Rep. Nunes on national emergency, congressional response to coronavirus

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Rep. Nunes on national emergency, congressional response to coronavirus

California Republican Rep. Devin Nunes joins ‘Sunday Morning Futures.’

This is a rush transcript from "Sunday Morning Futures," March 15, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Good Sunday morning, everyone. Thanks so much for joining us.

I'm Maria Bartiromo.

Joining me straight ahead right here on "Sunday Morning Futures," it is all hands on deck now, as the major stimulus is planned to fight the spread and the impact of the coronavirus.

This morning, right here, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy joining me on Congress' late-night vote Friday on a targeted relief package that is expected to be signed into law in the upcoming week.

Plus, the White House's answer to stop an impending recession from taking hold, as the economy grinds to a near halt. White House trade and manufacturer adviser Peter Navarro on the president's payroll tax cut proposal.

Also ahead, "TIME" magazine named him the man who changed medicine for his decades of medical research and efforts to find cures. Philanthropist Michael Milken weigh in.

Also, we're zeroing in on where this all began, China, Congressman Devin Nunes on his investigation into China's behavior on the world stage.

All that and a lot more, as we look ahead on "Sunday Morning Futures."

The coronavirus pandemic spreading across the country now, further disrupting daily live, nearly 3,000 cases now reported in 49 states and Washington, D.C.

A total of 57 deaths, with the majority in hard-hit Washington state, this as the House overwhelmingly passed bipartisan emergency legislation to fight this pandemic. After getting President Trump's backing, it goes now to the Senate.

My first guest says we can overcome this, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California.

Congressman, it's good to see you this morning. Thanks very much for joining us.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Thanks for having me back, Maria.

BARTIROMO: Tell me about the bill that really went so late on Friday night, what it has in it. Why is it important?

MCCARTHY: Well, we went late because the original bill that Speaker Pelosi put was just not workable.

And, as I said on Thursday, we should take a deep breath, not leave Congress, take the next 24 and 48 hours, and fix it and actually come together, take the parts that divide us, and let's unite for the American public.

What it does is three main things. It makes sure everybody has the ability to get a test if they need it. It allows for sick leave if you are sick or if you are caring for a loved one. It makes sure the VA and the Department of Defense has the resources needed to care for those veterans.

I had a real concern what it did to small business. That were some real changes inside the bill. And that's why it came late. I wanted flexibility for those small businesses, especially under 50.

We have to make sure, if you're going to mandate small business provide this leave, how can they have the resources? The speaker had Social Security doing it. It would harm Social Security, and they couldn't get it up and running.

The secretary of Treasury will now advance the money to small business for that quarter to pay for that sick leave going forward for this short time period, making sure that we have a timetable on this, that there is a sunset.

And, also, Democrats had put in a number of provisions that were just philosophically wrong with anything to do here. They wanted to change the law and have taxpayer pay for abortion. We made sure we took that out as well.

BARTIROMO: Well, I don't understand. You had abortion in a bill about coronavirus?

MCCARTHY: Yes, the things you have to watch, especially when it doesn't go through committee, especially when there's a crisis.

People will take their philosophical beliefs and try to run that through. We have the Hyde Amendment that we have voted on for decades. I wanted to make sure that provision was in. I wanted to also make sure there's flexibility especially for those small businesses 50 or under, if this is a hardship to them, that they have the option to get out.

And that was one of the last provisions we got into the bill. I want to make sure people have jobs to come back to.

BARTIROMO: Let me ask you about this article on The Federalist which is complaining. The title is, "Why the Pelosi Wuhan virus deal is a near total GOP surrender for blue-collar entrepreneurs."

And they are zeroing in on what you're talking about in terms of small and midsized businesses. And they're saying that we're going to see layoffs once this is over from small and midsized businesses.They need anything they can cling to, to stay afloat and delay further layoffs. There's nothing for them in this apparent deal, nothing for the blue-collar businessman this country's middle class was founded on. Even the $50 billion that the president previously announced for small business are not only good for big businesses, who can guarantee it, but it's bad for smaller businesses.

You are getting some pushback on this idea that small and midsized businesses are having to put out this big cost.

MCCARTHY: Well, if they read the final version of the bill, they would see the flexibility that the secretary has.

The secretary of the Treasury will actually advance the money ahead of time, so the small business will be able to have the resources if they have somebody on sick leave.

Remember, there's a sunset time period. And, also, remember what we're dealing with here. Just as Dr. Fauci says, we have got to get through that peak. That peak can overtake the medical system.

