Lot of americans who need it most. On sunday, another 172,000 people were diagnosed with the disease here in the united states. That is just shy of the record we saw last week. Case numbers are rising in basically every state in the nation. The positivity in states like wyoming, south dakota and iowa are all over 50 . And as we have been telling you, the federal government is doing next to nothing. So one by one, cities and states are forced to take matters into their own hands to try to bring these numbers down. On monday, California Governor Gavin Newsom said he was ramping up restrictions, hitting the socalled emergency brake on the states reopening. New rules were also announced in the cities of philadelphia and kansas city. And two republican governors are now taking steps to curb the virus as well. Oklahomas kevin stitt who faced serious backlash after tweeting a picture of his family at a packed restaurant in march now adding restrictions for bars and restaurants there. And iowas kim reynolds who once dismissed masks as, quote, a feelgood measure, now says they are a requirement at all public indoor spaces. Of course, we all know that these vaccines are coming from pfizer and moderna. On the way, for sure. But even in a best case scenario, its going to take weeks for immunizations to start and many months for everyone to get them. And because President Trump wont even admit that he lost the election, which as you all know, he did, his administration is not speaking with or coordinating with president elect biden and his team, and that means not sharing plans on how to distribute this allimportant vaccine. The president elect was asked about the consequences of that, and heres what he said. More people may die if we dont coordinate. If we have to wait until january 20th to start that planning, it puts us behind, over a month, month and a half. And so its important that it be done, that there be coordination now. Now or as rapidly as we can get that done. The consequences of simply staying in a Holding Pattern until january 20th are huge, according to a Washington State model. If we stay on the current trajectory, we could see another 110,000 americans die by inauguration day. Lets dig deeper and take you across this country. First to my colleague Yasmin Vossoughian and ron allen at a testing site in newark in my home state of new jersey. Lets talk about this surge in rhode island. This is a nightmare for all of these hospitals but its a nightmare theyve seen before. Are they better equipped to handle this surge than they were in the spring . I mean, as of this hour, it seems like they are. Im just talking to a physician here, dr. Levy. They feel ready. They know what to do, when to do it, how to do it. They feel ready today. But he feels like every morning is different. They dont know how long its going to go on, how many patients are going to see. The numbers are increasing every single day. Back on october 4th, 87 patients hospitalized. As of yesterday, 264 patients hospitalized. On saturday, there were 1,000 new covid patients. It doesnt seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things when you compare it to numbers we see in new york. But in a state theres only a Million People. They feel they have the supplies they need at this moment. They have the ventilators, the hospital beds, the ppe. Theyre not suffering like they were back in the spring, for lack of supplies. But they feel that could run out. And its happening across the street. I spoke to another doctor, dr. Foreman, who works at another hospital. Listen to what she had to say. Now were realizing this pandemic is pushing us to the brink. Even in a wellresourced state from a health care standpoint, were rapidly running out of space, supplies, rooms. We are very concerned about what the coming weeks to months will bring. So, steph, actually dr. Foreman is the head of a Field Hospital about 25 minutes from where i am now. Thats completely ready to go. Theyre awaiting patients. She feels like its not a matter of if but when theyll have to start sending patients to that Field Hospital. Its ready. They have ventilators, beds in place. And they are hoping they have the Frontline Health care workers, the doctors and nurses in place as well. Ultimately, theyre suffering as well from tsd, traumatic syndrome, because so many of them have been dealing with this pandemic for so long. Think about all of those Health Care Professionals and what heroes they have been over the last nine months. Lets talk testing. For people who plan to selfquarantine before going to see relatives before thanksgiving, that window is closed. Its a little more than a week away. That means testing is their only option. Whats demand like . Here at this place in newark, there was a line at 4 00 a. M. This morning. Didnt open until 8 00 a. M. So that gives you an idea of the demand. And people have been showing up since weve been out here. So, yes, theres a lot of demand for testing. One big problem with testing, however, that we determined here in new jersey is the Contact Tracing part of it is falling apart. Its like a 60 noncompliance rate. So Contact Tracers try and find people, more than half the time no one cooperates, which is not helping. And the numbers in new jersey are off the charts. Over 4,000 cases saturday and sunday each day which are which harkens back to where the numbers were in april. Here in the state its been a 9 positivity rate. In newark, its about a 20 positivity rate. So 1 out of every 5 people. And while there have been some restrictions put in place like limiting