Robert next. Announcer this is Washington Week. Funding is provided by life isnt a straight line. And sometimes you can find yourself heading in a new fidelity is hereo help you work through the unexpected with Financial Planning and advice for today and tomorrow. Announcer additional funding is provided by the estate of arnold adams and koo and Patricia Yuen through the Yuen Foundation committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. Broadcasting and by public contributions to your pbs ation from viewersike you. Thank you. Once again, from washington, morator robert costa robert good evening. We begin with the latest on the coronavirus pandemic. United states is quickly becoming the new epicenter of the global outbreak and now leads the worldrmn confied cases. Governors and doctors from new yorko louisiana to Washington State are sounding the alarm about shortages of medical supplies. Joining us is one of the reports, Yasmeen Abutaleb a reporter for the Washington Post. Thanks for being here. What is the significance of ted untates surpassing china in terms of the number of cases . Yasmeen i think it signals the epicenter of the outbreakrtas of jumped around the world. It was in china. Then it was italy. Then it was europe. States. Eems to be the the number of confirmed deaths from coronavirus in the United States still lags behind italy and spain. But of course, that could quickly changeexn t couplef days. I think it signals the o seriousnes which the United States is and needs to take the outbreak you know, this isth new epicenter and how quickly its been able to spread all over the world. Robert as you look at the map, een, where do you see emerging hot spots in the u. S. . Ealth experts are concerned about cities you would expect as hot spots. You know, major metropolitan cities. The death rate new orleans is the high glest the country and in the world. Boston is emerging asnother potential hot spot. Chicago, miami. Its making its way throughhe see this thing spreading quickly through. Robert what are the biggest problems for Health Professionals . We hear a lot about vtilators. Is thathe issue . Yasmeen theres a lot of panic whether there will be enough sven lay or thes to see the crush of patients that hospitals expect to see i the coming days and weeks. Workers who can o them. But the thats a specialized skill. Thats a big concern. And were hearing these desperate pleas from healthcare workers about facasks, about gowns and the protective equipment they need. They keep saying theyre sent to war without protection, without equipment. And equating themselves to that sort of thing. Robert so so Many Americans are working from home trying to stop the spread. How succesul has thenited states been so far in stopping the spread . Yasmeen i thinktehe u states, the consensus is, of course, has done much better in thup last of weeks with significant social distancing. There was a polloday that 910 americans are practicing social distancing. So thatshi great. There is some concern that the u. S. Has taken a patchwork approach to it. There hasnt been a nationwide oweek shutdown like youve seen in italy and in spain. , you knhere are certain states that have fullon lockdowns and other s tes that arent enforcing it quite as much. So its still not consistent across the country. The fear is in the places where theres not a stringent requirements that youre going to see the seeds of a big outbreak being planted. Robert when you look at the food a Drug Administration that has final approval over any drugs to combat covid19, what are the issues youreng loo at . What matters in your reporting there . Yasmeen one thing weve observed coming up aot, the two drugs called hydro chloroquine. Some doctors are bribing that. Those drugs are in Clinical Trials to see i they do work for coronavirus because theyre prescribed for another use, doctors can prescribe them for whatever they want. Were looking to see how the f. D. A. Trials progress on the drug. Anecdotalronswers doctor who are prescribing it. And theres anoth drug thats also in early Clinical Trials. But its still pretty early and scant and mixed data. Its unclearer they work or not. Robert thank you, yasmeen for your time and for your reporting. Let us turn to capitol hill. The house approved a 2 trillion economic stimulus package. That comes as the ecomy is shuttering due to the jobless claims are skyrocketing. But the bill was passed by voice vote following hours of contention sparked by Kentucky Republican tom massy who tried and failed to force a roll call vote. President trump derided him a a grandstander who should be tossed out of the g. O. P. Later on friday, the president signed the bill. In brief, it will send 1200 check to many amerins and billions of dollars to Small Businesses. Plus,250 billion to boost Unemployment Insurance offering 600 perr week our months for laid off workers. Joining us now are four reporters whoov areing washingtons response to the virus. Yamiche alcinr, White House Correspondent for the pbs newshour. Manu raju for senior Congressional Correspondent for cnn. And susan beige, page, from usa today. Is it seen as a full sution for this economic trouble or just a bandaid . Its noteen as a fullti so, but it is seeas a good solid first step. You saw the market respo very favorably this week, although we were down today but in in anticipation of this bill, we saw a big rally. Investors look that as a very good step. But they acknowledge theyre going to have to see more. And you heard that froml congressio leaders. Its a 24 trillion economy. This is a 2 trillion bill. The economy has gone something ose to zero. When you see these unemployment claims, 3. 