Cardinal Timothy Dolan on keeping faith during the coronavirus outbreak

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Cardinal Timothy Dolan on keeping faith during the coronavirus outbreak

Pope Francis delivers world blessing in an empty Vatican City; Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan speaks out.

This is a rush transcript from "Your World with Neil Cavuto," March 27, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: All right, that's a wrap on the week of the markets that, even with today's big falloff, still among the better weeks for the Dow, at least, in a number of decades.

Welcome, everybody. I'm Neil Cavuto.

You're looking live at the White House, where the president will be formally signing that rescue measure here that can't come a moment too soon, better than $2 trillion worth of spending to goose the economy, to help those directly impacted by the virus.

He will be addressing the nation. I think you're familiar with the drill here, as he does so. This is all going to be on tape. He signs the measure, maybe takes questions. We will get a better idea of who is in the Oval Office with him for this grand occasion.

This is the most expensive relief measure in American history. And yet we have a guest who's coming on later who says, you know, $2 trillion won't come close to covering the added issues that have to be addressed here.

At the corner of Wall and Broad, a big sell-off a lot of that over concerns that that $2 trillion, as I said, might not be enough.

American Airlines out with a statement that, even with the aid it is likely to get, it is still likely looking at some layoffs.

So much to get into. Let's see how we got here and that measure got to the president's desk.

Chad Pergram on that from the Capitol.

Hey, Chad.

CHAD PERGRAM, FOX NEWS CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Neil.

Well, there was a lot of drama here at the Capitol, not so much that they would pass this $2.2 trillion phase three legislative response to coronavirus, but it was how and when.

Thomas Massie, Republican congressman from Northern Kentucky, threatened to try to not so much block it, but delay it. He thought there should be a roll call vote, meaning all members would have to file back into the chamber and conduct a roll call vote.

Now, that was something that flew in the face of the advice that the office of the attending position had given here at the Capitol. They were going to, you know, try to space out members, maybe 30 at a time, 20 at a time coming into the House chamber, and the vote would probably take four or five hours.

The other option here was that he might make a point of order that the House was operating not in compliance with the Constitution. Article 1, Section 5 says that you have to have a quorum in the House chamber before you can do anything else.

And so that could potentially have delayed the vote to tomorrow or over the weekend. You need 216 members out of the current 430 members to conduct business.

Well, what happened is that the Democratic leadership, the Republican leadership got together to block Thomas Massie. They engineered a plan where they actually got a lot of House members who flew in. Thomas Massie was successful in that sense, bringing members to Capitol Hill from the four corners of the country.

And they even spread them out in the House chamber. They spread them out in the public viewing gallery, and they had a quorum present, and then they approve this by voice vote.

Now, the president, he incinerated Thomas Massie earlier today on Twitter. He said -- quote -- "It looks like a third-rate grandstander named Thomas Massie wants to vote -- wants to -- wants to vote against the coronavirus bill. Let's win back the House, but throw Massie out of the Republican Party."

And Thomas Massie after the vote, he said, well, I'm at least a second-rate grandstander. He was none too pleased. He was critical of Kevin McCarthy and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He said that they worked against him and didn't even give him the opportunity to speak on the House floor.

But the House and the Senate, they have now aligned on this coronavirus bill. They got it down to the White House very quickly, which is why the president's going to speak and sign this posthaste.

And then there's a lot of questions, what do they have to do with phase four? You talk about the airlines. Rodney Davis, a Republican congressman from Illinois, he indicated today that when he flew in from Saint Louis, there were four people on the airplane and two were other members of Congress. He said the plane was virtually empty.

I have one former colleague who told me that he took a cross-country flight yesterday. You eliminate the taxes and the gas and everything else, and the flight was 55 cents, the actual airline portion of that. So that's why they think they might have to do more for the airlines.

And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Neil, today said that they probably have to come back and address that. She was particularly interested in addressing the pension issue. President Trump was on board with the speaker on that. But that is something that Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader said, will wait for another day.

The House and Senate are going to be out for several weeks now. They just wanted to get members out of the building. This was a health issue that they were very concerned about here on Capitol Hill, but the deed is done. The bill is now at the White House.

CAVUTO: All right, Chad, thank you very, very much.

Again, we're waiting to hear from the president. He formerly signs that stimulus measure, the first of what could be many such stimulus plans, as Chad outlined here.

I might have misstated something when I talked about the impact on the airlines. It was United Airlines that said it's concerned that it will still have to reduce its work force as a result, and despite this aid package.

CEO Oscar Munoz and United's president, Scott Kirby, who's scheduled to take the helm later next month, had a message, in which they tersely told workers: "The global economy has taken a big hit. And we don't expect travel demand to snap back for some time."

So that seems to be the first clear indication from a premier airline, to say nothing of just a premier Fortune 500 concern, that this package might help a little bit, but it's not going to prevent layoffs.

So we will be waiting on the impact there and benefits that could come, but eventually waiting for those benefits to come at that.

Lieutenant General Russel Honore joins us right now. The general, you might recall, was there in New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina. Wouldn't you know New Orleans has emerged as sort of like a quasi-new ground zero in coronavirus cases, at least on a per capita basis.

