Transcripts For FBC Cavuto Coast To Coast 20240713

Seeing this as a sign that they do see sort of a light on the horizon here. With all the states beginning reopening, expanding the reopening, it will continue to be good for the economy, even in a staggered fashion. There is that. Were following markets across the board. Even issues with disappointing numbers and earnings, most seem to have factored that in. So well get detail by detail, casebycase, sector by sector. This is a remarkable comeback here. A lot of this buoyed by this news out of Gilead Sciences that its drug just might be the panacea some hoped it would be for treatment of the coronavirus. Way too early to tell that here but certainly a different reaction as that stock soars close to 6 on the day. Blake burman, monitoring developments at the white house right now including the president having a sitdown with the louisiana governor. Also meeting with more ceos and those in the agriculture, meat industry. The president you might recall has said that the Meat Processing plants must stay open. Blake now with the latest. Hey, blake. Reporter hi there, neil. The president did that with an executive order. I want to turn your attention what is happening right now in the oval office. This could be pretty important tape you can get here, most likely later in the hour during the show. As the president is meeting with the governor of louisiana, second time in two days weve seen this yesterday. Florida today, louisiana. Also in the oval office is dr. Anthony fauci. Were getting first reaction from President Trump and dr. Fauci about the potential promising news coming out of gilead. The described it, quote, unquote, good news. Dr. Fauci echoed of that as well. He said of this trial, fauci did, im wroting what were about to see, it is quote, clearcut positive effect in diminishing the time to recover. Fauci also stressed this is not a vaccine coming out from gilead. Instead a treatment for people infected but he also said it reminds him of the progress that was made at the time in the fight against hiv. A lot of positive talk coming in the oval office right now as a reaction to all of this. Here was larry kudlow earlier today as well, saying this cogive a boost to positive sentiments all across the country. Watch. These are confidence inspiring things that will help open the economy and get folks back to work and when they do work we want to make sure that their success is rewarded. Reporter so that meeting ongoing with the governor of louisiana. Jared cush they were earlier this morning in a very rare interview said the conversations will be ongoing, continuing to be built out with governors all across the states as it relates to testing and he reminded sometimes the white house has a better look into the data than the rest of the public does. Here. Were starting another round of calls with all the governors today to ask them what additional supplies they need, what is their twomonth plan, their sixmonth plan. We have fulfilled all the orders the governor have. The media sees lagging indicators. The leading indicators on testing are extraordinarily positive. Reporter neil, this morning President Trump had a phone call with leaders from the food and agriculture industry. That comes after the executive order which the president use the defense production act to deem meat processors as Critical Infrastructure to make sure they stay open. There are real questions now about the food supply chain. Later this afternoon im told by a white house official in the 4 00 meeting, the president will meet with executives from the hospitality, food, Auto Industries as well. Neil . Neil so, blake, media called into the room. We know a tape will be coming shortly, right . Reporter yes. At some point during the show. It is still on going. We dont know when they will wrap up but they are, neil, right now inside of the oval office with these comments with the president , just as important on this gilead topic, dr. Fauci. Neil all right. Thank you very much, my friend. Blake burman in washington. This gilead thing changed the market already. It was already doing okay here. Gdp number, disappointing as it was, declining 4. 8 in the first three months. That had already been kind of factored in as well as telegraphing still worse numbers to come likely in the Second Quarter. A lot worse, but this gilead situation did change the complex shun on the market. Jackie deangelis on that and much more in the stock arena. Reporter good afternoon to you, neil, thats right. With respect to the gilead news, this covid19 therapy, you may have heard of it because there has been a little bit of a back and forth around it. The drug is called remdesivir. It met a governmentrun preliminary trial primary end point. That affirmed optimism in the market today. As we mentioned you had negative news. You have companies missing on earnings. Then youve got gdp. The economy contracted 4. 8 in the First Quarter. That is the first read on this yet youre seeing the stock market rise 567 points on the dow. Oil is one reason. But the gilead news definitely having a lot to do with it. This is about getting back to business, that could stem the losses to gdp in the Second Quarter. It is interesting, first reports released from stat, that the drug was having positive effects that then it could be a game changer. Then reports were leaked, it wasnt doing well with trials. Actually the World Health Organization revealed data from a chinese study interestingly enough, showing this treatment was a total flop. Gilead didnt actually comment on it, but today it did and it did have positive news a couple things to note, this was experimental antiviral drug gilead developed to use against ebola, but it is showing positive results with covid19 and the study were talking about that is successful being conducted by the National Institute of allergy and infectious diseases. They may have more guidance on this as we go forward. Gilead said it would share data from open label phase three trial in severely ill patients shortly. It is a drug that would have to be administered in the hospital to those severely ill patients. I will note that. It is not a athome therapy. It could take some time to fast track this drug. Remember, were still talking about trials here. So this is very positive news. And but the market sees it as a step in the right direction, especially when you combine it with Everything Else weve been talking about. Covid testing, Antibody Testing and add to that the news that pfizer is working on this coronavirus vaccine. Theyre saying that could be ready potentially by the fall. So if you put all of these things together, maybe the virus calms down a little seasonally during the summer that puts us in a better place in terms of a foot forward, neil. That is why there is market optimism on this back to you. Neil i could see that. Thank you very, very much, jackie. This is an issue we raised a lot on the show, a lot of stimulus around addressing the virus takes a back seat to a good prognosis or at least optimism that were getting ahead of this virus. Issue i want to take up with the Fifth Third Bank chief investment strategist. Jeff, this news that we get, on some of the biotech players, Gilead Sciences leading them is just another reminder that any progress on combating covid19, trumps, no pun intended, almost any stimulus to help deal with that. What do you think . Yes, absolutely. One of the, the way were interpreting the gilead, remdesivir news today is not that this is the end all, be all of antiviral treatments but this is a reminder we do not have to wait for a vaccine to get better medical results and medical results that can sustain reopening the economy. Not without bumps but sustain rioing and return to growth. Neil a lot of that lists hinges on more testing. The president outlined plans to beef up our coronavirus tests up to five million a day. I heard from others who claim that might be ambitious, but it is a goal and that does provide enough ammunition for governors to your point to open up, maybe more aggressively than they originally planned. What do you think . Were a little bit more skeptical of those testing numbers but, you know, testing is most hopeful in terms of being able to combat an outbreak, again a spike, you know, that can be deployed geographically as needed. So perhaps we dont have to get to those Ambitious Goals to be able to open up. One of the things we think is sometimes overlooked and is very important the importance of getting people back to work before you start developing longterm unemployment. That tends to feed on itself one of the mistakes we made in 8009. We didnt get people back to work quickly enough. Once you hit 26 weeks of unemployment, it becomes very difficult to get back in the labor market. Neil i hear you. Jeff, thank you. Very, very much. Good catching up with you. I want to go to dr. Jen caudill what she makes of this right now. Doctor, good to have you back. Testing is one thing, promising news what were hearing with Gilead Sciences, progress, were told pfizer and others are making on ancillary treatments, that is a lot of good, but are we getting ahead of our medical skis what do you think . Well, you know, this is a lot of good and im hopeful about the gilead drug were talking about, remdesivir. I still have yet to read about it and learn about the studies and i think they will be releasing some data soon. Look, were all hopeful, neil . Who isnt hopeful . We do want a treatment. We do want to eventually get to a vaccine. We want all of these things, all of us do. So i think being cautiously optimistic is always reasonable but again we always have to follow the data. You were talking about testing, with your prior guests and that soar of thing that is sort of on our minds these days. I think we do need more testing. I know we do. Ive seen patients through telemedicine now on my computer. Just saw a patient yesterday who had symptoms who really had a hard time getting tests. I would like to see that go away, many of us would. More testing overall to help us figure out we best, safest, get back and to be healthy. Neil you know i dont know the exact number, doctor, you probably do, but i think it is around or less than 2 of our population that has been tested. It might be more. Might be less in certain states. What is a comfortable percentage for you . Im sure it does vary by the severity of the state but im sure it is not 2 . No. Certainly more than that. You know, i think, you know, can i give you exact number . I dont know that i can give you an exact number. I think there are models, i know models out there best practice what is we need to have. We need to be following those models but the general idea, whats most important to remember we need more testing than that. We need the availability of testing. What i see on the ground as a doctor, honestly initially, family medicine, i i am a associate professor at rome university. We have great team of faculty members and im part of the university. We have great infrastructure. Where