3pl million p applied for unemployment this week. Thats the biggest ever, and the previous record was in 1982. We a way past that. Were in uncharted territories and congresss beginning to get its arms around the size that itsealing with here. Robert manu, how close was the congressman of kentucky to scuttling this entire bill . Well, he was close to delaying this a little bit further. Nancy pelosi, the House Speaker and the House Republican leader, Kevin Mccarthy worked behind the scenes to prevent that from happening. What tom massy was successful in doing g wasting half of the house to return to session. Er and members not happy about that because what he wanted to do was to prevent the house from approving it simply by a voice vote when you have a voice vote in the house you can have a handful of members in the house to do that. But what he wanted was a full recorded vote. They had to cast a roll call vote. But in order for him to get a roll call vote he would need a second support about a fifth of the chamber to go that way. Butn order F Nancy Pelosi and the republicans leader to deny that fromapning, they had to go into actual quorum to deny thomas massy the second that he needed in order to force that roll call vote. That means republican and democratic members from all over the country had to travel back to wodhington just to prevent that from happening, and that infuriated members from both sides of the aisle who are oncerned about their wellbeing, their familys wellbeing, concerned about traveling in the middle of this Public Health emergency, and as a result, it was a quick voice vote and thats wlttately happened. Thomas massy got overruledere. And the bill went into law just hours later. Robert what aifferent scene in the senate, susan, a 960 vote. When you step back and look at that bipartisanship, what explains it . Based on your reporting. Not only now but in previous crisis. I was thinking 2 about the8 experience because you remember the first effort to pass a bill bailout bill fail. And the market tanked. And it was a real sense of a crisis getting eve worse. But the republican leader in the senate at that point,ch m mcconnell, the speaker of the house was nancy pelosi, they got a deal put back together and passed through the house. That was a critical vote that and so we had two people who had dealt with a similar situation the past knew it had to get done. We shouldnt lose sight of how remarkable it is. We have aon dysfunc congress. But in the space of a week or two, they negotiated a 2on tril the biggest relief bill in American History and got it through almost unanimously through both houses. Robert yamiche, as much as congress has made congress on this legislation, President Trump is still move forgot ward to defend the defense production act trying to nudge General Motors and other companies to make ventilators. Why are they moving forward on the d. P. A. . Yamiche the president is invoking the defense production act is when the government can direct american manufactures to make what the government sa they need. In this case the government is telling ger motors we really need ventilators and you have ti prio our contract. This happened because the president and the white house says they were negotiating with General Motors but they were ripping them off. Hose were his words and they were trying to essentially charge the government too much speed up talks. Tilators to the president did this. Whats interesting that both governors, republicans and democrats have been urging him to use it. They need masks, ventilators, gowns,re w in dire shortage. And this is the president doing it for one specific medical equipment. The president sai yesterday on fox news that he doesnt believe that some of these governors need all of the medical equipment that theyve been asking for. Specific clirks i dont think that nework possibly needs 30,000 ventilators. And new york governor arew cuomo has been urging the president saying i need 3000 ventilators. Its unclear even with the productionen invoking the d production act whether he beliefs and will fill the orders an coming across the country. Robert many of the requests came and governors are paying atteion to Small Businesses. And theyre wondering will this legislationsinable