gatherings indoors to ten people, businesses, restaurants and bars closing at 10 00, the mayor here wants even tougher restrictions that he thinks are going to need to be imposed after the holidays. Heres some of what he had to say after that. So i think after thanksgiving, we should really be contemplating a shutdown for at least a week. Seven days, ten days. Opportunity to quarantine. People to take tests. Youre not going to stop people from being with their families. People are going to travel. We have to take that into account. And when its done, we should tell people, shelter in place. So, yes, there is perhaps some inevitability that people are going to gather. Hes trying to get ahead of this. Here in newark, its a really difficult situation. The numbers of were as high as 68 at one point during the worst of the pandemic. And they have gotten down 2 . But now theres this steady rise again. A lot of people who cannot work from home who are essential workers, who are going out. But here, as everywhere else, the bottom line is covid fatigue or covid attrition. The virus wearing people down and spreading. Covid fatigue is real, but not cooperating with Contact Tracers kills poom. Thank you both. I want to bring in a man who is in the thick of all of this as its unfolding real time. Jeff pothoff, an e. R. Doctor at the university of wisconsin hospital. Also their chief quality officer. Doctor, thank you for all that youre doing and for being with us this morning. Take us inside your hospital. Tell us about the patients youre seeing. What are their conditions . Yeah, unfortunately, where we are at, we are seeing just a larmg n large number of patients who are extremely ill. A high number requiring the intensive care unit. We talk about ventilators, they are requiring our most sophisticated ventilators. Anything less than that isnt working. And we seem to break our record for total number of patients. Were all tired. Everybody is doing their best. Medicine is a team sport. But we need some help. Things are not going well for us. Now that were in flu season, how does that complicate things . Yeah, we worry that well see the normal flu volume that we see most falls going into early winter. Right now our hospital is already stretched to capacity. Weve opened up additional wings for covid patients. We dont really have that ability to flex much more. So if we see a flu season that is at all difficult for us, with admissions, that could further compound our ability to take care of all the people in our region that are asking us to meet their medical needs. Lets talk about that. Given that you are at capacity, if i showed up at your hospital today, because i got injured or i had chest pains, could i even get care at this point . Today, you could, but if we talk in two weeks, three weeks, i dont know if the answer is the same. We are trying to look at every single procedure that we do. If it is not urgent, nonemergent, postpone those procedures. Were looking at bringing in doctors that usually work in a clinic. They take care of blood pressure, high cholesterol, do preventative medicine. Were trying to redeploy them to our inpatient environment to build those teams. Looking carefully at how we can get more nursing resources, respiratory therapists. At some point soon, our ability to do this is going to run out. And then well be trying to decide who gets medical care and who doesnt. The people who are coming in who are so sick, are they able to Contact Trace . Do they even know where they got it . Yeah, were struggling to keep up with Contact Tracing. You can imagine with cases just growing expoinnocenentially her Contact Tracers arent even able to call everyone who they should be able to call because the cases are so high. So some of them do have an idea. Lots of times it gets lost right now and thats a problem because we cant stop the disease unless we know who has it and who is at risk of getting it. I know you have two young daughters. What steps are you taking to protect yourself and your family . Yeah, you know, we talk about it with them. We try not to make it a scary thing. We ask them about wearing their mask. We talk about staying distanced from individuals they come in contact with. You know, we talk about doctors and nurses working hard and try to decrease the fear that is naturally present in young childrens minds about what is going on right now. And for the most part, thats been effective. They recognize when people dont have masks on and that worries them. They stay away. When we have to go somewhere, we typically dont take our children. That seems like an unreasonable risk, but they always have their masks on. They are careful about distancing. Its really important to talk to our kids. Talk to everyone. Make sure were doing these things because thats really our only chance of getting through this for the present time. Doctor, thank you so much for the work youre doing every day and thank you for joining us this morning. I appreciate it. Thank you. Now lets turn to the hopeful light at the end of the tunnel. Those new vaccines on the horizon. Heres the big question. Who will get them and when . Heres one way it could play out. Watch this. States will decide how to roll out vaccines, but the National Academy of medicine makes this recommendation. Covering just 5 of the population, phase 1a includes highrisk americans Like Health Care workers and first responders. And theres currently not enough doses for them. Phase 1b covers those with underlying medical conditions and seniors living in congregate seths like nursing