You watch what the World Health Organization has recently said, that Europe is the epicenter. We want to thank this president for the action he took early, stopping the flights from China, also stopping those flights from Europe.

It is making America safer. So, how do we manage all this going forward? If somebody is sick, we want to make sure they have testing. We want to make sure they aren't at work providing and making contamination to other individuals. So we have got to have that sick leave.

We know business is being hurt. There's no basketball going on. There's no March Madness. There's no hockey going on. People are quarantining themselves, which is what we need to do as we go through this.

So we need action. And that's why we gave that flexibility and the advancement of money. Remember, America working together can get through anything that we need.

And we showed just that last Friday night that we can. What divides us can come together for the American public. And you watch the action that this president took, extraordinary. And he's looking further ahead, from the oil industry, filling the SPR because it's lower oil price, helping the energy, at the same time helping America, making sure no interest rates on those who have student loans.

We're taking every possible action. Look, this is a moment in time that we need to come together. And that's why sunsetting it, giving small business the resources they need and help during this time, we will get through this together, and we will actually be stronger in the end.

BARTIROMO: Yes, I mean, you make a good point. This is a moment in time that all hands are on deck.

This is a moment in time that everyone is worried about this pandemic, now the World Health Organization is calling it.

So why did it take so long to get this done? Why were you at work at 1:00 a.m. on Friday night? I mean, why did Nancy Pelosi have so much delay, if this is such -- if there is such urgency?

MCCARTHY: Well, there's a number of reasons of things going through.

But the reason why it was late into the night, I didn't want to see a bill jammed, because it didn't go through committee. I wanted more eyes on it. I wanted the ability to walk through every version.

Now, there's -- it's going to go to the Senate. I was working with Senator McConnell, the leader over in the Senate, on numerous things that I would see that it could enhance even further, working with this president. This president has taken decisive action early to help us in this cause of where we're walking through.

This bill adds to that at the same time. You want to have testing. And I think what the president has done, with that public-private partnership, every community either has a CVS, a Walgreens, a Target, or a Walmart, to be able to open up their parking lots to have this testing, and have the new version of testing going through.

We have innovative companies here that are going to help us. You look at what Gilead is going through with the therapy for the treatment. You look at Johnson & Johnson and other companies to get us a vaccine. We want to work through this together.

I remember the story about President Kennedy when he challenged this country to go to the moon. A year later, he's walking through NASA. He's meeting those who work there. He runs into an individual who is a janitor and he asks them, what's your job? And he says, my job is to put a man on the moon.

At this moment in time, Republicans, Democrats and all Americans need to come together. And our job is to make sure we get through this virus attack that didn't come from here, and make sure we're safe, and we're going to take actions we haven't taken before, and we will come out stronger, just as we have before.

BARTIROMO: So, when we were on the phone this weekend talking about this interview, you talked about this virus being sort of like an arc. It's going to get worse before it gets better, and then maybe it dies down.

But do you expect that it comes back in the fall?

MCCARTHY: Well, not sure. We learn something more every day about this coronavirus.

But influenza, normally, in the summertime, dips down and can come back in the fall. What we need to have happen here is, as many in the NIH will tell you, you do not want to have something to overrun us, a big peak. You want to level it out, as the graphs would show.

Italy right now is not -- didn't have that happen, because their leadership didn't take the actions that President Trump took. That's why the next four weeks are so critical. That's why this determination of the actions that we are making are smart in the long run.

We do not want our health care system -- that's why elective surgeries are being pushed aside. That's why we're preparing and doing the public private-partnership, more testing, the VA. This is more vulnerable for those who are older.

All the information that we have, the washing of the hands and the others...

BARTIROMO: Sure.

MCCARTHY: ... everybody needs to be working together. And I think Congress showed that Friday night.

BARTIROMO: Let me ask you, Congressman, before you go.

We're going to talk about the economic impact with Peter Navarro. And a lot of people are expecting recession, I love what the president said the other day about oil and buying new oil. We're going to talk about that with Peter Navarro as well.

But, from your standpoint, in terms of getting to a vaccine, what you just said in terms of pharmaceutical companies, are you willing to make sure that the rules and regulations around the FDA, in terms of getting a drug through approval process, are dealt with some leniency in terms of getting a fast-track approval?

MCCARTHY: Yes, so the president has already taken actions on that as well.

