 So, none of us have dealt with a global pandemic before. We don't necessarily know what to expect. We don't know how long it's going to last. There are some estimates that suggest this could last until spring of 2021. We're looking at 12 to 18 months for a vaccine. There's a lot of uncertainty, but, you know, the thing about the United States is that our citizens, Americans, we've been conditioned to basically handle all of these things on our own, because we live in a ruthless capitalist system. But what's interesting is that, you know, in times like this where there's this huge crisis, you have to take action. You have to do what's practical. And for those of us on the progressive left, we're often told that our human-centered solutions aren't practical. But at a time when there's a crisis and there's really no room for idealism, we just need solutions fast. It's interesting to me that everyone is suddenly sounding like Bernie Sanders. For example, you will have Democrats suggesting, hey, maybe we should have Medicare for All Single Payer now. That's what Ed Markey tweeted. And even Republicans are sounding a little bit like Bernie Sanders because Ben Shapiro tweeted, so what exactly are coronavirus tests going to be widely available? Now, of course, these tests should be free. They should be widely available, and they shouldn't just be free. If you have coronavirus, if you test positive for COVID-19, you shouldn't have to worry about your health care bill. And this is something that people realize, because, you know, the thing about this global pandemic is that this virus doesn't discriminate against people on the basis of their class, right? So if poor people get COVID-19, then rich people can get it as well. So it is in the interest of elites to make sure that poor people are taken care of. So what's interesting is that people who oftentimes speak out against socialism, speak out against big government intervention, all of a sudden they're realizing that maybe socialism is the more pragmatic, more practical thing. Maybe progressives do have the best approach. And you know, it's not like I'm trying to brag here that we were always right, but we were told for so long that our policy solutions were pie in the sky. And everything that we were talking about, you know, the need to respond to human beings to give them health care, paid sick leave, now this is the most practical thing. So it's really interesting. And I think that this global pandemic is causing people to really reflect and think about what their priorities are, what really is practical. And the practical measures are measures that the left has been suggesting. Now what's interesting is that even Mitt Romney is floating something that nobody would have expected him to float. Universal basic income. Now he did come up with a UBI for kids, it's like UBI light with Michael Bennett back in late 2019, but he's proposing UBI full stop to deal with coronavirus. So as Jordan Carney of The Hill reports, Senator Mitt Romney on Monday proposed giving $1,000 to every American adult as lawmakers scramble to try to bolster the U.S. economy amid growing concerns over the coronavirus. Romney outlined a handful of proposals on Monday saying that while the Senate should take up the House pass coronavirus package, Congress needs to start working on additional steps. We also urgently need to build on this legislation with additional action to help families and small businesses meet their short term financial obligations, ease the financial burden on students entering the workforce and protect health workers on the front lines and their patients by improving telehealth services. Romney said in a statement, the checks would go to every American adult to help ensure families and workers can meet their short term obligations and increase spending in the economy. Now what I say to this is, of course, this is something that we have to implement. People are missing work. And even if they have a job that tells them to stay home for purposes of social distancing, they may not get paid time off. So they're literally just like having to lose money and then struggle to pay their bills and they have no control over it. So what people are realizing because of COVID-19 is that we need a better safety net. Like we don't have anything in place. We don't have the readiness to deal with these types of crises, this global pandemic. And this is forcing people to stop thinking so much about ideology. I mean, I think about ideology, but this really is, it's forcing people to realize what is practical and what's practical is government intervention, right? Government intervention to help the American people. And we keep worrying about how the banks are going to do, how certain industries are going to do in this crisis. But meanwhile, nobody is talking about what working Americans are going to do. I mean, think through this. If you are just a worker, you work at the grocery store. You're getting paid a minimum wage. You're getting exposed to all kinds of illnesses, not just COVID-19 potentially, but you don't get paid time off. You kind of have to be there because people need supplies and groceries. So why should that person, if they get sick doing a job that is necessary for society to function, why should they be forced to foot the bill for healthcare costs when they don't have a choice in that matter? If they don't go to work, people don't get their groceries. They need somebody there to bring them up to restock the shelves. They need people there. So why should these people who are doing crucial work suffer? We have to rebuild our society. We have to retool the way that things are done in this country because just the fact that we have to think through all of these things, we shouldn't have been thinking about what to do about workers who can't take time off. We should have already had a system in place for this. And I get that hindsight is 2020, but now is really the time going forward that as a country, we have to reckon with the fact that we have no social safety net for Americans. What we have isn't sufficient and it's being chipped away at again and again and again. And for all this talk of socialism and big government, even people like Tom Cotton are sounding a lot like Bernie Sanders during a global pandemic. Take a look at what he said on Fox News because he was asked about the next set or the next package for COVID-19 that Congress is looking at. And he says that