Sunday School Extra Credit 4/20/20

Lately, governors (and Republicans) have been in the classrooms,  but yesterday we had the top two Democrats sitting down for virtual chats, on This Week with George Stephanopoulos and CNN's State of the Union with Jake Tapper. We'll take them in that order.

George started by asking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi what she thought of Trump's negative tweets about her, including that she's holding up the next round of relief funding.

Frankly I don't pay that much attention to the president's tweets against me. As I have said, he's a poor leader. He's always trying to avoid responsibility and assign blame.

She noted the bipartisan support for the Payroll Protection Program, but that whatever comes next has to reach "all of America's small businesses" and compensate first responders, healthcare workers, teachers and so on. And, we need additional funds for hospitals "so that we can do testing, testing, testing."

George said "some" Democrats are suggesting the focus should be on passing the next round of small business relief by unanimous consent; the other stuff should go separately. She said she doesn't know who's saying that, but said House and Senate Dems "know we have an opportunity and an urgency" to get something done for hospitals, teachers, first responders, and the rest.

And then we are preparing for our next bill... but, overwhelmingly, the caucus is: Let's get as much as we can for those who are helping to fight this fight, so that we can soon open our economy.

George wondered how they were going to vote; Pelosi said the proxy voting proposal that Rules Committee chair Jim McGovern and Administration Committee chair Zoe Lofgren came up with will likely be the way to go. There would have to be a vote on changing the rules, and she'd like that to be bipartisan. And, she reminded George,

We have an example of how we went forward in a bipartisan way, even though there was a person on the other side of the aisle who was insisting on not -- on avoiding unanimous consent.

Switching gears to the protests and the massive increase in unemployment filings, George wondered if she thought the guidelines on reopening "are appropriate" and if states "are ready to begin the process" of opening up. Pelosi said she thinks of the protests largely as a distraction, 

and the president’s embrace of it as a distraction from the fact that he has not appropriately done testing, treatment, contact tracing, and quarantine. 

And she reiterated that testing is the only way we can get things opened back up. We haven't done that right, she said, and "as Dr. Fauci says, if we proceed the right way, then we can do that. But we haven’t." George thought her comments indicated disagreement with Fauci that there's enough testing for Phase 1.

No, he’s saying if we proceed. I’m saying we haven’t proceeded. That’s why we’re saying, let’s proceed in that way, with testing. You can’t just test. You have to test, treat if people are diagnosed to have it and so -- and contact tracing, so that it doesn’t spread, and quarantine so that people are sheltered in place for as long as it takes.

She said the American people "understand that we have to have a scientific, evidence-based approach to how we go forward" and can't just do something quickly that's politically based, only to find out that we jumped the gun.

George wondered when she thought we'd get back to some semblance of normal; she said it was really a community-level decision, but it needed to be based on evidence and data showing what will work. Ultimately, she said she doesn't know if anyone can give a timeline, but that

it is, again, the sooner we commit to shelter-in-place across the board, testing, shelter-in-place, treatment, contact tracing -- that’s the path to opening the economy and putting people back to work.

She also took a shot at the president and his multiple confusing statements, his support of the people protesting his own guidelines, etc.

George asked about a statement she reportedly made - which she didn't deny - about being "afraid what the president might do." She referenced Easter giving her "a time for reflection and prayerfulness" about not harping on his past failures - which she proceeded to outline - and continued

And so, I’ve said if he -- if he continues to predicate the action that we take on a false premise, then we’re in further danger, and his earlier delay and denial caused deaths. And so, it’s very important that we walk the line that is close to evidence, data, science, as we go forward and not whimsy, magic hoax allegations and placing blame instead of taking responsibility.

We can over all of that as an "after-action review," she said, noting that

 he was drawing strength in his own view of what his falsehoods were gaining him and we cannot -- we cannot fight a pandemic, we cannot open up to our economy based on falsehoods.

No, we can't. Even if you're not a fan (I'm generally not), you can agree with her on that, I think.

Moving to the CNN classroom, Tapper's first question for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was about the PPP running out of money, "as you know, because of provisions Democrats want to add" and the "complexity is not our friend" comment from former Obama SBA head Karen Mills. We'll look at the funding issue separately, but Schumer said the stuff the Dems have been fighting for are going into the bill, and were important.

If you had a connection with a bank, it was pretty easy to get a loan. If you didn't, from one end to the country to the other, we have been hearing that people can't get the loans, the local restaurant, the local barbershop, the local drugstore, or even startup businesses, manufacturing or -- or contract -- or services that aren't happening. 

He pointed to $60B for disaster loans which looks like it's going in, and setting aside money for minority businesses, rural areas, and the 'unbanked' make sense and will also probably go in.

So, to just put $250 billion in, and leave out a large, large segment, I'd say half, of the small business community, wouldn't have made sense. And now it's going to happen because we Democrats said, let's get this done this way.

He said he was "very hopeful" there'd be an agreement quickly,  and that other things "on the banking side, on the testing side, on the hospital side" the Rs seem to be going along with.

Tapper moved on to frustration from senators about the administration's testing response - and wondered if there was a sense that "the federal government has a coordinated plan" for testing and making sure the govs know where the tests are.  Governors say they need federal help, they can't do it on their own, Schumer said - and both Rs and Ds agreed recently that we need both more testing and more federal involvement. We need to be more like South Korea: massive increases in testing volume, the contact tracing - they're way ahead of us, Schumer said, and "we must do the same thing, for the good of the health of America and the good of the economy."

We also have to help hospitals, which are losing scads of money not being able to do elective surgeries, and also of the burden on state and local governments. Schumer said they are "pushing hard" for that money to be included, along with the other funding that Pelosi mentioned.

Tapper then probed the 'who could have done more' question, offering comments by former CDC head Dr. Thomas Frieden, who said even a week or two earlier start of social distancing in NY and NYC would have meant a 50-80% reduction in deaths here. So, Tapper asked, didn't NY pols drop the ball?

Schumer said the gov and the mayor have done great, and "I think most of America agrees" and then went on to blame the feds for a lack of cooperation and Trump for his whacky comments. But Tapper fought back, noting Ohio closed schools with only 5 confirmed cases - before De Blasio did, with 329 cases. Other states were taking action, he said - couldn't NY have done something sooner? Schumer's response was, well, Schumerian.

Look, again, we were the epicenter. There were so many things to do. Getting ventilators, so people wouldn't die, was important. Getting the PPE for the health care workers was important. There were many things that were very, very important. And, as I said, I think both Cuomo and de Blasio get very high marks for how they have handled this.

The last question? AOC, the pesky representative from Queens, "did not rule out" primarying Schumer in 2022, and Tapper wondered if the senator was confident he could beat her.

Look, throughout my career, I have done my job. I'm totally focused on this COVID. We are the epicenter. And I have found, throughout my career, you do your job well, everything else works out OK.

So - there you have this week's Extra Credit: the Democratic leadership on funding, testing, Trumping, protesting, and more. Compared to the veep's two classroom appearances, Pelosi and Schumer answered many more questions, and used way fewer words in the process.

Stay safe, folks.