before, that is what they are spinning so much time to looking at, to make sure everything checks out with the vaccine before they approve it. Host can you just talk about the other vaccine trials you have been involved in at the gw unit there and how the Covid Vaccine compares to those other efforts . Guest sure, i have been working on Vaccine Development, of new vaccines, for about 20 years. My career has really been dedicated to trying to develop vaccines for infections that affect the poorest people in the world, tropical infections, malaria, some other parasitic infections, and more recently hiv. Most of the trials i have worked on have been earlier stage, so phase one and phase two. This is actually the first phase three trial i have worked on. I think the big difference for speed but also the kind of collaboration that has been involved to get these trials done very quickly but also very safely. Resources, both monetary from the government but also people, human resources, all across the country, everyone coming together to get these trials done in excellent fashion and as safe as possible, to get the results that we need in order to have vaccines that can be distributed to people. So i think that has been the main difference for me. Host dr. David diemert, clinical director at George Washington universitys Vaccine Research unit. Thanks for giving us a peek inside that unit. Appreciate your time this morning. Next, we will return to this issue of the looming benefits cliff in this country. We will be joined by npr correspondent chris arnold to talk about it. Later, more of your phone calls after we look back on the 79th anniversary of the attack on pearl harbor. We will be right back. Tonight on the communicators, the chief policy officer for parler. We believe that it is the best approach when you are talking about hate speech, socalled misinformation, anything else, to address those problems with more speech, not with any types of content restrictions. And react accordingly. Tonight at 8 00 eastern on cspan2. Podcast thepans weekly. Senate historian emeritus will join us to discuss constitutional steps that still need to be finalized before president elect joe biden is sworn in. Find it where you get your podcasts. With coronavirus cases increasing across the country, use our website, cspan. Org coronavirus, to follow the trends, track the spread with interactive maps, and watch updates on demand anytime at cspan. Org coronavirus. Cspan, yourching unfiltered view of government, created by americas Cable Television companies, as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. Washington journal continues. Host the looming expiration of several pandemic aid programs is being referred to as the benefits cliff ahead of the new year. Npr correspondent chris arnold has been covering the looming crisis enjoins us from boston. When we talk about a benefits cliff, what specific programs are we talking about, and about how Many Americans could be impacted in the coming weeks . Guest too many to even mention. A couple dozen, if you think i think, if you add it all up, but the big ones are Unemployment Benefits, certainly for people out of work. Depending on which numbers you look at, somewhere around 12 Million People. What happens a lot of the time as people run out of state benefits because you get a certain number of weeks. You get beyond that, and your benefits in normal time runs out. Now the federal government and cares act said, ok, we will extend those to the end of december because of the national crisis, and this is what the government does and lay times like this. But now that is ending, and you have all these people who have this federal government life raft that is about to sink. People need to have the benefits to be able to buy food, and sometimes that is not even enough because the benefits are pretty meager. Is not even a lot of money, but they are going to lose that. The unemployment assistance, that 12 million number you talked about, made up of 7. 3 million americans who are on pandemic and employment Assistance Program, 4. 6 million americans on the pandemic emergency Unemployment Compensation program. We heard from one of those americans in the first segment of our program today on that latter program. Why did the federal government sunsetdecember deadline for these programs to come to an end . What was the original thinking . Guest you have to go back to march and remember when this thing hit, we were thinking, ok, maybe we will all wear masks or maybe not you know, for a couple of months and we will stayathome. Even that, and clear. You know, we will get through it, and i think most people just did not anticipate at the time that this was inked or anticipated enough that they were going to extend it beyond it. Now clearly, we are in a very that situation where every publichealth person and most economists that i talk to say you have to extend this. It is not like things are it is just not true that we are rounding the band here. Re are more people dying the pandemic is at a level it has never been before. You look at the maps, everything is deep red with pandemic breakout. California is shutting down most of its businesses again and restaurants. Getknow, people cannot work. So the idea of losing benefits in an environment like that, this is the financial cliff we are talking about. Host we will also be talking a lot about the 900 1 billion by person covid bipartisan covid relief bill, and we expect language on it later today or tomorrow. Here are some of the provisions that sponsors have put into that program, 908 billion, made up of 180 billion dollars, to extend Unemployment Insurance to maybe 300 a week for individuals. And that is an expanded 300 a week, so your baselevel benefits would be barely enough to make rent. People are selling their tools and other stuff just to pay their rent on the regular benefits. So that extra 300 a week is like the extra 600 a week people were getting before. Republican said that was too much. People did not want to go back to work at mcdonalds if they made more staying at home, so this is a compromise, an extra 300. Rent,and talking about 25 billion included in that bipartisan bill for rental Assistance Programs. I want to focus on that for just a