do we get the test, how can we test . Were part of an institution. I often thought early on docs in private practice, et cetera, trying to figure out how to navigate all this. Testing need to be more widespread. Also, neil, we need more things too. We need Public Health initiatives in place. We need to have to know what to do if people are positive. We need to have people cat trace, not dictate, doesnt sound us guide us into isolation. Make sure were keeping track of all of this. This is really a whole large effort, like a machine, if you will. We need all the parts to be in place to make sure the machine is working properly. Neil wellsaid. Dr. Caudill, thank you very good. We appreciate it. As the doctor was talking here, were looking what is happening at corner of wall and broad, the dow sprinting ahead all this on optimism about various treatments might be in the offing certainly isnt hurting. Oil is a big reason for that. It is up 30 . Around 15, 16 bucks a barrel, is hardly a Robust Energy surge in the making here but its different than what weve been seeing. And markets like that. Oil goes up when there is a feeling that Economic Activity will go up but not without some controversy. Hear about what is happening at these Meat Processing plants are saying you cant order us to put our health on the line. The controversy after this. I love audible because its a lot of stress relief, its a great escape. So many Great Stories from amazing people. It makes me want to be better. It changes your perspective. It makes you a different person. See what listening to audible can do for you. Staying connected your way youre just a tap away from personalized support on xfinity. Com. Get faster internet speeds with a click. Order xfi pods to your home in a snap. Or change your Xfinity Services with just a touch. All in one place. Youre only seconds away from all of that on xfinity. Com. Faster than a call. Easy as a tap. Now thats simple, easy, awesome. And now for their service to the community, we present limu emu doug with this key to the city. [ applause ] its an honor to tell you that Liberty Mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. And now we need to get back to work. [ applause and band playing ] only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Neil all right. The president said we need to meat industry. All the plants were shut down he wants to open, dont think of even closing. That might suit a lot of americans that like beef and pork just fine but a lot of workers, heard about the smithfield ones, on and on with host of others here, it is danger to them. There are disproportionate number of coronaviruses, hundreds of cases at hormel, and host of others. Theyre at risk here. They dont like the idea of being told they have to forcibly go back on the job. So protests are ensuing. Read on all of this from bill johnson, the former heinz ceo. A man who knows a thing or two about the nations food supply, making sure people have it. Bill, always good to have you. Own this the issue to me is the safety part of it. I know that the fda says this does not transfer into food supply. I understand that, i hope that is the case, but what is to stop americans apart from workers worry about that . Should we worry about that . No. I think you have to disaggregate the issue, neil. I think the food itself is fine. The majority of this food is prepared at home or cooked. As a result, sterilized again but through the quality process the food itself is safe. The disaggregating issue what happens to the workforce. Im chairman of a smaller food company. We have three plants operating. Two in the United States, one outside. Our absenteeism is running about 20 do 30 . Were able to continue to produce and continue to meet, for the most part the demand. So i think thats the issue. I certainly understand both sides of this argument. It is interesting, because i did a webinar for number of analysts about 10 days ago. One of the things i predicted that the president would have to eventually use the dpa to make sure the food supply would be adequate and available. Neil this defense act that allows him to make such demand. Right. Neil but i am curious though, when you look at this, bill, the working conditions for a lot of these, who, their jobs are to work at processing plants, theyre stacked pretty close together and, is that an inherent risk for the workers . Well, i think from their perspective i certainly understand that they see it as a risk and i think ultimately what has to happen were going to have to provide better and more frequent use of protective gear. There will have to be some spacing. There may be issues in terms of your ability to produce according to the demand and or according to the specs but i think with proper spacing, neil, proper equipment, as much as we run our factories, i think it can be done and done safely. But i certainly understand it from the employees perspective. I hate to bring politics in this, but congress has not come back to work. Im sure people sitting at home, people running the government are not coming back to work, theyre not endangering themselves, why should i risk it for myself . I think with spacing, with equipment, with the things that can be done in these facilities they can be made functional, operational, but there will be some diminishing impact on the supply. Neil you think about it, bill, it wont be just that work at Meat Processing plants. Were hearing plan for friday may day workers protest across the country, targeting likes of amazon, walmart around those who feel that their safety is being compromised. There are other issues as well. Typical with may day work outages, people are demanding higher pay, benefits, all of that, but how bad do you think this is getting . I think there is real concern, neil. Again i understand it. I have, we have six grandchildren and i understand how our families are treating, you know, their children and themselves. So i think ultimately it will be resolved and there will be a cadre of people who protest and try to make a bigger deal out of it than maybe it needs to be but i think the pressure will be on the businesses and on the institutions themselves to provide better and safer working conditions. But i think the may day protests, there is symbolism there as you just indicated and i think ultimately that is more at play here than anything else but generally, when you have 26 Million People out of work, and another 30 to 50 million, depending who you listen to that have been protected by recent acts of congress and the senate, that i think there will be plenty of people ready to fill these roles and ready to take these jobs. So i dont think that long term will be an issue but again, you have to sympathize with both sides of this argument and thats where the debate comes in, i think. I dont think it will shut things down for long and i think well continue to motor on. Neil all right, bill johnson, former head of heinz, thank you very much, bill. Good catching up with you. Good health, be safe. As bill was touching on here this notion that this will disrupt our food supply seems unlikely for an extended period of time but the bigger issue is what is coming down the pike in terms of more relief and more stimulus. When i spoke to Mitch Mcconnell yesterday he said that more relief is indeed coming but he has a very, very big proviso after this. About medicare and 65, ysupplemental insurance. Medicare is great, but it doesnt cover everything only about 80 of your part b medicare costs, which means you may have to pay for the rest. Thats where Medicare Supplement insurance comes in to help pay for some of what medicare doesnt. Learn how an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by United Healthcare Insurance Company might be the right choice for you. A free decision guide is a great place to start. Call today to request yours. 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A Medicare Supplement plan may help pay for some of the rest. Two this type of plan allows you to keep your doctor as long as he or she accepts medicare patients. And three these are the only Medicare Supplement plans endorsed by aarp. Learn more about why you should choose an aarp Medicare Supplement plan. Call today for a free guide. Neil were learning new jersey plans to reopen its parks and some golf courses this weekend. Albeit with some restrictions. We dont know all the restrictions. Probably distancing ones. You cant be, anymore than six feet apart, that sort of thing or closer than that. But this is one of the things that we have been noticing a lot of states, some of them are frontloading some of their changes ahead of the official, in the case of new jersey, of reopening or easing of restrictions that was supposed to take place middle of next month. Well keep you posted. Keeping you posted on Mitch Mcconnell and fallout from what he had to tell me yesterday when it came to making a deal to help the states. Yes he is open to that but with a big caveat. Take a look. Already your idea, maybe it was something you threw out there that tort reform could be part of more aid to the states. Nancy pelosi responded, democrats are not interested in covid19 tort reform. The house has no interest in diminishing protections for employees and customers. What do you say to that . Well, let me make it perfectly clear. The senate is not interested in passing a bill that does not have Liability Protections. So that is an integral part of our economy getting back to normal. We have a red line on liability. It wont pass the Senate Without it. Neil what would happen, senator if a business feeling it is emboldened by Liability Protection, that it didnt do some basic things like masks and other protections for workers because it might feel that it is legally bulletproof and doesnt have to . Well, that is a good question. You have to carefully craft a Liability Protection to deal with the money that would be supplied to state and local government, conditioned upon them acting at the state level, the kind of legislation that would provide Liability Protection for those who are seeking to go forward and to get the economy back up to work. Look, neil, ive been talking to Business People all over the country. There is a good deal of fear about getting back to normal, knowing full well the lawsuits that are awaiting unless we address this issue. So this is an integral part of getting the economy back up and running, getting the country back up and running. Neil all right. I think he is teasing democrats there, Mitch Mcconnell saying well help you out with some aid but with some tort reform or shielding businesses from any liability, classic case of business reopens, one of their employees gets sick or contracts the virus, they dont want to be sued. So what to make of that . Congressman mike gallagher, republican from the beautiful state of wisconsin. Congressman, what do you think of that . Well i think senator mcconnell is largely right. And by the way i applaud senator mcconnell calling the senate back into session