It and Louisiana have seen a dramatic uptick in such cases.

The General now joins me to look at how we're all responding to this.

General, good to have you. Thank you for coming.

What do you think of our response?

LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Well, I think, right now, we're losing the battles. We're losing the battle in New York, in California, Washington and now in New Orleans.

In order to win a war, Neil, to use of metaphor, you got to win battles. We're not winning right now. We're losing. And this invisible enemy, as people refer to it, has its eyes on other states like Florida, and now Alabama, and Texas.

It will continue to move. We got to start winning battles. We have got to be able to flatten that line in those battleground areas that have a high number of people that's sick and they're showing up at hospitals.

We have got to -- and this is where I disagree with something that heard Dr. Fauci say last night. And he's an expert at working these viruses. I understand that. But when you look at the principle of war that we are -- we can reduce the amount of testing once you become a hot zone, I disagree with that.

Let me give you an example. I'm talking to nurses that I worked with during Katrina. Now, that was just a half-million people involved there. What those nurses are telling me and what I saw this morning in the information coming from a hospital in New Orleans, they had 19 of the staff tested positive.

They had to quarantine 300 members of the staff of this one hospital system. We have got to get the testing, because everybody they got quarantined should immediately went in and got a test to see if they test positive or not.

That's where I disagree with this idea, once you become a hot zone, you can lighten up. But we can't lighten up on testing, because we got the walking wounded, as we may use that term in the Army, is infecting other people, and you don't know.

I have got nurses telling me they're seeing people three times at urgent care clinics. The first time, they come in, they're showing symptoms of pneumonia. The second time they come in, they're showing symptoms of double pneumonia. And the next time, they're seeing them at the hospital because they can't breathe at all. And then they didn't get a test until the second time.

We have got to improve testing if we're going to save more lives, and we have got to improve testing so our first responders can get a test returned within two to three hours before they go on to another shift. Neil.

We're losing because we got to fight this enemy on the front. And to do that, we have got to get testing speeded up, and we have got to solve the PPE problem.

I talked to a nurse this morning. They are prohibited from saying that anything about PPE. The head nurse called in and said, if you get caught saying something, we're going to fire you.

We need to start paying these nurses and the people who clean these hospital hazardous duty pay. I'd rather see them get hazardous duty pay than to give the money right up front to Boeing and other companies.

I like Boeing. I like the airplane. But right now we got to win this war with the warriors in contact, and the warriors in contact don't have what they need.

And the president need to use it defense authorization bill. And as these planes are flying in across America, and when they land, they have to go through a customs check. Those that have PPE on them need to be managed by FEMA, because we got hospitals now without PPE.

We got hospitals that's going to be out in two days. We have to manage this stock as a federal asset, as opposed to each state trying to manage it, Neil.

CAVUTO: Do you think then, General, what you're saying -- I mean, we're obviously getting -- because we have better testing now, we're getting more reported cases of the virus in the country.

In fact, we have moved up to the top over China, if you can believe the data they give us, but it's the only data we have, that we lead China. Death cases are accelerating here as well.

I'm just wondering how you prevent and how you prevented panic during the Katrina time, because people start to panic. How do you control that?

HONORE: Well, we got to make sure people know, if we don't have confidence, and give the nurses and the doctors who are treating the patients that they're going to be tested whenever required within a one-day period, within a matter of hours -- there are tests now that will tell you if you got the symptoms.

Yet we are isolating people for 14 days because they were next to somebody who came up positive. We have got to fix that. This -- what we're doing is not sustainable, for our first responders and our nurses and doctors, for them to stay on the front line, because the number of patients continue to go up, and we still haven't fixed this supply problem.

CAVUTO: All right.

HONORE: We have got to fix the supply problem.

We can't leave it to the states to fend for their own. That's why we have the federal system, in a time of need, to use these laws to look at across the United States which hospitals are out of PPE, which ones have two-day supply, which have 10-day supply.

CAVUTO: All right.

HONORE: Because, right now, the airplanes are coming in from China and other places, because that resupply is coming from outside the country.

CAVUTO: General, thank you very, very much.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: There must be something to what you just said, because -- got it my, friend -- because we're getting word now from the White House.

This is coming, the market watches, something that the general just addressed.

The president has now ordered General Motors to make ventilators under the Defense Production Act. He was quite critical of GM and Mary Barra, the chief executive officer there, for not doing more to aggressively follow up on his requests. Well, now it's become an order.

All right, to Robert Wolf right now, the former UBS America CEO, who has been arguing that the money, though generous it might seem on paper, the $2 trillion up front, isn't going to be enough.

That's kind of what the general was just hinting at, Robert. What do you think of this?

ROBERT WOLF, FORMER ADVISER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: Yes, I thought it was a fascinating discussion you have.

I mean, obviously, he's talking about the health care and the pandemic side. I will focus on the economic side, because it's clear you have to stop the pandemic before you get this economy to resolve.

I think that $2 trillion wasn't enough. And I wouldn't even call it a stimulus package. I would call it a stabilization package or an aid package.

What we did is, we did a phase one. But it's clear, Neil, after yesterday's jobless claims numbers, which we think 3.3 million is going to be incredibly low vs. what we're going to see, that we're going to happen have a deep recession in the second quarter, GDP will probably be negative 25 percent, unemployment will be at double digits.