What's unique to hear is, we have had some changes within the FDA in this Trump administration to streamline, to make sure nothing from the bureaucratic incidence is holding it up. And we have got a lot of smart companies out there already working together.

Remember, when Ebola hit, it was an American company that got the vaccine. We were able to use NIH to make sure that containment happened. Unfortunately, when this crisis hit, China hid from it. In November, it came forward. President Trump asked to send our scientists, our doctors, our very best researchers there.

They were not allowed to. Now it is spread across the world. But the actions that President Trump has taken has actually made us safer.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MCCARTHY: But, unfortunately, now Europe is the epicenter.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MCCARTHY: And that's why the action that he took on the flights coming through, that's why Americans need to work together.

But it has to be a public-private partnership. And I will tell you, we have overcome things that are bigger. But the next four weeks are where we need to be smart, act together, and find a way that we will get through, that we will not have that peak, but we will measure this out.

And at the end of the day, you and I will talk again on this show, and we will talk about the ingenuity of our companies that got a vaccine for it, and how we were prepared ahead of time, just like we did by increasing funding to the NIH and CDC for the last four years.

BARTIROMO: Do you think you're going to need to, the president will need to mobilize the military to create hospital beds?

I know we have got a lot of shortages, including hospital beds, as these numbers spike. Are you going to need to -- is the president going to need to mobilize the military for this?

MCCARTHY: Well, the one thing that we could do, there is a bill by Dr. Burgess that you bring in the reserve medical in to help in that instance. You want to make sure you protect.

The other element inside this bill I didn't talk about, you want to make sure that we have more masks, especially for all those in the medical -- medical industry...

BARTIROMO: And 3M is doing that, right?

MCCARTHY: ... so they are protected.

Yes, but this bill allowed them to actually produce millions of more, an industrial level version, that can help those in the medical industry, and now they can sell them to them.

So there's many different elements of this bill that protects us even further.

BARTIROMO: All right, Congressman.

MCCARTHY: And these are the plannings that we are taking.

Unfortunately, we tried to get that in supplemental, but Democrats had said no earlier.

BARTIROMO: Congressman, it's good to have you on the program this morning. Thanks very much for your efforts.

MCCARTHY: Thank you, Maria.

BARTIROMO: We will see you soon, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy there.

Stay with us.

As we look ahead on "Sunday Morning Futures," we're examining how the U.S. spends billions on pharmaceutical imports from China. Why are our most important ingredients for the drugs that we need produced in China? Why it could be time to start investing more back at home.

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro is here live. He will respond.

Back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

In the midst of the coronavirus crisis,there is a sharp focus on how dependent the United States is on China and other countries for some of the most important materials we need.

When it comes to pharmaceuticals and equipment, with the U.S. bringing in $130 billion in imported supplies, some 70 percent of the active ingredients in our pharmaceuticals come from China.

Let's bring in Peter Navarro. He is assistant to the president for trade and manufacturing policy, and he joins us today from the White House.

Peter, it's good to see you this morning. Thanks so much for joining us.

(CROSSTALK)

PETER NAVARRO, DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE OFFICE OF TRADE AND MANUFACTURING POLICY: Good morning, Maria.

BARTIROMO: You...

NAVARRO: We have the full power of the federal government right behind me, and we're working day and night on this issue.

BARTIROMO: I know you are. And you have been working on this for a while.

Let's talk about it, what you can do and how fast you can do it.

I'm going to hold my criticism for another day in terms of why, for four administrations, this has happened, so many of our important critical items are produced in China.

Tell us what you can do in terms of switching the supply chain back to America.

NAVARRO: Yes, let's state where the puck has to be, which is to have our resources on domestic soil.

We have an executive order. We're racing to the finish line. We could sign it as early as the end of this week. It's a three-pronged strategy consistent with what President Trump has done from the get-go in terms of onshoring jobs. It's buy American, it's deregulate, and it's innovate technology.

The buy American issue, Maria, is, we have HHS, the VA, and DOD as large consumers of pharmaceuticals. We have got to get them to buy American over the long term, so we have a stable source of demand, so that that will attract investment.

At the same time, we have to get the FDA and the EPA to make sure that we site and operate facilities on U.S. soil, it goes smooth and fast. That's not what's happening now.

And in terms of innovation -- this is the good news -- to keep drug prices down, we need to leapfrog into what's called advanced manufacturing. There's techniques such as continuous manufacturing, 3-D printing. We're hoping to throw a switch in as much as 30 to 45 days on a new facility right here in Virginia, using the funds that we got in the emergency supplemental.

