Transcripts For CSPAN3 House Hearing On Unemployment COVID-19 20240712

Parade. Watch first ladies influence in image monday at 8 pm eastern on American History tv on cspan 3. Lawmakers recently discuss the best ways to ease Financial Burdens for those who lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic. They heard from witnesses who shared Solutions Like work from home programs and Unemployment Insurance extension to help those impacted. This house select subcommittee on the coronavirus hearing is two hours. With objection, the chair authorized to declare a recess of committee in time. I now recognize myself for the opening statement. Today, the select subcommittee is holding our First Official hearing which bills on the productive committee we have held over the last several weeks. Todays hearing will address the catastrophic levels of unemployment the American People are facing. Our nations job crisis is a direct result of a Public Health crisis was as our virus spreads throughout our community in january and february we failed to control that one. Leading to an unprecedented outbreak that has killed more people in the United States then in any other nation on earth. By march or drastic measures to slow the spread as states severely limiting Economic Activity. Result, being the worst unemployment in more than 80 years. More than 45 million americans have lost their jobs and just a few months. Jobs that they relied on for their incomes, their Health Insurance and their sense of security. This jobs crisis has not hurt all americans equally. The burden has fallen hardest on those who can at least a forward it. People earning their lowest wages and wealth. Disproportionally includes women, African Americans and other people of color was. According to a Federal Reserve survey, nearly 40 of those earning 40,000 dollars a year or less experienced job loss in march and early april. Today, ministers are trying to reopen and put people back to work but without a nationwide plan to stop the virus, whenever had for the states now face seeing rates of infection. Some states like Houston Texas are considering closing businesses again to protect their residents. Well in other areas that have reopened, Economic Activity is still far below normal and as many people remain rightly concerned about the virus. So the job crisis is far from over one. I was pleased to see what an uptick in jobs in may where we are still facing Unemployment Rate worse than anything this country has faced since the great depression. Just last week, 1. 5 million americans applied for Unemployment Benefits for the first time. One third of the west jobless are still waiting to receive their Unemployment Benefits for which they applied. Well if there is one piece of positive news today, it is that Progress Congress acted and it worked. We came together on a bipartisan basis to provide enhanced Unemployment Benefits and the cares act will and help to save off an even worse economic decline. But with those benefits set to expire next month and millions still out of work, congress once again must act to extend these benefits will work. The 600 dollars a week or standing between Many Americans and financial ruin. And lets be clear, if millions of americans cannot afford to buy groceries or pay their mortgages it will only cause that a humanitarian disaster. But it will also risk a broader economic collapse when. In the long term, we can only resolve Unemployment Crisis if we first addressed the Public Health crisis with a Strong National plan for testing, tracing, isolation and treatment. Only then will businesses and communities be able to reopen in a safe and sustained way. As the Federal Reserve reported last week, what aspects for the unemployed and i quote here, will much depend on the cause of the covid19 outbreak and on actions taken to halt its spread. I couldnt agree more wet. Now some have enhanced a different view. The white house has asserted that the economy is at a turning point and is now in the recovery stage. Unfortunately, the administration is refusing to release Economic Projections that every modern president both democrats and republicans has provided to congress will. Today, i wrote to the white house will, treasury and office of management and budget asking them to release this information so we can Work Together on Bipartisan Solutions to help struggling americans and prevent further economic damage. That brings us to todays hearing was. The question we will ask our witnesses as how to meet the urgent needs of the 45 million unemployed while also rebuilding our economy to put these americans back to work in the future. As we discussed a support issue, i implore my colleagues to keep in mind that these numbers and statistics represent americans will. They represent mothers and fathers were supporting their children. Workers in our local shops and restaurants and our neighbors and friends. We need a plan that recognizes that the only way to protect their livelihood is to protect their lives. I will now yield to my friend, distinguished will ranking Ranking Member mr. Scalia would for his opening statement. Thank you mister chairman and i want to start off by first expressing my condolences to two of our colleagues. Jim sensenbrenner recently lost his wife cheryl and of course andy barr very shocking loss of his wife carol just a few days ago. We send our prayers and all our support to their families. I also want to express my sympathies to Congress Woman ilhan omar who recently lost her father to covid19. Mister chairman, i know we are all joining together in lifting our colleagues up and prayer at difficult times like this and i know congresswoman waters has experienced a similar loss and we continue to extend our prayers to her to. Mister chairman, i want to thank you for starting off with this hearing talking about the economic recovery and what we can do to continue to help people get back on their feet, get back to work. The american recovery is definitely in a new phase. Back in march and april, the country made a decision to shelter in place and to stop this novel unknown virus from overwhelmingly our Health Care System and for costing needless more like being lost. By necessity, that period required the government to step in and provide relief and provide relief we did. President trump and a bipartisan majority in congress, we all joined together to enact a cares act. As you mentioned, mister chairman, that act which included the Paycheck Protection Program did just what we intended. A protected paychecks and it saved millions of jobs. The average ppp loan has the amount of less than 120,000 dollars, which means the majority of those loans went to Small Businesses so that they can keep paying their employees. As of june 12th, there are more than 4. 5 million ppp loans totaling 512 billion dollars. Lenders of all shapes and sizes including Community Banks, Credit Unions and even large bags has participated in this program allowing the ppp to reach Small Business borrowers in every state and territory in our country and around these territories. More than 5400 lenders have participated today. In fact, the majority of those lenders have less than one billion dollars in total assets, which means that most ppp lenders our local Community Banks that serve exactly the job creators we set out to help. The program reached far and wide including underserved in historically disadvantaged areas. 424 Different Community developments, Financial Institutions and minority depository institutions participated in this program. Those firms issued almost 16 billion dollars in ppp loans to their Small Business customers. Many of which are in distressed areas. The ppp will continue to be an important resource moving forward. President trump just signed legislation that we passed a few weeks ago with overwhelming bipartisan support to further strike in the ppps ability to save jobs and help Small Businesses through this difficult time. But america was not built to shelter in place. Americans do not hide in the face of crisis. Americans want to get back to work. We want to care for our families. Students want to return to school. Our children want to play with their friends and americans demand the freedom to build a more prosperous country with greater upward morbidity and of course equal opportunity for everybody who seeks it. America has quite naturally entered a new phase, a recovery phase led by the energy, hopes and determination of the American People. The American People helped create 2. 5 million new jobs in may, which completely shop the experts who predicted the opposite that there would be seven and a half million job losses, so thats a 10 million jobs swing to the positive for our economy, which shattered postworld war ii records. Retail state retail sales had the biggest one month increase ever rising 17. 7 , we just got those numbers the other day. Make no mistake, we still have a great deal of work left to do. Over 40 million americans, as a chairman pointed out, falls for unemployment since the shutdown began. As we discussed in previous briefings, the steep Economic Cost were not born equally. Low income americans have suffered disproportionately. 40 of individuals are earning less than 40,000 dollars who have lost their jobs. A recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found the number of open black home businesses fell 41 . Hispanic own businesses fell 32 . Asian owned businesses fell 26 and immigrant own businesses drop by 36 . Reopening and recovery are critical to bettering the lives of our fellow americans. Unemployment insurance can provide temporary relief but it cannot provide upward mobility that people want. The recovery must include a resurgence of made in america manufacturing. Weve learned that too much of our ppe came from china and china lie to us while hoarding ppe. And the world suffered from that with the further spread of the coronavirus. We can make ourselves better prepared while creating new jobs. This subcommittee could be helping by investigating china, try to hold them accountable and also finding out why they try to corner the market on ppe hoarding that Vital Equipment while lying to the rest of the world about the virus is dangerous. Thaw just released a 42page report detailing chinas lies and cover ups. I would, mister chairman, call this subcommittee to hear from the Chinese Ambassador and to start focusing on Holding China accountable for what they did. Americans died because of the actions of the chinese but the members and the majority will not let us bring that accountability to that committee. I hope we can change. At last week, my republican colleagues and i raised a disturbing gesture to force covid positive patients back to Nursing Homes. This was in contradiction to cms guidance. Those decisions led to thousands of unnecessary deaths across our country just in those five states. The governor of new york recently resorted to namecalling to try changing the subject rather than actually being transparent and answering our questions. But mister chairman, no one has disputed the facts that we raised last week. In fact, the Fact Checkers have even