homes. Phase 2 covers 30 to 35 of the population and covers workers in the food supply system, teachers and those over 65. Phase 3, 40 to 45 of the population, includes most young adults and children. Phase 4 protects everyone else. Of course, we have to get there first. And that is going to take time. Right now, i am joined by claire hannon. Shes the executive director of the association of immunization managers. An expert at exactly what we need to cover. Claire, the first thing you must focus on is the quality of these vaccines. Any questions or concerns in that department . Not at this time. We got some really great news on monday and last monday. It looks like both the pfizer and the Moderna Vaccine are showing really high effectiveness in preliminary data analysis. So this is really great news. Were really happy to see that. And so far, things are going well with other vaccine candidates as well. So things are looking very good on the Vaccine Development front. One of the big differences seems to be that the Pfizer Vaccine needs to be stored in super sophisticated, sub zero temperature freezers. The moderna doesnt. How does that change the game in terms of how quickly this thing can get disseminated . Right. So the Pfizer Vaccine is really unlike any other vaccine weve seen. It does require the ultra cold storage. Its only viable for five days after its been put in the refrigerator, so you have to use it fairly quickly. It does require dilution so you have to dilute it before you give it, and it comes in a package with 975 doses. The Moderna Vaccine does not require dilution. It ships frozen, and it comes in a smaller package with 100 doses. Really, for the states, you know, were planning whichever vaccine comes first. Thats the one we want to get to hospitals and get to Public Health to give to health care workers. But, obviously, both vaccines are on the market, then it may make sense for looking at where the Moderna Vaccine would be more viable, like in Rural Communities or in longterm care facilities where they cant handle a package with dry ice of 975 doses. Do we need the federal government to coordinate the plans to distribute the vaccine . Thus far, theres been no national coordination. Well, it makes sense to have centralized coordination of the distribution of the vaccine. But, really, making sure it gets in peoples arms, that last mile of plan, that makes sense to happen at the state and local level. This is the way we do it with current childhood vaccines and the vaccines for children program. So it makes sense to scale up what we already do well. And thats what were seeing. Were seeing operation warp speed and cdc really directing the vaccine at the top and then the states and local Health Departments planning for the distribution at the local level. Then, in your mind, six weeks from now, are you going to be walking into a local cvs and getting this vaccine . I dont think that will happen six weeks from now. I think its going to take some time. Were going to have limited supply at first. Were really going to prioritize the health care workers. And as you showed, essential workers. Those at highest risk. Those over 65. Were really looking several months out to having a robust supply. Enough supply for all americans to get it, but i think at that time, perhaps in spring or summer, you will be able to get the vaccine from a local farm aer pharmacy, from the local physician. Were enrolling hundreds of thousands of providers in each state so that the vaccine will be accessible in every community. And it will also be affordable. It will be free of charge. So its not going to happen in six weeks, but hopefully in six months. Accessible and affordable. That is what americans need. Thanks for joining us this morning. You definitely made us smarter and a bit safe or this subject. Coming up next we spoke about the new restrictions being put in place across the country. But were seeing more and more businesses resisting these restrictions because they dont have the money to survive. Were going to look at what we need to do to make sure we can keep americans safe and keep our Small Businesses afloat. First, schools. Schools, the most important, across this country now considering shutting their doors again. Former education secretary arne duncan whose family is currently infected with the coronavirus joins us on how we can make sure the most Vulnerable Children are not left behind. We all have our own journey ahead of us. Our own hopes and dreams. Well pass many milestones. Moments that define you. And drive you. To achieve even more. So, celebrate every one. Because success isnt just about where you want to get to. Its also about how you get there the all new 2021 cadillac escalade. Never stop arriving. Good morning, mr. Sun. Good morning, blair. [ chuckles ] whoo. Im gonna grow big and strong. Yes, you are. Im gonna get this place all clean. Ill give you a hand. And im gonna put lisa on crutches wait, what . Said shes gonna need crutches. She fell pretty hard. 