If we do all of those things in Trump time, which is to say as soon as possible, we're going to put in motion a long-term trend to bring our pharmaceuticals, our medical equipment, our medical supplies home, on domestic soil, and we won't have to worry every time we have a crisis whether that supply chain is going to break down.

BARTIROMO: And you say that you have -- the president is going to sign an executive order about this possibly within the next week?

NAVARRO: Yes, we're racing to the finish line on it.

BARTIROMO: OK.

NAVARRO: It's gone through most of the process. We have to run the legal traps on it, and get the final approval.

But this is the president's high priority. And he said repeatedly he wants to get it done and wants to get it signed.

BARTIROMO: Peter...

NAVARRO: It will make a difference in both the short and the long run.

And, in the meantime, on these supply chain issues, Maria...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

NAVARRO: ... we're tackling and looking at each of the bottle -- possible bottlenecks.

And, as we speak, we're working to make sure we have everything we need as soon as we need it.

BARTIROMO: I'm going to get to the three-pronged strategy that the administration has, in terms of the big fiscal stimulus, the targeted relief that we heard about last night, and what you're doing specific industries.

NAVARRO: Sure.

BARTIROMO: But let me ask you this, because we are going to take a break before that.

The reason that we have all of this production of such important, critical materials in China, is it as simple as it's cheap labor? What's the reason that we have so many important producing of these important, critical items, like antibiotics, produced in China?

NAVARRO: Sure. Sure.

Let's be clear. It's China, it's India for the raw materials and API, but then it's also Europe for the finished goods, Germany, Switzerland.

Why? Simply because of sweat shop labor, lax environmental regulations.

And with China in particular, they target. They target our pharmaceutical and biotech industries with their massive subsidies using the same kind of economic, aggressive techniques that they have done to take out things like electronics and machine tools.

So we have got to fight back on that. But I want to stress here that it's more than a China problem. India, for example, we got a lot from them, but, interestingly, India is dependent on China. So we have that.

So, this is the time. We...

BARTIROMO: Right. So it's direct and indirect.

NAVARRO: Yes.

And so the Obama administration had a wakeup call on this three different times over eight years, went back to sleep. Not going to happen with President Trump. We're going to get this done, and it's going to be a long- term strategy, where buy American is going to set the floor in terms of demand.

We're going to innovate, we're going to deregulate, and we're going to protect the American people.

BARTIROMO: All right, stay with us. I want to take a break.

And when we come back, I want to ask you about recession, what this is doing to our economy, and will the president's fiscal stimulus, like a payroll tax cut, stop an impending recession.

We have got more with White House trade and manufacturing adviser Peter Navarro when we come right back, as we look ahead on "Sunday Morning Futures."

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

I'm back with White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, talking about the impact of coronavirus and the solutions coming out of the White House.

Peter, you have got an op-ed this morning out on FOXNews.com. And you say: "Faced with coronavirus pandemic, Congress should pass Trump's $800 billion payroll tax cut."

Why is this the best stimulus right now?

NAVARRO: We need a fiscal stimulus.

There's going to be big headwinds because of these structural adjustments we're making now. And the beauty of the payroll tax cut, until the end of the year, the payroll tax is 15 percent. If you basically cut that to zero, it's like a 7.5 percent raise for workers. It's like one extra paycheck every three months.

At the same time, it helps our businesses, particularly our small- and medium-size businesses, manage their cash flow over these times where we have risk and uncertainty.

What the House and Congress are doing now is basically important, but it's a relief package. It's not primarily a stimulus. We have got to do the stimulus, along with some industry assistance. We got to hit three points of that compass, relief, fiscal stimulus, and industry assistance.

And of the three, the most important for the next six months is going to be that payroll tax cut. And I would ask everybody up on the Hill to look at this and understand the headwinds we're facing now.

BARTIROMO: Well, the headwinds are clear. Markets have been reacting to that.

As you know, we had another 1,000 points here, 1,000 points there decline in the Dow industrials this week because economic activity is coming to a standstill here.

Got one report in front of me, Cornerstone Macro is expecting a contraction of eight-tenths-of-a-percent is in the economy in the second quarter. Do you expect a recession, Peter?

NAVARRO: What I thought was, on Friday, I was never prouder of my president than on Friday in the Rose Garden.

I think what he offered there was a clear plan, and also light at the end of the tunnel, a path essentially to victory, both in terms of public health and on the economy.