called Governor Cuomos excuse falls. Once again, i would ask that this committee hear from those governors who violated cms guidelines resulting in thousands of unnecessary nursing home deaths. We owe it to our nations seniors and their families who want to know why their parents and grandparents died, who shouldnt have died. So hopefully we can work to get to the bottom of that to find out what happened, hold people accountable and prevent it from happening again. With that mister chairman, i look forward to hearing from our witnesses and i yield back. Thank you congressman. Now i would like to introduce our witnesses. Our first witness today is chief economist and Howard University economics professor, Professor William sprigs. We are also joined today by michelle evermore, senior counselor advocate with the National Employment law project. We welcome richard grass so. Research fellow in economics budget at the heritage foundation. And finally we will hear from professor of the practice of Economic Policy at harvard university, doctor jason foreman. The witnesses will please on utensils so we can swear them in. Affirmative. Without objections, your written written statement will be made on the record. With that, professor you are now recognized under your testimony. Thank you chair James Clyburn and Ranking Member Steve Scalise and also thank you to Committee Chairwoman maloney. I appreciate this invitation that your testimony before your committee today on our nations Unemployment Crisis. Im happy to offer this testimony on the aflcio, americas house of labor representing the United States and based on my expertise as a professor at Howard Universitys department of economic. My written testimony focuses heavily on the 600 dollar one Unemployment Compensation benefit and i will mention briefly the key points of that, but i also want to discuss other paths for my oral testimony. So despite a slight improvement in may by the records reported in april of unemployment, we remain in the worst crisis the American Labor market has faced on record. We faced this dilemma because the United States chose to lay off workers and use the Unemployment Service as its labor policy when companies were close to practice social distancing. Most other industrialized nations instead chose to subsidize employers to keep workers on payroll while they shut down or reduce hours to comply with social distancing. This is going to be a test of what workers call would trust transition. A large segment of our workers are unemployed because of a policy choice from which we all benefit. Emerging studies show huge benefits from social distancing and has limited hospitalizations and deaths. In an early attempt to begin in march to estimate the value of this, its clear that we have saved a trillion dollars conservatively, we have saved a trillion dollars because of the projected lives that we have saved through social distancing. The clear benefits mean we have large latitude of implementing economic policies to mitigate Economic Costs and still come out ahead as a society. And the room to properly account and address for the racial and gender inequalities that are becoming apparent and that will slow the recovery if not corrected. I just want to highlight some parts of why the 600 dollars is important and these distortions that are ahead. First, clearly from the macro policy perspective, as chair clyburn mentioned, the swift action by congress will to step and fix whats at least amend a broken unemployment assured system helped to save the economy. In 2018, a typical labor market in most recent data we have from the bureau of labor statistics, and a normal normal labor market, only 7. 8 of unemployed workers and leisure and hospitality industry, the industry most affected by the shutdown, received Unemployment Benefits. What had congress not stepped in, we would have been in for a much worse situation. The pandemic unemployment assistance helps those workers with low wages that would not otherwise receive benefits and looking at the difference between march when the policy was not in place and april one it was, the clear recovery of wages and lost to personal income is huge and significant and very different than the experience we had in the 2009 recession. So this benefit is necessary for maintaining aggregate demand and oyster in the economy. But its also necessary on a set of other dimensions. Among them is maintaining equity. If you are one of the workers in the affected industries, the affected Unemployment Rate, the Unemployment Rate for workers in those industries is 34 . If you are black or latino in those industries, its 38 . So it is fair to interpret the experience that those workers are doing as if we were watching a massive planned to shut down and at that event we know these workers have lightly incurred permanent income loss. So despite people being concerned that they are being over compensated because the benefits may be higher then their replacement rate or wages loss, their wages lost needs to be compared to their permanent income loss, not just to weekly income loss. I would also want to mention that because these workers face discrimination, because they are black and latino and female in the labor market they will have a harder time regaining unemployment regaining employment. Further, we have to understand we do not want to reshape the balance away from American Workers in this labor market. Employers are at a huge advantage. Workers are going to work with symptoms because they are so desperate to keep their jobs. A high share of workers particularly women, particularly Hispanic Women, are going to work despite saying that they have symptoms and so workers are fearful. The idea that workers facing such a high Unemployment Rate do not want to return to work misses the risk they face of this job market. So a fair modeling of the job search model would say that these workers are at high risk of not being able to find employment. One and, they return to work. I see the chair leaning in. Let me conclude with this point. Going forward we have two recessions. We have the pandemic response, but we also have a massive regular recession. We need a jobs program to address the young people were who were disproportionately affected. We need a jobs program because hiring now is that a let record low level, much lower than the great depression. We need a jobs program to make sure that young people can be absorbed to do the things we know we need to contain the virus. To do tracing, to help isolation and we need that now. We need that put in place now. Thank you, chair. Thank you very much doctor sprigs. The chair now recognizes what good afternoon chairman clyde burn, members of the committee, im i michelle evermore, a Senior Researcher with the National Employment law project. The Unemployment Rate higher in the past three two months than the highest Great Recession would have been higher had not been for the bold Action Congress has taken. However, the difficulty states had paying benefits exposed to systems that have been at best neglected and at worst undermined. Now we must Work Together to fill in the gaps at on employment insurance, increase equity and maintain benefits for those who are already eligible until the economy sufficiently approves. It applauds the bold action that congress is taking but more cannon will be done. Anna pom insurance was built to distribute funds during an economic crisis. Created in the wake of the great depression, what you i succeeds in achieving key goals helping workers make and meet, supporting people in the job search keeping, people connected to work, upholding Living Standards and providing macroeconomics debility in a recession by maintaining worker buying power, which supports businesses in the economy. Its also important to understand, our unemployment system is a patchwork of state system some of which have been intentionally modified to make it more difficult to get benefits. Since the last recession states cut benefits by cutting benefit duration confusing hurdles to access benefits and increased benefit requirements. Too few workers are able to get it. At the expense of paying appropriate benefits, causing false broad accusations. That means, slower benefit payments in a crisis like the ones we have experience. The urban institute found that during the Great Recession, and latino workers or 4 less likely. Inherent segregation plays of role in benefit access. Its also clear there was hurdles in the new eye system, representing people of color thats been exasperated by new cuts. The new program helped to cover some of those inequalities by establishing pathway by workers who have been left behind from you i, a third of benefits paid are going to pew a recipients. It made up to the decline and benefit levels but it gave a lifechanging without which workers in communities wouldve been devastated. Dont take my word for listen to cindy from ohio. To the self employed painter who waited ten weeks to get benefits and said. After finally receiving the 600 dollar addition to my weekly back which is less than my normal income, i can make sure my overdue mortgage could be brought close to current and my taxes are due in july will get paid. And then several other bills will get partially paid. That 600 dollars is the security i need while trying to move forward into an unknown work state. Due to the Public Health crisis, my projected work is 30 of whats normal for the next three months. I have to protect my Parents Health first. Without the benefits of being giving no choice to veto my loved ones. This is unacceptable not and beyond cool. I hope they can imagine being in our shoes. As the sea video has made clear, and as evidenced by the Unemployment Rate not only not increasing but dropping in may, the 600 dollars kept the economy afloat and there is more to a job than a paycheck. In Uncertain Times workers seek stability. And the reassurance of continued work is something many workers no longer have. But also stressed the importance of sponsor Health Insurance during a pandemic. Workers could get partial benefits, plus the 600 dollars you see. There is no comprehensive plan to address the Unemployment Crisis. There can be before the disease is addressed. Its important to remember workers cannot refuse working really get you i benefits. Unsafe work is not suitable work. They need to be able to refuse work that is this is about the workers rights issue in a Public Health issue. As workers have to go to unsafe conditions, prolong the duration of the pandemic. Moving forward in the near term, states need more administrative funding. The 600 dollars must remain in place until economic in Health Conditions improve. We need automatic way to scale long term we must focus on the inherent inequalities baked into the system, and set a federal for four benefits. With meaningful access to adequate benefits. Without comprehensive you are reform, states face greater pressure to cut lower taxes and cut benefits than they did during the last recession. I look forward to working with you as we look to building a more just system in the future. Thank you very much. Next this is greece lawyer. You are now recognized. Good morning, thank you for the opportunity to testify. I would like to look at what is happening in the labor market, and then discuss how federal benefits are both helping and hurting the economy. And lastly to propose policies that will foster flexibility and Employment Opportunities, for all americans. Americas economy was strong in the Unemployment Rate was at a half century low in february. And then came covid19, and the actions taken to mitigate the Health Pandemic led to a spike in unemployment unlike anything that america has ever experienced. For the past three months, one in four workers are filed for unemployment. Even as the shutdowns has lasted longer than planned, the economy added 2. 