the sses to get the loans as soon as possible . Because the economy in their view a is knifes edge. Yea theres an important provision here. And anybody who is a Small Business owner needs know this it is expansion of the 7a loan program. What it does is scaething ra radical and new in american legislation and in the economy. Its in essence free money for sml businesses ifhey agree not to lay anybody off over a period of time. Yo g an eightweek loan of up to 10 million for 500 employees or less. And if you havent laid anybody off,o get keep the money. Thats free money. Weve never seen anything like that before in american economics. Its going to be a fasci ting moment. There are some particulars to e bill that Small Businesses attention to. Eed to pay but this is potentially huge. Its authorized up to 350 billio or more in the bill. My suspicion is it will go much, much higher than that because a loe businesses are going to apply once they realize its out there. Theay to get ts is to go to your regular banker or lender youre used toealing with, and ask them about a 7a loan. Theyll deaith the Small Business administration. Small Business Owners dont have toneal with the government this deal with your regular banker. Its going to be an enormous strain on the banking system. But thats how its going to work because theyre the ones who are i touching talividual businesses. Robert the market dipped 900 points. Today friday. Industrial are we going to see if they suffer a phase four, another round o legislation . How many options are left for congress . Eah, thats a one thing that the democrats and the house are already talking about phase four rescue package. Remember, theyve passed an 8. 3 billion package that was passed by bipartisan majorities in both chambers o congress. And of course, there was a second major package that included mor jobless benefits as well as medicaid, spending to the s ates ands well as paid leave that was approved that wasse a pwo. The biggest package in American History. And rightcyow n pelosi is talking about a phase four. I asked her today what her tnee s for that. And she said that she is this week shes askinall of her submit proposals for how to move forward. Shes talk about funding for statement and local governments. Also to insure that people are ttting tested if coronavirus to get their treatment covered as well. Things like food stamps and the ke and more paid expansive paid leave policies. I think the democrats did n think didot get to their satisfaction in the last couple ofieces of legislation, theyre pushing on this one. The qstion is if the republicans are ready to move forward, kevin more contact thy said lets see how to 2 trillion package how that is implemented first before we Start Talking about a phase four. Pelosi wants to push forward by mid april. ll see if the republicans robert you think about nancy pelosi, youre wring a biography of Speaker Pelosi she weve already spoken about republican massey. But you saw o cazz yo cortezt from the l criticize this deal. Wondering if it has enough oversight. Is she prepared to deal with that kind of critsfrism criticism from the left . Shes had that from the beginning. This debate over the role of government has been settled to somee. Deg we have now accepted as a cotry in the country a bigger role in the federal government. Who do you turn to to feed school kids to support Small Businesses to even take equity stakes in airlines, to do all the things that these series of bills have done . People are looking to the federal government to dot with almost no debate. You think about what the a prepercussio going to be for the country, whether or not there is a fourth bill. The role of the government has shifted in a big way. Robert the ideological fault theyre backing direct payments to americans, a plan that was only advocated by andrew yang. Well have blowback whene w catch our breath but at the moment they have decided this is the government we want and need. Robert this weekresident trump said he is hoping to reopen the American Economy and adjust social distancing guidelines by mid april. I wouldove toave it open by easter. Oh, wow. Ok. President trump i will ll you that right now, i would love to have that. Its suc an important day for other reasons. But ill make it an impytant or this too. I would love to have the country by easter. And just rarring to go robert but theyre reluctantseo a date. The next days increased dramatically. Thats not when you pull back. Ats when you have to hunker down. Mitigate, mitigate. You have to go with the data. Robert yamiche, is the decision about when to reopen the American Economy perhaps t biggest decision of his presidency . The president has been focused on making up this date in his own mind this Easter Sunday date that hes been talking about and urging. This is what i want. I want church packed on sunday. The president made it clear that that was something he felt. His sinceixths his insixths d him to that