even if the House passes the next COVID package, it doesn't seem likely that the Senate will pass it. Now, is it because Mitch McConnell is blocking it? You can argue about that and argue what their real reasoning is, but just listen to his reasoning as to why it's not going to pass the Senate. This is just, it's honestly unbelievable. The U.S. Senate scheduled to convene later today to consider passing the House passed coronavirus relief bill. So what can we expect from here? Arkansas GOP Senator Tom Cotton joins us. Senator, you've had a chance to look at what Treasury Secretary Mnuchin put together with the House and backed by the White House. Can you get behind it as it's read now? Good morning, Brian. I don't think the House bill is going to pass the Senate as it's written for one basic problem. It doesn't go far enough and it doesn't go fast enough. There are too many gaps in coverage for the smallest businesses and for medium-sized businesses. And I and a lot of other senators who I've spoken to over the weekend are worried that we're not doing enough to get cash into the hands of affected workers and families quickly. So we're going to be focused this week on how to do just that. If you've got the virus, if you've been quarantined because you've been exposed to the virus, if your business is shut down, or even if you have to stay home to care for a child whose school is closed, you should not worry about buying the groceries, making the car payments, paying your rent. We're going to do everything we can to get cash into the hands of affected workers and families as quickly as possible so we can all get through this epidemic, this pandemic together. He literally sounds like Bernie Sanders there. Because look, the Republicans know that people aren't in the mood for politics and you shouldn't trust Republicans. I don't want you to take away from this video that all of a sudden Republicans are having a change of heart because every single thing that they do is that the behest of their donors, it is in the interest of their donors. So the only reason why they're really thinking deeply about helping people make no mistake about it is because it's in the interest of their donors. If people stay home and don't have money, who does that affect? You can't have a capitalist system if the working class has zero purchasing power and if that decreases even more, then that's going to impact all of the people, all of the large multinational corporations specifically who contribute to their campaigns. So they're realizing that they have to do something to help Americans because they don't have a choice. If you want this system to remain in place, you can't just let people suffer and lose money and struggle to pay the bills. You have to do something, they don't have a choice. And I understand that they're trying to put politics aside, but that is just political theater. I mean, in the last bill on Friday, Republicans tried to sneak abortion restrictions into the coronavirus bill, so they're still political. They still got an agenda, but one, they're trying to read the room and two, they're realizing that in times of crisis, you don't have a choice. You can't not look out for the American people because if people have nothing, if they can't go to work, if we can't buy the products made by capitalists, then the entire system implodes, it collapses, it can't survive, literally. So it's really interesting to me that during times like this, everyone sounds like Bernie Sanders. Everyone is realizing the necessity of taking care of the working class, tending to healthcare needs, realizing that working people, they're not robots, they can't just be worked to the death. They have to take time off and in times like this, where for example, the governor of Oregon has banned events with more than 25 people. I mean, you don't have a choice. If you work for a catering business, you can't work, you can't find work. So I mean, how do you pay your bills? We can't just have a situation where a bunch of people can't pay rent or mortgages. The system needs to at least look out at a minimum level for the lowest tier of the economic class in this country. So you just kind of see that now is the time when people are thinking more deeply about what actually is pragmatic. And ironically, what's pragmatic is what everyone told us is pie in the sky. But it shouldn't have taken a global pandemic. And when this is over, assuming it will be over in the near future, hopefully knock on wood, we have to go forward with this mindset all of the time. We can't just adopt a socialist outlook on life during times of crisis, during global pandemics, because understand, this may be the first of many global pandemics with climate change coming up, with new diseases that will be exposed to once the ice caps melt. So we've got to understand that we can't just have this obtuse view of the world to where we can only respond to the needs of the people during times of crisis. We'd be much more capable of dealing with crises if working class people were not just one emergency away of bankruptcy or falling victim to homelessness. And so our elites need to realize that, but also the people who vote need to realize that and acknowledge that politicians, they don't have their interests and they've been lied to. So I mean, when you vote, assuming that these primaries aren't canceled, I know a lot of them are getting pushed back to Ohio, there's talks of it getting pushed back and I'm not gonna report on that yet because things are changing as I record this, so I wanna wait until we know. But I mean, as you cast your vote, understand that Bernie Sanders has been saying that we need to do this throughout the course of his career, not just all of a sudden during a global crisis. So we have to going forward actually think more deeply about our capitalist system and what it does to working people and not just think about these things in times like this and I'll leave that there because there's nothing else to say. I mean, we were right about everything and it's proving us right and it's not like I'm giddy to be proven right about this. I would have preferred that we just had these policies in place to begin with, but now I truly like I want people to see and this is why I'm making this video. I want them to open their eyes and realize that we need the working class to be strong, emboldened and have a social safety net that can protect them in times like this.