5 million jobs in may, state local lawmakers ease wreck economic restrictions. Americans showed their willingness to return to work, restaurants and stores. Unemployment figures also indicate that americans are weaning off a federal supports. And society is ready for a gradual unsafe reopening. Widely expanding Unemployment Benefits of helped and hurt. It provided important bridge which to workers whose livelihoods were put on hold. And those whose jobs were lost for good, because of the benefit of the bonus, jpmorgan actually projects personal income will be slightly up in 2020. That will help boost the local governments and tax revenues, and when it households as so Many Americans will be ready to spend. The 600 dollar bonus benefit has resulted in about 70 of unemployed workers receiving iron employment checks than they did regular paychecks. It never made sense for Unemployment Benefits to succeed wages it incentivizes unemployment. Its bad for Small Businesses theyre having a hard time getting their workers to come back, its bad for local economies that countdown business activity, its ultimately bad for unemployed workers. Because longer unemployment could increase the negative consequences of unemployment such as a decline in physical and mental wellbeing, lower incomes in opportunities in the future. This unemployment incentive could also spillover consequences. For example of child care teachers that go back to work, they cars can open, and parents can go back to work. Thats why its not surprising that cbos analysis of extending the 600 dollar bonus benefit in 2021, as was proposed in the heroes act, showed that it would hurt instead of help the economy in the long run. By reducing employment and output in 2021. In the higher business cost, could contribute to increase prices and some business closures. Fraud and abuse has been a significant problem in the expanded benefits. Washington state for example as an estimated 650 million fraudulent claims, to which it has fortunately been able to recover about half. Despite the problems the 600 dollar bonus benefit created, trying to illuminate with those bonuses, even after they go back to work would be inefficient and equitable. He would not make sense to use limited resources to benefit individuals who actually have job options. It would be unfair to the individuals who had been on the front lines, day in a day out to have their coworkers come back and receive 600 dollars more per week than they do. That policy makers should and benefits to succeed workers paychecks. Is that provide temporary and targeted support to workers who do not have job opportunities. This could include a partial federal match, perhaps 40 or 50 on top of the state benefits. This would alsoy ease the Administrative Burden on the states, well Unemployment Benefits could only be the symptoms of unemployment, it requires environments that offer flexibility instead of rigidity and it opens doors for all americans. So helpful policies including Liability Protection for workers and employers who follow cdc guidelines, encouraging instead of restricting freelance, and repealing restrictions that limit flexibility and teleworking options. By cutting the Employment Opportunities in flexibility with temporary and target unemployment supports, policy makers could help limit the economic damage that set the stage for a solid recovery. Thank you. The chair now recognizes professor firming. Thank you so much, Ranking Member scalise and members of the committee. My name is jason firming im the professor the practice of Economic Policy at harvard university. My written testimony, i made eight points. Im gonna shorten in summarize the for most important. The first is that the United States is facing a major jobs crisis. The Unemployment Rate in may was the second highest its ever been, second only to what its been in april. Ever been on record. That Unemployment Rate of 13. 3 , was actually realistically around 17. 1 . When you correct for a classification error. That when you take into account all the people who left the labor force. Even if all the temporary laid off people were brought back to work immediately, a highly highly optimistic scenario. The employment rate still wouldve been 7 . Of a recessionary level. It was higher for black americans, for hispanic americans, but those with lower levels of educational attainment, and for black americans the overall of employment rate was below 50 . My second point is that we have made some progress. In may, we saw record retail sales growth. We saw that helped support a decline in the Unemployment Rate, and the creation of 2. 5 million net jobs. That progress could only have happened with the tremendous support that this Congress Gave through the cares act. Disposable personal income would have fallen in the month of april, but for expanded Unemployment Insurance and stimulus checks. With those, disposable income rose by a record amount. That helped support the record consumption increase in may, and the decline of the unemployment. So policy is working. But make no mistake. The economy is not doing this on its own. It is doing it with a tremendous tremendous amount of support, from public policy. That brings me to my third point. The prematurely ending the policies that did help foster the progress we saw in may. It would risk a terrible outcome for the economy. Ending any form of increased Unemployment Insurance after expires at the end of july, would not just heard the tens of millions of people receiving those benefits. It would also reduce their purchasing power. Hurting Small Businesses they buy from, hurting the workers at those been businesses. Hurting the banks whose mortgages wouldnt pay risking the increase probability of a financial crisis and hurt the economy overall. An analysis i did in my written testimony, using a methodology and parameters very similar to those used in the past, by the council of economic advisers. The congressional budget office, and the Federal Reserve board staff model. I estimate that spending Unemployment Insurance would subtract two and a half percent, from gdp. In the second half of this year. To put that in context thats one years worth of economic growth. More than one years growth wiped away. Then over the next year, would cost 2 million jobs, spread throughout the economy. My fourth point is that there is a much better way forward. Congress needs to continue to invest in the Public Health response, testing tracing isolation and treatment. What it can in terms of treatment and vaccines for system preparedness. In addition, assistance in localities nutritional assistance is essential. Plan for job creation is essential. And extending extended Unemployment Insurance is also essential. My recommendation would be that all these measures are tied to Economic Conditions. So when the Unemployment Rate goes up, they automatically scale up. When the Unemployment Rate goes down they automatically scaled down. What is most important, there continues to be a very vigorous ambitious response. And that response last as long as it is needed thank you. Thank you, thank you very much and thanks to all of our witnesses. Now we are going to go into a series of questions. Each member will have five minutes to make whatever statement he or she wants to make and ask a question. A five minute statement means no time left for questions so youve got five minutes. What i now yield myself for five minutes for questions. My first question is for professor furman. Most recent job reports show unemployment declined slightly last month from 14 to 13 . Now the white house has suggested that this means that our economy has reached a, and i quote, turning point and im quoting one, is now in the recovery stage one. Professor furman, as a data indicates, unemployment will quickly snap back the prepandemic levels where should we expect continued economic pain . Thank you mister chairman. In may, the United States was in among the worst economic positions its been in since the great depression. Moreover, the top growth in may and the job growth that i expect to see in june was in some sense the easiest economic profit progress to make because its some businesses calling back their work or. Today we saw another 1. 5 Million People filed for Unemployment Insurance. Thats twice as large as the largest amount in any recession prior to the pandemic. So Economic Conditions continue to be very difficult and i know of no forecast that expects a rapid resumption of Something Like the 3. 5 unemployment weve had before this. Well thank you. Professor spriggs, im particularly concerned about the despair impact of the jobs crisis on commit communities of color and workers in low wage jobs. The maid jobs reports reports unemployment for black americans was nearly 17 and rising. Unemployment for Hispanic Women is even higher at 19 . Whats causing this disparity . Thank you chair clyburn. So a sign that we really werent hitting a turning point is the fact that the black Unemployment Rate went up. If we were actually in a turning point, the black Unemployment Rate tends to fall even faster. The rise in the black Unemployment Rate is a sign that the portion of the experience of workers today is also from a regular recession and during a regular recession, the black Unemployment Rate unfortunately is very sticky because of labor market discrimination. As a result, that sign that the black Unemployment Rate did not fall is a sign of things to come that are worse for black workers. For Hispanic Women, there are all sorts of things working against them. They are the hardest hit by the closing to the to the pandemic. They face a great deal of labor market discrimination in reconnecting and as seen by their willingness to work despite evidence in symptoms, its clear that they are fearful of job loss added to that is the unprecedented job and the lack of Health Insurance in the hispanic community. This is the crises among black and brown workers. Black workers face a huge crisis because of the work related covid cases and both the black and brown workforces, if you look at whos being hospitalized, you see its working age black and brown people are being hospitalized. Thank you. I now yield to the Ranking Member. Thank you mister chairman and the get thank you to all of our witnesses for your testimony and for appearing before this committee. I know weve talked about the Health Crisis and clearly that is the