WEBVTT

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JUDY WOODRUFF: As we
mark 300,000 deaths from
COVID, a deal to provide
economic relief still

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eludes lawmakers. Time is time
is running out, as benefits
from the CARES Act expire

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the day after Christmas.

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A bipartisan group has
now offered two proposals
this afternoon to try
to break the gridlock.

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West Virginia Senator
Joe Manchin is one of
the key architects, and
he joins us now from

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Capitol Hill.

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Senator Manchin, thank you
very much for joining us again.

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Tell us why your proposal
-- thank you -- why your
proposal is now broken
up into two separate

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bills.

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SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV):
Well, it's not just mine.

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This has been a group of people
that have started together in
a bipartisan way. It started

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after the election on November
the 4th. We made phone calls
back and forth. Those of

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us who have always worked
together said, we have
got to do something.

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Talked to Susan, talked to
Lisa, talked to all my friends,
Mitt, all my Democratic friends.

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We had a dinner at Lisa's
house, the eight of us there,
the Gang of Eight. And it grew

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exponentially.

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We now have a unanimous group
of people that have agreed on
$748 billion that takes care

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of all of the emergency needs
that we have that will expire
at the end of December, Judy,

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so people will not go without
unemployment checks. It's
$300 a week for 16 weeks. They

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will not go without
food assistance. We put
over $13 billion, and
even helping, basically,

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food banks and everyone else
who is feeding people that
they never fed before because

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of hard times.

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We're taking care of
health care. We're taking
care of basically the
needs that people have

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as a lifeline. All of the
emergencies are taken care of
in this bill, unanimous Democrat

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and Republican. There's no
reason why this wouldn't be
passed immediately if they put

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it on the floor.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: And...

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SEN. JOE MANCHIN: And the only
thing I can tell everybody,
help is on the way. We're

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not leaving. We will not go
home for Christmas. We will not
leave this place until that bill

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is passed.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: And do you have
reason to believe that you're
going to get the support of the

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leadership and the majority of
both political parties behind
what you're putting forward?

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SEN. JOE MANCHIN: Well,
there's no reason why not.

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We have been working and growing
this group of Democrats and
Republicans, from Dick Durbin

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to Rob Portman, people
well-respected within
their political caucuses,
if you will, Democrat

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and Republican. We have
gotten people all in between.

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And this is the only game in
town. There's nobody else has
done what we have done and

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stuck with it. Nobody thought
we would have a bill. We have
a bill of $748 billion, close

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to 600 pages, we have put
together and presented
it tonight. It'll be
on the Internet. You

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can see it. You can look
at every piece of it.

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It's not perfect. I'm sure
that people are going to say,
well, there's things you left

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out.

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I remind you, this is an
emergency see COVID relief
bill, only until April 1.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: And...

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SEN. JOE MANCHIN: Joe Biden
comes in as our president in
January. He can evaluate the

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economy what's -- what
we need to be doing, and
present more if needed.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: And...

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SEN. JOE MANCHIN: This
gets us through the...

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JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Senator...

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SEN. JOE MANCHIN: ... worst,
difficult, challenging time.

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JUDY WOODRUFF:
Excuse me, Senator.

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I listened to your news
conference with the
other Republicans and
Democrats who were on

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board with you on this
compromise, which raises
the question, where
-- again, where is the

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leadership and the rest of
these two political parties?

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As we know, for the Democrats,
one of the main sticking
points has been aid for state

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and local governments. That
money appears to be in a second
proposal, as well as so-called

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liability protection
for businesses,
hospitals and others.

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My question on that is, why
isn't there agreement there? And
is that still going to hold up

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agreement on this, what you put
forward, what we just discussed?

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SEN. JOE MANCHIN: That should
not hold agreement up on this.

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We would love to have one bill.
We have agreed on 4908 billion,
$160 billion for state and

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local need. There's an awful
lot of states. And there's a
lot of people, basically, first

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responders, whether it
be policemen, firemen,
whatever, that we --
essential services -- that

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we need in every state that
are basically reducing their
work force because of a lack

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of revenue. That needs
to be attended to.