next week to get back to work. I hoped Speaker Pelosi would do the same but instead she canceled our scheduled session next week. The fact is congress has to get back to work. We have to lead the way in terms of how do we help the country out in this time of crisis. I believe we can do that while also being safe from a health perspective. Obviously were not going to open the capitol to visitors from all around the country. I do think, to his point, there is going to have to be some form of protection for our businesses that want to do the right thing, want to open up, but want to do it in a responsible way without opening themselves up to threats from trial lawyers who might exploit this crisis. So what exactly that looks like, i dont know. I look forward to seeing draft legislation, but that is something im hearing from a lot of my Small Businesses here in northeast wisconsin and, sooner we do it, i think the sooner we can responsibly reopen our economy. Neil we do know in wisconsin that they are slowly beginning to unwind some of these provisions themselves, even down to opening up businesses as long as they dont have direct contact with their customers. A little more nuanced than that, but what do you make of the route that wisconsin is taking . It is happening too slowly and its happening under very vague criteria from our governor. Now im glad he reversed course yesterday and decided to open up our state parks, for example. Something ive been calling for, for a week. Now is the time more than ever when we want wisconsinites and americans outside in healthy activity. You can do that while staying socially distant, but the fact is, threephase badger bounce back plan he announced has 14 different criteria when we would enter phase one, if you read the criteria closely you quickly understand they make no sense, theyre too vague. Basically a recipe for staying shut down at least until the fall. Which would be unacceptable. I think obviously we have to do this on a state by state basis but even beyond that i think it would boo hoof every governor including wisconsins governor to ask the local communities, their counties, the chamber of commerces in various parts of their state to adopt hair own plans that make sense for their different regions because in my district we have some areas like my home town of green bay well have to be a little more restrictive for the timebeing because we have more people. We have other areas where we have more cows than human beings. So we could be probably a little bit less restrictive immediately neil you probably want to bounce that off the cows, congressman. Seriously, sir, very good having you, be safe, be well. Good health. Congressman, thank you very much. Thank you. Neil i want to switch to matt finn he is in chicago. Wisconsin is among the midwestern states slowly opening up here. They are not all on the same page but they are leading that move to unwind these provisions. Matt, what are you hearing . Reporter neil, this afternoon there are lots of loosening and conflicting orders in states across the country, including those here in the midwest. Here in chicago, americas Third Largest city, the governor of illinois extended the stayathome order for another month until may 30th. But a judge issued a temporary injunction against that order. That situation is developing. The governor promises to fight it. Meanwhile there is a much different scene right next door in iowa. The state reported just 136 covid19 deaths. It is allowing restaurants, businesses, some Fitness Centers to reopen this friday. Restaurants have mandates like 50 reduced capacity and social distancing. The university of iowa warns a second wave of infections is likely if covid19 mitigations efforts are lifted but iowas governor says Restaurant Owners want to prove to their customers they can dinein safely. They were very proactive actually in reaching out to me, talking to iowa restaurant association, talking to their members, talking about what they could do proactively to make sure that they could restore confidence to iowans to open up their establishments and do it in a safe and responsible manner. Reporter in michigan greenhouses and nurseries are reopening after the governor there reverse ad very controversial ban that prevented many Stores Selling gardening supplies. Green houses are critical to michigans economy, especially this time of year. They appear to be taking health and safety seriously. People at both entrances and exits counting people. Telling the rules and regulations of the store while we open. As well as handing out facemasks if they require it or need it. We do require having a facemask to be in the store. Reporter in wisconsin today, nonessential businesses like dog groomers and repair shops can open. This comes after more than 1500 people protested at the capitol there last friday. People in wisconsin tell us they feel like any business that wants to reopen should be able to because they have the common sense to do it safely. Neil . Neil all right. Matt finn, thank you very, very much. It has been the growing, raging debate of the week. Im not talking about the coronavirus. Where the heck is kim jongun . We had Satellite Photos were meant to target some of the luxury boats he uses but he was never found on any one of them. So where is he . After this. Heres the thing about managing multiple clouds for your business. When youve got public clouds, and private clouds, and hybrid clouds things can get a bit cloudy for you. But now, theres the Dell Technologies cloud, powered by vmware. 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Obviously testing is going to be key to it because at some point we are going to need to reach an abundance across the nation where we have rapid, accurate testing, down to the individual which will allow for isolation so the businesses can get back to doing what they do best, that is the business of america. Second thing well need long term is going to be a vaccine. Until we have those two things into place, i think we as a nation will take steps forward and a steps back. , all right. Commander. I i apologize for this. President and governor and randomized placebo control trial comparing the gilead drug remdesivir with a placebo. It was highly powered with about 1090 plus individuals. So it is the first truly highpowered randomized placebo controlled trial t was an International Trial involving multiple sites not only in the United States but in various countries throughout the world including germany, denmark, spain, greece, the uk, et cetera. The primary end point was the time to recovery, namely the ability to be discharged. When you have a study like this, we have a data and safety monitoring board which looks at the data and they are independent. So there is no prejudice on part of the investigators because theyre doing the trial or the drug is from a certain company. The data and safety monitoring board on monday afternoon contacted me on april 27th. First on friday the week before and then again on april 27th and notified the study team, namely the multiple investigators who were doing the study throughout the world, that the data shows that remdesivir has a clearcut significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery. This is really quite important for a number of reasons and i will give you the data. It. It is highly significant, if you look at time to recovery being shorter in the remdesivir arm, it was 11 days, compared to 15 days. That is a key value for the scientists who are listening of 0. 001. So that is something that although 31 improvement doesnt seem like a knockout 100 , it is a very important proof of concept because what it is proving is that a drug can block this virus and i will give you an example in a moment why we think looking forward this is very optimistic. The mortality rate trended towards being better in the sense of less deaths in the remdesivir group. 8 versus 11 in the Placebo Group. It has not yet reached statistical significance but the data needs to be further analyzed. The reason why were making the announcement now is something that i believe people dont fully appreciate. Whenever you have clearcut evidence that a drug works you have an ethical obligation to immediately let the people who are in the Placebo Group know so they could have access. And all of the other trials that are taking place now have a new standard of care. So we would have normally waited several days until the data gets further dot the i, cross the t. But the data are not going to change. Some of the numbers may change a little. But the conclusion will not change. So when i was looking at the data with our team the other night, it was reminiscent of 34 years ago in 1986 when we were struggling for drugs for hiv and we had nothing and there was a lot of anecdotal report about things that maybe they worked, maybe not, people were taking different kinds of drugs and we did the first randomized placebo controlled trial with azt. Which turned out to give an effect which was modest. That was not the endgame. Building on that every year after we did better and better. We had better drugs of the same type and we had drugs against different targets. This drugs happens to be blocking a enzyme that the virus uses and thats an rna, but there is let of lot of other enzymes the virus uses that will now be targets for this. This will be the standard of care. In fact when we look at other trials we were doing, we were going to do another trial with another antiviral. It actually isnt a antiviral, antiinflommer to, monocronenal antiby dodd. Well look at the combination with remdesivir well look at this. Bottom line you will hear more details about this. This will be submitted to a Peer Reviewed journal and Peer Reviewed appropriately but we think it is really opening the door now we have the capability much treating and i can guarranty you, more people, more companies, more investigators get involved it will get better and better. So i will stop there, but i would be happy to answer any questions. Where do you go first, then you go. Reporter changing timelines of development of vaccines . No, this has nothing to do with vaccines this is treatment for people already infected. Vaccines is to prevent infection of those who are at risk. Reporter do you have new data . Nothing more i continue at press conferences we have regularly, keep you update. Everything is on track for phase one study. Were going into phase two in the summer. Nothing changed that i said when he had press conference. A lot being said about oxford. Johnson johnson another one of several candidates moving a long. Well have a lot of shots on goal when it comes to vaccine. Thats great. Go ahead. Reporter what thought process on states reopening their governments . Do you think people should be more comfortable knowing that there is a drug that is proven effective . Well, i think it is a beginning. Tony explained it really well. It is beginning. You build on it. I love it as Building Block, i as a Building Block i love that. Certainly