I think the decisions we make over the next week or two will determine whether we have a significant downturn or not. I think the Congress needs to come back in session, come back for the cherry blossoms. They are already out, but come back and do the fiscal stimulus.

Steny Hoyer himself, standing next to Nancy Pelosi, said it, whatever they were doing that night was only a first step.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

NAVARRO: They can't go away for two weeks and then decide to come back and take another two weeks to act on this.

That's not the way this works in Trump time. They need to be here. They need to give the American people a payroll tax cut.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

NAVARRO: It's a middle-class, blue-collar tax cut, and it's the best way to fight these headwinds. If they don't like it, come up with a better idea. But I can tell you, it's the best idea.

BARTIROMO: Let me ask you this, because the president also made a real impact on the oil industry on Friday. We know that oil prices have gotten crushed, not just because of this expectation of lower global demand, but also because of this fight between Saudi Arabia and Russia.

Listen to -- the president said on Friday about the Strategic Oil Reserve. Let's roll tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've also instructed the secretary of energy to purchase, at a very good price, large quantities of crude oil for storage in the U.S. Strategic Reserve.

We're going to fill it right up to the top, saving the American taxpayer billions and billions of dollars, helping our oil industry and making us even further.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: And with that, oil prices surged in the after-market.

Peter, I suspect tomorrow is going to be a big day on the upside for oil.

Let me ask you this. Whether it's the oil industry, the airline industry, the cruise line industry, you say this is a three-pronged approach.

NAVARRO: Three-pronged strategy, yes.

BARTIROMO: OK, so you have got your targeted relief, which we talked about with McCarthy.

You have got your fiscal stimulus, what you're talking about. And then you're talking about heavily impacted industries. What are you going to say to those people who say, that's a bailout; you can't bail out industries, Peter.

(LAUGHTER)

NAVARRO: Look, this is something we have never encountered before, and we need to deal with the full power of the federal government.

On the relief issue, the most important part of that relief in terms of mitigating this virus is that paid leave for workers. This is compassionate, but it is also -- you can't have the choice of going to work sick or staying home and going broke.

And so we do that on the relief. We have the fiscal stimulus with the payroll tax cut, and then we help our industries, like that 70 -- we're going to buy low, fill high on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

And I was on that call with Dan Brouillette, the secretary of energy. And it's going to be buy American oil, as he fills that reserve. We have got to protect our people at this time.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

NAVARRO: So I don't want to hear any of that.

BARTIROMO: OK.

NAVARRO: Look, Maria, we have got to put all this aside in terms of the sniping and snarking.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

NAVARRO: We have got to get together as a people, not as a party.

And we have got to solve these problems, and we have got do it in Trump time, which is to say, this week, we need to act on all of these things.

BARTIROMO: Yes, understood.

Peter, real quick, on that sick leave compensation, this is not just, listen, let's help our people. This is, we don't want to spread it.

NAVARRO: Correct.

BARTIROMO: Keep your people home. And if you're sick, stay home.

NAVARRO: Yes.

BARTIROMO: We cannot spread it. That's the bottom line, correct?

NAVARRO: It's a beautiful -- yes, it's two birds with one stone.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

NAVARRO: We want to help our people.

We can't let them go broke at home.

BARTIROMO: Right.

NAVARRO: But, at the same time, if they can, stay home if they're sick, or stay home if they need to take care of their family.

BARTIROMO: Got it.

NAVARRO: They will be able to do that.

We will stop this virus, flatten that curve. That's the mission that the president gave us in the Rose Garden. America is going to fulfill that mission.

BARTIROMO: Peter thank you. Good to talk with you, sir.

NAVARRO: Yes, ma'am.

BARTIROMO: Peter Navarro at the White House.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN CORNELL, CEO, TARGET: We're all committed to making sure we're keeping our stores open.

TOM POLEN, CEO, BECTON, DICKINSON AND COMPANY: We're ramping up our manufacturing capacity to ensure the right collection devices and testing equipment are ready to address this issue.

DOUG MCMILLON, CEO, WALMART: We'll stay involved and do everything we can from a supply chain point of view to be of assistance.

ADAM SCHECHTER, CEO, LABCORP: We're working every second of every day to increase the number of tests that we can run.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: That was a group of leading corporate executives on Friday discussing their efforts to fight coronavirus, how to handle the impact.

Philanthropist Michael Milken has been studying life-threatening diseases for decades and emphasizing faster cures through his Milken Institute and Foundation.

He joins me right now to talk about where we are today, in the face of this new pandemic.

