CNN "State of the Union" - Transcript: Interview With Gov. J.B. Pritzker

Interview

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Illinois is now joining California, New Jersey, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut and telling its nonessential workers, stay home. The governor of Illinois says the move could potentially save tens of thousands of lives.

Joining me, that governor, J.B. Pritzker.

Governor Pritzker, thanks so much for joining us.

You said last weekend that -- quote -- "We're on our own out here. I wish we had leadership from Washington. We're not getting it."

Since then, FEMA has been put in charge of the response. You just heard FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor respond to some of my questions. A week later, is it better? Do you still feel like you're on your own?

PRITZKER: It is better.

We really were getting very little help before. I think FEMA being the central repository for everything that we need is very helpful. We're not having to ping different agencies. And I do think FEMA is more prepared for this than the other agencies were.

So, for example, we have received some PPE in the past couple of weeks, about a quarter of what was an original request. We just, just got a call this morning, before I went on the air, that we're going to receive another shipment of PPE later today or tomorrow from FEMA.

But it's a fraction still of what we have requested. We need millions of masks and hundreds of thousands of gowns and gloves and the rest. And, unfortunately, we're getting still just a fraction of that.

So, we're out on the open market competing for these items that we so badly need. And we're succeeding in some ways, but we still need more. So I have got people on the phones, working the phones, calling across the world, frankly, to get this stuff shipped to Illinois.

TAPPER: That seems kind of a weird way to do it, though, doesn't it, I mean, you competing with Governor Newsom of California, competing with Governor Cuomo of New York?

I mean, that doesn't seem like a very efficient way to -- and, not to mention, thrifty way to get these supplies to the states as soon as possible.

PRITZKER: That's correct. We're all competing against each other.

This should have been a coordinated effort by the federal government. And the national defense authorization that the president has to essentially push this manufacturing really hasn't gone into effect in any way.

And, so, yes, we're -- we're competing against each other. We're competing against other countries. It's a -- it's a wide -- Wild West, I would say, out there. And, indeed, we're overpaying, I would say, for PPE because of that competition.

TAPPER: You issued a stay-at-home order for the entire state of Illinois. It took effect last night. You're one of five states now to do that.

Your neighboring states have not issued such an order, Wisconsin, Indiana, et cetera. Will your order work if other states are not doing the same? PRITZKER: Look, these orders that the governors have led on -- I led

with canceling gatherings of a certain size in our state, and then we closed schools. We have moved on now to a stay-at-home order.

These should have been done nationally. They haven't been. But I have got to protect the 12.7 million people that live in my state. And I'm dedicated to that. It's their health and safety that matters most to me.

It will work. It will work. Remember, we -- people are interacting every day in every way possible. And unless we tell people to stay home, and to stop interacting in the way that they were, we're going to see more and more, thousands more, tens of thousands of more deaths than we otherwise would.

So that's why I had to take the action that I did. I don't relish it. Frankly, this is a competition in the decision-making between saving lives and saving livelihoods. And I have had to make some tough decisions here.

But I believe this is the right thing to do.

TAPPER: Well, let's talk about how to save the people or help the people whose livelihoods are being threatened, if not destroyed.

Lawmakers here in D.C. are right now scrambling to pass this unprecedented $1.7 trillion aid package to help the American economy. One of the last sticking points is whether to spend more on sending checks directly to members of the public or to put that money into state unemployment programs for the states to distribute.

[09:20:02]

What would you like?

PRITZKER: Well, look, we're going to have to do a lot.

There's no doubt that the economy is being significantly harmed by the delays that the federal government had during January and February getting going dealing with this. That's why we have all had to go on stay-at-home orders or keeping kids at home and closing bars and restaurants and so on.

So, what would I like? First, we have got to fund unemployment. There's no question about that. And the federal government needs to step up. It appears to be stepping up on that.

As far as sending checks to individuals, I certainly think that that should be means-tested. There's no reason to send a check to Michael Bloomberg for $1,000.

So, if that's something the federal government decides to do, fine, but there's another thing that isn't really being talked about, which is, state governments are out here. As I said, we're on our own. And we're having to spend quite a lot of money to do things that really are the job of the federal government. But we're doing it because I have got to protect the people here. All

across the country, our budgets are going to be slammed. Our revenues are going down, no doubt, precipitously.

And our spending has to go up, because we're -- we're saving people's lives. And we're trying to at least put some money in their pockets. So, we need help. We would like block grants to the states. We have got to go back, no doubt, to the 2008 era to look at what was done there and try and replicate those, in fact, bigger, because that is what is necessary in this time of national emergency.

TAPPER: So, Governor, last question for you.

I'm sure you're getting pushback from business leaders. We have seen op-eds written and editorials written in "The Wall Street Journal" and other places suggesting that what the government is doing is, by -- is harming the economy, which will ultimately be a cure that causes more pain than anything else.

What's your response when you hear business leaders say that to you?

PRITZKER: Well, first, I would say, those op-eds are not going to age well. I think, when you look back on it a year from now, that's not going to look like it was the right thing to write at the time.

Here's what I would say. The business people in Illinois, frankly, have been so incredibly generous. They -- many of them have offered paid leave to their employees. Many of them are doing whatever they can help us in the state. I have a number of businesspeople here who are acquiring PPE for us in the state.

And so I know this is very harmful to small businesses, to all businesses, really, what we have had to do across the country, but this is the right thing to do. We have got to save lives. Now is the moment.

So, this is what we are going to do. And the businesspeople who -- in Illinois, frankly, I have been amazed. Every businessperson, every CEO that I have called and asked them to do something for the state or for their employees or for the people has stepped up to the plate.

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor. Appreciate your time. Good luck to you. God bless. Hope everything goes OK for our friends out there.

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