Available to everyone, to make a free vaccine available for everyone and to get this pandemic under control. Governors are elected by their states to take action in moments of crisis. They are the ones who talk to the people who are the hardest hit and during this pandemic to have been called on to make very difficult decisions about the health and safety of the people they represent and about opening schools and opening our economy responsibly. I have served in state and local government so i understand the Critical Role our governors play. We will have partners in the 20te house starting january because as governor herbert said in our meeting, when the states are successful the country is successful. Our message to our governor into all of our nations state and local leaders is simple. President elect biden and i will make sure you have the resources and support you need to save lives and help get our economy back on track. We will also make sure that our federal state local and Tribal Authority are working closely together so they can tackle these challenges as effectively as possible. When it comes to this pandemic and the economic recovery we are not democrats or republicans, we are americans and we will be there for one another. Thats the kind of leadership the American People need and deserve and that is the kind of leadership president elect biden and i will provide and is now my great honor to introduce president elect joe biden. Vice President Biden hello, folks. Good afternoon. Thanks for your patience. Vice president elect and i have just concluded a videoconference with the executive leadership of the National Governors conference and that included Governor Cuomo, new york governor hutchison, governor hogan, Governor Whitmer governor baker, governor Lujan Grisham , governor herbert and governor carney. It was really a worthwhile undertaking. You know they have had to make some really tough calls during this unprecedented crisis. We are incredibly grateful for everything they have done and keep doing to keep our communities safe. Unfortunately because of a lack of discernment as they say which is a fancy word these days but until the head of the gsa says we in fact are seeing this transition team, our team the senator and i are in fact the likely winners. Until she does that we dont , have access to all the information that we need to get from the various agencies. We are not able to deal with everything from testing and guidance, the all important issue of vexing distribution and more importantly, vaccine plan to get vaccinations. We havent been able to get to operation warp speed. But we will take what we have learned today and build it into the crisis plan. We are still in a crisis. There is a dark winter ahead. Yesterday america reached another tragic milestone, 250,000 deaths. A quarter Million People have died of covid19. There are empty chairs and dining room tables that were filled just days and weeks ago ones, family and friends who laughed and talked together. To those families and friends were left behind, jill and i send our prayers. We know as many of you do how tough it is to find purpose in the memory of a loved one you have just lost. It will take find, time but you will find it. You will find it. And you will find your purpose as we are going to find their purpose for our nation as a nation now. I promise you that and i promise you we will work together. There was a great meeting we had today. All the governors no matter party, whatever part of the country they represent, no matter their political philosophy, shared a strong and abiding sense of a common purpose. There is a real desire for Real Partnership between states and the government. Each of the governors emphasized we might need democrats and republicans but we are all americans first. They congratulated us heartily for our win. What really pleased me was governors made clear beating covid19 will acquire all of us working together as one country. Kamala and i agree we were deeply impressed with how much consensus there was and how to move forward among the governors. What we need to do now is how we need to do it. How are we going to do it and it what coordinated way will it be done . We discussed a number of ways it can be done and unify around the national approach. Economic relief to the cities states and tribal , communities. The lost revenue from covid and the cost of covid is devastating to state and local budgets and as governors indicated we have , got to come together. The federal government has to deliver this relief sooner withr than later and flexibility for states to meet their needs. This includes businesses, schools, working families from Unemployment Benefits to Early Education continued access , to Affordable Health care, all that is needed during this pandemic. States and communities should not have to lay off teachers, cops, firefighters, cut Vital Services for families and businesses. The second thing there is uniform agreement on. Delivering a safe equitable and free vaccine. The governors acknowledged as this will be a massive undertaking. One of the greatest operational challenges we will have faced in the nation. One statistic that was raised by the governor, it took eight months to provide 100 million covid tests. Eight months to provide a covid test. Just imagine how much difficult it would be, they pointed out, if we dont find a more efficient and effective way to provide 330 million vaccinations. Put it in perspective. They made the point we cannot wait. Thats what the governors are raising. In the meeting we discussed the , challenges that lie ahead in distributing an administrative eri theadministra vaccine. N the governors talked about how getting doses of vaccine distributed is one step. We have to actually get vaccinations into the arms of 330 million americans. That takes enormous resources, people, products. We discussed the difficulty of that task. It takes time and its going to take coordination. Its going to take the federal and State Government working hand in glove working together. The governors emphasized we need to be clear with the American People about what to expect. No false expectations. Let them know what we anticipate. They all acknowledged this will take a Massive PublicEducation Campaign and we also need to reach traditionally underserved communities that are hardest hit by the pandemic. Latino, native American Communities. Small towns, Rural Communities. They talked about that in some detail. Thirdly we discussed the need to title 32e states with funding for the National Guard. Thats a fancy way of saying governors need to be able to get funding. Guard intoational play. It is going to cost a lot of money. Governors need that paid for. Governors discussed the need for funding when waving certain fema fees. The fact is this is a national emergency. That is what fema supposed to deal with. Our view is that should be done when it comes to deploying the National Guard for covid relief that should be paid for. And is something kamala will be focused on. We discuss discussed the implementation of a National Mask mandate. 