JUDY WOODRUFF: Well,
as you could tell
from Lisa's reporting,
there is a lot at stake
in this aid package, from the
health care system to basic
tenets of the U.S. economy.
It has been a political
battle to find a bipartisan
solution. It still is.
At the center of these talks
for Democrats is the speaker
of the House. Her home state
of California is among the
hardest-hit by the coronavirus.
And Speaker Nancy
Pelosi joins me now.
Madam Speaker, thank you very
much for talking with us.
REP. NANCY PELOSI
(D-CA): Judy, hello.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Hello.
What is your understanding
of the holdup still?
REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well, first,
let me just say that we have
a challenge in our country
that we haven't seen for over
100 years, tens of thousands
of people -- cases, hundreds
of people who have died.
It's really a challenge to
us. And the health issue is
preeminent for all of us.
I just want to thank our men
and women who are health care
providers, our first responders,
and the rest. They are
truly our heroines.
And one of the challenges that
we have is to make sure that
they have all the personal
protective equipment that
they have to do their jobs, so
that they're not taking risks
as they go into help others
and don't bring any problems
home from the office -- of the
workplace.
So, that's -- it's so important,
that we can try to save lives,
but also to respect what
it takes to save those lives
in terms of our health care
providers and first responders,
firefighters, and the rest.
That involves an OSHA rule
that should be - - that isn't
in this bill. That's still a
challenge that we have, and
also just getting the personal
protective equipment to them.
The health issue is everything.
I think the health issue is
central to the economic issue.
The health and the lives and
the livelihood of the American
people are at stake, at risk,
and are uncertain at this
time.
So, when we get to the economic
side, we're very pleased,
actually, that, in the last
few days, the health
-- the Democrats in the
Congress performed some
jujitsu on the bill
that was there. It was from
the top town, corporate
trickle down to the workers.
We turned it completely around
to workers - - for the workers
to bubble up, for the workers
and for the families.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Right.
REP. NANCY PELOSI: So, there are
many provisions in the bill that
are necessary and immediate.
And we would hope that we can
-- the Senate will take up
the bill, so we can bring it
to the floor in the House. We
thought we were on that path,
until some of the Republican
senators objected to the $600
payment that is there, in
addition to the unemployment
insurance.
Lisa did an excellent job
of describing that to you.
(CROSSTALK)
JUDY WOODRUFF: And I want to
ask you, what their argument
is, as you know, is that people
will end up receiving more
in unemployment benefits in
some instances than they would
have earned in their salary. And
they're saying that's a problem.
REP. NANCY PELOSI: But it isn't
a problem. It isn't a problem.
They also say the reason
people want unemployment
insurance is so they
don't have to go to work.
Well, that's not true.
You don't get unemployment
insurance unless you
are fired or unless you
are furloughed. You can't
just quit and say, I'm
going on unemployment.
But the fact is, is that there
is an imbalance in our country
in income, and, therefore,
the unemployment benefits.
But Lisa described it very
well. It's complicated.
It's complicated
to make it calibrate for
every state, so just call
it $600 around the country.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Do you...
REP. NANCY PELOSI: At a time
when the -- the fact is, is
that we are a consumer economy,
and that we really need people
-- put money in people's
pockets, so they can then spend,
inject demand into the
economy, grow the economy,
and that's a good thing.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Do you think
this is going to get resolved?
Are Democrats willing to
give? Are both sides willing
to give, do you think?
Because, as you know, people
are suffering. They're
waiting for this to get done.
REP. NANCY PELOSI: But we
have yielded on many points.
We certainly would have had a
higher direct payment. We would
have had more expanded family
medical leave in here.
We would have had the
OSHA rule protecting
the health care workers.
We would have full benefits
for everyone who gets tested.
Remember, we said free testing,
but we want the whole
procedure to be there.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Right.
REP. NANCY PELOSI: So we
would have pensions in here.
There's other things
that we want that we
will save for another day
because of the urgency
of getting this passed today.
And so this is a Republican
-- among the Republicans,
because, as Lisa
indicated so ably, that
it is House Democrats
and Republicans and the
White House in agreement that we
should have this $600 payment.
And so, either way,
we're talking about $600.
This is -- people are
scared, they're in need,
they have additional expenses.
I don't need to
explain that to you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, let me
-- so, assuming it is passed,
there's something worked out,
how long before the
House can get it passed?
Because people are waiting. Are
you confident you can get --
you can get the sort of what
they call unanimous
consent, which means it
moves very quickly through
the House, is voted
on quickly?
REP. NANCY PELOSI: No, I don't
think we can get unanimous
consent. I think there are a
number of people who are
working their way here on the
Republican side, for sure, and
maybe on the Democratic side,
to object to unanimous consent.
But that is only -- that
was only one option.
The other option is to
take the vote without
a recorded vote, so that members
do not have to be present,
but that we'd have to have
a majority to pass
the legislation.
If, in fact, that doesn't
work, then we're all prepared
-- our distinguished whip, Mr.
Clyburn, and our majority
leader, Mr. Hoyer, have prepared
the way for how members would
participate, and that we could
get the job done just in a
matter of a short period of
time.
We also have the guidance
of our Capitol physician
and the sergeant at
arms to talk about how
members, if they need to come
back, if that is required, that
they could safely participate
on the floor in
debate and in voting.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Right.