second. When it comes to Eviction Moratoriums, that Program Expiring at the end of the year. Do we know how many people could face losing their home come the new year . Guest i mean, millions, for sure. Hows is a very tricky much time do we have here . Basically there are so many levels of misunderstanding with evictions. First i was reading a Major National newspaper that i will not name over the weekend that was calling this the cdc has this eviction order, an order in place aimed at stopping evictions for now. The worry is, ok, that is at the federal level and disappears, you suddenly are going to have millions of people getting evicted. The truth is, this thing from the cdc is not like a lot of the state Eviction Moratoriums we saw in places like california in a lot of states. Those were just a blanket, simple you cannot put someone out of their home. The cdc order is very different. It,renter has to know about go to the cdc website, print out complicated forms assess under penalty of perjury, i swear, blah, blah, blah. One of the things you have to swear to is that you have applied for every single available type of housing assistance. It is a crime if you lie on this form, some people freak out. More often people do not know about it. People getting evicted, 80 of the time they do not even show up in the court. It is a big mess. I work with a local reporter, jen rice, at a station in houston, she watched 100 different eviction receding scum eviction proceedings, and 99 of them, the eviction went on anyway, despite the cdc order. So people are not as protected as they think they are. But big on the roads are being discouraged from filing evictions. Some people are taking advantage of it. So if that goes away, that is scary. Nhe other things is i massachusetts, they did away with their Eviction Moratorium. Part of the thing was there is now this federal thing, which is much weaker. It is a big mess. Host were talking about it in this 45 minutes of the washington journal this morning, i think all the benefits cliff coming at the end of 2020. Helping us dive into it, from npr, and he has been talking about the Economic Impacts on struggling americans when it comes to coronavirus pandemic. Phone lines, republicans, 202 7488000. Democrats, republicans, 202 7488001. Democrats, 202 7488000. Ndependents, 202 7488002 and our special line, 202 7488003. Chris arnold, we start in montague, michigan. Bill is a democrat. Good morning. Caller yeah, i was wondering if the 300 with maybe be retroactive to some date . Guest that is a good question. I think a lot of people would hope that it would be. I have not seen those details yet. You know, that could be part of what they are hashing out. But it is an excellent point. The 600was to have expire, i believe it was in sunsetted. Hat was i do not know what the process would be to go backwards and make it retroactive. Certainly a lot of people have been struggling, and im not sure if you are one of them where it just is not been enough money. People are selling their possessions just to pay rent. Arguably would not be a crazy idea, for sure. I just have not heard whether there talking about that. Host you were talking about the Eviction Moratorium. You wrote in a recent piece for struggling homeowners still have better protections than struggling renters. Explain. Guest right, and this gets at a couple different things. Before we talk about the particular provisions, one thing about this as we know that this pandemic is hurting people on the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum, which also means often times people of color. They are more likely to be hurt financially, lose their jobs, etc. , and with help. In housing, we are seeing something similar where the people with less got less help in the aid programs. So renters, like i said, there is this crazy patchwork of Eviction Moratoriums, some more effective than others. First time around, there was not any money to pay the landlords, which was not really fair to landlords or renters. The renters will owe six months of rent and are just getting another job or something . That is not good for the economy or them. Then, ok, look over to homeowners, i think everybody universally likes this, if you get into trouble because you lost your job or because of income or your spouse or whatever happens, you call your Mortgage Company and say i cannot pay the mortgage because of the covert outbreak, and you are able to skip six months of payments without penalty, does not hurt your credit report, and if you say you need another six month, you can get another six months, and there is a very, very smart way in the system to pay that back, which is they just move those missed payments back to the back end of the loan term. So if you pay 1200 a month in mortgage when you pick up at the hadof the year, you whatever it was, not some additional, crazy, burdensome repayment plan when youre getting back on your feet financially. That would be really hard. It is at the end of your 30year. Oan, payments are there that works, and it is such a better deal homeowners have than renters who quite literally or getting thrown out on the streets. Host what are your thoughts on how we define a good economy in the country . This is a tweet from a minute or two ago. Ple being evicted through insecurity, kids out of school, cannot pay loans, but hey, the stock market is going great. Everything is guest the stock market is not the economy. What the market is doing, to explain that part, the market is looking ahead six month or one year and saying you got a endine, the light is at the of the tunnel and it might be three months away but we see it ,nd before that, the vexing was corporations got a big tax cut so these factors come into play when you are pricing stocks. In terms of the near term outlook for the economy, it can be a very different equation. California is shutting down with more people out of work and we are losing benefits. Extend these protections for people, i was talking to mark zandi, this is not just some advocate for poor people. This is a major wall street institution. Extend if we do not Unemployment Benefits, have a robust rental Assistance Program and a bunch of provisions we are , the economy will slide back into recession. Then