Michael, it's good to see you this morning. Thanks so much for being here.

MICHAEL MILKEN, THE MILKEN INSTITUTE: Good morning, Maria.

BARTIROMO: And you just heard all of those CEOs. You and I talked about this over the phone on the weekend. And you said the same thing.

You said, now is one of those moments in time, similar to after Pearl Harbor, when the country pulled together. There's a new shift in priorities. Tell me about it.

MILKEN: Well, I think we all realize we are all on this same team.

We are all pulling together, and we will solve this challenge, as we have in the past. My own efforts and those of our various foundations, we have directed all of their efforts here, particularly those in public health and faster cures, et cetera, to mitigating the responses. And we have been focused in six particular areas.

BARTIROMO: Let's go through those, Mike, because you talk about education, prevention, treatment, cure, and financial.

Walk us through what's most important, how we can all get on the same page, and what we need to know in the face of this increasing threat.

MILKEN: Well, we need to make sure we're focused on education, on what we can do to mitigate the cases, reduce the speaking that people are talking about, but also understand the technology.

Computers are a million times faster today. And, as we know, in cancer, there are more than 15 million Americans living normal lives today, and more than 73 different cancers are linked by similar mutations.

This data is available to us, and we have experiences in Taiwan, Singapore and other countries around the world that gives us a road map of what our citizens can do. As it relates...

BARTIROMO: Tell me about -- yes, go ahead, sir.

MILKEN: As it relates to prevention...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MILKEN: ... we have a lot of discussions, and you have had them this morning, on washing your hands, reducing social interaction, but there's other things we know today, because we have sequenced what is called your microbiome, the bacteria in your body.

More than 90 percent of all the bacteria in your body is not human. There's good bacteria, which can prevent you from getting disease, focused on diet, what you eat, how you live your life, et cetera.

So it isn't just the external things, but it's the internal things that can prevent you.

What we do know in numerous situations, when there is a challenge, that the number of cases of the flu goes down, the number of other diseases, as people are more focused on prevention. And it not only prevents other diseases, but it might reduce the impact of this one.

BARTIROMO: You just mentioned diet. And I know that, at one point, you were given a death sentence. You were told you have prostate cancer, you're going to die, you have a certain amount of months left.

You changed your diet. You rallied up the most important and sort of innovative techniques. Tell me what happened, real quick, on that, before we get to the next item, which is, I want to go through treatment with you.

MILKEN: Well, what we do know, for numerous cancers and other diseases, your diet can change how your genes are expressed and reduce the growth of diseases like cancer, and, in some cases, maybe even prevent you getting it.

We need people's immune system. And, yes, there's things like sleep and others that can energize your immune system. And last year, Jim Allison won a Nobel Prize for this concept that energizing your immune system quite possibly, and turning it on, can put your cancer into remission, in this case, melanoma, which took my father's life in the 1970s, and has changed my life and focus forever.

BARTIROMO: Yes. Wow. Incredible.

Mike, let me ask you. Want to talk about treatment now. This is another category. What should we be doing? At the same time, we're about to see the number of cases in the number of cases in the U.S. spike.

Two weeks ago, I came on this program and I told my audience, brace yourself, the number is about to go up. And that is exactly what's happening.

There are worries that there is going to be a major strain on our health care system, Mike, that we don't have enough beds. We don't have enough ventilators, et cetera. What are we going to do with that, as you also look at treatment and what's most important for the public to understand?

MILKEN: Well, these six areas of education that we talked about, prevention, testing.

Testing is going to change dramatically. In Nebraska, they have announced they have got the test down to two hours. And I'm sure it will become faster.

We can't talk about all the mistakes or what went wrong in the past. We need to focus on how to ramp up testing. And the videos that you show from the president's press conference on Friday show you, just like Pearl Harbor, private industry and public partnerships are mobilizing today to deal with the testing problem.

That will be behind us.

Treatment. What is working? We know the Gilead antiviral treatment has already gone into patients. There are more than 30 antiviral treatments that we are testing today.

It wasn't that long ago when the leading talk show host, Oprah, went on television and told Americans that as much as one out of five Americans might die in the next three years. It didn't happen.

We do not have a vaccine for HIV and AIDS, but antivirals has brought it under control for the vast majority of people in the world today. And so the treatment with antivirals...

BARTIROMO: OK.

MILKEN: ... the treatment with antibodies, and the things that can energize your immune system and put good bacteria in your body are already occurring in cancer and Crohn's disease, and have been very effective.