And the question we have to ask ourselves is, how do we make sure we don't have an L-shaped recovering, we get a U-shaped recovery?

And the key is going to be what we do the next two phases. So my view is, the next phase, you have to really focus on the hospitals and the health care workers first, get this pandemic behind us.

Secondly, focus on the states. You have to make sure the states are vibrant and able to do what they need to do. And then third is more direct payments, real direct payments to those employees that I am calling furloughed.

They're not unemployed. They have been furloughed. So you need more of a payroll system than what I would call unemployment insurance. That's just all the -- what I would say the next few phases.

Then you have to go to the consumer side, where you and I have talked about, where you got to talk about the sales tax and the payroll tax. And how do you make sure that the consumer is able to get money back into the system?

And then the last thing would be, I would have a coronavirus recovery bond, like we did...

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: Well, let me ask you about that, Robert, real quickly. We're tight on time.

WOLF: Sorry.

CAVUTO: But the president -- I'm sorry, Robert -- has indicated that he's now ordering GM, get on the stick with these ventilators. He is using the Defense production Act to that.

What do you think of such measures, because we could see more of them?

WOLF: I love the idea.

Let's be clear. In '09, where you and I were talking, you had the Recovery Act.

CAVUTO: Right.

WOLF: We helped the auto sector bail out. Now it's time that anyone who can help with ventilators, masks, anyone that can help with this pandemic, that starts first.

CAVUTO: All right.

WOLF: And then we can figure out how to pay them for it.

Has to be immediate.

CAVUTO: All right, fair enough, Robert.

I'm sorry to jump on you there.

WOLF: Absolutely.

CAVUTO: And I'm sorry I do this.

(CROSSTALK)

WOLF: Thank you, Neil.

CAVUTO: We haven't worked out these technical kinks here.

Just to let you know -- and that was Robert Wolf, of course, of Wall Street, UBS fame.

The president has now demanded that GM make these ventilators. He's not asking anymore. We're going to be hearing from the president momentarily, as he signs that big initiative, which, if Robert Wolf is right, could be conceivably chump change in the scheme of things.

Stay with us. You're watching "Your World."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): Most people are on a ventilator for two, three, four days.

These COVID patients can come in and need a ventilator for up to 20 days. So, you see why that need for ventilators is so important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAVUTO: All right, Governor Cuomo saying, we just need a lot more of these ventilators

And the president saying he is no longer going to be asking about companies to make this, in the case of GM, demanding it, authorizing, under the Defense Production Act, an outright order for GM to start making ventilators, and hop to it.

My next guest, Geoff Martha, is the incoming CEO of Medtronic, a big medical device-maker, ventilators included.

Mr. Martha, thank you for taking the time.

What do you think of the president utilizing this Defense Act to demand this of companies, GM so far, but what do you make of that?   GEOFF MARTHA, INCOMING CEO, MEDTRONIC: Well, when it comes to the existing ventilator companies, I would say that we're doing all we can to produce everything we can already.

And speaking for Medtronic, we're very -- we're in constant contact with the White House. And we have been very transparent about our production and how we're ramping that.

So, I don't know that, for the -- the existing ventilator companies, I don't see how the DPA is going to get us to -- enable us to produce any more than we -- than we already are.

And so I actually think the one concern I have...

CAVUTO: So, the overall number of them -- but the number on the market, Mr. Martha, do you see that?

They want to see a dramatic uptick in that, triple the production rate naturally we're seeing. Is that doable?

MARTHA: Well, it's a matter of timing.

So, we have talked about it with our production. It's already up 40 percent from January, when the -- when the virus first hit China. And now we're going to double that in the next coming weeks, and then double that again by July.

And so it is doable, tripling, quadrupling production.

But, look, make no mistake that the supply -- or the demand is vastly outstripping the supply right now.

CAVUTO: Do you see that continuing?

Because, in New York, as I'm sure you're aware, sir, that they are sharing ventilators. And I don't know if there's a danger or a risk to do that concurrently. But can you update me on that?

MARTHA: Well, look, our clinicians are advising.

Again, just to remind you, Medtronic, we play in the critical care ventilation market. These are patients that are intubated.

CAVUTO: Understood.

MARTHA: And our -- the clinicians within Medtronic and the clinicians we work with don't advise to do that at all.

They are concerned about patient safety.

CAVUTO: Do you worry, as you -- obviously, talk about -- you're the incoming Medtronic CEO, a baptism by fire, I guess, is apropos here.

Do you worry that the system itself isn't up to the demand it's going to meet, that this might be something that lags for a while, because the number of cases is rising so, so quickly, we have better means by which to assess how many cases are out there, and that's kind of changed the ball game?

MARTHA: Look, this is an unprecedented societal challenge that warrants an unprecedented response.

So, you -- we have already talked about production. We need the traditional ventilator companies to ramp up production, which we're doing. We need to work with other companies that maybe traditionally haven't been in the ventilator space to enable them.

And, look, the administration, the FDA are making that easier for us to do.

But, in addition to that...

CAVUTO: All right.

MARTHA: ... we have got to make sure that these can be deployed and we can train the health care workers on how to use these ventilators.

