Senator Chris Murphy: 'No amount of economic stimulus will make a difference' if Washington does not prioritize coronavirus containment

Senator Chris Murphy joins The Final Round to discuss the federal government's response to the COVID-19 crisis, and negotiations between Senate Democrats and Republicans regarding a coronavirus stimulus bill.

Video Transcript

MYLES UDLAND: Joining us now on the phone for more on what the market is really waiting for, which is news out of Washington DC, we are joined by Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy. And Senator Murphy, thanks so much for joining the program. I'm just wondering what you can share with us on the state of play in the Senate, the state of the talks, and where you would like to see a potential bill headed, and what the roadblocks are right now.

CHRIS MURPHY: Well, thanks for having me. Negotiations are in progress right now. We hope to be able to start voting either later tonight or first thing tomorrow. What we want, first and foremost, is legislation that's going to resource states, municipalities, public health authorities sufficiently enough to stop the virus. There is no amount of economic stimulus that will make a difference if you don't first prioritize stopping the spread of coronavirus.

And we believe, many of us believe that this bill has just shortchanged the response effort. And so that's job number one. Job number two is making sure that the money we're going to spend, $2 trillion, ends up in the right hands. And there is, I think, some real concern that the drafting was very sloppy, and that much of the money might end up in the hands of companies and corporations that don't end up using it to restore and maintain jobs.

So those are the two major outstanding issues. And we hope that we can get them resolved very, very shortly. This is obviously a crisis in which hours matter, but you're spending $2 trillion, so you want to get that right. The worst thing to happen here would be to spend $2 trillion and have it not result in the virus's spreading halted. That would be an absolute disaster. So we need to get it right, and that's what we're going to try to do this afternoon and tonight.

RICK NEWMAN: Senator Murphy, this is Rick Newman. Can you take us above the theatrics in Washington and just tell us when it seems likely there will be a law that actually passes the House and the Senate, and what you expect, once those compromises are made, the main provisions of that law will be?

CHRIS MURPHY: Listen, let's just go back for a second and remember that we've already passed two major multibillion dollar efforts to confront this virus. And we did it in a bipartisan way in agreement with the White House. That's not easy when you have a split government, but we shouldn't forget that we have already passed two pretty important measures, one putting $8 billion dollars into the public health response, the second primarily dedicated towards nutrition assistance and paid sick leave.

This time around, we're talking about spending $2 trillion. That's bigger than the entire annual discretionary budget of the US government. So yeah, it might take a day or two to get that right. So I don't describe them as theatrics. I describe them as negotiations. And they're important negotiations.

In the end, I think this bill has a bunch of different elements. One is clearly a cash payment program for families. And we don't know what the exact number will be in the end, but it will be in the neighborhood of $1,000 to $2,000 per individual, additional money for families. Second, there'll be a major small business relief package here-- I'd prefer those to be grants, but they may end up being forgivable loans-- and then some kind of facility for medium-sized businesses, and then at least an airline industry-specific title as well.

Then there'll be an appropriations title, and here is where the public health money comes in. There'll be money for states, hospitals, nursing homes to actually fight the disease. Because it doesn't really matter how much you spend in cash payments to families or small business relief if the disease continues to spread. There is no amount of subsidy, no amount of stimulus that helps. And so the third component is maybe, in some respects, the component that's most important, and that is the help for the people who are on the frontlines of the epidemic.

Something that won't be in this bill that I wish were is the federalization of the supply chain for emergency medical equipment. Right now, the private market is failing. It is absolutely failing. You need to federalize the emergency medical supply chain right now in order to make sure that the inefficiencies in the distribution and manufacturing system are cured. That likely won't be in this package, but there is legislation that myself and Senator Schatz and others that have drafted that's on the table for consideration this week.

- Senator, you obviously have your hands full dealing with the stimulus, but we are getting signs that the Trump administration seems a little bit skeptical of a long-term coronavirus lockdown from the president's Twitter feed, from other parts, now talking about we're going to evaluate this in 15 days out. So are you worried that that's going to be setting up, aside from the stimulus, another issue between the Trump administration and Democrats? Is this concerning to you to hear this coming from the administration?

CHRIS MURPHY: Well, I mean, listen, I-- the administration has been an abysmal failure in confronting this virus. They've refuse to take it seriously. The president called it a hoax. They didn't ask for emergency money until it was too late. They've given almost no meaningful guidance to states and municipalities about social distancing and closures.

They have not gotten enough tests out to track the virus, and they're not serious enough about production of medical supplies. The president still hasn't operationalized the Defense Production Act. So from the beginning, this administration has failed. And maybe the most dangerous thing that the president has done is this new tack that he has taken through social media to start suggesting that we may give up. We may give up on fighting the virus and just accept that it's going to kill a million Americans, which would be immoral, unconscionable, and an economic and public health disaster.

So I am hopeful that the public health professionals around the president can convince him to stop casting doubt on whether social distancing and temporary closures are important. They are the only way to get this epidemic under control. You are literally talking about millions of Americans being killed that don't have to be killed if we give up on what we have started. So yes, I'm worried about the president starting to backtrack on these public health measures that, by the way, he was way too late in implementing in the first place.

- Senator, you did mention your legislation to kind of force the president's hand in using DPA and actually forcing these companies to start making these medical supplies. What do you say to the president, who sees this as nationalizing businesses, and who says that businesses are doing this on their own, so he doesn't need to tell them what to do? What do you say to that argument that's coming from the White House?

CHRIS MURPHY: I mean, I'd ask the president to spend just an hour talking to medical professionals and the state leaders. Medical professionals are in absolute panic right now, panic. They do not have enough masks to last them through this week. They are going to start getting sick. They are going to stop showing up for work.

And let me tell you the havoc that will be wrought when medical professionals stopped showing up and hospitals close down. This president needs to use the emergency powers that were given to him to make manufacturers start producing more of this equipment, but that's not enough. The whole supply chain is broken down. So you need to not only command manufacturers to make this equipment. You need to actually nationalize the distribution, because what you are incentivizing right now is gouging and hoarding.

My governor has a full-time operation dedicated to go out and chasing every possible lead on masks. Half of them are scams, half of them are con artists, and it wastes tons of time. Right now, the private market is not working, is not working. I'm a believer in the private market, but not in times of crisis when the private market is incentivizing hoarding and gouging.

So I'm arguing for not just an operationalization of the DPA, but a nationalization of the supply chain to make sure this equipment gets where it needs to get, it doesn't just get to the place where the money is or the place where the political connections exist. This is the proper exercise of emergency executive power to take control of a market that has ceased to function.

MYLES UDLAND: All right. Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, we really appreciate you taking the time. Thanks so much for calling in.

CHRIS MURPHY: Thanks.