the house select cubs subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis resistant to hear from former federal reserve chairs about economic inequity during the pandemic. live coverage here on c-span2. >> george w. bush in 2006 and oversaw the federal reserve is response to the global financial crisis. before his tenure as fed chicken dr. bernanke served as the chair of president council, bush is council of economic advisers. dr. yellen served as vice chair of the federal reserve until 2010, 2013 before being appointed chair. in 2014 of our president barack obama. dr. yellen also previously served in the white house as chair of the council of economic advisers. this is the first time that either dr. bernanke or dr. yellen has testified before congress since stepping down from the federal reserve. these extraordinary times require congress to seek out advice from experts with extraordinary experiences. as congress works to end this economic crisis and enable a strong recovery, we are fortunate to benefit from their individual insight and gain from their unique position as federal reserve chairs during the last economic crisis and recovery. i want to thank both of them for agreeing to testify today. six months into this crisis, the coronavirus pandemic continues to spiral out of control. to date, over 3 million americans have tested positive for the virus, including a record-breaking 75,600 confirmed yesterday. and more than 140,000 americans have died, far more than any other country. this administration has not only failed to fix the problem, it is made things worse. -- what states to reopen without a plan to keep everyone safe. as a result, we have new epicenters in florida, arizona, texas, and here in my home state of south carolina. -- is now 20% higher than new york's was at the peak of the outbreak in april. and now the administration is undermining its own public health experts in the rush to reopen schools, again, without a plan. so our nation's unemployment is at historic highs. across dash according to recent estimates, 33 million americans are collecting unemployment benefits. just last week several federal reserve officials expressed alarm at the countries modest recovery is quote, starting to level off. this economic crisis has been especially damaging the communities of color, who, as a witness recently wrote or quoted, bearing the greatest year of covid-19 deaths, and also faces higher rates of unemployment than their white counterparts. so the question for today's hearing is, what can we do about it? first, we cannot address our economic woes until we first address the urgent public health crisis. it is far past time for the white house to take responsibility for this crisis, and provide a much-needed federal leadership and they calera national strategy to fight this pandemic. second, the federal reserve and treasury must act quickly to use the authority and funding congress provided to help america's families here this is an unprecedented crisis that requires an unprecedented response. -- significant steps to protect big businesses, it has done less to protect workers. in fact, the feds primary mechanism to protect jobs, a the main street lindi program, has struggled to get off the ground -- lindi program. the fed should do more to make sure the lending program is accessible for the small businesses who most need it and deserve this assistance and to protect the workers is program was designed to help. third, the white house must work with congress to act boldly and decisively to prevent an economic catastrophe. american families and small businesses cannot wait any longer for relief. congress must pass another economic recovery package that includes support for low-wage workers and the unemployed. new assistance to states and localities, and programs that invest in public health. on may 15, more than two months ago, the house passed the heroes act to do exactly that. i urge my colleagues in the senate to in the delays and pass this vital legislation. i also would like to address one final point. after we announced this hearing, my republican colleagues suggested we add a witness who is not a federal reserve chair, or a former federal reserve chair. now i have accepted every other witness my republican colleagues have proposed, and i think it has been five thus far, and i look forward to hearing from this proposed witness at a future date. but to date my goal is to hear from the unique insights from chair bernanke and chair yellen on their efforts to help our nation recover from the 2008 financial crisis as leaders of the fed. for example, dr. bernanke has stated, and i quote, the initial 2009 fiscal program was perhaps not adequately sized given the size of the problem. we must not make that same in mistake again. our witnesses today served honorably under presidents of both parties. i am hopeful that all my colleagues will participate in this hearing in a bipartisan manner and help us search for solutions to benefit the american people. the chair now recognizes the distinguished ranking member for his opening statement. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank our witnesses appearing before the subcommittee as well. they both have distinguished careers that can offer some important insights on the hearing about responding to our nation's economic crisis which is today's topic. but with due respect, mr. chairman, both of today's witnesses were selected by the majority, and i know you and i spoke about this but i requested as rule 11 of the house of representatives actually requires that the minority get to also have a witness. so that the select committee can hear from a diversity of perspectives. whether people are from different parties, at their both bringing a similar perspective on an issue, that's not the intention of the house rules which is why i asked for a witness as well. and somebody who is widely regarded as an expert on the economy. he is testify before congress dozens of times. fact he was the former head of the congressional budget office. he is the present task to inform us, congress, an understanding budget and economic impacts of policy decision. so mr. chairman, i know you denied that what is. we talked about it but because of that decision we are also being denied the diversity of opinion we should be getting on today's topic that we should all request and seek the house rules as the required welcome that the pursuit of opinion, which is what both parties are allowed to invite witnesses to provide us with pertinent testimony. that was denied today unfortunately and attend our ability to get all of the facts. but with that, mr. chairman, pursuit to clause 2j1 of rule 11 i'm requesting that we get what we're about under the rules and that is a minority date of hearing under this subject. the rules require it. they were not followed in the request we make. it doesn't allow the church is select both people repugnant demographic and lasseter lassiter to select witnesses but also allows the minority to be able to submit a witness. we did that. was denied so in lieu of that the rules require that we are able to have a minority day of hearing. i just wanted to invoke that, mr. chairman. i know you and i come our staffs can work through that but as a point of order i did want to bring that up, after chairman. why do we not talk about the state of the economy? >> with a gentleman yield for a moment? thank you very much. i understand that you had some -- received the letter and i will take it under advisement. i will commit to you today that i will consider your request in accordance with the house rules. in fact, as i understand it, one of the witnesses that you have requested already appeared before this committee just last month. with that i would yield back and thank you, and i'm sure you and i will be able to deal with this in an -- >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'm confident we will be able to work through this as well. now what it would talk about the economy for the unemployment rate in february was 3.5%. that's the lowest in over 50 years. the unemployment rate for african americans and hispanics was the lowest in recorded history of this country. hourly wages were going at the fastest pace we've seen in over a decade. america was expressing the hottest economy we've ever seen and every segment of our country was reaping the benefits. and then a global pandemic hit our shores. china life and hid the truth about their hero decision the world looks different medical expertise and guidance in a pandemic, the world health organization, was directly complicit and regurgitating china's lies. america got hit hard and got hit fast the rest of the world did in this global pandemic, the worst we've seen in over 100 years. immediately america came together to fight the invisible enemy and to prevent our hospitals from being overwhelmed and we did so without knowing nearly as much as we do today i this unique destructive virus. all we could do was shut down and put the largest most prosperous economy in human history on pause. the pause was necessary but it came at a staggering costs. from the most unemployment in 50 years to now over 40 million jobs lost. income inequality was made worse. for the% of people making less than $40,000 were laid off your children lost irretrievable months of in school learning. vaccinations plummeted. progress on opioid crisis that we made working together was reversed. what america must now decide is whether those losses are going to be short-term cost or will it be long-term irrevocable damage? i probably supported the cares act. fact virtue omnivorous of congress did. there are some important structural building blocks recovery in that legislation. we already know about tpe and we that hearings of the tremendous success that did at saving millions of jobs but we put billions of dollars in place for ppe to protect our frontline healthcare workers. we put billions in place for testing, for the development of therapies and ultimately a vaccine. but let's be honest about her release portions of cares act. what we did was float the u.s. economy with borrowed money to temporarily compensate before shutting it under the question before us today is knowing now what we know about the unintended cost of the shutdown, do we continue to extend it or instead of focus on the building blocks of long-term sustainable and equitable recovery? a few key principles and shared goals should guide us in this direction. federal policy should reward and support america's workers. educating our children safely in the classroom is a paramount responsibility. it's not just a goal to get something we have to achieve. federal policies should accelerate innovation and research and manufacturing here in the united states. and only a healthy and growing economy can support long-term sustainable and equitable prosperity. with that all americans are concerned about continued spread of the virus and all-american have a role and responsibility in helping to slow the spread. as we are all wearing masks we