SCARBOROUGH: “Mike Barnicle is with us and has a question for you, Madam Speaker. Mike?”
PELOSI: “Hi, Mike.”
BARNICLE: “Madam Speaker, later this — later this morning, it’s expected that 1.1 million Americans will file for the first time for state unemployment benefits. Millions have already filed for unemployment benefits across this country. Apparently the federal benefits, that program is sitting dead on the table between you and your negotiations with the secretary of the Treasury and the chief of staff and the White House. My question to you is, during your discussions, you and Senator Schumer, your discussions with Mr. Meadows and Mr. Mnuchin, is it ever raised the fact that millions of Americans who have lost their jobs will take months and years to recover economically, some will never recover economically, some of the jobs that have been lost will never come back. Do you talk about these things?”
PELOSI: “We talk about the economy. Let me just say, I’m sorry to hear that, you have advanced knowledge of the number, that it will be over a million. That would be the 21st week, overall, 21st consecutive week where over 1 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits. This is a tragedy. And when we are talking — you know, we’re talking compassionately about what it means to people, what it means to seniors to get their medicine, what it means to children to safely go to school, what it means to families to be stayed from eviction and money in the pockets. But what it means to the economy. Forgetting compassion, because, frankly we don’t have any shared values when it comes to compassion and caring about people. They’re in the trickle down mode and we’re in the bubble up mode. But if you just think in terms of the economy, the economy is strengthened by the physical soundness of state and local government. The economy is strengthened by a bigger infusion of federal dollars into putting money in the pockets of people, so they spend, they inject demand into the economy, creates jobs, it’s strengthened the economy. The chairman of the Fed, economists tell us over and over, pay now or pay later. So again, our best shot with them is to say all you care about in our view is the stock market. We know that the Fed is shoring up the credit markets so that the markets can soar. And maybe that’s a good idea, but why can’t we spend some more trillions of dollars to shore up America’s working families? Yes, we have that discussion. And what’s so heartbreaking is, you know, if we today said we yield to your position, it still wouldn’t help those children, those families, and across the board meeting this needs of the American people. In fact, what they want to do in terms of state and local, will probably result in 4 million people being laid off. They aren’t interested in the fact. When we talk about what state and local government does, they aren’t interested, when we say and there will be more mean unemployed going on to the unemployment ranks. That perks their interest.”
SCARBOROUGH: “All right. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as always, thank you —“
BRZEZINSKI: “Thank you.”
SCARBOROUGH: “— for being with us. We greatly appreciate it.”