the stock market will not like that. We are on a cliff here and so far, the market is being optimistic about it. We dont extend these things, to my mind, that changes. Next,laurel, maryland is sean on the republican line. Caller i had a question for the people that are being evicted and so forth and the food pandemic where food is being delivered to people who cant get into social services. Evicted arele being. Llegals we are seeing is a lot here. Can you elaborate on that . Guest its a good question. The short answer is we dont know. Part of the reason we dont know is there is a lot of people who deserve benefits who should get benefits who are not even getting them yet. Theyve been winning for six months. I did a story out of california ,hese unemployment systems there is a different system in every state and a lot of them are run on computers from the 1970s or something. They are doing stuff the way people used to do it. Then they get hit with 10 times the volume of people needing unemployment and a lot of things have gone wrong. A huge one they found in california was they had these fraud project Fraud Prevention programs, they have identity verification. Usy were like send information and you get stuck in a cycle of trying to prove who you say you are. Catches very little fraud, almost no fraud is caught this way in california. It stops like 40 of applicants from getting their benefits for months and months. It could be someone whos someonented or maybe who is on unemployment before and they are renting or it could be they should be qualified but they live in california and they work in las vegas. It was confusing for the system to deal with and then they get moved to the back of the line and have been stuck there for six months. Its a complicated answer. To some degree, thats the reason why these other forms of support are important so you get rental assistance, if you are having trouble getting unemployment money, you can still keep your house even though stimulus checks will not be part of this, they should go to everybody who can get them. Thats a lot of whats going on there. Host maybe we will hear from some of those folks receiving pandemic benefits. Phone lines are split as usual between democrats and republicans. Chris arnold, another of your recent stories, more americans pay rent on credit cards as lawmakers fail to pass the relief bill. Talk about whats happening with american credit. Ofst it was a 70 increase people paying rent on a credit card last year. Some people might say is convenience but you dont have to be an economist to realize that a 70 jump in people paying rent on credit cards is not a good thing. Youre paying 20 interest on a card and you have to pay rent on just another its sign. Its like the food lines on tv stretching around the block and people who have never gotten food before are doing that now because the situation is so desperate to stop there is a lot of people putting rent on a credit card who never wanted to do that before. Host barbara is next out of deerfield beach, florida, democrat. Caller good morning. Vona ventura. Bara host happy birthday, barbara. Was 14 onam 93 and i pearl harbor day so many years ago. I was having a Birthday Party and we didnt know what pearl harbor was, we didnt know it was part of the United States. Then we were at war for almost four years. It was terrible. Through and we are stronger today. Days, we, in those didnt have Social Security, we didnt have unemployment haveance, we didnt anything. We are so much better off today. That. E to be happy about lets hope the pandemic goes away and we will all be safe and happy again. Host can we ask you a couple of questions . Caller guest i want to know how youre being safe in the pandemic but my mother is 90 and she likes to go out to places to eat. Outsideom you cannot be without a mask and shes doing that stuff she is a psychologist and shes being patient. People at that age, people dont want to be super isolated and its challenging. Alsoant to be safe but you want to feel connected to the people you love where the people you want to see. How are you handling that . Enough i was fortunate to invest in longterm health care. Aid whoewonderful comes between 9 30 a. M. And 1 30 p. M. And she goes to the store for me or she takes me but most of the time, i dont go. I am also taking care of my daughter, youngest child, elizabeth. We are getting along ok. I have eight children and she is the youngest of my eight but others are ok. We are staying home. We are wearing our masks if we but to go out to public most of the time, we have it delivered step today, we are going to have chinese food and have it delivered with our masks and gloves on and everything we are trying very hard to take walks and we wear our masks and our gloves. Thats all. Its great to be in america. Guest can i ask you one more question . You were talking about pearl harbor and people didnt know what it was and its this covid thing and then it storms the country and becomes this thing where many people have died. There are not perfect parallels to world war ii here but back then, did it seem like the country pulled together when it had to and fought this thing . I had a conversation with somebody the other day who said i dont need to wear a mask of a dont want to but people died on the shores of normandy for this country. Absolutely, we have to defend ourselves and defend our country against anything whether orbe war or unemployment disease. After all, there was no Social Security, there is no Unemployment Insurance. There was no sick pay. There is nothing. That has evolved since then. We are happy to be in this wonderful country so thats all i can say, america is the best. Host happy birthday and thank you so much for calling this morning from deerfield beach. Eddie is next out of millbury, massachusetts, republican, good morning. Caller good morning. She tried to cause a disaster or panic just to get joe biden elected. She is the problem with the savings and loan, she was the problem with the subprime and obamacare, the exorbitant rates for health care, existing conditions, she is the problem. Do you think a 900 billion plan would have passed back in the early fall if thats where democratic negotiators had gone . Caller they should