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Ill get on it thats a step in the right direction. This morning, parents across this country are panicked again. Why . Because a number of School Districts are considering returning to remote learning. But experts warnin s warn the i children could be dire. Cynthia mcfadden sat down with families and doctors seeing it. Reporter Samantha Greenberg is a vibrant, energetic 5yearold. Do you feel Lonely Sometimes during this time . Yeah. Reporter sam couldnt wait to make the big kid transition to kindergarten. But the first day on zoom, a sore disappointment. She started crying. She said, please, please let me go see other kids. Ill wear two masks. Reporter dr. Celia says shes seeing the effects. Youre telling me a 3yearold is not too young to experience anxiety and depression, and youre seeing it . Were seeing it. Were seeing little kids really struggling with anxiety, with depression in terms of regression in their behavior, being clingy, night terrors. These are all behavioral ways that these children are telling parents theyre really struggling. Joining us to discuss, former secretary of education under president obama, arne duncan. Before we get to schools, i want to talk about you. Youve shared that you and your family tested positive for the coronavirus. How are you doing, and what do you want us to understand about the virus . Yeah, were getting stronger and better every day. Thank you for asking. I know how lucky we are relative to other families dealing with so much more severe cases, hospitalized. Were very, very blessed. Having said that, its been scary. And it just absolutely flattens you. We tried to do everything for six, seven months to stay safe and socially distance and never went to anyones house, or have people at our house and always wore a mask because the coronavirus is spiking everywhere, including here. We got caught in that tsunami. I know im begging everybody, begging people to really stay home at thanksgiving. You dont want to give this to your family. Trust me on that one. We are lonely. Its a really hard time but this is way, way, way too serious. And you do not want to be spreading this thing. Well, glad to hear you and your family are on the mend. I want to talk about schools. Were seeing a number of states considering going back to remote learning. Some already have. Is that a mistake . Its not a mistake. Its heartbreaking. This has just been a catastrophic lack of leadership at the federal level. We shouldnt be in this situation. Kids shouldnt be having to deal with all of this. Teachers shouldnt be having to deal with this. We just simply never prioritize schools. We open bars. We open restaurants. And that pays kids pay a real price because were unwilling to make those kinds of sacrifices. So when you have just skyrocketing rates of the virus in communities, it does make it harder to keep schools open. Nobody wants to do school virtually. Kids dont want it. Teachers dont want it. But if its not safe to keep schools open, then you force educators to make that brutal choice. I want you to help us understand what kids lose when theyre not in school. And i want to share a quote from a pediatrics professor aaron carroll. It stuck out to me. He writes when, not if businesses are forced to shutter temporarily in the near future, we can tide them over with money and we absolutely should. When schools are closed, however, handing students a check will not replace what they have lost. Can you speak to us about what kids have lost . We talk about remote learning. Theres remote school, but that doesnt mean kids are learning. Well, first, again, from a Public Policy standpoint, the fact that we didnt pay our owners to keep bars closed. Or Indoor Dining. Didnt pay them to keep it closed means this has spread because we didnt wear masks because people called it a hoax. Kids shouldnt have to go through this. Other countries have handled this so much more thoughtfully and strategically with more discipline than we have. And the fact that now its been called a humanitarian disaster here in the united states, thats absolutely devastating. Having said that, all of us, we are by nature social beings. We want to be around other people. Kids want to play. Thats probably the most human part of being a kid is running around and playing and playing tag and touching each other and just having some fun. And we are basically denying tens of millions of kids across the country these very, very normal activities. And that quote is very accurate. Sending a kid a check does not make up for those missed social experiences. We finally have to do as a country is take this thing as seriously as we should have taken it in february and march and april and may and all these other months so that at some point sooner than later, we can help kids return to school. And just let them be kids. Let them have fun. Let them play. We can only do it if its safe to do that. If they can maintain their health if they do that, and that is not the case today because of the choices we as adults have made. Well, weve got to find a way to make it the case. Thank you for joining us and get healthy soon. Best to you and your family. Thank you so much. Have a good morning. Coming up next we know it, we just mentioned it. Small businesses need help right now. They are fighting the restrictions because theyre out of money. Is there a more targeted way to help them rather than just blanket shutdowns. Restaurateur Tom Colicchio joins us next. Introducing fidelity income planning. We look at how much youve saved, how much youll need, and build a straightforward plan to generate income, even when youre not working. A plan that gives you the chance to grow your savings and create cash flow that lasts. Along the way, well give you ways to be tax efficient. And you can start, stop or adjust your plan at any time without the unnecessary fees. Talk to us today, so we can help you go from saving. To living. I got it all from you im always pushing through i know well make it to the finish line i know youre waiting on the other side im like you ondemand glucose monitoring. Because