positive, very positive event, from that standpoint. Around, were going to be very careful as we open. A lot of people a lot of governors are opening. I know youre very advanced. You will be very advanced getting it going but, were doing it very carefully. We learned a lot over the last couple of months. If there is a, a fire were going to put it out f there sis a little ember burning well pull it out. Well put it out very quickly and i think weve learned how to do that. There are some areas that have really started up and we put it out very quickly. So we have learned a lot. Yeah, please. Reporter mr. President , stop the spread guidelines expire tomorrow. Do you intend to extend those . I let mike, want to explain what were doing on that . I think, mr. President , we issued the guidelines. Now it was 45 days ago, first 15 and then 30 days to slow the spread. And, frankly every state in america has embraced those guidelines at a minimum or even done more and now our focus is working with states as governors like Governor John Bel Edwards unveil plans to open up their states again. And the new guidance that we issued is guidance how they can do that safely and responsibly and so the not only the gaiting criteria when we believe it is appropriate for states to enter phase one are included but also the very specific guidelines for when states open and how they can open and in, as the president said, in a safe and responsible way are included in the president s guidelines for open up america again. Reporter current guidelines will not beings tended after tomorrow . The current guide lines i think you can safely say are very much incorporated in the guidance were giving states to open up america again but maybe, mr. President , talk another way of saying it will be fading out, now the governors are doing it. I had many calls from governors, governor of texas, greg abbott, many, many governors, tennessee, sarc saw, were speaking to a lot different people. Theyre explaining what theyre doing, i am very much in favor of what theyre doing. Theyre getting it going. And were opening our country again. Do you want to explain that, please . Yeah i think you can see from california they made slow the spread the phase one of their four phases. So every governor is adapting currently where we are and moving forward of how to move through phase one, phase two, phase three. The governors feel they havent met gaiting criteria. Some mate that first phase one and some phase zero gating. Were encouraged to see how the federal guidelines helped informed, at least provide a framework for governors moving forward, all the way through what they call phase zero all the way through phase three. Ron desantis as you know, governor of florida was here yesterday and he gave i really thought a good presentation, how he is doing it, how he is opening. You might have seen it. I did. He did a very good job. Mr. President , would i say if you look at the plan that you had put out for 30 days to stop the spread, the mitigation measures that you promoted in that plan Carry Forward in the guidelines to reopen. So its, sort of a seamless way to do it by keeping those mitigation measures in place that you need to as you reopen, especially for the vulnerable population. It is really, i would agree with the Vice President it is carried forward, not just theoretically but expressly in the document. Thank you for mentioning the Vulnerable People because we made it clear over the last eight weeks there was certain risk groups that were particularly vulnerable to serious disease. That has held up. We see most of the reports, about 95, to 96 of the individuals with serious disease and hospitalizations are still in those groups. I still think in a way that is reassuring but also should be a message to all of our vulnerable populations, as we have said for the last week in phase one and in phase two. As well as in slow the spread, weve been very clear about them continuing to shelter and those families protecting them from becoming infected. Reporter mr. President , what are you hoping to learn about china and the World Health Organization with this investigation youve commissioned with the intelligence agencies . Right. It is coming in. Im getting pieces already. And were not happy about it and we are, by far the largest contributor to w. H. O. , world health, and they misled us. I dont know, they must have have known more than they knew because they came after what other people knew, that werent even involved. We knew things they didnt know. Either they doesnt know it or didnt tell us or, you know, right now theyre, theyre literally a pipe organ for china. That is the way i view it. Were seeing, were looking, were watching. And, again we give 500 million. We have over the years from 400 to 500 for a long time, for many years. And china is giving 38 million and yet they seem to work for china. They should have been in there early. They should have known what was going on and they should have been able to stop it, talk about stopping the spread or stopping the embers, that could have been stopped there. And why did china allow planes to fly out but not into china but allowed planes to come out . Planes are coming out of wuhan and they are coming out all over the world. Going very big time to italy, theyre going all over the world but not going into china. What was that all about . Were coming up with a very distinct recommendation but were not happy with it. Were not happy with it. Even today i have heard some statements that are very positive, there is nothing positive about what happened in china, having to do with this subject, nothing positive at all. And i finished a number of months ago with a trade deal, and, you would have thought it would have been like somebody would have said hey, they could have stopped that at the source. They didnt have to let airplanes fly out and loads of people come out. And were lucky. As tony said, were lucky we stopped it in january, flowing into our country from china. Outside of our citizens. People say, you shouldnt have let our citizens back in. Lets forget about that one. We are lucky we stopped in january. A lot of people, long after that date, as you know thought that the measure that i took was much too strong. John bel were lucky we stopped it. We put a border, put a ban on people coming in from china. So well have a recommendation pretty soon but we are not happy with the World Health Organization. Reporter clarify, a recommendation of what, on the World Health Organization or recommendation on china, what do you mean . On world health with china to follow. Reporter can i ask a question of dr. Fauci. There was also a study out of china on remdesivir came out today, that didnt find a significant statistical significance with the treatment, wondering why you saw that, a lancet study it is underpowered study. That is not the kind of study, that is the reason why i was very explicit this is randomized controlled placebo controlled study to the tune of over 1000 hospitalized patients. The end point was clear end point. Time you are discharged and secondary end point of death. I dont like to poopoo other studies but that is not a adequate study. Everybody in the reporter mr. President , what can you do to help businesses with liability issues as workers come back . In states that have opened up . As you know, we just worked with the meat processors and if you think about it, a form of delivery, we have tremendous product, we have ample supply, but there was a bottleneck caused by this whole pandemic and it was potentially pretty serious and i just got off the phone with the biggest in the world, i mean, the biggest distributors there are, the Big Companies you have been reading about, they are so thrilled, they are so happy, they are all fwshgs gungho and we solved their problems, we unblocked some of the bottlenecks. Im sure youve seen it. Im sure you heard. I spoke to them about two hours ago, signed something very important last night in terms of defense production act and it was very important. They were so happy, they were like its like a new business. They were being very unfairly treated. Very unfairly treated. So the farmers are very happy and the ranchers and the companies that were talking about, you know the ones im talking about, because they have all become very well known. They were well known anyway. Theyre Big Companies. But they are now being treated fairly. Theyre thrilled and that whole bottleneck is broken up. Reporter so the defense production act protects them . Thats what we did, we used it and it helps them greatly. Greatly. To do what they have to do. Because theyre ready to do it but they needed some help. Reporter how do you protect the workers in those plants . Well, we are doing that. We will have a report on that probably this afternoon. We will have good form of protection through quarantine when we find somebody thats not theyre going to be very careful, they are, as to whos going into the plant and the quarantine is going to be very strong and we are going to make People Better when they have a problem. Were going to get them better. Hopefully theyre going to get better. We have a very good record of having people getting better. Lot of people dont talk about that, john bel, where people go in statistically but you dont read about the tremendous success weve had. Weve had, were just about number one in the world in terms of success. Germany is doing well. We are doing well. Couple of countries are doing okay. But were doing very well. So the statistics are very good on that. We are going to get them better. Reporter a quick followup to dr. Fauci. With the remdesivir on the market, how soon might we see that . Right now its happening that the fda literally as we speak is working with gilead to figure out mechanisms to make this easily available to those who need it. With regard to getting to the market, it will obviously have to be approved by the fda for licenseure and the fda is well affair this is something that is important. Im sure they will be moving expeditiously but i cant give you a date. Will this be used in the earlier phases or late phases . Again, thank you for that question, because there are a lot of different permutations. This is in hospitalized patients. The end point was the time to discharge so its unclear yet right now from this study whether or not it would be we dont know, it could be, but we only make statements about what we have proven. The only thing proven now is in hospitalized patients. Good question. We dont have the answer. Thank you. Reporter [ inaudible ] curious reaction on that and would you like to see another possible stimulus package . So if you look at whats going on in the market, where the markets are 24,000 and this came from us blind. We never we had the greatest economy ever in the world, in the history of the world, we had the best economy, i say it openly, nobody even challenges it, and they would if they thought i was wrong. We had the best economy ever and we will have it again. What happened is