have. Definitely. They cannot subsidize the welfare state. The welfare state brings in immigrants just for the vote. You cant do that. Its a blight on society. Host do you want to jump in . Guest the one thing i would say everybody fromk people on the street to economists in Tall Buildings and have beenersities very surprised how long it took congress when this hit, congress came together in a rear bipartisan act that put 3 trillion into the system. Talk to someone like ken rogoff at harvard studies this, he says thats what you do, you worry about paying for it later and you flood the system with money to get to the people dont destroy themselves financially because no fault of their own, they cannot work right now. When we get to the other side which we clearly will this is not even complicated. You have to get through number of months but when we get to the other side and everybody has a vaccine in their arm, get back to normal pretty quick and we will get there a lot quicker if a huge percentage of the company is not werent is not ruin financially. Its in everybodys interest to be in the boat together. What was interesting to me was in march, republicans got that, democrats got that, they got iter and they passed was over 1 trillion. A lot of money and did a lot of good. Ofn for some reason, the set facts did not change but as we got into the summer, all of a sudden, we have fallen back into this partisan dysfunction. Now its the 11th hour where the last of these programs, bunch of them were about to expire, some of the more generous ones already have, and i think we are notng lastminute panic and coming to the table but many people were surprised. I dont know whose fault it was. I dont cover the political and of it. Together, it was surprising it took so long. States dont know whats happening and they have to plan their budget. Host the cares act was 2. 2 trillion. The bipartisan framework we are expecting to see legislative language on early this week, 908 billion dollars. Those in the numbers we are working with now. Maine,is in farmington, independent, good morning. Caller good morning, gentlemen. I have a couple of issues i wanted to run by you. I notice a lot of people back in the beginning when the pandemic started, you started to notice the price of goods in the store, the food going up in price. The people who receive low income as far as food stamps and fit, there budget does not to what the prices have gone up with. I am really concerned that it should been months ago. I see people who have three or who children out of school normally get lunches as well as breakfast in the morning stop that is something that the parents i see a lot of people going hungry and i hope that Congress Passes something before the holidays. I dont see anything in there as as well as food recipients for food stamps or anything like that program and i really think they need to do something. Prices have gone out of control and we cannot afford it. 350 for two people per month. It would normally get some of the bible with the prices increase, you are a week off. You got a week where you dont have the available food that you normally would have. Thats it. I just wanted to say i really think thats very important to get out some kind of help for these people before the winter. We already have storms in maine and people cannot afford their heat each month in cannot afford the lines of the food banks are phenomenal. Thank you for taking my call. Host chris arnold. Guest something that surprised me in all of this is that people would get Unemployment Benefits 600,en without the extra where they can barely pay the rent but now they are getting too much money to qualify for such for food stamps or snap. Off from thecut free food. I hope they try to figure that out step i havent seen a lot of the details with this bill yet. The expanded 300 extra dollars per week, thats 1200 bucks per month on top of the state benefit, that will go a long way to help people plug the holes and put oil in the furnace in maine. I hope that stays in there. Also, there is talk of an Eviction Moratorium and hopefully that would be more effective than the current cdc order and that could also give people the confidence and a rental Assistance Program with that so if they cannot pay, their landlord can get a voucher we dont know exactly what it will look like but they could have money to buy food because there landlord is getting money for the rent that month or whatever the case may be. Thats a real issue. This is america, where the biggest, most powerful economy in the world and people dont have food . Come on, there is no way to look at that and not think thats not ok. Host crestview, florida, this is heidi, independent, good morning. Caller good morning, you made a comment earlier about the benefits and how mcdonalds workers wanted to not work versus collecting the money. Mcdonalds i am a worker and mcdonalds was the only place that was still open for fast food. Our hours were cut. We were not qualified for any kind of extra assistance to make up for the hours. We were deemed essential workers. I still have the letter i was given to say that step if we quit our jobs in fear of getting the virus, then we wouldnt qualify for any kind of unemployment. I just took offense to that and maybe you should rethink that. Thet 100 , i was saying credit of the 600, there were republicans in congress who were saying we cannot give people so much money because if they work at mcdonalds, they dont want to go back to work. That was an argument that was made. Its not an argument i made. I hear everything youre saying. Im hoping there are additional protections for people who are essential workers whether that be in a warehouse distribute and food or in a take out place like mcdonalds or on farms or whatever it may be. These are people who put their lives in harms way so the basic systems of the country can work. I agree with you 100 . Host corona, california, this is winter, and independent. Caller good morning. , the city ironic name name. Segment your previous frontline in contact patient worker and i need assistance with housing and whatnot will stop i have tried to on one with the city in the county and of even check the state for any type of program. I was wondering