theyre always on. Another lifechanging technology from abbott. So you dont wait for life. You live it. The markets have just opened down over 200 points after a very strong day yesterday. But heres whats very important for us to always remind our audience. The stock market, whether its good or bad, is not the same as the real economy. And that is especially true for the millions of americans and Small Businesses who are struggling right now. That includes and is especially the independent Restaurant Industry. No curfews, Indoor Dining banned in many states and cities. And the ppe to continue operating. President elect biden making that point very clear on his speech on economics yesterday. We can deliver immediate relief and it need be done quickly. Congress should come together and pass a covid relief package like the h. E. R. O. E. S. Act that the house passed six months ago. We should be doing it now. Keeping those businesses open, providing the ppe, the protective equipment, as well as the ppp, the money that we allow people to get funding. Joining us, celebrity chef and founder of crafted hospitality, Tom Colicchio. Always good to see you. I wish it was when we were talking about better news. Here we are, nine months in. Were hearing from independent Restaurant Owners across this country in a panic that new restrictions will put them under. But lets be honest. Even if we dont get new restrictions, how bad are things even without the restrictions . Are people really going out buying wine . I mean, come on. First off, thank you for keeping your focus on the plight of so many Small Businesses, including restaurants. Were suffering now. You may see a busy a restaurant that looks busy. Theres people out in front sitting around. But inside, we have four times the capacity and no one is eating indoors. Were seeing restaurants closed in chicago. Los angeles has never opened Indoor Dining. More restrictions in new york, new jersey and i am sure at very soon well see a complete shutdown. We need help. We need it now. The independent restaurant coalition, we spent the last eight months getting our members of congress to actually write the restaurants act, and theyve done that. We have bipartisan support. 208 cosponsors in the house. 48 cosponsors in the senate, inclu including john cornyn and elizabeth warren, who have never seen the two of them agree on anything. We have bipartisan support. If Mitch Mcconnell brought the restaurant act to the floor now, it would pass easily. So we need help. We need it now. Every single day im hearing from restaurateurs that are shutting their doors. Never to reopen. Whats at stake here, 11 Million People between 65 to 80 of all independent restaurants will close without help. We employ 11 Million People and factor in all the other businesses its about 20 Million People. Drivethrough and contactfree and pickup might work for fast, casual chain restaurants, but can you help us understand that these arguments we hear about restaurants just need to pivot. That doesnt work for restaurants in cities with high rents with liquor licenses. I pivoted a million different ways. My restaurant, small independent restaurants, were not known for takeout. And a lot of our customers try to help out and try to order from us, but thats not our business model. And so, yeah, we can pivot and that will add some revenue. Doing about 25 of my typical business right now in new york. Thats not going to cut it. Rents are high. And the other thing is were making decisions every single day to bring people in, and they have to work. Our employees have to work because their unemployment is running out. Theyre not getting the additional unemployment and theyre suffering, too. Without this, whats the result of this . Yes, businesses are going to close. We are looking at the greatest amount of hunger in this country going back to the great depression. And we need help now on a for a whole lot of reasons. But again, so many people who work in restaurants are not going to get their jobs back. They are losing jobs. Weve been decimated, forced to close our doors. Were not asking for a handout. Were asking for help to get to the other side so we can stay open and so we can be there after the pandemic is closed after the pandemic is ended. A time capsule, really. As important as restaurants are to you, nothing is more important than your kids. Do you think restaurants should be closed before schools are closed . Or should it be the other way around . Absolutely. As a restaurateur and as a father of three children, two of them of school age, absolutely. Again, if kids are forced to stay home, parents that have jobs are going to be forced to stay home as well. And so, yeah, its imperative. Especially and i agree with the last comment that i heard. You can get businesses that get through this, but all the money is not going to help that kid when theyre not socializing. My children are in School Full Time with their friends. Theyre actually outdoors in a classroom right now with masks on, but at least they get the interaction. I know last spring when they were forced to be inside, its just getting worse. So absolutely, but again, we need help to do that. And thats the decision we shouldnt have to make. If we knew the restaurants act was passed, when these governors make these decisions and mayors make these decisions, youre not going to see an uproar. Youll see people say, okay, thats my responsibility, but i know that im going to be taken care of, im going to get through the other side of this. Thats why its so important to pass this restaurants