So everyone is concerned that -- how long it's going to take for a virus. There's a high probability that we will control this disease with antivirals and other treatment long before we have a vaccine.

BARTIROMO: I see, because they're talking about a year with a cure, a year for a vaccine.

Based on what you know and have studied in terms of medical research, you think just the antivirals, the therapeutics could actually be quite significant, even if we don't have a vaccine for a year?

MILKEN: And putting good bacteria into patient's bodies.

BARTIROMO: I see.

MILKEN: There are numerous Americans that have had good outcomes. This virus has very little effect on them.

BARTIROMO: OK.

MILKEN: We could take their good bacteria and put it into other individuals.

BARTIROMO: Mike, let me ask you about financial, because, obviously, sports has shut down, concerts are shut down, people are not spending money. You're not allowed to be in big crowds.

What is the answer here? You heard some of the stimulus that we have talked about this morning, Congressman McCarthy, Peter Navarro talking about a fiscal stimulus.

What to do about the U.S. economy slowing down as much as it is and possibly going into recession midyear?

MILKEN: Well, that is the sixth area that we're focused on, once again, education, prevention, treatment, cure, how we're caring for people, and cure, and then financial.

The majority of Americans, the vast majority of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. We have to keep this feeling of economic freedom for them and their families.

And, likewise, more than 50 percent of all of the employees in our country work for small and medium businesses, those small entrepreneurs that have reached out and created a business.

And so I think there's a number of things we can do. And we are extremely focused on this area as to how we can bring freedom. There are new companies in America today, digital companies, that loan money to people to cover paycheck to paycheck, charging no interest.

They have interacted with tens of millions of Americans and have the ability to distribute money to them.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MILKEN: So, these creative solutions, we need to let Americans, particularly the vast majority who have lived paycheck to paycheck...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MILKEN: ... know that we are not going to forsake them and let them deal with this issue.

BARTIROMO: All right, we will leave it there.

Mike, it's good to have you.

MILKEN: And I would...

BARTIROMO: Yes. Go on.

MILKEN: I'd like to say one more thing, Maria.

BARTIROMO: Sure.

MILKEN: And this has emphasized before.

We have solved these problems with polio, with AIDS, and HIV.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MILKEN: And we have made enormous progress in cancer. And cancer drugs that we have might be the solution here. But we have to stop starting and building a health care system, and then dismantling. We have to keep this in place, so that, every time, this isn't an emergency.

BARTIROMO: Yes, absolutely.

Mike, it's great to have you this morning.

By the way, congratulations on a well-deserved pardon. We appreciate you joining us this morning.

MILKEN: Thank you.

BARTIROMO: We will see you soon.

Mike Milken joining us there.

We will take a break.

When we come back, Devin Nunes dives into the China investigation once again we have talked about over the last several years with the congressman.

Back in a minute with him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)  BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

President Trump declaring a national emergency over coronavirus in order to expedite relief aid and testing to states, nearly 3,000 cases in 49 states. So far, West Virginia is the only state not reporting any cases of COVID- 19.

At least 57 Americans have died, as the House passes a bipartisan aid package to ease the economic fallout.

Joining me right now is Congressman Devin Nunes. He's ranking member of the House Intel Committee. He's also a member of the House Ways and Means Committee.

And, Congressman, it's good to have you this morning.

REP. DEVIN NUNES (R-CA): Great to be with you, Maria. Thank you.

BARTIROMO: I want to get into really your investigation into China, which goes back years, which you and I have spoken about in the past.

But, first, give us your take on the administration's response to coronavirus.

NUNES: Well, most importantly, I think what the American people have to understand is, we need to stop panicking here, OK?

There's no shortage of food in this country. People don't need to go to the store and fight over a bottle of water or toilet paper. I come from the breadbasket of the world in the San Joaquin Valley. We want people to go out and buy food. But there's no shortage of food.

The main thing that people need to focus on, it's just a couple issues. Number one, if you're sick at all, be smart. Stay away from people.

Number two, if you know someone that is senior, or if you have an underlying health condition, especially with your lungs, you are at high risk.

So we need to focus all of our energy on our senior population with underlying health concerns. There is no reason, Maria, for the American people to be running to the grocery store to buy 27 packs of toilet paper. OK?

(LAUGHTER)

NUNES: There's no shortage of toilet paper, no shortage of food, OK?

BARTIROMO: Yes.

NUNES: And that's coming from someone who we want you to buy food, OK?

