Senate Passes Coronavirus Rescue Package On Unanimous Vote

Speaker 1: 00:00 It's now estimated by County officials that if social distancing is not maintained by the public, covert 19 cases in San Diego may continue to double every three days and the county's hospital beds will be filled by April 14th. That serious warning comes on the heels of new numbers showing coven 19 cases rising to nearly 300 in San Diego back in Washington. D C legislators are saying that help is on the way, at least financially, a $2 trillion relief package for workers, small businesses, healthcare providers, and local governments was approved unanimously by the Senate last night. Tomorrow, a vote is expected in the house of representatives. Joining us is Congressman Mike Levin, who represents San Diego's 49th congressional district. Congressman Levin, welcome to the program. Speaker 2: 00:51 Thank you for having me. Speaker 1: 00:53 Is the bill passed by the Senate last night going to a vote in the house with no changes. Speaker 2: 00:59 Uh, that's my understanding. A Marine and it's a bit of a moving target because it's such a huge, uh, bill, I have the PDF open on my screen right now. It's 880 pages, a $2 trillion in really impacts, so, so many different aspects of this crisis, whether it be the public health crisis, uh, or the economic crisis. Of course, to solve the economic crisis we've got to solve the public health crisis. And, uh, you know, I know my colleagues are all reading through it as I am. And then, uh, also, uh, somewhat unclear as whether we're going to need to go back to Washington, uh, in person for a vote. Uh, or not, that's still being resolved. I do know that the bill will be considered on the floor beginning, uh, tomorrow at 9:00 AM Eastern time. Speaker 1: 01:45 We heard today that 3 million people filed for unemployment last week. That's the highest number ever. What is in this relief bill for them? Speaker 2: 01:55 Well, I think first people should know that we were able to turn what was really a corporation's first proposal into a bill that far more focuses on workers and families. We successfully negotiated a massive investment in the unemployment insurance program and some critical reforms to make the program more effective. Uh, we expanded the unemployment insurance to allow part time and self-employed and gig economy workers to access benefits. Uh, we added an extra 13 weeks of, uh, federally funded unemployment, uh, and we secured another $600 on top of, uh, the base unemployment benefit, uh, which I hope, uh, for many Americans will mean that they can, uh, get at least close to their average paycheck. Uh, well struggling through this, uh, crisis. Uh, we also included a cash payments. That was something that was debated very heavily. I felt it was a really appropriate, uh, and, uh, working Americans are going to be able to get a cash payment and it's a scale depending their income. Uh, but if you're making less than $7,500, or excuse me, $75,000 a year, you're going to be getting a $1,200 per person. Speaker 1: 03:09 When can people expect to see that money? Speaker 2: 03:12 Well, according to treasury secretary Minutian, if you are a, uh, filer tax filer and you've set up, uh, your refunds electronically, uh, what I was, uh, told is that about three weeks from now is when about 50 million Americans will see those checks or see the, the, uh, direct deposits into their bank accounts. On the other hand, if you don't have that, uh, set up, uh, with the IRS and it could take a bit longer, you know, obviously we want people to get this money as soon as possible and they did it through the IRS. So specifically to try to accelerate the deployment of those direct cash payments. Speaker 1: 03:51 Now this is a $2 trillion relief package that's almost more money than anybody can imagine. Where is the government getting that money? The treasury doesn't have 2 trillion sitting in a vault somewhere. Speaker 2: 04:02 Well, it's deeply concerning, but we already have a $23 trillion national debt, and I do worry that we're going to have to increase that debt, uh, in order to pay for a lot of this. This really is a, a huge, uh, emergency in this country and it requires a response that's, uh, up to the challenge. I think the, uh, calculation here is one where we can't devastate the economy, uh, in the near term, uh, but we're going to have to borrow in order to have that fiscal stability in the near term. And, and it, it, uh, no question, uh, will lead to problems down the road. I was just mentioning to a constituent that, you know, our grandchildren are going to have to pay the bill, uh, for a lot of these provisions, uh, whether it be the loans to businesses or the small business loans, the, the direct household payments saw the different tax provisions that direct aid to States, the unemployment insurance, et cetera, et cetera. All of these have huge price tags. And you know, we have to remember that this bill, uh, is roughly equivalent to 9% of our gross domestic product. It's the biggest bill I really in the history of the United States, uh, from, uh, a onetime, uh, spending perspective. Speaker 1: 05:17 And you think perhaps additional relief or stimulus might be needed to get the country out of the economic impact of the outbreak? Is that right? Speaker 2: 05:27 Well, we just don't know. And this is the third bill now that we've done. We initially had an eight point $3 billion bill a few weeks ago. Uh, at the time it seemed like a, you know, a pretty robust, uh, response. And then we passed $104 billion bill. The family's first bill that provided two weeks of, uh, extended leave. And, and we thought at the time, you know, that was robust, but we've seen the exponential growth of, uh, covert 19 and you know, that is impacting us all, uh, and the draconian, um, social distancing measures and stay at home, uh, measures that have been adopted in California, which, which are absolutely the right things to do to prevent the virus from spreading any further in any faster than it has to. Uh, but make no mistake, I think in the months ahead we're going to have to take a wait and see approach. Speaker 2: 06:20 I would have liked to see and one of the things that wasn't in the bill, uh, a some sort of, um, trigger whether it be via GDP or unemployment rate, where the cash payments and the unemployment assistance, uh, was ongoing so that we wouldn't have to keep going back to the well again and again and again. But if they would have linked it to, you know, somehow to GDP or unemployment that didn't make it what instead we've got our four months in fact of extended unemployment benefits. So going from 26 weeks to 39 weeks with that extra $600 a week, uh, added onto the, uh, normal unemployment rate. Uh, we there, there are other things in here that we're going to have to work through as well. One of the problems I see is that, you know, in San Diego County we've got a number of smaller municipalities. I like those in my district and the way that the 150 billion for state and local governments is currently structured. Uh, bigger cities like the city of San Diego can receive funding directly, but smaller cities, whether it be Carlsbad or Oceanside or Vista or any, any of the cities in my district, they're going to need a pass through through San Diego County. So just another layer to complicate the process. And I've expressed my concern, uh, to, uh, to house leadership. And it's just one of many things we're gonna need to address in future legislation. Speaker 1: 07:38 I've been speaking with Congressman Mike Levin, Congressman Levin. Thank you. Speaker 2: 07:43 Thank you for having me. Speaker 3: 07:48 [inaudible].