look at the market today, 24,000, above 24,000, i think. In fact, i will ask you to say a couple things about that. But if you would have said we would have had the worst pandemic since 1917, over 100 years ago with the disturbance to 184 countries at least because that was as of last week, and that a market would be, were at 29,000 and now we will be at 24,000, and we were, i think we are having one of the best weeks, we are having one of the best periods in terms of stock market which to me is jobs and future. I dont view it as the stock market. I view it as jobs and future. If you would have said to me we would be at 24,000 and you know, we started off when i was elected, the number was much lower. Much, much lower, as you know. Its called in the teens. But if you would have said we would have been at 24,000 with what weve gone through as a country, john bel, its pretty amazing. I think i read where this is one of the best weeks in the stock market, this last short period of time, that weve had in since the 1950s or 1940s. So i think theres a tremendous feeling of optimism in this country. I can only say that. Theres going to be a tremendous feeling of optimism. I think the Third Quarter is transitional. We are transiting into but its a very transitional period. I think its going to do good but i think the Fourth Quarter is going to be fantastic. I think next year, all of the fruits of what weve all done together between the doctors and the businesspeople and yourself, thank you very much, of course you are a doctor, but all of the work from the task force, all of the people that have worked so hard, we are going to have a tremendous year next year. And you are going to start to see that i think in the Fourth Quarter. Maybe even in pieces of the Third Quarter. But thats again, very transitional. Reporter is there a day of reckoning coming over this trillion dollar spending . Its about growth. Its about growth. Were going to be in great shape because were growing. We could have done it the other way, you dont spend anything and youre flat for years. You know, there are ways of looking at it. You have to throw money eigat i but we are throwing money at the people that lost their job unfairly. You saw some of the people yesterday in the white house, where they were they were down and out and we came along and helped them so we could have been flat for a long time as a country, or we could grow. I think you will see tremendous growth. Its a stimulus and its a great stimulus. Now they want more stimulus and theyre pushing for things, but i dont know that we should be working with states that have been suffering for too bad leadership or bad management for 25 years and were supposed to fix that. So were going to have to talk about that. Maybe they should have brought that up sooner. Reporter on captain crozier, would you like to see him return . I dont know him. I have never spoken to him. I think hes a very, very good man who had a very bad day and then he wanted to be ernest hemmingway. He starts writing long memos. You cant do that when you are captain of a ship, especially that ship, thats the ultimate Nuclear Aircraft carrier, the best in the world, 5,000 crew members and he decides to become ernest hemingway. Cant do that. Cant do that. With that being said, he had a bad day. We all have bad days. Reporter secretary esper asked for your advice on how to proceed i dont want to comment but i have my feelings on it and i just think hes a very good man who had a bad and i think the acting secretary is a very good man also and he had a bad day. They both had bad days. You want to know the truth, they both had bad days. That can happen. They were under a lot of pressure because it went very public and so theyll be seeing at a certain point but i think they are both very good men but when you talk about spreading, so it started with two people, then went to 12 people, then went to i got a report yesterday it was 851 people. Now, there are 5,000 people so it starts with a little group and then a few weeks later, how long is that, four weeks, 800 some odd people, and they are sailors, theyre young. There is one death, as you know. Theres one death. Theres about ten people in the hospital right now. But there will be we expect all to get better but there is one death out of it. But that spread like wildfire, right . Think of that. You know, it was two, 12, then we thought it ended at 41. You didnt think so. I dont think you thought so. Just the right environment for spread like that. It was a tough environment. Reporter on testing, you said we will very soon be testing five Million People well, i dont know where it came up. Reporter you said that. I would like to refer to these two people, because i dont know where it came up. Everyone kept saying you said there would be five. That was a study that came out. Somebody came out with a study of five Million People. Do i think we will . I think we will, but i never said it. We are testing millions of people. We are testing more people than any country in the world by far, by double, by much more than double. More than everybody else combined, were testing. But somebody started throwing around five million. I didnt say five million. Somebody said five million. I think it might have been the harvard report, there was a report from harvard. They said five million. Reporter you said we will be there. We will be there but i didnt say it. I didnt say it. But they came in with a report saying five million. It sounds like a lot. I looked at deborah and said whats with the five million. I think that was from the harvard report. But we are going to be there at a certain point, well be there, but we are more advanced than any country in the world on testing and not only that, the testing is the best test. Not only the most, we have not donl t only done the most, some people love the Abbott Laboratories test. You might have had it. Did you have it . Yes, i did. Everyone who comes in, they give them the test. In five minutes they know if theyre okay or not okay. So far we havent found anyone not okay. Its a great test. That was not even nobody even thought of that two months ago, three months ago. That was developed over a very short period of time. Brilliantly developed by abbott. So no, well be at whatever number it is but were so far advanced over and you know, it would be really good if the press would give credit for it to the people that have done such a good job because theyll always say well, you know, youre doing millions but what about five million. Im saying where did that number, i keep asking where does it come from. I really learned this morning i think it was probably the harvard said that would be nice and sure it would be nice and well be there, but again, we didnt say it. Who said it is a report. We have other reports talking about a much lower number. But we are doing better than anybody in the world by far. The people that have worked on it have been incredible. And you know, john bel is testament to it. Testing is one of the great reasons that you have been successful in louisiana. Yes, sir, with a lot of help from our federal partners and the best news that we got as a state quite frankly, all states got it on monday when the admiral said our plans had all been received last wednesday and they were going to be able to resource the testing kits so i dont know about five million for the country but louisiana is going to do our part with 200,000 per month. I think if you extrapolate that out, that comes close to five million. Pretty much. I dont know what time period youre talking about. Reporter the admiral said to Time Magazine that five million tests per day is simply not possible. Do you agree with that . So what we talked about and what was in the blueprint in talking with states, and you can see, this is louisianas curve, they got to this curve of mitigation and containment across the state with about 26,000 tests per million or about yeah, 26,000 tests per million, million of their population, so these tests, i have been very clear about, these are rna tests which means you take the virus out of the nose, you have to crack the vie virus oernpen, extract out the , amplify the rna and get an answer. Thats happening inside a machine. Sometimes Lab Directors and Lab Technicians have to physically mix all of those reagents up. When you hear about extraction reagents and why theyre needed. So what we have in the blueprint is really a call to action to really work on developing antigen tests like we use for flu. Because when you are using an antigen test in a doctors office, then you can get to potentially that number. Im not sure if we need that number. I dont want to validate that number. But i think with this current test and the complication of how it has to be run, thats not physically possible. I think thats what the admiral was speaking to. But as we talked about, we continue to develop more testing and different platforms but i think we do need that kind of new breakthrough to a new technique, a new measurement, to get to the kind of numbers that harvards talking about. I think weve made it clear all along that states have controlled and mitigated with the current number and as you heard from the governor, he didnt shut everything down. There was still, he has a curve like this with still a significant number of louisianans working. So i think what every governor is working on is how do i get the most people i can back to work and still maintain high level of safety. I think whats the roadmap and criteria and testing, once they come together to create that, this will not be a testing alone piece. As you just heard about the roosevelt, i bring this up every time, this asymptomatic spread will be important and we just heard about 800 cases, ten or less than ten in the hospital or 10 to 15 in the hospital, 800, 10 or 15 in the hospital. If you are only diagnosing symptomatic cases, you may be missing a large part of the spread. I think thats why strategically using testing in a new way, a monitoring way, a monitoring way to proactively find asymptomatic individuals, particularly when they surround our most vulnerable groups, whether native americans or longterm care facilities, we want governors to simultaneously work on finding the cases as they did so superbly, then work on a proactive measurement to find the asymptomatic cases. I think those two pieces have to come together. I think thats whats in the blueprint, thats what we are having the calls with the states with and really see how do we effectively use our current Testing Capacity to ensure we are both monitoring and diagnosi diagnosing. You know, interesting about that number, i remember when we did a million, we said we just did a million and the media said oh, when are you going to do two million. I said soon, pretty soon. Then we do two million and then they say when are you going to do five million. In other words, its sort of a setup. Because no matter what and by the way, when we hit five million, when are we going to hit ten million. Little bit of a