10 governors, democrat and republican imposing masking requirements and recognize the need for universal masking. North, south, east, and west. Its not a political statement. It is a patriotic duty. Fifth we discussed making testing more available and accessible. Anyone who wants a test should be able to get one. Finally, while we focused on immediate need to control the virus the governors also talked about how to build back better, especially with infrastructure and education and so much more. This is not a oneoff meeting. I committed, we committed and we agreed that we will continue to work to meet with governors on a regular basis. Continue to seek input and our will follow up and coordinate on issues coming out of that call. Some have very competent people on their covid team in their state. The bottom line, we can do this. Theres nothing beyond our capacity. We have to come together as a country. What this meeting along with others we have had it reinforces in my view the unity of the country is looking for. They are looking for us to come together and deal with problems , most of which have no ideological basis for disagreement. That is what we have to do. That is what the governors talked about. It was really pleasing to hear them and i want to thank you all and may god bless you all and those who have lost someone you , are in our prayers. May god protect our troops. Im happy to take a few questions and of my boss is going to tell me who that is. Thank you, mr. President elect. I know you mentioned the Economic Impact and talked a bit about the relief package you wanted but i was wondering if it you will talk about things you will be able to do as president and what will govern your decisions in terms of the economy. I was wondering if i could ask what kind of framework you are thinking about is you decide about the treasury secretary Going Forward whether you would consider you said during the debate you wanted to punish china for the way they have been acting, whether that would include economic sanctions or tariffs towards china and finally, do you think a strong dollar hurts or helps the u. S. As we are grappling with historic unemployment . Look let me take them one at a time. You will soon hear my choice for treasury. We made that decision and youll hear that just before or just after thanksgiving number one and you will find it is someone who i think will be accepted by all elements of the democratic from the progressive to the moderate coalitions. Secondly, its not so much about punishing china. It is about making sure china understands they have to play by the rules. Its a simple proposition and so thats one of the reasons why we are going to rejoin the world health organization. We are going to rejoin on day one as well. It needs reform i acknowledge and rejoin the paris climate accord. We have to make sure that the rest of the world and we get together and make sure they are certain bright lines the chinese understand. We have to not only deal with this pandemic, we have to plan for the next one. The idea that these viruses are just going to go away is not rational. We are going to set up and recalibrate the institutional structure we had in the administration of obamabiden and build on it. What was your third question. About the dollar, sir. Whether you think a strong dollar will help with unemployment are generally how you would like the Federal Reserve to approach it. The way the federal as reserve has been approaching dealing with the dollar has been in a positive direction. Interest rates are as low as they have been in modern history and i think that is a positive thing. It lends credence to the possibility of us being able to expend the money and deficit spend in order to be able to generate Economic Growth right off the bat. I think its possible so far. Thank you. Thank you mr. President elect. You have said if this transition does not get going, especially coordinate some Vaccine Distribution that lives will be lost. How may live do you think are at risk if this transition remains stalled . You have heard the projections. The projections if nothing fundamentally changes between now and the beginning of february we will likely lose up to a total of 400,000 lives and another 150,000 lives. So its real. Whether it is that, 360, whatever it is, it is real and there is no excuse not to share the data and let us begin to plan because on day one its going to take us time if we dont have access to all this data, it is going to put us behind the 8 ball by a matter of a month or more and thats lives. How many will be lost as a consequence of that, i cannot tell you. But the purpose here is to get we talked a lot about what their immediate needs. We are going to enforce, excuse me employ the defense act to be able to go out there and dictate companies build and do the following things. We need much more testing. We need much more masking and we need gloves. I asked the National Governors association, Governor Cuomo and ones on the line to let us know what their shortages are. We are going to move on day one. That should be moved on now, now. If they wait to take a long time to get this thing going. When you take a step back and look at the way the president is his refusal to concede what do handling this you think is , really going on here . In your view, mr. President elect, what do you think the president is doing . What are americans witnessing here . Let me choose my words. I think we are witnessing incredible irresponsibility, incredibly damaging messages being sent to the rest of the world about how democracy functions, and i think it is well, i dont know his motives but i think its totally irresponsible. Are you concerned he may succeed . That people might question the legitimacy of your administration . Im not concerned that the vast majority of the people as the polling data have indicated over 70 of the American People believe without question it is legitimate. I think most of the republicans ive spoken to including some governors think this is debilitating. It sends a horrible message about who we are as a country. Thank you mr. President elect and thank you Vice President elect terrorists. Harris. You have said that lives could be lost if you dont start getting briefings from the Trump Administration and now here we are more than 250,000 lives could be lost. Given that how do you justify not taking legal action to get the briefings that you say are critical that you say you need . It would take a lot of time. It would take time. It is not going to speeded up considerably in my view. In the meantime i am hopeful , that im going to be able to get cooperation from our republican colleagues in the senate and the house as well as the governors to build a consensus. This is how we proceed when we do. But why not use every tool in your toolbox to get the information that you say you need to do your job and to do it effectively on day one . I am making a judgment based on many years of experience on how to get things done with the opposition. My judgment is that we will get further along by actually working with our republican colleagues now and because the time in which we would win is not materially