biggest concern that weve had from the very beginning, but weve also seen now with data thats out there thats very clear, that scientists have shown that people staying at home, people not going back to their doctor or not going to get the regular checkups or just the depression thats tied to people losing their job or losing their business has led to a dramatic increase in non covid related deaths. A lot of medical studies have backed that up, have shown real numbers and real concern data that shows that we need to reopen the economy and that is the next step, thats where we are now. Each state is at some level of reopening, which is really important. But miss crass color, i know weve had some conversations within our committee and some witnesses have said the reason we shut down is because theres not a cure for the virus or a vaccine or it might come back in the fall but others have pointed out accurately that the reason we had to shut was we want to make sure our hospitals werent overwhelmed. Can you address what in your position what the reason for the shut in was . Yeah, i think initially we didnt know much about this new virus and we didnt know what would be the most effective measures and so we did want to protect lives and we implemented, you know, very drastic widespread shutdown but as we have learned more overtime about who is at risk, you know, the Elderly Population in particular and children not being at risk in as we have learned one of the safety precautions will be most effective, weve seen that you can have a safe reopening of society, you know, a gradual one and one that meets the needs of people who need additional protections and thats really the only way that we can have a recovery. No matter how much money you pump into the economy, there are Real Services that have to be provided and, you know, you brought that health care of people. My grandfather is 29 years old today. Happy birthday to him. Ive seen the impacts. You know he has been really affected by the shutdown and just the decreased level of activity and not receiving services that he otherwise would have and so we can ignore those consequences. Hopefully, i appreciate that, hopefully we balance all of that and again theres a lot of data right now, very good scientific studies that have shown the shut in is out a very devastating adverse impact on so many millions of americans and again, loss of life there, loss of life with covid that we are focusing on and again weve seen over 40 of all the american deaths from covid19 are seniors in Nursing Homes, which is 0. 6 of our population. That obviously is something we want to continue to get the facts on and we dont have all the data we need, we need to keep pressing to get the facts they are because that was such a large population. Obviously we talked about the disparity impact on minority communities and people with underlying conditions like diabetes or hypertension or Heart Disease and so those are all things that we can hopefully learn from and help prevent in the future. But opening the economy is a big part of this and i know we are seeing jobs, numbers, real numbers which we heard about projections and i know some people want to see projections for the next ten years but as we saw last week, the experts are usually way off right now in these volatile times. The experts said we are going to lose seven half million jobs. We ended up getting gaining to an 8 million jobs and so getting projections from experts to what might happen years from now really doesnt tell us whats going on today and in fact usually is very different and wrong from whats happening and that jobs reported me shows that. Of course weve seen 11 weeks in a row of declining jobless claims, which the jobless claim numbers to lie, i agree with the chairman, we want to keep bringing that number down but the fact that it has been going down 11 weeks in a row shows you that as more economies are opening up, that really is paying off for those underprivileged people, the people that are impacted the most desperately from unemployment. So again, miss greszler in terms of what weve seen with reopening and what we see with unemployment, do you think that we need to keep pushing for more safe reopening to address the disparity on which communities are hit the hardest with unemployment . Absolutely, i mean, the only way we can have a cure to this is to actually have people be going back to work as soon as it is safer for them to do so i do have actual things being produced and to go out there and reopen society. And if we continue with these unemployment supports, there is a real incentive in there and ive talked to dozens of Business Owners across the u. S. Who want to reopen and they want to start providing services to their community and they have workers who are just reticent to come back or who have not returned their calls, theyre even more workers who walked out of the job after Congress Passed the staff. I know majority of people who are unemployed and want a job and they will take the job thats available to them. There are a number of people out there who are using, you know, this additional benefit their to their Financial Game but in the end its not going to negatively impact about our economy as well. Mister chairman, i yield back. Thank you. Let me remind all members that under the rules we must keep our videos on. We must be seen. The rules are very clear on that, so please keep your videos on. With that id like to yield five minutes west to miss waters. Thank you very much mister chairman. I too would like to send condolences to mr. Sensenbrenner for his wife passing, but also mr. Andy barr who serves on my committee, lost his wife. Only 39 years old with two children and of course ilhan omar who lost her father. Our prayers and condolences go out to them. I am so pleased about this discussion today because there are some issues that we must confront. I want to address my questions to both my shell evermore and jason furman. This business about getting rid of the 600 dollars in addition to the unemployment that a worker would receive must be addressed. I hear on this committee right now that miss greszler its talking about we must not continue that 600 dollars settlement because somehow this is a great disincentive to work. I dont believe that. I believe that we have workers at really love their jobs. Want to be back to work. I have many of them who like to serve as role models to the children who end up getting to work every day. I believe that some were on the track with upward mobility and they want to continue their work so that they can have more opportunities in their jobs and i also believe that, yes, some of these businesses are going to close down and that 600 dollars that they are receiving is going to be the difference between whether or not they are going to be able to pay their rent and put food on the table so this suspicion, because certainly there is no evidence that people dont want to go back to work because of 600 dollars. But this lack of confidence in our workers thats demonstrated by those who are adamant against us having 600 dollars added to their unemployment is baffling to me and i have more confidence in americans than that. We know and we have heard over and over again about the disproportionate numbers of blacks, who are suffering in this pandemic, the loss of jobs for blacks and people of color and many of these people are on unemployment and what they have received the extra 600 dollars. And it is making the difference between whether or not they can simply feed their children, pay their rent and basically have at least a semblance of decent quality of life. And so id like to ask miss much shell evermore and then mr. Furman to comment on the lack of confidence we have been hearing the extra 600 dollar supplement to the unemployed. Miss evermore first. Thank you so much for the question, congresswoman waters. Yes, so first of all i would point out that a lot of employees are not fully opening up, they are only opening up parttime and in that case were sharing is a perfect way to get the workers back to work part time and spread the income loss across workers and then they can get their Unemployment Insurance check, plus the extra 600 dollars. In terms of the disincentive piece, as i mentioned in my testimony people are really looking forward for stability right now. People know that unemployment is going to extend for quite awhile and attachment to work is important to them but also that 600 dollars doesnt go very far towards buying benefit and people want Health Insurance during a pandemic and thats also something we should overlook. Well thank you. Would you share your thoughts about that mr. Furman . Yeah, the main constraint on jobs in our economy now is that businesses arent hiring, not that there are people who dont want to work. There are many millions of people who arent covered even by Unemployment Insurance were available to work. If an employer calls back a worker from temporary layoffs, they have to go back, they cannot continue to receive their Unemployment Benefits. Unemployment benefits do have some benefits in terms of the labor force. The key people attached to the labor force, they could prevent someone from going on disability insurance. Which is something which often means youre lost to the workforce. And for those workers who are not going back to their old jobs, it gives them a bit of extra time so that rather than taking the first job that comes along, they can take the ones best for them which will also probably be best for the economy as a whole. 