CNN "Newsroom" - Transcript Interview with Nancy Pelosi

Interview

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Joining us now, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Madam Speaker, thanks very much for taking the time this morning.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): My pleasure, thank you.

SCIUTTO: I want to begin, if I can, on economic relief for Americans going through the economic effects of this --

PELOSI: Yes.

SCIUTTO: -- as you know, that additional $600 unemployment benefit is going to end in just two weeks. Can you find common ground before then with Republicans?

PELOSI: Well, I certainly hope so. Not only will that end, but the unemployment benefits will end, the last checks will be going out the last week in July. So it is absolutely urgent that we pass the legislation, the HEROES Act, that we had proposed -- tomorrow it will be two months since we passed the HEROES Act with the -- putting money in the pockets of the American people, the unemployment insurance and the direct payments.

You talked about the moratorium on evictions ending now, we have over 100 -- almost $200 billion in there, $100 billion to help renters and $75 billion to help people meet their mortgage payments, as well as more -- other money for people who are homeless, in rural housing, specific initiatives. Very important.

And so --

SCIUTTO: OK.

PELOSI: -- it's about -- the other element of jobs is that our funds to -- our -- so aptly named for our heroes, our health care workers, our first responders, our sanitation workers, food workers, teachers, teachers, teachers, all paid by state and local government. And we have the resources in the bill for state and local governments, which are essential.

And it all relates specifically to their outlays on the coronavirus and their loss of revenue because of the coronavirus.

SCIUTTO: OK, that --

PELOSI: So this is very important that we do.

SCIUTTO: -- as -- as you know far better than me, it's all about horst-trading at this point. A priority for the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, and other Republicans, is liability protection. Is that something that you'd be willing to give on?

PELOSI: Well, I -- what does he mean by that? Does he mean essential workers have to go to work; if they don't, they lose their unemployment insurance? And if they get sick there, they have no recourse? I think a better path would be for them to join us in our OSHA, strong OSHA provision that is in the HEROES Act. We've had in every bill, they've not accepted it.

But, once again, a strong OSHA provision, which gives protection not only to the worker but to the employer. If in fact they put into place the precautions, the protections that are in the OSHA bill if someone gets sick, they have been protected because they've honored the OSHA rule.

But if they just don't want to do that and just say, You have to go to work, you're essential, you don't get unemployment benefits unless you come -- and we have no responsibility if you get sick? It's not just about workers though. It's about customers and clients and other people who have exposure to any particular workplace.

SCIUTTO: For sure.

PELOSI: So this protects the employer, protects the worker, protects the customer.

SCIUTTO: Question on time, because of course your recess is fast approaching. Would you be willing to delay that recess or forego it to get to a deal, to get a new stimulus package?

PELOSI: Was he speaking?

SCIUTTO: Sorry, Speaker, can you hear me?

PELOSI: Hmm.

SCIUTTO: Did we lose you entirely, Speaker Pelosi?

Lost the audio there, we're going to try to get that prepared -- repaired, rather.

PELOSI: I hear you again, OK. We lost you there. SCIUTTO: There she is, she's back. Speaker Pelosi, apologies.

Technology gets in the way.

I was asking you just about timing, because the August recess is fast approaching.

PELOSI: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Would you be willing to forego that or delay that to get to a deal to extend benefits?

PELOSI: Oh, we absolutely have to. We also have to come to an agreement. The timetable is the timetable of the American people, needing their unemployment insurance, their direct payments, their assistance for rent and mortgage, foreclosure, forbearance in terms of that. And we need it for states and localities, to be able to pay their employees who are meeting the needs --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

PELOSI: -- of their constituents. And you know what, we need it to open the economy by testing, tracing, treating --

SCIUTTO: Right.

PELOSI: -- isolating. We need to do that. And we call upon the president of the United States to employ the Defense Production Act so that we can have the equipment to test, the equipment to evaluate the test. It's no use taking a test if you're not going to find out for a week whether you're positive or negative.

[10:35:02]

The PPE that is --

SCIUTTO: Fair point --

PELOSI: -- necessary for the schools needs to be produced under the Defense Production Act.

So this is a path to opening the economy and opening our schools. For some reason, the president has resisted that but this is an absolute must.

SCIUTTO: Let me get -- I do want to get to schools. But just quickly, as you saw, the president yesterday is still insisting that you test more, you get more cases. He's still in that mindset.

Given there's no sign of a national plan on things such as testing, coming from this White House, I wonder how the House, how Congress is filling that void. We're months in, deaths and cases are still rising -- spiking.

PELOSI: Well, thank you for asking. That's part of the HEROES Act, but it's been part of what we had been proposing all along. Our very first bill, March 4th, was testing, testing, testing. We increased funding in the recent PPP bill, testing, testing, testing. It's just that the administration has not done what it should do.

So in our plan, rather than trusting the administration to use their funds the way you would expect them to rely on science to do, in our bill, we have very clear directive, a strategy for testing, tracing, treatment. And again, all of this, sanitation, the distancing, the mask-wearing, et cetera.

But we have to do this. But you really can't do it unless you have the equipment. We don't have the equipment.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

PELOSI: Even if we had a vaccine -- God willing, we will soon, but it won't be for months. We don't even have the syringes and the vials. So Defense Production Act, let's anticipate, let's take responsibility. We have a plan and there -- Frank Pallone, the chair of our Energy and Commerce Committee, working with his committee, working with other committees, has put that in there: real direction to get it done.

And it's necessary --

SCIUTTO: OK.

PELOSI: -- to us to address the disparity in how this is an assault on people of color and low-income people who don't have as much access to health care and to the testing.

And so, again --

SCIUTTO: OK.

PELOSI: -- more testing. So when the president says more testing means more cases, I don't even -- yeah, let's --

SCIUTTO: Well, and it's --

PELOSI: -- not go there, let's just talk about science, science, science. Governance --

SCIUTTO: Fair.

PELOSI: -- governance, governance, governance. How they work together --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

PELOSI: -- to defeat this virus.

SCIUTTO: And that's what we try to do every day on this show.

I want to ask you, because your home state of California has shut down early, they got the outbreak under control, they reopened and they're seeing cases spiking again. I mean, I wonder, did California open too fast, too soon? And do you believe that states now experiencing these spikes need to shut down again? PELOSI: Well, I do believe that our governor -- Governor Newsom -- has done an excellent job. And I do also know that he had some pressure from different regions of the state who have experienced the virus differently. And a lot of the -- many of the decisions that have to be made relate to the rate of infection in your area. And those -- those areas that used their discretion to open up, now are closing down again.

I do think we should look to our friends in other countries. When they had a serious lockdown -- serious lockdown, 90-some percent lockdown, they won in the fight against the virus.

So, again --

SCIUTTO: Right.

PELOSI: -- regions have to make their decisions. We should be able to give them the equipment to do so in testing, tracing, treating, et cetera.

But it is a recognition that unless you have a very, very low percentage of incidence of the infection, you really have to consider locking down.

SCIUTTO: All right. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, we appreciate you joining the program this morning.

PELOSI: My pleasure. Don't forget, the Defense Production Act, it's the answer to so much. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: We'll keep talking about it, you have a good afternoon.

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