trap. Its called the media trap. It pertains to me. It doesnt pertain to other people but its what i have had to experience for five years. Reporter [ inaudible ]. I heard the five million is totally unnecessary. That doesnt mean were not going to hit it pretty easily but again, i think its a media trap. I think the number, you know, all i know is this. President moon of south korea, because we have heard a lot of good things about south korea, have a good relationship, he called me to congratulate me on the testing. He said your testing is the greatest in the world, how did this happen. I kept hearing about south korea, south korea. And he said i want to just tell you that what youve done with testing is incredible. Okay. So our people should be congratulated and what theyll do is no matter what, if we test as they say 325 Million People, they are going to say when are you going to test them twice. Okay. So you know, its a trap. Its really a media trap. But thats okay. Look, we are better than anybody in the world on testing. We have tested more than anybody in the world and we have the best tests in the world. Thats been all developed over the last couple of months because we started off with nothing. We had nothing. We had absolutely nothing. And that included ventilators and that included i always say the cupboards were bare. They were bare in the military and they were bare medically in terms of pandemics or epidemics or whatever you want to call it. So our people have done an incredible job. Yeah. Reporter do you think that china [ inaudible ]. Say it again . Reporter do you think that china is [ inaudible ] . They have been doing it for years and i guess we have had people over the years that never really focused on that game. Who would think you have to play the game. And its to a large extent public relations, you know. Public relations or whatever. But chinas not to be congratulated for what happened, just so you understand it. Theyre not to be congratulated for what took place. W. H. O. Is essentially congratulating them. When they start doing that, weve got problems. Again, the United States pays almost 500 million and they pay 38 million a year. 500 million versus 38 million a year. So there are lots of different people that we can give this to. You know, we can give this money to lots of different incredible groups. There are a lot of groups out there. Doesnt have to go to the w. H. O. We can give it to groups that are very worthy and get much more bang for your buck but we are going to make a decision in the not too distant future. If i could, i would just like to have john bel finish up by talking about the Great Success in louisiana and you worked with our two great senators and absolutely. They were really calling me a lot and saying we got to take care of louisiana so you had a great relationship with them. We did. I know senator kennedy worked on the ventilator issue and senator cassidy and i last night were talking about testing and what we can do Going Forward with the blueprint because he and dr. Redfield had discussed that. But we have obviously turned the corner in louisiana. We are in a much, much better place than we thought was even possible five or six weeks ago. I will tell you. Thats because of our local partners and our federal partners and hard work. We have had a lot of lessons to learn because theres no blueprint for this. Theres a blueprint for testing now but theres no blueprint for a governor how do you respond to a pandemic. So we have had a steep learning curve but i will tell you we are in a much better place. The field medical stations you provided, the Navy Medical Personnel that you sent to louisiana, the testing that we had early was the key and that has informed our testing strategy Going Forward and we are excited about the opportunity to have the test kits that we need allocated starting in the month of may to get to the 200,000. We will do 43 persons per 1,000. Thats what we will get to in louisiana. We are going to be in much better shape after that, mr. President. We look forward to getting past this, returning to a near sense of normalcy which i dont think will come officially and formally until we get the vaccine but we are looking forward to moving ahead and just appreciate your work and your contributions to our efforts. Been very helpful. Its an honor working with you and the people of louisiana. Great people. They have really gone through a lot. I will just say theyre the best. Tell you what, theyre right there. Theyre great people. Reporter you do have enough test kits and supplies to run as many tests as you think you need . What we believe is with the commitments that were made this past monday, that having looked at all 50 state plans for testing Going Forward, that they committed the resources l louisianas request for test kits per month, we believe that thats sufficient for us to move forward as we are able to start reopening the economy. We know the lab capacity is there. We have the doctor here with me, hes done a phenomenal job, hes responsible in large measure for that curve coming down. We feel pretty good at that level. Thats one of the reasons i wanted to be able to come up here today at the president s invitation to thank him for that commitment because im only speaking for myself but having been part of all the calls with the governors, this is the big piece that we have been looking for and with that commitment, we really feel much better about Going Forward. Thats great. Great job. Would you like to Say Something . We missouri the importance of testing. We cant treat what we dont find. Early on, we knew that we had a problem and we knew we needed to surge our testing. We are grateful to have that support, especially in the epicenter in new orleans, in the parishes right around there, so we can get a sense of whats going on with covid, then we continued that pattern through the rest of the state. Well, its been great. All that is coming, everything went and now its coming. You will be in a position, i think you said 43. Thats a big number. Thats a great number, if you can do that. That would be a fantastic number. One thing i think i would like to just finish by saying so we reached a million cases and its a tremendous amount, and the reason is because of testing. Because other countries dont test. So if you dont test youre not going to find cases. The reason we have a million, take a look at number two, number two is a fraction of that because they dont test. They dont have the ability to do what were doing. So its a number that in one way sounds bad but in another way, is really actually an indication that our testing is so superior. I mean, to think that we have more people, more cases than china, does anybody really believe that, but the testing is different and i think also, the transparency is much different. Transparency is like from day and night. We are totally transparent, whatever it is, it is, but because of our great testing and because of what weve done and the amount weve done, we are able to point out far more cases than anybody else has. If other countries did the kind of testing that we had, and we are a much bigger country than most also in terms of people, but if other countries did this kind of testing, you would see numbers that would be much different. Okay . Thank you all very much. Reporter mr. President , how essential is it [ inaudible ] . Neil there you have it. For the better part of a half hour, the president meeting with his Top Health Officials and the governor of louisiana that has reached some progress in the number of cases and hospitalizations in louisiana, but the real news was on the promising sentiment building around Gilead Sciences and its drug that might be able to at least combat or deal down the road with the coronavirus itself. The president also mentioned all the testing thats going on, whether its five million tests that could eventually be registered or not, it will be an aggressive increase in testing. Dr. Fauci, for his part, talking about remdesivir, this drug that Gilead Sciences has been working on, and had some promising clinical returns to announce today. This was a game changer. For a lot of people, anxious to find something and soon, between this and pfizer and a host of other players, coming up with something that could be an outright vaccine or treatment for covid19, that was something that was seen as a positive development. Dr. Petrie joins me from mt. Sinai school of medicine, cardiologist, assistant clinical professor of cardiology. Doctor, first on this Gilead Sciences drug. Little we know about it, but obviously people are feeling good about it, including dr. Fauci. Should they . Definitely we are having great primary data so far from the third phase of this trial and remdesivir actually, it works as blocking an enzyme that the virus is using, so it works from stopping replication of the virus, but the points we have learned today from this data that just was released an hour ago, number one, treatment of five days is equal and actually has slightly better results than a treatment of ten days. Second, we dont have any safety concerns and third, we have noticed that people actually recover sooner than those who did not receive any treatment. So thats 11 days versus 14 days which is statistically significant, plus we noticed an improvement in mortality, although not significant yet. However, this is very optimistic. We still need to take this data and review it by the right journals and have more definite data. Neil doctor, dr. Fauci has also been saying, talking about the possibility of a second wave of this virus or maybe im not whyi using the correct term, a different version of the virus. Are you worried about that . Neil, this is definitely very possible. We look at germany, they just lifted up their measurements and they are seeing already a surge in cases. So dr. Fauci is only giving us a cautionary warning because what happened in the fall, we could see the flu and covid19 double up together and it will hit us hard as a double whammy so hes only warning against playing by the same restriction measurements we have already and to have a good plan, a strategy in place which involves contact tracing, developing a vaccine and scaling up the tests. They are going to reach these two million tests daily. If we stick to a strong strategy, we might avoid that. Neil the pacing of the states that are easing up on their stayathome provisions, are you liking what youre seeing . Are some moving too quickly . Your sense of where all this is going. I have to say that following the recommendations, it should be taken the 14day rule, meaning we need to wait for at least two weeks of consistent cases going down. Right now, none of those states fit this criteria. So thats something that could be considered. Neil doctor, thank you very much for taking the time. Cardiologist by training, much, much more. Thank you, doctor. Want to go to steve moore. I call him a doctor of economics. The former trump senior economic adviser joins us now. Steve, its clear the markets like this news on gilead and other potentially promising remedies from pfizer, a host of others. I think there are six key biotech and drug players that have potential offerings. Its been eclipsing the news that we expected would be negative from First Quarter gdp. Now we are preparing for what will be likely much worse Second Quarter numbers but clearly, the markets are getting ahead thinking about life after the second, maybe even the Third Quarter. Are you . Couple things. First of all, its amazing if you looked at what was happening with gdp, neil, through the end of february, because remember, twothirds of the First Quarter was sort of precoronavirus and the atlanta Federal Reserve board told us we were growing at 3. 