600 dollars is not an awful lot of money. Do you believe that this 600 dollars is making a difference in the lives of people many of them or on very low paying jobs entry level jobs. Thank you very much we recognize mr. Jordan. Thank you mrs. I dont have lack of confidence in the American Worker, i have a lack of confidence and democratic governors in the states it did things like Governor Cuomo did. And they took covid infected people back to Nursing Homes. And lack of confidence who keep their states locked down. The Ranking Member talked about this earlier. Why infected we lockdown . Miss grisly . Having connection issues here. Could you repeat the question . The Ranking Member scalise talked about the reason we lock down the economy was to make sure our hospitals werent overrun. I think we accomplish that goal is in fact what we did was our hospitals if anything we bankrupted some of our hospitals. Really sorry i havent been able to hear the questions. Mister chairman could i go later, mark questions are first pacifica. Okay. Very good. Welcome back to mr. Jordan. You are now recognized. inaudible could you have yourself . Miss maloney . Can you hear me now . I hear you know. Thank you mister chairman. First of all i want to be associated with the comments of my colleagues with my condolences to our colleagues who have lost loved ones, including a member of our committee today mr. Misses waters. And to welcome all of our distinguished panelist, but even mr. Ferment who is a constituent in the district im honored to represent. First of, i would like to say that in new york, for the sake in the state that i represent we have seen some of the highest rates of infections and deaths, and thanks for the sacrifices in the bravery of our frontline essential heroes, we are cautiously seeking to return to some increased activity. Im very concerned for other communities over the country, it we are still in the first wave. And clearly this virus is not contained. Professor from the steps we take over the next few weeks, and months could have a direct and significant effect on our economy. What effect would that have on the long Term Economic consequences for communities, states and the nation . The damage to the economy has primarily been done by the virus. Not by the lockdown orders to contain the virus. You saw people pulling back their consumption, even before the lockdown orders went into effect. And they did not raise it. Even when it was lifted. That means taking more vigorous steps now, to contain the virus is like an investment. Saved, stronger economy down the line news. Thank you. People whose their incomes, they lose the ability to cities like housing food and health care. That is why we work so hard, to ensure the cares act including additional benefits for unemployed workers. And here in the house we also passed an extension of those benefits. In the heroes. The senate has failed to act today. Next, what does current Economic Data tell us, about the impact of the enhanced Unemployment Benefits, in the cares act for people . Thank you congresswoman. The cares act has been the savior to the economy. The two personal income, saved us in the month of april into the job gains we saw in may. It is important to remember. With that extension, giving pandemic because they werent otherwise qualified, those are the wage workers in the Industries Directly affected by the leisure and hospitality industry. Unfortunately, has miss evermore stated, in building up to that and disproportionately African Americans way. States where states have been very aggressive stamping out what they perceive to be making more difficult. Currently African Americans in the Great Recession receiving Unemployment Benefits, even though they would otherwise. This is one of the great tragedies of letting states have control of the policies. Miss evermore has mapped out for you, you could see those states that have been hit the hardest are the states where black workers live disproportionately. Benefits are necessary for the economy. And they are saving the economy because, people dont pay rent, building up and in banks. Because someone else isnt getting paid who isnt getting paid. We dont want to turn this into a financial crisis as well as a real economy crisis. In new york while being hit by the coronavirus Unemployment Rates than 14 . And the jobs report says that we have dire levels of unemployment throughout the country. Yesterday the chairman Financial Services committee about the dangers of cutting off assistance to the unemployed at this point in the crisis. He said,. Right now they are getting enhanced Unemployment Insurance. Perhaps theyre getting support checks as part of the support cares act. If they lose those benefits they are getting, they are going to come under financial pressure right away. What will happen youre time has expired. Ill submit the question to her. Thank you. Could you hear us . I could see what could you hear us . We cant hear you. Can you hear me now . I hear you know. All right thank you. We got you. Go back to mr. Jordan. Thank you mister chairman. The virus itself is the reason for the economic turn, not the lockdown. Not the idea that we have lockdown our economy. Do you agree with that statement . I think thats the beginning but now that things have been reopening, thats no longer the case. When you dont let people go to work that has a negative Economic Impact right . And when you let him go to work you have a stronger economy . That makes no sense to me. The lockdown has no impact on the economy . How about states to open up earlier . Are they seeing higher economic states are under lockdown . Weve seen a decrease in the Unemployment Rate in those states. Of course. Lets go something to senator opening statement. Was our economy humming along prior to the virus . It was thats whats different here. Weve seen the strongest gains among the lowest income workers part of this. Wages were up, taxes have been cut, regulations reduce, unemployment at its lowest 50 years on employment for African Americans, americans, economy have seen. Ive had Business Owners in our district economy they see in their 35 years of business. Yet were telling people, the idea that we wont let people get back to work when we have the great economy, thats not impacting the numbers. That makes no sense to me. Is it time to let people go back to work . Absolutely. Thats the only way that were gonna grow the economy. If people are actually doing work. To reopen our economy. And remember we shut down the economy, because we said we dont want to move around the hospitals. And we certainly didnt overwhelm them. We dont want to overwhelm the hospitals we do that, in fact some are in financial trouble because they couldnt do surgeries and scanning it all the other things they normally do. And in fact we sent the president sent a ship to new york harbor, and the ship is back in virginia. Back for six weeks. We definitely met that. It is time to reopen our economy. That was happening so strongly prior to the coronavirus, the american agree . I do. More reason we need flexibility, we need Income Opportunities to be open. We cannot be driving in people. We can be closing doors to being their own bosses. Theres going to be a new shift coming out. People need more flexibility. We shouldnt be shutting options that prevent people from having that. You dont have any lack of confidence in the American Worker. I have the utmost confidence. As i said ive done most confidence in the American People on American Worker. A very little confidence in some of these democratic governors in the states that continue to keep things locked down. Particularly after they made the decision, and people with the coronavirus. As governor. Its not confidence the American Worker. The American People, who gave us that great economy we had prior to the coronavirus outbreak. We get back to work as quickly as we can. , that has been discussed already. The concern summarizing. Look better than unemployment is back to work. Almost like id rather people be back to work, its better for the individual, its better for the family, its better for the American Economy. Its just better. , lets keep things lockdown. It makes no sense to me. Lets let people go back to work. Absolutely. Lets go back in ways and considered certain targeted support. , if you have talked about these unemployment programs provide for the short time shivering about, better solution targeted provisions. Just giving 600 dollars to everyone who remains unemployed. Thank you your time and you. Chairman i will yield back. , let me just remind friend mr. Jordan, 21 states have seen a tremendous increase. And infections. Over the past week. One of them being my state. Arizona florida, texas, have one thing in common. Things in common. We spent records last week. All of them are republican governors. Let me ask you this. Is a coronavirus cases are they is it worse than states or lockdown . For a couple isolated incidents it is not. Theres no difference in overall numbers. The difference is the states that opened up early, stunted economic growth. Cases it has not been different people contracting the coronavirus. I beg to differ. Florida texas and they send records. And they have republican governors. With that i leave it to mr. Meyer. You mister chairman. Excuse me mister chairman . I think that i am next. Im sorry . Mr. Jordan was the one asking questions. Is it my turn . We had to go back to mr. Jordan, because of a malfunction. Miss velasquez you are after. Going to what i have here. Mr. Myron now that we come to you. Okay thank you mister chairman. Thank you we appreciate your attendance and your testimony. And the approach of the country, including much of missouri where i am from. The effects of the economic downturn caused by blanket shutdowns has been just as if not more damaging to human health and safety than the virus itself. Put in perspective, i spoke to a funeral director based in my district. During this pandemic has seen more deaths related to suicide, from covid19. Scientists are repeatedly found that unemployment leads directly to things like substance abuse, depression, child abuse, domestic abuse, Violent Crime and suicide. Study performed by the university of missouri found and one in five suicides are related to unemployment. That same study shows that in 2009, suicide rates jumped 12 due to economic crash in 2008. Additional studies that we discussed in the subcommittee found that for every 17 Million Dollars americans lose collective income, we lose in american life. That translates to 65,000 american lives each month due to the economic shutdown. Roughly thats 50 more lives lost, due to the coronavirus then due to the coronavirus. I dont want to minimize the impact it had on families. I think its important to look at the whole health care picture. And how Many Americans have been impacted by the force shutdown of businesses across the country. With the curve in all 50 states open in some capacity, its time to focus getting our economy back on track. Excuse me and we are headed in that direction. Now id like to address a question to learn. One of the things that everyone is talking about, in the situation we need to make decisions based on data and based on science. I just gave you some statistics i want to go with that. 65,000 deaths per month, on the other side. The rest of our Health Care Concerns as far as our society. The cdc and doctor fauci now believe we need to be opening up. The cdc indicates that our death rate on the coronavirus is less than 4 which is right in the area of the comments that we get all the time. Last week, in our hearing, one of the ones that testified indicated that children are now at greater risk than they are covid. In a lockdown caused our economy over 25 billion dollars per day. One of the things also that came out read recently here, in one of the journals here that the university of pittsburgh has made they said the virus is now mutating a less viral strain. They now recognize that the strain is much less viral and in the same article, same in that new york also sees this happening as well. We now know that the disease is very targeted. We see this for seniors and high risk individuals. So we have lots and lots of data. I could continue on we have the data and the scientific evidence. And the scientists tell us we could do this responsibly. Why do you think there is a bunch of states, that are very slow at reopening when the data shows that we need to be reopened for the health care of the rest of our society. And that we can do it responsibly. Why do you think those states are not doing that . I think there is a lot of fear of the consequences will be. Those are acknowledging the non covid Health Related consequences. Things talking about children not adding great access to school. Saving lives go hand in hand and their livelihoods. As we look forward theres optional reason Childcare Centers and schools should not be reopening when we know now, the risks to children are actually less than the seasonal. There are ways to provide more data driven and surgical approach to reopening things, just keep these shutdowns in place longer term. As we really are taking peoples livelihoods. The longer you have a business closed, the more likely it is all never be able to reopen their doors. Question i just got off a Conference Call earlier before this meeting, with he made the comment that housing is gun has been strong travels up, no business apps are up. Existing business 80 of them are now open running. His comment was its important that we dont put any policy barriers in place to stop this recovery that we are in. What do you see as a policy barrier that we should not implement to make sure we continue along the lines of recovery . I think theres gonna be barriers that businesses closed for longer we absolutely need to put some Liability Protections in place for the Small Businesses, have the assurance that if they reopen and they have their workers come back there wont be sued for things that are none of their own doing. Youre time is expired thank you very much. The chair now recognizes ms. Velasquez. Thank you mister chairman. I wanted to briefly respond to the claim that extending the 600 and hands benefit is stopping people from going back to work. The evidence simply doesnt bear that out. Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin addressed this point. In testimony before the senate last week. He was clear that in additional 600 dollars benefit has not discourage people from going back to work. He said and i quote. I think we have seen from the recent numbers, that didnt have a big impact because people want their jobs. The real reason people are going back to work is because the jobs are not there. The chairman of the Federal Reserve chairman powell, testify just yesterday, in hardhit Industries Like hospitality and tourism, workers and i quote will struggle until the pandemic is really into the history books. He explained he may be difficult to find jobs in that field at all. The facts are clear. Americans want to work and they will when given the chance. But until this jobs return, we must continue to support the millions of americans are out of work. Miss evermore. Consumer spending is at the heart of the u. S. Economy, especially for millions of Small Businesses. With the cbo protecting unemployment come and reaching 50 in the coming months, what potential harm if congress does not extend the Unemployment Insurance . Thank you for the question. Youre absolutely right. There is tremendous local spending affects when it comes to 600 dollars. In the last recession was asked me that every dollar spent in Unemployment Insurance benefits generated dollar 61 in local Economic Activity. To get your point about people not returning to work. First of all we expected over 20 unemployment for the job numbers based on initial claims. Looking at an actual drop in unemployment looks like a lot of people went back to work. For example alicia, a worker from the District Of Columbia she was laid off in march. You need to be home to handle Distance Learning within two children. She got the 600 dollar pandemic benefit should i dont know how i would do anything without it. Just to reach out to her Mortgage Lender the allowed or one month of deferment. She wouldve been able to keep her mortgage if you hadnt got it. She went back to work as soon as they made a work of illiberal for her job. Thank you. Doctor foreman, chairman powell testified this week that there is a reasonable probability, that will be needed from the congress and the Federal Reserve. He stated that for those most impacted, the economy downturn like latino households making less than 40,000 dollars, that its more beneficial than any actions that the Federal Reserve could take. Do you agree with that statement, and if so why . Yes i very much agree with chairman powell and that statement. The Federal Reserve, i think it has done a very good job. But its tools are really limited. Especially because Interest Rates are stuck at zero on they couldnt lower them very much. You could very directly get money to the households will are most in need, or facing the greatest challenges through Unemployment Insurance, through stimulus checks. And that happens to be the same households that are most likely to spend the money. It has what economists would call the highest marginal per pinsky to consume. Thats the high impact on the economy overall. The Federal Reserve has mostly done its job, its congress that needs to do its job. And of course the house did its job. By passing the heroes act. Think you miss ever more. We a recent report noted that black american Business Owners omitted went from 1. 1 million to 640,000. Thats why i as chair as the Small Business committee continue to ask for funds for the protection program. Could you talk about the need to prioritize minority Business Assistance and other policies you could consider to help them . Yes i think doctors briggs would be the best to answer this. Building and considering decades of systemic and structural racism, targeting funds to the people that have been most been left out, youre gonna build a policy that works best for everyone. Thank you. My time is done. Thank you very much. The chair now recognizes miss lewinsky. Thank you id like to thank my colleague sympathies and prayers to the great losses that they have suffered just in the past couple months. Including my colleague and the bar as well. The cares act supply 600 dollars a week and supplementary Unemployment Benefits to support Public Health, byline businesses and workers to get through closures, stay home borders and to flatten the curve. It was a necessary step back in march. But if we want to be shape recovery as states and cities reopen. We need to take a different tack on this benefit so doesnt an advantage disincentivizes people from returning to work. For instance in my home state of indiana, people receiving this supplement will be getting three times as much as they otherwise what on unemployment. Factor in the comparatively low cost of living in my district, in many cases overture would make more unemployment they would if they would return to work. Over 20 are receiving double their salary. I want to be clear, i have no issue with any worker for an undetermined multi. That additional benefit did help workers pay rent. Put food on the table and have peace in mind as they found themselves for a low on all kind of their own. Now businesses are reopening and rehiring. They should not have to compete with a temporary benefit. Thats why Ranking Member brady and myself have supported looking at a backdoor bonus repose allowed make work pay by allow workers to keep up to two weeks worth of that additional benefit after accepting a job. Essentially 1200 dollar sign on bonus. We want to make sure the states provide clear notice to unemployment about work, to work obligations and good cause exceptions. I think there is a better policy than the democrats partisan bill the heroes act that would extend the 600 dollars through january of 2021. The nonpartisan cbo say that doing this what we can, it decrease economic output increase employment. In short it would kill our economic recovery. Another misguided policy in the heroes act would be restoring unlimited reductions. The committee on taxation found that 1 of the benefits of this policy would go to those making less than 100,000 dollars a year. Instead half of the projected benefits would go to those with annual incomes of 1 Million Dollars or more. This does nothing to rebuild our economy. In fact he gives the wealthiest a whole cake, or the middle class is stuck with the crumbs. Tax experts of the left and right agree that restoring it is about policy. A few make weeks ago mr. Fruman reportedly said restoring salt was a waste of money. It would not help the economic recovery. So as we climb out of this crisis, we need serious bipartisan proposals that incentivize people that go to go back to work. And to rebuild. To rebuild the economy and their lives not incentive disincentivizes work and supplies rich things as giveaways. Miss greszler, would we be more or less likely to see a vshaped recovery if we extend the 600 dollar a week Unemployment Benefits for six more months and restore the salt reduction as the heroes act does . No. I think this is the report that came out it shows that it would actually hurt the economy in the long run. Youll see lower output unemployment next year. We have to recognize that congress established this benefit, it wasnt because it was the best design program. It was simply the quickest way to get the money out the door. Recognizing, theyre gonna have these problems. Now they see what the problems have been, is all more reason to let that benefit expire. And then tomorrow, we could give the benefit to people that need them, and if we have a reduction in income, maybe you could have that partial benefit so that you go back to work 20 hours a week, and you still get something from unemployment. We dont want it theres Portland Oregon has what they have furloughed fridays. Theyre lying to teachers offer following them one day week, so they could collect the 600 Dollar Benefit. Woodworkers are better off, taxpayers or barack. Its federal taxpayers theyre gonna bear the brunt of that. I appreciate that mister chairman i yield back. Thank you very much. The chair recognized mr. All right. Can people hear me . My internet is coming going. Yes. Im operating with my iphone hot spot will see how that works. One of the things that struck me was some people have been using the 600 Dollar Benefit simply to be able to maintain their mortgage payments. As was mentioned so far the Residential Housing market has held up all right. However many people are very worried that if this is withdrawn, the hope we will foreclosures. Well see the sort of downward spiral that we saw in the Great Recession. Where people can make their payments. There were foreclosed upon. And the house was sold in cause real estate prices to drop. And wiped out a huge fraction a large fraction of americans. We may be very close to such a tipping point, if we decide to pull back that 600 dollar segue. I was wondering do the projections that are being made actually reflect that risk accurately . And include the degenerative downward spiral that could result . I would be willing to answer for you. Please. Congressman. There is that risk. We must remember that Household Income has to be maintained to maintain the rest of the economy. We know from the Great Recession, that Unemployment Benefits or important in diverting more foreclosures from happening. In other cases even more necessary because you dont want to complicate the current crisis. That is rising economy and banks are amassing theyre gonna have to eventually right off some of his bad debt. We need to bring it down. Its a valid