if you happen to have ideas for other places we should be searching. Somebody told me about 211. Known anything if somebody had not said that. That was greatly appreciated. I wanted to see what your thoughts were. Maybe im not searching replaces or wears to go to and what to do . Host thanks for the call. Is this to get Food Assistance or other assistance . Caller food im ok with. Im like six months behind in my rent and i cannot do it. I caught covid. Filled because they are pop up clinics and they go from place to place. Filled so iwill be cannot have a job to go back to electricitysing and and all utilities basically. Guest the utilities, you can call the utilities and say im in this spot, i dont think they will shut off your heat and lights in the pandemic. California, i would be surprised. Homeowners got away in the cares act to skip payments that they couldnt make and figure it out later in a smart way that was affordable stop there is nothing like that for renters. Occasionally, some little pile of money will pop up, i think it was dallas and people apply for it and i think it was gone in two hours. ,ne thing to be hopeful about we dont know the details yet, but should this plan come together in washington, this 900 billion, they are finally talking about rental assistance. Takes does that mean there would be a way to get your landlord paid back for the six months you owe . Hopefully. I imagine that would really help you. Host just about 10 minutes left with chris arnold, correspondent for npr. His reporting is available at npr. Org. We are hearing your stories as we are talking about a looming and if its cliff at the end of 2020. Marco from jacksonville, texas, independent on the line for those receiving symptoms form of benefits. Caller my name is marco. Comment is, ive i feel like the American People got caught between the democrats and republicans fighting between each other. Money andthe unemployment, i was a construction estimator and they shut down all the construction sites and everybody got laid off. I have two girls at home now and my wife has diabetes and heart problems. We end up selling everything we owned and bought an rv and moved into that. We had to downsize and live as cheap as possible. Now the unemployment has played out. I have put in applications after applications. Construction is not something that kicked off real quick because of the pandemic. My question is, if they come out with this 300 with the extra benefits, what happens to the people who have exhausted all their benefits and exhausted everything and they dont have anymore more programs for them . Does that 300 go to them every week to help them until the pandemic is under control . Are they just stuck out there in the Wild Blue Yonder . Benefitsre you getting as part of the covid system and you just ran out . Are you still getting them but they are about to run out and its covid related . Weeks andgot two more im in texas so they gave us i dont know how many months it was to draw a regular Unemployment Benefits and then and the emergency Unemployment Benefits kicked in and that runs out here at the end of december. A lot of it runs out the day after christmas which makes it more painful. Merry christmas, everybody. They passere is if this, the benefits you are getting, as i understand it in the language is not final and we havent seen the bill but it would keep extending those emergency federal benefits that it sounds like you are on and those would continue for another matter of months depending how they write it in the bill and on top of what you are getting now, you get an extra 300 per week, similar to the 600 per week the people got back before july. Does that answer the question . Move, we gotd to an rv and we moved in we are now living 200 miles from where we used to live so we had to move our rv to another location. Even if might job calls me to go back to work, i am 200 miles away so i cant take the job. Everybody has had to do different stuff. Even if your old job calls you back, many people got displaced and are living with family members and going wherever they had to go to keep a roof over their head. They are not even able to go back to that job. The same thing happened with my wife, her job called her back where we used to live to come back to work but we live 200 miles away and she couldnt go back there. They took her unappointed benefits off because they said she declined to go back to work at the job she was working at previously and they tried to hire her back. She tried to explain to the people on the phone that we sold everything we had we had to move in with family members or living in an rv and my dads backyard. For ant drive 200 miles eight dollar per hour job. They cut her benefits offer that. Guest can we keep him on the let the producer give my email and phone number. I want to talk more about this. Host we will connect you after the program. Next out of zephyrhills, florida, good morning. Are you with us . Caller good morning. I hope you have three days because i have so many things. First of all, i was reading something this morning. About the government thats why put this channel on because i figured its washington. They are talking about eliminating the second check for give it to the businesses. Common sense tells me if you take the money and you give it to the businesses but you take away from the people. My question is, if we dont have any money to spend at the businesses, all you guys are doing our debt is digging a bigger hole. When the businesses cant make it a 10, you guys will have to tell them out again. We are in a lot of trouble here. Guy and ily young worked my whole life, im disabled long with my wife. You talk about the electricity dade city shut us off. Then they said we owed them like six or 700. Both of us being on Social Security, you can imagine and much money we dont have step every time we give them money, they took half of it and put us in a band in a bad bind. I sold all my tools. All my tools are gone, i pawned them, couldnt get them back so what about me, i dont matter . I dont want to it into the debate about biden and mr. Trump. By people could have gotten i wouldnt want trump over at hehouse for dinner because is really very arrogant. As a president , he was great. The