act. Tom, always good to have you here. We have got to continue talking about this. If we dont, were going to lose our Restaurant Industry, and i cant imagine anyone in this country wants to see that happen. Tom, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you, stephanie. I want to dig deeper and talk about the economic dislocations we are seeing across this country. Joining us now, my dear friend scott galloway, professor at nyu Stearns School of business. Hes also the author of the upcoming book post corona from crisis to opportunity and, of course, the cohost of the pivot podcast. Scott, the first time we shut everything down, the government essentially used a blunt instrument because they didnt know what else to do. Small businesses suffered, and Big Box Stores thrived. They did better than ever. Were about to see that exact same thing happen. Now that were facing more restrictions, is there a different way to do this . Great to see you, stephanie. So, yeah, youre right. Its the first off, people from both sides of the aisle would say we couldnt let perfect be the enemy of good and needed to get liquidity into the system. I think we accomplished that. But what im what im fearful of, to your previous guests comments, he added some very powerful points. 11 Million People work in the Restaurant Industry. The question is, would we as a society have been better off if we just put the money directly in the hands of the 11 million as opposed to the restaurateurs. I dont think the Restaurant Industry is going to come back in any shape or form similar to what its been. So the question is, you know, if you have capitalism on the way up and socialism on the way down, thats cronyism. I wonder if we would have been better off creating more demand and deciding legislate cttin consumers decide which restaurants survive and adapt and which ones go out of business. Were going to find in retrospect a lot of the ppp loans werent bridges. They were piers. All weve done is kick the can down the road. Okay. To that very point, the wall street journal says about 300 companies that received as much as half a billion dollars in ppp loans have already filed for bankruptcy. Does that mean that the way that we disseminated this money was a failure . I believe when we look back on it, im not sure well call it a failure, but it could have been more surgically deployed. You did some great reporting showing about 10 of the companies that applied for ppp got about 90 of the proceeds. 400 Public Companies received a billion and a half dollars. Government is supposed to prevent a tragedy of the commons. In this instance, i think were going to find what we really did here was flatten the curve for rich people. Ill use an example we know and love. The strand bookstore. A fantastic, iconic retailer is making pleas to the public for money. They took a Million Dollars in ppp loans. They have a lot of employees. But the owners are worth tens of millions of dollars. I wonder if we would have been better off not giving them a Million Dollars and just kicking the can down the road for, quite fra frankly, easterns that can afford to take the hit. As a general rule, stephanie, where weve screwed up is you need to protect people, not companies. Small businesses in america are the lone wolves of the global economy. And weve turned them into the poodles waiting for a handout. Savings rates have never been higher . Let me repeat that. Savings rates have never been higher. Which says to me, we didnt put the money in the right hands. You know who has been the primary beneficiary of these bailouts . Amazon and tesla where weve seen a lot of that savings rate go into trading accounts who have levered up and bought amazon and tesla stock and who owns amazon and tesla . 90 of it . The top 10 . So, yeah, there will be some wellreported instances of the cupcake bakery that made it to the other side because of ppp, but the wealthiest cohort in america are Small Business owners. They did not need a bailout. We need to protect people, not companies. So the answer to tht this, when we get to the other side is universal basic income . Something along those lines. Let what we wanted in addition to these businesses surviving, and i believe that the key to the business survival is creating additional demand, we want a greater velocity of spend. If you give a household thats food insecure 10,000, they spend it all. If you give a Million Dollars to a Small Business owner that is already a millionaire, he or she saves most of it and puts it into the market creating a cycle of increased income inequality. We need a greater velocity of spending. Put it in the hands of the people that need it. 750 billion ppp package if divided by the 30 million neediest households would have been 25,000 per household, which would have meant they sdrnt to put their diabetes medication and diet cokes in a cooler and head out working for uber putting themselves in harms way. When we look back at this, all we have done here is primarily flatten the curve for rich people or extend the life of businesses that will not survive long term. This was a poorly deployed program. For everyone who is so excited that gdp went up in the last quarter, look closely at why that happened. Its because the stimulus checks went through. When you give people money to survive, they deploy it back into the economy. Why are scott and i saving more money . Because were not going to bars or restaurants or gyms. Were working from home. Were completely comfortable. And were doing better now than we were six months ago. Think about that. Scott, nice improvement on your outfit today. I saw you in a recent tie dye shirt in a video. Today youre a 10 out of 10. Youre my fashion icon. You stepped it up. Its working for you today. Youre like a tv george hahn. I love it. Coming up next we just talked about how much help Companies Across the board need. But congressman katie porter joins me on why we need more oversight on where exactly all these Government Funds are going. Downy unstopables 5g is going to change everything about the way businesses run. And most important is the ability to transform the smallest of businesses right in our neighborhoods. We created the 5g Business Impact challenge to give them the tools for them to come back stronger. 