one to be added in the calculation. What i heard from many individual. Yes you can get one month forbearance, or maybe two months. You cant get six months. This is yanked away, were gonna be facing a wave of foreclosures here. Couldnt badly. Id also like to draw attention to the words of the chairman of the Federal Reserve yesterday, on our Financial Services committee. Its important to just keep in mind some of the jobs are not coming back soon. Theyre gonna have a hard time finding a job. I think its better to keep them in their apartment, paying their bills. That is a natural disaster. I think that we should find ways as a country to support these people. I really agree with that. That this is not gonna go away, its probably not gonna last a year. We really citizens to make sure that they are able to survive that here, in reasonable shape. But in the long term, there may be big structural changes. Many people have learned that working is a very efficient thing to do. So they wont be going out to the restaurant. , so there is. How do we wrestle with that situation, as it takes place. Then reopening the economy wont be effective for those people. ,. Dollars to be compared to the loss of permanent income. Many workers are experiencing and looking at a replacement rate, a weekly basis. Workers as they face creating budgets then have to be balanced, realizing the loss in revenue they are currently suffering from. We will lose even more jobs if the heroes stabilize state and local governments. And ensure that schools could open. So that we could get workers back to work. The greatest fear workers taking the 600 dollars in our return to work, raise workers being unable to return to work because we havent done the things to reopen schools. When that happens a course, that would depress the wages of everyone competing for those jobs being much scarier. I yield back. Thank you very much. The chair now recognizes doctor green. Thank you for witnesses. The democrats, the voices in the Democrat Party have been trying to take power from people. The democrats flagship bill for the people. Or made more appropriately for the politicians. This piece of legislation would mandate a colossal takeover state election empower Big Government liberals. Or perhaps hr five which are most religious freedoms granted in previous legislation to the constitution. What about their desire to dictate what vehicle we could drive, or right in in the green new deal. Now aoc is pushing universal rent control. Thats right out of karl marx. Theyve got more recent bill, House Resolution nine 65. Through the yellow fever, i was 1793 the burning of the capital during the war of 1812. The civil war, the spanish flu of 1918 in 9 11. The house is always assembled in person to conduct votes. While the Republican Controlled Senate continue to do so, Speaker Pelosi forced her proxy voting without the minority consent. While this regarding the constitution with 200 years of historical president. Despite flattening the curve, some democrats ive consistently urged for a slower reopening of the American Economy. What about the waitress, the bus driver the construction worker, were not sure how theyre gonna make months next months rent or put food on the table . Why should the Government Force them not to work, when weve already accomplish the goal of flattening the curve . It begs the question, why are some leaders in the Democratic Party willing to put power over people . Let me explain. In an article, in politico titled and i quote, the general election scenario that democrats are dreading and quote. The reporter quotes jason ferment, doctor vermin whos you today and i quote. We are about to see the best Economic Data weve seen in the history of this country and. The article mentions that doctor foremans comments regarding a strong economic recovery has caused some washington democrats, especially doctor doctor ferments obama alumni to quote, this is my big worry says former obama official asked about the level of concern about top level officials saying its high, high high high. And quote. Senior political operatives of the Democrat Party are driving a massive economic recovery. Is it possible democrats would rather the American Economy not balance so pack so quickly . So they could see President Trump defeated . I hope everyone realizes what this article saying. Top washington democrats. Some on Vice President Biden Campaign team, are lamenting a rapid economic recovery. They want unemployment to remain skyhigh. They want for a one gays in americans to take thank. They should be celebrating people getting their jobs back. These democrats, not all. These. Are clearly more concerned about power, then they are about people. They would rather defeat President Trump than out their fellow americans. As a physician i understand how the shutdown is severely impacting the health and wellbeing of americans. Take our seniors. Its kind of knowledge in the medical community, social isolation and loneliness heightens mortality. According to one study conducted by researchers and bring a young university, loneliness increase the odds of mortality by 26 . It should be considered a risk factor like obesity and high blood pressure. Or suicides. According to research, the coronavirus pandemic unrelated shutdowns will probably cause 75,000 additional deaths, from suicide Drug Overdose and alcohol abuse. A poll by the kaiser foundation, found that 45 of u. S. Adults reported their Mental Health is already negatively affected. Additionally, diagnostic panels in cancer screenings plunge by as much as 60 . And even more in some coronavirus hotspots. As a doctor and a cancer survivor myself, i know from both sides of the steady scope these screenings are crucial, in diagnosing cancer before it spreads. Theres more than an election had stayed here. The lives of our fellow americans are at stake. I urge the entire Democratic Party to join us, encourage the states to speed up the opening of this economy. That is how we save lives, save jobs and save americans. The chair now recognize mr. Minute yourself. Mr. Raskin . You got me . Got you know. Mr. Chairman thank you. I also want to have my voice in sympathy for condolences of our colleagues. For the loss in their family. I want to express my condolences to the families of 117,832 americans, that weve lost in the past four months to this nightmare. I notice that my colleagues never seem to mention the number of people that we have lost. Theyre acting as if this crisis is going away. Florida california have recorded record highs today number of cases. The hospitalization rate is up in tennessee by 30 . Record rates going on in alabama. Everyones blaming about whats happening in the sun though northwestern parts of the United States. Mister chairman, theres too much disinformation propaganda here. I have to address some of these things. The Ranking Member start off by going back to the china excuse. I decide to do some research on this to here where its coming from. Theres a whole article in politico. Its got gop memo, urges over coronavirus. Its all about how in order to deflect and different people from President Trumps miserable and lethal failure to develop Public Health strategy, for testing in contact tracing. And containment of the disease. We need to be done is to blame china. Its a 57 page memo goes into things about what to do when people suggest that this is a racist strategy. One thing that is not addressed in the memo, is the really glaring part of this is that general, that President Trump on 37 different occasions appraised china and president xi and his response to the pandemic. Saying he is working very closely. At the time you read all vitamin introduce this for the record. Its called the many times trump has criticized his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. It is a collection of all the president s statements about it. I will read just a couple because every time our republican colleagues go back to blaming, i will read the president s statements. I would begin a january 22nd when hes asked do you trust we will know everything we need to know from china . He says yes i do. I have a great relationship with president xi. We signed probably the biggest deal ever made. Two days later on january 24th he says china has been working very hard to contain the virus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts in their transparency. January 27th, we are in very close communication with china concerning the virus. Very few cases reported in the usa. And on and on and on. Either the greatest deal maker of all time, the master of the art of the deal got suckered by the Chinese Communist party or, maybe he wasnt cahoots with them. I did not think that was possible until i picked up todays New York Times and i read about the president s former National Security adviser, john bolton, who says that President Trump actually approached president xi about helping him win his reelection saying, if you buy crops from the United States you will help me in the farm states. That is the reality of the situation. If you guys want to keep talking about china i would love to do it. If you want to report on china, please get into the president s absolute cooperation with the chinese government. It is also being said that somehow the cure to the pandemic is to get everyone back to work but we do not have to choose between the economy and Public Health. On the contrary, the best way to get the economy going again is to address the Public Health crisis which they now completely ignore. And its not only the best way to do it, it is the only way to do it. Do you want to address the comments that were made about you and your role in trying to address this pandemic which makes america the leader in death count worldwide and the leader in case count worldwide now . Yes. The United States economy is in much worse place for the second half of this year because of the lack of success in containing the virus. Even with that, i will expect you will see months like the month of may with very large numbers. I also expect even with that, you will be in a very deep hole. And, if major legislation is passed along the lines of the heroes act, that would speed the economic recovery and would mean the economy was in better shape in the month of november, something that most democrats seem more than happy to want to do as judged by their vote for that fact. What can we do to expedite relief right now in states where the unemployment system does not seem to be correctly addressing all of the filings that have come in from the people . Mr. Raskin . Im very sorry. You may give your answer this. The most important thing that i think congress could do right now is just sit additional administrative funding out. When the original billion dollars was passed in families first, that was the first week of march and no one had any idea how big this crisis was going to be. A billion dollars only represented a 15 increase for state agencies who have seen 1000 fold increase in new claims. I think doing that, investing in Technological Infrastructure immediately would go a long way. Thank you. I yield back mister chair. The