1 through february. So thats a big decline, to bring that number down from 3 down to almost negative 5 . So the economy really has been in a freefall for the last six weeks or so. But youre right, these markets are looking ahead. Maybe they are getting a little too buoyant about the road ahead, the recovery, but i would say two things, neil. Number one, its obviously the good news of these treatments that are coming forward, but also, we are starting to see these governors ease up faster than maybe we had anticipated in terms of opening up their economies, and art laffer, your good friend and my good friend art laffer have a new study out that shows really, this recovery is going to be determined in no small part by when these states open up. If they start next week, thats really good news for the economy. If they do, for example, what the Virginia Governor is talking about and stay closed until the middle of june, thats really bad news. I think a lot of this is being driven by an acceleration of the end of the lockdown. Neil its very clear for the time being that more stimulus is in the offing, more relief. Mitch mcconnell had said that it wont involve infrastructure. Were you surprised by that . He apparently told axios we need to keep the white house, democrats need to get the message. That should not be in the offing right now. Im paraphrasing here. Be open to it, certainly not now. What did you think of that . I watched that interview that you had with Mitch Mcconnell and he is exactly right. There is a Real Movement among republicans and conservatives around the country, especially taxpayer groups, no more spending. We have done almost 3 trillion of spending through the first couple months of this. Thats enough. We dont need more spending. By the way, as you know, i have said this many times on your show, Government Spending does not stimulate growth. What we need now, i think whats happening is that people on the right and republicans are rallying around a totally different approach which is a suspension of the payroll tax. Give people an incentive to get back to work. Look, we are coming to the end of the coronavirus in terms of knocking people out of their jobs. Now weve got to get people back in their jobs and you do that by incentivizing employers to hire more workers by cutting their payroll tax cost and you give every American Worker a 7. 5 raise in their pay. I think thats going to be the big battle in the weeks ahead. Do we do the payroll tax cut or do we have more Government Spending and i can tell you, i think most of the republicans out there now, payroll tax cut, no more spending. Neil they might be but a lot of them are leery on the payroll tax front, whether they could do more damage to Social Security and entitlements. Thats a debate, to your point, thats going to continue raging. Let me ask you, real quickly, im sorry, this notion that Mitch Mcconnell raised to help the states but with the caveat theres got to be some Liability Protection for businesses. In other words, if workers are welcome back and one of them or several of them get sick or god forbid die of the virus, then they are sued. They want protections. Mitch mcconnell says they should get such protections. Nancy pelosi says thats dead on arrival. Where are you on this . I have been one of the first people, you know, a month and a half ago who said were not going to get employers hiring more workers the way we want them to, we are not going to get the new pharmaceutical products we want if youve got these liability issues. We have to provide a blanket shield to employers when they start hiring their workers back, and if they do the right thing, engage in the right kind of health practices, the trial lawyers cant sue them every time somebody gets sick. Thats really essential to the recovery. Again, Mitch Mcconnell is exactly right about that. And neil, you can do the payroll tax cut and you just, you are not negatively affecting the Social Security and Medicare Fund because you transfer money from the other, you know, the general fund over to medicare and Social Security. Theres a way to do this without imperilling peoples medicare and Social Security checks. Neil hope youre right on that. Its shuffling funds around like a casino operator, right . Yeah, but its certainly better to if you have a trillion dollars you need to spend, it certainly makes a lot more sense to give the money back to the workers who earned it rather than taking it from the money the workers who earned it and having government send it to state and local governments and things like that. Much more efficient to just let the people keep their own money as a way of stimulating the economy. Neil lastly, i know the producer will kill me, you always make news when you come here. You mentioned that the market and its impressive performance but you seemed to hint that even it could be, the market collectively, could be getting ahead of its skis here. Youre right, its been an impressive runup, since we were touching 18,000 a little more than a few weeks ago, we are up more than 6,000 points. We are still not even 5,000 points from the old records of february. Is that a little too crazy for you . Or what . I think that investors and americans generally have underestimated how much damage we have done over the last six weeks. Its very sad to see so many of these businesses that just are not going to make it. Theyre not going to make it through this. So you are going to have graveyards, unfortunately, full of Small Businesses that were not able to make it without revenues for six, seven weeks. That means that its going neil well, thats a sheltering provisions were wrong . We shouldnt have done that . I dont want to replay look, i have been critical of that. I think we could have done this in a smarter way. Obviously you have to put saving lives first. What im saying right now is, art laffer and i and steve forbes made this consistently to the president , lets start getting these states open and he was right to let the governors make the decision. Heres the other quick point on the way out. You are going to see a bigger and swifter recovery in the states that are opening now than you are in new york and new jersey and illinois and other states that are dragging their feet. You may even see businesses moving out of illinois and new york and new jersey and moving to states like georgia and florida that will open up for business because businesses cant go another four weeks without revenues. They just cant do it. Or else they are out of business. Neil a couple big ones will be at least. Well see. Steve moore, thank you very much. Good catching up with you. The dow is sprinting ahead. Up about 600 points. Stay with us. I wanted more from my copd medicine thats why ive got the power of 1, 2, 3 medicines with trelegy. 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Are staying at home, trelegy, 1,2,3 at carvana, we understand that, for some, getting a car just cant wait. To help, were giving our customers up to 90 days to make their first payment. Shop online from the comfort of your couch, and get your car with touchless delivery to keep you safe. And for even Greater Peace of mind, all carvana cars come with a sevenday return policy. So, if you need to keep moving, were here for you. At carvana the safer way to buy a car. Neil all right. The president using his executive authority to open up all the Meat Processing plants, particularly those that had been closed due to workers who were stricken by the coronavirus. Now, a lot of those workers, particularly those that worked at some of these plants maybe didnt get the coronavirus are very concerned for their own safety and are protesting these measures. Kansas is a very big player in this arena, represents about 30 of the meat supply in this country. Senator jerry moran joins us, republican kansas senator on the phone. Very good to have you. On the phone good afternoon. Thank you. Neil what do you think of the president saying he wants to keep workers protected, safety precautions will be made, but as you know, a lot of these folks are crowded into tight areas, maybe you can put plexiglas between each of them and all but even honoring sixfoot distancing rules would be tough. Some of these workers are concerned for their safety. Do they have a right to be . Well, neil, its a very difficult circumstance, this combined health care with the economy as we have seen in every instance of what we are trying to deal with in policy decisions, as we address covid19. Theres a health care component and there is an economic component. In kansas, youre right, we pack a lot of beef. 18,000 employees, a fourth of the cattle slaughtered in the country occurs here. Its a 10 billion industry for us. And the executive order, i called the president , he returned my phone call about a little over a week ago to raise this issue with him about whats going on in this industry. It is not it is certainly the plants and the employment there but what it does, the consequence of the inability to have livestock slaughtered and processed has huge consequences on livestock producers and ultimately has a lot of consequence at the Grocery Store, as consumers look for their beef in their diet. So this has consequences all throughout the United States, not just kansas, and it is difficult, i would say that an executive order is helpful, particularly with the president talked particularly about liability for companies in their hiring or retaining employees, but also, what this executive order i hope does, what i think it highlights is the need to get more ppe, the personal protection equipment, more testing, cdc, centers for Disease Control was in kansas yesterday visiting our packing plants, going through the plants and looking to see what accommodations had been made, what more they would recommend to make certain that the workers are safe. An executive order is useful in highlighting this huge issue for the country and for the midwest and for agriculture, but we still have to make certain that the employees are safe and we also need to make certain the employees understand and believe themselves to be safe. We dont live in a country where you can force somebody to go to work that doesnt want to go to work. This means we got to continue the efforts to make certain that the