were out in public. let's also acknowledge some key developments. the death rate continues to fall because we are doing better protecting our most vulnerable population and approving the treatment of covid patients. president trump's operation warp speed is showing great promise including this weeks remarkable announcement of promising result from vaccine trials. testing capacity and ppe production continue to ramp up. redtape is being cut in this progress can give hope to all of us who want to end this pandemic. america must continue to forge ahead with his can-do attitude and find practical solutions to the challenges that must be solved. beginning with safer reopening our schools. earlier this week vice president pence brought his task force down to louisiana and i did onerous bending the day with him along with our government who happens to be a democrat and talk to school officials, public health experts and even the coach about the importance of getting kids back to school and how to do it safely. dr. birx by the way who is the white house coordinator coronavirus response coordinator and a respected and medical official was a and talking about how you can safely reopen. our attitude has to be how to do it, not whether you could do it. clearly it can be done. children need to get back to school and continue their education. many children the time lost will never be made up. children's health will improve if schools reopen. vaccinations will increase, child nutrition for the most vulnerable will improve. the american academy of pediatrics issued an important report which among other things strong advocates all policy consideration for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present. the report goes on to say the importance of in person learning is well documented and is already evidence of the negative impacts on children because of school closures in the spring. i would hope we would be focused on the damage distance of not reopening as we put our efforts on how to save the reopen. mr. chairman, i would like to ask unanimous consent that this report by the american academy of pediatrics be entered into the record. i did want to make that request. but just -- >> i do not intend to object -- reserve the right to object. >> we will provide you with the support from the academy of pediatrics and would ask that it be included if there is to objection. >> without objection. >> thank you. school reopens also help they can't because parents can more readily get back to work. we should resolve that no business in america ever again have to compete with a federal policy that makes unemployment relief i better than axa contract work. small, small business after small business have told me the biggest obstacle reopening right now is getting the work is to come back because the temporary bonus unemployment check in many cases pays more than the actual salary. this policy needs to stop. while some in washington want to continue the shutdown with the federal government continue floating the economy and how the federal reserve keep printing more money, that is not a path to prosperity. we have faced the challenges throughout america's history. america put a man on the mentor for goodness sake we can surely reopen our schools and safely rebuild our economy. let's rise to this challenge. i yield back the balance of my time, mr. chairman. >> i thank the ranking member for his opening statement. now i i would like to introduce our witnesses. the honorable ben bernanke is the distinguished fellow in residence -- [inaudible] >> looks like routing a problem with the feed from the sub sort committee on the coronavirus crisis we are working to resolve the issue and hope to resume our live coverage shortly. unfortunately we were unable to resolve the issues with our live feed on the select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis. we hope to have the entire event for you later in our program schedule. >> tonight a special edition of booktv erin weeknights this week. starting at 8 p.m. dinesh d'souza examines what he calls the new face of socialism. pulitzer prize-winning "washington post" reporter mary jordan discusses the life and influence the first lady melania trump. later, robin hood ceo westmore spoke about the 2015 baltimore uprising following the death of freddie gray from the perspective of resident who witnessed the unrest. enjoy booktv on c-span2. >> next week the house and senate return to legislate abysses for the august recess on monday and tuesday the house takes up the fiscal fiscal yea1 national defense authorization act. the bill establishes policies for defense department programs. votes are expected early on monday. wednesday the house the house l consider a bill to remove the bust of chief justice robert totty, the author taking 57 dred scott ruling from the old supreme court chamber. and to address the issue of confederate statues on display in the u.s. capitol. .. watch live coverage of the house since then coverage of the senate. watch radio. ♪ >> season, unfiltered coverage of congress, supreme court and public policy event. watch all of the programming on television, online or listen on our free radio app. c-span, created by america's cable television company as a public service and brought to you by your television provider. next, extremist groups and efforts to counter activity social media. subclinical on intelligence terrorism heard from law-enforcement officials and on extremist movement of extremism.

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