date. The other thing to note is there are som republican governors especially reporting from the Washington Post shows thate thre some republican governors from mississippi and other places and say maybe it is a little time to ease the white house restriction t ando ease social distancing. Healcare officials saying no. Thats not what we need to do. We need to figure outwe whether e at the peak and most figure out what we can do to go forward to find treatments and vaccine in about at year. Theres no one other than President Trump and a couple of republican governors talking about opening up. This is going to be a big decision if he says there are parts of the country that i feel are ok to open. Al he wasng about idaho and the farm belt. Its unclear whether or not the presidenl go through with that. But its going to be a remarkable decision whenever he decides to open the economy back up. Robert what will it mean having the economy shuttered through may . I mean, its devastating. The Vice President was on cnbc, he was asked about that easter timeline. He walked it back. Said, you know, that was an aspirational date. It doesnt sound tt he thought that was realistic either. And for the economy, ihos ific. Were in the red zone in the economy. Weve never seen a decision like this a lot of policymakers are assuming that the economy is like a light switch. Ou can leave the room dark f a few weeks and turn it back on. But the analogy is better its more like a campfire, right . It takes a while toet it going. You put the kin ling and get the fire going. Andhen youre notoing to be able to turn it back on automatically. s going to take a lot of stoking and encouraging and some time. The longer this goes on, the more time its going to take to get back to normal. And thats a scary thing for the millions o american who is filed for unemployment this week and who will do it next week and the week afternd that all the Small Business who are going under and declaring bankruptct all of t is terrifying. Myat fear factor ripples through american Eco Everybody holds back on investing, spending. Hunkers down. Hat slows everything down even further. You get the opposite of a virtuous cycle. You get a real spiral that could were in Uncharted Waters and nobody knows howhis is going to play out. Robert manu, what about the pressure . Is the president getting phone calls . A lot of republicans dont want him toct prematurely. I talked to several of them this week after the president said that they should offer that easter time line is some hing thats thinking about. And he said he needs to listen to the medical experts, people like joni ernst. She said lets not set anyci arti timeline. Also doug fisher who is a republican of nebraska, advised e republican leadershi someone who is aligned with the president on virtually everytng said we have to be very, very cautious before we move forward. And even lindsey graham, the president s closest ally at the moment. He said hes ma sever Public Comments this week that the president should not act without considering the data so if the president does go this get very few people on his side. So im sure hese recogn that as well. So as amy was saying, this w an aspirathanal goal one tt doesnt have a lot of political support. The medical community is not behind it. Robert and the governors finak thought q may decide to have their own time lines. Weve seen them stope the floor again and again during this crisis. And weve seen real friction between the governors and thebo president what the president should be doing and his criticism of governors for iticizing him. Robert thank you very much to evyone for joining us here on a tough week for the whole country. And thank you for joining us from your home. We will keep taking you as close to the news as we can every week. But in closing, l us also salute the american w are keeping us safe a our nation functioning during this crisis. Im robert costa. Good night from washington. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visitcicap. Org] announcer Corporate Funding for Washington Week is provided by ife isnt a straight line. And sometimes you can find yourself heading in a newdi ction. Fidelity is here to help you work through theec uned. With Financial Planning and advice for today and tomorrow. Additional funding is provided by the estate of arnold adams and koo and y patrician through the Yuen Foundation, committedo bridging cultural differences i our communities, the corporaon for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Youre watching Ruben Martinez los angeles, from the eay 20th century all the way until today, is a city defined by immigrants arriving here in wave after wave. Were a city of immigrants. Its all coming in a human migration, a human journey, ultimately. Thats how food gets around the world. We carry it with us in our stomachs and our bodies and in ourre. Those kinds of journey those kinds of migrations, are very those kinds of journey those