So, it's...

CAVUTO: All right, we will watch it very closely.

Again, Geoff Martha, the incoming Medtronic CEO.

MARTHA: Thank you, Neil.

CAVUTO: Much more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, well, we have heard of social distancing, but this is ridiculous.

You see this in Rome today? The pope in Saint Peter's Square essentially praying to no one, but sending the message to everyone to keep the faith, and that we will get through this.

Timothy Cardinal Dolan, the archbishop of New York, joins us right now.

Cardinal, thank you for joining us.

You know, how do you explain to people who are looking at the third weekend in a row, Cardinal, of not being able to go to mass or to services of any sort where any people congregate to keep the faith, to get calm?

CARDINAL TIMOTHY DOLAN, ARCHBISHOP OF NEW YORK: Yes.

Neil, first of all, thanks for the invitation to be on. And thanks for all -- all you're doing to keep people together and keep people informed.

I'm honored to be antipasto for the president, because I understand he's going to come on at any time.

(LAUGHTER)

DOLAN: Look, it's a tough time.

But the answer -- the answer comes in the very word that you just used, namely, faith. Faith does not depend on physical presence. Faith depends on that interior act of trust. And that's what we got going on all over the place.

People are rediscovering an interior strength. They're rediscovering a strength that comes from neighbors, even if they can't shake their hands or embrace them. And there's a lot of interior strength being rediscovered in their faith in God that some people, a lot of people are admitting was dormant for a while. And now they're rediscovering it, because they need God more than ever.

You are right. The faithful are saying, we want to get back to mass. We want to get back to the sacraments. We want to have our -- the congregation, the neighborhood, the community around us.

By the way, I'm with them. So do I. The priests are really bristling, because we just want to be with our people. We want to be ministering to them. We want to see them. And we can't.

But, darn it, God keeps us together. It's all about faith. There's no use worrying and wringing hands. We believe God -- God is with us. He listens to us. He's keeping us close together.

Look, we call God our father. That means we're his children. That means we're all brothers and sisters. We just make that act of faith and that kind of universal solidarity that comes from being God's children, that enough can sustain us.

CAVUTO: You know, Cardinal, there are a lot of people, because we keep getting more distressing news, the number of cases that keeps increasing, the fact that the United States now has the most cases, even more than China, the deaths that are increasing, odd places where this seems to be bubbling up -- we have talked to a former top general in Louisiana, talking about the per capita cases that are soaring there.

And they begin to wonder, wow, what's happening with this? How do I -- how do I keep my cool and keep my children and family calm and cool through all of this, because I'm nervous?

DOLAN: Yes.

Well, look, it's not -- it's not a bad idea, Neil, to admit that, and to admit that to God.

You referred earlier to what I thought was an extraordinarily moving prayer by Pope Francis today in Saint Peter's Square that was -- that was empty. The square was empty. And yet millions and millions throughout the world were praying with him.

And he reminded us of that magnificent Gospel passage -- and I'd say this is worth all of us thinking about, particularly those experiencing the fear, the uncertainty that you just mentioned -- about that beautiful Gospel passage terrible storm, the apostles in the boat, thinking they're going to capsize and drown.

Jesus is in the boat. And guess what? He's sleeping. He's sleeping. And they're tempted to think he doesn't care. They're tempted to think he's not there, and that when he finally -- when they wake him up, he calms the storms. He restores the stability. They're back on track.

And he says, why were you afraid? Where was your faith?

And I think that's the question he's asking all of us. That is what Passover is about. That's what Easter is about, the feasts that we're going to be celebrating in two weeks. It's that passing over from fear to trust, that passing over from darkness in Egypt to hope and promise in Israel, that passing over from the darkness and the earthquake of Good Friday, when goodness incarnate was subjected to evil, when life itself was subjected to death, passing over to the radiance, the light, the hope, and the life of the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday morning.

That's what we got to keep in mind, OK? God's time is not our time. This Easter is going to -- Easter is going to be triumphant. Deliverance into the holy land of Israel is going to be triumphant, as it was for the ancient Israelites.

And we're going to get through us. So, we need to keep the long view.

Neil, you and I are tempted to think we're omnipotent, we're omniscient, we're all-powerful, we're all-knowing. And we're not used to this, oh, my lord, this -- this period of not knowing and having so much out of our hands.

CAVUTO: Yes, you're right. You're right.

DOLAN: But that's an invitation to humility. That's an invitation to trust. That's an invitation to get that pride under control.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: Cardinal, it's beautifully spoken.

I'm omnipotent because I read a prompter. I don't know about you, but we will -- we will look at it.

All right, but, Cardinal, thank you very much. Very reassuring words.

DOLAN: Thank you, Neil.

CAVUTO: You're a good man.

DOLAN: Hope to talk to you soon. God bless you and your people.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: Same here, my friend.

We have a lot more right after this, including the president of the United States.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)  CAVUTO: He is not just going to sign it and be done with it.

We're waiting any minute now for president of the United States not only to sign that $2 trillion measure, but to flesh out this order on the part of the White House for GM to make more ventilators.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, for the foreseeable future, the Magic Kingdom is close. It's already been shut down in light of the coronavirus threat, but this apparently now means it's extending that shutdown through at least April 17.