numbers dont lie. For all the people that listens to him on tv and he pointed at the people and said if i become you are all going to get your checks, i guarantee it and now everything is maybe or no. There is a lot of people that kicked themselves in the but for not getting past trump being a jerk and being a great president. The numbers dont lie. Unemployment number is dont lie. The bottom line is we live in a community, im not going to mention what community. I called the Corporate Office and said why did you guys close off to gaetz . There is a thousand people, 150 stay all year we didnt have the covid at all because we follow the guidelines. Me the reasonell they did what they did to allow people to just come in as they were following the federal and state guidelines. What did the state do to protect us . Host we want to give chris arnold a chance to jump in. Guys can give bobby my phone number, we can talk more after the show. I cant tell exactly was going on but im not sure where you are hearing that because this plan, the 900 billion plan its funds supposed to have for Small Businesses to keep them going and more checks for people on them unemployment an additional 300. It might not have everything and rental assistance oh if you are having trouble paying rent, your landlord can be sent money directly. Anyway, there is a lot in it that sounds like it could help you but maybe im not getting something. I would be happy to talk more about it. Host chris arnold talks on npr and you can see his work at npr. Org. We appreciate your time and connecting with the callers after the show. Guest thank you. Host about 30 units left on washington journal this morning. Is pearl harbor Remembrance Day. For our last 30 minutes of the program, we will focus on that topic this morning. The phone lines are split regionally, getting your thoughts on this december 7, 79 years since the attack on pearl harbor, you can start calling you now and the phone line is split up regionally. As you do, we will play a bit from president Franklin Roosevelts address to congress on december 8, 1941. [video clip] speaker, members of the senate and the house of representatives. 7, 1941, adecember ,ate which will live in infamy the United States of america was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the empire of japan. The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused american navalo and military forces. I regret to tell you that very Many Americans guest guest host Franklin Roosevelt some 79 years ago tomorrow in the wake of the attack on pearl harbor. This pearl harbor Remembrance Day, President Trump has put out his own proclamation. Ons is what it reads in part this National Pearl harbor Remembrance Day. President trump in his proclamation. You can see the flag over the flag over United States capital at halfstaff today on this pearl harbor Remembrance Day. The phone lines to get your thoughts on this 79th anniversary of the attack on pearl harbor. The phone lines are yours this halfhourr the last and there are plenty of off beds in todays paper comparing 1941 to 2020. This is from neil steinberg. Thats part of neil steinbergs column in todays chicago suntimes. This is from the santa fe new mexican. A few of the columns on this pearl harbor Remembrance Day this december 7, 2020. Getting your thoughts this morning, alex in flint, michigan is up first. Good morning to you. Caller good morning. Surprised thaty trump even commented on pearl harbor. It really surprised me, im sorry. Im in a rent mode. I am in a rent mode. Rant mode. He spends a Million Dollars golfing and he didnt go to vietnam like people my age did, evenreally amazing that we put up with this stuff. I dont understand the American People. That many people fell for this guys is joe biden was saying, malarkey. Its really something. My daughter is in Early Childhood Education Teacher and when the kids come back and they get tired and need a nap and she asks them, do you have any words, they say i need a nap. Thats how i feel about it step we all need a nap because we are out of worries. Host this is robert and cole port, pennsylvania on the line for veterans and family members, go ahead. In worldy father was war ii in the pacific and his name got picked to go into tokyo bay. Ship that ledhe the attack on pro holder on pearl harbor and he brought home the flag that led the attack on pearl harbor. Host wheres that flag today . Caller i still havent locked up in a safe deposit box. Talk about hiser experiences in the war were specifically about pearl harbor . He was in tokyo bay right after and how he got the flag off the ship was there is japanese prisoners dumping ammunition off the ship into the water and they were on a boat and pulled up alongside and the japanese prisoners took food in duffel bags to feed their families. He was in the radio room and one of the guys pointed out the flag was back there. He said it was the flag they flew in the attack happened. It was a japanese battle flag. What do you think your dad would have thought about the state of the United States today . Caller he wouldnt like it at all. He would not be happy with it at all today. Host why is that . Just the way things are going. Democrat the term republican the way before he died. A democrat that turned republican before he died. Host fort worth, texas, good morning. Caller good morning. I have several things i would like to say about pearl harbor. I remember it. I was 11 years old. We all felt like we were under attack. Can you hear me . Host yes, give me your first memory of learning about what happened at pearl harbor. Caller it was on a sunday morning and we had the radio on and we heard the president speak about what happened. And everybody was just shocked. I think a lot of people have never heard of pearl harbor. Meantime, you cannot compare pearl harbor to whats going on today. Was moreall, america of an Agrarian Society back then. Citiesnt have these big. In texas we didnt. But people had jobs. All the men went to the war. My husband fought in the pacific. Thats when the women had to go into the factories and work. I can remember very well and everybody had a job will stop it wasnt like it is today. Furthermore, this country was not that large. Youve got 330 Million People