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The other is liability.
My Republican friends
believe very strongly
that businesses shouldn't

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be able to sue out of business
-- be sued out of business.

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We, as Democrats, believe that
too. Where they break down
in differences is how -- your

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ability to be able to get into
court, Judy. How do you protect
the workplace? How do you

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protect the worker?

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JUDY WOODRUFF: And do you...

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SEN. JOE MANCHIN: We
have narrowed it down to
just a period of time.

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It's for two years, one year
prior, starting in December
9, 2019, and then ends in the

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end of 2021. So, it's very...

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(CROSSTALK)

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JUDY WOODRUFF: And it's
my understand -- I'm
sorry to interrupt again.

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But it's my understanding
that you at this point are the
only Democrats supporting what

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the Republicans want in terms
of liability protection.

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But what we're hearing, though,
from Democrats, Senator, is that
they're really worried about

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people who work in these
high-vulnerability jobs, like at
meatpacking plants, where they

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would be at a huge disadvantage,
where they would stand to
lose their jobs -- or, rather,

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lose protection and coverage by
their employer if they got sick.

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SEN. JOE MANCHIN: Judy, they
have workers comp. All the
people who are working for the

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large companies or are
working for any company
has workers compensation
to take care of -- I

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mean, yes, workers comp,
in case they get hurt.

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We know that. We're worried
about people, basically, that
might go into a store and

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says, I contracted
it in your place of
business because your...

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JUDY WOODRUFF: Right.

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SEN. JOE MANCHIN: ...
your employers weren't
safe enough, you didn't
sanitize enough, things

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of that sort. There's a lot
of things we didn't know.

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I went ahead and signed onto
that bill with my Republican
colleagues, in the spirit of

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bipartisanship, because,
basically, everyone has to give
and take. My reason is, is, they

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shortened their time element
from five years to two years,
one year back, one year forward,

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not one year back and four
years forward, and made
some other critical changes.

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I'm sure it's not good
enough for a lot of people.

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But here's the thing, Judy. If,
for some reason, they can't come
to an agreement, and the Senate

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and the House Democrats and
Republicans won't agree, then
that stays by itself, because

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those two are -- those two
are one bill, liability
and state and local help.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: But my...

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SEN. JOE MANCHIN: The 748
is the emergency bill, Judy.
That takes care of every need

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every American has with their
lifeline for housing, rental,
basically everything that's

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needed for you to survive,
get through the worst quarter
of next year, which is going

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to be the first quarter.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: So, as we stand
here tonight, Senator Manchin,
are you -- how confident

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are you that that aid bill,
the $748 billion, will pass,
whether or not there's agreement

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on the other issues around
liability protection and aid
for state and local governments?

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SEN. JOE MANCHIN: Judy, I'm
as confident as I am standing
here talking to you that this

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is real.

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This language is done. The
bill is -- this is not just a
concept. Two weeks ago, we gave

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basically an Outline. That's
all we had was an outline
showing you how we come to 908.

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We worked it and worked it
and worked it for the last 30
days, morning, noon and night.

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Our staff has been going around.
We have been on Zoom calls
and phone calls continuously

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every day.

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We have came -- we have come
to this, after a lot, a lot
of discussions, back-and-forth

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bantering, talking to our
caucuses respectively, Democrat
and Republican, and representing

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them. No one else has
done anything like this.

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If the leadership all of a
sudden wants to reinvent the
wheel, that's what they would

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be doing. We would hope that
they would say, thank you all
for what you have done, because,

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sometimes, they hit an impasse.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: Well...

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SEN. JOE MANCHIN: We were able
to work past that impasse. And
we have a bill. I'm confident.

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And if they want to stay
here for Christmas, I
will be right with them.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, we saw the
bipartisanship today. We will
see what the leadership does.

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Senator Joe Manchin of West
Virginia, we thank you.

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SEN. JOE MANCHIN:
Thank you, Judy.