We don't have any further details of that. We don't know, for example, if this applies, as it has already, to Disneyland out in California and Disney World here in Florida in the United States or any of its kingdoms outside the United States in places like Hong Kong, and China, and France, or what have you.

But, again, for now, the shutdown at the Mouse House continues all over for at least another few weeks.

Any other new developments, we will keep you posted.

So what do you do ride out with so many public venues closed, restaurants closed, theaters closed? Is there a way you could reconvert them to do some good in a way that goes beyond special deliveries, takeout?

Well, we have chef Jose Andres with us right now, the World Central Kitchen, the founder there, big in the cooking community, who is putting that to practice in a way that will help people, and at great cost, but he's doing it anyway.

Chef Jose, very good to have you. Thank you very much.

Tell us what you're doing.   JOSE ANDRES, FOUNDER, WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN: Well, listen, we have been, at World Central Kitchen, fighting coronavirus now for a long time.

It began in Yokohama, when a team of World Central Kitchen went to Japan to help feed the many Americans and other nationalities that were stranded on that cruise ship during weeks.

Then, from there, we went to Oakland to do exactly the same, supporting the governor of California and the mayor of Oakland.

And we saw very early on that this was going to be a big problem, following what was happening in Wuhan and Italy and Spain.

And we are cooks. We are an organization that we believe in feeding people in emergencies. So, we began activating a plan to -- if things go very bad, one city at a time all across America, to make sure that World Central Kitchen will be there feeding the people in need.

First thing I did, my restaurants, I closed them as restaurants, and I transform them in community kitchens. What a community kitchen is, a place in the neighborhood where people don't go inside anymore.

People wait outside six feet from each other, where we make sure that we follow all the health protocols to make sure that we are able to deliver food to people that are hungry in the area, to homeless that all of a sudden they will go to the shelters, to nurses that they're coming from a long day of work to their home, and the supermarkets are closed, a place where anybody can get food relief at the moment.

This is the blueprint of what we hope many others are doing across America.

CAVUTO: You're a remarkable chef. That, I know.

But I have also discovered you're a remarkably compassionate human being. I always wonder, Jose, when I hear what you're doing, you might have to do it for a while.

I mean, there's talk that this virus could linger on for a while, spread to other locales for a while. What do you think?

ANDRES: Well, listen, we are already trying to help in places like Madrid. Barcelona is where I come from. So, I know where I belong.

The United States of America has been giving me the last 27 years the place I feel proud to call home and where my daughters live. The least I can do is to get back everything America gave me.

That's what immigrants, we are here for. So this is going to last longer. This, it's no way it's just going to just away in one or two more weeks.

We have seen in, Spain, in Italy that they are telling people to stay home probably two, three more weeks. This is the moment that we, the people, we have to come together. We need to stay home, but then there's going to be some people that they're going to have to be feeding America.

The woman sitting in the supermarket cashier, she's a hero, because she's feeding families just by being there. The man or woman bringing the food to every market across America, they're heroes, obviously, our nurses and doctors.

But now we're going to see that the delivery pizza guy is not anymore one guy that we don't even recognize. Those delivery people in America, like happened in Wuhan, they're going to be the bloodline of feeding many people across America in the days and weeks, as this gets, if anything, worse.

The worst is still to come. I want to make sure that restaurants like minded, that chefs like me all across America, we're coming together to make sure that America will be fed.

CAVUTO: You're a remarkable man.

And I -- and just had Cardinal Dolan on in New York. And you're practicing what he was just preaching.

Chef Jose Andres, thank you so much, and for being an inspiration, and a great cook, by the way.

ANDRES: Thank you.

CAVUTO: Always good seeing you. Thank you so, so much.

All right, you do see these kind acts, and you them across the board.

And now the president outlining what's going to be done to support their efforts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's twice as large as any relief ever signed. It's $2.2 billion, but it actually goes up to 6.2 -- potentially -- billion dollars -- trillion dollars. So you're talking about $6.2 trillion bill. Nothing like that. And this will deliver urgently needed relief to our nation's families, workers, and businesses. And that's what this is all about.

And it got a 96 to nothing. And, I don't know, what was the number in Congress?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A voice vote.

TRUMP: A voice? It was fantastic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it was just as close.

TRUMP: That's pretty amazing. That's about the same thing. Right, Kevin?

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Yes.

TRUMP: So, that's fantastic. But I want to thank Republicans and Democrats for coming together, setting aside their differences, and putting America first.

This legislation provides for direct payments to individuals and unprecedented support to small businesses. We're going to keep our small businesses strong and our big businesses strong. And that's keeping our country strong and our jobs strong.

This historic bill includes the following, $300 billion in direct cash payments will be available to every American citizen earning less than $99,000 per year; $3,400 for a typical family of four. So a family of four:  $3,400. And then $350 billion in job retention loans for small businesses, with loan forgiveness available for businesses that continue paying their workers. The workers get paid.

Approximately $250 billion in expanded unemployment benefits. The average worker who has lost his or her job will receive 100 percent of their salary for up to four full months.