chair now recognizes mr. Kim. Thank you mister chair for pulling this together. I want to start by just addressing that i think i can safely say that every single one of us here today wants to see our economy strong, wants to see American Workers going back to work as soon as possible. Any type of false debates about that is really just distracting from the issues at hand here. We should not be getting into debates here about whether partisan politics is getting ahead of our desires for a Strong Economy. That is absolutely not true. Everyone here wants to make sure that we have a Strong Economy and are getting people back to work and i think i can safely say that here today and i want to be very clear about making the importance of working for the American People and that they can have confidence that the congress is working for them. When it comes to our issues of how we get people back to work as quickly as possible, it comes a question of how do we do this safely and responsibly. If that is where the debate is then let us talk about that and talk about what we can do to help standards and environment and getting the Public Health tools needed to get us to that place. Miss evermore, i want to ask you a question because last week secretary of labor scalia testified that the Trump Administration had received quote, several thousand Workplace Safety complaints during the coronavirus crisis. Yet the department of labor had issued only one Workplace Safety citation the entire time. Now this is worrisome because as we are trying to get people back to work, we need to make sure that we have a safe environment for them to be able to get back to. It feels like, based on this, but the department has failed to issue any enforceable Safety Standards to protect workers during this pandemic. I want to ask you if stronger ocean standards or other steps of the government and administration should be doing right now would allow us to be able to reopen in a safer and more responsible and Sustainable Way and how so . Absolutely. Osha and the employment and Training Administration should be working hand in hand, first to issue workplace standards so employers can know how to open up in a safe way. Also the employment and Training Administration needs to get clear guidance to workers and state agencies about what standards apply in terms of refusing unsafe work. Because if workers are empowered to take a look at workplace and decide that it is not safe to go back and going back well excess rebate the Public Health crisis, then we go a long way towards mitigating some of these Public Health concerns regarding trying to reopen. That is a huge part of the equation in terms of getting people back to work. All of us would like it if we were able to get people on unemployed insurance for less time and making sure we can invest in the workplace to make it safe and responsible, that is critical. When we look at the steps that we can take to try to help people get through this difficult time, until they are able to get back to work in a safe responsible way, its not just about the kind of income they are getting or support they are getting, whether through Unemployment Insurance or something else, but it is also about what costs they are still incurring and the difficulties they will have to then provide for their family. Miss evermore, you raised the question about health care and i think that is a huge one that we all feel particularly strong about given this pandemic. I just recently saw the last month, the Economic Policy institute estimates that over 16 million workers had likely lost their employment provided Health Insurance since the beginning of the pandemic and that is something i am deeply concerned about. Not only because we want people to have Health Coverage during the pandemic but because we know how much of an out of pocket expenses that can be and could really draw down and negate some of the benefits that we are trying to provide through Unemployment Insurance and other means like the Paycheck Protection Program. So i wanted to ask you here, what steps can congress be taking to reduce the burdens of these High Health Care costs or running for unemployed individuals and their families . Youve also mentioned work share and other efforts like that. How does that fit in to the puzzle that we already have here now about the Paycheck Protection Program, partial unemployment, how will work share potentially fit into that . Sure. First, in past recessions government has subsidized wilbur which is things. Secondly when it comes to work sharing, this is a great program. It is criminally underutilized. What it allows for is employers can say instead of bringing back 30 of our workforce, we will bring every one back at the percent of their time and they still get 70 of their Unemployment Insurance benefit plus the 600 dollars. It is win, win, win for everybody. I wish more employers knew about this great opportunity. I appreciate your time. I will and there but all of us again, just recommitting ourselves to try and help us get through this time and be strong. Thank you mister chair i yield back. Thank you. The chair recognizes mr. Raskin. Thank you mister chairman. I have three articles. One the after mentioned gop memo chinese assault over coronavirus in political. In cnn politics, the many times china trump has praised chinas handling of the coronavirus pandemic detailing those 37 occasions. Then i also mention todays New York Times where john bolton alleges president asked the chinese president to buy crops to help him win reelection. If i could introduce those to the record. I reserve the right to object. Though i do not intend to object. In order to minimize the reference and to be fair to everyone, we requested that any exhibits be circulated in advance of the oversight clerks email circulated in the hearing notice. If you have not sent the item yet, we ask that you do so now in order to ensure we have copies of all materials before they go into the hearing record. So im going to hold off agreeing until after we have ensured that we have received and seen documents. I thank the member for the request and the member may be assured that his request will be dispensed with before the end of the hearing. Mr. Chairman thank you. I was not aware that we are going to talk about china today. I was prepared to talk about unemployment and that is why i did not send in my china folder. I appreciate your indulgence and now we will have it on the record in the event this comes up again. Thank you very much. With that, i would like to yield to the Ranking Member for any closing statement he would like to make. Thank you again mister chairman. For the members and witnesses for all of the different information that we discussed today, clearly getting our economy reopened is where we need to be focused because we have seen that the devastating consequences of people staying at home is costing lives. We are going to continue to learn more about this virus. We know that china lied to us and hid information and corrected the world health organization. To say things like human to human contact was not happening, all those things are things we will continue to call in this committee to investigate because it is a key part in how we got here. Then we want to focus on how we get back to a healthy economy. We were in, as many of our members talked about, how strong our economy was before. I would hope there are not people rooting against an economic recovery for their own political benefit but we know that we are starting to see an uptick in people getting back to work and jobless claims dropping. The numbers are still high. We want to continue see those numbers go down and the number is going down that is the direction we want it to go. In terms of testing, i know everyone has been saying we need more testing and frankly President Trump has put a strong emphasis and getting more testing. If you just go back to march, we were struggling to get 1000 tests a day. Today, we are doing 450,000 tests a day. We should all be glad that we are increasing testing. Of course, the more tests you do and the more positives you are going to find. So, to just look at the number of positives does not really talk about the concern we have always had. The reason for the shut in, as all of our witnesses have confirmed, is to make sure that our hospitals did not get over run. In fact mister chairman, they did not get overrun, not one hospital tonight anyone a ventilator. We saw the ship in new york get returned because they did not have the overrun at their hospitals even in the states that had the highest numbers. What we did see, mister chairman, is some states handle this worse than others. This is not a partisan issue. 45 governors, republican and democrat, followed guidelines in protecting their nursing home patients who are the most vulnerable. Again, 42 of all covid deaths in america are only resulted from 0. 6 of americas population. As we have found out, thousands of those deaths should not have occurred because a few governors, five governors, chose to go against cms guidelines. I just got this letter mister chairman from the governor of new jersey, he sends it in during the hearing where he tonight our request to be transparent. He said the minority cannot request data for oversight it has to come for the majority. So i want to ask with the majority to join us. I dont know what the governor of new jersey is hiding. We asked him for specific information leading to the deaths of thousands of his citizens. Just like we asked in those four other states where they went against the guidelines and said you have to take the patients back to the nursing home, even if you do not have the ability to care for them, you infect are prohibited in new jersey and new york from testing them for covid. It did not happen and thousands of people died unnecessarily. We should absolutely get that information and so we will continue to push for that as we s try to seek answers to try and reopen our economy. Ill finish with this. I know mr. Jordan also talked about having full confidence in the American Worker which i share. I have concerns about some of the governors who went against protocols, by and large most governors did the right thing. 80 of our Nursing Homes did not have these problems but some governors decided to ignore those guidelines and it led to death sentences for thousands of americans. We ought to get those answers and continue pursuing for that. With that i yield back mister chairman. 75 years ago, war erupted between north and south korea. The conflict began on june 25th 1950. The United States later sent troops into battle with more than 36,000 americans dying in the war. Now, on American History tv on cspan 3, a conversation about the korean war with pulitzer prizewinning journalist charles handily. This is korea. A nation divided at the end of world war ii at the 38th parallel. In north korea, the soviet union lost no time in setting up a communist puppet government. In the south, the United States and the United Nationss drove to establish an independent democratic republic. Two years ago in the capital of korea, a United Nations co