in this country now. You didnt have that many people in this country. Do you remember house how your husband would mark pearl harbor Remembrance Day . Caller i wasnt married then but he was old enough to go to the pacific. He fought in the pacific. For the call from fort worth, texas. Mary and his next out of lakewood, new jersey. Caller good morning. I have a couple of comments. I am sick and tired of everybody saying that trump was not in the service. No, he wasnt but neither was obama or clinton or a few other president s. And biden of course. Were they inservice . Stop knocking him for not being in service. Number two, as far as the death toll for the virus, trump never said it was a hoax im a never. Callid the democrats would it a hoax and thats exactly what biden said when President Trump close the borders. In china. Said,was the one who called him every name in the book and said you dont have to wear a mask and even dr. Fauci said you had to wear a mask and neither did paolo see. Host do you want to take us to december 7 . Caller i was only four years old when the war started. I was eight years old when it ended and i had four uncles that were in the service. Some of them we didnt know where they were. We thought one of them was gone. It was my mothers brother and finally we saw on the front page with him and another soldier giving a cigarette to a german soldier. It went right into the war with germany. Host thats how you knew he was alive . Caller yes, thats how we found out he was alive. I am so sick and tired of these democrats. Really, i am. I was a democrat, im 83 years old. I was a democrat, my whole family in brooklyn, born and raised in brooklyn and went to school and i worked in new york city. Ive never seen the democrats so vicious in my life, never. Host when did you stop being a democrat . Caller when obama became president. I was first going to vote for him because he was softspoken and so nice but behind that grin, this man was radical. I found out about his association with bill ayres, the underground bomber, farrakhan, another hateful person, reverend wroght who hated whites in america. Host we will stick to pearl harbor Remembrance Day. We have about 15 minutes left in our segment this morning. We are getting your thoughts on the 79th anniversary of the attack on pearl harbor. This is bob out of jacksonville, texas on the line for veterans, good morning. Caller good morning, i appreciate you taking the call. Out. T wanted to throw this in 1952, i was doing carrier duty. Harborto pull into pearl for some repair so we were on the island for three months and that was in 1952. Memorial was not what it is now. It just barely was a memorial. Dont get me wrong, im not knocking it but it came a long way. That was good duty. We enjoyed being on ford island. We left there and went to korea. Host do you remember seeing the arizona there . Caller oh yeah several times. It was awesome. ,ou cannot describe the feeling you knew that that many sailors gave it up right there but they fought to their last breath. I really appreciate the camaraderie that we had a narrow , every one of them would die for you. That was great. I dont know if its that way they first askss you if you are democrat or republican which is a shame. Thanks, i appreciate you taking my call. Host thanks for your service and thanks for the call. Caller janice, allentown, pennsylvania on the line for veterans and family members. Caller my dad was in the south abess. C in the se im 69 and i remember him talking about the stuff that they did and its like, thank god for airmen, thank god for our men, thank god for the ones that are alive. Andusband went to vietnam its like get our guys out of afghanistan and all the other places, just get them out, get them out now. Jont let those crappy do Government People talk trump out of it. Should leave and i think all the crappy fbi guy should go. Swearing but thank god for our vets. Thank you. Host janice and allentown, pennsylvania. A story from the navy times this year about the pearl harbor ceremony marking the 79th anniversary of the attack close to the public amid the coronavirus. Its a scaledback anniversary this year. Veterans, nono still living veterans who will be at the ceremony that will take place mostly virtually with some speeches being made at pearl harbor on this the 79th anniversary of the attack. Alabamas next, good morning. Caller good morning. I just want to say things really since the war and pearl harbor when we had the bombing. In our country did a wonderful thing. Opened ourack and we plans just like President Trump did to battle the problem, just like the virus. Different companies all over the country in the company i used to work for during the war, we made shells and bullets. We usually made textile machinery stop. Our country stuck together. But when we had the jihadists running wild, they were cutting peoples heads off and are other president , im not but whensay his name biden is in their, they were cutting peoples heads off and they said it was going to take years to get it straightened out. And trump got in there, he ended it in about four months, it was all over with. You never heard nothing good about trump. When trump changed all these laws to battle the virus were companies could submit their medicines to fight this where we could get it released, you never heard nothing about that, the news could have praised trump and if he denied the good and if he did anything good, he would never hear about it. If it wasnt for the media, biden would have never won. The media fights against the will of the people. Nbc,te to say it but abc, cbs and msnbc and all those and even the internet put a freeze on trumps people that were trying to get messages out. In wilmington,oe north carolina, the line for veterans. Caller good morning. I think i only call about once a year. I am a 30 year veteran combat employment around the world, in africa, pakistan, sicily and over in managua and back to afghanistan in the first time was with marines. When i was stationed for assignments in the pacific, had to go down the line and you see the japanese 20 millimeter the justuches in gouges when i walked on the air force base, they wouldnt get to get close to the flightline but there is that