So, things like this have never happened in our country, $500 billion in support for hard-hit industries, with a ban on corporate stock buybacks -- we don't let them buy back the stock; we don't let that happen -- and tough limits on executive compensation.

Over $100 billion to support our heroic doctors, nurses, and hospitals. And you see what's happening.

And I want to thank, while we're here, also the incredible job that's done by the Army Corps of Engineers and by FEMA. It's been incredible. They did four hospitals in two days or three days, in New York. And they're, like, incredible structures. What a job they've been doing.

And they're doing them all over the country, $45 billion for the Disaster Relief Fund, supporting our state, local, and tribal leaders, $27 billion for the development of vaccines, therapies, and other public health response efforts, including $16 billion to build up the Strategic National Stockpile with critical stockpiles. And I'm going to -- we have tremendous supplies coming into the stockpile, and you'll be seeing that and hearing about it in a little bit because we're doing a news conference at 5: 30 on what's happening.

We've had tremendous results on the respirators. We've had great results on just about everything we're talking about. Boeing just announced that they're going to be making the plastic field shields -- the actual shields, which are hard to come by, and they're going to be making them by the thousands a week.

And the ventilators, which is probably the most difficult because it's like -- it's like building a car -- we will be announcing thousands of -- are going to be built and we have them under contract and we have fast deliveries. As you know, we delivered thousands to New York. And unfortunately -- they were delivered to a warehouse, which was good -- unfortunately, they didn't take them, but now they're taking them. New York is now taking them and redistributing them around the areas that they need.

So you have also $3.5 billion to states to expand child care benefits for health care workers, first responders, and others on the front lines of this crisis, and $1 billion for securing supplies under the Defense Protection Act. And, as you know, I've enacted the act. We've used it three or four times. I pulled it back three times because the companies came through, in the end. They didn't need the act. It's been great leverage.

I have instituted it against General Electric. We thought we had a deal for 40,000 ventilators and, all of the sudden, the 40,000 came down to 6,000. And then they talked about a higher price than we were discussing, so I didn't like it. So we did -- we did activate it, with respect to General Motors. And hopefully, maybe we won't even need the full activation. We'll find out. But we need the ventilators.

I said hello today -- I called him -- a wonderful guy, Boris Johnson. As you know, he tested positive. And before he even said hello, he said, We need ventilators. I said, Wow. That's a big statement. And hopefully, he's going to be in good shape.

I just spoke to Angela Merkel, and she's quarantined also. She is right now, for a period of two weeks, being forced to stay in her house. So this is just an incredible situation.

Last night, I spoke to President Xi. We talked about the experience that they had in China and all of the things that have taken place. And we learned a lot. They've had a very tough experience, and they're doing well and he's doing well. President Xi is doing very well. But we learned a lot and we have great communication together.

We're going to be sent great data from China -- things that happened that they see that -- you know, they've had a -- they've had an early experience, and we're getting all of that information. Much of it has already been sent. It was sent yesterday and sent to our scientists to study. So we'll have more on that also. We'll be discussing that at 5: 30.

I just want to thank the people behind me. They've been incredible friends. They've been warriors. They -- there's nobody tougher or smarter than the people standing alongside of me. And I think I want to start off by asking Mitch and then Kevin to speak, and then we're going to go through a few of the folks in the room if they'd like to say something.

But, Mitch, I'd like -- I'd love to say a few words because you -- this man worked 24 hours a day for a long time. This is the result. It's the biggest ever -- ever approved in Congress: 6.2 bill -- $6.2 trillion. So we used to get used to the billion. It used to be million, then it was billion, now it's trillion. And it's going to go a long way. It's going to make a lot of people very happy.

Mitch McConnell, please.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): Thank you, Mr. President. Let me just say this is a proud moment for our country, for the President. The Republicans and the Democrats all pulled together and passed the biggest bill in history in record time.

I also want to thank Kevin McCarthy and our leaders on the Republican side in the House who helped speed this through to passage. The American people needed this rescue package, they needed it quickly, and we delivered. It's a proud moment for all of us. Mr. President, thanks for the opportunity to be here.

TRUMP: Thank you. I'd love to shake your hand, but Anthony would get angry at me if I did that.

(LAUGHTER)

So I better not do it. I can't -- it's so natural. I just want to go back and shake his hand.

They've done such an incredible job. Kevin, please.

MCCARTHY: Yeah, I do want to start. I want to thank all -- the real -- the real answer to America is: We're listening to you. You do your part, and we're going to do ours, and that's exactly what's happening today.

What Leader McConnell did was amazing. He made it bipartisan, bicameral. Everybody was involved. I wish we could have signed this earlier this week; maybe there wouldn't be as many people who are out of work. But this will put people back to work.

I also want to thank Secretary Mnuchin. You've done an amazing job, and we thank you for that, and all the team that's here.

Look, as I said in my speech, the virus is here. We didn't ask for it. We didn't invite it. We didn't choose it. But we are going to defeat it together because we're going to work together, and this is the first start of it. The hospitals will get money -- the money they need. The small businesses will be able to hire their employees back. That is a grant; you don't have to borrow from that place. The other businesses get a retention to keep your employees on. This has something for everything.

And to the task force and the Vice President, all the work that you're doing with this President, this will be the needed resources you need as well. And thank you for that, and thank you for your leadership, Mr. President.