plants are safe for their employees and the plants need all the equipment, the testing, the thermometers and the things they are doing today. We just need it in larger quantity. Neil do you worry, i know the fda says the virus doesnt transfer to food or anything like that. I get that. But a lot of people are afraid of that and they think if all these individuals are getting stricken at these pork and beef plants around the midwest or whathave you, there must be something maybe wrong with the food and maybe i should stay away from it, whether its packed in my grocery shelves or not. What do you say to them to try to reassure them . Well, based upon science and medicine, everything we know is that thats not the case. I would say demand for meat product in the Grocery Store has increased, in part because the lack of restaurants, availability of meat and other foods at a restaurant, the Grocery Stores and we are a Grocery Store state as well in which we have companies here that s grohave Grocery Stores a the country, they are telling me the na demand for meat is increasing. Neil the point should be made, we talked to a number of medical experts that you cook the meat anyway so even in the remotest of possibilities that were an issue, supposedly that is cooked out. We will see. Senator, thank you very, very much. I appreciate it. Thanks for focusing on this issue. Good to be with you. Neil same here, senator. Again, i must stress, the food and Drug Administration has said in its studies that there is not even the possibility that this transfers into our meat supply even among workers who have tested positive for the virus. So thats the best assurance we can go on for the time being. We will keep an eye on that. Also copyikeeping an eye on the Federal Reserve. 20 minutes away from the fed announcing whatever its going to do. Ther theres not much room to cut rates but it will be what Jerome Powell says after that about what hes doing, combine mortgage related securities, junk bonds, you name it. That is where the fed has really shown its multitrillion dollar muscle. That and backing up banks and businesses that need the dough. Its all about the cash. Theres the guy who provides it. After this. Im your mother in law. And i like to question your every move. Like this left turn. Its the next one. You always drive this slow . How did you make someone i love . That must be why youre always so late. I do not speed. And thats saving me cash with drivewise. My son, he did say that you were the safe option. And thats the nicest thing you ever said to me. So get allstate. Stop bossing. Where good drivers save 40 for avoiding mayhem, like me. 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Find out if a reverse Mortgage Loan can give you the taxfree cash that can help. Give aag a call call now to receive your free information kit. Aag bringing stability to your retirement. Neil play ball . Well, kind of. Major League Baseball is already looking at some possibilities. Charlie gasparino on what they might be. Hey, charlie. Charlie hey, neil. You know, a big part of getting our economy going is having a sports season, every league is looking at when it should start. As you know, major League Baseball took the biggest hit. Right now we should be in the season, as we speak. We should be watching major League Baseball. Were not because of the pandemic. But that doesnt mean there wont be a baseball season. I have been talking to Senior Executives at major League Baseball teams and the league itself. Heres what we know. They are exceedingly confident there will be a major League Baseball season in 2020. They say the timing of it, still remains up in the air. The best guess we can get right now is that july, it looks like in july, we are going to have major League Baseball games. Now, heres where it becomes very interesting, neil. They are considering a number of ways to do these games. This has been out there but i understand from my sources, its all whats being in the mix. Maybe having baseball open with all the teams in three states, three Southern States, texas, arizona and florida, maybe having social distancing at the stadiums because major League Baseball is dependent upon gate revenue more than football and other sports. They need people in the stands, even if its a limited number of people. Thats how these sports teams make money so maybe having social distancing at the stadium, every other seat being filled, Something Like that. They are playing with a number of possibilities. Whats really interesting about this is that the guy calling the shots in many ways about how baseball can be opened is Governor Cuomo of new york and for the obvious reasons, two of the biggest franchises, the mets and the yankees, are in new york, and cuomo is signaling that new york city itself wont be open for business and thats the place, the densely populated place where the coronavirus was among the most heavily hit, wont be opening until sometime after june. June, july. So all this is sort of is pointing to a baseball season that begins in july. Again, its a huge money maker. Its about getting the economy going and baseball is an integral part of that during the summer months. So we will likely see it in july. Lots of stuff is up in the air in terms of how its going to be worked. The thing that i keep hearing that they are very hot on is that three states opening, in those Southern States where its hottest where maybe the virus doesnt carry as much, then expanding from there as other states leave their quarantines. From what i understand from baseball executives, there will be baseball in 2020. It will be a lot different than we are used to but its going to happen. Back to you. Neil very interesting. All right, charlie, thank you very much. Charlie gasparino on that. Weve got the dow sprinting ahead. Boeing, despite announcing that its going to be laying off likely 10 of its work force, some awful numbers that were even worse than some thought they would be, that stock is sprinting ahead 10 . A big reason why the dow itself is doing so well. That and of course, Rising Energy prices, optimism over Gilead Sciences and whether we might have a potential treatment for the virus. All that after this. Its a thirteenhour flight, thats not a weekend trip. 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Get a 50 prepaid card when you switch. Its the most reliable wireless network. And it could save you hundreds. Xfinity mobile. Neil man, oh, man, we are really sprinting ahead. The dow right now rocketing along despite that lousy First Quarter number we had. You know, the irony of that as steve moore was bringing up is that for most of the First Quarter, up until you could actually say through the first week of march, everything was hunkydory then boom, everything fell out with all these shutdowns and people shelterring at home, and there went the economy. About 95 of our gdp right now is even to this day sheltered. Scott martin on all of that, what the markets are telling us. What do you think, scott . Are they overdoing it on the upside or is it an accurate reflection of the hope to come . Well, the numbers are the numbers, i guess, as far as stock prices. So its correct, its reality, whether its overdone or not, it feels a little bit so. I like your comment about what you and steve moore talked about. Loved the interview as well. Gosh, if everything was hunkydory in the last week or two of march, my goodness, how bad is q2 going to be. Heres whats funny about it. Lets say its down 20 or so, which is our prediction, about 22 , actually, to be exact, is what we are thinking. The market, neil, already knows that. Thats the interesting thing. So really, what matters now is how quick this snapback comes as Steve Mnuchin told Stuart Varney this morning. Is it a q3 snapback, a q4 snapback. Im cautionary on the fact i think it takes longer for Consumer Confidence to come back. Obviously Consumer Spending, a big part of this u. S. Economy, almost 70 of it or so. That means that i think this recovery, lets say, or snapback, is a little more in delay. Neil all right. 23 decline is a likely read in the Second Quarter. It will be better than that so maybe the markets will say well, its better than that. Yes. And we are seeing that with company earnings, too, this week, which is a big week for tech earnings. We had Bank Earnings just recently as well. And those numbers coming in better than expected, better than this worst case scenario, does give the market some comfort. But then again, theres still so much uncertainty with respect to even the gdp numbers we got this morning. I will give you some other stuff. Yes, Consumer Spending was down. Health care spending, believe it or not, which is part of the um kwooer spending component, was down considerably as well because of the nonelective surgeries that are being delayed. You know with the strength in this number that i think is going to go away certainly this quarter, housing numbers were very good in this past quarter of q1. Q2 does not look good for housing. That was a nice boost we just had in the first three months of the year. Neil thank you, my friend, very much. 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Get started today. Call unitedhealthcare and ask for your free decision guide. Learn more about aarp Medicare Supplement plan options and rates to fit your needs oh, and happy birthday. Or retirement. In advance. Neil you know, im getting up very early in the morning and no matter what time it is Cheryl Casone son the air, crack of down dawn. She is filling in for charles payne. Hardest working anchor in america. Cheryl casone. Remind you that one day, neil cavuto. Cheryl we have a lot going on, im Cheryl Casone in for charles payne. Breaking at in moments, were hearing from Federal Reserve for the First Time Since that historic decision in march slashing rates to zero to stop the economy spiraling even further in the wake of the coronavirus. Then at 2 30 eastern time well hear virtually from Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell. Were expecting the fed to pledge to use all tools at its disposal to save the economy. He used that comment in the past. Stocks rallying today ahead of powells comments and gilead drug trial for coronavirus treatment has met its main goal. The dow is up 549 points. Lets go to Edward Lawrence with the decision. Ed. Reporter cheryl, you had said it, the Federal Reserve in the first line of the sentence said they will use their full range of tools to support the economy Going Forward and they will continue to do so. Then the Federal Reserve statement acknowledges human tolle this virus is taking and impact it has. There is weaker demand and significantly Lower Oil Prices have reduced or is holding down inflation even further. The disruptions in the u. S. And around the world it says have given significantly impaired the flow of credit to households and businesses. The Federal Reserve fomc committee saying the Health Crisis weighing heavily on Economic Activity, employment, inflation in the near term. They are