REP. NANCY PELOSI:
So, we're ready.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And I'm asking
because, of course, the
House is not in session right
now. You would need
to call members back.
And, again, the people are
waiting and asking, when -- when
is this going to get done? So,
what's the soonest you
think it could be voted out?
REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well, as
soon as the Senate passes it.
That's really the requirement.
It began in the Senate.
We anticipated, when they came
into session at noon, that
they would be bringing it to
the floor shortly. We
were anticipating seeing
the text earlier in the
day. But, obviously,
there's some tweaks or glitches
that need to be resolved,
but nothing as substantive
as taking away a $600 benefit
for people, lower-income
and, shall we say, low-wealth
individuals, who really need
that money to meet -- ends
meet, especially at this time.
And so this was a formula that
was worked out. I'm so proud of
my House Democratic chairmen.
Their wisdom, their
knowledge, their experience,
their strategic thinking
is just dazzling.
And they had a big
impact, working with
the Senate Democrats,
to take this bill from a
corporate-oriented bill
to a worker-oriented bill.
And that -- part of
that is to have the --
America's working families
benefit from the resources
that we're putting
into the bill.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, just
two quick questions.
You are satisfied at this
point with the corporate
oversight in here, inspector
general provisions,
the oversight board?
REP. NANCY PELOSI: Yes. That
was in our House bill, as many
of the things that are in the
Senate bill were
in the House bill.
And that -- yes, I'm satisfied.
I will be satisfied when it
is implemented. But it is
good legislation, and I'm proud
of our -- I salute chairman
-- Leader Schumer for his
great leadership on this
legislation, and the
Senate Democrats as well.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And...
REP. NANCY PELOSI: Speaking
from my own House, though, I'm
dazzled by my own chairmen and
their -- and, right now, all
day, they -- all day, we have
had all-day sessions, with each
chairman explaining what is
in the bill and answering
questions, to the extent that we
have that information
from the other side.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And --
which reminds me, in a
different regard, we're
hearing from governors.
They don't think there's enough
money in there for their states.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo
has said, not enough for New
York. Is that something the
House could fix? And what about
your own state of California?
REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well, we
can't fix it in this bill.
We wanted more money.
There's $150 billion
in state stabilization
funds. We wanted more.
That's what we -- was in
the bill. But this is not
going to be the last bill.
We began this with two bills
that were about emergency,
emergency funding, legislation
to address the emergency,
testing and research
and so many things.
Then this bill is about
mitigation for the damage that
is being done by the economic
challenge this presents, as
well as, first and foremost,
the health challenge.
The next phase will be recovery.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Ah.
REP. NANCY PELOSI: But
none of these has ended.
We will still be doing
emergency and mitigation,
but then going into recovery.
And we need much more
money for our states. And
that money goes down to
cities and municipalities.
So, we're calling upon the
Fed, to Chairman Powell, to be
more generous, to -- he told
me, think big, because the
interest rates are low. I'm
telling him to think big and
help our states, because they
are taking a big bite of this
wormy apple, and they need
many -- much more in
terms of resources.
So, again, seeing what the Fed
does, and what the nature of
how this grows, we're going
to have to come back and put
more funds in. The concerns
that the governors put forth
are very well-founded.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And, just
finally, so we understand
what the process is
that you're looking at,
there could be -- I hear you
saying, as a last resort,
you could do remote voting.
REP. NANCY PELOSI: No, I didn't
say that. I never said that.
(LAUGHTER)
JUDY WOODRUFF: OK. What...
REP. NANCY PELOSI: I don't think
we're capable - - we're not...
(CROSSTALK)
JUDY WOODRUFF: Then, you said
members could weigh in without
being present; is that right?
REP. NANCY PELOSI: No, what
-- no, what I said -- forgive
me if I mis -- if I wasn't
clear.
What I said was, we would take
a vote, an unrecorded vote. If
someone calls for a recorded
vote, then we would have
a process whereby members
could vote by proxy.
A large number of our members
want to be here, and some who
can't can vote by proxy. If,
in time, the decision
is made that we should
establish remote voting,
that has a constitutional
challenge, a technological
challenge, and a security
challenge that our chair of the
Rules Committee put forth
in a report just the
beginning of this week.
And that may be, at some
point, where we have
to make a decision. But
in order to go there,
you have to take a vote.
You have to be present to
take a vote to do that.
JUDY WOODRUFF: But
you're saying it could be
done within a few days?
REP. NANCY PELOSI: Yes.
And it's no use having
a conversation about
what might happen later.
What is in the here
and now -- and I thank you
for asking -- is that we are
ready. We hope that they would
freeze the design, and
whatever the difference
is on the Republican side.
Please don't resent our
lowest-paid workers in America
for getting $600, so that they
can meet the needs of their
families, spend the money. It's
immediate. Spend the money,
inject demand into the economy,
grow the economy, and, at the
same time, give people a little
more confidence and less stress
as they deal with the important
health issue, health challenge
that this is.
We pray for those who have
lost their loved ones and those
whose are -- whose family are
affected by all of this. We
pray and thank God for our
health care workers, our first
responders, our firefighters,
and police officers, and
emergency services people.
They are our heroes
in all of this, and
we're grateful to them.
JUDY WOODRUFF: No
question about it.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
we thank you very much.
REP. NANCY PELOSI: Thank
you, Judy. My pleasure.