TRUMP: Very special.

Mike Pence? Mike? Could you please say something? You've been working very hard, in charge of our task force. And then I'd like to ask Steve to say a few words.

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you, Mr. President.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity just to express all of our appreciation and the gratitude to the American people for the accomplishment that's reflected in the legislation that you'll sign in just a few moments.

You told the American people that we would do whatever it takes. You called on the Congress to step forward to make coronavirus testing free for every American, to make paid family leave available.

The Congress, with the leaders gathered around us here, stepped forward in a bipartisan fashion and delivered. But today, every American family, every American business, can know that help is on the way.

And I want to thank Leader McConnell for his yeoman's work in really forging a bipartisan bill in the United States Senate. I want to thank Leader McCarthy for his great work. But as the President said, I also want to thank the Democrat and Republican leadership across the House and Senate. This is an American accomplishment. And, Mr. President, it's exactly what you asked the Congress to deliver for the American people.

TRUMP: Thank you very much, Mike. And Steve Mnuchin, you know how hard he's been working. And, Steve, please say a few words.

STEVEN MNUCHIN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: Mr. President, thank you very much for your leadership and for the Vice President's leadership. You made it very clear to us, last week, we should think big, that this was a war on the virus, and that we should have the resources to protect American workers and American business.

And I'd like to thank the Senate. It was a great honor, Mitch, to work with you and everyone on a bipartisan basis to get this done. This is going to be a great thing for the American workers. And, Kevin McCarthy, thank you for all the work in the House did to pass this quickly.

So, at Treasury, as I've said, we are committed to move forward quickly, and we're going to get money in people's pockets quickly.

Thank you, Mr. President.

TRUMP: Great job, Steve. Gene? Please.

EUGENE SCALIA, U.S. SECRETARY OF LABOR: This is a great day for American workers, protecting American workers, American jobs. It's been a hallmark of this presidency, and this bill today is another very important step in that direction.

It includes unprecedented support for American workers who've lost their jobs, through no fault of their own because of this virus, and gives them, as near as we could, the same wage they would have gotten, through unemployment insurance if they'd been able to keep their jobs, for up to four months.

I think even more important, it includes $350 billion in loans for small business, but it's structured in a way to incentivize them to keep their workers on payroll so that those loans could be forgiven at the end of the period.

And it comes on top of legislation the President asked -- signed last week for paid leave for workers who have to be at home because of the virus. Paid leave reimbursed in full, dollar for dollar, to the employers. It's the first federal paid leave law for the private sector ever. And that also was achieved on an unprecedented, bipartisan basis.

This is the third major bipartisan piece of legislation in three weeks -- three bills, three weeks -- to address this virus.

So again, I want to thank the President for his leadership, his commitment to American workers, the Vice President as well, and Leader McConnell, and also my colleague, Secretary Mnuchin who did work so hard to help you get this done.

TRUMP: Thank you, Gene, very much.

Dr. Fauci, you may want to just say for a minute what hit the world. Something hit the world, and the world maybe will never be the quite same. But we're going to make it a great place anyway. But certainly, you could maybe say a few words about it, please.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NIAID DIRECTOR: Well, thank you, Mr. President. And I want to thank everyone involved in this. This is what America is all about:  a bipartisan approach, with your leadership, to do something that's sorely needed by the American people.

Dr. Birx and I and all of our medical people here are fighting the virus directly. But the virus has an impact on the American people, both directly by illness and death, but also indirectly, because many of the things that we have to do to suppress the virus has a negative impact because of what we're doing. To give them relief economically is absolutely essential.

So I feel really, really good about what's happening today. Thank you all very much.

TRUMP: Thank you, Tony. Thank you very much.

Deborah, perhaps you could say a few words or so about...

DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR: Well, thank you, Mr. President. Dr. Fauci covered it very well. As many of you know, I worked for him and he was my mentor 40 years ago.

I think whenever we start with one of these very serious diseases and a pandemic, the President's first goal was ensuring the health of the American people, and that's why we put out these very strong guidance.

It's been a pleasure to work with the economic team here because they understand data in the same way. Economic data and health data is very similar in how you have to interpret it in a very granular way. And I think recognizing that the health of the American people is first, but the economic value of the nation is also critical.

And I just want to thank all of you for what you've done for the American people today.

TRUMP: Great job you're doing too. Thank you.

Kevin, please.

REP. KEVIN BRADY (R-TX): So, just 20 days ago, I don't know that anyone could have imagined how hard we've been hit medically or economically.

But 20 days ago, I don't think anyone could have imagined Congress pulling together so quickly and so forcefully behind what the President identified we needed for this country. This is a proud moment for all of us. And it's just an example of what leadership can provide here in the White House, and then how we can respond as a Congress.

So thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership.

TRUMP: And I'm just saying, as Kevin is saying that, 20 days ago -- a couple of days longer than that, maybe -- we had a smooth-running, beautiful machine. We had the greatest economy in the history of our country. We had the highest stock price we've ever seen. It went up, I think, 151 times during the course of the presidency.

And then we got hit by the invisible enemy, and we got hit hard. But it wasn't just us, it was 151 countries, I think, as of the -- as of this morning.