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Still the one and i cant get enough were still having fun, and youre still the one. Applebees 2 for 20. Its date night in the neighborhood. The house and senate are back in session, but as of this morning, there are no ongoing talks about the next covid relief bill. Senator Chuck Schumer has not spoken to leader mcconnell. Speaker pelosi has not spoken to the white house or steve mnuchin. Radio silence. But Many Americans, they dont have time to wait while lawmakers figure it out. More and more were seeing scenes like this. Hundreds of cars waiting at a drivethrough food bank down in ft. Worth, texas. Joining me to discuss, democratic congresswoman from california, katie porter. Congresswoman, thank you for waking up so early to have this conversation. I know you and most lawmakers agree, Many Americans need help right now. But what you dont agree on is what it should look like. In your mind, what needs to be done today thats realistic . Well, i think we need to be extending the programs that are set to expire at the end of the year. Things like pandemic unemployment assurance, insurance for people unemployed, the additional 13 weeks of unemployment. These are critical lifeline programs that people need. We also cannot afford to continue to wait on state and local funding. Our states and our cities have stretched and stretched, trying to create workable budgets. But with businesses continuing to close and many areas having to close more because of the lockdown or have temporary additional closures, thats going to make state and local revenue come in below projections. The real issue here for all the media talk about the amount of the dollar figure, one of the real issues here is the senates continued insistence under majority leader Mitch Mcconnell that we give a lot of protections to corporations who engaged in wrongdoing or continuing to engage in wrongdoing as part of this. They are trying to get greater corporate immunity when what they should be focusing on is what the American People need, not what big corporations are asking for. That is what they should be doing, but Mitch Mcconnell is not going anywhere. Do you need to figure out a way to play ball and get something done with him, that hes at least willing to do . Well, first, i do hope senator Mitch Mcconnell is going somewhere. I hope hes going to become minority leader come january, but the meantime, you are absolutely right. We have to keep negotiating. The fact that there are no talks at all ongoing between leadership is incredibly discouraging to the American People and to me. So i am very, very hopeful that later this week those talks will resume, and i think we have to continue to try to create a workable package. There have been some compromised proposals and so i do think its time to come to the table and have ongoing conversations, ongoing negotiation. Thats the least we can do for people who are struggling to put food on the table. You were mentioning a moment ago protections for corporations. Thats in one area. But youre also calling out the Federal Reserve for promising to spend relief money on Small Businesses. Instead, they bailed out banks. Can you explain this . Yes. So when Congress Passed the c. A. R. E. S. Act in late march, we set aside half a billion dollars half a trillion dollars, 500 billion, half a trillion dollars for reserve to stabilize the economy. A big chunk of that went into what the fed called a primary and secondary Corporate Market liability fund. So this is designed to provide a liquidity fund. With the fed said at the time which i thought was terrific was we are not going to use this money to bail out big banks. Weve not going to use this money for insured depository institutions. There were two reasons for that. One, banks have seen record profits during this pandemic. They have not been hurt. Their revenue has not gone done. Their workers are getting paid, and two, we wabailed out the bas about a decade ago. Great, i thought. Big banks wont get this money, instead it will go to struggling businesses. Mainstream, medium sized businesses, even Large Businesses in industries that are designated this. We found out the fed created a loophole. It said were not going to buy bank debt, but were going to buy billions of dollars in exchangetraded funds which you know it, contain bank debt. So when i asked the vice chair of the Federal Reserve about this, he essentially refused to admit that the fed, in fact, purchased bank debt indirectly but nonetheless, directing our taxpayer dollars to holding up and propping up large banks, even though the fed publicly promised taxpayers that wouldnt happen. He refused to answer because he didnt think youd know that fact. Beyond just the money the fed has spent, do we need to take a closer look at the cares act . I mean, i know we need more