change necessarily but its still an open question. Its an open question that could change. You havent ruled it out . You havent ruled out legal action against the Trump Administration or the gsa . We have not ruled it out. Given the death toll now more than 250,000 americans who have now lost their lives you have said that you would support the nationwide shutdown if scientists recommended it. No. Everybody asks that question every single time i stand here. It was a hypothetical question and the answer was i would follow the science. Im not going to shut down the economy, period. Im going to shut down the virus. Thats all im going to shut down. Again no national shutdown. , no national shutdown. Because every region, every area , every community can be different. So there is no circumstance that i can see that would require total national shutdown. I think that would be counterproductive but there are constraints in which the degree to which businesses can be opened. For example its one thing to say you can have in a state where the infection rate is not as high you can have a gymnasium opened. Another thing to say it can be open four hours a day with x number of people. The church i go to, they only allow 40 of the people to come into the church. Those are rational decisions. It is calibrated based on what the trend is. Thank you mr. Vice president elect. Thank you mr. President elect and Vice President harris. Do youstion is, what make of the fact the president is having calls with michigan county officials . He is also having Michigan Republican legislators at the white house tomorrow. Anything that he is doing making you rethink your strategy. I know you say that you do not want to have legal action right now. What you say to americans especially immigrant americans who came to the United States looking for political stability and saying all of the things that the president is doing. I am on my way. That is what i say to them. Not a joke. And what the president is doing now is really going to be another incident where he will go down in history. Mosting one of the irresponsible president s in american history. It is not even with the norm at all. There are questions whether it is even legal. It is going to be interesting to see who shows up in this call with the leadership. We won michigan. It is going to be certified. We are going to end up making are, that we won. I just it is hard to fathom how this man thinks. I am confident he knows he has not won and is not going to be able to win. For for me to question his motives. It is just outrageous what he is doing. Doing,things that he is calling officials, is it making you rethink your strategy at all. Is there anything to say that we really have to go to court now. Or are you still just watching what he is doing and saying we can kind of wait and see what happens. I wont rule anything out or anything in. At the moment, the strategy is not changing. Could ask a question to the Vice President elect. Statelked about your experience. My question is there anything that youve heard from the governors today that made you specifically concerned about vulnerable populations especially as i top to americans to say, i dont have the privilege to work from home, i dont have the privilege if i am losing and living in a house with multigenerations. Did you hear anything that concerns you specifically and what can we do for them as a country . As the president elect shared we heard a lot from the , governors including that. Including the concern that African Americans, latinos, native americans people live the in Rural Communities, people who have historically been under resourced and under served. And so there was consensus among the governors, bipartisan consensus that are federal strategy should reflect those concerns in a way that we support the states with the resources they will need to get to the folks who have been often overlooked or ignored. And the president elect, i thank clear thatas made it is one of our highest priority to support that. As you may know in the senate, i actually led will be the Racial Disparity task force. And that is something that will we will be incorporating in our administration to make sure that all people have equal access to resources. But also taking into account equitable distributions of resources. President elect biden. One important thing to understand and we have talked a lot about this. We talked about it when i was running and seeking the nomination as well. And that is that the idea of the brown, black, asian americans, native American Communities are always the first ones hit the hardest and the last ones who were brought back. We are going to flip that around. Its going to be really important to determine priorities. Based upon access to the information that is available in access to everything from the vaccine, to other opportunities to be able to deal with helping the country and part of the country is been hurt the worst. Two times as many African Americans have died from covid as white americans. So there has to be a prioritization. That is why i would like to know exactly what this administration has in mind in terms of their operation warp speed and how they plan it. And that is what we about with the governors today. They all mentioned it to me to focus on the communities who have been left behind. Particular Governor Cuomo. It is one thing for example the vaccines are distributed to all of the walgreens in america. No criticism of walgreens but you know, theres a lot of those facilities not in Rural Communities and not in poor communities, African American and latino communities so we have to make sure there is access for them. Thank you. With joe biden as president elect, stay with cspan electionoverage of the process and transition of power. Cspan. Your unfiltered view of politics. Cspans washington journal. Every day, we are taking your calls live in the news of the day. And we will discuss policy issues that donald will cost norquist discusses the formation of the new labor caucus. And then James Clyburn in the leadership election including his own as democratic whip. Warrened savings and n in the u. S. He west wa response to covid. Be sure to join the discussion with calls, comments, and tweets. Coming alive friday, the u. S. House returns. Working on reauthorization of the National Apprenticeship act. The House Services committee hold a hearing in the u. S. Mission in afghanistan. Witnesses include brian crocker. In georgia pence is for an event for senators who face runoff elections. In cspan3, the ways and Means Committee hears testimony from charles rettig. Whitmergan governor held a briefing on the states response to the coronavirus pandemic. She urged the federal government to pass relief legislation. This is 40 minutes. Good afternoon. Today is thursday, november 19. Thank you for joining us. I am joined by our chief medical executive. President of the michigan chapter of the American Academy of pediatrics. Barbecue andof a delta township. Kendra patterson, the coowner of michigan barn wood and selvage in mason, michigan. Yesterday, the epidemic order that the department of health