how are out there. Gun bulletchine holes and stuff all around there. When i was stationed with the marines in japan and tried to talk to people and the japanese were ahead of us in cell phones, the kids were carrying those around in the early 90s. Was very strong against the dollar and i keep acting collegemy father was in during pro harbor anys had and he had a secondhand car. He was in college in the states and all the people from the Football Team piled in this convertible and they drove down to the recruiting center, almost all of them were 17. Everybody wanted to be a pilot will stop my daddy did about 40 years in the service. I am 62ed at age 61 and now. There is a lot of good and bad throughout this world and when i go to hear a shema, i only went there one time and people were very kind to show me around. Alonefeel very sullen and looking overall of that and then later in college, reading an article by a guy that one up bullets or a pulitzer who snuck in and reported on it emma it brings to heart and mind. People dont even know to this day that one japanese fighter landed on the small island out in the pacific of which there were three japanese sugarcane workers and all three rallied to his side and they kept that quiet till after the war, well after the war. Is there a pearl harbor Remembrance Day is there one specifically you remember . Ship, iwhen i was on a was on a sub tender. Haveptain would always one, every ship in the navy would have a pearl harbor Remembrance Day, whenever we are at sea. Because theyo much dont like to believe they are under the umbrella of the navy. They take time to keep the flag at half mask. At halfmast. When i was in hawaii for different things, i what was go out there. They would take you out there if you were in uniform to the arizona and you think about all those people when you look at the numbers who died. Think of all those people that walk up that sunday morning whether they had had a wild night in waikiki for had been surfing or whatever and all and dori miller and gunnery and were drying were dying all around him and he was shooting a quad 20 and started firing. Powerful stories there you talk about people. I grew up with all of these people. Backs,had scars on their and ion their faces worked a lot of hospitals. Its just tough. Every president has to deal with these things and every media should be respectful more so. And i dont think the media is as respectful as much as it was years ago, even 10 years ago. Was a member of the Ethics Committee of asheville. I dont know if im still on. Host i wanted to let you tell your story and thank you for your 30 years and your fathers as well. Caller can i say one thing . Ask these people where they last serve. Jobs when ir 137 retire. All the way down to digging a ditch. Or it wasqualified thank you very much. They dont have a job for you. Host where did you last serve . , iler my last assignment did a multinational humanitarian mission for south africa south america. Before that, my last combat afghanistan,s in 2012. Host thanks for the call this morning from wilmington, north carolina. Out of frostburg, maryland, good morning. Caller good morning. Made disabled vietnam veteran. That when the chief of staff, mr. Trumps chief of staff and mr. Trump were standing over the grave of the kid killed in afghanistan, could not believe that mr. Trump referred to some people in service as suckers or losers. And john mccain, a guy who i knew flu 17 combat missions over vietnam, beaten and broken but he would not give in. Person whoerstand a says i like people who get captured or shot down, like he can control that. Host if you knew john mccain, how . Caller i talked to them a couple of times on your show. I met him once in annapolis. He was a fine human being and so was his father and grandfather. What really hurt me to my hearts when we got back in vietnam from vietnam, we were the only warriors who came back in our country spit on us. That never heals. That thist to say country come of it wasnt for these warriors speaking japanese or german or whatever. Whether they appreciate or did not appreciate these peoples theyces, they enjoyed enjoy freedoms now whether they appreciate it or not stop thank you so very much. Host thank you, sir. Last caller in todays washington journal but we will be back here tomorrow morning at 7 00 a. M. Eastern stuff in the meantime, we will show you the flag at halfmast this pearl harbor Remembrance Day. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] with coronavirus cases increasing across the country, use our website, cspan. Org coronavirus to follow the trends, track the spread with interactive maps come and watch updates on demand any time at cspan. Org coronavirus. Today,ress returns facing a friday deadline to extend federal funding and avoid a Government Shutdown. 700 40the agenda, a billion Defense Authorization bill that has bipartisan agreement in both chambers but faces a veto threat from the president. Efforts continue on another covid relief package, but so far there is no bill on the schedule. Congress is back today. Watch the house live on cspan, the senate live on cspan2. Tonight on the communicators, chief policy officer for parler, amy peacock. We believe it is the best approach when youre talking about hate speech, misinformation, anything else, to address those problems with more speech, not with any type of content restrictions. Communicators tonight at 8 00 eastern on cspan2. Lackneria senator kelly and Raphael Warnock debated yesterday ahead of their Runoff Election for the u. S. Senate after neither can it receive 50 of the vote in november. The debate was hosted by the Atlanta Press club and georgia public broadcasting. Good evening and welcome. I am russ spencer. And you are watching the Atlanta Press club debate series. We are broadcasting from the studio of the georgia public broadcasting in atlanta, and we welcome viewers from across the state and the country. This is the runoff debate for u. S. Senate to fill the seat held by georgia senator kelly loeffler. Lets meet the candidates. In alphabetical order, republican candidate kelly loeffler, appointed to the senate in january 2020 to replace retiring georgia senator johnny isakson. She is part owner of the atlanta dream