stimulus money, but we have already spent trillions of dollars. Its not like nothing has been spent, and when you think about the bank bailout from 2008, that was 800 billion. Were well into the trillions. Before we spend more, do question need to figure out where it was spent and how to spend it better with the next amount of money . We should have been doing that soefr jiegt from the start. It should have been built into the provisions in cares. Things like the disclosure of ppp loan information should have been baked into the statutory language. Things like prevention of conflicts of interest like making sure that members of congress themselves are not e e eligible for ppp loans. Barring that, we should have begun aggressive oversight immediately after the money began to be dispersed. We still lack a chair for the covid oversight committee, and we still dont see the Trump Administration being forthcoming with the kind of information that people need. And for example, it took a federal judge ordering the Small Business administration that had to disclose information in order for us to understand that there were Small Businesses who got loans who were not eligible to do so. For example, because they, in fact, have no employees, or because, for example, they owe money to the u. S. Treasury for unpaid tax debt. And we should remind our audience that the Small Business administration continues to fight orders from a judge to disclose more information about who got the money. That makes absolutely no sense. This is taxpayer money. We should know it. And i want to repeat for our audience, there is still no chairperson for the oversight committee. A committee that was put in place when the cares act was signed months ago. Dont the American People deserve oversight . I do want to ask you, we just got word that can i answer that question . Yes. You can. Dont the American People deserve oversight . Hell yes. Im so glad you answered it. I do want to ask you, we just got breaking news that senator Chuck Grassley was exposed to the coronavirus. Are you concerned that you and your colleagues while you Work Together on the hill, are working in unsafe environment . We definitely need to improve the quality of protections for all essential workers and that includes people who work in the capitol building. Folks like the Capitol Police and we need to enforce the requirements of Public Health that we are asking other people to do. We should be in congress an example to the nation. And yet we see time and time again republican members of congress not just refusing to wear a mask, but actively ridiculing those who do. So we absolutely need to put in place procedures to keep those who work in the capitol safe but also to reduce the risk that when we travel to the capitol, we will get exposed and take that back to our communities. The risk goes both directions. Its not just about us getting sick. Its about our getting your communities sick, our families sick, and then ultimately having Community Spread in our own locations. Yes, we need to do more. We need to have a Robust Testing Program for capitol workers at the beginning of this pandemic just like we were asking private business to do. Why is anyone still resisting it . This doesnt need to be a political issue. Its a Public Health issue. Absolutely. This is a Public Health issue and we keep keeping us safe is a benefit to everyone. And the fact that republican colleagues in the house, for example, are in the minority. They feel its very important that they are e vote and stand up for what they believe in, and yet, that they represent their constituents and yet, they are taking actions every day that make it harder for them to represent their constituents because if they get sick, if they are hospitalized, they are not able to represent their constituents. Theyre not able to do the work of congress. So i think if you care about representing your constituents, you would take every possible precaution here to ensure that youre going to be safe and healthy during these very important upcoming votes about stimulus, about funding the government, about the National Defense authorization act. Congresswoman, always good to have you here, and to end our show on the allimportant question do the American People deserve more transparency . Hell yes. Always good to see you and happy thanksgiving. You too. That wraps up this very busy hour. I am stephanie ruhle. If you havent gotten enough of us in this hour, you can check out the Second Season of our podcast modern ruhles out now. Listen to it wherever you get your podcasts. The one and only Steve Schmidt joins our first episode. On the other side of the break, Hallie Jackson picks up breaking News Coverage joined by the illinois senator. Before we talk about taxsmart investing, whats new . Well, audreys expecting. Twins grandparents we want to put money aside for them, so. Change in plans. Alright, lets see what we can adjust. Wed be closer to the twins. Change in plans. Okay. Mom, are you painting again . You could sell these. Lemme guess, change in plans . At fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. Whoa someone please help of course. Youre tenacious, ill give you that its ok, im ok. [heavy breathing] where are you . Coming lets do this yeaahh its on woooo whoa. [heavy breathing] rated rp to t. This morning pressure from the president elect making it clear he is moving forward with defense, diplomacy, intel planning with or without the Trump Administrations koorpg. Right now it is without. President elect biden set to attend his first national