WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons joined MSNBC’s Katy Tur to provide an update on the Senate’s plan for economic relief during the pandemic of COVID-19, the disease linked with a novel coronavirus.

 “I’m supporting a proposal that will freeze people’s requirements to make payments on federally guaranteed loans. So whether that is a home mortgage or a business loan or a student loan that would have an impact across millions of families and businesses across our country,” Senator Coons said. “We should take up and pass today the roughly $100 billion Family First bill that has come over from the House, and what the average American needs to see is not partisan bickering in the Senate, but our working together to find a sustainable package that can move us forward.”

Audio and video are available here. A transcript is below. 

Q:  Senator, thank you for being here with us. What’s happening right now?

Sen. Coons: Well Katy, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act has been passed by the House and is waiting for action here in the Senate. It’s my hope and expectation that we will take it up and pass it later today. The Republican caucus has just finished their lunch with Secretary Mnuchin. Senator Schumer and the Democratic Caucus has put forward what I think is a bold plan for the next round of stimulus that we’re going to need. This focuses on making sure that families and workers who are most at risk from this infection get the support and assistance they need while also recognizing that lots of the small businesses where people work are facing significant challenges. We’ve had a very long conference call of our caucus – we’re not meeting in person – to talk through a range of ideas. How to deal with voting by mail for the primaries that will happen after today’s primary, how to provide support through loans or grants to small businesses, how to make sure that the workers who are most likely to be laid off get quick access to expanded unemployment insurance and sick pay, and frankly how to make sure that the medical equipment that you were just talking about gets delivered to our strained public health resources all across the country.

Q: So I have a lot of questions and I’m going to break them down. First let's start with what is going to go into American’s pockets quickly. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin was saying today that a cash infusion, direct checks to Americans, the talk is that it’s going to be $1000 for everybody making less than $1 million. That is great to get into Americans pockets right now, but for many people it is not nearly enough. What do you say to that?

Sen. Coons: That’s right, Katy. It’s certainly one of the things that will be discussed here this week, but I’m supporting a proposal that will freeze people’s requirements to make payments on federally guaranteed loans. So whether that is a home mortgage or a business loan or a student loan that would have an impact across millions of families and businesses across our country. I think a one-time cash payment of $1000 is far below what we need to be seriously considering, and we need to make sure that before we sign on to some massive bailout of industries, that we focus on workers and families, and on making sure that longer term sustained support for things like unemployment insurance, retraining and skilling, access to health insurance and health care, those are provided. Unemployment insurance for the folks who are facing layoffs right now can put $20-$25,000 in a family’s pocket over the course of the year. That’s more important than a one-time $1,000 check.

Q: Bill De Blasio, New York City’s mayor was saying that the shutdown of businesses across the city could last over the summer, could last into September. That is so much money I can’t even fathom it. Not to mention just the individual suffering that that would cause among those who need to pay rent, need to pay their mortgages, need to pay their utility bills, need to buy groceries, car loans. Is there talk, is it even feasible to have a suspension of bills for a month or two and then have the federal government, instead of handing over cash to everybody, if no one is paying rent, if no one is paying utilities, instead making that infusion at the top at the banks, at the city, and at the state level so that the top gets funded still, but those below it are relieved from their daily bills?

Sen. Coons: That is a proposal that I’ve actually heard earlier today from a number of business groups, but let me be clear. Those who were here during ‘08 and ‘09 are very concerned about not signing on to a one-time massive bailout of banks that doesn’t bring with it protections for workers and for families. There is, I think a sense of those who were here – I wasn’t – back in 2008, 2009 that they did bailouts for Wall Street that did not trickle down to working families. So we’re going to try to find balance in this package. We should take up and pass today the roughly $100 billion Families First bill that has come over from the House, and what the average American needs to see is not partisan bickering in the Senate, but our working together to find a sustainable package that can move us forward.

Q: People are going to default anyway, so that is an interesting question, unfortunately. Senator one last thing from you: a War Production Board much like what we had in WWII, is the federal government, is there talk about that and why has the President not asked American industries to start producing things that hospitals desperately need? Where is the Army Corps of Engineers? 

Sen. Coons: Well that’s a two-part question. First, representatives from the Administration have been talking to American manufacturers who produce some of these critical components. But you’re asking the right larger question, which is there’s a big difference between World War II when we had all the elements of manufacturing here in the United States, and today where we’ve suffered 20 years of offshoring. I can't get a needed prescription filled because the critical components are all made in China. So we need to look hard at how we bring back into the United States some of the critical components of making both pharmaceuticals and critically needed devices for health care, but we also need to deploy our federal resources, Veterans Administration hospitals, DOD resources, the Army Corps of Engineers to make sure that we quickly stand up the resources we need as emergency rooms around the country are getting strained.

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