On CBS News this Sunday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi talked to Margaret Brennan about the latest effort for coronavirus relief on Face The Nation. Pelosi chatted about the Center for Disease Control & Prevention, testing, isolation, and the path scientists advise as the nation faces the novel coronavirus. When it comes to passing the next phase of economic relief in the Senate, Pelosi argued on behalf of humanity and meeting people where they’re at sooner rather than later, stressing that “people are hungry across America” and “people are jobless across America.” Let’s check out the clips below.
Brennan opens the interview by asking Pelosi if she feels that the CDC “let the American people down?” Pelosi replies by noting that the president recently cut the CDC’s budget and that the big picture was “testing, tracing, treatment, and isolation” as “the path” that “scientists advise.”
That topic bled pretty seamlessly into the latest relief package, known as the HEROES Act. The $3 trillion economic relief bill passed in the House on Friday, and people are already seriously concerned that it won’t pass in the Republican-ruled Senate.
Brennan referenced that some Republicans “are looking at a different deadline,” arguing that the “enhanced unemployment benefits that exist now don’t expire until July.” Basically, many Republicans are arguing that we should reopen the economy and see where pieces fall, which doesn’t address the immediate need, and also puts unfair pressure on people to risk health and safety by returning to work. She asked: “Why do you think there’s not merit to that argument that a few more weeks before crafting a bill could be more effective?”
Pelosi summed up her point succinctly by saying: “Time is of the essence.” She continued in part: “Across the country, Republican and Democratic mayors, governors and the rest all want this bill to happen in terms of the investments in state and local and tribal and territorial governments… And also in terms of the testing to be done across the country, largely at the state level.”
She added that we have already “lost time,” but again framed the discussion was one moving forward instead of focusing on “how we got here.”
“They may think it's OK to pause,” she continued. “Well people are hungry across America. Hunger doesn't take a pause. People are jobless across America. That doesn't take a pause. People don't know how they're going to pay their rent across the country. We have to address this with humanity.”
Here is that clip.
In reference to healthcare workers, sanitation professionals, and teachers who are worried about unemployment because of local budget cuts, Pelosi added: “Many of these people risk their lives to save lives, and now they may lose their jobs.”
You can check out the full interview below.