And you call Germany and speak to Angela -- she's in quarantine. And as you know, Boris was diagnosed that he's positive. And all of the things that are happening, it's hard to believe what's gone on just in a short period of time.

And because of the talent behind me and lots of other talent in government, what we've done -- this is a big part of it, obviously, but not the biggest part. Everybody has pulled together. Our nation has pulled together. The spirit is incredible. The people have pulled together more than anyone and better than anybody. And they're doing really, really well.

But just to think how life can change where you go, 20 to 22 days ago, everything is perfect, we're looking forward. I'm saying, When are we going to hit 30,000? I want 30,000. That means more jobs and more everything. And then, one day, we get hit with this thing that nobody ever heard of before. Nobody ever even heard of before. And now we're fighting a different battle.

But I really think, in a fairly short period of time, because of what they've done and what everyone has done, I really think we're going to be stronger than ever. And we'll be protected from a lot of this. A lot of the things, Anthony, that we've done now -- that we're doing now -- are going to protect us in the future if this should happen again.

FAUCI: Absolutely.

TRUMP: From testing to so many other...

FAUCI: Vaccines.

TRUMP: Even stockpiles. Right?

FAUCI: And vaccines.

TRUMP: Yeah, the vaccines, hopefully. And vaccines, cures, therapeutics -- whatever you want to call it -- it's a lot of progress. And I think on that score, I think we're going to do a lot of progress on vaccines. We're making, perhaps, a lot of progress on cures and therapeutics. We'll be letting you know.

Anybody else have anything? Greg, please. Go ahead, fellows.

REP. GREG WALDEN (R-OR): I would just say, I've never seen you shy away from a challenge. Your leadership and your policies and this great team brought America this enormous economy. And guess what? You get to do it again.

This bill is the next step in that, and we can build back this economy with your leadership and with the health care team you've got here too. We're doing the right thing for the American people, and they know that. I can tell you that from the ground. It's not easy. It's not easy.

TRUMP: No, it's not.

WALDEN: We don't want to shelter in place, as Americans. We want to be out, especially northwest.

TRUMP: Yeah.

WALDEN: But we know we have to do this for the safety of our relatives and families and our community and our country. So thanks for your leadership...

TRUMP: Thank you very much.

WALDEN: -- and the great team you've assembled.

TRUMP: Appreciate it very much.

REP. STEVE CHABOT (R-OH): On behalf of small businesses, they're the backbone of the American economy. About half the people that work in America work for a small business, and they're hurting out there right now. I'm from Ohio. I'm the ranking member of the House Small Business Committee. And back there, nonessential small businesses are shut down.

Without this legislation, it's questionable whether they would reopen. Because of this legislation, they now have a great chance of that. And those people that work for small businesses, who are shuttered now, will be paid. That's really important. This wouldn't have passed without your leadership, Mr. President. Thank you.

TRUMP: Thank you very much. And Eric worked so hard. You all know Eric. And he was at Steve's side the whole way. And where is our man? Do I see Larry? Yeah, Larry. The two of them. How about Eric and then Larry say a couple of words. And...

(CROSSTALK)

ERIC UELAND, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE DOMESTIC POLICY COUNCIL: Well, thank you very much, Mr. President. I really appreciate it, and Mr. Vice President, as well. So you encouraged your team to be bold, be brave, and go big. And we certainly delivered today.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: Six-point-two trillion is tremendous. So we've made sure that we can reassure Americans that their paycheck is protected and that their earnings are protected. We've made sure that we can provide significant reinforcement to the American economy as a result of your leadership.

And, finally, looking ahead to address the virus, we've included significant resources in order to ensure that those therapies and ultimately that vaccine can come online as quickly as possible. So, protecting the public health and protecting the economic health of America is what you've directed us to do. And together, with the team, we've worked hard to deliver today.

Thank you very much, Mr. President.

TRUMP: Thank you very much. And Steve is going to work very hard on getting the money out quickly, and hopefully it can be distributed very quickly, especially when they have some old computer equipment that they have to use. But you're going to work on that very hard.

MNUCHIN: We are indeed.

TRUMP: Larry, please. Larry Kudlow.

LARRY KUDLOW, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: Oh, thanks, sir.

Just hats off to Mitch McConnell who did an amazing job, and House leadership as well. And I agree with the bipartisanship. I want to give special thanks to my friend Steven Mnuchin, who I think did an extraordinary job. We were up there helping him out in one spot or another. But he's indefatigable and got it done.

And I will just say this, Mr. President: A few months ago, this economy was roaring and we've hit this -- literally, this bug, this virus. And we will deal with it. And I think the assistance bill here, which does have growth incentives, will help lead us back to a very strong economic rebound before this year is over.

Thank you, sir.

TRUMP: I think that too. I think we're going to have a tremendous rebound at the end of the year -- toward the end of the year. I think we're going to have a rebound like we have never seen before. Even now it wants to rebound. You can see it, feel it. It wants to rebound so badly.

And we've had those really big -- I guess, the biggest-ever stock market surge two days ago. And yesterday, it was great. Three biggest days in the history of the stock market. It wants to rebound so badly, but we have to get rid of the bug, we have to get rid of the virus. 

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