BARTIROMO: Right. Right. I understand.

NUNES: And I will just say this too. I will just say this too.

You were just talking about the economy. And there's a lot of concerns with the economy here, because people are scared to go out.

But I will just say, one of the things you can do, if you're healthy, you and your family, it's a great time to just go out, go to a local restaurant.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

NUNES: Likely, you can get in -- get in easily.

There's -- let's not hurt the working people in this country that are relying on wages and tips to keep their small business going.

BARTIROMO: You know, we're very sympathetic...

NUNES: So, don't run to the -- don't run to the...

BARTIROMO: Understood.

NUNES: Yes. Just don't run to the grocery store and buy, you know, $4,000 of food.

BARTIROMO: Right. They are cleaning off the shelves.

NUNES: Go to your local pub, yes.

BARTIROMO: Well, we want to be very sympathetic to what's going on, particularly because it started in Wuhan, China.

But why is it that so many of these diseases, these sicknesses originate in China? What is the issue there?

NUNES: Well, as you know, we have been looking at China for a very long time, the Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee.

And we're actually building legislation now that's based off of our investigation that we have been conducting for a while. So, look, the Chinese, they are a communist dictatorship. And I would just say it's probably as easy as this to understand.

They are inefficient, OK? They can -- they have people that are under authoritarian control. Think about it. The doctor that actually was the whistle-blower on this ended up dead, OK?

BARTIROMO: Yes.

NUNES: And if you look back to what the Chinese did, back in -- they probably had this in the late fall, especially early winter.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

NUNES: They didn't -- you know, instead of, like, calling people in and learning how to help and develop a...

BARTIROMO: They downplayed it.

NUNES: ... way for us to know how to treat this, they downplayed it. That's right.

BARTIROMO: Hold on one second. Hold on one second, Congressman.

Quick break. We will come right back.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)  BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

I'm back with House Intel Ranking Member Devin Nunes.

And, Congressman, before we went to the break, we were talking about China and how it downplayed it. We're going to continue talking about that. I know that that's a major issue, and it actually accelerated things on the downside for the rest of the world.

But I have got your take, before you go, on FISA, on what you were able to accomplish this past week, because you were able to get things into the FISA rework that are very important and that weren't there before.

Can you walk us through the two things that were most important in terms of the FISA reforms?

NUNES: Well, I think what the American people need to understand clearly is that FISA doesn't go away. It's in permanent law.

It's only the issues that we passed after the Patriot Act that target terrorism directly that go away next week. So, Title I of FISA, which was used to target the Trump campaign and Carter Page, we were able to come to an agreement to open up that to take care of the things that happened to Carter Page.

So, if -- as of right now, there's no way to get FISA to go away. The Democrats are not going to vote to abolish the FISA court system. So, we got as much as we possibly could in terms of ensuring that the people, if they do this again, they will be held accountable.

And I think, most importantly, we -- as members of Congress on the Intel Committee, we would have access to these FISA transcripts and all the underlying documents.

And why is that important, Maria? Because, as you know, I had to come on your show, month after month after month, for years, saying that DOJ won't give up these documents.

BARTIROMO: I remember.

NUNES: Well, now it's clear, in this law, that they will have to give these documents up to Congress.

So, if there's a leak, we would be able to quickly go and do an inspection, unlike what we have had to deal with over the last three-and-a-half years.

BARTIROMO: This is really important.

So you have the access, that Congress has access to the documents that you need. And the other thing you did was, you put a compliance office in there.

NUNES: That's right.

So, if you're going to -- and I look at it this way, because I know there's a lot of Americans who want to abolish the system. But, right now, the Democrats control the Congress. So they aren't going to allow us to abolish the court system -- the FISA court system...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

NUNES: ... and build FISA build something back.

BARTIROMO: Real quick.

NUNES: So, in the meantime, this is a significant change that we were able to get into this new bill.

BARTIROMO: A new compliance office that will oversee?

NUNES: A compliance office that will keep the records, and then access for Congress to actually go and inspect those records...

BARTIROMO: I see.

NUNES: ... which was the problem we had over the last three years dealing with this crisis.

BARTIROMO: I remember.

You would come on here and demand documents to see what was going on, and you weren't getting them.

Congressman, thanks for all your leadership. Great to see you this morning, sir. Thank you, Devin Nunes.

Have a great Sunday, everybody. Thanks for joining me. I will see you tomorrow on FOX Business, "Mornings With Maria," 6:00 to 9:00.

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